Happy 2017 and Screen Time

FIRST I want to say HAPPY 2017!!! I know, it's March.  I also know that I failed to write last year.  I also know that it has been a year since saying that I would.  Life just threw one wrench after another at me.  However, maybe things are looking up.

SECOND I want to talk about screen time for kids.  I know we aren't supposed to give kids a lot of screen time.  I'm guilty of letting the kids have a movie on in each room--I got tired of fighting with them about only having one on at a time. Plus, two kids? There's always a fight over who wants to watch what.  Of course, we haven't set the best examples as adults, either, being constantly glued to our phones or computers.
However, I think some of the apps for kids don't count as "screen time" due to the learning aspect of them.  My kids are currently 8 and 4 (almost 9 and 5).  They don't have their own tablets or anything, but there's apps on my phone to keep them occupied while we are out and stuck at, say, doctors' offices or getting our hair cut for the first time in months.  My daughter loves the bilingual apps--we have one for Mandarin and Spanish.  Well, let me correct myself there.  There's one for Mandarin and English, one for Spanish and English, one for Mandarin only, and one for Spanish only.  There's a child for each language and they say the word and you are supposed to move the block that corresponds with that word up to a little box.  It's cute.
My son, the four year old, loves the Endless Reader app, which was mainly what this post was for.  No, this is not an ad.  Well, not in the "I'm getting paid" sense, because I'm not. But I love this app.

ClassDojo is for my daughter's school.  Reader is the Endless Reader app. And at the bottom you can see the bilingual apps.

 Endless Reader has helped my son so much with learning.  He'll come up to me while I'm lost in facebook or pinterest or instagram, pull at my arm, and ask, "Mommy, can I learn about monsters?"  The app uses "monsters" to spell words and act out sentences with those words.

The screen after the "opening scene", which you can skip by just tapping on the screen.

 After you select a word (sorry, I didn't take a screen shot of the word selection screen), it shows on the screen in colors and the narrator says the word.  Then the letters get jumbled up and your job is to move them back into the correct position.  The letters also make their own sounds, after faces appear once you touch them to move, until they are placed.  As they are placed, the letter name is said.

You can move multiple letters at the same time I recently discovered.  My son likes to use all of his fingers to place them at the same time and THAT can be a bit of a ruckus...

 Once the word is spelled out, there's a recording of a group of kids repeating the word.  Then the little green bird picks up the word and carries it to the next screen which has the sentence.  However, before s/he can place the word, all of the monsters stampede across the screen and knock out a few words from the sentence.  The child then has to move the words to their correct places in the sentence.  Once a word is selected, it changes into whatever word it is ("house" is a house) while being moved.  It also says what word it is.  Quiet is whispered.

 Once your sentence is finished, a scene pops up and the monsters act out what is on the screen.  The narrator then speaks the sentence.  My son likes to repeat the scene a LOT; the repeat/refresh symbol (what is that called?) shows up in the middle of the screen after the scene is acted out.

The concert is muffled and Dapper Dandy does smile after this.  My issue is, if he didn't like the loud noise, why did he go to the concert? 

The app only starts with so many words. You have to buy additional upgrades.  However, each stage, if you buy all available in that stage, is only $11.99 or $10.99.  I think it's well worth the money, and a better use of funds than spending $9.99 on coins to buy Pokeballs because I'm too lazy to walk down to the Pokestop at the end of the street.

What a few years it has been...

The past few years have been quite the adventure.  I got married, birthed a son, got divorced, almost moved to Oklahoma, and am now marrying my high school sweet heart.  My health has been crap--I even had another surgery for Crohn's Disease after this last flare and it didn't help like it should have.  I still haven't progressed on my manuscripts.  I haven't been writing poetry either.  I do have a few book ideas that I want to work on, though.

I apologize for disappearing from the blog world though.  You can still find my crafting work at Kypress Designs and I'm on Etsy, Twitter, and Instagram.  I will try to post here at least once a month if not once a week.  Perhaps posting will help spur me to start writing again.  "Bloo" is still sitting next to my desk, collecting dust, as is my notes on Tichion's sequel.  I have been toying with a book on my adventures of being a mom and fighting chronic illnesses.  What are your thoughts?

I also changed the blog back to my maiden name. My published works are under my maiden name anyways and I may just keep it that way.

ePublishers, eBooks

If my book was available as an eBook, would you purchase it?  Honestly?

I have been looking into a few different ePublishers, and, quite frankly, I am extremely confused by the whole process.  I am working on it, however.  (I need to have the manuscript FINISHED, first.)

Tichion will have to wait until either PublishAmerica gives up the rights to the book or I come up with the large sum of money to buy the rights back and/or pay them to put it in eBook format.  I do not have that very large sum of money though.

The two I am looking at are CreateSpace and Smashwords.  And then there is Yorkshire Publishing Group that I have been looking at as well.

I am all ears if any one wants to give some input.....

Last night's dream

I try really hard to keep my personal life out of my posts, but since I haven't been able to progress much on my manuscripts, I am going to share the dream I had last night--or what I can remember at least.

It started off with me and a few other expecting couples in a home decorated from the 70's--complete with wood panels on everything.  As I'm walking back to the kitchen (I think), a very tall man and a dog pop up in my way.  (The dog I've realized was actually a BLACK furred, GOLD eyed Jackal; I thought it was a doberman in my dream.)  He tells me his name is Loki (yes, the Norse god; BUT he had long black hair, looked Native American, skin color mainly the color of anbesol with a bronze shimmer undertone) but whenever I try to ask questions, he vanishes.  I'm supposed to look for someone or he's going to do something bad, I don't remember what exactly. I do remember that I was terrified of whatever it was.
So, my Memaw (my mom's mom) drives me to my old high school (except the neighborhood AND the school were NOT Southport High).  However, every time I get close to whoever I'm looking for, the school gets evacuated.  It just repeats--I get in and wander the halls, then an evacuation alarm goes off. I get shoved outside by the stampede of high schoolers and have to wait until I can go back in.

I have a headache.  I think the Jackal symbolized Anubis, but I don't know.  He never spoke, though he did circle me a few times and looked like he smirked at least once.  I woke up panicking, and I have no idea why... I think I need to spend some time reading my bible this morning...

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!!!

It's officially the Year of the Dragon.  No, I'm not Chinese or of any other Asian heritage.  However, I do love their culture and history!  Also, I was born in the year of the Dragon and now my son will be too!  (On another note, though not necessary information, my husband is a Cock and our daughter is a Rat.)  I hope we can do something to celebrate this holiday. We probably won't, but I'd like to!  However, that isn't really the topic of this post--the title really has nothing to do with it.

What I am really wanting to write about is my lack of ability to write!  I have three manuscripts that I have been working on for a few years now. Okay, almost a decade.  And I am stuck. I have it a solid brick wall and cannot seem to move around, over or through it.  What is extremely frustrating is that one is just my every day life--the life of a working, crafting mom (and wife)!  The other two, well, I can sort of understand my dilemma.
I started both in high school, one is the sequel to Tichion: On the Other Side, but I've not been able to progress on it at all.  I sent the wrong manuscript in for the first book and wasn't able to get it fixed in time before publication (and haven't been able to buy the rights of the book back to publish the RIGHT one under the same name).
The third manuscript was also started in high school. My friends and I would create worlds and characters to pass time.  Then we'd assign/pick characters to role play through notes and e-mails to keep ourselves entertained.  This book is based on the longest running world we created--also where I picked up my crafting hobby name, Kypress Designs.  (I have to say "hobby" instead of "business" still because "business" implies that I have sales, and that makes the IRS perk up; the only interactions I've had are swaps/trades or giveaways.)

I suppose I am having a hard time balancing myself.  I spend a lot of time crafting and not enough time being the mother and wife that I should be.  That thought scares me, especially when I think about the new life growing inside me that will join us relatively soon.  Any more experienced authors have any suggestions for me?