Yammer

In case you didn’t know, I’m fascinated with words. The English language is amazing as the myriad of possible adjectives are beyond enumeration. (Exaggeration? Likely, I’ll bet someone, somewhere, has a count on how many adjectives are proper in our English.)
#WritersBrain #Write #Author #AuthorBrain #ILoveWriting #TheEnglishLanguageIsBeautiful #HowManyWordsMeanLove #OldMovie #Adjective #Noun #ILoveWords #WordsAreWonderful #PerfectWord #Yammer #IGetTooExcitedReadingTheDictionary

November 4, 2022

Yammer


In case you didn’t know, I’m fascinated with words.  The English language is amazing as the myriad of possible adjectives are beyond enumeration.  (Exaggeration? Likely, I’ll bet someone, somewhere, has a count on how many adjectives are proper in our English.

Nevertheless: Let’s dive into this rather funny anecdote.  

I’ve finished a project I’ve been working on for over ten years.  I started it with a cool dream and just wrote the outline in my head and fleshed out my main characters.  I let it sit for a while until my dad asked one day if I was working on any long projects.  Yes!  Always – I have this one and about fifteen others I choose to pick at depending on what mood.  Two more are close to completion now.  But at that time, for whatever reason, I highlighted this one.  

He kept asking how work was doing in it.  He wanted to know what this or that character was doing.  When was I going to introduce this or that concept.  Because of his research that parallelled mine, I kept working on this project.  I paused for almost three years after Daddy died because I’d cry just thinking about this project.  A few months ago, though, I started on what I call a “stint” – my brain just ran with connecting each of the parts and filling in all the gaps.  I ended up finishing a few days ago and proofing and finalizing.  

So, my craziness?  I was looking for a chapter name – in this project, all the chapter names are alliterative.  I needed a “y” word that meant something like dismay, cry of pain, whining, etc.  So I opened my old creaky dictionary and started reading the “y” section.  

Yammering jumped out at me! 

I was so stinking excited!  I asked myself, “how in the Earth am I so excited over finding one word?” 

Seriously!  But “yammer” means to whine or complain, to make an outcry or clamor, to talk loudly and persistently.  It was perfect!  I love the complexity and beauty of the English language!  I love how I can find just the right word for exactly what I need.  It’s like in “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1935) movie I watched over and over as a child; this guy writing a dictionary says, “how is it your language has so many words that mean love?” 

I used to answer with, “and English doesn’t?” (of course, the Byam couldn’t hear me). 

And that is why I love writing!  I love words, I love painting pictures with words, I love finding things that are super cool to say and mean simple things but make people give you the “huh?” face… Like ameliorate – it means “to make better.” 

My brother repeated it in sentences so often that my daughters at 2 and 4 years old used it! 

Anyway, I’m getting back to finding more perfect adjectives to match my nouns in all 40 of my chapter titles!  

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Stepping Back

Stepping Back

February 23, 2020

My little love is one! I’m 37. We both had birthdays this week. This is the first birthday for one of my children that I missed.

I was on my way to a meeting at work when I got two adorable videos from Louis – my littlest baby, looking at her first birthday cupcake Grandma Joanne brought her while everyone sings “Happy Birthday” and her little toes wiggle happily.

I could have let that make me feel really blue. I almost did because I had a rather sour day at work that morning – I’m a perfectionist, should explain everything (right?)

As I watched that video three times, there were two voices in my head:

The first was saying things like: Aww how cute! How sweet that they took a video! She’s having so much fun!

The second jumped immediately on top with: You aren’t there. This is the first birthday cake you haven’t done with any child! You neglect her. You neglect them all. You work too much. You are missing your children’s lives. See how much you miss.

And the second voice doesn’t shut up!

I went through the meeting. That second voice was still screaming in the background on the way back to work: If you had any business sense, you could have been good at Beachbody like Katy, you could be a real author making a living at it, you could have sold makeup, you could still be at home. Why didn’t you…. You could have been… If only…

It boiled down to this: YOU ARE A FAILURE!

But I’m not!

I refocused. I took a deep breath and steadied myself on my way to gym – the voice tried again because my baby didn’t even come to gym on her birthday because Daddy and big sister kept her at home (she was pooped after birthday fun).

I am doing my best.

Most importantly, I allowed myself to step back and look at the bigger picture. That is really hard when voices – your own voices in your head – are screaming at you. Your logic tells you they are accurate! Your emotion agrees with them! All the parenting books you’ve read, teachers you’ve listened to, and “stats” you’ve seen about raising children all tell you the voices – the accusing second voices – are right. BUT NO!

Step back. I stepped back.

For 15 years, I’d been the one at home (yes, working from home too) to see the firsts. With Thea, Louis has been.

He said he loves the baby stage and is so thankful he isn’t missing all of it. He felt like he was never around for the others. I’m so happy he gets to be home in the morning/early afternoons in this season!

I had an awesome relationship with my Daddy. I want that for my children, especially my girls; for them to have an awesome relationship with their Daddy. Louis gets to spend more time with them.

I stepped back.

We have joint goals. We have family goals. A house that means a new start for us – rooms for everyone and more than 4 feet of counter space in the kitchen! We are accomplishing that!

I stepped back.

I LOVE my family, and they know this. Just because I work two jobs in this season doesn’t change that. We both got to go to Christina’s first University tour! (That wouldn’t have happened with other jobs!) We both get to go to the gymnastics show in May. We all get Sundays together as family days (that has never happened in our family lives – service industry doesn’t give up weekends!).

I took another deep breath. The accusing voice had stopped. This was because I started to mentally pray: thank you, Jesus, for this season of life you have us in. It may be hard, it may sometimes seem like too much, other people may think it’s too much, others may judge, my logic might be telling me it’s not a good place… but I am SO grateful for the season I’m in right now! I pray for guidance daily and until God says “let it go,” I’m holding on to the gifts (jobs) he’s given us. Thank you!

If your inner voices are ripping you apart…

Take a deep breath. Steady yourself. Step back. PRAY. Be grateful for what you have and pray for wisdom on what to allow to let go.

Listen to God’s heart.

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Family Fun Fest 2018

May 4, 2018

Family Fun Fest 2018!

We spent all day on April 28, 2018, a beautiful Saturday in Saint Augustine, at the Family Fun Fest.  This annual event at Francis Field supports the community work of Alpha Omega Maternity Home and their related outreaches.

Alpha Omega has been a vital community resource in Saint Augustine for a long time.  They are a wonderful organization to support – and we love the all-day fun!

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I set up a vendor booth to sell my printed books, DVD books, audio CDs, some of the girls’ assorted crafts, and my mom and dad’s beautiful prints.  We had a spot for children to make free bookmarks with fun yarn tassels.  (This was on the bright teal table & was Kimberly and Jaquline’s idea. Lots of kids stopped to color!)

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Christina and Rebeccah volunteered all day!  Didn’t they look sharp in their aprons?

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Kimberly, Jaquline, Jillian, and Anastasia were ambassadors for the face painting booth.  The artist did such an amazing job transforming their faces into bright works of art!

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Lucas wanted to be a tiger, but after watching his sisters and cousin sit still, he decided running was the life for him and no face paint was needed. Notice the big blow-up fun things behind the sister-cousins?  Once those went up, Lucas didn’t want to sit still!

Kimberly’s face paint scared some little ones.  (It almost scared me when she closed her eyes and had snake eyes on her eyelids!)

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Lucas almost never stopped dancing.  But then, the DJ was great so there was fun non-stop music.

We bought wristbands for the kiddies and they became “pros” at the various obstacles by the end of the day. (The lady at the Boy Scout’s obstacle said Anastasia and Jillian kept challenging each other to “new heights” like “tightroping with eyes closed” or “doing ballet across the bar.”)

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This event started at 10am and ended at 8pm.  We were there setting up at 7:30am and left the field just before 9pm.  (I did have to wait on my volunteers to finish assisting with some break-downs and you know; we like to chat!)

Local performers from dance schools to martial arts schools to youth groups and bands filled up the stage.  (Christina’s vantage point for this was perfect: she saw every act and relayed amazing reviews to our booth later.)  There were plenty of games for little ones.  Rebeccah got to play with them for hours!

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Jillian and Anastasia were so excited to meet Princess Cinderella!  Lucas was beside himself – he came back repeating, “Mommy, Cinderella is here!”

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The team obstacle course was fun to watch!  We clapped and encouraged each one – Kimberly’s commentary should have been shared over a loudspeaker for everyone else to laugh at!  (She has some Aunt Katy & Aunt Becca MC skills in there.)

Lucas finally took a 30 minute nap under my table (the “campout zone”) about 5pm.  He came to get a banana, but didn’t quite finish it!

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None of the little girls wanted a break – but they all fell asleep in the van on the way home!

Although it wasn’t a great “sale” day (we sold one book, one bracelet, and one set of clips), it was an amazing “fun” day and we’ll definitely be there again next year!

Come join us!  Follow Alpha Omega for updates and opportunities to volunteer at this event or at the campus.  Together, we can help our community grow stronger!  And, yes, have some amazing fun along the way!

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Oh yes, just this last picture of Anastasia snuggling with Grandma.  (No, she wans’t asleep, she was pretending so she could snuggle!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

New Story Release! The Brown-Sheep Prank

New Release! 2nd in The Devonians Series – “The Brown-Sheep Prank”

December 13, 2017

New Story Release!

There’s a new chapter in the continuing story of the Devonians!  The Devonians are space castaways who have developed a colony on a strange new planet (they name it Devonia).

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The soft-crayon illustration is done by Christina Tart. (She is a published illustrator who wisely takes commission for her work!)

This newest story, The Brown-Sheep Prank, begins the day after the end of Daydreamer. Alena Summers, whose family husbands (takes care of) the village’s herd of Brown-Sheep, is very excited about her second-favorite time – Shearing Day!  (It just so happens, that’s the day covered in the story!)

Alena loves the busy time when all of her neighbors will be gathered at her family’s house, trimming the wool (called Shearing), washing fleeces (a fleece is the wool from one sheep), preparing food (Alena’s job is to assist here), and stacking the finished fleeces in the big barn (this one is shared by the entire village).  The boys and overgrown boys (men) love the table of ready-to-eat food that those on refill duty (Alena and Butterfly) have to keep stocked.

Devonia travels in a longer solar orbit so has the equivalent of 499 Earth days in the Devonian year – so when Alena says “5 years 8 months” it really means “about 7½ Earth years.”  Just a little hint about the world of Devonia!

Now to get an idea of how busy Shearing Day is in Covenant, read this excerpt from “The Brown-Sheep Prank!

Everyone was so busy that Alena had barely stopped moving since Mother had called her away from the Brown-Sheep observation this morning. 

It was nearly lunchtime. 

Alena’s stomach growled. 

“Oh my!” Cried Butterfly in fake shock, “you’d better feed that monster!” 

Alena laughed.  She and Butterfly were on refill duty.  This meant they helped in the kitchen and ran back and forth from the big table refilling the food baskets and bowls.  For Shearing Day, everyone snacked whenever they were hungry from the long table outside.  The unwed boys had brought it over from the meetinghouse before Alena awoke.  She grabbed a carrot stick and quickly ate it.

Alena’s Father and most of the other men plus a few older boys were cutting each Brown-Sheep’s wool close to the skin but taking care not to cut the soft skin.  This was called shearing.  This formed what they called a fleece.  The fleece was the shape of a flat sheep without legs or head.  The Brown-Sheep’s head and legs didn’t have wool like the rest of the body. 

A cluster of two men and three women with a few of the older boys and girls were thoroughly washing each fleece to make sure they would get clean. 

… (continued reading The Brown-Sheep Prank here!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Introduction

Updated October 7, 2020

Who I Am (Introduction)

   Most importantly to me, I’m a wife, mother, home-school teacher, and friend.

That sounds really simple… so, how about adding in our hobby garden, ongoing “school project” flock of chickens, outdoor Guinea Pigs, twittering parakeets, one sweet bunny, the fact that I’m a mother to seven (and yes, I’d love more) children and one dog (okay, so Prim is Christina’s dog), published author with dozens of stories, and outside of the home, I am a Gymnastics Coach at WGV Gymnastics (started August 2018).

Okay, so why on Earth would I start a blog?  (Because I need something else on my plate?  Because I’m crazy?  Because I love drowning in deadlines and yelling “Just a minute!” at the top of my lungs?)

No.

Honestly, it’s because I love to teach.  I learn best by watching (or reading) about other people’s successes and blunders.  (Here, you will read both… but that’s okay because we are all human!)

I also love to write.  (Otherwise completing a science-fiction fantasy novel for young adults would NEVER have happened.)

I’m hoping to create a fun, happy place with this blog where people can catch a glimpse of my crazy, wonderful, amazing life and hopefully glean a few pearls of wisdom.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~ Nancy Tart

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