A Grammar Quiz! Pre-Study

I hope you've studied.

Brushed up on your participles, conjunctions, and spelling.

If not....

crack those books, kids, it's (almost) time for the first ever

Family Pelton Grammar Quiz!

But before I test your smarts, 

which will happen at 7:30 pm tonight (set your clocks!)

I thought it best to go over the rules.

They are as follows: 

The quiz will be open until midnight tomorrow (Thursday) and the winner will be announced on Friday! Submit your answers using the comment form (only one entry per person).

The PRIZE:
Is unprecedented at TFP.

It involves me, my camera, and you.
That is to say, the winner receives a photo session (up to one hour) with Athena Pelton Photography.

But if you're not in my area and want to play, don't worry! Your prize involves me, my knitting needles, and your hat-less head.
That is to say, the non-local winner receives a hat from Athena Pelton.....Hattery? Knittery? Yarngoods??
....

How to Win:

Answer all the questions correctly. I will randomly draw the winner from those who achieve Grammar Nirvana. 

Caveat:
If no one answers all the questions correctly, I will randomly select a winner from all who play.

Which means:
any way you slice it, someone is going to win on Friday.

Which really is the best way to slice it, if you ask me.....

Happy Studying!

A

Tomorrow...

Or at some point this week, 

there will be a grammar quiz on this here blog.

You're.

Your.

It's.

Its.

Commonly misspelled words.

Affect.

Effect.

Use of hyperbole.

How to correctly spell tomorrow.

The usual offenders.

My big peeves.

I'll announce the particulars on the day of the quiz,

but the prize is going to be big.

It's not a hat.

Or an apron.

Or anything handmade for that matter.

It's way better....

Study up, friends!

Cheers,

A

Going Home

I haven't been very good about blogging lately.
Or  taking pictures,
returning phone calls,
emails,
or text messages.

I've been...

...otherwise engaged.

Packing.
Cleaning.
Loading.
Driving.
Unloading.
Cleaning.
Unpacking.
Organizing.

Life-ing.

We are here: Minnesconsin.
The move went well,
uneventful.
Easy.
We have officially traded 2400 square feet of house for a 15x24 foot studio in my mother's basement.
In the name of family.
Friends.
Dream chasing.
Life-starting.

Crazy as it is,
crazy as it sounds,
it's exactly right.
The refrigerator across the room from my bed,
the shoe rack next to my flat screen tv,
my laptop set up on a child size play table.
Comfortable.

It's not forever,
it's for right now.
And no matter what "they" say,
you can go home again.

You can always
go home.

Cheers,
A

Dear Texas:

Goodbyes are always hard.
Even when you're prepared to say them.
Even when "goodbye" is what you've been working toward....

In 24 short hours I will back out of my driveway
in the city that sounds like phlegm
one final time.
I'll whiz through the toll lane,
and I'll watch the hill country disappear in my rear view mirror.

In 72 hours I will hear gravel crunch beneath my tires
as I pull into my childhood home.
I'll smell rain on the breeze,
and the promise of fall.
Friends.
Family.

Home.

Texas has been good to us, this past year and a half.
Well, except for the fire ants.
And the excessive heat.

We have seen the pink quartz of the Capitol building,
played at Zilker Park,
had lunch at the Trailer Park Eatery,
dined on the finest BBQ in the nation,
(that would be Salt Lick BBQ for those who aren't familiar).
We have driven past the sign for Luckenbach
and out to Fredericksburg.
Shopped the outlets at San Marcos,
and watched Shamu's show in San Antonio.
I even looked for the basement at the Alamo.

We have swam, outdoors, in December
and built snowmen in February.

I am going to miss this place.
Crazy politics and even crazier driving and all.
It is not home,
I do not believe it ever pretended to be,
but it sort of fits.
Like a pair of perfectly worn cowboy boots.
The ones that sit in your closet most of the year,
untouched,
but when you need them
they are there.
Ready.
Molded to every curve of your foot.
Perfect.

Thank you, Texas.
For being wonderful enough for us to enjoy our time here.
I'll see you again in December.

Cheers,
A

Unusual Circumstance

Four short days from the big move.
My mind is a whirlwind.
Excitement. Sorrow. Fear. Apprehension. Joy.

I feel like there is so much still undone here in Texas...
but so much more to do back home.

It's a strange circumstance, really.
But a welcome one.
.....

One cannot discover new oceans 
unless they have the courage 
to lose sight of the shore.
                                    ~Gide
.....

We're embarking on familiar,
yet uncharted,
waters, the girls, DRL, and I.

As terrified as I am for what lies ahead
given the uncertainty and the risk
I'm horridly excited. Giddy, almost.

And the girls?
Can. Not. Wait to be back in Minnesconsin.

I'm kind of right there with them.

Cheers,
A

108

That's the temperature today.
Actual air temperature.

Heat index adds about 5 more degrees.

The noon sun adds about a gagillion.

You'd think the fact that I'm moving to temperate
snow-in-the-middle-of-june
land of ten-thousand-weather-changes
Minnesconsin
would make the heat easier to take.

But it doesn't.
It sucks.
A lot.

I hate it.

I'd like to trade it in, please.
For one of these:

Size: Extra Freakin' Large.

Cheers,
A