Maternal Spark

The Humor of Motherhood

Heather — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:33:06 +0000

There’s a special kind of shock, disgust and humor that all occurs together in the grey matter of the average mom. This mental potpourri has occurred randomly throughout motherhood and is typically reserved for situations that involve poop.

Poop on the wall? Oh My Gawd, that’s Shocking! And Gross! But you gotta just laugh and clean it up otherwise the shock and disgust never goes away. Your expression of eyes wide open and nose crinkled shut would remain. Your face could STAY like that!

Humor is the most important piece of this emotional trifecta. It’s the minds defense mechanism, a barrier to what’s really taking place. Without the ability to laugh at misfortune, many a mom would be found hiding in the laundry basket singing ‘twinkle, twinkle’ and praying that the pork chop some kid shoved into the furnace grate dries up before it starts to stink.

But let me tell you. Even with these emotional barriers in place, the most seasoned moms who are well prepared and trained for the unexpected can still go off the deep end. Some things can still sideswipe them into frenzied hysterics like in that episode of Seinfeld when Jerry puts the Pez dispenser on Elaine’s knee during a piano recital.

I experienced such an event last night. It was in the exact moment little H sneezed with a mouthful of spaghetti. There was a confused look on her face and then it appeared. A noodle quietly peeked out of her nostril.

Hubby looked at me and I looked at him. Shock. The expression on his face was clear and it overtook him completely. I’m sure I wore one to match.

Little H didn’t appear to be uncomfortable but the look of confusion still shone in her eyes. And then she squirmed and wiped at her nose.

Hubby and I were still staring at each other. Seemingly without blinking, he reached across the table and yanked on the noodle.

5 or so inches of nostril noodle came sliding out. Disgusting.

“There was a noodle in my nose!!” she shouted.

And then my mental defenses failed me and I became awash in hysterical laughter. I’m still laughing now, some 15 hours later. I don’t think I’ll ever recover and I know I won’t be able to eat noodles for a LONG time.

Image credit to poluz’s photostream

The Big Push

Weekly Inspiration – Nov 9th

Heather — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:19:19 +0000

When I find myself doing something for any length of time, I become discouraged by the predictability, the sureness and the comfort. When most people are glad to have a routine, I become bored. When most are working out a formula, I’m looking at throwing out the batch and starting fresh. It’s been both an advantage and a disadvantage to my life so far. If I’ve envisioned the outcome of a situation and am fairly certain it will play out to my prediction, I find waiting to see if I’m right or wrong horrendously tedious but at the same time, I can often manipulate things to my advantage.

I suppose I’m rambling here but my point is that I’ve become increasingly restless in past weeks. I’m itching for the next thing, the next event, the next phase. I’m finding myself less appreciative of what I have and pining more and more for what I don’t have. Ideas are multiplying and I’m without resources to bring them to fruition. I know something will come out of this but at this point I don’ t know what that will be.

Do you ever feel like this? How do you deal with it? How do you harvest the angst and turn it into something of value?

I’m afraid I didn’t provide much in the way of inspiration this week and I’m sorry for that…but maybe you can inspire me. What are you working on? Share your link!

I finally finished it

Heather — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:45:33 +0000

I started reading Ken Follett’s ‘The Pillars of the Earth’ back in August and I’ve just now finished it. Yes, I know, it took me ages to make my way through it. I wasn’t immediately gripped by this one. The story didn’t take off for some time and I felt like quite a lot could have been cut from this long novel. But about half way through, I became pretty addicted to the storyline and the myriad of characters Follett had included. I found myself sneaking bits of time to read and by the end I was glad I’d stuck to it and finished reading. Here’s why…

I read this book with a critical eye. Meaning, when I’m not immediately gripped by elegant writing and fast moving plot I find myself critiquing and thinking about how the book could have been made better. Pillars of the Earth was a perfect study for the wanna be author like myself because not only was I recognizing room for improvement but I was also taking in all the good things about the book too. And yes, there were some good things.

What I didn’t like -

Um…there were some very graphic sex scenes. Not that I’m uncomfortable reading that type of material, but in this case, they came off sounding like some 15 year old’s fantasies. When the words “hot body” are found in an historical fiction…something just ain’t right. Know what I mean?

Along those lines – there were some pretty graphic rape scenes. I’d have appreciated a little less detail there…they still would have been horrific and served the story.

There were just too many pages that didn’t move the story along – yes describing the architecture was important but come on….too much of that is just boring.

Typos? There is no excuse for typos in something that likely went through 3 editors before making it onto bookstore shelves. In fact, many of the failures of this book can likely be put to poor editing rather than poor writing…although there was a great deal of that as well.

What I did like –

The characters, as simple and one sided as they often were, came through with vigor and life. I had a beautiful sense of who they were as people.

The good vs evil theme was portrayed with so many levels. Each instance fed and supported the next until it flowed through each and every scene, cementing the message in any readers mind.

The general vastness of the story. This book covered generations of characters and decades of time. The skill with which this was achieved was hard to miss.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Bottom Line -

For me, the most interesting thing about Pillars of the Earth (besides the story) was how I could see the author’s technique maturing over the course of the book. Follett started out like a clumbsy foal and finished an accomplished ‘lock.’ The book is worth reading for that reason alone…the epic story is just a bonus to the lesson in novel writing I received with this one. Don’t buy this book to be treated with lovely prose…you’ll be disappointed. But do buy it because you want to view the journey and making of an author.

I’ve since started reading The Gathering by Anne Enright
and it appears to be very promising.

Is it in You? Weekly Inspiration ~ Nov 2nd

Heather — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:25:16 +0000

Can anybody be given a great degree of creativity? No. They can be given the equipment to develop it-if they have it in them in the first place.
George Shearing

So tell me. Do you think some people are born more creative than others? Do you think creativity is something you either have or don’t have? I definitely agree with George when he says it can be developed. It’s partly why I continue writing this site. The demands of motherhood combined with the demands of being a wife and employee leave little time for developing my own sense of creativity. This is the big reason I write a weekly post on the subject. Focusing time each week on such thoughts helps me to keep the spirit of creativity alive and while it might not be enough to develop it, at least it won’t be withered and dead when I find myself with a few more hours to lend to working on creative endeavors.

Do you actively work at developing your creativity? I’m guessing that you do. What do you have on the go right now? Share your link in the widget below and show us!

Short Video – Halloween 2009

Heather — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:01:44 +0000

is she not the cutest frog ever??

No related posts.

Just when you think you’re in the clear

Heather — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:13:51 +0000

I’ve heard people tell stories about how they sneak into their child’s bedroom at night and change their diaper without the kid waking up. I’d like to know what freaking universe these people live in because it’s not my universe. In my universe little H starts by asking for a drink of water…then begging for a drink. Then when that doesn’t work I hear “my hand hurts” and “I need my monkey pajamas” and “move my heater over there” and ” I pee pee in diaper (she’s dry as a bone)” and whatever other excuse pops into her head to try and drag me into her bedroom.

In the last 3 days hubby and I have spent a total of 7 hours trying to put little H to bed.

We’ve endured a lot of chatter, a lot of screaming and a lot of stress. Because no matter what tactic we choose, I always wonder if it’s the right one. Are we doing the right thing? Are we damaging her psyche for life?

I’m pretty sure she’s going to be fine, but I can’t say the same for myself! I’m pretty mentally exhausted and it has shown in what I’ve managed to accomplish so far this week which is pretty much….nothing. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. Right?

photo credit to

bartdubelaar’s photostream

On taking my own advice

Weekly Inspiration – Oct 26th

Heather — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:30:17 +0000

This week I’m inspired by a gadget – now I know I don’t talk about gadgets very often but hear me out. While I was in Chicago I went through an extreme cellphone malfunction. RIP old cellphone, you let me down.

As a person who carries great disdain for telephones, I was happy to dance on the grave of my old phone. However, being as I have a child in a dayhome and seeing how I often get caught in traffic / snowstorms, having a working cellphone is sort of necessary.

So, I bit the bullet and got one of those new iPhones that kids are talking about these days.

It came with a voice recorder. And as I was searching the app store, I came across one that I just had to have. It’s called Idea Organizer. Basically it will allow me to capture my ideas on the fly in whatever medium works the best for me at that time. I can link together voice recordings, photos and text notes and then email them to myself for safe keeping.

Now, when I’m commuting that time will not be wasted! I can safely use the voice recorder and talk to myself all the way home I wonder if I can dictate a whole novel this way? How bizarre would that be?

What’s inspiring you this week? Write about it and share the link below!

Sound Advice

Heather — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:32:43 +0000

I found this short video on YouTube today and just had to share it. It’s interesting to see his liquor habit in action as well as his non-stop persistence. Here is Ray Bradbury and his path to becoming a published writer.

Image credit to

Time Portal’s photostream

Beau-Coup Giveaway ~ value $75 (closed & updated w winner)

Heather — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:44:31 +0000

And the winner is - Sarah C with a tweet! Congrats Sarah!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a giveaway and I thought this one would be a nice prize for my faithful readers! A $75 gift card is up for grabs here and man oh man would this make the upcoming holiday season go a little easier. I mean you can order cookies here people. COOKIES.

I want cookies. Don’t you? There are loads of other things on the site as well, so if you’re some kind of cookie-hating-freak, you can still find something to suit you. Like baby shower favors or personalized fall napkins. Why you’d want those things over cookies is beyond me but hey, if you win, you can do what you want and I’ll try not to judge

HOW TO ENTER

• Post a comment here telling me which item(s) from the Beau-coup Favors website you’d love to get if you win!

For extra entries:

Subscribe via email
Tweet this post
Share on facebook
Blog this post

Each extra entry must be recorded via an extra comment (if you blog or tweet pls comment with the url of that post or tweet) You may tweet up to 4 times per day.

• Giveaway ends Thursday, October 29^th at midnight PST. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Friday, October 30^th .

Good luck everyone!!

I don’t normally…

Heather — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:34:38 +0000

I don’t normally whine but I’m feeling like I need to shake some of this off. I have had pretty much no motivation lately and I don’t know what it is. It could be that I drive to work in the dark, sit in a room with no window, eat lunch at my desk and drive home in the dark. What’s that called when you get depressed in winter? SAD or something? Yeah, I think I have that.

When I get home and just want to sleep!

It’s like there isn’t enough coffee in the world to perk me up. Starbucks…do you deliver? Cause hook me up baby!

I hope the rest of you are staying upbeat with the change of seasons.

Little H is getting pretty excited about Halloween coming up. We bought some pumpkins and they are sitting by the front door waiting for their carving day. Every time we pass them on the way in or out of the house she has to kiss them and give them a hug. I’m afraid she’ll see carving them as a brutal act of horror. How many other ways will I warp her innocence out of simple traditional acts? *insert evil laugh here*

image credit to

Pete Prodoehl’s photostream