Absolutely...

Welcome to day 2 of September !

I'm Krista Ames and this is my day.

And yes...noting the time this posts, i forgot it was my day...shhh, don't tell anyone :)

This month our theme is Absolutely.... The birthstone, Sapphire (promoter of chaste love, health, peace of mind and psychic vision) and flower, Aster (talisman of love, patience).   

I'm sure you can tell by the title of the post, i chose Absolutely.  Since none of my family was born in the month of September, it seemed like an ABSOLUTE choice :)

Can anyone please tell me, where exactly has the time gone?  It feels like just last week my kids were getting out of school and now i'm prepping them to return in a week for another year.  

That is ABSOLUTELY astounding to me.  

Here in Michigan, we are blessed with the law of kids not returning to school until after Labor Day.  Well i don't know about any of you but it actually makes me happy.  I love having them around me.

When i was thinking about what i should write for the theme of Absolutely, a wonderful author friend asked me, "what is absolute for you?"   The first and only thing that popped into my mind was my children. 

Please meet my kids, Taylor (16) 

Chase (12)  &  Bailey (9), and oh

 there's also myself and my dad :)

They are it for me, my life in a nutshell.  A mom is what i always wanted to be when i grew up.  Well let me tell ya, i had an ABSOLUTELY terrific mom myself and she really made it look easy.   I often call her when i need to vent about one thing or another  that one of my kids has done but as they grow, i sure couldn't be more proud to be their mom!

One of the many things i love about my kids is they are so easy going and fun loving.   They always have a smile for anyone at any time...well almost any time :)

 And, I ABSOLUTELY love to play right along with them.  When it's 10 pm and the kids approach me at my computer and say "mom can we go to the park?"  Well, of course my answer is ABSOLUTELY !!  We do that often too, during the summer at least or on the weekends.  There's a light at the school playground but it's more fun once the night lights all go off so we can play hide-n-seek.  

We are also a selfie family, without that blasted selfie stick :)  My kids are the worst too.  Remind me never to put my phone down because they will go crazy and i won't even know it til days later when i'm looking for a certain picture.  Good thing i have alot of memory on my phone.

I think one of the absolute best things about my children is that they really love and love to be with each other !  I feel like so far, I've absolutely done my job with them!

 So, what about you?  What's absolute in your life??

September Theme....Absolutely... Life will Change #RB4U #blogpost #melissa_keir

Absolutely.... Life has a Way of Changing.....

Hello and welcome to Romance Books 4 Us. Normally Nicole stops by to kick off the month and have you all smiling. Today, you get me, Melissa Keir, talking about life changing. It was a perfect time to speak about change with the beginning of a new month- September which seems to kick off fall in my area of the world. 

I love this ring, if anyone is looking for a gift for me! 

This month our theme is Absolutely.... The birthstone, Sapphire (promoter of chaste love, health, peace of mind and psychic vision) and flower, Aster (talisman of love, patience). 

This is me when faced with change!

As I said... Life has a way of changing. If you were here expecting Nicole, you've had to adapt to that change. I'm here. And while change is often not without its own stress, sometimes we must make a change. 





Usually at this time of year, I'm back in my classroom

trying to set it up for any number of students, sitting in on professional development meant to energize me, and worrying about how the year is going to go. But not this year!




This year, I'm worried about insurance and spending too much money. A much different set of stress brought on because of a life change I made. I quit teaching at the school I had taught at for the last 15 years. It was time. I had asked to work part time but they couldn't accommodate me. I've looked for other jobs as a teacher. However, I have two strikes against me-- 20 years teaching experience and a Master's Degree. (The Union says that they have to pay me more and other teachers are cheaper.)

My father, my son and me at Thanksgiving

This year though, I'm ABSOLUTELY...happy that I have time with my family. I was working way too many hours on my writing, publishing, formatting, grading, planning, documenting, testing, reporting...which gave me very little time for the most important things in my life....my family. <3

So.. Absolutely... life changes...(and it will probably always cause me some stress, okay a lot of stress)...
But I'm taking a bold move. Substitute teaching so I can get my teaching fix, working on upcoming novellas, and still have the time to see the faces who I would terribly miss if they weren't here. 

What is your ABSOLUTE? What about life has changed for you?? And how are you handling it? I'd love to hear! 

And Nicole will be by on the 9th to visit with you. However, if you want to read about some musings on life, poetry and recipes from me about the people I love, please check out my new short book titled: Musings of a Madcap Mind.

Available in print and ebook....

Blurb:
One woman’s musings become another woman’s courage… 

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you worry about the person you’ve become? Sitting down at the computer, Melissa spent many hours reflecting on her life, family, and relationships. These musings, recipes, and poems tell the tale of one woman's changing thoughts and feelings about life. 

Come along with her as she explores her reflections, using her words which mirror her changes.

Amazon