She Laughs at the Days

After a long career as a super spy Secret Agent Josephine is now coming forward to tell her story in this colorful set of illustrated children's books written by Brenda Ponnay aka Secret Agent Josephine.


They are available in any e-reader format and hardcopy.

I've been reading about Secret Agent Josephine's adventures long enough to remember when she originally created the alphabet book as flash cards for her own baby Bug to learn with. Of course, as she showed us all the pictures one at a time as they were created, she generously shared with everyone else. Once upon a time you could get the alphabet Secret Agent Josephine style for free.

She's the most generous super spy I know, and blogger.

Now you can get it for only $2.99 on your super spy reading devices, like a kindle or iPad.

Even my big kids were enthralled with these books. It was evening and the light was awful when I showed them these but I grabbed some shots of them reading nonetheless.


(The next morning…

I don't know what else to say when I come to this space besides, "Hey, look what I did over there, and there, and there. Oh and check out my to do list, impressive no?"

Sorry. I'm becoming a workaholic. Ask me the last time I went to bed before 1am. Actually, I hope tonight will be the first time in a while that I did. Yes, that does mean I even worked Thanksgiving Day. We were a bit late because I spent all morning stocking the virtual store.

But some of the things we did in the name of work last week were fun. We went on a few photo shoots for instance.

Sara and I pretended like we were directors and stylists and our kids and friends and family pretended like they were models, and also took pictures, and some of them turned out really fantastic and we have shots for the store now.

Maybe it would be fun for you to see them too? My SIL's are so pretty. The BIL's aren't bad looking either. And the rest, also pretty.















I got to be the fun mom for a change an…

As promised, the video. I'm so happy with how this turned out.




Thanks Haven for taking a concept and turning it into such clear images and thanks Frank for working so long and hard on getting it just right in the editing phase.

I'm making a store right now. I hope to show it to you in a few days. Wish me success?

Once, a long time ago, I tried to throw a concert to fund one of my adventures. My friend Ben had just had one that my sister and I opened for and it was amazing. He rented a hall and he packed that place out, sold tickets, had a photographer, it was a very cool event. With no idea of exactly how much work he put into promoting the thing and marketing, and selling, I naively thought that if I just rented a good enough sound system and a hall they would all come. SO I used all the money I had to do it, threw up a few posters, gathered excellent musicians, and a week later performed a sad, sad little concert to an audience of about 15.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is where I get the idea that I am no good at fundraising. It was a total flop.

So when Sara, our Business Development Volunteer suggested we hold a benefit concert I may have hyperventilated just a little bit at the very thought. (Yes it is as cool as it sounds to have a "Business Development Volunteer". She is amazi…

Sunday afternoon driving home from church, the scenery is beautiful, puffy clouds and green hills, still lagoons and the occasional glimpse of ocean, and I am slapping myself in the face just to stay awake on the 40 minute drive and not have an accident.


This could be a pretty good metaphor for the rest of my life right now. Aaron has been home exactly 20 hours so far this November, after being gone almost all of October and half of September before that. We're planning our first ever fundraiser event in a physical location for this Saturday. The work piles up, the kids they need and pull and cling and bicker and try to climb me, crowding so close on the couch that I start to feel like swatting things.

I know there is beauty all around me still, even if I'm staring only at the black asphalt and the bumper of the car in front of me and smacking myself in the face to try and not fall apart.



The gifts list calls to me to wake up, to look around, to notice what is always there, ev…

My grandpa is  WW II veteran. His whole life he's written poems and several years ago he self published a book of them. (Back before it was easy and cool to do so.)



In honor of today, here's one of his poems.

In Flander's Fields Again

(Excerpt from My Thoughts in Rhyme by Joseph H. Young A Soldier and Farmer)

In Flanders field's, among the slain,
      We who survived, came home again,
(Our father's fought for Freedom there
      The world no longer seemed to care;)
Their sacrifice, was it in vain?

I'm home once more, I did not die
      Among red poppies, 'neath blue sky:
But there amidst the ripening wheat
      Where poppies bloom in summer's heat,
Some comrades sleep, and larks still fly.

Some folks will never understand,
      They have not seen blood reddened sand,
But I saw thing no one should see,
      I can't forget, they stay with me;
Those scenes from war torn land.

The battle's o'er, they say we won,
      What's that to tho…