Easter finery

I realize the holiday is long gone, but here's a pic of the kids all dressed up and smiling cutely. :)

Two short anecdotes to go along with their photo: The other day, I bought Emily a Disney princess purse because she desperately wanted something to carry around with her. She'd soon filled it with the following items: my old, inoperable cellphone ; some loose change; and an old container of eye shadow.
"Now I just need some receipts!" she said with determination.
Why? "So they I can crinkle them around like you do in your purse," she replied. But of course! If you don't have random trash in your purse, the effect is just not complete.

Now for a Jake quote: This weekend I went to a wedding in Austin, so the kids stayed home with Mike. When I called the house, Jake got on the phone and said, "Hi, Mommy. Say hello to your little friend."

"Um.... hello!" I said, not sure if I should laugh or cry about the fact that my son was quoting from Scarface. No, he's never seen the movie, nor has he even heard of it. But somehow, he knows that famous line. Kids today!

To those who haven't abandoned this blog forever...

Wow. It's been almost a month since I've posted anything! That's bad, I know. Really bad. Horrifyingly awful. (OK, enough.)

I guess my only excuse is that I've been in a bit of a career-related funk for a couple of weeks. (The weeks I didn't blog before that? Pure laziness.)

These are odd times in which to be a journalist: Newspapers are suffering, magazines are changing, freelance needs are in limbo.

For the past few years, I've been lucking out out in Freelanceville. I got on as a regular contributor to a national magazine; I had local newspaper assignments coming out my ears; and, of course, there was my beloved weekly column gig.

This year is different.

On the same day I wrote my final column for the King County Journal, I found out that the bureau I worked out of for the national magazine was closing. While I'm still busy enough, I'm starting to see the writing on the wall: It's time -- again -- to change focus.

Before I started my freelancing career, I worked full-time as a copy editor at a newspaper. After begging and pleading for years to get switched over to a writing position, it dawned on me one day: It's never going to happen. Never. They needed copy editors, and they didn't need writers. (Plus, I was already writing for them, so they already had everything they needed from me.) It was so obvious, but I hadn't been able to realize it until that moment.

Seconds later, I started to change my focus -- to put another plan in place and see what would happen. For the past three years, that plan has worked out well. Now, perhaps it's time to tweak it.

Here's the thing: When I was in my funk, I forgot about happy little ideas called self-reliance and optimism. I was stuck in worried-and-fearful mode: What if this particular gig goes away? I don't want it to!! Sob!

Well, today it hit me (just like it did the last time): Instead of waiting around for something to happen -- and begging the powers-that-be to help me -- I need to devise another route. As my mom has said many times, you have to make things happen for yourself.

Which is just about the best advice I've ever received.