April 19, 2021 · 7:23 am

Breaking Ground

With restrictions eased for who would receive the latest stimulus check, my son and I finally qualified for a piece of that pie. A lump sum like that deserved some special use. So we went in search of lot owners near our house.

One person had two lots a few spaces up the road from us. She named her price. Even with our government windfall, we wouldn’t have enough for those. Moving on. Then we tracked down the woman who owns the lot right next to us. A few months ago, she said she was willing to sell. Unfortunately, she had moved to another town. So we sent her a message via her uncle who owns the building materials place in town. Then when she wouldn’t answer his calls, we sent a message via the ex-boyfriend, loser that he is. I’m not sure if our messengers helped or hindered the cause, because now she wasn’t going to sell. 

We found the father of the owner of two lots walking in town. He said he’d contact his son and see if he wanted to sell. We struck out there too. 

Since we have the padron (master list) of owners that have registered, we decided to contact a few of the other owners in the off chance they were in need of cash. My husband called the owner (not too many propertarios left a phone number) of the lot one up from us. He said he’d think it over and get back to us. A few hours later, he called and said that we would sell. He brought his two sons and picked up the funds in cash. Both parties were happy. 

Obviously two is better than one, so we tried to locate the owner of the lot next to the recently purchased one. The contact address was to a rental and the person no longer lived there. We opted to put an announcement on the radio. We actually got several calls, but all from other property owners who wanted to know if we were having a “junta” community meeting. 

Deciding that enough was enough, we decided to make do with the lot we had. The digger was rented and the holes for the footers and foundation were dug. Construction has been slow going since my husband insists he can’t take a leave of absence from his job and is only working for an hour or two when he gets home, if that. But hay va (it’s coming along).

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April 5, 2021 · 6:50 am

Card Games

Once upon a time, I made several games for a local Sunday school teacher. Since I’ve nothing but time this year of continued limited events and essential travel only, I thought I’d dust those puppies off and see what I could do with them. 

I found a place that will print cards and made a biblical version of “Old Maid” starring Jezabel and a memory game with 20 women mentioned in the Old Testament. Then I had my son translate them and made Spanish versions. He’s quite the translator these days!

The cards can be ordered from my online store and shipped pretty much anywhere in the world, provided people know about them and like them enough to purchase. There may be import fees for countries outside of the U.S. and Canada (like Mexico).

I wasn’t done with my creative explosion quite yet. Having been a teacher for several decades, I know that most teachers make their own materials and don’t have a lot of money. Thus my online store on Teachers Pay Teachers was created. There I’m offering the pdf versions of the Spanish and English biblical card games, plus a FREE bingo game with three different boards (in both languages).

April 6-7, Teachers Pay Teachers is throwing a site-wide sale. Everything in my store is 20% off as well. So send your teacher friends!

These games are hopefully only the first of many classroom aids. After all, I’ve been making materials for my classes for a long, long time. Perhaps they will be useful for other teachers as well. I plan on adding materials for English, Spanish, ESL and maybe music classes in addition to the Sunday school games. 

I admit I’m not so sure how to market my new “stores.” I suppose that’s a new skill I’ll have to learn. I’ll be sure to wedge time to learn marketing between the other projects I have going on in my productive quarantine 2021.

Friends having fun playing with MY cards!

So far, I’ve set up a storefront on my blog with links to these products. I’ve also set up an opt-in for a newsletter. The monthly newsletter focuses on new products and sales rather than the topics found on either of my blogs. 

You can see a sample newsletter for International Children’s Book Day below. Both books are still on sale today if you haven’t picked up your copy. You can click on the image to see the newsletter with the links. 

I’d love to hear what you think of the games, storefront, or newsletter. Marketing pointers are welcome as well!

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April 2, 2021 · 6:59 am

Celebrating International Children’s Book Day

International Children’s Book Day has been around since 1967. It is observed on April 2, in honor of Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. I don’t know about you, but I loved books since I was a child. Hans Christian Andersen’s stories, which many Disney movies are based on, were particularly dark. The Little Mermaid certainly doesn’t have the same ending, that’s for sure.

Another book that I loved was I’m in Charge of Celebrations by Byrd Baylor. The wildness of that story reminds me so much of my life now in La Yacata. Perhaps, unconsciously, I strove to replicate it in crafting my middle-aged life? Who knows.

As a mother, my favorite children’s book was Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. It makes me sob. My son didn’t like me to read it to him. Go figure. In fact, I’m crying just thinking about it.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was one of my favorite’s as a teacher. I read it to my classes in English and in Spanish when we talked about the environment. It certainly got a mixed bag of reactions from my students!

Travels with Grace by Erma Note is my latest children’s book read. Erma Note will be featured in a few days on Content Creative for the A to Z Virtual Book Tour. Be sure to check that out on April 16!

My own contributions to the world of children’s literature are not as spectacular as these that left a lasting impression on me growing up. However, I hope that children with parents or grandparents from our town will cherish them. So in honor of International Children’s Book Day both La Historia de Moroleón para Niños and The History of Moroleon for Kids ebooks are on sale for 99 cents from April 2 until April 6.

What are your favorite children’s books?

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