Is it 2012 Yet?

Hello Bloggers, I am back!

Had a wonderful Christmas with my son Jesse and his wife Tina.  We spent Christmas in Santa Rosa and there was snow all around.  I had planned to take pictures, but with a brain like a sieve, I forgot the camera was in the bottom of my suitcase.  So no pictures, Sorry.

From the day I arrived to the day I left I was offered fantastic food and of course I over ate.  Oh Lord, did I over eat!  But it was so good!

I loved when they would tell me it was such a nice day outside and it was in the twenties.  This Az. lizard looked at them as if they were crazy.  But I have to admit it was very pretty with the sun making the snow sparkle as if it had glitter on it.  I don't think I have ever noticed that before, of course I haven't seen that much snow to really notice what it looked like with the sun shining on it.

Seeing the glittery snow reminded me of the "White Christmas" performance on stage I had seen with my son John. They had glittery snow falling on the stage and I thought they had done it that way so the audience could see the snow. Now I know snow glitters when the sun shines on it.

Jesse, Tina and I also saw a movie while we were together. We watched Mission Impossible 4. I loved that movie. It had a lot of action and yet it had humor also. My emotions swung from joy to sadness in this movie. It was a fantastic movie.

My daughter in law Tina made fun of me afterwards because I really get involve in the movies I am watching. Murmuring "Oh, Nos" and moving around in my seat as I tried to help the actors with my own actions. Jumping when something scared me. What can I say, I enjoy movies totally.
I have been thinking about my New Year's resolution and I haven't settled on any yet.

What are your New Year resolution?

I'm kicking around about writing a certain amount of words each day.

Exercising for thirty minutes every day.

Calling my kids.  The problem is, I am not a phone person.

Which is really weird, since I had a job for three years using the phone. This worked because there wasn't any personal connection. It was all business.

 When I'm talking on the phone to family, my brain goes dead and there is a lot of silence.  Now let me write a letter and it turns into a lot of pages.

Then there is the not wanting to bother them.  What time of day is the best time to call? What day is best? Should I drop by to visit with you in person and when should I do this?

This feeling probably came from my parents who did not like to be bothered with calls from me or unexpected visits. So as a result I very rarely called them or just dropped by to visit with them. When they wanted to hear what was going on, they called me, but not very often.

My kids are always on my mind, as I wonder how they are doing, and what they are doing.  But I just never think of calling to find out.

 My daughter in law Tina says I need to start calling my kids. She says they don't think they are loved, because I don't call them.

Strange, I just took it for granted they knew I loved them with all my heart. I think maybe we need to work on our communication.

My daughter calls me when she needs to hear my voice and my son Jesse calls me also. Neither of these two have ever said they wished I would make the calls. (Communication problem again?) It is very very rare when I call them. I mean they have busy lives and I don't want to interfere.

Do you call your kids and parents?  How often do you call them, once a week, once a month?

So some of my kids think I am terrible because I only call when I am in desperate need of their help.  Hmmm, maybe I need to make it a very strong resolution to call them daily, weekly or monthly.  I will have to think about it some more.  I really don't want to be a bother.

I really need a book with rules and guidelines on how to communicate with my boys and their wives.  I feel like a fish floundering in a basket waiting to be eaten.

I need a sign saying "Give Me A Break, I Was Raised By Crazy, Strange People!"  Learning how to talk, communicate and socialize with people was not included in the lessons they taught. It's a wonder I am as sane as I am. I wonder do crazy people know they are crazy?

I can definitely thank my parents for the reason why I like to write stories.


I can fill my world with people who can not judge me and find me wanting.

Do you ever get the feeling life is filled with more questions than answers?


Now all I need to do is to find some readers out there to buy my ebooks and read them. Even though I haven't made enough with two ebooks to cover the cost of the copywrites, I plan to up load more ebooks in 2012 in hopes of finding my audience.


Sooo, how is it going for you? Drop a line and let me know.


See you around the block.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing Everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

                                                                                                                                                                               Well Christmas is almost here!

My daughter in law Tina called me yesterday to remind me to bring warm clothing.

She said it was very cold there and they had a lot of snow.  They were hit by that big blizzard that passed through the plains.

I laughed and said I would bring what warm clothes I had, but I have a feeling they wouldn't be considered warm clothes in her area.

I live in Phoenix and what we think is warm clothing is not when you are in a really cold place.

I remember I was out there for Easter one year and it snowed. I was asked why I didn't wear my winter clothes.

I grabbed hold of the front of my sweat shirt, "This is my winter clothes!"

They laughed, shook their heads. I think they think I am crazy. Maybeeeeee.

 This will be my last blog until after Christmas. I have a problem of not remembering my own URLs, passwords and etc. So since my lap top is on the fritz, I doubt I will be able to use any one elses computer.

See you around the block.

There is a wonderful Christmas tale at Maggie Barbieri 

Joan Reeves

had Dyanne Davis  over for coffee this morning.  Dyanne talked about the good and the bad of having critiques done on your stories.  She brought up some very good points.

lYnn Viehl  had me biting my finger nails this morning.  She was having terrible eye pain.  Check out her blog and see how it turned out.

Nancy Martin has the funniest blog up today.  I laughed my head off over the beer cooler.  You have to read this!

This blog page is giving me a very hard time today.  Nothing seems to be working right.  Ugh!!!!!

Second Chance at Amazon 

Fainting Damsel at Amazon 

Second Chance at Smashwords 

Faintind Damsel at Smashwords 

Both books can be found at Barnes & Noble

Happy Holidays

Okay I tried to leave some comments on some blogs today and my comments disappeared. My silly computer would take me to the blogspot sign in page. I gave up after a while.

I was reading some of my favorite blogs and found out one will be ending Jan 1st. I will miss this blog, it was entertaining and made me laugh. Marcie and Nancy Martin wrote about the ending coming soon. This was the one a few days ago it was hilarious, Elaine Viets wrote "My Shot at Chic" to do with tasting vinegar.  I laughed so hard at this one, I cried.

Also, while I am thinking of it. I will not be putting up a new blog on Fri., Dec. 23rd or Monday, Dec., 26th. I will be visiting with my son and his wife. I am not taking my lap top with me, because it is crazy. The last time I used it I wanted to throw it across the room and stomp it when it landed. Soooo,
no laptop. 

Have a very Merry Christmas and don't eat too much. Okay, you can eat as much as you want. But remember, we will have to go on a diet after the holidays.

 This also means I will have to catch up with you guys on your blogs when I get back


Alas, I found out the link I had been using for Amazon to connect my readers to my book was wrong. I might sale more if I used the right link. I find Amazon not as user friendly as I do Smashwords. How about you, which one is easier for you to use and keep track of your book sales?

So here are the correct links to my books on Amazon:

Second Chance

Fainting Damsel

Smashwords I had right but I will put them again. My books are at sale at Barnes & Noble and Apple. I haven't figured yet how to find out how they are doing and their links, since Smashword placed them there. I am not a computer guru, sad very sad.

Second Chance


Fainting Damsel

My book Charlie will soon be ready to upload as an e book. I had so much fun working with these characters, especially Charlie who is a mouthy parrot. I have started another book with some of the same characters, but I'm not sure if I could come up with a third story. We will have to wait and see.

Jenny Hansen   Loved her blog about recipes that have been handed down.  I feel her pain, I have gone through some of the same things.  In the recipe my Aunt gave me for making Heath bars, she forgot to mention I needed to wait for the color of the candy to change when I was cooking it, otherwise you turn out this soft, crumbly Heath bar.  Then there is my mom who had this wonderful Eggplant Casserole.  I would ask her a number of times for the recipe and her answer was, "The recipe is on the cracker box."  Yah, probably twenty years ago.  Never did get that recipe and mom is gone now.


Lynn Viehl   Is at it again, adding more to the give away she has going. Poor darling, it will cost a fortune to mail it. I am not a shopper, but I enjoy reading about people who shop. I think I was born without the shopping gene. Oh well, I will find something else to do.

Harley    Writes about mysteries things happening in her life. Whew, some sound scarey and one, I wonder if she had been drinking. White horses with pastel tails of different colors. Hmm, I don't know about that. Enjoyed the blog and wonder what will happen next.

Susan McBride   
Her blog is about memories of a Christmas when she was a child. It brought back memories of when my kids were small. We also had a tree covered in home made ornaments, store bought ones and lots of lights. The kids also threw the tinsel on the tree and I thought it made the tree more interesting. I have given the ornaments my kids made to them to put on their own trees and have a very small tree with ornaments I made for this tiny tree.

See you around the block.

Learning, Reading and Writing

Okay, I am running a little behind, but the dog ate my blog. Just kidding, I had things I had to do and you know how life likes to throws monkeys at you? I mean monkey wrenches in the works.


I love the Elf picture I found to share with you. Don't worry it was free clip art, able to be used by anyone.


When I started this writing gig, I didn't realize what all I would have to do. I mean I have to twitter, do face book and blog, plus read other authors blogs, plus just read and learn.

Of course I had to take time out to watch my favorite Christmas movies. Holiday Inn, White Christmas and Miracle on 34th St. ( the old black and white, and also the newer version) Then I had to watch the different Scooge movies they show on television. This is tradition you know and I have to keep up my end.




Now to get down to some business:
Learning more about social media.

Kristen Lamb   her blog today was "Aspiring is for Pansies -Tough Love and Being a Writer"
She really covered the issues in being a writer. All of the points she made hit home. Especially don't expect family to gush about your writing. I had to twist some arms to get some of my kids to read my books, while others rushed to do it, and some still have not read them. There may have to be more pressure put on them. Just kidding, well maybe a little pressure.

Since becoming a writer, I have never been so busy reading, blogging, making comments on blogs, face book and twitter. My readers are out there and they need to be able to find me.

I must admit my sister in law Connie has been the best cheerleader for my writing. She is the one asking do I have something for her to read and in my Christmas card she told me and I quote, "I know your writing will take off once your readers get a taste of your style!" Yes, she did say that and I walked around on cloud 9 all day.

I also have found new blogs to read from twitter and face book. It's like one yellow brick leads you down the road to another and some day I will make it to Oz. My favorite color is green, so I should fit right in.

Writing is a job and I am here for the long haul and remember I am only human and sometimes my blog will go up a little late. But they say better late than never.

Michael Hyatt   I signed up for the Buffer he talked about and now have things to be added automatically to face book and twitter.

Rachel Aaron    She tells you how she increased her 2000 words a day to 10,000 words a day. A woman after my own heart. I will be trying to implement some of her ideas.  I found this blog thanks to Molly Cox Bryan on face book.

Elaine Viets    This was sooo funny. I laughed until I cried. If you want a little knowledge about olive oil and Balsamic vinegar this is the spot.

This and That

Moving slow and thinking slow to day.  It's one of those days I am asking the walls what will I write about.  The walls never talk unfortunately.  They are no help at all.

So, since I couldn't come up with something I decided to blog hop and see what is going on.  I found some great blogs I thought I would share with you.

Kristine Kathry Rusch       This is a fantastic and interesting site.  Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a lot to offer.  She has featured section which is my favorite.  It consists of stories and very interesting stories.  Every Monday there is a new story and last Monday's story was "The Last Christmas Letter".  Fantastic, I can't come up with enough words to tell you how good this story was.  With a few key words she transport you to where the story is taking place.  I loved it, so if you need a break from writing or anything go to this site.  You never know what might catch your fancy.

SB Sarah             

The title of this blog is "Virginity Cliches in Romance". The woman is unhappy about reading it over and over again in a romance book that (1) the hero didn't know his lover was a virgin (2) the hero saying he would have done it different. I found this blog intertaining and I totally agree. Some times we would like our stories more real life. I mean really, did our hero ever tell us that after our first roll in the sack? Let's get real here.


I was wondering what every one thought about the new offer from Amazon. You know belonging to their lending library and you can't have your book for sale any where else. Lord have mercy for a newbie this is terror filled zone. We are having enough trouble finding enough places to push (advertise) our books without something like this. I will be staying away from this elite club, but then again I was always a tad of a rebel. What are you thoughts on this? Leave a comment and let me know.

 Finished up my Christmas shopping yesterday and spent the evening wrapping presents. While doing this I thought of what Christmas had been like when my children were small. I miss those times even though the days were filled with a lot of work. I miss baking cookies to give away and to eat until I didn't have any space left in the kitchen to put them. Making homemade candy to be eaten and given away. The pies scattered around the counters in all their glory. Fingers large and small reaching out to taste and help. Laughter and smiles shared. Memories made to keep and to forget. If I could I would love to go back and relive those times.

In those long ago days, Sears use to send out their Christmas catalog. Each year we looked forward to the day the catalog would arrive. The kids arguing over who would get to look through it first. The kids would scan the pages marking what they wanted which was about everything. My husband and I would scan the pages dreaming of the presents we wanted too. By the time Christmas came Sears Christmas catalog looked and had been well used. Pages crinkled, corners turned down and pictures marked. It looked as if it had been around for ages. But it was such a part of Christmas, a tradition we needed to share each year. 

It's strange I remember mainly the time leading up to Christmas with the shopping, baking, wrapping and the Christmas programs at school and at church. There was one year it snowed on Christmas day a rare occurrence in southeastern Arizona.

Getting together with family and friends to share the goodies we baked and cooked.


The year my sister in laws and I crocheted Christmas tree skirts, ornaments, mittens, house shoes, scarfs and etc for Christmas.

All of these preparations left us with the feeling of accomplishment. We were artists in our on rights with the glory of our creations to share.


I miss these long ago Christmases.

I don't do all that baking, candy making any more. Today we are worried about the weight we put on and healthy eating. Living alone, I definitely don't need the sweets around. I have a sweet tooth that want stop.



My kids have grown up and are making their own memories. I share only a very small portion of their holidays memories now. I guess this is what happens when you mainly have sons and they share all the memories with the wife's family. Unfortunately my daughter and son in law live out of state near his parents and they are making memories with them.



I can now understand what they mean about this being the loneliness time of the year. Why there is a problem with depression. We sometimes out live our usefulness and traditions are forgotten no matter how hard we tried to install them.


See you around the block.

Life

Woke up to a rare rainy day in Phoenix.  Wow!  It's really neat.  We do like to experience different weather off and on.  I mean really sunshine and all that can get old.  So on a day like today, you will find our faces filled with excitement and amazement.  I know you think we are crazy.  Maybe we are, but we know how to appreciate bad weather.

I have been busy.  No unfortunately not with my writing, even though I did write a few new ideas and beginnings of stories down.  I have been busy with family.

Last week I went to the Gammage Theater with my oldest son and saw Irving Berlin's White Christmas.  I really enjoyed it, but I still love my copy of the movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. 

Then over the weekend I visited with my sons, Wayne, Jesse and Toney.  They put in a new radiator in my car.  I had been complaining it was losing water.  Which isn't water anymore, it is a mixture of anti-freeze and water.   More pricey to keep refilling.  Then we went out to eat at The Keg next to the Chandler Fashion Square Mall.  Fantastic steaks, let me tell you. 

I don't remember how we got on the conversation of how their dad use to buy a second hand car, but it did come up and we had some great laughs over.

My husband big John would buy a car by how it looked.  I was the one looking under the hood and making statements like:

Me:  "There isn't any water in the radiator.  I am sure that is a bad sign."

John: " Look at the lines of this car.  Wow, it is fantastic!"

Me:  "But John the motor doesn't sound that great.  There's a miss."

John:  "Don't you love this color of blue?"

Me:  "It looks like a pimp car!  Really, it does."

John:  "I'll take it!"

Me:  "But John, I am the one that will have to drive it."

John:  "I'll take it!"

I frown and look at the salesman who is grinning ear to ear.  He knows he has made a killer deal with a man who likes the looks of a car.

Drove the car home and next day it wouldn't start.  The dealer had to do a ring job on it for free.  When John gets mad people seem to do what he wants.

The car also had a little quirk when it rained and you drove through a puddle, you would lose your breaks.  We never could figure out why that happened.  Thank God we lived where it didn't rain that often.

Believe me, when that car finally died, I did a victory dance.  I bought myself a brand new Saturn and I have been driving it for eleven years.  Best car I ever had.  First thing I looked at was how fast would it go.  That was important to me after being stuck in a car, whose top speed was ninety. 

I always love visiting with my kids.  What parent doesn't, is the question?

Sunday evening found me at Westwood High School watching a granddaughter and a grandson perform in their Christmas program "Canticle in Carols".  Granddaughter had a solo and grandson sang with four other young men.  Loved the music, they did such a fantastic job.

Took me back when my children were in school and I attended all of their performances.

See you around the block.

Remember I also have books for sale:

Second Chance on sale for $.99 on Smashwords.

Fainting Damsel  on sale for $.99 on Smashwords.

I also have both on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple.

Need to do More Writing

I've been working on my third book to get it ready for uploading as an e book. Then the book came to a halt when one of my readers told me, "She knew who the murderer was by the third chapter."

I thought, "That's not good.  Some readers would stop reading at that point".  So I put the book aside while I thought about it.

My reader said she, "continued to read because she wanted to know how the murderer was caught."

I wondered how many readers out there would do that and I figured not many.

A few days passed and I read through the story again.  It was like a light bulb turned on.

I could fix the story by letting the reader and Charlie know who the murderer was, but not let the main characters know who the murderer was.

I mean really who listens to a loud mouth parrot?  Not many people I am sure.

So now I am having to rewrite parts of it and add more to my story.  I think it will turn out to be a better story then I had orginally wrote or at least I hope so.

I am hoping with this book my readers will know and love my characters.  Care about what is happening in their lives and hungry to want to know more.

Piece by piece I am building the characters.  Letting the reader know how they are feeling, how they interpret certain things and know the hang ups my character has that sometimes derail us in real life.

You know those speed bump kind of things.

Have you ever had this kind of thing happen to you?  Did you go back and fix the problem?

See you around the block.

Some blogs you may have missed:

Liana Brooks has a funny tale today about being locked out of the house and how a woman can be creative in getting help. 

Lynn Viehl  is keeping Barnes & Noble busy.  Wow!  Look at all the books she bought.  All I can say a reader is in hog heaven.

The Bloggess is always a hoot to read.  So if you need a laugh, read this blog.

Lucy Burdette blog is about how important the characters are in our stories.  The help our readers to remember the story.

Time With The Boys

I know I am late getting my blog up, but things happen you know. I was really upset over it until I gave myself a good talking to. I mean really, if a blogger has nothing new today on their blog I will check the blog out tomorrow to see if there is anything new. I'm sure other blog readers do the same. I would get this done and it could be read tomorrow.


Last night my oldest son John (named after his daddy) took me to ASU Gammge theater to watch the stage performance of Irving Berlin's White Christmas.


This is one movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye I watch at this time of year. So I was interested to see how they would do this on the stage.


They of course had to leave some stuff out and move some stuff to happen at different times then they had happen in the movie.


But I enjoyed the performance and found my self really interested in how they made it snow on the stage.


In the barn scene were they throw open the doors, because it is finally snowing. The stage production had glittery snow falling. It was gorgeous. Then in another scene, the snow was coming out of these things hung in front of the stage and the air conditioning they had on blew the snow onto the stage. I loved it.


Of course the music was fantastic and the singers good, but I adore the movie. It is still the tops.


What made this night really special, is the time I spent with my son. It was just the two of us sharing mom and son time. I love those kind of times. Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter in laws, but it is nice to have time with your own child.

Last week my youngest son Toney brought over the exterior floppy disk reader I needed. I had about 25 stories on floppy disks and could not get to them. My tower is newer and didn't have this capability. He also took me out for lunch.


Generally speaking my boys forget to make time for their mom and when they do I soak it up like a cat sitting in the sun shine in the middle of winter soaking up the warmth.


The older I get the more precious this time is and I don't get to have as many of these precious times as I would like.


Later on I will write more stories about the past as they come to me, but sometimes I would like you to know what is going on in the here and now.


Working on my Charlie book and almost have it ready to upload as an e book. Making a few changes here and there. Will have to consider what price to put on it since I read Elle Lothlorien's blog, I have a link below to it.


A lot of the blogs I follow are by fellow authors and they are always writing great advice. I haven't learned enough yet to share it and hope some day to be able to do that. Until then my blog is for entertainment only for the reader and me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do writing it.


See you around the block.

A face book friend Erin Kern directed me to this site.  It makes fun of the Twilight movie.
Twilight movie

Ray Rhamey is offering authors the chance to have your book advertised on his blog.

Liana Brooks  has a music clip.  The video is set up like Star Wars with two cello players.  I thought it was fantastic.

Elle Lothlorien  wrote on Joe Konrath blog.  I linked her name to this blog.  She talks about pricing e books.  I think what it boils down to is a crap shoot.  We will have to experiment and find out what works.  As a newbie e book author I am finding it a little confusing.  I wish us luck to all the writers out there trying to figure this out.

It's Raining

I woke up this weekend to a cloudy sky, temperature in the low fifties and rain.  Temperature in the low fifties means those of us who are desert lizards found it cold.  Don't laugh, if you were use to temps in the hundreds plus you would find it cold too.

Well, anyway back to what I was planning to write about.  The raining morning took me on a trip back into the past when my children were very young and we lived in Elfrida in a very small house.  Our house was old and the only heat in it came from a space heater in the living room and one in the bathroom.  This house was built way before air conditioning and central heating and cooling.

On rainy mornings on the weekend, I would get up and fix eggs with bacon or sausage and pancakes or biscuits for all of us.  All seven of us would sit around the kitchen table and eat.  When I was cooking the kitchen would be the warmest place in the house.  Did I mention the house was very drafty.  Yeah, it was.

Then I would wash the dishes by hand.  There was always a lot of dishes with seven people in the family.
I would start some yeast softening for bread and cinnamon rolls I planned to bake that day.  There was a theory to my madness.  If I baked all day the house not only smelt like heaven, but the old house would be cozy warm.

My family loved home made breads, cookies, pies, candies and etc.  I could throw a pie together in a blink of an eye.  My husband John and I would be sitting in front of the television and he would say a coconut cream pie would really hit the spot.  I was up and had a pie for him in less than an hour and this was without store bought fillings.  I always made my own fillings.

Cooking and baking always gave me a feeling of accomplishing something back than.  It was a creative outlet I guess.

So, back to my baking on a rainy Saturday.  We had five kids, four boys and one girl, yet I don't remember my house being filled with screaming, crying, and yelling.  We had taught our children well, that when they were inside we expected them to use inside voices and no one horse played in the house.

We would play board games together, cards or work on a jig saw puzzle.  John my husband had cut some plywood down for us to work the jig saw puzzles on and this way it could be moved out of the way, which meant we could do the big jig saw with a thousand pieces.

We also read a lot and watched television.  The kids would play quietly on the floor in the living room and they all drifted through the kitchen to nibble on something cooling from the oven.

Lord, I can see those plate full of cookies, fresh rolls cooling on a rack and a plate of cinnamon bread and sometimes a cake or a pie depending on what I had on hand.

Yup, I miss those days, especially on a rainy Saturday morning when I only have myself to cook for and of course I am always on a diet of some kind.  I need to find a diet that includes all my desserts and chocolate chips.  But once in a while I will give in and cook myself an old fashion breakfast.  Yummmm!

Does the weather bring back memories of another time to you?  I would love to hear about them.

See you around the block.


http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/ Lynn Viehl has a list of gifts to give a writer.

http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/the_lipstick_chronicles/2011/12/just-on-the-tip-of-my-tongue.html#comments
Hank Phillippi Ryan wrote an entertaining blog about remembering names. He has a hard time doing it. I let him know I have a hard time remembering names too.

http://kbowenmysteries.com/?p=165#more-165 K. B. Owen's blog is about Charlie Chan. She also has a quiz dealing with detective characters.

Books on sale at Smashwords and Amazon for $.99

Second Chance at Smashwords

Fainting Damsel at Smashwords


Second Chance at Amazon


Fainting Damsel at Amazon

Chocolate Chips

 

Okay, as you know I am new to the writing scene and I have found out the hard way, sitting at a computer a lot of the day can make you, (oh, dare I say it?) b-i-g-g-e-r.  

Yes, you know what I am talking about.  My youngest son Toney says I need to exercise.  I went from a job on my feet all day moving around, to sitting on my bottom all day.  Go Figure!

I now have a timer next to my computer.  I set it for one hour, when it rings, I get up and walk for fifteen minutes.  That is if the muse is not talking to me.   I also have an pedometer in my pocket to count my steps.  Just about everyone says if you walk ten thousands steps a day you will lose weight.   

Believe it or not, I get in my ten thousand steps a day.   My question is WHEN DO I START LOSING WEIGHT?  I mean really people, I haven't lost a pound, but my calves are to die for. The rest of me, Blah.

Toney: " Give it time mom.  Muscle weights more than fat."

 Me:  "Duh."

Toney:: "It's like your writing, it will have benefits in the future."

Me:  "Sure it well."

Toney:  "Are you watching what you eat?  Are you following a diet?"

Me:  "My middle name is diet, of course I am following my diet to a T."

Toney stands there looking at me.  I look away.

Me: "You don't think it's the chocolate chips?"

Toney: "What chocolate chips?"

Me: "Weeelllll, you know how I love candy and cookies?  A tablespoon of dark chocolate chips are only seventy calories."

Toney:  Grining ear to ear.  "How many tablespoons do you eat?"

Me:  " Weeelll, I eat two tablespoons, and that is less calories than a candy bar and most cookies.  One tablespoon was just a tease."

Toney is laughing and having a hard time speaking.

Toney:  "How many times a day do you have these two tablespoons?"

Me: "Weeelll about two times a day.  You know as the dessert after lunch and dinner."

Toney:  "What gave you the idea of eating chocolate chips in place of cookies and candy?"

Me:  "If you look at the diet I am following it says candy, cookies and etc. are not to be eaten.  It doesn't mention chocolate chips."

Toney:  "You don't think the chocolate chips is in the etc.?"

Me:  "I think if they didn't want me to eat chocolate chips they would print it in black and white."

Toney:   Hugs me and says, "Yeah, mom, but they didn't know you would be trying to follow their diet.  Cut out the chocolate chips and you might see a weight lost."

Me:  "Okay, I will. Of course I have to eat the chocolate chips I have on hand.  I don't want to be wasteful, you know."

Toney laughs all the way to his car.  Do you think he was laughing at me?   Hmmm, I seem to entertain my kids a lot.

See you around the block.

Lynn Viehl 

Has been a very busy woman.  Where does she get all her energy?  Read her blog to find out all she has been up to.

Joshilyn Jackson

I found Joshilyn's blogg so funny.  It is about a mother allowing her daughter to get her ears pierced.  I know what she was feeling, let me tell you.  I only had one girl and she was the youngest of my children.  It was very hard to let her get her ears pierced.

Therese Fowler

Eat an elephant?  Therese wrote about taking control of your life.  You will enjoy her story and be helped by the advice she gives, or at least I think you well.

Heidi Windmiller 

I am so glad Heidi is back with us from NaNo.  I missed reading her blog during November.  

Tiffany Van Cleef Arpel

I loved this blog!  I couldn't stop laughing as I read it.  Pure entertainment.  Of course I expected it would be with this name connected to shopping.  I mean really doesn't it sound like a name someone rich would have?

Hope to hear more from Tiffany.

Sharla Rae 

 Sharla has a great article on non-verbal communication.  She has a list of them also.  So, should your character lift an eyebrow or crosses their arms over their body, you will know what they are really saying.  I probably need to use these clues in real life.  The question is, will I remember them?  

It Works and More Fluff

Apparently my smoke alarm works!  Burning toast in the toaster sent a shrill noise through the house.  I never have to worry about checking the smoke alarm, I know somehow in the year I set the alarm off.

I have been working on my fourth WIP, it will be a sequel to Charlie, which I hope to upload as an e book in a few weeks.  Charlie is a parrot and a character.  I love this silly bird and Wendy the woman who took him in without blinking an eye is also my favorite.  Wendy is sweet, has some hang ups from high school, like the majority of people and she is a fighter.  Charlie and Wendy worked so well together with the two men in Wendy's life, I decided to do another murder mystery with them all involved in one way or another.

Enough of the present, I think we will step in to the past for a few minutes.

My daughter Carey was my fourth child and the only girl with four older brothers.  Carey unfortunately took after her mother and is an air head and since God has a sense of humor, he decided to give her blond hair.  Both my husband and I are dark headed.

Of course since she was the only blond in the family, my fourth son had her convinced for the longest time she was adopted.  John my husband and I finally convinced her by the time she was in first grade that she was not adopted.

Well as I mentioned Carey was an air head like me.   One weekend, we were in Sierra Vista shopping.  The kids love Long John Silver and we stopped there to eat.  Carey had a kids meal which included a chocolate chip cookie.  She is eating and talking and not really paying attention to what she eats.  Carey suddenly stops to look down into the box containing her meal.  Carey's lips curve down and she looks up at her dad and me with tear filled eyes.   

"Someone ate my cookie!"  She gives each of her four brothers a dirty look.

John and I are looking at her and laughing.  I could hardly get the words out.  "Carey, you ate your cookie.  I watched you do it."

Carey looks down into her meal box and shakes her head.  Looking up at me with pleading eyes, "Are you sure I ate my cookie?"

"Yes, sweetheart, you did eat your cookie."

John couldn't take the dejected look in her eyes and he bought her another cookie, telling her to make sure she paid attention when she ate it.

With five kids there were always moments that John and I found funny while the kid involved didn't think it was so great.

Toney the youngest son tried to dive through the window into the car and put a gash in his head.  I taped it together and he was back outside.

Jesse the third son was having an argument with his brother Wayne over their record players.  Jesse grabs a cord thinking it belongs to Wayne's record player and cuts off the plug with scissors.  Poor Jesse it turned out to be the cord to his record player.  John fixed it and both boys were happy.

Wayne my second son and his friends loved to build ramps for their bikes.  They really weren't the greatest builders.  So none of us were surprised when Wayne comes home with his chin scraped deeply, bottom teeth in front are loose and he has broken of one of his front teeth.  I called the dentist who is fifty six miles away and he says he will meet us at his office.  We drive to Sierra Vista and the Dentist checks Wayne out.  He rebuilt Wayne's front tooth and cleaned Wayne's chin.  Poor Wayne had to live on Slim Fast until his bottom teeth tighten up.

Ah, the thrills of raising children.  I sometimes wonder how mine live through it.

I haven't any advice for writers, except to write and read.  I'm sure you are waiting for my blog to become more educational and  that is one of the reason I include links to other blogs.  I have found some blogs very educational, but I wonder sometimes if it is too much information.  So I think I will keep my blog more entertaining than educational.  I always like a little fluff in my day.  How about you, are you tired of learning and just want to be entertained for a few minutes?  Let me know.

I had a great time reading  Joan Reeves today.  She had Barbara Graham talking about imaginary friends.  I found this piece funny and also it helped me realize I wasn't crazy.  Thank you very much.  I keep telling my kids I'm not crazy and they want believe me.

Lynn Viehl  had a museum  site you could visit.  Lynn said if NaNo writers needed a short break.  I loved museums and had to visit the site.  Love it.

Elaine Isaak  was burned out on unnecessary magic in books.  I had to laugh through this.  I sometimes have thought that as I read a book with magic in it.

Jack Caldwell wrote a blog about turkeys and a little of their history.  It came about from his putting a turkey on the table in one of his books and one of his beta readers said turkeys did not exist in England at the time.  I enjoyed this and also learned something as I read.

K. B. Owen has an interesting blog today.  She compares writing to decorating a Christmas tree.  Go have a look and see what you think.

See you around the block.

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