Woman fined because of fornicating goats.

A woman in Dibble Oklahoma received a fine because her goats were having sex in public.

Her property used to be considered rural, but without her knowledge was annexed by the city.

As such her animals must abide by the city ordinance and keep their sex lives private.

She pointed to her male goat and then to each of her females saying, "He was having sex with her and then with her." Mr. Goat posed happily for the camera.

She took the case to court and won because she was unaware she now lived inside the city limits.

What I want to know is who was stupid enough to complain?

Oh, it's also against the law in Dibble for animals to relieve themselves in public.

She also has horses and dogs. Her stallion better control himself or get a room.

My Poor Trees

In case y'all haven't listened to the national news, we had a huge ice storm here in Oklahoma.

We were without electricity for two days, Monday and Tuesday. With temperatures in the 20's and 30's it was a bit nipply. Much of Oklahoma is still without power so we feel pretty fortunate.

We went to Walmart yesterday. Apparently so did everyone else. There were some people hanging out there just to keep warm and chat with who ever would hear their story and everyone has one. People were buying generators like crazy.


We have gas heat but without electricity to power the central fan there's no heat. Luckily we have a fireplace so we tarped off the back of the house and camped out in the living room. My couch makes out into a bed. Jennifer slept on the floor in her sleeping bag in front of the fireplace. Our hot water tank is gas so we could still take a warm shower, however without lights it was a little tricky shaving.


This is my front yard taken from a neighbors yard. That big one in the middle is a silver maple. most of the others are lace bark elms.




This is looking at my front door. It's a bit tricky getting there right now. Mark has a chain saw but it's electric.



Sunday night we woke up several times hearing loud crashes as tree limbs fell. Two fell on my roof, but didn't damage it. One fell on my Honda, but there was a half inch thick layer of ice on it so it didn't damage the car. I still have large twigs frozen in ice on my car roof. That's how we found it in the sea of vehicles in the Wal-Mart parking lot.


The next two are my backyard.






We have the most trees in our neighborhood, ten in the frontyard and eight in the back. I just hope we can save most of them.

People were driving by real slow staring. Heck who needs Christmas decorations.

I have two black jack trees in the backyard that hardly have any damage. For y'all non-Okies those are native scrub oaks that grow wild in Oklahoma. Most people cut down black jacks and plant "more appealing" trees. I like black jacks for many reasons. They grow well in drought and can withstand ice storms. You have to be tough to live in Oklahoma and black jacks are tough trees.


I have a gas stove with electronic ignitors. Using a match the old fashioned way I could light the burners, however my oven is turned on by an electronic panel sooo.

You can make cornbread by frying it in an iron skillet on the stove top. Toast can be made with tongs held over a burner.

A woman on the news cooked a roast on her floor furnace. Her food in the freezer was going to go bad if she didn't cook it so she invited her neighbors over for dinner.

OG&E has brought in people from as far away as West Virginia to get the electric lines back up and running.

Even today my electricity occasionally flickers on and off. Until they get the lines all repaired we'll see a lot of that.

John Lennon

27 years ago today, John Lennon was murdered.

I remember sitting at Stars and Stripes park with Mark and many other people burning incense, candles and doobies while listening to Lennon tunes blasted across the park by someone with a great sound system.

Strangers cried and hugged and wondered why. Why would someone kill a peace loving individual who never hurt anyone?


Yoko wrote this letter.

I miss you, John. 27 years later, I still wish I could turn back the clock to the Summer of 1980. I remember everything - sharing our morning coffee, walking in the park together on a beautiful day, and seeing your hand stretched to mine - holding it, reassuring me that I shouldn't worry about anything because our life was good.
I had no idea that life was about to teach me the toughest lesson of all. I learned the intense pain of losing a loved one suddenly, without warning, and without having the time for a final hug and the chance to say, "I love you," for the last time. The pain and shock of that sudden loss is with me every moment of every day. When I touched John's side of our bed on the night of December 8th, 1980, I realized that it was still warm. That moment has haunted me for the past 27 years - and will stay with me forever.

Where Have All The Brunettes Gone

I know some of y'all are too young to remember the original Charlie's Angels show but it was a big hit back in the 70's.

In October I went to my neice's wedding. At the reception there were around 100 people and a little more than half were women. Out of all those women there were three brunettes counting myself.

Now I know a lot of men like blondes, but some guys still like brown, black or red hair.

Seems as though blondes would not stand out as much with so many of them.

Golden locks were a novelty at one time and stood out, but with the discovery of peroxide they seem to be a dime a dozen.

When the original Charlie's Angels were on, I knew guys who preferred Jaclyn or Kate over Farah.

Maybe we should all just be happy with what we have.

That's easier said than done as I sit here with my permed hair. You see I have naturally straight hair. Not so much as a flip without a permanent.

Words of Advice

If it's raining, turn on your head lights. Just because you can see where you are going, doesn't mean others can see you.

Don't assume that gray haired, wrinkle faced woman is that child's grandmother. With modern science anything is possible, including geriatric moms.

Don't assume the person with very short hair and masculine looking clothes is a man. From the back who can tell. And don't call them sir. Kind of like, in the 70's we couldn't assume everyone with long hair were women.

Don't try to cook a meal after 3 tequila sunrises, especially if I mixed them. Just call out for pizza or eat a sandwich and don't let me make the sandwich. I mean don't let the person who drank the tequila sunrises make the sandwich.

If you buy fish, be sure to remember to take it in the house and refrigerate it. A couple of days in the back seat is not good.
What is that smell? Tequila sunrises weren't involved here.

Don't believe the young man at the electronics store who works on commission. Yes ma'am, this is our most simple car stereo system. The fact that the owner's manual was as thick as the Sears & Roebuck catalog should have been my first clue. Two years later, I still can't run the damn thing.

Borrow a twelve year old to program your electronics devices. Or my oldest son if you can catch him not busy. I thought they were supposed to be making our lives easier?

A dog wagging it's tail does not mean it's friendly. They will still bite. :o(

Don't assume little old ladies are harmless. I've seen footage and it ain't pretty.

Kids are nosey and they will listen to conversations you don't want them to. My kids know all kinds of stuff I thought I hid well.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Sometimes a little broke is better than really broke.

If your husband isn't qualified and doesn't have a license, don't let him near it. I saw a sign at a car repair shop that gave price quotes and if your husband tried to fix it the price was double. :o)

Some things just aren't worth arguing about. I mean really, who cares who wrote that song or where you eat dinner? Just enjoy the darn song and if you didn't have to cook it, it's all good.

Teens In Heat

It's not spring so what's going on.

The teenage girl across the street's mom works nights. When mom leaves for work, daughter's boyfriend in the hot black sports car shows up and spends the night.

One morning he didn't get away quite early enough. I would have liked to be a fly on the wall that morning.

Down the street. Another teenage girl has garage parties. She's the only girl with six to eight boys. Looks like a good time to me.

Around the corner and across the street from my friend another teenage girl comes home every day at lunch time with her boy friend. After their *cough* lunch time is over he comes out zipping up his jeans while she's pulling on her hoody racing for the car before the bell rings.

NaNo has stolen all of my time

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but ya know this thing called writing has taken all of my spare time.

When not writing, I've done some research on Wales. Not quite the expert, but I know loads more than I used to.

Like did you know that Welsh men are very vain? My husband is part welsh and that explains why when my sons were home I could hardly get into the bathrooms. I finally started putting my make up on where ever I could find a spot. The kitchen table, going down the road, in the middle of my bed, you do what you gotta do.

Mark is getting tired of my Wales trivia. If I start a conversation: "Did you know..." his eyes glaze over. Enough already.

My novel is about a woman writer who goes to Wales and gets stranded in the forest. Yeah, it's a romance. I haven't tried writing in that genre since I was a teenager. Typically, I write juvenile fantasy and because of that I couldn't resist putting in a crone who keeps leading my main character around by her curiosity.

Well, that's all for now, I better get back to my novel. Those words won't write themselves, although some authors swear they do. :o)

Fall Break

Here in Oklahoma our kids get a four day holiday the third week of October.

Technically they get five days because Wednesday is a teacher's inservice day.

We're going to Houston and Galveston.

Much of the first and last day we will be in the car driving with a teenage daughter, so I'll get to hear the famous question, "Are we there yet?" several times.

I hear Houston's traffic is a nightmare so if you don't hear from me again it will be because I am stuck on the Houston highways and can't get off.

It never fails, we always seem to be in the wrong lane when were trying to exit on a Texas highway. Then you have to go way out of your way to get back where you were trying to go in the first place.

We are going to visit the space center and go to the beach and look for hot guys. My daughter's words, not mine. I'll be keeping my eyes on my book, of course.

Last summer we went to South Padre Island and when we got home we cleaned sand for weeks. That stuff gets everywhere and it's sticky.

On the way back home, we were stopped several times to see if we were carrying illegal aliens.

One time I was asleep when we pulled up to a road block. No, I wasn't driving. The officer asked us what country we were from and I said Oklahoma. I'm not terribly intelligent when I first wake up.

Tequila

Stereotype

I'm a little embarrased to admit I just finished reading Kushiel's Dart.

It's about a girl who is basically a high paid prostitute, a scholar and a spy.

She has this body guard who carrys not one sword but two and looks something like this:




For some reason I have him pictured in my head as having dark hair and looking more like this:




Until she reminds me in her description that he has long blond hair and blue eyes.

For some reason I don't think of blond men as sword yeilding knights in shining armor. More of the bard type mayhaps.

He's part of an elite guard that is sworn to celibacy. Kind of like the eunachs who guard a harem only this fellow hasn't been castrated. I won't say whether he's able to keep this vow or not and ruin the story for you.

The main character is into sadomasochism in the recipient capacity.

No, I'm not into S & M and I had to skip over a few places.

Have you ever read a book that was disturbing yet you couldn't put it down? This one is like that. I found myself drawn into the story and curious about what was going to happen to the characters.

Kind of like a wreck on the highway. You shouldn't watch but for some reason you just have to.

I wasn't satisfied with the ending, but can only blaim myself for wasting time reading it.

Anyway, my point is, I have and maybe you do too, a picture fixed in my head of what certain people look like.

People always assume blond women are less intelligent than other women. I don't. I know some pretty intelligent blond women.

Now I don't think of blond men as simple minded but I do think of them as more artistic in nature.

Either way I wish the poor guy would have had a happier ending. :o)

NaNoWriMo

I have been busy and haven't blogged like I should. Where did September go?

Well, I am going to make myself clean and straighten my sewing/writing room and get my butt in gear.

Next month is NaNo and I will have to have my room ready for that.

For those of you who don't know what NaNoWriMo is it stands for National Novel Writing Month. You write a novel in a month.

You have to write approximately 1667 words a day, which adds up to 50000 words at the end of the month.

There are a few famous authors who participate in this. They use fake pen names so you don't know who they are.

Here's the web address if you want to check it out.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

It sounds like a lot of work but it is also a lot of fun. You don't do any editing or polishing. Spelling and grammar errors don't count.

You just write and write and write.

Last year was my first year to participate and I loved it. I reached the 50000 word goal.

Did I do anything with the story? No. Will I? Maybe.

It has potential. Not one of my better pieces of work but I put words on paper and met my goal.

You have to get the words down to have something to edit. If you don't finish your story you don't have anything to edit.

Many writers are so busy going back over their work editing the few chapters they've written they never finish the story.

The know-it-alls say get the story down on paper/computer first and then edit.

First drove a car at three years old

My son Nicholas is a car nut. He was born with a monkey wrench in his hands which may explain my long hard labor.

We lived on an acre with a long drive way when he was three years old. Nicholas was always my husband's shadow especially when tools were involved.

Mr. Red usually does most of our car maintenance himself and was changing the oil in one of our vehicles. He had one parked sideways behind the other.

My memory of cars isn't too great but I think at the time we had a Volvo and a Monte Carlo. The Volvo was parked sideways behind the Monte Carlo.

Dad came inside to use the bathroom. I was busy in the kitchen as usual when Nicholas comes running in the house very excited.

Mom I drove the car.

That's great hon.

Really, I drove the car.

Husband comes out of the bathroom and goes back outside.

All of a sudden I hear a loud string of ugly words coming from the front yard and I look at Nicholas, who suddenly doesn't look as happy as he did earlier, in fact he starts to look very worried.

Mr. Red bursts into the house still using words my small son shouldn't be hearing.

My son hides behind me knowing he needs protection from the large person wielding a tool and yelling.

What happened? I ask.

He looks at Nicholas and I swear sparks were flying from his hair.

Apparently, my son got into the first car, put it in reverse and backed it into the second car.

And that, my friends, is the first of several car accidents my first born has had.

He rolled his first two cars.

The first one was a Honda Accord. He wasn't wearing a seat belt and had the window down on the driver's side. He was driving fast and the roads were wet.

He was sixteen or seventeen at the time.

His car ended upside down between two trees.

Nicholas crawled out of the window and ran to a friend's house a few blocks away.

Colin gave him a ride home. They drove by the accident so he could show his friend, because when you're a teenager these things are cool.

The police were there and looking around in the woods with flashlights trying to find his dead body because, as the officer later told my husband, he didn't see how anyone could have lived through that.

His second roll over was in a Miata with his hard top on, thank God and another police officer was amazed that Nicholas walked away from that accident.

The boy has extra guarding angels watching over him. That's all I can say.

He's now 25 but unfortunately he hasn't outgrown the speed addiction.

Thank God for the Falsies

My husband says a prayer at supper time thanking God for our meal and whatever else he happens to be thankful for at the time.

Last evening he was praying and said, "and thank you for the falsies".

I look up and start laughing.

Now I need to make it clear here that I do not personally have any surgical additions to my person nor does my husband.

I'm still cracking up.

"What's so funny?" He asks me.

"Thank God for the falsies?" I ask him.

"Not falsies, 'Fall Season'".

Did I mention I don't hear very well. :o)

15th Century Email

I thought this was funny.

Hope you enjoy.

My Puppy

June 1999, I decided I wanted a Boston terrier. My neighbor had one and hers was always well behaved, stayed in her yard and never wandered off.

I checked the newspaper and found a puppy farm in a small town not far from where one of my sister's lived.

The man had two litters.

I picked out a little male that had good markings and held him up for inspection. He wiggled and squirmed wanting down so I put him on the floor and he took off, never looking back.

I looked in the box and one of the puppies was lying on it's back waving at me.

The waving puppy's markings weren't as pretty, but I picked him up anyway. He lay on his back in the palm of my hand looking up at me. I put him down to see what he would do. The waving dog sat on my foot and didn't move.

I put waving puppy back in the box with his litter mates and went looking for the busy one. Again, he squirmed wanting down to explore, so I put him back in the box.

Waving puppy was again on his back waving at me. I picked him up and gave him a closer inspection.

I told the man, "I've got to have this one, he keeps waving at me."





My sister decided she had to have one too so we both ended up with a puppy that day.


I named mine Basil Hamlet. Basil sounded like an English butler and to me that's what he looked like.

Hamlet is because he is a ham in personality and a piggy when it comes to food.

I've always heard that you should let the dog pick you instead of the other way around and I believe it is true because he's the best dog I've ever had.

And he still stays right where I am and never wanders off.

Addicted to Books

Hello, my name is Pamela and I am addicted to books.

No really, they have taken over my life. I would rather read than talk to real people.

Books don't argue or ask what's for dinner.

They don't wear clothes so I don't have to do their laundry.

Unfortunately, they do take up a lot of space. I get some from the library, but the public libraries don't always carry what I'm looking for.

I have books in every room. Cookbooks in the kitchen, books in the living room, in every bedroom, and even in the hall.




My book shelves are overflowing, double shelved with books stacked on top.

"Where did these books come from?" My husband asks.

"Oh, I moved those from...mumble, mumble."

"What?" He asks.

So I change the subject. This only works for a little while before he says. "You know, you're going to have to get rid of some of those books. We don't have room for any more. They're taking over the house."

I turn pale and a bead of sweat forms on my forehead.

"I can't get rid of them. What if I want to read them again?"

"Well, surely, you don't need all of them." He says.

"Yeah, I do."

Don't ask me why I think I need them all. I only buy good books so it's not like I can pick out the bad ones and say I'll never read that one again.

Yes, I do read my books over and over again. It's like revisiting an old friend. You've been to their house before and you know where everything is but you still enjoy going back.

I gave away two books to charity yesterday. Phew. That's a start.

Now I can buy two more. :o)

God Love 'Em

I get tired of people coming to my door trying to get me to come to their church.

It's not good enough that I already go to church. Oh no. It has to be their church or I'm going to hell.

Two women came to my door the other day. They both had their very long hair pulled up in a spiritual knot on the back of their heads.

They were wearing denim skirts past their knees and long sleeves.

We wouldn't want anyone to see their elbows or knees.

When I told them what church I went to they wanted to know my pastors name. When I told them they nodded to each other with a knowing look.

You see, it's a known fact here in my little town that my church has a woman preacher



Can you believe it?

You see we Methodist are very open minded.

Some people think if you have an open mind bad information might fall inside and corrupt the good stuff.

I don't want someone telling me I have to wear special underwear, or skirts (even thought I have nothing against skirts), or that I can't cut my hair (even though I wear it long anyway).

You see I have a mind of my own and I kind of enjoy using it without someone else telling me what to think.

And you know what else? It doesn't make me any difference what religion you practise.

I'll still be your friend.

Underhanded Toilet Paper

People are funny about their toilet tissue.

Some want their toilet tissue to come off the roll overhanded.

Others will always put their tissue on the dipsenser underhanded.

Arguements have been started over this.

Overhanded people are attracted to underhanded people.

Overhanded people tend to marry underhanded folks.

How do you put the toilet tissue on the dispenser? Overhanded or underhanded?

Stephen King mistaken for a vandal

Just goes to show, no matter how famous you get there will always be someone who doesn't recognize you.

Stephen King was traveling in Australia and decided to stop in at a bookstore and sign some of his books.

Alarm was raised when onlookers thought he was defacing books.

Luckily, he was soon recognized and all was well.

King was on a private visit and wanted to keep a low profile.

His Australian distributor didn't even know he was in the territory.

May I help you?

Apparently I have "May I help you" written on my forehead.

My friend, who knows everything, says I have an approachable face.

Whatever it is, people come up to me everywhere I go asking for assistance and directions.

I must look like I know where things are and how to get just about anywhere.

Today, I couldn't get my grocery shopping done because I kept having to help someone.

"Do you know where the water softener aisle is?"

"Do you know where the travel size tissues are?"

And you know what's funny? I drop whatever I'm doing and help them find it. I've been known to go on long scavenger hunts for an item.

Too bad I'm not on the payroll.

It's not enough that I'm helping people who ask for help, oh no. I've been known to help shoppers who have a clerk already helping them.

"I thought it was over here, no, let's see...fabric dye. Where could it be?"

I'm going nuts trying to decide. Okay, do I take time out of my busy schedule to tell this new clerk where to find it or walk away minding my own business?

No...I help. "It's over in the craft department. Not the laundry department."

Maybe it's all those years when I was younger and worked for TG&Y.

I don't know, but if you're shopping and can't find something just look for me. I'll be glad to help. :o)

School Daze

Here are a list of notes teachers have received from parents:

Please excuse John from being absent Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and also 33

Please excuse Dianne from being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.

Please excuse Johnnie for being. It was his father's fault.

John has been absent because he had two teeth taken off his face.

Please excuse Gloria, she has been under the doctor.

My son is under the doctor's care and should not take fizical ed. Please execute him.

My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent this weekend with the Marines.

Please excuse Susie. Yesterday she fell off a tree and misplaced her hip.

Please excuse Ray from school. He has very loose vowels.

Maryann was absent Dec. 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low-grade fever. There must be the flu going around, her father even got hot last night.

Please excuse Blanche from jim today. She is administrating.

George was absent yesterday because he had a stomach.

Ralph was absent yesterday because he had a sore trout.

Please excuse Sara for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.

Please excuse Lupe. She is having problems with her ovals.

Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He had diah diahoah dyah the shits.

Dancing Inmates

Have you seen the dancing inmates yet?

Some say it's cruel and unusual punishment.

The inmates say they aren't forced into it and in fact enjoy the exercise.

Twenty inmates have tatoos with Garcia's name.

In the past there would be a fight at least once a week. Garcia says it's been a year since the last fight.

He wanted a program where they would exercise an hour a day and learn camaraderie and teamwork.

Looks like it worked. :o)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Remember in the early 80's when this cartoon first came out?

I predicted it would never make it. Their name was too long, I said. Little kids won't be able to remember the name, much less pronounce it.

Well, I was certainly wrong and now they've made a comeback.

They've recycled every other cartoon character so why not this one.

My sons just loved those crazy reptiles. They had to have Halloween costumes of their favorite TMNT character and guess who had to make them. That's right, me. We still have them in the attic; Michaelangelo and Leonardo.

There's nothing brings out the little kid in a person than to see a remake of their favorite star on the big screen.

Transformers are back too.

I'm waiting for the Smurfs to crawl out of the mothballs and join the ranks. It's just a matter of time. We've already had the Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake.

Who was your favorite 80's character?

PBS Begathon Protocol

Disclaimer-
I am an avid supporter of and viewer of PBS.

That said...

Each show has two emcees-

One who is so excited they're about to pee their pants. They've obviously forgotten their daily dose of Ritalin and/or need to greatly reduce their caffeine intake.

The second one keeps looking at his/her hyper counterpart thinking the same thing you are but they're on national television and have to pretend everything is copacetic.

Their goal is to get you to call in and buy very overpriced copies of the show you are missing while MC#1 jumps up and down having a conniption fit.

They've got you so worked up and excited you fall all over yourself looking for the telephone.

You forget you aren't the least bit interested in the mating habits of forest elves or whether or not the BeeGees make a comeback--you just have to have that there video.

Finally, you find the telephone only to realize there is a petite teenager attached to it having a very important phone call...

"What are you going to wear tomorrow? Uh-huh--uh-huh. Well I'm going to wear_______. Yeah, Uh-huh--uh-huh. Did you see what Taylee was wearing yesterday? Oh...My...God. I about died."

Thank god for teenagers because by the time she gets finished going through all of the uh-huh's you've come to your senses and remember you really don't need the PBS video after all.

Phew. That was close.

Preserve Toothbrushes

I found a great toothbrush at Wal-Mart the other day.



They're made from recycled materials.

No, not used toothbrushes. Bottles, milk jugs and other recyclable plastics.

We are big advocates of recycling at our house and buy recycled materials when possible, especially when the product works well.

These toothbrushes are really nice. I like them better than any other I've bought in the past.

I hope you are recycling. It's up to us to do our part to save our planet. :o)

The Electric Company

Does anyone remember "The Electric Company"?

No, I don't mean the people who keep your lights turned on. I'm talking about a kids show that aired from 1971-1977.

The show taught spelling to children. It was so entertaining, children who normally didn't enjoy reading were drawn in by the fun skits and bright graphics.

Morgan Freeman was one of the main characters and my favorite. I love the funky clothes he wore.

Bill Cosby was a regular. I saw a documentary on PBS the other night about the show. It turns out Bill Cosby did the show for his thesis. He was working on his masters at the time.

Too busy to blog

Well, July 21 my oldest son got married and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out.

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm glad it's over. sigh.

Nothing spectacular happened, so all is well.

I finished Harry Potter. It took me three days but I did it. She killed off some of my favorite characters and I may never forgive her for it, but all in all it was a good book. I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't finished it yet.

Now maybe I can get some writing done. No excuses, no distractions. Well, except my daughter who keeps coming into my office with questions and whining about being bored.

Just two more weeks until school starts and she won't be bored anymore. And her social director can get back to work. :o)

Friday the Thirteenth

Are you suspicious?




Do black cats and ladders make you nervous?



I've never had a problem with friday the thirteenth; in fact, I've actually had good luck.

Maybe, it's the "law of attraction" working. I believe I'll have a good day...so I do.



Maybe, if you have a bad day...it's the same thing. You believe bad things will happen...so they do.




Don't let a date get in the way of you having a good day. :o)

Family Lingo

Our family has words and phrases that only we understand.

Many words stemmed from our children as toddlers learning to talk.

A misused word would become part of our families vocabulary. We're weird that way.

Fijjy-aytor- refrigerator
Sketti- spaghetti
man panties- self explanitory
jommies- pajamas
neenees- breast or nipples
toilie- toilet
fweater- sweater
tootsies- feet


There are others but I can't think of them right now. We have a whole language.

Does your family have silly words they use that most people would wonder what in the heck you were saying?

My son's fiancee is learning this language since she will soon be one of us. Bless her heart.

I've often wondered if we are unique or if other families talk as strange as we do.

Naturally, we don't use this language all of the time. Just at home when it's just family. We don't want people thinking we're weird or something. :o)

Harry Potter Buzz

This is the most exciting month I've ever known for Harry Potter fans.

Not only does a new book come out, but a movie as well, all in the same month. Can you believe it?

My thirteen year old daughter and I have been reading my HP books to refresh our memory before the movie comes out.

You may laugh and scoff at a grown woman getting caught up in the madness over a children's book, but have you read any of them?

I'm not talking about seeing the movie. I mean have you read the books? They aren't just for children.

The books are so much better than the movie. I know, I know, everyone says that about every movie that started out as a book. But it's really true.

There's something magical and habit forming about the Harry Potter series.

Some have said J.K. Rowling sold her soul to the devil and the books have a spell on them that pulls the reader in. lol

Well, I wouldn't go that far, but she's definitely a talented author and knows how to keep the reader on their toes.

I'm certainly a big fan. :o)

How Do They Do That?

I've often found myself stuck on how to describe a scene.

When reading books written by the pros, I often wonder...how do they do it?

A writing professor spoke at one of my writer's groups a couple of weeks a go and he had this advice:

When you come to a scene in a well written book that really flows and you can't figure out why...type it into your computer.

I'm not saying to steal their ideas, but just typing it gives you a new prospective. You will see things simply reading did not show and learn techniques you can use in your own writing.

I tried it. I've always been a hands on learner so this helped me where telling or showing had not.

In fact I came to a place in one of my own novels where I wasn't sure just how to describe an action my character was taking.

I found a book where the character was doing a similiar action and read it. I didn't copy the writing but it helped me through my delimma.

Try it. I hope it will help you as well.

The Impotence of Proofreading

This is too funny:

Invitation (aka Olympic Torch) Virus Hoax

I received an email about a computer virus called the Invitation. The warning is as follows.

You should be alert during the next days: Do not open any message with an attached file called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it. It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

There is no such virus. If you receive an email like this ignore it.

This urban legend has been circulating since 2000 and seems to reappear just in time for the olympics. It is a hoax.

Google it and you will see that it is in fact a sick joke created by someone with nothing else better to do with their time then to cause undo stress among the masses.

ViewDo.com

I have discovered a new website called viewdo.com.

It is similiar to YouTube in that it shows short videos. The difference is that viewdo.com shows how-to videos.

You can learn how to tie a windsor knot, fold a napkin, wrap a gift, play a piece on the piano, check your tire pressure or juggle three balls.

Now we can learn how to do all those things we've only dreamed of.

I wonder if there's a video on how to pop gum. When I was a teenager I always wished I could do that. My mother and one of my sisters could do it, but alas I never learned how.

What about whistling with two fingers in your mouth? Not very lady like but I was always impressed by people who had this ability. A real attention grabber.

I'm getting a new video camera for my birthday. I might just have to make a how-to video of my own. I have a few talents up my sleeve I could share. :o)

Editing Your Editor

What if we edited our denial letters and sent them back? I'm kidding of course, but haven't you felt like it sometimes?

Thank you for your kind consideration in replying but...

I didn't send you a synopsis...I sent you a query letter.

The manuscript you describe in your letter--is not my manuscript. (So you know that whoever wrote that book is getting the same messed up letter. Poor guy.)

Thank you for letting me know that you are not publishing romance right now even though I sent you a query letter for a juvenile fiction.

I realize they are busy, but dagnabit, so are we.

Many of us are juggling a career, young children, critique groups (to improve our craft), writing conferences, our kid's sports and extra curricular activities, church AND writing.

If we send them an inferior letter or manuscript they are insulted by our lack of care and yet, I'd say, at least half of the denial letters I receive are with errors.

*sigh*

Okay, I feel better now. Sorry for the rant.:o)

Tagged I'm It

Whew!

I had computer trouble and couldn't get on for a couple of days. Then I was busy and didn't have time to fix the problem.

Well first line of business, I got on MySpace this morning and had several nice folks wanting to be my friend, which is great but it made my total come to 666. Now that may not bother some of y'all but here in the buckle of the bible belt that's bad Karma. So I've gotta find at least one more friend to straighten out this little problem.

Pegram has tagged me and I must tell y'all eight interesting things about myself that you do not already know.

Hmm. That will be tricky since I talk a lot and you probably already know quite a few things about me, but here goes.

1) I'm the oldest of seven kids, eleven if you count my daddy's kids and no we are not catholic, just fertile.

2) In the nineties I owned a cleaning business called Persnickety Cleaning Service.

3) I have a terrible habit of picking at my cuticles.

4) I have OCD.

5) My favorite color is red.

6) I was born the year of the ox.

7) I don't like sports.

8) I hardly have any gray hair. It runs in my family. My grand father was in his seventies when he passed away and hardly had any.

Sorry, I know those weren't terribly interesting tidbits, but it was all I could come up with.

And now I must go and tag eight other unsuspecting folks. :o)

Husband tried to cut his leg off

Well not really but it seemed like it at the time.

The other evening about 10:30 at night my husband decides to go out to the garage aka take your life into your own hands room. He steps across a large tub doubling as a table holding cut pieces of tile.

Yeah, you guessed it. He jabs himself in the underside of his knee. I'm not in the medical profession so I don't know what the technical term for it is.

He comes dripping blood all through the house to our master bathroom at the farthest back part of the house.

Now if you've read my earlier blogs you know that I don't do blood. It's in my marriage vows.

He does blood and I do poop and puke.

So I'm getting woozy, my life is passing before my eyes and I see stars.

I was perfectly sober before this all happened.

He asks me to get the first aid kit. I stagger down the hall to the medicine cabinet and get the small plastic tub that holds our bandages and ointment.

I never use the stuff, I just make sure it's well stocked for people like my husband who like to hurt themselves.

My hands are shaking. I can't concentrate. He's giving me instructions from the bathroom. I hand him his tape and gauze like a drunk nurse while he tapes himself up.

I didn't take a picture of the gaping hole because well, frankly, I'm getting nauteous just describing it to you.

He should have had stitches but being the tough guy aka tight wad that he is we (he) taped it up at home.

Zimmers

I have a new favorite rock group! They're called the Zimmers and they really rock! Well mostly in rocking chairs but watch this video.


Three of them were on the Tonight Show last night and they were really funny.

I want to be like that when I'm 120 years old.

Yeah, that's right. I plan to live to be 120 years old. Why not? These folks are in their 90's and still rockin' so I figure since people live longer every generation, by the time I'm their age my generation will be living to be in the hundreds.

It's possible. :o)

Camp

My daughter is at camp this week. I miss her already.

The quiet is deafening.

The phone doesn't ring every few minutes. Her friends either know she's not here or they're at camp with her.

I don't have anyone asking me for money.

No one asking for rides to friend's homes, the mall, skating rink or the pool.

For such a small person she eats quite a bit so I cook half as much when she's gone.

Hmm. With all those pros you'd think I'd be happy.

But I'd rather have my phone hogging, non-stop eating, money begging teenager back at home. :o)

A Lovely Scone Recipe

I thought I'd share my favorite scone recipe with you.

For those who might not know what a scone is, it's like a biscuit only they usually have some kind of fruit or other added ingredient.

Raisin Oatmeal Scones

1 and 1/2 Cups of flour

1 Cup oats, uncooked

1/4 Cup sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup or 1 stick of margarine melted

1/3 Cup milk

1/3 Cup raisins (I add extra because I'm a raisin nut)

Combine all of the dry ingredients, which is the first five on the list, in a large bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients with a spoon just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Lightly flour your counter top or cutting board. Place dough on cutting board and knead about 15 times. Flatten dough.

Roll dough with a rolling pin into an eight inch circle. If you don't have a rolling pin you can flatten and shape with your hands.

Cut into triangle wedges using a pizza cutter or knife.

Place wedges on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving about a half inch or more in between them for even heating.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10 to 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Keep an eye on them as ovens vary.

Makes about 12 scones.

Delicious!! :o)

This is a cute old song. They've disabled the embed code so you'll have to go to YouTube to see it. Enjoy.

Kinks- Have A Cuppa Tea

Email Fraud

I received a suspicious email from a Dr. Denis Moore.



He says I have inherited fifteen million dollars.

Since my relative was a foreigner I can only collect 30 percent of it. All I have to do is give a Nigerian bank my account information...Wait a minute.

I smell something fishy here.

Even if I hadn't seen a news report a few weeks ago about the scams coming from Nigeria, I would have known this had fraud written all over it.

If you've inherited money, you do not need to give out your bank information. They just send you a check or at the most you would have to attend a reading of a will at an attorney's office.

Never, never, I repeat, never, give out your bank account number or social security number to anyone on the internet or telephone.

I called the attorney general's office to report this and she said that Nigeria sings songs about how dumb Americans are and how we give our money away.

This is a picture of an email scammer who got caught. He doesn't look like he's singing.



Keep your money and credit safe. Shred all documents with your account info on them before throwing them away.

Legitimate people will not ask you for personal information via the internet or telephone.

Dang! I coulda used 5 million dollars. Oh well. :o)

Year of the House

This will forever be remembered as the year of the house in our family.



My oldest son and his fiancee closed on their new home and moved in over the weekend. They are so happy they are giddy.



My sister-n-law, however, was not so lucky. Her home burned early Sunday morning. Her daughter, son-in-law, grand baby and their two dogs were visiting her. The humans all got out in their pajamas. The dogs didn't make it.

The house was a total loss. Even though the first floor was the only one burned, smoke and water damaged the rest.


My sister-in-law has good insurance and will be taken care of, but there are always those things money cannot replace. Pictures, children's artwork, heirlooms and memories.



My house being in disarray now seems trivial in comparison. I've often felt grumpy because the remodeling is taking longer than I thought it should. I've been self absorbed in my own troubles, not thinking about how lucky I am to have a roof over my head.


I could be living under a tree.






And while we're on the subject of being without a home, here's a burning question on everyone's minds.

Memorial Day Weekend

Gas prices are too high to go anywhere but that's Okay. Mother Nature took care of that.





With the record rain fall our streets have turned into rivers and our ponds are now lakes. No need to go to the river, just dress the kids in their swimsuits and send them out to play in the street.



There's always a brightside to everything.




I hope you're having a marvelous Memorial Day weekend.

Stop Surfing And Write!

Oh, sorry. That was for me...and you, if you need the prod.

Do you find yourself playing on the internet instead of using it as the tool it was intended to be?

Maybe you need:





We all need a little help from time to time.

Yesterday, I went to a little local cafe for lunch. I keep a small notebook in my purse at all times--you never know when you might have an inspiration and a few minutes of waiting time. I took out my notebook and wrote about four pages. Now we're talking 4X6" pages but still, there were no emails to answer or other distractions the internet can bring.

The internet is a wonderful tool, don't get me wrong. I use it almost daily. But sometimes it gets in the way of the purpose in which I bought a laptop to begin with.

I have taken my laptop to cafes and wrote before, but now you can get WIFI at many of them and you still have the distraction. Even McDonalds and Burger King have WIFI now.

The library used to be a good place to go. I had access to research material, in the form of books, so I didn't have to use the internet. But now they have WIFI too.

The best way I've found to get away from it is to go back to the dark ages of pen/pencil and paper.

Imagine that. :o)

Celebrity Hoopla

Is anyone else sick of the celebrity hype?

I personally don't care if Brittany Spears shaved her head or not. She can afford a nice wig and/or hair extensions. Unlike the rest of us who have to wait years for our hair to grow back out.

And for goodness sake, yes, put Paris Hilton in jail, please. She should have been put there years a go for indecent behaviour. Where is this girl's mama? That's what I want to know. If she were my daughter I'd have jerked a knot on her head.

I'm also tired of hearing who has gone into rehab. What is this celebrity rehab anyway? Apparently it's nothing like the one regular people attend. This week they're in there and next week you see them coming out of Starbucks carrying a Latte. Hello! I thought rehab was sorta like jail. They locked you inside until you promised to never use drugs or alcohol again.

And what's with the guy eating a burger off the floor? He's lost his parental visiting rights until he can prove he's quit drinking and also so he doesn't beat his daughter senseless for posting his drunken self all over Youtube. Okay, I made up the last one, but can you imagine?

The next time you think being rich and famous will solve all your problems watch the news. Those people are messed up.

Apparently a lot of people care what the stars are doing because I can't even get a decent tornado warning without a news report of who has gotten arrested or who's divorcing who. I'm sure some people consider it right up there with a national disaster, but frankly I just want to know if I need to crawl into my bathtub or not.

Oh and blonde is back in. The celebs who dyed their hair brunette over the winter have now bleached their tresses blonde for the summer. Just thought you'd wanna know. :o)

Ramble Writing

Do you ever sit and just write whatever pops into your head? I call it ramble writing or rambling. There maybe a technical term for it, but I'm not aware of one.

It doesn't have to make any sense. Just write words.

When I can't think of anything to write I sometimes do this. It clears the cobwebs and sometimes...sometimes an idea will appear that has potential. Not always. Often it is just a big mess, but you might try it sometime. You can always shred it afterwards or delete if using the computer.

I started a story one day from my ramblings. It isn't finished and I'm not even sure if it has potential, but it is words on paper.

Some critics will argue that you should just take a break from writing if you can't think of anything worth writing and I'm sure this works for them.

I have talked to other writers who ramble, so I'm not the only one. I even had a teacher that suggested we do this. He didn't have a name for the technique, he just said write whatever pops into your head.

Some of my blog entries are ramblings, but then you probably already figured that one out. :o)

For those of you who care, I got an email that said Miss Snark is retiring her blog. I personally don't care for her but I know there are many out there who do. Just wanted to pass that information along.

Mamas don't name your babies...

Reading the paper this morning I decided that some folks need help in the baby naming department.

There was a young girl who was upset enough to stab someone and is now in jail. Could it be the fact that her name is Melisia? Sounds awfully close to Militia to me. It really doesn't matter how her mama thought it should be pronounced. When teachers call roll or nurses read her name off of the clip board it will be mispronounced. That's a fact.

Whatever you do, don't name your baby girl Ima or Iwana. Just in case you haven't had your caffeine yet and need a little help, here are a few examples of why. These aren't real combinations, but they are real last names.

Ima Weiner
Ima Doody
Ima Butts

Well you get the picture. You may think, "Oh, we have a fine normal last name this won't hurt." That's fine and dandy until little Ima grows up and marries Richard Weiner a real combination, I didn't make this one up

Surely you don't want your daughter to go through life as Ima Weiner.

Celebrities are notorious for naming their children ridiculous names. Probably all the cocaine they've ingested. They have enough money to hire body guards to beat up anyone who makes fun of little Dweezil Zappa or Zowie Bowie, the rest of us, however, do not.

Naming a child is serious business, no matter what the stars think.

For heavens sake make sure your sober when you pick that name. Your son or daughter will thank you. :o)

My Celebrity Look A Like

I found this site that will show you what celebrities you look like. No joke.

All you do is download a picture of your face and it will scan your bone structure and compare it to famous mugs.

To get your own celebrity look-a-likes, go to:

I Have the Answer to the Energy Crisis

I don't know why scientists haven't figured this one out already.

You know all those menopausal women out there having hot flashes? Well, all we have to do is hook them up to electrodes and we could power the world.



According to statistics most of the population is over the age of 40 and most of them are women. That's a lot of hot flashes. Let's put those baby's to good use.

The way I figure it, there's enough of us that we wouldn't have to be hooked up full time. We could work in shifts and it's not like real work, oh no. You could read, knit or even watch t.v.


And don't forget those teenaged girls out there. Forget wind power, what about chat power? There's gotta be a ton of energy coming from all those telephone calls.





Don't ground those girls, hard wire them. Put all those senseless phone calls to good use.


Might as well get junior involved. Yesiree. Those button pushing youngsters can keep the city lights going. All those video games and remote controls can be hooked up as well. Why we'll have this energy crunch under control in no time.






You no how dad complains about the price of gas? Well I have a solution for that one too. Most dad's have a **ahem**gas problem of sorts themselves. Well, what if dad's gas could power the SUV? I think it could work. Give ol' dad that burrito and send him off to work. :o)

Blogging on MySpace

I'm a hands on, self taught learner. I have taught myself many things by reading books and watching others. This is the reason I knit backwards, but that's a whole other story.

It's not always easy to come up with new material to add to my blog. I know it's hard to believe that I, of all people, could possibly run out of things to say, but it does happen from time to time.

Having a MySpace blog, in addition to this one, was going to make it tricky to come up with enough material.

I discovered that you can write your usual entry on your main blog, copy the first sentence or two and paste it in your MySpace blog with a hot link to your main blog. Now you only have to write your blog once and you've connected people to your main blog.

I know, I know, some of you clever people already knew this, but give me a break. I'm still learning.

If any of you know some handy dandy MySpace tips please feel free to email me with them or add them here as a comment.

Now I'm learning how to add music to my MySpace page. Who knows? I might even figure out how to add music to my Blogger Blog. :o)

Writing For Teens

Anne Brashares the author of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants doesn't write slang or brand names into her novels which gives the books a timeless quality.

Make sure, when writing, that you don't date your book by adding terminology that will be out of style in a few years. This could possibly be a turn off for young readers.

Read the classic stories. They don't talk about a brand name or use language that dates the book. You may not think it can be done, yet authors are doing it every day. Those are the books that will remain on library shelves for years to come.

Kids like to be able to relate to the main character in a story. If the character sounds too much like their parents talking they won't read the book. They also don't want to read about what was hip or fashionable ten years ago.

When you consider that it can take sometimes five years to get a book published, you realize that trends are not a good idea to write into your piece. What's hot today won't be five or especially ten years from now.

Describing a character's clothing in great detail isn't important. Let your reader imagine their own idea of what your characters are wearing.

Read lots of kids books, especially the great ones, the ones that have won awards and have had movies made from them. Examine the bones and disect the style in which the author wrote the book.

We don't want to imitate the author's work, but learn from their technique until we develop a style that makes the reader want to stay up all night to find out what happens next and then to mourn the loss of the end of a good book. That's what we strive to do as writers.

Happy writing. :o)

Happy Mother's Day

Netscape Giving Me Fits

Okay, there's something squirrely going on with Netscape and Blogger.

Netscape works fine until I try to sign into my blogger account and then it says there has been an error and it will have to close. So it closes all my windows. Oh, but for my trouble they'll send an error report. Lot of good that's done. It still hasn't been resolved.

I tried to find a website where I can email Netscape but can't find anything but places to sign up with internet service with them. I already have Cox.

I know it's a Netscape problem because I can sign in through Internet Explorer with out any trouble. So Blogger is fine as well.

I thought it would eventually resolve itself but it's been three days now and still happening.

I prefer Netscape over Internet Explorer. IE is owned by Google and, don't get me wrong, I love Google for searching, but when I downloaded IE Google trys to take over my entire browser page and add things I don't want on there.

Because I've boycotted letting Google take over my computer I can't download a certain video software. Can't think of the name of it right now.

What did we do before computers. Wrote letters and run ads in newspapers I'm thinking.

Sorry for the rant. Phew, I feel better now.:o)

Day 8 of PriNoWriMo

Well, I haven't gotten as much writing done as I would have liked to. I have got to do better.

I originally was going to start a new novel called "No More Moves", about a girl who is on the run with her mother from an abusive father. She is tired of moving around and has made some good friends where they are currently living. To her chagrin they move anyway and the tale unfolds.

I got the idea, sort of, from one of my neighbors. She's been my neighbor for about 12 years now but she moved here to get away from an abusive husband. I thought it would make a good story and still may do something with it someday.

I have been instead, working on my Henry and the Map story. It's coming along but I have had an epiphany and decided to not bring Granny along on the journey which will change much of the story. I'm taking notes and will just make those changes later in the editing process.

I need to be working on my next non-fiction book, "Mom's Guide to Raising Kids", but a lot of the material is prewritten and wouldn't be fair to the process.

So it's Henry and me and I will at least have a finished novel that I can edit when all is done and who knows, maybe it will be worth sending out into the world. :o)

Rain!

You folks that prayed for rain are getting it...all at once.

I live on a small hill and my yard is a veritable swamp. You can not walk across my yard without getting your feet soaked. Luckily, I don't have to go anywhere today, so I'm staying indoors, writing.

A squirrel, desperately tried to get some food from my squirrel proof feeder this morning, slipped and fell into a puddle. He jumped up, shook himself off, truely disgruntled, and ran up a nearby tree. He normally eats the seed the birds drop onto the ground, but his dining space is now a pond. I felt sorry for him but laughed anyway because it was funny.

My storm radio showed a flash flood warning this morning when I got up. Living on a hill does have it's advantages, but I fear for those not so fortunate.

Summer will come soon enough and dry up all of this moisture and we will mourn for the wet days of Spring. There's no pleasing us. Whatever the weather we complain.

Our ponds, lakes, and rivers are refilled where once lie dry, cracked soil. Wild animals will now have a place to quench their thirst.

I personally enjoy a good rain. Being a tree lover I see the benefits and enjoy the water no matter how we get it. :o)

Complicated Projects

My husband is one of those guys that can't do a simple project. Oh no. If it's too simple he'll turn it into this major deal.

He should have been an architect or interior designer. He can make any room look great.

Take our kitchen tile, for instance. Another man would have had it tiled by now, but not my husband. He got on the computer and using Freehand software has designed an elaborate creation that I wouldn't have tackled. It kind of reminds me of my quilting, only with tiles.

It will be beautiful.

You have to have patience to be married to my husband. If you're in a hurry, you might as well forget it.

He did the same thing on our front bathroom. He took out the furdown, switched the placement of the bathtub and toilet (with a concrete slab, no less), replaced the bathtub with a jacuzzi and added a niche in the wall. We had a cupboard above the toilet, that you knocked your head on; he took that out and replaced the wide cabinet, that held the sink, with a pedestal sink. The cabinet was replaced with a tower cabinet beside the toilet instead of above it.

I know it's hard to picture what it looks like. I wish I had before and after pictures. You would be amazed.

At first, his ideas worried me. I didn't think many of them were possible, but he soon proved me wrong.

Sometimes dreamers see possibilities where others do not. :o)

Day One

Well, it's day one of our little PriNoWriMo. Not sure how well I will do today because, I have obligations all day that take me from my office. I am going to take my laptop with me, so I can work in the waiting room at the doctor's office.

I have two doctors appointments this afternoon. Nothing serious, just my yearly check-up. One with my Gynecologist and the other is a mammogram. Important, but not serious. I like to get my torture all done in one day. :o)

Every Tuesday I go to my church and quilt with some friends of mine. So you see, it will be a challenge to get my word count in today.

For the NaNoWriMo your supposed to do 1,667 words in a day, but that's a 30 day month. I will have to ask my PriNo buddies if since we have an extra day if we have extra time or if we are going to stop on the 30th. Hmm, I'll get back to you on that one.

I've dug out my "No Plot? No Problem!" book by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. It's a great little book that can be a cheerleader at best and distraction at worst. It does have some great information and tips in it to help with the dark days of writer's block and helps you realize that it can be done.

I succeeded in finishing my 50,000 words this past November and I can do it again.

Nesting

Spring is in the air and everyone is feathering their nest. It's not just the birds. Go to any hardware store or domestic department of any store and you'll see people buying things to improve or redo their home.

I thought it was just me, but anywhere you go there's talk of painting or updating homes. Spring must be to blame. I can't think of any other reason. It's the season for renewal and animals aren't the only ones caught up in it.

Several yard sales I've been to were selling old plumbing and fixtures because they were replacing the old. One sale had bronze fixtures because she was going to chrome and just down the street her neighbor was selling chrome because she was going to bronze.

I told the second lady that her and her neighbor should have gotten together and traded. They could have saved themselves a hunk of change. She looked at me like I had a boil sprouting on my nose. Not everyone understands my humor.

We're nearing the end of our demolish and rebuild project. I'm still cleaning mortar dust out of every crack and crevice. That stuff gets into everything. And that's with tarp taped up over the doorways.

We just have tiling to go and the kitchen will be finished. There's still the bathroom to go but we won't talk about that.

The birds have it easy. All they have to do is build a nest out of a few twigs. :o)

Keeping a Blog

Keeping a blog has been pretty easy for me because I have the gift of gab. :o)

When I was a child I was often shooshed for talking too much. Now that I'm an adult I still talk quite a bit, but I am better about it, I think.

Being a talker can be helpful if you are a writer. If there are a hundred words going through your head you should be able to get a hundred words down on paper. They may not always make since or be something someone else would want to read but you got it down on paper.

Once you have words on paper, you can rewrite and weed out the unnecessary parts. If you're lucky, you'll have a polished gem worth selling to a publisher.

Next month, some friends of mine from Writer's Village University and I are going to have a private NaNoWrimo. We call it PriNoWrimo.

For those of you who may not know what that is, it's a month in which you write a novel, or in this case any written work, that totals 50,000 words.

They did it last year and I was too busy and didn't take the time to join them. This year I will not only join them but get my 50,000 words done.

I'm using my positive thinking here. :o)

Killing or losing Cell Phones

Some people just have a knack for killing or losing their cell phones. Not on purpose, mind you.

Knock on wood, I've had the same cell phone for five years now, but others in my family don't seem to have the same luck I do.

The toilet seems to be a popular place, especially if you're talking on it at the time or carry it in one of those handy-dandy cell phone holders that goes on your waist band.

Another popular place to murder a cellular phone is concrete. It could be the drive way, the street or a ceramic tile floor (which isn't concrete but every bit as hard).

I've heard of a girl who dropped hers out of her car and then ran over it. Accidently, of course.

Years a go I drowned one at White Water Bay. I bought a plastic fanny pack and thought it would be waterproof. It wasn't.

Some people sit on them breaking the fold and in turn disabling the device.

Shutting them in a car door will also do the trick.

As far as losing them the possibilities are endless. You can leave them anywhere. Public places are a sure bet you'll probably never see them again.

Putting a label with your name and home phone number on them helps, but only for honest people.

I lost mine in the J.C. Penney's dressing room, after trying on clothes, several years a go. Luckily, a clerk found it and called me at home. At the time I was cranky about having to go all the way back to Oklahoma City to retrieve it, but it was much cheaper than having to buy a new phone.

My husband left his in a hardware store and when he went back for it the cell phone was gone.

When I was a kid no one had a cell phone except Maxwell Smart, on one of my favorite television shows, and his was in his shoe. :o)

Naming Your Computer

I know people name their pets, for obvious reasons and some people even name their car. I wasn't aware until recently, however, that some people are giving their computers names.

Hmm, I might have to come up with one for mine. First I need to decide if it's a male or female. It doesn't really seem like either one to me, in fact, I hadn't really thought of it as being alive.

Does something have to be alive to have a name? Maybe having some semblance of life, such as, movement or memory is enough to warrant naming.

I've known some humans who barely moved and others who had poor memories and yet they still had a name.

I guess if my computer had a name the next time it acted up I would have a name to refer to it by. Of course my family and friends would think I had, in fact, gone off the deep end if I were yelling at my laptop and calling it a name, a real name and not just swear words.

Let's see if I want to keep it non-gender specific, then maybe, Cork, Tip, Thinker or Pen.

Sheesh, I had enough trouble naming my kids and dog. This is too much like work. I better think about it. I don't want to start calling my computer a name and then decide I don't like it. What if it gets used to the name and then I want to change it? I wouldn't want to confuse my laptop.

What about Telly? I like Telly monster on Sesame Street. My computer tells me information and vise-a-versa.

I think I like that. Telly it is. :o)

The Secret

I've been reading The Secret.

It's a great book about the power of positive thinking. So far it's helped me redirect my thoughts. If a negative thought pops in I pop it back out.

According to the book if you are trying to lose weight you shouldn't dwell on the thought "I need to lose weight". Instead you think about yourself as a thin person and fitting into a certain size clothes.

The word "weight" is a negative word, but the word "thin" is positive.

Recently, with my kitchen being under construction, we've eaten more fast food and my stomach has developed this little pooch. My treadmill being down for two months didn't help either. So I'm thinking flat stomach thoughts. :o)

Last week I was thinking about a weekend without the neighbor's kids screaming or their parents having loud drinking parties. It worked! They went somewhere friday night and didn't get back until late Saturday night and Sunday night they didn't have a party.

Now I'm thinking positive thoughts about selling a children's book. I worked on a couple of my stories this weekend and now have a picture book I feel realy good about sending out. Of course, I didn't write it in just a weekend; I've been working on this one for a few months now.

I'm going to have my personal editor, Susan, look at it Wednesday and see what she thinks.

A little positive thinking never hurt anybody. :o)

Old Dogs

As my own pup ages I am drawn to other people's geriatric furbabies.

Just like humans, aging dogs can be very humerous. They get set in their ways and miss their companions as we do.

Yesterday, as I shopped for treasures at garage sales, there was a Jack Russel Terrier that came up to me. Now if you've ever met a JRT, you know how frisky and playful they can be.

This particular terrier was not at all hyper, in fact at first I didn't notice him walk up. He was very slow and quiet.

I reached down to let him sniff my hand. As any dog owner will tell you, that's the first thing you do when you meet a new dog. It's a dog's version of introducing ourselves.

A woman walked up and called to her husband, "Honey, Boomer got out again."

Her husband walked up and just grinned.

Boomer didn't seem to hear and just stood there letting me pet him.

"He's deaf as a post and can't see a thing." The lady told me. "He's 17 years old."

"Every year we think it's going to be Boomer's last with us and yet he just keeps hanging in there," she said.

She told me that when her and her husband married she had a pomeranian, named Missy and her husband had Boomer. Boomer would guard the food bowl to keep Missy from getting any food, sometimes until he fell asleep.

Missy died of old age three years a go. Boomer grieved for her as any human would for a friend or relative. The lady pointed to the side of the house. "We buried Missy over there. Boomer still goes over there and lays on her grave for hours."

I thought that was the sweetest story and had to share it with you. :o)

Not only do we collect treasures at garage sales, we also collect stories.

Trash or Treasure

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure.

With warm weather brings garage sales and I love garage sales. You never know what you'll find. Granted, there is a lot of worthless junk out there, but if you keep looking and digging you just might find that diamond in the rough.

I've found things I couldn't find at any store. For instance, we like the insulated mugs that are wide on bottom and narrow on top. I looked high and low and couldn't find one at any store. I even looked on the internet to no avail. I found one at a garage sale today for a dime. That's right one thin dime.

I looked on Ebay for a new bath powder container to match my remodeled bathroom. They wanted $37 before shipping cost. I found one today for $2. It's turquoise glass and matches the wall paint.

I lost weight a year a go and my red twin sweater set is now too big. I found a replacement for $4.

I found some old children's books and other miscelaneous items as well. Not bad for a days worth of digging. :o)

My Oldest Baby Turned 25

I was in labor 16 long hours delivering my first child.

Does he appreciate it? Who knows.

He's spoiled rotten, mostly my fault and a Peter Pan. He never grew up and I don't see any signs of it happening in the near future.

He came over, after work, to eat a big dinner I cooked for him, giant birthday cookie and then ran off with his fiancee and friends to Incredible Pizza. I didn't know what an Incredible Pizza was but am now enlightened. Apparently it's a kids paradise. Why a 25 year old man would want to go there is beyond me, but there he went.

They have indoor go-carts, bumper cars, and all kinds of games. It's real high tech, no tokens needed. They have a card you swipe to play games and it can be reloaded if it runs out.

He takes after my husband. I always said the only reason he wanted kids was so he would have someone to play with. I don't know who enjoyed Christmas more him or the kids.

I was born old. I quit playing with toys when I was nine or ten. I switched to books.

My son must not be too unusual though, he had no trouble rounding up eight other friends to join in the fun. None of his buddies thought it lame to hang out at a kids party establishment. They didn't have to think twice. You'd have thought they were nine years old again.

I can see them now running around acting silly. Thank God I'm not there to witness it.

Bless their little hearts. I hope they have a good time. :o)

Dry Skin/Oily Skin

It would be great if I could distribute moisture evenly throughout my body.

My hair and the sides of my nose are oily.

My hands, feet and legs are dry.

Everywhere else seems to be normal.

If I shower everyday to get rid of the oils in my hair, then the rest of my body drys out.

I can't win for losing. I've tried just washing my hair and face everyday and the rest every other day. That seems to work better.

Too bad I can't run pipes from the over-moturized parts to the under-moisturized parts. You know, kind of like irrigating a dry field. You run pipes from a nearby river or creek to the crops that need watering.

Meanwhile, I shower too much and use large quantities of body lotion.

Incidentally, Burt's Bees is currently my favorite brand. I've tried several and this one seems to be the best.

Lotion in a tube that you squeeze out is watered down. The jar type lotions have a more concentrated amount of what you need and works best. Unless it's Burt's.

Burt's Shea Butter hand repair creme with cocoa butter & sesame oil is great. It's pricey but great. It comes in a lavendar tube. Most drug stores and gift shops carry it.

I also use Avon's Moisture Therapy Extra Strength Cream for extremely dry skin in the jar. It's pretty good too. Not as expensive especially if you catch it on sale. Any Avon lady sales it as well as the occasional Avon shop or website.

Don't even get me started on body hair. :o)

Tired of Cold Weather

I really am sick and tired of this cotton picking cold weather. BRRR Where's the warm already.

We had a nice couple of weeks of warm and then BAM, back into the deep freeze.

Oh well, in a few weeks I'll be griping about the heat. There's no pleasing me.

If you are as cold as I am I have a little secret to share with you. A few years a go I was visiting the doctor and his nurse came in wearing those thin pajama looking things all nurses wear. I was freezing and of course wearing one of those cute little backless gowns they like to make you wear.

I asked nurse Patty how she kept warm in her nurse's outfit. She said she wears Cuddle Duds. They are a silky long underwear. I bought some and let me tell you they really work. They are thin so they don't feel bulky under your other clothes.

There are a few different styles now, but the kind I like best are made of Cool Max polyester. I buy the long sleeve shirt. They have a camisole style; I guess for the summer when you need something lighter.

They sell them at Penneys and sometimes Sams.

Well, I guess you got a commercial after all. :o)

Tornado Season

Well kids, it's that time of year again. You know, when you get to crawl into fraidy holes with the spiders, snakes and creepy crawlers. And that's just your in-laws. lol. Just kidding.

Prior to the famous tornado of May 3, which struck fear into everyone, I didn't take tornadoes seriousley. If Gary England, our meterologist of choice, said to take cover we'd go into our bathroom. When the kids were little it was exciting and even kind of fun. Sometimes the lights would go out and we'd light a candle. Thanks to OG&E the power was never off for long. A battery powered radio kept us up on where the twister was and if it was coming our way.

But May 3 changed all that. We now panic and wonder if our bathroom will be safe enough. Everyone gets quiet and pays close attention when the weather man comes on and tells us there is bad weather on the horizon. A twister that can clean a field of every sprig of grass, carry off a homes cement pad and turn cows inside out gives people a new found respect for tornadoes.

Granted, tornadoes of that magnitude are a once in a lifetime experience, but still you wait and wonder. Will this year be as bad? Can another F6 tornado come through my state?

Some people think were crazy to live here. I've lived here most of my life and don't know any better. My family is here. My husband's job is here. My friends are here. When you think of it that way, you can't imagine living anywhere else.

Hurricanes are more frightening to me. At least we can get in a hole in the ground for a tornado. With a hurricane, you have to evacuate the area. That, to me, is pretty scary.

Maybe we should add a storm cellar to our list of home improvements. :o)

Happy Easter

This will be an Easter we will remember for several years to come.

I normally cook a big home cooked meal and invite the kids over, but with the kitchen under construction that just wasn't possible this year.

Friday the counter tops were supposed to be installed but Thursday evening they called and postponed it until Monday which meant no home cooked Easter dinner.

We went to Texas Roadhouse and ate baby back ribs so everything turned out alright in the end.

I'm one of those weird people you hear about who enjoys cooking and baking. I can literally make something from practically nothing. Most of what I fix is from scratch and I buy very little convenience foods. Because of this our grocery bill is much lower than the average consumer.

Another thing I do is keep the menu and guest list from all family get togethers and holidays that have been held here at our house. I can tell you what we ate and who attended every holiday since the 80's. I'm not sure why I keep them, I just do.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter and the bunny brought you some lovely treats. :o)

Silver, Iron and Other Finicky Metals

Many people don't buy or use iron skillets because they think they are too difficult to maintain.

Iron cookware is very durable and cooking in them will give your food an extra boost of iron.

Here are instructions for maintaining your iron cookware:

Before using a brand new pan, it will need to be seasoned. This can be done by greasing the entire pan inside and out with a light coating of shortening. Place the pan in a baking pan and heat in the oven on low for about 30 minutes.

Do not wash in the dishwasher. After using simply scrape out any food particles and clean with warm water and a steel wool pad.

After your pan is clean set it on the stove top burner with it turned on until the pan is completely dry. Occasionally, you will need to regrease your pan with a little shortening. I use a piece of paper towel to do this.

That's it. Not hard or impossible.

I just got through cleaning my silver serving tray. It's been stored in a cupboard and was badly tarnished.

Silver rings, when worn, do not tarnish. The oils in our skin keep them from turning.

I came up with the clever idea (it remains to be seen if this is a good idea) to coat my tray with a light coating of shortening. If oils from our skin keeps silver from turning and shortening keeps iron skillets from turning, I thought maybe this might work. I wash my tray before using it anyway so what could it hurt.

I'll keep you posted on whether this works or not. I usually spend hours cleaning this tray everytime I want to use it. If this works it will be a great time saver.

Well, gotta go. I've got to figure out how to get tarnish out of a t-shirt. :o)