Let's Play 30 Questions!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? My niece, Jenny. She makes such funny faces and does all kinds of silly dances.

2. What were you doing at 0800? At 8AM, I was thinking, "I have to get up in an hour." At 8PM, I was watching "Joel Osteen."

.3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Reading emails.

4. What happened to you in 2006? Got an emailing saying I'd sold a book--that's about the biggest thing.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? "Night" to my Dad.

6. How many beverages did you have today? 2 cups of hot tea before church and after, then 2 large iced teas with lunch, a cup of water, another cup of hot tea, a cup of hot tea at Maribeth's and 2 later.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Which one?

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Gas and a jug of distilled water

.9. Where were you last night? Home with the kids. Read awhile and they played cards.

10. What color is your front door? Bright blue.

11. Where do you keep your change? In my purse, the ashtray of the car, under the car seats, dropped all over my desk and in a Folger's coffee can as an incentive to save. Most of my change I "keep" at JoAnn Fabrics buying scrapebook paper.

12. What’s the weather like today? Sunny, bright but with a chilly nip. Covered my plants tonight.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? United Dairy Farmer's Cherry Cordial.

14. What excites you? Lots of things--finishing a project, writing, buying new scrapbook supplies, finding a book I really, really, really want to read, cole slaw.

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Nope.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot? Yes, usually when I shouldn't.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? What is it?

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes, my grandpa, my cousin and several other people at church.

20. Do you make up your own words? Sometimes.

21. Are you a jealous person? Sometimes.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Aimee.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kathy.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Maribeth.

25.What does the last text message you received say? I don't text message since it runs up the phone cost.

26. Do you chew on your straw? No.

27. Do you have curly hair? If I curl it.

28.Where’s the next place you’re going to? Bed tonight, Knights tomorrow.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? Hm, I'll have to think on that one.

30.What was the last thing you ate? Kettle corn popcorn.

31. Will you get married in the future? Sure hope to.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? Does Perry Mason count?
33. Is there anyone you like right now? I like lots of people--some more than others depending on the time of day. :)

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? Yesterday afternoon.

35. Are you currently depressed? Not right this minute.

36. Did you cry today? No.

37. Why did you answer and post this? I'm a copycat and two of my friends did it.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. I don't know 5 people with blogs--but if anyone wants to post answers here, I'm game.

Looks like fall has finally arrived. We are the beautiful fall colors and some much needed rain. The rain makes everything look like an impressionistic painting. Nice to look at if one doesn't have to drive. So many drivers seem to think they can go the same spreed in rainy weather as they do in dry.

It's been a long week. Lots of ups and downs.

"Let's Write 3" began on Monday. Lots of new faces and a great class, as always. I'm really excited that we are all going to get more personal attention from our moderator. She offered to look at some of our work. Only trouble is, I can't decide which project to let her critique!

My cousin in the nursing home had a bad spell on Tuesday night. It didn't look like she would make it through the night. Since it was a "dark and stormy night" literally--we weren't able to make the hour and a half drive. A call before we went to bed let us know she'd taken a turn for the better. That was good news.

On Wednesday, my usual school day routine got turned upside down. I had blankets to wash at the Loveland Laundromat. Didn't see my old friend from last year. There were lots of changes, new paint, new signs and new dryers. The black lacquered bathroom was the same though. Only this year they had a sliver of soap. After washing the blankets, I planned to write. Instead, I met Mom and Sister #2 so that we could go to the nursing home and visit my cousin.

Had a funny moment there. One of the nurses' aids said someone had said to her, "I didn't know there were any black Catholics." She replied in all seriousness, "Oh, yes, I'm full blooded." I'm using that someday.

Thursday I'm not sure what I did! We did schoolwork during the morning, cooked dinner. I did go to the library to print some research pictures. Got into an interesting conversation with one of the librarians. We had spoken before about growing up in the same areas of Cincinnati. That night, we also got into a discussion of high schools, neighborhoods and streets. Turns out our paths had crossed umpteen times through the years.

Then we started to talk about where we lived now. She mentioned her road. I said, "Oh, the only person I ever knew who lived there was Mr. B." Shocked, she said, "We live in his house." From there we were OFF to the amusement of the few library patrons. She'd always wanted to meet someone who knew him. I told her all I knew about the house (built in the 1890's) and the man. Sure makes the cliche' "it's a small world" seem true.

Friday turned out to be a golden, autumn day. It got HOT! I took a walk through the Grailville retreat center and went down several new paths. Guess several of the downs to the week happened on Friday. Got booted off a Yahoo group (no great loss since every time I opened my emails my stomach clenched.) Still, I'd have liked to slam the door on my way out. They didn't even print my letter telling why I decided to leave.

Earlier in the week, I'd also had another jolt from someone I met on that group. That's all I care to say in print, but I feel a deep sense of loss.

Time to move on to next week. I'm looking forward to beginning the NANO novel writing month on Wednesday. That should keep me busy! I'll have to pound out 2000 words a day to meet the 50,000 word deadline. Maybe later I'll have to remind myself why I'm doing this. Okay, I heard that remark----

Success - almost

I finally have a picture on here with the title. I've tried several pictures over the last few days. Had a nice picture of the Dionne Quints (I used to collect Quint memorabilia.) Someone said I needed a Thanksgiving picture so I took off the winter picture of the quints and went for an autumn theme. Got a lovely picture of a fall lane, but when I tried it out, it was about the size of a postage stamp. Also, my title vanished.

So tonight I decided to scroll around for another autumn type pictures. Finally found these trees in the fog. I love fog. Not driving in it, but seeing it or being out in it. Maybe it was all those spooky black and white movies I watched as a child. Anyway, the picture came out wonderful but my title vanished. So, I played around and found out how to change the title color. I might make further renovations, but I'm happy to have both things working in synch for once.

OOPS!



There might not be a picture with this post for one simple reason. I'm not sure about what I'm doing. :) The new look to my blog so far is thanks to my friend, Erica. She talked me though some of the technical details so I could change the template. I'm working on putting up a new picture but seem to be doing something wrong. My blog keeps telling me to SELECT AN IMAGE. Funny, I thought I did.



Had an early, early morning today. Miah needed to be at school by 8:45, a full hour and 45 minutes BEFORE normal. He had to meet the teacher for Endangered Species to go on a field trip to Green Acres. Since all I had to go on was a cryptic note in his homework planner--Oct. 19, 8:45, Fields Trip--I fervantly hoped someone would actually be there when we arrived. They were, even though we were five minutes late. Miah got his name tag and climbed aboard his teacher's SUV.



This was the second early morning for school this week. On Tuesday night, the boys house sat with Sister #1. She had to be at work early, so I had to meet her and the boys earlier still. We arranged a meeting at a gas station near the school. The trouble was, I seldom go in that direction and am not familiar with the road. Imagine my surprise when I made a LEFT turn out of the parking lot and realized you aren't allowed to make a LEFT TURN, only right. A giant berm blocked the road into the lane I needed to go. With no other choice, I switched to the turn lane (going in the wrong direction) and eased up past the berm. Thankfully, no policemen saw my mistake. What the other drivers thought I have no idea. No one blew any horns or cursed. Not where I could hear anyway! OOPS!



Today I kept one of my mini resolutions. After my writing stint, I forced myself out of the car and took a walk out of the school grounds. Across the street there is a retreat center with gardens, etc. I took a lovely walk through the pathways, saw some late blooming yellow and pink zinnias (particularly pretty against a damp, misty day), a greenhouse and a tiny coffee house tucked into the bottom of a meeting center. Next time, I'll bring money and go in for a cup. Here is a link if you'd like to see where my walk took me. http://www.grailville.org/

Are you thinking Christmas yet?? I'm already making my list! In our family, we pass around lists to take the guess work out of shopping. I happened to find a cool sweatshirt featuring the Dionne Quints. That's going on my list for sure! Along with Season Two of "The Big Valley." I'm hoping to add a picture of the Quints to this blog---if you see it, I've succeeded. If not, back to work . . . .

Small Victories

Since nothing truly big has been happening in my life the past few weeks (except for a monster cold that doesn't want to leave,) I decided to focus on some small victories. Might as well celebrate the small and hope for better things ahead.

1. I wrote an email and said "no" to serving on a refreshment committee on Sundays.

2. Decided to go for it and start my agent blitz again. I have two and a half books that are complete. None of them are doing any good sitting on a shelf. Aimed for the top agents in the business. Yesterday, I got a very nice email back from the one I wanted SO MUCH. The agent couldn't use my book, but he wrote the nicest rejection I've ever got. (Well, second nicest.) I hope it's not bad etiquette, but I sent him a thank you.

3. Decided not to let any rejections get me down. It only takes one yes. I'm scrolling out the agents and marking my next targets. Have also decided to change my query letter. I think I'm my own worst enemy by trying to pitch a series. One book at a time is best for now.

4. Another short story is on the October Fandangle online magazine. "The Teeth in 4B." Semi-scary for the season but with a message for all of us who were once metal mouths.

5. I won a slot in Linda Jo Martin's Perspective in Writing blog to be interviewed. If there is anyone who reads this that I HAVEN'T told---LOL--I'll be glad to supply a link.

6. Someone told me that you can now read a full year of "Cookies and Milk" on the http://www.timesgazette.com/ archives.

7. I cleaned my room - most of the way.

8. After having falling out of the habit, I got up this morning and did ten minutes of power walking. I'm making another resolution to use half an hour on school days walking around the circular drive at the school. Tomorrow will put this to the test.

9. I decided to take some time for myself and have been watching an episode of "Perry Mason" almost every night. Except for the night when I watch "Jon and Kate Plus 8."

10. I updated my blog without being tagged. :)