Waiting...

Those of you who know me know I'm not a patient waiter. I want things to happen now, and if they don't, well, it's frustrating. Usually I do okay with the whole waiting game. The publishing business is heavy on the wait. I've learned to live with that. Maybe not always silently, or happily, but I know it's just the way things are.
That's not what I'm talking about...
I'm talking about waiting in general. As of right now, I feel like I'm just...waiting. There's this air of expectancy and resolution around me, but I'm not really waiting for much. I feel like I should be though and I'm not sure what it means. It happens on occasion and it scares me a little, because usually when I feel like this something bad happens. The hopeful waiting vibe is crushed like a little bug on the sidewalk.
Anyway.
While trying to figure this anomaly out, I started thinking about what kind of waiting drives me the craziest. Here's the short list:
1. Waiting for service calls. You know which ones I mean - "We'll be out between eight and noon." and then they show up at eleven-fifty-five and you've wasted all of that time waiting, too afraid to even go to the bathroom for fear they'll knock on the door as soon as you drop your drawers.
2. Waiting in line while the people who are supposed to be doing whatever they're getting paid to do discuss their private lives and forget there are paying customers there.
3. Waiting for people to get ready to go somewhere after they've fooled around during the time they should have been getting ready, and now you're going to be late.
4. Waiting for bad service, which kind of goes with number two, but not really.
5. Those long hours between now and when you're leaving to go someplace fun.
I might have more, but I'm dealing with a nasty headache that hasn't responded to any attempt at kicking it.
So what kind of wait drives you crazy?
Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Friday again...Whoot!
Here's the list:
1. Taking a break.
2. Macaroni salad.
3. Hockey games.
4. Getting my truck inspected before the end of the month.
5. Finishing and sending the taxes.
6. Comfy pants.
7. Short illnesses that haven't spread to anyone else.
8. Coffee.
9. The Lord of the Rings.
10. Nifty red fireplaces.
That's it.
Behave!

Random Thursday Ramblings

I'm still trying to figure this whole "taking a break" thing out. Though, I think I did pretty good goofing off all day. Played computer games, went to lunch with my mom, took a nap, watched Dark Angel. (I was really happy to find out that the Sci-Fi channel was showing Dark Angel all day long.) Oh, and I cooked a bunch of food, including making Amish macaroni salad and something I'll never make again. Okay, so that's not true - if (and that's a big if) I make it again, it'll be as a dip and not a main course. Blah, though. I didn't care for it, but there's none left. I was going to clean my house, but all I managed was some laundry and dishes. ha!
The stomach flu fairy has come to visit. The germs just arrived, so there's no way to know what will happen next. I've dealt with enough puke for one day though. (should have added that to the above list) Now the affected child is sleeping - has been for quite a while. And, of course, I have obligations tomorrow that I cannot get out of. Don't know what's going to happen yet. We'll see...
Guess it's time to take the snowman stuff down. Leaving the stuff up when I took the Christmas decorations down didn't do anything to encourage Mother Nature to lay a hefty amount of the white stuff on us. Now there's green stuff growing in my flower garden. The snowmen are going into storage. Take that Mother Nature.
There's something interesting growing in my brain. It's a kernel of a something right now, but the wheels are turning. Not enough for me to relax my whole worry that I've fried all of my synapses, but a small part of it. I have to get a little more of the idea first. I'll probably do the break thing through the weekend though. That should give this little flutter of crazy, post-apocalyptic nonsense time to germinate. We'll see. And if it doesn't....well...I'll deal with that later.
Oh, and I burned the hair off my left hand while cooking. This after being horrified over a video of some guy using fire to cut his hair. Freaky stuff, that. Every time I've torched my hair it's been an accident. I can't imagine doing it on purpose.
Enough rambling!
Behave!

Answers!

Okay...here we go with answers!

1. Temporary tattoo's on K2's arm. A lot of them, because she thought they were cute and she was bored. Nope. Though things like this have happened many, many times.
2. Curtains. One of those..."whoops, I took a random picture" things that never got deleted from the camera. Nope again.
3. A tie - worn by K3 because he just loves ties so much, especially ones that look like little flowers. Ha! Yes. It's actually a very nice tie and looks spiffy on. The picture was obviously crappy. And it's not little flowers, no matter what it looks like.

So there you have it. I think I like this format the best.
Still recovering from the edits. Being done hasn't hit me yet.
Behave!

Whoot!

Edits are done!
I'm kind of stunned. And kind of worried that I've fried myself.
I've been working on this book for a long, long time. Finished it last summer. Let it sit for a few weeks. Started edits, realized over the last half of the book was pure crap. Cut it, rewrote. Finished again. Let it sit for about a month, then started edits again. Yeah, I've done other stuff as well, but the book has been in the back of my mind for what seems like forever.
To say this book has kicked my butt is an understatement. I still really like it. I know I'll have at least one more round of edits to do once I get it back from my last readers. That's okay. I'll be glad to get the comments back.
So...now I'm faced with what to write next. (this is where the fried part comes in). I'm not pushing my brain too hard, but my monthly goal was to write 10 pages on something new and I have a little over a week before the meeting. I have a few options already, but nothing's sticking yet. I'll be taking a short break while my cells heal and rejuvenate. And I'll be trying not to think to hard. Most of my ideas just pop in when I'm least expecting them.
Have to remember that.
Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

Whew! Fell off the face of the earth there for a little while.
Nah, nothing's wrong - just a combination of having nothing to say (yeah, really) and pushing really hard to get my edits finished. They are done, except for one final read-through for consistency. So...whoot!
It's only Tuesday, but it feels like Thursday. Weird.

Okay...let's do this....

What is this?

1. Temporary tattoo's on K2's arm. A lot of them, because she thought they were cute and she was bored.

2. Curtains. One of those..."whoops, I took a random picture" things that never got deleted from the camera.

3. A tie - worn by K3 because he just loves ties so much, especially ones that look like little flowers. Ha!

So...which one is it?

I'm still behind on almost everything around here, but I might be back later!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Whoot! Friday again!
Here we go:
1. I'm warm in my house and don't have to go anywhere else tonight.
2. Sleeping in. Oh yeah, sleeping in. Beautiful.
3. A husband that took the time out of his busy afternoon to bring me lunch, and then stayed to eat with me. Sweet.
4. $1.10 off a gallon of gas thanks to the stores awesome coupons.
5. Movie nights with friends.
6. Planning the retreat.
7. Revisions - even though they're kicking my butt. Each page is a page closer to being finished.
8. Finally finding an enjoyable book to read. The last five or six have left me cold. I'm only half through, but I'm hoping it holds up through the end.
9. Happy Feet!
10. A relaxing weekend ahead.
That's it.
Enjoy your weekend!
Behave!

Thoughts...

On Friday the 13th.
Spoilers...
Okay, so it's a horror movie. There's gratuitous violence (guy getting his leg stuck in a bear trap, douche bag kid getting impaled on the back of a truck, girl getting stuck on with wall with a pair of antlers, girl getting strung up over a fire in a sleeping bag...and much more), lots of blood, lots of naked chicks (though no running around in a parking lot in only high heels). Don't forget the sex scenes (umm...if you don't want anyone to see you do it in a tent, shut the danged light off). There were two of them, and both made me roll my eyes, probably because Jared Padalecki wasn't in either. (and no JPad shirt taking off either. What's up with that?) The creepy redneck guy was way scarier than the violence. *shudder* First the porn mag, then the mannequin. Icky! And here's my thing...
It's been 20 years since the first murders. The camp is falling down. The lake is beautiful. Come on. Do you really expect me to believe there's only one spectacular cabin on the lake? One cabin complete with a fully-stocked kitchen and an expensive boat just floating along beside the dock? I don't believe the area wouldn't have been sold and developed into vacation homes. Why didn't Jason kill anyone else before now? Why was that lady so grumpy? Why didn't Padalecki take off his shirt? Why did Jenna have to die? Why didn't they call the police instead of dumping Jason's body into the lake? Why didn't they just shove him into the industrial chipper shredder? What was up with the beckoning old guy? And what the hell was up with the ending?
That said - It wasn't awful, but it was. It wasn't as scary as I expected. We had a blast though. There were 10 of us in nearly empty theater. Two guys came in while we were introducing people to each other and they got pulled into the fray, including a brief discussion of their thoughts afterward. We weren't exactly quiet, but no one seemed to care.
As much as I hate to say it, I liked My Bloody Valentine more. I wanted to love them both equally. Oh well...
Behave!

Answers!

Okay! Thanks to everyone that commented! Good guesses.

Which injury explanation is true:
1. I got my finger wedged in a grocery cart while shopping for camp. It started out as a small injury, but due to the bacteria on the shopping cart, the wound got infected and I ended up on antibiotics. True, but that's not the wound in the picture.
2. I got my finger stuck in the starting mechanism of the backpack leaf blower the day before we left for the beach. Yes. The salt water made it feel so lovely, too!
3. I caught the edge of a log we were stacking for the campfire and ended up with a huge splinter that had to be dug out. Also true, but not this time.

So there you have it. Hopefully next week I'll have a more interesting picture. I really like this format, so we'll see how it works out for a few more weeks.
Can't talk anymore. I'm off to see "Friday the 13th" with some friends. Maybe I'll post a review tomorrow.
Behave!

Ha!

Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

The picture format seemed to work pretty good last week. We're going to try it again. I did think I had a more interesting picture this week, but I don't, so we'll go with this one.
Which injury explanation is true:
1. I got my finger wedged in a grocery cart while shopping for camp. It started out as a small injury, but due to the bacteria on the shopping cart, the wound got infected and I ended up on antibiotics.
2. I got my finger stuck in the starting mechanism of the backpack leaf blower the day before we left for the beach.
3. I caught the edge of a log we were stacking for the campfire and ended up with a huge splinter that had to be dug out.
So what's the truth?
Behave!

Random Monday Nonsense

My coffeepot is done. Gone. Already out in the trash. It was a good coffeepot. Loyal. It produced brew far longer than ever expected. I am sad. Do I have a replacement? No. Am I dying without my morning caffeine? Yes. Why haven't I gone out to get a new one? I have no idea.
****
Why do I continue to abuse my poor body by rollerskating? Two days later and my feet still hurt. I wasn't going to do it, but changed my mind after the skate rental guy harassed me. Don't get me wrong, I like to skate. My feet are the problem.
****
I can't make up my mind on which isp/phone/cable provider to switch to. I managed to stick it out with my current one for a year, but now that my deal is over, I have to go. (I should have gone a long time ago because the actual service isn't what they promised, but whatever.) When I signed up and asked what happened after the year, the woman told me they'd be more than happy to extend the special offer. Only that's not the case. No, I'm not surprised, just unhappy with their customer service, with their service in general. I don't like being talked down to, or made to feel inadequate. Every conversation I've had with them has left me frustrated.
****
I'm up to chapter four with revisions. They're going okay. I'm taking my time, but hope it doesn't take me too long to finish. I may have gotten farther today, maybe not, but I got totally sucked into this paranormal show that has new ideas swimming around in my head.
****
Okay. I think that's enough for today.
Behave!

Where Are You Going?

Well, you're not going to get there unless you do something to make it happen.
It's true. You're not.
Doesn't matter what your dream is, no one is going to knock on your door and ask for your latest novel, painting, photograph, song, or whatever it is you do. They're just not. You're not going to get anywhere unless you work at your craft. And work hard. Sitting there wishing your dreams would come true won't make it so.
Dreams are wonderful. We need them. They keep us going, give us hope, motivate us. But they can't do the work. That's up to you.
If you want it bad enough, you'll do whatever necessary to make it happen. Whether it be writing when everyone else is asleep, getting up early to do whatever it is you do, or giving up some fun stuff every once in a while. (Remember balance though) Working, learning, researching...you have to be in the world you want to live in.
Yeah, sometimes necessary things take us away from our goals. And it is hard to get back into the swing once those necessary things are over, but if you want it you don't really have much choice. Do you?
Immerse yourself in your dreams.
And do the work.
Behave!

Ha!

Behave!!

Feel Good Friday

Whoot! Friday!
Here we go:
1. Friday...duh! :)
2. Valentine's Day plans (though...really, Valentine's is a non-holiday around here, but I'm happy to be doing what we're doing.)
4. Cool red propane burners. (pictures at a later date)
5. Newfoundland puppies (No. We're not getting one. It belonged to someone else, but it was so cute.)
6. Knowing B is going to make a spectacular breakfast tomorrow morning.
7. My kid being romantic enough to make his girlfriend a construction paper Valentine card.
8. Not having to go grocery shopping by myself.
9. Being warm and snuggly on my couch.
10. Relaxing. Finally.
Yeah. It's a lame list.
That's all.
Behave!

Answers!

Okay, I can't get the picture to re-post, but whatever. It's down there if you need to look at it again.
Here's the answer.

1. Taken during our October trip to Delaware - when I couldn't stop laughing and they drove off without me? (They did come back for me. Obviously.) (And it wasn't just me. No one could stop laughing. About everything.) No. They didn't leave me alongside the road at any time during our Delaware trip, though they threatened to.
2. Taken while taking a walk at the beach because the camera went off in my hand? No. And yes, we do sometimes walk on the road at the beach.
3. Taken at CPRW's annual retreat on the way back from checking out the cemetery? YES!!
4. Taken at Christmas when I was trying to get a shot of how the tree looked from across the street and, again, accidentally pressed the button? Nope, but entirely possible.

So there you have it. I liked doing it this way. Too bad I already dumped all of the random pictures off my phone. It would have made good Tall Tale Tuesday fodder. There's always random stuff out there though.

Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

Okay, let's try something different this week.
Tell me about the below picture.
Was it...
1. Taken during our October trip to Delaware - when I couldn't stop laughing and they drove off without me? (They did come back for me. Obviously.) (And it wasn't just me. No one could stop laughing. About everything.)
2. Taken while taking a walk at the beach because the camera went off in my hand?
3. Taken at CPRW's annual retreat on the way back from checking out the cemetery?
4. Taken at Christmas when I was trying to get a shot of how the tree looked from across the street and, again, accidentally pressed the button?












So...what do you think?
Behave!

Random Sunday Stuff

I should be in bed already, so you know what that means.
**There are no glasses in my house anymore. We all know what the cause is when the cupboard is empty. I sent the kids to look for glasses three times and they came up empty handed. There just aren't any. I threw two away yesterday because they were cracked and leaky. Guess I need to make a trip to get some new ones.
**My house smells so lovely right now. So does my hair (and no, I didn't catch it on fire again). I'm not sure how it happened, but I burnt two pizzas tonight. I had the timer set and everything and when the odor of something burning hit me, the timer still had three minutes to go and I put them in before the oven finished pre-heating. I managed to save about half a pizza and the mushroom appetizer things. Great dinner. Great smell.
**I love U-scan. I'd love it more if it were just a little faster and if it didn't hang up and tell me to wait for an attendant so often, and it would be nice if the coupon slot would actually take the coupons, but other than that, I love it. I prefer to bag my own groceries, especially with the green bags because I've yet to have a bagger that actually fills them they way they should be filled. The other day when U-scan was too full and I was forced to go through a cashier, the bagger put one bag of chips and hamburger buns and nothing else, into a green bag. Also, soap/cleaners should never be packaged with anything edible. I like the cold stuff to be with other cold stuff and the boxes to be all lined up together. (ocd...much?) We went through today with a decent-sized order and were out of there in minutes.
**I know it's about time for me to start writing something new. I'm holding back because my wip is going to need some concentrated revisions and I don't want to try to deal with new ideas while needing to pay attention to old ideas. Oh, why do I say it's about time to start something new? Because I totally freaked myself out the other morning with random thoughts about big (huge) snakes and what if I was the only one that could see it? What if it was real and no one believed me? I guess it's definitely proof that my brain still works.
Enough random?
I thought so.
Behave!

Saturday Silliness

Random pictures from my phone:
Let's start with the nice:
The creek...
More creek...beautiful, though some of the children wanted to walk on the ice.

The old silo at my dad's childhood home.

A pic I sent K2 from the grocery store because she was making ridiculous requests for odd food items.

My sandwich. K2 and I often send each other pictures of our lunches. Don't ask why. I don't know.

My lunch today. Doesn't that chicken look weird?

I had two more, but I somehow deleted them while I was trying to caption them. One was the poop in the snow I mentioned on Tall Tale Tuesday. You probably didn't want to see that anyway. The other was the random evil Santa head I found just laying on a counter one day. Thankfully it wasn't on my counter. It was very freaky and you probably would have been as scarred as I was.

That's all for today.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Whew! Friday!
Here's the list:
1. Finishing ALL of my edits! Whoot! Which also means...
2. Meeting my CPRW goal.
3. Supernatural!!
4. Supernatural chats
5. It's Friday...that should be 1.
6. CPRW meeting tomorrow.
7. Not having to cook dinner tonight.
8. Kids that do their homework even though it's Friday.
9. .40 off a gallon gasoline.
10. Watching Harry Potter.
That's all.
Behave!

Supernatural

Only one thing to say right now...

Bobby's wall of phones!

Heeee!

Behave!!

Answers!

Good job this week!
Here are the answers.
1. One of my boys shaved their armpits just to see what it was like. True. And he was very sorry. (He'll be mortified to find out I posted about it!)
2. The other boy decided to "help" with the way the dog sheds and cut her hair in a very awkward and unattractive way. Not true. This time.
3. When we were walking on Sunday, we came across animal poo in the snow. My boy crouched above the pile and pretended...well...you get what I mean. True. Bleech! Though it was pretty darned amusing.
I can see I'm going to have to get trickier if I'm going to stump you guys! ha!
Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

Sometimes the chaos in my house is so insane all I can do is laugh. A lot of the time that's because whatever's going on truly is funny and I'm not laughing the hysterical laughter of insanity. Most of the time, the opposite is true. (Like today. Three are home - 1 off work, 1 sick, 1 in need of an x-ray.)
Some of you know my kids. You've seen them in action. You know some of the strange things they do. Especially my boys. Maybe that'll make it easier to guess today's Tall Tale Tuesday.
Boy oriented. One is a lie. Two are true. Which.
1. One of my boys shaved their armpits just to see what it was like.
2. The other boy decided to "help" with the way the dog sheds and cut her hair in a very awkward and unattractive way.
3. When we were walking on Sunday, we came across animal poo in the snow. My boy crouched above the pile and pretended...well...you get what I mean.
Which one is a lie?
Enjoy the visuals!
Behave!

On Being Inconsiderate...

A lot of things fall into the inconsiderate category, though most of the time I think the person being inconsiderate is too involved in whatever is going on in their life to even realize they've been rude. I know I've been guilty of the same, realizing later that my actions weren't very nice, or that I wasn't very kind. Stuff happens - we're either on the giving end of the crap, or the receiving end.
But then...
Then there are times when people are purposefully inconsiderate though they know they're crossing the line. They know. They know and yet they can't seem to stop themselves. Or maybe they don't care about stopping themselves because their needs are the only ones that matter and they don't care about you, or anyone else. They don't care. They just don't. Because what they want is more important and they're going to harass you until you finally give in or blow a gasket. And they don't care if you're pissy with them when you do give in, because ultimately, they've fulfilled their desire. If you blow a gasket, then they claim you have issues, or that you need to chill, or a dozen other things that basically put the blame on you. Because if you would have just given in at the beginning, none of this would have happened. It's your fault for not doing what they wanted when they wanted it.
Oh, why did I give up Moaning Monday?
Behave!

Sledding Sunday

We're in Superbowl avoidance mode around here. We've been invited to three different Superbowl parties, and since there was no was to choose we decided to avoid the whole thing. We're taking the kids sledding. I'm sure the game will come on when we get home. I hope your team wins and I hope you're smart enough not to drive after you've had a couple. In my mind, the dangers of post-Superbowl driving are as bad as New Year's Eve.
The editing is coming along. I'm nearly half-way through the tougher ones and hoping to make fantastic progress tomorrow. Maybe I'll even be done by Tuesday. I'm taking today off. Maybe. I might do a few pages while I'm waiting for everyone to get home so we can leave.
On a random note - getting a 17 year old, two 12 year olds, and a 9 year old ready to go somewhere is like post-nuclear bomb time. Okay, so I'll take the 17 year old out of the equation since she drives herself and her dallying doesn't really affect me. But, geeze, how many times do I have to tell you to brush your teeth? ha! Why don't you have your shoes on? I swear it was easier when they were all babies and I had to change diapers, pick out clothes, dress each one, and help them brush their teeth.
I'm off to slip on the ice!
Behave!