Saturday - Mini Vacation Day 1

Ahhh....the first day of "vacation". Hey, it's the best we can do this year, so I'm making the most of it.
First up - sleeping in. Oh my, that was very nice. Then... a trip to the mega store for birthday swag for K5. I could say more about that trip, but... there's a website for that. K5 is the best. She cracks me up - especially when she's feeding me frosting from the wrong side of the fork. We had a really nice time and she is just so stinking cute! I love that kid! Home from the birthday party to make potato salad, then off to friends for an evening of laughter, eating, kids in the pool, fire building, s'more making, more laughter, and sparklers. And we got to see fireworks.
Tomorrow...well...not 100% sure about what's going on yet, but it's like another Saturday for us and I love that. 
Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Wow! I suck!
A whole week?? Wtf is up with that?
I don't know, except it was a long week.... ???

Anyways...here's the list...
1. No Day Job until Thursday!! How awesome is that?? Hello, mini vacation!!!
2. K5 is 2 today!! Wow! She is such a great kid!! I am old!
3. Sleeping in tomorrow!
4. K5's birthday party tomorrow!
5. The lightning and thunder going on outside right now... Did I ever mention we only have air conditioning in select rooms and it's freaking hot outside!?
6. Making progress on the bedroom cleaning...
7. Plans to hang with friends tomorrow night.
8. Having no solid mini vacation plans... Awesome!
9. Knowing I will be able to write during this mini vacation!
10. No day job until Thursday!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

I'm a slacker. I'm sorry...
It's been a long, hot week...Let's hit the good stuff...
1. Friday. Thank you.
2. Living through our town's annual street fair yesterday. I was even off work. I walked about 7 miles. I have a sunburn.
3. Writing time. Though, not much.
4. Alone time with that man I live with. Nice.
5. Not having hair to deal with in this heat.
6. Hanging with the family on Sunday.
7. Picking up my kid from camp tomorrow. I miss that boy.
8. Adult beverages.
9. Air conditioning.
10. The man had to run a boot for the Troop yesterday. Right beside the Army booth. Lot's of eye candy there... I really didn't mind covering for him when he took a break...
That is all for now. Thank you weekend. Now if we could have about ten degrees less on the thermometer?
Behave!

Summer Survival Journal: Year Four - Entry One

It has begun.
I cower under my covers, hoping for a tiny bit of peace. These teenage years are nearly as chaotic as the years they were toddlers. My worries are just different now.
Our camp is constant activity - video games, catching up on television shows, card games, cries of boredom and arguments. They do not go to bed. Ever. There is no peace here. No quiet. No break.
They are always hungry. Always. The food stores are forever in need of resupply.
And they do not see the mess they make. Ever.
The beasts are nearly as bad as the natives. One is shedding - despite how often she is brushed. The other day one of the natives brushed the canine in camp and did not bother to clean up the hair. You can imagine. The feline beast spends his day meowing at everything and everyone. He is well fed, watered, and has all he needs. There is no logical reason for his behavior.
There is no logical reason for much of what occurs in our camp. I am in fear of my sanity.
Behave!

Feel Good Friday...

Here's the list...
1. Friday. Thank you for still being here!
2. Getting the kid to camp and he's so happy to be there! (We won't talk about the trip I need to make tomorrow with forgotten items)
3. Hanging with the folks for a little bit tonight.
4. Sleeping in tomorrow. Yay!
5. Getting stuff done.
6. Weekend plans.
7. Being bald. I love it. (More on that later.)
8. Living through our brief, but necessary, trip to the mega store tonight. Oy.
9. Not having a raccoon in my oven. (idk)
10. Sleeping in tomorrow!
That is all...
Behave!

Lucky Seven!

My wonderful critique partner/partner-in-all-things-fun, Misty Simon, has tagged me in the Lucky Seven.

The challenge: Post seven lines from an unpublished work of fiction.

The Golden Rules:

Go to page 7 or 77 in your current manuscript
Go to line 7
Post on your blog or Facebook page the next 7 lines, or sentences, as they are – no cheating
Tag 7 other authors to do the same (This is not happening - everyone I would tag has already been tagged)


Okay, so from my brand new, never edited, still oh-so-very-rough draft of Shredded:

“What’s going on around here?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” A low howl came from outside. “Follow me.”

Julia waited while he checked the locks, then followed him up a short set of stairs. The window in the small attic-like storage space was covered with a black trash bag. Ben moved the bag as soon as the door was closed and the room dark.

“Come and look,” he said, moving to the side to make room for her at the vent.

Eh...

Behave!

It's Only Wednesday?

Geeze. This week!
Remember me talking about K4 coming down with the flu on Saturday? Turns out, it was a highly contagious flu. Took out four out of five of us - that man and I only hours apart on Monday. (I woke with K4 at 5am on Saturday, then when she got up again - around 9, the man helped her out. I got it at 5 am Monday morning and he got it around 9 - how's that for precision?) What an awful day! I won't go into the gory details, but there was moaning involved. If K2's going to get it, she should have woken up with it this morning, but so far so good. (K3 had it Thursday, but a milder version) Anyway. That's something I do not want to repeat ever.
This morning we woke to the freezer door being left open overnight. So far, no one has fessed up. I guess it was the ghosts, or maybe aliens. (Unless the dog and cat had a party overnight?) Luckily, Mother Hubbard's cupboard is bare at the moment, so nothing of importance (except a almost empty bag of ice) was sacrificed. And, bonus, tonight's dinner was pre-defrosted. The poor compressor was chugging like it was on its last leg, but finally evened out and made everything frozen again, which is a definite relief.
Oh! And it's only Wednesday! Cripes!
And I'll stop there, because you definitely do not want to know what my cat has been doing (or not doing) this week, and I know you don't want to hear about the kid arguments (saving those for Summer Survival).
Behave!

Feel Good Sunday

Sorry I missed Feel Good Friday! I'm not really sure why that happened.
Let's get to the feel good part, shall we?
1. Not having a ton of running around to do this weekend. We managed a fair amount of yard work, laundry, and house cleaning. (Though we did discover our chimney is falling apart. Oy. The man kept finding bricks in the yard. When he looked to the roof...well...yuck and $$) (And K4 woke up with the stomach flu Saturday morning, which squashed our plans for the day. And that was fine. So is she now.)
2. Making the decision to stay hair free for a little while. (I let the man actually razor shave my head last night and I won't be doing that again. It hurts like a sunburn. Besides that, I'm not sure I like it.) No hair is much cooler, and I don't have to worry about accidentally catching myself on fire. Plus, if my s-i-l has to be without her hair for a while, so will I.
3. Writing time and awesome progress.
4. Air conditioning.
5. Talks around the fire with the man.
6. Writing while sitting at the fire.
7. My kid loving his job.
8. Sleeping in x2 - even though we went to bed excessively early last night, which meant I was up early.
9. Finding out our good neighbors aren't moving right now, and meeting the landlord for the houses at the end of our street. She's very nice and working hard to find good people to rent to.
10. Watching hysterical stuff with the kids. I'm not sure if I was laughing because of their reactions or what...
In all, it's been a mostly good, but far too short weekend. Summer is officially here. Let's see how fast it goes.
Behave!

Breast Cancer Sucks...

 Yep. That's me and my new look. Last night was the "head shaving" in honor of my sister-in-law.

Here is the before picture:

Over 20 inches of hair to be donated to Locks of Love.

Things I already like about being bald:
1. Very fast showers.
2. No hair getting stuck on everything.
3. Rubbing my head.
4. My sister-in-law.

The Bff shaved her head, too. And my sister and niece dyed their hair pink. (My sister can't shave hers because of her job, so she did the next best thing.) I also forgot to mention what I was doing to my boss and I think I may have thrown her for a bit of a loop this morning. She recovered, though still had a startled look on her face every time she passed me.
Lots of people stare at me now. I say, let them. Look all you want and when you get home remind the women you love to get their mammograms and do their monthly self exam.
That is all...
Behave!

Sunday Snippets

From the work in progress - very rough first draft... (This book has no name yet.)

"This could not be real. She felt like she was either in a bad horror film, or the victim of one of those pranks where they scared the crap out of you and then everyone laughs their ass off while you try to recover from the shock. If it was the latter, someone was getting a bullet right between the eyes.

“I don’t know. Seems like there are more today than yesterday. You think he’s scary by himself, or Stacey was scary? As a group, they are horrifying and relentless.”"

Eh...it's still in the crappy stage and it's zombies or something like it. I'm getting ready to hit the page count before all of the kids come home to celebrate K1's birthday. 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday...

Thank you, Friday!

It's been a long (short) week around here!

The list:

1. Shaving my head. Because my s-i-l has lost her hair now - before her second chemo appt!! It's all good and I will be bald, too. Soon. My hair is very long and will make great wigs for other breast cancer victims. (pictures when the deed is done! Soon!) (btw... Breast cancer sucks!!!)

2. Having my mammogram and it came back fine. (Get yours!) (And btw... breast cancer sucks!)

3. Oh God! Thank you, Friday! This week was longer than a regular week, even though it was short!

4. Writing meeting tomorrow! Yay! 

5. Getting some words on the page this week! Zombies.... or something like it...

6. School is out in 3 days! 

7. My God, it's June! WTF?

8. Summer is here!

9. That man and I having a "few minutes" of time alone tonight - weird as it is....and not as long as it should have been.

10. The thunderstorms. There should have been more though...

11. Sleeping in a few tomorrow!

Behave!