Moaning Monday

Only one significant moan today...
It's freezing cold - really freezing cold. Anyone who lives nearby knows that. And I had to run around this morning - load groceries in my car, walk across huge parking lots three times, unload some stuff into the Salvation Army donation box, then unload my purchases once I got home. It's still cold in the house, thanks to the wind, but at least the killer gusts have died down some.
The other moans...well...they're pretty much the same as everyone right now.
That's all. I have a list a mile long today and another Christmas party to go to tonight!
Behave!

That Explains It

...And it's kind of close to a memory I'd rather forget.
I'd like the socks back though.
Behave!

Puppies!

This one is the one I liked.
Then we found out she was already sold.
I love her face and she's so sweet.









So, we looked at this one.
Then, found out she was already sold.
(Yes, she has some kind of rash on her face, but she's on medicine for it.)
She has beautiful blue eyes. I don't think you can tell in the pic.








So...
There's this little girl.
She's adorable. Black with a white star-ish spot on her chest. She's a little tank - heavier than the other girls, but with a very sweet disposition. She's the one K4 likes the best.

At this point, all I can say is...we'll see...
If it's meant to be, it'll happen. If not, well, then, okay. The status of all three is still up in the air. They're not ready to go to their new homes for another 2 weeks yet.
You'll know when I know...

Call me crazy. Call me insane. I don't care. I'm completely out voted here, so it doesn't really matter what I say about the whole deal. Not like I'm fighting it so much. If I said absolutely not, the matter would be dropped. But I haven't said that. So... Like I said, if it works out, then it was meant to be. If it doesn't the same principal applies. I'm not worrying about it too much right now. I know I said we weren't getting a puppy, but you all knew my fight was only a half-hearted one, right? Come one. You know you did.

In other news...How awesome is it that my parents gave us a fantastic crockpot for our anniversary? It's got three different sized cooking bowls! The thing is sweet beyond sweet. I'm so thrilled. I can't even tell you how much!

It's supposed to snow tonight. We'll see.
Behave

Feel Good Friday

Whew! It's Friday!
Here's the list:
1. It's Friday!
2. Getting almost all of the Christmas shopping done.
3. Efficient and cheap shopping trips.
4. Christmas Wreath scented candles.
5. Friends visiting.
6. Christmas lights.
(Can you tell I'm really trying to find my Christmas spirit?)
7. Bob and I's 22nd anniversary tomorrow.
8. Puppies...(we're still not getting one)
9. hi :o) (That's Jo - she's the friend visiting)
10. The knowledge that by this time next week this holiday will be over. (That's probably bad, isn't it?)
So, there you have it.
I could have a really long list of moans for today...like K4 and I getting drenched to our knees in freezing cold water, not having an umbrella in the driving rain, stuff like that...
Behave!

Silly Stuff!

My brother-in-law's been playing with the video feature on his iMac.
The first dog in this video is mine. The second theirs.

We weren't present for this video, but it's still pretty funny. I was sad we couldn't make the weekend the first time I saw the pictures. The video solidifies that.

A little Thursday silliness for you.
Behave!

Answers!

Okay, here are the answers:
1. In the movie Babe, what gift do Farmer Hoggett and his wife get from their son for Christmas?
a. A box of chocolates.
b. A turkey.
c. A fax machine. (I didn't know this either, but all the K's did.)
2. What does Scrooge keep in his coalbox?
a. Money
b. Cheese
c. Coal (I thought it was money.)
3. What rock 'n' roll star, born Rich Pennimann, was born Christmas Day, 1935?
a. Little Richard (If it wasn't for the answer on the back of the card, I wouldn't have known either.)
b. Fats Domino
c. Mick Jagger
4. What was the first name of Scrooge's deceased partner, Marley?
a. John
b. James
c. Jacob (Correct)
5. According to superstition, what do cattle do at midnight on Christmas Eve?
a. Moo
b. Talk (I don't know who's superstition. I've never heard of it!)
c. Drink a shot of whiskey and howl at the moon.

Not bad, Nat. I would probably have only guessed right for #4!
So there you have it. I might do this again next week Depending.
Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

Okay...these are straight from my Christmas Trivia box.
The box is called 'Tis The Season.
We'll do multiple choice. Choose the right answers.

1. In the movie Babe, what gift do Farmer Hoggett and his wife get from their son for Christmas?
a. A box of chocolates.
b. A turkey.
c. A fax machine.

2. What does Scrooge keep in his coalbox?
a. Money
b. Cheese
c. Coal

3. What rock 'n' roll star, born Rich Pennimann, was born Christmas Day, 1935?
a. Little Richard
b. Fats Domino
c. Mick Jagger

4. What was the first name of Scrooge's deceased partner, Marley?
a. John
b. James
c. Jacob

5. According to superstition, what do cattle do at midnight on Christmas Eve?
a. Moo
b. Talk
c. Drink a shot of whiskey and howl at the moon.

Have at it. Some were easy to me, and some were weird. I only hope I can remember the answers come tomorrow! Ha!!
Behave!!

Moaning Monday

I think I'm cursed.
The list:
1. Bad tree lights.
2. Not knowing about things I should have known about and then getting the brush off when I ask why I wasn't informed.
3. People being in bad moods.
4. Non-stop rushing around.
5. Trying to get the tree decorated and having issue after issue prevent the decorating.
6. School projects that end up having to be redone because I gave the wrong instructions for making pinata glue.
7. The pile of administration duties waiting for me.
8. Being stumped in the gift department for 2 of the K's. (they're still not giving me lists)
9. Having a headache.
10. Being too tired for my own good.
It's a partial list, but the rest of it is too gory to share. Or maybe just too personal. I don't know. Moaning Monday's a downer! I don't need anymore downers!
Behave!

Feel Good Friday - The Saturday Edition

Yesterday was such a blur and so not a good day. It's probably good I didn't have time to post my feel good list.
Today I can do it sincerely.
Here it is:
1. Shopping with the girls.
2. Laughing through dinner, driving, shopping.
3. Getting a good start on the Christmas shopping.
4. Making writing-related decisions that have me feeling better about writing than I have in a while.
5. Hanging with my writing friends.
6. The Sims.
7. Sleeping in.
8. Events with good music and friends.
9. Not having to run around like a crazy person today.
10. This holiday being behind us in a few short weeks.
There it is.
Have to go write and decorate and make cookies and do laundry and clean and get our tree and...
Behave!

Perspectives

It's been a little while since I've done a writing post.
I'm not promising anything, except maybe a random collection of equally random thoughts. I don't really have a soapbox issue to talk about, but a few snippets of thoughts in my head after conversations with my writing friends.
1. If you quit, it'll never happen for you.
I've talked about this before. It's still true. No one is going to knock on your door and offer you a contract. You have to work for it.
2. Take only the advice that works for you.
Every writer is different. Every book is different. What works for one author might not work for you. Many things are the same with writers, but not everything. Find your own place and own it. It's yours.
3. Critiques.
You should have someone read over your work before you submit. And not your mom and your grandma either. Your eyes can no longer see mistakes. Your brain knows exactly what your hero meant, or why your heroine hates skull tattoos. Your reader might not. You need to know that something doesn't make sense, and you need to be able to take the criticism. There are emotions involved, but you have to put them away. If the suggestions don't ring true, ignore them. I mean, consider, but if after time spent really thinking about the comments, you still know your way is better don't change it. It's your story.
4. Do not deviate!
Once you make your mind up to do something, do it. Doubts will creep in at some point. Do whatever necessary to dig yourself out of doubt hell, but stay the course. You'll never know if its going to work for you if you don't give it your all.
5. Cut yourself some slack.
Give yourself permission to goof off once in a while. You have to. That's the whole "refilling the well" thing. It's necessary.
6. Spend time with other writers.
Also necessary. Even if you don't write the same thing or have never shared your work. There's no better inspiration. If you don't belong to a writing organization, join one.
7. Do your research.
I'm not talking about finding out whether or not they wore underwear in 16th century Ireland. I'm talking about market research - submission guidelines, editor preferences, agent preferences, googling to see what other writers are saying about who/what/when/where, and listening to what your peers are saying. Be informed.
Okay. I think that's enough and I'm not sure that any of this makes sense!
Behave!

Answers!

Not very many takers for this one.

The answers:
The name of the song is: A New Dial, or In Those Twelve Days, not A New Day.
And, epiphany is December 6.

The song is French - at least the earlier versions - according to my research on Snopes.

So, there you go. A little Christmas knowledge for you.

I'm in crazy mode right now, so that's all!
Behave!

Tall Tale Tuesday

It's getting harder to stump you guys!
So, last night while waiting for the band/chorus concert to start, K4 asked me to sing her The 12 Days of Christmas. (yeah, stop laughing - apparently sometimes children don't care how badly you sing. I did say sometimes, because most of the time she rolls her eyes, glares at me and tells me to stop.) I, of course, couldn't recall all of the lyrics and made up my own...i.e. On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a spinning battery-operated toothbrush, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 3 half-eaten bagels, 4 fish heads, 5 golden snakes. She was not appreciative. At all. To say the least. But it did begin a conversation about what the 12 days of Christmas means and is the inspiration for this post.
(The lies start here. There are 2.)
Apparently, there's some scuttlebutt floating around the 'net about the origins of the song. They're lies. The song has been possibly been confused with a different song that teaches the religious meanings for the 12 days of Christmas, "A New Day". That song dates back to 1625.
The real song has french origins, and is thought to have began as one of those party games, like telling a story and having to remember every persons part when you tell it. Possibly. Again, this is one of those things where you'd need a time machine to know for sure. The only thing I've found consistent in my research is that it's supposed to signify the 12 days of Christmas beginning with the birth of Christ (December 25) to Epiphany (January 9).
(end here)
I like this version of the 12 Days of Christmas myself: .... K3 and K4 found it highly amusing as well.
So, that's it. Tell me the 2 lies. Don't kill yourself with research. I didn't. I guess the good thing about this is that I learned a few things. I'll let you know if I ever have to use what I learned. Though I was able to explain to K4 where the song came from and that makes it worth it.
Behave!

Moaning Monday

Okay, where do I start.
1. Dealing with a fidgety, coughing child during K3's band/chorus concert. (the concert was excellent though)
2. K3 totally ripping out two pairs of pants in the past two days. One was a pair of jeans. The other...his dress pants for tonight's concert. This happened about an hour before we had to leave. I was going to sew. (stop laughing, I can do it) But luckily, I found him a pair of black pants that fit.
3. Reading my horoscope and feeling this buzz of hope that I know will die a slow and painful death before the end of the year.
4. Why is it so cold?
5. Still mourning the death of my crock pot.
6. Thinking I had groceries planned out until Wednesday and realizing I have to make a trip to the grocery store tomorrow despite my efforts. I don't want to.
7. This crap that's taken up residence in my sinuses. Ugh. I have the best deep, husky voice right now though. Except my throat hurts from the drainage and the cough. K4 has it too.
8. Realizing just how little time there is before Christmas, and how little I have done.
9. The dog getting into the trash and eating chicken wrappers. Ugh! And spreading garbage all over the kitchen floor.
10. Hitting the "publish post" button, only to get an error page. Luckily, I didn't have to start over, but I lost a few things!
I think that's enough for one day!
Behave!

Sunday Funny 2

Behave!

Sunday Funny

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

One sad and depressing note before I get to the good stuff...
The one kitchen appliance I rely on the most - not as much as the refrigerator, but more than the coffee pot - has died. Let's all bow our heads in reverence to my crock pot. I loved my crock pot, even without the handles, even with the stainless steel scratched and stained. Now it's gone, and I have no idea what I'm going to do without it.
Seriously. I don't.
Okay. The good list:
1. Supernatural viewings that go very late and make me tired and cranky the next morning, but are so worth it for so many other reasons.
2. The way my family rearranged their schedules so I could have some time off.
3. It's Friday.
4. New pages.
5. Brainstorms that fix the old pages.
6. New laptop power cords.
7. The coming weekend.
8. Eggnog creamer for my coffee.
It's a short list for a long week, but that doesn't mean the week was bad. Just even. I guess.
Enjoy the weekend!
Behave!

Thursday Things

A random collection of the things running through my beleaguered brain right now.
1. Time - It's already December 4th. That leaves 21 days to shop, decorate, and take care of all the chaos that is the holidays and regular life. Out of those 21 days, 18 are booked - some double-booked or more. I don't know when we'll get our tree, or if we'll even attempt outside decorations this year. I need a time machine.
2. Shopping - Haven't started. Have no clue where to begin. No lists have been handed to me, though I've asked several times. The "girls only" shopping night has been established, but I prefer to be nearly done by then and I haven't even started. I have no idea if I'll have time to start before then.
3. Cookies - K3 and K4 have delusions of grandeur when it comes to making cookies. They want to make a lot - different kinds, complicated kinds. I have a list of wanted cookies from them, but no gift list yet. Go figure.
4. Puppies - We still not getting one.
5. Cleaning - Our last area to take care of is the attic. It's also the worst. The boys are up there, and while I normally wouldn't interfere in their version of clean and organization, there's no choice. The attic storage areas are bursting at the seams. I've taken care of part of one, but since I was working on K4's closet at the time, I left a huge mess behind. A mess that has taken over my dining room because K1 can't hook his computer up until the mess is gone. His computer is on my dining room table. It's stressing me out.
6. The joy that accompanied the arrival of my new laptop power cord. I'm so thrilled that I can now move around again! Of course, they dropped it off sometime yesterday - late, because I would have seen it earlier, and it sat on the porch all night when I could have been using it last night. That's besides the point though.
Okay, that's enough weirdness for one post.
Behave!

Answers!

Okay...
Yeah, 1 was right.
1. We'd already finished out the school year in Iowa, but they made us go for the last 2 weeks of school here. It was that, or repeat the year we'd finished. I don't know why, exactly. It was insanely unfair and none of us were happy about it. In my my mind, it was because they thought we must be stupid hicks because we came from a really small town and weren't in any way up to the educational standards of kids here. They were wrong. I remember being so bored. So bored. I also remember being a goof-off storyteller. I don't think one person in my class knew if I was telling the truth. (not so much different than now, huh?)
2. Yeah, we did move a lot, but it was more like 7 times, and only 5 states - or something like that.
3. I'm not sure if my dad ever rode a bull, but he wasn't a professional bull rider. He met my mom when my mom's cousin (I think - I used to think it was her brother, but I'm pretty sure that story is false) brought him home from the Navy on leave. Guess I'll have to find out if Dad has any bull riding in his past.
Yeah, it was a lame one. I'm already working on next weeks, but I can't guarantee it'll be fantastic or anything. I'm still pretty much drawing blanks or dark, demented tales of murder and mayhem.
And...
Oh my...Out of the mouths of babes. K4 and B were having a political discussion about gas prices and all kinds of things. B was trying to explain political concepts to her in easy to understand language. She came out with something about the president (don't know if it's present or future) handing out condoms to kids. When B asked her if she knew what a condom was, she said..."a small house attached to other houses".
There's your chuckle for today.
Behave.

Tall Tale Tuesday

Which of the following is true:
1. When we moved here from Iowa, we were forced to finish out the school year here, even though we'd already finished in Iowa.
2. By the time we moved here, my family had moved a total of 12 times, in 7 different states.
3. My dad used to be a bull rider. He met my mother while performing at a state fair in Mississippi. He was 22, she was 19. They got married three weeks later. After he broke his leg and arm for the fourth time, he retired.
Only one statement is true.
Okay, so it's lame this week. I've been wracking my brain for days trying to come up with something coherent that didn't require tons of research time (which I don't have right now). I'll try to do better next week, but it'll depend on me getting done with all I have to do this week.
Behave!

Moaning Monday

Here we go...
1. 2 straight days of rain that should be snow!
2. It's Monday...'nuff said.
3. Under the weather children.
4. A very, very long day.
5. Smaller humans who don't seem to remember that they have to pick up after themselves.
6. The incredibly long wait time from order date to ship date on a stinking power cord.
7. A broken power cord that makes me afraid to change locations with the laptop.
8. Having no idea what to do for Tall Tale Tuesday.
9. Supernatural hiatus. :(
10. Too much on the calendar.
That's all...sort of...but enough...
Behave!