We all need to know

If you're a FB friend sorry for the double post but I love this and we do need to know how to recognize this

Why do the best ideas come when you're in the tub???

Kicked back soaking these old bones and BAM an idea came to me. No paper, no pen, what do you do???
Scream and when your husband comes running thinking the worst just smile and ask very nicely "Please get me a pad and pen... I've had a great idea and don't want to lose it."
He looked weird and said, "What?"
I said, "Paper and pen... IDEA."
He said something under his breath as he turned to leave.
I said, "Hey honey, forty years ago you would have jumped in this tub with me."
He said, "Forty years ago you was young and spontaneous not old and psycho."
He never did get my paper and now I've forgot the idea.
If I never get published it will be all his fault.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Good week for good news

Good news comes in all sizes and shapes. The first good news this week was when my friend Sheila called to tell me she didn't get the job in Florida. That might not be good news for her but it was wonderful news for me... I didn't want my friend moving to Florida. If she is going to move... Zip City is a good place.

Second good news... Irene... another friend... was visiting her dad and was in a auto accident. Someone hit them. Everyone was okay... great news. Then the third news was she made it home safe.

Third and bestest news...Sheila (who had thyroid cancer and had treatments earlier this year) got a all clear on her check up scan and doesn't' have to go back for a year. Phew.... that is wonderful.

Here's hoping you have a good news week too.

Talent...don't we all have it???

I had a lady I've known forever tell me yesterday that I was so talented. This lady taught school for forty three years, had six kids of her own, she can sew, cook, everything she plants grows ... she thinks I'm talented!
But in truth, I've never met a person that didn't have some kind of talent. We all are special.
There was this boy in my high school that was...hummmm... different. The boys were mean to him, calling gay... I don't know if he was and I really don't care now or then. That boy could sing like an angle. I would sit in study hall and listen to him practice for choir and wish wish wish I could sing like him.
If you will step around your eyes and look with your heart you will see that everyone has something that makes them special. You don't have to like everyone but your dislike doesn't make them stupid, ugly, mean, or untalented. Yes I know I'm on a soap box. I wish I had the talent to make people be nice to each other. Words do hurt and it isn't just kids that say mean things.
No it wasn't me that someone said mean things to ... lord help them if it was... but I overheard a boyfriend tell this lovely young girl that she make him sick with her fat ass and pothole face... and he got up and left her there in the restaurant. She sat there and cried. So did I! Nobody needs to hurt someone that way, why was he with her... because she slept with him??? give me a break, find someone you can be nice to and do not wound someone else in such a bad way.
Now I know she should have stood up and in my mind she shouldn't have been with him in the first place, but it broke my heart that I had to listen to that and not punch him in the face... that is one of my best talents! :)
I know... be nice... okay, fine.

Oh my gosh Yard Sales are good

I just went through three boxes I bought at a yard sale in the spring... I knew it was Christmas stuff... I knew it was a lot of Christmas stuff... but I didn't know what great stuff there was at the bottom.

I went to this yard sale and it was close to noon and the ladies having it was hot and tried and ready to pack up and rest. There was this Christmas area and I was looking through it when one lady said, "We'll make you a good deal if you'll take all of that."

I looked around and saw some really good stuff on the table and I said, "Does the things on the table go with it?"

The ladies looked at each other, then all looked at me and nodded. We discussed price... They said 15 (which was a good price but they wanted to sale) I said 6... they looked at each other and answered with 10.... I pulled out my money and just happened to have 8 dollars in my jean pocket... now I had more in my van but I held up the cash and said...8 they took it

It filled the back of my van and then a 4' Christmas tree that rotated was in a box that went behind the front seat. Oh did I forget the mention there was a tree in there, and 6 rolls of expense ribbon, nativity set, swags, lights that worked, ornaments... some vintage... two platters and 7 reefs

Do I feel bad for talking them down... nope! They wanted to sale and I wanted to buy... they just wanted to sale more than I wanted to buy.

You will need to go to many yards sales before you find a treasure but when you do it is very special. All my friend ban me from their yard sales. :)

Older books I just checked out at the Library

Went to a SCBWI conference this weekend in Nashville and one editor Emily Mitchell from Charlesbridge Publishing really impressed me. She gave us some older books to read for voice, style and pace.
Picture Books to read
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type
Bark, George
Miss Nelson is Missing
What Happens on Wednesdays my favorite
Diary of a Worm
Kiss the Cow
Little Lost Bet

Middle Grade
Ivy & Bean series
Zelda & Ivy series
Clementine series my favorite
Aggie and Ben
Ramona series
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Anastasia Krupnik
A Long Way from Chicago
A Year down Yonder

YA

Speak
Prom
Dairy Queen
An Abundance of Katherines
Looking for Alaska
Princess Academy
The Goose Girl
The Off Season

For the love of Pete

I'm going to tell you a little story. My granddaughter, Jaselynn, got three baby ducks even though her Granny told her that baby ducks are hard to keep. She named them Donna, Pete and Richard Quackers even though she didn't know if they are girls or boys.
Pete was a smart little Quacker and squeezed out of the crate and disappeared. Jaselynn was at school when this happened. Missy, my daughter, went to look for him. She said the birds in the backyard were in the escape plan because they kept making little Quackers sound and sending her on a wild duck chase.
Jaselynn calls from school. "Are you kidding, Mother?"
Missy... "No. He's gone."
Jaselynn..."Are you trying to make me cry?"
Missy... "For the love of Pete, no!"
Jaselynn hung up on her. Said her mother was heartless. I thought it was funny.

You might ask... where have you been

and why have you been slow with your blog.

I've been making pillowcases... writing and rewriting one sentence pitches for my manuscript and writing and rewriting and rewriting chapter three in my work-in-progress.

This weekend I'll be with my best writing buddies except for one... in Nashville... having a ball... or yes and learning new things to help me move past chapter three.

Time...ruler of the world

When I was a kid my one wish was to reach sixteen so I could drive. I dreamed about it, planned for it and would have changed time to reach it sooner. Once I reached that milestone, the goal became twenty one. Once twenty one was behind me the world started to spin like a merry-go-round and time just raced by... and my favorite saying was when I have time... one day when I have time...now that I've reached the outer rim of old age, leaving middle age behind, I still don't have the time to do all the things I want to do.
My grandmother always said that time wasn't for the living but for the dead. That is the only time you have eternity being in heaven or hell.

Sneezing... pulled out the winter robes

I've got my socks on and my soft robe ... in March 58 feels good but in Sept if feels like winter.
North Alabama broke all records on the lowest high and tonight there will be another record broke. One week ago it was 99 with a heat index of 103 but today the high was 58

Everyone will be sick. Ronnie laughed at me.. I went out on the porch to sit with all the above on and a blanket wrapped around me.. he came to the door and asked," Is it snowing yet?"
Don't you just hate people who think they're sooooo funny!
When I came in he was asleep on the couch wrapped in a blanket... :)... I had to wake him up and ask, "Is it snowing yet?"

I'm not going to get on my soap box

But there are issues I feel strongly about and think it's moral short comings rather that political bloopers. I've also decided I am a poet... a very bad one. I use too many words when I write about something in my heart and the special part of it is lost in those words... so I write a poem that cuts to the pure truth of my feelings.

Okay, I've warned you... here is a bad poem.









Eternal

A tiny flicker of life
Begs, “Love me.”

Maternal instincts
Scream, “I love you.”

Justification begins
All have the same end

A moment in time
A life is denied

Will your world be the same?
Haunting memory remains.

Rain is a good thing

I'm Dancing in the Rain was a big hit in the 50's and I'm old enough to remember it but my favorite RAIN song is this one sung by Luke Bryan
We need rain so bad in North Alabama that I'll take the 3 inches they're predicting on a holiday weekend. And it's need bad when your baby feels a little frisky :)

Now you've got to love a guy that takes a picture with his dog and a pig with outhouses in the background. Too funny.

(Verse 1)
My daddy spent his life lookin' up at the sky
He'd cuss, kick the dust, sayin' son it's way too dry
It clouds up in the city, the weather man complains
But where I come from, rain is a good thing

(Chorus)
Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky
Back roads are boggin' up, my buddies pile up in my truck
We hunt our honeys down, we take 'em into town
Start washin' all our worries down the drain
Rain is a good thing