I know, I know...

I'm BAD! I'm so sorry I haven't been here more. Kind of have a lot of things going on right now.
I'm moving, is the biggest thing. Not very far, only about 25 feet, but still have to go through the packing, sorting, cleaning that goes along with changing a household. Hubby and I finally bit the bullet and committed ourselves to something, and it is now consuming me.
Also too, the kids are taking up a lot of my time. It's summertime, obviously, and there is no more 'me time'. It's all US, US, US time. Mom can we do this? Mom can we go here? Mom are you going to wear your pajamas all day? All the questions drive me batty.
I try to lock the little buggars out of the house, but they keep getting back in.
Just Kidding.... mostly....
Nah, I love my kids. Today, actually, hubby and I took them swimming at a local beach, and we had a blast. Yeah, we're a little well-baked, but we had fun. I was defrosting meat for dinner when I realized the house was pretty quiet and maybe I could squeeze in some computer time.
So, here I am.
And here I go. Hubby just woke from his nap, and kids are wanting dinner.
sigh...
I'll try to be back more often, but don't be surprised if I lose internet for a while. Haven't exactly worked out yet how to move the pole from one house to the other.
Night all.

True Love sucks....

So, I have these two ducks that absolutely drive me nuts. They crap everywhere, eat all the chicken feed, and generally just make a mess with their feathers and stuff. They don't stay down at the pond where they are supposed to, they hike a quarter mile up to the barn to see what they can get into. They irritate the heck out of me, and I've wished more than once that somebody would eat the damn things.
Well, somebody did. But they only ate one.
So now the male wanders around everywhere quacking, looking for his female. He's been doing this for two days now. It was irritating at first, now it's just sad.
I felt guilty for wishing somebody would eat them, and now I feel even worse because this duck actually cared for his female. He's lost his love. My daughter told me ,"Oh Mommy, he's crying!"
Yeah, Honey, ok, thanks for rubbing it in that mommy wanted them to get eaten.
But you know what? I'm getting over my guilt and kind of wishing he'd get eaten now too, but for a different reason. Maybe there's some little duck pond up in heaven where she's waiting on him now. Maybe they can be reunited once again. And have little duck babies like they tried to do here, but it never worked out.
Hmmm, am I totally off my rocker, or what?

Lexington Herald...

The second piece of information from yesterday was that I was interviewed by the Lexington Herald!!! No, I'm not published yet, but the fact that I was unpublished was why he wanted to talk to me. Kathy Logan, the current President of KYRW, had sent a message around the loop, saying that a reporter wanted to do an article on romance writers in Kentucky. Those that wanted to be interviewed were to forward their information. I threw my name into the hat for the heck of it, and he called me. Honestly, I think the ex-cop-to-romance-writer thing was what caught his eye.
He asked a lot of in-depth questions which I hope I answered intelligently. I made sure to throw in as many authors and publishers names as I could. I gave him an outline of what my current story was about, and who I was going to submit to.
I also told him how completely wonderful and encouraging the romance writing community was to us newbies.
He wasn't sure exactly when the article was coming out, but said he would try to drop me an e-mail. So, If you get the Herald, maybe you can let me know. ...
Hope it's a good article....

Lots to talk about today...

So, this weekend was the Lori Foster get-together for readers and writers. It was a blast! There were sooo many people there, as well as authors I knew and many more I didn't. Faces I had seen on book jackets suddenly came to life; Lori Foster, Donna McMeans, Stella Cameron, Marjorie M. Liu.

Marjorie Liu was one of the biggest pulls to the event. I absolutely love her writing. She has two separate series going right now. One is a paranormal line with supernatural detectives, and a second line veers more towards urban fantasy. I enjoy everything she writes, but prefer the Dirk and Steele series. She has a release coming out for each line within the next couple of months. She also writes Marvel comics, which is a personal passion of hers.

I wanted to pick her brain a little more in depth, but I didn't want to appear like a stalker. She was very gracious with her time, though, and was a total sweetheart.

Her website is very informative and has a lot of helpful direction for writers.

The get-together raised a lot of money for the Animal Adoption Foundation. All of the proceeds from the raffle went to the foundation, and that itself raised over $6600.

This is a shot of some of the raffle baskets. I think I heard there were over 125 total. (I won 3, YIPEE!!!)

See Lori Foster at the end?

And the book signing was wonderful, too. A bunch of the authors were at tables at the edge of the room, and a bunch sat at the round tables. When we first arrived, the round tables were set up author, reader, author, reader. And there were eight spaces to a table. It forced you to be sociable.

Here are Maddie James and Jan Scarbrough.

It was really a wonderful time.

I'm going to close this blog for now, but don't be surprised if you see another one from me today.

I'm feeling old...

I hit kind of a milestone yesterday, and I'm not sure I like it.

My son is now old enough to mow.

The yard looks a little rough, but he got all but a tiny piece done. I figured he would gripe about doing it, but I think he thinks it's a manly job. I also told him it contributed to his allowance for the week, and he kept going. I was actually impressed. Our yard is fairly large, so I thought for sure he would poop out, but he didn't.

Made me proud enough I had to take a picture.

I was also surprised he didn't wimp out because of his 'injury'. He got stung by a wasp while playing in the tire swing yesterday morning. It does look bad, and I think he may be a bit allergic like I am. But, of course, Dr. isn't in today, and it's not bad enough to go to the hospital. We'll make do with Benadryl and children's aspirin.

This summer is going to be a busy one for the boy. He barely scraped through math this year. Not because he can't do it, but because he doesn't want to do it. Doesn't want to pay attention. All the 'testing' we did for ADHD came to naught. The teachers wanted him tested for it, so we went to the Dr., but the Dr. wanted the school to test for learning disabilities, which the school wouldn't do because his grades were too good. So, we're at an impasse I guess. I know he does not have a learning disability. And I don't say that because I'm his mom. He just doesn't present the way kids with lds do.

So good old mom is going to be part-time tutor this summer, with a little bit of drill-instructor thrown in. Third grade is going to be hard, and I don't think he has any idea how hard.

My own writing is progressing well. The short story I was working on is completed, but being edited as we speak. Once I complete corrections, I'll submit it and cross my fingers. I've already started several new ones, and I'm trying to decide which one to focus on.

Anyway, gotta get going. The rain has let up and Annie needs insulin. Maybe we can get back before it starts raining again. Or hailing. Yes, I had hail last night. Only about pea-sized, but still. 90 degrees yesterday, and I had hail.

Crazy...

Today is an important day...

Because it is my dad's birthday. Hi Dad. Happy Birthday. I won't tell how old he is, just in case he's squemish. We'll just say he has many years of experience, and the white hair to prove it.

We got together with Pop and Nee , as the kids call them, Friday, and had a wonderful dinner at Malone's. (Have to tell ya, that place is addictive. They wanted to go there, and they live in Ohio!) They got a hotel room that night in Lexington, then were heading south to Nashville / Knoxville area on the Goldwing. We had a nice visit while they were here.

Dad's favorite thing to do is go for a ride on the motorcycle. 1300, 1500 miles in a weekend is no big deal for Dad. He's always had bikes, for as long as I can remember. Usually fast bikes. If he didn't have a fast bike, he had a fast car. There was also a fast boat or two thrown in there as well. See the pattern?

I think Dad's met more cops than I have. And that's saying a lot.

But we love him anyway.

Have a Happy Birthday Dad. Oh, wait, by the time you read this, your birthday will be over.

Have a good day Dad.