Greetings to May - Cinco de Mayo and all that...

Well...I'm trying to get my act together. I'm trying to be more consistent with my blog, I'm trying to set up a website where you can view all my fantastic art work (well...okay, some good stuff to look at anyway) keep writing on a daily basis, submit work to be published and find a job before the end of the month when my current one ends. (Anyone need a typists? I really am quite good...)
I feel sometimes as if I've got too much on my plate, and I'm doing nothing with any of it. I hate that feeling. It's when it comes down to editing time, and I feel I need to be writing new stuff...I HATE editing sometimes.
Oh, and Cinco de Mayo is definitely an American holiday - or so I've heard. Do you realize we celebrate it bigger here in the states than they do in Mexico? I think that's hilarious. Just another symptom of the cultural stuff in America. Let's bring all our stuff here and make it bigger...not become an American, but I don't want to get into that this morning.
Anyway...as I was or was not saying...LOL
I've been reading several published author blogs lately, and I've discovered there are some I like, and some I don't. Some I want to keep going back to see, and some I wouldn't care to. There are some that I thought were hilarious, but are now just a commentary on American Idol...(sorry, but I do NOT watch the show...that or any other TV program for that matter) so I have no interest in reading that blog again. Perhaps in the summer when Idol is on break.
I have been told I need to have a portfolio for my art work. I am trying to be an illustrator as well as a writer, and since I've actually had that happen (which was a shock to me, believe me) I've figured perhaps the best way is to have a web site where the work can be viewed. Anyone else have a suggestion?
Anyway, so I'm going to be setting those up in the near future. I'd love to have some feedback from someone who might be reading my blog...LOL...I know there's like ONE out there. (thanks sweetie)
Anyway, we ate taquitos and chips and watched Zoro for Cinco de Mayo. Oh, and part of Fools Rush In. We love that movie. sigh. I love Zoro, I think both those actors are great. Of course, I think Antonio Banderas makes a great cat too...LOL
Mothers day is coming up, and I know it's going to be a trial for my hubby. I'm hoping it goes smoothly for him this year. I know he feels bad that he can't shower me with material things, but his love does just nicely. Then again, he hates Father's day too...so where do we go?
Well, time to end. I've got to see what else I can accomplish before time to go to work.
Ta.

spring and kittens

Well...I realized the other day that I hadn't posted in a while, sigh. I'm really not good at this bit, I have so much I'd rather do, even writing wise, than sit and think of things to blog - sometimes. But I'm feeling guilty, so I'll see what I can come up with.
I mentioned before that we have kittens? They seem to have sprouted out of the ground like tulips. My flowers are soooo much fun. I love spring for the flowers.
But I digress...
kittens. They are now big enough to be doing everything and running everywhere and climbing on EVERYTHING!! I just don't know...I think they might be worse than kids, and I've had seven of those. There are only FIVE kittens. I'm wondering sometimes if they don't have clones and when they are chasing each other around, the clones are fighting off somewhere in the corner where we can't see them. They certainly make enough squeals. But they have also started purring, and ohhhh, is that too cute or what???
So, I took a picture of one that was wandering around my keyboard so you could see just how cute they are. This one is formerly TT, now Theresa, because, ya know, Tiggers are BOYS.
grin.

How darling can you get?

My daughter has cats...one of which just had kittens. These cats weren't supposed to come with the daughter, but I guess we're too soft hearted. I mean, we already have 4...sigh.
Anyway, the kittens are now open eyed, and stumbling around on unsteady little legs. They are just so cute you could sigh every time you see them...sigh. (grin)

I even took pictures - this one is the tot that fell asleep on my son's shoulder and my hubbies leg. You can see how tiny they still are. But they are starting to play, and it's the most fun we've had in ages. I never saw little kittens like this, they've always been bigger by the time I've held one. Hope you get the chance...they are definitely an "awhhhhh" moment.

Well...I took this from InkSplasher's blog.

Take a look at this list and see which ones you've read. Then, if you're a blogger, post it on your blog. Here's what you do:

* Bold the ones you’ve read
* Italicize the ones you want to read
* Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in
* Highlight those you haven't heard of (green)
* Put a couple of astericks by the ones you recommend. (Rule added by Framed and Booked - I like it!)

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown) **
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) Want to though!!!!
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)*
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)*
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)*
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)**
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) * this series is wonderful...graphic though
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)**
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) (better than DaVinci Code)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)**
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) beware - very explicit, I didn't finish it
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)**
17. Fall On Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)**
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) ** loved this book as a teen
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)**
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) **
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) **
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)*
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbertz) very deep - good sci-fi -beware sexual content
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) (sex caution)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One(Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) (sex caution)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) **
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)**
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) beware on this one - good story, but a little too -
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares) No desire to read it - have heard too much about it
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) ** Loved this
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) ** My very favorite book from childhood
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving) (sex caution)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

I'm going to add some of my own:

101. Dragonsinger (Anne McCaffrey) *** Wonderful series!!
102. Magic Kingdom For Sale (Terry Brooks) *
103. Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) *
104. The Dinner Club (Curtis Taylor)
105. The Patriots Club (Christopher Reich)

Alas, Alas, my Valentine...

How did I let Valentines Day go by without writing??? I know...I was busy. Sigh. It was a LONG week. Our Valentines was nice, my wonderful hubby brought me balloons and a stuffed bear and rose petals...sigh. HE does spoil me. ;) Our date was on Saturday, we went to my son's school Lovers Feast. He is in the music department, and they put this on every year. This is the 25th year, so it was supposed to be even more special...go figure. I've wanted to go for several years, but we've never made it and I never so much as hinted to my love that I wanted to go...he is now smacking his head against the table asking why he bothered to try...grin.
It was sooo much fun. I love just about everything medival, and that's what they did. The students did a terrific job singing and acting. I would definitely go again, which in fact we probably will, same son is supposed to be in it again next year...
If the pictures had turned out good, I would have posted one, but alas, that shall have to wait until next year too.
I'm just so proud of my little boy...all growing up...snif
So, since I didn't have a good one of that, I have the one where he went to one of the High School Valentine Dances. He's wearing his dad's suit from right after we got married, (although you can't see it) and the over coat he wore on his mission...sigh. I can't believe he can fit his dads clothes!! Anyway...doesn't he look handsome? I think so...

I had a Mom moment this morning...

Every now and then we love to have these moments. Moments when you feel that your past patience and long suffering have been justified and your child comes to you and says you were right about something you told them. Moments that make you feel perhaps you have done something right with your progenitors, despite all your fears.

I was lucky enough to have one of those moments this morning. I'm trying not to make too big a deal out of it, I'm not going to mention it the child later. But, I'm going to talk to my husband so we can high five each other and salve our sagging confidences as parents.

Everyone feels that way--even if it's only a little bit. We do all the stuff 'they' say we're supposed to do; advise our children against bad things, try and feed them and clothe them and usually we get teenage responses. The fun part (I am discovering) is when they get older and see some of the wisdom of your words. They come home and shake their heads and say, man! If only we had listened to you earlier...man! If only I had saved like you told me. Man! If only...

Well...today's little moment wasn't the time to rub anything in. It was simply a time to listen and condole and support and store away in the brain that perhaps you can suggest new friends...help guide a little bit. But that remains to be seen. At least for today, I get to feel a little like I did something right, and enjoy the moment.
;)

The Trouble with Tribbles...or Children

Well...I happen to have that episode as my favorite on Star Trek. I love it when he opens the storage doors and they're full of Tribbles. I feel that way at home sometimes...my rooms are full of troubles...or should I say children. sigh.

I love my children. They are truly a blessing in my life. Unfortunately, they are also a trial. I have twin daughters that are turning 20 this year. Yes...the years are catching up to me. I can't believe my babies are turning 20! But anyway, back to what I was saying: One of them has taken it as her life's goal to turn her father gray. This is quite an effort because her father comes from a genetic line where the men do not turn gray on the tops of their head. Their beards turn gray, he has gray on his chest, but there is no gray on that gorgeous head!

She has tried since she was 12 to add that gray hair. Instead of going to my husband, however, it has gone to me. I have all the gray hair both of us can stand (or not stand in my case). Fortunately there is such a thing as hair dye...and I use it whenever I can't stand the sight of all that white glaring at me from the mirror.

My husband is sweet, he tells me he likes it, and that I should look upon them as highlights. My daughter commented (the OTHER one of the twins) in the pool last night that it was a cool streak of gray and I should keep it like that when I dye my hair next. sigh. I feel like they are all just too nice and just don't understand how the inside of me feels. I'm only 25 inside. I haven't aged mentally (is that a good thing to say?) since I got married. I still feel the man I married is wonderful and I still feel that we have eons together. So what is up with the face in the mirror??? At least I don't have tons of wrinkles...yet.

So-I was saying about this daughter- she's enough to drive one to drink if one was into that sort of thing. We end up playing games on our computer or finding funny movies to watch, wishing we could take a LONG vacation that we wouldn't have to come home from. sigh. I keep hoping she'll move out again, and then it will be a little easier to deal with. At least she won't be running up our power and gas bills or influencing her siblings...

Did I say that in public? oh dear.

At least I still love her. I just wish she'd pay rent!

Have a good one.

Winter Snow is finally here

It's a gorgeous winter day. I'm sure there are others who would not agree with me, but I think it's gorgeous. One reason is I'm not working today. I promised myself the last time it snowed big time, that I would NOT be traveling in it. My job is NOT a critical one, I don't get paid enough to spend over an hour on the road and then another hour getting home. So...I'm home. My hubby went though, and he has vacation or sick time. He decided he needed to be there.
So, Here I am, gazing at the snow, and enjoying every bit of it. I do have to go out later, but by them I'll be ready and most of the roads will have been plowed.
There's something about everything in white. It makes me think of Heaven and Purity and our Heavenly Father's love for us. It's glorious.
It also puts me in the mind to write. At least I was...until I just accidentally deleted all the items in my inbox in my email that I wanted to keep. ARGH!! Anyone want to strangle a computer? That's me!! sigh.
But...I think I'll take a break from the computer and go relax with a book for a few minutes. I have lots of writing I need to do today, and no one to bug me or make me feel guilty while I do it...so not a very long break, but a break.
I hope you get a break today...I hope you enjoy wherever you are at. Life is grand.

New Year thoughts

Well...I haven't been very good at keeping the blog thing up in the past couple of months, because my work no longer allows access to it. It's harder for me to squeeze time in at home, I'm trying to do so many other things there. (I know...I'm supposed to be doing all sort of stuff at work, right?)
Anyway...I think it is so ironic how we as a human race have to measure time. How we have to have a calendar of months and days.
Don't get me wrong...I find it's very needful. I think, though, that the seasons are more defining fore me than the dates. I love winter...but I find toward March that I'm ready for spring. Summer lasts a little long for me...but I love when fall comes with the crisp air and the turning of the leaves. It's my favorite time.
I think the New Year brings up a contemplative turn in all of us. I think it has to do with the idea that we get to start over. That it's a New Year...the old one is gone and can't be redone...we have the new one to work with now. You know, the whole image of the old codger and the new little baby representing the years? I don't know why they feel the old year has to look like it's an old man about to fall over...personally, I don't think that helps with self image...LOL.
But...in all my rambling thoughts and desires, I hope that you look forward to this new year with lightness of heart and determination.
Go forward and work at your future. Become who you want to be. Make a difference, somewhere, somehow--it doesn't have to be big. Just a small difference. Kind of like the Pay-it-forward idea. A small difference in the life of one person has repercussions to many.
Happy New Year.

The glories of Fall

Well...I know I keep writing about the colors and wonder of fall, but I've been waiting for a really good picture to post so everyone can see my favorite tree. Our tree in the front yard is a maple tree, and it's wonderful in the fall. It starts at the top, and some of the sides and changes gradually from green to red tips and then full blown golden yellow. When the afternoon light shines on it, it seems to glow. I could lay down on the floor and just gaze at it all day.
Now doesn't that just make you smile?

Have You Forgotten?

I have to make a quick post this morning, as I've run out of time. I have so much to say, and invariably, I run out of time to say it in. Sigh.
I said a lot in a short story I wrote a month or so ago, and I'm going to put the link here so that you can read for yourself.
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1101204

Have you forgotten this day 5 years ago? Where were you when the towers were falling? Were you watching TV like most of us, glued with horrified fascination that something so terrible could happen to us? We have been so protected in our nation. We don't have attacks that others could almost count daily. We are protected by the very government many protest, derile and abuse.

Granted, there are many in our government who are only there for political gain, power and prestige. But there are still those who are there to serve the people and protect our rights.

Have you forgotten that day? Have you forgotten the feelings of fear as you looked in the sky and wondered if your city was next? I remember watching our fighter jets fly over head, so very thankful that they were there!!

I wear a pin today that I got from my brother who is now a retired sheriffs deputy. It says "United we Stand". How many of us have forgotten?

We cannot forget! We as a people tend to get lazy and lax when fear dissipates and we don't remember to do the things that are necessary.

Please remember this day. Honor those who gave their lives for others and for our freedoms every day in the mid east.

This war is important. Despite what the right-wing would have you hear, believe and do--we are doing the right thing. This war needs to be fought--where it is being fought. Or we just might have it in our own backyard.
Never Forget.

I won't.