Christmas is almost over, prezzies unwrapped, naptime!

My favorite present today wasn’t the bottle of cologne I asked for.  Nope, that ended up No. 2.  The neatest thing I got was an ink pen!  Not just any ink pen, but a miitary-themed one!  Here’s a picture.  It is made from a 7.62 bullet.

please folks, leave the cell phones in the car!

Last month we “went out” for Thanksgiving.  By this I mean we WENT SOMEWHERE.  Ok, it was to a cousin’s house on our road.  I was so excited!  First time in 5 years to socialize with folks, eat good food, and catch up on news.  I took a big dish of deviled eggs and some Sawdust Salad (a Jello dish with marshmallows, jello, cream cheese, bananas, and pineapple).  There were about 21 people who came, one from south Alabama, and 3 from Atlanta.  The weather was mild, the house was warm and comforting. All the food was delicious.  The only thing that marred the day were the cell phones.  I’ve read over the last couple of years how hostesses in NYC BAN cell phones from dinner gatherings.  They have a cell phone “Designated Area” in their house, somewhere far from the dining and living rooms.  It is usually a place like a coat closet.  You can go THERE and use your phones or catch up on text messages.  At the meal I attended, the hostess, her grown daughter, her daughter’s new boyfriend, and the granddaughter kept their cell phones right next to their silverware the entire meal.  Always comparing pictures and clicking on this and that and reading text messages.  They don’t even realize how this looks to other guests.  Enough is enough.

blogging for beginners

one man in our writing group was required by his publisher to blog.  he had never done this before, had no idea how to find a free blog on the Internet or what to write about.  After encouragement from others in the group he was soon happily blogging.  He wrote a lot about his garden at first and growing tomatoes.  He was a super gardener and gave away lots of his produce to neighbors.  he had what he called a ‘ripening table’ in his back yard that was a picnic table where he placed his tomatoes to ripen up to a fine red color.   anything on the table was free to one and all.   I was just beginnning to garden and found his tips and pictures sooo useful!  Soon he had readers from all over the world giving comments on his postings.  He also posted old family pictures and talked about a souped up car his wife bought one time.  I’m just saying he was an intelligent and interesting man and this proves anybody can be a blogger!

help! there’s a rodent in my vehicle!

I opened the driver side door this morning and a small dark grey shadow scooted across the floor mat on the passenger side!   Aargh– a mouse!  I had interruped breakfast since there was an acorn cap.  To make a long story short, I stopped at the dollar store in town and bought a 6-pack of those sticky traps.  When I purchased a package of them years ago there was one big trap.  This was small, the 6 of them were each the size of a graham cracker square.  I discussed my problem with several women in town.  Here was their solution.  Two of them said to go home and throw all the doors open.  The mouse would jump out.  The third lady said to put some food on the tailgate and the mouse would
leave the vehicle to eat that.  I can tell they have not had experience in this type of rodent problem!

what’s wrong with middle class?

I had a relative back in the late 70’s who was in a cranky mood one day.  She fairly spit out the words at the family dining table,  “we’re middle class, nothing but middle class.”  I thought, what’s wrong with middle class?  i love it! I look around at how I live and it sure beats how I grew up.  I have electric heat at the flip of a switch.  Growing up, we had had a big furnace in the basement that we burned large chunks of coal in.  I would come home from school and many times had to start doing my homework with mittens on while my mom built a fire.  My home has a color television set and some rooms have wall-to-wall carpeting.  Growing up, we had an old black and white set.  There was never a  new
appliance or vehicle, they were all used.  I could go on and on, but I am very happy to live like I do now.  Period.

aha the final revision is done

Monday- aha, the final revision on Hideout Heart is done.  You know what that means, start typing on another book.

Progress!

Hideout Heart has undergone two edits and also the proofing is done. It was less painful than I thought. You realize your weaknesses when an editor combs through your words. A second (or third) pair of eyes is essential!