This portion is told from Melanie Canon’s POV. I really enjoyed writing this section. Perhaps I could relate? Hhmmm….

To see a map of the setting and find out more about the characters, READ THIS PAGE.

(Comments will be turned off for each NaNoWriMo excerpt that appears this month, not because I don’t value your feedback, but because I can’t afford to get distracted with details at this point. Thank you for understanding).

________________________________

Melanie Canon groaned out loud. She paused in the middle of beating some eggs for breakfast to look at the TV screen.

And nearly dropped her egg beater.

“Whoa. Did I just hear what I thought I heard?” Melanie’s 13-year old daughter, Abigail, walked into the room. “Is school cancelled?”

“No, honey. They are just warning us that a winter storm is on the way.”

“Is that … bad?”

Melanie focused on beating the eggs, her actions perhaps a bit more aggressive than the task called for. “No. It’s simply that time of year. We always get bad weather right now. I’m sure it’ll be nothing. The weather people always predict it’s going to be worse than it actually is.” At least she hoped so. She couldn’t afford to be trapped inside their house for God knew how long and take care of three kids. She had a million and one things to do.

“Cool.”

Melanie sighed and poured the eggs into the frying pan. “Where are your brother and sister?”

Abigail didn’t answer and Melanie counted to five. She still needed to feed the kids, take a shower, pick up the new menus from the printers and make it to work before the first delivery. If no one was there to sign for the delivery, they charged an extra two percent docking fee.

“Abby?” She tried to keep her voice even, but she knew it sounded cold and harsh. She tried again. “Abby honey, I really need to get going today. Can you please round up Eric and Kendall so we can get a move on?”

Abby huffed and pushed out of her chair. “I always have to do everything!”

Melanie rolled her eyes and scrambled the eggs with one hand and popped in two pieces of bread in the toaster with the other.

“Hey there good looking.” Beck Canon kissed her lightly on the cheek before grabbing a cup of coffee.

“Morning,” she mumbled. She tried very hard not to resent the fact that Beck could have cooked breakfast for the kids while she took a shower. She was getting used to not getting any help.

“Mmm, eggs.” Beck grabbed a plate, a spatula and before she had time to protest, spooned nearly half of the eggs onto his plate. “Just what the doctor ordered today.”

“Beck!”

Beck paused, his fork midway to his mouth, a bewildered expression on his face. “What?”

She glared at him for long seconds before tossing her short hair back from her face and busied herself breaking, and whipping more eggs.

“I need to leave town tonight, honey.”

She froze. Lord help her, she was going to kill the man. “What?” she said, without turning around to face him.

“Yeah. There’s a problem with the store in Clinton and I need to get over there and straighten it out.”

“Can’t your manager do it?”

“Well, that’s sort of the problem.”

She turned to face him. Beck smiled around a mouthful of eggs.

“Beck …” she began.

He held up a hand. “I know this is bad timing, Mel, but I need to go. Clinton is one of my biggest stores and if management falls apart, then I lose credibility AND sales. And if I lose sales, then whose going to help finance your hobby?”

Hobby?! Melanie felt like screaming. When was the man ever going to take her new business seriously? She opened her mouth to tell him, in no uncertain terms, just where he could put his money when all three kids came stumbling into the kitchen, all in various modes of undress.

“Stop pushing me!”

“Then move!”

“I’m moving! My legs aren’t as long as yours and …”

“Blahblahblah, move it sister, or I’m going to pick you up and dump you in your eggs.”

“Abby, stop picking on your little sister”

“But she is SO SLOW, mom. It drives me nuts.”

“What’s for breakfast?” Eric asked.

“Eggs and toast,” Melanie answered absently as she settled Kendall in a chair and placed a glass of juice in front of her.

“Again?” Eric whined. “We have that everyday”

“No we don’t, dork. The last time we had eggs and toast was last Wednesday.”

“Hey! I’m not a dork!”

“You are SUCH a dork.”

“MOM! She called me a dork!”

“Abby, stop calling your brother a dork,” Melanie automatically said, her voice flat and robotic. She gave Beck a dirty look. “I don’t suppose you could take the kids to school today?”

“Nope.” Beck continued to chew and watched TV. “Hey, did you know a snow storm is coming our way?”

No shit, Sherlock, is what Melanie felt like saying, but considering the kids were within earshot and she had made a vow to their marriage counselor that she would give 150% of herself to the man, she swallowed her irritation and forced a smile. “I heard.”

“A snow storm is coming?” yelled Kendall.

Melanie winced as Eric whooped with delight.

“We still have to go to school today, though.” Abby offered in a depressed tone of voice.

“Oh man! No fair!” Eric said with his mouth full of eggs. Bits of food flew out and hit Kendall on the cheek.

She squealed her alarm and quickly grabbed a napkin. “Ew! Gross!!”

Abby laughed, Eric grinned, Melanie sighed and Beck ignored them all.

If this storm is for real and they end up canceling school, I’m going to kill myself, thought Melanie.

________________________________

(This excerpt is directly from my draft and has not been edited).

Share your weekend snapshot.

Did the title freak you out? lol. Sorry about that. I just meant, we went out last Sunday and took a bunch of family shots. The day was perfect - sunny, mid-60’s, no wind and the leaves were turning. The photo below is one of my favorites from the “shoot.”

If you look closely, you can see the remote control in my husband’s hand. This was taken with our Canon Rebel XTi. We’re still trying to get the hang of the settings but we used the extra lens that came with the camera (can you tell I know a lot about lenses?) turned the dial to the AV setting and set the aperature to 1.8 (or somewhere close to that number).

This picture was taken in our yard in front of our neighbor’s bush. I have no idea what the bush is called, but it always blooms a brilliant red in the fall and we thought it made a perfect backdrop for our photos. We sat in the shade and used the light from the sun to provide a backlit effect.

We took these pictures just to play around with the camera and goof off, but I have to say, we had a BLAST doing them. The hubs would say random, off-the-wall stuff to get us smiling (mainly to get the boys to smile real smiles as opposed to those plastic smiles) and I laughed so hard I tooted and that just started a whole new round of jokes and laughter. Trust me when I say, the guys will NEVER let me live that down.

We took a whole round of shots, as a group and individually; if you would be interested in seeing more, I put a slideshow together on Flickr.

We had so much fun doing the family shoot thing that we will most definitely be doing it again in the future.

I’m already so glad we did this - we’re going to look back on this time period with fond memories one of these years.

So, the birthday was fun. The hubs surprised me with a cookie cake. I had been whining how he and the boys always got cookie cakes for their birthdays but I had never had one for my birthday and lo and behold, he comes walking in Friday night carrying one.

The reason he picked a puppy is because it’s a standing joke that I like to look at puppies but have no desire to actually own one. Which is true - I look at The Daily Puppy every morning and after I get all mushy and “Oh, isn’t he cute?!” then I promptly forget about the cute puppy and move on with life.

The guys think I’m nuts but hey, looking at puppies is a heck of a lot better than owning/cleaning up after/feeding/grooming one. At least, in my opinion.

The hubs splurged and bought me a Canon DC50 video camera. I had been playing around with the video function on our Pentax camera to post videos on my blog and he felt sorry for me and bought me this video camera so it would be easier to record videos and edit - since the Canon camera came with editing software.

We currently have a video camera, but it’s the 8MM kind and not exactly the easiest to convert into digital format. This way, all I have to do is stick in the DVD and voila! I’m ready to upload. I’ll be playing around with the various functions and making videos in the upcoming weeks so prepare yourself, my entries will most likely get even more strange than they already are. lol

I was a little annoyed that he spent so much money, but he justified it by saying that since his birthday is coming up on the 18th, that this gift was actually for both of us. (We do that a lot - spend money on something expensive but justify it by saying, “well, this is our early anniversary gift,” or “it’s for Christmas” etc.)

Well alrighty then!

The guys took me out for a steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I had a little 6 oz. sirlion, the hubs had a ribeye and some ribs, MK had chicken fingers and GD had the chicken fried steak (which we laughed about because it was basically chicken fingers with gravy). We really had a great time together. We laughed a lot, the waitress was top-notich and the whole place was packed, noisy and in good spirits.

Afterward, we came home and pigged out on cookie cake. In fact, we pigged out on cookie cake all weekend. (I’ll have to walk some extra miles this week to work it off).

Thursday, my folks picked me up and took me out to eat at Shoneys for lunch. It was really great to spend some one-on-one time with them. My parents gave me a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble ( WOULD LOVE TO GET MORE OF THOSE HINTHINT) and this really cute snowman painting that I drooled over when we went to a craft show in Mount Vernon.

I have a thing for snowmen. I don’t know, they rock.

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. You really made my day.

And now, on with life.

I love music. I love unknown musicians. I post a song from an unknown musician every week. Support your local musicians, won’t you?

Album description:

New York City’s hottest new Latin jazz band!

Is anyone else thinking Sex in the City here?

Song of the Week:

I also post a daily comic strip from Baby Blues. Life is tough - take a moment and laugh, won’t you?

A new Blog Talkers question was posted today. If you’re looking for something to blog about this week, check it out! A new question posts every Sunday. (THANKS to everyone who has been playing!!)

Care to elaborate? Why did you vote the way you did?

Me? Thanks for asking. I voted yes. This one was sort of a no-brainer for me. Though I’m sure the friend doesn’t mean anything by it, I would ask simply because it was making me uncomfortable. I’m not a big touchy-feely sort of person anyway so this sort of horseplay has always made me uncomfortable to begin with. But then again, it might depend on the friend, my eight-year-old’s reaction to such play and how often it was happening. What do you guys think?

This week’s theme: Flexible

My parents.

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

If you would like to play along, post your own question on your blog, then click over to Kailani’s blog, answer her question, and then visit, and answer everyone else’s questions! If you feel inclined to answer my question, please post your answer in the comment section. Sound fun? Of course it does!

(Please feel free to answer the question below, even if you’re not playing Aloha Friday!)

My question:

(Yes, this is me. )

Oops.

I just found this entry I wrote nearly two years ago. I was going through my drafts folder (you should see the size of this thing, seriously) and I stumbled across this. I had completely forgotten I had written it.

Anyhoo, I thought I would post it now because I don’t really have time to write an in-depth entry today.

Man, time goes by too fast.

___________________________

The kids’ elementary school developed something called the VIP (Very Important Person) program. Whenever the child’s birthday rolls around, the birthday child makes a poster about himself/herself and their classmates all write letters to him/her.

MK’s birthday was during spring break so his VIP week was the week they went back to school. Only we forgot about making a poster so he didn’t take his poster to school until Wednesday of that week.

Here’s a picture of the poster we slapped together for him:

Here’s the letter his best friend wrote him (sic):

Dear Sargent MK:

Sir! Your combat timeline poster is the best this here military accademy has ever seen! Mario said he really likes it too.

We have a lot in common. We both like animal crossing and we both have a game cube. We both have a good sense of humor.

You will always be my best friend, unless we get in some horribly wrong fight don’t talk to each other then run into each other years later then recognize each other yada yada yada, you get the point.

Your best friend,
A

And the one his teacher wrote him:

Dear MK:

What a fantastic poster! I can’t believe you created it so quickly. I love the colors and the stickers you selected. Your photos are great! I like the tricky photo of you and GD. You were a very cute baby. The photo of your family at the ocean is really nice. You did a great job.

We both like Narnia and mac & cheese. I try not to eat too much of it because of the calories. I can honestly say you’re the only 5th grader I’ve had that wants to be a blacksmith: I think you can do anything you set your mind too.

Thank you for sharing. It was a very enjoyable presentation. It is nice having you up front. You do an excellent job. You said that you’re special because you have a weird sense of humor. I agree, and I enjoy it. (You’re special for lots of other reasons). I think you have matured a lot this year. I’m glad you’re in my room.

Mrs. R.

Can you see why I love this woman? Both of my boys had her and I just think she’s great.

Here are a few more comments from his classmates (misspellings and all):

We have nothing in common really. I like going shoping with my friends. And I absolutely love to ride horses. But I HATE turantulas. But I love all other spiders.

You and I probably don’t have anything in common other than we are both computer geeks. I am a girl anyway so why would we have anything in common?

Well, I hope you have a good rest-of-the-week! Oh! Remember that time I chased you at resess? Oh yeah, that was yesterday!

Yeah, that’s MK - the ladies man. I can’t believe both kids are going to be in middle school next year. Do you think it’s possible to stop blinking? Because everytime I do the kids age like two years!

I just love my rugrats.

Taking a break to catch my breath.

breathe in

breathe out

breathe in

breathe out

breathe in

breathe out

and so on and on …

Okay. Break over. Back to work.

You can find more Thursday Thirteen banners here.

I happened to “stumble upon” this site and simply could not resist sharing these tips with you. Writers, are you paying attention?

1. Make sure you’ve got a lot of similar names too. Donald, Donna, Dina, Dana and Danny just feel right together.

2. Explain everything. When your character is angry, just say that she’s angry. There’s no point in trying to show that through her actions when you can just tell that to your reader.

3. Explain everything. When your character is angry, just say that she’s angry. There’s no point in trying to show that through her actions when you can just tell that to your reader.

4. Fill your book with coincidences, especially towards the end. Nothing beats having the exciting climax occur because the hero bumped into the villain in a small-town cafe when they both had a craving for peach-filled semi-sweet chocolate pie. Did you mention that both characters love the exact same pie? Now would be a good time.

5. Don’t let your character’s established traits get in the way of a good plot twist. Just because your hero is a priest who preaches non-violence (We’ll call him Father Angeltoe) doesn’t mean he can’t be an expert marksman with an itchy trigger finger.

6. Use lots of technical jargon. Don’t worry about whether your reader will understand it, or whether you understand it. Just stick it in. It will make your characters sound smarter.

7. If you are writing a historical novel, don’t sweat accuracy. The reader won’t care. Go ahead and have Napoleon invent the automatic rifle. Who could say he didn’t?

8. If you are writing fantasy literature, make sure your magical animals have never been thought of before. Try a talking armadillo. No, forget the talking armadillo. I want that one for myself.

9. Make sure to add …A Novel to the end of your title. You don’t want people to forget what they are reading.

10. Pile on the adjectives and adverbs. Why have a woman speak when you can have her whisper breathlessly in her lustful, wind-swept voice?

11. Don’t feel as if anything has to happen. Plots are optional. Two people sitting in a room staring at each other is great material, as long as it is handled with plenty of adjectives and adverbs (see tip ten).

12. Exclamation points! Exclamation points! Exclamation points!

13. Don’t sweat the order of the action. If the big football game needs to occur just after the prom, then that is when it should be.

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

tags: thursday thirteen

Reading along …
(And NOT editing. Which is HARD).

Here’s another excerpt from my NaNoWriMo 2007 project entitled: Broken Silence
I recorded this excerpt if you’re interested in listening. If not, or would like to read along, you can click the “more” button below.

(Click the arrow to play
Length: 9.36)

Charlene Kidder’s POV excerpt

To see a map of the setting and find out more about the characters, READ THIS PAGE.

(Comments will be turned off for each NaNoWriMo excerpt that appears this month, not because I don’t value your feedback, but because I can’t afford to get distracted with details at this point. Thank you for understanding).

_____________________________

Chapter One, Section Two - From Darrell Rowe’s POV
The Storm is Coming

He had moved on.

He had been forced to get on with his life.

Darrell sat down on a bar stool and focused his attention back on the television set in his living room.

“The National Weather Service has just issued a severe winter advisory for Nash County until eight a.m. tomorrow. Residents are advised to take precautions.”

He sighed and placed his mug down on the countertop with exaggerated care. Judging by the radar pictures, this was going to be one hell of a storm. He glanced at the clock – 5:45. If he hustled, he had just enough time to drag out his generator and bring in some wood before he had to be at the radio station at 7:00.

After washing out his mug and placing it face down on the drainer, he stuck his feet into some worn, scuffed galoshes, shrugged into a heavy squall jacket and headed outside.

His breath caught in his throat as the bitter cold winds rushed past his face. His eyes began to tear up and he blinked rapidly. The temperature had dropped twenty degrees since last night.

He zipped up his jacket, dug his dark brown leather gloves out of his pocket and began to walk to his shed. He noted a square of cheery, yellow light on his lawn and looked toward the Kidder house. He could see the woman standing at the sink cupping a mug of hot liquid between her hands and the top of the man’s head, presumably sitting at the table. He assumed they were married. He really didn’t know a lot about them. He really didn’t know a lot about any of his neighbors, and that suited him just fine. He had enough interaction with people at work. All he wanted to do when he got home was relax and veg out for a while.

He reached his shed and removed the padlock. He never locked the shed; he never saw a reason to. He lived on a cul-de-sac in a brand new suburb about seven miles from Ashberry. In fact, his cul-de-sac, Fox Court, was the only place in the entire area that had any houses. He thought it was a little odd that Fox Court had filled up first, but he just figured people wanted to stack their claim on a more private area of the development before others moved in.

As a result, the cul-de-sac felt isolated, cut off from the rest of the world and if something was taken from his shed, he figured he knew where he could find the thief, one of his neighbors. He shrugged as he opened the door. If you can’t trust your neighbors, then who could you trust?

Darrell pulled his riding mower over to one side of the shed and removed the tarp covering his generator. He scooted the contraption to the doorway and paused to catch his breath – the sucker was heavy.

The last time he had had to use it was two years ago. He had been living in a rental house on the west side of town, the poverty-stricken side of town, as locals had dubbed it, and they had lost their electricity, again. Every time a thunderstorm rolled through Ashberry, their side of town lost power. And they were usually the last ones to get their power back. He supposed city officials didn’t think the poorer folks needed their electricity as badly as the upper-class.

That had been the biggest reason he had moved into this house – he was tired of buying gas to run his generator. And considering he was the only one in the neighborhood who could afford a generator, his house was usually grand central station until their side of town had their power back. Not that he minded having his neighbors around, but he wasn’t all too thrilled having to worry that something would be stolen, or “borrowed” as a lot of folks called it.

He began pulling it free of the shed when he heard a voice.

“Hey there neighbor.”

He looked up and saw the Kidder woman standing just outside her back door, a bag of trash in one hand.

“Morning.” He dragged the generator to the side of his shed under the awning he had built to protect various equipment from the elements.

“I’m assuming you heard about the snow storm coming in?”

He finished positioning the generator under the eave before swiping his hands and turning to face her.

“I heard.”

“Do you think it’ll be bad?”

“I’m not sure. It sounds bad.”

She nodded and walked toward her trash can. He turned and went back into his shed as she dumped the bag.

She was attractive, he thought. Nice looking in an understated way. He was rather surprised at her neat appearance given it was six in the morning. He grabbed his gas can and exited the shed. He was surprised to see her still standing there.

She had her arms crossed over her chest. She looked more defensive than cold.

“Do you think we’ll need a generator?” She was biting her lip and Darrell watched, fascinated for long seconds. He jerked himself away from la-la land and shrugged.

“It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Glenn, my husband,” she said, almost as if apologizing, “doesn’t think it’s going to amount to anything.”

Again, he shrugged. “It might not be anything. Weather patterns are so unpredictable in this region.”

She nodded, hesitated and then moved toward him, her hand outstretched. “Charlene Kidder. I don’t think we’ve ever actually met.”

He switched the gas can to his left hand and wiped his right palm against the side of his sweatpants. He shook her hand. “Darrell Rowe. It’s nice to meet you.” Her hand was warm, firm and very soft.

“You too. It’s funny how you live next door to someone for a while and never take the time to introduce yourself.”

He smiled politely. “Everyone is so wrapped up in their lives. It’s hard not to take our neighbors for granted.”

“Yeah.” She nodded her agreement and then rubbed her upper arms in an effort to generate warmth. “Is it just me, or has it gotten colder?”

He looked around their backyards before answering. “It has definitely gotten colder. About twenty degrees, I think, from yesterday.”

“We have the strangest weather.” She chuckled softly and smiled.

Her face was much more attractive when she smiled. “Ah, but it never gets boring.”

“Well, that’s certainly true.”

“I take it you guys don’t have a generator?”

“No. We’ve never had a reason to buy one. I suppose if we lose electricity, we’ll just use candles and our fireplace.”

Darrell ran his gaze quickly over her backyard. “Do you … do you have firewood?”

She glanced behind her and then sighed. “Uh, no.” She then gave a self-depreciating laugh. “I guess we can’t use our fireplace if we don’t have firewood.”

“It helps.” He grinned at her and watched her blushed. He liked her.

“Well, maybe I can get Glenn to bring some firewood home today.”

Darrell pointed to the trees behind their houses. “If not, we could always chop a tree.”

Again, she laughed and nodded, her head momentarily lowering to cover her embarrassment. “There’s that.”

They continued to stand, for long moments, awkwardly trying to avoid looking at each other.

“Well, I better get going. I need to get to work and fill up this gas can.” He held up the can as if to prove he wasn’t making up an excuse to get away from her.

“Right. Same here.” She nodded once and offered a friendly smile. “Well Mr. Rowe …”

“Darrell, please.”

“Oh. Um, Darrell then.” Color suffused her cheeks. “It was very nice to meet you.”

“You too, Charlene.”

She tilted her head and gave him a quizzical look before offering an uncomfortable nod and turning to go back into his house.

He smiled at her back and can in hand, moved back toward the house. He moved through the kitchen, placed the gas can just right inside the door to the garage so he wouldn’t forget it on his way to work and moved to turn the TV off.

“Again, a winter advisory has been issued for Nash County.”

Darrell paused to look at the updated radar screen. The icy blue blob indicating snow and ice had grown to an alarming size.

_____________________________

(This excerpt is directly from my draft and has not been edited).

Who wants to read some interesting new blogs?

Let’s see a show of hands … one, two, three, four …. ten, twenty … okay, I get the idea.

So, I’m surfing blogs, trying to unwind from my creative high (I’m doing NaNoWriMo - ’nuff said?) and I thought I would post another edition of the Blog Roundup. Thank you everyone for commenting, you’re encouraging me to continue the link love.

Well heck, I’d do it anyway because I ADORE looking/reading blogs.

So, I picked a blog from the last roundup and beginning with Sarah’s Real Life, I went down her blogroll. (Does that sound dirty? My apologizes - get your mind out of the gutter). As always, I explore a blogroll from the bottom up because I’m a bit sensitive about the poor “W” folks that get overlooked. *sniff*

Here’s an excerpt from one of Sarah’s blog entries:

This carnival is for you!! You may write on any topic dealing with being a mother (of girls) or a daughter. The parameters are very wide for the beginning. It can be humorous, serious, spiritual, down-to-earth. It’s up to you. I would simply be thrilled if you would participate!

Sarah is putting a Blog Carnival together for Mothers and Daughters.

Come on moms, submit those links and tell the world what makes having/being a daughter so special! What a great idea, Sarah, good luck!

Now for my blogroll picks:

Melody at Wrapped Emotions -
From her About WE page:

So I created this blog to hold myself accountable to spend more time expressing myself creatively…connecting with my heart…creating with emotion. I want to encourage you to do the same. There is no better way to do this than working with your hands, your mind…connecting them with your heart. This blog’s purpose is to encourage you and me to do just that and share it with others.

Elizabeth at The Whole Family
From her profile:

“The Whole Family” is a forum to talk about Breastfeeding, Baby-wearing, Co-sleeping, Attachment Parenting, Discipline, Nutrition, and many other topics relating to the whole family. It is my connection to the outside world most days. So, stick around and help me stay sane!

Kasie at The Art of Life
From her profile:

I’m a 27 year old Stay-at-Home Mommy to 2 precious girls, ages 5 and 2. I’ve been married to my best friend for 8 years. I’m an artist whose preferred medium is Prismacolor pencils. I hope that, through my art, I can remind everyone of the joys of everday life.

Morning Glory from Seeds From My Garden
From her profile:

The garden is my brain and the seeds are my thoughts. Sometimes the bugs take over….

Jane, Sharon and Audrey from Pinks and Blues Girls’ Blog
From their profile:

Jane, Sharon and Audrey, The Pinks & Blues Girls, are a mother and two daughters who have a blast together, each and every day, finding fabulous products to blog about on their site Pinks & Blues!
This blog is their place to share, laugh and connect with the rest of the blog world!

dcrmom from Musings of a Housewife
From her profile:

I’m your typical all-American girl mom next door. It is my heart’s desire to honor Jesus Christ in all that I say and do. Although I know I fall far short, I believe His grace is sufficient for my sanctification and ultimately my salvation.

I love denim, high heels, pizza, old hymns, a good cup of coffee, colorful handbags, laughing with my kids, date nights with my husband, pedicures, red wine, afternoon naps, and reality TV.

I hate dislike politics, self-righteous people, tea, YouTube, kids with dirty faces, poor grammar, pleated pants, and getting out of bed in the morning.

Morningsong
From her profile:

My Husband and I have been married for 10 years. He is a true man of integrity and the best Daddy ever! Our 4 year old daughter is an enthusiastic ray of sunshine and our 2.5 year old son is a thrill seeker and a true lover of sports! Welcome to our life, we hope you enjoy your time with us.

Hbomb at Molded
From her profile:

Don’t call my house between 9 and 10 on Monday nights unless you want to get the answering machine - 24 is on!My favorite TV shows - 24, CSI-LasVegas, Survivor, American Idol and anything on HGTV. Favorite Website - Craigslist

Childlife from In the Life of a Child
From her profile:

This blog is really about our kids, Jacqui and Kyle: Jacqui is a wonderfully energetic and opinionated five-year-old. She was born with a rare birth defect known as a lymphatic malformation (LM) and has been through a lot in her young life. She had a trach until she was a year old, had surgery in New York to remove her LM with world renowned surgeon, Dr. Milton Waner (at age three), and still has a G-tube. She is a bright sunny soul in spite of everything. Kyle is a thoughtful, and slightly reserved 1-year-old with a magical giggle and a wise-looking smile. He is clever and charming and a bundle of pure joy. Our goal as parents: To treasure every moment and to raise our children to be extraordinary individuals. Welcome to an inside view of our world!

Lynnae From Under the Clutter
From her profile:

First and foremost, I’m a Christian. Daughter of the King. Great, isn’t it? Beyond that, I’ve been married to my husband, Shannon, for 12 years. We have two children, Liz (9), and Sam (4). I’m a personal chef, family physician, financial manager, minivan chauffeur, teacher, housekeeper, gardener…..in other words, a stay-at-home mom. I started blogging to force myself to slow down and reflect on life. My life is often cluttered with things to do and places to go, and I found I wasn’t taking the time I needed to enjoy the little moments. So this is my creative outlet.

I’ve spent a very enjoyable hour (or two, possibly three!) reading over these blogs. I like to read several entries at once because it gives me a better understanding of who these wonderful people are. I wish I could relate to you all how much fun I have doing these Blog Roundups - I truly enjoy discovering new and interesting lives and voices.

I’ll be visiting the blogroll from one of the above blogs soon. In the meantime, when is the last time you explored someone’s blogroll? Get out of the blog rut - visit someone new.

And as promised, I’m adding all of these new blogs to my blogroll so all the blog search engines will pick them up and increase their stats (I hope!) Have you updated your blogroll lately?

Want to play?

What would you like for breakfast, Johnny?

LOL!

*wipes tear* Okay, so I thought this was a little too funny.

I need to get away from my keyboard.

This is an old post frommy Blogger account, waaaaay back in January, 2005.
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Believe it or not, this is a from a REAL Paris fashion show.

How does a person eat with that thing on? What if you had to sneeze or blow your nose (though I suppose you could just casually pat your nose and the material from the bag would take care of the rest). What if you wanted to kiss someone? And let’s not forget that little insignificant thing called breathing. (Could a claustrophobic wear one?)

I suppose having a bag over your head would have some advantages; you could go without makeup and no one would be able to tell. You wouldn’t have to kiss anyone. And it would definitely take care of those bad hair days.

Would it be a fashion statement? More like a faux pas. Though it wouldn’t surprise me to see the “hipper” women on the east and west coast sporting these bags on their bleached blonde heads in the next few years. Crazier things have happened. Us good ole women in the Ozarks? Give us a pair of Levis and hiking boots and we’re set.

Women have always had to make sacrifices for fashion. Men want us to look sexy, which is fine, but why do all the sexy clothes have to be so gosh-darn uncomfortable? To be deemed sexy, it must be tight. Wearing tight clothing is NOT comfortable. Not just because it constricts breathing and cuts off circulation but because it shows every little bump and protrusion from our bodies. That, in turn, makes us self-conscious for the whole day and you might as well forget going to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

And why does “sexy” clothing have to be ‘dry-clean’ only? This doesn’t fly for a gal who’s idea of ironing is throwing the article of clothing in the dryer for ten minutes.

I vote we start making sweats pants and tunic tops sexy. What do ya say, girls?

Girls?

I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. AARGH!

Hard at work.

I’m now up to 9050 words. Things are still progressing nicely and my characters are starting to feel real to me.

Here’s another excerpt from my NaNoWriMo 2007 project entitled: Broken Silence

You can catch up and read the prologue here.

To see a map of the setting and find out more about the characters, READ THIS PAGE.

(Comments will be turned off for each NaNoWriMo excerpt that appears this month, not because I don’t value your feedback, but because I can’t afford to get distracted with details at this point. Thank you for understanding).

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Chapter One
December 27, 2007 (Morning) – Fox Court

“OW! Cut it out!”

Charlene Kidder rubbed her backside and rolled over in bed to look at her husband. Glenn was lying on his back, his mouth slack, and his facial features completely relaxed; he was fast asleep.

A droplet of spittle slowly spilled over the side of his mouth and slid down his chin.

Charlene made a disgusted face and then sighed. “We have to seriously do something about your kicking, Glenn.”

She wrestled with the covers, assumed a more comfortable position and closed her eyes.

She had so much to do today. She needed to do laundry, go grocery shopping and then devote the rest of her day putting design ideas together for Ashberry’s Chamber of Commerce’s website.

The Chamber of Commerce was her latest client. She had actually bid on this job and was pleasantly surprised when they decided to hire her. This would be a much needed boost to her website design business.

She wasn’t sure how she could tastefully incorporate a bucktooth hillbilly into the city logo, though. Maybe if she used certain colors, or hired an artist to make her a more modern, less hickish character She didn’t want …

“OW! Son of a …” She twisted her torso around to glare at her husband. “Damn it, Glenn, cut it out!” She gently kicked him in the shin which only served to make Glenn jump, momentarily cease his incessant snoring and roll over.

Charlene sighed and threw back the covers. There was no way she was going to get any more sleep with kung fu beside her. She might as well get up and start working on that to-do list.

She stepped into her brown moccasin slippers, nabbed the robe off the foot of the bed and slipped her arms into the frozen cotton.

“Geez, it’s cold today,” she mumbled under her breath while making her way out into the hallway. She paused in front of the thermostat – 62 degrees. No wonder her blood was gelling, Glenn turned the dang thing down too low again.

She scowled and made a mental note to “remind” her husband, yet again, to stop messing with the temperature. Not everyone ran hot like he did.

Charlene padded down the hallway, past a bedroom, the master bath, through the family room and into the kitchen. She sniffed. No intoxicating coffee smell this morning.

She glanced at the clock: 5:12.

She stifled a yawn and hit the on button on the coffee maker. She didn’t like getting up before the coffee had brewed; it messed up her whole day. She frowned and popped a bagel into the toaster. She didn’t like her routine being messed up. She was used to waking up at 5:45, performing her morning hygiene routine, pouring herself a huge mug of steaming vanilla bean coffee, toasting her bagel and fetching the paper off the front porch.

Everything was all screwed up this morning and she felt a finger of irritation tickle the back of her throat.

She walked to the front door and yanked it open. She could tell the weather was turning colder because the front door stuck. It jerked open with small squeal of protest.

“Yeah well, tough.” She grumbled at the door. She hugged the robe closer to her body and peeked out of the storm door window.

No paper.

“Damn it.” She closed the door with a very decisive click and returned to the kitchen. It was going to be a terrible day, she just knew it.

Her mood lightened a bit as she walked back through the house and could smell the fresh aroma of brewing coffee. Her mood further improved when she noted the toaster had toasted her bagel to perfection.

She allowed herself a small smile as she opened the fridge.

The smile slowly dissipated as she noted they were out of margarine.

“Damn it, Glenn.”

The man used half a tub on his toast everyday. She hadn’t realized they were out or she would have made a special trip to the store yesterday in order to ensure they had some for today.

She continued to mumble unkind things about her husband as she fetched her favorite coffee mug, a large eggplant-colored ceramic cup, poured herself some coffee and reached for the sugar bottle.

She lifted the bottle and held it over the cup.

Nothing.

“Damn it, Glenn.”

She filled the bottle up to the within ½ inch from the top and poured exactly three seconds worth of sugar into her brew. She then refilled the bottle to the specified level and replaced it in the cupboard exactly two inches to the left of the coffee canister.

She hooked a finger around the handle of her mug and walked to their butcher block kitchen table. She sat down and took a tentative sip of her coffee. Hot, sweet and oh so satisfying.

She could feel her nerves relax somewhat as the caffeine raced through her body. She gazed out of the window to their large backyard and thought about Glenn.

“You would think, after 25 years of marriage, the man would know not to mess with my routines,” she grumbled.

After several long moments, she sighed. She missed her paper. To distract herself from her broken, and very important, routine, she leaned over and switched on the small television set sitting next to the phone.

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(This excerpt is directly from my draft and has not been edited).

Share your weekend snapshot.

The hubs and I went out Saturday and shot some pictures of a school I may, or may not (we’re still negotiating), design a website for, and while there, we noticed this tree. I did not alter the colors at all - some of the limbs were a deep red, some were green, others were brownish/gold and the sky? Was indeed that blue.

I think, for the most part, Fall has been pretty blah for us this year. We had cold temperatures for so long that I think the trees are skipping the pretty colors and going straight to brown and then falling off. So, it was especially gratifying to see this tree with any color at all, let alone the various colors.

We headed out Sunday to take some family pictures. We went to the lake and positioned ourselves in front of some trees that actually had color and I think they turned out pretty good. Perhaps that will be my next Weekend Snapshot.

Have I mentioned I LOVE this time of year?

I have no idea why 1965 appeals to me so much, but I thought this was interesting …

In 1965

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara calls for a nationwide network of bomb shelters

Former leader of the Black Muslims, Malcolm X, is shot and killed in New York City

To protest voting rights discrimination, civil rights demonstrators begin a march for Selma to Montgomery with federal troop protection

The first commercial satellite, Early Bird, is launched into space by Nasa to transmit telephone and television signals

Voting Rights Act is signed into law

Riots by young blacks in the Watts area of Los Angeles begin, causing $200 million in damage

Hurricane Betsy claims 75 lives in southern Florida and Louisiana

United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his “Great Society” during his State of the Union address

Dr. Dre, Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert Downey Jr., Shania Twain, Moby, and Ben Stiller are born

Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series

Green Bay Packers win the NFL championship

Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup

The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews, is the top grossing film

Dune by Frank Herbert is published

The Beatles’ Rubber Soul is released

“Satisfaction” by Rolling Stones is a top hit

The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing songs from their new album Help!

Sony introduces the Betamax, a home video tape recorder

Nearly all of NBC’s programs are now broadcast in color

I Dream of Jeannie premieres

Okay, fine. I was born in 1965 and my birthday is Friday - no biggie.

This is a sticky note, please scroll down for current entries. Thanks!

Need a 2008 calendar? What about a desk calendar that will bring a smile to your face day after day after day …

Then you’re in the right place.

All you have to do to win the 2008 Baby Blues desk calendar is leave a comment. And in the comment, tell me what makes you laugh. Leave one comment, leave twenty comments - it doesn’t matter how often you enter, just tell me something different that makes you laugh each and every time. The more times you enter, the better chance you have of winning.

Then, on November 9th, I’ll pick one lucky commentor and he/she will win a 2008 Baby Blues desk calendar!

So tell me, what tickles your funny bone?

So, how is everyone?

I’ve been a bit incognito these past several days. If you’re just visiting, I’m participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge and I’m currently at 6,947 9,050 words. *points to widget at top of sidebar* You can find excerpts and thoughts about my progress here.

In the meantime, let’s skip the NaNo talk for a while (I hear the collective gasps of relief out there) and bring you up-to-date on what’s going on around the old homestead.

The hubs is working hard with his new band, Midnite Thunder. He’s been practicing once a week and says they are sounding pretty good. He’s already warned me that they will most likely be playing some upcoming weekends – including New Year’s Eve. *sigh* I’m not exactly thrilled about this, but what can I do? It makes the man happy. This is something he’s wanted to do for, well, forever actually. I can see that he’s having a good time and if this is as bad as mid-life gets? I’m happy. *grin*

GD has started Driver’s Education. I can tell he’s both nervous and curious about this experience. He’s been learning how to turn a car on, where the brake pedal and accelerator are, how to put a car in gear and some safety features. He’s also been asking me questions, which is strange on two levels: 1. he’s talking, and 2. he’s expressing an interest in something other than video games and computer. I think he’s becoming more and more curious about this little thing we call driving and I’ve been noticing he’s been watching how I drive – carefully. In fact, just the other day …

“Mom. You’re driving at 8 and 4.”

This was said, out of the blue and after it had been quiet in the car for some time. So, it took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about. Of course, it was the position of my hands on the steering wheel.

“Oh. Right.” I mean really, what else could I say?

“You’re supposed to be driving at 9 and 3.”

I believe they taught you 10 and 2 when I was that age.

“Oh. Right.” So, I re-positioned my hands and hid my smile. After all, if he sees that what he said pleased me, that will be the last vocal observation for the next year.

When he sits in the passenger seat, I notice he watches my every move like a hawk. And I’ve allowed him to put the car in gear so he can get a feel for what it feels like. He’s been asking questions about why I do this at that time, and why didn’t I do this at this time. I have to tell you, it’s nice to be able to talk to him again – he’s been so moody lately. (Of course, some of that probably has to do with the fact that his teeth have been hurting – he just went to the orthodontist to get his braces adjusted).

He won’t actually drive until after his birthday, which falls on the 18th this month. In the meantime, if we agree to allow him to go out with an instructor, we have to pay $160 for insurance. He didn’t want to do this at first, and I think he’s still pretty nervous about getting behind the wheel, but his objections are becoming a little less sincere. We’ll take him out and let him drive around a bit in a parking lot, just so he won’t completely freak out when it’s time for him to actually drive with his instructor.

I still can’t believe my oldest is on the verge of driving. *shudder*

MK’s jazz band practices are going really well. He has to be at school by 7:25 every Tues. and Thurs. to practice. I prefer they practice before school, leaving after school to do homework and relax. We’re not big soda people – in fact, it’s safe to say we rarely drink it. But I’ve been putting Mountain Dews in the kids’ lunches every Tues. and Thurs. to help them survive the days they are especially tired. I think this has helped MK get through his jazz band practice days, since those are pretty long for him. On Tues. he gets to school early, practices with jazz band, then has regular band practice second period, then has private lessons after school. By Wed., he’s pretty sick of the saxophone.

They’ve been learning “swinging.” Being the idiot that I am, I asked what that was. He demonstrated to me and I stupidly blurted out, “that sounds like strip music!”

I know. I’m such a dolt. Of course, the boy asked me what that meant, which I had to explain, with my face burning. But in my defense, it DOES sound like strip music. But he’s having fun and that’s all that matters.

We have been frantically working on our house. I think we’re pretty close to having everything we want done, done. The week of Thanksgiving dinner, I’ll be cleaning the house from top to bottom, in between writing for NaNo, doing my regular job and taking care of the family. But hey, I’m busy, which I like, so I can’t complain.

Our microwave stopped working yesterday. Swell. We’ve been busy shopping around for a decent deal all weekend. The hubs had to monkey-rig the microwave we have now to fit in the range section above our stove. My sister-in-law remodeled her kitchen and gave us their old microwave. But now, it’s pooped out on us and we have to come up with an alternative – fast. It’s amazing how much we rely on that thing – I hadn’t realized we nuked so much stuff until it conked out on us.

I need to end this. I have a ton of things to do, mainly, I haven’t written my quota for NaNo yet today and it’s still early which means I need to do it now before the guys get up and demand my attention.

Thanks for being patient with me this month.

Take care!

I love music. I love unknown musicians. I post a song from an unknown musician every week. Support your local musicians, won’t you?

Album description:

Rock oboe anyone? SOE blends thoughtful lyrics, tasteful songs, male/female vox and deep emotion in a new yet reminscent San Francisco sound.

Song of the Week:

I also post a daily comic strip from Baby Blues. Life is tough - take a moment and laugh, won’t you?

A new Blog Talkers question was posted today. If you’re looking for something to blog about this week, check it out! A new question posts every Sunday. (THANKS to everyone who has been playing!!)

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Win a 2008 Baby Blues desk calendar - read this post for details.

Care to elaborate? Why did you vote the way you did?

This week’s theme: Classic

Classic Teenage Angst.

Don’t worry. I made him peel it off after the picture. When questioned why he did it? “I was bored.” Geez, son. That’s pretty freaking bored.

Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.
Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

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Win a 2008 Baby Blues desk calendar - read this post for details.