K. has been begging for a Pancake Puff pan (As Seen On TV). Grandma sent him one for his birthday. It arrived yesterday, and we tried it out this morning.

My sons have learned about truth in advertising. 1. The pan is considerably smaller than it appears on TV. 2. They do not turn out perfect every time.

Okay, so the problem behind 2 might be me and the fact that we don't use milk or buttermilk in our recipes. We use orange juice. Plus, I'm not used to working with cast iron.

Our "always perfect" pancake puffs turned out looking more like mutant frogs. Or as the boys decided "butts with four cheeks."

So now at my house, these little delicacies cooked on the made in china sold on TV pan are known as .....

PANCAKE BUTTS!

Please don't tell Grandma.

I must be an Oklahoman now. I'm just sitting here calmly watching tv coverage of funnel formation (20 miles up the road) and listening to the weather people abuse the English language.


"We aren't sure if it will tornado or not."

"It looks like it's trying to tornado."

"It is tornadoing now."


Geeez, and I thought "tornadic" was bad.

I've been tagged by kbaccellia Yay! Nobody every tags me. (sniffle)


So five random things about me, eh? Hmmmmmm.......all the really interesting stuff has been shared long ago ... multiple times ... nothing new has come up lately.


1. I grew up on a dirt street and wore Saks Fifth Avenue dresses given to me by the aunt for whom I am named. (Okay, okay ... so the street was paved by the time I was halfway through elementary school.)

2. I have a fascination with cemeteries and Victorian funeral customs. I routinely visited Flannery O'Connor's grave during my college years.

3. I was known for eating large quantities of green onions when I was a child. My daddy grew 'em. I picked 'em, cleaned 'em, and ate them. Mother kept a glass jar of them on the kitchen table, and I nibbled on them like candy. This practice helped to keep unpleasant people (and anybody else for that matter) at a distance. Nowadays, I prefer chocolate, although I still have a fondness for onions.

4. I absolutely adore flowers and the one thing I like to splurge on .. but seldom do ... is cut flowers. I plan to leave funeral instructions similar to those issued by June Carter Cash: In lieu of donations please send flowers.

5. If I think the mail contains "bad news," I always open it up outside. I even did this in winter in Nebraska when I'd go out into the snow in my bare feet to get the mail. (Hey, I'm from Georgia ...what do you expect?) I never open potential bad news in the house ... that includes scary bills, rejection letters, etc. I have not yet gotten to the point where I drag the laptop outside to check email. But that's something to consider.


I tag anybody who is waiting for somebody to tag them for this meme.

I am hoping for a Syesha/David C. finale. I suspect Simon's comments to Syesha last night were an attempt to secure her the "sympathy vote." She's MUCH better than Jason and Brooke, but I don't think her fan base is as large. And according to Dial Idol, she's on top. Dial Idol is "usually" on the money.

I do not care for David C. unless my eyes are closed. His voice is good, doesn't exactly speak to me, but I can't stand the way he looks. And David A. ... nope ... no appeal there either ... too young .... too vanilla .... too little boy next door.

Syesha is the only one who even begins to spark my interest anymore.

And yes, I listen to my Chikezie songs nearly everyday. I miss Chikezie, and Carly, and Amanda --- the only ones on the show that had any oomph or any edge. The rest are cardboard. Some of them are soggy cardboard.

azang is having a contest. Go check it out!

She has cool stuff and she's even been mentioned on Editorial Anonymous' blog.

If I owe you a crit, an email, a phone call, a friendly chat, an opinion, some advice, a laugh, a smile, a turn in a Scrabble game, or anything else .. I have not forgotten. I'm adjusting to the new job, plus it's birthday week. My sons' birthday are four days apart. No, I absolutely did NOT plan it that way. Why the heck would I?

Oh yeah ... and weeding ... it's that time of year again. Here in OK, it was too cold until just this week to plant flowers, but for some reason the late frost did NOT kill the weeds.

As some of you remember from last year, this house came with some rather ambitious flower beds, which require a lot of ambition to keep up with. And a good portion of my neighbors are members of the super secretive, snipey, snively, snarky Weed Police.

(I'll probably get in trouble for that one -- tee. hee.)

I am the mother of a severely food allergic child. I belong to various support groups/mailing lists/message boards. Today I ran across this information that I'd like to share. Since a lot of this is about the recent death of an eight year old, I'll put it behind the cut. Also if you are the parent of a food allergic child, there are a couple of surveys to take, one of which is exploring the correlation between fertility treatments and food allergies. I hope this links are helpful. I really can't say anything more at this point. These things always shake me up.



Another death reported in the news: http://tristatehomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=5678

This is a good article, it even references the insane Harper's article which ran in January stating that food allergy concerns were a bunch of overblown hype.

There is an interview with the mother here: http://www.allergymoms.com/modules/wordpress/index.php

Also on this blog is some information about food allergies and bullying (the primary reason my child is being home schooled next year ... it's not worth the risk) and if you scroll down a bit there's a survey about the correlation between infertility treatments and having a food allergic child.

Here is a link to another survey about food allergies. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JZkxlFQRpE4MSKUzfzPDmw_3d_3d

Since I don't like to talk about my writing while it's in process, I'll just share the pictorial journey.

Yeah, you're gonna notice I'm wearing the same clothes. That's because yesterday afternoon when I was stuck, I stopped and mugged for Photo Booth. I think I took a pic of every possible emotional phase of writing a novel.






Yesterday, I spent about two and a half hours (while test monitoring), brainstorming and revising my outline since I'd hit a road block and needed a new map. So today we are somewhere around the halfway point, struggling to make it make sense. That's what I get for NOT writing about reality. But wait ... reality often doesn't make sense either, does it?

Today I spent about three hours up at the school being a test monitor. It was cool. I was able to work on ye olde wip while I was there. I just helped pass out tests and kept an eye out on things. The teacher was in the room the whole time.

I won't get into how I feel about standardized testing, but I know for sure I do not want to go back to teaching. Things have changed so much in the fifteen years since I left the field. There is just so much riding on those tests these days.

Anyway, if your school needs volunteer test monitors - its something to consider - excellent BIC time if you have something to write or you need to catch up on reading. Of course, it works best if you write long hand...no, I didn't haul ye olde laptop up there. I just did some brainstorming, outlining, troubleshooting on a chapter on which I was stuck. I had my handy dandy notebook with me.

I've taken on a temporary test-scoring gig that is supposed to last through the first week of June, so I will be dropping off the face of the earth shortly. In addition to putting in 30 hours a week, I am also trying to get my middle grade novel ready to sub to the editor who expressed interest. I have delusions of also getting a chapter book ready to submit to a three month open window with a closed house. And then .... yes.... and then .... the stupid dang princess novel is up next. Truly, it's #3 on the list. Don't ask me about the picture books some of you have seen now and then. They are on the list, but wayyyyyyyyy down. I'd like to finish and begin shopping a few novels, before I get back to the picture books.

Yes, twenty years ago I thought I'd be some hoity toity literary writer. But now I'm writing about ants in space, squirrels who work in banks, magical yo-yo's, and yaks in beds. That's okay. There is no greater reward than seeing a little kid fall over giggling because they think your story is sooooooooo funny. This is even more rewarding when you realize that in real life, some of these kids have little to smile about.


LJ is not allowing me to post pictures right now, and my other browser won't even let me sign on. When I get past these kinks I will share some school visit photos and some thank you note artwork. I have found the children's book illustrators of tomorrow, and they are right here in south Oklahoma City. Fancy that!

Happy Monday!

It was a failed experiment, alas. The diaper stayed on until it was needed.

My husband came out of the bedroom, "We've had a diaper failure."



There lay Hodie, exhausted on the bed, her diaper beside her, and a puddle on the bed.

We are now using cheap vinyl tablecloths for a mattress pads. We've put away our good bed linens, and are using the old ones I usually reserve for covering the flowers during unexpected early/late frosts.

And why are we putting up with this? Because inside she's still very much Hodie. And there is still life in her eyes, and since vet visits are such a horror for her, we want to keep her where she's comfortable. A few weeks ago, she did seem to give up. She crawled in corners and wouldn't come out. Her food wasn't staying down. And we thought that was it ... but she came back.

And as several people have reminded me, somebody will be cleaning up after me when I'm 93. (Her equivalent human age.)

I'm about to get very, very busy and will be very scarce online, so I'll post Hodie stories when I can .. along with Fwips.

Earlier in the year, I closed down my lillpickles blog. I opened it up a few weeks ago to retrieve some stuff. Apparently, lj sent out notices or some such, because people have been refriending it.

I went in this morning and deleted my entire friends list, so that lj would not continue to send out notices and confuse people. It's an inactive blog. I just wanted to reactivate it in order to retrieve some posts, that's all.

.... I will attempt to diaper a cat.

I'll let you know how all that turns out.


The cat is diapered. It's been about thirty minutes. It's still on. She's on the end of our bed.

I think it was harder to lug in the queen size rainsoaked comforter from outside and cram it in my small washing machine. I had it outside yesterday, pouring bleach on the stains and washing it with the hose. I left it to dry ... but it's raining buckets today.

I woke up at 5am, ate a chocolate bunny, played two games of Zuma, and wrote 1400 and some odd words on my wip. I'm fresh out of chocolate bunnies, but I think I'll play another round of Zuma to clear the brain, and buckle down to get out one more chapter before the household awakes.

I've been cleaning out mounds of paperwork in my office. I found the following poem in one of my files. It was written by my great-grandmother.


Guard well they lips, for none can know
What evil from the tongue may flow
What guilt, what grief, may be incurred
By one incautious, hasty word
Be slow to speak, look well within
To check what there may be of sin
And pray increasingly for aid
Lest unawares then be betrayed
The time is short, this day may be
The very last assigned to thee
So speak lest shouldst than speak no more
Thou mayest not this days words deplore.

Althea Stannah Dec. 16, 1871

She was a member of the Temperance Union, and the mother of ten children, only six of which lived past childhood. This was written a year after she married, and over twenty years before my grandmother, the last of the ten, was born.

Please buy Trace Adkins' song on iTunes. ALL proceeds benefit the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. This opportunity is available until through April 10 on iTunes.

If you have friends or family who are Trace Adkins fans, or they like country music, please tell them about this. I just read this song has hit #1 on the charts...so let's hope folks are downloading it from iTunes!

Thank you.

Yesterday my son asked, "Why does it take so long to write a book?"

I paused. "How long do you think it should take?"

"Thirty days," he said.

"Thirty days?" I responded.

"Yes, that's what that book you bought in JANUARY said -- 30 days." Son looked at me.

"Well, I do other things besides just write books," I said.

"Like feed us?"

"Yeah."

So if you want to know about that book I bought in JANUARY, you can read about it on kbaccellia's blog.

I was going to blog about it, because it's the third tool I use for novel writing - in addition to my Mead Flex binder and Scrivener. However, Kim has written an excellent review.

These are two possible answers to a yak trivia question I'll ask the first and second graders tomorrow. What do you think the question is?


And if you think finding a yak in your bed is bad, what if you ended up with this situation?





I have the sentence strips prepared with velcro squares in the blanks. The kids pick the picture cards from a bag. There are over 100 possible silly combinations. The idea is to show how you can use your imagination to think outside the box, and wonder what would happen if something was not where it usually belonged. Like a yak in your bed.

I prefer working with smaller groups, under 50, and I don't like to use Power Point because it bores me. I'm probably a little bit ADD, so I like to work with my hands, move around a lot, and be interactive. I also have puppets. And if the teachers approve, I'll hold a burping contest contest between the boys and the girls. And then we'll see which group can say "Excuse me," the most politely. See, I cover all my bases. There will be about 40 kids in each group.

GIVE ME AN A!!!


GIVE ME A K!!!!


WHAT DO YOU GET?

A really busy writer getting ready to visit Rancho Village Elementary tomorrow. These are the wooden letters I'm using as part of my props.

Today is my book's FIRST birthday. It debuted on April 1, 2007. Soooooo...as usual I was up past 1am writing last night, and I googled for Yak Birthday Cake. Yes, I'm a google-a-holic.

And...I came up with this bakery. Too bad most of their stuff isn't also dairy free, or I'd be making an order. But I thought it was worth a mention. I think I'll be emailing these folks in a bit. :)







HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAK AND TED AND FOX!!!!!

You guys also share a birthday with my lj friends kellyrfineman and de_scribes!

WHOOOOOOOOOT!!!!! PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MOVIE is over here.

If you have a Mac, it's worth giving Scrivener a look. This also makes novel organization easy peasy lemon squeezy. I like using the vertical split screen, where I can have notes or a previous draft on one side, and the current chapter on the other. I also like pushing a button to make the page fill up the whole screen, so I'm not tempted by all the other gizmos visible on my desktop. I also like the notecard function.

To be truthful, I've only skimmed the surfaces of this program, but I still find it useful, especially for longer works which have gone through a zillion revisions.

So, there Scrivener and Mead, my novel companions.

And now I should stop doing product reviews and actually work on said novel. :)

Like many writers, I'm a notebook junkie.



I found this gem about a month ago. It's made by Mead, and it's pedigree name is Five Star Flex Hybrid Notebinder. You can flip the front cover to the back like a notebook, making it compact size for your lap or desk, but it holds a bunch of stuff like a binder. The spine is soft fabric, giving it flexibility, and it comes with cool pockets with compartments, dividers, loose leaf and graph paper.

I think it's great for organizing novels.


It has two dividers that will hold paper in a sleeve plus index cards in a little pocket.


Then there are three other pocket dividers.


I use the two dividers with index card compartments to organize work on character and plot. The other three divide various parts/drafts and hold critique copies.


And you can have this thing stuffed full of drafts, notes, critiques and index cards and still fold it in half, frontwards and backwards.





These babies run about $10 retail, but they are worth it. And i swear I don't work for Mead. I just find this gadget a time and brain saver, so I thought I'd pass it on. It has the flexibility of a spiral notebook, but the organizational capability of a binder. Besides, I know what office supply nuts we all are.

Bear with me. It's only my second tornado season in Oklahoma. Last year, I stayed freaked out. This year, I'm totally fascinated in a geeky kind of way.



I am no tornado newbie. They were fairly common in my home state of Georgia, and we lived in Nebraska for four years. But here, in the target of tornado alley ... well ... tornadoes are a rite of spring.

So...I've learned new vocabulary since moving here.

tornadic --it's a better way of saying "tornado-ish" And my relatives keep asking, " Are you SURE that's a word?"
cyclonic -- that's a new one - I don't remember hearing it last year
rotation -- indicated by little circles in varying colors on the screen
power flash -- bright light produced when the tornado (or strong wind) snaps power lines ... on dark stormy nights it's awful darn hard to see the windy beasts, so often power flashes will illuminate the funnels or let folks on the ground see where it's going
axis of instability -- I read that in a newscast. I don't know what it means, but it sounds rather scary, doesn't it?
Doppler -- hi tech weatherman toy and an excellent early warning device that saves lives...so okay the weathermen can get a little hyper with their Doppler but ya know.......

I also learned there's a distinction between a funnel and a tornado. You know, by the time they see the funnel forming, it's tornado enough for me. In addition, the weather people don't freak me out as much as they did last year. They do get overexcited. But last night, I saw a definite difference in the "look circle-y things to watch" attitude and the "oh #@&! it's on the ground" attitude. But they were doing an excellent job of letting people know what just happened, while trying to warn the folks next in line.

One subdivision took a hit last night; parts of the metro are without power; but there are no reports of injuries. It looks like it's going to be a stormy week for much of the middle of the country. Hang tight everybody, and get your flashlights ready.

http://www.votecarriejones.com/