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Hello everyone!

Again, an interesting week for me. I'm in contract negotiations for a nonfiction project; I'm up to my eyeballs in freelance deadlines (four within the next two weeks); I'm leaving for Houston Sunday night (waving to all my Houston SCBWI friends!); I spent several days cleaning my mother's condo; today is a RARE snow day, so the kids are out of school; and I've been tagged!


(Jack enjoys the snow!)

Tagging first! writerross   tagged me with the following:

The rules: Each participant shares five little-known facts about themselves. Those tagged are asked to do the same as well as reiterate this guideline. Each select five folks to be tagged and list their names. (Leave a comment letting them know that you've tagged them and that they may see your blog as an example.)

Hmmm. Five little-little known facts about Candie . . .

1. I hate admitting this, but I enjoy airline disaster movies, like the original one, Airport (the book was written by Arthur Hailey), its followups, Airport '75, Airport '77, and Airport '79—The Concord. It's not that I enjoy watching people in distress on airplanes. But if I have to watch a scary movie, to me, watching a disaster movie (especially with airplanes) is my choice every time. I'm not biased either—I like ship disaster movies and skyscraper disaster movies, too. Oh, and by the way, I'm not afraid of flying.


(Airport Terminal Pack available on DVD!)

2. I, like writerross   , am deathly afraid of fire. I'm not afraid of lighting fires, though, or matches or candles or the like. I am, however, afraid of death by fire. 'Nuff said.

3. I learned how to operate a motorcycle at age 19. I wore my cowboy boots . . . and that's all I'm saying.

4. I won the "Sombrero Award" in my high school two years running, ha! What does that mean?I have a great facility for languages. I pick them up easily, which may have begun when I was a child, living in Okinawa, and learned to speak a smattering of Ryukan, Chinese and Japanese. In high school, folks predicted I would one day work for the U.N., as a translator, perhaps. I didn't do that, but I still enjoy using my language skills whenever I can. Except for Spanish, though, I'm getting rusty, alas!


(The Sombrero Award!)

5. I'm a proud Army Brat and super-patriotic. Well, that's probably not a secret, but if you don't know me well, you may not know that yet!


(With my father, Okinawa, December 1963)

Okay, here are my tag-ees:

lisaalbert   
kporterbooks   
thunderchikin   
jo_no_anne   
jenlyn_b   

[Edited to say: I noticed that my buddy Jo was already tagged, so how about you, robinellen , and you, moniquemadigan , and you, newport2newport ? I'm spreading the love!]

It's Groundhog Day, and Punxatawny Phil did NOT see his shadow this morning, which means Spring is coming soon. Thank goodness for that, as Ever-Supportive works OUTDOORS (need I say more? LOL). Spring may be springing soon, but we had our first blast of really wintry weather this week here in Nashville—our first snowfall, in fact, of the season. Chloe, who wore her pajamas inside-out for two nights running, is convinced that SHE is behind this miracle of Nashville-nature!


(Chloe, Snow-Girl)


(This is our backyard today, as compared to:


. . . Our Autumnal Yard in November . . .)

I'm heading to Houston on Sunday. I think I'll be in the air during the Super Bowl, which kind of bums me because I've been super-excited about this one. I lived in Indianapolis from 1983 through 1990. I was a huge Bears fan, and when the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indy in 1984 (the year Oldest Son was born), I became a Colts fan. (Sidebar: Of course, I'm a Tennessee Titans fan now, but since the Titans aren't in the Super Bowl, I'm free to spread the love!) While I'd be happy to see either the Bears or the Colts win this year, I'm leaning toward the Colts because of Peyton Manning, the Colts quarterback, previously of the University of Tennessee Volunteers football program! Also, this is an historic game—the first Super Bowl match-up in which both head coaches are African American, and how pertinent is that during Black History Month? All-in-all, the makings of a GREAT game. In the words of Bocephus (Hank Williams, Jr.): "Are you ready for some football?"

Until After Houston!
XO Candie