What to do, What to Do?

 Yesterday we took the kidlet to Girl Scout camp. The set up was totally different than in previous years as a new camp director was making a few changes to how they checked everyone in.

Some ideas were good and successful. Some were not.

After all the girls headed to their cabins. and my hubby helped the kidlet make her bed--on the top bunk--we were 'dismissed' by the kidlet. Like any other parent we. . . well, okay, ME. . . are embarrassing to have around, plus we tend to cramp the kid's style, so we were 'dismissed' with a kiss and a hug.

She should have a good camp. The title of it is 'Wet & Wild'. They should be in the water numerous times a day, along with going to a local water park in the middle of the week. And it's a good thing she's doing a water camp, because the heat is ON! This week the expected highs are in the low 90s with no rain.

--Hey, it's better than tornadoes, right?

As soon as we got home and fed the dog, we hightailed (Did you know this term is a reference to white-tailed deer? When they scamper away, their tail is up high showing the underside, which is white. Well, this might not be the only reference, but it was how it was told to me. . . . hmm, one of my brothers told me this many, many years ago, so it could be a lie. A good lie, but a lie none-the-less) it to the movie theater and saw STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS.

We saw the 2-D version, simply because of the time we could see the movie. Excellent, of course. I cried. I'm not a big crier in real life, but put me in front of  a Disney movie or another touching scene and I turn on the water works. If you have seen any of the Star Trek movies or watched any of the shows, you will find references to some of them.

There. That's all you get. No teasers. No review. No nothing.

Sometime this week, we want to see Ironman 3.

And no, we aren't being mean and dissing the kidlet. She said she wasn't interested in those two movies.

Besides, last week I attended a local SCBWI meeting and bought her a book by Tara Hudson, titled HEREAFTER.

I will say right now that she really isn't much of a reader. Oh, she'll read a book here or there, but I have yet to figure out her reading preferences, and they certainly don't mirror mine. And though I had the author sign the book with the kidlet's name, I honestly didn't think she'd read it.

She finished it in less than a day.

On Saturday, we had to make a mad dash to Barnes & Noble to find the next two books in the trilogy, ARISE and ELEGY. When we couldn't find the books, I suggested the kidlet find another book to take to camp. No, she didn't want to look at any other books, she wanted those books.

Okay.

Which we did find after we found a clerk to help us.

An aside to B & N: Look, you're starting to get a little too sub-categorized on your books. Having New Teen, Teen, New Paranormal Teen, and Paranormal Teen, etc. is a bit much. That makes the reader have to look in numerous places for one book. I had a title and I had an author, you would have thought it would be easy to find the book--not any more. We almost gave up in frustration. And that would have been a $33 sale (the 3rd book just came out in hardback, of course) lost to AMAZON.

Just saying.

I know publishers want writers to be able to categorize their books, but as a reader sometimes it's very confusing when some books are faced out as "new", but then the rest of the books seem to be jumbled in a not so orderly fashion with gaping holes. Plus in the Romance section, the category romances are totally in a different row.

Your shelving system leaves a lot to be desired.

So with the kidlet safely at camp, I am at a loss with what to do with my time.

Should I write?

I do need to write PIPER AND THE EVERBERRY SOCCER GAME. Plus I need to get back into DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER and finish that book.

Or should I work on my garden beds?

With my husband's help, I finished one bed . . . ONE. We ended up with two large bags of plant material. I need to finish the beds before he mows on Wednesday.

Maybe I'll find a way to do both.

Later, Peeps!

Bits and Pieces

With all this rain, I had forgotten how quickly black spot spreads. *Remember the last two years have been droughty. No rain, thus no black spot.* And I didn't spray AT ALL. Some of my roses are denuded of leaves. I need to deadhead and spray this weekend. Poor babies.


Last night I made my spaghetti meat sauce and had to open a bottle of red wine.  I searched in my cabinet and found a 2005 Mount Pleasant Norton. We probably did buy this wine about 6-8 years ago, but the last time I opened the bottle it was so tannic that it was undrinkable. Now, it's finally ready. Making the spaghetti sauce was quick and easy because of another little trick--pre-cook your meat. The last time I went to Sam's Club I purchased six pounds of ground beef and about the same amount of hot Italian sausage, in casings. I spent all morning cooking the meat, dividing it and sealing it into vacuum bags. It was definitely worth the hassle when all I had to do was pull the meat out of the freezer, defrost it a little and dump it into the sauce to finish up.


The kidlet goes to Girl Scout camp next week. They are not allowed to take electronics, and the one paperback book I bought her when I met Tara Hudson--Hereafter-- has been read. Guess I'll need to stop at Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million to find books two and three, Arise and Elegy.


Speaking of YA, Ally Carter keeps tweeting that she has finished the very last Gallagher Girls books. So sad. This was a nice series, but characters do tend to grow up. And the Gallagher Girls are finishing up at SPY high school.


I thought I'd be able to putz around the house today, do laundry, spray my roses, weed my garden, but nope, I had promised to take my hubs to have his windshield fixed. *sigh* Which means another trip around lunch to take him back to the aforementioned car. With new tires and a new windshield, its almost as if he has a brand new Corvette. Right?


With the kidlet at camp next week, maybe, just maybe, I'll actually be able to sit down and write. Man, it's been tough this summer. I did make a few corrections on DRAGON DAYS OF SUMMER as I reread the first 50 pages to get back into writing that story, but that was weeks ago! I'll have to do it all over again. Plus I want to get a rough draft down of my next picture book, PIPER AND THE EVERBERRY SOCCER GAME, tentative title.


I think temps will be going back to normal for the summer--90's and dry--so we might actually be able to swim in the pool. . . .along with starting to plan a few pool parties. YAY!

Later, Peeps!

Fall Break -- What did you do?

Last week, it was Fall Break.

It seemed like it was a week too early this year and the concept totally messed with my head.
--Plus it doesn't help that the night time temps are staying in the 70's! It's just too hot for Fall Break!

First it was Parent/Teacher conferences on Wednesday, but they never stated that the kids would be out of school, since it really wasn't the start of "fall break".

Yeah, what they didn't want were for parents to take their kids out of school for a long vacation and miss the two days of school!

In fact, the high school was still in classes on Wednesday.

How do I know this?

Because I attended parent/teacher conferences, doncha know!

My kidlet is doing quite well in school, but she always seems to enjoy school. She's making A's--though she had to work up from a B in one class. The teachers all said that she's happy, asks good questions and is a good worker.

So basically, parent/teacher conferences simply stroked my back that the hubs and I were doing a pretty good job with her!

On Thursday, we took a day trip to Silver Dollar City and met up with some friends and their two kids. The best perk was when we found out the local schools didn't have fall break and there were virtually no lines on all the rides! Fun was had by all! We drove home before dark and managed to get to bed at a normal time.

On Friday, my kidlet went with other 6th grade Girl Scouts to Robber's Cave State Park. Many of these girls went with their troops, but my daughter is troopless. I discovered there is a name for Girl Scouts without a troop--Juliette--in honor of the founder. She had a blast and wants the family to visit the park in the summer.

After dropping the kidlet off at the Girl Scout bus, Hubs and I went to Oktoberfest. Beer, food, the Chicken dance, and fun was had by all!

Oktoberfest is a tradition in this house . . . we met there 22 years ago. ;-)

Again, we called it an early evening and left the party about 8:30. Two pitchers of Warsteiner Premium beire and we were tapped out! I don't think I could last until 11:30 when they get the firehoses out to wash down the tents!

On Saturday, Hubs waxed his baby--a shiny red Corvette--and washed the dog--a seriously stinky Old English Sheepdog, while I did loads of laundry.

On Sunday, we hung out, had a big breakfast before cleaning the house. The stinky kidlet was picked up and hosed off . . . er, she took a shower, and I did another couple loads of laundry.

Hopefully, I'll be on track this week with my blogs, but I'm feeling an Autumnal Ennui hitting. Usually my allergies make me sluggish and tired, hopefully it won't last long this year.

Later, Peeps!

Lost My Mind

I HAVE SERIOUSLY LOST MY MIND. . .

Sorry for the late post, but I have been totally discombobulated (doncha love that word??) since coming home from Canada late last Wednesday. I'll try to get back on a regular schedule by the end of this week.

Here is my list of stuff:

--Pictures are downloaded on my computer waiting for me to have the time to blog

--Still haven't caught up with the laundry

--we had a nice soaking rain last night, which made walking today wonderful since most of the pollen had been washed out of the air.

--need to run lots of errands today, but many are closed due to it being Columbus day

--need to send the City of Tulsa a note to try to get a crosswalk painted across a residential street in Woodbine. The cars go too fast and the day care walks their kids across this street to the school. I did manage to cattle prod them into removing three dead evergreens that caused some serious visibility issues in this same location. If the KinderCare directer does her part and I do mine, then we might get some signs or a crosswalk painted. I'll keep using the words: children, accidents, hazards, etc.

--trying to nag cover artist. She sent me a cover for SUGAR PLUM DISASTER, and I HATED IT!! This was a first for me. I've never hated anything she's done, but this was a cut and paste disaster! it was very Chick-lit and NOT middle grade, nor did it have the same 'feel' as the rest of the book covers. I sent her some images and described in detail what I wanted to see. Hope the next version is better. I know she's seriously overwhelmed with a bunch of deadlines, but I hope I don't get lost in the mess.

--Amazon has now opened a French kindle store. YAY! But my stories are still in English, which will limit my ability to sell. My Sis-in-Law offered to translate (she's French, but lives and teaches here in town), but considering my sell-through in the states and the fact that I haven't even broke even yet, the odds are against me. I simply couldn't afford to pay her unless I could guarantee some sales. And even if you aren't knowledgeable about the book biz, you know that no one can guarantee this!

--I volunteered to help the 5th grade class on their field trip. it's to a local Junior Achievement place called Biz Town. The kids have 'jobs' and earn money and have to spend money for products. Well, today is the volunteer's orientation day. So, I'll be running late to my daughter's first swim meet.

--but first I'll have to take her to Girl Scouts. Of course, they are sending a care package to a soldier, but only notified the parents one day ago. . . A little more warning please! So I get to buy some junk food for the young man, while the Girl Scouts write notes to him. Plus they have fall products for sale. No we haven't bought anything yet. Yes, it's due today, but we were gone and couldn't walk around the neighborhood with her to sell stuff.

--Swim meet tonight is an intra-squad meet. She hasn't been timed in any of the strokes yet, so we have no idea how she'll place. So instead of swimming laps with the rest of the White and Blue team, they'll be competing against each other. This Saturday is her first REAL swim meet at Jenks.

--Oh, and this doesn't even count trying to edit TROLL or SUGAR PLUM DISASTER!

--And now, I need to go to hop in the shower before the I go weigh-in at Weight Watchers.

Let the chaos begin!!

Oh, yeah, I forgot a few things:
--judge the Emily contest--just got 5 entries
--finish putting together a presentation for RWI's Nov. meeting
--help kiddo with her pumpkin project, due on Friday
Later, Peeps!

Kidlet off to Girl Scout Camp

Well, yesterday we took our one and only to Girl Scout camp. She's going to be gone for five days.

Wow.

It's going to be weird without her chattering all the time. The silence will be deafening.  Ah . . . the peace. 

*shh* Don't tell her!

This is the kid who periodically gets homesick when she spends the night at a friend's house, her cousin's house and even at grandma's house. She usually calls us (except when she's at grandma's house, because grandma's tough!) and gets even sadder until Daddy *cough* caves and picks her up.

I don't drive at night if I don't have to, which means I would NEVER cave.

Well, at GS camp there is no calling home. There is no parental communication. Oh, the parents can send a pre-written letter or email to your kid, but it isn't happening in 'real' time and the kid can't respond back. Once we leave, she's on her own.

And personally, I think she'll be so tired she won't have a chance to get homesick.

I'm excited for her, but at the same time I'm excited for the hubster and me  . . . we will be AWOL for a few days. Dropping off the grid will be a nice change of pace.

I feel really, really sorry for all those kiddos--when we dropped ours off it was 110 degrees--and they have NO air conditioning, only fans in the cabins. This week it is supposed to be 100+ degrees every day, which means the nights won't be colder than 80-85 degrees, equaling miserable sleeping. I hope she enjoys her first long camp experience.

See ya later on the flipside, Peeps!

A Change of Pace

Today is the last day of school for my kidlet.

--And my lazy life will not be mine any longer.

We have a few camps scheduled. The big one is Girl Scout camp where she will be gone overnight for five nights. Now, this is the kidlet who tends to get a little homesick when she spends the night at a friend's house, so this is a BIG DEAL. GS camp is her idea, so I think she'll do well . . . at least after the first night when the girls will be so exhausted they won't have time to get homesick.

Most of the other camps vary between 1-3 hours a few days a week: basketball camp, swimming camp and zoo camp. There are a few free weeks over the summer along with one surprise vacation.*shh*

There are a few free weeks throughout the summer allowing time for movies, reading, swimming in the pool, playing with friends, and working on 5th grade curriculum in preparation for school next year.

Summers also are a logistical nightmare. Trying to schedule playdates with her friends is nuts. My kidlet has various camps she attends, well, so do other kids and those don't necessarily coincide with our schedule, plus many of them stay with their grandparents for a couple weeks out of the summer. The kidlets grandparents live in town. *Drat!* I can't farm her out!

With the kidlet standing over my shoulder, I know I won't be able to get much writing done. And I managed to waste all of May . . . well, waste is a harsh word. I did a lot of work on FAERIE and it simply mentally exhausted me. I had intended to read over FOR WHOM THE BELL TROLLS and A MAZE OF MONSTER MIX-UPS (Halloween short story AND prequel to TROLL), but simply didn't have the energy. Both those stories need to be up by the end of September, at least MONSTER does, TROLL can wait until the end of October.

I have a lot of work on both those stories, but I think I've broken my addiction to Farmville and that should help with my focus. :-)

Maybe I'll actually get up early and start writing again. Hmm . . . I like that idea.

Later, Peeps!