Summer seriously needs to move its arse over to NYC. It's cold. It's wet. And squirrels are claiming the nuts they buried in my flowerbed. Thankfully, I have not yet planted my petunias.
I've been listening to a lot of summery songs lately on my music player--mainly country music because I'm cool like that--to help me get into the spirit. Maybe I can coax Summer my way by thinking about her. She's a vain one, that Summer.
Last year my family and I went camping with my folks over in Pennsylvania, my home state. We spent the day at a nearby amusement park--ferris wheels are WAY less fun than I remember--our evenings sitting around a campfire toasting marshmallows, and somewhere in between we caught crawfish in the river. We are proud country folk. It was heavenly. And I want to do it again, but it feels like that warm weather is never coming back! Melodramatic, I know. We had a nice day last week, sunny and close to 80 degrees, but it was just a tease. Summer, you tease.
Has summer weather graced your state with her golden, glowing, t-shirt-wearing presence? So jealous.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Evil bug sack! And a TF Short
Ok, so I cleaned my garage yesterday, because the weather is FINALLY looking spring-ish, and I found this bag full of micro-fiber cloths that Husband uses to clean his motorcycle, the car, etc. I brought them in and threw them in the wash. Today I take them out of the washer--I know I should've done it yesterday, thanks, Mom--and guess what I found in the washer?
One of those roach egg-sac things!!!!! So I am completely skeeved-out now. I cleaned out the washer and flushed the evil baby bugs down the toilet, washed my hands a few times and ran the washer with nothing in it, just to be sure. Ugh. How gross is that?
Anyway, spring is in the air! But before you leave February in the garden soil, go check out the final tangled installment of HART'S RIDGE over at the Tangled Fiction blog! http://community.livejournal.com/tangledfiction/14468.html
One of those roach egg-sac things!!!!! So I am completely skeeved-out now. I cleaned out the washer and flushed the evil baby bugs down the toilet, washed my hands a few times and ran the washer with nothing in it, just to be sure. Ugh. How gross is that?
Anyway, spring is in the air! But before you leave February in the garden soil, go check out the final tangled installment of HART'S RIDGE over at the Tangled Fiction blog! http://community.livejournal.com/tangledfiction/14468.html
Fiction and furry things
I know I've been MIA from here for a while, but things should start to settle down soon. Dec/Jan are always crazy months for me.
This past week was individual short week at Tangled Fiction. Each of us posted an un-tangled full short. Stop on over to check those out! :D
Also, I got this for my birthday:
For this:
And this:
And their serious cuteness has taken a lot of my attention. :-)
They're names are Poe (after Edgar Allan) and Dowell (after Alexander Beliaev's sci-fi novel, Professor Dowell's head--one of Husband's favorite novels.) they're brothers from a litter born on Christmas and they are cute, and furry, and they are mine. :D
This past week was individual short week at Tangled Fiction. Each of us posted an un-tangled full short. Stop on over to check those out! :D
Also, I got this for my birthday:
And their serious cuteness has taken a lot of my attention. :-)
They're names are Poe (after Edgar Allan) and Dowell (after Alexander Beliaev's sci-fi novel, Professor Dowell's head--one of Husband's favorite novels.) they're brothers from a litter born on Christmas and they are cute, and furry, and they are mine. :D
Aquarius is the superior star sign
There, I said it.
My birthday is coming up! January is a great month to be born. When you're a kid, your birthday parties are limited to indoor activities and it is often too cold or snowy for your party guests to actually show up. I was always envious of my June-born sister. But not anymore! Because January is a month made of awesome.
Tangled Fiction is back from our holiday break with a brand new story about arse-kicking girls in hoods, wielding axes, knives, and bows. And there's giant, smelly wolves.
Also, I've gotten over my writing funk, mostly, thanks to Natalie C Parker, and my Sisters in Scribe, Valerie Kemp and Kristi Helvig. I am now back on track with awesome ideas for whipping Greyskin into shape!
Any other Aquarians out there?
My birthday is coming up! January is a great month to be born. When you're a kid, your birthday parties are limited to indoor activities and it is often too cold or snowy for your party guests to actually show up. I was always envious of my June-born sister. But not anymore! Because January is a month made of awesome.
Tangled Fiction is back from our holiday break with a brand new story about arse-kicking girls in hoods, wielding axes, knives, and bows. And there's giant, smelly wolves.
Also, I've gotten over my writing funk, mostly, thanks to Natalie C Parker, and my Sisters in Scribe, Valerie Kemp and Kristi Helvig. I am now back on track with awesome ideas for whipping Greyskin into shape!
Any other Aquarians out there?
Snow Days!
Hope everyone that celebrated had a wonderful Christmas! If you're celebrating Kwanza, Happy Kwanza!
NYC got hit with a major blizzard over the weekend and Husband had an extra day home from work. We spent it throwing snowballs at each other and the kids (Big A totally betrayed me and teamed up with Dad, but Little M was loyal and threw a great many powdery puffs at the both of them! Huzzah!), and chucking each other into snow banks. Much fun.
Until we had to be grown-ups and actually shovel the driveway and dig out the car.
I am back to the writing grind today and cleaning up my house in between line edits, so I will probably disappear on you again for a few days. At Sisters in Scribe we are still taking entries for our December Giveaway (international, ends Dec 31st) and over at Tangled Fiction we have our first public round table discussion, so hop over there to see wtf we were thinking when we started our tangles and to chime in with what you thought might have happened!
Happy New Year!
NYC got hit with a major blizzard over the weekend and Husband had an extra day home from work. We spent it throwing snowballs at each other and the kids (Big A totally betrayed me and teamed up with Dad, but Little M was loyal and threw a great many powdery puffs at the both of them! Huzzah!), and chucking each other into snow banks. Much fun.
Until we had to be grown-ups and actually shovel the driveway and dig out the car.
Happy New Year!
Hanukkah!
Hanukkah begins tonight at sundown!
The following comes from http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
The Story
The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.
More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.
According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.
*********************
Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating! A freilichin Chanukah! Chag Urim Sameach! And enjoy those latkes!
The following comes from http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday7.htm
The Story
The story of Chanukkah begins in the reign of Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered Syria, Egypt and Palestine, but allowed the lands under his control to continue observing their own religions and retain a certain degree of autonomy. Under this relatively benevolent rule, many Jews assimilated much of Hellenistic culture, adopting the language, the customs and the dress of the Greeks, in much the same way that Jews in America today blend into the secular American society.
More than a century later, a successor of Alexander, Antiochus IV was in control of the region. He began to oppress the Jews severely, placing a Hellenistic priest in the Temple, massacring Jews, prohibiting the practice of the Jewish religion, and desecrating the Temple by requiring the sacrifice of pigs (a non-kosher animal) on the altar. Two groups opposed Antiochus: a basically nationalistic group led by Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah Maccabee, and a religious traditionalist group known as the Chasidim, the forerunners of the Pharisees (no direct connection to the modern movement known as Chasidism). They joined forces in a revolt against both the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews and oppression by the Seleucid Greek government. The revolution succeeded and the Temple was rededicated.
According to tradition as recorded in the Talmud, at the time of the rededication, there was very little oil left that had not been defiled by the Greeks. Oil was needed for the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. Note that the holiday commemorates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory: Jews do not glorify war.
*********************
Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating! A freilichin Chanukah! Chag Urim Sameach! And enjoy those latkes!
Happy Thanksgiving!
First, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I hope everyone is enjoying family/friends/loved ones and good food right now, instead of reading this. But in case everyone you love is in a food coma and you're all by your lonesome, here are the top 5 writing related things I am thankful for.
1. My friends and family. My parents and siblings, my husband and my children. Even my in-laws, who are super awesome. I've been blessed with the people in my life. I could gush on about how amazing my husband is and how smart, cute, funny, well-behaved my kids are, but you don't want to hear all that. The people in my life support my writing and I think it's very important to any writer to have that support. And my mom gave me the awesome desk that I write on. :)
2. The ability to write! Like Kristi said, I am very thankful that I can write! It's what I love (read: need) to do, and I am thankful that I am able.
3. Critique partners! Without my Sisters, and writing friends, my writing would be nowhere near the level it is right now. I'm very grateful for all their time, patience, and hard work.
4. The Internet. Not only is it a fantastic marketing tool (you know, for whenever I'll actually have a book to market), but it's basically my only social outlet. Writing is a very solitary endeavor, and although my family and friends are supportive, they don't always get my obsession with pretty book covers, or the relationship I have with the people in my head. You guys do. Right?
5. The YA writing community. Writers both published and non, agented and still treading through the query trenches. You are all so helpful and supportive. Everyone believes in paying it forward. In helping each other. This kind of community is just invaluable. Many of you organize charities and events, like the season of love and hope auction that Valerie mentioned yesterday. There is the YA lit chat community. the Verla Kay blue boards. The countless blogs chock full of information for aspiring writers on everything from what books to read, to how publishing works, to who, how and when to query. You are all fantastic! Thank you all!
What are YOU thankful for?
Happy Thanksgiving!
comic from http://www.inkygirl.com/
Bikers With Dolls
Lots of bikers made lots of children happy, and not just on this day with our club and those who came out to support the event. I didn't take any of these pictures, so I am totally stealing them from the guys who did, but I just have to share. It was such an awesome day. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
:)
Biker Santa (also known as Bob)
I am somewhere to Santa's right (left side of the pic) in this one. See how many bikers showed up? :D And the NYPD escorted us all safely to the daycare. Thanks, NYPD!
That's only about half of the donated toys.
The girls and I taking names and toys. I am in the back, middle, and that cute lil reindeer up front is mine.
Our amazing escorts! If I get ticketed for going through all those red lights, I'm coming to them...
Some of the kids and families that came to see Santa!
And there is a few hundred more, but I'll stop here. HUGE thanks to all the riders who came out, to Santa Bob and his wife for being so awesome, and for the NYPD for keeping the NYC traffic at bay for hundreds of motorcycles. And thanks to you for looking!
Website Launch!
Do you remember my website with the cool flash animation, and the creepy desk, and flickering candle of awesome? Well, that's gone now.
*sniffle*
But! I have put up another website, a much more informative one, in it's place. I loved my old one, but flash doesn't work well for everyone, and I wanted it to be user friendly. Anywho, once I figure out how to recreate the website background in photoshop and then edit blogger, this will match a little better. I hope. But I am really terrible with photoshop so by the time I figure that out, I'll probably end up changing it all again.
:)
Sunday Squirrel
>:)
Happy Halloween!
Whether you're trick-or-treating, partying, or staying home and watching scary movies with a bowl full of popcorn with extra butter, be safe and enjoy!
I'm getting a 55 gallon fish tank (YAY!) today, but after I set that up, I will be taking my tiniest human, a ballerina, to a few of our neighbor's houses to beg for candy. Then we'll be watching scary movies (after she's in bed) and passing out candy! But not too much candy because I need leftovers. I deserve them. Yes.
What are you up to tonight?
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And don't forget, Monday, new story at Tangled Fiction, started by me. This one will be told on Mon, Wed, and Fri in three parts only.
Inspiration from Libba Bray
The following comes from a recent blog post by YA author Libba Bray. It was written in response to a teen girl with a life-choice dilemma: Do what she wants with her life, or do what will make the adults in her life happy. I applaud Libba (and it's not the first time) for writing this and for sharing it with the world. I WISH someone had told me this when I was a teen.
"Listening to music. Eating pizza before your metabolism goes to hell. Dancing. Spending a Friday night with your friends at the local playground having conversations about life, liberty, love, and Lady Gaga while sitting on a merry-go-round. Reading great books. Reading trashy books. Inventing personas. Trying on identities. Learning to drive. Going to concerts and games. Playing sports. Disdaining all of the above. Creating random Facebook pages filled with quotes you love one day and find hopelessly déclassé the next. Making art. Examining your hair for split ends. You should have the luxury of occasional boredom so you know what it feels like and so you know how to respond to its inspiration. You should not be so overscheduled and exhausted. Teenagers are not supposed to be mini-adults or over-achieving automatons. There is supposed to be a long on-ramp to adulthood."
International Women's Day!
Happy International Women's Day to all the women in the blogosphere! I hope you all enjoy your day! Be proud to be the sister, daughter, wife, mother, friend that you are!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentine's day, and I hope you get the chance to spend it with someone special. My husband is across the ocean on a business trip, but I've got my kids and my books, and of course you all to keep me company.
In honor of the day, I am going to share a brief story of how I met my husband.
We met when I was 16, he was 31 (yes, he's old--I know this) on the internet. Not any of those dating sites, not that I have anything against people who use them, but on a multi-player video game. Counter-strike, for the geeks out there. We belonged to "clans" that played tournaments against each other.
This is embarrassing to admit to, by the way.
Anywho, we weren't "talking" or attempting to hook-up or any of that. We were just casual friends who occasionally talked about the game. Absolutely NOTHING romantic passed between us. Four years later(I was 20 years old), some of my nerd friends threw a birthday party for me in Raleigh, NC. We all took our computers and set up and played, and partied (see, something not totally dorky)the entire weekend.
Husband was there, even though he didn't know it was my birthday, nor did he really know who I was. He came because a mutual friend of ours came. Husband drove all the way from NY to be there. I walked in the door, he shook my hand and said his name, and I was his.
We were married 3 months after that. Been insanely happy for almost 5 years.
A LOT of tiny little things contributed to our meeting and falling in love. Crazy how that works sometimes.
What's your story?
In honor of the day, I am going to share a brief story of how I met my husband.
We met when I was 16, he was 31 (yes, he's old--I know this) on the internet. Not any of those dating sites, not that I have anything against people who use them, but on a multi-player video game. Counter-strike, for the geeks out there. We belonged to "clans" that played tournaments against each other.
This is embarrassing to admit to, by the way.
Anywho, we weren't "talking" or attempting to hook-up or any of that. We were just casual friends who occasionally talked about the game. Absolutely NOTHING romantic passed between us. Four years later(I was 20 years old), some of my nerd friends threw a birthday party for me in Raleigh, NC. We all took our computers and set up and played, and partied (see, something not totally dorky)the entire weekend.
Husband was there, even though he didn't know it was my birthday, nor did he really know who I was. He came because a mutual friend of ours came. Husband drove all the way from NY to be there. I walked in the door, he shook my hand and said his name, and I was his.
We were married 3 months after that. Been insanely happy for almost 5 years.
A LOT of tiny little things contributed to our meeting and falling in love. Crazy how that works sometimes.
What's your story?
Updates!
I realize I haven't been posting a whole lot lately. Reason being, I am MAD busy over here! So far 2010 has been an amazing year full of opportunity for Husband and I.
He's starting work at a new company in February, going in at a senior position. We've had to do a lot of preparing for this, considering they'll be sending him to Italy in three weeks.
On top of that, I've had TWO of my works accepted for publication, and I might have one or two more. Can't give you any more details on that yet, (hope it's okay that I tell you that much) but as soon as I can, you know I will. I will post the heck out of it. And thanks to author Shannon Delany (13 To Life: A Werewolf's Tale) for pointing me in the right direction, I'm working on a retelling of a Ukranian Folklore and a non-fiction article for a children's magazine. Wish me luck!
And of course there is the never ending work on my own manuscripts and the group (sistersinscribe.blogspot.com) and home. Speaking of which, I need to climb to the top of Mt. Laundrest today.
Big things are happening. Big things.
Happy Birthday, Elvis Presley!
Today marks the 75th would-be birthday of The King, and to celebrate I will be drinking coffee from my Elvis mug, staring at my autographed picture from the '68 comeback (black leather! whew!) and listening to him sing all day and watching his movies on TCM. Really, not much different that a normal day for me, but it'll feel special.
And for YOU! I'm going to snag and share photos that I love off the internet.
In no particular order.
Elvis Aaron Presley(originally Aron to match his twin brother Jesse Garon--still born)
January 8th 1935-August 16th 1977
Hee hee hee
Driplet
When we're growing up, especially through the teen years, our parents have this uncanny ability to embarrass us. Be it with nicknames they shout out at your basketball games to get your attention from the free throw line, or dropping you off directly out front of your school in the rusted-out jalopy that was once known as a "shaggin' wagon", parents just know how to ignite your cheeks and make your little rabbit heart skip an embarrassed beat.
As you get older, and I know nobody really wants to hear this, you'll appreciate those little moments. Maybe not the time your cowboy dad holds you upside down in a dirty stable stall and dips your head in manure in front of your crush...but other stuff.
That same crazy cowboy dad has a nickname for me. It came around about a time when I was feeling low, I was probably about 13 or so, and he called me "Driplet". What is a driplet? Well, he'd tell you:
A driplet is a droplet
A Droplet is water
Water is nature
And nature is
Beautiful
Whenever I'm feeling insecure, and yeah even we supermom's get the blues, I just remember those words :)
Love you, Pops.
My Ruski baby
My daughter, who will be turning 3 in another month, telling her Grandfather some Russian nursery rhymes. She's just too cute not to share.
Snow!
The state of Pennsylvania has been hogging it until tonight. We've got our first flurries of the season in New York City!
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