Make Mine Supers (8)

I think I'm number one!!  YAY Thanks Rae! Susan,  WooHoo...quiet house WAAAYYYY over there on the westside! Sam, I'm rather like that...slow and steady.  I like the rhythm. Jeannie, Hugs on the tears...and I do get it from your perspective.  My kids have the tears here...me?  I just grin as I shoo them off!  LOL  But I'll send you hugs as needed! Amy, Grounded kids is hardest on the parents!  Good luck keeping him on track and we'll celebrate on Wednesday!! Holly

Poor Rae, who's harried and Kay, who has back pain...I hope things improve very soon.

Sam, you're a good candidate for slowing down! As for me, I need to speed up. So many story ideas, so much yard work, so much house work....in (I think) the latest RWA magazine someone recommended not letting the world in until a morning's writing was done. No TV, e-mail, telephone....I made it until 11am, not bad for a first try. But I'm hoping to get better at it, and that it will mean more getting accomplished around here.

I can't believe school's nearly starting. It's still a few weeks away here, but that seems surprisingly close, too. On Saturday we went to Clear Lake (in Riding Mountain National Park). Canoed, got sunburned, walked along the shore, ate ice cream. It was the first day that really felt like summer, but the cool breeze after the sun went down felt like fall. Shows how all-consuming the wedding plans were.

Just entered a couple more book reviews. I think that's twelve now. Eighth month of the year and I've only read twelve books? Well, one was a biography of Carl Jung....long, long biography. It really slowed me down.

Caron

Poor Ellen...Rae's playing hide-and-seek-the-thread again!  LOL Caron, Your Saturday sounds delightful!! Aurelene, After four kids, I avoid swimsuits whenever possible!  LOL Okay, I'm back to work!! Holly

 Okay, I found it! 

School doesn't start here for a few more weeks, but I have to go on Wed. to straighten out my son's schedule.  They left an open block in his spring semester.  <sigh>  You'd think the computers would catch something like that.

Deb, please email me!  I finally uploaded the pictures, and want to send you the one of you and hubby, but I have two email addies for you, and I'm not sure which one is the RIGHT one. <G>

Kim, same thing for you!

Holly, you could come WAAAAAAYYYY over here while my boys are gone. <G>  But not until after I hose down the house.  LOL.  I want it clean ASAP so I have time to enjoy it before they're back and messing it up again. <G>

Okay, my work for later today is to get the conference pics up on my beat-up old website.  <G>  Hey, it still serves its purpose.  But my boys are planning to make me a new one.  (They have uses. <VBG> )

Everyone enjoy the rest of the day!

Am I the only one, or is there someone else out there who still keeps ALL of the Superromance threads in their favorites?

I know I should delete the earlier ones, but it's like...well, I'll just keep them.  LOL. 

Help, I'm a thread hoarder!!!  <G>

Susan, just send whatever is the most flattering, of course!! :-) Whatever you can send is fine. We're just tickled to have pics seeing as I didn't feel like lugging my big camera around during national. We actually went and looked at some small purse-sized digitals but...bought a printer instead. LOL...(Hey, the printer is tax-deductible AND we really needed a new one).

Anyway, gotta go. The work is piling up and I have a head cold. Arrgghh...

 Kim

 

Another work day is done, now to chill for a bit and then get to my WIP.  "The Closer" is on tonight so I hope I won't be distracted.

I "hoed" yesterday.  I have a flowerbed that runs alongside my (thankfully) short driveway and the grass has taken it over.  So, I grabbed my hoe and chopped up the grass.  Only did half since I had already mowed grass, trimmed along the fence, topped off a hedge and a tree by the house and my back was aching.  It was such a gorgeous day out that I didn't want to be inside.  This morning my forearms ache.  Hoeing is such fun. 

Happy Olympic watching!

Christyne, That's wonderful!!  Congrats to your daughter.  Hope she loves the job!!  Glad you're back at work! Susan, LOL  Let me know when the house is hosed out and I'll try to make the very long trip!  LOL  You thread hoarder, you! Deb, Martin's very cool!!  Love that he has a name.  My Vibe (which Susan picks on) is Floyd! Sam, Speaking of gardens, our corns in...oh yum!  Last night we had roasted chicken, rice pilaf, corn on the cob and bruschetta (with tomatoes, onions and parsley from the garden).  I love cooking this time of  year! Kim, I hope you unpiled all that work! Vieve, I don't do a lot of lazing in the summer either.  Winters here are long, so I have plenty of time then! <g>  The blueberries and swallows sound lovely! Marcie, Glad you hoed!  LOL  We like the Closer, too! LindaC, Sorry about your shortened summer.  Tons to do today...writing, making zucchini bread...yum! Holly

Does anyone else feel like their head might spin right off their shoulders?

Jeannie & Amy - I'm with both of you this year on the pain/joy of back to school. I'm excited to send the girls back to school, but I send my youngest to kindergarten and I'm having some teary moments. What happened to the time? In addition, I was offered a long term substitute position at the high school, so I'm starting school too. Yikes!

Holly and Ronda - Happy belated birthday. Birthdays are supposed to be week-long celebrations, right?

Christyne - Congrats on DD's job. What a boulder off your shoulder. (See, I'm in such a tizzy, I'm rhyming.)

Hugs and waves all around. We're off to get DS's hearing aide - and then back to laundry!

Oh, the O's are killing me! Getting to bed after midnight four nights in a row! But I couldn't hit the pillow last night until I found out if Team USA took home a medal in gymnastics...yeah on getting the bronze after everyone counted them out!

Tasha...congrats on the new job! 

Okay, I just boiled an egg for thirty minutes.  Does anyone else have this problem?  My kitchen in downstairs, my office is up.  I've burned on more oatmeal (do you know how awful burned oatmeal smells?).  Many times 've boiled down all the water I was prepping for pasta.  I've ruined many pans.  I've burned on rice-- "Oh, it has to cook for fifty minutes.  I'll be back down by then . . ." Ha!  Famous last words.  Today I am baking bread, but at least it doesn't hurt anything if the dough rises too long.

Anyway, loved Kay's pictures of the conference.  So much fun . . . and Kay, you looked lovely:)  You, too, Amy. 

Just finished rewriting the last scene of my ms.  A quick proofread and polish . . . and I think I can send it out to Victoria.  Phew! 

Sam, I have a big pine tree that needs to come down.  Its twin already fell twenty feet from my house.  But, like you, I hate to mess up the bird sanctuary.  I'll probably plant a couple of apple trees instead.  Shorter, pretty blossoms, and maybe I'll even get some pies out of it eventually.

So, instead of a tiara party, should we have a Superromance yoga session? You could wear your tiara. Would make quite the photo op.

 

Seriously, I tweaked my back a couple of years ago while wrangling a heavy suitcase off a fast moving luggage carousel while getting elbowed by mean people. I could barely get out of bed the next day. Since then I've made it a point to wear not very pretty, functional shoes while traveling. Better for my balance and my back and very handy for tromping on toes when someone invades my space.

 

Tasha, better a long-term sub than "target practice." I used to sub and there was one fifth-grade class I felt made it its life mission to torment subs.

 

Marcie, I hate hoing but I love the end result. Just wish it lasted longer.

 

Vieve, I have blueberries on my cereal every morning. I've never picked them, but I have a great photo of my granddaughter back in the UP with this wide purple ring around her mouth. Perfect for  a "Got Blueberries?" commercial.

 

Holly, Martin was the name of the man who owned it before us. He passed away in January and his son sold it to my husband. It hasn't run since the year 2000, but my hubby loves to coax life back into old cars. This was Martin's maiden excursion, excluding test trips between the house and the shop. We adore him!  What you can't see in those pics is the plush red leather upholstery and the little drop-down tables in the backseat. This is the type of car that was in that old "Pardon me, do you have any gray poupon?" commercial. Fun, huh?

 

My granddaughters and I watched the team platform diving last night. Amazing.

 

Deb

See, I learn so much here on eHarl

Now I need to figure out how to mail the full to Canada.  I feel so stupid, but are there special boxes for manuscripts?  I just posted a similar question on subcare, but if anyone wants to share their mailing expertise, I'd be grateful.

Deb, drop down tables? What an amazing sounding car. It must be fun to drive.

My daughter's been subbing, Tasha, so I have some idea of the challenges and rewards--congratulations on getting the job, and good luck with it.

Holly, how do you write so many good books and also cook such good dinners?

The Olympics have been completely off my radar (not even without costumes, Aurelene ). I think all the doping scandals and the big business aspect tarnished the Games for me, but that isn't really fair to all the athletes who work so hard for so long....

Sam, it's really hard to cut down trees, isn't it? We have a scotch pine, spruce and green ash trio that's much too crowded. It's got to the point that it's unhealthy for all of them--so at least one should go. The birds love all that cover, though, and they're finding food, so we hate to get out the axe. Got to admit, we like the cover, too--the shade, the privacy, the blunting of traffic noise.

And Sam, why aren't your cherries edible? We have a Nanking cherry shrub--they're tiny, but tasty. If we can get to them before the birds do.

Glad you're relaxing, Vieve.

Caron

You guys always have interesting stuff going on. :)

Shelley! Congrats on being at the mailing stage -- can't wait to hear news!

Ronda, I imagine having your pinkie incapacitated would be tough, and it's also keeping it clean and dry. Ugh. Hope it's better soon, but love your cheerful attitude.

Caron, I might try the cherries if we could reach them -- you noted the size of the tree? We don't have a ladder that would reach safely. ;) What is lovely is when the blossoms blow off, it rains white petals.

I hope you find a writing routine that works for you. I sort of write based on how much I need to get done. I did some work this morning, but between then went walking and spent 3 hours upstairs painting (it looks so pretty!), and now email and dinner, then I'll wrap up some work tonight.

However, a few weeks ago, when I was working on the mainstream proposal and in the final throes, I was putting in several 8-14 hour days, and some over a weekend, at that. But I was driven to get it done, and went with the drive. So let need determine your schedule? On an average day with no rush or deadlines I might put in 2-3 hour at any given time of day on various projects, usually afternoon or after dinner. Stringent routines don't work for me, either.

Hmmm... I have to look back at the list to see who I might have forgotten -- tough coming in later in the day and trying to catch up!

Sam

 

Yes, Vieve, please send poor parched Cali some rain. We're dying over here. Glad to know the baby swallows are plump. I love babies. Of all kinds. Don't worry my bio clock isn't ticking. LOL...

But speaking of MY baby. Did y'all see the new pic for my avatar? I love that pic of Eryleigh. She was running toward me, grinning like a crazy person. Love that kid.

 Sebastian is in high school; Jaidyn 8th grade. They are properly outfitted in too-expensive name brand clothes (I scoured the clearance racks, tho!) and I can only hope all goes well this year. We ended last year on a wobbly note...we have high hopes for improvement.

I finally started working on my SRS. I was stuck for a bit. Paralyzed is more like it. I think the pressure started to get to me. Now I'm going again. whew!

Kim 

Thanks Ellen. She's a cutie for sure. And boy does she KNOW it. And her hair is such a crowning glory. Thick, beautiful curls that cascade down her back...she definitely attracts attention when we go out. The funny thing is she can't really talk so she hides behind me when we go places. But she's still in speech therapy and we're looking for some other therapy options for her. Such as her sensory integration and such.

 

Kim 

Thanks for the crumbs, Rae!!

 

I just had to pop in to let you guys know I'm still alive.  School started for DS this week and I'm still adjusting to working a day job, so things have been rather hectic around my house.

 

Hopefully, I'll be able to swing by a little more often once I reach a certain comfort level with the day job. 

 

I tip my hat to you, Ellen.  The learning curve on this tech writing stuff is pretty steep.  Or maybe it's just me? 

 

Hope everyone had a great time at Nationals!  I need to grab a few minutes and swing by the pics of the Super tiara party.  It sounded like great fun.  Thanks to Kay & Jeannie and Ellen for doing the heavy lifting.  I hope I didn't miss anyone?

 

Carrie

Christyne, Don't let the O's do you in...hope you went to bed a bit earlier last night.  Amy, LOL  I've often thought if I give up on writing, I'd go into organizing other people's houses professionally (I love to create order out of chaos!), but hey, cooking could work, too!  Meatloaf last night was great...having a meatloaf sandwich for lunch and already looking forward to it!  LOL Shelley, Sorry about the very hard boiled egg!  Deb, Oh, I love Martin's story!!  And yes, he's a grey poupon sort of car.  Floyd is a...strawberry shake sort of car!  LOL Caron, Hoping you found those pages yesterday and day 3 goes better!  And I enjoy the cooking! Ronda, Hugs on the pinkie! Sam, Wow, that was a long weekend's work! Vieve, Ugh on the mud and mosquitoes! Kim, I'm so glad you're going on the SRS again!  And love the pic! Morning, Ellen! Carrie, Hoping you drop in more often.  Loving getting back into the fall swing of things! Speaking of fall swing...I'm out to swing the axe today and split some wood.  Spent time cutting roots out of the yard again yesterday.  I  do love me trees, but need their roots to go down, not up!  Holly

Ronda,

 If he were here, I'd share with him, 'cause there's enough meatloaf for two sandwiches.  Of course, since your dh isn't here, I'll probably have to eat both myself.  Since I'm splitting wood today, I don't have to worry about the calories...I'll definitely be burning them off!  LOL

 Holly

Susan sent me some of the photos she took at the Harlequin party, and I have to say, the one of my hubby kissing Victoria is the cutest thing ever!!! (I got Victoria's permission before posting. She agreed that it is a hoot.) She's not actually shocked or terrified--she's an actress, remember.

 

Shelley, I use FedEx. A bit more expensive, but worth the peace of mind. The first book I shipped that was on deadline got lost in the US mail. It arrived--late--and I was sure I was in trouble. I wasn't, but you know how nervous writers can be.

 

Caron, I've tried the Maisel approach, but as a mom/wife with certain obligations, mornings are not usually my own unless I get up well before dawn. So, I do the opposite--I get all the busy work out of the way then close myself into my writing place and lock the door. However, when I wake up with my story in my head, I try to honor that by jotting down notes to myself that I later come back to.

 

Ronda, I made myself learn how to use Tevo. I just couldn't stay awake that late.

 

Kim, great photo of your girl. She's getting so big. That little photo in the corner of our post is called an avatar? I didn't know that.

 

Carrie, it will get easier. I'm sure of it. I loved Ellen's post. Makes sense. You're the writer. And if you can breathe a little real writer into some of the dry, completely baffling technical jargon I've read, then you are my hero.

 

Ellen, have fun! Won't be the same here without you.

 

Holly, do you prune  extensively in late fall? Around here, that's the only way to keep the roots going down. I've seen unpruned mulberry trees nudge a house off its foundation.

 

Baby talk. My youngest granddaughter is trying so hard to learn words. It's a joy to watch her concentrate on your lips when you're talking. You can almost see the cogs in her brain clicking into place. Won't be long now.

 

Amy, my heart's with you and your son. My daughter has a learning disability that put me at odds with several of her teachers. I felt like I had to teach them how to teach her. I would have considered home schooling, but I'm not sure DD would still be alive. (She knows right where all my psycho-mom buttons are and exactly how to push them. Sigh.)

 

Have a great day, everyone.

 

Deb

All this productive talk about pruning and other responsible gardening makes me cringe when I look out my bedroom window and see the jungle masquerading as a back yard. Our lawn mower broke so we had to borrow the neighbors, the sand box has become a No Man's Land of Weeds and Other Horrible Things and the cuttings we never got around to throwing away have morphed into the Mound of Massive Heartache that I haven't a clue how we're going to tackle without the aid of a backhoe. I love beautiful backyards but I haven't the talent or backbone to create one. :-( Much to my chagrin. I even killed our beautiful Japanese maple in the front yard. Double :-(

But we're just not outside folk. I wish my dh was more into garden projects but he hates to weed as much as I do. LOL...

I'm half tempted to hire some high school kid to clean out my yard. teehee....

Kim 

you're right to want to meet with the teacher early to discuss expectations. I think that's a great idea. My older dd had a doozy of a teacher last year-very disorganized about how she wanted things done or when she wanted them done. Ack!

It's been pouring down rain the last several days here, so by the time dh gets to mow and weed eat, it is going to be a jungle out there!

Have a great time, Ellen.

I have started(well, 31 days ago)writing at least 100 words a day on my WIP. It's a group I belong to on yahoogroups. I believe it was started by Beth Pattilo? It's called Club100. You pledge to write a minimum of 100 words a day. You can post that you are taking certain days off, but you have to do that BEFORE you start. If you pledge that you are going to write 100 words a day and make your goal, you get a cyber tiara. If you pledge that you are going to write that minimum 100 words a day and stop for anything(unless you've posted your days off), you start all over at day 1. Some days have been better than others, but at the minimum I've written 100 words every day for the last 31 days.

I plan to work more in my yard this fall when it isn't so unbearably hot. I want to try some container gardening.

LindaC

 

Kay--that's a sticky situation. But, in the interest of protecting your son, I say do what feels right. If limited exposure is best, then that's what you have to do. I have a brother that my children never see. His lifestyle is not conducive to ours and I prefer my children not be exposed at such impressionable ages. When I was young, I had cousins I had to steer clear from. That's just the way it goes. You can't pick your family but you can certainly limit the visitation. :-) And, frankly, it's not the grandmother's place to get huffy about the way YOU choose to parent your children. If you've already expressed your concerns, then it's her job to respect your feelings.

*stepping quietly down from the soapbox*

Can you tell I've had experience with toxic family members? *sigh*

Kim