Heart of American ~ 2

So ok I found it......wish someone would quit hiding things and expecting us to find them (LOL).  Hope others will be here soon.

I found it, too. Yay!

Jayne - what I'd like to see is a 'favourites' button for each forum. You know - so when I hit 'My Favourites', it'll go right to 'The Write Stuff' etc.

Lisa, We'd love to see pics.  I used to ride Toby at my friends.  He was very old and rarely moved fast enough to call it a trot!  I loved that horse. 

Ann, I'v enever seen it.  At a friend's suggestion, I'm trying Dexter.  Thought I'd hate it, but it's fascinating.  Despite the fact he's a serial killer, I like him. 

Morning Jayne, Anita, Jennifer F and Jennifer S.

Rae, Thanks...looking for the new thread.  Found it!!

Holly

Whew!

Hey, ladies! Just checking in.

I'm excited. I got new window treatments and five--count'em FIVE--new pillows for my living room. I'm very pleased with how it all came out. Still waiting on an oriental rug. That should be in in about 2 more weeks.

I feel like I'm in a new house. LOL!

You guys are all making me jealous. I haven't been on a horse since I had English horsemanship in college. That was one enjoyable elective. *G*

Ann, how was your trip to Theo? We have some great chocolatiers around here, although I haven't visited them lately. You gave me a great idea for Easter. Maybe dh and I could stop by Brown's Candies for Easter. Although we'll have to set aside a chunk of time because it will be bulging with wall to wall people and I don't have a clue how those little, old ladies keep up with it all. Great idea. Thanks.

Jennifer S., high fives on the redecorating. So happy for you.

Michele, spring break??? Lucky you. We don't have that around here. The kids get half day on Wednesday and go back on Monday. Always how it's been done unless they have snow days to make up. When do you make up all of your snow days? In the summer?

Hey, ladies!

Michelle: We don't get spring break for another week. So enjoy!

Holly: I love doing stuff for the house, too.

I posted my "before" and "after" shots of my living room on the blog here on the boards. When my rug comes in, it'll really come together.

Have a good weekend!

(quietly tip-toeing into the room. Didn't know Michele was sleeping. LOL. Now whispering.) 

Hi Holly. Sorry to hear you are having a hectic day. Hope it's a good hectic and not a bad hectic.

Jennifer S., checked out your blog. Your living room looks great!!! I love decorating too but my place is more country clutter. It's not really clutter but still that's what they call it. Each room has a theme which is cool. Even dh gets into helping me find things that go with the theme.

Lisa, I'm so excited for you. Please let us know ASAP how the pitch goes!!!!

Well, so far I'm having a great Friday. I just finished working the ending for my new story and I really like how it came together. My outline kinda exploded so I don't know if you'd call it an outline anymore. It's almost half the size of the whole book. LOL. Wellllll...I got started on some scenes and just had to write them out. I figure when the inspiration strikes run with it. I have a few rough spots to sand out but as soon as I do, I'm good to write the actual story. Can't wait. My CP is bothering me to get her something. She says she's in withdrawl. LOL.

Hope everyone else is having a great day!!!!

I-was-watching-the-TCM-channel-and-they

showed-the-classic-spring-break-movie

"Where_The_Boys_Are"-with-Delores_Hart,

George_Hamilton,Connie_Francis,Jim_Hutton,

Frank_Gorshin,Yvette_Mimieaux,etc.That

movie-made-people-aware-of-Florida-as

a-destination-for-spring-breakers.I-remember

when-the-week-before-Easter-was-everyone's

time-for-spring-break.The-destinations-were

complaining-that-it-was-too-many-students-to

handle.That-is-when-schools-started-staggering

the-schedule.

More-'Moondoggie'-today-on-the-Hawaii_5-0

rerun-with-Yvonne_Elliman.She-was-the-one

who-sang,"If-I-can't-have-You"(I-don't-want

nobody-baby)-in-the-Saturday-Night-Fever

movie.She-also-sang-the-role-of-MaryMagdalene

in-the-play,'JesusChrist-Superstar'.As-I

said-before,JamesDarren-was-also-on-in

'TimeTunnel.

Aurelene

Ann, Brown's Candies is in Mt. Pleasant, PA. I checked to see if they had a website (highly doubted it). They didn't but here is what I found:

Google: Browns Candies

I remember back in elementary school, they used to conduct field trips there. The most delicious field trip in my life. LOL. They ship chocolate all over the world and it's worth every single delicious calorie.

Hi Aurelene. Glad to hear you're enjoying some movies.

Now that Ann's got me totally distracted with thoughts of chocolate covered nuts and cherries, turtles, and pretzels,  I'm going to try to concentrate on working on my story. This is going to be a challenge. LOL.

Jennifer S, Wow, what a dramatic difference.  Very, very nice!

Lisa, We're trying New Amsterdam, too.  So far, so good.  I'm really loving Eli Stone.  Quirky and fun.

Jennifer F, It was a good hectic...thanks!  I leave a week from Tuesday, and have a ton of work to get done so I can play in NYC guilt-free!  Congrats on finding a good ending!!

Morning, Anita, Aurelene, Ann and Maureen!

Tons more to do today.

Holly

Jennifer Faye- You're making my mouth water. Good thing I bought some Theo candy bars...But I'm trying to stay away from them  since I pigged out yesterday.

Holly- I like Eli Stone and so does my dh. Unfortunately it conflicts with Lipstick Jungle, which I refuse to miss. So we'll wait for reruns on Eli Stone or rent the DVD when it comes out. Too many night-time shows, too little time.

Have a great day, everyone. 

Rolling up my sleeves to get my pages done ... 

Jennifer F, YAY you!  I'm so glad the story's moving!!  I'm going to NYC for a conference and some meetings.  But it's not all business.  I have tickets to Wicked, Jersey Boys and Little Mermaid.  Life is good!

Ann, I haven't done Lipstick Jungle, so no conflict for me!  LOL

Sandy, So glad you came in!!  Fingers crossed for you!!

Holly

Sandy - Welcome and way to go on your partial request!

Talk about chocolate - I was lucky enough to win Donna Alward's chocolate give-away on her Feb blog. She's posted that there are 3 bars of Dark Chocolate Bernard Callebaut enroute to my mailbox. Woo hoo! Now I'm not a chocolate aficionado, but apparently this chocolate is very good!  The only problem is that dh is picking up the mail these days so I'll have to be on my guard and be ready for his interception!

Rae - baseball try-outs? Wow - we still have snow on the ground although it's melting fast.

Waving hello to everyone else while waiting to hear about Lisa's pitch.

Chocolate sounds wonderful, so I did have a cup of hot cocoa. It's about all I can indulge in after eating all the Easter candy last week if I want to fit into any summer clothes

My daughters are gone to see relatives this week, and I have so far managed not to eat their chocolate bunnies (knowing I could just replace them next Friday...)

 Those bunnies are just baiting me!

M

Thanks for the welcome and the congrats.  :) 

 I'm been trying to wait for a day off from work before I dive further into my story, but for some reason my bosses can't seem to understand I have a story to write.  Go figure.  By the time I get home, relax a bit, do the dinner thing, and catch up on everyone's day then it's too late.  I've found if I write too late into the evening I'm up half the night thinking about it.

Tomorrow is my supposed to be day off, but with one sick kid who needs to go the doctor, another with a dentist appt., a dh with a knee injury who also has a doctor appt . . . oh, yeah, then there's going to grocery store, paying bills, taking my youngest son to Boy Scouts. . .  It would probably be more relaxing to go to work.

So how is everyone else's week shaping up?

Sandy 

Oh, Ann, I have coco envy!  Yum!

Rae, Sounds busy...nothing unusual with that!  Hope the grandma errands go fast!

Anita, More chocolate??  It's not even seven here, and my stomach is growling!  LOL

Michele, Glad you're catching up on sleep and figuring out the revisions!

Maureen, Hope your daughter's feeling better.

Sandy, How mean of your boss not get understand!  Hope the appts go fast!  Easter clothes here will probably consist of snowboots and a parka...it's still cold and snowy! LOL

Morning Christa!

Hope you all have a great St. Pat's day.  I made Irish soda bread last night, and already toasted a few wedges for breakfast...yum.  I don't actually do green beer...green in beer is just wrong! LOL  But I do plan to have a Harp with dinner!

Holly

Maureen,

 You snuck in while I was posting, but I wanted to come back and send hugs.  Sick kids are tough.  The only thing worse is a sick husband. 

Hugs.

 Holly

to sick children and mommies.

Yay on chocolate, or "what Christa said!"

Easter dresses- I have always bought my 3 girls new easter dresses/outfits. My justification is that I buy them fancy dresses that aren't too fancy to wear to church or somewhere else we go as a family. Some were even acceptable for school wear on special occassions such as picture dat, Christmas party, valentines day, etc. I met a couple when 1st dd was born that their dd had twin girls a few months older than mine. They paid literally hundreds of $$ on just one dress for each girl and then they never wore them again before they bought more. I fell into the waiting game for those discarded dresses for a while. I couldn' think of anywhere we might go to merit ruining any of them, so I gracefully suggested they donate them to people who can actually use clothes. Sheesh! I'm a jeans and t-shirts gal, so are my dh and kids! Sure we dress up and clean up nice, but $$300-400 for one dress for a six month old baby to wear only once? Not even if they are free to me aparently. Lol

That said- the pitch went well. (I hope anyways). Both Margo and Miriam were totally delightful! Margo, being an HQN editor offered to accept my proposal and give it to Charles unless I want to send directly to him, which I told her I likely will, thanks anyway. I pitched to her mostly for experience and we chatted about the lines she does edit that I'm iunterested in (ie. RSR) and I told her I do have one I am targeting for it, but that it's in non-working stage right now, but when I write it I will definitely send to her. SHe said she looked forward to hearing from me.

Miriam requested a partial which I will ready and send out asap! I really think I would like to have an agent to work with. She seemed to like the premiss of my ms too.

So there you have it. One gate keeper offer and one request! Weeeee!!!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day. We celebrated one of my favorite holidays yesterday since dh won't be home for dinner tonight. Corned beef and cabbage was delicious. Leftovers for lunch.

Ann, just out of curiosity, what's your normal page count per day? BTW, your Theo cocoa sounds very interesting and very good.

SandySue, glad to see you on the loop. Woohoo on the partial request!!! Keep us updated on the progress.

Holly, sounds like your trip to NYC will be a blast. Lucky you. Enjoy!!! BTW, I made bread yesterday too. It was beer bread but instead of beer it suggested using Mt. Dew. Sounded strange to me but since it's dh's favorite pop, I decided to try it. It was delicious!!! Not too sweet just right.

Hi Christa & Rae!

Anita Mae, congrats on your chocolate win!!! Sounds like chocolate is on everyone's mind. Dh said we'd go get our chocolate on Good Friday. I told him to set aside a couple hours of waiting in line, literally.

Michele, glad you got caught up on your sleep. Enjoy your spring break.

Maureen, sorry about the sick dd and your husband's problems at work. Hope everything gets better soon.

Lisa62, glad the pitch went well. Good luck with the sub. Let us know how it goes.

Okay, back to my story. I wrote all weekend but with dd's around all weekend, it was a challenge. I can block out tv and radio but it's a challenge to ignore, "Mom...Mom...Mom" Just doesn't work. LOL. So one of them is upstairs sick and she wants waited on hand and foot. Just came down to tell me that I didn't bring her any medicine yet, mind you she was just in the kitchen and I told her to grab some herself. LOL. It's amazing how many years they regress when they don't feel good. So off to play nurse and try to get my word count in for the day. Oh ya and I have to go have some St. Patty's Day leftovers.

Jennier Faye- I write 8 pgs per day... except on the weekend, when I do 4 Sat. and 4 Sun. Crazy, I know! but it works for me. The way I do it is, once I finish I can play the rest of the day. But if it takes me all day, too bad.  I also pay myself... $.12 per page, which works out to roughly $1/8 pgs. The money goes into a little box and when I finish the book, I get to spend it on something fun for me. Not anyone else!

I've been doing that for two years now (got the idea from someone on one of the writer loops) and think it's great fun.

A buzz book is a list of all the chapter members, their addresses, emails, phone numbers etc. So to have it come as 4 files is a bit crazy.

One of the other chapter members seconded me, and then she said the heck with it and put it in a pdf for everyone. Patty's wonderful. She made my day. Now all 10 pages open at once.

Chelle, hope your mouth feels better. I am back from Marceline MO (birthplace of Walt Disney) and am flying to Charlotte NC tomorrow. Talk to you all soon.

Chelle, I'm sorry you had a dentist visit. ick.. Yay on the requests and I'll be hiding right along with you. I agree on the talent in our group. PC Cast? Amazing woman! I feel so special when I'm with that group.

All this talk of homemade breads makes me  wish I could drag out my bread maker and make some delicious breads. It's the only way I can make it right now, but I prefer to use the machine to mix the dough then rise and knead it by hand after the first set and I bake it in my oven instead of in the machine too.

Sorry Sandy- I said it in another loop, but congrats and welcome.

(((Hugs))) on sick daughter, Jennifer.

I love the finishing fund idea, Ann.

Thanks, Michele, Lisa and JenniferF! My mouth feels much better today. LOL!

Ann ~ Thank you! I went to the same conference this last weekend as Lisa62. It was for our RWA group and we had pitches Saturday with Margo Lipschultz, HQN, and Miriam Kriss with the Irene Goodman Agency. I had requests from both. So I guess to answer your question...both. LOL! I pitched and now I'll submit.

Lisa~I totally agree about our group! They are incredible!! 

Everyone keep Rae in your good thoughts...she has her endoscope test today, I think!!