A Time For Everything

What's going on in your neck of the woods?? No, really, I'm interested. Reply to the blog post and let me know.

As for me and mine...

It's raining this morning. The thunder, lightning, and rain started around 3:30/4:00 am, though amazingly the dogs didn't get all riled up. The thunder and lightning have dissipated, but the rain is still falling as I begin writing this post. Thankfully. The current temp of 72* is the lowest we've been in a month or more, but we're at 93% humidity. Ugh. But I'll take the rain. (My water bill was $161 from watering my trees!)(No, I don't water my lawn except what the front grass gets when I water the trees.)

The dogs are doing well. Even the 17-year-old Golden Retriever mix seems more spry than she did a few weeks ago. The fleas are gone, her hair is growing back, and she's able to get to her feet more easily and without help. So yay.

School starts in a week and a half. We're all mostly excited--Friday night lights and all. Marching Band Boy has been practicing for several weeks now and the band director is quite pleased with the group as a whole. They're ahead of the learning curve in regards to their show music. There will be pics and video in a few weeks.

On a side note, all Fine Arts programs in FWISD are on the chopping block if they don't have 100 or more students enrolled by next year. Our band has averaged 40 kids for the last couple of years. Which means Marching Band Boy will (probably, unless a miracle happens) only be JROTC Boy during his senior year. He's not overly bothered by it and since his aim is to join the military, then I suppose concentrating on JROTC is not a bad thing.

Speaking of JROTC...Sonshine was promoted again yesterday. He's now Cadet 1st Lieutenant Sonshine. :) His colonel thinks he could go pretty high in the food chain over the course of the next two years, which only benefits him in the long run. So I guess, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking he should focus on JROTC more this year and let those events take precedence over band functions, unlike the previous two years when band events almost always won out over JROTC.

I would have had pics of him in his uniform and with his new haircut, but the camera battery was dead this morning. *fail*

As for me...the writing room now has a window treatment and I'm quite pleased with it.


What do you think??

Also, I have preliminarily finished A Snowball's Chance in Hell. It's been sent off to critique partners and a select pair of beta readers. One CP and one beta reader have returned it so far with wonderful helpful comments. So one last round of revision is in order and I will be ready, willing, and able to confidently announce "I have finished a manuscript." for the first time ever.

Yes, I know I've been at this writing thing for close to a decade, but for all the stories I've started and almost finished, I've never actually *truly* completed one. So this is a huge milestone for me and I'm very excited. The question is can I do this by Saturday--meeting day--so that I can announce it, in public, to my chapter, who will then clap and cheer for me. Or do I want to save the announcement for September's meeting?

Nope! I'm going for it. If I can't, I can't, but I do think I'll be able to get it to the place where I feel I can call it done.

After that, it'll be submission time, but let's get it COMPLETE first!

On that note, I will sign off. And don't forget to tell me what's going with you. Inquiring minds want to know!!

ETA: By the time this post was published, the rain is gone and the sun is shining...

Here's sonshine at home just before we left to pick up his date...



And here's the happy couple when we dropped them off at the hotel...

It was quite a lovely weekend, actually. Even with having a disagreement with a person who drives my completely barmy every time our paths cross.

So Friday evening was quiet with just DD and I, as the boys plus sonshine's friend went into the office for a while. DD and I watched some more Grey's Anatomy.

Saturday was a fairly long day . . . I had my regular writers meeting, plus we had a board meeting prior to that, so my good friend and critique partner picked me up and we headed for the board meeting. It went as expected. The president probably hates me by now and probably dreads dealing with me. I've become that person. That person who likes to make waves. And for someone who doesn't like waves, it's irritating and scary and distressing. I know, 'cause I don't like the waves either. BUT I was on the board for five years, except for last year when I had to step down for the year, and I *know* what things prior to last year that were decided. I was even president for two of those five years, so I *know* the bylaws, I know the policy manual. I read them both over and over and over and over even before I was actually elected. I studied Roberts Rules of Order often during my tenure on how to conduct meetings. (Not that I always did such a great job there.) So I'm not just that person because I'm not usually that person, but I'm the only one on the board who was involved in the recent history of the board. I provide the continuity.

Well, enough of that--that wasn't the good part. :) The good part is that I submitted a scene to be critiqued for pacing and action tags during the meeting. And my scene was chosen. First, too. And I got some really lovely feedback on it which really meant a lot. For someone to read the scene--a random scene from the middle of the story--and get a major component of the plot just based on what they read was really amazing to me. And as I said, the kind and constructive comments really pleased me and made me feel all warm an fuzzy inside. :)

On to the next phase of my day . . . more peace and quiet with a bit of laundry. Until the boys came home and then . . . my son had to get ready for the military ball! Yep, his first formal, bow tie and all. And his date was the only one with any kind of corsage. He thinks it didn't matter, but I'm pretty sure it was noticed by a lot of other girls. I do have pictures, I just don't know the easy way to get them off my camera. I need cords. When I get cords, you will have pics.

On Sunday afternoon, DD, sonshine and I went to the Kimball Art Museum. DD had to go for a project for her art appreciation class and boyo and I tagged along. The museum was much smaller that I expected, which was good, as my knees were aching even form the little walking we had to do. We passed the Imax theater on the way and discovered "Tornado Alley" will be playing there through the fall. So we've made a date for three weeks hence to see the film and visit another museum.