A Time For Everything

Image courtesy of IMGBIN.

Due to the much needed rain on Thanksgiving Day, DD and I did not make it to the zoo. I'm happy for the rain, but sad we missed the Dallas Zoo. Maybe we'll go over DD's Christmas break.

Instead, we watched Enola Holmes 2, had yummy treats, and enjoyed the cozy day. Friday, too, was low key and relaxing. Sorta. I'm used to some sort of daily structure, but Thursday and Friday were just played by ear. Treated as true holidays.

Saturday was more productive with the usual Saturday tasks: thinking ahead to grocery shopping as well as the upcoming week and what I plan to accomplish. I struggled the past couple of weeks with getting stuff done as my chore chart will attest. Last week was more holiday antsy-ness and anticipation than anything, but the week before that I had some emotional ups and down that hindered my usual energy and productivity levels.

Sunday was also pretty back-to-normal. Groceries were bought, dogs were bathed, and the upcoming week was prepped for. All in all, a good four-day break.

Since I was planning on a zoo picture filled post and that's no longer an option, I've turned this into a Miscellaneous-Monday-type, in case you hadn't figured that out.

So...

Rayna is hanging tough. She favored her front left leg a bit on Thursday, but seems to be putting light weight on it once again. We're gonna love on her until she tells us she's ready to go.

And...

In a much-desired turn of events, we've received an offer on Mom's house. The buyers offered $5K below asking, which is fine. I had asked the real estate agent to bump it up to allow for negotiating. The buyers didn't ask for any concessions, but I need to get the property off my hands. The offer was fair and closing is scheduled for December 14th. Yee haw.

Now...

I can look ahead to a cruise. I'd promised myself that once Mom passed and everything had been taken care of and put to bed, I was going to take another cruise. It's still going be a little while, but with the house selling and me receiving some of the proceeds, a cruise is one of the things that's been ear-marked for funding. I'm hoping to take all the kids along as well. If all the in-laws want to tag along, that could be fun too, but it's going to be mostly Sonshine's ability to get time off that's going to drive scheduling the cruise.

But...

Now that Thanksgiving is past, it's time to look ahead to--you guessed it--Christmas. I've received Christmas monies and started shopping. DD and I also have a few home-made gifts to make. I even bought new wrapping paper for this year. I'd been trying to use down the stock-piles and finally did, so I needed to replenish the stores.

 Also...

In recent weeks, I've discovered a couple of new podcasts. :0) One is called Warfare and discusses various topics in relationship to war. Sometimes it's a discussion about a specific war itself, such as the WWII Battle of Midway, but sometimes it's about the abstract things that happen in the buildup to wars. It's all fascinating.

The other podcast is called American History Hit that touches on random topics of America's history including things like Walt Disney accusing former colleagues of being communist or the dark history beneath Central Park.

You might be hearing about some of these historical tidbits in the future.

Finally...

I'm done rambling. I hope your Thanksgiving was all you hoped it would be. Take care and I'll be back (probably) on Thursday.

...he went to bed, and he bumped his head, and he couldn't get up in the morning.

I remember singing that as a child. :0)

It's been raining for hours at the time of this post. I'm surprised there hasn't been a flash flood watch yet. My back yard is saturated and flooded. We sit at the lowest point of the block too, so everything flows to us and then out to the street.

Also, it's not supposed to rain in September and October. I want my Indian Summer.

Books arrived in Raleigh as scheduled. BFF Jenn opened the box for me and there are some kind of fingerprints on some of them...not sure how or why. She took pictures so I could file a complaint if I choose to. I'll see how many are affected when I get there. *sigh*

In other news, the Dallas Stars are 3 and 1 at home. Just so you know--they've won every game I've attended. Coincidence?( lol, of course it is) Saturday's game was awesome. I'm loving just having tickets and being able to go if I want.

Hockey season is wreaking havoc with writing because I have little interest at the moment in putting nose to the grindstone and finishing books. At the very least I should be studying my craft to help me finish these books or I should be working on fleshing out characters for current and/or future books.

Alas, hockey and the conference have filled my brain to the brim... Once I'm back though, it'll be time to do something writing-related every day.

Anyway, hope you have a great week. I may or may not get to post this week, but I'll try.

Finally, it's officially spring here in Texas.

While spring doesn't bring terribly warm temperature in general, it does bring wind and rain.

Along with the rain comes...humidity.

Unless it's really hot, humidity doesn't bother me all that much.

Unfortunately, DH and DD have a much lower tolerance for humidity and, so, between now and June when the heat really starts to ramp up, the thermostat wars will wage.

They'll kick on the AC to remove the humidity from the house and I'll kick it down once I start freezing. They don't realize that it really doesn't take much to reduce the moisture levels right now, but they kick the temperature down too many degrees and the AC runs and runs and runs and then my teeth are chattering.

*sigh*

No, it's not Music Monday, but we've had a pretty soggy time of it here in Texas so the title seemed fitting.

We're nearing June and we've had so much rain. We've needed it, there's no doubt, though maybe not so much all at once. I have to imagine that just about all our 254 counties should be out of drought conditions by this point. According to one station, our local PBS station, this is the wettest month ever in recorded history. I can well believe it.


My yards are saturated, and puddles sit for hours. The lawn leaks down the driveway for hours as well.


I can't say I'm displeased with the fact that I've had the lowest electricity bills for the last two months since we haven't had to run the AC much, but I'm ready for some sunshine and, yes, some heat.


Have a great weekend--may the sun be with you!

I'm not complaining, though I was a bit saddened to see more rain. We need the moisture desperately.

On the other hand, temperatures have risen enough so that I no longer need to crank on the electric blanket at night or have the space heater running.

And on the best hand, it's Friday.

So enjoy your weekend. See you Monday!

Okay, well not pouring, but it's been raining at a range of paces for about the last twenty-four hours, and that's a very good thing. My trees need it, my house needs it, and my flowers need it.



Because of the low clouds and rain, I lit candles yesterday to help dispel the gloom.



Are you a fan of the rain?

And has been for almost 24 hours. We definitely need the rain and it isn't coming down so hard and fast that it's leaking into our office space as it is wont to do. I only I wish I could be enjoying it from home rather than my office. I'd curl up with a good book--next book to read is Blood Marriage by my lovely friend Regina Richards. (Can't wait, Regina!!!)--some music playing softly in the background and a never-ending supply of hot mint tea. (And possibly a sweet kitty curled up with me.)

This week, I am wearing my judge/beta reader hat. My writing group holds a contest each year as our primary fundraiser. I have five entries, one is completely done, one is almost done, and three to go. These contestants are going to get their money's worth in terms of feedback even if they don't like what I have to say.

I haven't quite finished outlining my goals, but I'm not sure what the plan is for the next item on the list: writing. I've had no desire to open my any of my manuscripts for several weeks and have given myself permission to continue ignoring them until the 19th. (The new charm/writing cycle begins the 20th.) That'll be two cycles in a row I haven't earned my charm. The coordinator tried to convince me I'd earned it last cycle, but I didn't feel like I had, so I wouldn't take it. I suppose I ought to figure out my problem in the next week or so, huh?

There's nothing else major on my goals for the upcoming year, just things I want to accomplish around the house and yard.

On that note, I'll sign off for the day!

What's your favorite way to spend a rainy day?

It shouldn't be much of a secret as to how much I love my son...he's smart, funny, handsome, and mostly a good boy.


One thing about him that makes me laugh is his love of crackers. Yep. He can eat a sleeve of plain old salted crackers as a snack. But even more funny/cute is his love of oyster crackers. I don't know what it is about them, but he is always so excited to see them when I bring them home.

On a totally unrelated note, there's a thing going on in the writer world...it's sort of been going but I've noticed it again. And that's the trend/action/practice of friending/following/liking a whole bunch of other people's blogs/Facebook/etc. I understand why they do it. Supposedly it looks better to agents or editors who may check out your social media platforms if you have tons of friends and followers. But to me, going around friending/following/liking a bunch of sites/blogs/Facebook pages of people you don't know and who's stuff you care nothing about is cheating. But whatever. I guess I shouldn't be holier than thou about this. I suppose there are things I do that other people could hold up and say people in glass houses...But I'd rather have 17 faithful followers who really read my blog on a weekly basis than 1700 people who just want me to reciprocate and pad their numbers. </ rant>

Friday I mentioned Battle of the Bands that Sonshine was participating in...well, it rained here in FW all day Saturday. Yet the district in its infinite wisdom proceeded. So by the end of the event, children and marching uniforms and instruments were soaked. Directors and chaperones were soaked. Attendees were soaked. And why? So a band who didn't need the money could win $1K.

I'm not really angry about the money. The band that won it was probably the best. It was the best of the bands I actually got to see play, anyway, and the general consensus is that they are very good. On the other hand, our group came in dead last--eighth out of eight. I know we weren't the best, but we sure as hell weren't the worst. The band that played just prior to us performed their UIL show music for Pete's sake. This was supposed to feature drum lines!! They should have played cadences and things. And we came in last??? Ugh!

And when they announced the three finalists and we weren't among them, our group looked at each other and went HUH??

Well, enough ranting. It's Monday and the 1st and I have things to do, so I'll catch you on Wednesday!

...and I feel the need to blog though I have nothing exceptionally important to say. :) So here goes...

There was no writing yesterday, after all. None at all. But that's okay. I'm a little disappointed, but that's the way it goes.

I did walk this morning, though only two blocks. I was wearing my rain boots and I figured the weight of the boots would offset the distance. The rain had tapered off when I left but started coming down again as I rounded the last corner towards home. I considered going that extra block, but I checked the clock and decided against it. Good thing, I suppose.

But I think the rain will be finished and gone today. We're supposed to warm up to the 60s tomorrow and over the weekend. I need to get in gear and plant my bulbs I got for Christmas...

The kids helped me put up outside lights around the garage door. YAY! I put up some lights in the living room window. They have little snowflake ends and are quite cheery. I also bought window clings at Target--snowflakes for the front storm door and Nativity clings for the back door window. There is garland in the living room, kitchen, and bath.

The Redneck Gingerbread House will begin construction this evening. :) And I think the tree will go up next weekend. I'm feeling decidedly Christmassy. I have to buy gifts for my critique group this week--an ornament for our mini-exchange and some pots and soil so I can give iris bulbs. And I have to bake pumpkin cupcakes on Friday for my writers meeting on Saturday. It's going to be a somewhat hectic week.

On a side note, it has rained off and on since Friday, I think in equal measures. Which A) makes it seem more like Christmas to me, and B) is very good because we desperately need the rain. The level of our lakes and rivers is down so far I can tell even from a distance. My immediate area is only in the second level drought category: moderate, the rest of Texas is either "drought: extreme" or drought: exceptional". Yikes.

Happy Monday, y'all!

We had a football game last night and it rained again. It was also supposed to be Middle School Night for us. This when our feeder school bands come to the game to play with us. Unfortunately, they were late and so in turn we were late. Plus it was raining and it was *COLD*. And for some reason they changed venues on us again. (WHY???) Had we stayed with our original stadium, we would not have been (as) late.

By the time we got to the stadium, it was decided that the middle schoolers would get their snacks and then go back to their schools. As far as we were concerned, the show would go on. Sort of. Only the drum line would get to play. Luckily we were the away team, so we weren't responsible for playing the Star Spangled Banner.

The other team's band played the SSB and then left. Their cheerleaders left. Their drill team left. They had three--and I mean THREE--people on their side of the stadium.

When our band marched into the stands, our team was losing, 6 to 0. The drill team was in place and the cheerleaders moved on to the track and off we went. Our drum line played cadences and kept us all going. Yes, it was cold, yes, it was wet. But the rain sort of stopped for a while, so it really wasn't too bad. At least I didn't think so and I am not fond of the cold by any stretch of the imagination.

When our team finally made a touchdown, the band SANG the fight song!! Cool, huh? :) I wish I'd had my camera to get a picture of that.

We left at half time, winning 9 to 6. I was told the game was called at that point as it was too cold for the players on the sidelines.

So I nominate the Highlander Band as the band of the week for the FWISD.

Go Hills!

More lightning!

Last night as the band played during halftime, the stadium announcer announced that the incoming storm was less than eight miles (the magic number apparently) away and that everyone should take shelter in their cars until it passed and the game resumed.

The kids played until their program was finished despite the approaching storm--they only had a few minutes left--but the storm was moving quickly.

Once the program was finished we made the mad dash off the field. Most of the band headed back to the stands to grab their stuff, put their instruments in the cases, and hand them off to the Blue Crew who loads the equipment truck. Meanwhile, the pit percussion players and helpers (me and another mom lugging the drum major stand) went directly to the truck with the pit instruments and (obviously) the drum major stand, trying to get everything jammed into it before the storm reached us. It gets quite crazy and chaotic, but we eventually got all the kids on the buses.

Since I am "just" a parent, I usually can only have 20 kids on my bus, but in the mad scramble to take shelter, more than 20 kids ended up on my bus. Not a major deal, I didn't think, at least while we were just waiting out the storm.

Of course, my son had to get overheated and with it came an awful "I-think-my-head's-gonna-explode" pounding. DD and I had a small cooler of cold drinks so we put a bottle on his jugular and made him drink some Kool-Aid. Of course he wanted water, so I schlepped across the parking lot to the equipment truck to get him a bottle of water, (note to self--keep a spare bottle of water in my cooler) where the band director happened to be taking shelter in the back of the equipment truck and mildly chastised me in so many words for getting my kid some water--which I would have done for ANY KID who needed one--but not anyone else when they were all hot and thirsty. Too bad. But, a few minutes later, she and another parent rolled the cooler holding the bottled water to the buses and handed them out to everyone. (And then griped that there were too many kids on my bus. Really??? They're on the bus and safe. Isn't that the important point right now???)

The kids in the other bus, left with only one adult (a mom who'd never been around these kids before) decided to get a bit rambunctious. They were hanging out the windows interacting with the cheerleaders and drill team on the bus on the other side of them. When the bus driver told them to put up the windows, the kids didn't want to listen to him or to the mom. The bus driver went in search of someone on the cheerleader bus and it was only then that I realized there was a problem.

So once we got them fairly squared up, I stayed on that bus. I'm pretty strict with them because, quite frankly, crap like that isn't going to happen on my watch. It's just not. And they know I'll separate them or even tattle to the band director if they don't behave, and I don't care what they think about me for doing so.

Maybe I should have checked if there was an adult on that bus in the first place, but is that really my responsibility??? Yes, to a certain degree, I think, but ultimately isn't it the band director's job to make sure the kids are properly chaperoned/supervised. You really can't trust most high school kids to act like adults. You just can't.

Anyway...the game will have to be completed on Saturday evening, but whether the band will be in attendance is unknown at the moment. There's a Cowboy Stadium event Saturday morning which the band director is working (as is Sonshine, DD, and myself) and I'm not sure the band director is going to want to go, considering a) there's another Cowboys Stadium event Sunday that she's working, and b) we already did our half-time show...

So....
Yeah...
We love marching band season. :)

We were on the bus for about 30/45 minutes when the game was called. The storm, while mostly north of us, was too big and there was just too much lightning (but little rain) to be safe. So we went back to school, unloaded the kids and the instruments and had to keep them in the building until parents showed up. Fun, fun, fun...

So last Friday was a football game (although no school--the game had been originally scheduled for the day before) and we were on the list to feed the whole crew. No problem.

On Friday it looks a little overcast and gloomy with rain in the forecast and the thought crossed my mind that the game might be cancelled and did we (not me, but DD actually) really need to spend the whole day cooking chicken patties and macaroni and cheese?

But yes--the day cleared up and we (DD) proceeded. We dutifully showed up and prepped for the meal while the kids were still marching. They ate and got dressed for the game.

By the time it was time to load the buses, the rain had arrived and the lightning was flashing. The band director told the kids they were probably going to spend a lot of time on the buses and to deal with it and act grown up about it.

By the time all was said and done, we had three delays, a total of probably three hours on the bus (we were five minutes from school, so the trip to and from took little time), and by the time we got home it was 1:50 am Saturday morning.

Our cheerleaders stayed, our drill team stayed, and the band stayed to keep our football team's spirits up. We won the game like 47 to 6 or something.

The other team's cheerleaders and band bailed after the second delay (which was the first after the game had actually gotten started). How sad. :(

Luckily I had a decent group of kids on my bus and not the major trouble makers. I had one trouble maker, but his friends were on the other bus, so he was a bit neutered.

Once the game finally got going with no further delays, the kids ended up having fun and getting into playing again. We had to play our half-time show from the stands, but play they did.

Fun times!

Tropical Depression Hermine as wrought havoc up and down my state, at least in rainfall, if not in other ways. It has been raining since yesterday mid-morning pretty much without ceasing. There was a lull around two pm yesterday afternoon when I walked to the post office, but it was actually still raining. There were a handful of tornado watches and a few tornado warning last evening (and that's just in the DFW area). And, as you can guess, with the amount of rain and the speed in which it is falling, there are flash flood warnings and watches up and down the state as well.

Our office was shut down this morning for about an hour and a half as we discovered water in our fuse box! We called the business park for someone to take a look and they basically said we were okay now that the water was drained but that they couldn't really do anything until the rain stopped and everything dried out. Great; so in the mean time, we just hope the electricity doesn't arc and fry the building.

I was hoping I'd be sent home for the day, but we were given the go ahead to power the PCs back up. So here I am. Blogging. :) I'll get to work soon...maybe...

It's been raining for nearly twenty-four hours here in my neck of the woods. Which isn't a bad thing when you sell fireworks. You want lots and lots of rain, so that come 4th of July there are no droughts or burn bans.

That much rain makes it hard to work though, 'cause when it's this dark and chilly and rainy, you want to curl up with a good book or movie, or spend the day cuddled under a blanket snoozing, or some combination thereof.

I would love to be home, snuggled on the couch, Star Trek playing on the DVD player, laptop revved up and ready to go...I'm trying to wrap up two stories this weekend, both at @ 5K words each--well, one has about 1K less, the other a few K more...

Hope you have fun plans for the weekend, whether it be rain or shine in your neck of the woods.

...which is really okay. My lawn is loving it, as is my daughter who can't mow when it's sopping wet.

My oldest child got a new job, which is good. We can get her off our payroll, and I think she'll be much happier in a more active environment. She's been hired by a restaurant as a hostess and she'll get a free meal on every shift. Nice.

My son has been transitioned from trumpet to baritone (tuba). Apparently, the two instruments are the same in terms of fingerings and music, and the teacher needed to strengthen the bass section of their band.

My hubby has been in court as a computer forensic expert for the last three days.

And my middle child and me, we've just been hanging in there.

...but the old man isn't snoring. He's hard at work already.

It's perfect sleeping in weather. The cold front hit and we have delightful coolness and more rain. But that's okay, 'cause this is Texas and we always need rain. As does my lawn.

I'd rather be home cleaning house and writing--

Hope you are able to do what pleases you today.

...when cloudy was the weather.

It's been cloudy, rainy, and warm here in North Texas.

My porch is dripping wet with dew, not rain. I wish it would cool off some, just enough to reduce the humidity.

Ah, well, enough whining...

The old man is snoring...

After all that heat, we now have rain. Our back yard has transformed from a yellow and brown wasteland to an overgrown green swamp. Our yard is the lowest spot for our block, so when it rains a lot and rains hard, we get saturated and the water flows over the yard rather than soaking into it.

But rain is good. No pressure to mow at the moment, although the yard desperately needs it.

Just a nice quiet morning to write, write, write...

As of last night, I have written 12,750+ new words on two stories since Tuesday, 7/21. I'm really excited about that, and about the fact that one of those two stories is almost and finally finished.

Actually, I've written more words than that, because I've also banged out a couple of writing articles as well.

Once the one is completeed, then I have to determine which of my other partially-done manuscripts I'm going to start finishing.

It's been an exhilarating, but somewhat tiring experience. But what a rush to see what I've accomplished. I can't wait to see what the next couple of weeks are going to bring.

...to do much of anything.

I'm not writing, I'm not reading, I'm not even working (well, not very hard or very consistently). I'm watching TV shows, namely Army Wives and Babylon 5. (I know, I know, an odd combination...) I'm waiting for the 10th Anniversary Edition of Sports Night to be released. I've pre-purchased my copy. I've got a new computer game I'd much rather be playing (Zoo Tycoon 2: Zoo Keepers Edition). I've got an old computer game that used to work but now won't...

I've got laundry to do, Driver's Ed to finish, kitchen walls to paint, cabinets to stain, Fireworks Sales Tax to calculate and mail in...

And all I want to do is play Zoo Tycoon.

I have been reading a manuscript for someone. I'm pretty disappointed. I realize we're all human, but sometimes I gotta scratch my head and wonder. So I'm reading this thing and the author talks about a woman baring children, someone lighting the tender for the fire, and the hero's crop of barely... Not only that, but in a specific scene, the hero is decidedly unheroic, cowering in the face of the heroine's father. Um, nope. And to add insult to injury, the hero is supposed to be Robin Hood.

Well, enough of this. On the bright side, it's raining here in my neck of the woods. So, technically, it's not really bright...