hiking with fido!

Well…she’s back!  Monique from ShadowMe Dog Training has another great blog for us this week.  And her timing is impeccable!  There were no rejection emails in my inbox today, so I can’t really complain, but still…I have had the day from Hell, and I would love taking a night off to recuperate with a nice glass of wine and maybe a quart of Ben and Jerry’s!  So buckle in and get ready for more summer fun with your canine kids…

 

Summer hikes have always been one of my family’s favorite activities to share together.   Escaping into the cool recesses of a mountain forest is pure joy for all of us, but especially for our dogs, who have always joined us on these adventures.  Our Shelties delighted in chasing deer and rabbits through the wooded hills behind our quarters at Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.  The lopsided hang of their tongues and their crazy doggie grins spoke volumes.  Can you imagine the simple joy of running through the woods for a dog?  Time with their favorite people, running free, catching the scent of new and unfamiliar animals…pure doggy bliss!

The company of our dogs on our summer wilderness adventures, however, does require preparation, planning, and training in order to be a truly safe and enjoyable activity.   Making sure that Fido is healthy and fit enough to participate in your journey should be first and foremost in your mind.  If Fido spends his day lounging on the couch and finds the idea of chasing the squirrels away from his yard too much effort, he is most likely unprepared to hike the wilds with you.  Prepare for your hike by taking shorter walks through your neighborhood or nearby parks, gradually lengthening your walks over a period of weeks.  Games of fetch and chase also build stamina and muscle tone which will help Fido be at his best for your longer summer adventures. 

To further ensure Fido’s health on his hiking expedition, be sure to check his paws—are his nails short enough to trot and run on uneven terrain comfortably?  Are his paw pads healthy?  Paw pads help provide both traction and shock absorption for your pooch.  They should be free of redness, irritation, and cracks.  Help prepare Fido’s paws by trimming the excess hair which grows over the pads and in between the toes of the coated breeds.   If you see signs of redness or irritation, treat Fido to a paw spa by applying a specially formulated paw moisturizer for several weeks before your hike.  If your pooch is tender-footed, consider acclimating him to boots to further protect his feet.

Have a plan to keep Fido free of unwanted hitchhikers—fleas, ticks, and mosquitoes.  I am cautious for both myself and my dogs with the use of insecticides, so my dogs receive garlic supplements, Bug-Off by Springtime Inc (www.springtimeinc.com), during the spring and summer months.   I also choose natural flea and tick products whenever possible.  Products containing citronella, rosemary, and wormwood can be found in pet boutiques, health stores, and some lawn and garden stores.

One of the best things about hiking with your pooches is letting them lighten your load!  Dog backpacks allow your pets to carry their own supplies.  Healthy, fit dogs can carry up to 25% of their body weight in a well-fitted dog backpack.  Check the fit of the backpack by measuring around your dog’s girth—the area behind his elbows, circling his chest.  Most backpacks are sized according to that girth measurement.  Train your dog to carry his pack on short walks, gradually adding to his load.  After your walks, check Fido for signs of chaffing or irritation and make adjustments to the pack as needed. 

What supplies should Fido carry?  Water bowls, water, food or snacks, toys, and a first aid kit.  Hydration is important for humans and dogs alike.  Don’t depend on letting Fido drink from streams, ponds, lakes, or rivers—carry your own supply.  Water from outdoor sources may contain parasites or contaminants which could make Fido sick.  On long hikes, plan on bringing snacks for Fido—either an extra provision of his regular food, or perhaps a doggy energy bar, found at specialty dog food stores or internet sources such as Clean Run, www.cleanrun.com.   A pet first aid kit is an absolute essential—even the best trails can have unexpected hazards.   Consider taking a pet CPR and First Aid class so that you will be ready for anything.  These classes are often available through local Red Cross offices.  Pet Tech certifies instructors in pet first aid and CPR as well.  Visit their website, http://www.pettech.net, to find an instructor near you.

What other equipment will you need to hike with Fido?  I like my dogs to wear regular buckle collars with current ID attached—check into permanent ID, micro-chipping, if you plan to be a frequent hiker.  Choke collars and prong collars pose a danger—if the collar catches on a branch, your dog’s airway could be dangerously constricted.  I love hands-free waist leashes for hiking because they leave my hands free to hold a water bottle, camera, or to just help balance myself.  They also allow me the security of knowing that I cannot accidentally drop the leash.  My favorite waist leash is by Sarah Kalnajs of Blue Dog Training, www.bluedogtraining.com.  The leash is made of quality material, has several different length adjustments, and has not one but two connection points for the leash.   In hot summer months, cooling collars can also be a comfort to our dogs—check Clean Run for some of the latest summer gear available.

Is Fido well-trained?  At a minimum, Fido should walk well on a loose leash and have an absolutely wonderful recall back to you—even if the rabbits and deer are beckoning him forward!  I like to teach my dogs to return to me by a whistle.  The sound of the whistle carries much farther than a human voice, so if the worst happens and Fido flies off after unseen prey in the woods, he will hear the sound of the whistle much farther away than he will your voice.  Also, a whistle is small and convenient to carry—a good piece of safety equipment for a hiker to have on hand for emergencies anyway.   Pam Dennison has a wonderful video on teaching a whistle recall—look for it on Amazon or Dogwise, www.dogwise.com.   Also, many trainers now offer short obedience classes focusing only on teaching a reliable recall—check with trainers in your area to see what they may be offering.  A good resource for finding trainers near you is the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, www.ccpdt.org

Finally, be sure that Fido is welcome on the trail you have chosen.  Today, not all trails and hikes are Fido friendly, such as parts of the Appalachian Trail.  Call ahead or research on the internet, especially if your planned hike is out of the area.  If Fido is welcome, be sure to use good trail etiquette.   Many trails that allow dogs require Fido to be on-leash at all times.  I usually keep my dogs on-leash just to be safe.  However, be courteous to trail-fellows by keeping Fido from rushing up to other hikers, or chasing bicyclists.  Even in the woods, pick-up after your dog—either bring baggies (biodegradable would be great!), or plan to bury Fido’s offering off the trail. 

Now, off you go!  Plan a hike with your favorite pooch today--take a camera and a care-free attitude and plan to make some wonderful memories!  And be sure comment back here to tell us about some of your adventures!

Thanks!

Monique

Wow!  Another great blog from Monique!  I don’t know if Indiana Jones, the Mastiff  is ready for a wilderness hike just yet…he’s ready for a nap after a short jaunt to the Pet Supermarket!  But we have taken Indy camping with us, and I will be using these great tips next time we go!

Be sure to shower Monique with thanks for this blog, and we look forward to hearing from her next week!

Until the next time…I’ll be recuperating from my crazy day!

and then there were five

Ok, today marks my fifth rejection letter.  The email I received this evening was particularly difficult.  It was from one of the agencies I was really hoping to sign with.  It isn’t the end of the world, but it definitely put a damper on my evening. 

I am feeling the sting of rejection a bit more acutely tonight. 

I need to shake it off and stop thinking of this as an unstoppable trend.   This is a minor bump in the road!  Instead of moping in a corner, I should be channeling Gloria Gaynor…after all…I will survive! 

Like that time I bought a dozen scratch-off lottery tickets; I can’t get discouraged just because the first few weren’t winners.  I won twenty-eight dollars that day…but not until the last few tickets were remaining. 

So in my on-going quest to be on the New York Times best sellers list, I have been networking and making friends via Twitter and Facebook.  I hear through the grapevine that a little good natured stalking may be in order, and hey, I’m up for that!  It’s not like I’m going to set up camp outside their offices like some sort of creeper.  Everyone knows I hate to fly, and I’m not too keen on rush hour traffic these days either.  I’ll keep my stalking to the friendly kind, and hopefully make a few lifelong connections that will lead to bigger and better things.

What I should be worried about is the fact that my son said he was frightened of how much of an old lady I was becoming.  Me?  An old lady?  No way!  I mean sure…some of my recent underwear choices aren’t exactly helping, but it’s not like anyone sees those!  No, I’m not getting old…I’ve just got a lot on my mind.  I can’t be expected to remember when Harry Potter comes out in theatres, or whether Vince Neil or Vince Gill was the singer for Mötley Crüe. I have way too much on my mind for that!

I have an agent to find, and a book to sell!

So basically, I refuse to accept rejection, and I refuse to accept that I’m getting old.  So deal with it!  I’m not giving up.

Until the next time…I’ll be wearing my young girl underwear to bed!

nobody said this was going to be easy

I used to daydream about the day I would see my book in print.  I planned the party right down to the menu and my wardrobe.  The guest list was a veritable who’s who in the industry…total strangers, but since it was just a daydream, I didn’t care.

The problem was I hadn’t finished a single book at that time.  I had started several, but I hadn’t finished even one.  I was young…and probably not very disciplined…and I had pie in the sky dreams of book signings, cocktail parties, and hobnobbing with other “famous” writers. 

Boy, was I naïve.   

These days I have a better understanding of the business side of things—lessons learned in my days as a business banker—and I no longer daydream of parties and book signings.

I will again, I’m sure…someday. 

But for now, my dream is to get a reply to a query letter that doesn’t say, “No, thank you.”

As of today, I have received three rejection emails.  The rejection is painful for a brief moment...brief only because I have convinced myself they are an expected and necessary bump along my chosen path.  Speed bumps designed to keep my head from swelling.  Reminders that I need to continue to perfect the writing…even when I am certain I am good at what I do.

I still dream…but now my dreams are attainable…and I think those might just be the best kind.

Until the next time…I’ll be writing…always writing!

pms rears it's ugly head again

PMS

The three little letters that strike fear in the hearts of men everywhere.

Ok...so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little.  My husband isn't the least bit afraid of PMS...but I'm pretty certain he should be. 

PMS should be respected. 

That being said...PMS has completely deflated my spirit today.  PMS and a new rejection email from my first round of agent queries.  I refuse to get discouraged...it's way to early in the game for that.  I have faith in my book...I know someone will read the first few pages and want more. 

Tonight, I'm taking break from the stress and I'm actually going to go to sleep early.  Well, early for me.  There is a storm out there, and there is nothing better than a good storm singing me to sleep.  I will wake up thoroughly refreshed and ready to write! 

That is the theory anyway...

Unfortunately, where there is a good storm, there is also a wet dog climbing into bed with me!  So much for clean sheets!

Until the next time...I'll be listening to the thunder rumble and the rain fall!

rejection hurts

Ok…I admit it.  My eyes welled up a little when I got the, “No, thank you” in my email this evening.  I mean, I should have been glad.   I didn’t have to wait three weeks to find out from this particular literary agent that she wasn’t interested in my book.  But I wasn’t glad.  I was sad. 

Sad, because someone had just rejected me. 

I'm not going to lie...rejection hurts!

I have been researching and rewriting my query letters for quite some time after an almost two year break between queries.  I had gotten discouraged last time after only two attempts.  I have to admit, to myself at least, that I was not ready before.  The book had been written, the initial reviews were stellar, but the query was the absolute worst.  So, after a lengthy break, I decided to pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back out there with another round of querying.  After all, the first time I tried this I only sent out two queries.  And what are the odds that I would be picked up after only two queries? 

Slim to none, so I’ve been told. 

So…as I was saying…I had done plenty of research this time and I finally felt as if I had come up with the right hook.  My query was finally one that I could be proud of.  So I went back to the drawing board and pulled out the most updated list of literary agents that would fit with what I had written, and I began researching exactly what they were looking for.  Everyone had their own preferences as far as how the email was to be sent, and what was to be included.  I read everything I could find, digging through their bios until I felt I knew them inside and out.  Finally, I stared into the eyes of the agent in the grainy photograph and asked myself, “Is this my new agent?” If the answer was even a remote maybe, they would be getting a query letter from me.  Finally, I tailored a query to the specific agents I was targeting and sent off a total of twelve query letters. 

I knew I would be rejected by some, if not all of them, but I had read an article by a literary agent reassuring new writers that a rejection doesn’t mean they don’t like me…if just means they don’t like my writing. Or something to that effect.

Well, I hate to break it to you…but I have put my entire self into my writing.  I have stayed up so late that it was already early by the time I went to bed, just to wake up a few hours later to start the cycle over again.  I have sacrificed my health, my sanity, and my marriage to write.  I AM my writing.  So if you don’t like my writing…you don’t like me. 

And I’m OK with that, mostly.  It has taken me a long time to accept the fact that some people are just not meant to like me. 

But that doesn’t mean someone else won’t fall in love with me at first read. 

Didn’t someone say something about kissing a whole lot of frogs before finding a prince? Well, sign me up for the kissing booth, because I’m ready to find myself an agent!

Until the next time…I’ll be checking my email with a box of tissues!

can you die of nervous excitement?

The name of the game today was "query letters".

I have been writing, and rewriting my query letter since before I fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning...yesterday.  I think I was rewriting it in my sleep, if you want to know the truth.  I woke up feeling like there was something I was supposed to be changing, but I couldn't remember what it was. 

I have decided this aspect of writing is the most frustrating thus far. 

The truth is, you could be the next Ernest Hemingway or John Steinbeck...heck, you could be the next Stephenie Meyer...but if you can't get past the query letter, no one will ever know. 

I do think I have finally mastered the query (after countless rewrites and a serious dose of OCD). Now comes the next step...sending them out.

I pressed "send" on my first email this evening.  It was a little bit like jumping from someplace really high...it sucked my breath away and sent my stomach into a spin cycle...just for a second mind you.  And in that second, I wished I could pull it back...cancel the send, if you will.  It was too late, of course, and thank goodness it was!  I may have chickened out completely if given the opportunity. 

So now I have to work my way through the list of agents and hit send just a few more times. 

And maybe a few more after that...after all...I'm ready. 

Until the next time...I'll be querying!

so much going on, I'm bursting at the seams

And no...it's not because I indulged in too many brownies today...although that could be true too.  I'm bursting because of the overwhelming response my website has gotten lately.  I'm truly flattered by the kind words coming from so many lately. 

The Comfortable Couch Company (the wonderful furniture company that painstakingly crafted my beloved sofa) was kind enough to mention ME on THEIR fan page the other day.  Apparently the guys at the furniture company have been reading my blog!  How exciting is that? 

Our guest blogger, Monique Williams wrote a wonderful blog just for the furry loved ones in our lives and she had some serious traffic and page hits for her excellent "virgin" blog!  I hope she'll agree to come back and do it again soon!

I've had several people begging me for the rest of my books after checking out the sample chapters on the Books tab at the top of the page...and I'm thinking maybe someone "up there" will hear and get the message to the nearest agent or publisher to get it out in print.

Last...but most certainly not least...I have completely revamped the website!  I'm sure you've noticed if you're reading this...and I hope you like it as much as I do.  It's about time if you ask me.  It feels sleek and cool and fresh...and who doesn't love that?

So with all that going on, is it any wonder I can't sleep?

Well...I'm going to try anyway...

Until the next time...I'll be basting in the wonderful for a few more hours and then it's back to work!

what all the cool dogs are doing this summer...

Tonight, as an extra special treat, Monique Williams of ShadowMe Dog Training has graciously agreed to share some of her tricks for making summer fun (and safe!)  for our furry family members.  Indy is a recent graduate of her Best Friends 101 class, and I don’t know what I would have done without her!  Enjoy!

Summer is in full-swing here in the South—school has been out for over a month now and every single parent of a school-aged child has already heard the dreaded words, “I’m bored!”  Even my dogs seem to be uttering those dreaded words as well—the Smooth Collie puppies (now nearly 3 years old, but perpetual pups to me, their human mom) seem to be cruising the house and yard looking for mischief.  My human teenagers are easy to occupy—tell them to call a friend, send them to the pool, or suggest that they clean their room and TaDa!  The summer induced boredom quickly disappears!  But what to do for the canine kids?

Summer enrichment activities for our canine kids can be as much fun for us as for them.  A filled kiddy pool is the answer to my Border Collie’s dreams.  He loves watching soccer balls and tennis balls floating by in the water.  The pool is also handy for cleaning off balls which have gotten too dirty for even his mouth.  Finally, when he gets too hot from herding his soccer ball under the canopy of backyard trees, he flops fully into the pool himself, napping with his head resting on the edge. 

If your dog has never tried a kiddy pool before, pique his interest by playing in it yourself when you fill it the first time.  Laughing and carrying on as if you have never had a better time may be enough for him to try it for himself.  Try floating a few of his favorite toys in the pool as an added enticement.  Remember bobbing for apples when you were a kid?  The canine version is bobbing for hotdogs—your pooch will thank you for it!

The Smooth Collie siblings are largely uninterested in the kiddy pool.  At most, they incorporate it as an obstacle in their high-speed chase games.   They endlessly chase butterflies through the yard by day, moving on to chase the fireflies at dusk.  Boredom busters for them (when the butterflies don’t cooperate…) include kibble searches through the yard…I scatter a cup or two of kibble mixed with a few other favorite treats through the grassy part of the yard.  The nose-work search for kibble lasts long after the last morsel has been found and they enter the house exhausted and with a certain primal satisfaction after hunting for their food. 

Ten years-old this month, Bandit is the Rough Collie elder statesman of the group.   He would never consider getting his carefully groomed white paws wet or muddy in the pool—or worse, look like he was playing with the Border Collie.  A little too stiff now to participate in the fly-by’s of the smoothie siblings, he now acts as the playground monitor, standing safely to the side of their improvised racetrack, barking his warnings to stop having so much fun. 

Even though his body shows the unmistakable signs of his mature years, his mind is still as sharp as ever and he too appreciates some of the fun activities summer can provide.  Bandit’s favorite summer treat is a giant block of ice—not any block of ice, but a lovingly prepared block filled with doggie delights.   Premier Pet Products offers what to Bandit is sheer canine summer delight—the Kool Dogz Ice Treat Maker.  http://www.kooldogz.com/

With a deep bucket and specially designed stainless steel stand, the Kool Dogz Ice Treat Maker is a summer home run for almost any dog.  Fill the bucket with water and your dog’s favorite treats for hours of canine fun.  Bandit’s favorite recipe is absolute doggie decadence:

Low-Sodium Beef or Chicken Bouillon—enough to give the ice just a bit of color and flavor

Dollops of Peanut Butter

Dollops of Evo canned dog food

Beggin Strips

Pupperoni

MilkBone Original Treats (the ones that look like miniature hotdogs—referred to as “Doggie Crack” at our house)

The Kool Dogz Ice Treat Maker stand is staked into a shady spot in our yard—conveniently located near several windows for the humans’ viewing pleasure.  When unmolded onto the stand, Bandit’s favorite Ice Treat Recipe honestly looks horrible and inedible by human standards, but it is literally pooch Nirvana.  Bandit will stand for hours over his prize, licking the ice and chewing through particularly tasty sections.  The other pups are not allowed to share in this bounty with him, so our recommendation is to purchase more than one Ice Treat Maker if you are a multiple dog household.  Lower calorie versions of Bandit’s favorite treat might include other goodies such as sliced apples, bananas, spoonfuls of canned pumpkin, or even kongs, tennis balls, and other chew toys—anything your dog loves really.

Take some time this summer to enjoy all the season has to offer you and your canine family members--run through the sprinklers with the pooches, splash in the kiddy pool and bob for hotdogs, or sit down with a frozen summer concoction while your pooch enjoys a frozen treat made especially for him!

Monique

A very special THANK YOU to Monique Williams of ShadowMe Dog Training for taking the time to share these great tips with us!  For more about Monique and her dog training classes visit her website here.  If you enjoyed her tips, please leave a comment below!

Until the next time…I’ll be shopping for a kiddie pool for Indy!

so you think writing is easy?

I have finished the edits!

To Katie With Love is ready to roll, and I am delighted.  (For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, check out Chapter One under the books tab.)

My main task at hand now is to send out my finished query letters to prospective agents—a necessary, although perhaps not as fun, part of writing.  The idea is to get my books read, and this next step is entirely in my hands. 

I have been blessed with a hand full of trusted friends who have had the pleasure (or so they say) of reading the entire novel and the reviews have been stellar!  Now I need to put a little sweat equity into the mix and start marketing the final product. 

Whew…being a writer is NOT just putting pen to paper (or words on a screen)…it’s so much more than that…

First you come up with a story that makes sense…hopefully some three dimensional characters that come to life on the page...and then you begin to weave them together into a vivid tapestry that breathes all on its own.  Your fingers fly across the keyboard like flames dancing in the dark as your story unfolds before you. 

And this is just the beginning.

Next come the edits…and more edits.  Once you reach a point where you are satisfied, you should probably put it down for a few days and then read it all again…you’ll find something new to fix. 

Then it’s time to write the dreaded query letter to attract interest in your new baby. 

If you’re lucky, someone will ask you for the first 50 pages…and you will sweat bullets waiting to discover if they want to read the rest…

And this is nowhere near the end.

This is where I am…the dreaded query letter.  And mine are going out first thing in the morning.  Wish me luck…I might need it!

Until the next time…I’ll be querying!

why I write

I was reminded tonight why sometimes you need someone to light a fire under you to keep you focused on the task at hand.  It made me think of a little blog I wrote more than a year ago...about writing.  I think this is just as relevant today as it was then, so I'm going to put it up again.  Some of the players in my family have changed...the old Labs have gone to doggy Heaven, and Indy has joined the family...but it's basically my life in a nutshell...

Ok…so you know when you’re writing your blog and the dogs won’t stop barking and jumping on you? And the kids are asking to get a ride to a friend’s house, and “by the way,” they toss in, “can we stop and grab something to eat because we don’t like what you had planned for dinner?” And you come back thirty minutes later with a greasy pizza that you flop down onto a paper towel to avoid messing up a plate, because you really hate doing dishes, and besides, you have to find time to write, but your eyes are fighting to stay open because you haven’t slept well in days. As soon as you sit down at your laptop, the ninja kitty with his unmanageable shedding problems decides to snuggle up on top of the keyboard, lodging tufts of fur under the keys. So you have to go find that can of compressed air (the blowy thing, you call it) and it’s never where you left it. The kids invariably took it upstairs to do God knows what to you don’t even want to know, and now the can is completely empty, so you have to just blow really hard on the keys while holding the laptop upside down over the bed (just in case you drop it) and hope the fur all comes out.

Once you finally have the keys working again, you plop back down into the bed to write just as the dogs (the same ones you booted outside for being irritating) start barking at the back door to come inside. Once you corral them into their beds and they settle down, you shut the cat into the hallway, turn the TV to mute, adjust the pillows so you’re completely comfortable, pull the laptop onto your lap and flip the screen open, type exactly three words onto the blank white page when the phone rings. It’s the kids. They need you to come pick them up.

You miss the driveway three times picking them up because you can’t see for crap in the dark, and it doesn’t matter that you’ve been to this house no less than twenty times in the past thirty days, you still can’t find the turn in the pitch black night. You finally inch your way to your destination and surrender the driver’s seat to your sixteen year old daughter who may not have the years of driving experience, but can see infinitely better at night than you.

You arrive back home to the dogs jumping, and the cat shedding, and the pizza calling you to have “just one more piece.” Your husband is now home and settled into the bed beside you watching a movie that would be distracting if you weren’t very focused on the task at hand. You only have three words written, and there are hundreds more to go before the night is over. You are committed to tuning out the TV, ignoring the dogs, avoiding the cat, saying goodnight to the kids, picking up the laptop and finishing your blog because there are hundreds of people expecting you to come up with something brilliant! And you would be delighted to do just that if it weren’t for the horrible acid indigestion (probably due to that last piece of pizza) burning a hole in your esophagus. So you put the laptop down (again) and stomp off to the kitchen to find antacids.

Armed with a bottle of Tums, and a glass of ice water, you trudge back to the bedroom, flop down on the bed to write, fluff the pillows behind your head, pull the laptop back onto your lap, lean into the soft pile of pillows to stare at the blank screen (because you just erased the only three words you typed because they were inappropriate, and mostly untrue) and wonder what in the hell possessed you to write a daily blog in the first place? It’s nearly impossible some days to come up with something entertaining. And sleep used to be your friend, but now you’re almost completely on the outs. Your husband has forgotten what you look like without a laptop attached to you, or a cell phone in your hand and your children call you the crazy blog lady instead of Mom.

But in the back of your mind you remember that you‘re a writer. Even when you’re so exhausted you can’t keep your eyes open. Even when it’s inconvenient. Even when the inspiration doesn’t flow easily. Even when the subject wavers in and out of focus. At your core, you are a writer. And writer’s most definitely write!

Until the next time…I may be tired…but I’ll be writing!

what's your favorite line?

I’ve been thinking about books a lot.

Reading them…writing them…I like it all the same.  Books transport me to a place I might otherwise never get to go.  When I read the words coming off the page, I find myself falling into them, disappearing into the magical world created by the author. 

And when I am the one creating those words, I transport myself to those magical places just as easily.  I suppose that is one reason I like to write.  I like to live in a world completely unlike my own.

So earlier today I was flipping through the pages of A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and it occurred to me how powerful the opening lines of that novel are.  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”  And then I thought about all of the other remarkable novels I have read over the course of my life with equally powerful opening lines. 

I have my favorites, of course.   Some would surprise you…some probably not.  But I wondered…what are your favorite opening lines?  What grabbed you when you first read it?  What stuck with you over the course of your lives? 

Let’s share…shall we?

Until the next time…I’ll be waiting for your favorite lines!

all play and no work

I have been preoccupied lately. 

Life has been busy, and when life gets busy, it's tough to find the time to write.  No matter how good my intentions are, I have slacked off far too much. 

Well, all that has ended.

I am officially no longer procrastinating.  I have been working for the past few days on edits and rewrites for my books.  Let's just say, I'm tired of waiting for things to happen...I'm going to set things in motion!  Which means, I need to blog less...and write more!  So don't be surprised if my blogs are a little brief over the next several days...I promise to make it up to you!

Until the next time...I write, therefore I will edit!

welcome to the old west

My mother is visiting from Tennessee this weekend, and that usually means game night at my sister's house.

I love game night. I would spend every weekend playing board games, card games, trivia games, and the like. I just can't get enough. Why? I love to win. And everyone knows, I always win.

Well…I usually win.

We were playing a rather complicated card game called Phase 10, and right off the bat, the game got heated…we’re a competitive bunch, remember?  The first round of the game each player is trying to get two sets of threes in their hand, and then must get rid of the rest of their cards.  The first one “out” wins the round, and anyone left holding cards adds the total to their score.  The players who “phase” get to move on to round two, while the players who do not complete the “phase” are forced to complete phase one in the next round.  So not only are you trying to have the smallest score, but make it all the way to phase 10!

Like I said…complicated.

There were eight of us playing.  So, there we were in round one, and player after player is phasing in record time.  I had never played a round of Phase 10 that moved so smoothly.  At the end of round one everyone had phased except my mother, my niece Crystal’s fiancé Nick, and my sister’s friend Robin.  So,  six of us had moved to the next round.  It was almost unheard of.

As my mother and Nick counted their cards to discover they were both holding well over a hundred points each, Mom started laughing.  And not just laughing, it was more of a cackle.  And I say that with the utmost respect.  My mother was without a doubt, cackling.  She was up to something, of that, there was no doubt.

“I have to tell you something.” She started…her confession it would seem.  “I stacked the deck.  It was Nick’s idea!”  She continued on, confessing and cackling. 

Nick piped up.  “We were supposed to get all those wild cards…”

The cackling started again.  “…and it would have worked to, if Nick hadn’t cut the cards!”

We were all laughing then.

My mother was the only person I knew who could stack the deck and not get a single wild card!  We all agreed that if this had been the old west, she would have been shot, and it would have been considered justified.  She’s just lucky none of us were packing…and Dad wasn’t there!

She tried to get us to start over, but as punishment for her treachery, we let the round stand.  I would like to say that it gave me a head start on my usual win…but it would be a flat out lie.  I didn’t make it past phase 4.  And if not for a stroke of last round luck, I would have finished dead last.  But hey, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do…a strategic skip card played to my husband’s  twelve year old daughter kept her from phasing in the final round, and with the hand she had…it loaded her score just high enough to beat mine.  Yeah…maybe it was harsh…but I really didn’t want to lose! 

Until the next time…I think I’ll suggest another game for tomorrow night!

hotlanta!

Don't you just love Saturdays?

I spent the evening cleaning the broken tree limbs and leaves from the back deck so we could enjoy a bit of candlelight and wine after dinner. The only problem with that was by the time I finished, I was too hot and tired to enjoy the space. 

It sure does look nice from inside the air conditioned house!

But it's all good...we only have three more months of summer here in Atlanta.  Three more months of unbearably hot weather before Fall.  Surely I can get through that!

Just maybe not on the back deck in the hot part of the day...

Until the next time...I'll be sipping wine by the light of the television instead!

good for you new york

I don't think my parents were happy about my first marriage.  I don't think they ever really liked my ex-husband.  And all things considered,  maybe they were right to feel that way.  In hindsight, maybe they knew better than I did.  But they respected my right to make the decision for myself.  Good or bad.  Right or wrong.  Ultimately, the choice was mine, and mine alone.

I never once worried that I would be denied the opportunity to marry the person I loved.  I never lost a moment of sleep worrying that someone else would deem my choices "inappropriate".  It never even occurred to me to be thankful for the right to marry the person of my choosing.  In fact, I have married...divorced...and married again, without ever having to ask permission to do so. 

Others I know haven't always been so lucky.

Today, the great state of New York took steps to extend the rights I have taken for granted to those who have otherwise been denied. 

This change doesn't affect my life in the least. 

But it will make a huge difference in the lives of the people who can now enjoy the same freedoms I have had since the day I became an adult. 

Isn't it about time? 

Until the next time...I'll still be happily married!

powerball anyone?

I had an interesting conversation with my son today. Today, out of the clear blue, he told me that I should win the lottery.  Not as in, "wow that would be cool if you won the lottery."  Or, "I really want you to win the lottery."  But rather, "I think you should just do it.  Win the lottery."  As if I had some control over the situation...some way of affecting the outcome. 

If only that were true. 

The kicker was...he was planning on how much I would "give" him, and how he would invest it.  My kid is no dummy. But I do think he was overestimating my generousity...giving him more than one third of my winnings?  Not so much.  We spent nearly thirty minutes discussing how he would invest his share...and the merits of why he should get considerably more than his siblings.  Basically, he feels they are not as smart at investing as he is...like he has a portfolio already or something. 

He doesn't. 

In fact, I had to spot him a dollar at McDonald's today.  He'll give it back.  I hope.  Then again, it's just a dollar.  Maybe I should get him to buy a lottery ticket with it.  I think if we are serious about winning, at least one of us should actually buy a ticket...right?

Until the next time...I'll be picking my numbers for tomorrow night!

if I had known then...

I am not complaining about my life.  Not in the least.  But, while I am still young and have a lot of life left in me, I need to make sure I don't make the same mistake that I made in my twenty's and thirty's.  I am free to make new choices and decisions and I need to start now.

The truth is,  I love my family,  I love my life, and yet there are a lot of things I would have done differently if I had known where the path would have taken me. 

Would I still be fighting those few extra pounds that I should have lost years ago? Would I have worn sunscreen even on days I didn't think I would be in the sun?

I certainly would have never take up drinking Diet Coke...or eating Girl Scout cookies!  I would have eaten more salads and taken my vitamins.  And I would have given up all the wonderfully decadent cakes and cookies and all sorts of sugar sweets that are now the occasional and unfortunate parts of my existence. I would have passed on the opportunity to taste mexican cheese dip and fried chips. I would have fallen in love with things that were good for me instead of holding out for the bad.

I would have tried harder when I was young instead of expecting age to bring me opportunity.  I would have tried to get published more than ten years ago instead of waiting until now.  I would have taught my children the importance of learning from the past and learning from the mistakes of others...and how I wasn't always right.

I would have looked after myself better instead of looking to a man to take care of me.  I would have walked away from unhappiness sooner instead of staying in a situation that had gone bad long before I left. 

I would have taken more pictures...saved more momentos.  I would have been brave and adventurous.   I would have embraced the rain and lived in the moment, but I would have planned better for the future...you know...if I had known then what I know now.

Until the next time...I'll be doing today what I used to put off until tomorrow!

kitchen ban has officially been lifted!

Ok, so it's been quite a while since I was banned from the kitchen...but if I was banned, it would have been lifted by now.  I have been cooking up a storm over the past several days, and no one is complaining!

I made roasted barbeque chicken for dinner tonight, and I baked a crock of baked beans, sliced fresh cucumbers, and even carmelized onions myself!  To top that off, we had freshly squeezed strawberry lemonade and homebaked peanut butter cookies for dessert. 

If I'm not careful, I'll be stuck cooking everyday!

I really don't mind.  It's actually pretty nice to have a home cooked meal, and I think even the teenagers appreciate it.  I know the dogs do!  They have been hanging out under the table waiting for scraps to "fall" from the table into their waiting mouths. 

I haven't planned what I'm going to cook tomorrow, but I imagine I'll have to raise the bar after tonight.  I suspect my family will expect something equally spectacular. 

I could always shake things up a little and make homemade pizza.  Who would expect that?

Not me!

Until the next time...I'll be planning a few meals for the rest of the week!

shabby chic and edith piaf

I have been re-evaluating my position on the idea of "shabby chic".  It started on Sunday, when I had occasion to wander through the antique shops in the historical district, where I ran across the most scrumptious lamp I have seen in ages.  It was a small weathered garden statue with a ruffled linen shade and I fell in love  with it immediately.  I knew instantly that I couldn't afford it.  The shop was notoriously overpriced, and I had no intention of parting with my hard earned money on something as insignificant as a lamp...no matter how much I loved it.  That was when I happened to spot the price ticket. It was marked down from $145 to $24! I should have gone with my first instinct and bought it on the spot, but I didn't.  I kept walking, only to regret it the minute I was home.

Now I can't stop thinking about that lamp!

Whatever possessed me to walk away from that kind of a deal?  I may never know.  Then again, I may just hop in my car tomorrow and drive back to the historic district in the hopes that the lamp is still there.  Stranger things have happened! 

So, the thing is...after falling in love with that lamp...and after exhaustive internet research on the subject...I think I may have to rethink my aversion to "shabby chic".  Admittedly, I am still not a fan of all the ruffles and lace, but some of the more neutral aspects really do appeal to me.  It is the quintessential beach cottage look that I suddenly crave. 

Perhaps I have always been a "shabby chic" sort of girl and just didn't know it!  After all...there is something decidedly French in that linen and chipped paint look.  And I do love all things French.  I've even been listening to Edith Piaf all evening. 

I think I feel a creative streak in the making.  If I can't buy that lamp, perhaps I can fashion a similar one out of a few rustic treasures of my own. 

It's not like I have anything else pressing to do in the morning!

I'll keep you posted!

Until the next time...I'll be listening to La Vie En Rose to fall asleep!

happy father's day!

Today was a great day. 

My husband declared it the best father's day he has had in years, and my children were able to spend the day with their father.  On top of that, I spoke to my own father, who is currently competing in the Senior Games in Houston Texas!

I hear he's doing a great job too!

Not that I'm surprised...we have always been a competitive bunch...something I got from my dear old Dad. 

In honor of that competitive spirit, I am going to post a reprint from last Father's Day.  I hope you enjoy it...

I haven’t been in the same city as my father for some time now. We talk quite frequently. Thank goodness for modern technology, and Facebook. Still…I wish we lived closer, and that life didn’t always pull us in different directions, but I am very lucky to have a father who has imparted great wisdom, and great humor into my genetic makeup, in addition to the kidney stones.

I decided that instead of coming up with a montage about my dad over the years, I would just share one particular story that sort of came to me this morning. It brings back a lot of fun memories, and sums up a very important time in our lives.

Back before my figure filled out, and while my sister was still considered a sweet little girl, we played a sport called Racquetball. It’s still played in certain circles, and it’s still pretty popular in many places, but where I live now it’s virtually nonexistent. I haven’t played in many years, but once upon a time, it was intricately woven into the fiber of our lives.

I wasn’t a bad player. My balance may have hindered me somewhat—I had a lot of twisted ankles back then—but I could hold my own in a competition. My sister, on the other hand, was a champion. She lived and breathed the sport, spending hours practicing and strategizing her game plan before every tournament. And we played in a lot of tournaments. If memory serves, we may have played at least one tournament every month.

We lived in Rochester, New York at the time, and we would frequently travel several hours to other cities to compete. These tournament weekends usually required an overnight stay, and those were almost always spent in a local motel.

One noteworthy weekend found us in Syracuse, New York. I would have been about fifteen years old, and my sister would have been about twelve. As usual, the tournament started on a Friday night and would continue for the next two days. I don’t remember the specific reasons why my father had not reserved a motel for the night; I just remember that we didn’t have a reservation anywhere that night.

Syracuse was only a little over an hour away, so Dad may have planned on driving back home for the night, and coming back in the morning. But as it turns out, our matches were scheduled for very early the next morning, so we had to stay the night.

There were no vacancies at any of the local motels. We were very lucky to find a little motor lodge close to the racquet club and I remember it being a rainy night when my father ran into the office to reserve a room.

It wasn’t a chain hotel. It was one of those little family run places where the rooms lined up in a long row facing the road and the doors opened directly to the parking lot. It reminded me of the Bates Motel. I even joked with my father about Norman Bates renting him the room, and he joked that it must have been Mrs. Bates, because it was an old woman who took his money in the office.

I didn’t know it then, but looking back, it was probably one of those types of motels that rent a room by the hour as well as the night.

Dad got the key and let us into our room.

The three of us—my dad, my sister, and I— stood open mouthed in the middle of the spooky little room surveying our surroundings. A layer of dust covered every surface of the room. The carpets were darkly stained. The curtains were drawn to block out the view of the parking lot and the main road beyond.

My father decided to relieve the tension by turning on the television, but when he turned the knob all of the controls fell inside the TV cabinet. There would be no TV that night.

My sister and I put our bags on the bed and she sat carefully on the dirty bedspreads while I checked under the bed for a body.

I didn’t find a body, but I found several empty beer bottles. That discovery drove me to investigate the rest of the room.

In the main room there was an ashtray filled with cigarette butts on the nightstand. In the bathroom, the sink was covered in rust, a line of ants trailed from one crack in the floor to another across the small room, and the toilet had not been flushed since the last person had used it.

It WAS the Bates Motel!

My sister and I slept in our clothes with our racquets in the bed beside us. I later found out that my father didn’t sleep at all. He lay in the other bed with one eye open the entire night.

We were pretty tired the next day when we had to play. I don’t remember if we won or lost. It doesn’t really matter anyway. The thing I remember most about that weekend was laughing for days about the scary little motel we stayed in. It was one of the moments in my life where I learned that you have to find something positive in the most negative things. And if you laugh at the bad things, they really aren’t so bad anymore.

It’s a pretty good lesson in life I think.

Until the next time…I’ll be enjoying the last few minutes of what was a wonderful day!