Category Archives: family

Almost Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2007 | 1 Comment

And my house is FULL!

I have been complained at by the daughter that my blog is old. Never mind that they are HERE at my house and Know what I’m doing. My blog is old.

And now You know what I’m doing too. I have the daughter and s-i-l and their boy, and went to my parents so I could pick up the other two grandboys in Austin on their way back home from the Alamo. That was a fast trip and a long drive there and back, but we made it. Now, when their daddy (our older son) gets here at about 2 a.m., everyone will be here and the mass celebration can begin.

We are going to Make tamales for Christmas eve this year. I’m hoping we can do that tomorrow so we aren’t waiting for them to steam on Monday so we can eat them. Usually, I just buy them by the dozen from Rosa’s or Taco Cabana or somewhere, but with all these people here as slave labor we can set up an assembly line–AND the stores around here sell the masa already mixed up and ready to go, rather than the dry stuff you have to mix and cook yourself. Can’t get the prepared polenta, (which is weird to me because there are a LOT of Italians on the island) but you can get the tamale masa. Oh well. Bought the corn husks and everything.

So, it’s going to be a total madhouse for the next few days, and a regular madhouse till January 1, when the folks from the cold northland have to go back home and we have to drive to the other airport a couple of hours away to take them.

Shopping is shopped for–except maybe for a few last minute things, or food stuff–hmm. Not sure I have jalapenos for the carne guisada to go with the tamales…Have to check on that.

It’s so nice to have the (youngest) boy’s girlfriend visiting…she’s got a lot more energy with the little guys and isn’t burnt out on playing with them. We are grateful. She even organizes games. It’s raining today, so while it’s warm enough, it’s too wet to play outside. Oh well.

If I don’t get back before then (and it’s looking really doubtful at this point), y’all have a Merry Christmas and lots to eat of all the things that taste like Christmas to you. :)

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Posted in family, food, life, trips

Time’s a-Wastin’

Posted on November 29, 2007 | 1 Comment

Yep. I did it again. Found yet another time-waster. This one’s not on the web.

I was feeling sorry for myself because I can’t get the new Sim Societies computer game, since my computer isn’t smart enough or fast enough for it (even if it isn’t a year old yet). And I saw a different, older video-game that the computer IS fast and smart enough for. And I bought it. THE MOVIES. I get to run a movie studio and make movies and create stars and it’s way too much fun and addictive… Anyway, I’m still here, and still working, believe it or not.

Hmm. I haven’t posted since Thanksgiving, have I? Well, we had a good holiday. The boy came down from university for the weekend, with his dog. It got cold. It rained. The dog got a bath, and went right back outside and got in the mud. (sigh) She’s a sweet dog, though. We ate too much. I did not make a pecan pie, but an apple crisp, besides the cheesecake for the menfolks. I thought the apple thing might be better for me than all that pecan gooey goodness.

The menfolks went fishing. Caught a little sand trout that got thrown back. It rained again. We went to the cell phone people and got new phone numbers to match the new hometown. We went to WalMart and bought me a new phone. We watched a few of the new DVDs I’ve bought and hadn’t got round to watching. We played a lot of videogames. (This was before I bought the new one…)

Yesterday, I mailed White Elk to the agent, and today, I wrote almost 8 pages on Time Catcher. Or Time Catch. I can’t decide which title I like best. Catcher, I’m beginning to think. Anyway, I got a bunch of new stuff written. It’s about time for me to switch POV to the hero, and I wish I knew what his enneagram type is… I do a lot of Eight-Nine couples. (Eight’s the Boss type, and Nine’s the Peacemaker–or the sea and the seacliff…) I think probably because I’m in an 8-9 marriage, but also because Eights make really good action hero types, and Nines are strong enough to stand up to them. But then, I’m not sure what the heroine’s type is, so… Maybe this will be an Eight-Eight story… That would be a clash for the ages…

Once I get Asker’s story to proposal format, I’ll go back and work on revising Devil in a Red Dress. But I have a busy weekend ahead of me, first.

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Posted in family, pastimes, Time Catcher, White Elk Red Sword, writing

Children’s Books

Posted on November 21, 2007 | 1 Comment


Do you know how hard it is to find children’s picture books that have pictures of Actual People doing things? People, not animals dressed up like people.

We decided to have a book birthday for our autistic grandboy, and I went looking for books with people in them. He’s working on verbs and on gender, so books with pictures of boys and girls doing things like running, swimming, whatever, would really help. But they have to be Real People, because he’s very concrete and literal in his thinking and can’t relate dressed-up animals to people. And it was Really Hard to find anything.

I found a book of Fischer-Price Little People at the various toy-places you can buy for them–at a farm, the fire station, a gas station, etc. They’re cartoon-y, but they look like people. And I found a “going on a picnic” book I thought would work. There were a few other books but the illustrations I thought leaned a little too far to the abstract, and some had just girls or just boys. All the rest were animals.

I couldn’t resist the book about how George Gershwin wrote Rhapsody in Blue–yes, there really is a picture book about that, and it comes with a CD of the music. The boy loves that music, from Disney’s Fantasia 2000–hums and sings it, makes pianos out of blocks to pretend to play it. And the other day, he asked his mom for Rhapsody in Purple. So of course, I had to get him the book.

They also have a pet guinea pig (more Mom & Dad’s pet than the boy’s), so I had to get the book about “I love guinea pigs.” (I got one of those books for the other two grandboys, too, since they also have a guinea pig.)

But I may write a children’s picture book next, with REAL children doing things. Maybe with photos. Surely autistic kids aren’t the only ones who’d benefit from that kind of book…

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Posted in books, family, thoughts, writing

Adventures in October

Posted on October 31, 2007 | 1 Comment


Busy, busy weekend. And I’m expecting L.K. Hamilton’s Lick of Frost on my front porch any time now, and when it comes, I’m pretty much going to drop everything and read (hmm, isn’t there a school program called that? DEAR?), so I thought I’d get a blog in while I could.

So, I went to a chapter writing retreat in Valley Mills this past week. As you can see, the little house where we all crowded in isn’t much, but it gave us privacy, a place to all squeeze round the same table, and a place to sleep, so we camped out for the weekend and talked writing. I got positively inspired. I’m still working on the Irish/Navajo story, but I brainstormed a plot for a two-page excerpt I wrote who knows how long ago that I always liked and thought could make a good story… and now, I really want to get to work on that one too. (The other picture is the view from the porch at our retreat place.)

Then, I headed to DFW to see the daughter while she was down in our neck of the country at her 10-year-high school reunion. (Good grief–do I have a kid that old?)(Guess so.) Her brothers came from Waco and Dallas and we had a great family visit. I can’t get any more pictures to upload, or I’d share some of the pics of the great big lugs riding on the kid’s toy tractor. They’re pretty hilarious. Oh, and the punkin my littlest grandboy painted for me. It’s adorable. And now sitting on top of my TV. (Hopefully, it won’t start leaking stuff before Halloween’s over.)

Came on home Monday, after taking the girl to the airport to fly home. The fella had to go to Austin with his board members Sunday, and came home on Tuesday just as I was heading out for the post office. It’s a lot farther away here than it was in Clarendon. Lot bigger, too. Anyway, last night, we had yet another thing to go to–at a Mexican restaurant this time (yum). Since there’s a big biker rally on the island this weekend–they’re expecting around 600,000 people to stop in–the “proper attire” for the dinner was Biker Gear. All I could find was a long-sleeved hoodie with a dragon on the front, which made it too hot to wear my leather jacket. Did my best, you know.

I’m told there’s an average of one death-from-stupidity per every 100,000 people at this biker fest. Rally. Whatever. Last year, one guy rode straight down 61st Street and right off the seawall without stopping. The fall killed him. He must have missed the ramp down to the pier, and gone off the side with the rocks at the bottom of the wall. Hope they’re smarter this year…

Beach report: Slower tides these days. Just one today, in fact–low tide at around 3 this afternoon. Lots of rocks on the beach, lots of gulls. Most of them were waking up for the day–except for one young bird who still had his/her head determinedly under his wing, sleeping late. Saw a one-legged gull again, and a cormorant, and a whole flock of the little skittery sand birds. Mostly I’ve seen them in ones and twos, but this was a flock. Saw a bunch of seagulls fishing, too. They were flying in a line, like brown pelicans do, but not as big, of course, and not flying nearly so high–maybe 3 feet off the water. Then they’d swoop down and fly along at less than a foot off the water for a stretch, then back up for another 10 or 20 feet, then back down. I think some of them dipped down to catch something every so often. Bigger waves–lots of guys in wetsuits with their surfboards. I even saw one coming out to surf as I was leaving.

While I have to wear actual shoes to walk, while it’s colder, I’m going to have to walk on the seawall sidewalk. I get too much sand in my shoes and track in up the steps and into the house, and I hate having to deal with the sand. If I’m in the flipflops and barefoot, I can wash it off on the driveway. Still, it’s going to hit 80 F (26C) most of the rest of this week. I could go later in the day and still walk barefoot…

Need to type things into the computer and see how many chapters of White Elk, Red Sword I have, and I can go work on the science fiction-y story… Need to come up with a title for that one.

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Posted in family, the beach, trips, White Elk Red Sword, writing

Chugging along

Posted on October 16, 2007 | 1 Comment

So. I’m going to make myself show up here on the days I go out to walk–at least the days I walk on the beach. We will see how this goes.

I got my revised partial of Thunder in a Cloudless Sky off in the mail yesterday afternoon. And as a reward, I went to the Hastings store on the island and bought the new Karen Chance book, Claimed by Shadow (the title in in dark red on a dark charcoal gray cover, and it’s really hard to read–but the author’s name is in white, so it’s easily visible. The cover is gorgeous, otherwise.) and read it. Good book. I may have to read it again to be sure I followed everything, but I liked it real well.

Today, I pulled out an old book I want to rewrite, and it’s really going to be hard going. I think I’m going to have to back off and start from scratch, instead of trying to keep the good stuff from what I had before. My opening scene with my heroine sucks–at least what I have so far, because it’s all blithering about the scenery. I need to just jump into the action. I have to open with the hero getting his talisman and having a vision–I think. Yeah. That’s really where I want to start. Then I want to jump right into the action…and I’ve got my heroine strolling across campus thinking about concrete. ACK!!!

So maybe tomorrow I can get my head on straight and write a decent chapter 1. Because I think the vision thing will be a prologue. Even though I will probably call it chapter 1. It’s the day that everything changes. But it’s not really where the action begins. It’s the hero’s call to adventure.

Today’s the local RWA chapter meeting, so it’s my chance to head into town and shop the “big” bookstores. (The Barnes & Noble and the Borders are practically right across the street from each other.) And I’ll probably hit the mall too. I want some throw rugs. Then I have to figure out how to get to the restaurant where they’re meeting with the speaker for dinner before.

Beach report: Big Rocks are back on the beach, at least between the 61st Street pier and the jetty opposite the grocery store, and some new pieces of the big rooted seaweed. Last time, there were only tiny little shells and rocks, but today, big ones. Surf was up some, sky was gray, but light right at the horizon, where you could see those streamers that mean it’s raining.
Cool morning. Didn’t really want to get my feet wet. If it gets much cooler, I’ll either walk later in the day, or wear shoes. (It’s not letting me upload pictures, so I guess I’ll show you my cool pink shells and where I walk at the beach next time…)

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Posted in books I'm reading, family, the beach, Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, writing

Not Goofing Off

Posted on October 14, 2007 | 1 Comment

At least, not entirely. I didn’t make it in last week to blog–partly because my internet service was down for two days (no clue why, just couldn’t get anything) which threw everything off, and partly because I was working hard to get some pages written, which kinda distracted me from–well, pretty much everything. I didn’t even get out to the beach but twice. (There was lightning on Monday, so I didn’t go out.) (Here’s a picture of the beach where I usually walk, looking past one of the jetties toward the fishing pier–the blurry spots are due to water spots on the lens–sigh.)

I did get a pretty good set of pages written, though I didn’t make 30 because I blew it off on Friday. The boy and his dog and his girlfriend were coming down for a visit and I wanted to finish the cleaning I usually do in the afternoons after I write. Since our visitors were arriving around noon, I wanted to have a clean bathroom before they got here. (I generally clean only when I can’t stand it any more (and I have a much higher tolerance for dirt/clutter than the fella) or when company’s expected.)

They arrived, we got my car out of the gate, locked the dog in the yard, and went out for shrimp po’boys, and then to buy the boy shoes and sandals. He’d worn out/ripped apart the old ones (the dog did not eat them–I saw them. No tooth marks). Then we came home and ate boiled shrimp (I got unsorted medium to large ones right off the boat–they’d had enough time to de-head them (I hate de-heading shrimp–I always get stabbed) and sort out all the little gumbo-sized shrimps, but not sort the great big ones from the not-so-big ones, so I got some really huge shrimp in my mix for a good price.) and learned that the girlfriend had never in her life peeled a shrimp. This was shocking, because she lives not too very far from us, and the good seafood is very available… So we taught her how to peel the suckers. They were very good. And I made my mushroom/onion/parmesan risotto casserole (you don’t have to stand over the stove stirring, but stick it in the oven to bake) to go with, and it was wonderful. :) (The picture is of the house from the yard–which is actually on the side of the house–so you can get an idea of how big the yard is. And my big fabulous deck.) We had ice cream on the deck, and didn’t get too many mosquitos.

I have some more pictures of my island I was going to share, but I have to go iron my shirt and put on makeup, so I’ll go ahead and post this. I’ll try to get back in the next day or so and put up those other pictures. :)

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Posted in cooking, family, food, the beach, writing

Great Big Giant Wave Pool

Posted on August 20, 2007 | 2 Comments

The grandboys have come to visit. They went on a bay fishing trip with Daddy and Granddaddy yesterday afternoon, and caught a little shark and a sand bass. Four little pieces of fish that tasted delicious. Yes, Gigi cooked them. Gigi did NOT clean them. We got somebody else to do that.

The boys do not want to go to the beach. They want to go to the Big Giant Wave Pool also known as The Gulf of Mexico. We got them to eat the fish by telling them it was chicken. They loved the fish–even after we told them it was fish… So we figure they’ll love the beach, once they learn it’s the original Wave Pool. Sometimes, it IS all in a name…

We are grateful that Hurricane Dean seems to be heading south of our location, though we hope it doesn’t do too much damage to Mexico. When Tropical Storm Erin came onshore last week, it rained all day here, and the surf was up (it’s usually non-existent in the summer). However, things were so churned up that, instead of whitecaps, we had browncaps. I’m hoping the sand is on the bottom today, when we go out.

Let’s see, I have some questions I want to answer.

I’m not going to get to go to World Fantasy this year. It’s in upstate New York, and while I’d like to go, I need to sell another book first. (sigh)

Comics. I’ve collected a lot, but mostly X-Men related. I do have quite a collection of Daredevil comics, because I’ve always felt a connection with him, even back when I was a kid in junior high and high school. I can see, but I can’t tell where anything is (poor binocular vision & no eye-hand coordination). Daredevil knows exactly where everything is, but he can’t actually see. We’re opposites. Anyway, the Daredevil movie wasn’t exactly the best in the genre, but Daredevil comics are uber-cool, IMO.

And I too would love to be able to say “This old thing? Why, it’s my Magic Hoohah!” in a conversation.

Still no books. Though I probably ought to check the mail box here at the house for my new driver’s license.

Next week. I can write next week. Hopefully.

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Posted in family, life, the beach

Beyond Tired

Posted on August 15, 2007 | 1 Comment

Although I probably shouldn’t be by now. It’s Wednesday. I’ve been home (again) since Sunday evening. But I still feel like I’ve been dragged backwards through the bushes. And then maybe beat with a stick some.

I went to ArmadilloCon in Austin last weekend. It’s a science fiction/fantasy conference, was lots of fun, but dang, I’m really tired now. And it was hard attending when I hadn’t even been in the new house for a week. Still, I bet I’m the only one in a while who’s been put on both the sex- AND the religion-in-fantasy panels. We had a lot of fun doing the panels–laughed a Whole lot during the sex-in-fantasy panel–and I scored a necklace-and-earring set and a dragon print at the art auction. Both very cool and very lovely. (The jewelry is purple rock–and no, I don’t remember what kind it’s supposed to be–that will go very well with the purple rock earrings I already have.)

So, now the boy is down from college for the week. I need to go drag him out of bed so we can go to the washateria (all the laundromats around here seem to have that title) since we haven’t rented laundry equipment yet–and doing laundry in the garage is REALLY going to be not fun around here… The heat index has been in the 110s (43 C) the past few days–worse than in Houston because of the killer humidity.

We have had fresh boiled shrimp this week–bought at the grocery store, not a fish market, but still the freshest stuff I’ve had in a long time. Wonderful. My next goal for the week is to get out to the beach and get IN the water, sometime before the boy heads back to school. The grandboys are coming to visit next week (so the posts here will be sparse, I’m sure) and I plan to take them to the water several times, but their WunkaBob won’t be here then…

Cross your fingers that the books (The Eternal Rose) come in next week. The printer has promised them by then, but…

I’m trying to write, but not very hard. I got 4-1/2 pages done Monday, but there’s just too much to do. Went to Ikea to buy tables to set up for computer desks–and forgot to buy the second table. Sometime, when I’m back that way, I’ll have to get the second table. (sigh) That’s my project for today, though. To put the table on its legs. It’s bound to work better than the card table I’m using right now…

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Posted in family, fantasy, pastimes, the beach, The Eternal Rose, trips, writing

Off We Go

Posted on July 19, 2007 | 1 Comment

Not so much into the Wild Blue Yonder, but off to the beach, anyway. Looking at houses. By August, I should be re-located. For the most part. I hope. So today, I’m trying to get everything ready to go–and mail a birthday present. The oldest grandboy will be six on Monday. (Ack!) I also packed up all the stuff I found at the house when I cleaned up. (Including the missing box for the video.)

I have written my 25 pages for the week. I wanted to go further, but I wasn’t sure where I was heading. The past couple of days, my characters have been walking somewhere–today they arrived, and I am not real sure what needs to happen here. I can figure out some kind of a scene, but what purpose would that scene have? How could it affect the plot? It needs to affect the plot in some way. So, I’m thinking I might do a flashback, use it to explain why my heroine stayed on the island.

I’ve decided on some major revisions, cutting out early scenes, mostly because what I’ve learned during research doesn’t match up with what I had originally plotted. Westerners were actually in less danger than Chinese in Japanese-occupied territory during WWII, even out of China, even those from nations at war with Japan. At least somewhat. And the plantation society was primarily male, so there weren’t many children needing teaching. Schools mostly came through the missions. And all this means major tweaking, especially to my motivations. Major plot events don’t have to change, but the hows and the whys will, and I don’t know exactly what those are going to be. So I guess I’ll have to think about that over the weekend.

I was going to post stuff about RWA conference, wasn’t I? Well, I forgot. I’ll make a note of it for next time…

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Posted in family, Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, trips, writing

And Summer Goes Slipping By…

Posted on July 18, 2007 | 4 Comments

I have been scolded for not getting a post up. It’s not my fault–or not so much. I’ve been away. And I’m about to go away again. But I’m here now and so I shall attempt to get up a quick post.

You may recall from earlier posts (like the one just previous) that I had the grandboys for a week plus. We had lots of fun, going to summer reading at the library and such. Spent more time that I liked hunting for a) video tapes borrowed from the library and/or b) the boxes said videos came in. I had to get out a left-behind golf club and fish one of the boxes out from under the TV stand. One of the boxes I still can’t find–but the nice ladies at the library said to bring it on back anyway. (the video, not the box, since I don’t know where the box is, so I can’t bring it back. But the orange video is sitting on the end table in the den.)

Then their granddaddy left town to go start his new job. (For some reason he thought that was important.) That wasn’t so bad, but then the son–the little boys’ daddy–didn’t make it to town till about a day later than we’d hoped. (Me and the little guys.) We did fine, but we sure were glad to see their daddy.

Then I took them all home, and drove down to Austin to see the parents and the sister & B-i-L who were down from the far northland to see my niece graduate from Air Force bootcamp. That was an adventure and a half, but we don’t want to make this blogpost too long. The picture here is of the niece getting her Coin the day before the official graduation. She was an honor grad, but I blurred most of those pictures. (sigh) Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get to go and see all the ceremony, where she lived, all that stuff, and to visit with the family.

I took Mama & Daddy home before the rest of them came back up, because they couldn’t keep up too well with all the “young folks.” We had a nice time shopping and “resting up.” Then it was time to go to Dallas for RWA.

That was an experience and a half. And I took Absolutely NO pictures while I was at conference. I don’t know why, except that I just didn’t feel like dragging the camera around. So I didn’t. I didn’t even get a picture of me with my Prism award.

Yeah, I won the Prism Award in the fantasy category, which is a pretty nifty and well-respected award for fantasy and paranormal (like vampires and stuff) romance, presented by the Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA, for The Barbed Rose.

The Prism is given each year for the best published novel in several fantasy/SF/etc. categories (of the books that are entered, anyway). The other two finalists in the fantasy category were also LUNA authors, and I honestly never expected to win, which meant that when I did, and they asked me to say a few words, I had to fumble to come up with something. I sincerely hope I didn’t make an idiot of myself. I was absolutely thrilled–I’ve wanted one of these babies since I got to rub the one Robin Owens won…in Reno, I think it was. The award is a beautiful crystal…prism. It’s a pyramid engraved with the award name, the category, and the book title and author (me!), and it turns all sorts of lovely glowy colors depending on what angle you look at it. It’s sitting right on top of my desk (in one of the cleared off spots.)

I’ll write more about conference when I recover a little more. I danced a lot at the Harlequin party, and I’m still sore from that. A few of us tried to teach all the Yankees about the Cotton-eyed Joe, but I’m not sure how well it worked. Oh well. And then there was all the REST of the dancing.

I intend to post at least one more blog before I head down to the island for the weekend to look at houses. We shall see if I make it. I’m trying to write 25 pages on the World War II novel (working title: Thunder in a Cloudless Sky–because that’s what artillery firing sounds like…) by Saturday this week, so I can earn this month’s charm. It’s 25 pages for the month, and I haven’t written anything at all so far this month. (First boys, then out of town.) It’s looking pretty good. I’m up to 16.5 so far. Of course, I haven’t done a THING toward moving… except unpack the suitcases and divvy up the give-away books from conference.

Okay, done. I’m ending this too-long blog. Really. Now. I’m quitting.

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Posted in family, fantasy, The Barbed Rose, Thunder in a Cloudless Sky, trips, writing