Southern Living Yankee

So it's been a month since I last posted, what can I say? There's more interesting things to read about than my life, that's for sure. (Well, actually, my life is pretty interesting, but that's what phones are for!)Check out this video--God bless 'em! This goes in my Moments collection!

No! Summer's almost over and I've missed it, totally missed it! I'm still waiting for it to start! Stop the world, I haven't had summer yet!  We look a little tipsy!  Bike path  Oh, tell me to quit whining. I've been to IL, WI and PA. I got to see some family. We took the jetski out--once. And on Sunday--the only day this summer when it's not been either raining or over 90 degrees with 90% humidity, or we've been working--we had a perfect day--no cooking, church, brunch, 15 mile bike ride, sirloin steak . . . aaah . . . I made these beautiful blueberry muffins last night. They look better than the Contessa's. (I'm sure they taste even better, I love the struesel topping. They go in the freezer for now so Mom and Dad Hardy can help us eat them the end of the month). The Contessa's were nearly burnt. Imagine putting a picture of nearly burnt muffins in an otherwise great cookbook! Did I tell you I had a great time at ...

At 10:30 am on Wed., July 20 I finished chapter 25 and hit print. It's the last chapter.

I hope this week doesn't zoom past before I can get in gear! I've been busy scheduling blog posts on the WCP for next week, because guess what? Next week I go to Montrose! I'm so excited! It's the writers conference I've been to twice before, and each time I feel like a kid going to summer camp---and I LOVED CAMP! But this year I kept saying, "No, I'm not going to do that. I can't keep pumping money into these things. I mean, really! Writers are supposed to pop out $500+ to go to all these conferences and take a long shot of pitching to an editor or finding an agent? How many times are you supposed to do that?" I just didn't have it in me. And then they sent me the brochure and I looked at the line-up of speakers and workshop leaders. First, there's a pastor who lives one hour away from me. Top-notch writer. So close! It's A Small World After All plays in my head. Then, there are a couple of agents. So at least I can talk to them...

Tammy's ALWAYS right. She said I hadn't posted here for weeks. She's like the blog fairy--Tammy, I need a picture of you as the blog fairy! :) I set up a blog for the big family reunion, so that's my excuse. But to make up for it, here as some cute pictures about how crazy cat ladies get started. Still crazy about kittens! You can see it in the eyes--a crazy cat lady! We start out young in this family! Kitty Cat Bliss

The month of May started off in Myrtle Beach, SC with an aahhhh . . .  and then it went to super busy! I think we needed the time at the beach to get rested up for the days ahead.  The photos that follow are all jumbled up. I've spent hours just trying to get them on the blog, but if I try to put them in order for you I may lose them and never get them up. So, we'll just deal with it, OK? Remember how I was going to take the month of May off from blogging so I could really concentrate on writing the book? Ha! I did write one chapter. Well, part of a chapter . . . I think maybe God knew I needed the month off because of all the other stuff I'd get to do! Tom and I trained for disaster relief with our church, and within days we headed to IL to help flood victims. Here are the women of the team headed to you-know-where: the bathroom! It was a bit of a trek to the flush toilet, but we were glad we weren't really roughing it. Plus, who wouldn't want to go 4-wh...

I collect moments, if you recall my mentioning that last year. Odd to think I collected only one moment all of last year. Don't you think it's time for another? "Yes, high time," I hear you say. So click here for my friend, AquaJane, as she describes the April rainstorms that have escorted a new season of life to her doorstep: A New Season . Thanks for checking in on me! Tom and I just got back from a valuable "Weekend to Remember" in Myrtle Beach, SC, where the gas was $3.65/gallon, the temperature was 80 degrees, and the sun--the SUN, mind you, was shining! (Remember the sun? The star our planet supposedly revolves around? It was warm, and bright, and yellow and hung in a blue sky with white clouds. Yes, the sky used to be blue, not gray, not rain over and over and over . . .) I'll post some pictures for you sooner or later. WRITING UPDATE: This is my month to really write. I took parts of the manuscript to SC with me, but didn't take a peep...

Focus, focus, focus--I can't do it! Whenever I sit down to write at either the computer or curled up on the sofa with a notebook, I don't know where to start! All day, every day, I'm filtering everything I hear and see through two questions--how could I write about this, or how does this apply to widows? I'm obsessed. I can hardly sleep at night! So when I lug my over-worked, stressed out brain to the notebook or keyboard, I can't do it. Oh, I can start! I can start a hundred different sentences. Or one idea a hundred different ways. And then poof! My brain then gives me another hundred options of where to conclude it, and a million daydreams of where it will go. I call this Artistic ADHD. Before I go to a medical professional for some powerful knock-me-outs, I'm going to try something else. I think I've trapped myself; I don't have enough time or energy to do both the book and the blog. My first love, the first commission God gave me, was the book. N...

I had a great suprise on Friday! When I just happened to check the voice mail on my cell phone (which I rarely do), there was a message from my sister, "Mind if we stop by tonight?" Almost 8 hours later, Tom picked me up from work, we grabbed a bit of dinner (we're still on the diet--so an itsy bitsy bit of dinner), and shortly after that Anjee called again to get directions to our doorstep! They were on their way home from a spring break vacation in Tennessee . . . well, I'm just so glad they stopped! And they thought they'd just stop in to say hello . . . but we talked them into spending Friday night and Saturday night! Took them out to breakfast on Saturday, and then it rained all day. :(  But we made the best of it and went to Jungle Jim's to tour that crazy grocery store and eat ugli fruit. When we got home, Jessica made supper! She's in culinary school and improvised the recipe she entered in the chili cook-off. Then she helped me write i...

We've made it to Day 4 of the diet. Ugh. After gagging on eggs at 6:30 a.m. the first day I now opt for half a cup of cottage cheese with some cinnamon on it. I know this might sound disgusting, but I find it easier to deal with than eggs-turned-cold-too-soon. I was so fond of toast with peanut butter with my steaming hot coffee! I miss toast. We're doing the South Beach diet, so no carbs. No bread or anything made with flour--good-bye bread, biscuits, muffins, cookies, brownies, cake, pie, good stuff! No starches--good-bye potatoes, rice, and salty crunchy junk food love! No sugar--good-bye Coke, chocolate, and the candy drawer at work.  sigh Hello salads, V-8, veggies veggies veggies. I'm getting really sick of veggies. Meat without gravy or condiments. whine whine whine.  But now it's time for the evening snack that I look forward to every day--a glass of low-fat milk and a no-sugar fudgsicle. yum.  Sweet dreams everyone, and enjoy those brown...

I'm not joking--mark this coming day, April 1. Tom and I WILL start the diet. There's no better date! April FOOLS day! Not in the ha ha fooled you sense. We're not trying to trick anyone, we're just admitting we're fools to have gotten to this point on the scale! We also have incentive! We're looking forward to a little getaway to Myrtle Beach the end of April. As we picture the lovely oceanfront with its sandy beach, endless blue sea, we can almost feel the warm sunshine on our skin, hear the lull of the waves . . . and then the reality camera zooms in and we see BW's. That could stand for Beached Whales but let me finish--BFWOPS--Big Fat White Ohio Peoples.  I've spared you from the picture by using this photo of the empty beach chairs. Yes, you should thank me. If we washed up on a jungle beach the cannibals would be heating up their kettles, poking us with forks and saying "Yummy, tender, juicy!" We wouldn't want that to happe...

Brad came for the weekend and shared his new career skills with us--amazing sirloin burgers, Oh my!Here are the half pounders he made, stuffed with onions, mushroom, Au jus and a kick of red pepper! We didn't/couldn't eat all of these, so the rest are in the freezer for a rainy day, or a day I just won't feel like cooking--probably tomorrow! Do you think maybe he should be a hamburger model, too? Such a handsome and talented guy! :) I found a yeast bun recipe I'm totally in love with so after Tom and Brad grilled these beauties, we lovingly folded amazing homemade buns around them. Yes, everyone say "Aaaahhh!" We could barely push ourselves away from the table, but Tom had a car race to watch, Brad wanted to visit Aaron at his workplace, and I had a poetry reading to go to, so we managed. (Did she just say "Poetry Reading?") Yep. Me, a poetry reader and writer! It was really kind of fun. A fine art gallery in the area has been hosting this once ...

Like a shot out of a cannon, a kite lost to the wind, or hours wasted watching a pathetic movie some things can never be undone or brought back to enjoy again. Today I hit the "send" button on a query letter about my book--ush and ugh, I can't put it back in the comfortable land of mere dreams and possibilities. The butterflies in my stomach are getting dizzy from all their fluttering and spinning and "what if" disaster imaginings which only writer-butterflies conjure up. But it's over and done with. Now I just wait for the results, and I'll deal with those when the time comes. Despite my fears that the results will include a good deal of self-imposed butt-kicking, I really have to let this go. I had this query letter written over a month ago, and I was quite content to just let it lie dormant in a Word file. Content to wait for another impossible re-write or quiet dismissal as the rest of life stifles it out. But then this preacher preaches words th...

Seeing is believing--yep, we were there! Missing Lisa already.

I should write here more regularly. I'd cure the world of insomnia. It's cold, it's gray, it's boooorring! That's all that's been happening here. So here are old pictures, saved for a desperate day like today. Click "add photo," click browse, click latest pictures . . . . spin . . . spin . . . spin . . . spin . . . spin Oh forget it. No pictures today, the whatchamacallit is experiencing technical difficulties. But, looking ahead, and leaving my cranky alter-ego behind, should be a fun and unboring week coming up for this Birthday Girl! I don't have plans for the actual day because I'm working all that day. But the following day me and the Fish are going to see the Narnia movie. We've waited this long and will be rewarded with seeing it at the cheap theatre for $1.00! Or maybe $2.00. I might also see Leslie that day and we will sip (coffee) and pray over a variety of neverminds. On Friday, Jackie and I are cashing in on our half-price, HOUR...

Last week at this time butterflies were puking in my tummy. At 1:00 last Wednesday I had to present my program to the Outreach Coordinator and PR Manager at work. Just me and the two of them in a big empty room. Gulp and upset butterflies. As you can tell, I survived. I even gave them a little sniffle and tear to the eye they admitted--not because I was so awful. :) They were touched. So on Monday I went to the retirement center and presented the program. Those people were so sweet! I really enjoyed being with them. In ten days I have another engagement for a totally different group so I don't want to gloat. But I'm thinking maybe I can do this. Another thing that happened last week was on Thursday I teleconferenced with another woman who does widows ministry. It was great to talk with a kindred spirit. Our husbands died within a week of each other, same year. And we talked about this tremendous passion and privilege to serve widows and help them know God's great plan an...

In which I talk to myself a lot, understand why the rest of the world hates us, and maybe I hate us, too. The talking to myself: Next Monday I have to present an hour long program at a nursing home. I'm actually pretty excited about this. At first I was even laughing about it--like who's going to fall asleep first--them or me? But now I have to present it to our PR manager so she can make sure I don't publically humiliate myself or, more importantly, my employer. So how does one prepare for such an event?--you gotta talk to yourself--a lot. And you can't say gotta. Once tomorrow hits, I have a little over 48 hours. Gulp. The understanding why the rest of the world hates us: My raw and cracked fingers explain it. The world hates us Americans because we are stupid. Why else would we buy a fake, pre-lit, 8 or 9ft tall Christmas tree for Jesus's birthday? Do Christmas trees even grow in Israel, and if they do, were they lit up and decorated while shepherds watched ...

Besides my mantra for the New Year of "Healthy and Strong," this video will also guide me. Bwwaaahhahahahahahah! WRITING uPdATE: Yes, things are up and down. Time is down, other stuff is UP. I'll be speaking on Jan. 24 for a library speakers bureau engagement; and then there's a chance to do some poetry with a writer's group in Feb. The widows blog is going well with over 100 readers each week. But I hope this is the year of the book! I dread the thought of submitting it--pray about that hugest of hurdles for me. Thanks for checking in on me. Hope the video gives you some laughs, and have a great week!