I DID IT!
Wow. Never thought I'd really complete 50,000 words!
I'm so excited! Now, maybe I'll keep going and really get a book written -- I've gotta tell you, I've written 50,000 words in the story in this one month -- but they aren't really 50,000 GOOD words. I've got a far way to go before that collection of words actually becomes a book.
But I'm really proud that I finished the challenge!

My amazing grand prize?
Why, it's 50,000 words of a story that I've started.
Also, a lovely certificate that I was sent to print on my computer. (Lucky for me my Mom bought me a color printer this year!)

Thank you to everyone who helped (mostly, by not laughing at me when I came up with another strange idea like writing 50,000 words.)
Also, thank you to Robin, for inspiring me in the first place, by letting me know there even was a challenge!

You can read Robin's blog and be inspired by her too -- it's on the links at the right, see? ------>

Nanowrimo again -- down to the wire...

I had almost thought that I had sacrificed the Nanowrimo Challenge to the god of Christmas Cookies... but now I see that I'm potentially able to pull it out... it's down to the wire, will I be able to write 7,000 more words before the end of November?????

Even if I don't, I got pretty close -- I'll definitely keep writing...

Baking Cookies today!

Today is the Christmas Cookie baking fest. I'm covered in flour. Isn't it amazing how many combinations of sugar/butter/flour there are?

Christmas Decorating

OK, so last night we came home from my Mom & Dad's house for thanksgiving, and Frank made margaritas and I started decorating for Christmas. I decided not to wait until after I cleaned the house to decorate, because I may never clean the house.

I can't put up pictures yet because first off, the house is now really trashed, and second, my camera battery is DEAD.

NEXT, I have to work on the Christmas card thing, and also on the COOKIES. (Yum.) And I haven't done any shopping yet to speak of.

Can I get it all done?

The drama continues.

Woody's in St. John's

One of the things we did in the Virgin Islands was to go to the Woody's Seafood Saloon in St. John's, you know the one, where Kenny Chesney hangs out?
Of course, the waitress told us, Kenny wasn't on the Island that week. But when he is on the Island, he comes in at least once a week.

It was good food and good drinks. And good music, although they weren't playing Kenny, they were playing O.A.R.

And they took our picture and posted it on THEIR blog at www.WoodysSeafood.com
Which is the picture here.

Deck the halls blah blah blah

DO YOU PEOPLE REALIZE it's almost CHRISTMAS???
Yeah, I guess all the rest of you realize it. It's kinda me who doesn't want to realize it. I've been way busier playing with summery photos of palm trees and writing stories. I am not interested in Christmas much yet.

I have started a little. I just picked up a lot of stuff shopping with Mom on Friday. I have a whole pile of gifts upstairs, hidden in the laundry room under a few piles of laundry that never actually get finished. Frank got outside today and put the lights on the house, so we can continue our tradition of being aggravatingly early with Christmas lights.

Really, to keep moving forward on Christmas, now I need to go through everything I have already bought and actually make a list of what I still need. I should wrap the stuff I've got put aside while I'm making the list.

Just thinking about it makes me really sleepy.

I think about starting to decorate inside, too. Before I do that, I really ought to clean my house thoroughly. Thinking about THAT just makes me confused. (Where do I start?)

I did get my first gift on Friday, from my Momma and Daddy. They bought me a pink razr phone. (They didn't have orange available.) I even splurged on myself, and downloaded a ring tone -- "Ripple" from the Grateful Dead.

I have to start getting ready to get ready.

The last flower standing

 
Here is a pansy, the last flower left in the garden before winter.
Although it HAS been pretty warm, not too much is left. Even the colored leaves have blown away.
Happy Autumn. 

This is a program called Picasa. I love it!

  

Frank came home and showed me this photo thing...

  

Check out Ms. Dewey!

Ms. Dewey is a new search engine that Frank told me about. You really have to check her out! Just like with google search, or whatever, you type something into the box and then the search engine returns a list of possible webs to link to.

The difference is that Ms. Dewey talks back to you -- she can be fresh, or funny, tell jokes, or whatever.

I don't know how good her searchs are compared to google. I also think she might get aggravating after awhile. She's unique, though, I'll tell you that for sure!

This tidbit showed up in my Yahoo email, and I thought it was quite interesting...

Dear Yahoo!:
What is the most common birthday?
David
Denver, Colorado

Dear David:
We found several references to this question on the Web, all pointing to the same source: a survey of 12,576 Americans conducted by Anybirthday.com.
Answers like this one from the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star cite the study's finding of October 5 as the date the most people (in the U.S., anyway) are born. The 2001 report claims approximately 968,000 living Americans entered the world on that date. (The original web page announcing these results is no longer online, but we oh-so-cleverly queried the Internet Archive Wayback Machine and found it.)

So why October 5? Just a random date? Perhaps, but Anybirthday has a theory: To be born on this date, a baby would most likely have been conceived on New Year's Eve.

The survey also found May 22 to be the least common birthday. As yet, no guesses as to what it is that happens in late August (nine months prior to that date) that routinely turns so many people off. Perhaps it's just too darn hot?

Any October 5th birthday babies out there?

NANOWRIMO update

I'm still doing that Nanowrimo thing. I think I posted about it a while ago, didn't I? It's a web based support group thingy for people who want to be writers (hobbyist or professional) to help them churn out the great american novel. Nanowrimo -- NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth -- is a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I believe that the idea is to write the words, and then worry about how good they are later. So that's what I'm doing. The novel I'm writing is actually a memoir about the problems with Frankie's health (my oldest son) over the last year.

As of today I'm up to 15,000 words, which I think is pretty good. My goal is to do 2,500 words a day. (Before vacation, the goal was 2,000 words a day, but I've gotten behind.)

I would love to be a professional writer. (Being paid for ANYTHING would be a good idea.) The memoir isn't really my first choice for the great american novel that I would LIKE to write, but it is a pretty interesting story to ME, so I'm writing that one.

It's hard for me to judge, though, if it is going to be an interesting story. Everyone always likes to talk about themselves, so of course I'm enjoying writing it, and I think it's interesting. And maybe other people who know Frankie will find it interesting. It's certainly more of a "tell all" than the Frankie Report website was, because I convinced Frankie that no one was going to want to read it that was his age -- compared to the web site, which I know that some of the kids in his school could have had access to. Like I said to him -- kids his age hate to read anyway, and the only way they would ever get access to this "book" thingy is if I actually SELL it, and then it would be making money so why would he mind? He loves money.

I'm doing the book in my word program on my home computer, it's not out circulating on the web. I need to get the 50,000 words down in November first, then in December I need to make sure the story is complete and then try to make sure the words are GOOD words and not just bulky.

Wish me luck! I'll let y'all know when it's available for reading, if you are interested!

Busy busy busy!

So, I get back from vacation, and I still don't have time to post much. I've gotta catch up on everything I didn't get to for the last week -- not to mention, Christmas is breathing down my neck already! And before I can decorate, I really should clean a little!

Sparkling Commentary

Don't you hate pictures from other people's vacations???

Oh, sure, I know you do, but MY pictures are so BEAUTIFUL... :)

(OK, Just humor me!)

The family and I went on a 5 day trip to St. Thomas. We left Monday and returned Friday. We pretty much did nothing but veg out. Well, I did end up cooking several meals, because my older son (affectionately known as "Mr. Picky" because of his eating habits) did not appreciate the cuisine at the local restaurant. It was just as well, though, because it probably ended up saving us a few hundred dollars.



We didn't do much siteseeing, but we did watch every sunset and took pictures of a lot of palm trees and flowers. One day, we took the ferry to St. John's, so we could go to the underwater snorkeling trail at Trunk Bay. Everyone was in the water - ocean and pool - quite a bit. I even went swimming, which is unheard of!

So here are a few more photos...

Wild Life

The Secret Harbour Beach Resort had a lot of wild life -- and I don't mean a swinging bar scene. (They did have a very nice beach front bar, but don't forget, I have a 13 and 16 year old, so we didn't hang out there too much.) They are a nature preserve as well as a resort.

Iguanas were all over the place. They very casually walked up and stared at you. It kinda gave you the willies, but it was very cool. I also saw at least two other types of lizards, pelicans, and hummingbirds. Off shore there was tons of different color fish and corals.

I guess it is safe to assume that any place that has that many kinds of fragile little creatures does NOT spray a lot of insecticide around. The little bugs are food for the little animals. I am food for the little bugs. I must have a good hundred bug bites on my legs alone. I am itching like crazy. The husband and kids are less affected.

The family and I had a great time

I took about a million flower photos

Good Night

My last post for a few days...

I won't be able to check in for the next couple of days. I will post again pretty soon. I know you'll miss my sparkling commentary... but when I post again, I assure you, it should be good!

No soup for you.

Comedy Night

We went to a comedy night show last night -- thanks for the pix, Beth!





The evening started with a drink or two...






Here are some of the girls...






Here is Beth, with the comedian on stage behind her. Yes, we interrupted everything with flash photography.

It was pretty funny. We had a lot of really good food, we stayed in the hotel, and we got tickets for the comedy show, and the hotel had breakfast the next morning. It was a great price.

This is AFTER

I like it fine. Give me your comments! I don't know if it's that much different, but... whatever. The cost was ... significant. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Before and After, and this is the before pic:

I hope that my hair looks better after... but be honest, let me know what you think after you see the after pic. Lying to me to make me feel better won't be a good thing.

I'm leaving for the salon now.

I'm giving in

I am finally giving in.

I am no longer content to live with my hair the way it is. I never wanted to be the chick who goes to the beauty parlor ever week to have her hair done -- I never believed that looks were all that important. I've changed my mind.

I'm going to the beauty parlor today, an expensive one, because I want to see if it makes a difference in how I feel about how I look. I'm sick of being gray, and I can't seem to fix it on my own. (It keeps growing back, for one thing!) So I'm going to become a regular. (If it works.) And go back every month, whether I need it or not, to have my hair colored and cut. Assuming of course that they do a good job in the first place.

I'm not doing it because YOU care how I look. I'm doing it because I'm sick of looking at MYSELF.

I'll try to post a before and after pic. Think it'll be dramatic?

Peak Leaf peep day!

I am pronouncing today to be the peak autumn leaf day here in Iselin.

After today, all the leaves will have fallen off the trees. Well, maybe not all of them, but alot. And the color has reached its peak today.

And it's a nice cozy day to sit inside and write on the computer, which is the only thing on my schedule for the morning. Well, and maybe work on my painting. And of course I'm not done the laundry. And the floors could use washing. Wait -- the tea kettle is whistling...

November is National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month kicks off at Nanowrimo, and I've decided to join in. So I can't spend a lot of time writing on the blog -- I've gotta get started writing 50,000 words this month! I wonder how close I'll get? It seems vaguely productive. Still not a paid job, but that's pretty standard for me, isn't it???

Just so you know -- I heard about Nanowrimo at the Crunchybits blog I read occasionally -- http://crunchybits.blogspot.com -- It's worth looking at too!