Can't wait to get away and relax! Much needed.
 

Is anyone going to the SCBWI Spring Conference in Lansing Michigan on May 1st??? Let me know if you are! I am! Can't wait!
 

Lily was born yesterday, weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz at 19 inches long. Long and lanky! And alert! (and hungry!). She is my sixth grandchild; she is my fourth granddaughter.

Such a bright light in a dark time. A true blessing anyway you look at it!


 

Yesterday I received a $50 check for two children's devotional stories (approx. 375 words each)!!!! I keep hoping one of the Cricket magazines will contact me. And Houghton Mifflin, too. I know I'm shooting high. At least for now.
 

I've always wanted to be published... but real life has gotten in the way. But now that I've passed the 50 mark, I am much more serious about reaching the goal I've set aside over the years. My kids are grown. I have grandkids (out of town and state), and I'm heading towards retirement, older parents, and issues dealing with myself some day dealing with whatever life hands to me on my journey.

My journey. I like to think about all I have lived through has been for a reason. I always felt I was here to do something, but not sure what. Never great at anything, but good at many things, I had shallow dreams.

At this point, I'm not ready to share true feelings I have from my past. I've never been sexually abused nor beaten, so my own issues don't seem important enough to mention. I've learned over the years, we all have issues, places to blame our imperfections. We need to realize we cannot wallow in our exuses the rest of our lives. Everyone is human. We all make errors. Learn and live. Do the best you can.

So... after reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, I realized my journey in life is the true treasure.

And though I do not go to church regularly, the last time I went, the pastor said we are all a bridge to someone/something. "Don't camp out in the middle of chaos, but focus toward the getting through it."

That was good. I really liked that message and have thought about it a lot.

So... I have strayed off the publication thingy, yes???

I am serioius about following my path of getting published. I'm just curious what other members here think about publication. Are we camping out in the middle of comfort and not bounding forward toward the goal?

It's something to consider... for all of us.

Let me know.

I'm a curious creature...

~Cubby "(
 

The surgeon doctor called this morning and said the tests came out negative. WHEW! I just need to come in for another ultra sound in three months for a follow up. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

If anyone wants an honest and encouraging review all the way around, ask Rogue♥Sherri . I must say her review on one of my items was that best ever, especially if one is looking to be published in the future. Not only that, but she's a super nice person.

~Cubby ")
 

I've sent out my 100th manuscript submission today! I began June 18th of this year and going strong every since! I haven't received many back yet, maybe a quarter or less. One rejection was even handwritten on! "Thank you! Please try us again soon!"

Most of my mss are children's poetry, but not all. I have a few children's stories for magazines and picture books, kid's devotionals, and poetry for magazines and picture books.

I've had several devotional stories published years ago for Keys for Kids, so I thought I'd try my hand at them again, so I've got 12 sent out to them.

The magazines I'm sending to so far are the Cricket mags: Babybug, Ladybug, and Spider (there are more).

The book publisher I'm sending stuff to is Houghton Mifflin.

My fingers are crossed! (when they're not typing, that is! )
 

I finally got a fire lit beneath me and am proud and happy to say in the past week, I have submitted 18 manuscripts!

16 are poems to children's magazines
1 is a short story to a magazine
1 is an Early Reader story to a book publisher

YAY!!!!

Now I get to wait up to six months for a response. BUT... if I had done this six months ago, I would've had some sort of reply by now. So I'm not going to grumble because at least I'm submitting at this point. When I get home from work, I tell my hubby, "Gotta do my other job, now." He says, "What other job?" My response? "Writing". I also get to it first thing in the morning before work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not slaving away for hours, but I am making accomplishments! Just the cover letters are a job in themselves!!! And then the printing off of envelopes and SASEs. Whew! But I"m getting in the groove of it.

Back to work...

~Cubby ")
 

Why is it certain members donate a package to bid on in an auction, and then completely forget about the bid winner? This is really making me upset, because I always pay up. Even if I did forget, I would hope someone would remind me. There is one member here who cannot remember at all, and it's actually the second time she has done this to me. I still see her packages in auctions and wonder. I never used to write anything down, but I've started to, so I can prove it. I wonder if anyone has started a forum on members who don't pay up?

Don't get me wrong... I know people get busy. A nice email explaining this, is great! I'm a patient person. But be wary of your bidding and make sure you get what's coming to you. Document everything.

Sorry to be such a downer this morning...

~Cubby ")
 

Yesterday, the renewal for Lucy's dog license came in the mail. I touched where her name was typed out and cried. Lucy Brown Bear. Then I had to check Deceased and send it out in the mail. It seemed so final. I haven't grieved as I should have... so much going on, and I've tried to bury my feelings, as I've known she was 14 years and 5 months and thought I was prepared. But now this morning, it has finally hit me and I'm balling my eyes out. I miss her. I still say good-by to her every morning... "Bye, Lu... Love Lu! See Lu later!" I know it's silly, but I find comfort in it. I will be four weeks, this coming Saturday, that I saw her take her last breath. I had a dream last Saturday, that she was on our porch and then followed us into the house. My hubby and kept looking at her thinking... She's suppose to be dead. I told Jerry to go look at her grave (which was in the garage in my dream). He did, then came back into the house and said, "She dug herself out. I buried her alive." He felt so bad. I couldn't believe it. But there she was. I said she must be hungry after two weeks of digging (it had actually been three weeks, in real life). I kept thinking about her trying to get out of that grave. Then I woke up. What did this dream mean? Was it like a reserrection, her soul coming back to us after her death?

Anyway, I have to get ready for work now. We have a writing group this morning at 10. I'm not sure I will join in this session. I just feel so sad and down.
 

My dog died this morning.
 

I have just GOT to share this story...

Hubby and I were Up North a few weeks ago, riding our bikes from the Fayette Historical Ghost Town to the nearby campgrounds. About midway there, I told my hubby I loved him no matter what, and that I knew he was self-consious about his neck in pictures (it's how he holds his head when someone photographs him), and that... well... it didn't go much further than that, when HE butt in and said...

"Well, at least I don't have a TURKEY neck," his eyes twinkling at me with his shit-eating grin (sorry, that's the only way to describe his smile at this point).

I slammed on my bike brakes, holding onto the handle with one hand, and jamming my fist into my hip. "What's THAT suppose to mean?" My eyes were not twinkling like his, but rather... shooting bullets.

"Oh, I'm just teasing," he said, with a satisfied chuckle. "You were making fun of MY chin, so I had to say something back."

"You REALLY think I have a TURKEY neck???" I demanded, not cooled off by his words at all.

"No, I'm just teasing."

"Why would you even THINK I had a turkey neck then?"

"I had to say something to get you back."

"Well, I must be starting to get a turkey neck then, if you just CAME up with it like that."

"No, you are not getting a turkey neck. Can we go back to camp now?"

Hmph! I sped by him without saying a word.

We wheeled in, he... acting like nothing happened, while my heart raced with fury. I grabbed the axe and began chopping wood with a vengence (in flip-flops ). But wow, did I ever get a bunch of wood chopped, and thank God not my toes!

I then grabbed a dish towel off the clothesline and wrapped it around my neck with a clothespin (yes, this is all quite silly, I know!)

He, grinning of course... , took a flannel shirt off the line and wrapped it around his neck. We sat at our yet-to-be-lit campfire.

"At least MY neck doesn't look like a turtle-neck," I burst out, trying not to laugh.

He DID laugh, but then gobbled. Needless to say, we ended up laughing a lot, took those silly things off our necks, and talked about opening a shop for people with big necks, lol! Seriously, he doesn't have a huge neck... just a wee bit of a double chin, which I love dearly. But he does complain a lot about t-shirts and sweatshirts being too tight for him around his neck.

So... just wanted to share this silly story that we still get a kick out of talking about.

Gobble-gobble!
 

Last night I woke up to a noise outside our open screened slider-window, about 3 am. It sort of sounded like a bird in pain, but it was a really weird sound. It could not have been a little bird because it was way too loud and weird sounding. Never heard anything like it in my life. A small 'bigger-bird"? Baby turkey? Mourning dove? I have no idea. I got up and went to the slider and heard a throaty growl. Then everything went silent except I could hear something walking through the grass. We have a bunch of barn cats, but they make no noise as they creep through the lawn. I definitely heard steps. Tonight, I'm taking a flashlight to bed so I can see anything in the backyard, if it happens again. I had a dream after the strange event that I saw a lion. We have no lions in Michigan, but perhaps a bobcat, fox, coyote, or COUGER??? Cougers have been spotted in Michigan, but rarely. I also noticed that the Canadian geese that normally take over our pond area have disappeared... because of a predator??? Hmmm.... my brain gears are turning, but I have no answers.
 

Since my last computer got fried by lightning, the computer techie was able to save my documents, pictures. and music downloads (I use the music to play my fiddle to) and he put them on my new computer. So... I was very, very excited that he could do that so I didn't lose anything.

But yesterday I got my violin out (haven't played for at least a month ) and I clicked on one of the tunes I like to play (Ashokan Farewell), but... the pitch was way off! So I retuned my fiddle to make sure it was right, tried again, and WHOAH! The pitch on the computer is much higher than my strings. So I put a new battery in my tuner, tuned my instrument again, and NOPE. Exactly the same. I tried other downloaded tunes, too. I have hundreds of them! And they are all higher than my violin. So... What the heck??? Is there any way to adjust it?
It's really quite frustrating because now I'm in the mood to play my fiddle with some background music and it doesn't match! For now, I am using an old CD player, but it's just not the same.
 

Yesterday I planted 12 white cedar transplants. We have almost five acres so there's lots of room to plant! But I've learned when planting trees to consider things like 1) Can the zero-turn make it between the trees? 2) Will the tree be too close to the house or fence after it's grown? 3) Is this tree right for this region?

Yes, I have made all three of those boo-boos! Live and learn. 1) My trees have accidently been mowed down if planted them too close. 2) We had to cut a beautiful red pine down last year because too many branches were touching the siding, discoloring it. 3) I love birch trees, but in our area, they don't do well. We get ice in the winter which breaks the branches, and strong winds at times, which breaks the branches. Now my birch tree is only a six foot tall pole with a birdfeeder on it.

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"So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install,
A lovely bookshelf on the wall."

-Roald Dahl "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

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Leave a comment | Comment Pop

I can honestly say... gingko biloba makes a difference for me. Try it, but make sure if you are on any medication that it's okay. I am not on any medication YET. So... it works for me. I do not want to recommend anything that might hurt ANYone.

I'm just here for a quick moment...


 

I LOVE strong coffee! When I was an exchange student in Sweden, I fell inlove with their coffee. Not sure what the difference was, but it made my parent's coffee taste like dirt! When I lived in Germany, I really liked the coffee there, too, as long as 'I' made it. Drinking it in a cafe`, it was too strong for even me. It came in tiny coffee cups that reminded me of my tea set as a child. It was good, but I just couldn't drink much of it without my heart palpitating!

Yeah, I need the energy caffeine offers in the morning. I'm trying to drink more green tea in the afternoon, which I really like, too. Then if I'm really wound up and have had a bad day or it's the weekend, I finish the day with a beer! And THAT, my friends, is LIGHT beer! No strong beer for this gal, lol! Tried the dark wheat beer in Germany and about gagged on it. They did, however, drink it with coke, too, so I tried that once and it wasn't so bad that way.

I'll send you my library address, Sarah. I'm there more than home, so it seems. I would LOVE to try Turkish coffee... Thank you!

And Esprit... my husband is buying filters today. I have two left, so in 202 days, it will be... hmmm.... next Fall sometime! I don't EVEN want to think that far ahead, lol! It's better to count filters in the late Fall perhaps, or early Winter.

Yes, I've noticed that about movies with lots of awards. I just don't get it. I went into Amazon the other night and gave No Country for Old Men a two star review. The only reason I gave it two instead of one was because the acting was good. I'm like you, I tend to like movies that make me feel good. It's hard enough to get a good night's sleep as it is! To be fair, though, many reviewers gave it a five star. To each his own.

One more thing... GINKO BILOBA. I take this herb every morning during the week and I swear by it! Clears my mind and helps me to think sharper, therefore I am more on-task. Have either of you tried it?

Buzzin' with the Bees...
~Cubby
 

Ha-ha, you two! Never had Turkish coffee... or coffee without a filter??? And Esprit... HOW many pots of coffee do you drink a day???

Cubby ")
 

Huh. This got awards??? I guess if you like murder and blood throughout the whole movie, and nothing good comes out of anything... Go for it! I realize not all endings are good, BUT... nothing... NOTHING... is good about this movie. (Perhaps the acting was good, but... nothing else, according to me.)

~Normally positive...

Cubby ")