Life is running..

Life and all it's events has a way of creeping up on me.

Before I go any further, let me point out that it wasn't always this way for me. There was a time I vaguely remember about 11 years ago, yes 11 years ago exactly, I remember that life came and went at the normal, natural speed that a human being can keep up with. But, since a certain life changing event that happened 11 years ago on May 28th, 1998, I have not been able to catch back up with life.

I feel like life is running so fast and even if I screamed at the top of my lungs, "LIFE SLOW DOWN WOULD YA, I CAN'T KEEP UP!!" it still wouldn't matter.

So because life is a runner, not a jogger or fast walker, but a full blown runner I am finding it essential that I get in better shape so that I don't get left behind.

Some things... about cleaning... and Me

Some things I hate cleaning...

The Inside of a Microwave when something has exploded.

The underbelly of a Toilet.

The remnants of any and all excretions from my Dog.

Any and all dusting.

The inside of my junk drawers.

The corners of my kitchen floor.

Food that has been left to forever change the shape of a dish.




Some things I enjoy cleaning....

(Pshh, who am I trying to kid you all know I hate to clean!! )

Still there are a few things I don't mind cleaning...

My Bed, love the smell of clean sheets

Ironing, love the smell and warmth (I have shared this before but thought it deserved mentioning since my list is so short)

The outside of a dishwasher, oven, refrigerator and microwave.

My Car.


Some people that make all cleaning tolerable for me ...

Dean Martin

Frank Sinatra

Billy Holiday

and ... Louie Armstrong

Optimism and Me

Despite the fact that there has been a whole lot of negative things that have been happening all around I am determined to be The Eternal Optimist.

I found this quote today on a quotes page that I often visit;

"The point of living and of being an optimist, is to be foolish enough to believe the best is yet to come." Peter Ustinov

It's true that optimism might be foolish but better to be a fool and happy than be right but you are all alone and miserable. I will be the fool that continually looks for and hopes in the best.

Now, don't get me wrong I am grateful, very grateful for the pessimists or realists or whatever you want to call them, in my life. They keep my feet on the ground and when their truth is spoken in love I can handle it. It might take me a while to get on board but thats just because it's not in my nature to be that way. A balance would be nice but then what fun is there in that ? I have noticed though when I slip out of optimism(very rarely but it does happen) suddenly those around me no longer carry their pessimistic traits. It's the strangest thing but when you want to hear the voice of optimism you can hear it.

So despite the fact that there is the possibly of looming bad things right around the corner I say, Here's to Looking Up!!

Picture is of the Redwood forest, taken last Fall.

And So I Start Again...

I like the idea of new beginnings.

I am amazed by the fact that our bodies no matter where we are in life can respond to starting over with exercise and eating right.
I have for several months not done a single thing in the exercise department. It is an area of great frustration for me how inconsistent I have always been with all things physical.
In January of this year I set out as all New Year's Optimistic people do to finally be consistent in this area. I lasted until the time change occurred in March and since then have not lifted a finger or a muscle I should say.
About a month ago my sister encouraged me by signing me up for a new gym. I was on my way to getting around to do this myself, but I can procrastinate like it's nobodies business when it comes to something I don't want to do. Don't even get me started about my upcoming, pressing need to register for a math class in the fall!!

Anyway, back to new beginnings. I am back at it again and have been going strong with the weekly workouts for over a month now. I am hopeful that it will last and I will finally be consistent in this area. I am hopeful that I won't come up with excuses or reasons why I can't do something that should be as important to me as bread, water and air.

I like the fact that God is a God who supports new beginnings. In fact He is all about new beginnings. His middle name could be NEW BEGINNING. I love how His motto is NOT- "Oh you screwed up forget it. You are a loser and you will never get it right but rather Grace and Mercy triumph over Judgement. That is His way. I think that is why He made us so that even our bodies respond so well with new beginnings.

Okay now for the random song in this blog;

This all reminds me of that old 80's song or maybe it was 90's...ya know how pretty much everything can remind me of a song right?

"Here I go again on my own,
Going down the only road I've ever known"

Okay all you song trivia people out there who sings it and what are the rest of the words??

Some favorites from the Johnson Wedding

For those of you who aren't on Facebook...ahem Shontell

Finding A Literary Agent

I have found my searching for a literary agent to be quite difficult. As difficult as getting published, (ahem... by a legit publisher that is) will be I am sure. It is a more agonizing process than I thought it would be. The ability to be rejected several times without taking it personal is not an easy one to come by. I am sure this is a skill that comes over time. I haven't acquired it yet. It's not as though I am devastated every time a rejection email comes back, it's just each time I see an agent has written me back, I let the letter sit for 2.5 seconds before opening it with the high hopes that this might be the person who wants to read more of my work. So far, I haven't got that hopeful letter back YET!!

Every agent requires that you send them a query letter. Basically, it's like a resume for your book. Some require if you have illustrations to send those and some won't even open your email if there are attachments. IF you don't follow their specifications to a T (yes that is a capital T folks) they won't even consider your work. All of these things I didn't even know before entering this wonderful world of publishing.

I set out originally to find someone local. Much to my surprise, (I am being totally sarcastic here in case you didn't notice) there is no one in the Reno/Sparks area or even Northern Nevada area for that matter.
I did however get in touch with an agent in the San Francisco area, who referred me to this very helpful website;

agentquery.com

When I went to that website I then began to realize that I am a very small fish in an ocean of talented writers who were much more educated about this process than I was. I was scared. I was discouraged. I felt grossly underqualified to even be considering my work as something that should go public. My first query letters I was embarrassed by now. I did exactly what they said NOT to do before learning what a query letter even is or was. I didn't know that there are agents who specialize in certain genres of books and that I should be looking for those agents to even consider reading my query letter, let alone my books.

Then I remembered why I started this process in the first place. I regrouped and thought; some lucky agent is going to GET to be my agent, is going to GET to help me publish my book, and is going to GET to reap the Harvest of promises I have awaiting me.
So, once I realized all of this, I did some refining on my query letter, made a list of the agents that I wanted to pursue, and started sending away those queries via email. I have been rejected several times. I only have 12 more agents to pursue on that list that was 23 agents long.

I KNOW one of them will be the lucky winner.

Laugh Insanely, Love Truly, and Forgive Quickly!!

laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly!

I liked this version of live, laugh, love. Not sure why I liked it but here is an insight to my thought process on this one.

I feel as though my laugh is insane. Many people have told me it's loud that's for sure. But how would you know if your laugh was insane? I know I find myself often times being the only one who is laughing. That might be considered insane. I know I often get looks of shock for my laugh. Now that I am thinking about it, I am not sure it's a good thing to have an insane laugh.

I know I love truly because I am not sure I have ever loved falsely. How would you know if your love wasn't true? Maybe it's someone who is a phony or insincere. Although I not sure you would know what that would look like if you were a phony.

I forgive quick enough I think. I mean right now as I am sitting here thinking if there is anyone I need to forgive and I can't think of anyone. Nope not a single person do I have an offense with that needs to be forgiven so yeah, I think...

I GOT THIS!!

Just Thoughts

Three weeks left of summer break. I need to get this family back to real life time instead of island time. We have successfully once again thrown away the clocks for the summer and I fear we will go into shock if we went cold-turkey back into school schedule time. So really, I am thinking we only have two weeks left of break and the week before school starts is always busy with school stuff and getting back into the groove.

Emma has really taken to baking and cooking things in the kitchen. Tonight it's cinnamon cupcakes with creme cheese frosting. Mmm...mmm good!!

Moses marinated a steak for this evenings dinner that I am pretty excited about.

I am not going with the first publishing company that offered to publish my book. There was some things in the contract that just didn't sit well with me and so I decided not only did I have no business looking at a 10 page legal document but that it was time to look for an agent. Looking for an agent has been interesting to say the least. More on that later.

My neighbors down the street are getting ready for the big Burn. They are coming into town at their usual speed for this time of year. Always provides for some free entertainment. They are all so nice and very excited that you can't help pick up on that energy. Hope they don't get rained out this year.

My other neighbors have been unusually nice lately. Bringing over all kinds of fruits and vegetations. These are not the usual nice neighbors.

We still haven't heard any news back from our bank lenders about getting "Help for Homeowners". They said it would be 30 to 90 days before we heard anything. It's been 37.5 days so there is still some time I guess before we have to start packing.

Picture of my Dad and Isaiah at Savy's 2nd b-day.

Full Moon Poem

It is a full moon tonight.
I am sitting outside on this beautiful summer evening and I am thinking about all the many things I have to be thankful for.
Here is a silly poetic list

The Moon,
The Breeze,
The sound of the wind through the trees.

The Love
The Joy
The sound of my girls and all three of my boys.

My House
My Cars
My Dogs who sometimes I wished lived on Planet Mars.

My Family
My Friends
My Neighbors who are always giving without end.

The Creator
My Savior
Without which what is this life for?
But with whom all blessings come from and so much more.