Good Intentions

For those of you who suffer,
I keep you in my prayers
For those of you who celebrate,
Good fortune I will share
For those of you who wait in vain,
I will complete that task,
Unless I owe you money
In which case once more ask
I read your tales of joy and woe
As often as I can
I wish I had more time to write
It always is my plan!
But life soon overwhelms me and
I’m easily distracted
By work and home and other chores
That always are protracted
So know I often think of you
And YOU is everyone
That I have ever cared about
And hope that –

Sorry, gotta go.

What's in a blog?

I'm cheating a little today. First I'm going to tell you all about the request for a full I received recently, that would be the full I made a significant plot change to.

I've been editing like crazy all week!

Secondly, I'm going to tell you about my other blog which really describes how I've felt for the last week. Except I forgot to mention I had dental work done that tore up my mouth and put me on antibiotics!

Check out:
http://rosesofhouston.blogspot.com/2009/08/escaping-doldrums.html

and everyone have a great weekend, I have a story to read and another one to finish!

The Joys of Renovation - or - the hurricane continues

Sometime in a previous life (or perhaps last year), I had the joy of surviving Hurricane Ike. Which, I suppose, is a lot better than the alternative!

FINALLY we're on stage two of the repairs (stage one being a new roof), which means my torn and otherwise disgusting carpet is being replaced with tile. Yay!

And aaarrgghh!!

Right now all my downstairs possessions are in the garage, master bedroom, or small corner of the living room. Supposed to take three or four days - let's add a week to that. At least we've only spent one night in a motel (the rest have been spent sleeping on recliners) and my two "youngest" kids cleaned their upstairs bathrooms so hubby and I could use them without shuddering. Replacing the master shower is stage three. It's all torn out but I guess a new one will be put in eventually.

Problem is - when it's all done I'm not going to want to move the junk back in! And boy, do we have a lot of junk. At least we can unpack at a slower pace and throw a lot of it away.

We now have a new stage four - removing the baseboards pretty much trashed the paint and wallpaper. Time to redecorate!

My writing time has been very meager this week and the dust and mold that the workers uncovered have given me a nice cough. All good fodder for my hurricane WIP though!

I'm still waiting for the signed contract to arrive from WRP, I have a feeling that will perk me right up and get me motivated!

Plus - I found three contests I can enter - happiness!!

It is done. Let the waiting begin.

I did it. Got my cover letter and synopsis and first three chapters in the mail to Steeple Hill.

Of course - the editor that said change these things and send it back has moved on... I sent it to the new person but doubt if I will hear anything positive. I hope I hear something though, fairly soon, so I can scratch them off my list and send elsewhere. I have this fear it will hit the slush pile and I'll be waiting until Christmas. "Elsewhere" doesn't like simultaneous subs so I have to get the official rejection before I can do anything else.

Of course, standing in line at the post office I thought of better things to say and things I should have changed or added, but resisted the urge to yank it back out of the clerk's hands and let the envelope go on its way. Sigh. With the other editor I thought I might have a good shot at a request for the full.

Never mind.

They've gone - whew!

And for those of you that think I'm heartless... I had six extra people staying with me.

My poor m-i-l, bless her soul, is old, feeble, and borderline Alzheimers. A couple of examples. She thinks the power is off in her home because f-i-l didn't pay the light bill. Also that he is giving her the wrong medication to try and kill her. He says fine, just die then. She has sweet, sweet moments then tantrums because the family is keeping her from her home against her will. Stress #1 - 3

f-i-l is great and still laughs at my jokes. But hasn't quite accepted that his health isn't what it should be, and eats food that upsets his stomach and makes us think he needs an ambulance. And feels helpless that he can't do more. He wants to help me with the three meals a day (for 10) plus dishes but seriously, it is easier if I do it myself. Stress #4

b-i-l #1 (50+ and has never been married / left home) gets concerned that he missed a meal and thinks I'll do his laundry. ROFLMAO! I showed him what HOT, WARM, etc. meant on the washing machine and how to measure the detergent. Stress #5 - 7

Two nieces and nephew (ages 11 - 14) are awesome and from single parents (hubby's siblings) that dropped them off and left (that's okay).

Three of my husband's siblings (he's one of six) in the area had power but did not seem to want the parents or see how they were doing. Hmm. Stress #8

And hubby has found a lot of "outside" things to do the last few days. Stress #9

m-i-l and f-i-l can't go upstairs so they had our bed and hubby and I slept on recliners. Sort of as the kids were loud until I sent "be quiet or die" text messages to my daughter. Note I'm not saying dh right now and "hubby" is stretching it... Stress #10

Turns out b-i-l #2 had a generator so f-i-l guilted him into setting up at their house. Just as well as I have to go back to work in the morning and my daughter starts school. Of course b-i-l #1's truck broke down on the way home and dh (!!) had to go take them water for their radiator. I thought they might be back and hit the chocolate. But they managed to make it home.

Excuse the venting . . . therapy!!

AND I got to write for an hour this evening and feel GREAT!! Tired, yes, but great.

Perhaps next week I can talk about something more fun!