Hi folks; I hope you're having a good week. It's been really busy the past couple of weeks, and not just with writing. It seems everything in life has exploded recently in every area. It's like that sometimes, and I should have figured. The summer was relatively sedate - as sedate as it gets in my life, anyway - so I guess it was bound to happen.

*Sigh* It seems that the older I get, the more complicated life gets. Everything keeps growing. Don't get me wrong - of course, we all want to see the fruits of our labor and to see things grow in our life. I'm very glad to add "independent author" to my life, and I've worked 10 years for this, and hope it keeps moving forward. That's the whole purpose, after all. Life in the 21st century seems to be a complicated web of activity. Everything's always in motion.

Or perhaps that's just the nature of life. Maybe it's always been that way.

The ironic thing is; I don't want to give up anything..(Well, if my writing did well enough to not make a full time job necessary, I'd gladly let that pass out of my life :) But seriously, my point is that I wish everything would take it's proper turn. It seems everything happens all at once. Does my work schedule HAVE to fill up with  meetings right when I'm trying to get publicity stuff done for my writing? Do things have to take off with church committees when friends are coming in from out of town to visit? Do people addicted to drama have to start acting up (or rather, acting like themselves) when all of this is going on at once?  Does Chloe's neck spasms have to start back up when there are things at home that need immediate attention?

And yet again, I say it's probably the nature of life. I hear others complain of this problem. The fact is that the world keeps turning, and it doesnt' stop because it would be convenient to hit a "pause" button for a while. Each and every one of us must find a way to cope and to keep on  moving. Because  life does, whether we feel like it or not. 

So I suppose the point of this blog is to say that my life is rolling along, just like everybody elses'. Life on Planet Earth is progressing as it always does. We're all still here and alive, and by the grace of God, we'll make it. 

That's all today. Happy Friday to you. Hang in there and I hope you have a great weekend. 

Bye! 

Hi all; I hope you're off to a great start to the new week. It's going better for me.

First thing's first. I found out why the power went out Friday. Turns out the power company cut it off on purpose because a tree fell on a car up the road. Now tell me, what are the chances of that? A car is merrily on it's way and BOOM! A tree falls on it. Folks, that's just a "truth is stranger than fiction" one there. I'm glad the people are ok but, well, that's just weird.

What's stranger is that as soon as Rick and I finally sat down to watch "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I," Sunday night, the power went out AGAIN. And AGAIN, a tree fell and knocked it out. So both times I tried to watch TV over the weekend, the power went out. At least this time it was on DVD, so we finished watching it last night.

And again, that's just plain weird. But at least I have answered the proverbial question: If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Absolutely. It's the sound of everybody living in the surrounding area saying "oh crap!!" when it knocks their power out.

That being said, I have learned an important lesson. I will not get hooked on any more TV shows. Once Supernatural goes off the air, I'm done. If they run another Star Trek series I may give it a chance but otherwise - no. I'm done.
 
And folks, that's life in the rabbit hole!

In other news, yesterday was our wedding anniversary. We've been married 13 years. Man, that's unbelievable in this day and time. What's more unbelievable is that I realized that the kids that got married 13 years ago are gone. Yea, we've grown up. It's been progressive in some ways and butt kicking shocks in others, but it's happened. I don't think the quest for finding your authentic self ever ends. Every new thing life brings makes it continue. I know. A year ago, two major changes caused me to fight to protect my right to define myself and to lead my own life. It's only now that the battle is over that I have the chance to ponder: Who is this person I fought such a bloody battle to protect? Who am I now?

That is the continuing question not just for me, but for us all. And once we find that answer, life will pull it's usual trick of shaking things up and causing the snow dome of reality to swirl and shift once more. No, I'm not the same person I was 13 years ago when I got married, and I won't be the same person 13 years from now. And such is the nature of life.

Ok, that's enough for now - plus, it's thundering and lightening out there now so I better shut down, lest another tree should fall. :)

Here's hoping you have a good rest of the week. See you later.

Bye!

Hi all; I hope you're doing well and off to a great start to the week. Well, summer's here. Oh, I know the calendar says not for over a month, but here in the South, it's summer. How can I tell? The obvious signs, of course!

1. It's hot, plain and simple. Highs in the 80's. Lows in the 50's - 60's. Time for sunshades in cars and AC on day and night.

2. We have to run the sprinklers again. Significant rain stops in May and starts again around November. Sure, we get occasional wrath-of-God thunderstorms, but it's never enough rainfall to save you from sprinkler duty for long!

3. Days are longer. Light lingers in the sky until after 8PM.

4. Season finale's of TV shows start running this week. (I still can't believe Smallville is running their last episode Friday!)

5. Pack up the socks and polish the toenails! Every day is sandal day now.

6. Nature is singing - the roses are blooming and the birds are eating like crazy (wild and domestic, but please don't tell Chloe I put it in such an "undignified" way!).

7. Rick wants ice cream in the freezer at all times.

8. Standardized testing at the schools!

9. Big movie releases every Friday.

10. Writer's block! My muse has slacked off, thereby signaling the end of the winter writing blitz.

Hey, everybody's definition of summer is different and this is mine. It might be a bit early, but I don't see the harm in starting it a bit early. Why not? All signs point to the summer pattern starting now. Let's hope it's a good one. And not too many 100+ degree days this year!