I've Died and Gone to Heaven...

I love fruit. My kids love fruit. Lately, we've been into dried fruit, because it keeps longer when you're on the go. Grapes get mushed up and squished in sack lunches. Apples get brown spots and bruises. Don't even get me started on bananas. Fresh fruit rocks, but it doesn't "travel" well.

We were at Costco this weekend, and I discovered "Brothers All Natural Fruit Crisps."I thought they looked cool, so we bought them. They had different types in the box--single serving bags of Fuji apples, Asian pears, and Bananas-n-Strawberries. They aren't dried fruit, they're freeze dried fruit--and crispy, like chips.

OMGOSH I thought I'd died when I tasted them for the first time! How could I have not known about these before? Zero fat, only 39 calories per bag and NO additives. Just fruit.

HALLELUJAH!!!!! A snack that travels well, and tastes awesome! Needless to say, the kids want them all the time, and I had to go to the website and order more. Shipping is free in the US!

I know, I'm sounding like an infomercial but for this on-the-go soccer/other sports mom, these are WONDERFUL! They're fruit! They're healthy! And they're YUMMY, which is a bonus!

I firmly believe moms everywhere must stock up on these. They rock. :-)

I finished my friend's critique last night--now I can begin on my own edits. I have lots to work on, I want this story to be the best it can. But I also have a laundry room calling my name, in desperation. And a dusty house. And...oh boy do I need to get going!

It's Monday--and I have the house to myself and the baby again. It's so quiet!

Didn't sleep well last night--that's the last time I watch back-to-back episodes of "24" right before bed. Bleah. I was up for at least an hour, trying to sleep but the adrenaline rush wasn't dissipating...

Friday night was Kids' Days at Boston Store, so we went and got the kids their Spring clothes. It was awesome--sale prices plus our associate discount PLUS a 30% coupon. We basically got everything more than half off.

Then Saturday was running everywhere, to Dicks for soccer shoes, and a trip to Costco (the closest one is in Grafton, an hour drive away) and we were so excited because they weren't sold out of the frozen fresh tortillas you cook yourself. We bought four stacks of them. We LOVE tortillas at our house. And fresh is the best. And I suck at rolling them out. :-)

Sunday we had seven inches of snow on the ground, and it blew and blizzarded most of the day. We hung out with the kids and it was a nice relaxing day. And the snow mostly melted after a while.

Now it's back to work! I'm finishing up a crit for a friend--I've already run to the cleaners.
I've neglected the yoga as of late, and I'm feeling it. I am committing to three times a week for an hour. That should be a good start.
I wonder if soccer practice will happen this week. With all the snow and melting, the fields will be small lakes.

*sigh* Spring better hurry up and SPRING already!

You've GOT to be joking...

So, we're supposed to get SNOW tomorrow? Did I hear that right? Not a major dumping, or anything, but SNOW. Last week my kids were wearing shorts to school. This is ridiculous.

Thing Two wanted to wear his Columbia fleece jacket to school this morning, and I told him NO WAY. He had to wear his winter coat. He grumbled and mumbled and got his coat on, and when I peeked at him outside, he had his hood up and was acting like he was going to die from cold.

Yeah, I love being right! The wind outside right now is probably making the temps in the single digits. It's FREEZING.

The weather is like that Katy Perry Song: Hot n Cold...

We had a big church soiree last night, and I did a lot of running around for it. It went very well, though, and we had an activity at every table where you write "Two Truths and a Lie" and my Lie was voted most believable. My lie?

"I have a series of highly successful romance novels published under a pen name."

They apparently didn't believe I was caught in a Tornado once, in Sugarland, Texas. But for some reason, they TOTALLY believed I was a high school cheerleader. I am not HALF as peppy as I was then, and frankly, I wasn't very "peppy" even when I WAS a cheerleader, so that surprised me.

Oh well, at least I had the best lie!

Time to run around for a while, I was hardly home yesterday, and I'll be hardly home today. At least the baby loves riding in a carseat/stroller/shopping/etc. etc. He's my little buddy in crime.

Have a happy weekend, all! I will be lost in Editland. Although we are going to attempt to take ALL the kids to see Monsters vs Aliens tomorrow. Hubby seems to think the baby (who will be two in May) will sit through it. I am skeptical. I guess we'll see. Cross your fingers for us!

CARS Love

Thing Four has become obsessed with the movie CARS lately. So, we watch the movie. A LOT. I've grown to really love the movie, and my favorite character ever? Not one that you would think:Yep, GUIDO. He's my absolute favorite. He's just so sweet and happy and...adorable. "Pit Stop?"

I just love him. I have him as my desktop wallpaper now. The scene where he changes Lightning's tires in four seconds flat is my FAVORITE.

Yeah, I'm easily pleased.

Short post today--since I stayed up until 2am critiquing my friend's manuscript. Well, Hubby brought work home and I promised I'd stay up with him. So we were each on our own computers, working, and finally at 2am I was DONE. Couldn't see straight. Same with him. And he wasn't close to being finished. A nice 19-hour day for him. Poor guy.

I'm off to make my church visits now. No rest for the weary, I guess. But you can bet I am SO taking a nap when the kiddo takes HIS nap! HA!

Kids are Predictable.

The baby did his "I'll cry while I have an audience" thing again this morning. We all just ignore him while he lies there, moaning, eventually he just gets up and toddles around like he was never upset.

My 11-year old daughter was upset with me last Friday because I didn't want to go wait in line to buy "Twilight" at midnight. I was like, WTHeck? with her. The only time I've ever waited in line at midnight was for the release of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS.

THAT, in my opinion, was warranted. But to go buy a DVD of a movie she'd ALREADY seen? That was just ridiculous. I picked it up Saturday morning. And I got the cheap DVD without the special features because she's obsessed enough with it and frankly, the extended makeout scenes and a scene where Edward sucks on Bella's finger to "taste her" is on the extended DVD, and my innocent little 11-year old doesn't need to see things like that.

I've also limited her viewing of the movie to once a week. No debate. She really hates that rule, but I'm not feeding her obsession. Yeah, I'm the mean mom who will only let her read the first book and not the others, and I thwart her at every turn. Yeah, I'm HORRIBLE.

:-)

I just happen to know her, very well.

On the writing front, I got back two SUPER critiques yesterday. Wowza. I didn't realize how badly I overused certain words, and adverbs (well I knew, but I'd hoped I could get away with it). I LOVE adverbs. A lot of people detest them. Not me. I'm a big fan. And ellipses. And italic font. Those are my bread and butter, right there...

Heh heh. Anyway, I have lots of editing to do. I think I have the plot where I want it, now I need to get everything else nailed down. I'm going to have to move my April 1st deadline out--at this point, when it's ready, it's ready. And I still have to write a synopsis. Grrrrr.

Thing Three was well enough to send to school today, he missed four days total. Poor little guy. I guess his pneumonia was bacterial, because he got better quickly after we started the antibiotics.

Now I wish the weather would cooperate! Where did the sun go?

MEMORIES! MIB RARE!! For Sale!!!

Overheard this morning:

Thing Three: Where did your pokemon card collection go?

Thing One: I put them away.

Thing Three: Why? Now we can't trade!

Thing One: I want to sit on them for ten years and then I can sell them for a lot of money on Ebay!

Yep, those are my kids!

Back when I wasn't on a budget, I used to surf Ebay looking for things from my childhood: Trixie Belden books, Richard Scarry books, and of course, the Holy Grail of finds: A vintage 1978 Barbie Perfume Maker. (Which I happily have in storage, and I paid $50 for.)

Yep, you gotta love Ebay. I told my kids these people were smart. They held onto things, and now lots of people want to buy them, because generally, people are sentimental. Scratch and sniff stickers from the 80's. I had DOZENS of sheets of those things, and don't know where they went. Now, an intact sheet of Trend scratch n sniff stickers can go for $13. For ONE SHEET. And remember those little Village Lip Lickers lip gloss tins? I had the DUOs--Cherry and Cola, and Raspberries and Cream. Someone STOLE them from me, and I've always longed to have them back.

Of course I've never actually found those on Ebay, but every once in a while, I'll "peek." I found a copy of my FAVORITE KID MOVIE EVER on Ebay--"The Moon Spinners."

I've found so many treasures over the years. My kids know the drill. Treat your stuff nice, hold onto it for 20 years, and make a killing on Ebay.

Yeah, I'm chuckling, too.

Kids. You gotta love 'em.

Longest. Weekend. Ever.

We spent this weekend being...sick. Fevers, coughs, sore throats, stuffed up noses, you name it. Thing Three was worrying me so I took him to urgent care yesterday, and he has pneumonia. They weren't sure if it was viral or bacterial, so they prescribed antibiotics and we've got our fingers crossed. He's pretty much the same today, and I'm keeping him home from school until his fever breaks and he feels better. Poor little guy.

I feel like I need to douse my entire house in alcohol--I've been running the washing machine on "Sanitary" wash for two days. All the sheets and towels, clothes, everything. My sanitary wash cycle ain't slow, either. One hour and 55 minutes of boiling hot water and soap. So, two hours for one load. But hey, if the laundry comes out Sanitary, that's the idea.

We missed the Pinewood Derby. I felt awful, but Thing Three had a fever of 103 and was coughing up everything under the sun, and Thing Two had a fever and a sore throat. Why would I drag them across town to race cars? We'd infect everyone. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and Hubby and I put a lot of time in on their cars, but what can you do?

The boys were OK with it, they didn't really feel like going anywhere anyway. We stayed in our jammies all day Saturday, and ordered food in.

Now I am a Cleaning Fiend. I didn't feel like tidying up much yesterday, so I have Clutter House. I really hate clutter. So, I'm knocking it out slowly.

Thing One was really bored so I gave her my story to read, and she read it in six hours. She really liked it, so I guess that's a good sign. ;-)

I just hope the lungs heal up quickly, the kids have soccer practice this week. Running around a grassy field after you've had a chest cold/pneumonia can get a little tricky...

Hope everyone is healthier than we are!

The In Between...

Soccer Practice starts tonight! Now I need to run to Sports Authority because Thing One has outgrown her cleats since last season. Her feet are getting HUGE!
Thing Three needs new cleats too. He's been doing winter soccer, but complained of his cleats feeling a little "tight" the last two games. New soccer cleats all around, I guess.

That's my main chagrin about kids--they grow out of everything so fast!! Urgh.

We got our pinewood derby cars finished, and we're scrambling because the Derby is tomorrow and they WEIGH TOO MUCH! One is 5.30 oz. and the other is 5.25 oz. Thing Two's car last year was 4.95 oz--just .05 under the limit! We got lucky with that one. We're trying to figure out what we can take off and lose. .30 oz really isn't a whole lot...

I literally spent the whole day yesterday on the computer, researching agents. And I only found a handful that I'm truly excited about. My YA fiction is very juvenile and "safe" with very little cuss words and no sex whatsoever. And I'm looking at all these agents with sales in edgy, dark YA, and I'm thinking, we need to get back to the wide-eyed innocence of the 80's novels. Maybe I'm outdated because my characters don't do drugs or get abused or raped, but frankly, I think being a teen is depressing enough, why would you want to READ a depressing, edgy book?

So, I guess my book isn't a true "YA" but it's too advanced for Middle Grade, so what does that make me? Somewhere in between? Juvenile fiction isn't quite right, either. My friend Brenda brought this up. Maybe we should invent a new genre: "Happy Young Adult!" ;-)

When *I* was a teen, I was horribly self-conscious--to the point where I was nearly retarded, and I loved the "happy escape" books provided for me. You know, the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" type books. Books that took you away, and had a HAPPY ending.

The trend these days is towards the DEPRESSING, if you ask me. I want an escape, for Pete's sake, not to be pulled into the personal hell of some abused teen trying to make a better life for him/herself.

Or maybe it's just me.

It's a tough market out there. I guess we'll see!

Chop Chop Chop.

Why is it I always have an epiphany about my writing in the shower? Well, had one yesterday, and it was a doozy. Rotten timing, since I have the story out for critique, but I had to run with it. So, last night, I sat down, and took a machete to the story. Usually, I'm in favor of tweezers, and occasionally, pliers, but last night, the machete was resurrected, and I CHOPPED.

Gone is the boring, non-compelling beginning. I get right to the meat of the story, and got rid of the interaction between the "Nana and her grandson" which frankly, was jarring every time they interrupted the action. It chopped the manuscript from 67K to 63K, which is more around where I want it to be, in terms of length.

I think it flows better, and the storyline is cohesive. GO ME. I'm sure my critique readers will hate me, though, since they have the older, sluggish draft.

I've been reading up on the agent's submission policies, and the majority of them want only a query and the first ten pages. And I felt the first ten pages were BORING. Not to mention in them I commit the most egregious of writer sins: a big ol' info dump.

That's all gone now. The info dump has been dispersed throughout the story, and I stayed up until 1am fixing it. Now I'm tired. Dang it.

It's Thursday! Basketball game, and I will have to drop Thing One off again and miss it. The baby is still not 100%, and now Thing Three (my eight year old) is home with a fever. At least we're all getting it at once--it's not dragging out over several weeks, like it usually does. :-) That's something to be happy about.

I've put the machete away for now. It actually felt liberating to lighten up the story, and from now on...I'll only be using tweezers.

I hope...

Squabbbling.

First off, I have a shout out to my good friend Aimee, who is living abroad in Istanbul. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ROSSMAN!!! WOO! And since you're living in Turkey, I have a Turkey Cake for you:Yeah, I kill myself. Heh heh.

So, I am tired of all the squabbling. I hear it all day long between my two boys (and sometimes my daughter joins in the fray) and lately, when the news is on, everybody is squabbling about everything. About AIG. About the earmark-laden spending bill (if I remember correctly Obama said he'd VETO any bill that crossed his desk with earmarks...hmmm) and all the political yadda yadda yadda. And I am horribly saddened by what happened to Natasha Richardson.

I turned the TV off. Rather, since Hubby loves the squabbling, I went in another room. I turned on some music, and just...existed.

Our society likes to squabble. It thrives on turmoil. I am getting tired of it. Yet I like to be educated on what's happening in the world, so it's tough. What's a person to do?

The baby won't eat. I fix all of his favorite things, and he throws them on the floor. The little stinker. But he drinks milk like no tomorrow. I actually got some oatmeal in him this morning, which was a miracle. Baby steps to recovery, I guess.

Now Hubby, Myself and Thing Three all have scratchy sore throats. I swear I could turn this house inside out and sterilize it with every chemical known to man and wash everything on SANITARY wash cycle and we'd still all get sick.

Hmmm... maybe I could put everyone in their own individual bubbles...