Alive.

Believe it or not, I'm still rewriting my novel. Now that's just embarrassing. Sometimes as I work on it, I'm very encouraged, and other times not so much. For the most part, though, I'm happy. I'm making little connections (a bit like a developing brain sending connections back and forth between the hemispheres), ironing out inconsistencies, and trashing useless scenes. I suppose if I devoted a little more time to it, things would go faster. And I think I'm at the point where I need to do that now, because having it unpolished is bottling up other stories that want to come out.

In the meantime, look for upcoming pics of knitting and soaping projects - my excellent timewasters! (Or not wasters, since it's stuff I enjoy doing.) I made a batch of salt soap today, and it's AWESOME! I think it's going to be an excellent shaving bar.

€

I can make a Euro sign with this keyboard.

That is all.

Green Grow the Rushes-O

Sluggie got hit on in the library yesterday. She came to me all giggly and embarrassed about a teenage boy who had asked her to come sit by him at the computers to play Runescape. In case you have trouble keeping track Sluggie is my 10 year old. :-P It's really incredible to watch my girls climbing onto the cusp of womanhood -- carefree kids one moment, and so grown up another, with all that giggly in-between stuff thrown in for good measure.

May is here in typical Midwest fashion. You'd think that with 26 years experience in the Midwest, I wouldn't be foolish enough to think that after the first 80 degree day it would never be cold again, but I'm still learning. We had our classic warm teasers and plunged right back into the 30s. Today we're back in the 60s. At least it's heading in the right direction.

The tulips are blooming. I had kind of forgotten about them.







































And some little pinky white things are out, too. I don't know what they are, but they make enchanting little faerie carpets through the grass and woods.





































The Littles are playing outside, though it's thundering now. Excitement runs high!

Mollusc got braces and a palate expander on Tuesday. She's still at the "can't chew" phase, which totally sucks. Hopefully she'll be able to chew in a week or so. Food suggestions are welcome!

Homeland Insecurity

I've been doing some online research about bank alarms and security, hostage negotiation procedures, and the psychology of various participants in hostage situations for a story I'm currently working on. Do you think someone's gonna break down my door?

Sink, Dollar, Sink!

So was it bad of me to root for the dollar to sink so that my payment from Xcite books in British pounds would be worth more? ^_^

The new book of short stories (including mine) is out.