What Is He Doing???

Today Emmett and I were at a stoplight, and I looked over at the gas station on the corner, and saw this man getting paper towels at the gas pump. But what was weird, was he kept taking more and more. Like the whole 2-3 minutes I was stopped, he was pulling out paper towels continuously and bunching them up in his other arm. So my over-active imagination kicked in and made me wonder, "what is he doing?" Obviously I get that he is getting paper towels, but why would he need to clean out the whole container of them? He was getting gas, and had a back door open, so I came up with a few scenarios to explain his weird and obsessive behavior. 1. His kid threw up in the back seat of the car. 2. His pet had an accident. 3. He was mad at the gas station/and or gas prices in general, so he was going to get THEM back by taking all of their complimentary paper towels. 4. He just murdered someone and couldn't get enough towels to get the "blood off his hands." :) 5. He just maybe really likes paper towels. I wished I had turned in and asked him what was the source for the passionate taking of the paper towels. Any ideas? Suggestions? Scenarios?

Good News . . .

After 15 weeks, (yes, it is quite literally like counting down the weeks in pregnancy), I heard from the publisher. . . (this is for added suspense). I saw the email from "submissions", my heart stopped and I thought: This is IT!!!!! The email told me my manuscript was going to start the evaluations process. So in my mind, that means it did not get an initial 'No' and they think it's worth reading. And I figure if it gets read by the outside professional evaluators, then it's worth paying them to read it. I may be totally wrong having never done this before, but that's what I took my email to mean. I hope they LOVE IT!!!! Now I just have to wait another 4-6 months. . . They did say if I wanted to know the status of my manuscript I could email them . . . I wonder how soon is too soon????? But, at the risk of being pesky, I think I'll just wait out my 4-6 months and continue praying that they will LOVE IT!!

Sick of Being Sick

The month of February was a blur of fever, coughing, and emptying several bottles of Advil. Everyone was sick with the Flu. All four of my children missed five days of school. The only upside to that was we each took a turn getting sick on a different week. The only upside to my kids having a 102 fever was it sort of sucked the life out of them and there was not enough energy left for much drama.
We had several trips to the pediatrician. One was done pre-emptively, when Eve started with the fever and coughing and I thought "if I get her in today, maybe we can ward off a week of fever and coughing". But we could not get in with our beloved Dr. Tuggle, and our only option was an associate, Dr. Barber. Eve did not like not seeing her regular Dr. and couldn't pronounce the other Dr.'s name right. He is now known as "Dr. Barfer." (Affectionately, of course.) Dr. Barfer, not knowing our history, and that we had already been in with one kid and this sickness, sent me home with no drugs, and the diagnosis that "it is viral and needs to run it's course." I get that, but Emmett had already been the test case for this flu, and I knew what course it'd be running and knew we'd need drugs. There's an advantage to seeing your regular doctor. Sure enough, the next week we were back to the doctor's office, seeing our regular and much-appreciated doctor, getting drugs from her and offering her a Diet Coke in solemn appreciation for her.
But the fun didn't end there. Audrey hadn't had the flu, yet. I knew it was coming. And then Eve, who is already allergic to two different types of antibiotics, broke out in a big, itchy, red rash, also known as an allergic reaction. What's next? I'm worried we're running out of choices of medicine to give her.
Audrey did get the flu the next week, but was the only kid who managed to ward it off without drugs. And she desperately wanted to get healthy so she could be back in school for the standardized testing. None of my other kids are that dedicated to school!
But even now, mid-March, there is still risidual coughing. All I can say is it better not come back to visit for a second round. I am quite sick of being sick.
And now that March is here, the wind is kicking up a storm. Don't even get me started on the kids and their allergies . . .

Ode To Clutter

Clutter: The stuff I love to hate.
Do you have a love/hate relationship with clutter? I sure do.
I really would love to be a minimalist.
Maybe someday I will achieve that goal.
But stepping foot into Target always seems to blow that delusion away.
I have piles here and bins there and stuff seemingly everywhere.
I'd love to chuck it all in the trash, but I might need it someday.
I have lots of excuses why I keep it.
My dad grew up in the Depression. He taught me to keep EVERYTHING.
(Mostly by example.)
The house I grew up in was a factory. (Literally, a building that housed a jewelry manufacturer.)
Factory-sized buildings make for lots of storage space.
Unfortunately, one-story, three bedroom houses in Las Vegas
Make for little storage space.
And, (sigh) no attic and no basement
Makes for even LESS storage space.
Don't even get me on the subject of craft stuff
And unfinished projects!
I'm sure I'm not the only one with some of those
Stuffed in my closet!
Somedays I get ambitious
And decide I'm going to tackle a box or two.
I have a sense of purpose, a sense of determination
Which quickly turns into a sense of feeling overwhelmed.
So all the stuff goes back into the box it came out of,
The box goes back into the closet or the garage,
And I pull a Scarlett O'Hara and dramatically say
"I can't think about that today. I'll think about that tomorrow!"
Or, in my case, next week, next month, or next year,
Whenever inspiration (or delusion) hits next.
But someday I will do it!
I
Will
Be
A
Minimalist!!

But just not yet.
I mean, what if I need that stuff someday?????

Dropping the Ball

I've never been very good at sports. I'd compare myself to Bella Swan in high school. Except, I didn't have a vampire boyfriend. I didn't have any boyfriend in high school. Oh, the drama of high school. But back to my athletic ability. In high school, and middle school, and elementary school, I was almost always the last one to be chosen for a team. My character, Sophia, same thing: bad at sports. I guess I wanted to share my pain and prepubescent and adolescent angst.



Last week I dropped the ball. Figuratively speaking.

We're in the process of refinancing our house. Lower rate=more money toward the house. It all makes financial sense. Long story short, the papers came in to sign, I set them down and forgot about them, son got sick, water heater blew up . . . I can come up with more excuses, but what it comes down to is we didn't get the papers done in time. If only there was an extenuating circumstances clause. Now interest rates are almost a half a percentage ( :( ) (that's a frowny face, not a monkey) higher and we sort of missed our chance.

If life was like a book, I could go back and edit my dropping the ball with the paperwork. But unfortunately in life there is no editing . . . only experience.

(I was trying to sound profound. Did I succeed?)

Chinese Fortune: It Must Be True

Guess what I got in my fortune cookie? A fortune!

It said: "Good news will be coming soon in the mail."

I'm assuming that includes e-mail.

And if it's in my fortune cookie, it must be true. Right? :)

. . . Yeah, I'll let you know how that turns out!!

My Exciting Life

I should have called this blog "My Exciting Life" because this week has been very exciting. Outside my door, well, next to my driveway, really, are four cop cars. That's down from six cop cars earlier. My son, home sick from school (again) heard a bang and asked me if I thought it was a gunshot. I told him no, it was probably the dumpster at the Dollar Tree getting emptied. Since it is literally right on the other side of our back wall, it is very plausible. And my son, being twelve, could think of nothing cooler than a gun being shot in our neighborhood. I could come up with a few things I think would be cooler than that that could happen in our neighborhood. Speed bumps, for instance.

Anyway, I decided to run to the store for soup and soda, gave my son specific instructions not to open the door for anyone (I spotted the Jehovah Witnesses canvasing the neighborhood a few minutes earlier) and don't answer the phone. I went out, saw two cop cars parked in front of my neighbor's house, got in my car, looked the opposite way up the street, saw one cop with a rifle and another with his gun drawn, and decided maybe I should shop a little bit later.

So I rubbernecked, spied, took my recycle bins in off my front porch one at a time (I have six, I love to recycle, but not quite to the point of tree hugging.) left my door open to eavesdrop, walked out once or twice, but gathered not much of anything. Through my tiny window beside my front door, I could see a neighbor from the end of the street talking to the cops (after two more cars joined) and I heard the police talking (but couldn't see through the bushes/from the angle I was at) to some men of Hispanic descent, but still gleened nothing. But I think I saw one of them getting cuffed. Again, couldn't quite get a clear view through the bushes. FINALLY the mail man came. Hurray! I could go get the mail and maybe find out what was going on. I wasn't sure if I should just approach the closest officer or what. Do they frown on that sort of thing? You know, neighbors being nosey. I thought that was our job as neighbors to be nosey. Two houses down there were some other nosey neighbors, ones who have never been very chatty in the neighborhood, but they were chatty today.

We visited, compared notes, shared opinions, you know, all the good things that neighbors are supposed to do when there are five cop cars parked on their street. They also heard the bang and thought it was a gun shot also. There goes my dumpster theory. But they had no tidbits of info, either.

Another cop car pulled up with two female officers. Since they were parked right in front of my house I took the liberty of asking one in passing if there was someone running around the neighborhood that was dangerous or something. I really wanted to ask what was going on, but I didn't know if they would care to explain. The one answered, "No, but it would be a good idea to stay in your house." Then she went up to the two people I was just talking to and I think she told them the same thing. Nothing like being chastised by a female officer. :(

The cops migrated toward the South end of the street, where it intersected with another street. The lady that lives at the very end of my street pulled into her driveway and a cop car flipped on it's lights and then she was at the trunk of their car. I was waiting for them to arrest her. But next peek, she was sitting on the curb talking to the cops. And they have been at her house ever since. Still don't know what happened.

Where's Edward Cullen when you need him? I could really use someone who is an expert at eavesdropping right about now.