Busy day that ends with a ringing phone.

My family & I had one busy, hectic day today. Our Fridays are usually busy since I save up all of my driving around tasks for this one day each week. Well, today we had new tires put on the van (we have 6 hrs of driving to do next weekend) and that took a lot longer than expected because the tire delivery truck was late arriving.

After that we had to do our grocery shopping, bill paying, library trip and all of the other Friday errands that I have to contend with each week. We left the house at 8:30am and finally made it home at 2pm. I was tired!

So about 3 hours after we arrived home my phone starts ringing. The caller id states that it's an anonymous caller. That's nothing new so I answer it. All I hear is "beep.......beep.......beep.......beep" on the other end, so I hang up. This happens about four more times until I finally decide to turn on the anonymous caller block on my vonage account. This put a stop to it.

Turns out that it was a fax machine calling. Now, I don't have a fax machine and never had owned a fax machine so why in the world would someone be trying to send me a fax? It was very annoying to say the least. So if you know me, and want to call me, you will have to make sure that you display your id or it will be blocked. If someone is wanting to send me some information, you will have to do it through my email and not by fax. I don't have a fax machine! LOL!

Good night everyone. I hope that you all rest peacefully tonight!

Life with children.

Life with children is hectic. They can drive you completely insane. When you have had a mirgraine for two days they will still scream their little heads off when something doesn't go their way.

Life with children is crazy. They will argue over the most rediculous things. They can make you want to pull your hair out of your head with the way they justify their craziness.

Life with children is fantastic. They can make you laugh with their silliness. They can make you forget about your migraine simply by smiling at you and saying they love you.

I love my girls. They may drive me crazy on most days, they may make me go bald at an early age and they may make my migraines worse, but I wouldn't trade my life with these girls for anything in the world. They are the loves of my life and always will be.

Hug your little ones tightly and remind them of just how much you love them.

One more chapter completed.

I just finished chapter 12 in my book. With this chapter I am officially halfway. I planned on the book having around 20-25 chapters and with the way it's going that looks to be correct. I can't wait to have it completed and to get into the editing aspect of writing. Once you start editing you know that the writing portion is almost completed.

Now that it's close to 1am here in Georgia, I think I will head to bed. The children wake up early so I need to get as much sleep as possible before they are chanting "breakfast, breakfast, breakfast" in my ear.

Monday night.

It's Monday night again. Mondays are always so blah around here. I get bored and yet I'm uninspired to write much of anything. I managed to write a product review and that was about it. I did finish Chapter 11 in my book last night. I doubt I'll get much done on it tonight though.

I just finished attempting to change the background on this blog, but apparently that isn't as easy as I had hoped - so I reverted back to this one. Maybe I'll figure it out later; when I can think a little straighter.

My toddler has apparently decided that she has no use for naps any longer. I knew it was just a matter of time, but why now?? It's not fair! *stomps foot & pouts* Oh well, I guess I'll survive, but I don't like it one bit.

Good enough.

It is now the end of Saturday and I accomplished enough time, thought and energy to crank out nine articles for AC this week. I think that's a great thing for a busy mom of three girls, who are very busy little people. It shows promise.

As for my book, I have completed 10 chapters and will work on chapter 11 (and hopfeully more) in the upcoming new week. It is going very well. The characters seem to have taken over the story completely. It's very fun to feel completely intranced by the storyline and it's characters. I'm loving the process and feeling shocked at how smoothly the story is flowing. The book is at a pivotable point, so I'm having to think hard about how I want the second half of the story to continue. I know how it will end, and I love the last sentence that I will use, but I need to get the characters from where they are at the end of chapter 10 to where they will be at the end of this first book of the series.

I think that I am torturing my poor friend, Shannon, by making her wait so long for the next chapter. LOL! That's ok though, because she will forgive me once the next chapter is waiting in her email inbox. LOL!

I'm still hoping to have the book completed by Fall, and it seems to be an easily obtainable goal if the story continues to go as it has been. I'm seriously amazed with the way that the story's characters have drawn me in. You would think, that as the author, I would already know how each chapter would go, but that's not true. I start out with an idea at the beginning of each chapter and then it just goes from there. Sometimes the chapter ends up being something completely different than I thought it would be. That's ok though. They are always better than I had hoped they would be.

Ok enough rambling. I'm off to bed and hoping for a more peaceful night than I had last night. Of course I'm sure that as soon as I start to fall asleep something great will pop into my head and I'll have to get up and write it down before I forget it. LOL. Oh well, the life of a writer!

Have a good night and may you all have wonderful dreams. :-)

One more day.

Today is Friday so that means that I have one more day to meet my personal goal of 10 articles submitted to AC in one week. I wrote #7 & 8 today. Two more tomorrow and I'm set! Yay me! Tomorrow is also 2 weeks, exactly, until my vacation. Woohoo! I'm excited and oh so ready!

Ok, I've taken two Tylenol PM and I'm starting to feel the effects. So I'm off to bed for the night and hoping that my toddler decides to sleep late tomorrow. Night all!

I did it.

Yay, I did manage to get two articles submitted to AC today. Only four more before the end of Saturday and I will have reached my goal of 10 articles this week. Anyone willing to give me any good article ideas for the remaining 4? I'm out of ideas at this moment. LOL!

Only 16 more days until my vacation!!!

Ah geez!

Well, I haven't been able to hold true to my promise to post on here more often this week. With the big girls out of school, and me still trying to write on a somewhat normal routine, I just haven't had the time to post as much. I sincerely apologize to my readers for that.

I have managed to get four articles submitted to AC so far this week and have two more ready for today.....once I get them written at naptime. I'm aiming for 10 this week to see where that puts me for my weekly income. My new goal is $100 per week from AC and according to my estimation I will need 10-12 articles per week to accomplish that. After today I should have 6 waiting for review.

Last night, around 1am, I finished Chapter 10 in Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! Things are going so smoothly in this book that it actually surprises me a little. My friend, Shannon, is still enjoying each new chapter and she makes me laugh when she says that she hated to see the chapter end. I hope that bodes well for the rest of the world when the book is completed....or at least bodes well enough for a reputable publishing house to grab it up.

Ok that's all for now, my girls are yelling for lunch and then it will be naptime for my toddler so that I can get busy writing. Please keep your fingers crossed that she naps today; she didn't Monday or Tuesday and I was going insane.

Until next time, I hope you all have a great day!!

It's been too long.

Wow, was Tuesday really the last day that I posted on here? I was trying very hard to post on a daily basis, at least during the work week. Oh well, I apologize to all of my readers (if there are any, LOL) and I promise to try to do better next week.

My family has had a majorly hectic and busy couple of days, so I really do have a good excuse for neglecting you. We only have 21 days until vacation and the countdown has begun to go a little quicker than I'm comfortable with. Before I know it I'll be running around in a panic because everything isn't packed and ready to go.

On top of the busy days I've had, I just haven't been in the mood to write. The last thing I wrote was on the 12th......which was also the last day I posted on here, now that I think about it. I have to be "in the mood" to write and the mood just hasn't struck me in the last few days. Hopefully, I will pick right back up when Monday rolls around.

Tomorrow is Father's Day so there won't be any time for writing tomorrow. The girls & I bought my hubby a DVD that he's been anticipating the release of, Ghost Rider. He is thrilled. Tomorrow morning we will let him sleep late and then cook him a nice big breakfast of waffles and scrambled eggs (yes, that is considered a BIG breakfast in my house). Then, we will have to leave to go visit his dad. My dad passed away 4 yrs ago, so I have no one to honor. :-(

On the upside of things, my good friend Shannon has thoroughly enjoyed the first 7 chapters of Vampires, Werewolves & Infatuation, Oh My! and the suspense is killing her for MORE of the book. I hope that is a good sign of how the public will feel about it when it's completed. Thank you, Shannon! You know I luv ya! Shannon is super great for a girls ego. LOL!

I hope all of the dads out there have a fantastic Father's Day tomorrow. To those of us without dads, keep them in your thoughts and they will always be in your heart.

Moving right along.

I just knocked out chatper 6 and half of chapter 7 in the new book. I am really surprised at how quickly these chapters go, once I sit down in a quiet house with no distractions. It looks like my 10pm-midnight writing times are my perfect time of day to work on the book.

I can, usually, write an article for AC during the day, but for some reason I can't get "into" my book until the sun has gone down and everyone else is in bed. Maybe it's because the book is about things going on at night, for the most part? Maybe I need to darkness to get the juices flowing? Whatever it is, my hubby isn't appreciated my continuous late nights, while he HAS to go to bed by 10pm in order to get up at 4am the next morning for work.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the way the book is flowing. I hope that it continues to do so. I can't wait to share it with the world.

How many chapters are you going to write?

That is the question that my husband asked me today. I was working on chapter 5 of my book and my husband asks me "How many chapters are you going to write?". How do you answer that? I simply said, "As many as it takes to finish my story. That could be 20 or it could be 50. I just don't know." His next statement was, "Oh goodness! That's going to be a big book!". Then I had to explain that the size of a book doesn't depend on the number of chapters. It's how long those chapters are that makes the difference. LOL!! He's killing me slowly, I do believe.

So how do you explain to someone who has never written anything more than a note saying, "I'm going to the store. Be back later. Love, Tim"? Am I the only writer who doesn't go into a storyline knowing how many chapters it will end up? Surely I'm not. I'll end up with however many chapters it takes to feel like my book is completed and I've taken the characters as far as I want to take them.

Hopefully, eventually, he will realize that this isn't as easy as I make it look. Heaven knows I love him though. :-)

Before Bed.

It is now after midnight here in Georgia, so I figured I would jump in here before I head to bed. Midnight seems to be my bedtime lately. I didn't get a stitch of writing done all weekend, but I'm ok with that because we had a nice weekend.....aside from having to go to a funeral yesterday for one of my hubby's aunts.

We bought the girls a kiddie pool yesterday and they have played in it for the last two days. It is so fun to watch our two year old enjoy a $10 pool. She won't sit on her bottom, for fear of the water being too deep, but she loves to lean over and pretend to swim. She even has little sound effects to go with it, "Fwim, Fwim, Fwim!" she says while moving her arms. It's too darn funny and yet so very adorable.

On another note, the older two girls have decided that they would like a bunkbed for their bedroom. So, being the thrifty and resourceful mommy I am, I glued a white piece of paper, with the words "Bunkbed Money", onto the front of an applesauce jar and instructed them to save up for their bunkbed. Now they think it's a huge game to see who can put the most money into that jar, and how long it will take to save up for a bunkbed. They are 10 & 6, so they are plenty old enough to save up for what they want just like the rest of us have to do. Of course mommy & daddy will be sneaking a few dollars here and there into that applesauce jar. LOL!

Ok, I'm off to bed. I'll be back tomorrow for another installment of my routine/mundane/normal life. :-)

Friends & Fun.

Tonight my family & I spent about 5 hours with my friend and her kiddos. We cooked out, made s'mores and just relaxed, talked and enjoyed ourselves.....while the children ran wild together. Everyone should have days like these. If you haven't gotten together and just had a good time with a good friend then you should schedule that immediately. An evening like that is a great idea for anyone! These are the evenings that you can make memories to last a lifetime.

29 Days!

Ooohhh, I just noticed that there is only 29 more days until vacation. No more months or weeks, now it's just days away. My days are looking brighter every time I turn around. Today I'm paying off my washing machine bill (YAY for one less bill), yesterday I sold another copy of my book (always a huge plus in my day) and there are only 29 days until I'm relaxing to the sound of the ocean's waves. I love it! Life is great!

Oh and anyone who is interested will be happy to know that I knocked out chapter 4 of my new book last night. It is flowing right along and I'm thrilled with it. I didn't make it to bed last night until 12:30am, simply because I couldn't stop typing and was afraid I'd forget something if I stopped and went to bed. LOL!

It's coming right along. :-)

A little variation.

I've suddenly realized something about this writing job/hobby/enjoyment of mine, sometimes I need a little variation. Yes, it's true, a writer needs the occassional variation on the types of writing that they do. Maybe that is why my article ideas haven't been flowing out as easily this week. Maybe I just need a small change. That's why I have so many beach themed articles lately, I was tired of the parenting articles. Now that I've done the beach ideas to death, I need something else. I suppose I'll figure something out eventually. For right now, I am occupying my time with my new book. There's nothing like going from packing for a toddler to vampires and werewolves to get your creative juices flowing again. Unfortunately, my book doesn't make me quick cash like my AC articles do.

On the upside, it is only 1 month to the day until my beach vacation. Seven days of sand and sun with my hubby and daughters (and my mom is going - can you say YAY for a built-in babysitter) will be fantastic. I plan to come back with so many pictures to share that all of my online friends will be disgusted with them. LOL! Maybe even a nice picture of myself to use on the back cover of my book? That would be nice!

I'm annoyed.

I am a little annoyed with myself this evening. After three weeks of consistant, mulitple article ideas, I am stumped. I've been racking my brain all day, and I did manage to write one article today, but I am empty on AC article ideas. I think I'll go see if any ideas will flow out for my book, especially since I didn't manage to write anything for it last night. Shame on me!! I'll never get finished if I keep going at this rate.

Household appliances.

Why is it that we never think about our household appliances until something is wrong with them? We just take them for granted until the day that they don't perform to our usual standards. For example, I vacuum my carpets about three times a week (I have three kids after all) and I take it for granted that my poor overworked vacuum cleaner will perform like it always does, each and every time that I plug it into the outlet.

Not today. My poor overworked vacuum cleaner decided that it didn't want to pick up anything, unless I used the extending wand. Can you just imagine me cleaning a whole livingroom carpet by only being able to use the wand? It was not fun, but the carpet HAD to get cleaned. My poor husband took it apart, cleaned everything that could possibly have been clogged, cleaned the filters and then put it all back together.......nothing! It didn't help at all. Looks like it's time for another vacuum cleaner. Gosh, I hate shopping for things like that. HATE IT!

Other than that, I had a pretty good day. I got one article submitted to AC, received a HUGE surprise from a bunch of my online girlfriends and now (at 10pm) I'm happily tapping away on my laptop keyboard with everyone in bed. Ahhhh, some peace and quiet for at least two hours, or however long I can stay away. Now if I can just tap out a chapter to my new book. There are far too many distractions online and my email is always chiming that I have a new message. Ah, well, the joys of being popular....at least online. LOL!