Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a wonderfully Happy Thanksgiving.

Thankful

Thanksgiving 2011

I'm very grateful for my family and friends. I'm excited that my book My Zoo World: If All Dogs Go to Heaven, Then I'm in Trouble is published. It's been a great year with poems and flash fictions chosen for various on-line journals.

I'm employed. My husband's employed. We have health insurance. Wow - that says a lot.

My father, at 80 (no, he doesn't admit to being a senior) is energetic and healthy. I'm SO grateful. My sister is doing great, as well as my brother and his family. All in all, I have so much to be thankful for.

Here's a humorous poem to celebrate Thanksgiving and enter the Christmas season:

Peace on earth

bow my head in church and pray
one eye on my teen brother, he texts his girl
other eye on Nate Holcomb, my enemy
I hate him, but it's Sunday so I can't, should
pray for his soul, for that pious face
to break out in zits, but that's not Christian
charity

close my eyes, soar above the congregation
imagine peace on earth, or at least my
sister's grubby fingers out of my stuff
sorry I pushed her, but she stole my glitter
shirt, claimed it was borrowed, but that
implies consent. Stomach growls
pray for last piece of pumpkin pie


sigh



and peace on earth

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to tell all of you to have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope you are surrounded by friends and family on this wonderful day.

Turkey Tales

Just when you think there's nothing prettier than tulips in spring or crepe myrtles in summer, along come mums in the fall. This was given to me in October for my birthday and it's the gift that keeps giving (Thanks, Ann). Fall - I love the crisp air, frosty mornings, and a sweatshirt (Purple - TCU - that's a fave).

Not thankful for leaves in the pool. They clog up the basket and ultimately cause agitation - for the pump and for Ray.

Artsy shot. I need to remember this description as my heroine strolls in her backyard, pensive, regretting her past. The dying leaves represent so much ... Tell me - too dramatic?

Crazy red holly berries. I'm not sure if any birds eat them or if they are poisonous. Either way, we have a bounty this year, which could mean an extra cold winter. I'm ready with a stack of books. Like a squirrel with nuts, I store reading material. You just never know when you could get iced. (it's Texas)

I'm grateful for words, books, friends and family, faithful blog readers, my future agent and editor (I know you are out there). Thanks to Ray for his support.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of fun, laughter, and food!

10 Things I Need on Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I decided to list the top 10 things I need for a happy and joyful day.

Whether it's your biological family or the family you have created for yourself, Thanksgiving is a day for togetherness and being thankful for those in your life that love and care for you.

Every year I wake up early enough to put the turkey in the oven and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I am just as fascinated by it now as I was when I was my son's age. He would be mad at me if I even suggested not watching it.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a must watch classic every year. Now this one I probably enjoy more than my son does but I'm convinced he will end up loving it just as much as I do.

I'm not a big turkey person but on this one day (for a week) of the year I willing to roast a turkey and savor every bite of it. After all Thanksgiving would seem naked without turkey.

Forget the pumpkin and pecan pies, give me sweet potato pie any day and I'm quite content with the world.

Whether it's canned, store bought, or homemade, cranberry sauce is my secret addiction over the holidays. I can not get enough of this wonderfully bitter, sweet concoction.

Nap time! After all the cooking and eating you need to take a restful nap so you can enjoy the rest of the day.

I'm not the biggest sports fan in the world. I will normally only watch football if the Denver Broncos are playing but I throw that rule out the window on Thanksgiving. Football is just as important on Thanksgiving as the turkey.

What day off of work is complete without a good dose of reading thrown in? I only have three guaranteed days off a year and this is one of them, so I like nothing better to do than take a few hours (normally later on in the evening), curl up on the couch, and read a fantastic book.

Just before my son goes to bed and I'm relaxed enough to embrace the chaos of putting up a Christmas tree, I put on some Christmas music and get to work. Putting up the tree is on the must do list and watching my son's face once it's all done is my favorite moment of the day.

Talking Turkey plus NaNo

Sometimes you just have to declare it's Thanksgiving. Work schedules, custody schedules, traveling, in-laws, outlaws, and any other life excuse can get in the way of a family gathering. Thus, Sunday, Nov. 15 we had a feast (see above -Ray's Norman Rockwell turkey) and then visiting and of course, a Cowboys game (oops. They lost). This cut into my NaNo writing schedule, but I crammed out words last night and hit the halfway mark at 25K words. My book takes place in the summer and even I won't declare Thanksgiving when it's in the 90s. I might be writer crazy, but I'm not insane.

Saturday, I was out to the arboretum for a chocolate class (yum). Did make time to view gorgeous colors and be re-inspired since my story begins there.

Again, pumpkins and fall colors will not be a part of the book's descriptive pictures, but the Dallas arboretum is inspirational nonetheless.

Back to Sunday. Observed a 15 month old (Makyla) toddle about and the little arms can reach a mile, the little legs can maneuver pretty well. A little tipsy at times, but recovery time is quick. However, I believe I have the details down for my little protagonist and her foray near (and into) the lily pond. Teaser - Dylan, Jay or Summer, or Allie, Terri, Tom or Brooke.....their stories are building. All good people with foibles and anxieties and maybe a few have a fear of water.

I'm not sure what's going to happen..........but it's getting good.