Thoughts on Thursday

This was Max as a puppy. He's always been a big rocker, and he's very disappointed Adam didn't win last night.

Hehehe! Just kidding.

Speaking of TV series, did anyone watch the 24 season finale? It was kind of blah for me. I predicted most of what happened (it helps being a writer). Still a good season tho, but I'm worried they're running out of material.

Lots of my favs got cancelled after the writer's strike and more this season. *sigh* Loved Pushing Daisies. They've promised to air the final three episodes and finish out this last season beginning May 30 on consecutive Saturday nights.

Almost time to pick up the grandkids - yay! so better run. Love you all!

~pinkie

Mother's Day

Today has been a great mom's day. I got my mother-in-law's quilt done - yay! (After 2 years or so - sheesh!). I started with two pretty fabric panels and designed the quilt around them. Talk about a risky venture, but the end result wasn't half bad if I do say so myself. I'm wrapping up several projects at the moment, and I'm so relieved to have time to work on them!

My housekeeper called today. She's out of town visiting a nephew whose wife miscarried last week. She called to tell me that I'm an inspiration to her. Me. Wow. You know, 10 years ago that's the last tag I'd have applied to myself, and I'm not sure I truly deserve it now. After all, it's not me who has all this strength and courage. It's the fact that, no matter what happens (including death), God's got my back. Like Paul said, to live is Christ but to die is ultimate gain. Not that I'm ready now, you understand. LOL!

My friend who was so terribly ill in the hospital is home now, and miracle of miracles, she's still on the list for donated lungs. I'm telling you, only God could have pulled that one off! Lane's assistant who suffered a brain aneurysm a couple to weeks ago went through a risky, experimental surgery which was a success. She's getting to where she can talk now and is making good strides back to normal. Her right eye won't open - that's where the aneurysm was - behind that eye, but she's able to feed herself now and all kinds of stuff. A couple of weeks ago, the doctors predicted she'd die within minutes.

My oldest daughter is coming from school for a short stay next weekend. I'll get to see my mom twice this month! Once when Laura and I go see my niece's new baby next Sunday and again for my regular visit at the end of this month (or first of next). I'm hoping to get a lot done on the kids' recipe scrapbooks. That's one project I *really* need to wrap up!!!

My son's on the way over. He's stopping by McAlister's to pickup sandwiches and broccoli cheese soup (in a bread bowl, of course!) and then we're going to play Samba (a form of the card game Canasta). Life truly is good.

Always,
~pinkie

Smiles to all you moms

Spyder's Got the Blues

Just got a rejection from Nocturne which is kind a mixed blessing. I really wanted to sell to them, but my dream agent doesn't represent series (Harlequin/Silhouette), and she liked this one (at least the first chapter which is all she's read so far). I know, I'm talking in circles. Not a good day today. Suffice to say, I was having trouble keeping the word count down anyway, so I'll be turning this into a single title. Hopefully my agent of choice will continue liking it all the way to the end.

The rejection from Nocturne was that the premise is good but a couple of major aspects don't fit with the Nocturne line. I'll just have to keep reading them and see if I can shoot within the target with another book later. For now, I'm going to develop some aspects that my critique partners mentioned during the readings that will deepen the storyline.

Not today, though. I've been in a weird mood all day, and I'm going to give into it while trying to get some laundry and grocery shopping done so the day's not a complete wash. I'll snuggle with my doggies, regroup, and start again tomorrow.

Love you all!
~pinkie

What happens in Vegas...

...has been really fun this time. More so than normal, I mean. It started out a bit rocky on Sunday night when the slot machines were ravenous and ate 1/2 my money in less than an hour.

We're staying at Mandalay Bay, and I haven't left the hotel since we got here Sunday afternoon. We ate steak and onion rings to die for Sunday night at a place called StripSteak.

This morning, Monday, I met my cousin Kenneth and Aunt Leota at the buffet here for breakfast. I can't believe we were all in Vegas together! The buffet was scrumptious and I ate like there was no tomorrow. It was so good, Lane and I ate supper there.

The gambling was awesome. I stretched my first hundred for several hours. I'd be way down and all of a sudden I'd win 35, 50, 60 dollars on a penny or nickel machine. I played several cat machines in honor of my bf Sheila, and they were very good to me. I also played a Green Stamps machine because I remember saving green stamps with my mom. It had some pretty good bonus features. At my last machine, I kept getting bonus spin after bonus spin and then special bonus spins until I'd racked up $282. Not bad from a $0.40 bet!

After that, Lane took me to a blackjack table. I'd been practicing online but was still too bashful to go play. We were betting $25 a hand, and I held my own for quite a while before ultimately loosing most of my chips. I had a blast.

We fly home tomorrow, and I'm ready to go home. Wednesday is critique night, and I'm ready to see my buds. Oh, btw, I also got about 2 hours worth of work done on the plane out here. Hope to do similar on the way back. I'm ready to get the current WIP done and get on with the next one.

To finish out the good news, my friend in the hospital has been taken off the ventilator - yay! She should get to go home soon, I hope. The sad thing is that it doesn't look good for her to get a lung transplant. It's doubtful she could survive the surgery. That really limits her days and In can easily imagine what that must feel like. I intend to support her with prayer for as long as she has.

Hope you're having a great day as you read this!
~pinkie