Will I ever get my characters OUT of the Grand Canyon?

I’m starting to get reeaaaalllly frustrated, here. I’ve written my chapter six three times! Well, third time is the charm, and it is finally starting to feel ‘right’. The first half, anyway. But, now it’s time to get my characters out of the Grand Canyon, with bad dudes on their heels, tracking their every move, and I need to figure out how to do this without making it look like a bad MacGyver episode.

So, looks like it’s back to the GC research, staring at photos and trying to figure out how to elude the baddies for another day. Will I have the strength to write chapter seven after this? Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m hoping the next few chapters will be a piece of cake to write. Yeah, like that’s going to happen.

There’d be days like this…

I just didn’t think she was talking about every day of my life!

We woke up yesterday morning to this. Charred (Well, partially charred, anyhow) 1988 Range Rover. The car is old, but it got my husband around to work and such. And right now, we can’t afford the expense of another car. We’re not exactly sure how it happened, but my husband had left a (car) battery on the floor of the passenger side Saturday night…something must have ignited it during the night. However, it burned (and burned HOT) only the area around the battery and then, somehow, died out. We didn’t hear (or smell) a thing, so this was a huge surprise.

We’re grateful, because, frankly it could have been much worse, had the windows been left open, or if the fire kept burning/caught the gas tank on fire.

But, geesh, why does this kind of stuff continue to happen to us?? 

My first grade son (I’m getting tired of calling him that, so I think from now on I’ll call him “C”) is the receipient of his first ’school girl crush’. And, let me tell you, I’m having loads of fun with this!

I bring him to school one morning last week, and he’s trying to hide behind me. I keep turning around going, “What is wrong with you?” Then, I tell him I’m getting ready to leave and he sneaks over to his desk. Well, then this girl in his class comes up to me and says, “C is sooo cute!”

So, yesterday morning, I once again drop “C” off to class, and he’s trying to hide behind the cubbie shelving. And, then, here comes this girl. She sails past him, nose toward the air and says, “Don’t think for one minute that I don’t see you there.”

OMG, this is just the most hilarious thing! And you know what’s really sweet? My son blushes.   LOL!

Well, I received an agent “D” yesterday, but I’m not at all bummed about it. It was off a partial of THIS DARK PLACE. Although the letter was a form one, the agent handwrote a note at the bottom that stated my sub had been in her maybe pile, but in the end she didn’t love it enough.

That’s okay. I’m looking for the agent that loves it and “gets it”. I still have a full of THIS DARK PLACE out with one agent, and a partial out to another, so we’ll see what happens with those. And if I get “D’s” from both of them, so be it.

At this point, I think I’m putting THIS DARK PLACE aside to concentrate on HER OWN BEST ENEMY. Although I love TDP, I think HOBE is a better story and has a better chance of catching an agent’s interest.

This is the third day of snow day school closings. It’s beginning to drive me insane. Especially since I was out yesterday and the roads were perfectly clear. I was so sure there would be school today–not that I want to get rid of my children, I really don’t mind them being home–but I was looking forward to getting out and taking care of some errands. Alone. Without screaming boys in tow.

I’ve done practically nothing on my WIP…5 pages of chapter six that will probably be scrapped because they are basically nonsense, my house is a mess, and my head is spinning from the sheer hyper energy emanating from my two children.

Maybe I should go outside and stick my head in the snow.

I normally don’t post pictures of my children here, but this one was too cute to resist.

We’ve received about 3 1/2 feet of snow over Friday/Saturday.
Oh, boy, I sure hope it melts quickly! :)

I know, I’ve neglected my blog this week and I apologize…life’s been downright crazy. And then, I wake up this morning to snow! We’ve gone this entire winter without a lick of snow, and now that winter is coming to an end, we get dumped on.

My youngest son had his screening this morning….of course, he was the picture of sweetness and charm. He charmed everyone in the room. Bottom line, they don’t see signs of a bigger issue (like Aspergers). He tested very high on everything, and in order for them to show a concern, he’d have to have tested low in at least two areas. Of course, this was only a one-hour screening, and they don’t deal with him on a day to day basis. But, basically, they suggested that I request a specific teacher for him, and then make her aware of the areas he has struggled with during preschool…and then go from there. If during Kindergarten, he shows signs of a deficiency with social areas, they’ll re-evaluate him.

Here’s some of my favorite answers from him today:

They asked “What do you do if you see smoke coming out of your house?”
His answer: “Stop, drop and roll!” (said with much enthusiasm and hand flinging)

They asked “Where do you eat?” (I think they were looking for him to say, ‘table’, but, no not my son)
His answer: “Burger King!”

Oh, and when they told him to look at a pattern of words ‘very closely’, he puts his nose to the page! :D I cracked up at that one!

Last night, I’m getting my youngest son ready for bed and he’s jabbering away a mile a minute. Suddenly, he pauses and says:

“You know why I love daddy 100%? Because he’s good at taking care of me.”

More jabbering ensues about bedtime, his stuffed animals, and the joy that he has another day off come morning. Then:

“You know why I love you infinity percent? Because you’re good at EVERYTHING!”

Sure, does make a mom feel good. :)