Thanksgiving Thursday
*the soft light that floods my home at the flip of a switch
*fresh, clean drinking water from the lift of a nozzle
*cozy sheets to slip my cold toes into at night
*warm blankets to cover my kids
*food in the cupboard and milk in the fridge
*a roof over our heads that keeps out the critters and the elements
*good health insurance
*a safe neighborhood for my boy to play in
*steady household income
*friends, old and new and equally precious
*a husband i love and who loves me back
*two healthy, happy children
*a career that is not just a job, but a dream come true
things I sometimes forget to be thankful for each day are things many people in our world do without and today i remember to be so very appreciative of this life i am so lucky to live.
have a wonderful, wonderful thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everybody! (And A Shocking Confession)
I’m taking the kids to get their pic taken with the super realistic (real beard and all) Santa at the shopping center this morning–it’s a perfect almost holiday day, foggy, just the right amount of chilly to make things seem like Thanksgiving. Princess B got her pic taken on Santa’s knee during the week with her wee best friend on the other knee, but E wrinkled his nose at the snow globe that held the picture and said, “Why is she in there with Sister? I’m her brother! I should be! (This from the boy who has never agreed to hang out with the red suited jolly fellow.)
What are your plans for the weekend? We’re driving up to the hills Friday morning to see lots of family: my mom, 88-year-old grandparents, Dad, Step-mom, sister, niece, aunt etc. We’re going to pick apples and drink hot apple cider with my dad on Friday afternoon, do some ghost-hunting with my Aunt Sue after our big dinner Friday night (true fax) and I’m having lunch with my three best friends from high school on Saturday! I’m so excited to see them–one of the girls I haven’t seen in like, 16 years! *Oh, Facebook, how you bring people back together…*
And Saturday afternoon my mom and I have a standing date to go see TWILIGHT, because I think I’m the last YA writer on the planet to see it. Nom nom popcorn and candy and vampires, oh my.
And the best part of the trip? My grandparents haven’t met Princess B yet and they are so excited to see her! We’re going to take a four generation photo of Grammy, my mom, myself and Princess B. My great-grandparents were long gone by the time I arrived, so this is very special for me to capture us all together.
So now…confession time: because we’re leaving so early and we’ll need to pack tomorrow, get the car ready for an early morning exit etc…
*lowers voice*
I ordered our Thanksgiving meal from the gourmet grocery store. Pre-cooked.
Is that so bad? I’ve never done that before. We always cook.
(And now for the SUPER excuses…)
We’re going to the church in the morning for the meet and greet meal for the homeless and then we have to pack for the trip, pack car etc. with a six month old baby and Super E and friends coming for dinner, I just did not want the added hassle. Plus, get this, it’s only $125.00 for a dinner for 8 and includes free-range turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, orange chutney (whatever that is), stuffing, AND a pumpkin pie!
Dude. I spent over $200 last Christmas at Whole Foods just for the ingredients, never mind a fully. cooked. meal. And the friends are bringing the drinks.
So yes, I’m taking the easy road out this time. But we *do* have to heat it all back up. And that’s work, right?
Hope you all have a wonderful “5-day weekend” as Super E is calling Thanksgiving break. Eat lots and lots of food and keep Tums on hand. They seem to help take the overeating edge off. Thanks for all the support you have given me throughout this past year–I look forward to reading about your writing and your lives every morning as I drink my coffee. I so appreciate your friendship. And to my readers that aren’t on lj, thanks for coming to hang out with me.
Cheers everyone!
And if you have any embarrassing Holiday confessions, leave them in the comments!
Gobble, gobble
OH, if you’re lucky enough to get any reading time over the holiday, I bought the YA National Book Award winner yesterday, “What I Saw and How I Lied,” and it is FABULOUS so far. There was only one copy left so I snatched it off the shelf. Right away I was hooked: voice, characterization, setting…rich, true and intriguing. It’s my favorite kind of book, superbly well written while being a genuine page-turner. I hope to finish it so I can hand in off to my Grammy at Thanksgiving.
How awesome is that cover?
NOT Children’s Division!
This just in from pubrants a very in the know agent:
As to yesterday’s news….
This morning, I did get a chance to talk to an Editorial Director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s.
She mentioned that the hold did not apply to the children’s division and that she had acquired something just yesterday.
So a little good news on that subject.
As for the hold in the adult realm and how long it will last, I have not uncovered any new information beyond the rumors flying around. If I do discover info from a reliable source, I’ll pass along.
I think this is excellent news! I know we’ve all been worried. The kids and I were out “stimulating the economy” this afternoon at our favorite independent book store and I asked how things were going in this economy and they said they are “doing great.”
Another good sign? The bin for books donation was OVERFLOWING with brand new books people bought and then gave immediately away. True, this is not representative of the whole country, but it made me feel a lot brighter.
JADE is buzzing right along and I’ve stopped writing new stuff for the holidays. Hub printed the first 100 pages at work so he can read it and now I’ll have a hard copy to look over too and start tinkering.
Hope the pre-turkey prep is going well for all!
Writing Storm!*
It has…arrived.
*It dawned on me to put “Writ-ning Storm!” but then I figured that would be awfully Michael Scott of me and I only heard the phrase in his voice. =9
PS. Yesterday? FIVE HOURS of pure no-internet, non-interupted novel writing! Two in the morning at Starbucks and three in the afternoon.
Friday *nods head eyes start to close* Five (The *lack of* Sleep Edition)
1. Princess Buttercup doesn’t like to sleep much. Or to put a positive spin on it, she enjoys being awake. At 5:30 a.m. and several other times during the night.
2. Super E doesn’t like to sleep by himself because he’s afraid of the dark. So we turn on the light. Then he can’t sleep because it’s too light. Light switch on/off/on/off/on/off. *headthunk*
3. Evidence? Exhibit A: The water was running in the kitchen sink and I turned the light switch off to turn it off. The light switch has nothing to do with our plumbing.
Exhibit B: While pouring caramel saucey stuff into my penguin mug I gazed off into the distance. I looked back and the caramel was swirled all over my floor.
4. I wrote a new scene for JADE yesterday! My brilliant plan? To carry the laptop around with me disconnected from the internet. I wrote some on the couch and some lying on the floor while Princess B played in her fort. Lily, apparently, goes jogging in the dark. I read it later and it was pretty good. Sleep writing=awesome. You should try it!
5. Another good thing about sleep dept? Total access to unbridled creativity. In fact, I’m thinking about polling fantasy writers and asking how many have sleep issues, insomnia etc. I bet it’s a lot. But that’s just a yawn-guess. Course my friend’s baby sleeps through the night. Every night. And has for months. And she’s not a writer. See? No sleep debt=no book. So why aren’t I taking a nap you ask? Well first of all I’m all dressed up to go to Super E’s Thankgiving feast at school (homemade pies from scratch! In Kindergarten! I’m so there!) and I’m all fancy in my all-brown autumn themed outift: knit short-sleeved sweater on top of long-sleeved shirt, brown leggings and lace-up-the-back-knee-high look expensive but were actual super cheap brown boots that I bought in Paris (no joke) and that are (shockingly) the most comfortable shoes I own outside of my flip-flops. But that’s not the real reason. It’s cuz I’m a writer. (lowers voice) And I’ve heard they’re kinda crazy.
Have a great weekend everybody!
Me…sans the boots. And actually my hair’s a bit longer in real life.
OH SO Thankful Thursday!
I’m thankful for this amazing writing community I am a part of. The National Book Awards commentary–many ‘grats to all the winners and nominees! I love waking up each day, making my half-caf espresso fancy drink (this morning was caramel!) and checking in with my lj coven. Wait, did I say coven? Why would I say that?
Well…some people in high places are liking my Witchez & Warlox fantasy trilogy partial! I’m so excited~!
I’ve heard that the concept is “totally original” with “really good writing,” and that my agent would like me to write (more) of book one, which is JADE! So if I’m not around as much, that is why. I can’t really say anything else and I haven’t officially sold it yet, but my first time out of the fantasy gate the feedback could have easily been, “Meh, be gone! Get thee back to contemporary!”
So it’s just…thrilling. And a huge relief. The idea just popped into my head and wouldn’t let go and I’m proud of myself for daring to follow Lily and Logan into their magical eucalyptus forest by the sea.
Congratulations to the National Book Award Finalists!
Laurie Halse Anderson, CHAINS
Kathi Appelt, THE UNDERNEATH
Judy Blundell, WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED
E. Lockhart, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LANDAU-BANKS
Tim Tharp, THE SPECTACULAR NOW
My friend forwarded this to me: “If you can’t be at the award ceremony, which will be at The New School, NYC, tonight. Check out the online coverage via Twitter at: http://twitter.com/nationalbook”
When I was attending The New School for my MFA in writing, I was lucky enough to attend one of the ceremonies. As you might imagine, it was awesome.
Et Tu, LJ? And a GG poll!
Denied access to my blog was, in a word, horrifying.
A friend even wrote me this: H-dog, LJ is taking a powder. You must be fiending.
haha. Obviously knows me well.
So I spent the morning doing other things. I don’t JUST blog. I’m also a mother, and a writer, and a member of a Secrit Society. I got stuff to do. Okay, fine I was devastated! *cries* “Oh, LJ I missed you sooooo much!” At least facebook didn’t leave me in the lurch. Facebook, how I love thee and your Team Unicorn, fan clubs and saving oceans/trees/the planet one application at a time.
Well, I’m back now. We’re all back. And hopefully LJ is muchly maintained and won’t lock us out of our houses again anytime soon.
So we must talk. GOSSIP GIRL? I now honestly and truly and completely LOATHE Free Love Artsy Boy and his you-must-be-just-like-me-ways. What is it with these boys looking down on Serena and her “past”? It’s so weird. I don’t think boys are really like that. I mean they are going out with Blake Lively would they really all that concerned about her past? Is this realistic at all? Help me with this.
We were also thinking perhaps Aaron is so obnoxious as to make Dan look more appealing?
Your thoughts?
I love Rufus and Lily though. Their unspoken love/friendship is so real–I am so rooting for them for the long haul. And I loved the happy ending for the home-cooked Thanksgiving. And I love Blair. Could she be more adorable?
And like, a friend pointed out, Chuck’s shaving scene was…nice.
Okay. So a poll.
Who will they get rid of next week?
1) BART
2) VANESSA
3) LITTLE J.
4) OTHER
Boys, I have a feeling one of us is getting killed off and I doubt it’s going to be you, Chuck.
10′ers new look!
I wanted an updated Tenner look for our user pic and multitalented tlcadenceTara offered to whoop this beauty up! You like?
I seriously can’t believe we already have 30 plus Tenners—time is flying by.
Please check out the recently remodeled site for our updated look and add us as “watchers” if you’re so inclined. We aren’t doing much yet, but we do have Bios/Synopsis (with our pics as headers!) posted as well as fun Top Tenner Lists posted weekly.
If you know someone debuting in 2010, send them our way. Some people think we’re full, but we’re not!
We have no cap on how many members we let in and the community is a real treat to be part of. (Course I’m super biased so I suppose you should ask the Tenners, not me.) =D
http://community.livejournal.com/10_ers/
Why I love Mondays
1. Fresh start. Full of possibilities. What will the new week bring?
2. Get the computer back. No Lego sites, no hockey/football scores, just mine, all mine!!!
3. Normal Family Schedule (at least compared to weekend chaos of constant company/bday parties/what-are-we-eating for breakfast/lunch/dinner–ahhh!)
4. Get the computer back. Mine, all mine!! (Okay, I’m scaring myself now with the co-dependent iMac love.)
5. And…brand new Gossip Girl! Will Serena dump Free Love Artsy Boy? Will Little J divorce her parents? What about The Princess Blair and the maybe new step-dad? Stay-tuned and…
Happy Monday all.
And by the way, we weren’t the only ones who appreciated the guest visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/arts/television/17shaw.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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