Scrapblog

I found something today that could be very dangerous for me. It's called Scrapblog, and although I've never really considered myself the scrapbook type, I had way too much fun playing with it today. I made a couple of scrapbooks before I forced myself to stop. Actually, I could have spent a lot more time finding the best possible pictures and trimming everything just-so, but I have too much work to do on revisions for the book I'm working on, and it's my daughter's birthday dinner at my mother's house in just a few hours so I played just a little. Honest!

Houston: We Have a Problem

Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area more than a week ago, and most of the country has moved on to more pressing matters. It's to be expected, I suppose. After all, there are a dozen other things out there hovering over the entire country, threatening storms of a different kind. But I have friends in Houston, and the corporate office of Romance Writers of America is located there, so I receive updates several times a day. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Houston still do not have electricity. At last count, the number of individual accounts still without power was 757,000. That's accounts, not people. Put just 3 people in every location, and we're talking about well over 2 million people still without power. In many locations an "open grocery store" means that someone will walk you through with a flashlight while you grab a few things (what things there are) from the shelves. Yesterday, my friend Allison saw a sign at her local grocery store that announced they now had fresh meat and dairy. People are still cooking on camp stoves outside and living on whatever they had in their cupboards when Ike hit. And now, to add to the power outage issues, the temperatures are rising and mosquitoes are infesting the area. My friend Donna sent me some pictures this morning of the devastation. I wish I could share them with you, but they're copyrighted and I respect other people's copyrights the way I hope people will respect mine, so I won't be posting them here. Some of them were too disturbing to share anyway. And most of us probably don't want to know what happened in the cemeteries, anyway. I suppose we might all be paying attention to what's happening in Houston if the economy weren't crumbling right in front of our eyes. We'd all pay attention if the people of Houston had climbed onto their roofs and waited for us to rescue them. And I'm sure the media would be tossing footage of the economy and the election into the trash can if this had happened in NYC. But Houston is our country's fourth largest city, and what happens there is going to impact all of us in the very near future. If the human aspect of the story doesn't move the media, then perhaps the economic impact will. Because if power isn't restored so that people can return to work soon, we're all going to wonder what happened to our gas supply.

Monday Morning Meme

I found these questions on Write From Karen

1. Are you brunette? Blonde? Auburn? And is it natural? If you could pick any type of hair you wanted, the style and color, what would it be? (Can you link us to a picture?)

Well, let me see . . . what day is it? No, seriously, I'm brunette. And it's natural. Mostly. I started life as a brunette, grew briefly sort of golden blonde in my very early years, and then inched back to brunette by the time I was 9 or 10. If I could pick any type of hair I wanted, style and color....??? In my teenage years, I desperately wanted my hair to look like this:

Everybody else's hair looked like that, why didn't mine? The question practically consumed me for a couple of years, and I really resented those ancestors who had cursed me instead with thick, curly hair. In the years since, I've made peace with my hair -- mostly. And in the past two years, since my first grandchild was born (and her hair grew in to be golden blonde and curly) I've shut my mouth on every curly-haired complaint that rises to my lips. Not for the world will I say something that might hurt that child's feelings. How can I dislike my curly hair when hers is so cute? So now, if I could choose, I'd probably want my hair to look something like this:

2. How did your car get that little scratch/dent? (Because let’s face it, we ALL have car stories, right? If, for some reason you don’t, tell us about how someone else’s car got that scratch/dent).

My oldest daughter drove my car, a Volkswagen Rabbit, through the window of a 7-Eleven store when she was about 5. Luckily, she wasn't hurt and my car had only a few scratches. The 7-Eleven definitely got the worst of the deal.

3. In your opinion, what is the worst-tasting candy? Now, what is the best-tasting candy? How often do you eat candy? Do you keep it around your house? Do you allow your children to eat very much candy? The worst-tasting candy? Probably horehound drops. The best? Snickers Do I keep it around the house? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And my children are grown, so I don't have a lot of say in their candy habits. 4. Are you easily agitated? What really makes your temper soar? Do you stay angry for a long time? Or do you get over it pretty fast? No, I don't think so. I can become agitated, but I don't get angry at the drop of a hat. My temper soars when I'm lied to. Lying is not only a betrayal, but it's insulting. The liar assumes that the other person will be stupid enough to believe what they're saying. I don't think I stay angry for a long time. I've learned that when someone or something makes me angry, the best thing for me to do is confront it, deal with it and get it over with. The only time I stay angry is when I allow a situation to remain unresolved. I've been known to get angry with my kids, deal with the issue, and then completely forget it ever happened.

Adventures in Food

Since I'm still butting up against a deadline and not blogging regularly, I'm going to cheat again and do a meme. This one was created by Andrew at Very Good Taste and looks kind of interesting to a Food Network junkie.

Here’s what you do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. 2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. 3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. 4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper 27. Dulce de leche 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini 58. Beer above 8% ABV 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian 66. Frogs’ legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe 74. Gjetost, or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee 100. Snake

Okay. Not bad. Slightly more than half, so I still have a way to go. I'm open to trying almost everything on the list that I haven't tried already -- and there are a few things I think I may have had, but I'm not sure so I didn't mark them.

How about you?

All Is Well!

To everyone who has asked about Baby Wonderful's health, thank you for including her in your prayers over the past few weeks. She had a follow-up visit with the doctor today, and it looks like the operation has been successful so far. Everything in her little brain is working the way it's supposed to be working. She'll have another follow-up visit in three months, but for now all is well. So, to our family and friends, to all of you who held our sweet little girl in your hearts while she went through the brain surgery, to her surgeon and the entire medical team who cared for her, our heartfelt thanks. We couldn't be more pleased with today's news.

Time to Vote!

If you're a member of Romance Writers of America, you should be aware that voting has begun for next year's Board of Directors. I received an e-mail from the national office this afternoon, providing me a link and an individual election pass code so I could access the ballot. Once you're there, you can view the candidates' bios and vision statements, cast your vote, change your vote, save your vote and come back later. Just please don't forget to vote!!!! For the first time in 4 years, I'm not part of the election process. I have to say I'm having mixed feelings over it. I'm going to miss serving on the board. I'm going to miss the camaraderie with the other board members, I'm going to miss working with the incredible corporate staff that Executive Director Allison Kelley has put together. I'm going to miss being an integral part of what's going on in the organization. On the other hand, I'm going to like having a little more time to call my own. Time to spend . . . oh, I don't know . . . writing, maybe. To be fair, I can't say that my (ahem) slow writing schedule over the past few years has been board related, or even board caused. It's mostly been due to health issues that were misdiagnosed for about 3 years. But it looks as if the docs and I are finally on the right track, and now that we are, it will be nice to call my time my own as I get back into the swing of doing what I do. I'm also giving some serious thought to relocating during the coming year. I know it will come as a huge surprise that I've set my sights on Florida where Vanessa and Ian are making their home, along with the World's Most Incredible Grandbaby and, if the counter up at the top of my blog didn't give this away, the World's Other Most Incredible Grandbaby, who's on his/her way and should arrive in March. I know that people live on opposite sides of the country from their grandchildren all the time, and they survive quite nicely. Well, I've tried it, and I'm surviving it, but let's be honest here -- I don't like it. It's wrong. Sick, twisted, and very wrong. And since I can do what I do from anywhere I choose, there's no reason except fear of the unknown for me not to move. Well, there's also the lack of money, but getting back to work should take care of that issue. Which I can do since I'm not running for election this year! It's amazing how everything comes together, isn't it?