Getting it Together

I was doing so well at blogging on a schedule ... and then the holidays hit and then a cold or the flu or a wicked combination of both hit, and here I am, dragging myself back into the land of the living and trying to get back onto some kind of schedule...again.

I don't know how it is for you, but for me it's a never-ending battle. There's always much more to do in the space of 24 hours than one mere mortal can possibly get done. That being the case, the days become a juggling act for as long as a person can manage to keep all the balls in the air.

Eventually, though, luck runs out and we're forced to make choices, and much as I hate to admit it, that's where I am right now. Do I keep four different blogs running (and I use that term loosely) or do I give up on a couple and concentrate on the other two? Do I give time and attention on a daily basis to the books I wrote under a pseudonym a few years ago--books I still love, by the way--or do I focus on the books form my backlist that I'm releasing again in Kindle format?

I'd love to do it all. Really, I would. In my dream world, I would get all of the Dancing on Coals workshops for writers revised and published in Kindle format, and I'd even produce a few new workshops on subjects I hadn't tackled when I stopped actively conducting workshops every month.

I'd lavish attention on Candy Shop mysteries I wrote as Sammi Carter and I'd tweet and be active as Sammi on Facebook. In my spare time, I'd judge lots and lots of writing contests, while still having time to exercise and eat right and spend time with my family.

It's just not possible.

Still, it's hard to turn your back on a pen name that was a huge part of your life for several years and to let books you would love to see doing well languish instead. But either I give time and attention to the old books--at the expense of new books I could be writing--or I let the older ones find their own way while I nurture new books into the world.

After reading the six books in the Fred Vickery series again to get them ready for Kindle release, I realized why readers are still, all these years later, asking me for more books in the series. I agree with them: I can't leave the characters that way. And there's my current WIP, a book I'm calling by the working title Dead on Arrival that's been nagging at me since 2008.

And there are big books, contemporary and historical and maybe even a few more time travels, and that Christmas romance that's been niggling at the back of my brain for the past few months. And the novellas I'd like to have ready to give away to readers next holiday season ...

And there are blogs to write and social media to visit, and covers to design and approve and ...

I'm not complaining. We're all way too busy. This is just my particular brand of busy, and honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything--except maybe unlimited leisure time to spend with the grandkids. I mean, a woman can dream, can't she?


photo credit: Tu tires ou tu pointes ? via photopin (license)

Think Happy Thoughts

It's been a rough few days with emotions running high. Nothing huge. Nothing major. Just a few of those days run together. They haven't been all my days, either. But you know how it is when someone you love is having one of those days. It kind of becomes your day, too.

I had planned to blog today about something I encountered online yesterday that bugged me, but as my youngest daughter was hanging up from an early morning phone call, during which we had been discussing her no good, horrible, very bad day (before the day even really got started) she issued a challenge to me to blog about something happy.

Well, clearly, venting about my new pet peeve didn't qualify, but having had a few of those days in a row, I wasn't sure where to find something happy.

And then a favorite quote from The Tao of Pooh ran through my head, and I set out on a search to find it to make sure I got it right (because clicking around on the Internet is infinitely easier than searching through all of my bookshelves to find my copy of that tiny book.)

Of course, any time I delve into the mind of A.A. Milne, I'm fascinated and charmed and I very quickly find myself smiling. Even though it took forever to find my favorite quote (it doesn't happen to be everyone's favorite, I guess) I found some other charming quotes along the way.

This one, for example. Because if you can get past the personal frustration of being disorganized, which can frequently lead you to think you're not only having a very bad day, but you're destined to always have bad days because you just can't get it together, you might just realize that being disorganized can lead to having surprising discoveries ...

Like that purse you completely forgot you owned, or a favorite shirt found at the bottom of a pile of dirty laundry, or change you left in the pocket of a pair of jeans. Really, the discoveries never end.

Okay, some of the discoveries aren't all that great, but some are. That's the important thing.

Or this one, which is my second favorite quote from A.A. Milne because it's one I so desperately need to remember. A life spent as a single mother working all the time and always feeling as if I was sprinting from one forgotten thing to another (or one thing I couldn't quite get myself to on time because of my day job), there were times when I really needed to just take a deep breath and remember that rivers are incredibly wise.

There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

There's some real wisdom in this quote. Because, seriously, in this day and age, when it seems that everybody is busy talking at each other and very few people are actually talking to each other, it helps to remember that the other guy probably has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

In reality, that piece of fluff is probably a life just as disorganized as yours, and he's probably just as worried about what he's late for or who he's disappointing as you are.

It won't hurt to (again) take a breath and work up a little patience. I think most people would happily remove the fluff from their ears if we stopped getting irritated with them for having fluff in the first place.

I wish I had a nickle for every time in my life I've been caught up in worrying that a tree might fall down when I was underneath. I would be a rich woman, indeed.

It has taken a lot of time and energy and mental focus to occasionally suppose as Pooh does. Supposing it didn't!

It's good to anticipate problems to some degree, but it's not good to get stuck in an endless loop of problem anticipating. Yeah, today's tough, but supposing it gets better? And even if it doesn't supposing tomorrow is a great day? What then?

I think, like Piglet, I'm comforted by this.

And finally, my favorite quote:

Aren't you glad you stuck with me? Is that great, or what? The thing I've realized over the years is that, if I walk out the door feeling pretty sure than an Adventure is going to happen, one usually does.

Maybe it will be a happy Adventure, and maybe it won't, but Adventures almost always happen to those who are Ready for Anything.

So brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can. I hope your Adventure is wonderful and fluff-free!

Easy, Quick Ideas for Halloween

It's almost Halloween and I've been out of town so I haven't even thought about decorating for the season. That's a shame because decorating for holidays has always been one of my favorite things to do. I'm having to content myself this year with clicking around on the Internet and saving ideas for next year.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Source

Look at these cute little guys. A few small pumpkins, some pipe cleaners and a votive candle or two and you're in business. I'm not sure I'd put them on the floor, especially with pets or small children around, but they'd also be great either clustered in small groups or alone as centerpieces.

If you had a big enough mantle over your fireplace, they'd also look great there.

Speaking of fireplace mantles, I also love this idea:

Source

It's a very different theme, so I can't see the pumpkin spiders on the same
mantle with the pictures, but this is very creepy and haunting, don't you think? Some inexpensive black frames, a few pictures printed out from historical sites or family genealogy, a smattering of candles, and a little cotton batting and you're in business.

Here's another relatively easy and inexpensive decoration if you have a sidewalk or garden path, or even a patio you'd like to surround with cheerful Halloween faces. Hang the carved jack-o'-lanterns from shepherd's hooks using hangers made out of heavy-gauge wire (easy to find.) Use battery-powered candles to keep the pumpkins lit without risk of fire.

Source

Tell me these little guys aren't cute! Use plastic-foam balls in different sizes and draw pupils using a permanent marker. Use a toothpick or stick to hold eyes together and attach pairs of eyes to a bench or fence or any other dark-colored background. I'm visualizing them on the shelves of a bookcase. 

Doesn't that make the porch look warm and inviting?

Source

Last, but certainly not least:

Doesn't that make the porch look warm and inviting? I sure think so. 

Ahhh, well, I won't be doing any of these things this year. Maybe next October

Wordless Wednesday -- Snape, my Grandcat

A Song in my Head

Have you ever woken up in the morning with a song in your head? It happens to me every once in a while, and usually the songs make sense -- at least a sort of sense. It might be a song I heard on the radio recently, or a song from my childhood, or even a song from church that's just there on my mental playlist first thing in the morning.

The other day, however, I woke up with a song in my head that makes absolutely no sense to be. It was "Bye, Bye Baby" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, that old classic movie starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. I caught myself humming along as I wandered from my bedroom to the kitchen. I was still singing it when my daughter left for work and it was still in my head as I sat down to write.

I will admit that the movie is one of my old favorites, but I haven't watched it in quite a while. If I had to choose a favorite song from the movie, it would probably be, "Is There Anyone There for Love" and I'd choose that one only because one of the Olympic athlete character keeps his butt up in the air when everyone else's is down. Makes me giggle every time.

That said, I have no idea why this particular song chose to keep me company, or what it means that it did, but I figure I shouldn't be the only person to experience the joy. So for your listening pleasure, I present Miss Jane Russell and Miss Marilyn Monroe.

Enjoy!

The Road to . . .

I have the very best of intentions. Really, I do. I begin every year vowing to be a better family member, a better friend, a better author. I vow to buy birthday cards for those closest to me and (better yet) actually mail them—on time! I know! The very concept leaves me breathless.

Every year I promise myself that I’ll blog regularly and fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting life (the one I vow I’m going to have this year) and all my amazing activities (the ones I swear I’m going to actually participate in.)

And then reality sets in and 10 months later I’m looking at all the things I promised myself faithfully that I’d do this year, but haven’t, and I wonder what happened???

Sure, there’s work to do and books to write and the house to clean and the dog to walk and the cat to continually move from my lap to the floor so I can actually do all of those things. And there are illnesses and emergencies that get in the way. But not every day, and not all the time. So what happened?

I used to be one of the most prolific authors I knew. I was focused. Dedicated. Determined. That was okay, but I was also . . . rude. I rolled my eyes at excuses and thought that anybody could write three or four really good books a year if only they’d put their mind to it. I was convinced that anybody who was struggling to write must not really want to write.

Yeah. I know. I apologize to every writer in the entire world. I’m not joking.

I was one of those people you asked to take on a project because, as we all know, if you want something done you give it to a busy person. I worked three jobs at a time, or worked two and went to school in my spare time. I was a single mom, so raising the kids, running the house, keeping up the yard, and bringing home the bacon fell on my shoulders alone. I had to do it all, and I did. (Admittedly, I fell a bit short on some things. I mean, c’mon. It’s impossible to do everything well, right? Right? So let’s not talk about the yard, okay?)


But for the past few years I’ve felt as if I’m on the proverbial road to hell and that road really is paved with my good intentions. Somewhere along the way I hit the wall. I spent so long burning the candle at both ends that, apparently, the ends finally met in the middle.
I also encountered a few very challenging life experiences, a couple of which shattered my entire world. It has taken me a long, l-o-n-g time (and a whole lot of prayer) to find my way back from those. Back in my “everybody can write if they really want to” days, I didn’t factor in those earth-shaking, rock-your-world, leave you empty and shaking in the corner things that eventually happen to all of us.

I’ve always been an avid list-maker and goal-setter. But now, instead of producing long lists of tasks I’ve accomplished every day, I find myself staring at long lists of tasks I haven’t managed to complete. Lists are no longer my friend, they’re my guilty conscience.

But no matter how it happened, it’s way past time to get back on track. And I mean it this time.

Maybe I can’t fill the internet with witty chatter about my interesting and varied activities, but I can be honest about where I am and what I’m doing to pull myself up by my bootstraps.

Today I’m going to declare a dream and write it down with a date. My plan is to read through the very first book I ever wrote, which is also the first book I sold way back when. I recently got the rights to that series along with the rights to a few of my romances back from my publisher, and I’m going to release them all in Kindle format. That’s my big dream, but let’s take it one at a time.

Dream: Start with No Place for Secrets.

Date: Publish the book by October 31, 2013. That makes it a firm goal.

Steps: Since this book was written back in the olden days, everything after the first draft was done in hard copy, so the manuscript on my computer needs some work before it matches the finished product. So my steps are to read and polish one chapter at a time and celebrate the tiny victories along the way.
I remember this from back in the day: celebrating a small victory leads to more small victories. Repeatedly beating oneself up over small failures leads to inertia.

Action: Well … that’s pretty obvious. Now that I have my Grand Master Plan, I have to do the work. My plan is to track the steps here on my website, chapter by chapter, to keep me accountable. Steps + Action.
As for those birthday cards … my oldest niece has a birthday coming up later this month. I could wait until the beginning of the year and start over then, but why wait? I say, begin right where you are.

Thirteen Romantic Movies

In honor of Valentine's Day, here are my top 13 Favorite Romantic Movies:

 1. Notting Hill (1999)

Starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. He's Hugh-Grantishly charming and she's ... well, she's Julia. Just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her. The requisite "chasing the girl through crowded city streets" scene in this movie is one of the best ever. 

2. Love, Actually (2003)

Hugh Grant again, this time with the glorious Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, and Alan Rickman, to name just a few of the talented actors in this movie. The scenes between Emma and Alan's characters are particularly touching. Bill Nighy is delightfully icky, but you can't help but love him. Even Kiera Knightly, who usually isn't a favorite, wins me over.

3. America's Sweethearts (2001) 

John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones are America's Sweethearts, once-married actors who made a string of romantic comedies together. Now they're divorced, but the studio needs them to appear together to promote their last movie. Julia Roberts and Billy Chrystal round out the cast. Hilarity ensues. What's not to love?

4. Overboard (1987) 

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. She's a spoiled rich socialite. He's a poor carpenter. She falls off her yacht and loses her memory. He's Kurt Russell. She struggles to find her way in a strange new world. He's Kurt Russell. The chemistry between them is unmistakable. He's Kurt Russell. Need I say more? 

5.  Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

A classic romance. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. If you haven't seen it, don't wait. It's thoroughly charming -- and I mean that in a good way :) I find myself quoting lines from this one. "It's like a little clue."

6. While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Back in the day, I didn't expect to like this movie. The premise sounded implausible, at best. But it's one of my favorites. Kinda makes you want someone to lean, if you know what I mean.

7. Return to Me (2000)

David Duchovny plays a widower still mourning the loss of his wife. Minnie Driver is a heart transplant patient who received Duchovny's late-wife's heart. Carroll O'Connell and his band of friends are scene-stealers all the way through. One of my favorites. 

8. P.S. I Love You (2007)

 

This movie has several things to recommend it. First, Gerard Butler. Second, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Third, Harry Connick, Jr. And Hillary Swank's pretty darned good too. Kathy Bates as Swank's mother is a great character. Does it even matter what the plot is? Barely. But the plot works and the scenery is stunning.

9. Some Like it Hot (1959) 

 

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are on the run, hiding from gangsters after witnessing a mob hit. Their only way out of town is to become members of an all-girl band. Marilyn Monroe stars as Sugar Kane Kowalczyk and Joe E Brown is hilarious as Osgood Fielding III. Wonderful. 

10. Teacher's Pet (1958)

Clark Gable plays a rough-edged newspaper man. Doris Day is a journalism professor at the local college. Since Doris Day's character despises Gable's character by reputation, he naturally pretends to be someone else when he's forced to take her class. Gig Young as Dr. Hugo Pine is wonderful. 

11. Truly, Madly Deeply (1990)

Juliet Stevenson and Alan Rickman in a deeply emotional movie that's also wonderfully funny. If I remember right, this was the first movie I ever saw Rickman in and I became a fan for life. Stevenson's portrayal of grief in a scene at her counselor's office is one of the most realistic I've ever seen. 

12. Sliding Doors (1998)

Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah in a wonderful movie about chance. What if one split-second move could forever alter the future? That's what happens to Paltrow's character, and we see her life playing out in two versions, running along in parallel.

13. It Happened One Night (1934) 

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in a wonderful romantic comedy. She's a runaway heiress. He's a reporter looking for a story. The story goes that this movie was a favorite of animator Friz Freleng, and Gable's character during the hitch-hiking scene helped inspire the creation of Bugs Bunny. 

Ten Favorite Photos

 

Ten favorite photos in no particular order

Copyright Stholen Moments Photography

This one pretty much speaks for itself 

 

 My dog's first experience with a real body of water. 

Home from deployment. 

 

 

Big Sis and her friend Benjamin

Vanessa and me on the way home from Jacksonville

Sunrise on the Isle of Palms

Copyright Stholen Moments Photography

Riding on the Polar Express -- arriving at the North Pole

 

Taken on our last Pioneer Day in Utah

Why I had a little trouble working while living with the grandkids! 

This was the view from my "office." 

Things that go Bump in the Night

What happened at your house at 3:30 this morning? Was everyone in the family sleeping peacefully? Not at mine, apparently. We had the grandkids for a sleepover last night, and while the 3 year-old and I were doing our part with the sleeping portion of our adventure, Auntie Val was up, praying that the 1 year-old would go back to sleep and taking the dog outside to potty. When she stepped out into the front yard, this is what she found on our lawn.

We're not sure who the car belongs to, but we're thinking it probably belongs to the people who live across the street since the car on our lawn was pretty much lined up with the driveway across the way. Maybe our neighbor got himself pointed in the right direction, but put the car in reverse instead of drive. Who knows? 

I'm not saying that this empty, still-running car with its lights on was abandoned in the wee hours of the morning by a neighbor who'd had too much to drink. Not at all. In fact, our house seems to be the neighborhood's random parking lot. Just a few weeks ago, we came home to find a stray van parked in the middle of our driveway. And I mean the middle. No room for us to put our car on either side of the thing. Turns out, it belonged to another neighbor who lives across the street and down a house or two. We don't know why this is. We've only lived here a couple of months, and we're still feeling our way around the neighborhood culture and customs.

But this makes me wonder about the rest of you. What's the strangest thing you've ever found at your house?

_______________________________ from the blog On My Mind Today

They Call Me Mad Charity Cash

Avast me hearties, it's National Talk Like a Pirate Day! 

I don't know why this day delights me so much. It's not as if I run around every September 19th dressed like a pirate. It's not as if I spend all day saying things like "Avest ye!" or "Aye Matey," or even "Arr!" I don't think I've ever used "Ahoy!" in conversation or called someone else a bilge rat, even on ITLAPD.

It's not as if I spend the day plundering and pillaging or scuttling nearby ships. Or swaggering. Or clenching a dagger in my teeth. I don't even use any of the prepared pick-up lines provided (handily) on the ITLAPD website -- although I'll admit that I'm tempted to use #5 for pirate ladies. What true pirate among ye could resist "Aye, I guarantee ye, I've had a twenty percent decrease in my 'lice ratio!'?"

For some reason, the concept of an entire day devoted to utter silliness is almost impossible for me to resist.  So batten down your hatches and hoist yerselves on over to the International Talk Like A Pirate Day website. If nothing else, prepare to be amused by the idea of pirate talk in Mandarin Chinese.

If that doesn't tempt you, maybe this will: 

And who can resist the chance to get your own pirate name?  Oh yeah.

My pirate name is:

Mad Charity Cash

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

_______________________________

from the blog On My Mind Today

World Card Making Day

Oh the stuff you can learn when you're trying to learn something else. Did you know that there's a World Card Making Day? I had no idea. I knew about Talk Like a Pirate Day (which I do try to celebrate every year because ... well, just because) but card making? Who Knew?

Obviously not me.  

There's even a web site devoted to the day with links to important information that I can't access because I'm not a member. So unless I sign up for a World Card Making Day membership, I will never know the purpose of the day, or get a chance to ponder the various suggestions for celebrating the day. Which is really sad when you think about it, because if I could ponder the suggestions first, I might be more inclined to sign up for that membership.  

Not that I'm much of a scrapbooker. Okay, I'll admit that there's something about the concept that intrigues my creative side,

but there's no time. Although maybe I'd make more time if only I knew what the various benefits of card making were.

It's a conundrum to be sure. One that could keep me from producing pages all day if I let it.

Maybe I should go write instead.

_______________________________________
from the blog On My Mind Today

What's Your Myers-Briggs Personality Type?

I just took the Facebook version of the Myers Briggs personality test, and I'm a little surprised by the results. I took the Myers-Briggs test several years ago when I was working in the federal court system and the Clerks of Court arranged for specialists to administer the test to everyone who worked at the two different courts housed in the building. At that time, I came out a strong INFJ--introverted, intuitive, feeling, and ??? Judging? Yeah, I think that's it. Tonight, my results indicated that I'm an ENFP (Extraversion, iNtuition, Feeling, Perception) The pop-up window with the results said:

You are warmly enthusiastic and imaginative. You see life as full of possibilities. You make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed based on the patterns you see. You want a lot of affirmation from others, and readily give appreciation and support. You are spontaneous and flexible, and often rely on your ability to improvise and verbal fluency. Famous people with your same ENFP personality include: Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Andy Kaufman, Bill Cosby, Robin Williams, Sandra Bullock, and Robert Downey Jr.

Now, maybe this is silly, and maybe it's not a real Myers-Briggs test. It seemed to be, but in this day of rampant online piracy, who can tell for sure? There were about 50 questions, and they were pretty similar to what I remember them being all those years ago at the federal courthouse. The point is, I'm not surprised that my results are different. I know I've changed since I took the test all those years ago. I've been through too many things, experienced too much, met too many people, had my perceptions of the world changed, and done things that have challenged my long-held beliefs about life, about reality, and about how things "should" be. (A nasty word, "should." I'm trying to ban it from my vocabulary. But I digress.) The point is that I think I'd be a pretty sorry kind of person if I'd done all that and remained exactly the same. I'm interested, but not really surprised, to learn that I've changed from someone who's introverted to someone who's extroverted. I always liked people, but it used to be that I needed a lot of solitary time to recharge the old batteries. Now . . . not so much. I may not be the life of the party yet, but I'm a whole lot more comfortable in social situations than I used to be. I'm also a lot more open to new information and opinions than I used to be -- a direct result of serving on the board of directors for RWA. If spending four years doing that job doesn't open a person to new information and opinions, I don't know what will. And now, I think I'll take my extroverted self off to bed. All this self-awareness has worn me out! _______________________________ Copyright © 2009 Sherry Lewis

Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else?

My daughter sent me a note to visit her blog this morning to see the results of a quiz she'd just taken. For years, she's felt a kind of connection to Marilyn Monroe and the results of her quiz came back saying that she is a Marilyn type. The bullet points were amazingly on target when it came to describing her personality, so I decided to take the test myself to see who I am :)

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
• * Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
• * Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
• * Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
• * Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

• * my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
• * my ability to establish warm connections with people
• * admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
• * my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
• * being unique and being seen as unique by others
• * having aesthetic sensibilities
• * being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

• * experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
• * feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
• * feeling guilty when I disappoint people
• * feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
• * expecting too much from myself and life
• * fearing being abandoned
• * obsessing over resentments
• * longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

• * have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
• * are very sensitive
• * feel that they don't fit in
• * believe they are missing something that other people have
• * attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
• * become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
• * feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

• * help their children become who they really are
• * support their children's creativity and originality
• * are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
• * are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
• * are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

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.