Debboggy's Bloggy

Wow! Anybody still around...

2006-09-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Wow. I knew I'd not posted here for a while, but just realized it's been well over a month. I'm sure any of the few somewhat regular readers I had have given up hope on any new posts. Sorry about that. I'll try to get back into the swing of things.

Let's see. Updates on family and writing are in order.

Family first~Jon has been having a really hard time lately. He started school a few weeks ago with a great teacher, but keeps getting in trouble. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but through talking to his dad, Kenny, I've come to believe that Jon is suffering from fear of rejection and inadequacy. Apparently, he's putting up a cocky, rude attitude to protect himself from the fact that he believes no one will like him anyway.

This made me realize how wrong I've been about him. I never thought about him acting out because of insecurities, we just thought of him as a know it allish little brat. (which he has been, but at least now I think we know what's been behind it.)

I'm picking him up this afternoon and hope to work on his trust ans self worth issues to see if we can turn his attitude around. I'm going to talk to his teacher tomorrow to let her in on all of this. Maybe she'll have some advice on how to help him work through all this.

His dad want us to sign him up for karate to help with his socialization and confidence. At first I was afraid that would be a bad idea. I thought he would be too disruptive in the class and get kicked out or learn things he didn't have the self control to refrain from using on his brothers.

I did a little reading online last night, and looks like other parents found karate to be very helpful with ADHD kids. Having the belts as a visible statement of their progress really helps with self esteem issues, among the other benefits. So, looks like I'll be signing my little Chuck Norris up as soon as we get some cost info etc from local gyms.

Matty has been doing really well, but apparently caught a flu bug. This morning, he woke us all up by throwing up in our bed. Such a lovely way to start the day. lol He seems to be feeling a little better and is asking to eat. I gave him a graham cracker and some water and told him he has to wait awhile to see if that stays down before he can have some more to eat. LOL He just told me that that cracker made him get crumbelies in his belly button--on the inside! Kids. hehe

Jacob seems to be doing better too. He had been waking up quite a bit and had a pretty bad cold for a few days. Now his nose is clearing up, his cough has quieted down and he's been sleeping more at night.

He's still not talking much at all though, and he's almost a year and a half. I guess this is average for babies, but Jon talked extremely well at a very young age and Matty was an early talker too, so that's making me impatient. I asked the dr. about it the other day and he suggested teaching him a few signs. He said this would encourage him to communicate and relieve some of the frustrations that might be keeping him up at night.

Mark just had his birthday on labor day. I bought him a video game that he asked for and Matty picked out a Scooby-doo in the Mystery Machine van gift bag for it. lol The afternoon of his bday, we all sat at the table and had brownie cheesecake and I helped everyone make banana splits. I had three kinds of ice cream, bananas, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and cherries. It was a lot of fun and knowing how much we all love ice cream, I think that's one family tradition we'll be able to keep. :)

We also bought a bike for Mark and one for myself with a trailer to pull Jacob. We've gone on one family ride with all of us and I did one nice ride with just the two babies in the trailer with me. I'm hoping that we can get in the habit of having regular rides with the boys to fit in some family time together.

Now for the writing update. I wrote an entry for FW challenge on the topic of 'melody' and actually won 2nd place in Advanced. I was hoping that meant it would also be an EC winner, but a couple Beginners and one Intermediate scored higher and knocked me down to 12th overall. Oh well, it would have been really cool to be published again, but the last one that made EC was about postpartum depression and a lady thinking about killing her baby. This one was about Christians being tortured to death for their faith. I wouldn't want to get a reputation for just being a crazy person with a bunch of dark writing. lol

Ne'ikio on the other hand....sigh....

I worked on it the other night and am now up to eighteen pages. That feels like nothing, but Jezz did point out that that is about 20% of a completed script, so I guess that's not too bad. It's also up to 4330 words, which is a definite record for me for one story. The cool thing is, I know there is still so much more story to come, IF I can just force myself to get it out of my head and onto my computer screen so I can get it onto the movie screen. :)

Well, guess that's about it for now. If anyone actually stopped by and took time to read all this, thanks. I'd love any comments about any or all that I've posted. Especially if you have any advice for helping out Jon. He is really heavy on my heart right now, as you could probably tell from his extended portion of this post. Please pray for all of my boys as you think of them. It's always greatly appreciated. :)

A Special Monday Memory I Will Never Forget

2006-07-31T23:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure how I was going to handle things or what I would say when I got there. He asked me to go, so I went. A part of me wanted to be there too, so I was actually relieved when he asked me to go. It was a good excuse for me to see the damage for myself.

Ken's phone call hadn't surprised me, after all, our son had been visiting all week, and I figured he was just calling regarding the upcoming exchange. I wasn't prepared at all for his news.

I pulled up to his parents' house, or what was left of it, and opened the van door to unload the kids. The scent in the air immediately reminded me of the fourth of July. Only there wasn't much celebrating going on in the exhausted looking group resting on the porch.

His mom, Diana met me at the van as usual, along with his sister Barbie and her daughter. I still wasn't sure what to say, but Diana's typical warmth and love for my kids, even the two that weren't her family, melted the ice quickly.

After a quick hello, I walked to the back of the van and got out the air purifier Ken had brought to me for them when we picked up Jon. I handed it to Diana and after getting the boys out of their car seats, we all headed to the porch.

Diana asked if I thought Jacob would stay with her so I could have a look around inside. Seeing the dozen or so baby kitties of various ages lounging around in the shade of the porch, Jacob was too excited to miss me much. I grabbed Matty by the hand and we headed inside with Jon and his Aunt Barbie.

They said it was the window cooler that started it all, but how one little fan could do so much damage to twenty plus years of memories is beyond me. The rafters were showing where the ceiling once was. The sixty-gallon aquarium that I was once to inherit, was sooty black, fish boiled alive still floating inside.

Though I'd lived there with Ken and his family for a few years as a teen, I could hardly recognize the ashen mess before me. Their new black refrigerator's once shiny enamel finish was streaked a pale gray. The microwave and the shelves above it were melted into a single tangle of metal and plastic. I couldn't even go into the rest of the rooms where the damage was the worst, but I saw a fluffy layer of ash where the carpet used to be. The air was thick and dark.

We talked a while about how they were all doing and what the insurance company said: two month minimum before any kind of settlement and at least nine months to a year before the reconstruction of their home would be ready for their return. For now, they would call a doublewide trailer home.

We said our goodbyes after about a half an hour and I began the long drive back to my own home. I had handled seeing the damaged shell a lot better than I thought I would, at least until I had a chance to process the images.

As I headed down the freeway, I began to feel nauseous, then overwhelmed with the mixture of memories, guilt, and fear. Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to sort through it all and maintain control of the wheel.

They had moved into their home when Ken was in sixth grade. He's now thirty-one. I've only been here in my house for a little over three years and can't even begin to fathom the heartache of loosing all our memories.

Monday we will be leaving for a hotel for three days while our house is being tented for termites. I've been worried about forgetting something and not being able to get back into the house. That's for just three days. My belongings will be waiting for me when we comeback home. Theirs are gone forever.

I began to recall so many memories of my time in that house. While a few were directly linked to my relationship with Kenny, most actually had to do with my love for his family.

They had taken me in at sixteen years of age, when I felt like I had no other options. My father had been arrested a few short months prior to Kenny and I meeting. Right after high school, while I was still living at home, my mom decided to marry Mike, whom I had met only once. She said we'd be moving into his house out of town. I couldn't handle it and the Stocks' opened their doors.

I still remember the time we were all sitting around their dining room table and his dad, Ron, called me kiddo and told me for the first time that I was part of the family. Ken and I had just started dating not long before that. It felt so good to be accepted and before long, I grew to love his parents, his mom especially, as my own family as well.

I smiled a little when I remembered meeting Diana for the first time at the front door that's no longer standing. Ken had brought me to his house after school and she unlocked the door for us. Let's just say she was nothing like I expected and the image will stay with me forever.

Laughter almost broke through my tears as I remembered making taco salad with his oldest sister, Mona, one night. We had a large bowl full of the lettuce, hamburger, and other ingredients. It was time to make the dressing.

Mona and I worked together to get out the mayonnaise and taco sauce and pour the proper amounts into a mixing bowl. She got out the hand held electric whip and with out thinking, turned it on before inserting it into the goo. She lowered the spinning beater faster than she could react, spraying the entire kitchen and us with pinkish dressing.

Today those same cupboards were black, their contents no longer fit for consumption. It was hard to realize that although I only visited a couple times a year, the house where I grew up so much, would no longer keep those memories safe for me.

When I got home, it was such a sharp contrast to see my clean hardwood floors. My table and chairs in tact. Sofa cushions on my nice sofa, just as they should be. Not even a hint of the choking smoke I'd breathed less than an hour ago. Tears threatened to gush again.

We tend to live our lives with a certain amount of certainty that all will continue on as we know it. We've already survived the worst of it, what else could happen to us? Then some one you know wakes up alone on a weekend morning, her life in flames around her, and some how your life is changed as well.

I'm no longer frustrated about strangers coming to my home to rid it of unwelcome insects. I'm no longer as anxious about leaving things behind while sitting in a comfortable hotel for a few days. I walk by the cracks and peeling paint and push past the grudges I once held for my husband's incomplete repairs. There is no room for those things now. They've been replaced with the knowledge that I am truly blessed.

Publishing Surprise!

2006-07-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Lately the only writing I've been doing at all is when I'd work on my script and even that hasn't been as frequently as I wish it was. Until last week, I hadn't entered the Faith Writers' Weekly Challenge since the beginning of May. That was partly because I wanted to work on Ne'ikio, but also because I simply couldn't come up with anything.

I'd struggle all week long, trying to formulate a half way coherent thought that would fit the current topic, and always ended up frustrated. When I did finally enter last week's, I wasn't very proud of my entry. It was an attempt at writing a skit and I didn't think it turned out well enough to want my name on it. I felt like if I couldn't even write a simple script, that I have no business working on an entire screenplay.

I was very discouraged with my lack of creativity seeming to overwhelm me.

Then late Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I was laying in bed and had a heart to heart with God. I don't even remember exactly what I prayed, but something along the line of pouring out my frustrations with myself, saying I wasn't sure what was wrong and if my attitudes, etc. had been inappropriate, and just told Him my desires to be a good writer.

I laid there for a few more minutes and slowly dialog and characters began to visit my mind. I saw a setting and a scene. I had a line I couldn't get out of my head. I had to get up and write.

An hour or so later, I'd written 650 of the best words that have graced my screen in the last two months. I went to bed happy and planned to finish up in the morning.

Thursday came and I began working on it much later in the day than I should have. I checked how many entries had been entered thus far and all seemed ok. The number was getting up there, but hadn't changed much in the last few hours. I thought I was safe.

I went over my story, adding here, deleting there and got it to exactly 750 words, the maximum allowed for the challenge. I started writing an email to Amy, asking her to proof read for me before submitting.

Then I thought I'd better double check the entry tally first.

200 entries. The submissions were closed for the week and here I was sitting on the best entry I've come up with in so long. I wanted to cry, but knew that it was my fault. I also knew that it could still be used somewhere else, if I was willing to do the work of finding somewhere to submit it.

I went to the message boards and posted my disappointing news. Then as an after thought, I posted a second time, asking just how long we needed to wait before posting in the regular articles section if we hadn't made it in on time.

Deb Porter replied quickly that she thought I should post right away to get in some feedback before everyone else started their hinting frenzy.

I posted a link immediately.

Then I went on to chat with Amy and realized I had a couple emails saying my articles had been reviewed. With having just posted and still having my skit up for the current challenge, I wasn't sure which had been reviewed at first. I just let the emails sit for a minute while we chatted.

When Amy asked if my newest article had been reviewed yet, I decided to check them out. They were both for the new one, which was entitled, Teatime at Auntie Ethel's, so I casually clicked the link to read the comments. I expected a few sympathetic "sorry you missed out" type comments.

Then I saw it. The second comment was from none other than Deb Porter. I haven't had any comments from her in months. She had said long ago that she just didn't have time to pop over to everyone's entries like she used to. I was instantly curious what she had to say.

Here's her comment:

"Debbie, I loved the message in this story. Everyone needs an Auntie Ethel! This line made me laugh out loud: ÂHoney, do you think my boobies were touching my toes when Harvey met me?Â Just as well I had already swallowed my diet coke--or it could have been kinda messy on my monitor. Deb, this has to be somewhere. Could I use it in FaithWriters' Magazine in October? I know it's a long way off, and it probably would have been better if I'd suggested that before it started getting sympathy reads :-) but it's such a good reminder, and it will work VERY well in our "Woman's World" section. Let me know if that's okay with you Deb, and if it is, please send me a short bio note to go with it. Love, Deb (Challenge Coordinator and Editor, FaithWriters' Magazine)"

I almost had tears in my eyes as I read. I am still in a bit of shock. Deb and I are rarely on the boards at the same time, due to time zone differences. So for her to reply so quickly when I asked about posting a link was odd enough. But then for her to not only go read my article, but to also request to use it, is simply amazing. It had to be God's timing.

I'm thankful for Deb's kind words, as well as those of others who have left comments so far. I do have to wait until October to see the story in the magazine, but I think I can wait pretty happily.

As I started off by saying, I had gotten fairly discouraged about my writing and being a part of FaithWriters. Now thanks to Deb's request, I thought about how much of my work has already been used and was surprised yet again.

I started with FW less than a year ago. In this past year, I've had a story published in print with Cross Times, one used online at OneBoxLife, another online with Christian Witness, one in the FaithWriter anthology "Come Away With Me" and another already in FW online Magazine.

So including this latest request, that is six stories being published in a year, or one every two months on average. That definitely encouraged me to feel like there might be something to my writing after all.

Sorry if this sounds like bragging, I don't mean it too. Just needed a place to share my excitement and to thank God. I hope you all will continue writing in confidence too, knowing that He can and will use your words, all in His timing.

BOOK REVIEW: Never Ceese by Sue Dent

2006-07-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Never Ceese, is an unusual twist of cursed creatures and faith. Ceese, a naive young lady who has spent the last couple of hundred years as a wolf, is paired up with Richard, an uptight vampire who lives in a castle full of all the latest modern conveniences. That alone is an unusual storyline; werewolves and vampires typically war with one another in most fiction. Sue Dent doesn't write typical fiction.

Ceese, whose father was a minister, desperately wants to break her curse and be reunited with her family in heaven one day. Penny, a mutual friend who believes the two need to help each other, asks Richard to put aside his distaste for Ceese. He reluctantly accepts the request and their journey begins.

I was a new fan before I'd finished the prologue. I didn't want to stop reading even after the last word of the epilogue (which has an exciting twist I didn’t see coming, so I’m glad I read it). Never Ceese is full of characters that you will grow to love. Just like family, they are flawed with their own unique failings, but Sue managed to take creatures that are commonly viewed as blood thirsty, evil beings and made them likable.

For those who are hesitant to read a novel about such creatures as werewolves and vampires, your apprehension is understandable. Most books or movies on this topic would be full of grotesque scenes of carnage that would not be suitable for sensitive audiences.

With a few scenes of violence and a handful of swearing, I wouldn’t go as far as saying Never Ceese should have a G rating, but the ugliness that does lie within its cover was skillfully crafted with care, not to cross the line.
Sue's sense of humor shines through with comical misunderstandings created by Ceese's unfamiliarity of the modern world. Her intellect is reflected in scientific explanations of why the moon effects werewolves and how stem cell research, mixed with cursed blood, could grant one immortality.

Never Ceese isn't about horror and titillation. It is a story about two people, suffering a horrible fate, trying to be set free to love God again. Ceese endures great physical pain, going against the ways of her curse, simply to speak the name of her Creator. They will risk everything in search of a way to have that relationship they know they need. If only we could all seek God so intensely.

Sue Dent is currently working on the eagerly awaited sequel, Forever Richard, which promises to be equally full of great characters and exciting plot twists.

Amy's List

2006-06-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

Accent: Don't really notice one, but I'm from California, so I must have a Californian accent. Though I do live in a valley, I do NOT talk like a valley girl. lol

Best personality trait: I tend to be very empathetic. It allows me to put myself in other people's shoes easily and find the best in people, even ones I don't particularly like.

Chore I hate: Dishes. They get dirty faster than I can clean them. That's why we always have a huge supply of paper plates on hand for dinner. :)

Dad's name: James Wesley Snyder, Jr.

Essential make-up/skin care products: Mascara, foundation and lipstick for the day and a good moisturizer at night. Plus I have a soy cleanser that's really good to use in the shower.

Favorite perfume/cologne: I stopped using them because half of my family has such bad asthma they can't handle the scent of even fragrant lotions. I do love Victoria Secret's body sprays though. Their Passionate Kisses and Love Spell are yummy. Oooh, and their Strawberries and Champagne too.

Gold or silver?: My wedding band is gold, so I'd say gold. But growing up, I'd say silver because it was a lot cheaper and I could actually afford a silver bracelet from Kmart once in a while. :)

Hometown: Just one? I was born in the Mojave Desert, but moved to Sanger when I was one. Then we moved to Orange Cove when I was seven and stayed there until I was about thirteen. I guess the town I feel the most like home at would be Reedley where we lived until I was nineteen. Now, Fresno is home and I've been here longer than anywhere else in my adult life.

Interesting fact: I taught myself how to ride a unicycle when I was in about the sixth grade. (Goes well with the tight rope stunt I talked about in my last post. Now if I could just get a hang of that whole juggling thing...)

Job title: Mommy and aspiring writer.

Kids: Three boys. Jon 8, Matty 3, and Jacob 1.

Living arrangements: We own a single story, three bedroom, two bath home in the suburbs of Fresno. It sits on a quiet little side street in the historic Fig Garden area, though we are WAY outside the ritzy area of homes that are usually associated with that neighborhood.

Mom's birthplace: Missouri, I think.

Number of apples eaten in the last week: I don't do apples. Sorry, Amy.

Overnight hospital stays: Three. One stay for each of my kids' deliveries. Stay clear of hospitals mostly.

Phobia: Try not to indulge any. The only thing that comes to mind is hurting myself by being clumsy and doing something foolish. Is that a phobia or do I just know myself? lol

Question you ask yourself a lot: Can't think of any.

Religion: Christian.

Siblings: Cheri, six years older, Michele, three years older, and Billy, 5 years younger. We also had four foster siblings off and on growing up.

Time I wake up: Whenever the boys force me out of bed. Usually between 6:30 and 8:00.

Unnatural hair color: Typically some shade of medium to dark brown. I have had it dark blondish brown and also auburn, which my mom likes the best, but was REALLY bright.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Asparagus.

Worst habit: Being lead by my feelings and mood too much. I need to plan ahead and stick to the plan more.

X-rays?: Plenty of dental X-rays and just recently for my toe that I broke.

Yummy food I make: I don't do much cooking over the last few years, but I love to make chicken noodle soup, lasagna, fajitas, chicken strips, and even made some awesome tamales once.

Zaniest thing about you: My odd since of humor.

Okay, now it's Alex and Georgiana's turns. :)

Sight Seeing Down Memory Lane...

2006-06-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today I did something that I've been wanting to do for almost fifteen years. I drove to the tiny town of Orange Cove. Why would I want to go to a town if it's so small? What could there be to attract my attention? Absolutely nothing. Nothing spectacular to see, no national monuments or landmarks. Nothing except the fact that I grew up in Orange Cove would ever compel me to return.

The town is all of about one mile long. There are two grocery stores. One at one end of town. One at the other. Not much besides liquor stores and a few beauty shops in between.

I moved there with my family when I was about seven years old. My father was the new pastor of their Assemblies of God Church. We lived there until the middle of seventh grade, when I was about thirteen. I had never been back. Until today.

I took the nearly hour long drive with Matthew and Jacob. (Jon is still with his dad until Sunday.) Armed with an "Ice Age" DVD, extra diapers and a bottle for Jacob, tea for Matty and myself, and a picnic lunch consisting of hot dogs, cheese slices, pretzels, fruit snacks, applesauce cups and graham crackers, we were off.

Jacob pretty much just watched the DVD for the majority of the drive, while Matty took in the unusual country sights of grape vines, orchards, and canals. We saw hay, cows and horses, a small airport and even an old graveyard. I played the tour guide while Matty played the perfect tourist, taking an interest in most of what I shared with him. Pretty remarkable for a three year old sitting in front of his favorite movie.

When we got to Orange Cove, the first thing I wanted to see was one of my favorite homes I've ever lived in. It's located on the outskirts of town, so was the logical starting point for our trip.

It was a two story house with five bedrooms. My bedroom and my sister Cheri's were my favorites. Hers because it was really two of the bedrooms joined by french doors. Her main bedroom had a small bathroom someone had created out of the closet prior to us living there. Then to the side were the French doors that lead to the second room. It was sort of a screened in porch, with the upper half of the three outer walls being glass.

My bedroom there was my favorite for two reasons. The first cool feature was a small cutout in the wall of the closet. It was just a small square, slightly above my head, that lead to my sister Michele's closet. We had fun throwing each others belongings onto one another's heads while "cleaning" our rooms. :)

The second reason I loved the room was far less cheesy. The house had a small balcony, accessible only from my room. I could open the door and step out into my own private three by five sanctuary. Something much needed in a house with a mom, dad, two sisters, a younger brother, and two foster sisters who all pretty much faught none stop.

Seeing the house today brought back a lot of memories and it was interesting to see how it has changed.

From there, our tour continued down the main street of town. We saw the two grocery stores I mentioned earlier and spotted a park I didn't really remember being there before. We found the other house we'd lived in during our stay in Orange Cove. It was a fairly decent, mid-sized house and somewhat better cared for than the other house, which was pretty cluttered with junk strewn about the yard.

This house didn't bring back quite as many memories because I was younger when we lived in it. I wasn't even sure I'd recognize it if I managed to find it. Surprisingly, I recognized it by the front windows. They were a central part of one of my worst nightmares of all times for some reason. lol (In the dream, a demon was knocking on the windows and laughing an evil laugh. I couldn't even get out of bed to run to my parent's room I was so scared afterwards.) Anyway, I also spotted the fence that my dad hit with our van while moving in. He managed to hit it twice in one day. lol

We then moved on to find my old elementary school. There was some road work being done in front of the school and the workers looked at me as though I was crazy when I pulled up and took a picture with my cell phone. lol Driving around to the side of the school, I saw the play equipment that I used to hangout on with my sisters after church each Sunday. The church was across the street and was our next stop.

The building itself looked about the same, but the name had been changed and a new fence put up. There was also a rather large tree missing from the lawn. I remember once while I was stuck at the church one afternoon, I went outside to play. That day, up in the now missing tree, I saw a thin metal poll. It was laying across the branches and reminded my of a tight rope. So of course I had to climb the tree and pretend I had run away with Ringling Bros.

The bar was only about half an inch thick and twisted under my feet as I walked its entire length, reaching out for the tips of thin branches to steady myself. I was about eight feet or more off the ground and really felt like an aerial acrobat. My mom would have fainted if she'd seen me. :)

The grand tour of my child hood over, we drove back to the park we'd seen earlier. After such a long drive, I was sure Matty would have to use the restroom. No restrooms insight, only Port a Potties. Ugh.

You have not lived until you've taken a one and a three year old into a Port a Potty. Eeew. Matty wanted to use the urinal, but was too short. While I was trying to pick him up high enough that none of his boy parts would touch anything disgusting, Jacob was behind my back trying to play with the toilet. I had a vision of him falling in head first. Double eeew!! I would have just left, but I REALLY had to go and there was no place else around, so I stuck it out and did my best to keep them sanitary. lol

Anyway, for anyone not too disgusted to continue reading about our adventure, we went on to the playground and the boys had a lot of fun going down slides, up ladders and through a tunnel. Just wish it hadn't been so hot and muggy. Our faces were all bright pink and dripping with sweat after only a short play time.

We decided to take a break and have our picnic. I spread out a little blanket and we took off our shoes. We ate our hot dogs and had our tea. The boys didn't eat much though, I think it was just too hot.

After lunch, we all piled back into the van and headed for home. I took a different route back so Matty could enjoy some more new country sights. He liked looking at the wide canal and small towns along the way.

We ended our trip with a surprise stop to see daddy at work. We pulled into the parking lot at Pelco and I called Mark on my cell phone. He came out to the car for a few minutes and gave us all hugs and kisses before h going back to finish his work day.

The boys came home and had a nice long nap. It was a very nice afternoon. :)

So, have any of you ever gone back to where you've grown up? Did you take pictures like I did or am I the only one dorky enough to do that? :P (If I ever find the software that came with the phone, I'll try to get the pictures onto my laptop and post them here.)

Quick Update

2006-06-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted here, so thought I'd jot down a few lines before bed.

Not much has happened since my last post. I've still been working on the script, though I've put it off this weekend so far. Tomorrow we will be in the car all afternoon/evening to take Jon to his dad's, so that will be a great time to get myself in gear.

Although, I may also use the time to read. I've been working on a great book that most of the FaithWriters have probably already heard of, "Never Ceese", by Sue Dent. I'm a little over one hundred pages into it and love it so far. It's about a werewolf named Ceese and a vampire named Richard. Ceese wants to break her curse and go to Heaven some day.

His long time friend, Penny has asked him to look after Ceese, so Richard is reluctantly stuck with her, though the two cannot stand each other at this point. Sue uses some great descriptions and the plot is very interesting. It reads like a movie to me and I find myself imagining how I could turn it into a script. lol

All the kids are doing well, though I think they are getting board with summer vacation already. Jon loves to swim, but gets carried away with splashing, so it makes it hard to go out with him and the other boys. I REALLY hate being splashed. I try to not be too grouchy with him, but he doesn't listen well.

Tonight I bought a little floaty thing for Jacob to sit in with his feet in the water and it has a shade canopy plus toy shelf on it, so that might make things a little easier. Until now, I've had to try holding on to him while Matty paddles around with water wings trying not to drown in Jon's splashing. :)

The pool is small enough that with the boat for Jacob, I can let go and still be within arms reach anywhere in the pool, so that means I can chase Jon around a bit and give him some of the attention he's been looking for. Too bad he's leaving tomorrow. He'll be gone until next Sunday, so I'll have to wait until then to see if not holding Jacob helps with Jon.

I think I'm going to buy the stuff for home made playdough and make a bunch when he comes back. We found a great recipe that says to use Koolaid to color it, which leaves it smelling really yummy and since it's just flour, salt and a bit of oil, it won't hurt Jacob to snack on a little. :)

Matt and Jon are always wanting to play with clay, but it is so sticky and the dye stains skin, the table, etc. so I have to limit clay time to when Jacob's sleeping or stick him in his highchair. With the playdough, I can make a bunch for each of them to have their own and hopefully limit fighting.

Anyone have anyother good indoor ideas to keep the interest of an eight, a three and a one year old boy over the long hot days of summer?

Ne'ikio Script Stuck

2006-06-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I was plugging along at a respectable rate. Made it to page nine with 1,964 words. I think that's the most I've ever written on a story before, plus I have the notes I made in the outline for Maxx's challenge.

Now I've just kind of gotten stuck. I still want to work on it, but just can't seem to make up my mind what to write next. Instead of writing, I've spent the last few days 'researching' screenwriting. Can't say much of anything that I've learned.

So far in Ne'ikio, I have written out a hunting scene, where Ne'ikio is hunting with La'amoen, but unbeknownst to them, there is a Dergerion stalking Ne'ikio. Two Coshtorans are also watching and stop the Dergerion with a sword fight.

Then I have a dream sequence where Ne'ikio is dreaming of the mother he has never known and suddenly a large winged creature picks him up in his sleep and flies off with him. He manages to force the creature to drop him mid-flight and falls through some trees that are rubbery, creating a comical moment after the tense scene.

Next he is walking back to their shelter with La'amoen, who has come to his aid, and he shares his dream. He then asks to hear the story of how La'amoen found him, even though he's heard it all before. La'amoen starts telling it in a flashback and Ne'ikio complains that he's heard that version before and wants a different retelling this time.

Now I'm to the part where I'm stuck. This should be close to ten minutes into the movie, according to the minute per page guideline, and he still hasn't started his journey. It seems like the perfect place to segue into that line of thought. Having him dreaming about his mom and raising questions about family. But originally I had planned to introduce the main villain at this point, having him send out the Dergerions for another attack to provide more action.

I got myself side tracked trying to decide his details and realized that Ne'ikio should be starting his journey to create a reason for more attacks. If he's just hanging out in the rain forest, there's not much of a threat to the villain who doesn't want him to reunite with his father.

So, now I think I have to force myself into rethinking the next scene as Ne'ikio starting out on his search and then do the whole evil bad guy stuff. Then again, I could always write it out of order and rearrange it all after its written...

Sigh. Well, it's after 11:00 now and I still haven't written today or yesterday, so I think I will at least open the script and stare at it for awhile. I know nobody will probably be reading this until tomorrow, but please send up a little prayer for guidance and inspiration for me anyway. :)

Progress on Ne'ikio's Journey Script

2006-06-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling just a little more confident in my script writing abilities now. I found a site by a successful screenwriter who answers newbies questions. By going through his archives, I've found quite a few examples with answers that have clarified things for me a bit.

I'm trying to just muddle my way through and get the words down, regardless of how good or 'right' it sounds to me. I plan to write a minimum of one page a day in hopes of having at least ninety pages by the end of summer. A challenge on the FaithWriters' boards has helped get me motivated with the summer goal. If I don't fret over every detail, this sounds very doable.

Unlike a novel, a page of script goes by super fast. I discovered this fact last night after spending all my writing time chatting with a little birdy. ;)
I went to my script and whipped out a fairly decent page in less than forty-five minutes, bringing my grand total up to--dum de de dum dum duuuum......five pages!!!! Woo Hoo!!! That's a little over my first 1,000 words. I did have a lot more than that in novel form, but most of it was description and back story type wording that doesn't translate well to a script. (I'll have to figure out how to add some of it in as I go.)

I want to rush myself through five more pages quickly so that I can send them to Yeggy. She is a fellow FaithWriter who just finished a script of her own and has offered to look over my first ten pages, once they're done that is. :) I would love to get at least the next two pages done tonight, but I'm to the point of the story that hasn't been written out yet, not sure if that will slow me down much or not.

Off to do some research now. Still need to figure out how to create a script specifically for a fantasy. By the way, here's a picture of some of the characters. I drew the blue guy. His name is La'amoen and he's raised Ne'ikio, the other main character, since he was a baby. The guy with the spear is Jonathan's idea of what Ne'ikio should look like. He also drew the little winged guy. He calls it a lava fly. :) Wonder if the studio that buys my script will use any of the pics...? HAHAHA Well, a girl can dream can't she?

Novel or Script?

2006-05-31T15:47:00.000-07:00

I had started my first book a while back, but haven't gotten very far. I wrote the first two chapters and the outline for a challenge Maxx posted on the FaithWriters forum. He said it had potential, but I basically need to rework the whole first chapter. I got pretty overwhelmed at the thought of creating a whole world for the book, which is a fantasy. It's been really hard to describe things the way I see them in my mind's eye.

That's when it hit me. Maybe I should write a script rather than a book. That way, I could just use plane language to describe things, instead of worrying about the feel of my choice of words, if that makes sense. I'd be free to use more conversational words, rather than prose to convey ideas and descriptions.

I looked up script writing on Google and found a site that describes in detail how to go about writing a script. I had no idea what all went in to making a script! There are specific formatting things to learn as well as abbreviations and stuff to remember. It will be a lot of work to learn, but I found some software that is supposed to help make formatting a breeze. Unfortunately, it costs over one hundred dollars, but...I found a demo version that's free!

It is supposed to be the whole software, with just a few things disabled, like being able to export a script. It says I can write up to forty pages with the demo and if I decide to buy the software, they will unlock my script for me. If I chose not to, they will export the script for me to Microsoft Word.

I have no idea if I'll be able to figure out forty pages of script or not, but at least this will help me see if a script is the direction to take my story. Plus, having the demo will either tell me if I've got what it takes to make buying the software justifiable or teach me enough that I can muddle through a script on my own with half way decent results.

So has any one else out there ever attempted to write a script? Any suggestions?

Jez's Tag

2006-05-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

I just read my friend Jez's blog and she had this tag posted on it. She knows about a million people who all read her blog, but I did see the name Debbie on her list of people she was tagging. Since I have more ego than life, I'll just presume I'm the only Debbie she could be referring to and have fun with it. :)

The "Self" Post

I AM: a Christian, stay at home mom, wife and writer wannabe.

I WANT: more consistency in my life, other than the usual inconsistency.

I WISH: I could have the faith of my mother, the wisdom of Solomon (minus the whole wife/concubine/idol worship stuff, and the joy of a child.

I HATE: waking up in the morning before I'm ready.

I LOVE: God, most of my family ;P, my husband and children, being able to stay home and watch my kids and write.

I MISS: nothing really.

I FEAR: life passing by before I realize I haven't made the most of it.

I HEAR: some old Hanna-Barbara cartoon on tv.

I WONDER: if I'll ever finish my book, if my sons will all grow up to be the good fathers, husbands, and Christians I pray they will, and if God made the sky blue, just so we could wonder why.

I REGRET: not learning some of my life lessons more quickly.

I AM NOT: very disciplined or purposeful enough. (which is why I didn't get an entry in this week for the challenge. lol)

I DANCE: very rarely, but typically just when being silly with the kids.

I SING: fairly ok, but not nearly as well as I'd like.

I CRY: when I'm tired mostly.

I AM NOT ALWAYS: as motivated as I'd like to be.

I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: pottery, when I actually drag out the pottery wheel I got for Christmas, and I crotchet blankets during the winter.

I WRITE: more posts on the FaithWriters forum then any actual works in progress.

I CONFUSE: myself when I get to inside my own thoughts.

I NEED: to take advantage of the time I have with my sons before they grow up and develop lives of their own which involve others more than their ol' mom.

I SHOULD: read my bible more often, clean up my house, play with my kids and work on my book.

I START: lots of things but rarely finish them. (ok. that was Jez's answer, but it is perfect for me too.)

I FINISH: um, I finish, um, I'm not too sure what this one means. I've heard the word before, but I'm not sure how it would apply to me...

I TAG: anyone who actually reads this that hasn't already done it. :)

Catching Up on Life

2006-05-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a little while since my last post, sorry I've been lazy about coming here. I thought that I should write a post to catch up on a few things.

Let's see...My last post was about judging for FaithWriters. It turned out to be easier than I expected. It helped that there were not that many entries that week, but I found rating them privately much easier than coming up with constructive comments to post on them publicly like we do at hinting time. I figured out that the commenting is actually the slow part, not so much the reading of entries.

My results matched the other judges surprisingly well, though I was sad about my friend Shari's entry not placing as well as I'd hoped. I had her ranked high enough to be in Editors' Choice, but the other judges didn't agree. :( I did send her an email to say that I thought it was one of her best though.

I actually wouldn't mind judging again next quarter. :)

What else...OH YEAH, my birthday! I turned thirty on May 28th. Hard to believe I'm that old now. lol I'm officially not in my twenties anymore. I feel like such a grown up. lol

My mom took me out to dinner for my birthday. It was sort of weird when she prayed for our food. She said a prayer for me too, which is normal for her, but it really made me think. Here she was sitting with the baby of her three girls, and I am no longer her baby, but a thirty year old mother with babies of my own. It made me wonder how she felt about the passing of time and how I'd feel when it was me sitting at a birthday dinner celebrating the fine young men my sons turn out to be.

I also felt very blessed to have a mother that would sit in a restaurant and openly pray for me to our God. That's just amazing to me. We may not have had much growing up, but Mom's walk with God has always been a great example for me of what it means to be a Christian. (Which is part of why I wrote the article about her 'My Mother's Legacy' that was in FaithWriters Magazine for May)

Mark bought me a card and had the boys all sign it. I laughed because he came in the bedroom, where I was still in bed, just waking up for the day, and grabbed something from his sock drawer that was in a plastic bag. I got up and he was in the game room with the boys. Matty came out and I called him over to me. I asked him if Daddy was being sneaky. He whispered to me that Daddy had bought me flowers and a card and told me to come see. He was so cute spilling his secret, but in a quiet voice. :)

There weren't any flowers, but the cards were nice and Mark arranged for my brother Billy and his girlfriend, Kristina, to come babysit for the night. They showed up an hour or so early and he hadn't told me they were even coming. I didn't really have any groceries, like soda and snack foods, for them and the house was a mess, so I was a little embarrassed, but I figured it was just family and made myself get over it.

Mark and I went to see a movie and planned to go out to dinner, but I was still full from lunch, so we wondered around Borders for an hour or so. I looked for the FaithWriter's new book, 'Come Away With Me', but it wasn't in their system yet. :( I wanted to order it, because my story is in it! Last November, I won seventh place in Editors' Choice for a story called 'Blizzard of the Heart'. I can't wait to see it in the book along with all of the other great winners. :)

After the bookstore, I asked Mark if we could just rent some movies and buy Chinese food to take home for everyone. I asked if I was crazy to finally be out of the house and childless, and ask to go home early. I just felt kind of weird having people in my house with out me for the first time and for leaving while the two youngest boys were asleep. I didn't know how well they would take to waking up to find us gone. I guess I was just being a worry wart, but I was glad to come home.

The movies and dinner and company of Billy and Kris turned out to make a nice evening. Guess being thirty isn't so bad after all. :)

We also planted some new flowers in the yard. It is looking so nice now. No more bare dirt for flower beds. When we bought the house three years ago, there was a huge tree in the front yard. Unfortunately, Mark had to cut it down. We replaced it with two baby White Pear trees, one on either side of the walk way (which he also put in). They get tiny white flowers each year and look really pretty when in bloom.

In the corner, just outside of Matty and Jon's room is a larger flower bed area. We planted a Potato Bush (it's actually a tree, which gets small, dark purplish flowers all over it) and a ground cover, but I can't remember it's name. Both have done great there, even without watering them over the winter.

Our bushes outside the picket fence area almost full enough now to become the hedge they were intended to be. It's only taken three years. lol Mark filled in under them with red bark chips, which we also used in the flower beds under the new plants, so it's actually starting to look landscaped, rather than like an over grown jungle. Now if we could just get the house painted....

Well, Matty and Jacob are asleep, so I should take advantage of the chance to get a shower. Plus there's plenty of work to do around here as well as some writing I should do for the challenge or my book, so I'll go for now.

Hope to have something more interesting for my next post. Thanks for reading and commenting everyone. :)

Judging

2006-05-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

This week is the first time I've been a judge at FaithWriters for the Weekly Challenge.

It's been fun so far. In fact, I'm realizing that it's easier to read and score something privately, then it is too read and think up a constructive comment that won't offend, yet won't just smile and nod at a poorly written entry.

I've been keeping up with the reading, which has surprised me. It's not as hard as I was afraid it would be. I think all the reading on the message boards has trained me to read more each day than I thought. It's just a matter of refocusing that reading energy to the entries.

I'm curious to see how many a day I'll have to read towards the end of submissions. Hopefully, we won't reach the cap of 200 this week. :)

For a Monday...

2006-05-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

This was just a post that I came up with for the FaithWriter forum, but I kind of liked it, so I thought I'd post it here, rather than losing it when the thread dies down:

It's Monday morning. The house is already feeling a little balmy, though full summer has not struck yet.

Outside, the weather is perfect. Slightly overcast. Cool breeze. Dew still glistening on the slightly overgrown crabgrass.

The boys are playing peacefully on the front porch. Jacob, the youngest, sits playing with a few small toys, his round cheeks smudged with the mud from an earlier snack at the empty flower bed.

Matthew is having a wonderful time playing with Gary. Matty helps his little friend sit on the back of his three wheeler and they are off for a ride together.

I have to protest a bit though, when Gary starts climbing on the house. Matthew claims he likes it. I'm sure that he does, but I don't particularly care for the trail of slime he leaves behind.

Matthew pulls Gary off the faded stucco and places him gently at his feet. If a dog is man's best friend, then a snail named Gary must be the equivalent for three year olds.

I watch my boys as they explore their vast universe I call the front yard, and wonder how many more of these Monday memories they will share before life moves on and they rush into adolescence.

For now, I just sit back and enjoy.

Viewing Problems-Test Post

2006-05-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

This post is just a test because there seems to be a problem viewing my blog. Hopefully it is just a temporary problem with blogger and will be fixed soon. If you can read this post, please leave me a comment, so I can understand what's going on better.

Thanks!

Broken toe

2006-05-03T01:20:00.000-07:00

About twelve days ago, I was hurrying into the kitchen and decided to go over our little safety gate rather than opening it. Well, I had been feeding Jacob and had baby food all down one arm, so when I lost my balance, I hesitated steadying myself against the wall. My left foot whacked the top of the gate pretty hard. I had a sharp pain shoot up my shin to my knee if I tried to put any weight on my foot.

I went out to the game room almost in tears. I sat down next to Mark and told him I thought I had broken my toe. He just sort of laughed it off, being used to my unusually high level of klutziness.

I've hobbled around on it for almost two weeks now, wondering if I had in fact broken something, as the swelling hadn't gone down at all. I was chatting with Ed (JesusPuppy) the other night and he talked me into going to a doctor with nice little horror stories of needing crutches the rest of my life or having to get the bone re-broken and set properly if it healed wrong.

X-rays confirmed it. I have a pretty nasty break in my fourth toe of my left foot. The technician was cute when she was looking at the x-rays. She looked over at me with a horrible grimace on her face. I asked her if it was that bad, thinking the picture was blurred and we'd have to redo it. She said she'd just call it "ouch".

That's when I first realized that it might actually be broken and I felt justified to be there. She said she didn't know how I made it so long. Honestly, it hurt really bad at first, but the pain has mostly gone. I was more concerned with the swelling and some numbness in my big toe and occasional tingly up my leg.

All the doctor did was "buddy tape" the toe to the toe next to it. He didn't give me any instructions or say to come back in for a follow up visit. I had to ask all the questions about elevating it and ice. He didn't even tell me to use an anti-inflammatory medicine to relieve the swelling (something I should have thought of on my own, but didn't think about until I read about it on the internet after the visit).

That left me wondering if I should get a second doctor to look at it. He said the numbness could be caused by the break putting pressure on a nerve, but didn't say if it would ever go away or if I should wait a certain amount of time and then come back in if it was still bothering me.

So what would you all do? Find a new doctor to look at it or just deal with it?

One ironic note. My mom broke two toes on her right foot by dropping an antique ironing board on them on Monday this last week. What are the odds? hehehe

FaithWriters Magazine!!!

2006-05-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! I just remembered that it's now May, which means FaithWriters has now published my story, "My Mother's Legacy" in their online magazine. It was originally written as a challenge entry, but didn't place. A lot of people left comments about how much they loved it, so when I saw that Deb Porter was looking for submissions related to mom's for the May issue, I took a shot.

It was the first time I ever submitted to them, so I was a bit nervous, wondering if it was good enough. Deb said it was lovely and she was interested in using it, but I needed to polish it up a bit (which I knew when I submitted). She didn't say what she felt needed changing, so I was again a bit nervous. How do you work on something with out messing up what appealed to the editor in the first place?

Thankfully, I have Amy. :) She was kind enough to give it a look and found all my stupid mistakes, like the repeated mistake of not capitalizing mom and dad each time I used them as names. (You'd think I'd remember that rule by now.)

Anyway, I got it reworked and sent it in. Then Deb said she needed a bio note to add to the story! I had NO idea what to write. Those two or three sentences were harder to write than the whole story. How do you decide what to share with the whole world about yourself, and sum it up in so few words? I guess what I came up with was ok, because it's there, right under my story in the A Woman's World section of the magazine!

A few days ago, I also received a nice little email regarding another submission for this same story. FaithWriters posted a writing opportunity for a book of letters to mothers that should be published later this year. As soon as I read their post, I thought of "My Mother's Legacy".

It said selected submissions would be paid $10 upon publication with a major publisher and you'd get a free copy of the book, plus the best submission will receive $100! Ok, so IF I get in, I'm sure I'd more than likely not be the BEST, but still, $10 for writing something would mean I'd officially move into the "paid writer" category!

Their guidelines say "Previously published material is acceptable, with the exception of stories that have been or will be published in a mass market anthology (print) distributed in North America." So, since the FaithWriter's magazine is only online, I guess I'm safe.

The email they sent me said:

"Greetings Debbie,

Thanks so much for your charming letter. Your mom sounds like a wonderful woman! Rick and I will be going over the submissions for the next six weeks, so we'll be in contact with you soon. In the meantime, take good care.

All the best,

Barb"

So, now I guess I just have to wait and see!

New Arcade Added!!!

2006-04-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know I haven't posted in a while, so I'm sorry to anyone that has actually come around looking for something good to read. :)

I've been playing with the site a bit, trying to add some stuff to make it fun to visit (even when I'm lazy about posting).

So far, I've been able to add the writer's prompt. (It is below the side bar with the archives.) If you're an aspiring writer like myself, but need some inspiration (or just a good laugh at some quirky ideas), scroll down and read the prompt. If you'd like a new prompt, just hit refresh. If you write anything based on a prompt you find here, feel free to leave a comment and let us all share in the fun. I plan to try a few when I feel up to it.

I've also added a word count bar for the book I'm writing, "Ne'ikio's Journey". It shows my current count, as well as my goal. If you notice it not moving up very fast, please give me a nudge to get busy. If you do, I just might include you in the acknowledgements page once I get it published! (ok, so that's a long shot, but I'd still appreciate any encouragement!)

The final new addition to my blog is an arcade feature I just added a few minutes ago. I came across the ad on the city gate forum and it was free, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Let me know what you think (and also if there is anything offensive that needs to be removed, since I haven't actually tried it out yet.) I look forward to playing against you guys and having some friendly competitions!

Family Pictures to Liven up This Bog (part2)

2006-04-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not sure what happened with the last post. I kept trying to post some pictures of Jon, but it just wouldn't let me. I gave up and decided to start a new post instead. Hopefully I'll figure out an easier way of things for future posts.

Anyway, here's my Jonathan, working on his homework at his desk. He's sitting on Matty's bed. (It pulls out from below the desk. Jon sleeps on the loft up above. You can just see a little of the ladder in the background.)

Here he is again, showing off his best moves on our trampoline in the back yard. Thankfully that ugly old fence has been replace now. (It was nailed to the tree in the next picture to hold it up when we moved in. lol)

Here's the tree I mentioned. It was in pretty bad shape at first. The power company had chopped it pretty badly to keep it from the power lines. Mark wanted to just get rid of it all together, but I begged him not to. I told him it would take forever for a new tree to get that size. He had someone come out and trim it instead. Now it's looking great with all the Spring growth.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It was taken on a camping trip a few years ago in the Sequoia National Forest. Jon is actually crouching in the roots of a huge redwood.

Here are Matt and Jon with a frog they found in the back yard. They have it hiding in the wagon for the frog's own protection. They were picking it up and turning it around and being typical boys with it, so I had them give the poor thing a break.

Brotherly love. I caught them sitting like this watching tv. I hope these kind of moments continue as they grow older.

Family Pictures to Liven up This Blog

2006-04-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, since I'm obviously procrastinating and not working on my book, I thought I'd post some more family pictures. (I like seeing the one of me and Mark on my anniversary post, but it looks lonely.)

To start, here's some cute ones of Jacob and Matty I took the other day. I tried to down load some of Jon, but they didn't take for some reason. I'll keep trying, 'cause I want to include all my little sweeties. :)

This is actually Matty's quad, but he's out grown it, so now Jacob is learning to ride. It has a push button on the right handle bar and goes a whopping 2.5 miles an hour! Apparently Matty didn't think that's very fast either, so he decided to help out his little brother.

Nice results, huh?

Here's Jacob in front of my 'garden' of freesia flowers.

And here's Matty under my froggy umbrella we got at the zoo last summer.

Amy's Meme

2006-04-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Since I am still new to blogging, I wasn't exactly sure what a meme was, but Amy said I was tagged with a meme and had to read her blog to find out the questions I have to answer. Here are my responses as promised.

Amy's Meme

4 Jobs I’ve Had:

The first job I ever had was when I was eighteen. I worked for the IRS as a data transcriber processing tax returns for two years.

It was a seasonal job, so between those two years, I had a few months off. During that time, I had my second job. I worked at Montgomery Wards in the Women's/Lingerie/Shoe Departments. It was a terrible place to work. Nuf said.

My third job was actually really cool. I worked as a receptionist for a very small embroidery and screen printing company called UNI Concepts. In fact, I'm wearing a sweatshirt with their logo on it right now. hehe

It was a very tight knit little group of coworkers, mostly Christians. We went out to lunch together, met for prayer in the warehouse each morning, they threw a nice baby shower for me when I was pregnant with Jon. They even called me on my maternity leave to invite me to go bowling with everyone. I think they ended up doing more staring at my baby then bowling though. It was fun and nice to be included.

My fourth job, was day care in my home for a few years when Jon was little. I decided to quite the receptionist job so I could stay home with him. Not long after, his dad decided to move out. I didn't think it would be fare to Jon for me to leave him with a sitter so I could go back to work. So, I decided to make ends meet by babysitting.

Over the next two years, I took care of a total of eleven kids besides Jon. It was stressful at times, but we also had a lot of fun. For a while, I was watching about six of them together. At two bucks an hour per kid, the stress wasn't that bad. :)

(I know the meme only asked for four jobs, but I've only had five, so I thought I'd give my complete work history. lol) The last job I had was again as a receptionist. This time, I worked for a security camera company called Pelco. That's where I met my husband, so I guess it was a good career decision.

4 Movies/Shows I’ve Been Addicted To:

When I was a teenager, I used to watch "Saved By The Bell" marathons. They'd have them quite often on one Chanel on Saturday mornings. After watching the marathon for five or six hours, we'd switch channels to catch another episode. I always loved Zach's (played by Mark Paul Gousaler or how ever you spell his name) personality and thought he was pretty cute.

I actually got Mario Lopez's autograph at Magic Mt. once. Mario played A. C. Slater on the show. I rode a roller coaster and as it was done, he jumped off one of the back compartments with his date and they ran for their lives. Tons of preteens ran after them. I felt so bad for the poor guy, but later when I saw that he was signing autographs, I sent my younger brother over to get one for me. I was way too shy.

He signed a postcard I had just bought that had a picture of the roller coaster we had ridden "together". Unfortunately, the ink faded to completely invisible within a few months.

Another show I used to always watch was ER. I loved the characters and the plots, but it was always on too late. Then the old cast was slowly phased out and eventually completely replaced. It was hard to keep up with, so I kind of stopped watching. I'll still watch it every once in a while, if the commercials make an episode look good. :)

I also used to watch all the Star Trek series: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. I'd say that NG was my favorite followed by DS9. My favorite characters were Warf, Nogg, and the shape shifter security guy. There were a few other faves, but I wouldn't know how to spell their names. :)

Let's see...that's three shows now. I need one more...with as much time as I spend with the tv on, this is surprisingly difficult. I guess I'll lump TLC and HGTV shows all into one addiction. When we first got Dish network, that's all I'd watch. Some favorites were, "What Not to Wear", "Trading Spaces", "A Baby Story" (while I was pregnant with Jacob), "In A fix" and "Property Ladder". We had just bought our house not long before. It's 50+ years old and always in need of repairs, so the home improvement shows had a lot of appeal to me.

4 Places I’ve Lived:

Well, this category could be pretty boring for me. I've lived my whole life in California and a huge chunk of that in the same area.

I was born in the Mojave Dessert and we lived there until I was about a year old. Then we moved to a town called Sanger, here in the Central Valley. We had a few houses there and moved to Orange Cove when I was seven. We had a few more houses there and moved to Reedley when I was in junior high. Sanger, Orange Cove and Reedley are all within about an hour or less of each other.

We had a few houses in Reedley and I moved to Riverside with my first husband when I was about nineteen or twenty. We had a few apartments there and I moved back to Fresno, (same area as before) and got a house with my sister. I've lived in Fresno ever since, though now it is with my husband Mark and three sons. We own our house and don't plan on ever moving again.

See, not very exciting was it?

4 Countries I’d Like To Visit:

Hmmm...When I was little, I always wanted to be an archaeologist and go to the great pyramids to discover ancient artifacts and mummies. Now I realize that that would require a lot of dusty, hot, back breaking digging, not to mention a firm grasp on all the history involved. Not exactly sounding so romantic anymore, but I'd still love to visit as a tourist someday.

I'd also love to visit Australia. I almost went there as an exchange student my senior year of high school, but found out it was too expensive. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to it. Maybe the animals, like kangaroos and koalas, maybe the accent. I don't know. Now, I have met online a whole group of nice people from Australia and New Zealand through FaithWriters. So it would be awesome to go and have them all be my tour guides!

Ireland or Scotland would also be high on my list for their beautifully green landscapes, castles and cultures. Again, the accents might have something to do with it.

Africa is another one I'd love to visit. :)

4 Popular False Assumptions About Me:

Ummm...not sure with this one, so I'm skippin' it.

4 People I Look Like:

Not sure that I do look like four people, other than my family members of course. I did mention on FaithWriters the other day when someone asked this question, that I was once told I looked like someone from the X-men movie. I was a bit offended thinking they meant that I looked like some sort of a mutant, but then I found out it was a compliment. He said I looked like the human and very pretty dr., Lynda Gray.

Other than that, I've never really been compared to anybody. Um...when I was little, I used to put my hair up in a high pony tail and go around blinking with my arms folded in front of me to make wishes like I dream of Jeanie. Does that count?

4 Things I Hope To Do Before I Die:

I hope I live to see my sons grow up and have children of their own. Possibly even see their children's children.

I'd like to finish my book and have it in stores. Even if it isn't a best seller that makes me rich. Just having somebody think it's good enough to buy would make me happy and I'd feel happy to call myself a writer.

I'd like to travel all over the world on those dream vacations, like Club Med, where you get to swim with dolphins and stuff. :)

Can't think of a fourth thing, so I guess that's about it for this meme and me.

Thanks Amy!

My Anniversary!

2006-04-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

We made it!!! Today is my fifth wedding anniversary! It was five years ago today that we were standing on a beach in Makena Cove exchanging our vows.

So much has happened since then. We've added two sons, a house and a minivan to the picture. I quit my job as a receptionist to stay home with the kids and now I'm working on my first book!

Mark took today off work for our anniversary, but it's kind of hard to go out with three kids and no baby sitter. At least he remembered though. That's better than some husbands. :)

I suggested we take the kids out for lunch or something. Not exactly romantic, but better than frozen burritos or corn dogs like we'd normally be having for lunch. lol

Today is also Jon's first day of Spring Break. I'll be home with all three kids alllll week. This should be interesting. :) Usually Jon is able to spend Spring Break with his dad, but he is a teacher and his break isn't until next week, so it didn't work out this year. Hopefully the boys won't get too out of control from boredom.

Jacob is turning one next week, so we are having a party for him on Saturday. It will be a combination birthday/Easter Egg Hunt party. We're inviting the whole family over around 11:00. We'll look for eggs, BBQ lunch, have presents and cake. If everyone shows up, there could be about 30 of us crammed into 1,200 sq. ft. of a house! Luckily we have a big back yard where I plan to feed everybody. Just hope it doesn't rain.

Amy tagged me with a meme, so I should go do that. I'll post it when I'm done. Then I need to work on my book.

I started doing background and character details for Ne'ikio, my main character, last night. It's amazing how much there is to think about. Like, I was going to originally have him growing up kind of nomadic, so he could have come into contact with people. But then I was thinking about it. If a very young boy with out any parents came into a town, wouldn't they take him into their homes to make sure he'd be safe?

So, now he has grown up in the rain forest with only his non-human companion, La'amoen. But if he hasn't ever seen people, would he wear clothes? I can't have a naked teenager coming to Kinqoa Village! (in the second section of the book) Lots and lots of details to think through... :)

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions (part 2)

2006-04-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

Ok. I think I've got my blog's colors figured out now. Although I'll probably change them again not too long from now. lol

Maybe tomorrow I'll work on adding links to some of my writing on FaithWriters. It is a great website and forum for Christian writers that I found last August. I've been entering their weekly challenge and have actually won a few times. I have received so much feedback from the readers and other writers there, that I think my writing has improve dramatically since Aug. In fact, when I started, I hadn't written in about ten years, so I posted on the Beginners Level. Now, when the new quarter begins, I have to post in the Advanced Level because I've placed high enough. Yay!

They have what's called the Editors' Choice, awarded for first through eighth place. To win EC, you have to score in the top eight out of all the levels combined. The EC winners have their entry and a short bio note included in the quarterly anthology. Last year I placed seventh, so that entry will be in the book to be published sometime in May. :)

If I get a chance, I will try to post links for that story and some of my other favorites tomorrow. But I am also supposed to be working on my new (and first) book. It is a Christian fantasy and I'm hoping to reach the readers who enjoy books like Harry Potter and The Lord of The Rings, only my book will not include any witchcraft, magic or wizards. :)

One of the best writers on FaithWriters named Maxx, announced a challenge on the forums to inspire us to get busy with our dreams of writing books. He said that during the current break from the weekly challenge, we should come up with an outline and two chapters of a new book. Then he posted his email address, telling us to send them to him for a critique.

I had already thought about this book, but had not started on it until I read his post on the forum. It was difficult in the beginning, trying to figure out how to approach the storyline. My good friend Sparrow from FW helped me get it together. I was worried that it would be too big of a task, but I actually emailed it to Maxx with a few days to spare. :)

He said he will post his favorite around April 7th. I think I might wait to hear back from him, before writing any further. That way, if he has some suggestions for major changes, I won't have to back track as far.

Ok. Time to call it a night, well technically it's already morning. So I'll say nighing for now. More later!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

2006-04-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Colors and more colors! So many colors to decide on for each tiny detail of my new blog! I've been playing around with the color codes (which I know nothing about) and think I'm getting close to a final choice. Just have to figure out a few of the text color choices (as you can tell).

Eventually, this blog will be pretty!!! (even if I have to post pretty pictures to do it!)

So what do you think of my new color scheme? I know some of the colors on the profile and link boxes are a bit odd, but how about the rest? Like it? Hate it? Wish you were watching your fave episode of Doc instead of reading this blog? Then leave a comment and let me know!

Thanks for stopping by and I promise things will get more interesting around here soon, so check back! :)

Welcome To Debboggy's Bloggy!

2006-04-02T00:44:00.000-08:00

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. I've never tried blogging before, but it sounds like fun, so I thought I'd give it a try. Not sure what I'll end up posting here. Probably my random thoughts as well as my stories. I currently write and post on FaithWriters. I'm also in the beginning stages of writing my first book. Maybe I'll eventually post a few teasers to get some feedback. :)

Well, it's late, so I guess that's it for now. I still want to play with things and see how they look. lol

If you've found me, please let me know that you stopped by!

Thanks,
Debboggy