Excerpt from my biography~ The Wonder Years: Junior High~ Coolest Pet

I HAD THE COOLEST PET IN THE WORLD

His name was Doc. Doctor Waggletail Szeker to be precise...a mallard full of spunk. My cat, Bootsie, was actually pretty spectacular too...but Doc was a wonder. He loved me, played with me, trusted me, and protected me. I raised him from a chick and he knew I was mommy...he also knew that my sisters weren't mommy; nor were they daddy. They were beings that needed to be put into place when mommy was near. Heck, even when mommy wasn't near. He really liked ankles though...you did not want to go barefoot when Doc was by your toes. Many a time my sisters would come shrieking into the house with blood blisters forming on their lovely heels.

Yep. I had Doc pretty well trained.

I would dive into our pool and he would jump in and dive right after me. His trust of me was so great that I could lull him into laying on his back in the swimming pool. Yes, even on a raft.

Back then I was even stupider than I am now. I, and my sisters, lived to 'lay out'...mind you, this was before we had any knowledge of skin cancer. We would laugh at sunblock. No, we wanted the baby oil for the skin and the lemons for the hair thank you very much. We had these metal lounge chairs with rubber band thingies for padding where you could bend the heads and feet areas to go up and down according to how you wished to bake yourself. I could float on the raft because Doc would just play with me...but my sisters had to use the chairs. If they felt really brave they would bend the feet to hang over the water. Doc would quack and swim around me until he saw that my sisters were comfortable and feeling safe...then he would attack. He'd do this low soft quaking like he was talking to his spy network..."mmrrrmrrr mrr mrr? mrrrrmmmmr..." Then it would get loud and fast..."MRR! MRRR MRR! MAMERRRR!!!" And he would slide his beak up a non-suspecting fool of a foot and spray water all over the relaxed leg. It never failed. A scream would issue from the being on the chair followed by something like, "Mimi! Control your duck!" or "I hate him! I absolutely HATE HIM!" Doc would chuckle to himself, "Mawmarrr! MA MA MA MA MRRRR!" and whichever one of my sisters that was attacked (usually Karen, oddly enough) would raise their chair leg back up or go inside the house. Job completed, Doc would then swim around me or dive under me and swim around the pool to resurface with a flap flap of the wings and a great waggle of the tail.

God, how I loved that duck.

Excerpt from my biography~ The Wonder Years: Junior High~ Cutting School

CUTTING SCHOOL

Do you remember the first time you cut school? Funny, I'm not sure if I ever did it again...but I remember that day and the friends I was with. Tiffany, Me, Kris, and Tobi. Yes, we are all wearing cowboy hats, and yes, we planned it, and yes, we look rather silly, but no, none of us ever owned a horse. It is strange that by the end of our Junior year in High School, I was no longer good friends with any of these girls. One because our interests changed very quickly, the other because of popularity or lack there of, and the last? Well, I'll get to that a bit later. Even so, this day we were friends, sisters. We cut school to go to my house...went the back way through a ditch and everything. It really wasn't all that wrong, it was the last day of school and everyone was just signing yearbooks anyway. Even though I never cut again, it felt kinda good being just a little wicked once.

Excerpt from my autobiography~ The Wonder Years: Junior High~ Do You Remember...?

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...?

Growing up is difficult. The kids you used to watch cartoons with and eat chocolate chip cookie dough with change. Sometimes, faster than you do. My best friend in seventh grade was Tobi. We did everything together. I'm not exactly sure when it happened but by the end of the summer of 1980, she had a boyfriend and I was still watching Scooby-Doo. Fortunately for me, I still like to watch cartoons and my husband is okay with that. On the right you see that Karen is still a cute softball player, Tobi was over to chat, and I must have been going somewhere special because I never dressed up unless I had to. Things haven't changed that much for me at least.

Mimi's Review on the Novel DARK STAR by Creston Mapes

The members of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance are reviewing Dark Star by Creston Mapes this month. It was published by Multnomah Publishers in Sisters, Oregon 2005.

Since I am one of the cool blogger writers associated with the alliance, I have been privilaged to read this book. Now for those who have read my profile, you will remember that I am a fantasy/sci-fi/young adult reader/writer. I do not usually read outside of these realms for pleasure.

Dark Star has been an exception to my rule (even if it was an assignment of sorts.)

I was immediately drawn into the characters and the mood of this book. Mr. Mapes scored big on my reading scale; I can tell you that!

He wrote it in first person, meaning from the rock star main character's point of view. What is really cool though is that he wrote it in the past and in the present. Starting in the past with a normal type font, the rock star--Everet Lester -- begins to tell the tale of his abusive past and his rise to fame as the lead singer of a rough rock-n-roll band named Death Stroke. Wonderfully, Mr. Mapes takes the reader into the present where Everet Lester is on trial for Murder One. This is done in bold print so the reader will recognize the difference right away. While in jail and on trial, Everet writes his memoirs (the past that the reader is reading).

Mr. Mapes skillfully winds the reader around the twisted life of a rock idol...delving into the drugs, alcohol, and sex (not explicit) that goes along with this lifestyle. He also depicts the tendency that many stars have to seek out psychics...leading the star into a darker spiritual realm.

Even so, Everet Lester has an anyonomous friend praying for him.

I hope I've made you thirsty for more! Go buy his book...really, you will not be disappointed. Creston Mapes also answers e-mail and will hopefully leave a lovely comment here as well...*hint--hint* Creston!

Fall On Jesus

Many of my friends that visit are Christians so most of you have probably heard the following song that I have posted but my son who is four had a different viewpoint on one of the sections which made me laugh. It wasn't until last night that I actually listened to all the words of 'Come to Jesus'...and this, only after Evan made the remark, "Fall on Jesus? That's not very nice! What if you land on His head? BONK! Ouch!"

We have one of the 'WOW' cd's which has the song on it. I explained that sometimes we do fall and Jesus catches us. I pressed the oh-so-handy rewind button that would've taken a minute instead of half a second if it were a tape deck, and we all listened quietly to hear the whole song and catch the meaning.

I fell in love.

We all cried and sang it over and over.

This is the most beautiful song about a Christian's life that I've heard presented in a long time. Chris Rice is a master story/songwriter. Here it is:

Artist : Chris Rice

Song : Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus)

Lyrics :

Weak and wounded sinner

Lost and left to die

O, raise your head, for love is passing by

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus

Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden's lifted

And carried far away

And precious blood has washed away the stain, so

Sing to Jesus

Sing to Jesus

Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby

Don't be afraid to crawl

And remember when you walk

Sometimes we fall...so

Fall on Jesus

Fall on Jesus

Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely

And steep and filled with pain

So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then

Cry to Jesus

Cry to Jesus

Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over

And music fills the night

And when you can't contain your joy inside, then

Dance for Jesus

Dance for Jesus

Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye

Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live!

My Second Tag

Jennifer of Idle Rambling Thoughts just tagged me...thus the new blog.

I'll be moving over an older tag so
this won't look like the first post...but it is.

10 years ago:

After being married for five years and having one miscarriage, I gave birth to a NINE pound baby boy. He came out looking like a football player. I'm surprised he wasn't giving tackle commands. The boy was HUGE and he was my first...GULP! Turns out I had Gestational Diabetes with him. He was able to hold his head up and turn it to look around on the very first day of birth.

5 years ago:

I was prego with my second child and my husband and I were working with 'at risk' youth as Cottage Parents/Child Care Workers. We had just quit working at Boystown in Nebraska, moved, and started working at South Mountain Children's Homes in North Carolina.

1 year ago:

We moved into a rental home after living with my parents for a year. We had decided to stop working with 'at risk' kids but did not yet have any plans for our future. I just finished writing my book and started the process of finding a publisher.

Yesterday:

My husband and I had a court date for filing bankruptcy. We are looking forward to starting over. Who knows? Maybe God will allow a huge success for my book now that our major trails seem to be coming to an end?

5 Snacks I Enjoy:

Hmmm this may come as a shocker but four of my favorite snacks are made by HOSTESS!

Ding Dongs

Ho Ho's

Cupcakes

Suzie-Q's

Iced-Tea with Lemon and a little bit of sugar (I used to use Sweet and Low but it started doing wacko things to my brain...and no! that is not the reason I am so frightenly brilliant and witty...you're not going to say anything rude are you?

5 Songs I Know All The Words To:

Pokemon theme song

Scooby-Doo theme song

All the Little Mermaid songs

Tons of Worship songs

My all time favorite: The Search is Over by Survivor

5 Things I'd Do With 100 Million Dollars:

Not declare banckruptcy!

Adopt a baby girl from China or Ethiopia (Hey, it works for Angelina Joilie) I cannot have anymore children of my own because I would most likely die this time...and I so want a baby girl too. I don't care what she looks like, I just want to love her.

Go on Missionary trips and fund it all!

Donate to Christian organizations and churches

Create a fairie mansion

5 Places I'd Run Away To:

The F.A.I.R.I.E.S. realm

Venice, Italy

Rome, Italy

Bahamas

Hawaii

5 Things I'd Never Wear:

Hip Huggers that show my butt crack

a tongue ring

a bikini

a belly ring

a gold tooth

5 Favorite T.V. Shows:

Since we do not have cable I'll have to go from my memory of when we did...

Stargate SG-1

Kim Possible

Even Stephens

Charlie's Angels

Whose Line is it Anyway?

5 Biggest Joys:

Jesus

My family

My book

My art

Blogging

5 Favorite Toys:

Computer

Camera

Art stuff

DVD player

Books

What is Cool In My Place:

I have lots of artwork by myself, my boys, and my friends hanging about. Oh, and we have two really strange dogs named Wicket and Deojie, a catfish that jumps at you when you feed it, a sucker fish named Hickie, and two Betas with no name.

I TAG the following 5 poor souls:
Stag
Rock Child (better known as Grossa Foossa
My son, Keegan!
Saija from Thro' a Glass Darkly
Pia

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by my 'twin' blogger, Twisted Cinderella . The instructions are:

1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.

Since I do not have 23 posts, I took the 23rd paragragh of my 1st post.

"She looked across the sand and saw movement near some inland eucalyptus
trees, but decided that the wind must have caused it."

Now it is my turn to tag some poor souls. I tag:

Bonnie Writes
May's Little Heaven
Faith in Florida
Idle Rambling Thoughts
Stag