normal fall at the mittan house

What is it they say about ‘famous last words’?
And in my last blog I said something about it being quiet around my house, didn't I?
I wish!
Oh well.
I wouldn't change what's been happening but it sure ain’t quiet in our neighborhood anymore! And I’m not working for corporate America anymore. And our house isn’t kid-less anymore.

I think we’ve done an about face.

I quit my job the day Susie and Kevin asked if they might live in our basement for a few weeks until they got back on their feet. Kevin’s job was ending but the winter job he’s done previously was to plow snow for the state of Idaho. And who knows when Idaho is going to need him?

Sue was sick again – bronchitis, this time – so Lili and I went up and had her all packed and ready to be loaded by the time Kevin brought his camper home from the job site in Wyoming. We put in storage what was staying there, loaded Kevin’s truck, my truck and Sue’s car...and hit the road.

Now they and their three kids, ages 9, 5 and 3, are living in my unfinished basement. We threw up a quick wall at the bottom of the stairs and are busy getting ready to insulate and sheetrock the resulting room. If they stay long enough I just might get my basement totally finished some day. Wouldn't that be a switch?

Meanwhile, the two older kids are in school and I’m doing the ‘grandma-is-my-babysitter’ thing. Sue is working as a photographer for Sears, and Direct TV wants Kevin so I’ll be in charge of kids this winter.

Oh well. I’m grateful for the money I earned in the six weeks I worked but there are other things that are more important in life than money. I can always go back to work later on.

As for other news, tonight is the night for hauntings and witches and ghouls. You know the drill. Oooooooooo and all that.

There have been a few interestingly-dressed little creatures show up at my house but other than that, it’s pretty quiet around here. Larry and his younger cousin, Michael, are playing video games in Larry’s room but Lili is at a party and Sue and Kevin and kids are up in the Avenues trick-or-treating with Richie and his wife. Then the kids get to have a sleepover with their uncle and aunt while Sue and Kev get a night to themselves. It’ll be good for everyone concerned.

And Rick, being at work, gets to miss it all.
Poor Grandpa.

So here I am in a very quiet house. Hmmm.
I think I’ll go find a good book.

Happy Halloween y'all.

too tired to write a lot but here's some news...

I recently took a job. . .the first full-time job I've had in years and the first corporate job ever. ...And it's really kicking me.
This old girl is 60 - that's the big six-oh, guys - and I'm supposed to be learning not one, not two, but at least four dos computer programs. I always knew there was a reason I stuck with windows! I think my brain is turning to jelly.
HOWEVER --- I am persevering and I am conquering.
It's been 28 years ago this fall since the last time I took a class where I had exams. And I can't say I'm jumping for joy with the grades I've gotten so far (91.5 on the first exam and 91.0 on the second) but it could be a lot worse. Some of the hotshot computer geeks in the class got far lower scores than I did so I guess I can't complain too much. Still, it's shredding my pride because the last time I went to school (with four little kids to take care of and a business to run in another state) I pulled a 4.0 gpa. So I AM complaining just a little bit.
But it's coming. It's starting to make sense. I'm starting to see a pattern. And I got assigned a different mentor, today(at my request), and so that's going much better. Overall, I am rather pleased.
My job is with the Marriott Vacation Club call center. I'll be answering questions, booking vacations and posting points and flyer miles. I figured it was something an old lady ought to be able to handle. Didn't know what I was getting myself into, actually, but I think I can handle it. I want to. We need the income right now and it's time for me to go to work full time. Besides, it's the first time in 38 years that I didn't have kids I was responsible for. D'yu know how nice that is????? :)
Lili's been pulling overtime at the video store lately. They've changed hands and there's a lot to be done. And guess who is the only one on the staff who isn't afraid to climb a ladder and take down signs or change light bulbs?
I guess she comes by it naturally. I've spent every spare minute I've had for the past six weeks up on a ladder scraping, sanding and painting my house. I should be finished within about a week - I hope. If the weather will just hold. I'm really trying to get it finished this fall. I'm lucky we've had such good weather most of the time.
In the meantime, Chris, in New York, has been doing something he's wanted to do for years. I'm including his Utube video of his experience. Check it out.
Ok, most of you know that I have always wanted to do this...

Now I have, and here is the video to prove it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARbPunmI3tQ
He also has joined a group of motorcyclists called Patriot Guard who, when requested to do so, ride as a group to escort fallen servicemen from the airplane bringing their bodies home to the grave site where they form a ring around the gravesite to keep hecklers away.
How sad it is that some people in our country are so insensitive as to create a fuss in the presence of mourning family!
I'm proud of my son for joining the Patriot Riders. I'm proud of his patriotism and his respect for those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom.
Well, folks, I've been on the go for nearly 18 hours. I think I'm gonna pack it is.
My thanks to those of you who have responded to my blog. It's nice to have you drop in.
Oh, and by the way, it appears that what was wrong with my daughter in Idaho was dehydration. Too much soda pop and too little water. She seems to be doing much better now. Thank y'all for your concern and best wishes for her.

the twists and turns of life

Life sure is full of twists and turns.I was busy pressure washing my house the other day, doing the final prep work before hauling out the paint cans and my brushes, when I decided I was done for the day. The rest could wait. I was soaking wet, covered with various-sized moles of the paint that was peeling off my siding in huge chunks, and freezing cold due to a brisk Utah wind. Good time to call a halt and go warm up in a steaming hot shower, right?On the way through the kitchen I noticed my older daughter had called from Idaho. So I grabbed the phone and returned her call while I hunted for something warm and dry to wear.She answered in tears.She was at her doctor's office, grounded from driving because she's been having blackout spells followed by intense headaches. Would I come be her chauffeur and moral support while she got this problem sorted out? I left home about forty-five minutes later. And I'm still in Idaho - not having the faintest idea when I'll be free to go back home.In the meantime she's seen a neurologist and had an MRI. We're waiting for the results from that before the next test - a spinal tap.It appears that this might be one of two things. Either she's building up an excess of cerebral/spinal fluid and it's affecting her optic nerves (these 'blackouts' only affect her vision, not her hearing or ability to talk, walk, etc.) or there is the possibility of MS.The MRI should indicate if MS might be present. If it shows spots on her brain, the fluid collected from the spinal tap will be sent to a lab for further testing and confirmation of MS.The spinal tap, by itself, will indicate if her cerebral/spinal fluid is not being drained and absorbed as it's supposed to be.And in the meantime I'm her wheels.I'll probably go home once she's recovered from the spinal tap. Her friends and church members can help her get to where she needs to go after that. But I had to be here while the testing was being done. She needs me and I need to know what's happening to my daughter.So the house will wait. It may get painted this fall and, then again, it may not. Oh well.My garden will wait. I called Steve and told him to go raid my corn patch because I know full well Rick, Larry and Lili won't get around to canning or freezing it and they can't eat it all. (Oh, yes, Lili came back home a couple weeks ago.)And my life, while spiraling in unexpected circles, seems pretty much on hold, too.Seems pretty normal to me.

from Chris, in New York

Chris just sent this to us. He's working for a company that builds grain silos. We'd been after him for photos and he finally got tired of being bugged.
This is so interesting to me. Corn, used as actual fuel to heat homes, is the hottest new item, it seems. The bottom photo shows a complete system from wet-corn storage, through the drier, to the dry corn storage.
Now, here's Chris' letter and photos. Remember that a left click of your mouse makes the photos large sized.

...so here it is. Some of these pics are extra big on purpose so you can see all the detail as well as possible.

This first pic is one of the biggest bins we build. It's 48 feet in diameter, and when we finished it, it was about 48 feet to the peak of the roof. In this pic, we have only 12 jacks set up around the silly thing. Each of these regular jacks is 10 feet 6 inches tall. We attach them to the bottom of that first ring, which is fairly light guage, and raise the whole building up 33 inches so we can attach the next ring, one sheet at a time. You can see the next set of sheets set up inside, where they are all stacked up and ready to set up as we go. We can only raise the thing up two rings at a time, then we have to reattach the jacks and start over again. As we attach each ring, we have 24 bolts in each seam between the sheets, and another 10 between each sheet and the one above, making 34 bolts per sheet. 16 sheets per ring, 13 rings... (34x16)x13=7072 structural bolts just in the wall of this thing, and we have to put bolts in the holes from the jack anchors every time we lower the anchors, plus the bolts that go into the roof, the door, and the ladder, so call it somewhere in the vicinity of 10,000 bolts in this thing, and I personally stuffed half or a little more of them. I don't even want to think about how many times I walked all the way around this stupid bin!!


Here you can see the stairwell we are building around the silly thing. Bins this big don't get ladders, like the smaller ones do, and I'll show the smaller bin later. This was at 9 rings. We had to add 4 jacks to the mix at this point, as the bin was getting HEAVY.


16 jacks, 2 of them taller so we didn't have to lower them around the doorway we built into the wall between the taller 2. The doorway makes the wall weaker and we didn't want to attach the jacks at the bottom of the opening as it pulls the wall out at the weak point, making attaching the bottom ring just about impossible. 3 rings to go...


Finished at last! 13 rings, each one 33 inches tall, makes the top of the wall 35 feet 9 inches tall, and the peak of the roof is another 13 to 15 feet beyond that, I'm not sure exactly how much. The bottom ring was just 1/32 of an inch less than 1/4 of an inch thick, so you can imagine that the whole thing was incredibly heavy by the time we finished. Each sheet on the final ring weighed around 240 pounds. We installed the door, which shores up the weakness in the wall where the opening was, making the whole thing rock solid again. These bins are set on a concrete base, which was 72 cubic yards for this particular beast. Check the next picture to see how the floor is installed, and for more info on how much corn goes in this thing.


These floors consist of panels that are anywhere from about 9 feet long at the shortest to around 27 feet 7 inches long at the longest. We snap them together on top of the supports you see, which are placed under the leading edge in staggered formation, on and between the lines painted on the floor as guides. When we finished this floor, it was all set to hold the 1500 TONS of corn the farmer plans to put in it this fall. Do the math... that's 3 MILLION pounds of corn!!!


Final picture for now. This is a complete system, including wet hopper for corn fresh from the field (center, smaller bin), grain dryer (on the left), and the storage bin. Follow the auger system we built from the bottom of the wet hopper to the top of the dryer, then from the bottom of the dryer to the top of the dry storage bin. This is a smaller dry storage bin at 30 feet in diameter, and only 12 rings tall. Notice the ladder system instead of the stairs like the bigger one got. From the time we start setting up to pour the concrete bases, to the time we hang the augers and finish everything up takes around 3 weeks. Our next project is another monster bin like all the above pics, but it's out in Massachusetts somewhere. We will leave in the morning to go out and set up for and pour the concrete base for it. We should be building on it next week.

summer happenin's

ok. ok. it's been two months since i blogged last. i'm a disgrace to the writing community. but i have excuses. does that count?

first excuse is my garden. lili helped rick and me build the trellis before she moved to washington to help spence and manny with their new baby.

(Reminder - left click on each photo enlarges it so you can see details if you're interested.)

The garden's doing very well - especially considering the fact a huge hail storm tore through here a couple-three weeks ago and leveled my neighbors' corn patches but all of my garden was spared. I thank God every day.

Next project was the pondAll the plantings along the right side and front were done this spring and summer. They don't look like much yet but they're coming along. I also added the pond plants - and some fish.

I put in one 5-inch brown koi/goldfish cross, three 3-inch gold fish and two little 2-inch bristlenosed plecostomus.

Although they don't hold still long enough for me to be sure, I'd say the koi is nearly 10 inches long, the gold fish are between six and seven and there are at least 4 little brown fishes that are about 4 inches long. I doubt I've seen the plecos since they were put in there. Don't know if they even still exist, since I caught a water snake in my pond the day after we added the plecos and I haven't seen any signs of the algae being eaten on the sides of the pond. Where did these little brown guys come from? I haven't a clue. My guess is that the koi is responsible. Anyway, the gold fish get bored and chase them, occasionally. It's entertaining to watch.

I've looked at pictures of different types of koi and I think this one is part Asagi. It has the whitish head but the rest of its body is more a mottled brown than blue and it has absolutely no other color except for a silver streak down its back.

It's a very shy fish and the silver streak is generally the only way I can tell where it's hiding. I was just reading about koi and about training them to feed from your hand. THAT would be interesting to try. But I'll probably never have the time.

There've been three real highlights this summer - two happening the same week.

First, Mike and Tracy dropped in and spent a day with us. I invited Rich and Lori over for supper (Steve and Jen couldn't make it) and my three boys got together for some competition on the trampoline. It was fun to watch them - and so relaxing as we ate supper out on the patio that evening. Mike and Tracy have moved to Texas, now, and are running a little neighborhood cafe.

The second highlight was Rick's and my vacation. We flew to Spokane to get acquainted with our newest grandbaby, Sage. She was born June 1 and since Lili is playing nanny, we were able to visit her, too. I caught Rick and the girls sleeping one day. Sagie is a very fair-skinned baby, delicate and fine-boned. And generally very happy.Part of that, I suspect, is because her aunt, Lili, spends most of every day cuddling Missy Sage.

I'll post more photos of our vacation at another date.

The third highlight of our summer was last Saturday. We met with Steve's family to witness the baptism of Steve's oldest boy, Tyler. Just after the baptism, his youngest son, Isaac, was blessed. Isaac is only 6 weeks older than Sage but look at the difference in size, build and coloring!

Sagie is blue-eyed, fair and petite; Isaac is dark complected, dark-eyed and a CHUNK! I babysat him the night before we left on vacation and couldn't get over the difference between his solid heft and her dainty airiness. It'll be fun to see those two kids together when they get a little older.

I took photos of Steve with his entire family and Tyler, alone, after everything was over. Here you go.

During the baptismal service, Jordan sang a duet with her father, Steve. She has a lovely alto voice and sings very well for a 9-year-old. And isn't Tyler handsome in his first suit? (You can't tell I'm a proud grandma, can you?) Steve and Jen have done very well with parenting their little family. I know it hasn't been easy with Steve's work schedule but my hat goes off to them for the efforts they make and the successes they've seen with their kids.

Well, that's about enough for now. I have company coming , a house to clean, and more scraping and sanding to do on the eaves of the house so I can paint before bad weather hits this fall - so I'd better get busy.

Chat with you later,

Ciao.

Hey everyone. I got to visit mom and dad twice this last week. I thought I would share the pictures I took of Isaac, Steve and Jennifer's new baby. I think he is super cute, and one of his pictures looks just like Dad Jim at that age. Don't be mad, Steve, it is only my opinion.

Enjoy!

mah baby's done graduated

A major chapter of my life has closed. Since my baby graduated from high school yesterday, for the first time in thirty-three years I no longer have a child enrolled in either primary or secondary school.
No more frantic school shopping, trying to find the perfect clothes or shoes that fit or needed school supplies.
No more filling out medical forms, signing permit slips, or chaperoning field trips.
No more twice-daily trips to either a bus stop or a school building.
No more late nights trying to help a beloved child write a paper (that should have been written weeks ago) without actually doing it myself.
No more listening to kids whine when they’ve asked me to critique a paper and then don’t like my critique.
No more facing off with gym teachers who refuse to follow doctor’s written orders for my asthmatic child.
No more having a teacher physically or verbally abuse my child (mind, I haven’t a problem with a swat on the seat of the britches occasionally, and I don’t mind a teacher getting my kid’s attention with sharp words when necessary, but to literally drag my kid down the hall when the teacher wasn’t paying attention to her class in the first place, or to scream at my kindergartener for thinking he was supposed to be with me when I was visiting another teacher, is past what I consider appropriate).
Hey, and you know what?
Never again is a principal going to refuse to allow my kids to make up their work when I’ve kept them home on a stormy winter’s day...a winter’s day when the winds were clocked at 100 mph out by our house and one of the school buses was literally blown off the road.
And you know what else?
NO MORE PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCES!!!
Ohmygoodness!!! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven!
Anyhow, here are the pictures I took of my daughter on her big day.

1- loading up at home 2- with Dad at the E Center just before graduation

3- walking to the future 4- stepping out

5- happy day 7- the graduate

7- at a family dinner with steve's family 8- richie, too

9- and with Larry, his special friend,Cassie, and another friend, Nate

It's A Beautiful Day

It's such a lovely day today! Beautiful sunshine. Lovely blue skies. Days like this make a person glad to be alive.

I took a picture out back just to illustrate. We have such a beautiful view of the mountains from our patio - if you look through the Pacific Power poles.

Hmmm. I hear they're putting in fiber optics one of these first years. Then these poles will come down and I certainly won't cry. In the meantime I think I'm gonna plant trumpet vines at the base of each one. Doesn't that sound like a plan? It won't help much in the wintertime, though. Too bad.

On the home front, Lili finished off her last night in the play Monday evening. She actually did two shows Monday - one right after school (for the school faculty) and the other one Monday night for the general public. Rick, Steve, Jennifer and I went as guests Monday night.

Lili was glad when it was all over and so was I.

This is the first time I have been involved in any of Lili's school activities since I drew ballerinas in basic positions for a demonstration she did when she was in about second or third grade. I've always been so tied up with things Larry needed that there hasn't been a lot of time for Lili. I've never been convinced she really wanted my involvement, anyway.

This time I decided I was going to get involved because she'll soon be gone from home and I wanted her to have at least one memory of her mother doing something with and for her at school.

I'm glad I made that decision. I don't know if she really wanted me there or if she didn't, but I found out this is the last play the seniors will be in so if I'd waited, I wouldn't have had the chance. And who knows? Maybe some day she'll actually appreciate the fact I made the effort.

So there you go. Once in a while I might manage to get something right. ...Not too often but once in a while.

Apart from that, I have my book all printed out and ready to take to the publisher later this week - with the exception of the photo pages. I printed the book on my own printer but I'm taking the photo pages to be professionally done. My printer does NOT do well with photographs.

I would have had the photos printed out already but I was waiting for one that I didn't have. It came yesterday and I cropped what I wanted from it and added it to my photo section this morning.

Tell you what...don't ever let anyone try to tell you that writing a book is easy. I fight with Microsoft Word nearly every day - why in the world do publishers insist on using Word? Word Perfect is so much more user friendly!

I've searched for information and rechecked what I've received just to make sure it's correct.

I've written and re-written and re-written some more.

I've stood, for hours, before my printer hand-feeding paper through it because at the moment I can't afford the $50 it would cost me to have this printed off at Kinko's. (I'm making myself a promise that when I make my first million [yeah, I know - in my dreams] I'm gonna buy myself a fancy printer so I don't ever have to do this again.)

And I've re-read and edited all 300 pages until I'm absolutely sick of it.

It's time to quit. If it isn't good enough to go to a publisher now, I don't think it's ever gonna be.

So I'm hoping to take it to the publisher of my choice this coming week. I'm planning to attend a writer's conference in Provo, Utah and the publisher I've decided on is just 5 miles away. And I don't have to have an agent in order to submit to them. So...wish me well. I'm sure I'll need all the good wishes you can send.

In the meantime, I interviewed for a job this past week. I highly doubt I'll get it - they said they'd probably be hiring from in-house - but the interview went well and I think both sides were happy with it.

If I get the job, I'll be doing mortgages with the same company where Richie works. That would be nice. Good money and a good working environment. Probably an interesting job, too.

But if I don't get it, I won't cry. I have another book I want to write, anyhow.

So we'll see. I really don't know where my life is heading right now. I want to write. I want to make money as a writer.

And some people do.

Some don't.

I can't afford to spend the time I've spent on this first novel and only come out with a few thousand dollars as an advance. I've invested too much time and money into the research and writing.

I haven't minded this time. I had a lot to learn. But I'm not willing to invest equal amounts in another book without earning a good hourly rate. For this book, although I haven't kept track of the hours I've spent on it, I figure it's several thousand and at that rate I'd probably need an advance of at least fifty grand just to break $7.00/hour.

Maybe I haven't spent a full 7,150 hours on this book but it's been close. Many's the day I've spent between 12 and 18 hours working on it. And I first started it eleven years ago. True, I haven't worked on it all this time. I got it about halfway done and let it slide for several years while other things took precedence. . .such as running the ranch I was writing about. But, still, i've spent a lot of time and energy working on it.

And so we'll see if it was a worthwhile investment of my time or if it wasn't. Readers tell me the book is interesting. The question is whether a publisher will think it's going to sell. THAT is the $64,000,000 question now.
You can bet if it sells I'll be telling everyone on this blog! :)

Till Death Do Us Part

Murder and mayhem are rampant at Lili's school these days. Opposing Mafia families gun each other down one night while pirates rampage across the high seas the next. . .in the form of very popular dinner-theater plays.
Tonight I took photos of Lili's play - "Till Death Do Us Part" wherein the daughter of one mob family weds the son of an opposing family. Lili is mother of the bride while a good friend of hers, Brooke, is mother of the groom.
Murder is committed and the audience (as guests at the wedding reception) gets to try to figure out 'who dun it'.
Cast members for the pirate play were waiters tonight. Lili's group will wait tables tomorrow.

I mentioned, in my last blog, that Lili had chosen a dress I wasn't thrilled about. Fortunately her drama teacher shared my opinion. She and I took Lili and the other 'mother' shopping and the end result was superb. The girls got identical dresses and did a lot of ad-libbing about it that kept the audience in stitches.

This has been difficult for Lili. She's been fighting a kidney infection for the past 9 days--has missed several days of school. But she hasn't missed the play. She didn't have an understudy and hers was a vital role. I'm sure she'll be happy when the whole thing is over Monday night but it's been a great experience for her. Her teacher is very good and all the kids have done a superb job.

And now..... here are photos I thought you would enjoy. Is it right or left click you do to enlarge them? Who knows?

My very tired, half-sick daughter before leaving for the play tonight.

Lili (Amelia Bordoni) and 'daughter Nina' (the bride) getting ready in the dressing room.

Lili in the middle of hair and makeup session.

We're a little farther along, now.

The two 'mothers' before Brooke put her 'Rosa' wig on.

'Rosa' (left) and 'Amelia' (right).

The 'wedding line'. Rosa Cabrini (Brooke) is on the right, Amelia Bardoni (Lili) in the middle.

As each of the kids was introduced at the end, he or she was supposed to do something - his or her choice. Lili, as Amelia, chose to pretend to throttle Rosa.

So...there you have 'Till Death Do We Part". Tomorrow night I'll be photographing the pirate play. I understand it's just as fun. - And I have no intentions of telling you who 'dun' what for either one. Sorry. If you want to know, ask Amelia. She knows. But I signed a blood oath that I wouldn't tell. If I do, my oldest son becomes slave to the drama teacher. :)

good news, pics, and more...

Good news! Buzzy's little boy, Brandon, is now off his anti-seizure meds and his latest eeg was clean. He may start seizing again at some future date but for the moment, he's doing well. That is wonderful news to all of us.

photos - today we got copies of the photos taken of lili for her drama class. I love the black and white they blew up and sent home with her but the color pics aren't bad either. I'll enclude a couple-three of them here. Let's get a vote going...which do you think is best?

Although I like them all, I think I'd vote for either three or four. Four is better on her eyes but three is more Lili...more of her fun personality coming through.

I went down to the school, today, to work on costumes for the upcoming dinner-theater the kids are doing. After watching them rehearse, I'm looking forward to going to the production. Lili's group is doing a Clue-type who-dun-it about two opposing mafia groups where the son of one and daughter of the other get married. Lili's the mother of the bride.

Lili was chosen for her character because she already does an Italian accent fairly well. - She and Larry do different accents between each other all the time...limey, southern, aussie, italian or whatever. It's a lot of fun to listen to them.

A bridal shop from across town had some dresses they wanted to get rid of and donated them to the school drama dept. so I took Lili and four of the other girls from the play down so they could choose costumes for the production. That was interesting. Those kids had more fun trying on formal dresses.

Now I'm making alterations. I'm gonna have to do some major reconstruction on Lili's costume because it's excessively revealing. She actually brought two dresses home - planning to probably use the other one but the teacher didn't like the color. I don't like the fact this one is jersey and it's tighter than her own skin but I guess I'll just do the best I can do and we'll go with whatever I can come up with. And I have absolutely no intention of taking her father to the production. He'd have a fit, no matter what I do to the costume.

He got all uptight when he found out one of the girls was supposed to dress as a slut. If he were to see his daughter's dress he'd be all sorts of upset.

And speaking of Rick, we got the results back on his colonoscopy today. The polyp they removed was benign. That was good news. He became really ill about ten days ago. Chills. Fever of 102.6. I was about frantic. But he was over it in one day and his chest xray was clear so there you go. Blessings to be counted.

I've finished my seasonal job but next week I'll be starting a permanent job as office manager for a new multi-level company that's going in downtown. This should be interesting, to say the least. Challenging, too.

And I'll only get to see Rick on weekends since he works swing and I won't be home before he leaves for work. Ah well. One does what one has to do. The job pays really well, I can pretty much set my own hours - at least at first - and, for the most part, I'll be my own boss. What more could I ask? At my age I'm just grateful to have a job. - We'll see how this goes.

Also, in my news, I've done enough rewrites on my book that I'm about sick to death of it. But I think it's just about ready to be sent off. I've sent it out to a couple of readers and I'm waiting to hear back on their opinions - and I've gotta say I hope they don't suggest a bunch of changes because if they do it's probably going to be another six months before I even want to look at the thing. It's to the point where I think I've about memorized it.

Oh well. It's well written - I know that already. Even the parts that needed the most rewrites were interesting enough my readers have wanted to read more. Since this last self-editing go-round it's much tighter. I think I've pretty well conquered the problems that plagued me before. So ... I'm hopeful that it's about finished, now, and ready for production.

And on that note - I think I'd better go finish supper and then hem the costume I brought home tonight. Be sure and send your votes on Lili's pics, please.

thanks and ciao