…falling from the sky?

Could it be? Yep, it’s rain. Much needed rain. Although it frizzies my hair. And gets my dirty car dirtier. And all of my 10 umbrellas are in the trunk and I never think of getting one out until it is too late.

But North Texas needs the rain.

I was asked why I don’t blog as often as I use to. My answer is that I didn’t work full time then. And anyone who has worked full time knows how it sucks you dry.

Speaking of work…part of my company has relocated into a new home. Well, not new as it has been around awhile, but new to our company. Once they get 288 of 800 employees settled in, we will take up three floors of the 36 floor building in the downtown area. My office is bigger and nicer although the view is now of the parking garage.

We have dubbed the garage the ‘Speedway’ because people fly through and will run over your a** if you are not careful. And if you hesitate in any way - you are toast! You can defilnitely tell the ‘newbies’ by the fear on their faces as they walk to the elevators dodging the vehicles playing ‘chicken’ with cars and people alike.

You think I am kidding. If I make it my office alive, it is a good day.

Gotta run. Working on an article for my chapter’s newsletter and it will be due in a few days.

Here’s a pretty picture:

~Sandy

…found another blog theme. How do you like this one, BC, KB, KT, DM, MM, SS, NH?

It can be so much fun, but so frustrating at the same time.

Have been looking for something a little more modern, a little more indicative of young adult, which, thankyouverymuch, I happen to be working diligently on.

Except for Tuesday.

And Wednesday.

But tonight I got about 500 words done.

I have been struggling on setting word count goals and I am now starting Candy Havens new class called Writers Binge. In this class we are counting hours working, not pages. I only had about an hour and a bit to write tonight and was able to spit out the 500 words. She focuses on setting how many hours a day you want to write and the goal is to get immersed in your story. You can do it in one sitting or in increments here and there.

She says the best time to write is in the morning before all the stop signs awake (her words, not mine), but that is not possible for me. So I will need to set a certain timeframe each evening and work out my hours then. It is amazing that I had been thinking about doing that for the last two weeks and then got a verification from Candy’s class this week.

Great minds, yada yada!

Stay tuned.

Gotta run…

~Sandy

The birds have to use potholders to
pull worms out of the ground…

The trees are whistling for the dogs…

The best parking place is determined by
shade, instead of distance…

Hot water now comes out of both taps…

You can make ’sun tea’ instantly…

You learn that a seat belt buckle makes
a pretty good branding iron!…

The temperature drops below 95 and you
feel a little chilly…

You discover that in August, it only takes
2 fingers to steer your car…

You discover that you ‘can’ get sunburned
through your car window…

You actually burn your hand opening the car door…

You break into a sweat the instant you step
outside at 7:30 a.m. …

Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, ‘What if I
get knocked out, and end up lying on
the pavement, and cook to death?’…

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state…

The potatoes cook underground, so all you
have to do is pull one out and add butter,
salt and pepper…

Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed
ice, to keep them from laying boiled eggs…

The cows are giving evaporated milk…

~Sandy

…was hotter than the blazes and Sunday promises to be even worse here in North Texas!

What’s up with that? It is even hotter and more humid than the Texas coast.

I so cannot wait for October.

Watered flowers yesterday and, in spite of the heat, they seem to be flourishing. I am amazed at how well they have done this year. They actually look like they are on steroids.

They weren’t the only things that got wet as SOME people cannot be trusted with a water hose.

The heat will do funny things to you. Making a trip inside for a beverage, I spied a water bucket in the garage and got the bright idea of another use for it. I took it around back (heaven forbid any of the neighbors would see) and filled it with water. After toting a chair from the house, I placed it and the bucket just so, made sure my beverage was within reach, and lowered my blistering feet into my new ‘pool’.

Ahhh! It’s a mystery how your whole being can be affected by the comfort or non-comfort of those appendages at the end of your legs.

Laugh yourself silly, but it works! But why does the phrase “You might be a redneck if….” keep popping up in my head.

Bought a new bathing suit! I haven’t been bathing suit shopping in five years and decided that sometimes you just have to face the music and do it. So I hit Dillards bathing suit department and the first rack I found said “Inches Away”.

Cool! And at 40% off, this sounded promising. I tried on different styles and colors and found a couple that didn’t make me look like a popped can of biscuits and I WOULD be caught dead in. Or at least caught in public with. Both are very pretty and I love the way both fit. There are miracles in this world.

There was some guy sitting not far from the dressing room door. Evidently, his significant other placed him just right so she didn’t have to come completely out of the dressing room where ‘OMG! someone might see in her bathing suit’ (and I could so relate). She would try on a suit, stepped out of the changing room, go to the door of the dressing room where only he could see her and get the thumbs up or thumbs down from him.

What was funny was the other women trying on suits and go out there and ask his opinion. One woman asked him to close his eyes when she walked out. I can still hear him mutter “But you’re going to the beach! People are going to SEE you then!!!”

Men! They just don’t get it.

Played with my blog again and this is my latest. Brenda says this one has no personality, doesn’t tell who I am, but may have to leave it for awhile until I come up with something better as my writing is suffering and I feel the muses nudging me to get back to work. I think I have worked out some of the plotting problem I was having. Need to just get the rough draft down. And quickly.

Have a great Sunday!

~Sandy

…to decide!

There are so many cute blog themes out there. If, by chance, you have checked my blog the last few days, you may have come away dizzy because every day I have tried a new look.

Brenda has let me know, without hesitation, which ones she likes and which one she doesn’t.
Michelle says they are all cool. It’s up to me. She’s a Gemini so relates well to my ever changing Libra mind.
Denise is away at RWA Nationals in San Francisco but, if she was here, would tell me to decide and quit messing around. (Take pics, girlfriend, I am so jealous!)

Every one of them has their positives and negatives, but it is fun trying different things.

I just wish I could find what works for me. My next project is learning how to make headers.

Did I tell you we’re having a heat wave here in North Texas? 100 plus heat for several days now. I heard 15, but what do I know? I am busy playing. Inside. Where it is cool.

Okay, back to work. When I got stuck with my plotting, my writing suffered. Even blogging feels stilted when you don’t do it on a regular basis. I have noticed that not everyone blogs as much. That makes me sad even though I don’t get to blog read and surf as much as I used to. My favorite ones that used to have readerships of 100-200 are now down to 40-50.

I have worked through a bit of the problem, so have to get back to writing and see where it goes.

Day-um! I knew I should have never set those goals! And somebody put them on the calendar!

What’s a girl to do?

Get her butt back in gear, that’s what.

But before I do, here’s some wishful thinking:

Hey, it’s my life, I can dream! It may be I like this picture so much right now because I am listening to Kokomo by the Beach Boys as I write this.

~Sandy

…for my new blog.

Just wanted to try something different. Like trying on a new outfit or a new pair of shoes. You just want an updated look.

May not keep this particular one, but willl try it on for a few days. I am having fun learning how to put it together but have some more work to do on the sidebar. What I can’t figure out, I usually bug Michelle.

Let me know what you think about it!

Northeast Texas has had quite a heat wave lately. And, according to the weather, there is no reprieve in sight as we are expecting over 100 degree weather for a week or so.

Sat outside on the patio today and stayed a tad bit longer than I should have. Now my legs and arms are a bright shade of red. Hopefully will tan and not peel.

Need to think about something for dinner as I have been playing around today and not doing anything serious except for some laundry.

~Sandy

…I have always wanted to visit Ireland and Scotland!!!

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You’re the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl… or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

~Sandy

…thanks to Brenda for providing me with this…

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. Don’t worry about what people think ……… they don’t do it very often.

3. Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before.

6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.

7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

8. A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person..

9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.

11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.

12. A conscience is what hurts when all of your other parts feel so good.

13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.

14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.

15. No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes.

16. A balanced diet is a muffin in each hand.

17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.

18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.

19. Junk is something you’ve kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.

20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.

23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.

24. Someone who thinks logical ly provides nice contrast to the real world.

25. It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat.

26. If you had to identify in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved it’s full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.’

27. There is a very fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness.’

28. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

29. You should not confuse your career with your life.

30. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

31. Never lick a steak knife.

32. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

33. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

34. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment

35. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that deep down inside we ALL believe we are good drivers.

36. Your Friends Love you anyway.

~Sandy

…what the animals do on the Fourth of July?

Despite the hot weather, it was fun. Rode the monorail around the zoo and got to see sides of it that couldn’t be seen from walking through.

Figured out that spring and fall is probably better times where the animals are more active.

~Sandy