Wish I Knew

Just read an article by Carolyn Kaufman titled  The Dreaded Pitch-What to Include in That One Line. Wished I had read it before I went to my first SCBWI!!!!! But I think it will really help me in writng a better Query letter. Check out the article on QueryTracker.net Blog.

Hail Storm In April

Looks like is has been snowing!

My poor flowers! Especially my tulips.

Notice the gutter is a flash flood of rain and hail.

The wind is so strong it's blowing everything over, and hailing like crazy. It is crazy, because it is the end of April.

MEET AND GREET

First night at the SCBWI was a meet and greet. On the bottom of our name tags was labels with things like on my "First time attendee". In this picture on the far left is Katherine Ann Prehm, children's book author & illustrator. She is so talented! You can see some of her work at http://www.katherineprehm.biz/. Middle pic is Laurie Jones, conference coordinator, her tags where the funniest of them all.

Just chillin here, with my husband and two daughters at the coffee shop next door to the  TWILIGHT store. Notice the book on the table? It is a Junie B. Jones book. Yes, and I did indeed read it while we rested there. I consider my writing to be a little of the Junie B. and the Fudgie books. Anyway, how funny to find a child's book sitting  on the table at a coffee shop.

Guess who we ran into? Yeah, Bella and Edward of course. Here my daughter was visiting with them, I was so clever to snap this shot of them "just hangin". LOL

22 YEARS AND GETTING BETTER

I had Darren go with me to the SCWBI conference, because it was our Wedding Anv.  22 yrs.
Such a good sport going . One of the many many reasons I love him!

Peter Brown and I.

Peter Brown was a keynote speaker at our SCBWI Western Washington Conference. Peter is such a funny guy. Some of his picture books: FLIGHT OF THE DODO, CHOWDER, THE FABULOUS BOUNCING CHOWDER, and THE CURIOUS GARDEN.
He is such a nice guy, and very talented! What a pleasure it was to meet him. Check out his web http://www.peterbrownstudio.com/ Enjoy!

Barn Yard Security

"Oink, Oink, Oink", went the little piggy! Darn it! I was trying to sneakie pooh a piece of candy out of my daughters Easter candy stash. Quietly I reached into her bag to steal a piece of candy, only to set off Mr. Piggy. "OINK, OINK, OINK."
I got caught with my hand in the candy bag!
Next year, I won't be buying any animal like this little pig who poop poos candy out of its butt, and sensative to motion!

ADVENTURE IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA

Darren, my husband. Katie, one of my daughters and I went down to Mexico on a 10 day excursion with a group of high school kids from AZ. My husband was asked to go as a chaperone because he speaks fluent spanish.

One of the places we went was a water park
called Xelha, where you could swim with dolpins, snorkel, take hikes, dive off of cliffs, etc. you know just the normal everyday things.

Excited to go snorkeling, we grabbed our gear and set off to see those really big pretty fish down under. I helped my husband and Katie get on their gear and told them to go on. I would catch up with them as soon as I was ready.

Being a red head,
I slathered myself really well with waterproof 45 spf lotion so I wouldn't get burnt. I put on my life jacket, fins, mask, then pushed off the dock to meet up with Darren and Katie.

As I pushed off, I placed the airpiece into my mouth. INSTANTLY my lips started burning,blistering, and swelling up like a BLOW FISH!!! Floating face down in the water I'm thinking to myself this can't be happening. Now What? So I thought, I'll just take out the mouth piece, hold my breath, then just lift my head out of the water to catch another breath. Thinking,even with my big ligs I could still enjoy time snorkeling.

Not thinking to smartly, I PULL the darn mouth piece out of my mouth, forgeting the airtube was attached to my mask! When I pulled the tube up it pulled the darn mask off my face. Sea water then quickly filled the mask. Then I had salty seawater burning my eyes! I began to rub my eyes. But guess what? Yeah, of course my sunblock spf 45 was now also rubbed into my eyes.

Now I have swoolen fish blow lips, salt and sunblock in my eyes. So I flipped over onto my back.(Thank goodness I had on a life jacket or I would probally have downed by this time.) I'm floating there unable to see, and no Darren or Katie to help. Maybe, this is one of the reasons they say to never swim alone. They must of known me. HaHa, no really!

When I realized "I'm doomed" I turned around still on my back and paddeled my way back over to the dock.I Got out,found the ladies locker room where I was able to rinse out my poor miserable eyes.

The great thing about this park, was the floating bridge. The water was so clear I could actually sit and watch the fish swim under me.

Yes, I still had a great time. Yes, my lips went back to normal. And yes, I am going to go snokeling again. In fact, I just went to Costco and bought my own snorkeling gear to take to Hawaii. This plastic airpiece and I are going to be spending some time together testing our compatiblity.

Welcome to my bog!

Thank you for coming to my blog. I hope to entertain you, make you laugh, and learn some new things. Plus, I want to hear from you!