Just Call Me Slack

It has been 3 weeks since my last post and I have no excuse for it other than to say that I have been slack all around.  I got a new computer in April and about 2-1/2 weeks later had to return it due to the fact that the scroll on the touchpad didn't work and the system was slow, albeit faster than what is in my dinosaur of a computer now, and apparently had the wrong operating system as nothing really seemed to work like it was supposed to.  I did notice there were some Windows 7 files on what was supposed to be a Windows 8 based computer.  Even wor tech support guys said the system wasn't operating properly and that I should take it back.  Now I'm back on my old laptop again and can't take it with me anywhere due to the monitor being broken at the hinges and the slightest movement causes me to lose my ability to see anything on the screen other than a bunch of lines, meaning I have to hibernate the old thing and then turn it back on to get my screen back.

So slack days should be over and I hope to get back to posting on a more regular basis.

UPDATE ON AUDIO BOOKS:  Finally Home has had the once over listen through (and yes, I was very slack when it came to going through the narrations) and I've sent some suggested changes to the narrator.  Sienna did a great job for the most part and as stated previously, if I were to pick a person to play Kelly or how I pictured Kelly, she would be the perfect fit.

State of Successes has been completed and I'm waiting on Heather to get the final cover to me to  upload that so I can finalize the production of that book.  It looks like the state books will be published audio wise before Finally Home but that's okay - all in due time.

I will probably submit the contract to Francene in June to work on State of Wilderness  next.  August will be State of Heights and September or October will be State of Nature.  I'm also looking into a sponsor for the state series to hopefully get them back on track, but more on that when I find a sponsor and the money is flowing in to pay the bills (Heather, printing, et cetera), which will p robably be posted on the JGDS blog when I have updates.

FAMILY NEWS:  Youngest son, who is now living with my parents and my oldest son, got his GED and has finally gotten a job, working in the same plant oldest son is but on opposite days (when oldest is working, youngest is off and vice versa).  The last I heard was when they get established a bit more they plan on moving out on their own.  I don't think it is a good idea due to the fact that my parents' aren't in any condition to really be left taking care of themselves; more or less, my father would have to take care of my mother (she is pretty much in an Alzheimer state) and himself (he has back problems and is having to use a walker to get around and possibly heading to wheelchair or some sort of hoveround craft to get around among many other illnesses).  I would prefer that my parents have someone around to help out but who am I to say what the boys will do in the next few months.  I guess when I go up there for the High Country Festival of the book next month (June 21 at Watagua High School in Boone, NC) I'll find out everything.  Daughter who had moved to West Virginia in November and back home in February finally got a job. She starts next Thursday for training and then goes directly to work at the store she will be working (training is in one town and store she will be working is in our county seat town).  So that is the best news for her since she has been without a job since moving back home and has been driving me nuts - constantly on the go and begging her  father and me for money all the time; I just hope she will be saving her money and not be on the go as much (working second or third shift, she won't have time to go galavanting all the time). 

School is out in Utah and I've not had any classroom visits with them in over a month and I miss them.  Taught my POV sessions and then they had state testing and worked on a project for the town and then end of year reviews and studying.  I look forward to working with the next group of students in the fall.  Just to let teachers and librarians know, I am available for school visits as per my website and I will do virtual classroom visits as well. 

Bring on the Summer and hopefully lots of good news to report and more books being published.  See you all in the postings - E :)

Hailie's new toy

As you can see from the slide show just added, Hailie got a new digital camera and she's been playing with it. It was an early birthday present she talked her father into getting for her. Guess if she can't have a cell phone like all her friends, she can have the camera - cheaper really - lol - takes pretty good pictures for a not really expensive camera (only $85 at Wal-Mart).

Band camp started this week so both are going strong with that and she's been taking pics at school of some of her friends too - will post those when I get copies of them -

Work is going better - got switched back to my old account and am a happy camper - enjoy the slide show - E :)

Clarification on kids getting picked up by police

It seems from the comments on that posting that there is a misunderstanding or something going on -

My brother and his family moved from North Carolina about a month ago (maybe a little longer - 6 weeks maybe). They moved to a small town right outside of Clemson (which is nothing but a college town - so you have lots of teenagers running around that area and it can be crazy with college students out and about all the time). About four or so days after moving, my brother and my nephew were having an argument; my brother hollered at Brandon, "Well, if you hate it so much, why don't you go ahead and go back to North Carolina." So Brandon walked out of the house and proceeded to walk in a direction that he hoped would lead him back towards an area that would allow him to hitch a ride out of the town. After about 3 hours of him being gone (it had definitely gotten dark by this time), they called the police and had him searched for. He finally called from a grocery story only 6 miles from their house saying he was hungry and wanted to come home. It took him 4 hours to walk the 6 miles (he should have been able to walk it quicker than that because he is in JRROTC and involved in other things that keep you active). So he's a marked person already having encountered the police due to an argument with my brother and "running away" from home.

So the fact that it is spring break week, the kids were walking on a busy road where they didn't have any business being in the first place, and the fact that my nephew has had a first encounter with the police in Seneca, made the being "picked up by the police for walking" a comical situation.

My son said he has something to tell his friends at school because the highlight of his spring break was being picked up by the police for walking and riding in the back of the police car. He said he thought the plexiglass plates between the front and back were just things that happened on TV, but he confirmed that they were real and that the doors only opened from the outside - lol - he was totally fascinated by the ride in the police car.

So that is my clarification for ya'll and hope to see you on the postings - E :)

spring break stories and writing group stuff

This afternoon I picked up my son, who has been spending the week more or less with my brother and his family. I was late but no big deal - I got there. We met in the parking lot at Wal-Mart and then went to Ryan's for lunch. My nephew was talking about the "po-po" and God I hate my brother for allowing him to be so disrespectful to others (po-po = police) - and the story is that the kids were bored yesterday, so Sharon tells them to go out for a walk. They live in a small town about an hour from the small town I live in, so all the roads are considered highways, byways, et cetera - they are all interchangeable in South Carolina small towns. Apparently the kids (ages 16, 12, and 6) had walked up to one of the major roads in the town and had even crossed the street (story is nephew was going to find a way to his girlfriend's house to ask her out on a date - hahaha - they've only been in the town for about a month and yes same boy who was smitten with daughter's friend on first meeting - that lasted about 2 weeks - so goes life). They were sitting off the road about 10 feet resting when a cop drove by them once, going the opposite direction they were. The cop comes back up the road, turns around and pulls over and asks them if they have a phone number. My nephew wasn't thinking and blurted out the number. So my brother who is home on his lunch break gets the call wanting to know if they have kids (Sharon actually took the number) and then the cop wants to know if she knows where the kids are. Not being able to answer, she finds out that the cop had the kids - Paul goes to get them - and so the big joke is that they got pulled for walking - (My son says his highlight was getting to ride in the back of a police car - lol) -

Writing group was interesting tonight. Of the ten stories read, three of them were actually set in the same area and it was funny to hear all three of them mention places and names similar (street names, places) and what's cool is I knew most of the places they referrenced because they all talked about Charleston, which is where my oldest is and my husband's mother lives in that area too.

We had a young lady who attends the Fine Arts Center (part of the art program in some of the local high schools) and wants to be a writer - so not sure she'll come because she was a bit young and we probably all seemed like a bunch of fuddy-duddies to her. Only time will tell.

After group - I actually got to enjoy the social time at one of the local restaurants which I don't get to do very often because either I have to get home because I have the kids with me or husband had to go to work. This week being spring break and husband not working his normal shifts (that crazy work 2 days, off 2 days, work 3 days, off 2 days, work 2 days, off 3 days - 12-hour shifts) was the perfect time for me to enjoy the social hour afterwards. Although I was informed by Susan, who is in charge of the conference and is really doing a great job of getting things together, that no matter what, every person has to be there - lol - but that conference is during band season and from my calendar of events plotted through the end of the year that is State competition and the husband's weekend to work. So the dilemma is this - miss a band competition (if they make it to State, which they should - they have the last two years) and figure out what to do with my kids for the weekend and go to Myrtle Beach to attend a conference OR miss the conference, hope they go to state and watch my kids participate. And we are talking something six months down the road and a lot can happen during those six months. (I can hope the kids don't make it to state and then take them with me but then what to do with them while I volunteer and work the conference in order to get my registration for free would be yet another dilemma - decisions, decisions, decisions) - I guess I'll have to keep you all posted on this situation as things come up -

see you all in the postings - E :)

Matchmaker, matchmaker - not intentionally

My brother and his family moved to the area from North Carolina last weekend. I invited them out to dinner and to take the kids skating. So when I get out of the shower before leaving, Hailie asks if her friend can go with us. I said no problem. Before leaving for the post office, Benjamin's friend shows up to spend the night. Now, I have my two and their friends and my three nephew/nieces, plus my brother and his wife - yay for me - the more the merrier.

So after skating, I get home and add my nephew to my yahoo and we are chatting because of some of the things I had heard in the car. Anyway - turns out he and Casey hit it off. So my 16 year old nephew and Hailie's 13 almost 14 year old friend are talking online for now.

Today was the band's fish fry so the kids and I worked pretty much all day - I get home and chat online a short bit and then go take a nap. When I get up and get back online, my nephew calls me and says "guess what, mom and dad are going to let me date Casey" after telling me last night online that his parents said he was too young to date. So now a supposed bowling date is being scheduled for next Friday. Hailie is now beside herself because she set up her friend and her cousin in a round about sort of way - lol - this was not an intentional set up but I guess it was bound to happen with the younguns today.

Picture of nephew, nieces, and my kids and their friends -

Best I can do for son and his friend - and that's my backside in the blue color - waiting for my brother and his family - okay - so enough for now - see you all in the postings - E :)

An interesting thing happened on the way to fixing dinner tonight

Funny thing, I had just popped dinner in the microwave and had asked son to put his father's clothes in the dryer for him. No problem. Benjamin starts putting the clothing in the dryer and guess what he found? No, no critters in the washer. His father left a metal washer (I'm talking steel) in with his clothing. No big deal, right? Well this was a metal ring (see picture) that had been engraved with husband's nickname (he did the engraving at work - the piece of metal for lack of better word for it is - metal washer - was from his job also) --

So Benjamin finds this metal washer and proceeds to go upstairs to watch TV before dinner. He comes back downstairs within five minutes of getting upstairs with none other than this metal thing stuck on his middle finger. His knuckle was already swollen so the ring was not sliding off at all. I was concerned because his finger was dusky colored, not a good thing to someone who has been a medical transcriptionist as long as I have and the fact that I couldn't get the thing off without hurting my baby concerned me more.

So, first thing - get some dish detergent and soap up the hand and finger to hopefully slide the ring off. Nope didn't work. Okay now the finger is really turning colors, almost bluish in color. So call EMS. Yep, they show up in my driveway with no lights or sirens since it wasn't a real emergency just scary. They put some lube all around the ring and try to slip it off. Nope, knuckle is too big to get it off. Benjamin was in pain. Humm, think. Don't we have a ring cutter in here somewhere? Yep, found it but the ring cutter is too small to grasp the metal ring. Okay we've exhausted our methods. Only other solution, take him to emergency room so they can remove it. Ride in the ambulance or you take him in private vehicle. I'll take him since I had to pick up daughter from church since no one else at home.

Benjamin and I head to church to pick up Hailie and her friend and her friend's nephew. Hailie is a bit shocked to see me as she hadn't called me yet. So I go in to get her and have to tell her the situation. Benjamin is in the car and slightly embarrassed knowing that Hailie's friend and the friend's nephew will be getting in the car too. Then had to talk to one of the ladies from the church who adores Hailie. Gave her my business card with web address for my story (yeah, sales me at work too - got to sell my story - lol). Okay take friend and her nephew home and then head to the hospital.

Get to the emergency room and sit for a couple of minutes before they put in the vital signs room - take his temp and blood pressure. Instead of sending us back to the "emergency" part of the emergency room, they send us back to what they call "fast track" which is supposed to be nonemergency emergency room type visits and gets you in and out fairly quickly. A nurse, an aide or secretary and either a doctor or physician's assistant are usually back there. Tonight we had a PA. So we go in the waiting room for like less than two minutes. They call us back (the nurse did) and we coming down the short hall and the PA asks what the problem is and they both look at his finger like, hummmm we don't have anything to remove that from his hand. We may need to send him to intermediate care.

Now the fun begins - he doesn't belong in emergency, fast track has no tools or devices to remove a metal washer from a 12-year-old child's finger. So what do we do? Well first the PA lubes the heck out of the ring and finger hoping to get it over the knuckle. Nope, didn't work. So then she wants some dental floss. I knew what she was going to do if she had found it. No dental floss was found but she did find some kite string. She tries wrapping his knuckle with the kite string hoping to compress it enough to work the metal ring off his finger. That didn't work. No ring cutter (yep if things aren't tied down, they tend to walk away from that acute care part of the emergency department). Okay, think, who can we call with some tools that might work on getting this thing off his finger? Humm, I know (PA or nurse) - how about some bolt cutters. Call security see if we can get some bolt cutters. Good idea. Now, I've seen bolt cutters on TV but never in person and those things are very wicked looking in person. Like big pliers kind of but supposed to be able to cut through dead bolt locks and padlocks - ha!!! - well guess what - made some indents in the metal washer but wouldn't go through it. Okay this isn't working. Two security guys try to figure out what they can use. PA says, I've called engineering to see what kind of tools they have that might work on this. So security leaves for a few minutes comes back with a mini sawzall ring cutter type thing (electric and pretty wild looking). He puts the finger protector on Benamin's finger and shaky hands and all starts sawing through that metal where the bolt cutters had marked. He was nervouse as all get out here. So, he saws down. Then takes the bolt cutters and has to work another spot. Starts sawing down that way. He was very afraid at this point knowing that he wouldn't be able to go all the way down.

Engineering shows up with this huge sawzall type thing - nope first thing went through my mind - that will never be used on this metal piece to get it off - not on my life -no way. So one of the engineering guys (we had two security guys, two engineering guys, the PA, the nurse, the aide/secretary who wasn't that curious really, the cashier who didn't stick around much, Hailie and myself in this little section of the acute care area where Benjamin was on the little bed there) pulls out these two pocket tools. One being like a multipurpose type thing clamps, grips, you name it - I think it had it on there, and another tool that was mostly like pliers or something to get a good grip on the metal ring.

Lead security and lead engineer guy do this tandem thing where the engineer guy is holding the bottom part of the ring (the uncut part) while the security guy is using the other tool to work the cut part out - the wedge that he had sawed down as far as he could. Whew, piece one out of there but ring still on finger and not coming off.

Okay security guy picks up bolt cutters and makes another indent where PA had previously tried to cut through the ring with the bolt cutters. Again, in tandem, engineering guy and security guy work second piece out. Whew, second piece out but the ring is still firmly on Benjamin's finger.

Now we know eventually this thing has to come off. Third wedge cut with bolt cutters and then again the two men holding and wiggling the third piece out. Get the third piece out and finally the larger piece of the metal ring comes off son's finger - with a swollen, reddened knuckle and all but his finger is free.

Now here are the four pieces of the ring. Sorry the picture isn't that good. We have poor lighting in this house and every try created shadows on the picture. This was the best I could get.

You can't see all the pieces all that great but there are three small pieces and one large - this is sitting on a small notebook - one of those pocket sized pads - so the ring is not that big but big enough to slip over a 12-year-old's finger and create all kinds of problems -

Now you know the funny thing that happened on the way to fixing dinner tonight (this was Sunday, February 4th, between 7 and 7:30 pm when it occurred and we got home from emergency room and trip to Wal-Mart to get some medicine and an ice pack after 11 p.m. - almost 11:30 p.m. - (it is now 1:06 a.m. Monday, February 5th, when this blog post is being posted - lol -

I know it really isn't funny but these are definitely the things where stories come from. They say truth is stranger than fiction and I believe that - lol - see you all in the postings - E :)