Weather Witch

Nearly finished with my second edits for my short story that will be out in July.

I'm so excited.

It's a short so I don't have a long blurb for Weather Witch: Lord Godfrey is negotiating for a wife, until Meredith literally storms into the Manor. Then all bets are off as he tries to temp the tempestuous beauty into marrying him.

Happy Memorial Day

Today in the States it's Memorial Day.

Most people celebrate by having a barbecue, watching sports or going camping. Usually this day falls on the first three day weekend when the weather is nice, and a lot of people use it for their first family vacation of the year.

However, Memorial Day is the day to remember all the men and women who died in military service.

Happy Memorial Day, Everybody.

Blog Post

It was my turn to post on Romance Books 4 Us Blog.

I wrote about books that last: http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/2013/05/janice-seagraves.html

Today in History Dracula was published

This day in history: May 26, 1897: When Bram Stoker's Dracula was published, 116 years ago today, it was already part of a vampire literary tradition dating back to the mid-18th century.

 There's a lot to be said for a book that's lasted and still read today for well over a hundred years.

I need your help.

The Sweaty Nights blog hop got canceled, and I set my post to draft but the darn thing launched anyway. So if you want a chance at a prize and some great free reads, I'm at: 

http://janiceseagraves.org/2013/05/23/sweaty-nights-blog-hop/ 

Chowchilla Fair

Went to the small fair in Chowchilla. Daughter and BF only wanted to ride two rides. Looked at some of the displays and the animals. Made it home with two treats: Kettle corn and cotton candy.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

My mom and dad taken in 1982 at the Salton Sea CA, the year my father died.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

We didn't have a lot of money growing up. My mom made a lot of my clothes. She went to the salvation army, bought like new dresses and took them apart, then pin a pattern down on the material. After cutting the pattern pieces out, she pin the pieces together and sew a new dress for my sister and I.

She got creative with meals too. Left over mash potatoes became potato patties. Fried chicken went a long ways, and so did stew which she warmed over on top of the stove.

My dad fished all the time. She learned to fry fish the way my dad liked, and he was fussy and demanding. She cooked three big meals a day from scratch each day.

She found time to be with my sister and me, took care of her parents and ran errands (even the extra ones my dad gave her), and taught Sunday school at church or helped out in a class.

She took care of my dad when he was diagnosis with colon cancer. Cooked him special meals that she'd hoped he could eat to build his strength. And tried to hold it together when he took a turn for the worst.

When I get bogged down with what I have to do, I remind myself that my mom didn't have a microwave or dishwasher. She also didn't pay bills on the Internet. But she still managed to keep things running smoothly at home.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there.

Water Woes

Water problems this year. It seems to happen ever two to three years when you live out in the country. The well either needs to be purged, dug deeper or bugs have gotten into the wires and something got fried. 

Unfortunately, this time it was all three.

 Our landlord decided, since the well needs to be dug deeper that it would be cheaper to have our holding tank hooked up to the nice deep-deep well that waters the almond orchard.

Of course, that might mean we'll be without water for a couple of days. I reassured my hubby that we've toughed it out before and we could do it again.

 I woke this morning to no water. I flushed the toilet with water from a bucket. Washed up with bottled water. And had a sandwich for brunch, and then brushed my teeth with more bottled water.

 Love-love the good well people who dug a trench to the back forty and got it all connected. It only took a day.

We have water again.

 With much belching of yucky mud, air and then white misty stuff, the water finally settled down to clear, cool water! Lovely, lovely water. I took a shower, which put me in a good mood for the rest of the day!

What's With The Bugs

What is it with the bugs this year?

There was a cricket in the house for the last three nights. We looked for it but couldn't get it. It disturbed my daughter's rest until she left to sleep at a friends house.

 Last night it chirped so loud it bothered me as I wrote. If that wasn't enough, when I got ready for bed the darn thing followed me into the bathroom.

It hopped right underneath the door and right in front of me. The big black cricket sat there and stared at me.    As if it thought I'd scream or something. I guess the dumb thing expected me to act like a girly-girl, which I'm not.

Brazen, huh?

I grabbed one of my husband's reading materials, and hit it, twice.

May the Fourth Be With You

Today is the anniversary of Star Wars!

 Maybe you don't remember that day but I do.

Seeing Star Wars for the first time on the big screen was totally awesome. We'd never seen anything like it. The story telling was wonderful, the special effects, although primitive to CGI, was great!

And the music done by composer John Williams from 1977 to 1983 sent you right out of this world.

Big, Big Cockroach

I live in California and saw a huge black cockroach big enough to ride.

It saw me about the same time as I saw it. It zigged and I zagged, I hit it over the head with a bottle of toilet cleaner and thought I'd killed the sucker.

The next time I went to the bathroom, I saw a movement, it was the same damn bug.

I had to kill it again.