Breaking down the hook

Here’s post I did on Savvy Author on breaking down the hook. I used my own book as an example:

http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/content.php?1739-Breaking-down-the-Hook-by-Janice-Seagraves

Thirty-second Anniversary

It's my thirty-second anniversary.

Yup, yet another thing to remind me of how old I'm getting.

Here's my husband and I on our wedding day, December 21, 1979

And now, thirty-two years later, December 21, 2011

For our anniversary we went out to IHOP.

It wasn't a fancy meal at a nice restaurants, but it was nice.

Oh, you shouldn't have!

You know you all got them. The unwanted Christmas present. 

Maybe it was the ugly hand knitted Christmas sweater from Aunt Aida, or the teddy bear you were told to share with your sibling, or something too old/too young for you.

What was the unwanted gift and how did you handle it? Were you diplomatic or did you say something you couldn't take back?

When I was much younger, I received a paint by number set. A gift from an uncle and aunt because I wanted to be an artist. 

My mom told me to thank them for the thoughtful gift. Although  they couldn't have put much thought into it if they thought that a paint by number set is what an artist does. I would have preferred a drawing pad, or something related to art. I opened my mouth to say that, but got a warning look from my mom. 

So I thank them with the sickly smile I only reserved for school photos.

And now I have the other problem--my husband is too way good to me--really too good.

He puts us into debt for some outrageous gift that'll take us years to pay off.

Yes, now that's the gift that keeps on giving. 

Oh, you shouldn't have. No really. You shouldn't have.

Dyer died

My dryer died and my hubby, with my daughter's help, is trying to fix the darn thing. This sort of thing always happens when its not covenant for us. I have a huge pile of clothes I was going to do. It right before Christmas, so all our money is spent. Daughter has registered for summer semester at college and they don't want to wait for their money, so we have to cough it up asap. And it too cold outside for me to hang out my clothes. If I did my clothes would smell like an old mop.

The dryer still spins and all the lights come on, but the heat element doesn't heat anymore. So we need a new heat element, which my hubby will have to run down to Fresno to get.

Wish us luck getting the darn thing fixed.

Highest winds in California in years

Some of the worst winds in years blasted through California overnight, sweeping through canyons, gusting up to 97 mph (156 kph), and toppling trees and trucks while knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people.


We're lucky we didn't lose power or any trees. Just some limbs fell out of the trees in our yard.