*sigh*

I have to go home in thirteen minutes to six teenage girl children.
Oldest Chicken's birthday isn't until Tuesday, but she is having friends over tonight. I assured her that they would be dropped off at their collective homes at noon tomorrow.
Help.
Me.
You know...instead of trying to ignore (and failing miserably) several teenage girls...I should be out kicking up my heels. *grins*
Shaking that ass. Imbibing a few cocktails (or more than a few). But I find myself going out less and less.
And let me say, it wasn't a whole lot of times to begin with.
pft
I think I need to go out in November. Snag an evening and shake it by its collar. Bend it to my will. See what happens. Become reacquainted with Captain Morgan. hehehe
But for now...
*sigh*
Grins*

Writer's Market

O
M
G
I LOVE the Writer's Market. And guess what??? The 2009 edition is out!!! *dancing*
Oh, yeah.
This large book is one of my favorite toys and resources. And it highly appeals to my office supply/stationary fetish. *grins*
If you don't have this book, and you're a writer...GET IT!!!
So...um...I have everything color-coordinated with post-it notes. Each page I'm interested in is post-ited on the top of the page and then right over then entry I wish to peruse again.

I've already decided that when I finish Earth Goddess (Book Four of the Elemental Guardian Series) that I will seek out an agent and/or publisher. And the book I wish to peddle is about halfway done.
Go me!!!

Other than my Writer's Market fixation, I'm pondering my vacation.
Oh yes. It's true. I will be gone the end of next week and through the weekend. How long has it been, you ask?
Too
Damn
Long
Oldest Chicken is in Missouri right now with Upward Bound. She's exploring caverns and going to Silver Dollar City. When she gets home, I'm having her backhoe her room.
Enough said.
Grins*

Pictures of the chickens

Caught this double rainbow after another gully washer. *grins* Okie slang for heavy rains.

Thought I'd share.

Middle Chicken-Reluctant, yet smiling

Baby chicken-posing. Of course. *laughing*

*******************

Oldest Chicken-Queen of the Rock

Oldest, Middle, and Baby Chicken at the lake.

*******************

It was a lovely weekend.

Grins*

Insomnia

And no. Not the kind where I see little men in white coats with sharp scalpels cutting people's life strings. (Obscure Stephen King reference, and one of my favorite books of his)
I've been getting to sleep well after midnight and waking up at six.
This is unnatural. I don't give a shit who you are.
And it certainly doesn't work for me.
I'm on my porch last night smoking at twelve-thirty. Insanity, I tell ya.

FINISHED WIND GODDESS!!!
Holy shit. I swear to God. I will never, ever, do that "write a book in a weekend" shit again.
O
M
G
I'll be working on WATS this weekend. It's around 35,000 in. I need to find a way to get those neat little bar things that show my progress up on my blog. Um...somehow.
Also, starting on Earth Goddess. And considering Eden (the Earth Goddess, herself) keeps popping into my head, I'd say she's impatient for me to tell her story.
Sheesh. Goddesses. *eye roll*
Let's see. What's happend around here?
Hmmmmm
Have had a particularly shitty week at work. Short-handed. Busier than hell. Issues with friends and their problems. And I've had a bit of shocker. It's not my news to tell, but suffice it to say, it's taken me off of my equilibrium. If, in fact, I was ever there to begin with.
ppppfffttttttttttt
Oh!
And Middle Chicken got kicked off the bus for poking holes in a school bus seat. She wouldn't roll on her friend, so apparently I'm paying for BOTH seats. Just shows you how fucked up the Admin is at my childrens' school. It always amazes me that they don't want to deal with parents unless they want something.
Yeah
*snort*
It's great.
Downloaded some music from iTunes. So I'm jamming to Leona Lewis, Toby Keith, Finger Eleven, Webbie, and Miley Cyrus.
Yeah. You heard me. MILEY CYRUS.
Can I tell you how absolutely horrified I am that I LIKE one of her songs? But, um, this stuff happens. *scuffing toe*
If my kids can like Eddie Money, by God, I can like Miley Cyrus.
It's windier than I-don't-know-what here. Oldest Chicken said she could toss a cat into the air, and it would fly. *snickering*
Hell of a visual, eh?
Grins*

Chicken update

I've already stated that Middle Chicken will be the death of me. Right? RIGHT???
*deep breath*
Okay, then.

Middle Chicken doesn't seem to understand a lot of her work while in class. However, she is more than willing to bring it home, procrastinate, and then have me reeducate her after I've worked a long eight hour shift.
Sadistic, isn't she?
The other night, she had math homework. Fractions. *collective groan* Yeah. Really. All about improper fractions and proper fractions and multiplying and yada yada yada.
She didn't "get" it in class. So I'm trying to explain how you can take the diagonal numbers and make them smaller. She was doing it the HARD way. You know...coming up with huge numbers like 240 over 16. *eye twitch*
So I tell her to bring me a piece of scratch paper, and I'll show her the EASY way. And finally, miraculously, she does it. And smiles the rest of the evening. Because let me tell you, there were tears before that.
That must have been a turning point.
Because last night, the girl had her stuff together. She was ALL OVER her homework. Me=very proud. (And wondering how long this will last.) But we don't think about that, really. We simply embrace the good stuff now. Store up the feeling. So we can eke it out slowly to get through the rest of this school year without coloring our hair AGAIN. *sigh*
Oldest Chicken and Baby Chicken made the honor roll again. WOO!!! Yay!!! Love that.
Only about seven more weeks of school. Baby Chicken has it counted down to the day. *eye roll* I pretend I don't hear the number. It's somehow better that way. pfffffttttttt

And me?
Writing.
For the love of God. I LOVE the cover of Wind Goddess, but it's giving me fits. I dragged my ass home yesterday because I simply could find no other way to get it there. And there are the other stories. I'm thinking about sporadically posting free short stories on my sites. Some way to relieve the creative pressure without giving myself a literary aneurysm.
Grins*

Diverse Reading

I work around books. Yes, it IS Heaven on earth. *grins*
So my chickies are exposed to all sorts of literature. But they all have very different reading tastes.

I love romance. Um...obviously. lmao
But I also like to dip into Teen Fiction occasionally. Clive Barker. Stephen King. And I enjoy classics such as Little Women and Our Town.

Baby Chicken likes to read A Man Called Dave. She read the hell out of Junie B. Jones several years back. And she's at that in-between age of not quite juvenile fiction, not quite teen fiction. And she's so picky. Not that I blame her. Why read it if you can't enjoy it?

Middle Chicken used to read Captain Underpants. She owns all of them. You have to have a particular type of humor to enjoy these um...interesting books. LOL
Now, she's discovered Gossip Girl Books and It Girl Books. *eye roll* They SO don't tell you about this in the Mama manual. Now she has dreams and aspirations of going to New York.
*gasp* *wheeze*
She's killing me.
Oh! And a series of books about an English teenage girl. It has SNOGGING in the title. *sigh*
Thanks so much, J.K.Rowling. HA!

Oldest Chicken will read anything that has to do with High School Musical. *sigh* Yeah. That includes the Honeycomb Cereal box. Sheesh. Who knew? But she also devoured all the Harry Potter books. And literature with a magical bent captures her attention.

We've come a long way from Hop on Pop, Put Me in the Zoo, and Green Eggs and Ham.
And I'm sure there are lots more books to discover on the way. Worlds to explore. Laughter to share.
It's one of the greatest gifts I can give my children.
Now.
If only I can keep Middle Chicken in Oklahoma.
Grins*

Chicken Update

Here's the news:

Oldest Chicken tried out for a play Tuesday. And guess what? She got a part!!! *dancing* I'm sooooooooooooooo proud. Of course, she's a little ham anyway. So should be just wonderful. And if I understood her correctly...the title is "Snow White in the Seventies."
Take a moment amongst yourselves and discuss the obvious ramifications. lmao

Middle Chicken is now scandalized. That would be because I, the Mama, talked about her getting her first boyfriend. Well, apparently, for the first time ever to MY knowledge, the little heifer accessed this blog. Apparently her scream of embarrassment could be heard from miles around. *snickering* It was enough to have classmates running, and she pushing the "X" button with all her might. rofl

Baby Chicken has been a bit difficult of late. It's neither cute nor pleasant when one's eleven year-old daughter channels her snarky thirty-five year-old mother.
Just saying.

That's about it for the little heathens. They've been good for the most part.

I had a lovely, busy day today. McSis had vacation and took Mom and I to Tulsa to visit Incredible Pizza. There was mini golf (got my ass whooped) and bowling (another ass whuppin') and air hockey (do you see where this is going???).
However, there was a small bit of redemption in bowling when I bowled two strikes in the final frame. *pumping fist in air and singing "We are the Champions"*
So. There you have it.
Grins*