Happy Easter!

Today is the celebration of our Lord's resurrection! And what a wonderful day it was! We had a great weekend. Between the decorating of the eggs, the friends, the family, and the beautiful prayer my four-year old son gave at Easter dinner, I couldn't have asked for anything more. We actually went two three egg-hunts this year. Two city ones and one with Mandy and her kiddos. The city egg hunt was fun, but lasted a whopping two minutes. I have never seen so many eggs disappear so fast. It was almost unnatural. I didn't want to have another year of just having my two kids hunt for eggs alone. Ever since the big egg hunt at Abby's 1st birthday with all of their cousins, Alex can't wrap his mind around why his cousins (Jamie, Linda, Lauren, Linsey, and Kate) can't be here. That kid loves, loves, loves his cousins! So despite the fact that all four of our kids had snotty colds, we decided that egg hunts are more fun with more kids. Mandy and I hid eggs in her massive back yard and the kids had a blast! I was also thrilled to see Mandy's parents there today. John is reading my book right now so it was great to get his opinion on it. I'm so thankful for all of our blessings and like my son said in his prayer today, thank you God for a great Easter! I hope you all had a great Easter too.

Abby's my little artist. She could spend hours coloring things...eggs included.

Alex remembers coloring eggs from previous years. He was super pumped about this.

And the final products were...slightly damaged...but not too shabby.

This was from the town Easter egg hunt. I will never have to buy plastic eggs


Easter egg hunt at Aunt Mandy's house. How fun is that giant backyard?

Little miss Greta was actually a pro at this. She b-lined for the eggs.

Alex and Wesley. Those two were a bit...well...competitive.

Abby sure loved this. And with a stuffed animal in tow, true to form.

The Cage Review: Gaurding Tess

I haven't gotten the opportunity to watch Ghost Rider just yet. These past couple of weeks and weekends have been just crazy. I'd watch it this weekend, but sorry Mr. Cage. Harry Potter trumps you. It's nothing personal. I'm just that kind of geek. So, thanks to Netflix and it's beautiful instant movie option, I watched Guarding Tess (1994). I'd heard of this movie many a time, but never really had the proper motivation for actually watching it. It's about a secret service agent named Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage) who gets the not-so-honor of guarding the ex-first lady, Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine), who just so happens to be...um...a bit overbearing. He longs for the action and importance of gaurding the big dog himself (Mr. President), but instead has become a glorified butler to a cranky older lady who used to be quite the political figure. Tess has somehow chosen Doug and become attached to him for reasons he has no idea of and requests his employment via the president himself much to Doug's annoyance.

I gotta say, I'm not a political movie fan. They are usually a big snore-fest for me because I'm not exactly savvy to the political realm. But this movie kind of threw me for a loop. I really enjoyed it. There were a few times when it moved a bit slower than I prefer, but it was all relevant to the story so wasn't really a problem. They fight and argue a lot which got me laughing. The guy who plays the president's voice made me laugh out loud more than once. Despite their frustration with each other, they find common ground. There wasn't a massively over sappy ending where they hugged and became BFF's but it was just the right amount of emotion played out beautifully by two really great actor/actresses. The ending (not revealed here) was just touching enough to not gag me and left me smiling. The relationship between the two was really interesting going from loathing to complete respect and devotion (non-romantic here folks). Mr. Cage...ya done me proud again, sir. It was no Con Air, but I can't give it lower than a four star rating on the Cage Star Chart. Four stars for sure. I'll be watching it again someday.

I'd gladly take a rejection

So tonight I get to send out round ten of the dreaded agency query letters. Maybe it's round eleven. I've lost count. I usually don't send out my next round until I've received the rejections of the last round, but I've waited long enough. I don't know what has happened, but I haven't even received rejections this time around. And they were even from agencies that guaranteed a response regardless of their views. To be honest, I don't mind the rejections so much. It's the waiting that drives me crazy. Will they, won't they? The question can only be answered by the agency you query. I check my e-mail every day in high hopes of seeing that next email with the subject line beginning with the glorious RE:. I love the RE:. It means that someone responded. Negative or positve. The RE: response sends happy joy-joy feelings throughout my system leaving me with a temporary fifteen second high on life. Oh sure. When the RE: is a rejection, it still kind of sucks. But one day my RE: will come that will leave me sending a RE: back to them along with my manuscript in tow. For now, I just can't stand the wait. I'd gladly take a rejection over the silence any day of the week.

Identification please?

If anyone in the world can identify this freaky little creature, I'd be thrilled. I found this creeping along one of the kids toys the other day...in the house. At first glance, I was certain it was a tick. Upon further investigation, I found that it was nothing of the sort. That cocoon-like shell you see is actually as hard as wood. The moment the little freakish creature sees anyone, it retracts at warp speed back into it's shell and refuses to come back out until the coast is clear. When it does come out, it drags the shell behind it's body like a ball and chain that it's not willing to leave behind. The thing inside is a yellow worm-like creature and to be honest, the blasted thing gives me the eebie-jeebies. My geeky sci-fi/writer brain naturally sent me into a mad mental chaotic storm of the dreaded 'what if's'. For example: My brain, not recognizing the insect as any known identifiable species, wondered where exactly it came from. What if it's an alien creature that uses it's cocoon to blend into a rocky environment only to leap from it's shell onto the first unsuspecting host that it's chosen to inhabit. The host is unaware as the worm burrows it's way into the spine, taking control over the poor soul that's unwilling partaking in such an exchange. The tiny creatures are everywhere and if I don't properly dispose of it, then the world is doomed to suffer a complete planetary takeover. Hmmm....what if?...

Seriously folks...what the heck is this thing??

One Crazy Week

I just realized that I haven't blogged in a week. To be perfectly honest, it feels like I just wrote Abby's birthday blog yesterday. This week has been, without a doubt, one of the craziest weeks I've had in a long time. As much as I would love to say that I had ample time to whip up a Geeky Moment or watch a new Nicolas Cage movie for the Cage Review, I can honestly say that I had almost zero time to do anything of the sort. After Abby's birthday, the week got sucked into a crazy, spiraling vortex of insanity that left me searching for my nerves. Have you seen them? I'm still looking.

Thursday Alex had his sedation dentistry appointment. I've been fretting pretty much non-stop about this since I scheduled it. Will he get there before his worst tooth abscesses? Will he be okay during the sedation? Can I keep him well so he's not sick and has to cancel? Will I...What if...Will he...? The questions wreaked havoc on my (potentially unstable) mind. Anyhow, it's a story that I plan to write about. Just not today. He's doing fine now if you can't stand the suspense of it all. :-) (Yes. I just wrote a smiley face in my blog.) I just spent the better part of my night decorating a bunny cake for my neice's birthday and haven't spent any time just relaxing in quite a long while. And as much as I'd like to be playing Farmville right now, I'm just too darn tired. For the first time in a looooooong time. I'm going to bed before 1:00 in the morning of my own free will. Tomorrow we're off to visit my brother and sister-in-law and their family for a birthday party. So I hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back next week. I'm outta here.

Happy Birthday Abby!

My baby girl is three years old today. Wow! Three! I still can't believe it. We celebrated her birthday yesterday and boy howdy! She was excited! I told her the evening before that I would be decorating her cake after she went to bed. In the morning she bolted to the fridge at lightening speed so that she could see her cake. She made a special request for her cake, and naturally I had to oblige. Her obsession with horses, the Black Stallion to be more precise, is still in full swing with no signs of weakening. She asked me for a Black Stallion cake. Well, naturally the idea of making a giant cake covered in black icing didn't sound very fun. So I bought a nice rearing black stallion figure and improvised with that. She was ecstatic because she got to keep the figure (which she has proceeded to take with her everywhere. Bath...bed...outside...bathroom. You get the picture.) My folks and Josh's folks both came to celebrate along with Mandy and her clan. It was small but fun. The kids were a bit sad that no other cousins could make it, but they got over it when it came time for presents and cake. I mean seriously. That much sugar can make anyone happy. We were also blessed with beautiful weather so the kids could go out and enjoy the day. Thanks to everyone who came and thanks for all the gifts and cards she got. She literally loved every single thing she got.

Isn't she just adorable?

Cake time!

I actually really enjoy decorating cakes. So rewarding...because you can eat it.

Alex helped Abby open her gifts with gusto.

My little sweetie niece, Greta and her mama. Ain't she a doll?

Her new black stallion poster which is now hanging on the wall by her bed.

Wesley posin' for the camera.

And for a message to my sweet daughter who will one day go back and read this blog that her ol' mama tinkered on so often, I say this: We are so proud of you and how much you are learning. You are such a blessing to us. We couldn't ask for more than the joy that you and your brother Alex give us. Every birthday that comes, I find I'm more and more proud of you and look forward to every single moment that we spend together. And Alex, of course will read this too so Alex, we are equally proud of you and love each moment we are together. I am so blessed because of you two.

Love,

Mama

The Cage Review: It Could Happen to You

Let me just start by saying this: I can't believe that I have never seen this movie! This movie led me to my computer, straight to Ebay, in hopes of finding it so that I could have it in my movie collection. I really enjoyed this romance. Yes. I do enjoy the romantic comedies from time to time. It Could Happen to You (1994) is an absolutely charming romantic comedy about a New York cop named Charlie Lang (of course played by Nicolas Cage) who plays the winning numbers on a lottery ticket. When at a coffee shop, he finds that he's a tad short on cash and can't leave a tip for his down-on-her-luck waitress Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda). He promises her that he'll be back the next day with half of his lottery ticket winnings, unknowing that his ticket is the big winner. His wife (Rosie Perez) is a vain, materialistic woman who, quite frankly, made me want to smack her. (Is that wrong?) She is appalled at the idea of his promise to a stranger but he follows through with his word setting in motion an adorable romance between the two, who being both married to others, are too noble to cheat.

I won't give away the ending, because I hate it when people do that. But I will say that it is most asuredly worth the time to watch this one if you haven't already. I swear that I was smiling through the whole movie. Nicolas Cage played a great cop and just the sweetest guy who was treated like dirt by his icky wife. Obviously, he is solidifying my theory of his awesomeness. Once again, I'm gonna have to give this one a 5 star rating on the Nicolas Cage star chart. I'll be adding this to my wish list on Amazon. Next week, I am hoping to watch Ghost Rider. Nicolas Cage on a flaming motorcycle. Sweet.