Sweet 17

I've been married 17 years today!

Now, I certainly remember turning 17. I felt like I was pretty much grown up then. In fact, I was already out of high school, and heading off to college within a month. I don't even feel all that different now than I did at 17. So...could my marriage really be that old? Old enough to have gone through a whole life's worth experiences for a 17-year-old, as long as the time from my birth until I left home for college? Wow! It just doesn't feel that long!

We had access to a "parents' night out" Friday night, with childcare for all 3 kids, so we celebrated that night with dinner out and then a long walk in a pretty park, and we talked for 2 straight hours about our memories of the past 17 years, year by year. It was pretty cool. And in 2 days, it'll be 19 years since our first "date"!

Here we are 17 years ago, and here we are 2 days ago. Happy Anniversary to us! ;-)

Hang in there, Galveston!

Wow, the fallout from Ike already looks scary on TV even 10 hours or so before expected landfall! I sure hope Galveston and all the other affected areas will make it through! I've gone to Galveston nearly every summer since childhood so it has a special place in my heart, and it kills me to see the water so high already. Some of those wooden houses and buildings on stilts look like they could be just sticks by this time tomorrow.... :( For anyone out there who is in the path of the storm, stay safe and get out if you need to! Hoping it spares all my friends in Houston, too.

The good, the bad, and the not-sure-yet

1. The Good - I got my contributor's copy of The First Line literary magazine today, with my story "Mom's Five-Star Good-Bye" in it. Also a check for the story. Oh yeah, baby!

2. The Bad - Because of the potentially scary weather Hurricane Ike is predicted to usher in, our Day with an Editor Saturday has been cancelled. :-( Of the many, many SCBWI events I've attended over the past 10+ years, this may be the one I was looking forward to the most! So, I very much don't like Ike. Though with luck the event will be rescheduled soon.

3. The Not-Sure-Yet - My husband had a job interview at the library today and thinks it went well (he did tons of research and preparation the week leading up to it), but they still have other candidates to interview, so who knows? The job seems perfect for him, and he for it, so if he does get it, this will replace #1 - The Good, and if he doesn't, it will replace #2 as The Bad!

Hoping my luck holds out!

What a lucky week so far! Let's hope the pattern holds...

Alison Dellenbaugh has rocks in her house!
I won second prize in Nancy Viau's contest promoting her new middle grade novel, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head! (See her fun blog entry naming the winners.) I could choose either a cool pail full of goodies like pencils and rock candy, or a rock collection in an egg carton. I let my kids choose, and being 2nd and 4th-grade boys who love rocks, they chose the rock collection (though it was very close and they would have loved the pail, too!). The rocks came today, and my boys were quite excited. They were also excited to find some rock candy lollipops in the box! I think this will be a great thing to take to my 4th grade son's class when they study rocks and minerals later this year, along with a copy of Nancy's book, which will be perfect for this age group!

Here's the new treasure. Also note 2 of the lollipops are already gone! :-)



How deep is my luck?
My luck is so deep that I also won Jama Rattigan's cool blog contest earlier this week to guess her and her husband's song in honor of their anniversary! Because it was their 30th anniversary, she sent me a $30 gift code for Amazon!! And in case you couldn't guess it from the heading above, their song is "How Deep is Your Love?" by The Bee Gees.

I'm thinking I will probably use the Amazon gift code from Jama to buy a copy of Nancy's book! (Among other things.) So, these wins rock all around. (Rock & disco, that is!)

Just thinking about tomorrow...
Tomorrow my husband has a job interview at the local library, and we're convinced that this would be an ideal job for him, and that he would be an ideal candidate for the job! So, here's hoping everything keeps going right tomorrow!

Take a hike, Ike!
Finally, I'm slated to go to our SCBWI Day with an Editor on Saturday, and the abbreviated forecast for Saturday on the Austin newspaper's homepage just says, "Hurricane Ike possible." Eek! How can we get a hurricane when we're hundreds of miles inland?! Some forecasts are predicting 60-70 mph winds, 6-8 inches of rain, and possible tornados! No, no, I don't like Ike! I do not like it in my town, I do not like it swirling 'round. Ike, Ike, go away, let us have a perfect day!