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Showing posts from September, 2013

Mondays in September have not been my friend

Two weeks ago, I was stuck at the Indianapolis airport. Remember when the engine malfunctioned and we had that emergency landing? I spent 8 hours at the airport that day and was rather unproductive as a result. And the wifi would only connect for 45 minutes. Yeah, well, today, I was stuck all day at the courthouse for jury duty. I didn't get on the jury (HALLELUJAH!), but it took until almost 4:00 to select the jury. Fun times. Not. More on that later in the week when I have time to blog more. But two goofed up Mondays lead to Tuesdays being work Mondays and trying to catch up all week.

Yeah, I'm the mean teacher

I told you last week about how I was at my wit's end when the bell rang at Bible class. Side note... I'm seeing the preview frame of the video below and thinking of how I need to hang something new, whatever it may be, on the walls in there. Back to my story... Peyton realized she pushed me to far last week and was on her better behavior this week. She confessed her naughty activity. I still had problems with another child who I will not name and may now have the reputation of the mean teacher. If only I had that reputation when I taught school. That's a "what if" that I could possibly write a book on. Interesting thought, I suppose. It's really hard to teach our material to kids, especially through Romans. I feel like a failure as a teacher because I am really not sure if any of the kids got anything out of the past couple of weeks that they could relay to anyone when they left. Here they are reading some of this morning's main references from R

The Rangers won, but I didn't get to boo Josh Hamilton

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When I brought up the idea of going to a Rangers game to my Girls' Night Out group, the Rangers were still in the race to win the AL West. Then, most of September happened, and I was just glad that they were playing the Angels and I could boo Josh Hamilton. As much as anything, I had to go to at least one game at the ballpark this year because surprisingly, I had not been all season. We went to Houston for Opening Day, or I would have been at the beginning of the home season like usual. However, the Rangers got on a hot streak and are playing game 163 tomorrow for a chance to play the Wild Card game and get into the playoffs. The Wild Card game is not a real game in the minds of real fans. It's just a chance for a team to claim they were in the playoffs and for teams to sell more stuff. Once they get to play the ALDS, they can say they are in the playoffs, in my humble opinion. And right after we bought our tickets, Angie broke her leg and couldn't go. Thankfu

Thank goodness for fall TV

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I'm so glad the new fall TV season has started since I'm pretty sure that the Rangers won't be playing past Sunday. But, it doesn't seem like I've been around to watch all my usuals, or have been watching too many things at once. Case and point. I've only watch 30 minutes of 4 hours of The Voice off the DVR. I decided to save and sit down and really enjoy my time with Adam Levine even though I lament Christina's return. I was really looking forward to Grey's Anatomy  and the two hour season premiere, but I was a bit disappointed. Don't go to work for Seattle Grace , Seattle Grace Mercy West , Grey Sloan Hospital because you are sure to die after getting hit by a bus, having Alzheimer's (I include this because two main characters had it - both loves of Chief Webber), a gunshot, a plane crash, or electrocution. I have been watching old episodes on Net Flix, and I think after last night's episode, that's at least 6 doctors, not incl

I really don't care anything about football

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Being the good aunt that I am (hey, I just want to be visited one day in the nursing home), I went to watch Paige cheer at the jr. high football games last night (yes, two - 7th and 8th grade). I have never, ever, ever cared about football. Never have and never will. I don't really care enough to watch the cheerleading, and by the looks of Miss Paigey at moments last night, I'm not sure that she does either. At least her mind was somewhere far, far away. I could tell by looking. It was also still in the 90s and my clothes were sticking both to me and the metal bleachers. And the sun was in our eyes the entire time. Some things never change though. One certain person there yelling in the stands was yelling just like he was back when Brian was in jr. high and high school when he had sons the same age as Brian and I. This time he's hollering at both his youngest son and grandson who are Paige's age. (Yes, seriously.) When Mom and I heard him we just laughed, sharin

Painful renovation

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After a months' long hiatus of trying to remove the wallpaper from my bathroom, I tackled it again this past Saturday. Seeing how much better the designated wallpaper scraper worked than the putty knife I had been using previously, I called and begged my dad for his help. While we got a majority of it down, we still have some left. Oh, and prepping before I do whatever I do next. I think it's going to be wallpaper I had left from the last time I papered because I don't want to texture the walls the way my dad knows how to texture. That would be less messy than texturing and painting. And oh my goodness the mess we had to clean up after taking down the other day. It was awful. A part of me also thinks I'm going to end up with mesothelioma because I would not doubt there was asbestos in the old wallpaper. All this because I thought the old wallpaper was so ugly. Who am I kidding, it was that ugly. Saturday night when I was sitting in my living room it hurt terri

Win a copy of Melanie Dobson's The Courier of Caswell Hall

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Melanie Dobson 's latest release, The Courier of Caswell Hall ,  is a riveting story you won't want to miss.   The newest offering in the American Tapestries™ series, it follows an unlikely spy who discovers freedom and love in the midst of the American Revolution. Enter to win 1 of 5 copies of the book!   Five winners will receive: The Courier of Caswell Hall by Melanie Dobson Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 5th. All winners will be announced October 7th at the Litfuse blog . Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to visit the  Litfuse blog on the 7th to see if you won one of the books! {MORE ABOUT  THE COURIER OF CASWELL HALL } An unlikely spy discovers freedom and love in the midst of the American Revolution. As the British and Continental armies wage war in 1781, the daughter of a wealthy Virginia plantation owner feels conflict raging in her own heart. Lydia Ca

Serving it up

Tonight I was away at a volleyball game right as the new TV season started cranking up. I chose to watch How I Met Your Mother when I got home so I'm already behind on The Voice because it was a bigger time commitment. Oh well, I can catch up on Adam Levine without minding it at all. Although I didn't get any pics or videos of Paige last night, here's her serving it up last week.

I don't do well with 4th graders

I don't do well with 4th graders. That's why I only lasted one semester teaching pubic school. However, I sought out teaching Peyton's class. I threatened this morning that I was going back to kindergarten. I also threatened you-know-who with having her Grandma pinch her. It was that bad. No one listened to me this morning. The video proves it. Today's song was one of Peyton's favorites, "Sanctuary." She didn't really approve of the way I taught it. Boys and girls all learned the song without parts. We can learn parts later. It's a bit rough, but they caught on for the most part pretty quickly.

Go back to school with Lily Lapp!

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Suzanne Woods Fisher is celebrating the final book in the Adventures of Lily Lapp series , A Surprise for Lily , with a "Back to School with Lily Lapp" giveaway. Enter between 9/16 - 9/30 for a chance to win a year's worth of school supplies ($100 Target gift card), an iPad Mini, a set of the Lily books, and a Lily coloring book! Ten chances to win! (One winner will receive the back-to-school pack, 4 winners will receive a set of the Lily books and a coloring book, and 5 winners will receive a copy of Lily and a coloring book.) Enter below using the widget! Only those in the U.S. are eligible to win. *Bonus Book Giveaway Activity* Share Lily with your local library or a young reader! Sign up to send out 10 stamped postcards to young readers or suggest a purchase to your library, and Suzanne will select 30 participants to win a signed Life with Lily book. ( Fill out the short form here! ) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win these 10 yet-to-be-released titles from Thomas Nelson and Zondervan!

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Who's excited for fall? Changing leaves, cooler temps, warm drinks, bonfires — and new book releases! Thomas Nelson and Zondervan Fiction have a great lineup of new books slated to release this fall, and you have the chance to win them ! Above you'll find ten of the fall releases with their authors and titles missing. Your job is to figure out which book cover belongs to each author and title. Simply follow the instructions on the widget below. You have until September 30th, at 11:59 p.m. to get your entries and guesses in. The winner will be announced on the Litfuse blog and will receive all ten releases! (Or better yet, subscribe to their blog [enter your email in the blog sidebar] and have the winner announcement delivered to your inbox!) a Rafflecopter giveaway

Get Fired Up with Mary Connealy

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Mary Connealy is back with the second book, Fired Up, in her Trouble in Texas series, and she's celebrating with a Kindle Fire giveaway and a LIVE author chat party on October 8th.   One winner will receive: A Kindle Fire HD Swept Away  and Fired Up  by Mary Connealy Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 8th. Winner will be announced at the "Fired Up" Live Webcast Event on October 8th . Connect with Mary for an evening of book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Mary will also be taking questions from the audience and giving away books and fun gift certificates throughout the evening. So grab your copy of Fired Up and join Mary and friends on the evening of October 8th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun;  RSVP today  by signing up for a reminder. Tell your friend

Win the All-New Paperwhite Kindle from Guideposts Books in the Home to Heather Creek Giveaway!

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Guideposts Books is thrilled to announce their brand new series, Home to Heather Creek , by Kathleen Bauer. The first two books, Before the Dawn and Sweet September , launch this month and G uideposts Books is celebrating with a Paperwhite Kindle Giveaway! One winner will receive: A Paperwhite Kindle Before the Dawn  and Sweet September  by Kathleen Bauer Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 5th. All winners will be announced October 7th HERE . Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to visit the Litfuse blog on the 7th to see if you won!  (Or better yet, subscribe to their blog  [enter your email in the blog sidebar] and have the winner announcement delivered to your inbox!) For more about the Home to Heather Creek series, read this post !

Things you hope your pilot never says

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As you noticed, I spent several days in Indianapolis at the American Christian Fiction Writers ( ACFW ) conference. Between jumping from one meeting to another, having sketchy WiFi, having to plug in my computer when battery was low, and other reasons, my blogging has taken a hit. I apologize. It was a great, but busy weekend. Yesterday, I was just ready to come home and take a nap since we'd been going non-stop and I sure didn't get one on Sunday. Being in Indianapolis, we were an hour of head of what I'm used to, but three hours ahead of what Amy usually is. It makes a busy conference schedule and jet lag even more off whack. We were sitting at our respective beds with our laptops in front of us on Sunday night at 11:35 when I said, "are we going to work all night or can we actually sleep some? Our alarm goes off in 4 and a half hours." I think her response was something like, "yes, mother. Fine." Whatever the response, I like my sleep. Espec

A really long day with quite the story to tell

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Here is a tease of my day. I will post all about it tomorrow, but it is 8:30 PM now and I got up at the equivalent of 3:00 AM. It has been a long day after 4 hours of sleep. It's a serious story, but I think you will enjoy my version of it. My view from the plane this morning...

ACFW Gala

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ACFW has been a great chance to catch up with friends, meet authors face-to-face, and introduce ourselves to potential clients. Tonight was the gala and Carol Awards dinner. Lots of dressed up and excited authors, agents and editors! I let everyone else take the pictures and there are some great ones on Facebook, but here is Litfuse's own Amy Lathrop with Susie May Warren. For a list of the 2013 Carol Award Winners, click here !

Did I already say that?

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The only thing about so many meetings back to back in a short period of time is that you forget who you said what to. Or more specifically, when you tell everyone very similar things, you can't remember if you told the person in front of you something already or if was the last person. Amy asked me at one time, "did I already say that?" All I could answer was, "I'm not really sure." We're having a great time meeting people face to face that we have only emailed or talked on the phone to in the past. It's been a busy, busy day! We did get outside the hotel for dinner. Obviously we are close to the Indiana capital building.

Happy to be anywhere it's not 90+ degrees

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There is nothing like stepping off a plane in another location and getting a shot of cold air. Cold air being 64 degrees. It was glorious to arrive in Indianapolis where it was not in the 90s. I'm at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference talking book publicity with authors. I haven't wandered away from the hotel yet, but here's the view from my room.

Out of it

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I know my posts have been all off this week. Late. Not much substance for the most part. I've been getting ready for a business trip. Tonight, I'm at Rakia's so that she will graciously take me to the airport in the morning. She even cooked dinner for me. :) But she's going to kill me for posting this picture.

Never forget moments

Everyone has been posting today on Facebook about what they were doing on 9/11/01. So, I'll share mine here. Twelve years ago, I was teaching my one and only semester of school. I am sure you have heard me refer to that time in my life.  The kids were in P.E. and I walked down to another teacher's room as I often did. She was one of my mentors and I was probably seeking advice on the latest calamity going on in my class. Her husband or someone had called to alert her of what was going on, and she was listening to the radio.  I listened in as the newscast said the first tower collapsed. I really had absolutely no idea what that meant. I didn't really understand what was going on because I couldn't picture it.  Isolated from media until later that afternoon, the computer teacher had a tiny black and white TV and at that point, they were talking about the crash in  Pennsylvania. It was still difficult to comprehend. In fact, it still is in some ways.  It wasn'

Sometimes you just think better of it... or blog about it in a roundabout way

Yesterday, I thought about a post that probably would have been titled something like "When a new guy shows up at church." I thought better of it though. It definitely would have been good for a laugh, but the parties involved in the long version of the tale would have been evident, and you never know who might be reading. It also would have been incriminating when it came to someone who did a whole online fact finding mission. Fine. I'll admit it. I was the one using Google to prove a point... that my mother is not a good judge of age. Let's just leave it at she's a lot like my great-grandmother who used to talk about all the "old women" at the nursing home when she was the one that was 100. At the heart of what that whole post would have been about is: why do people think they have to fix other people up? At this point, I realize I'm posting about it without telling the funny parts. If any single person is visiting a different congregatio

Win Shelley Shepard Gray’s Days of Redemption Series!

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Shelley Shepard Gray is celebrating the release of the final book in The Days of Redemption series, Eventide , by giving away FIVE sets of the series.  Five winners will receive: Daybreak, Ray of Light and Eventide  by Shelley Shepard Gray Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on September 21st. All winners will be announced September 23rd at Shelley's blog . Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to visit Shelley's blog on the 23rd to see if you won one of the book sets! {MORE ABOUT  EVENTIDE } A young Amish woman harbors a difficult secret. Does she dare share the truth with the man she hopes to marry? Elsie Keim doesn’t want to be left behind. Her twin sister, Viola, and her older brother, Roman, have both found love and are building lives of their own. But Elsie? She’s still stuck at home, being treated like a child. No one seems to consider her a capable woman—all they see

Shipwrecked

I may be in trouble. I have to threaten these children already, two weeks in. They wanted to act out the story, but we were in a rush, and Paul wasn't quite so ready, so I had to narrate. I honestly haven't watched because I hate to hear myself. And the "special effects" may make you seasick when you watch. For our song of the week, I don't want to hear myself sing, but we should have practiced a bit more before doing it on video. I'm just proud that they stuck to trying to learn it and wanting to do it for the video. We can always practice it more.

Volleyball: The latest excuse not to peel wallpaper

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The wallpaper still isn't falling off of my bathroom walls. My latest weekend excuse is that I was watching Paige play volleyball out of town all day. (Next weekend, I have a business trip, so...) She is a go getter, but my pictures are majorly lacking. In their first tournament, the 7th graders won 3rd place!