MAGICK MUSINGS…

~Author Unknown

~Sandy

……November is National Novel Writing month. Otherwise known as NaNo. Thirty days to compete against yourself and spew out 50,000 words on your WIP. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be completed, no editing allowed.

But the gauntlet has been thrown by several of my writing friends to sign up again this year and I am toying with the idea.

You do realize if I actually plan anything that involves writing, it incurs the wrath of the writing gods and they will do everything in their power to thwart those plans? Hmm…(strumming my fingers on my desk trying not to smile). Should I take a chance? Can I outwit them this year? Can I find the balance between work, life, and love? (Smile fades, drumming ceases) Can I give up what I have to give up to accomplish this?

Stay tuned…

~Sandy

…Halloween is right around the corner. And Thanksgiving around the next one with Christmas around the block.

Where does the year go?

Busy weekend these last two days.

G.W. and I went to see Menopause the Musical Friday night with a few friends from his work, KB, SD, M, and KB’s mom (waving at you guys!). We laughed until our jaws ached and had so much fun. No matter what a woman’s age or where she is in her life, it is definitely worth every penny to see.

It is about four women of different caliber who meet in an upscale department store and form a friendship as only women can. Sharing the ups and downs of going through ‘the change’, the message throughout the laughs, the dancing, and the singing is that this is a normal part of every woman’s life and it is to be celebrated.

I love the parodies of the songs that ranged from country and western to Tina Turner, but the best performance of the night was G.W. dancing across the stage. The woman in the audience loved it!

He’s such a ham! I am forbidden from posting pics. (I can be bribed, though,LOL!)

Saturday night, I was treated to my favorite restaurant, PF Chang’s! Couple of glasses of White Zin, the best calamari in the world, General Chang’s spicy chicken, and the forty seven layer chocolate cake to top it off.

Holy caloric overload, Batman! But, omg, was it worth it!

You’d have thought I’d come home and crash from all the sugar and carbs. But, noooo, I didn’t sleep well and when I did, I was plagued by nightmares. Go figure. The kind that didn’t make much sense, but has you talking in your sleep and battling imaginary monsters and not aware you are doing it. Guess I am just not used to that much food and drink in one sitting any longer. And that has nothing to do with age, thankyouverymuch!

Today we worked it off by running errands (with the required stop at Home Depot), making stuffed peppers, and planting pansies. I refused to take a nap so tonight I should sleep like a baby. Have to stay up to watch Cold Case and The Unit though!

Tomorrow starts another work week! I so need some time off.

~Sandy

I have always loved music. And, like decorating my home and my choice in clothing (and even my friends), I have such eclectic taste that I tend to surround my life with things that mean something to me in some way. Comfortable things. Fun things. Things that ‘speak’ to me or move me in some way.

Every song I have on my new iPod is music I can relate to in some way or another. Music that lifts me, calms me, or just plain makes me happy.

Hi, my name is Sandy and I am a romantic down to the very depths of my soul.

But I have never had the opportunity to listen to jazz music. Wow! I never knew what I was missing!

So when Jazz on the Boulevard came to town, we jumped on the opportunity to go downtown and expose ourselves to a whole new culture.

We arrived at the festival late that afternoon, and my first clue as to how popular the festival is in our area was when searching for a parking space. I will have to admit that G.W. is a very patient man. Third time around was the charm, though, and we found a space not far from the entrance.

Upon entering, we immediately got swept up in a sound that was a mixture of blues, soul, love songs, work songs, and just plain good music. Electric keyboards, bass and rhythm guitars, drums, and the expected saxophones filled the open air and you couldn’t help but get caught up in the moment.

Booths surrounded the stages offering bounties of art, jewelry, food and drink. Wine and beer seemed to be the beverages of the night and the smells of the different ethnic foods made it hard to decide between things like hamburgers, Barbecue, Cajun shrimp or meat dishes, Mexican food, fried potato curls, and smoked turkey legs. Just to name a few.

As the twilight faded and the Texas night streaked the skies with purple, we settled in under the stars and found a place near the main stage and munched on barbecue sandwiches, shared a huge turkey leg and drank beer (him) and wine (me). I thought long and hard about a funnel cake, but hated to ruin my diet with all that sugar, so settled for another wine.

We talked and laughed and people watched and I think G.W. was finally exposed to how I can find people to communicate with anywhere anytime. He went to buy us a beverage and, when he returned, I not only found a nice couple to talk to but pilfered some chairs to rest our backsides instead of the hard street curb.

We actually left at a decent hour and just as we were exiting the festival, we ran into his friend and co-worker. SD is such a hoot! I can tell she and I would get into lots of trouble together, LOL!

Had a wonderful time and hopefully can do it again next year. In the meantime, I now have some new music to download into my iPod.

~Sandy

…but they are so pretty!

Took some friends that are new to the area to Fossil Rim Park this last weekend. The kind of park you drive through and feed the animals.

It was fabulous! The animals are not afraid of the vehicles or the people and come right up to the car like little beggars.

When buying the tickets, we were warned about the zebras - they bite. And don’t feed the Sable antelopes because they are being ‘retrained’ - they attack the vehicles in their exuberance of free snacks - so be sure and don’t feed them Awww, that’s like inviting only some to the party.

But no one warned me about this fellow. He tried to peck me. Several times. Fresh little devil!

By the time we got to the giraffes, it started pouring. We were very glad we hadn’t decided to ride the guided tour jeep that was open on three sides! Tried to get a pic of the people who did, but they were running for cover.

Decided to show the newcomers the flavor of the area and took them to the Stockyards where we gorged on all you can eat Bar B Que ribs, had a beverage at the infamous White Elephant Saloon, and finished the evening at Billy Bobs.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Can’t wait to visit the animals again in a few months.

~Sandy

…falling from the sky?

Could it be? Yep, it’s rain. Much needed rain. Although it frizzies my hair. And gets my dirty car dirtier. And all of my 10 umbrellas are in the trunk and I never think of getting one out until it is too late.

But North Texas needs the rain.

I was asked why I don’t blog as often as I use to. My answer is that I didn’t work full time then. And anyone who has worked full time knows how it sucks you dry.

Speaking of work…part of my company has relocated into a new home. Well, not new as it has been around awhile, but new to our company. Once they get 288 of 800 employees settled in, we will take up three floors of the 36 floor building in the downtown area. My office is bigger and nicer although the view is now of the parking garage.

We have dubbed the garage the ‘Speedway’ because people fly through and will run over your a** if you are not careful. And if you hesitate in any way - you are toast! You can defilnitely tell the ‘newbies’ by the fear on their faces as they walk to the elevators dodging the vehicles playing ‘chicken’ with cars and people alike.

You think I am kidding. If I make it my office alive, it is a good day.

Gotta run. Working on an article for my chapter’s newsletter and it will be due in a few days.

Here’s a pretty picture:

~Sandy

…found another blog theme. How do you like this one, BC, KB, KT, DM, MM, SS, NH?

It can be so much fun, but so frustrating at the same time.

Have been looking for something a little more modern, a little more indicative of young adult, which, thankyouverymuch, I happen to be working diligently on.

Except for Tuesday.

And Wednesday.

But tonight I got about 500 words done.

I have been struggling on setting word count goals and I am now starting Candy Havens new class called Writers Binge. In this class we are counting hours working, not pages. I only had about an hour and a bit to write tonight and was able to spit out the 500 words. She focuses on setting how many hours a day you want to write and the goal is to get immersed in your story. You can do it in one sitting or in increments here and there.

She says the best time to write is in the morning before all the stop signs awake (her words, not mine), but that is not possible for me. So I will need to set a certain timeframe each evening and work out my hours then. It is amazing that I had been thinking about doing that for the last two weeks and then got a verification from Candy’s class this week.

Great minds, yada yada!

Stay tuned.

Gotta run…

~Sandy

The birds have to use potholders to
pull worms out of the ground…

The trees are whistling for the dogs…

The best parking place is determined by
shade, instead of distance…

Hot water now comes out of both taps…

You can make ’sun tea’ instantly…

You learn that a seat belt buckle makes
a pretty good branding iron!…

The temperature drops below 95 and you
feel a little chilly…

You discover that in August, it only takes
2 fingers to steer your car…

You discover that you ‘can’ get sunburned
through your car window…

You actually burn your hand opening the car door…

You break into a sweat the instant you step
outside at 7:30 a.m. …

Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, ‘What if I
get knocked out, and end up lying on
the pavement, and cook to death?’…

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state…

The potatoes cook underground, so all you
have to do is pull one out and add butter,
salt and pepper…

Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed
ice, to keep them from laying boiled eggs…

The cows are giving evaporated milk…

~Sandy

…was hotter than the blazes and Sunday promises to be even worse here in North Texas!

What’s up with that? It is even hotter and more humid than the Texas coast.

I so cannot wait for October.

Watered flowers yesterday and, in spite of the heat, they seem to be flourishing. I am amazed at how well they have done this year. They actually look like they are on steroids.

They weren’t the only things that got wet as SOME people cannot be trusted with a water hose.

The heat will do funny things to you. Making a trip inside for a beverage, I spied a water bucket in the garage and got the bright idea of another use for it. I took it around back (heaven forbid any of the neighbors would see) and filled it with water. After toting a chair from the house, I placed it and the bucket just so, made sure my beverage was within reach, and lowered my blistering feet into my new ‘pool’.

Ahhh! It’s a mystery how your whole being can be affected by the comfort or non-comfort of those appendages at the end of your legs.

Laugh yourself silly, but it works! But why does the phrase “You might be a redneck if….” keep popping up in my head.

Bought a new bathing suit! I haven’t been bathing suit shopping in five years and decided that sometimes you just have to face the music and do it. So I hit Dillards bathing suit department and the first rack I found said “Inches Away”.

Cool! And at 40% off, this sounded promising. I tried on different styles and colors and found a couple that didn’t make me look like a popped can of biscuits and I WOULD be caught dead in. Or at least caught in public with. Both are very pretty and I love the way both fit. There are miracles in this world.

There was some guy sitting not far from the dressing room door. Evidently, his significant other placed him just right so she didn’t have to come completely out of the dressing room where ‘OMG! someone might see in her bathing suit’ (and I could so relate). She would try on a suit, stepped out of the changing room, go to the door of the dressing room where only he could see her and get the thumbs up or thumbs down from him.

What was funny was the other women trying on suits and go out there and ask his opinion. One woman asked him to close his eyes when she walked out. I can still hear him mutter “But you’re going to the beach! People are going to SEE you then!!!”

Men! They just don’t get it.

Played with my blog again and this is my latest. Brenda says this one has no personality, doesn’t tell who I am, but may have to leave it for awhile until I come up with something better as my writing is suffering and I feel the muses nudging me to get back to work. I think I have worked out some of the plotting problem I was having. Need to just get the rough draft down. And quickly.

Have a great Sunday!

~Sandy

…to decide!

There are so many cute blog themes out there. If, by chance, you have checked my blog the last few days, you may have come away dizzy because every day I have tried a new look.

Brenda has let me know, without hesitation, which ones she likes and which one she doesn’t.
Michelle says they are all cool. It’s up to me. She’s a Gemini so relates well to my ever changing Libra mind.
Denise is away at RWA Nationals in San Francisco but, if she was here, would tell me to decide and quit messing around. (Take pics, girlfriend, I am so jealous!)

Every one of them has their positives and negatives, but it is fun trying different things.

I just wish I could find what works for me. My next project is learning how to make headers.

Did I tell you we’re having a heat wave here in North Texas? 100 plus heat for several days now. I heard 15, but what do I know? I am busy playing. Inside. Where it is cool.

Okay, back to work. When I got stuck with my plotting, my writing suffered. Even blogging feels stilted when you don’t do it on a regular basis. I have noticed that not everyone blogs as much. That makes me sad even though I don’t get to blog read and surf as much as I used to. My favorite ones that used to have readerships of 100-200 are now down to 40-50.

I have worked through a bit of the problem, so have to get back to writing and see where it goes.

Day-um! I knew I should have never set those goals! And somebody put them on the calendar!

What’s a girl to do?

Get her butt back in gear, that’s what.

But before I do, here’s some wishful thinking:

Hey, it’s my life, I can dream! It may be I like this picture so much right now because I am listening to Kokomo by the Beach Boys as I write this.

~Sandy