Deadline approaching.....

Well, I've been very busy, but I thought some of you might like to know where I came with my goal of finishing rewriting my book by the end of March.

• Last week, Kris had her baby on the 22nd... even though my goal was the 31st, I was excited to hear it- and little baby Britta looks so cute.
  
• I'm Stake Camp Director also, and we had our Camp Kick-off this week- other headache, but everything went so well. Phew.....
  
• And I've been scrabbling to finish my basement for the carpet installer that came on Saturday- that was another distraction.
  

But I'm happy to report...

Well..... I DID IT!!!

I'm Finished... all but the spell checking, some grammatical errors fixes and unfortunately so of the characters names are going to change, but what do you guys know, since many of you have never read it. I thought I might share with you some information and a brief plot to get you all excited.

Title: The Vivatera (or Life Stone)
Genre: Young Adult- Teen Fantasy
Pages: 510
Word Count: 129,020

Plot: NAOMI EVERSTAR would like to be ordinary, though she knows deep down she is different. Her world is very isolated. She has no family and spent the tender years growing up in seclusion with an old gypsy woman, MALINDRA, who took Naomi on as her own before her ill-fated murder when Naomi was only eleven. Now seventeen she lives with a widower FERREL BUCKLINGDOWN and his son ZANDER, whom she protects from his abusive father on a farm in the small insignificant town of Sharlot.

There are differences about Naomi that she never considers: her luck, her balance, her understanding of animals, her love of trees, and most peculiar, her ability to heal herself and others.

But there is a secret about her. Ever since Naomi can remember she has hidden her secret - a mark on the nape of her neck like a burn or brand, shaped like a star that shimmers when it's touched. Malindra told her it was sacred and to cover it at all times, but she never got the chance to tell Naomi its true meaning. Naomi does cover it with a silk scarf given to her by her loving guardian, though she hides it more for her security then discover.

The direction of her life takes a dangerous turn when she spots a girl in town revealing the same mark on her neck as her own, and before she can reach her she is quickly kidnapped away. Suddenly her life is in danger without understanding why and her mark has everything to do with it. Her adventure begins here and her real identity is about to unravel.

...I know.... and that's just the 1st and 2nd chapter...

One of Those Days

Kevin got an iTouch for his birthday. He's so excited and he has been playing with it all week. Today, while I was at work, I got a message from him - he's figured out how to text my phone using it. I thought it was funny, so I will share.

So I dropped off Mia, but we forgot her glasses and show & tell. I
went back to the school and took them to her. Mrs. Thacker says "One
of those days, huh?"
After texting you, I took a "quick" shower that ran a bit long. I saw
the time and threw on my clothes and drove over to the school still
dripping wet. Too late. Mrs. Thacker had already taken Mia back into
the classroom. So I walk around to the office and they call Mia down.
The secretaries were all very friendly and helpful.
Mia and I go to the 1 by 1 (711) and get her a slurpee. Yummy! When we're
climbing back into the car I look at my sleeve and notice that my
shirt is inside out. One of those days. Sigh.

Thanks for sharing Kev...

And the Oscar goes to....ME!

I'm so excited. I just made a movie for girl's camp and I just had to share.

Just imagine a deep voice over "...In a World..." kinda of stuff and you've got it.

...just sleeping... a tribute

(My Mom's Family - Mom, Sharon, Jim, Ed,
My Grandparents Wendall and Marjorie holding Dennis)

My Grandma Carbine's Funeral was really special. Is it strange to say I had a good time? I felt touched at times, the song we sang was BEAUTIFUL and could only have been pulled off because of the angels that sang with us on the back row - NO JOKE! But I'm not a crier. After the service I turned to Kevin and said, "I think I'm broken." All my cousins were crying and I tried, forgive me Grandma, I really tried. I just couldn't be sad.

I personally think Grandma is much happier dead than alive and I can't blame her for that. She was stuck with us for 27 years without Grandpa and I think she was always mad about that. She had a stubbornness about her, which is one reason I think she hung around so long also. I see the same stubbornness in my mother, my brother, and my sister. Not me though, I have the passive "Let's deal with it when it falls" attitude, or more like "When things fall, let's walk around them" attitude. That sounds more like me.

But I did want to share something that I thought was so cute that happened at my Grandma's Viewing.

I took my two girls to see her. I didn't want them at the funeral, I wanted to enjoy myself, is that weird? I thought it was something they should see and remember, like I remember my own Grandpa's viewing when I was seven. Mia really didn't want to go. She was rather spooked and thought it was creepy. She was mad I made her put on a dress and holds a tight grudge at such things, and constantly complained that it wasn't going to be fun because there were no toys there. True there weren't toys there, Thank You Heaven for that!

Julia however thought it was neat. She liked going over to the casket and looking. She's not very morbid and was thinking about it a lot. One of those times I walked over with her and talked to her about it and this is what she said:

Julia: Mom, I think Grandma is sleeping.

Me: No, I don't think she's sleeping. She died. She's living with Heavenly Father now.

Julia: No, I think she's sleeping. We need to wake her up.

Me: No, I don't think we should wake her up.

Julia: Yes, I think I will wake her up.

Then she proceeded to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I thought it was so cute I didn't stop her.

Later on she was shushing Mia in her sassy way saying, "Don't wake Grandma. She's with Heavenly Father."

I think my Grandparents were laughing behind the veil at those two.