Elizabeth tagged me and this one’s easy!

The Little-Known Favorites Meme Rules:

List and describe three of your favorite books that other people might not be familiar with. Then tag five people. See, easy!

Three…okay. I’ve already told you about 2 of my favorite books from when I was a kid, and I think I’ve probably mentioned Winter Roses and Eileen Rendahl on here a time or two, so let me think of three new ones.

Okay, when I went to my keeper shelf, I couldn’t stop at 3.

This one’s back in my TBR.



It’s a WW2 set story, on Corrigador, an island in the Pacific that was used as a hospital in the war, the same setting as the Claudette Colbert movie SO PROUDLY WE HAIL. It’s about a nurse and a soldier and all I remember is that part of it is in Australia, but I LOVE this book, and I’m rereading it this summer.

This is actually a series.



It’s a series of cozy mysteries with two elderly sisters solving the crimes. It’s set in Birmingham, AL, and when we went through last summer, I wanted SO bad to see the statue of Vulcan that the narrator sister talks about. There’s a great cast of characters, and these are some of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Sadly, Anne George has died, so no more books.

This is my favorite baby book of all time.



Yes, I know Emily, and yes, I remember how hard it was for her to get this Golden Heart finalist sold, and I still have my I HEART TABITHA t-shirt. I had it as an ARC, too. I wasn’t prepared to love it as much as I did, though. It’s a best friend story, and the tension is just delicious. Sam was awesome. Oh. My. God.

Speaking of majorly hot heroes….



Virginia Kantra is an all-time favorite author, a definite auto-buy. Talk about emotional depth! Sean was the youngest brother in the McNeill series, and wow, was he amazing. Virginia was a Golden Heart finalist, too, with Matthew Dunn, though, I think. I LOVED her SIMs.

As a rule, I dislike waifish heroines, but the heroine in Saving Dr. Ryan has a spine of steel.



She shows up on Ryan’s doorstep, about to give birth, her other children in tow. Ryan is slowly won over by her ways and it’s just so romantic.

This is one of the sexiest books I’ve ever read, and I think the love scene is way late in the book.



But the tension leading up to it is incredible, and the focus Rik gives Annie, a researcher who needs to stay on his farm while investigating an old mystery, is sexy as hell. This is a book I read, then turned back to page one and read again.

Okay, I tag Trish, Michele, Jill, Natalie and Mary Beth!

Baby Brother graduated last night as valedictorian. The chemistry teacher introduced him and said lovely things about him. The overall graduation was only an hour, but it took another hour to find everyone and take pictures. It was a crush. It's a small high school, so they could bring as many people to graduation as they wanted, and so they did. We got there at 5 to save seats for the thing at 6. Some other ladies almost got into a fight when 2 came into a row, MOVED the other ladies' purses and sat down.

Yes, this is a Catholic High School.

Here's Baby Brother.



Here's Healing Brother, Step-Dad and BB (I love this picture.) Healing Brother told Mom, "At least you have one smart son," and my step-dad, who loves HB like crazy, said, "No, we have two." HB was a little embarrassed that as we were making our way through the crowd, he kept getting mistaken for BB's dad. He's old enough, but barely.



This picture took a lot of work to get all 4 paying attention. I have 5 such pictures and can almost make a flip book. That's SIL, HB, DH and DS.



The proud parents.



The proud sister (who decided to get a hair cut yesterday and lost about 20 pounds of hair - too short!). And yes, that's my favorite top, the same one from my GH picture. We won't talk about how long I've had it!



Better picture of the hair ;)

So I'm thinking about Grey's - I haven't talked to one person who liked the season finale. I mean, last year I was STILL crying about the season finale. Here's where I think they messed up:

They killed Denny. Why didn't he live, he and Izzy could have had a ton of conflict this year, but you also would have seen him come home from the hospital, and their first time together would have been amazing. The man was just so focused on her.

Barring that, they needed to make Alex her love interest. Alex would have let her mourn, but he also would have snapped her back to reality. He never feels worthy of love (witness Ava) and would have had a ton of conflict with living in Denny's shadow.

They ruined Cristina and Burke. Cristina and Burke always had the best scenes together, the dancing when he found out she kept her apt, the hospital bed when she miscarried. You think he's going to give up on her on their wedding day?

And Derek and Meredith....not my favorite, but after she almost died and he was crying in the hall, and then he tells her she's the love of his life so SHE has to end it? What crap.

I'm not even going to touch George and Callie.

I did love the chief and his wife, though. But Bailey should be chief resident, not Callie. Sheesh. And Izzy should have failed the exam, not George.

I haven't rewatched Supernatural, but I'm reading a lot of posts about it that have me thinking. I did watch NEXT with Nicolas Cage last night and it blew. Jessica Biel's motivation for EVERYTHING was nonexistent.

Trish doesn't get Alex, so maybe this will help!

I was thinking I wouldn't have watched Buffy and Angel if not for the Internet. I heard about Supernatural in TV Guide, and once I'd heard Denny was on....

But I'm also wondering how much effect the Internet has on the TV writers. For example, on Lost, people hated Paolo and whatshername, so the writers killed them. On Supernatural, fans were tired of the mytharc, so Kripke ended it (??) last night.

Now if only Shonda would listen and put the real Izzy back on the show.

Do you think TV writers now are getting too much feedback and responding to it? Do you think it makes the shows better, or should they stick with their own visions?

And what did you think of the finales last night? I loved The Office, HATED Grey's and am undecided about Supernatural. That was all the John we got? Seriously?

Oh, and if anyone finds just the picture of Justin in the glasses below, send it to me!!!

Carnival today...joy.

Yesterday, between school and SARA, I watched an episode from season one of Gilmore Girls. I was still on a high from the series finale, so was cautious about going back, but this episode was wonderful. Rory had gone to a dance with Dean, had fallen asleep and not come home. Lorelei's mom was staying with her because Lorelei had hurt her back and when Rory didn't come home, Lorelei's mom jumped all over Lorelei, who defended Rory, until the mom left, and then she whipped around on Rory, hurting, scared, and embarrassed.

It felt so real. The first season is feeling like that for me. You see more of Lorelei's raw emotions, her worry for Rory, her own hurt when Rory forms a bond of her own with Lorelei's judgemental parents, her terror that Rory will indeed make the same mistakes Lorelei made.

But even in that reality, there's a safety net. You know they're going to be okay because of what they are to each other.

Most people at school have never even heard of the Gilmore Girls, or Supernatural. Sad, sad, sad. I think the Internet has influenced my TV watching as much as it influences my reading. What shows do you watch because of the Internet?

TONIGHT! Big Season Finales!!

And it is black raspberry. I went slightly insane at Bath and Body yesterday - NEVER give me a coupon, seriously.

Last night’s Gilmore Girls was spot-on perfect for a series finale. You had Rory/Lorelei time and Rory/Laine time and Friday night dinner and Emily/Lorelei sparring and ALL of Stars Hollow, and the kiss. The ONLY complaint I had was that they didn’t linger long enough on the kiss. Sigh. And considering I haven't seen season 7 yet, I just thought it fit well with the series.



Last week we had the Jericho season finale that ended with Daddy dyin’ and Jake and Emily kissing and a train coming, airplanes and lots of gunfire. I would have had Mama raising hell, or Daddy not dying at all, but otherwise I thought it was great.

Tomorrow night we have The Office, Supernatural and Grey’s season finales.

I have no idea what’s going to go on with The Office. Last year we had the kiss with Jim and Pam, but that doesn’t seem to be the direction this year ☹ I miss that chemistry.

Grey’s will be the wedding for Cristina and Burke. You know Callie’s going to figure out the Izzy/George thing (such a shark jumper, I’m telling you), and Addison will be leaving. The chief’s estranged wife is bleeding in the bathroom, so that will be addressed. I think he’ll remain chief. What about Jane Doe and Alex? And McDreamy and Meredith? Peace with her father?

Then Supernatural – SAMMY!!!! Daddy will be there (YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!), Dean is devastated. I wish Ava had lived instead of Jake. Will the Yellow Eyed Demon be done this season? Will we know how Mary knew him? Was she in the other generation of psychics? How will they save Sammy, and what will John do?

If you could write a season finale for any show, which would you write for? And what would it be about? What loose ends would you tie up? Would you leave it as a cliff-hanger, or a feel-good ending?

I wrote 674 words last night during timed writing, and apparently I've started my summer schedule. I went to bed at 11 and woke up later than usual. I may not have to go on the field trip but stay behind with the behavior problems. You know I hate field trips when I'd rather stay behind with the behavior problems!

So I took yesterday off because I've been a bit stressed at school. So how did I chill?

By going to the post office.

I arrived at 8:30 after dropping The Boy off at school. The line was through the doors, and only 3 windows were open, but I was determined to mail my Superromance.

15 minutes later, the SAME PEOPLE were still at the window! One older lady was questioning the price of EVERY stamp and why it was needed and I swear, the lady waiting on her deserves a medal. The next window was a guy mailing stuff he sold on eBay. The third window was a guy mailing HUGE packages that he clearly intended to coat in Priority Mail tape. Honestly, the ripping sound, over and over again, as he waited for someone to find the paperwork to insure his mail. Both he and eBay guy were waiting for that.

Two people left.

Three other people were helped by some guy who worked in the passport office, which had a line of its own.

After Big Package guy left, his clerk decided to move to another counter. Which took the whole rest of the time I was there.

FINALLY at five till nine, I get to the line where eBay guy had been. Of course, this was the crankiest of the three clerks. I told her I needed an IRC. Thankfully, she knew what one was, but had to go to the back to look for one. Before she went, she said they'd increased in price to $2, and did I still want one. Uh, I just stood in line for TWENTY FIVE minutes. YES.

Then the news camera came in, clearly hoping for someone in the now-doubly long line to go postal. No, really, they were there about the rate hike, but remember, I was taking a sick day. Also, I was dressed in yoga pants and a writer shirt, no make up and my hair pinned up rather haphazardly. I tried nonchalance as I rested my face on my hand, trying to disguise myself.

Ten minutes later, I walk out after paying $6.66 to mail the package.

I do not have a good feeling about this.

So I went to Lowe's and bought 3 rose bushes.

This is what I'm doing today. I took the day off because this is the Week from Hell. I have SARA, two testing days, one field trip, one carnival and one graduation. And yesterday we had a surprise party for my mom that went pretty well, considering my step-dad didn't follow The Plan. See, he was supposed to pretend to take her to dinner for Mother's Day. Instead, he left, saying he was going to Healing Brother's. Baby Brother left, ostensibly to go hang out with his friends. Then my stepdad called and told me to call Mom, tell her to come over because Cindi and her baby would be here.

Um, why would they come on Mother's Day? I needed a bigger incentive.

A plant sale.

Even that would be tricky because of the time, 4:30. My mom doesn't like to do things in the afternoon, and if she thought about looking up what time it closed, she'd know it was too late. But surprisingly, it worked.

My stepdad showed up just after I hung up, then she called him, and he went outside so she wouldn't know where he was. Then Healing Brother showed up, and Mom pulled in just then. The look on her face was priceless, but she almost started to cry when her brother and SIL showed up, and then finally Baby Brother. So it turned out great.





And today I'm kicking back. I need to do laundry and wash another load of dishes and take my Superromance package to the main post office, but that's it. I plan to write 5 pages, watch Black Hawk Down and read. I hope it's as pretty today as it was yesterday.

I wrote 3 pages, read a field guide to demons, did Weed and Feed on the yard, cleaned both bathrooms, went to WalMart (good bye, $235, hello new underwear), HEB (good bye, $120, hello dinners for the week and party stuff) and the post office (good bye, $30 and no IRCs - gah!), sent two more agent queries and watched 4 episodes of Point Pleasant. Just when it was getting good, I put in disc 3 and it was cracked! Bummer.

Today I have to sweep. The dh is barbecuing, and I need to make potato casserole, but that's easy. I also want to try to get in 3 pages.

Have a happy Mother's Day, all you mommies!

Today would be my grandmother's 95th birthday. I miss her.

Yesterday was Mom's 60th. We're surprising her tomorrow. I wanted to do it tonight, but Baby Brother has Commitments. Boy is way too social. So I'm running to WalMart and the grocery store now, then the post office, then cleaning. Fortunately, it's still mostly clean from my party.

I saw Grey's last night - bleh. If not for Alex, I'd be done. Watched last week's Supernatural again. Still love it.

My goal today is 5 new pages. The good news is I'm ITCHING to write!

The .500 streak for Beneath the Surface continues. I got a request for a partial and a rejection yesterday from the two equeries. Also, it didn't final in 4 Seasons, so I'm entering a different book in the Maggies ;)

Today's goal: prepare Maggie entry, get to the post office (3 partials and one contest entry to mail - if I hadn't given up contests while I was agented, maybe they wouldn't have had to have a rate hike!), get MIL's Mother's Day gift and Mom's bday gift. She's 60 today.

I took the kids out yesterday, took their pictures and planned to make picture frames for Mother's Day yesterday, but they took forEVER on their science, and then 11 of them went to decorate cakes for their moms, so I was left with 7. Those 7 did their science project, so that's what the rest will do today. We'll do one math assignment, then spend the rest of the day on Mother's Day, science and finishing up King Arthur. I want to take off Monday, but I don't know.....

It was a GORGEOUS day yesterday....till I came home. The clouds were rolling in, and as soon as the boy walked in the door, it started thundering, then rained like crazy! At least it's nice and cool this AM, though it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow, too.

I sent 2 agent equeries yesterday and have a partial printed out to send when I hit the post office. I also sent a query to The Wild Rose Press on one of my category books. Today's goal is to send something to my chapter's online critique.

Yesterday I had a meeting at my old school. I've only been back once in the three years since I left. The Princibitch isn't there anymore, but I had a knot in my stomach all day thinking about going back. I did get to talk to the secretary for half an hour - I always liked Betty.

But the weirdness is the Princibitch was at my school yesterday. My kids just happened to be working quietly, my door was open because of AC difficulties, and I heard Robert down the hall talking to someone. When he said something about his 5-year-old, and I heard the reply, I sent Jeremiah to close the door and I moved out of eye-shot of the door. The woman is pure poison, lemme tell you.

Onto lighter things.

Jericho's season finale was AWESOME. OMG. I don't get the anti-Emily bit, because she was great with Jake last night.

LOST surprised me, for the first time in a long time. And how did such a cute little kid grow up to be such an ugly bug eyed man? Can't wait for next week!

And tonight - SUPERNATURAL!!!

My goal today is to submit to 3 agents. GULP.

I have my Superromance packaged, but I went to Canada Post and I don't know what to buy. What stamp do you need to send it BACK to the US?

I blew off the Molly and PASIC. And I probably will only enter one book in the Maggies, though the question remains whether it will be DLB or Surface.

I didn't do well on timed writing last night, either. I got Trish's comments put into Ghost Hunters, and opened BD, and just sat there. I wanted to insert a chase/shooting scene, but I'd written through the scene break and then had trouble breaking it apart. I brainstormed with one of my cps and she had some good ideas that I'm excited about, but I've locked myself up. I need to trust again. We're supposed to try again on Friday, but I forgot it's my mom's bday.

Yesterday I was teaching math and got this sudden flash of Starcke Park, where we used to go swimming every summer when I was little. It just felt - summery all of a sudden. Tonight my stepdad sent me a picture. That's poor Healing Brother in the picture next to me. And that brightness - I think it might be something called SUNSHINE! (Yes, it's raining, AGAIN.)



Here's another vampire-y picture of Justin. I'm really liking him as my villain in the next book, even though he's the hero in this!

We got our preliminary TAKS scores yesterday. I had 3 kids fail writing, 4 fail reading and 5 fail math, out of 17 who tested. I expected 4 in each, so some kids surprised me in a good way - the girl I'm retaining passed writing, another girl who I'm sending to summer school passed writing and reading - and some in a bad way - an A-B girl failed reading AND math, and an A-B boy failed writing. It evened out in my class, but overall our math scores are bad. And believe me, we teach math more than reading. Gulp. I'm anxious to get the actual scores, to see how much they missed by.

Last night, Stacy and I spent an hour doing timed writing. You should have seen me before...dragging my feet to get to the computer. But once we said "Go," I didn't get up except to go find my Ghost Hunters notebook. I finished the synopsis on that, and got 553 words on Breaking Daylight. In our chat after, Stacy said she ALMOST got up at the 45 minute mark, but she stayed in her seat, knowing I was doing the same. I have to say, I'm a big fan of timed writing. We're going to try again tonight.

I got my Superromance submission ready, just need to get a stamp. That was today's goal.

I'm thinking about using Justin as my vampire in my vamp book, after seeing this picture.

My hibiscus bloomed yesterday. The flower is as big as my hand.I also discovered that one of the hibisus I threw out is coming back. It's growing at a 90 degree angle from where the remaining stems were.



Okay, here's my dilemma. I want to enter contests again. Here are the ones I'm looking at, the books I'm looking at entering, and the final judges.

Breaking Daylight - The Molly. It could either go in contemp or ST. Contemp judge is May Chen, who never judges contemp. ST judge is Sulay from Simon and Schuster. That's the same as Pocket, right? If it finals (and I've never been able to crack the Molly), do you think either of those judges would like it?

Ghost Hunters (I have a real title, but this one's just easier) - PASIC. Final judge is St. Martin's Press. I just don't know if this entry is strong enough, though.

Either DLB or Surface AND Ghost Hunters - Maggies. ST final judge is Laura Cifelli from NAL (who has Breaking Daylight from Fire and Ice, so no sense entering that one again), paranormal judge is Abby Zidle.

I'm also looking at Lone Star, but they haven't announced their final judge yet, though the deadline is June 4.

Breaking Daylight AND Ghost Hunters - From the Heart. ST final judge is Kerry Donovan from NAL and the paranormal final judge is Cindy Hwang.

Breaking Daylight - Melody of Love. Michelle Grajkowski is the final judge. I'm wishy washy about this one because there are only 3 categories..

So, any thoughts? I did finish BD's synopsis last night - yay!

My life had its ups and downs this week, and so did TV. Some nights I wondered WHY I was watching.

Monday:

Heroes was ABSOLUTELY awesome. Just excellent TV.

24 was POINTLESS. Jack escaped to talk to Audrey and was captured again. NOTHING was gained, but an hour taken up. Why didn't Nadia just let him talk to her?

Tuesday:

Americans got it right on American Idol. The four best are left. I've been singing Bon Jovi all week, though.

Wednesday:

I missed most of Jericho because I was on the phone with my brother, but why aren't they using the tank?

On Bones, the crime was needlessly complicated. Seriously, would you think of loading a chopped up guy on a plane and dropping him in the ocean? Gah. And there was no good chemistry with Booth and Bones.

My dh knocked off Locke's dad as Sawyer from the minute he arrived, so no big surprise on Lost.

Thursday:

Kinda liked Earl and Office.

Supernatural was incredible. Just incredible. Love Dean all over again.

Now, the big rant. What the HELL are they thinking on Grey's???? I wish I'd Tivoed that damn show and skipped all the California bits (and I LIKE Addison.) There is nothing different or special about it. The first time I saw Grey's, I was hooked. The writing was that good, but this - wasn't. How convenient was it that Tim Daly had chased off the former ob/gyn? And what was he? An herbalist? I didn't buy it. Most of the time I was trying to figure out who her friend was, then realized it was Francie from Alias. And Addison didn't seem to be such a good friend, if she didn't know Francie was divorced. The surfer boy - ick. The woman has been with McDreamy, McSteamy and Alex - she's going to drool over a teenager? I don't think so.

So I won't be watching Addison's new show.

What did you think of TV this week?

It's good to be loved!

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

8 random facts/habits about me ...

1. I have a messy car. Receipts, coupons, books, even some jewelry. I think there might also be a pair of shoes….

2. I’ve bought ONE CD that isn’t a soundtrack since grunge music went out of fashion.

3. I love to buy things online because I like getting fun mail. Got my new Clark sandals yesterday!

4. I keep meaning to scrapbook my GH stuff, but never do. It’s all in a drawer. Why am I surprised? I think those photo boxes are the best invention ever – all my son’s baby pictures are in there!

5. I don’t really like to drive. Especially now that EVERY route to my house has construction! It’s a conspiracy.

6. I count down to summer by how many more lunches I have to make.

7. As many crushes as I have, I only have sexy dreams about my husband.

8. I’ve only bought 4 bottles of hard liquor in my life, and 2 were for my brother’s Halloween party! The other two, I still have.

I tag Toni, Bonnie, Marianne, Mary Beth, Kelly, Michele, Colleen and Sarah!

So, Wednesday rejection, Thursday I find out I finalled in Spring into Romance with Breaking Daylight! It's going to --- guess where? Berkley! The same place I was rejected!!

So, Trish and I have made a pact to do one thing toward getting published every day between now and National. I was making my list (because that's what I do.) Here's what I came up with. Can you think of anything I missed?

1) query agents

2) contest entries

3) write synopses

4) market research

5) read writing-related books

6) actually writing ;)

I haven't seen Supernatural yet - the Astros game preempted it. Honestly, could they play on a night BESIDES Thursday, because this is the second time. I'm tempted to watch it before work! I did, however, see Grey's. Be prepared for a serious rant on that tomorrow. All I'll say today is, my brother (he of the broken back) WISHES doctors cared that much!

I got a doozy of a rejection on Beneath the Surface yesterday. I'd finalled in Contest Junkies with BtS in 2005 and had a request from Berkley. It took me more than a year to convince my agent to send it, and in February she said we had interest, but she sent me the R yesterday. My suspense plot wasn't strong enough. Sigh. I guess that's not totally unexpected, but since I'd had interest from them....

It doesn't help that we've had like five minutes of sunshine since before my birthday, and today is the Gilmore Girls episode where it all goes bad for Luke and Lorelei (yes, I identify WAY too much with this show) but now I have, I think, one submission out.

At least at school things are good, and I've gotten 2 of the 4 gifts I need for the month!

And, Supernatural's on tonight.

No, not a new crush. I'm in love with these:



They're Croc flip flops. Cindi had given me a pair of flip flops for my birthday 3 years ago and I loved them, but they were getting pretty ratty. I couldn't find any that were molded like them, though. When we had our make-up day that Saturday in March, one of the teachers had just what I wanted, so with my birthday money, I bought some.

They came yesterday. They're so COMFORTABLE I didn't mind standing around making dinner or cleaning up or anything! I do wish I'd gotten the smaller size (they run big) and a different color (I got turquoise/seafoam - should have gotten blue/khaki.)

I think I'm getting Mom some for her birthday.

I'm getting observed today in math. I am so glad I still have my Smart Board!

If only I could wear my crocs to school!