year) is not quite finished, I have topped the 50,000 word mark, which makes me a winner in NaNoWriMo's book. Here's a photograph of my certificate to prove it. I still have a few chapters to go to actually complete my book, but I should accomplish that today or tomorrow. Believe me, writing an entire book feels like an accomplishment--even if it never gets published. Now I have two books done and my series of cozy murder mysteries starring my college teacher/acoustics expert and amateur sleuth Pamela Barnes is well on its way. Does Pamela bear any resemblance to me, given that I spent my career teaching and researching communication at the college level? No! Of course not! She is totally fictional! Hmmm.
skills. If any of my readers can think of a good idea for a crime (preferably a murder) for Pamela to solve using her knowledge of sound and acoustics, please let me know. Right now, I'm just celebrating reaching that 50,000 word milestone in my NaNoWriMo journey. If you have also reached this same point, I say "Congratulations!" If you're not quite there yet, I say "Don't give up!"
ake money from my blogs as much as any one else. I certainly applaud bloggers who manage to derive some income from their efforts. However, I draw the line in the sand at some advertising activities. Just where that line is, what it looks like, and how much sand it disperses, is still somewhat unclear to me, but it's coming more into focus. I'd like to hear what you think.
ewers or readers should say, "That's a great ad, maybe I should check out that product." Or, contrarily, "That's a terrible ad; I'll never buy that product." They shouldn't find themselves being unable to tell where the ad begins and the TV program or magazine or newspaper article ends. Oh, I can hear some of you saying, "But what about product placement in movies?" The main character eats Cheerios for breakfast and then drives a Honda to work. Isn't that advertising? Well, maybe so, but it's not nearly as egregious as what this article is suggesting bloggers do with their Adsense ads.
to get my family to eat together around a table. It always seemed like a losing battle--they preferred to be anywhere else. 
just returned from a day at the doggie beauty spa. I wish you could see the cute little pink bow they put in her hair, but it doesn't show up well in the photograph I took. However, she is clean, sparkly, and proud as a peacock of her new look. Isn't she adorable? Can you tell that my two children no longer live at home? I lavish all of my affection on my Pomeranian (well, my husband gets some of it). Oh my gosh, I'm one of those weird cat ladies--except my cat is a dog. Aren't I? 
rant has a new movie coming out next month called Did You Hear About the Morgans? with Sarah Jessica Parker and it looks like a scream. They play a soon-to-be divorced couple who are forced into the witness protection program and have to go live together in a cabin somewhere in the forest (or so it seems from the trailer I saw). I howled while watching it.
every movie Hugh Grant has made--my favorite being the best movie of all time--Love Actually--in which he plays the British Prime Minister in his own inimitable way. Yes, yes, I know Hugh Grant has a less than sterling reputation off camera--but he is a master comedian and I absolutely adore him on the screen. 
es, that charming British accent, the slightly goofy way he tries to dance. What other older lady such as myself wouldn't go ga-ga for such a guy?
walk today, my little Pomeranian Coquette decided to show me her daring nature. We spotted a large (and I do mean large) German Shepherd walking ahead of us with his owner on the other side of the street. Immediately, Coquette gave chase--barking frantically in her upper decibel range and pulling with all her little might on the leash. I knew her, "Mommy, let me at him!" cry.
The shepherd and his master glanced back at us in a somewhat bored fashion and continued on their way. I should note that this German shepherd was about six times the size of Coquette, had sunken dark eyes like Svengali, and a snarling curl to his lip that seemed to say, "I eat little dogs like you for breakfast." He scared even me. 
tte, however, was determined to catch him and--what? Bite him? Attack him? Chat him up about the weather? I wondered. Just what would my Pomeranian do with a German Shepherd if she did manage to catch him? 
sound asleep in bed, around five a. m. yesterday, the morning of Friday the 13th--when all of a sudden our ceiling light pops on! My husband Milt and I both sat bolt upright, shocked.
ster Chris and I are locked in a pitched battle to lose weight--and she is winning. Witness the photo I shot of her the other day when we lunched at the local Panera Bread (she is carrying half of her diet sandwich home with her for supper). Doesn't she look great?
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a helpful household hint to stop your dog from peeing on your carpet. I tried this with our elderly Pomeranian Coquette who seems lately enamoured of peeing on a certain portion of carpet in our entrance hallway. Believe me, when she started to do this, I tried all the potions and sprays recommended to stop this behavior. I tried putting down a rug over the spot, but she just peed on the rug and I had to wash it. I tried setting up barriers, but then we couldn't get around in our own house. 
, I got an idea. Realizing how Coquette doesn't like to have wind blowing in her face (such as from my hair dryer), I set a wall fan in the entrance hallway angled to blow right on the spot where she tended to pee. Miracle of miracles! She has not peed on the carpet since I put the fan there. In fact, she avoids even going through the entrance hallway now. If she wants to get to the front door, she goes all the way around through the dining room and the kitchen to get there.
my 88-year-old mother yesterday at her apartment in her assisted living facility. She was all agog with some exciting gossip for me:
o, of course not. But then, after lunch, they disappear for the entire afternoon.
is the fifth day of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I'm on Chapter Five of my second novel--KDIE--about a Goth disk jockey who is shot and killed on air. Things are going quite smoothly, I'm happy to report. There is one little hitch, however. My victim is, as I said, a "Goth" or at least considers himself in the "Goth" literary, musical, and poetic movement. Although I am aware of the Goth style and have even met a few aficionados of it, my knowledge of "Goth-ery" is quite limited. 
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