Time

The past two weeks have flown by in a blur.  My eldest went to Spain with the Study Abroad class from her university.  She'll be gone for 5 weeks.  The days leading up to her actual departure were crazy.  But it's all done now.  She made it there just fine and all is well.

My middle child will be starting college in the fall.  I keep telling him what he needs to get done in order to be ready to go when classes start (filling out and turning in an application, going to an orientation class, meeting with an adviser, etc.).  He tells me he will, but never does any of the things I have outlined for him.  So I have to take his hand and practically walk him through it. 

My youngest child has become a slug and only wants to sit in front of the television in the basement and play COD Black Ops.  He says that when he's not at work he wants to take it easy.  Fine.  But when I need him to do something, such as chores he's been responsible for for, well, almost his entire life, he balks. 

My husband is working 7 days a week, 10 hours a day.  I'm not complaining there; we need the money.

I am taking two summer classes at my local college.  Top that off with a visit from my very dear aunt.  She'll be here on Sunday and will stay with us for two weeks.  I'm really looking forward to her staying with us, but I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want and need to do.

So...when will I have time to write?  I have oodles of stories and characters swimming around in my head, and no time to let them out. 

What do YOU do to create time to write?

Book Trailer: Not A Chance

eBook Trailer: Not A Chance by Susan Steiner

Check out my first book trailer.  Let me know what you think!

Da Vinci

You probably don't know this, but I'm taking college classes.  Today I had to go to class and part of today's topic was Leonardo Da Vinci.  The professor spent a lot of time talking about two of his paintings: The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.  I learned a lot of things that I never knew (I cannot claim to be a great connoisseur of art).  My professor explained that a couple years ago modern technology took a look at what was under the Mona Lisa.  They thought maybe there was another painting underneath, but there wasn't.  What they DID find, however, was that before Da Vinci painted the garment that Mona's wearing, he painted a slip on her first.  So, in essence, he "dressed" her in a slip, then painted the dress over the slip.  My professor thought this brilliant...I thought it rather strange.

Drive-In Theater, Anyone?

I received an e-mail this morning from a drive-in theater near my home, informing me of what movies will be playing this weekend.  It made me wonder just how many people go to drive-ins over the summer.  So I thought I'd ask!  Do you make the trek to a drive-in to see movies? 

We discovered our drive-in quite by accident some years ago (quite a few years ago, if I'm going to be honest).  It's not near our house; in fact, it's about an hour drive from us.  But several times a summer the entire family gathers our lawn chairs, comfy blankies and pillows, and of course the bug spray, and we head out on an adventure.

The theater itself looks like something right out of 1955, complete with the playground equipment in front of the screen.  And going into the concession area is, literally, like taking a step back in time.  I doubt they have ever done a major remodel - they only make sure what they have is in good running condition, and they carry on for another summer.  It's by no means a dive or a dump; on the contrary, it's very well cared for.  And around my house, it just wouldn't be summer with a few trips to the drive-in theater.

Does anyone else have a similar summer tradition?

Since It's Tuesday...

It's the beginning of another work week, so I thought I'd post a silly story to cheer you up.  This is an oldie but a goodie, and I'm asked often to repeat it at get-togethers.  It's rather lengthy, but I think you'll enjoy it.

So...as you might know, I'm the mother of three children.  They're approximately two years apart in age.  Of course, when they were young they took naps.  And since they were so close together age-wise, they all took naps, and all at the same time.  It was my time of the day to do whatever I wanted.

One random day I was really living it up.  I was doing the laundry while my kids napped.  Whoa!  Slow down, right?  Yeah, I was crazy like that.  Now...everyone in my ENTIRE family KNEW that they were not to call my house or ring the doorbell during nap time (which was at the same time everyday).  Because if anyone woke up my kids, they would have to come over and get them and take care of their grumpy asses for the rest of the day. 

As I was climbing the stairs from the basement, full laundry basket in hand, I heard the doorbell ring.  I froze!  Who would DARE to ring my doorbell during nap time?!  But it was no ordinary door bell chime.  All I heard was, "ding"...and that was it.  When my initial disbelief wore off within seconds of hearing that dreaded "ding", I sprung into action.  I dashed up the ramainder of the stairs.  As I did so, I heard the impending, "dong".  I hurried faster.  Then suddenly the doorbell began to chime over and over, "ding dong, ding dong, ding dong," without hesitation. 

I was growing more and more pissed as I neared the front door.  Whoever was repeatedly ringing the doorbell was going to be wearing his/her ass for a hat when I got done with them - especially if one of my kids was awakened due to the doorbell racket.

The doorbell rang continuously, even as I unlocked the door and wrenched it open.  But you'll never, ever, in a thousand years guess what I found standing at my door.  It was my cat!  Yes, my cat Rex, who was an indoor cat, who never went outside...ever.  I glared around my front porch, ready to take on anyone within striking distance, but no one was there.  And there was no way someone could have gotten off my front porch that fast and out of my sight if they were still ringing the doorbell up to the moment that I opened the door.

Rex rushed in, dirty and disheveled, meowing his fool head off.  I stared...dumbstruck.  How could my cat have rung the doorbell?  It's impossible!  There was no way for him to even reach it, much less ring it repeatedly, non-stop.

I went back inside and closed the door.  My cat made his familiar figure-eight through my feet as I tried to walk.  He was starving, and he let me know this by doing what we call the "Lassie" - where he would run toward the kitchen then turn and look at me and meow.  Then he would run a few steps back to me, meow some more, then run toward the kitchen again and stop to see if I was getting the hint.  I followed along in a sort of awe, still not understanding what had happened. 

How did he get outside?  What was he doing out there?  How long had he been gone?  I had no idea.  I fed him, then called my husband at work.  Here's how that conversation went down:

Husband:  "Hello?"

Me:  "Hey."

Husband:  "Hey, what's up?"

Me:  Hesitating... "Something just happened...you're probably not going to believe me..."

Husband:  "What is it?"  He sounds slightly worried.

Me:  "Well, the doorbell rang while I was in the basement, right?"

Husband:  "Yeah, OK..."

Me:  "I ran to the door and opened it, intending on killing whoever was ringing the bell, but it was...I found..."

Husband:  "Found who?  What happened?"

Me:  "The cat.  Rex was out there; no one else.  The cat rang the doorbell."

Husband:  *silence*

Me:  "You still there?"

Husband:  Said uncertainly... "Yeah."

Me:  "What do you think happened?"

Husband:  *no reply*

Me:  "Do you believe me?"

Husband:  Hesitating... "Sure, I believe you."

Me:  "No, you don't!  But it's true!  The doorbell rang, I ran to the door and opened it before anyone could get off the porch, and the only thing there was Rex!  I'm serious!  I'm not trying to be funny!"

Husband:  "OK.  The cat rang the doorbell.  I believe you."

But I knew he didn't.  He was only trying to appease his obviously insane wife, who, at the moment was the only "adult" home with his three children.  But I stuck to my guns and insisted that Rex rang the doorbell to get back in the house. 

A few weeks later, the entire family had been out shopping.  When we got home the kids and I stood back while my husband unlocked the door and entered the house.  The kids filed in behind him, with me bringing up the rear.  As one of my children stepped on the threshold of the door, the doorbell went "ding", and when he lifted his foot off the threshold, the doorbell went "dong".  I stood there, staring at the threshold of the front door, stupefied.  What was going on? 

I called my husband over and showed him what happened.  I could ring the doorbell by putting pressure on the threshold and lifting the pressure off.  How amazing was that?!  My husband immediately identified the problem.  The wiring for the doorbell ran under the threshold, and obviously (well, obvious to an electrician) the wire had a short, or a break, in it.  When the threshold was stepped on, it put pressure on the wire and connected the short for a brief moment, which made the doorbell go "ding".  When the pressure came off, the wire would again separate, making the doorbell go "dong". 

We both looked at each other, the dawn of understanding suddenly hitting us both at the same time.  THAT'S how Rex rang the doorbell - he came to the door and began pawing at the threshold, trying to push the door open.  By "digging" at the door, he was connecting and separating the doorbell wire over and over, thus creating the incessant "ding dong, ding dong, ding dong" until the moment I yanked open the door.

And there you have it!  I'm not so crazy, after all!!!

The Height of Frustration!

So....
Today I decided that I will make a book trailer for one of my book.  I began researching how this is done and I started to get ideas for how I want mine to look, things I want to include in a trailer, etc.  I spent a LONG TIME looking at images and videos online.  I finally chose something and downloaded the file.  Then I imported it into my handy-dandy application, iMovie.  Since then, I have been at a loss.  I can't edit or change ANYTHING in the imported file, and the site I downloaded it from assured me that it was, indeed, editable. 
So I will keep trying.
It's just so frustrating.
Maybe I should go for a ride in my car and listen to loud music or maybe I should call my BFF...
:)

For Your Reading Pleasure...

At the top of this page you will see buttons that will take you to separate pages that display my books.  I currently have two books published on Amazon in the form of eBooks.  If you like romance books, you're in the right place.  I have priced them low so they'll be accessible to everyone.  Don't have a Kindle, you say?  Have no fear!  A free Kindle app can be downloaded to your Mac, PC, Blackberry, iPad, iPhone, and Android.  Once you've read them, please feel free to leave a review on Amazon.  I'd love to read what you have to say!