Trying to Succeed

Well, how many times have I heard, "If at first you don't succeed, try, then try again?" Enough times that it sticks in my head, prodding me to keep writing stories. But, while not exactly discouraged, I'd lost the motivation to keep sending my work anywhere. I've sold some nonfiction, but never a short story. A few days ago I came across a short story contest, and decided to enter--and I just hit the Send button before signing in here. Yeah, me! At least I tried AGAIN. ("Again" is the theme of the contest, so if you knew that, you would see what a clever segue I just made. <grin> )

I haven't been trying very hard to be successful in terms of my writing goals. I didn't succeed, tried, tried again, then quit. So I succeeded in not succeeding, because not submitting anything certainly guarantees I won't have anything published. If I'd made a New Year's resolution, it would have been to submit more of my work to magazines. I'm a bit behind schedule, but I am now resolving to send out at least one story every month.

So, wish me luck on the contest I entered; I will be sure to post here if I win. Maybe I'll even post if I don't...

Soup's On

Every mother should be recognized for what she does really well. As I sit here eating the soup she sent home with me last night, I have to say that my mom’s vegetable soup is the best in the world. It isn’t the only thing, or even the most important thing my mother has done, but the vegetable soup she makes for me is one of life’s treasures.

She shared the recipe with me again last night, and explained how to adapt it to cook in a soup pot instead of a pressure cooker. The ingredients consist of a little of this and that, whatever vegetables are on hand, tomato sauce, spaghetti, and hamburger. You cook the vegetables, put in the hamburger—which is browned and drained first—and, voila, soup’s done. Or something like that.

The actual quantities of each ingredient aren’t measured, and vary somewhat each time she makes it. Last night she apologized for adding more cabbage than usual; the cabbage was about to go bad and she didn’t want to waste it. Personally, I thought it made the soup tastier.

I plan to try her recipe someday, and hope it tastes similar to the soup I’ve loved for more than fifty years. I’m worried, though, that I will never get it right, never match the flavor of her soup. You see, the ingredient that makes it so special, no matter how it tastes, is her love; she makes the soup especially for me, because she knows I like it. (My sisters may argue that she makes it for them, too, but I’m pretty sure that when she does, my mom is hoping I will show up to get some.)

So, in summary: YOUR SOUP IS AWESOME, MOM!

Word of the Day

I was disappointed to find out that the Word of the Day gadget on my blog doesn't personalize it for me. The same word and definition appears on each blog I've seen that carries it. Fortunately I haven't found many using this feature, so it's not like I'm just one of the crowd, but I was trying to make my blog different, special. Having my own Word of the Day fit my nerdy personality.

Now, the good news. It has occurred to me that instead of being disappointed, I should be grateful that there are others who love words as much as I do. If there weren't, there wouldn't be a cool feature like that for me to add to my blog. I would have to look up my own words, write my own definition and example, and post them daily.

Also, it's kind of neat to know that other people are reading the same word I am each day, making me part of a group that shares one of my interests. It's sort of like being in an exclusive club with free membership. You don't get much for it, but you don't have to do much either.

So, thank you to whoever makes the "gadgets" for blogspot users, especially the ones I'm using here.

And, just so no one thinks I'm too lazy to come up with my own words, here's one I looked up myself: venireman noun,
one of a group of people from whom a jury will be selected (Webster's New World Dictionary)

I was a venireman last summer, but wasn't assigned to a case.

Furry Friends

Living in the country has been eventful over the years, but last week we had a new experience with one of our furry neighbors. Our dog, Buddy, stood at the patio door, staring outside and growling. He does that often, and it usually means he sees a deer in the yard, or a leaf blowing around. Since I was doing dishes nearby, I went to see what he was protecting us from and was surprised to see a possum sitting on our deck.

The possum looked bedraggled and wet. It was licking its fur with complete disregard for any danger lurking on our side of the door. I grabbed my camera and quickly took the creature's picture, thinking it would soon run off. The flash attracted its attention, but instead of heading for its home it headed for mine. I'm not sure if it was trying to attack us, or just get inside where it was warm. There were four cats, a dog, and three humans watching as that possum repeatedly scraped his claws on the patio door, stretching higher and higher as if testing the glass for an opening. When he gave up on that, Mr. Possum started digging at the bottom of the doorframe, still determined to join us in the kitchen.

Company arrived, and we showed off the possum standing nose to nose with our dog, who had quit growling and was now whimpering for us to let his new pal inside. Of course we were too smart to let it in, but we enjoyed its antics for half an hour before the possum wandered off. The next morning, in the light of day, the evidence of our furry friend's visit remained. The wood slivers mounded in front of the door were easy to sweep away, but the wooden sill will have to be replaced to keep smaller critters from making their way in.

Bowling

My family went bowling yesterday. Well, not all of us. Lisa was skiing with friends in Michigan, but she probably wouldn't have gone with us anyway. For some reason, bowling doesn't interest her. I enjoy it, but have no talent, which I don't understand. My nephew, Kenny Parks, won the 2008 PBA Senior Tour last summer, and is competing again in 2009. You would think there would be a smidgen of talent for bowling somewhere in my body since I'm related to a pro bowler.


Here's a link to an article about Kenny after he won last year: http://www.pba.com/news/feature.asp?ID=791

He should have won the award for Player of the Year, too, but--in my opinion--got cheated out of it. I think his hair might have been too long to please the judges; all the other bowlers had short hair, but he was a better bowler. (I didn't make the last part up; I read in the newpaper that he was the best scoring bowler.) Anyway, this year his hair is short and neatly trimmed, as you can see from his picture at our family Christmas party.

From 4:00 to 6:00, the place we go only charges $1 per game, so it's cheap entertainment as well as good exercise. We only bowled one game yesterday since we planned to go out to eat afterward, and we all like eating more than bowling. My score was 77; I came in last, though not by much. I don't mind losing, especially since it means the others don't end up pouting about being last, but I never purposely try to lose. I like to win, but I don't have much experience at it. I already have my own bowling shoes, and I really believe if I had a custom ball, weighing about 5 pounds and having holes that don't hurt my fingers, I could break 100.

New Year, New Goals

It's been a while since I thought about my blog. I've been busy with Christmas activities and family matters. I hope to post more often than I have in the past, but won't get serious about it until after I get caught up on my paperwork. The beginning of each year is always hectic since I have to organize the year's business records to take to the accountant. This month I am also signing up for a class on Excel, hoping it will make my recordkeeping easier in 2009.

I enjoyed the holidays with my family, but am not sorry the season is over. We had a couple of ice storms and, though they made the scenery gorgeous, we lost power several times and had trouble getting where we wanted to go. The picture is of the road in front of our house, and it was solid ice for several days. Spring is my favorite season, and I'm really looking forward to it this year.

I'm setting some new goals for myself, and one is to finish the novel I've been working on. I completed the first draft, but the middle section desperately needs revising. I changed my mind on the antagonist so many times that some of the scenes no longer make sense. I'm having a great time writing the story, though, so I don't mind working on it. Hopefully it will be completed by June.

It's family time, so I'm off to watch a movie now. I'll be back soon.

Excited About Christmas

Christmas is only three weeks away, and I am making an effort to get into the spirit earlier than usual. We always put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving, so I did that despite misgivings over the "help" of my kittens. Maggie watched from the upper branches and Smokey supervised from below. Tiger couldn't sit still, so he rearranged the branches for me. Kitty is too mature to get involved with decorating the tree, and simply waited for me to finish so she could grab a candy cane. The guy in the picture above this is Tiger. Maggie is below. Apparently the flash bothered her; I couldn't get her to keep her eyes open for a picture. Oh, well, she's still cute.

I've started my shopping already. So far it's been easy since my daughter simply wants money, and my oldest son has given me a short list. My husband found something he wants on Ebay, but didn't bookmark it or save it in the My Ebay section. It shouldn't be hard to find, though, and that just leaves my second son with nothing. He usually comes up with a list at the last minute, so I'm not worried about what to get him yet.

The one I usually have trouble choosing a gift for is my mother. She is 88, and needs nothing. She gets clothes, knickknacks, and candy for every occasion. This time I found something I think she will really like: a digital picture frame. It holds up to 2,000 pictures, and I have about 75 that she will enjoy already on my computer. I'm in the process of sorting through boxes of photos to scan, and hope to fill the whole thing up before Christmas. Of course, I probably won't accomplish much else, but I'm having fun.

I may be too busy looking at photos to update the blog, so I will say "Happy Holidays" now.