It was a glorious week...filled with rain and cool temps for the month of July. I see a lower electric bill and also my beautiful summertime plants are very happy. Also, the weather forced me to concentrate on my writing which I did plenty.

Also, I read about three books and I am now very good about doing reviews. I try to find the good in things. I might not like a book, but that doesn't make the author bad. So, one of the books I read this week, I thought was really good. Romance, lots of angst between the hero and heroine, so I went to Amazon to write my review, I checked the other reviews only to see that they had only given this author one star...really? Did we read the same book? I thought it was really good.

Then I thought about movie reviews and such. One of the movies I want to see was rated as a D minus. Is that going to change my mind about going to see it? I'd like to make my own decision, thank you.

Then, I read the review about Beyoncé's Dallas concert where the reviewer just totally trashed her. Did he have to?

Then, I admit, I am addicted to TMZ as being my one hour of down time. This Friday's episode dealt with people's reaction to Harvey and Charles. I can't believe the hateful things people wrote about to them about them.

I guess I belong to a lost generation who tries to find the good in life. I think it's called, Pollyana.

It's raining! Yahoo! I can't tell you when the last time we had rain. The good thing is, this system will hang around for a couple of days. We are down over five inches for the year.

The news this morning has been relentless; Zimmerman acquitted, riots going on all over, Glee star found dead in Vancouver. I think I might go back to bed!

I am still dog sitting for my neighbor. Cute dog, but as usual, the dog isn't eating very well. Out of the three days I've been seeing her, she has had one bowl of dog food and maybe three carrot sticks? I know my dog didn't eat well when he was in the kennel, so I think it's their way of grieving of being left home alone. She hides in her kennel even though I've turned on the television to watch a show hoping she would come out. She will come out to look at me and then runs back to her kennel and looks so sad. I'm a sucker when it comes to animals.

I am getting close to finishing the draft of my book in progress. I am so excited! I actually got the idea of how to end it in the middle of the night. Two am, to be precise! I ran upstairs to my office and wrote for a good two hours until I started getting sleepy, but that's probably the best time to write. Of course my family thinks I've gone off the deep end. You know? They could be right!

Sunday, July 7

As I blogged last week, my office was in the process of being painted. It is finally done. Painted that is. My husband took a morning of golf today and it was well deserved. When he gets back, he will hang pictures, put my bookcases back and then I finally will have an office in working form. What has been most detrimental is I haven't been able to write since this started. While unpacking my bookcases, I stumbled upon an unused diary for writers that my sister in law had given me back in 2002 when I wrote my first book. Using that, I have been able to jot down ideas and thoughts that I would normally type on my laptop.

You ask, why can't you hang the pictures yourself? Well, you haven't met my husband. I have not mastered his skill of measuring the wall with a ruler and marking the center of the wall with a pencil mark. The pictures themselves are then measured and then marked exactly where they are to put on the wall. After the pictures have been hung, a level is used to make sure the pictures are hung correctly. God forbid the wall is crooked which we have found a lot of times is the case!

Well anyway, I'm back in business!

I have been working really hard on my next book, Flag on the Play. I have struggled to come up with the ending. I think I have it and then when I read it the next day, I don't like it. Since it is about the NFL, which I love, I really don't know as much as I think I do. I've bounced around ideas with my husband who I thought is a walking sports encyclopedia and he looks at me like I've lost my mind when I ask him some questions. His response after the first couple of questions is to look it up online. Thanks a lot!

The thing is, I'm close to finishing it. Then comes the rewriting making sure that it comes across the way I wanted it to. After that, my daughter armed with her infamous red pen, will read it. We have learned not to be mad at each other after this step. The first book, we didn't talk for days. The second book, we got to only being mad at each other for a day.

Then, I'll let my friends look at and see what they have to say. After that, I will submit it! I hope my editor will like it!

But it's an upcoming holiday and I'll be busy trying to find time to write. The reason why? My husband took Wednesday off and we're going to repaint my Woman Cave. It's the smallest room in the house but it still means that I have to move all my treasured books, four bookcases of them, my desk, printer, chairs and various plants out, so that we can paint.

My husband is a very careful painter. What would normally take a painter one day to finish, my husband can take up to four days to paint. Of course, I've been fired as his helper. I do not have his patience and paint on the wall looks good to me. Not so! First day, is taping. Second day, is doing the trim work and then the first coat on the walls. Third day is taking a naked light bulb and looking for streaks and the second coat of paint. Nope! One coat of paint is not good enough! Fourth day, I can move everything back in. This takes us to Saturday where we've been invited to a pool party at our friend's house. Hopefully, we will be talking to each other by the time we arrive. Sunday will definitely be a day of rest. Oh no, wait. It will be time to mow the lawn again. Silly me!

It's funny how the little things can cause arguments. This week's argument in our marriage has been lawn mowing

When we were first married and bought our first house, my in laws surprised us with a push lawn mower. I have to tell you back then, I only weighed ninety six pounds. This mower weighed more than that, so mowing the lawn became my husband's job.

You have to understand that he is obsessed with the lawn. It has to be perfect. His grandmother and mother would actually cut the lawn with scissors between mows. Yup. They would get on their hands and knees to get those little stinkers of grass blades that seemed to pop up over night and make the lawn appear unruly.

When we moved to PA, we had an acre of land on a mountain. That mower didn't cut it. What happened is that my husband's new job took him all over the country and the chore became up to me. I really did try with that cumbersome mower but I almost landed up in the ER. Thank goodness, we lived next door to a retired doctor who treated me on the scene and saved me a ton of money.

With that scare, we did go out and buy a riding mower. I LOVED it! I still am a tomboy at heart. We actually had fights about who was going to mow.

With the move to Dallas, we sold the tractor before we moved because according to my husband, we would not find a yard as big as we had in the places he had been looking at. Wrong! We bought one half acre. We have no storage shed, so my husband bought a self propelled push mower. I don't know about your house, but in ours, once you do something, it's your responsibility.

I hate mowing in this heat. I have to be careful not to dehydrate and faint. It's summer in Texas and hot! When we got home from our five day trip, my husband decided the lawn looked like a jungle. I was supposed to mow first thing Monday, but it rained. Then the heat index shot up to 100 degrees. No way.  Come Tuesday, it rained again all day. So Wednesday was the day. Armed with my sweatband, camel pack for water, frog towel, I started to mow with the intent of doing it twice. First round at a high setting and the second round at a lower setting. I barely made it through the first round. Second round wasn't happening. I thought I was going to die.

I jumped into our pool to cool off, only to find a dead snake in our pool. I don't do snakes...dead or alive. I jumped out of there so fast, I think I set a record.

My husband tried to understand but as each day passed and the lawn didn't get it's second mow. He finally broke down today and is mowing. He's not real pleased with me but I'll reassure him that I did save us money for me not landing up in the ER due to a heat stroke!

What a whirlwind! Just got back from a five day trip to our old stomping ground of Reading, PA. Run into a lot of old friends and neighbors. Had a wonderful time but as usual, didn't get to see everyone we wanted to.

Hopefully, I sold more of my books.  I ran into people who hadn't realized I had two books out there, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Did a lot of clothes shopping while out there. There's no sales tax on clothes, food or medicine. Here in the Dallas area we pay 9.25%. We bought a suitcase out there, so I was able to fill the empty one up with lots of goodies!

So now it's back to reality and dealing with life. But the most important thing is to get back to my writing. People laugh at me when I am out and about because I always jot down ideas with pen and paper. You never know, right?

My pet peeve is people giving you advice with out asking. I'm the type of person who tries not to judge people too quickly because I don't know all of their circumstances.

My husband loves to play golf. I know that and I have accepted it. While he golfs, I'm either reading or writing. I don't have to be with him every minute for me to be happy. I can't tell you how many women have commented on it. I should in turn go out on a spending spree, etc. Really?

There are only three of us in our family aside from cousins, aunts and uncles and sisters. They are all over, mostly in Illinois, Arizona and Canada. Not Dallas. We three are close and usually do things together. Our daughter moved down here to be with us in Dallas when she graduated from college with a masters degree in Communications. She just now found a job and is trying to save money to move to her own apartment. She lives with us while trying to achieve this goal. I can't tell you how many people have commented on the fact that she still lives with us. Big deal. She's a good person who is trying to get her life started in today's tough economy. So what if she's not married? She is in no hurry.

So the people giving me the advice on my life are either divorced or single. The people giving me advice on my daughter have adult children who are not role models; divorced, spent time in jail or their adult children have totally messed up their lives. I don't think I'm going to take the advice. I know what makes my world happy and I'm sticking to my guns!