Making and Breaking Promises....

I'm wondering if I've a right to be upset with a certain person. She knows about my little one's issues and offered her help, but it's been one postponement after another. Here it is, July 1st, and she's only been over ONCE this summer, to evaluate him. I thought she'd be over once a week (so now she's missed 3) for intensive tutoring.

I can't do this all by myself. I've dragged the child to the library; had him reading game board instructions; historical markers; and every time the words 'I'm bored' come out of his mouth, I shove his library book at him and tell him to read me at least one page.

Last week she emailed and said she'd come on Thurs. Yesterday it was 'I'll be over after my shift'; and a few mins ago, a message 'A co-worker's home caught fire and we're all going over to see what can be salvaged..how about if I come over on Tues?.' I had to restrain myself from sending a snarky comment about commitment to children.

In the end, I just 'sighed' and said I understood about emergencies, and told her about my only appointment next week.

I WANTED a weekly tutoring schedule. What I'm GETTING is a once-a-month 'let's see if your mom's doing as good a job as I can'.

Right now, I only hope my efforts ARE paying off, and that in six weeks he will get the 2nd grade teacher who will work with him, or the school allows him to go to 1st grade for reading until he catches up. Otherwise, I'm in for a rough school year, and having no choice but to hold him back.

And to make things more stressful, my stepdaughter is living in a motel, having lost her home, and her kids are living with us and wreaking havok. Why is it if one member of the family gets something to eat, EVERYONE has to have the same thing, even if they just ate an hour earlier? OMG....cereal in the morning....then if daughter wakes up and fixes ramen noodles, both kids are like, 'I want some too!' Uncle Dad gets out tacquitos and queso dip...'I want some...' I swear, these two could hear a Doritos bag being opened if they were three doors down at the neighbor's house! I miss my hour where I could safely melt a square of chocolate almond bark and enjoy some chocolate-dipped pretzels. If these two end up with us for the next school year, I'll have to wait six more weeks.

But having them here is my choice; they have a stable home life with us; they aren't being constantly dragged around or being yelled at by a grumpy, sleep-deprived parent who insists on 'working things out' with her deadbeat boyfriend 'because I LOVE him'...even though he has 8 kids with three other women....thank GOD she had her tubes tied!....get a clue; your kids are supposed to come FIRST, not a leech whose SSI checks go for child support.

As I ranted to a friend a few weeks ago: This is what's been going on since she moved to the 'big city', where opportunities are better:

She moves in with 'a friend' but suddenly car breaks down/gets sick/kids get sick/gets fired

or laid off from work. Then she's looking for another place to live/new job.

2005: Began working in Indpls, but since day care was too expensive, her kids
came to live with us, with the understanding she would come over, have dinner
with them, and tuck them into bed (she worked 11pm-6am). But gas prices shot
up, so she only arrived Friday mornings...then Fri night....then Sat
morning....Sat afternoon...you get the picture. Sometimes she didn't show up at
all (We lived half hour from her job).

May 2006: She lost that job, and her apartment, but went on a temp job and met
a new friend. Suddenly, the plan is she'll move in with her, and since the
friend will be working days instead of nights, J will watch her kids and vice
versa. This is when I had my meltdown and hoped she'd get her act together.

July 2006: Kids are back in our care b/c things went sour with her new
'friend'. She's met a guy who'll help her out.

Sept 2006: She and new b/f move in together; kids now staying with their dad,
who's out of jail, since MDQ (Miss Drama Queen) has to start kdgn.

2007: She and b/f find new house; take kids from dad permanently.

2008: My hubby stays with them for five months instead of motel room, and she
literally nickels and dimes him to death every week for help with bills/car
expenses/internet hook up/twenty bucks here and there. He tells me he'll never
stay with her again.

2009: She moves in with her mom 'to get her finances straightened out'. Has
medical probs in fall; can't work. Drives my SIL crazy.

2010: Surgery in Feb; supposed to return to work. Nope; complications keep her
from working.

Aug 2010: Ships her kids to aunt's house in Wisconsin. They're back by
Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, she and b/f find house and move in. Her brother gets
her a job.

May 2011: Discovers b/f has been cheating and not paying rent. Meanwhile, kids
are back in my care. She asks if we can keep them until she finds another place
to live. I tell her I'll keep them for summer, and maybe longer.

June 2011: She's staying in motel for a week, then moving in with another
'friend'. Her car's been repo'ed, and she's looking for a better paying job.

I'm fed up with her. My SIL has made noises about taking the kids away from
her; I say the same thing. We have the time and energy to give them a stable
home, since I work at home and hubby's retired. SIL works full time plus
consults, and her new b/f just moved in with HER. We have seven people in a two
bedroom/1 bath house. Mr. Energy sleeps in Will's bed; MDQ on the couch; my youngling
on air mattress with his big brother, who's home from college.

And in the meantime, I discover one of my release dates has been moved up to July 6th! Time for my hubby to step up and help out around here so I can work on my edits and do my JOB! I'm now editing four books, one of which has a deadline of Monday, if I hope to keep that release date. Fortunately, there isn't as many errors as the other three, so this should be a breeze. I'm only seeing one comment where I need to rework it.

Anyway, that's my rant for the month. Sometimes I neglect this space too long.

Grrrrrr...Grow Up, Will You????

I've done it again. Put blind trust into an old friend and now I'm regretting it. When the hell will I EVER learn??

Here's the thing: I hadn't spoken to this person in quite a while, and since her birthday is coming up, I thought I'd check in with her and let her know my cell phone number, so she'd pick up when I called. She was delighted to hear my voice, and was sympathetic when I told what had gone wrong with our home phone and our finances.

Just to inject something here for a moment: My cell is pre-paid. $40 gets me 400 minutes, and when we had the home phone, I could easily stretch those minutes into five or six months. But since my cell is now our primary phone, I'm lucky if I get a month's worth. So I tend to text a lot, or keep phone conversations BRIEF, unless I'm talking to my mom, my BFF, or one of my kids.

So anyway, after a thirty minute conversation with my friend, we said goodbye, with me promising to call her on her b-day.

The next day, my phone rings. And it's her. Now granted, I had a choice to answer or ignore. I answered.....and it was just her, griping because she's sick and can I come down and take care of her?

Whoa...(sound of record scratching). Can I what? I'm an hour away; it's a freaking school night; and you're how old now? Give me a break! If you're sick, call your dad or one of your sisters. Do not run up my minutes over an asinine question like that!

Now granted, maybe she was teasing, and did not expect me to drop everything and go to her. And yes, maybe I should have hit the 'ignore' button, since I was in my writer's meeting. But still, I have issues calling people on their cell phones; I don't like to unless absolutely necessary. So if you're a friend and just want to chat, find me on facebook or send me an email, or a text. If I see this is going to be a long drawn out text-fest, I'll call you.

But please respect my precious minutes and don't call me unless it something important?

Nag Nag Nag...

I've been hosting authors on my blog now for nearly 18 months, and it's been harder than I ever imagined. I thought all I'd have to do is upload a cover or two, and the interview. But no; I have to format the interview around the covers; send out gentle reminders to the authors when they don't respond; remember which promotion manager belongs to which author. And also respond when authors want multiple months, explaining I'm full.

I've also had to deal with loss of traffic to my blog. I don't know if it's my message on the loops, or the fact I've had authors I've never heard of requesting interviews and don't know if they're posting their own promos. I can only do so much.

With that said, I don't think I'll send out any more invitations, other than the authors I DO have relationships with. Cindy's already gotten more comments in the past two hours than some authors have had in two days.

And I just got an email from a promotional manager, wondering why her author wasn't featured today. I can't post something I never got! I told her I had another author on standby for next week if I didn't hear from her other author. Again, there's only so much I can do on my end.

Shampoo Wars

Why must companies always have to 'new and improve' stuff? Can't they keep well enough alone?

For years I used Ivory Shampoo and Conditioner. Then they decided to combine it. I HATED it. And since I was now a young mother with a baby, and had to take fast showers, I switched to Pantene.

Their 2-in-1 for normal hair was awesome! And when I decided to start color-treating my hair or perming it, I switched to the appropriate formula.

And then we decided to join Quixtar. I tried their shampoo and conditioner, and liked it. But four years later, we could not afford to stay in, so it was back to the store brands.

Now Pantene's 'normal' could not be found. But they has 'Classic Clean' as well as the 'Color-treated' kind. When I had my hair highlighted, I used the softer, color-treated. But otherwise, I used Classic Clean.

Until two months ago. Walmart doesn't carry it anymore, and Pantene now has formulas for Frizzy to Smooth; Dry to Moisture; Flat to Volume. WTH??? I checked at CVS: They still carried the Classic Clean. Thank God!

But two weeks ago, we were in a hurry, and I only wanted to make one stop.

I decided to try Flat to Volume.

UGH! It made my hair feel like it had glue in it!

Then I went to my mom's house for three days. She had the 'Smooth' kind. I used it, and it took the gloppy feel out of my hair. Oh happy day!

Coming home, I decided to try my daughter's 'Color Me Happy' from Herbal Essence. I hated the smell, but at least it didn't weigh my hair down. Convinced the hubby to take me back to Walmart, where I picked up a bottle of Frizzy to Smooth. And tried it this morning.

Success:) I like it!

As soon as I can afford it, I'm going to go back to CVS and buy up several bottles of Classic Clean, if they still have it. Otherwise, I'll lay in a supply of the F-S so I won't be caught in this predicament again.

Until they decide to 'improve' the line again....(eye roll!)

Where Did My Idea Go?

Ever get an idea for a good rant, but no time to write?

I put it off until I could rant in peace....but now it's gone. Maybe it will return...

Yada Yada-ing Sex

I was relieved the other day when I attended a chat. For once, the family left me alone, and I could chat in peace with a couple of my friends and potential readers.

And then the owner of the chat loop threw out the question: 'How do you keep sex scenes fresh'?

I thought I was about to take some heat for my answer: I was moving away from the 'in-your-face' scenarios and more into the sensual, 'more-left-to-the-imagination' sort. And thankfully, no one yelled at me.

Am I getting tired of Erotica? I like stories with strong plots. I recently read a book by one of my friends, and the premise had appealed to me ever since I found out about it. But halfway into it, I realized I was skipping over the sex scenes. Oh, I eagerly devoured the first two, don't get me wrong. After all, one girl with four guys? YUM! But as I said, I read the build up to the sex scenes, skipped the actual action, and picked it up after the clean-up. I wanted more of what went on outside the bedroom.

In fact, I did this with one of my own stories. When I initially wrote it, I showed everything that went on once my H/h were alone. But when I reread it last year, I decided to cut out several of the scenes, or at least modify them. Surely sex for the sake of sex wasn't needed; after all, when two people in love tuck the kids in at night, there's bound to be some sort of sexual activity, right? But why have a long, drawn out sex scene when you already know what's going to happen? Now I will hint at it, if they choose to enjoy themselves in front of the fire, instead of moving into the bedroom, or even start in one room, only to move into the other.

I seem to do this at least once a year; tire of reading the sex scenes. Give me plot!

Anyone else agree with me? Or am I just strange?

Eye-Roll Moment

Or was this simply a 'blonde moment'?

Opened up my mail a few minutes ago and saw a question which anyone in the industry should know, especially after a year on the chat loops!

'What is a pitch and what is a promo?'

A PROMO is anything which promotes your work: Excerpt, review, interview, new cover.

A PITCH is your posted synopsis/blurb in order to catch a publisher or editor's eye, in hopes they will offer you a contract for said work.

I'll admit, I've been caught asking dumb questions on loops too....but I didn't ask the right questions ahead of time, and mistakes do happen from time to time. But every freaking month??? Give me a break!

Do your homework people!

(rant over....back to work.)