Yes, that is what it is called right now. I have been working on a two stories since November, and one of them I think is going to be publishable. The other, mmmm, needs work in the storyline before I can deem it worthy of a try, I am trying to find things to add, hoping to make it interesting.

So back to the "The Book," I am toying with titles, but I have not been worried about it because, it's not finished, and I think editing takes a lot more time than figuring out a name...sorry, I know blah blah blah....get to the point.

I am on my second draft, which I started on April 14. I have gone through about 5 chapters (almost 17000 pages) of revision, cutting about 3000 words or so, most of it was handwritten and I haven't counted it. It is amazing how much the story changed from start to end. I hadn't looked at the beginning of the book until I made it to the end of the first draft, with exception of having to flip back to make sure what I was typing concurred with what I wrote before, you know like dates or time of day, when it is mentioned again later.

Reading through the words, were like reading through my old poetry from my teenage years. Though instead of the emotion of where I was, I just remember where I was, for the most part when I wrote it....that doesn't make sense...let me try again, what I mean is, I remember where I thought the story was going when I reread it, and realize how differently the story changed after that.

You know like at the beginning of the story Dorothy was going to be lost in the world with no one to help her find her way home, then I decided I would build a yellow brick road for her to follow. Just an example, though I think it only made things more confusing.

Anyway, this has been an amazing experience completing a story and actually have the will to go back and finish it, I will share my thoughts as they come, and hopefully when I become published, I can be an inspiration, and help other fellow authors, trying to share their voice.

Wish me luck!!!!!

The other day, Tuesday actually, I was driving along in my car, taking my eldest to do some school testing. We are a home schooling family, so I have to take the kiddos to do their state testing. It was a rainy day here in So Cal, but it was merely a spring drizzle. I have warned my husband tons of time to be careful when it rains like that because the roads can be slick, and he has a bit if a lead foot.

As I am cruising along a mountain range, on a two lane road, my car decided to drift on it's own accord, and suddenly I was looking through my windshield at the car I had seen behind me only seconds before. My five year old, said "that was fun, do it again, Mommy!" My 8 year old said "are you ok?" and the littlest said nothing. I said "we just started to drift into the other lane, and Mommy had to turn around to get out of the way."

My eldest seemed a little unsure, but excepted my explanation once I got back into the car, after checking to see if I had a flat or something. I was just as confused as they were as to what happened. I checked the road behind me to see if I hit a water puddle, because the drifting reminded of hydroplaning, but there was no puddle. Though my husband assumes I was speeding, you know because of his lead foot and all, but I assure you I wasn't. I was the last in a long line of about 10-15 vehicles, patiently driving behind a slow truck.

I must have hit a slick patch of oil, you know one of the ones I always remind my hubby about, because I did not see any water puddles when I got out of the car. I was a little shaken up, but I was fine the rest of the way. I am just lucky that the guy that was speeding up behind me, wasn't any closer, or is HE lucky I was the one that slipped, because he was going much faster than I. Makes you think.

Following the clean up to my daughters little mishap with the toilet, I discovered a leak coming from under it. My husband and I were talking in the hallway when I noticed some new water flowing under the open door. After mopping it up, I told my husband that there was a leak. Of course he didn't believe me, wondering why there would be a leak when the toilet only overflowed.

I was insistent, and he agreed to pull the toilet out, and replace the ring that seals it. We had an extra toilet sitting in the back (who doesn’t right?) waiting to be changed in anyway. So I figured "Yay! I finally get to use our new toilet!" It could be worse, couldn't it?

Yes it could...

After removing the toilet, my husband called me during dance class to inform me that the whole floor needed to be pulled up. *Shock* Not the news you want to hear while sitting in the car waiting for your daughter's dance class (Ha! and you thought I was the dancer, admit it) to end...at 8:00pm. We only have the one bathroom, so of course this meant we had to figure out where we were going to stay. I also had to get all our stuff together quick enough to be asleep at a decent hour, which is a hard task since dance class is 30 minutes away from the house.

After arriving home we called my in-laws, because hubby was too distracted with the demo of our bathroom to do it sooner, and asked if we could stay in their guest house. THANKFULLY the answer was "yes." So here we are living at my in-laws, in a very nice trailer, reminiscing about how nice and big our two bed, one bath house really is.

My husband has been skillfully and diligently, ripping the entire bathroom to pieces. Finding more and more water damage along the way. And yes there is mold, not too bad though, I have heard of worse. Odd thing is, I have been telling my husband that there HAD to be mold somewhere in the house, because the girls and I have been sick a lot this past year. It has seemed like we were catching every bug that was out there. I'm sure he is hearing "I told you so" ringing in his ears, though my lips aren't moving...much...I only said it once, I promise, and I started it with "I knew there..."

The good news in all this, I get an new bathroom. Yay!
 

So, I wanted to start off with something interesting, informative, and about me. Well the other day something presented itself to me, and here it goes.

While I was in the middle of cooking dinner my 5 year old burst into the kitchen jumping up and down so fast that she was trembling, all the while screaming, "Mommy! Mommy! I need you! I need you!" Over and over again. Her eyes were so big I thought they would burst from her head. She was so terrified and hysterical I couldn't imagine what was wrong. I asked what she needed, but all she could repeat was that it was me she needed.

I was aware that my other two daughters were playing in the living room, so I was only worried that it could be them for about half a second. Aside from the terror on her face and the pitch of her voice, I could see that she was not hurt. As we rushed out of the kitchen I asked her where she needed me, and she finally uttered the word "bathroom."

I had a moment of relief when I realized she must have seen a spider. A chill ran down my back as I thought about the possibility of a black widow. I hesitated a second, thinking maybe I should enlist Dad's help. That is when I saw it....the water flowing under the door.

The poor thing had clogged the toilet, then flushed it too many times (four to be exact), hoping to correct the problem. The water was everywhere. Later she told me the story of how she watched as the water spilled out, along with her…mess and paper, and flushed again wishing it would stop.

That is when my final realization that I forgot to pass on a little wisdom that actually would have been useful to my second born. So I urge you ladies and fellows, inform your kiddos (young and old) the secrets of the toilet. If one flush doesn't work go get the nearest adult for help...before it's too late.