M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 95

Interesting Stuff Found at my MIL's

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
We spent a lot of time cleaning at my MIL's this weekend. Yes, I know, we should have sold the house already, but, well, the dh is not one to take action, so of course it falls to me.
We found:
3 boxes of pecans under the bed
a Future Map of the USA, apparently as a result of global warming, where CA is islands and Austin is ocean-front property. It's dated to have happened by 2001. Um. Still, I'm using this for my post-apocalyptic novel.
A paraphrased Bible...

Goals for the First Week of March

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Usually by now the Texas Mountain Laurels are covered with flowers. This winter has been long and cold, so everything is a bit delayed. I want to get out and work in my yard, but I've been swamped with edits and the MIL's house.

This week:

1) Survive TAKS testing Wednesday—hours of doing nothing but monitoring.

2) Second round of revisions on road trip—came in 5000 words short!

3) New short story—to halfway point.

4) Merritt entry

5) ...

Outstanding Workshop

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I was listening to the best workshop today, and it was one interrupted by the fire drill at National! It was Sherry Thomas's workshop on creating chemistry for your readers.
First, I have to say I love Sherry. She's a member of Austin RWA (and has no idea who I am) but she went to the Merritt conference for years and years before she finally broke though with PRIVATE ARRANGEMENTS. I'm just so proud of her.
Her delivery was clever and smart in this workshop...

Movies I'm Looking Forward To

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I'm thinking of upping my Netflix from 1 DVD to 2 because March is DVD release heaven.
2012 is out next week. We never saw it in the theater, so I'm anxious to see it.
March 9Up in the AirPreciousTime Traveler's Wife
March 16Princess and the FrogDid You Hear About the Morgans? (I know, but Hugh Grant!)
New Moon comes out the 20th, which is Friday and unusual for DVD release. I'm not a Twilight fan but I do want to see what the fuss is about.
Where the Wild...

Snow and Movies

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Yesterday Robyn Dehart blogged about five movies she really thought were terrible. (One was Watchmen, which I quite liked.) My list is very different. And I couldn't confine it to five.
I HATED Land of the Lost. I loved the show as a kid, but the Will Farrell remake was atrocious. Didn't make it through half an hour.
Another one I found pretty ridiculous was Mad Money. I turned it off and sent it back.
The Haunting of Molly Hartley. Trust me. Awful, awful...

School

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Yesterday one of my 4th grade students was cutting herself with a thumbtack because her mother and mother's boyfriend were fighting and the boyfriend hit the mother in front of the girl. This mother has been in and out of jail, so grandmother has custody, but mom had the girl for the weekend. What I want to know is why she even thought about cutting herself. Where would a nine year old get that idea?
My Problem Child cracked me up yesterday. He'd watched...

Ice Skating

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

When I was young I was fascinated with ice skating. I don't even know where I would have seen it, other than the ABC Wide World of Sports. Or maybe it was the Robby Benson movie, Ice Castles. I had a mad crush on Robby Benson when I was nine.

There was another movie around the same time, made for TV, called Champions: A Love Story, starring Jimmy McNichol. I think it had the same basic plot as Cutting Edge (which I didn't like—she was MEAN...

Goals for Last Week of February

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Poor February. I really don't mind it. This year it just happens to be at the end of an abnormally cold winter and I'm ready for spring. My poor poor plants. I need to replenish, because I think only 5 survived. Remember that I had something like 19 different hibiscus? Only one survived, it seems. :::SOB::::

This week:

1) Urge the dh to call for an appt to do our taxes (I gathered the paperwork, this is the least he can do.)

2) I seem ...

Robin Perini's Time Management Workshop

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
I'm listening to Robin Perini's workshop on time management and a couple of things jumped out at me.
First, studies show that no matter how we say we put our families first, husbands and wives talk on the average of 28 minutes A WEEK!! I told my dh we have that beat already because we go to breakfast together every Sunday. But I can so see how that would happen. I write in the evenings, the dh plays guitar. There's TV and the Internet, and the dh doesn't get...

Thank GOD It's Friday

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
One set of edits is done, one entry is done. I've not touched the road trip book in days. I got TWO rejections this week and my tutoring check didn't come in (don't know why.) I only need to worry about my language arts grades, which is good because I have THREE meetings during conferences next week and one after school.
Last night I had a fever and this AM my temp was 94.4! Yep, corpse Mary, that's me.
Only 10 out of 18 kids present turned in their book...