Sherry Ellis's Blog, page 49

Bus from the Twilight Zone

This morning, at the crack of dawn,  I took my son up to the bus stop.  Nobody was there.  Usually there are three or four other kids waiting.  My son looked at me.  I looked at him.  And we both shrugged.

Two seconds later, the school bus came barreling around the bend in the road.  It didn't look like it was going to stop.  Which was unusual, because there's always a kid that gets picked up in front of his house about 500 feet before our stop.

The bus came speeding toward us, and only at the last minute stopped, when the driver noticed my son standing there.  Since it was very dark, I couldn't see the driver, but I figured it was the same woman who always sat in that seat.  My son cautiously boarded the bus and stood looking at the driver for a couple of seconds before he continued up the steps.

I wondered what the deal was.  I didn't have a chance to see who the driver was, or ask why Bubba paused on the steps.  But I did see that my son was the only kid on that bus.

Now, I know I have an overactive imagination, because I'm a writer.  But don't you think that was a little weird?  Now I'm worried I'm never going to see my son again, because I'm absolutely certain that bus was from the Twilight Zone!

Nothing in the Head

First of all, I have a big favor to ask of you.  My blog friend, Janie Junebug, has 239 followers.  She would really like 240.  So, if you aren't following Janie, please hop over and follow.  She is a very nice lady, and I'm sure you'll like her.  Plus she's a very good editor!

Okay.  Now for the story:

"Mama?" my ten-year-old son asked.  "Do you know how tall the biggest tsunami is?"

"No, Bubba.  I have no idea."

"1,720 feet."

I nodded.  "That's pretty tall."

"Do you know where it was?"

I shook my head.

"Lituya Bay, Alaska."  He grinned.  "I bet you don't know when it happened, do you?"

"No, Bubba.  I have no idea when it happened."

"July 9, 1958."

"Bubba," I said.  "That's really impressive that you know all these facts.  How do you remember them?"

"It's easy, Mama.  I have nothing else in my head!"
  

Bubba for President

My son's political career has begun.

"Mama," he said when he got off the bus yesterday.  "I have to write a speech."

"Oh yeah?" I asked.  "What for?"

"I'm running for student council."

"I see.  That's terrific!  What are you going to say in your speech?"

He thought about that for a second.  "I'm going to say that everyone needs to eat pie.  And I'm going to give everyone free pie!"

Great.  With a promise like that, I'm sure he'll be elected President.  I'd better get in the kitchen and start baking!

MARTA

I want a t-shirt that says, "I survived MARTA"!

For those of you who don't know what MARTA is, (which is probably just about all of you), it's the Metro Atlanta Rail Transportation Authority.  In short, it's the transportation system of Atlanta, Georgia, that is supposed to make commuting in Atlanta easier.  Yeah.  Right.

Now maybe my problems had to do with the fact that I was going to a One Direction concert that was packed with 70,000 screaming girls.  A large number of those 70,000 screaming girls were on the MARTA train.

Getting on wasn't so bad, since it was the northern-most stop.  But as we got closer to the Georgia Dome, where the concert was held, it became a different story.  The train became packed like a can of sardines.  And that can of sardines did not smell good.  It was like a combination of alcohol, sweat, and stinky socks.  It was hot in there, too.  Did I mention how bad it smelled?

Of course, to make things even worse, a transfer was involved.  We had to get off the first train, and get on a second.  Imagine thousands of sardines trying to get out of one tin can, go up an escalator, and pack into another.  Yep.  It was ridiculous!  The train lurched forward, and all of the sardines slammed into each other.  The only reason everybody remained standing, is that there was no room to fall.

We tumbled out of that thing, grateful to be alive.

(After the concert, which lasted until about midnight, my daughter and I escaped before the whole school of sardines tried to pack into the MARTA, again.  It was a much more civilized ride back to our station of origin.)

So here is the group we went to see:


One Direction (5 Seconds of Summer opened for them.)  My daughter loved them!  I thought they put on a really good show - lots of fireworks and lights.  But was it loud!  I'm glad I had earplugs, or I probably would've had permanent damage!


And now for the winners of my giveaway:

Books go to :  Norbu Wangdi and SA Larson

Gift cards go to:  K. McKendry, Rachel, and Becky

Congratulations!  I'll be contacting you to let you know, and get your mailing addresses.

Party Time and Giveaway

First, thank you once again to everyone who blitzed me over the last few days!  You guys are awesome!  Thanks to all the new followers, too.  Welcome to my pad!

To celebrate reaching over 400 followers, I'm going to have a give-away - three Amazon gift cards and two copies of each of my books.  Just leave a comment below. (If you really, really, really would like a book, please let me know.  Some of you already have my books, so I don't want to give you something you already have.)  I'll  choose the winners on Thursday.

All right.  Now for the story.  It has been a crazy couple of weeks at my place.  I had been preparing for a super ginormous birthday party for my daughter.  It went very well, but now my dog (pictured above) and I are rather exhausted from the whole experience.

Thirty teenage girls swarmed the house, blasting music, singing, screaming, dancing, and making cheer leading pyramids wherever they found space. (I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a pyramid three-people high in my family room.) This insanity went on until 3:00 in the morning.  At that time, my husband and I had had enough, and we sent all living creatures to bed - including the dog, who was having a great time chasing everybody. (In case you're wondering, that is a glow-stick necklace around Schultz's body.  It was a neon-themed party, and everybody was running around  glowing under the light of several black lights.)

Now, I have to back up a little bit, because this party almost didn't happen.  The night before, I looked up at my kitchen ceiling, and notice a few drips of water coming down.

I called my husband.  "Oh @#$%%^&!" he said.  "You've got to be  @#$%^&* kidding me!"

Yep.  It was raining in our kitchen.  This had happened six months ago.  And here we were again.  The night before the big party.  My husband pulled out the drill and made holes in our ceiling.  Water poured out.  I won't tell you what else he said, but I'm sure you can guess.

We did our best to clean things up, and we called a repair man to fix the pipe that busted.  But we still have a substantial hole in our ceiling (along with lots of tiny drill holes).

And do you know what the funny thing is?  Not one girl noticed!   They were all too busy partying!

Follow Fest and Making the Meat Less Dead

First of all, I'd just like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who blitzed me yesterday!  What an awesome surprise.  I never thought I'd be the one getting blitzed!  You guys rock!









Second, I'm squeezing this in on the last possible day, but here is my entry for Melissa Maygrove's Follow Fest: 

Name: Sherry Ellis, aka, The Mama

Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction

What genres do you write? Children's picture books and chapter books. 

Are you published? Yes, two, but soon-to-be three books: 
That Baby Woke Me Up, AGAIN!
That Mama is a Grouch – Pinnacle Book Award Winner, Silver Award in Mom's Choice Awards
Ten Zany Birds - should be available in December 

Do you do anything in addition to writing? I am a professional musician who plays and teaches violin, viola and piano. 

Tell us a little about yourself.  I'm a mom (obviously), I love music (I guess that's kind of obvious, too), and I enjoy travelling and doing adventurous things (Next on my list is sky diving.  I think I've convinced my 65-year-old mom to do it with me!)

What are you reading right now? Notes on Music, Idea and History by Kurt Oppens.  Totally intellectual, I know, but as a musician, I try to learn as much about music as I can.

Which authors influenced you the most? Jane Yolen, Mary Pope Osborne, Rick Riordan:  All childrens/MG authors.

Where can we find you? 
Website:  www.sherryellis.org
Facebook
Twitter



Now for the (very short) story:

Last night, we had steak for dinner.  They were cooked on the barbecue, and came out medium rare, which is how most of us like them.  My daughter, however, has a real problem with blood in her meat.

I watched as she poked her steak numerous times with her fork. It looked like she was killing it.  "What are you doing?" I asked.

She smashed the steak and let the blood ooze out.  "I'm making it less dead!"

Chasing the Girls

My ten-year-old son came home from school with a Band Aid affixed to his chin.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Girl problems," he said.

I raised my eyebrows.  "Already?"

He nodded.  "They were chasing me on the playground.  I got sick of it, so I turned around and started chasing them.  But then something happened.  One girl collided into me, and we both fell down."  He rubbed his chin.  "This is from that."

"I see," I said.  "Girls can be a real pain.  Best to stay away from them. Forever!"




One more thing:  If you want to sign up for the Bucket List Blog Hop on October 20th, you can do so here.

Bucket List Blog Hop Sign Up

At one time or another we have all experienced the loss of a loved one or know someone who has had to go through a life threatening illness. Sometimes that makes us reevaluate our lives and what we want to accomplish before we die. Some people make a bucket list to help them rethink about what is important to them.

What's a bucket list? Simply put, it's a list of things that a person wants to see or do before they die or "kick the bucket". 
To participate, all you have to do is post your bucket list to your blog on Monday, October 20, 2014. If you want to add the picture to your blog post or sidebar, just copy and paste.
This blog hop is being co-hosted by Sherry Ellis at Mama Diaries and Susanne Drazic at Putting Words Down on Paper.




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Underrated Treasures Blogfest

It's time for the Underrated Treasures Blogfest hosted by Alex Cavanaugh.   Participants are supposed to name movies, TV shows, music, musicians, or books that not a lot of people know about, but should, because they're so awesome.

For my selection, I've chosen the Tejano singer, Selena Quintanilla Perez, whose life was tragically cut short.  She was murdered by her fan club president on March 31, 1995.  I don't remember how old she was, but she was still in her twenties.

I first heard her sing when I was in my early twenties.  She was singing a crossover song, Dreaming of You, and I thought, "Wow!  What a beautiful voice!"   I have always loved Latino music, so I decided to purchase some of her CDs.  (Plus I had a boyfriend from Mexico at the time, and I figured it would be a good way to learn Spanish so I could communicate with the Madre and Padre!)

From what I've read and heard about Selena, she was also a very warm, kind person.  I'd love to have met her.

Here are some music videos, so you can hear and see this talented, beautiful woman.

                                                             Amor Prohibido

                                                           Bidi Bidi Bom Bom


                                                         I Could Fall in Love

Finger Turniquette

Yesterday, I saved a finger.  My son's finger.  Let me tell you about it.

When the boy stepped off the school bus, the first thing I noticed was that his pinky finger was an odd shade of purple. (Yes, I notice little things like pinky fingers.)  "Dude," I said.  "What's up with your finger?"

He glanced down at it.  "My friend hurt my finger and I had to put a Band aid on it."

"Let me look at that," I said.  I stooped down and inspected the finger.  That Band aid was on there so tight, it was cutting off his circulation. "Your finger is purple.  We need to get this thing off right away!"

He tried to get it off, but couldn't.  So I did.  Let me just say, it was quite an effort!  After it was removed, the blood rushed into the area, turning his finger bright red.

"It burns!" he said.

"Just for a minute, until everything equalizes."

A few seconds later, everything was back to normal.  "Oh," he said.  "That's better.  I was wondering why my finger was so cold!"

Oy!


Before I go, I'd like to let you know that as a follow-up to my radio interview on Solving the Hunger Problem, I created a Facebook group page, called Solving the Hunger Problem.  It's dedicated to sharing information, solutions and ideas that may help alleviate hunger. If you are on Facebook, I invite you (and your friends) to join and share ideas you may have.  You can find it here.