What’s That?

Posted on October 13, 2017 by Linda Andrews

Yesterday, the hubbinator and i went out to pick up gyros for dinner. When we returned, there was this sparkly thing lying near our garbage can.

I asked him if he’d broken a mirror.

He looked at me blankly.

Thinking that one of our children might have done so without telling us, I walked over.

And what did I discover?

A puddle of water. Soaked pavers. And squishy ground.

The main line coming into the house is having issues, so we’ll be spending our weekend moving rock, digging, and praying we don’t have to bust up concrete to get to the rest of the water line at the main under the RV pad.

Fun times again.

Here’s hoping you have more exciting things on your weekend schedule.

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Don’t Sit So Close to a Writer

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I had to have a long talk with the hubbinator on Friday. I went to lunch with a bunch of other writers. When asked what I was writing, I happened to mention how angry I was and how I was looking for ways to destroy the world. 

Great exercise for a writer.

As I expanded at length of the marvels of anthrax, I realized not everyone would appreciate the fact that I was a writer and talking fiction. Past fiction, actually. I’d already used anthrax in the Redaction series.

Been there; done that.

I have new ways to destroy the world in the works (provided I get the butt in the chair and write instead of playing games or watching Netflix).

But, there may have been a few concerned folks who reported the crazy lady at the restaurant, traced me via my credit card receipt, and knocked on my door. Hence the talk with hubbinator.

He just shook his head.

Life is fun until the cops show up:D

Rest assured, I may be mad. I may be a scientist, but I have no plans to bring on the apocalypse outside of a book. Pinky swear.

Until next time.

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Consulting an Expert

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I am a knowledge junkie. At least that’s what I tell myself when I buy that new book when I have hundreds waiting to be read. So, it is nice when a site feeds my addiction without tapping into my wallet. Enter Ted.com.

It’s hardly a new site and this isn’t the first time I mentioned it on my blog. I try to listen to 2 talks a day on subjects that aren’t in my scientific arena.

Recently, one talk in particular caught my attention. It talked about how children born into poverty will likely stay that way and yet, with major help from the parents 50% can rise above their circumstances.

The reason it resonated so loudly with me is because a friend and I often talk about the subject. She has 3 adopted children which she took in while two of them were over 9. Of those 2—1 is in prison, and 1 just got out of jail. The third is struggling to achieve any sense of what most middle class folks would call normalcy.

At what point does nature trump nurture? At what point does nurture no longer matter?

For those people who think folks should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something of themselves (like me), that doesn’t seem possible. Still, there were threads of hope in the talk. If only because, should we as a society chose to invest our money in people, every generation the number of children in poverty could be reduced significantly.

Here’s the talk. Tell me what you think after you’ve watched it.

 

Until next time.

 

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No Pumpkin Spice For You

Posted on October 4, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I went to a meeting today at a local restaurant. Being that it is fall, I was in the mood for something pumpkiny. Anything pumpkiny. So after ordering my salad and bread, I saw it.

A Pumpkin cookie.

Shaped like a pumpkin. Colored like a pumpkin. I could practically taste the pumpkin.

So I ordered it.

I was allowed to take the cookie with me to the table. And like I was trained by my mother, I waited for my soup and bread to eat first.

No, I didn’t eat the cookie. I may have petted it through the paper sleeve, just to make sure it didn’t get lost on its way to my belly.

Finally, I finished my soup and bread then broke a piece off the cookie. And bite into it.

I was robbed!

I expected Pumpkin spice and got sugar cookie. Ordinarily, I love sugar cookies. But I wanted pumpkin! Now, I’ll be buying pumpkin snaps from Sprouts but I have to wait until the weekend.

Well, I won’t be doing that again.

Until next time.

 

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It Ain’t Over

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Linda Andrews

SmashwordsUntil I say. Well, my book series aren’t over until I write ‘the end.’

Which is why I found it odd that I’ve received 2 emails in the last weeks that asked why I ended the Hadean series with so many loose threads.

Um, the series isn’t over. Not by a long shot. There will be 3 or 4 more books before we bid Drew, Dogooder, Ellen and the gang farewell.

But I have research to do before I begin the next book. Lots of research. I remain hopeful I will find my will to write before the end of this year, so I can have Hadean 4 out next summer.

In the meantime, I’m taking longer to write a book then I did when I first started writing. Not cool.

But, I just wanted to reassure everyone, there are more stories coming. The death toll will mount. Solutions will be given. And debts will come due.

So subscribe to my newsletter or follow my author page on amazon to stay tuned for the next adventure. After I finish this book that’s way overdue to my publisher, I think I’m gonna go on a killing spree. Only in pages, though. It will be a new series, because I need a distraction. It’s hard to torture characters you love.

Until next time.

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Well, That Didn’t Go as Planned, Part 2 (tales of a haircut)

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Linda Andrews

To add to the weekend fun, I decided to cut the hubbinator’s hair this weekend. No, that isn’t the horror in the story. I’ve cut his hair. Just don’t look at the back. He moved as I was shaving his neck. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xTfBZSz4c98 

Either way, he’s happy that I cut his hair. He has low standards and simple tastes, and I have a 70 year old electric razor. 

Or I did.

Halfway through cutting his hair, the razor died. Kaput. Nothing. 

We tried to find our son’s groomer but didn’t, although we did text him to ask where it was. And heard nothing. Finally, we went on line to see what razors for hair cutting were available. Sadly, Walmart had the best options and, we kept to the same brand, because… 70 years. We’ll give it to our children when we die. Gotta leave them something:D.

Of course, once it became clear that Walmart was the place to go, the hubbinator flatly refused to go. Okay, he did offer to drive but only if he could wait in the car. He wasn’t going to be part of the shoppers of Walmart meme for his freakish hair cut.

I went alone. Found the brand and one with a strong enough motor to cut hair not just trim beards, mustaches, and nose hair (ew). And since I was there, I made a side trip to the chips aisle to buy the hot version my daughter loves then went to try my odds with the 3 check out lanes open. I picked the one closest to the door, with the requirements of less than three handfuls of items, and was promptly serenaded by the man behind me by a unique rendition of 20000 bottles of beer on the wall and another Walmart employee fired.

There’s a story there. But I don’t want to know it.

Until next time!

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Well That Didn’t Go As Planned

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Linda Andrews

I had plans for the weekend. Big plans. Alas, things didn’t happen as I planned.

My big goal for the weekend was to find, strip, and repaint the closet doors to my daughter’s old bedroom. Well, I found the doors. Unfortunately because they were stored outside, the wood started separating. I considered scraping the doors, then I priced them out. 56 dollars each panel. I’d need two. Yikes.

Instead, there was an investment in gorilla glue and some time in the garage finding the clamps. We have about half the panels glued back down. Once one door is glued back, we’ll sand instead of strip the old paint off (this is necessary because the previous paint job is peeling). Then repaint the doors and hang them.

Which leads to part two of the closet door adventure. I have to find the track that goes on top and then the pivot hinges for the bottom. That involves a day in the garage. Or more. Heck, I think this is fate’s way of telling me to clean the garage. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t take long to find the parts.

Funny, how the universe laughs at the plans mere mortals make.

Until next time.

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Three Belles

Posted on September 20, 2017 by Linda Andrews

There’s nothing like being sick to help  you catch up on your movie watching. I had planned on extending my Halloween viewing time into September and I still will, but being home alone and not really feeling like doing anything that involved moving, I decided it would be a good time for a Beauty and the Beast marathon.

It started with the French version that was dubbed in English. Very different as Belle had 3 brothers and 2 sisters. The prince was cursed for shooting a deer (spoiler alert) who also happened to be his wife and the daughter of the woodland god. It was an interesting take on it, and being that it was French, I wasn’t certain if it would end well or not. It did, thankfully.

The second version was the latest Disney release with Emma Watson as Belle. Aside from the bad singing, I enjoyed la Fou (who wasn’t as horrible as he was in the animated version). Kevin Kline was great as the dad, and I did enjoy this new version of Belle and the shallowness of Gaston. But, I truly have to say my favorite part was when the beast showed her his library and said he’d read most of the books, except the ones in Greek.

And then there’s the animated Disney version from 1991. This remains by far my favorite version. Sadly, I did keep comparing the others to it. The French version fared better because it was radically different story. The 2017 version wasn’t as favored as it kept close to the 1991 storyline and I knew that one by heart and missed some of my favorite lines.

It’s funny how some things become a yardstick to measure the next versions.

Until next time!

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They’re Up!

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Linda Andrews

This weekend while taking the dog for his morning walk, the temperature dropped down to a brisk 78 degrees F. Yes! It was time to turn off the ACs and turn on the house fan. Then we could open windows and air out the house until 10 AM when the mercury was approaching 90.

And all the while I was happy dancing, because you know what that means.

It’s time to decorate for Halloween.

Yes, I said it. Halloween. To be frank, my son and I set up the miniature houses two weekends ago.

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But this weekend, we set up the rest of the decorations and I realized I need some ghosts and bats, with maybe a few witches, too. (We already have 3 black cats, so none of those)

And then we hung the lights outside. They are a mix of candy corn lights and purple and orange lights. (Yes, my front door is Tardis blue).

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Until next time!

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What’s Old is New Again

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Linda Andrews

We have a channel that plays old black and white mysteries on Sunday morning. More specifically, they play vintage Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies. And while I didn’t grow up when these shows were shown in theaters, these two characters when my first introduction to mysteries and remain my favorite two actors in these roles. (although hat tip to Martin Freeman who made Watson into something other than a bumbling fool).

As they also play movies from the golden age of Hollywood, I wondered if perhaps I should explore another form of entertainment from that by-gone era: Radio shows.

Now, I don’t know much about any particular show, but I’ve decided I wanted to start with mystery series and have been looking at shows on CDs (they don’t seem to come in digital downloads). A variety pack seems the best place to start, but I’m open to suggestions.

If anyone has a favorite, please drop me a line and let me know.

Until next time!

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