Because laughter is the best medicine...

Hello blog family. It has been a rough week. For all of us. Most of all Mimi and her family.

It has been hard for me to "think funny" during this week and I know most of you feel the same way. I was chatting with Dawn about my feelings on this...do I keep writing funny, do I take a hiatus, how do I start back in the swing of things while our dear friend Mimi mourns?

Dawn told me (she always has the right thing to say) that awhile back Mimi told her to 'keep the humor coming' so SHE would have a place to escape to when things got to be too much to bear. So, in keeping with that request...

I am back (still sad) but BACK!

Here's what's been going on in my nest.

So, a funny thing happened yesterday...SOMEONE wrote about ME in our LOCAL PAPER! My old editor is now a contributing columnist and he gave me a huge pat on the back. Thanks, Brian! Although I have been writing for quite sometime now, I have NEVER been the subject of an article! I think I actually blushed! Now, to give you the full picture, our town has about 3,000 people in it...although the paper says, "We deliver hometown news to more than 50,000 readers." But, anyway, it was cool! The line for autographs starts to the left of my big, swollen head!

I have also been following the miracles on the Confessions of a CF Husband blog. Amazing story! Another amazing family in need of prayer. Because of this blog I came across a beautiful woman, Amber Nicole Metz, who wrote a book called Breathtaking, she is so amazing...her faith is so strong. I have not yet started her book, but will fill you in as I read her story.

I have won my FIRST blogging award for which I am thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!!! A very special Mommy over at Life with My Special Ks gave it to me! You can peek at it in my side bar. I am passing it on to Dawn because if it wasn't for her, our plight for Julian would not have been so successful...so Dawn, here ya go! Copy/Paste and Pass it on.

I have also been considering doing a video-feed blog every now and then...like Ross Mathews, my funny man from NBC! Although I have done a couple takes and for some reason, I have severe "malformation of the face" when I talk on video. I certainly hope that is NOT what I look like when I talk for real....friends who have seen me in person, please respond to this! Do I look like one side of my face is paralyzed when I talk? Does the left side of my bottom lip try to switch places with the right when I say vowels? What the heck is the deal? I have seen ROSS do a 'Talky Blog' from his bed...on a sick day and he looks GREAT! Oh, creative ones...what will my Talky Blog be called - I can't copy Ross's name. OH - HAPPY BLOGGER-VERSARY TO ME!!!! Jan 22nd was my ONE YEAR! You are all BIG chickens! I put out there about a week ago that I thought it would be fun to do a Spring Cleaning Advice Swap with all of you - my thousands of readers. I thought we could post pictures of your home's trouble spots and then have the creative/organized freaks readers give us some OCD helpful hints to remedy our problems. You know what I got in my inbox? More than one of these... "(sigh) You are not going to believe this, but I just finished organizing my whole house right before I sat down to read your blog today. Seriously, my spices are alphabetized, my toilet paper has been fluffed, windows washed, closets cleaned, nothing is under anyone's beds, the dog has been groomed and I weaned my husband from his addiction the the remote. ALL in the last five minutes before I sat down tha the computer. Would have LOVED to have been a part of this, though!" Ya know what I say? COC (translation: CROCK OF CRAP!) You are all just big chickens! And I say that with a smile...although if I am on camera it would be a strange-looking one! So, I think you are all caught up...so I leave you with a photo of what my week was like and my mantra for you to steal, if you like...

Imgoingtomyhappyplace...Imgoingtomyhappyplace...

Oh, sheesh, I almost forgot!! Today I sent off (with a prayer and a kiss) a completely REVAMPED Macy-Sue manuscript to Marshall Cavendish Children's Books in NYC. I was at the SCBWI conference in September and all the editors there were from publishing houses who do NOT accept unsolicited manuscripts. As an attendee you can send in an unagented manuscript for up to 4 months after the conference and they will consider it.

Here's a snippet:

“Oh dear, this just won’t do,” Macy-Sue looked around her room at the peeling purple wallpaper. “Mommy’s tea party should be fancy, not falling apart.” She picked at the tattered, curling edges. R-r-r-r-ip. She ripped the paper from the walls, strip by strip. She ripped, twirled and giggled as the purple ribbons trailed behind her and tickled her ankles. Her dance sent her foot right through the picture window of her dollhouse and she landed with a THUD.

Mrs. La Rue was distracted by the noise and scolded from her office chair, “Macy-Sue La Rue, find something else to do!”

So she did.