Check this out!

I absolutely love, love, love Sarah McLachlan and Pink. Here they sing one of Sarah’s best known songs.

Enjoy.

Kris

I can’t believe what happened at that Walmart in Long Island Friday morning. May that poor man rest in peace.

People….is it that important to shop that a person has to die? I’m so not proud to be an American right now.

On this day, it’s easy to remember what we Americans are thankful and grateful for in our lives. Here’s my grateful list:

• that my husband and I are both gainfully employed
• that I still love my job
• that we have two healthy and happy children
• that after all the bills are paid each month, we still have money
• for all of my family, friends, and co-workers
• for those people who are no longer in my life either due to death or moving on
• for our dog, Jack, who brings a lot of happiness to our family
• for Christine Witthohn who saw the potential in me as a writer
• for Bonnie Hearn Hill for her wisdom and friendship
• for the authors I work with and their faith in me to help them with their books
• for my childrens’ smiles and laughter
• for the sunny days in the long Michigan winter
• for spring and summer flowers

I think I could continue on and on, but seeing that I need to get ready for the day I’ll stop here.

May you have a peaceful holiday filled with family, friends, joy, and good food.

Peace, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kris

With the economy being as bad as it is, have you noticed that there are a lot of ads about how to cook inexpensively?

If you’re not a mom, or the primary cook in your home, you may not have noticed this. I have, though, over the last few weeks. More ads for grilled cheese and tomato soup. Yahoo! ideas for less expensive meals. Even Kraft emails that emphasize how to cook for your family under a certain dollar amount.

Also, since there’s been such a downturn many food banks are in more need of food since more families are turning to them. Our local Salvation Army predicted that there would be 78 more families this year coming to them for Thanksgiving dinner.

We are all hurting, even if we don’t work in the automotive industry. But for those of us who have the luxuries of heated homes, food on our tables, computers with internet connection, isn’t it more of our duty to help those who are in need, even if we feel we’re in need ourselves?

I’m lucky; my husband has a very good job and I have a very good part-time job. Yes, we have debt like almost all of the other people living in this country. But that doesn’t matter when I read that the Salvation Army needs turkeys so that people in my community can have Thanksgiving dinner. It doesn’t matter when while surfing the net yesterday, I come across this and my son asks me if this was real and if people really did get food.

Anyway, this holiday season please put a dollar (or whatever you can spare) into a Red Kettle or consider donating food to your local food bank. It will make you feel so good to know that you helped in some small way.

Peace,

Kris

I live in an area where the gas prices are always a bit higher than the cities closer to Detroit. I was shocked to see that gas was $1.69 at my local Mobil. I’m sure it’s much cheaper a few cities away. With shrinking gas prices, I can’t but think that even though we’re in a recession, I’ll take it. I mean, c’mon. Who wants to pay $4.19 a gallon for gas? I drive a minivan, so you can imagine how much it costs to fill up that thing.

But recessions are scary, especially if you live in Michigan and your job is involved in the automotive industry. I know too many people who work for one of the Big 3. Luckily, they haven’t been laid off. But many have lost their jobs, and I pray that they find work. What will happen to our country if the automotive industry tanks as well as the financial industry?

Is it time to move to Canada yet?

Kris

This past week has been very cold in Michigan. We’ve had several days with snow flurries, and some of the snow continues to stick to the ground.

This is usually the time when the northern bird fly through out state on their commute south. I enjoy watching these out-of-the-norm birds attack our fruit-bering trees. In years past, these flocks would be at our house for at least a few days. This year, the birds were here for only a day. Guess they couldn’t handle the quickly changing weather.

What also stinks about this early winter is the fact that not all of our fallen leaves were picked up and then spread atop our flower gardens. It’s not good that the leaves are under all of that snow, but what are we going to do? I even have a box of oriental poppies that need to be planted. Mother Nature sure isn’t cooperating this year.

But I can’t help wonder if this early winter is global warming or just changing weather patterns. We had 60 and 70 degree weather earlier this month. Now, our highs are in the 30s. Talk about messed up weather.

Oh well…it could be a lot worse; we could be having fires, floods, or a drought.

Kris

This afternoon is Nelson Publishing & Marketing’s last session in our Fall Children’s Fiction Writing Workshop. I may have to miss it since I’ve got a cold and not much of a voice. Since I speak a lot during the workshop, being sick is not a good thing.

I have to admit, and I’m not surprised at all, that I really enjoyed the workshop. At first, I thought I would be nervous and not have much to add. But that quickly went away after listening to my boss speak.The words rolled out of my mouth quicker than I expected. It was a lot of fun to share what I knew about writing.

The first session, she had her and I stand. I did feel slightly uncomfortable. When I was a trainer, oh so many years ago, I used to pace the floor. I can’t pace the floor at NPM. The second session, and all subsequent sessions, Marian and I joined the group at the table. I think this worked out much better.

Perhaps I’ll feel better this afternoon, but if I still don’t have a voice….not good. I’ll be sad to not be able to say goodbye to the participants, but hopefully they’ll sign up for the Advanced Workshop that we’ll be offering in January. I have to say that it has been wonderful helping these budding authors learn the craft of writing.

NPM will be putting on a Winter Children’s Fiction Writer’s Workshop at NPM as well as at Wayne RESA. We’ll be very busy!

I believe I was just assigned a new author – he’s written a manuscript about how to be a production assistant on video shoots. I did a preliminary review of the manuscript and really enjoyed it. With his book, I’ll have 8 books/authors! It’s all good.

Peace.

~Kris

Yesterday, I felt like I was coming down with a cold so I stayed in bed all day long. I never stay in bed all day long. I always plow through however I’m feeling, and get on with life. Well, I’m tired of doing that, and let’s face it – I’m not getting any younger.I figured it made sense to take care of myself yesterday since there wasn’t anything high on the list that had to be done.

So I spent all day in bed watching movies I haven’t seen in years. It was delightful.

While I was wasting away, snow began to fall. I was oblivious to it since all of the shades had been drawn. HockeyBoy came bounding up, half-way through the day, and said, “Look!” He pulled up the shade, and I watched snowflakes drift downward. “It’s snowing! Can I go out and play?” he asked. “Of course,” was my reply.

He bounded out of the room while leaving the shade still up. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching between the tv and the show outside. The snowfall was beautiful. I wish I’d taken photos while it was coming down, because there’s nothing like it.

Today, the snow is still in the trees and on the lawns. It certainly is pretty to look at, and I sort of wish I didn’t have appointments today. I feel like I could go back upstairs and stay in bed all day. But I’ve got two work meetings, HockeyBoy has an orthodontist appointment, and then we have HB’s parent-teacher conference.

I’ll just make sure to take a bunch of ColdEezz with me and to drink lots of water.

Hope you’re feeling well.

~Peace

Kris

I’ve been informed by my agent that she’s subb’d my manuscript to three editors. Wow. Not sure how long it will take to get any response, but it sure feels good to think that Christine thinks A Life Unraveled is good enough to send out.

Will keep you updated.

Peace,

Kris

Did you see this article? I’d already reverted my family to using stainless steel water bottles – well at least three of us use them. This article is an excellent reminder to get rid of all of those 3, 6, and 7 plastic containers. Looks like I’ll be going through my cabinet today. Again!

Peace,

Kris