I Am MOM!

Man! We have been soooo crazy busy. Hardly have time to sit down these days. This will be brief, cuz I gotta go to a PTA meeting. Between Tom and I writing, Izzy writing, the boys running, izzy's soccer, PTA board duties, ROAR writer duties, dogs, foster dogs, helping Tom train for the triathlons, etc. I barely remember who I am. Oh ya, I'm MOM! I even get that at school. "Hey, you're Izzy Davids' mom!". That word...mom... it's almost profane sometimes.

Speaking of Tom's triathlon, he did great this past Sunday. It was an olympic style triathlon, so it was much more grueling than his last one. But, he still beat all his friends, and they performed as relays-Tom did it all himself! That's my man!!!

My writer's conference on Sunday was, to say the least, phenomenal. The absolute best one yet! I met several awesome editors and publishers. Two are interested in seeing my manuscripts. One wants a marketing plan included, so I'm going to be working on that when I get time.

Rem had great news on two fronts. First of all he was selected to be a Student Mentor for the Freshmen, and secondly, his design for a new Viking's logo won first place in a school wide contest, so all the new Viking wear will feature his design! How cool is that?!

Izzy's got a few writer's workshops coming up in Ann Arbor soon. What's so cool, is the kids' workshops are free (that's why I had to pay for mine...gotta offset the freebies!). She has one in October, and two in November.

My Reflections Workshops will start next Monday, so I've got to get myself ready for that. Hopefully we will have a good Reflections turnout. Historically, our school has done a totally awful job of organizing this event. The only time we ever did much with it was the two years that I was on the board. We'll see. The class I subbed for today (5th graders), were all talking about it, and trying to decide what type of project they wanted to enter and such. Sounds positive anyway.

Rem hurt his leg in a fall (home based injury-thanks to Chums and Lums), and he can't walk without limping so I took him for an X-ray Saturday. Doc said there was a ton of swollen tissue going on around the bone. Told him to limit his walking, eliminate the running. So he's off this week. Hopefully he'll be able to run in the meet this Saturday.

I've been asked by teachers to sub all week this week at Webster, and two teachers want to book me for long term subbing (one while on maternity, another while a teacher has a surgery requiring 3 week recuperation time. Sounds good to me!

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Princess

As usual, we are with another foster dog. This is one we rescued ourselves. No tags or collar. She was just wandering around the middle of Ford Street without a care in the world. And never mind the traffic. Surely it is canine senile dementia. Such a pitiful little thing. She only weighs 7 pounds, and about 1/2 of that is fur! And she's as old as the day is long. At least 12 years old (judging by her teeth and breath...ya, it's that bad). But she is soooo lovable and devoted. After just one day at our house, she owns me. And for all her tininess, she's not one bit afraid of Chums and Lums. In fact, she tells them what to do..and where to go (or not go). Like in their own beds for example, because they are hers now of course. Hence her name--Princess.

The boys have been doing good at their Cross Country meets. Logan's time on Saturday was 23 min. 33 sec. Rem was 21 min. 50 seconds. Its a tough course too. Lots of narrow winding paths through the woods with vines and roots everywhere. It was a great day though. The weather was perfect.

Unfortunately, Logan was home sick today so won't be at their meet today. He has a stomach flu or something. Low fever, bad stomach pains and a monster headache. So Princess had company today of the human sort instead of Chewy and LuLu.

Rem got asked to be a Student Mentor at the H.S. for the Freshmen. Izzy decide to join band.

Book Updates:

Robert now has our manuscript and is beginning the illustration process of the book. He plans to do the cover art first so we can get going on promo stuff.

My writer's conference is at the end of the month, and I'm so excited because I have two more manuscripts done ( from my "I Wanna Be" series) that I can present to the editor in attendance. I'm not that excited about submitting our ABC Wrestling manuscript, because Tom is convinced he wants to self publish, but I might show it to her anyway.

We got a quote back from a printer, and we will make so much more money off our books by using a printer and just being our own publishing house. Davids Gold Medal Publishing. How's that sound? With the quote Tom got, and the quantity we plan to order, we should make at least $10.00 per book. Of course we'll make less than that on the books that are sold through Tom's dealers and such, but the ones we sell ourself at meets and school visits will be high profit.

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Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

You should see the other girl!  

This is what happens after a night of playing "Beauty Parlor" with Izzy and her friends. Of course I'd already scrubbed off several layers of makeup by the time the girls snapped this pic, but look at the hair! My goodness.

Tom worked hard on the book last night (so he wouldn't be in the doghouse for abandoning me today!) It's just about done. I really need to call Robert. I keep neglecting to touch base with him. I also have to proof the manuscript my grandma's author emailed me so she can put her finishing touches on that. Then it can go to print! Speaking of grandma, her party was awesome yesterday. I did a pretty good job on the party planning if I don't say so myself! We had over 70 people-it was a full house! Grandma was literally beaming with pride at how many friends, and relatives showed up for her 90th! She's the greatest person ever.

I have two more manuscripts that I've been working at on my own that are ready to submit. They are from a children's picture book series I've been working on for the past year or so. I'm taking them with me to my writer's conference later this month. Attendees have the opportunity of hand delivering and discussing their manuscripts face to face with the editors at the conference, so I'm pretty excited. In addition to those two, I have three more for the series that are not too far along, but the main ideas are there.

Writing has become one of my favorite "spare time" activities. I still enjoy reading more, and steal away to read almost any chance I get! I've recently begun cataloging my books...we have soooo many!

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Ball's Bridge

According to the currently available statistics, our dog Chewy is the first official canine member of the "Ball's Bridge Jump Club."

Actually it was accidental, but when Chewy is chasing butterflies, nothing can stop him! I was just glad the nutball didn't get hurt-the river was pretty low, and, he nearly landed on the abutment. Whew! At any rate, it was a great long weekend up at our cottage with my sisters, all their kids, and a few friends thrown in the mix. No injuries (other than paintball welts), no bee stings (even though the bees were totally insane at the beach in Goderich), no rain, hot enough to swim, but not too hot, and no problems at the border. Now that my mom and dad are retired, I'm going to force them to go with us next summer (and stay longer!)

Tom worked on the book last night after I went to bed (we're almost done!) We have to check with Bobby and see how long he thinks it will take to do the illustrations. Hopefully he can do it quick! Tom would like to have the books in his hot little hands to sell at wrestling tournaments this year.

Speaking of Tom. He is a stark raving lunatic. He trained so hard this past weekend in Canada for his upcoming triathlon event. He got up before everyone and went for runs, he swam each day at the beach, and then biked in the evenings. The last triathlon event he did was a sprint. The one he's training for now is harder, longer-it's an Olympic Triathlon. He's hoping to eventually be able to do an Ironman. Crazy is all I can say about that. But he is serious about it. He even has a wet-suit for the swim training, a new racing bike for the riding portion, and as for the run, well, he's relying on his God given gifts for that part.

The kids started school today. It's nice having the boys at the same school (and doing cross country together). Sure makes the morning drop off easier, especially since all the schools start at the same time.  I did get nabbed by the new art teacher who asked me if I would chair the Reflections Program with her- for the writing part. Naturally she will take care of the artistic end of it. She also asked me if I would be her partner for an after school art enrichment program. They both sounded way to good to pass up, so I'm in for a few extra commitments this school year, but that shouldn't be too demanding.

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