I Did Not Fall Off The Face Of The Earth

It has been a while, but I'm still alive and kicking. Since my daughter's surgery, I've been going back and forth to her house in Nashville. I"m leaving later today for a couple of nights. Her husband will be home by then and she will get the stitches out of her leg. She should be able to get around more by then. It will be a while before she can put pressure on that leg. Since it's her left leg, she will be able to drive.

The surgery has taken so much out of both of us. Last week, we slept most of the day. I took her to work a couple of days for the mornings. When we got back to her house, we flopped out and slept. We are both on pain pills, so we would have to synchronize our pill taking. We could not both be zonked at the same time.

Needless to say, I have done very little writing. I have kept up on Face Book and emails. That has been about all I did, except eat the delicious food everyone brought in. I've gained weight and I didn't want to, but the Key Lime Pie was too good to turn down.

After Thursday I should be back in the groove. We'll be here for the week-end and we're planning a picnic at one of the many picnic areas at Land Between the Lakes. It is so pretty. We drove around the area yesterday and my husband showed me where he fished. I got a couple of pictures of deer and really enjoyed to afternoon.

There are a few more things I need to do here and then load up again and head down I 24. Hope everyone has a wonderful week and enjoy Labor Day.

Friday

I love Friday's. It means Saturday is next and then Sunday. I love Sunday because I get to meet with my church family and worship God. It is the best day of the week.

It is a mystery to me how people can go week in and week out and never think about God and all the blessings He has given us. I can't even begin to count all the things He has done for me. There are so many.

My writing falls in that category. Since I began writing, I have met so many wonderful, helpful people. So many published and unpublished writers have taken me under their wing and helped me along the process. Yes, there is a process. I feel blessed each time I think about them.

My synopsis, first, middle and last chapters are with an editor. She will give me a price in a few days and I will see if I can afford her. Right now I am reminded of a song a cousin of mine wrote. It was recorded and did pretty well on the charts, "If The Devil Danced In Empty Pockets, He'd Have A Ball In Mine." That's about how I feel sometimes. Yes, it can be expensive to write. That is one reason why I want to be published, to pay back my husband all the money I have borrowed from him and our budget.

The urge I have to write is very strong. There is so much injustice in this world and there has been for years. I write for the under dog. The person who is downtrodden because of his place in the universe. The people who are not understood by most. I want to show that prejudice is not something we all have. I want to show we can love all people as themselves, not what they look like.

If I can make a small contribution to someone's life, I am blessed. I want to see more smiles. I love to see the Lord living in all of us. He has been so good to me and I pray that my writing is a sweet fragrance to Him.

The Crimson Cipher

The Crimson Cipher by Susan Page Davis is absolutely the best book I have read by Susan. I could not put it down! I have always liked Susan's books about the west, but this one is so much better. The research she did makes you feel you are part of this book. I rank this one with Frazier's Island. They are both good military books, but not stuffy military.

Set before World Wat I, it is about the encryptors or ciphers that were used during that time. It is fictional, but some things are mentioned that are real, like the bombing of the Lusitania and the shooting of J. P. Morgan. That made the book more real to me.

Emma Shuster's father is killed and she is left alone. She has helped him with a code to be used by banks and one of his students is building a code machine. Lieutenant John Patterson is with her when she finds her father's body.

Emma moves to Virginia and works for the government de-coding messages from the German's. I did not realize there were so many ways to write a message in code and that was interesting. I also did not realize the German's came so close to the US before the war by sabotaging factories an ships.

The German's continue to try to find Emma and the machine. There is so much suspense and yes, another murder. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to tell the ending of the story and I did not read the last pages first. It is a wonderful book. I give Susan five stars.

Doctor in Petticoats

First, I will bring everyone up to date on my daughter. Her surgery went well and she had a good night, except for pain. She has a pump in her leg that administers a numbing medicine to block the pain, and it ran out of meds in the night. She is taking oral meds and is doing well with them. She has about ten pins in her ankle and leg and then plates on top of that. The inside of her leg and ankle look like a Gladiator Sandal. She is right in style, but the only way you can see it is with the xray.

While I was at my daughter's house, I finished reading Doctor in Petticoats by Mary Connealy. If you are a fan of Mary's books, you know this one is as funny as the rest of them. In fact, I think this is as funny as Petticoat Ranch and The Husband Tree. It may be a wee bit funnier. The story is so good.

Mary draws you into the book with the first sentence and then it's hard to put it down. This book includes the McClellan family we met in Petticoat Ranch and the Tanner/Hardin family in The Husband Tree. With both of these being my favorite, it had to be a winner.

The story opens with Beth McClellan trying to get home for her sister's wedding. There is a stage coach accident and Mandy McClellan gets married without her. From there the story splits and it is about Mandy and her husband Sidney and Beth and a doctor/army deserter Alex. If I say much more, I will divulge the whole story.

My husband started reading it at the hospital yesterday and had to leave the book for my daughter to finish. I couldn't tell him anything coming home. When one of us reads a book the other hasn't read, we won't tell anything that will take away the interest of the story.

If you read Petticoat Ranch and remember the antics of the McClellan girls, you will not be surprised of anything in this book. Mary writes the best hysterical historicals. That should be a whole new genre.

Update on Sick and Hurting

I'm in Nashville right now. I came Thursday and I will go back after my daughter's surgery tomorrow. I may have to come back later, but I will do whatever I am needed to do.

She is not having so good a day today. I think she will be glad when the surgery is over. I know Mama will be glad. We are splitting up duty tomorrow. We, my husband and I, will take her to the hospital at seven to register, etc. Her hubby will take daughter to school and then join us. Then we will be together until she is stable after surgery.

Saturday morning I got up to let the dog out of her pen and put her outside. She waited on me to get up the steps and then stood to wait on me until I got to the back door. I missed the top step and fell on my face and knees. I have a pump-knot on my head and nose, but the dog licked me and patted my hand with her foot. Can it get any sweeter than that? I am sore today and my knees are swollen, but I do not look like a member of the Munster family anymore.

I have plenty to do this week to keep my busy at home. I need to finish my proposal and do a few housecleaning jobs. My main thoughts will be with my daughter. I pray this surgery is successful and her leg heals wonderfully.

Things Don't Happen Like We Want

Yesterday, my plans were to finish reading my novel, but instead I spent the morning on the phone talking to an insurance company.

When my husband worked, he had Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama. When he went on Medicare, he dropped it. That was four years ago. We had BC/BS of Tennessee when we lived in Tennessee. Now, Blue Cross of Tennessee says he was not a member and the doctors have to send all the money back that they paid them. I have proof that he was a member of Tennessee and not Alabama. What is going on? I think someone is a little "tetched in the head" or so my characters in my book would say. When you haven't paid for anything for four years, how can they say you had that insurance? Hopefully, they will get it all straightened out.

Yesterday was also my appointment with the doctor. I will have my left knee replaced on September 20. The doctor gave me a super-dooper pain prescription to help me until then. The pharmacy didn't have it, so I will get it this afternoon.

I was very impressed when the doctor said he would not cut any muscles or ligaments. I will also be able to rotate my knee. One woman showed me her scar and you could barely see it. I'm not vain, so that didn't matter, but it showed me he cared about his patients. He is a very caring doctor and I have been very impressed with him.

I will now have time to get my book all finished and sent to an agent. I hope I don't get anymore calls about insurance today. I need to get this finished.