A Friday Post About Thursday

Our day started at 4:45am. The world is a dark place. We got to the set of the Kellogg's commercial four hours later. It is true, after all, that the weather in San Jacinto is far hotter than LA. And once again I chose to take my winter jacket to location and for the second time was greatful that I did.

It was shivery cold in the heart of Los Angeles. There I sat on my Jeff-Gordon-fold-up chair all bundled up and catching up on my reading--Arms of Deliverance: A Story of Promise by Tricia Goyer. Two things about this book so far: 1. I am learning that research makes for a good novel and 2. A woman can write a awesome war story.

After each chapter I put the book down, stretched, nibbled on something healthy (jelly bellys, chips and water). Wait, can't nibble water. You get the picture. Anyway on this particular cool day most of the moms and dads already knew each other and I was left out of the "inner circle." It was the first time I actually could not find anyone to talk to. No matter. I really did need to catch up on some reading. Writers who don't read . . . well . . . that's a big no no. So I was glad for the isolation.

However, I did get to observe these interesting folks and caught some of what they were talking about. They were not a quiet group and though they tried hard not to brag, it always comes to that. It is done well, however, and in a friendly sort of way. Speaking about our children, after all, should make for a nice conversation.

So what do parents of young actors talk about? Hmm. These children are beatiful and talented, it stands to reason that that is what they talk about. Each child's accomplishment is mentioned throughout the course of the day. No one talks about war, child abductions or other issues. I guess it keeps the day pleasant for the most part.

Nonetheless, I miss the depth of true fellowship. Sometimes I still wonder what it is we are doing in this business. I guess if we keep the question always before us, it might just keep us honest. Never chase fame and riches, right? We won't forget.

I don't really get to brag about my son because he gets very upset when I do. And now we have sort of a gentleman's agreement that I keep quiet. Furthermore, I'm very shy and I usually seek out other Christians to talk to. It's quite amazing how we are drawn to one another.

So that was my Thursday and this is Friday, recovery day. We slept till 9:00am and started school just a tad bit late. Aaaah, homeschooling!

A short comment on the food--most excellent on every set, and there's a happy, endless supply of it. Not good for one who is trying to lose a few pounds.

And Disco Monkey says to click on this link for Sunglasses at Night.

California Sunset

Follow little brother's disco monkey and he'll lead you to big sister's first photograph, "California Sunset," published on Triond. It's pocket change for her so far, but it's a start.

My Two Cents Worth

Twenty years!! Our church is twenty years old. It was quite the celebration. I really did forget all those good memories. Dieter, our very first pastor there actually remembered me by name. Sweet. The highlight, of course, was seeing old friends. Friends I haven't seen for years. You know, the ones you meant to stay in touch with?

Layne and Sarah got to see their grandmother, who hasn't been to our church for a while. Layne wishes he could go to the Angel game with her and his Dad but we have birthday plans for Disneyland. Baseball season flew by and we actually didn't even go to one Angel or Dodger game together. That's a first.

And speaking of my two cents worth. In an earlier post I said I was trying Triond to publish articles, stories and art and see if there is a slight chance to make some extra cash. It works!!! Well, I made two cents. LOL.

The Warriors Could Fund Her College Career

They've been here before but this time we've published the Warriors on Triond where you can get paid for your articles, short stories and artwork. To be honest however, I have no idea how this works or if it even does work but, if you would be so kind and click on the picture of The Warriors for me we might actually generate some funds for the college girl. Thanks.

My College Girl

The Beagle Mixers!!

Okay, here's the deal. I am so ready to have my own room. My brothers and sisters, well . . . I love 'em and all but they are totally crowding my space. Spot here, he's my favorite but I'm through with getting my tail bit. Yeah, he's giving me the cold shoulder. He's only got himself to blame. My owners, they adore us. We even get to spend a lot of time inside their house. That's pretty cool. I'm Brown Sugar and I got to tell ya, I'd love to come and check out your house. I'll be good and I'll love you forever.


Hey, hey, Spot here. Yeah, I know, you all think Sugar is kind of special with her brown spots and all. She thinks so too. Oh bother, let me just get my paw on that fly. Anyway, I'd like to stay here in San Jacinto. The weather is fine and my brothers well...we love playing in the dirt over here. We always get in trouble though cause we like to shove Sugar in the mud. Hehehehe. Aww, now don't get all sappy on me. The mud just blends in with her perty brown spots. Anybooo, I'll try not to eat your slippers and sneakers if you promise not to leave them around because that's just sneaky of you. I'm very, very lovable and I can't wait to love you.

ThirteenBlessings in My Life 1. My Daughter, Sarah. Smart and beautiful. 2. Her sweet and wacky roomies & suitees 3. Sallie Mae 4. My wonderful and talented moody son 5. Our new neighbors (There are so many wonderful days in our neighborhood) 6. Awesome friends 7. Finding New Friends every Thursday 8. My car, Mickey! 9. Being able to make payments on Mickey 10. Our new house, which is finally feeling like home. 11. My loving parents 12. Chocolate 13. Knowing a God who loves, forgives, and never gives up on me!! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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A Cold Day With Oded Fehr

It was a four-hour journey to Yemen. Well, at least to the set of Sleeper Cell pretending to be Yemen, with camels and all. The dust up there was real too. Soon it became obvious, however, that Santa Clarita weather did not quite agree with Yemen's. We froze our little fannies off up there on Blue Cloud Ranch. Oh, how greatful I was that I brought my comfy knee-length sweater.

Mr. Fehr showed up in jeans and a black leather jacket. Nice. I came nowhere near him except for lunch when he chose to sit with the crew and the "little" people such as ourselves. He was quite a delight and he did his best to crack everyone up.

Layne's day pretty much consisted of running by Mr. Fehr and his companion making sure there was enough dust thrown their way. It kept him warm and he tried hard not to laugh. He really did look like a little Yemenese school boy.

Oded, btw, was born in Israel--he's a Jewish boy. In Sleeper Cell he plays a Muslim terrorist leader....very interesting.

So this day was cold, fun, educational and, for the first time, I encountered a mom who fits that nasty "stage mom" profile. Heaven help me if I ever become that way.

That was Thursday. Friday we tried to catch up with school. This could be done better. The teacher on set was no help to us. She obliged the directors who wanted the kids NOW, and school was hurried. She has the authority to keep the kids in school. I don't think the kids could focus on school things as the AD kept coming in. Next time I'll say something. Oh, the drama.

Sunday was another audition for Layne. No pressure. No pressure. Argh! He and I played thumb wars for most of the morning while he was trying to learn his lines. He did great, but so did the other 95 kids. We thought we would be done by 10:00am so our plans to attend second service at church seemed in tact. But alas, we were the last ones to be seen. Church was over. We did, however, have a wonderful lunch at TGIF with Sarah. Glorious fries, blue, green, red slushes and it's always good to be together, even for just a while.

The Pieces of My Day

Wow! No matter how late I get to bed, my internal clock wakes me up early. It's a good thing. Twenty minutes with Jesus and sometimes Sanctus Real or Kuttless and the day begins. Deciding to be a-stay-at-home mom has been a challenge but I thought it was the best way I could raise Godly kids. I'm sure others feel strongly that I should not have done it.

Homeschooling is actually starting to be a blessing but certainly a full time job. Then it gets complicated when we have to prepare tomorrow's lessons ahead of time just in case Layne gets an acting job. At the end of the year he should be a financially-stable teenager and hopefully educated.

Sarah comes online from college right after we get on and she says her usual hello's. We keep in touch that way.

I came up with the extra $11,000 (eeeeecccccckkkkk) for her, not a minute too soon. It arrived at Biola on the due date with a few minutes to spare. Her classes would have been cancelled and she would have been kicked out of her dorm. Honestly I don't think they would have done it. So I'll be working that money off. I'll have to do more office work for Mrs. Lentz in Glendora (about 50 miles away), and clean more houses for a while but she's worth it.

My X-hubby pulled through again and helped me pay off her summer housing. Yes, amongst the chaos we do try sooooo hard to remain friends and he does love his children. I am happy for him as he finally got a chance to pursue his dream job. He's an art teacher now and I always knew he could do it. Now I'm just working on my dream.

Full time school (Jerry B. Jenkins' CWG) for me is tricky, but I find the right moments to study and get the work in on time. I feel smarter by the minute.

As I'm writing this blog, I'm also talking to my friend and partner about setting up our Day Care. Are we ready for this?? I don't know. We'll give it a go. I've taken my classes for it and got my license besides fitting in classes to get my Notary License. That was a bear.

So the day ends with editing articles (sometimes a little too late) for my writing buddies and editing my own manuscripts for them to edit. Today I got a lucky, or rather blessed, break with our family cookbook. There's a store in Hemet that might buy a bundle from us. We can only pray.

I thank the Lord for each day and the strength to get through it. It's amazing but there has been no time for loneliness or unhappiness. Don't get me wrong, there's been the tears but only for healing.

And the Truth is . . .

I still struggle with women preaching/teaching from the pulpit but I do try to have an open heart especially when it's a friend doing the teaching. So the following article/devotion (whichever) is what came out of Diane's sermon.

And The Truth Is . . .

My fifteen-year relationship with Elizabeth (a mutual friend of my ex-husband and me) was at best, pretentious. To keep the peace, I hardly ever spoke the truth to her and, no doubt, she withheld her strong opinions from me . . . most of the time.

After my husband left me, she and I endeavored to remain friends. The waters were tumultuous. Our love was conditional and her advice was never based on God’s truths. With broken oars we rowed, each our own direction, in a boat which steadily headed toward deadly rocks. This storm was rough and we had lost site of the lighthouse.

When she turned all eyes on herself at my daughter’s graduation I had had enough. In the midst of a crowded football field I quietly deliberated how to jump this ship.

A couple of days later, our relationship ended amongst a gale of angry words. The truth came out of my mouth like seething lava. All the while I heard a still small voice trying to transform my spewing into loving order. Not a chance. Fifteen years of bottled-up feelings erupted.

To my discontent, the sermon that weekend was about speaking the truth in love. I smiled and found myself a little less wise with a course of action I did not want to take. My truth telling was many years too late and my delivery missed the mark.

Is truth beautiful? It is not pretentious, and it would’ve set us free if only we could have spoken it lovingly.

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (Ephesians 4:25 NIV)

Paying For College and Drum Lessons

My friend, Sandee, gave me some beautiful photographs she took on her book tour of England. I thought I would get creative with them. The GateKeeper on the spiral journal was done by Xhub. He used to draw for me. Aah, those were the days.

It's a living while I put myself through the Christian Writer's Guild, my daughter through college and . . . oh bother! Soon, I hope, we'll have my 13-year-old son's artwork on t-shirts and mugs. Come keep us company at Gtgirls.

Ed # 3 For Me

Thirteen ThingsI Like About Myself

1. I'm a loving mommy. Really!!

2. I can laugh at my mistakes which apparently I make on a daily basis.

3. I'm forty something, a single mom of two teenagers, living with my parents, I have no job (still hunting for one) and yet I'm happy. What's up with that? Thank you, Jesus.

4. I make great friends, and I think I make a good friend.

5. I'm patient (is that the right spelling?).

6. Back to the mommy thing--I made a beautiful, intelligent baby girl and a most free-spirited creative little boy. Well . . . God helped.

7. My simple approach to life. God said it, I believe it and that settles it for me!!! Life is good.

8. My hands. It's true, I love my hands even though I have a few scars on my left hand. It kind of adds to the charm.

9. A gentle and quiet spirit. My mom said so.

10. My sense of adventure and some day I'll actually get to act upon it. Hehehehe.

11. I'm not afraid to try new things.

12. I'm usually smiling.

13. It seems the older I get the less worried I am about it.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

The Neighborhood

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood. The lack of traffic is quite the blessing. Weather man on 'puter says: "Downtown temperature is in the mid-ninetees." That amazing contraption in our dusty garden reads 105 degrees F, in the shade. A thunder storm is aching to break, nevertheless, it is locked away in billowy clouds. The sun wins.

Unlike yesterday when the sky exploded. Wind howled like a pack of wolves. Layne and I were on our way to visit Sarah at school. "No turning back," she says. "The storm won't last." Flash flood warning! Horizontal rain, trees uprooted and "vote-for-me" signs flew carelessly on mini tornadoes. Visibility, oh, none! Did I mention the road at Jack's (in the box) broke off into pieces creating moonlike craters. It's Southern California.

Today, it's back to normal, so to speak. Sweltering heat and pure white marshmallow clouds that hang like my dog's ... um, never mind. Our puppies (all ten of them) are strong, nonetheless, I worry. They look very much like that droopy dog cartoon character. Huckleberry Fin is barking already. He's a chubby little pup. I shouldn't name them, I think to myself. They're all leaving in a few weeks. Happy homes for each.

Six o'clock in the evening has arrived and the streets are abuzz with people. Nice stranger come talk to me. Do they know I live here? The neighbor across the street, a police officer, is making his friendly rounds. Looks like he's introducing himself to one and all. Sweet. I hide. It's hot! No doubt about it now, the Neighborhood Watch will have it's humble beginnings here today.

Neighbor to the right says hello, pass me, to the neighbor on the left. She doesn't see me. It's cute actually. I am behind the wooden gate. She's inches from me. Across the newly-tarred street from us and the nice police man (we're at the quietist intersection in the world) there's an adorable old Indian man tending to his beautiful garden of roses and yellow pretties bordering his perfect little field of green grass. Water bill has got to hurt. Like me, he's hiding. He, beneath a large straw hat though.

Everyone is gathering at the mailboxes in front of said perfect garden. Indian man finds it hard to hide and is forced to say hi, about 13 times. What a beautiful voice. He should never hide that. I think he sees me. I wave.

There's a knock on my door. Someone wants to play with Layne.

A voice ( not mine) behind the door says, "Layne is in the park."

Children are playing basketball in our finely manicured park (for which we pay property taxes). Layne, my homeschooled child, has escaped and is rollerblading up and over park benches--credits toward PE class. Pretty girls are on the chase with their bright red bicycles. Now there's a scene.

It's a wonderful day in our neighborhood yet I don't think anyone knows I'm here. Strange, really, I don't mind.

Cold Case

Triumph!!! Even though I technically got lost, I seemed to have taken every right, wrong turn. The parking lot was in my sight and I made it, for the first time, with a half an hour to spare. We were wisked away in a comfortable air-conditioned private bus to location.

I had to forfeit my time with my writers group, of course, but I always meet very interesting moms and this time a guardian Grandpa. He was very cute and you could tell he loved his young actress granddaughter very much.

Last time we weren't dismissed until midnight, after Layne endured record temperatures inside a closed building (a magnificent stone church) with fog machines which gave him a headache. He managed, however, to tell another young actor about Jesus without that preachy attitude. They talked about music: KJ52, Falling up, MxPx but mainly that rapping stuff. Yeah, apparently Jesus can rap.

Anyhow, this time we were released from location at 3:30pm--calltime was 10:00am. That's always nice. Watch out Hollywood, here come the Christian kids!!!!!

A Woman's Retreat, Getaway, Recover Journey, Whatever!! Go!!

So I think you should all go with me because we women need to be spoiled now and again. Plus, Oh yeah, I somehow am employed by Milk and Honey Life. Hehehehehe. Keep me company, okay?

I'll get ya free tote bags and things. The Milk and Honey Life book is available at discounted prices through this blog via the Amazon search box. Yay!

There's an awesome physical track that will cover health, beauty and umm . . . menopause.