My Baby's Graduating

As I sat in the yard yesterday waiting for Bella to do her business, I could hear the happy sounds of the children playing in the park across the street. It was the elementary school's field day. At first I smiled, but then I felt myself getting choked up.

It seems like it was just yesterday when I was one of the room moms filling the water balloons, serving snacks, corralling the children into lines, and helping with a million other little tasks when both of my kids went to school there. I thought back to the days when I had one child on each side, holding my hands as we walked to school. Most days I volunteered at the library or in their classroom, and I loved the way their faces lit up when my kids saw me. I believe they were proud of me as they never held back a hug, a kiss, or a "love you" in front of their friends. I feel the same way about them.

It's hard to believe my baby will be graduating this week. To say I'm proud of her would be an understatement. Anyone who knows us, knows what she has gone through in her life. In fact, if any of you have read Fractured Facade, I guess you realize "Annabelle" is based on her. She's faced every challenge with dignity, and never let it stop her from achieving her goals. Sure, it was a battle, but it was one she won...with honors.

As you can see from the shot below, her graduation gown will be adorned with many honor cords and even a beta sash. Not only is she one of the valedictorians of her high school, but is also the recipient of an academic scholarship from VWCC.



My daughter is the first female to attend college in our family, and she is also the first female to even finish high school on my husband's side. Yeah, that bar wasn't too high, but she chose to raise it, instead of going under it. I forsee a bright future for her and hope she always stays as kind, funny, intelligent, and tough as she is now. The only thing I would change is her taste in boys. Guess the apple didn't fall far from my tree...

Let Me In!!!

I see you...

Look how high I can jump...

Hmmm, there's a step I could stand on, and if I really stretch I can look inside...Please, let me in!!! I promise I'll be good...

Hehe, I lied.

The Valentine's Day Curse June Freebie

When my 90-day period expired for The Valentine's Day Curse's run in Amazon's KDP Select program I had to make a decision whether to pull it or renew it. After much consideration, the main one being that every time someone "borrows" my 99 cent short story I get a royalty which would be equal to selling 7 copies, I decided to go with another 90-day run. Believe it or not, people actually borrow it. Thank you borrowers!

The last time I gave away over 2,000 free copies, besides the borrows, I also sold quite a few books. It might be different this time. From what I understand, Amazon has changed the algorithms which are no longer as attractive for gaining traction on the best-selling lists as they were when the program first began. In the beginning, every freebie was equal to one sale, so one could shoot up the charts and get some action afterwards. I've heard it now takes 10 freebies to equal one sale, so one moseys up the charts and gets little action afterwards. I imagine Amazon will tweak their system again once authors start abandoning ship.

As of this post, The Valentine's Day Curse ranking is 362,138, so figure it's time to give it a shot in the arm. Even though many folks say never give away free books in the beginning of the month, today and tomorrow, June 1 & 2 this 5-star short story will be free, free, free! Click here for a direct link! And don't forget you do not need to own a Kindle to read it. Click here for free apps for many other devices.

If you like this short story, by all means please leave a review, or at least a "like," but if you're a troll, please ignore this post, my book, and me. Thanks!

Dear Jerry Seinfeld, Please ignore Dan Casey

This morning Dan Casey of the Roanoke Times gives me a hard time in his column for paying what he considers "rube" prices for Jerry Seinfeld tickets. Check it out here..."Seinfeld ticket prices no laughing matter."

It was a fun back and forth...even if Dan is delusional...Native New Yorker? Ha!

Dear Jerry,
Please ignore Dan Casey. He comes from Binghamton and works for the Roanoke Times. What does he know? Please do not cancel your show in Roanoke. Some of us transplants need to hear another New York accent and a joke that doesn't have "Y'all" in it. Oh, and if you don't mind, would you please bring some bagels? I'll be sitting in the first row.
Thanks!
Elena

A Puppy's Wonder

It's quite entertaining to watch the world through a puppy's wonder. We humans sometimes take nature for granted, yet it provides constant entertainment for Bella. The sashaying, descending oak tree leaf almost gets caught in her mouth. Instead, she will pick it up by the stem, and prance around the yard with the leafy stogie hanging out of her mouth. After she drops it, the shredding begins, followed by the chewing and ending with my fingers pulling leaves out of her mouth.

She's still not the brightest bulb, but she has caught on to "Go get it!" I could barely see her as she darts through the over-grown grass to retrieve the bright yellow ball. Zeroed in on the ball like a laser, the only possible distraction is everything. The wind shakes a blade of grass. Bella's thoughts: Stop. Bite the grass. Was that a twig I stepped on? Pick it up. Chew for a bit. Then run wild until I trip over a vine. Stop. Bite the vine. Pull the vine. Pick it up. Run like wild, trailing behind a train of ivy leaves. Stop. Collapse against fence. Rocks, yum. I'll just lay here and chew a couple. When I'm through with them I'll sharpen my fangs on the concrete step. Okay, okay I'll stop. What? Get the ball? Oh, yeah, that's right. Where is it? Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, ouch. Hey, that's the ball! Got it! Back to mommy. Hey, what's that white flying thing? A butterfly? I'm going to catch it. Jump, snap, run, jump, snap. Dang! It went over the fence. I just gotta chew through this chain link and that butterfly is mine. Okay, okay I'll stop. Instead, I'll catch this little ant and eat him. Mmmm, squiggly caviar. What? The ball? Oh, yeah, that's right...I'm looking for the ball.

More times than not, I have to get up and show her where the ball is. Sometimes I have to even kick it for her to notice it. Maybe the grass is too high...maybe.

The Latest College Scam

In the perfect world, my son would have graduated this May from Virginia Western with a Computer Science degree. Alas, our world is far from perfect, so it should have come as no surprise to me that it didn't happen. That darn Calculus 4 class has proven to be a thorn in his side, and after taking it twice and achieving D's both times, the boy has decided to scrap that plan.

When he first started on this quest during the first year in high school, his intention was to become a software developer. He studied on his own, practiced on his own, and enjoyed the field. Although he didn't really want to go to college, he knew potential employers would only look at him if he had a degree in computer science and he figured it would be a piece of cake to get it. Cut to college...

His first inkling that college is a scam came to him in his freshman year when he realized he'd have to take classes that were a waste of his time, had absolutely nothing to do with computers, and was really just a way for the college to make money by insisting students take them. I agreed with his thinking, yet still pushed him to get a degree. As the semesters progressed, the  mandatory classes had less and less to do with computer science, and the elective classes he had wanted to take became unavailable as there wasn't enough interest in them. Little by little, less and less appealed to him. His interest really took a nose-dive after discovering that most, if not all, software programming jobs had moved out of this country and into India. By the time Calculus 4 came around, twice, he decided he had enough.

Now, as part of our deal, I agreed to pay for his education, without him having to get student loans so he wouldn't be saddled with debt. In return, he had to get at least a C in every class and get the Computer Science Degree. If he got less than a C, he had to pay me back for the class, and if he dropped out of college, he had to pay me back for every class. So what to do, what to do? He already holds a part-time job and upon graduation he was supposed to go full-time. His company likes him, said he's one of their best workers and his going full-time was not contingent on getting a degree. So, in reality he could just go full-time and be done with school, just like his mother.

I've been working since I was 16. I have no degree. I never wanted a degree. I wanted to work. Period. And I did, and I still do. I've held many positions including secretary, administrative assistant, office manager, broadcast manager, vice-president programming, videotape editor, president, columnist and most recently, published author. Nope, didn't need a piece of paper for any of them. However, my son knows I wanted him to have what I never did, so after much weighing of pros and con (the con being pissing off mom) he decided he would continue with college, but change his major to Business, and he would pay for the rest of the classes himself. Sounds like a good plan to me.

So he started summer classes and already is pissed off. In order to get this degree, he now has to take more useless classes such as a basic computer one. It's a "joke" to him, but he's not laughing at the cost of the books and the latest college scam...buying an on-line "key." This "key" practice started last year with one or two classes. Besides buying the ridiculously expensive books, an additional fee of anywhere from $50-$100 has to be spent on the "key" which allows the student on-line access, to "drop-off" their assignments, tests, etc. It's mandatory and has squashed the ability to buy used books cheaply. The way VWCC has set it up it's a little cheaper to buy the package from their bookstore. Even if the student wants to rent the book instead of buying the new book, the "key" makes it cost more to go that route. No more Givens Books.

Last night he came home from the second class he's taking over the summer and surprise, surprise, it also requires the book and the purchase of a "key." He was ranting that the "key" company is the same company that sells the textbooks, and it's a total scam. Meanwhile, he's purchased books on Amazon for computers that have nothing to do with school. When I questioned him, his response was, "Just because I'm not going for the piece of paper, it doesn't mean I no longer have interest in computers." I have a feeling the only piece of paper we're going to be seeing in this house is the invoices he sends his future customers. And don't tell him, but I'm fine with that...

Staunton Walking Ghost Tour

On Saturday I visited Staunton for the first time to go on a "Walking Ghost Tour." Frankly, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and in case someone is interested in it, I won't go into deep detail. I will say that if you are a paranormal investigator you probably will not walk away with anything other than a brief history of Staunton, and sore calf muscles from walking up the hilly streets. I now understand the tour that we would have appreciated more involving the depot and actual evp sessions using a "ghost box," occurs only the last week of the month. Had I realized that, I would have gone then instead.

These first four shots are some of the haunted locations, which you will not go inside to see. I guess that's what's meant by a "walking tour"...you walk past them, and stand outside while the story is told. Duh, me.

For some reason I felt like I had already heard most of the stories. I don't know if I read about them in a book, or saw it on tv, or if the same type of hauntings always seems to happen in the same type of locations. After hearing them, I'm beginning to think I should hold my own "ghost tour" right here on my property! Things have really amped up again since Bella's arrival, but that's another post for another day.

Back to Staunton...

I thought the architecture of many of the buildings downtown was pretty cool. There was some sort of music festival going on so the street was jamming. I would have liked to explore the downtown area more but the drive is over an hour and a half away from Roanoke, so once we were done, we were outta there. Here's a couple of shots that are not on the tour...

That last one is of my daughter and her friend, who are not scared of the ghost story but shocked that they spent their money and Saturday evening in Staunton with mom. Haha! Sorry girls...