Weekend Updates…

I promised earlier to report about Armadillo’s comic book cover selection. Are you sitting down? Because my frilly, girlie, pink-loving Armadillo picked this one:

You didn see that one coming, did you? The shocking thing was that she didn’t even hesitate in the store. LOL. There is an evil genius in there somewhere. And I mean that in the nicest, most loving way possible! 😀

The poll results were split. A few of you (30%) guessed that she picked the dark and sinister cover because it was cool. No one guessed that it was her only option. The other two options about the other cover (cute ponies in snow: 40% and pink: 30%) combined for a whopping 70%. *shakes head* She surprised even me.

In other news…

We don’t watch Saturday Night Live very often, but we recently discovered “The Girl You Wish You Hadn’t Started a Coversation with at a Party” on the “Weekend Update” skit. She is not on often enough, in my opinion.

Click this link to check it out on the official website (or you can search for her on youtube). What I love about this one is that her speech patterns butcher English pronunciation, but she throws in a grammar zinger every once in awile. I think this one is our favorite.  Mockingbird has a knack for immidating the girl.  It’s also clean enough (so far) for Armadillo to listen to it.

In gardening news…

I’m sad to say that my sweet potato experiment is looking like a complete fail. Sigh. The three slips that I planted are brown and dry. One has one tiny live leaf left–so there is hope. There is good news though. I pulled up some volunteer celery from the garden stones and planted them where the sweet potatoes are dying in the ground. (“Volunteer” plants are ones that grow from the scattered seeds of plants. I let nature do the planting, and I am sure as heck gonna use them.)

So what’s going on for your weekend? Share your news!

Geek Mom Strikes Again

Comic books are awesome!  When I was little, I was so happy when we would get to buy them. I still have one of my very first comic books. It was Disney’s Scamp (Tramp and Lady’s errant son). My sister and I had a few others with that same level of fun and silliness.

Then there was my Thundercats stage, which coincided with my Spider-Man stage but didn’t last as long. I read DC comics, too, (Wonder Woman, mostly).

There is something to be said about kids and literacy and comic books–they can only encourage kids to read. I found this great article by Charlie Brooks, a geek dad, about getting younger kids to read by using comic books. He has good suggestions for comics that are kid friendly (and not violent and oversexed as some of the superhero and supervillain ones are).

What’s not to love about comic books? They are colorful and action packed and feed imaginations in ways that books and movies can’t.  Comic books give visual clues that we don’t get from novels and yet still leave more to the imagination than TV or movies. They can be a good gateway to reading books. (A gateway to reading, not drugs…sheesh.)

When I stumbled on the new My Little Pony comic books, I knew I had to get them. My kids don’t need encouragement to read, but they love the My Little Pony humor. I bought the first one and gave it to the girls to share. They loved it. This geek mom was so proud. *wipes eyes*

When it was time to get the next one, I tried to get them to go to the comic book store with me. Mockingbird looked at me as if I’d grown another head. Armadillo, on the other hand, squeed and said, “Comic books! Yea!”

At least one of my daughters is mine. 😉

The latest thing about comic books is to make at least three different covers for every edition. What? You want me to choose which cover I want? I want them all!

Which one did the seven-year-old Armadillo pick? Cover C wasn’t available.

*cough*

Since buying more than one copy is not a viable option (unless it’s Spider-Man #700…*whistles and walks away*), I let Armadillo pick the cover she wanted. Do you think you can guess which cover she picked?

I’ll reveal the answer later this week. 😀

Are you a comic book fan? If so, what have been your favorite titles?

Something Light and Fluffy

After the super, heavy seriousness of my recent deathmatch with my dishwasher, I think we all need something light and fluffy.

So…

Pillows!

The shirt from kindergarten outgrown too soon… It’s hard to see in this picture, but she put pretty multi-colored cording around the entire seam. It matches perfectly!

If you’ve got kiddos, there is a really good chance that he or she has a favorite shirt. One that they want to wear and wear and wear, even when it’s two sizes too small. The Armadillo loved these two My Little Pony shirts. She cried both times when they didn’t fit anymore. So I saved them.

The shirt from preschool…bought too large on purpose; it wasn’t big enough to last forever.

The daughter of one of my friends loves to sew and design, so I asked if she would convert the shirts into pillows. She did a fabulous job, don’t you think? And Armadillo loves them and keeps them on her bed.

Some people collect their cherished baby and toddler clothes and make them into quilts. My friend told me that she saw one that was a pieced quilt. All the onesies and shirts were cut up into pieces, some of them even had tiny babyfood stains. Cute, right?

What about you? Do you have a favorite thing from your childhood or your children’s childhood that you’ve saved or converted into something else?

2012 in Review and Looking Forward to 2013

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for Mermaids Don’t Do Windows.

In the almost six months that I’ve been blogging, here are my top 5 posts and my theories for why they made the list:

1. Mermaids Aren’t Real? — This War of the Worlds moment (remember the radio program that had people panicking?) had to be shared.  If they are real, they are smart enough to elude Animal Planet film crews.
2. My Very Own My Little Pony — Ponyfest12 was a success!  I couldn’t believe that my pony won, but then again, I have awesome friends.  Look for a pony reveal soon.  In the meantime, you should check out Rebecca Enzor’s blog, because Ponyfest is hers and she’s great.
3. Totes, Selfies, and Sharpies — Why did this one make the top 5?  Because there are people searching on teen selfies.  Not kidding! Exactly 25% of the known Google searches that linked to my blog were about selfies, and most of those were looking for teens! Ick. Parents of teens, monitor your kids’ phones and uploads.  Just sayin’.
4. Welcome to Gattaca — Who doesn’t love that movie?
5. We figured that one out a long time ago — I just can’t help myself when I hear of discoveries that shock scientists about the intelligence of women.

These fabulous people were my top 5 commenters. I love their blogs.  I hope you check them out:

1. Pauline B Jones
2. Julie Glover
3. Ryan King
4. Debra Kristi
5. Jordan L. Hawk

I launched this blog at the end of June last year with a ton of support and encouragement from my WANATribe Blogging for Brand classmates and WANA founder, Kristen Lamb.

So what’s in store for Mermaids Don’t Do Windows in 2013?

• Three posts a week.
• Pony reveal!
• A visit from a Norse god. Yes, Thor is coming to visit me soon!  He will get to see what Texas is all about.
• A blog upgrade and some tweaks.
• A posting schedule.  What?! 
• More housework avoidance (and maybe some decluttering projects).

Happy New Year to you all!

Thanks for stopping by.  I’d love to hear what you have going on for the new year.

My Mermaid Gets a Pet

My family has dogs.  Two of them.  They are both very much part of the family, even Demon Dog.  Everyone should experience the joys and responsibility of owning a pet at least once in his or her life.

My mermaid laughed when I told her I thought she should have a pet.  She asked, “I don’t do windows, why do I need the responsibility of a pet?”

Well, because pets are loving and huggable and fun.

“And they require care and feeding,” she pointed out.  She laughed and pointed at me again. “Besides, I’m a mermaid, hello?”

Pets offer companionship and love.  My dogs are almost always close to one of us in the house.  They hug by leaning into a good ear rub.  They greet us when we come home.

“Have you seen the underwater creatures around here?  Not many ears.  And I’m always home.”

She was really resisting this idea to have a pet.  I could find her a pet that was self-sufficient and pretty and had ears that could be rubbed.  She rolled her eyes.

Then, I gave her this:

Created with the http://www.dolldivine.com Merpony Maker

My mermaid squealed with delight.  “My very own merpony?”

Yep.

“I promise to take care of it and feed it and do all the work.”

Yeah, right. We parents know how that one will end.

If you’re checking, here are my ROW80 goals for the week:

• Finish the minutes for the PTA meeting and send them for approval.  I haven’t even touched this one!
• The back garden beds are ready, so now I need to plant kale, spinach, and carrot seeds.  Finished just before cold snap! 🙂
• Write as if I’m not a NaNoWriMo rebel this week.  😀  Training at work makes for long days and short evenings.  Sigh.
• Make chicken soup and venison stew for the week.  Chicken soup–check!
• Get back to 3 or more blogging posts a week.  Check!

A Big Thank You and ROW80

First I have to send out a huge THANK YOU to everyone who voted for my Marce pony in Rebecca Enzor’s Ponyfest12.  I won!  All the ponies in Ponyfest12 and their stories are incredible.  My to-be-read list has grown considerably now!

My family and friends have been so supportive.  Late last night while I was hanging out after a late dinner with friends, one asked me about “that pony thing” I was doing.  None of them had voted (most hadn’t even heard of this event).  It looked synchronized.  They all pulled out their smart phones and voted.  🙂

Last week was great for Ponyfest, but not so great for my ROW80 goals.

So far this week:

• I got very little writing done in the second half of the week.  This week, I need to research the geography and mythology of the location in my middle grade WIP so I can fill in plot holes in preparation for a weekend of writing.
• Submit and query my adult fantasy manuscript, HUNTER MOON. Query agents. Just started making a list.  I didn’t do much with this last week due to many other things that came up.

• Work out at least 4 times a week.
• Read We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb.
• Weather permitting goal:  Plant carrot, spinach, and lettuce seeds to accompany the broccoli plants. Time permitting, too.
• Post at least 3 times a week here at Mermaids Don’t Do Windows.

How are you doing on your own goals?

ROW80 Check-In Week 2

Is it already time to check in for ROW80 Week 2?

I’ve been busy with the start of Kristen Lamb’s Blogging for Brand class, too, so this check-in is, well, what it is.  🙂  Too add a little bit of color, here’s a pretty pony my own princess made.  The most shocking thing is that it isn’t pink.

So far this week:

• Write an average of at least 500 words per day while doing much-needed research for my middle grade WIP. On track! 
• Submit and query my adult fantasy manuscript, HUNTER MOON. Query agents. Just started making a list.
• Work out at least 4 times a week. Halfway there!
• Read a book.  I’m still reading We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb. Haven’t picked it up in days–I’ve been too busy with the blogging class. 😉 
• Weather permitting goal:  Plant carrot, spinach, and lettuce seeds to accompany the broccoli plants.  Time permitting, too.
• Post at least 3 times a week here at Mermaids Don’t Do Windows.  Will keep this up!

How are you doing on your own goals this week?

Veggies in the Front Yard

Autumn is here, finally.  It’s time for us to plant our winter vegetable gardens.  Right now, the backyard is a bit of a mess with a variety of peppers, cantaloupe taking its sweet time, and okra growing so tall that it can’t stand up on its own.  The Italian squash (cuccuza) has overrun a tree and the back fence, but it’s still producing.

We’ll cleanup and plant the backyard soon enough.  Now is the time we lay into our front garden beds.

The plants are still young in these pictures.

Yes,  front garden beds.  You read that correctly.

Every year we’ve spent too much money planting pansies, mums, and other cold-weather flowering plants.  By April or May in this Texas weather, the plants are done, and we have nothing to show for it.  Except a lot of now-ugly, dead plants in the front beds.

Last year, we tried something different.  We changed all the flower beds in the front into garden beds.  We planted broccoli plants (over 30), and seeded four different lettuce varieties.  My older daughter designed the lettuce plantings for the colors and shapes.  We also planted carrots, spinach, and kale seeds.

By late January, the beds were gorgeous with layers of greens.  My younger daughter couldn’t wait to pick broccoli for dinner, because she announced that she didn’t like the store-bought stuff anymore.  I can’t blame her.  My older daughter decided that kale chips are delicious and worth making often.

Our neighbors couldn’t believe how nice it looked, and we got no complaints.  Even the wild bunnies respected the gardens enough to leave the veggies alone (or the coyotes, foxes, and hawks policed them for us).

One of the side gardens with different kinds of lettuce in front of the broc.

Now, the broccoli plants are in and looking lovely, as baby broccoli plants go.  Next, we’ll plant the carrot and leafy seeds.

By late spring, when the broccoli is finished producing, I’ll let it flower into big yellow sprays.  Lovely.  And completely worth the extra work to make a garden grow.

Your turn…  Have you gardened?  Would you dare to use your front flower beds?  What kinds of veggies do you plant?

I hope you’ll go over to Rebecca Enzor’s blog and vote for my Marce pony entry for PonyFest12.  I’d love to win a custom-made pony!

ROW80 Check-In

• Write at least 750 words every day on my middle grade WIP.
  Didn’t get done near as much as I wanted after a great beginning last week.  Got distracted by updating my laptop and installing Scrivener.
  New Goal: Write an average of at least 500 words per day while doing much-needed research for my middle grade WIP.
• Submit and query my adult fantasy manuscript, HUNTER MOON.
  Last week, I submitted the manuscript to Harper Voyager (an imprint of HarperCollins).
  New Goal: Query agents.
• Work out at least 4 times a week. I got 3 times in this week.  I’m shooting for 4 times a week this week.
• Read a book.  I’m still reading We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb.
• Weather permitting goal:  Plant carrot, spinach, and lettuce seeds to accompany the broccoli plants.
• Post at least 3 times a week here at Mermaids Don’t Do Windows.  Will keep this up!

A Promise is a Promise

Another title I thought of for this post was “I’ve Created a Monster.”  However, I decided that it really is about keeping a promise, no matter how small.

When my younger daughter saw the Marce and Kevvan ponies I made for PonyFest12, she wanted to make some, too.  I’d intentionally not shown her my ponies or the Pony Creator website, because I knew she would be all over it.

Part Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.

She caught me working on my last-minute brony entry and then hovered while I updated my PonyFest12 entry post.  Starting October 5, you can vote for my entry and get your friends to vote, too.  *hint, hint*   *nudge, nudge*

“What is that?” she asked.  She pointed at the Marce pony.

I told her that it was the other pony I made.

“What are you doing?” she asked.  “You made two ponies?”  Her voice said it all: “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this.”

I know where this was going.  She wanted that website under her control.  I told her that I was updating my blog with my new pony and she’d have to wait.

“Oh, I know what a blog is.  It’s where people put stuff and write stuff.”

This princess gets a princess tail.

Very eloquent.  I’m not sure how she knew that.

“So are you going to put mine on there, too?” she asked.

Hmmm….  “Not on this post,” I said.  She deflated before my eyes.  “How about if I make a new post for your ponies?”

That perked her up.  “Right now?”

All this was going on while I wrote a description of my Kevvan brony.  “Let me finish this post first.  Then, I’ll work on one for your ponies.  Will that work for you?”

Her version of Princess Luna in a costume.

She squeeeeeeed with joy and bounded off to play.  When I finished my update, she took over the computer for about an hour to create two very pink ponies.  I find it hilarious that she made them nearly identical after she started from a random selection both times.

She’s made a few more since, including her recreation of Princess Luna.

A promise is a promise, no matter how small or how young the child.

I hope you’ll go over to Rebecca Enzor’s blog and vote for my pony entry for PonyFest12.  Vote as often as you can so I can win a custom-made pony! 😉

What was the silliest or smallest promise a child asked you keep?  Have you made a child any promises that you found hard to keep?  Share in the comments!

My Very Own My Little Pony

I know, two posts, in one day?  I couldn’t help it.  I decided to join Rebecca Enzor’s custom pony contest: #PonyFest12.  When I read her post last week, I decided to create a pony for my main character in my unpublished adult fantasy novel, which is going out for submissions and queries this week.  And now that I’ve done as much polishing on the shiny manuscript, I decided to throw my warrior pony into the ring.

Meet Marce Archerwood, a character 15 years in the making:

Description:  Marce has moonink (tattoos) that glow blue only during rituals or as determined by the Three goddesses.  These marks include her clan-specific tangles, and the arrows on her arms are her successful hunts (both animal and man).  The cutie mark is her birthmark of the three crescent moons.  Her hair has a moon-white streak and is always braided.  Purple represents her Archerwood Clan color. Her eyes are blue-green.

Book tagline: Marce Archerwood is a champion archer and hunter who needs an heir, but she must decide whether to trust (and even love) her consort or execute him for his goddess-given gifts, which are illegal for men to have.

UPDATE: Since the voting doesn’t start until October 5, Rebecca said I could squeeze in Marce’s consort, Kevvan, to accompany her.

Description: Kevvan is tall, blond, and cleanshaven.  His blue eyes sparkle a little while he maintains a neutral expression.  His inked armbands indicate his high-ranking status, but the black swirls that cut across the color mean he has been sold. The ink that flows across his shoulder onto his back hide his triple-crescent birthmark and protect him from certain execution.

I would love your support to win my very own custom pony just like my design of my book character.  The contest runs from October 5th through 13th.  Please check Rebecca’s blog (the link at the top of the page) and vote for Marce and Kevvan from HUNTER MOON.