I Need to Buy a What? Horrors!

TGIF

Well, sort of.  You may have noticed a rushed feeling to my posts this week.  Much of that is due to a time crunch of the best kind...trying to get ready for vacation.  This weekend hubby and I are heading to Disney World.  What? You're surprised that a couple old fogies would chose Disney for our get-away?  Would it help if I told you we're going with both our sons and daughters-in-law, and all the grandkids?

It's going to be quite a trip.  I may even bore you with a picture or two when we get back.

But first I have to go through that horror of horrors: buying a new swimsuit.  Sure, I know some women love to shop for clothes, even swimsuits.  They are not overweight grandmothers.  Trying to stuff my body into what passes for a swimsuit these days, while standing under painfully harsh lighting in front of a three way mirror is not my idea of a good time. Which is why I've put it off till the last day.

But Disney World has water parks.  Two of them.  And my grandkids expect me to join them. I do not disappoint my grandkids.

Maybe I can wear a wet suit.

Before I go, I have a couple shout-outs I want to do. 

There's still time to get in on the Meet and Greet contest over on Back to Basics.  Lots of cool prizes there.  Check it out.

Also, check out this awesome trailer for Liz Fichera's latest, HOOKED. 

I've got a true funny for you.  Remember the grandson I hired to do yard work for me (to pay off the glasses he lost at camp)?  His contract specified the work had to be done before Disney World.  Naturally, he put off getting finished until the last couple days.  No problem, it's not like he'd have to work around bad weather or anything in the middle of this terrible dry spell, right?  He's here today to finish and guess what's it doing out.  Can you say "Gene Kelly"?

You've probably figured out that I will not be posting next week.  Look for me again on Hump Day, August 1.  Have a great week next week.

And since you haven't had one for a while, here's a


Groaner of the Day: 

A mother skunk gave birth to twins, whom she named In and Out.

One day In was out, so she aked Out, "Out, go out and find In. In's out and I want him in. I've been looking for him but I can't find him. Go out and find In and bring him in."

"What?" said Out.

"In's out, Out, so go out and find In and bring him in."

So Out goes out to look for his brother In, and within seconds of leaving, he comes back with In in tow. 

His mother asks "Out, how did you find In so quickly?"

In replied...
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.

(get ready)

.

.

.

.

(here it comes)

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.
.
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"In stinked."


(hey, I'm giving you a whole week to get over this one)

Happy Hump Day and a Couple Extras

Happy Hump Day.  But before we get to this week's collection of sillies there's something I have to do.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

You'll aways be my #1 hero.

I also want to remind everyone that Maria Zanni's new blog Back to Basics officially launched yesterday.  The first topic was Emergency Funds.  What?  You don't have one?  Better get over to Back to Basics right away.   And become a Follower while you're there.

Okay, on to our Hump Day nonsense...

Good grief.  I think that cat lives around here.

Ah well, sh*t happens.

Poor kitty.  Bet she coughs up an really impressive hairball.

Uh oh.

Oh, this must be how we got the zombie cat in the first picture.

And this brings us to the question of the day...

How do you pop bubble wrap?  Are you a one bubble at a time person or do you like firing them off in clusters?  Pop randomly or follow the rows?  Oh no, don't even try to tell me you don't pop it at all.  Just fess up.  We're all friends here.

Groaner of the Day: (just a short one since you've already had enough silly stuff)   Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other, 'You stay here. I'll go on a head.'

A New Plan and a New Blog

I'll be getting back to more from the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop on Monday but in the meantime  I want to tell you about one tip I'm going to try on my own blog. 

In a session on 'building your brand', the speaker advised us to be consistance - always keep the same voice within our blogs and across whatever social media we may use.  She also said the voice had to be consistant with the purpose of the blog.  Well, that pulled me up short.  To be really honest, I started a blog to build an online presence because I hope to get a novel published someday and it's generally accepted that an author needs an online presence.  So far so good.  I rather enjoy blogging and I like to mix posts about writing with personal topics, general information, and lots of humor.  But I write mystery/suspence, and not the lighthearted kind. 

Uh oh.

So if someone is interested in my suspense novel and they check out my blog and hit a post I've written just for laughs, am I screwed in trouble?

I asked a couple of the workshop faculty and got some mixed responses.  The concensus was I might have a problem. So I'm going to try something of a workaround.  Starting next week - well, actually I started this week - I'm going to follow a new post schedule.  Mondays will be Mystery, Murder, and Manuscripts, where we'll talk about mystery (suspense, crime drama, etc.) or about writing or maybe about writing mysteries.  This will be my serious author day.  On Wednesday, I'm keeping Happy Hump Day.  Just because it's fun.  Friday will be For Everything Else.  Might be serious, might not. 

Okay, that's the plan.  What do you think? Seriously. I'd appreciate your feedback on this.


I also promised you a new blog.  Nope, not mine, but one I think pretty much everyone can benefit from.

Maria Zannini is lauching a blog titled Back to Basics which is tied to her excellent book series and Facebook page The Frugal Way.  As Maria describes it, Back to Basics is "more than frugal living or how to make a few extra bucks. It's about creating the Have-More life without donating a spleen."

Well, who can't use that? 

The official launch of Back to Basics is next Tuesday, although there are a couple warm up posts already in place.  While you're waiting, check out The Frugal Way which is loaded with links to great free stuff.  You need to Like this page.  And I hope you'll give Maria a great launch day on Tuesday - visit, follow, share, tweet, enjoy.  Make her day. 

One final note - I'm going to be away from my computer most of Friday so if you leave a comment - and please do - forgive me for not answering right away.  I'll also be late visiting everyone else's blogs, but I will get there.

Groaner of the Day:  (keeping it short, it's Friday)  This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore