  MAYBE THE MOON I apologize for the delay in posting another entry. The old mouse got persnickety and Jeff was complaining about it.
I bought a new mouse and it worked fine until I tried to reboot the next day. I moved the laptop into "my office. " I finally got the DSL up and running. It was just crazy trying to do all of this while preparing to go home to Texas for the holidays. Work is going well. Every day Robert and I move a little closer to our goals. The seminar on "Scripting For Success" at PowerCore was very helpful.
I'm learning how to give my InfoMinute. We meet with the man with the nine properties tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that he will finally move ahead with it. We currently have four loans in the pipeline, but this would be great at Christmas time. It seems like I haven't been to church in forever and I sort of feel spiritually constipated. I need to get back on track. I still feel like God is trying to get me to write that book, but then I suffer from creative constipation. Don't say I'm full of it! The trip home was nice. Joan and I made good time, but hit some traffic in East Texas. We called and teased her nephew, Eric, while he was at work. I asked him if he and his boyfriend had named each other's unmentionables yet.
He said they had not yet had the pleasure of doing so. I told him that was good because it was a year two thing. Joan and I swung by Holli's house and I met her partner, Keva. She's very nice. She is in the process of becoming a life coach. We got into a conversation that we could have continued for hours. We definitely had an intellectual/spiritual connection.
Joan had always said that we probably would. I hate it when she's right. (Go gloat woman! ) I had a good time with the family unit. Thanksgiving was uneventful. Dad drove us to my grandmother's house with the urgency of a race car on a highway full of nails. You really need a velcro butt to ride with my father. I'm not sure how he does it. I don't think I could recreate it if I tried. My grandmother is very short and her house is built to accomodate her. I went to get a roll for my niece and hit my head on the vent hood of her stove. There was an audible BOING and I began to ooze blood. Ironically, my niece could not eat the roll because she thought I was going to die. Later that night, we watched "Finding Nemo. " My father seemed to enjoy it in spite of the fact that Ellen Degenerate was in it.
(Actually, I guess she still is in it. ) This was followed by "Moulin Rouge. " This was not as popular. My father got up to look at guns on eBay. We were two-thirds through the movie when my mother asked if it was a musical. Sigh.... so much for sharing. I was supposed to go to Blaises's house that night, but I just felt too tired. In fact, I didn't see any of my friends this trip. For some reason, I just wanted to spend time with my family.
Friday, we drove to Dallas and went to CD Source, which is the best used CD store in the whole world... with the exception of Amoeba Music in San Francisco. It was like Christmas and I picked up a few albums and singles at great prices. Some of the artists I picked up were: Happy Mondays; Laura Branigan; Lightning Seeds; Cliff Richard; Sigue Sigue Sputnik; and Army of Lovers. Yes, I know it's a strange mix. We then took a break for lunch at PF Chang's at North Park Mall. My mother loved lettuce wraps, albeit was very troubled that we should both order the same entree at a family-style restaurant.
Fortunately, she went for the almond cashew chicken regardless of mesmerizing powers of our server. My father seemed to like his food. He no longer made mention of eating dog once the food arrived. He seemed satisfied. This was followed by a trip to Half Price Books. This is the flagship store, which is as big as Sam's Club. It has the Black Forrest Cafe, a massage therapist, reading rooms, books, videos, records, tapes, CD's, DVD's and other stuff. Most importantly, it had a restroom since I was at the mercy of several glasses of mango-peach tea. My father found the gun magazines and books. My mother found a book on girl scout ceremonies.
Randi bought a book about the Beatles. I found a book about Microsoft XP, which I hope will lead to a solution with the desktop. I also found several books that I have been meaning to buy at a fraction of the price. I'm really excited to read "Auntie Mame" and "Glamourpuss," which makes several references to Bananarama. I also found "Origins of Marvel Super Heroes," which I had wanted as a child, but balked at the $6.95 cover price.
I happily bought it for $2.00. Afterwards, we stopped at Target so Randi could buy a small metallic Christmas tree for her desk at work. I bought the Brian Setzer Orchestra Swinging Christmas CD. We went to BigLots! for the finale. My dad bought two power drills that came with two batteries each. We went to lunch with my sister, brother-in-law and niece on Saturday and visited their home. My sister has an eye for decorating. Mom and I played with my niece. That girl loves jewelry! Randi was going to a concert in Dallas that night and invited me along. Although I was interested in meeting her friends, I was afraid she would be out too late since I was leaving to go home at 6am the next day.
Eariler that day, I had gone down to my dad's shop to find out what stuff I had down there. I found a bunch of board games, which I brought back with me along with old posters. There was even some stuff that I have inherited from various roommates along the way because I don't recognize it. I found old pictures of my friends and me. There were a few pics of Kent. I smiled and missed him. I also found a postcard that he sent me on Spring Break 1986 when the school band went to Ireland.
I brought it home with me. I was amazed at how I used to look like such a baby when I was twenty-five. The road back went well. Andi, Joan's best friend, rode back with us. We listened to a lot of Heart, Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. I slept some. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel. We made good time until Alabama and then we hit monstrous traffic. I got in and went straight to bed. Yesterday, I worked from home and tried to reorient myself.
It was a strange day. I thought I had lost my cell phone and wallet. I finally found them on the mantle of the fireplace. I was supposed to go to my writer's group meeting. I guess since I have not been in many months, I should reconsider this. I really wanted to go, but I haven't written anything new and I just wanted to stay home and read. I'm reading Armistead Maupin's "Maybe The Moon. " It's about a little person and her life in Hollywood.
It's very funny and inspiring. I love her fierce spirit. You can read more about the book here: urlLink http://www.literarybent.com/mtm_01.html. 
