Time to Share the Love

I was just thinking I should probably update this blog, but as life has settled into a quiet if not slow routine, I was at a loss for a topic. But then I stumbled over to the RomanceNovel.TV site and found this new program created by authors Maya Rodale and Ann Bleakley. It's called Share the Love and it's a wonderful opportunity for those of us with too many books to give them to a good cause.

Maya and Ann are willing to take those books off your hands and donate them to readers who cannot afford to buy them on their own. Romances are filled with stories of women overcoming adversity, finding love, finding themselves and finding the power within. But perhaps most of all, they are filled with hope and that is something women in difficult or transitional periods of life need the most.

I wish I'd known about this program a month ago when I gave all those books to the library, but I'm sure I have more I can purge off my shelves and send their way. Check out the site by clicking the logo above. There's even a link for submitting your own or a local organization to receive donations.

This program is further proof of the generosity found in abundance in the Romance writing community. If you know of any other similar organizations where books can be donated, feel free to promote them in the comments. At the rate that most of us buy these books, it's always helpful to have someplace to send them when we're finished.

Looking Back

Like everyone else, I get a ton of random stuff in my email. Most of the time, I read it, smile, chuckle, sigh or growl and then delete. But the one I got today hit a nerve.

You see, I'm the mother of a nine year old in this crazy age of technology. Which means I'm well aware of how different the times are from when I was nine. Since I grew up quite poor, the difference is astronomical. I can relate to every word in the following bit, and I'm guessing so can most everyone who stops by here. I thought it would be fun to post the following with my own commentary.

A Rant (by anyone over 30)

I hate to say it, but you kids today don't know how good you've got it....

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!! (Have kids today ever seen an encyclopedia? We got hernias trying to carry those things around!)

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! (And we had to spell out all the words too!)

There were no MP3s or Napsters! Hey, you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! (I made so many tapes this way.)

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! (My father would have less gray hair today if we'd have had call waiting. And I would have gotten in a lot less trouble!)

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister! (Can you even imagine not looking at a caller ID before answering today?)

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had Pong and the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was... a little square!! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or
screens-- it was just one screen. Forever! (I never owned a video game system in my life. Still haven't. But oh how I envied that kid two houses down that had Atari.)

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE, damn it!! (I'm not sure who originally wrote all this but the bitterness is really setting in right here.)

Oh, and you had to use a Little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on 'The Tube', not your Plasma! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing... you had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! (Another thing that drove my dad nuts as we had to see what was playing on MTV during EVERY commercial break.) There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you Hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves; if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove. Imagine that! (Never had a microwave until I was nearly out of high school. We won't even mention how long the VCR took.)

You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

So, anyone relate? LOL!

New Territory - Need Advice

In the state of Virginia, and I'm guessing other states, the public school system requires students have a full physical to enter the school. As we recently changed schools and had not done the physical since Kindergarten, we needed a new one. So off we went to Dr. L. What you should know about Dr. L is that she is the most thorough doctor I've ever seen. The first time I ever went to her it was for a terribly bruised big toe. By the time I left her office that day, I'd had a pap smear and was scheduled for an MRI on my brain. I kid you not, this woman is thorough.

In the last month, Kiddo has faced two back-to-back bouts of strep throat. She also snores something terrible, suffers a touch of sleep apnea (stops breathing in her sleep) and is slightly larger than your typical nine year old. Lets just say, shopping for clothes or shoes in the kids department is a thing of the past.

According to Dr. L, taking out Kiddo's tonsils would make a huge difference for her future. Likely less infections, less snoring, eliminate the apnea, better sleep, better metabolism which would lead to dropping the extra pounds which in turn reduces the chances of Diabetes in her future. (For the record, her father suffers from apnea, snores something terrible, is overweight and Diabetic. So these genes did not come from me. Just sayin'.)

All this means my baby is going to likely have her tonsils out at the end of the year. They'll do it the second week of Christmas break so she won't miss any school. I've had my share of surgeries in my life, spent nights in the hospital and done the recovery bit. But I've never had my tonsils out. Neither have any of my siblings. I'm pretty sure both my parents still have theirs. So this is all new to me.

My baby has been to the emergency room one time and that was before she was two. I've been very lucky with her (and believe me I'm knocking on all the wood I can find right now) so I'm a little freaked out – on the inside. I should win an Oscar for my performance of nonchalance on the outside.

What I need to know is, has anyone out there been through this? Either you've had the surgery yourself or you've been through this with your own kiddos. Any advice, things you wish you'd known, words of wisdom? I'll take anything I can get.

PS: Her father says he'll come here for the surgery. He's 1100 miles away and has NEVER been here. I'll be requesting prayers for that ordeal at a later date.