Today’s quote comes from Douglas Adams…

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

I live in Oregon, in a very small town about 45 minutes from the coast. Last week our town got such a tremendous amount of rain several streets flooded.

Here’s a shot of the street behind ours. This is the street the Corbett kids ride the bus on to get to school…

There are actually stairs leading up to the front door, but the water has overtaken them.

(FYI: Our house fared very well, but our backyard did not. We ended up with a “pond” of about six inches deep by about twenty feet wide at the back fence. Thankfully it stayed away from the house and has now receded. But it’s a nasty, muddy mess back there.)   

It flooded so much so that my twins’ attended a grand total of ONE day of school last week due to cancellations.

Monday: No school (MLK Day)

Tuesday: Cancelled due to flooding

Wednesday: School operating as normal (But much to my twins’ dismay, they had to have indoor recess due to heavy rain. They informed me, in a very disgruntled fashion, that, “Indoor recess is BORING!”)

Thursday: Emergency closure after only two hours.

(Parents, let me stress how important it is to make sure the school has the CORRECT phone numbers of where to reach you, and your kids know what to do if they are sent home early. The Corbett kids had no trouble, but it was mayhem for others.)

Friday: Cancelled due to flooding

So, that’s how my week went. How was yours? And, how do you deal with unexpected events interrupting your writing schedule?

Why did the fish cross the road? To spawn on the other side!

Today’s quotes are from Vince Lombardi…

But, did you know there’s an equally important writing mantra called, “As you know, Bob.”? 

CLICK HERE for literary agent Courtney Miller-Callihan’s explanation of this phrase.

She gave me a Versatile Blogger award! How cool is that?

But, there’s a catch to getting this award.

*shoves acceptance speech up shirt sleeve and looks embarrassed for being all greedy with the award before I earned it*

I have to tell you seven random things about me first…

And, here’s more rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you 
2.  Share 7 random things about you 
3.  Share the love with your favorite bloggers 
4.  Put up the Versatile Blogger Award picture on your blog

So, without further ado, here are seven random things about me!

1. Fifteen years ago my mom and I survived a car accident. A “head-on collision while going seventy-five miles an hour on the freeway” kind of car accident. It was 12:30 at night and the other driver fell asleep, crossed the freeway median, and plowed right into us. My mom is an amazingly tough lady…she had to have bone taken from her hip and put into her neck to fuse two of her neck bones together. Left a brutal scar, but the point is, she made it through.  The takeaway of this story…wear your seatbelt!

2. My high school sport…swimming. I started swimming competitively when I was 9, went to Junior Olympics when I was 13, and lettered my freshman, sophomore, and junior year. (I had to quit my senior year, but that’s another story)

3. I am a mother to twins who were born four weeks premature. They were the “poster children” for the local chapter of our hometown’s March of Dimes organization when they were three months old.

4. My favorite flower is a daisy.

5. My computer chair has a seriously annoying squeak that I cannot fix. Or, maybe I’ve just learned to love the noise because I don’t try to fix it anymore.

6. My husband and I waited to, well…you know, until we were married. Yep, true story!

7. I’m a chronic abuser of exclamation points, ellipsis, and smiley faces. They’re all over my blog…and my emails. I can’t help myself .

And, now for seven bloggers I want to pass this award on to…

1. Florence Fois

2. Artemis Grey

3. Margo Kelly

4. PK Hrezo

5. Winona Cross

6. All the Wordbitches (Please, tell me you know their blog. Visit!)

7. Teralyn Pilgrim

And, if you’re reading this blog I’m betting you’re a writer, and if you’re a writer, you need to know this…

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing…Right F*&king Now.

Click on it, learn it, live it.

And finally, since brutal honesty seems to be the theme of today’s post…have you ever wondered what readers think of your blog? No, what they REALLY think of your blog?

Click HERE to find out.

Hubby and I have a bet going to see who can lose more weight.

Deadline is April 1st.

If I win, I’m going to a writing conference. If hubby wins, he buys some dumba$$ videogame system he’s been nagging me about for the last two years. 

Oh, it’s on now!

Please blog readers, keep me inspired so I can go to a writer’s conference! Also, any suggestions on which one I should go to WHEN I WIN?!!

(Ok, really I’m being a bit lazy, and am suffering from poor “returning to the blog with a fantastic post” planning, and our house is still in disarray, and we’ve still got cookies/fudge/everythingtastybutstilltotallybadforyou lying around the house that I need to actively avoid, and the tv has really great stuff on, and the treadmill looks way too dusty, and I need to rework my last chapter, and bunches of other stuff that needs my attention )

Join me here again on Friday for another round of writing quotes, and then I hope to see you again the following Tuesday, January 10th. My blog won an award, but part of the deal is I have to give out seven facts about myself. Now I’m off to do some deep thinking. And I should probably do a quick update on all the awesome that happened on my blogging break…

Ok, I’ll stop now with this final thought of thanks to everyone out there who has supported this blog with visits, subscriptions, and comments. (I loves me some comments) I really do appreciate each and every one of you! 

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,300 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Thanks so much to all of you out there who have supported me and this blog throughout the year! I cherish each and every one of you and hope to see you when I return on January 3, 2012.

Merry Christmas!