Jeni from the blog....

The newest addition to my desk.  Currently my hubby is using my office so I think it will live near my fish tank, but when he moves outta there jeni and my magic 8 ball will be back in their rightful place!

All About Stink

Today is my brother's birthday.  He's FINALLY 30.  I don't mean it in the snarky....  Ok, I totally mean it in a snarky, what-took-him-so-long way.  I mean I've been in my thirties for a few years and it's about time he joined me, my husband, his wife (Stink's not my husband's) and a bunch of our joint friends at the "cool table."

Of course when we were all in our twenties I'm sure we thought that was cool and I'm sure forty will have a similar "cool kids" thing, but for now it's the thirties...   I digress.

But here's the thing I don't get.  I feel older today.  I have no clue how that happened, but seriously I woke up with a few extra aches and pains, grey hairs, and a little more hard of hearing than yesterday (I'm almost positive it isn't from when I turned my headphones up so loud to drown out my kids hollering like howler monkeys, but who knows... and sorry to any howler monkeys I might have offended.)  Isn't it bad enough that I get older 3 times a year already (once on my birthday, once on each kid's b'days)???

But today, as I was driving home from Party City with a Star Wars balloon attacking me from the backseat, I realized that I was in fact getting older.  I should have been clued in sooner, but apparently I have a thick head.

Case in point; earlier this week at dinner with my mom, husband and kids; my husband says that he has to get more aggressive about something work-related, but I can't tell you what exactly though because as he says it a cheer from my high school days pops into my head so he gets tuned out... Or at least I thought it was in my head, but apparently my filter (you know the one between my brain and mouth) failed miserably because I was doing the "Be Aggressive, B-E Aggressive, B-E-A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!" out loud.  Sad thing is I wasn't even the slightest bit embarrassed by my lack of cheering talent.  I was just THRILLED that I remembered it from over 15 years ago when a friend used to practice it!  Of course my husband looked slightly ill terrified horrified stunned shocked (not in a good way) while my own mother just rolled her eyes at me.

But looking back she was right.  I was nuts.  I was turning into that person that was so excited to have remembered something that I just randomly blurted it out to prove I could still be smart.  And consequently looking ridiculous!  Point taken, Mom.

Also, doesn't help that I find myself telling my five-year-old daughter to turn down her music at least 3 times on any given day of the week.  Not that I mind the noise, but I'm sick of listening to Ke$ha.

Okay, so now that I'm totally off topic....  Stink, aka my brother (who does actually have a real name, but will forever be Stink thanks to a childhood nickname that stuck) is finally 30.  And I couldn't be happier.  He's an amazing man/dad/husband/uncle/brother/son/employee/person-in-general.  And I feel lucky that I get to know him.  (And to have blackmail photos of him in pigtails to show his kids when they get older!) But as always on his birthday it makes me miss when we were young without a care in the world...  (at least compared to what we care about these days).  But today I had a opportunity to see him for a few minutes to wish him a happy birthday in person and it was great!  He may or may not have danced along with the music in the musical card my kids got for him.  He also may or may not have sung and danced to the old-school mario theme song.  And he may or may not have quoted lines from Aladdin.  [You try to figure out which of these is true... I dare you... ;-) ]  But it was almost like old times and it was perfect!  So today my happy mood is brought to you care of Stink.  Happy Birthday, kiddo.  Thanks for finally turning 30.  Took you long enough!

My Magic Blog?

No, wait.  That can't be right.  It's a magic wand.  Not a magic blog.  Hmm, it must be all the excitement of hearing back from the publisher today that has me confused.

Don't readjust your glasses, you read that right...  I heard back about ten minutes after my last post.  I was shocked, amazed, dumbfounded, thrilled.  Turns out since this is a publisher new to the fiction genres they are sticking with only full length manuscripts, but asked I would consider extending the story if I'd be willing to resubmit. YIKES!!

I am still pinching my arm to make sure it's all real.  Tomorrow I will surely look like someone's been abusing me, but totally worth it to keep realizing that a life-long dream is a step closer to being realized!  So tonight, I am working furiously to finish the last 3 chapters on a full-length that might "the one" to get published!  And tomorrow, I start working on the proposal package for the novella to send to a different publisher.  *pinch*  Ouch!!  Yup, it's still real!!

Pavlov's human???

Okay, so yesterday was a big day for me.  I finally got up the nerve to send my first ever Query Letter to a publisher for one of my stories.  I know the likelihood of hearing back in a few days time is VERY slim as the norm is about 6-12 weeks turn around time.  However my neuroses OCD is making it nearly impossible to get anything done.  Every time my phone chimes signaling a new e-mail, I stop whatever I'm doing to check it.  The rational part of my brain knows that I'm being ridiculous.  The bigger, irrational part of my brain keeps sticking her tongue out at the rational part while it reads the junk e-mail that just came in.  I even had to explain to a friend today that I was SOOO tired because last night every time the phone even vibrated, I had to check it.  And let's be honest folks, no one of importance is e-mailing me at 2 am.

Chime with good news, please!!

Being the great friend that she is, she recommended that I give myself a good ol' fashioned talking to.  To which I patiently explained that I had, but that darn irrational part of my brain refused to listen, kind-of like my kids when I say "no, you can't have candy for dinner,"except that the irrational part of my brain isn't 5 or 7, it's a 18 yr old Jersey girl with big hair and a bad attitude (I can say this since I, myself, am a Jersey girl).  So instead of getting anything of consequence done today, I am having a day of in-fighting in my head while I try to figure out a good contact for other potential publishers.  And check my e-mail.  Because you just never know...

But I did find a way to kill some time today and keep tabs on my e-mail....  I cleared out all 2,000 random messages in my collective inbox.  Over 70% got trashed which felt cleansing, the remaining got filed properly which made me feel productive, but now I have no good reason to keep staring at the empty inbox.  Maybe my friend was right, it's time to go get some meds to manage my OCD neuroses so I can be a productive human again.  :-P  Yeah, the irrational part of my brain (let's call her JJ for giggles) she thinks that's a crazy idea.  So since she's ruling the roost up there, I'll just keep my phone handy for the next 6 - 12 weeks.  ;-)

Be well ~ Jeni

Out of the mouths of babes...

... or feisty five-year-olds who think they are 15.

Today I had promised my daughter a trip to S-bx for a coffee as a reward for her hard work on getting all her lowercase letters written properly.  As we are sitting in the drive through line; Grandma riding shotgun, me driving and her all tucked into her booster in the back; Kelly Clarkson's Stronger comes on the radio to which A sighs and says, "Ahhh, this is just what I needed; my favorite song, my favorite girls, and COFFEEEE!!!"  as she sips on her decaf caramel macchiato.

My mom looks at me and we both crack up laughing as we both have the mental image of a 15-yr old version of A sitting in a car with her besties making the same proclamation instead of sitting with her mom and Grandma.  Best coffee run ever!