The novel I was trying to write really wasn't going well, not well at all. I kept trying and trying until finally I realized that if it isn't what you wanted quit and try something new. So I did and now the story is just flowing out. I really like the main character I invented. I don't want to "be" her or anything but I really like her. It's interesting how ideas come to us. The idea for my most recent story came to me the other night when Samantha and I were sitting outside and three kids rode by on bikes, 2 boys and a girl. The idea and the whole tone just sort of came to me all at once and I couldn't get the words out fast enough.

You might be wondering why I changed from calling Samantha Snofie and back to her given name. I don't know is the simple answer. Maybe I call her Snofie sometimes and Samantha sometimes just like in person. And, sometimes she calls me Stummy.

Last night Samantha and I were out in the front yard waiting for it to rain. Tammy came by and sat with us for a while. All of a sudden she jumps up and dashes off in between our house and our neighbors. I couldn't figure out what she was doing but then I realized that there was a dog, a wiener dog no less. She had a collar on, the wiener dog not Tammy and we figured she must have just gotten away from someone. Tammy had to catch her because I wasn't going near her to get bit by another wiener dog. We walked down to the end of the block where the guy lives with Rock the Pug. We thought we might have to knock on all the doors on the block but then 2 people were frantically running down the middle of the block. They were so grateful that we had found their wiener dog Sophie. They were visiting friends and she had gotten out of their back yard. So, that worked out well. Just as we got back to our driveway it started to rain really really hard. Samantha and I didn't get wet but Tammy did since she had to run all the way across the street and down 2 houses.



Samantha is the greatest. This afternoon she took everything out of our kitchen cabinets, cleaned the shelves and re-organized everything. It looks great. On an old episode of "Reba" Barbara Jean rearranged Reba's cabinets and said she moved the mugs and tea to the area right above the tea kettle so that it formed a tea triangle. Well, Samantha showed me that she made a coffee triangle. Her memory is amazing.

Last night Samantha showed me her favorite web site: http://www.cutelittlekittens.com/ It made me realize that she is growing up so quickly. She surfs the net now! Then she told me that she had sent me an email but later decided she would just tell me what it said so she logged on under my screen name and deleted it from my in box. Oh my!