Come on over to my shoutlife blog to see my interview with Tina Forkner, author of RUBY AMONG US.  www.shoutlife.com/angelameuser

I sold my first novel to Blooming Tree Press.  THE WATER FIGHT PROFESSIONAL is about a kid who must make more money with his water fighting business than his best friend makes mowing lawns or he'll have to kiss Prissy Izzy.  It's for ages 8-12 and it will come out in 2010.  This is just the beginning of my new career, so expect many more blogs.  

For a fundraiser, our youth group moves flocks of fifty flamingos from house to house.  For $10 you can send them to somebody's front yard and that person has to buy flamingo "insurance" to have them removed.  We bought the best insurance, which guarantees the flock will fly away within 24 hours.  We did this because other members of the church love to send them to us.  I think we set a record last year for having the flamingos in our yard the most.  It's pretty funny the looks we get...like from the guy who came to turn on our sprinklers and asked, "What's going on here?"

The funniest thing is that an older woman (my daughter calls her "the girl with the white hair") had the flamingos in the yard of her mobile home.  When the youth group went to retrieve the birds, neighbors called the police and our youth group leader got pulled over.  It took him a while to convince the cop that he was a leader in our church--he has an afro pierced ears. 

This is so going in my next novel.  The main character will be trying out church for the first time and will be shocked to see a kid in a flamingo outfit greet her at the front door--a kid really did this at our church to advertise for the fundraiser.  Anyway, I can see her and the guy who lives in the other half of her duplex sending the flamingos back and forth to each other.  

Who are we going to send the flamingos to next?  I think we decided on a church council member who is also a school principal.  That should get his neighbors talking.

Yesterday was my hubby's birthday.  I surprised him by having our masseuse friend come over after the kids were in bed to give him a massage.  He was thrilled.  

The interesting thing was the feedback the masseuse gave.  She could tell things about Dan just from where his body was tense.  She guessed that he had sick family--his grandma is going in for surgery this weekend.  And when she heard about his current job transition, she said he is moving in a good direction because his body isn't resisting the change.  It kinda makes me wonder what she found out about us that she isn't saying:)  

Anyway, Dan is so relaxed and at peace today, that I know I picked out the perfect gift.  Hmm...the kids got Dan Power Ball tickets.  I should go check the lottery numbers and see if they did as well with their choice of present. 

I wrecked my new minivan.  So I called my husband's friend (who owns a body shop) to schedule an estimate.  He laughed at me.  "Why'd he laugh?" you ask.  Alright, here goes...

Last year, within one month I ran into two Hondas.  Only one was totaled, but that one ($35,000) caused me to lose my insurance coverage.  Funny thing is that it only cost $500 to fix the bumper on my Suburban.

I once turned into my subdivision and didn't even realize that my Suburban clipped the corner of the car in front of me.  The driver chased me down, cussed at me, then admitted that I hadn't done any damage to his vehicle.  I forgot to mention this to my husband but was reminded when the guy showed up at my door (must have searched for my Suburban in the driveway) and apologized to Dan for getting so upset when I hit him.  Needless to say, Dan was speechless.

And here's the big one.  When seven months pregnant with my first child, I blacked out while driving on I205 in Portland, Oregon, drove off the side of the road, hit the ditch, rolled back across the freeway, hit the divider, spun across all lanes once again and got hit by a Semi.  This one was actually a miracle, because I had glass down my shirt, but not a scratch on me.  The hand of God protected both me and my baby.

Go ahead and laugh along with my body shop owner.  My husband does.  He likes to demonstrate how not to crash into the car in front of him or warn me if there is a Honda coming when I'm driving.  "Watch this," he'll say.  "I'm going to wait for that car to pass before I turn left."  Or, "Notice how I keep my eyes on the road when I'm driving."  

Alright, alright.  I'm going back to Driver's Ed.  For real.  Dan is sending me to save money on insurance.  But I doubt this class will be as fun as the one I took in high school--where our instructor could have been a stand up comedian and we ordered pizza when we got hungry.  Hey, I wonder how well my former classmates are driving.