Joanne Bischof...almost one year later. And yeah, oddly enough, I'm sick again...

Last October I read Joanne Bischof's debut novel whilst holed up in my 3rd floor room at the lovely Hostel Santa Cruz in Sucre, Bolivia.

I was dealing with a seriously un-fun bout of altitude sickness for which I received house arrest from our director, the beloved Alex Muir.

You can read about that day here:http://talesfromtheredhead.blogspot.ca/2012/12/be-still-myaltitude-sickness-my-date.html

As a I mentioned in that post, I had to remain in one place and "rest". Yeah, who wants to rest in a beautiful place like Bolivia? Well, considering the Oscar worthy display of suffering my SUV mates were treated to as we descended from 15,000 feet, apparently I did.

So, I picked up Be Still My Soul and before I knew it, I wanted to hold poor Lonnie close and smite Gideon.

I loved her second book, Though My Heart Is Torn, and repeatedly begged, bribed and bartered for an unfinished copy of the final book in the series.

Here's the thing...Joanne cannot be bribed. She's FAR too sweet and nice. I had the honour of meeting her at ACFW and she is so calm and sweet and kind and I think I scared her...


But un-bribable????

I know, right?! COME ON!! Who has integrity and keeps her word to her publisher and doesn't sell her Word files for Dairy Milks? Huh? Joanne Bischof, that's who.

So, FINALLY I got my copy of My Hope Is Found and once I could actually sit down and read it, I gotta admit...

It was a tosser.

What? 

A tosser.

As in, "I'm so emotionally involved in this story that when X happened to X, I tossed the book and wailed!"

But you know that feeling, don't you? That "I'm too feeble to jump up and down and scream, so I toss the book instead" feeling.

As is expected, the storyworld is exquisite, the prose may as well have background music, it's that good. The characters are flesh and blood, the pain hurts and the joy is at least a half a box of Kleenex.

I am worn out and thankful for a book as good as My Hope Is Found. The ending is true Bischof. If you've read the first two books in this series, you'll know exactly what I mean.  And yes, I kept turning pages to see if there was more.


Joanne didn't earn a Christy nomination for Be Still My Soul because she's good, she earned it because she's brilliant and can tap the tiny, hidden places of the reader's heart and fill them with music.

Well done, Joanne, I give My Hope Is Found 5 Dairy Milks out of 5.

Poor me....

 Oh my word that was a WHOPPER of a virus!!

My #3 child, who's taller than me, came home with a slight sniffle last week and it PLOWED through the house. My husband was the only one, so far,who hasn't gotten sick. 

Each of the boys was flattened by it for a day or two. 

I pushed through it long enough to get a chop, crop and drop edit done on my MS and then BAM.

I was down.

DOWN, people. 

How 'down'?

As in heating canned soup in a measuring cup and eating whilst standing up because it would be too much to sit down and get up again.

actual menu item > 

Yes, I even ignored my hair. In fact, I'm resting up to wash it after sort of looking like I've been up in the mountains of Bolivia for 5 days.

Only not as good.

(BTW? I miss being on the Radio Team!!)

Yes, I KNOW there are actual sick people in the world. But you didn't think I'd not survive The Cold of 2013 and NOT have some fun with it??

Excuse me while I go crawl into bed after exhausting myself by sitting up for half an hour.

Besides...

Umm, I *was* going to get all refined...BUT....

Everyone say hello to ... no, NOT to me. 

I'm the royal spazz, I mean, LOOK at that goofy grin!

Say hello to the lovely, kind, encouraging, smart, wise, soft spoken, elegant Mary Keeley. 

Mary Keeley is an agent with Books and Such Literary Agency.

Okay Redheads, ask me why I'm smiling so big.

"Why are you smiling like a whack job?"

Umm, I said "so big", but thanks anyway.

Redheads...

Mary Keeley is my agent.

Yup. MY agent.

As of 9:40 am-ish , Indianapolis time, Mary Keeley became my agent. And I became a Bookie!!!

God is GOOD.  SO very, very good. He waited til Mary and I were in the same location to give her the opportunity to blow me away. And "blow me away" is pretty much exactly it!!

Ohhh, poor Mary, now she knows what face I make when I cry like a pinched 3 year old who didn't get any cake at some other kid's birthday party.

But...

I am exhausted. I got home at 2am, I am nowhere near able to write a long blogpost about what happened. But suffice it to say, I am truly overjoyed, humbled and...

ready to work.  

A or B?

I leave tomorrow for Indianapolis and the ACFW conference.

The what?

The American Christian Fiction Writer's annual conference.

I swear, Redheads, it is FAR easier for me to contemplate trekking to Bolivia to join a radio distribution mission team than to face 600-700 people at a conference.

The hardest thing about going to ACFW from the 12th to the 15th ?
Meeting agents?
Meeting editors?
The throngs of complete strangers?

Nope.

The most difficult thing? The most heart wrenching thing?
I cannot join the radio team leaving for Bolivia on September 16th.


Life is full of hard choices, and sometimes God takes away something we love and replaces it with something we love.

And so here I am.
Going towards something He's blessed, and walking away from something He's blessed.
And I didn't have to make the choice, God made it for me, arranging things to so closely overlap that going to Bolivia would be impossible. He closed those doors with a look of love on HIs face.

Then He blew open the doors for me to go to ACFW, I KNOW this.

There will be more teams in the future.
There will also be more conferences.

But for now, I'm not walking up a hill, bringing the Gospel to the Quechua Indians of Bolivia, I'm walking up a hill to bring the Gospel to Native Americans. I'll do my best, and leave no stone un-turned to write something that takes the reader's breath away. 

And I'm fairly certain God will get me back to Bolivia. But not next week. 

Vaya con Dios, Alex and Company!!


Oh, and I won't be blogging for 2 weeks, see ya on the flip side!!!

And now for a horse of a different colour...an EPIC colour!!! The California Mission Ride.

If you've seen my Facebook page, you may have noticed the occasional post from The California Mission Ride.

WHAT???

Here's an explanation for their website... 

ABOUT OUR JOURNEY

California’s 21 missions were founded by Franciscan missionaries and built by Indians of highly diverse tribes during the Spanish colonial era. Dotting the coastline from Sonoma to the Mexican border, these missions form the state’s first and most significant historic backbone. We asked ourselves what would happen if we rode from mission to mission on horseback. Could it even be done today? We decided to find out.  And to make an educational documentary film about the journey.

Today, with all their complex history, the missions remain very much alive. Some are busy state parks. Others are monasteries. All are explored by over 5 million visitors each year.

On any given day, people crossing paths up and down the mission chain include park rangers, men and women of the cloth, students and teachers, and tourists from all parts of the world.  There are also archaeologists, historians, animal tenders, bingo players, horticulturalists, artists, musicians, soldiers, and descendants of Spaniards and Indians who made the missions.

Approaching the missions on horseback, we’ll explore perspectives of life and land in California from angles rarely appreciated since the advent of the automobile.  All along the way, we’ll use this site to chart our progress; to post information about special events and people; to blog about the journey; and to ask you to help us look for answers to questions big and small about California and Californians.

Our ride takes place in two stages, North and South. The North Ride begins in Sonoma on August 18, 2012, and ends in San Miguel on the mission’s fiesta day, September 16, 2012. The South Ride will pick up in San Miguel in mid-August of 2013, and we’ll try to reach San Diego, and then the Mexican border, by mid-September of that year.

Excuse me? 600 miles on horseback through the Missions of California???

The E in Jennifer? 

It's for ENVY.

What?

I said "Rolling on the floor, crying like a sooky baby... ENVY!!" 

As Heather Gilbert says..."OH MAH WORD!!"

Before we go any further, YOU MUST check out their blog here...http://www.thecaliforniamissionride.org/

I'll stand around and wait, JUST like Daisy Paton!!

Okay, *I* will simply wait...

Okay, now that you've read that...don't you want to grab the nearest half Percheron/half Appoloosa and jump in the truck and drive to California and meet Daisy and Trigger? And Gwyneth. And Jules, and Windy, and Rod, and Melissa, and Leslie, and Jade and everyone else?

Gwyneth and Daisy.

Seriously? Is this not beautiful???

Who wouldn't want to ride for almost a month through the historic Missions of California??

Come ON!!!!

I do!! I totally do! And I could, too! Oh MY WORD, what an awesome adventure that would be!!

And my dear husband AND My Intrepid Travel Partner just went "Oh NOOOOOO you could NOT!!"

 He's just not totally convinced yet.

But she's right. I nearly got myself killed in 1983 when my darling horsey friend Cochise (and the Chiricahua Apache leader's real name was Cheis, BTW) and I had a rather intense afternoon and I ended up badly injured. I lost my all horse confidence that day, and that was also the very sad end to my riding adventures.

Look what Daisy taught Rod!

(Insert melancholy and pathetic whine here...) Unless Rod Rondeaux and Rachael Waller Rondeaux (oooh, her work is LOVELY...)take pity and have me come visit them at The Indian Stunt Ranch where I will look like a COMPLETE IDIOT and Rachael can take stunning photographs of me falling, crying and going to the ER.

Unlike Daisy, who is as tough as nails. Yes, that is a cast. Yes, she kept going.

Squirrel!!

Pay attention, Jennifer...

So, The California Mission Ride has totally captivated this wannabe.

The beauty of the horses, the stories of the riders and the grand scope of the adventure just about does me in. And the history!? Oh my, toss that all together and WOW!!

Redheads, I highly HIGHLY recommend liking their Facebook page, signing up for their blog and following these truly amazing people on an EPIC adventure!!

Rod Rondeaux's Facebook page for The Indian Stunt Ranch :https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Indian-Stunt-Ranch/109193465767552?fref=ts

Rachael Waller Rondeaux's Facebook page for her photography :https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachael-Waller-Photography/201786075581?fref=ts

And the California Mission Ride's Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-California-Mission-Ride/316668341721378?fref=ts

Follow along, you'll be glad you did.

Why do I write what I write?

A lot of people wonder why I write about some historical injustice heaped upon the Navajo People in the 1800's.

I mean, they're just Indians, right? 
Who really cares, right?
Just hush up and accept what happened and move on, right?

No. No. And no.

A thousand times, NO.

Imagine this little girl, chased by a grown man on horseback, yanked off the ground by her collar and taken captive. 

Jesus died for her.

He knew HER name on the cross.

He knew the hairs on her sweet little head.

He knew her giggle.

He knew her smile.

He knew her name.

My smart, kind, witty and very gracious Navajo advisor, Mr. Theodore Charles, told me to look up a document from 1493 that set hell in motion for millions of people.

Here is an excerpt of an article on The Document of Discovery.

"King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella required those working on their behalf to read a statement to any Indigenous Peoples they discovered. The statement was read in Latin and Spanish, languages spoken by none of the people they encountered. In part it said to the Indigenous People:

But if you do not do this (accept Spanish rule), and maliciously make delay in it, I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and of their highnesses; we shall take you, and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of them as their highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, as to vassals who do not obey, and refuse to receive their lord, and resist and contradict him: and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault, and not that of their highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers who come with us…

Before we judge the papal edicts too harshly, we need to know of the Anglican connection to this Doctrine of Discovery. In 1496, King Henry VII granted a patent to John Cabot and his sons to possess all lands in the New World not previously discovered by Portugal or Spain. It is known as the 1496 Royal Charter of the Church of England. It reads in part:
And that the before-mentioned John and his sons or their heirs and deputies may conquer, occupy and possess whatsoever such towns, castles, cities and islands by them thus discovered that they may be able to conquer, occupy and possess, as our vassals and governors lieutenants and deputies therein, acquiring for us the dominion, title and jurisdiction of the same towns, castles, cities, islands and mainlands so discovered..."


You can read the whole article here: http://www.doctrineofdiscovery.org/krallsermon101506.htm



Can you imagine you're standing on a beach in Brazil and some twit in short pants and a silver helmet is reading this to you? Only you don't really know what reading is, because you don't have a written language. And you can't understand him anyway. And he and his peeps look gnarly and smell funny.

And the next thing you know, you and everyone you know is in chains.


Tell me where the mercy and justice and Christ-like behaviour was then and in 1864, and then we'll chat about why I write what I do.






Theodore Charles' son Mark Charles has a great blog, which you can find here:http://wirelesshogan.blogspot.com

Splat, thump, ugh and zzzzzzzzz.

Hey Redheads!

I'm back. Yep. Actually AT HOME.

Vaycay was fun. Funnnnnn. Fun funny fun fun.

Ish.
Fun-ish.
Fun-ish-like.
I did enjoy spending time with Hub's parents and several of his siblings. No names to protect the guil...innocent.

Nowhere near as fun as that wee trek me and my Intrepid Travel Partner (Hi ITP!) made in June. Heck nooooooo!

Anyway, ahem, I am HOME.

And I am TIRED.
I leave for ACFW in 23 days and 21 hours.
I have a tonne of stuff to do AND I am feeling stressed already!!

So, I might beg off an entry until next week, when I shall thrill you, yet again, and make your lives SO MUCH better and all meaningful-y.
So until next week, mwah, kisses and hugs and pray for me as I prepare for ACFW.

Off like a herd of turtles.

My grandmother used to say, of ushering slow moving people out the door: "Well, we're off like a herd of turtles."

We're outta here on Sunday, so, see you all in 2 1/2 weeks.

I may, MAY, post while I'm away, but we'll see.

So, until we meet again, behave.

Somebody has to.

And to anyone robbing our house?

 PLEASE take the TV. 

An open letter for ACFW.

All right, this is an open letter to anyone who's been to ACFW, or any other writer's conference.

Tell me your advice, any and every thought.

I'm nervous, but not crazy 'breathe into a bag' nervous.

Tell me anything from how much sleep I'll be getting,  how fancy to make the one sheet, to what not to worry about to where to go for breaky.

Annnnnnnnnnd...

GO!!

The winner is????

Here at TFTR, we like to shake things up a little.

So, I did the high tech work of writing each entrant's name on a piece of 3x5 index card, folded it perfectly and put it in a hat.

But not just ANY hat.

My straw cowboy hat I bought last summer at the Indian Trading Post in Oklahoma. 

It is being worn by my handsome assistant, Zachary. Who is also modeling our unfinished steps.

"Can I wear the hat?"

"Sure."

He's shy, JUST like his mother. And he needs a bath.

"Now what do I do?"

"Shake up all the pieces and make sure you touch each one a few times."

Which he DID, but I accidentally deleted that photo.

"Now what?"

"Pick one!"

"Okay!!!"

                               

"Hold it up to the camera."

The winner of Lori Benton's debut novel, Burning Sky is 

Patti Iverson!

Congratulations, Patti!

I will email you and get your deets, and Lori will mail the copy to you.

Sadly, it will NOT be personally delivered by Neil or Tames His Horse.   

Which I think is just wrong...

The importance of good spelling....and one day left to enter the book draw for Burning Sky.

If you add an E to my middle name, and Google "images" this is what you get.

Offender Name: JENNIFER LYNNE MAJOR

Arrested On: 10/10/2012

Alias1: JENNIFER MAJOR

Alias2: JENNIFER L MAJOR

Booking ID: 1552563

Charge:

• C/S-SCH second degree- P/W/first degree/S/D COCAINE
• 
  
• MAINTAIN DWELL/motor vehicle KEEP/SELL CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE
• 
  
• C/S-SCH VI- POSSESS MARIJUANA - MISDEMEANOR
• 
  
• DRUG PARAPHERNALIA - POSSESSION OF

Age: 41DOB: 01/10/1971

Address: SOUTHERN PINES NC 28387

Sex: F

Race: white

Height: 6'00"

Weight: 210

PLEASE spell my name properly!!



And today is the last day you can leave a comment to be eligible to win an ARC copy of Lori Benton's Burning Sky.

A visit with author Lori Benton. And what? A drawing for a copy of 'Burning Sky', too???

Have you ever picked up a book, read the first line, and gasped because that first LINE told a story?

"The woman who had been Burning Sky had kept off the warrior path 

that came down from the north through mountains, along the 

courses of rivers and creeks."

Ummmm. What? Had been? What do you mean *had been*?

After subtle, polite hints such as "oh pleeeease!" and the ever delicate "PLEASE!!!", I was privileged to receive an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Burning Sky in June. 

Then, basically as many members of the Royal Family do, I "quietly withdrew from public life."

Which is a nice way of saying "Don't bug me!! Lori's book arrived!!! Feed yourselves!"

I curled up in my favourite reading chair, brewed a vat of Earl Grey and wandered into the life and struggles of dear, sweet Willa Obenchain.



But before I introduce you to Willa, I want you to meet an amazing woman.

~~~~

Lori Benton

~~~~

You can visit her at : http://loribenton.com

She'll tell you about life, survival and being a writer coping with chemo-fog. 

But if your mouse is tired, here's a wee blurb from her blog...

Lori Benton was born and raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American and family history going back to the 1600s. Her novels transport readers to the 18th century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history, creating a melting pot of characters drawn from both sides of a turbulent and shifting frontier, brought together in the bonds of God's transforming grace.

When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching 18th century history, Lori enjoys exploring the mountains with her husband – often scouring the brush for huckleberries, which overflow the freezer and find their way into her signature huckleberry lemon pound cake.

As I got to know Lori via Facebook and email, I found her to be sweet, gracious witty and warm. There was not one iota of "I am a Published Author, feel free to kiss the ring". More like "So, what's up? How are you?"
I've learned quite a bit from Lori, and I'm sure you will too. Here are a few questions and answers about the book, the Mohawk, American history and some of the complex issues post-Revolutionary War.

1)      What was the catalyst for Willa's story? Did you have an "ah-ha" moment or did she grow on you?

A little of both.
There were two images that intruded upon me which I suppose were the first catalysts for Willa’s story. The first was of an old woman living in a ramshackle cabin in a clearing bounded by ridges, alone and quite isolated. She had a garden, and grew herbs to sell, but she had no one. I wondered who she was and why she was so alone and sad. I knew her name was Willa.
The second image I had was of a young woman, tall and strong, striding across a mountain with a heavy basket on her back and a heavier weight of grief, coming home. I knew it was the same woman and that the first image would be her fate… unless someone intervened.
From that the story grew as I brainstormed, story-dreamed, and did my research into the time and place.



2) Were there many European settlers in what is now New York State, or were most settlers from England?

The 18^th century New York frontier was a melting pot of European and Native nations. The predominant nationality that first settled in the western reaches of the Mohawk Valley was German. There was also a large contingent of Scottish Highlanders. There were Dutch, Irish, Ulster Scot, English, African, Mohawk, Oneida, Tuscarora, Delaware, Onondaga and more, and many who claimed more than one of these races and nationalities in their ancestry.  I enjoy peopling my stories with characters from diverse backgrounds. The New York frontier, indeed the whole of the 18^th century frontier, is a perfect setting for it.



3)Did you do a lot of research on the Mohawk and Iroquois Confederacy? Where did you look for your research?

I’ve spent years researching the Iroquois Confederacy and their interactions with European settlers, and the consequences of that. As I mention in the author’s note at the end of Burning Sky, there were many historians who made it possible for me to tell this story. It would make for a long list to name them all, but foremost among them are: Barbara Graymont, The Iroquois in the American Revolution; Timothy J. Shannon, Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier; Isabel Thompson Kelsay, Joseph Brant, Man of Two Worlds; Alan Taylor, The Divided Ground; Richard Berleth, Bloody Mohawk: the French and Indian War & American Revolution on New York’s Frontier; E. Wilder Spaulding, New York in the Critical Period, 1783-1789. I’ve also benefitted from countless online sources, both websites and people I encountered with the knowledge and willingness to answer my endless questions.



4) What is the feedback you've gotten on poor Tames-His-Horse? Are people divided over his situation?

Since the book is yet to release (as I write this) I’ve yet to receive reader feedback on any character save Willa and Neil, and that only general, so I’m not yet able to answer that question. But I certainly look forward to reader responses about Joseph Tames-His-Horse. He is one of my favorite characters, though he demanded more from me in the writing than any other.



5) If it wasn't the Mohawk, which nation would you have written about?

Definitely the Oneida, the second easternmost nation in the Great Longhouse of the Iroquois that once stretched from the Hudson to the Great Lakes. In fact I’m working on a series (not under contract at present) that will follow the Oneidas through their experiences just before and during the Revolutionary War. While it wasn’t a unanimous decision, they were the nation that mostly sided with the Patriots during that conflict, while most of the rest of the Confederacy fought for the British. The heartbreak and impossible choices that faced the Iroquois during this time have captured my imagination, and I hope to tell their story through the eyes of a cast of characters I’ve already come to care deeply about.



6) Can you explain the unique relationships between captives and those who stole them? Was it always combative?

Great question! That relationship was as individual as the persons involved. In Willa’s case, she was taken during what was called a “mourning raid,” where the women of a clan would request their men go out and bring them captives to replace loved ones lost by war or other death. It was part of their grieving process, part of their healing. The new person, no matter their sex or age, would take the place of the lost one, to be loved and cared for as if they were born to the clan—if they were agreeable to the women in question. If not, that captive could be made a slave, or killed.
From the captives’ point of view, how they coped often depended on their age. Young children, according to accounts of the time, adapted quickly and grew up happily as part of the clan that adopted them. Young women, when given the choice to return to their former homes, often chose to remain. One reason being, women among the Iroquois were accorded more freedom and influence than their European counterparts of the time.
Men taken captive in battle were often tortured or killed in retribution for losses the clans had suffered previously, whether those particular captives had anything to do with those losses. Some men found favor with their captors, however, through a show of courage and endurance, or for some other reason, and were adopted as sons and brothers. Some were content to remain so. Others tried to escape.
Captivity was a complex and (to Europeans minds) arbitrary occurrence, with many possible outcomes. It’s easy to imagine the terror of those taken into this unpredictable situation, the sense of loss and displacement, or the heartbreak when, once resigned to or embracing of their new lives, they were forced by treaty agreements or other circumstances to be given back, and were torn from yet another life and family to find themselves so changed they no longer fit comfortably in the place where they were born.



7) How open were Native Americans to having peace with the settlers?

At times very open—to the point of bending over backward to accommodate demands. At other times, especially after too many treaties and promises were broken, too much land stolen, too many crimes against them gone unpunished, they set their hearts on war. Yet in my research of the New York frontier I encountered stories of men and women, some of mixed ancestry but not all, who crossed the Middle Ground between their cultures and lived productive lives among Europeans and Natives alike, who were known by each people, accepted and valued. These are the people who intrigue me, who compel me to spin my own stories around their historical examples.



Can we hope to hear more about Willa, Neil and Tames-His-Horse?

With all my heart I hope so, down the line. There’s more of their story to tell. I hope to have the chance to do so.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My thoughts on Burning Sky...

Perhaps overcoming so much in her life has made Lori able to write characters who face such heart wrenching obstacles that the only ways to overcome are up, or through. Because retreat and surrender are not options, not for her, and not for the characters so real, you weep.

Willa, Neil and Joseph-Tames His Horse; oh how I loved that my heart ACHED for these friends, these dear souls who had been ripped apart by circumstance and determinedly moved forward through life, because life itself was all they had left. 
Hope was a vapour untouchable, security was only in that the sun would rise and love was beyond the next breath, if only they could stay alive to breathe it.

Burning Sky will always be on my 'must read again' list, I loved it. It wore me out, I am still pondering the effect it has had on me. 
If you're thinking to read this at the beach? Think again. Why? Crying at the beach is a downer for everyone else. 

Thank you, so much, Lori for visiting us at Tales From The Redhead!

Now about that

GIVE AWAY!!

If you would like to win a copy of 'Burning Sky', leave a comment, your name and your email in a non-spam-able format like this: (bettysue(at)bigserver(dot)com.
If you DON'T want to be in the draw, please say that in your comment. 

You have until midnight, July 31st.  I will do a draw August 1st, then I'll post the name of the winner on the blog that day.

Why we own a BMW....A WHAT?!?!?!?!

My husband, John, is a meticulous planner. When he sets out to do something, he's already thought of every angle, every probability, each cost and benefit and rarely does anything without thinking it through.

He likes things done right.

Poor guy, he's married to moi.

 #1 Son has worked all summer as a tree planter. This is a brutally difficult job. He is up at 3am and home anywhere between 2pm and 5pm. He is SPENT.

He estimates he has planted 102,000 seedlings this summer. 

ONE HUNDRED AND TWO THOUSAND.

He has earned enough for tuition, books, expenses and now? 

Enough for a car.

His *first* car.

So he started looking over the weekend. Sunday, John and I took Zach to camp, and on the way, went to see a 1998 BMW 323.

Good little car, lots of mileage, a spotless engine and it handled well.

On the way home, we decided that Dad and Son would go test drive it after supper.

So they did.

But let's stop for a moment, and take some time to remember that John is a PLANNER.

He does his research.

He is NOT SPONTANEOUS.

Until he gets behind the wheel of a Beemer and guns it to 50mph.

Oh, wait...#1 Son had closed the hood after they inspected the engine. 

But....it wasn't *QUITE* closed. 

Sooooooo. 

When John hit the gas??

The hood hit the windshield.

At 50 miles an hour.

THE HOOD HIT THE WINDSHIELD!!!!

AT 50 MILES AN HOUR!!!!

See the dents?!?!?!

Nice crack, eh?? It keeps going ALL across the windshield.

But hey, #1 Son got his car, I got hurt from laughing so hard and we get to play "fix the Beemer" all summer.

At least it runs.

And MAYBE #1 Son will let his father drive it, IF he behaves.

Entirely important, super high priority blogpost about a new dress.

I got this little number for 34$ on Ebay.

Not bad...since it has the tags on it that says 129$ !!

SQUEEEEEEEE!

 I haven't bought a posh dress in ...I have no idea!!

It reminds of those swanky 60's party dresses you'd see on that TV show 'Mad Men'.

Since I'm not too bad at making my own jewelry, I'm going to have fun cranking up the sparkle factor.

And yes, I have the shoes for it.

Now to work on the arms!