The Making Smiles on Faces Award

 I remember the first time I won something. I was very small, maybe six years old when my parents took me to my daddy's holiday party at work. I don't remember much about it because I was short and it was very crowded.
Everyone looked nice and for some reason I keep thinking my mother wore green. She handed me a card with numbers on it and told me to watch the numbers carefully. She somehow explained that I needed to have five of the numbers in a row and we could then shout out 'Bingo'. I listened carefully and heard the announcer calling the numbers. After they had called five of my numbers in a row I tugged on my mother's dress. She looked down at my card and said, "Say Bingo!"
I looked at the excitement in her eyes, her red lipstick and her beautiful dress. I didn't understand why I would shout 'bingo' loudly in a hall full of strange people.
"Please," she begged, "say it."
"Bingo," I said like a mouse.
The people around us heard me and said, "Come on, little one say it louder." Everyone around me started shouting 'bingo' for me. I looked up at my smiling daddy and back to my elated mother who looked like she was almost jumping up and down. It was one of those priceless moments, before people filmed everything, that I wish I could have bottled, preserved in a special time capsule and opened when I wanted to make my mommy smile.
A few minutes later when everyone was shuffling out the door, they handed me the grand prize which was a twenty five pound turkey and weighed more than I did. Pride could maybe explain the feeling I had, clutching

that monstrous bird, as I looked way up into my parent's beaming faces who looked at me like I had won the biggest jackpot in the world.
 I was proud of being their little winner back then, and now in 2011 I am proud to be the recipient of the Making Smiles on Faces Award, because that feeling, that memory will never go away.

 The following blogs came to mind when I thought about passing on the honor bestowed upon me by Norma Beishir.

RobBlogger
The Life of a Novice Writer
All Kidding Aside
Speak of the Devil
The Hub
Outofmymind
Pets and other critters.blogspot.com
Windchaser's Journey
The Blog Entourage
Betwixt and Between

Congratulations on making not only me, but many people smile.
P.S. I promise there is no correlation between your wonderful blogs and big frozen turkeys.

Prioritizing my Many Moods

What should I write?
Should I re-write?
Should I query?
Should I edit my synopsis?
Should I blog?
Should I email?


Should I play computer games?
Should I go shopping?
Should I clean the house?
Should I do laundry?
Should I make something for dinner?


Should I write a poem?
Should I write a story?
Should I write haiku?
Should I write non-fiction?
Should I pull the plug on my computer?


Should I get back to revising and editing my novel?
Should I attend a writer's conference?
Should I open myself up to criticism?
Does my novel need more research?
Should I attend a writing lecture at the library?
Should I read a book?
Should I read my Writer's Digest magazine?
How about my Poet's and Writer's magazine?
Maybe I should read my Prevention magazine.


Maybe I should stop worrying about everything and just do it.


Where's the crossword puzzle from Sunday's paper?
Should I color my hair?
Should I ride my bike?
Should I file my nails?

Maybe I'll crochet.
Then again, there's a good movie on.

Haiku

If you think I'm scared-
Then untie yourself from me,
Let me fail alone.



In biblical days
They all ran to the desert.
Not a thing has changed.




Embracing my work,
I stand on the precipice,
Afraid to let go.



Hooray, I exclaimed...
Standing over a valley,
It can't be long now.

Eternally Grateful for Life in 2011

Has your car ever broke down on the freeway?
Has your auto-battery ever left you in a ghetto?
Have you ever sunk into the snow with no one around?
Has your plane caught on fire over the ocean?
Have you been on a cruise ship during a giant hurricane?
Have you been a passenger in a car where the driver fell asleep?
Have you taken a Tijuana Taxi, alone?
Have you been lost in the forest?

Has anyone stolen your purse?
Have you flown through the Grand Canyon during a rainstorm?
Have you been in a 7 point earthquake?
Have you ever broken your finger in a jungle?
Have you lived with a heroin addict?
How about a professional magician who slices people in half?

These are not writing prompts.
These horrific events actually happened. Moments of my life when Guardian angels stepped in to protect and shelter me. Thank you for my life. Thank you for 2011.

Jaws of Abundance!

I really appreciate the ham. Really, I do. It arrives the day before Christmas every year and we freeze it until New Year's Day. Usually, we have a house full of wonderful folks looking for food for the twelve days of Christmas. This year it didn't work out that way. We had stragglers who managed to fight storm and rain, wind and cold to come see us, but in the end--they only stuck with us for a couple of days. Some of our relatives decided on taking their boys skiing this year and others just wanted to make sure their own piece of the American Dream was still standing when they returned. (I think I need to give survival skill manuals, hypnosis books and buckets next year.) Tension during the holidays sucks.

  Back to the ham. On New Year's Eve we cut the ham in half and took tiny pieces off the bone for lunch and froze the rest. On New Year's Day we ate a feast of delicious, ham, hard-boiled eggs, red cabbage and apple-stuffing. On the second day of the year, we had  ham with left-over stuffing, salad and sweet-potatoes. Today is the third--we just had a simple ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, and I told my husband I'd rather not see any ham for awhile--like maybe New Year's 2012. ( Did our relatives know we were going to serve ham every day? I guess that explains the sudden skiing vacation...the possible exaggerations of a leaking roof...the early morning meeting on the 26th. Even though it was in the freezer. They must have peeked. Yes, it's surreal, but I'm blaming the ham.)
 A sweet, honey-crusted smile came over my hubby's face, "But my dearest," he said, "wait till I make my bean soup with the ham bone. You'll love it!"
 Yeah, right. I'm kind of hammed out. Has anyone seen the bon-bons?