Oh! BAM a!

Obama's State of the Union Message:
What a speech! I am a little worried about that part about every American getting one more year of education. Does he mean me too? I just turned 65. Well, okay. If he's askin', I'm taskin'. I'm sending for that class schedule from Harvard. I hear they're online now...

Quote du jour:
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Milton Berle

Rainbow Bookfest, February 28th, 2009

Come see me! I'll be on the memoir panel

February 28th, 2009

Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

104-17th Ave. South, Seattle, WA 98144

I'm going to release my new romance*, an eBook, at the Rainbow Bookfest on Saturday. Come pick up a copy at the special price of $6.00 (after Rainbow, I'll be charging $2.00 extra for S&H). This is one of my green projects for the year. I have one more planned, a compilation of good work done by Northwest writers. I plan to post this on our website: http://www.northwestauthors.com/ . Yes, we can, America!

Bears in the Hibiscus

Janelle Meraz Hooper

-1-
Harvest Joy

When Mary’s husband, Brian, decided to end their marriage, it didn’t take him long to pack. That was because he had already been leaving, piece by piece, for years. Most of his clothes were already on the yacht that belonged to his father’s timber company. He had never been the outdoorsy type, so they had no closets filled with tents and blue-speckled coffeepots to sort through like some divorcing Northwest couples did. When the end finally came, she didn’t cry a tear; all she felt was relief. As he rushed from room to room, opening closets and cupboards to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, Mary searched for parting words to mark the occasion. She found none. The best she could think of was a few hand gestures that she managed, with great effort, to keep to herself.
It was a hard adjustment for Mary and her daughter, Kate. Now, nearly two years later, they were comfortable on their own. It was a Sunday morning, and Mary was on her deck. The sun didn't have any real warmth to it yet, but the air was fresh and lightly scented with spring.
She savored her days off, even though she considered herself incredibly lucky to get a job in a literary field at her age. She still didn't know what made the publisher hire her. She’d never used her degree in journalism, and the world was full of writers. Almost all of them were younger and more qualified. It had to be that she and the publisher were both single mothers trying to survive in a new world that had, without notice, changed the rules about men going to work and women staying home to raise their kids, prune the camellias, and make the meatloaf.
At least, the timing was good. Her daughter, Kate, was in high school now, and Mary had baked her share of cookies for the PTA, served on the county’s charity boards, and worked on the state’s political campaigns. She was bored, and ready for some new challenges. Ready but unprepared. Although logic should have told her that her marriage would end someday, she hadn’t made any preparations for joining the workforce. Divorce found her with an empty closet, her nails a wreck from the camellias, and hair that hadn’t seen a good cut since she’d found a coupon in the library parking lot one rainy day.
Oh. And she was an emotional wreck that, for some reason, she was unable to overcome or hide. Other newly divorced women managed to put on a perky face, bravely go to the next singles’ party, and flirt until they dropped. Why couldn’t she? Twice, for days, she’d planned outfits to wear to singles’ events. When she got there, she looked around at the men oozing with so much confidence they hadn’t even bothered to change out of their faded polo shirts and wrinkled khaki pants. Each time, she’d made a quick break for the parking lot. She was not that needy. She would never be that needy. She’d become a nun first.
It had been a shock to be single again, and realize just how little her stock was worth in the dating market, now that she was no longer in her twenties. Once reality had set in, she was no longer surprised or hurt when her phone didn’t ring on Saturday night. She had become like the big moon snails on the beach at Hood Canal. Still soft on the inside, but tough as a geode on the outside. With a clear idea of what was likely, and what was not, she was finally moving on with her life.
Stretched out in the old plastic lounge chair on her deck, Mary forced herself to start a whole new train of thought. She closed her eyes to daydream about the imaginary man du jour. She had a lot of them. Some were serious. Some were funny. Some were short. Some were tall. But they all had one thing in common: they all adored her.
Today’s man was one of the best so far. They were on a yacht on Puget Sound on a starry night. She snuggled into her hair and imagined him, thin, late fortyish, and bright. Mary squirmed in her chair and smelled his cologne. His closeness was electric as he sat beside her on some cushions on the deck and handed her a glass of wine. Together they gazed at the stars. She smiled. In her mind, it was easy to create a perfect world with no nastiness, no late child-support checks, no ex-husband, and no intimidating in-laws.
This gorgeous, literate man was nuzzling her neck and the side of her face. Mary could feel the gentle bobbing of the boat beneath them. “I want to make love to you,” he whispered. Feeling no resistance, he pulled the cushions off the bench seats and made a comfortable spot for the two of them on the floor of the yacht and cradled Mary in his arms. He kissed her long and slow on the mouth and ran his fingers through her hair. His hand moved down her neck and easily found her breasts. He slipped his hand underneath her bottom as he pulled one of his legs over hers. His soft laughter surprised her, and she felt the warmth of it on her neck. Before she could ask him what he found that was amusing, he rolled over and looked at the starry sky, took a deep breath of night sea air and said, “You know, I got a bigger boat than I needed for one person just so I’d have comfortable sleeping quarters on board.”
“Is that funny?” Mary asked.
“No," he said, “what's funny is we're sprawled out on the deck like teenagers...let's go below...”
“I kind of like it here.”
“Me too, but there's not as much privacy on the deck as you might think. We're close to the traffic channel and the bigger yachts passing us have a clear view of us snuggled up on our cushions. Besides, I bought matching sheets and everything.” He pulled himself up off of the deck and headed toward the cabin.

“I'll turn down the bed and you join me when you're ready. Then he winked at her and added, “If you dare...I plan to have my way with you!”
The mood was broken when the dog next door started howling at a siren on a fire truck blocks away. Mary pulled herself up in her chair and pulled her sun hat down over her forehead. Oh, what was the use? So she was lonely. What else was new? At times like this, she forced herself to remember that she had been alone for years before her divorce. Days and weeks went by when she barely saw her husband. Even when he was home, it was only physically. His mind was off someplace else. At family events, Brian’s absences raised his parents’ eyebrows. Mary made excuses for him, but she, too, wondered what he was up to. Was he really working? She suspected not, but there was no way to prove it, short of hiring a private detective. Snooping on people wasn’t her style, so loneliness and suspicion seeped into her life, like the mold that worked its way into cracks in her bathroom tile. She much preferred the loneliness she was experiencing now that she was divorced. It was a more honest kind of alone, and it didn’t hurt nearly as much as when she was married and her empty bed refused to answer her question, “Where is he tonight? Who is he with?”
She reached for her coffee cup. It was empty. Great. No sex. No coffee. What's next, world chaos? No wait, we already have that, she reminded herself.

The synopsis for Bears in the Hibiscus is on the previous post.

Quote du jour:

"Be good and you will be lonesome." Mark Twain

(epigraph, Bears in the Hibiscus)

http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/

Psst! Republicans! Knock it off. we're watching you!

Republicans and Wall Street still don't get it!

Coming in February 2009!

Bears in the Hibiscus, an eBook
Janelle Meraz Hooper

Mary Bergstrom, a single mom, has left her twenty-five year marriage and entered the work force for the first time.
Luckily, she has found a job she loves and two good friends who are also starting their lives over. Despite challenges, they haven’t lost their positive, humorous outlook. Mary has a plan to make a success of her new life that includes fiscal stability and excludes men. Not that she has anything against them, she just thinks she can’t afford them. Unlike Mary, her friend, Roxanne, is launching a detailed plan to find Captain marvelous with a yacht. Ray, another friend, bounces from coffee baristas to business moguls looking for love that’s lasting and real.
Mary’s plans aren’t that grand. All she wants is a Hawaiian vacation so she can relax. Too late, she discovers her ex-brother-in-law, Mark, a park ranger from Montana, will be there at the same time for a conference on state parks. He leaves a note for her at the hotel desk warning her to watch out for bears. He hasn’t seen any, but he thinks there might be Bears in the Hibiscus.
Mark’s interest in her brings complications she isn’t ready for: romance; wealthy, demanding in-laws that she didn’t like the first time she’d married into the family; a jealous and vindictive ex-husband; and a greedy and crazed ex-sister-in-law who dumps her two daughters to follow a con man into a scheme to get-rich-quick raising emus. Then, when that fails, she takes off with a rich Arab in a silk keffiyah.
Mary can’t deny she may have found true love in Mark, but is it worth it if it means being a part of that family again?

More info soon

Now you know where I've been! Politics or no, a girl has to work! Not that I haven't noticed how badly the Republicans and Wall Street moguls have been behaving. They just don't get it. I'm hoping Obama jerks a knot in their tail (he says he's got to be conciliatory, but I don't!).

Message to the Republicans: Knock it off!

Message to Wall Street: We want our money back!

Quote du jour:

"Never write a letter. Never throw a letter away." Mayor Richard J. Daley, Chicago (courtesy Keith Olbermann, Countdown)

www.JanelleMerazHooper.com

At last! An Idaho Baker!

Poster courtesy of Joyce Stevens

Thanks, Joyce!

Over two years ago, upon seeing the candidates for president in 2008, I complained that they were all Tater Tots, and what this country needed was an Idaho Baker.
We got him. No more hash browns!
God bless America. God bless our new president, Barack Obama.

Songs du jour:

"Joy to the world. All the boys and girls now. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me." Three Dog Night

"Birds flyin' high. You know how I feel...it's a new dawn...it's a new day...feelin' good." Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse

S. J. Robinson, Guest Author, Health Care Reform

S. J. Robinson and her novel, The Price of Death

A few weeks ago, in my rant about Americans having a lot of work to do to get this country back on the right track, I mentioned several target areas. Among them, the war, infrastructure, education, and health care. Here to speak on health care reform is fellow author S. J. Robinson, who is uniquely qualified to speak to our health care issues.

LET’S PUT ADULTS IN CHARGE
S. J. Robinson

S.J. Robinson is a former nurse, lawyer and authors. Her debut novel, The Price of Death, is a medical malpractice fiction illustrating the startling events that go on behind the scenes in our health care system. You think you know what is wrong with our health care system? You need to read this book. See more of S. J. Robinson’s information about our health care system and, more importantly, how to fix it, at . www.sjrobinson.com/


We have been relying on the free enterprise system to provide us with many of our needs for a long time—food, clothing, medical care, housing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Why doesn’t it always work? Because no one is in charge!

A totally unregulated free enterprise system is like a room full of kindergartners without a teacher. The kids are likely to come up with some very creative ideas. The problem is that they don’t plan ahead.

We need some adults in charge, people with experience to set the guidelines for the kindergartners. That is what the government is supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, it failed with the banking sector and it is failing in our medical system.

In both these areas the government failed because the only goal it set was to make a profit. That’s right, by historical accident corporations are legally required to think of profits ahead of your welfare. The best way to do that is to convince the public to accept the least amount of service at the highest price. That is what caused banks to make loans that they knew were unlikely to be repaid, and why big pharma and insurance companies haven’t come up with an efficient, practical way to deliver health care to the millions of upcoming baby-boomers. We know what happened in banking, but did you know that the US spends twice as much on health care as any other country and we rank 37th in the world in health care delivery, just after Costa Rica?

Medicine has known for years that the human body has about a 50-year warranty and after that things start going wrong. We have also known that there are a number of baby-boomers who are approaching or have passed age 50, yet we continue to rely on the free-enterprise system to solve the problem of delivering health care to this burgeoning population. There are lots of good points about the free-enterprise system, but planning for this catastrophe under the old rules is not one of them.

We need adults in charge to reset the rules so that the kindergartners can come up with their great ideas in an environment that doesn’t kill us or them. Let’s reset the goals for private enterprise. The new rules should require the best, sustainable service possible for their customers, not making profits for their shareholders.

Thank you, Sue, for all of your efforts on our behalf. I'm one of the lucky ones who can cover my health care costs (but not much else!). It breaks my heart when I see people go without good health care. Visit her website and get involved. We can do better, America.

Mt. Rainier in a flood mode

Mt. Rainier, January, 2009

Maybe you heard. After our snow, came floods. I know this is a lousy photo, but it was lousy weather. This is what millions of gallons of snow looks like when it's melting into the local rivers and towns. The good news was, our levies held--there was some doubt if they would when the river rose 36 feet above flood level. All in all, great weather for writing. I got all the way through another edit of Bears in the Hibiscus.

It's two in the morning, and I've never dazzled anyone at this hour (Well, maybe when I was much younger...). Before I go back to bed, who's watching Bush tomorrow?

PS- If anyone needs a creative way to save a 100-year-old Chickering from flood waters, let me know...

First Annual Stir-crazy Writers' Contest winner!

© Charlie Brough, December, 2008

Announcing the winner in the First Annual Stir-crazy Writers' Contest!

Charlie has a new book out:

Mama, I'm Coming Home
Charlie E. Brough

The first book Thank God for Pigs 1926-1945, introduced the author's family. A host of other people, both real and fictitious. There is the great depression, World War II, and for Duncan McGrew, a new beginning. For Cathie, his wife, a new life, but not without troubles similar to Job in the bible, all while rearing four children on an unproductive dirt farm. Book two of three, Mama, I'm Coming Home Bremerton, WA, 1945 - 1953 takes the reader on a historical, humorous and sometimes sad journey for a country bumpkin family attempting to adjust to life in the city after 19 years on the near waterless dirt farm. Tom McGrew survives Rheumatic Fever, but can he live in the same house with his father? Arnie joins the National Guard at age 16. Leane and Nora suffer over mothering from being molested by her father as a child. Arnie meets Lisa, his true love at the high school sweetheart swirl, then loses her. Trouble brews for her and Arnie. Then already in trouble, Arnie tells his father that he's joined the army during the middle of the Korean War. Duncan says things he regrets. Will he ever get the chance to tell his son how he really feels? iUniverse, $33.95 USD

I don't have my copy yet. I could have used a new read during this snow.

I'm not including other entries, as I'm not sure of their original source, and I don't want a bunch of copyright lawyers on my doorstep. But they were very funny.

I'm hosting the local flu bug this week, so will close.

Before I got sick, I did post two new stories on my book website:

www.JanelleMerazHooper.com

Old Joe and His Yellow Cadillac is very different from my normal work--it's very sad. Tango Moma is really just a filler about my mother.

STILL snowed in...

2008 winter storm- I was here, but I had to get up to take the picture...

I'm getting a lot of silly stuff from my very non-techie writer friends today who live in the area. I decided to join in. Oy! Will the snow never quit?!

Have you heard the rumor about the $30 billion buy-out plan for writers? As soon as I get my hands on the paperwork, I'll pass it on.

Quote du jour:

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." Die Another Day

Mama Mia

Have you seen Mama Mia! yet?

What are you waiting for?

Christmas?

(I have no connection with this or any other film. Just in case you're wondering...

welll...I was in a Warren Beatty film once...as an extra...in a parade...)

NOTE: I HAD AN EMAIL ABOUT PUNCTUATION. SORRY, BUT THE GOOGLE POSTING LABELS DO NOT ALLOW EXCLAMATION MARKS. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THERE AREN'T OTHER MAMA MIA! ERRORS. I'M JUST SAYIN'... (DOT DOT DOT!)

Call your loved ones!

2008 winter storm, December

My herbs are somewhere underneath the snow on those hanging pots. The birds are still ignoring my whole wheat bread crumbs--I suspect another neighbor is offering bagles...

We lost power for a bit last night. Our Puget Power was on the spot. I was still fussing about the tarnish on my silver candlesticks when the lights went back on. Thank you, Puget Power! You rock!

If this storm ever had any dazzle, it was lost when my furnace went off. We have a wood stove, but keeping a fire made in a woodstove when in a wheelchair is a fulltime job. Even so, the wood is stacked on the floor by the hearth--at the ready. If our power goes out again, I'll go to work fulltime gladly. Right now, it's 32 degrees, so it has warmed up a lot, but not enough.

On Friday, it is supposed to rain--and that always brings floods here. Oh, the fun never stops.

Seriously, my heart goes out to the young and the old who may be suffering from weather wherever in the world they may be.

Call your loved ones and check to make sure they're okay. If my granny were still with us, I'd call and caution her to be careful of burning candles, portable heaters, and loose sleeves around stoves. If you are new to our area, and are cold, KNOW THAT YOU CANNOT USE A GRILL INSIDE TO KEEP WARM. IT CAUSES CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING. Our housing is too air tight. I KNOW I HAVE A REPUTATION FOR HUMOR, BUT THIS IS NO JOKE. IF YOU HAVE NO HEAT, FIND SHELTER IN A CHURCH OR COMMUNITY HALL.

BE SAFE.

BE WARM.

TAKE GOOD CARE.

Janelle

It's a good day to watch Mama Mia again

December, 2008--Not bad for a rain forest, eh?

Snow- We're due for more snow today, but it's warming up. It's only 30. Yesterday, we had 12-17, depending upon where you were. I was one of the lucky ones who was in the 17 degree zone. Get out the sunscreen, Mama! A lot of my fellow writers have lost their power. In our senior years, being cold is about as much fun picking cactus stickers out of your behind.

The shot is off our sundeck and looks toward our pasture. I used to be an organic gardener, and the back pasture was a wonderful garden. Now, organic food is everywhere, and we've eliminated all but the cherries, plums, apples, pears, and blackberries. The new varieites of raspberries have inspired us to replant some of the vines next year.

I'm off to watch Mama Mia! again. It's set in Greece, so it's warm there.

Hope your Holidays are merry and WARM.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Winter, 2008, wood sculptures by Linda Studebaker

Snow- We're almost snowed in here. There is at least 10 inches of snow on my sundeck and just as much ice and slush on our hilly roads. In between snowstorms yesterday, we did manage to get some friends over for lunch. We were in such a hurry to get them back to Seattle safely, we forgot to serve dessert. Now, I'm stuck (!) with a pound or two of homemade caramel with almonds. Weep for me.

Lists- I'm still making lists and checking them twice. Sadly, the list gets shorter every year, as I've lost most of my senior relatives. How I miss my mother and her sisters. It would be hard to pick a favorite aunt. All of them were funny and loved to laugh. As I am just part Hispanic, for most of my life, I felt like just a partial member of their very special club. In later years, the aunts opened up more. In my last visits, I felt like a full fledge member of the Meraz Women's Club (Oklahoma-California-Missouri). How I wish they could have lived long enough to read the books I based on them.

My Aunt Norah and I pulled one of the last pranks together when I was visiting Lawton. A fellow member gave us the keys to her house so we could feed her cats while she was out of town. While we were in there, we put a life-size cutout of Billy

Ray Cyrus in her kitchen. We put an ex-rated note on his chest. He looked so real, he startled her. She found someone else to feed her cats on the next trip. Ha!

On my dvd- Mamma Mia! Psst! Pierce Brosnan can't sing, but he doesn't know, so don't tell him. No matter. I loved him and Meryl Streep and the rest of the over-forty cast in the movie. If you haven't seen it, get it. It's a wonderful way to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Plenty of blue water and sun. I loved every bit of it.

I'm famous in our family for giving a movie 12 minutes. If it doesn't grab me by then, I'm punching out of it. Carl Sandburg did much the same thing with books. I've read that, when he was traveling around college campuses giving talks, he'd stop by the college bookstore and pick out a book to read. When he got to the checkout counter, he's rip off the first third of the book. He'd tell the clerk to save the rest under the counter. If it was any good, he'd send for the rest. According to the story, he never did.

On my bed table- I'm still reading Lawrence and Zig Zag, with a short pause to read my friend Nancy Covert's new romance, Kaniksu Magic. Books are piling up, and I'm not good at dusting, so I'm going to have to take an afternoon and finish some of the books I've started. Sometimes, I set my alarm for an hour earlier, and read until it's 8:00 AM. As an empty-nester, I can get away with this. With kids, it doesn't work. The minute the alarm goes off, they're hungry, no matter what time it is!

I hope you're having a very Merry Christmas. For my friends who do not celebrate Christmas, I wish you much joy and happiness. Thank you for being a part of my life.

My Christmas List

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends!

My Christmas List
Janelle Meraz Hooper
from Free Pecan Pie and Other Chick Stories

Here they come again. On my television screen. Men with no shirts on, hawking men’s cologne that my husband wouldn’t wear to chop wood. It’s just $69.99, the tagline says. Who are they trying to kid? That’s almost $70.00!

And here come the beautiful women looking like they’ve never cleaned out a sink basket. They’re trying their best to convince my husband that he doesn’t really love me if he doesn’t buy me that ring that has diamonds big enough to choke a hippopotamus.

The tip-off for these pricey gifts is the tagline at the bottom: available in fine department stores everywhere. I’m waiting for the ad that says: Pick one up anywhere—we made a zillion of them! Better yet would be an ad that said: Free with a tank of gas!

Luckily for our bank account, after over thirty-four years, my husband has my number. If he wants to make me happy, all he has to do is bring on the singing fish. The rest of the family is catching on. My aunt sent me a singing chicken. My grandson gave me a singing lobster last Christmas. This year, I’m hoping for singing turtles—three of them.

Add to my list:

I want the new re-mastered CDs of classic rock and roll songs recorded by guys like Hall & Oates, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Mick Jagger. They rock!

And one of those big packages of computer paper in assorted colors. I want the loud kind. Not that wimpy, pastel stuff. I have no idea what I’ll do with it, I just want it. It must be the little kid in me.

Then, I want a tree, some tangerines, and some popcorn. It’s not Christmas without popcorn. Everyone knows that except that skinny guy on my television with the shaved chest selling cologne.

Oh, and honey, I was just kidding about not wanting the diamond ring. I’m crazy, but I’m not dumb! Pick one up!

www.JanelleMerazHooper.com

Bernard Madoff

Good grief! After they caught Bernard Madoff in a $50 Billion skam, all they did was give him an ankle bracelet and send him back to his $7 million dollar apartment?! Why? They say because he's never been a flight risk. Of course not. Why would he run when there was so much money still left on the table? Now, they say their biggest fear is that he'll commit suicide. I think not. Just last week, he took all of some widow's retirement money and she may never get it back. This happened when he knew he was going to be caught. The man has no conscience. Whatever makes them afraid he'll kill himself? My bet is he'll be on a safe beach somewhere before my coffeepot is dry. What makes us so stupid? Is someone taking a payoff? What?

I wish someone would ask the guy, "How much is enough? Who the heck needs $50 billion dollars?"

I keep thinking of that line in National Treasure: "Somebody's got to go to jail."

Well, at least the guy took my mind off of Winter Solstice. Two more days to go. Winter is sure going out with a bang. We're due for four inches of snow. Here in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, we usually get more.

Back to my novel, Bears in Hibiscus. It's warm there.

I've posted a couple of Christmas stories on my website:

http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/

Note: For those of you who are as frustrated as I am, I have set up

a skam-free zone at the above site.

It contains sample chapters of my novels:

A Three-Turtle Summer

As Brown As I Want: The Indianhead Diaries

Custer and His Naked Ladies

&

Free Pecan Pie and Other Chick Stories (mixed genre)

5 days until Winter Solstice

Cabo, a million years ago

5 days until Winter Solstice

Augh! There's not enough eggnog in the world to get me through the next five days. Maybe I'll rewrite my Bears in Hibiscus romance again. Especially that chapter that takes place on a Hawaiian beach.

With the sun.

The blue water.

The white sand.

Quote du jour:

"There's no such thing as bad weather...only bad gear." Bob Bundy

I hope he's pretty.

Psttt! (see below)

Is there no end to the greed? Another Wall Street scandal. I didn't even bother to look and see who this new guy is. Throw the book at him. And let's not send him to some cushy white collar prison. Let's send him to a real prison. I hope he's pretty.

On my TV: I took the night off and watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.Like all of the Indiana Jones movies, it was predictable--lots of bugs. It was ants this time. Always entertaining, this Indiana Jones movie was a closer. I'm glad they let us know what happened to the characters in the first movies.

That was one of the reasons I wrote Custer and His Naked Ladies. My readers wanted to know what happened to Glory. That surprised me. I expected them to wonder what happened to Grace. Glory was patterned after me, and I guess I never thought the character was as interesting as the others.

Quotes du jour:
I did get a couple of good quotes from Indie:

"How much of life is lost in waiting?" and

"We seem to have reached a point where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away."

Don't ask me who said what. I was busy eating popcorn, and didn't notice the names of the characters. After all, it was my night off...

http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/

Psst!!! Have you sent that check to the food bank yet? It's up to us now to take care of each other. Momma don't want no more hungry kids, Ya'hear?

Citigroup Rant

And while I'm on a rant, what's this crap about Citigroup paying $400 million to have the replacement for Shea Stadium named after it?! That's OUR money. We want it back! Note to Wall Street: The party's over. Pull the plug on your ice chest and get the hell out!

How arrogant can they get???

Wall Street- I don't believe that John Thain actually had the nerve to ask for a $10 million dollar bonus. Other financial executives are carrying on with business as usual, taking expensive trips and bonuses...how arrogant can they get?!

We are saps if we let them get away with it. Even though Thain has withdrawn his request, look for him to get it under the table somehow. What a bunch of crooks.

Here's a message for the clueless: We are broke. Our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and beyond will be paying this debt that may even cost us our freedom.

Wall Street needs to suck it in and do without, as the rest of us are. And, while they're at it, they can clean up this mess. They made it. They should clean it up!

Allowing these crooks to continue business as usual is criminal. CRIMINAL. A lot of these suckers need to go to jail. Let's start with the big, arrogant banks who are gouging us. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $10 million dollars. Go straight to jail.

How timely that the new decorating trend is "shabby chic".

Winter Solstice is next!

Merry Chrismas from the cranberry bogs in Washington State.

Dear friends- I have changed my Google settings which should make it easier for you to leave me messages. I love to hear from you!

I was clueless about how Google works but, thanks to J. A Konrath (http://www.jakonrath.com/), I've discovered a lot of message that have been left that I never saw because they were left days after I posted and I never looked back. I always try to answer messages, and apologize to readers who didn't get an answer to a message--I never saw it!

I guess it's time to get some work in. My husband threw away the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers--the cranberries. Wasn't it cranberries that Louie Anderson used to talk about in his hilarious comedic routine about the holidays? He said his mother would say, "There are some on the table, some in the oven...some in the neighbor's garage next door..." My daughter and I used to laugh until we cried. He is the funniest man in America.

Now, you might say, it's on to Christmas. WRONG. Winter Solstice is next on my list. I may start a countdown tomorrow. In case you're one of those people who doesn't notice when you have to hang a flashlight around your cat's neck so you can find it, solstice is December 21st. I have a special lamp for my office this time of year. It looks like an octopus, and has five 60-watt bulbs. It burns whenever I'm working early. My cd player blares Hall and Oates, and I wear all my rhinestone jewelry on my sweatshirt, wrists, and fingers. Augh! I hate the dark!

This was in my email, and I think it's interesting:
Bar Codes Identify Country of Origin - Be Sure to Check Them
The whole world is scared of China-made 'black hearted goods'. Can you differentiate which one is made in the USA ,
Philippines , Taiwan or China ?
For example, the first 3 digits of the bar code reflect the country code where the product was made.

All bar codes that start with 690, 691, 692, thru 695 are MADE IN CHINA.
Bar code items starting with 471 are Made in Taiwan like this one:
Chinese businessmen know that American consumers don't prefer products 'Made in China ', so they don't show from which country it originates any longer. However, you may now refer to the barcode. Remember if the first 3 digits are in the range 690-695, then it is Made in China . 00 ~ 13 USA & CANADA
30 ~ 37 FRANCE
40 ~ 44 GERMANY
49 ~ JAPAN
50 ~ UK
57 ~ Denmark
64 ~ Finland
76 ~ Switzerland & Liechtenstein
471 ~ Taiwan
480 ~ Philippines
628 ~ Saudi Arabia
629 ~ UAE (United Arab Emirates)
740-745 ~ Central America
Please inform your family and friends.

It is our human right to know, but its not the government's job to educate the public, just to rake in the taxes.

Therefore, we have to protect ourselves & make everyone aware.

On my bed table- Two books:

1. Agent Zig Zag by Ben Macintyre-about a spy who worked as a double agent for Nazi Germany and Great Britain, and

2. T. E. Lawrence by His Friends, edited by A. W. Lawrence. If you're very young, T. E. Lawrence was Lawrence of Arabia. What an amazing person! He is definitely the second person I'd most like to meet in heaven.

The first is my grandmother, so I could ask her whatever possessed her and my grandfather to get off the wagon train in Oklahoma. Oklahoma! There were no jobs there. No water. It was 60 miles from the Texas border where prejudice against Mexicans was off the hate-meter. Why, Gramma, why?

On my TV- not much. I don't know how many times I've watched You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, but it is perfect for this time of year. Lots of sunlight and flowers. Loved it (again!)

My website- Over the weekend, I moved my older stories on Halloween and Thanksgiving to an archives page. If you missed one, you can find it there (http://www.janellemerazhooper.com/ )

Custer and His Naked Ladies- a review that was reprinted from an Oklahoma City paper was in USA Today. I hope you saw it! I missed it until someone emailed me about it.

Kindle/Sony- By the end of the week, all of my books should be on Kindle and Sony. A Three-Turtle Summer and Custer and His Naked Ladies are on them now. Unfortunately, Custer is showing the wrong cover. That happens in this computer age. They'll fix it!

Quote du jour--Catalog humor:

On a plaque: Follow your dreams. Except that one where you fly. That never ends well.

On sweatshirts:

Paddle faster! I hear banjo music!

I was told there would be no math involved

Most of these were in the Wireless Catalog. I've misplaced the source for the math quote...

www.heifer.org/catalog --Don't we all have enough stuff? How about sending small livestock to a needy family somewhere in the world? It's easy. Heifer does all the work.

Soldiers Give Writer Reasons to be Thankful

I have newer Thanksgiving stories, but this is still my favorite. I posted it a couple of years ago, and have had a request to re-post it. It was originally published in the Ft. Lewis Guardian--hoo-ah!

Soldiers Give Writer Reasons to be Thankful
from
Free Pecan Pie and Other Chick Stories
Janelle Meraz Hooper

When I was a kid, I was raised in a large military family in a small town next to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Half of my family was Catholic and the other half Baptists (don’t ask!), but once a year, we got together at a large table to make a turkey suffer. My uncle, the Head Baptist, had such a reputation for praying so long every year that my grandmother always brought a rosary to the table so she’d have something to do while he blessed everyone but the pope.

But, to be fair, he always had a lot to pray about. That year, I had three relatives overseas. One was in Korea, one in Japan, and one in Alaska. Well, I know Alaska isn’t technically a foreign country, but we worried about him just as much as the other two. So my uncle would pray and pray, then, when even his stomach started to growl, he’s say, “Amen!”

While he filled his plate, he’d start around the table, asking each person to share what they were thankful for that year. I usually said something dopey like, “I was thankful for my mother and my new poodle socks.” And I was. Truly. It was short and sweet, and he’d move on to my cousin, who always said something that his mom had helped him rehearse, like he was thankful for the farmers who worked so hard to provide the feast we were going to enjoy. I always kicked him under the table after he said something like that.

Well, I’ve grown, and at sixty, I have a whole list of things I’m thankful for. If he asked me now, we’d be there until a green scum floated on the cranberry sauce: I’m thankful for a loving, healthy family. I’m thankful for this beautiful planet. I’m thankful for this country. I’m thankful for those old geezers who wrote all that “We the People” stuff. And I’m thankful for the men and women who protect it everyday.

As I write this, it’s weeks until Thanksgiving, and well, with the world situation the way it is, some of you may not be sitting at your family’s table this year. Although I wish deployments weren’t necessary, I’m thankful for a strong fighting force that is able to keep the peace wherever it’s needed.

Most of all, I thank God for letting me be born in this great country, enabling me to see my child and grandchildren grow up safe and healthy. Oh, sure, I crab about the politicians and what’s going on with our government, doesn’t everybody? But usually about then, they have a story about Afghanistan or Iraq on TV. Then (too often it seems), I see an American soldier pushing through the sand, probably praying he or she doesn’t step on a landmine. I always think that if I’m watching, maybe their parents are too, and how stressful that must be for them.

So, to the men and women who are out on a limb sometimes and think nobody cares, I do. Lots of us do. And we’re thankful not only for you, but to your families who make such great sacrifices so that our children and grandchildren can play in our backyards without fear. Happy Holidays, dear brave men and women, from my heart to yours. Come home safely.

Quote du jour:

This story reminds me of one of my favorite movie quotes that I regret I have to paraphrase because of a misplaced dvd. Tom Cruise asks Demi Moore why she is so adament about representing two marines that have gotten themselves into trouble in A Few Good Men. She replies, "Because they stand the wall...when sometimes no one else will."

More Thanksgiving stories on my book website: www.JanelleMerazHooper.com