I miss my kitty ...

Today has been an emotional day for me. I had to do something I've putting putting off for a long time -- clean my bedroom. I know that sounds lame, but ever since we had to put Belle to sleep I haven't wanted to do it. I make my bed everyday, mind you, and I keep it picked up. I just haven't done a good, thorough cleaning in awhile. In the corner of the room next to my bed was a little box Belle used to play in. It had a blanket in it, some of her toys, and on top there was a pillow she slept on all the time.

I knew I'd have to pick it up eventually, but it wasn't something I wanted to do. We also had little pet steps at the end of our bed that helped her get up. I still hadn't moved those, if you can believe that. Towards the last few weeks of her life, she slept under the chair in the other corner of the room. She had pulled out a lot of her hair, so we did clean that up right away, as well as remove her little water dish. But, I still had the other box and her little basket of kitty things. I can't explain it -- it was just emotional.

However, the dust was getting thick and I have company coming over in July, so it had to be done. It was hard. I haven't broken down like that in a long time. The good part is that I moved things around and it's clean and organized again. Now I have to tackle the bathroom, which I'm not looking forward to. Rick just accused me of closet encroachment, so I'm thinking I need to get that organized as well. But anyway, it's been a weird day. We still miss Belle so much. Life just isn't the same without her.

Kids, cells, books, writing ...

Yesterday I read an article about children and cell phones. It was called Children More Likely To Own A Mobile Phone Than A Book. The title alone was sad. Now, I'm not against kids having cell phones. I know many do, and at a very early age. It seems the average age is ten, or around 5th grade, but I know of younger ones. I understand every parent has their own reason for their kids having phones or not having them. To be honest, cell phones aren't my thing. I don't even keep mine on unless I'm away from home. And even so, that's only if Rick's not with me. If someone calls, they go through him. My girls have phones, but they're adults. The boys still don't have them and at this point, have no need for them.

Back to the article, which was written in the UK, but had studies done in the US -- they said 9 out of 10 students own a cell phone, whereas fewer than three-quarter of them own books in their homes. That's kind of sad. According to the article, it claimed that 80% of children who had access to books in their home were better at reading than children who had less or no books. It said children coming from homes with books remained in education three years longer than kids who came from homes with fewer books. The study says there is a clear link to a child's reading ability when they have easy access to books at their home. Click here to read the article.

Now here's the funny part -- one of my friends posted this on Facebook yesterday. I read her friend's comments and one said she felt literacy levels were rising in the UK because children had cell phones. In order for them to keep in touch with friends, they have to know how to write. Hmmm. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure "OMG, ur so dum, FML n TTYL!" should be considered writing, more or less literate. I thought about it and tried to give kids a break. After all, I use some of those terms when I'm online. But to claim that literacy and communication skills are improving because of cells and texting is absolutely ludicrous. I read another article last night (on a totally different subject) and I was flabbergasted at the comments. Some were obviously written by kids. If you don't believe me, click here. Read the comments and tell me texting and cells are improving our children's communication skills. Please, I beg you. Take your time ... I can wait.

It's depressing when you think about it. Cells are one of my pet peeves. I'm not anti-phone and don't care if others have them. But, I don't need to be in a public restroom and have some lady next to me in another stall think she has to be on the phone while she's on the toilet. Nor do I like waiting at a register while someone text messages and holds the entire line up. Last summer I watched a toddler climb onto a table at the zoo and then fall off. Both his parents finally looked up from their phones only when they heard him crying. And don't even get me started on texting/talking while driving. I'm no saint and I've been on the phone in the car, but only if it's absolutely necessary. I'm a writer, not a chit-chatter or text fanatic. So anyway, it was depressing to hear that kids are more likely to own a cell than a book, but it was laughable when people tried to justify it. Sure, we have phones, but also have shelves and shelves of books. My office/classroom is filled with books. All my kids have bookshelves in their rooms. Right as I sit here, I have several books on my nightstand, a pile on my vanity stool, several more on the vanity itself, some sitting on the floor by my chair, and a big pile of books in a little hamper that need to be put away. Maybe we're just some sort of freakish book family and an exception to what's normal.

However, it's still sad. It's sad to see two friends sitting together, only to be ignoring each other with cells in their hands. Sure, they're communicating, but not with each other. Will this affect us as a society in the future? Kids are our future. What happens if these kids grow up and don't know how to sign their name, more or less write a complete sentence? If you think about it, it seems really grim. BUT! Yesterday I picked up our local paper and on the second page I read this heading: BHS Juniors Earn Recognition for Writing Skills. The article goes on to say how the juniors at Bigfork High School earned higher on their Montana University System Writing Assessment than others of previous years. They scored higher than any Class AA or A school in the state and tied for first among Class B schools. Bigfork was one of several schools in the top quartile that received Awards of Merit from the Montana Board of Regents. Now kids at Bigfork High aren't any different than kids in your town. They probably all have cell phones and that's no big deal. The fact of the matter is that there is hope. Sometimes you to look a little harder to see it. So, yay for the kids at BHS! And now I leave you with this -- TTFN! (I'll let you figure that one out.)

That big, bad wolf ...

He's always gobbling up something or someone -- and this time it's Neil's arm. By the look of things though, Neil isn't too upset over it. Neil is totally into wolves right now, especially werewolves. Well, just as long as they aren't too scary, of course. Rick had Michael Jackson's Thriller video on the TV the other day. You should have seen Neil bolt from the room like a flash of lightening. Paper bag wolf = okay. Thriller = run for your lives!

We've been reading various versions of Little Red Riding Hood for school. We read the original by Grimms and another version by James Marshall. Today we read William Wegman's version. Do you have any of his books? He's the one that dresses up his weimaraner dogs. I was reading the part about Little Red Riding Hood taking blueberry muffins to her grandma. Just out of the blue, Neil says, "Why doesn't she bring dog biscuits?" I don't know why, but it cracked me up. We have several of Wegman's books and the dogs always make me laugh. They look so bored and like they're saying, "Why are you doing this to me?" We didn't do a lot of crafts for Little Red Riding Hood, but we did do some activity pages that I found online. It's amazing how much you can find on the Internet, especially for the older books and stories like these -- lots of fun, educational stuff!

In completely different news -- I saw the illustrations today for the second book in the Dilly series. This one is called A New Friend for Dilly and he searches from A to Z to find the perfect friend. Lisa Oakman has done a great job illustrating it. She's given Dilly such a lovable personality. And, that's hard to do with a rat who hangs out in trash all day! I'm not sure when this will go to print, but I was really excited to see the artwork. The Marshmallow Man, however, is at the printer NOW and should be available in two weeks. I can't wait for it to come out -- it's a fun story!

To watch, or not to watch ...

Last night I posted on Facebook how I felt like an outcast because I don't watch TV. So many of my friends have been talking about American Idol, LOST, Dancing With The Stars and all those other popular shows. I don't really feel left out -- just weird. I was surprised how many people replied and said they weren't into TV much either. To be honest, it's not that I don't watch the popular shows -- I don't watch any of them. If I do watch something on one of the channels, it's usually a political talk show. I know that sounds weird coming from someone who writes picture books. I'm just not into it. When I do sit in front of the TV, it's usually to watch a DVD.

Lately, Rick's been saying my sense of humor has changed. He loves comedies and is always trying to get me to watch the newest movies. I try to, but they're just not funny to me. Recently, we watched the Get Smart movie and he made fun of me because I didn't laugh through the entire film. (Well, there was that one part when they made fun of Hollywood actors not being able to give their political opinions if the city blew up -- I laughed at that.) The rest wasn't funny, at least not to me. Then we watched Fun With Dick & Jane and it was the same. Maybe he's right. Maybe I have lost my sense of humor when it comes to movies. Mind you, my whole family loves TV. The boys don't watch it as much as most kids, I suppose. They're more into PS3 or playing outside. I'm the oddball of the family.

However ... sit me down in front of an animated film and I'm all giggles. I laughed throughout the entire Ice Age 3 movie. Open Season 2 makes me bust up in hysterics, especially with Roger the cat. When one of the dogs says, "I gotta poop!" I laugh so hard my sides hurt. If someone says that in a regular movie, I turn into my grandma and become totally disgusted. I don't know anymore. Maybe I'm just the world's biggest prude.

Maybe it's just comedies. They're all so crude. It's spilled over into kid's movies, which is one of my pet peeves. An animated dog saying he has to poop is funny, but it's not when it's coming from a person, even if they're animated. I've found the movies I enjoy the most are the furthest from reality as they can get -- Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Narnia. Maybe it's not that I can't handle comedies. Maybe it's that I can't handle reality. When the spaceship breaks in half in Star Wars III and Anakin says, "I think we lost something" -- that's funny to me. But when it comes to television shows, I'm absolutely clueless.

How about you -- do you watch a lot of TV?

What was on your box?

Last night on Facebook, Lisa Yee asked what everyone had on their lunch boxes when they were a kid. I'm totally into nostalgic stuff like that, so I jumped on the post right away. Pretty soon, I found myself on eBay, searching vintage lunch boxes. Some brought back memories. I went to grade school in the 1970s and lunch boxes were a big deal. It was even more so because I went to a school that didn't have a cafeteria, so we had no choice other than bringing our lunch from home.

Do kids even use lunch boxes today? It's something I haven't looked for in a long time since my kids are homeschooled. I'm sure if they do, they're a lot different than what I used. I'm sure the bags are all insulated and come with cooling packs. The first lunch box I remember was an old metal type. It wasn't anything fancy. It was a simple red plaid design, very much like the one at the bottom of this post. I'm pretty sure I picked it out, but I bet my mom was a big influence with her love for plaid. (I have pictures of me in plaid dresses and pants to prove that.) It's funny when I think about it because I can almost still smell what the inside of those old metal boxes smelled like. It's hard to explain, but I guess some things stay with you forever. Then I remember getting the box in the picture up top with Snoopy. I loved that lunch box! I never had the metal version because that came out in the 60s. By the time I got mine, they had switched to plastic. I think sometime in between the plaid box and the plastic Snoopy dome box, I also had a metal Peanuts lunch box. I don't remember exactly which one, but I'm thinking it was this ...

Reading the replies on Lisa's post was fun. I remembered some of the boxes people mentioned. Some really showed their age though, like me with the older boxes or others saying they had Spice Girls on theirs. I had to laugh when I looked at vintage lunch boxes on eBay and saw things like New Kids On The Block. I guess that was a long time ago for some, but I go way further back than that. How about you? Did you carry a lunch box when you were a kid? Or did you use paper bags? I eventually went to bags, but I'm not sure when that was. I remember when the "Have A Nice Day!" campaign came out and I was so excited about having happy faces on my lunch bags. It's funny the things we remember sometimes ...

Just a heads-up ...

Beginning on June 1st through June 22nd, I will be running a coloring contest for kids ages 10 and under. It's for Lemur Troops & Critter Groups. Nikki Shoemaker, who did such a wonderful job illustrating the book, has given me a nice black & white copy of one of the pages for children to color. Nikki will also be running the contest on her blog. I will choose one winner for a special prize and then everyone who enters will be put into a drawing for a chance to win a copy of the second book in the series -- Stork Musters & Critter Clusters. I'll keep you posted, but just wanted to let you know it's coming up. Tell your kids to get their crayons and markers ready!

In the meantime, if you want to check out the book trailer for Lemur Troops & Critter Groups click here. I've had a lot of fun making these trailers and am looking forward to making more for my upcoming books.

Also, I've redesigned my website for the third time. If you want to check it out, click here. The first two I did using a template, but this last one I did on my own. Maybe in about a hundred years I'll know what I'm doing.

Weirdos ...

I swear, I have the weirdest family sometimes. They crack me up with things they say. Here are few of the more recent ones ...

"If you get married again, I'm moving out." -- Neil

"I dreamt you put me in a mental hospital." -- Rick

"They were feeding me liver, onions, and pancakes." -- Rick

"Do the eggs come out of their butts?" -- Nathan

"When I push on my eyeballs, I see cities." -- Neil

"I dreamt teeth were growing out of my tongue!" -- Nathan

"Where did my eyelashes go?" -- Rick

"Maybe we should get a puppy." -- Nathan

I have to admit, that last one made me laugh the hardest. A puppy -- yeah, right. Who needs a puppy when I have a houseful of clowns?