After a frazzle-dazzle day of holiday parties for my kids–think excessive cookie decorating and a toilet paper snowball fight…I just had to post this little guy.

I love him. He (she?) makes me want to write a children’s book about a roly-poly little hedgehog just as cute and sweet as this one. I’ll think on that.

An interesting little anecdote…
My first grader’s class has read Flat Stanley, about a boy who was (painlessly) crushed by a billboard, allowing him to travel around like a postcard, and they’ve decided to do a little Flat Stanley project of their own. Each of the kids was sent home with three envelopes to send to friends or relatives in the U.S. and beyond. These selected participants were then requested to photograph the Flat Stanley included in their envelope at various spots around their city or town and then send the photo-travelogue back to my son’s elementary. Okay, so we sent ours out to those friends and relatives we thought would enjoy participating, and today I heard back from two of the three.

One told me that two days after she’d gotten her Flat Stanley, a good friend of hers had received one from her nephew’s kindergarten class. So, naturally, the Flat Stanley’s made friends and even made a movie together. (I’ve not yet had a chance to screen this film, but if it’s good, I’ll post it here). The other one told me that after they’d packed F.S. back up to go ‘home’, they’d seen couple on the beach, watching the sunset with their F.S.!

Clearly, Flat Stanley is everywhere! If you spot one, please post about it here–or a photo on your blog would be lovely too!

Well, all those queries to all those agents has finally paid off!

Don’t get all excited and congratulatory though…I didn’t score an agent.

I did, however, score a sparkly $50 Barnes & Noble gift card for my year-long quest for publication at my local RWA chapter’s holiday party. I can do some seriously good shopping with $50. The reward-style Momentum Award is new to our chapter this year and still being tweaked. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time–and isn’t that what publishing is all about?

Fifty dollars was the second place gift and awarded on a points system, with points being given for a variety of beneficial writing practices: attending a workshop, reading a book on writing craft, querying an editor or agent–each of those was worth five points. And I tallied–I’ve queried 35 agents this year–all but one of them via computer (read, no postage). So I had some points. I didn’t quite dominate as I’d hoped, nor did I get the 1st prize $75 gift card. But the $50 is just fine with me.

And everyone liked my Spinach Queso too! We all decided it was a healthy vegetable alternative and could even be poured over turkey at Thanksgiving.

And I started a new manuscript! Yay!

And not the wishy-washy kind–the wispy, cold-weather kind. I think this is the first time we’ve seen even the hint of snow in four years. I’ve gotta admit, every once in a while, it’s kind of thrilling. We’ll see how tomorrow pans out…and whether I change my tune. (Right now I have Christmas carols in my head.)

Okay, well ever since I built up the ‘toilet stories’, they started losing oomph in my brain–I started thinking that they weren’t really all that amusing. So, I’m only going to comment on one here and that’ll have to suffice. I’ll be on the look-out though (not really).

So, as we were driving through Louisiana on our way back from Disney World Florida, we stopped at a little truck stop when my younger son had a bathroom emergency. I can’t remember the name of the little town, but they actually had a live tiger caged some 100 feet (I admit, I’m not really good with measurements and distances, so it could have really been any distance) from the convenience store. All the boys stopped by after sprinting in to the ‘outdoor, around-back’ men’s bathroom.

The women’s restroom was inside, so I wove through the beef jerky and Funyuns to the back of the shop (I can’t stop and NOT go, it’s an ingrained habit) and waited. I waited for a moment as it was occupied, and then when it was my turn, I stepped through the door, trying not to let any portion of my clothing touch any portion of the bathroom, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a pair of toilets, side by side, and a mirror. Side by side toilets? No stalls, no partitions, just two toilets lined up next to each other. I could not (and still can’t) think of a reason why those two toilets might ever be used in tandem. Just ick! I ran out of there giggling, caught a glimpse of the tiger and didn’t look back.

And that’s it. Really nothing special, huh? Well sorry about that.

In other news, I was trained in the fine art of sugar cookie cutout baking today, and I think I’ve got the hang of it. I bake quite a bit, but I’ve always been wary of the sugar cookie cutout, with its rolling and flouring and chilling and…cookie-cuttering. But no more! I’ve mastered it and will be happy to add it to my holiday baking repertoire.

What new talent have you mastered?