Thirteen Random Things from My Week

1. My oldest daughter went downstairs for something the other night and discovered that the sewer was backing up into our basement. 2. We discovered the sewer issue at about 7:00 in the evening. The plumber left at 2:30 in the morning. 3. While the plumber was here, he asked my daughter to fill the washer with water and then drain it so he could see if the drains were working again. While the washing machine was trying to pump out the water, it began smoking. Badly. 4. The fix for the washer we hoped would be minor isn't, so it's new washer time for me! I could give you 13 reasons why this is very bad news, but I won't bore you. 5. I learned that my oldest niece, who is pregnant with her fourth baby, is having another boy, leaving Miss Jade as the only girl in the family. Sorry, Jade. 6. I learned that my youngest niece is pregnant with her first baby. I'm very excited for her because this is something she's wanted for a very long time. 7. My granddaughter, who is still in diapers, and who woke up before her mother this morning, decided to paint her bedroom. Three guesses what she used for paint. 8. I popped a bagel into the toaster yesterday, only to discover that the toaster doesn't work anymore. It still doesn't work this morning. 9. I'm not even going to talk about the mold we found growing on the basement walls, but I will mention that apparently our neighbor spent several weeks in the hospital with pneumonia thanks to mold growing in her house, and another set of neighbors moved out of the house on the other side when they discovered mold. 10. I'm going to RWA's national conference in July. This year, the conference will be held in Washington DC, and I'm excited since I've never been there before. 11. I've been invited to teach at the Low Country Romance Writers Jumpstart Master Class in 2010, and I'm very excited. It looks like it should be a fabulous experience. 12. I finished judging 2 writing contest entries sitting on my desk and hard drive. Each one took over two hours by the time I'd read and commented on the manuscript and filled out the judges' score sheet. 13. Finished chapter one of my new work in progress, a paranormal mystery. 13 1/2 ... I tried going to the Thursday Thirteen site to post that my post was up .... and it's gone

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen Things in My Life Beginning with “H”

In No Particular Order

1. Holidays. I love ‘em. When I have the time and energy, I love to decorate for them. Love to celebrate them. Love to surround myself in the sights and smells of them.

2. Hair. For as long as I can remember, it's been the bane of my existence. Yes, you can have hair that's too thick. Trust me. Too thick. Too curly. Too dense. Just too. When I was younger, I wanted long, straight, thin hair. I'd still like to wear a decent ponytail just once before I die. I'm not sure it will ever happen. 3. Henry VIII. I'm fascinated by the history surrounding this man, and have been for years. I'm also a huge, huge fan of The Tudors on Showtime. Jonathan Rhys Myers does an incredible job portraying him. 4. History. Okay, I'll admit it. I'm fascinated by history in general, especially old English and early American history. 5. Home. I love to travel, but I also love to come home. Once I'm here, it's hard to pry me loose again. When I was a kid, I would have been perfectly content to have everyone come to my house to play. I saw no need to ever leave my house and my yard. Now, I'd rather go to somebody else's house so I don't have to clean mine :) 6. Honesty. It's very important to me. Tell me anything, but make sure it's the truth. The truth, I can handle. 7. Hopscotch. One of my favorite childhood games. Apparently, my favorite layout was the English one. The one they refer to as "American" had the X square in where 2 & 3 are in the picture here, and I tended to lose my balance. I needed those extra few jumps to get my footing, I guess. 8. Hope. Without it, life is flat. 9. Horses (imaginary). Another favorite childhood game was imaginary horse. My friends and I would play it at recess when I was in first and second grades. My horse was black with a star on her forehead, and her name was .... wait for it .... Star! Though I imagined myself a stellar horsewoman, I only rode real horses about once a year, so it's the imaginary ones that stick in my mind. 10. Hospitals. My family and I have spent entirely too much time in hospitals. They're not a place I like to go, but when I have to be there I'm awfully grateful for them, and for the people who work in them. 11. Hugs. From granddaughters. Heaven on earth.

12. Hungary. I've never been there, but my brother-in-law was born there, and his mother lives there still, and my nieces and nephew are half Hungarian, so it counts. 13. Haagen Dazs: I'll admit it. I'm a complete ice cream freak. Winter, summer, spring and fall. It's never too cold. I love Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean.

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Things In My Life Beginning with "G" (In No Particular Order)

1. Grandbaby. Oh, come on! Surely you're not surprised. 2. Goody Goody Gunshots, coming to a book store near you on September 2!!!!! 3. Gasoline Prices. Again, no surprise here. And don't get me started talking about the oil company executives!!!! 4. Gavel. I have one with my name engraved in it. How's that for a useless bit of trivia??? 5. When I was a very little girl living in Montana, I used to get nosebleeds frequently, and for no discernable reason. My mother took me to the doctor, who decreed that the blood vessels in my nose were too close to the surface. After that, my mother used to swab my nose with the glycerine-soaked end of a cotton swab. If you have never had your mother shove the glycerine-soaked end of a Q-Tip into your nose and swab around, you're missing an experience! 6. My mother once went to a chiropractor who thought that goat's milk was the one secret ingredient that could cure all of the world's ills. When I told him that there was a definite (and not necessarily positive) difference between the taste of goat's milk and that of cow's milk, he told me I was crazy. He swore up and down that it was impossible to tell the difference. Frankly, I don't think the man had any taste buds. 7. God, who brings me all good things in my life, and who has carried me in His hands on more than one occasion. 8. Golden Gate Bridge. I'm going to San Francisco in a week, and it's the first time I've been back for any length of time since my parents lived there. They didn't live in San Francisco, exactly, but in San Mateo, on the peninsula. I remember going to the city once, long before my parents moved there, and getting sucked by traffic onto the Golden Gate Bridge over and over again while my dad tried to find a hotel for us to stay in. It kept getting later and later, but traffic never thinned. The rest of us fought the giggles. My dad just kept getting more and more frustrated. 9. Giggles. Ever come down with a case of the giggles? They always hit at the most inappropriate times, usually when you're in a place or a situation where you should remain silent. I remember once when I was probably 12 or 13, my mother and I got the giggles while we were at the library. This was back in the day when libraries were truly, truly silent, so even our quietest efforts to pull ourselves together echoed off the vaulted ceilings. I don't even remember what we were laughing about now, but that's the best thing about the giggles. They come upon you without reason. 10. Granny Smith Apples -- just about the finest apple ever created. If you ask me, apples have no business being red. 11. Great Salt Lake -- Along the western edge of the Salt Lake basin lies the Great Salt Lake. According to thefreedictionary.com, it's the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, the fourth largest terminal lake in the world. Water flows in, but it doesn't flow out. It evaporates here in the middle of the dessert, leaving a deposit of minerals (salt) behind. It covers an area of about 1,700 miles, although that fluctuates a lot since the lake is so shallow. It is not like other lakes. There's no recreation on it, there's no life in it except brine shrimp, and there's no real reason to spend time near it, if you ask me. Bottom line? It stinks! 12. Gumbo. Okay, this one isn't in my life, but I'd like it to be. I'd love to get my hands on a really good recipe -- not too hot. Not too difficult. 13. My cousin Gary, who passed away unexpectedly on September 23, 2006. Here's to you, bud!

Thursday Thirteen #8

Thirteen Things in My Life Beginning With "F"
(in no particular 0rder)

Just realized that I hadn't completely finished this blog post I started on Thursday -- so here it is, slightly late.

1. Florida -- which is where my daughter, her husband, and the Wonder Baby live now. It is also where I just came home from after a heavenly two-week visit. It is also where I am planning to move, just as soon as it's practical, despite the humidity and the bugs and the gators and the snakes and the bugs.

2. Family -- Top on my list of important things/people. Kids, the grandkid, my sister and brother, nieces and nephes, my mother. Dad too, even though he's no longer with us. Cousins ... Do I have cousins! Aunts. Uncles.

3. Friends -- Can't get through life without a few.

4. Fry Sauce -- without which I cannot eat french fries. For those poor souls who have no idea what fry sauce is, it's usually mayonnaise and ketchup, sometimes with a dab of barbeque sauce or something else to give it zing.

6. Faint -- A feeling I've been fighting for months until I finally learned that I was suffering from anemia. Now, after a month of iron supplements, I no longer feel as if I'm about to pass out all the time. I'd almost forgotten how it felt not to feel as if I was going down for the count.

6. Faith -- An element that's of ever-increasing importance in my life.

7, Freedom -- I don't think you can have a family member in the military without thinking about freedom .... a lot. I'm grateful for it. I thank our founding fathers for fighting for it. I thank my dad, my uncles, and my son-in-law for putting their lives on the line for it. I try not to take it for granted.











8. Father -- Mine passed away nearly two years ago, and I still catch myself wanting to forward an e-mail i think he might be interested in, or thinking I see him in a parking lot when I'm out running errands. I miss him.

9. Fiction -- Of course. I mean, it's what I do!!!

10. Firewalkers -- The name of the group of my closest friends, who are also a critique group on occasion. I say on occasion because I don't remember the last time all four of us were producing pages in a new manuscript simultaneously, and especially during the past couple of years of pregnancy, various battles with cancer, depression, and moving, nobody's been at the computer long enough to even e-mail, much less write. But we'll get back there. I have faith.

11. Forgetfulness -- According to my kids, I have the world's worst memory. I think they may be exaggerating a bit ... but probably not by much :(

12. Forsythia -- One of my favorite bits of flora in the world. It blooms in early spring, and it's bright and cheery and full of hope and promise after a long, cold winter. When I was young and newly married, my then-husband planted three of these in the back yard where I could see them from the kitchen window.

13. Fuel Prices -- Ridiculous. Absolutely unacceptable. And since I'm not alone in this one, I'm not going to say much more.

Thursday Thirteen #7

Thirteen Things from My Life that Begin with "E" (in no particular order)

1. E-mail. I spend way too much time every day reading and responding to it, and yet I'd much rather use e-mail than to have constant interruptions by phone during the day. 2. Easy chair. Absolutely my favorite place to write. 3. Editing. Probably one of the most important parts of writing a book in my opinion. Creating is essential, of course, but the magic happens for me during the revision or editing stages. 4. Enchiladas. Cheese in flour tortillas. From Lorena's. M-m-m-m-m!!!!! 5. Epiphany. An integral part of any book, especially the ones I write. 6. Executive Session. I've been serving on a board of directors for the past three years, so it's become a part of my life. 7. Exercise. Not that I actually do any, but I spend a great deal of time each day avoiding it. 8. Exhaustion. A constant problem, probably because of my outlook toward #7 above. 9. Ex-husband. I had one for many years, but he passed away in 1999. 10. Extortion. Way back when I was about 20 or 21, a couple of idiots decided that my ex-husband and I must have had money. I guess he thought this because my ex's family owned a business that seemed to be doing very well. We received an extortion threat and my daughter and I went into hiding while the police set up a command center in my (very messy) living room. Eventually, the bad guys were apprehended and my daughter and I were able to come home again. Too bad the extortionists didn't realize that my ex's family kept us poor as church mice. It could have saved them 10-15 years. 11. Eyewitness. I was the eyewitness in a hit and run accident a few years back while driving home from a book signing at one of my local bookstores. 12. The Edgar Award. No, I don't have one, but I want one some day!!! 13. Editors. They're a very large part of my life and I've been truly blessed to work with some of the best.

Thursday Thirteen #6

Thirteen Things From My Life That Begin With "D"

in no particular order

1. Deadlines. For a writer, they're part of every day life, and they can be pure hell. Learning the discipline of writing is essential because there's nothing that can kill the muse faster than having to be creative on demand. But you know what they say . . . the only thing worse than having a deadline is not having a deadline.

2. Diapers. For eighteen years or so, these little things disappeared from my life. Now they're back, and I couldn't be more delighted.

3. Daughters. They're my kids and my best friends. They get me when no one else does. For every minute of grief or worry they've brought me, they've given me three minutes of joy.

4. Decorate. When I have the time and the energy, I love to decorate for the holidays. Unfortunately both of the above things have been in short supply the last few years. I didn't even bother putting up a Christmas tree last year -- and that's not like me.

5. Dreams. For most of my life, I haven't remembered my dreams. I suppose I did dream, but I never remembered what I dreamed about except an occasional recurring dream about being chained in a tower in a medieval castle. That dream is gone and now I dream about things like working for my old boss and frantically trying to get to work while something is obstructing my path.

6. Dogs ... of course. There's Angel, my poorly socialized dog with ADHD and OCD. Those of you who hang around here a lot know that I blog about her occasionally. And there's Sammi (no relation) who is my oldest daughter's dog and who currently lives with me. She's a noisy "little" thing (little only by comparison to Angel who, I swear, is part giraffe, part gazelle, and part kangaroo) who barks every time a leaf moves on the street and refuses to take treats when you're leaving the house because ... well, because you're leaving. As if not taking the treat will make you stay, I guess. I'm really not sure what goes on inside her head.

7. Dance. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a professional dancer. More specifically, I wanted to be a June Taylor dancer, but I don't think I ever confessed my professional dance aspirations aloud, and I think they died away somewhere before I was 8. Besides being a novelist, being a June Taylor dancer is the only thing I ever really wanted to be when I grew up.

8. Dad. I have one, as do all of you :) Mine passed away on October 6, 2006 at the age of 82. He was a World War II Veteran who loved the great outdoors and dreamed of being a Park Ranger when he was a young man. He grew up on a farm and spent so many hours working in the fields, he almost didn't graduate from high school. That near miss bothered him his entire life.

9. Daydreaming. I'm all for it, and I'm lucky. I'm a writer. Daydreaming is my job!

10. Dictionary. In 7th grade, I made a poster that was supposed to read "How To Develop your Mental Abilities." I misspelled two words on that poster, so it ended up reading "How to Develope your Mental Abbilities." Not only did the other kids in my class make fun of me, but the teacher did too -- and this right after she laughed at me because I didn't know how to spell marijuana. (This was before it was a household word where I lived, and I was absent the day we learned what it was.) This all happened the year after I had Mr. Graybill, the world's most obnoxious teacher, in 6th grade. Mr. Graybill made the leather wallet I was crafting for my dad (see above) a public example of how not to do leatherwork. The public humiliation I felt over that stupid poster nearly did me in, but I became best friends with the dictionary that day. After that, I could out-spell almost everyone I knew. Even my Straight-
A Sister -- the one who graduated 3rd in her class -- asked me how to spell words.

11. Deployment. As some of you know, my son-in-law is currently deployed with the Air Force in the Middle East. He's willing to be there because he believes that if we don't fight them over there, we'll have to fight them here on our own soil. All I can say is, war looks a whole lot different when it comes knocking on your own front door than it does when it's an abstract principle.

12. Dishwasher. It's my favorite modern convenience.

13. Down East. Where I wish I lived!

Thursday Thirteen #5

Thirteen Things From My Life That Begin with "C"

in no particular order

1. Curly hair. It's the bane of my existence. My hair is very thick and curly, and while I know some people would love it, I don't. I have made peace with it finally, but for most of my life I have disliked my thick curly hair. The curls aren't curly enough to fit into any style. My hair's too thick to let me do things like wear hats, wear barrettes, use clips, or put my hair into a ponytail. I also can't style my hair because it just does what it wants. No matter how much product I use, the hair just springs back into the non-style it likes best.

2. Cat. When my ex-husband died in 1999, I somehow inherited his cat. My kids couldn't let Vincent go, and I'm a big softy so even though we had two cats already, I took Vincent in. He quickly realized which of us he needed to make peace with, and in short order he became my cat. Vincent was raised with dogs, so when he came to live with me, he didn't know much about being a cat. He couldn't leap onto windowsills and the sound of his own purring frightened him. Eventually he learned a lot about being a cat, but he never did lose his 'fraidy cat nature. This morning, Vincent is missing. He wasn't waiting for me at the back door when I woke up, and that's not like him. I'm starting to worry that he may have gone to join my ex-husband.

3. Car. I own one. I love driving most of the time. Frankly, I don't think there's anything better than a good road trip. Flying is nice, and it's convenient, but if I had my choice and the time, I'd take a road trip over an airline flight any day.


4. Crochet. I don't knit. I've tried, but unless it's a very simple pattern like a dish cloth, knitting just isn't for me. I do like to crochet, though. I don't do things like sweaters and vests and doilies. I like to make afghans. Just afghans. Lots and lots of afghans :) This is one I made for my oldest daughter.


5. Cousins. I have a lot of them. There are 42 of us, to be exact.


6. Candy. I think about it a lot -- not because I have a personal sweet tooth, which I kind of do, but because I need to research it for the candy shop series I write. Really!

7. Christmas. I know it's pretty boring, but Christmas really is my favorite holiday. If it weren't for the cold and having to get out and drive in the snow, Christmas would be the perfect time of year. I don't even mind driving in the ice and snow as much as I mind walking in it. I am not sure-footed!

8. Calendars. I love them. I don't know why, but I'm just utterly fascinated by them. I love having calendars hanging on my walls, love the different pictures each month -- but my love of calendars isn't restricted to pretty ones. I love desk mat calendars, appointment calendars, computerized calendars, purse-sized calendars, thought or word of the day calendars, my mother's old-fashioned two-ring calendar .... If I could have a hundred calendars, I'd try to find a way to use them all. I know. It's sick.


9. Camping. I love to camp. I'm not sure what it is about camping that I love because I don't like to actually do anything once I get there. I don't fish, don't particularly care for nature hikes, don't mountain climb or dirt bike or hunt, but I love the mountains and I love getting out in nature. I even like cooking on the camp stove. I like stringing up the clothesline between the trees and fresh trout for breakfast and campfires. I don't, however, like outhouses without flush toilets, and I don't like campgrounds without trees. When I camp, I have to be in the mountains in the forest. I have my limits.

10. Crawling. Something Abigail and I do a lot of these days.

11. Creamsicles. I'll confess that I'm a fan of the popsicle in general, but the Creamsicle is frozen confection heaven.

12. Computers. I love computers. I don't like to point and click to make the computer do what somebody else has decided it should, I like to make computers do what I want them to. Back in the olden days, when I worked at my Evil Day Job, I taught myself to write programs in DOS and dBase, and I wrote several complicated programs before I quit to write full time. Now, I like to play around with websites, and I'm teaching myself to write in html. It appeals to my creative side.

13. Counted Cross Stitch. I haven't done much of it lately, but I love it. It occurs to me as I write this that all of my creative projects have something in common. I love creating something from "nothing," whether it's the world the characters in my books inhabit, an afghan from balls of yarn, or a picture from a blank canvas, I love turning empty space into something beautiful. Here's one of the items on my wish list at Rebecca's Discount Needlecrafts.

Thursday Thirteen #4

Thirteen Things From My Life that Begin with "B"

(in no particular order)

1. Books have always been a major part of my life. I can't remember a time when I didn't treasure them. In fact, I'm still pretty peeved at my mother for selling my Nancy Drew books to buy my brother a set of Hardy Brothers books which he never read.

2. Babies, baby stuff, baby clothes, and baby food were far, far behind me until a year ago when little Miss Abigail came into our lives. She turned my world upside down (in the best possible way.) Check out last week's TT list to see how happy and healthy she is now.

3. Blogging. I don't do as much of it as I'd like to because real life has to get a foot in the door somewhere, but I actually like blogging . . . when I can think of something to say!

4. Book Clubs. I love talking books almost as much as I love reading books.

5. Birthday. September is the month of the birthday in my family. In fact, Ian is the only member of my immediate family whose birthday is not in September. Even Abigail was born this month ... the day after her mother's birthday. It's worse than December on the old bank balance.

6. Brother. I have one. He's six years younger than me. I also have a brother-in-law.

7. Burnout. What happens to writers when they write too much, too fast. Unfortunately, the creative process has to include time to regenerate creative energy and in the quest to make a living too many of us don't build that recuperative time into our schedules. Sooner or later, it catches up with you though. You can't escape it.

8. Balance. The thing I am always actively seeking in my life.

9. Beatles. I'm old enough to remember when they first burst onto the music scene. As a girl, I used to play "Beatles" with my friends. We'd get our mother's brooms and pretend they were guitars and we'd stand out on the street (we lived on a very quiet street) and sing and "play" until grouchy old Mr. Tibesaur came home and tried to run us over for playing in the street. When we weren't actually being the Beatles, we picked boyfriends. Everyone always wanted Paul, but I was a George Harrison gal.

10. Bored. Me? No. Never. (yawn.)

11. Bagel. Probably my favorite breakfast.

12. Bankruptcy. I spent more than 15 years of my life working in the close-knit world of bankruptcy law. I went from being a legal secretary, to an office administrator, to a judicial assistant at the federal court before I finally quit to become a full-time writer.

13. Barbie Doll. I loved my Barbie because she wasn't like everyone else's Barbie. My Barbie had lovely black hair, so I could always tell her apart when playing with friends. She survived quite nicely until my brother (see above) decided she needed to go swimming in a hole dug in the field next door. He wrapped her in Scotch tape (he claims this was to protect her from the dirty water), tied a string around her waist, and dipped her in the muddy water. She's still in my original Barbie case in my garage.

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Things From My Life that Start with "A"

(In no Particular Order)

1. Apple peeler/corer. I don't use it as often I'd like to, but it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.

2. Afghans I've crocheted. I don't even know how many there are, but it truly is something I love doing. I make them and keep them, make them and give them away. It's soothing to work on them, I guess.

3. Abigail. There simply are no words to express how much I adore this child. It's like the love you feel for your own children ... and more .... no, not more. That's impossible. But it's different. It's HUGE. An amazing kind of love.

4. Apples -- but not all apples. Only crisp, sour apples. Granny Smith are good. Red Delicious are usually too mealy. Braeburn can be good . . .

5. Angel. I got this dog for my daughter after an illness. The dog was supposed to help her heal. Well, she did her job, and then my daughter got married and moved out, and Angel stayed with me. And now, even though she drives me crazy and still goes bonkers and leaps around the house, and jumps down 5 stairs at a time and sails over an 8 foot fence without even breathing hard, she's still one of my favorite things.

6. Autumn. It's the time of year when I was born, and I think it's my favorite time of year. I love the cool nights, the moderating temperatures in the day, the leaves as they change colors, the smell of the soil, the sound of leaves underfoot as I walk. I love Halloween decorations and school bulletin boards, and gourds and squash. I just love it all.

7. Answering Machine. It's a lifesaver when I'm working.

8. Anne Tyler. I love her books.

9. Alaska. I went several years ago and had a wonderful time. The scenery is amazing and the people fascinating. I hate the signs documenting how many moose have been killed along the highways. It's sad. Beautiful land. Everyone ought to go once.

10. Arkansas. It's where my dad was born.

11. Austria. It's on my list of places I want to go.

12. Acadia National Park. One of my favorite places on earth.

13. The Air Force. It's not exactly one of my favorite things at the moment, but it's a large part of my life, and I'm SO proud of my Senior Airman son-in-law. He's being deployed in just 4 days, so if you can spare prayers for one more soldier, please add Ian to your list.

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen TV Shows on my Favs List

(in no particular order)

1. Monk. I think Tony Shaloub is brilliant in this show. I don't watch it for the writing or for the plots. I watch it for the characters.

2. Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Because I learn something new in every show, Mike is hot, and he's got a great sense of humor.

3. House. Again because of the characters. I've been a fan of Hugh Laurie's for a while now, and I have to say I think he does the best American accent of any British actor I've ever heard.

4. The Office. I had the opportunity to check out some brief previews of this show before it hit the air, and I didn't think I was going to like it. Turned out, I was wrong.

5. My Name Is Earl. It makes me laugh.

6. Desperate Housewives. Yeah, I know, it's SO two years ago. But I still like it.

7. Brothers & Sisters. Wonderfully flawed characters!

8. 24 My daughter got me hooked for season 6, and I've had to go back and rent the previous years from Netflix so I could catch up. I'm just finishing season 4, I think . . . no, maybe it's season 3. Anyway, I'm almost there! So in spite of the fact that the characters can be tortured almost to death one hour and then walk, sit, talk, stand, and fight as if they don't have so much as a bruise the next. In spite of the fact that Jack Bauer can get anywhere in Los Angeles in 10 minutes. On foot. With a bullet in one leg and a rabid dog hanging off the other . . . it's still a must watch for me now.

9. Grey's Anatomy. Again, it's all about the characters. Nobody's perfect. Everybody's flawed. Besides, my daughters are hooked, and it's fun to have a show to watch together, even if we're not together when we watch it. I'm kind of sad that Addison's leaving, though. I thought she added a nice texture to the mix.

10. Deadliest Catch. This show absolutely fascinates me. I'm completely hooked. I think I must be trying to figure out what these men (and the occasional woman) are made of. I mean, sure, the money can be great, but you've gotta know there's more than moolah getting these guys out into the Bering Sea year after year. Whatever it is, there's not a drop of it in my genetic makeup.

11. Mad Men. This is a new show on AMC, just 8 episodes old. Set in the 1960s in the world of advertising, this show brings back memories -- some good, some . . . not so much. It's easy to forget how things were until something comes along to remind you.

12. State of Mind. Another new show, this one on Lifetime. Unfortunately, I can't find any information about whether or not it's going to continue.

13. Man vs. Wild. Come on. A guy named Bear? How can I be expected to resist that?

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Thursday Thirteen #1

Dumb Utah Laws

It is illegal to detonate any nuclear weapon. Apparently, you can have them (is this true?) but you just can't detonate them.

Birds have the right of way on all highways. (Which may explain why my daughter used to always yell at me for almost hitting birds!)

It is against the law to fish from horseback.

When a person reaches the age of 50, he/she can then marry their cousin. (Oh my.)

It is illegal not to drink milk. (I may be in huge trouble.)

In Kaysville, you must have identification to enter a convienence store after dark.

In Logan, women may not swear.

In Monroe (there's a Monroe here???) daylight must be visible between partners on a dance floor. Hmmm. What happens if you're dancing at night???

In Provo, throwing snowballs is gonna earn you a $50 fine.

In Salt Lake City, it's illegal to walk down the street carrying a violin in a paper bag. I can't even imagine what would prompt lawmakers to put this one on the books.

In Trout Creek, it's illegal for pharmacists to sell gunpowder to cure headaches.

A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence. That seems only fair since so many of them also consider themselves responsible for every good thing their wives do.

It's against the law to hunt whales. So darned inconvenient when you're living in a landlocked state!!!!