ABOUT ME! A Picture...and more

Silly me, I tried to post a permanent picture of myself on the blog---but my picture didn't have a url...(and I have to check on that later)....but, here I am with my son, Matty, to the left...and his friend Patrick who is on the right.

I'm kind of learning as I go...you know, the blog thing.

Here is a little about me:

I grew up with two sisters and a mom and dad in Central New Jersey, in a little red ranch with a white fence, and we had a dog. I went to Catholic School. High school was fantastic--I took Commercial Art at a vocational high school. My happiest memories are of camping with my family, visiting my grandfather and grandmother at their gorgeously designed stone house on 5 beautiful acres---with even our own cold stream there in the front yard. I wrote a lot of stories, too~~~a lot!~~~Our old black royal typewriter was always going. I have a college degree in Marketing Art and Design, and I worked for several years in New York City, after college--doing art, yes!--and since then I have been employed in New Jersey. I do art on a freelance basis, when and if the right thing comes along.

My parents divorced when I was in college, and several years later I lost one of my sisters in an automobile crash. Her name was Nancy, and she was only 22 months younger than me---and we really looked alike. Ah, life is hard at times. When I was 29, I met the man I felt I could live with forever--and he proposed, and we decided to marry and have "one long, long sleep-over party." And its pretty much been like that. (Sometimes hubby forgets that though, I think!) We decided to adopt a beautiful Korean baby---a boy---and he is now 10.

We recently downsized and moved to a quieter area of New Jersey--we wanted to make a real change. For the first 8 years of my son's life, it really did seem that everything we did revolved around the house we had---fixing the house, finding more problems that needed to be fixed, saving more money for more repairs, doing emergency repairs (it was an older home)...stressing every month---how will we make the mortgage? How will we pay for the roof, so that it doesn't leak in the bathroom? Why is the side of the cellar caving into the cellar? Can we afford grass seed, fertilizer--and with the yard we had, oh the water bill! And the leaves---60 large bags each fall! And then it was the heater that was going. The last straw was running outside after my dog, in the dark, and hitting a big pile of aluminum siding that my husband had moved onto our cement backyard porch---and I went flying through the air. I landed on my chin on the concrete. Luckily, I was okay, but the only reason there were piles out there was because my husband was doing the siding himself to save money.

Realizing I was lucky, and that house was becoming dangerous---the stove went, windows were falling in, the toilet was lopsided, there was a hole in the bathroom floor--I started to see that the situation was futile. We had already taken out two home improvement loans but they simply weren't enough and the mortgage was higher and higher. It was a vicious cycle and my husband and I were getting sick. It was embarrassing to have anyone over---when a house is old, even if you clean it top to bottom, it will still be dingy. We stopped socializing. I realized that living like that wasn't living.

So, anyway, we downsized, and got rid of a lot. We streamlined. That was hard too, but cathartic. And now at least, when we have extra time, we can go to dinner or a movie, or buy some clothes---or read a book! I can write again. I can think again. We live again---instead of just surviving day to day....and that's nice. We aren't rich, but we are making memories which is something we weren't doing years ago. For us it was the right thing. As a family, we needed this because things were becoming bleak, it was too much pressure for us, and in the end we felt the family was more important than a house. We needed to heal.

I always wrote...either stories, or journaling and stories, or just journaling. Lately I am writing more and more. It helps me a lot. I haven't heard anything definite on the regency novella I sent in, but I'm sure I will. I started the Anne Tyler book, and also picked up a Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. This week I helped my partner in England with a nice summary of her novels. I'm working on some other info for another writing friend, and I'm dreaming about my new novel. I'd like to think about it a little more and then jump right in...maybe on a long weekend, and try to get some interrupted time. (It worked well last time!) And yes, there will be royalty in it, and maybe even Queen Victoria.

My sister has three children, and my mom still lives in the home where I was born. My son is a technology whiz--his hobby is keeping up with all the latest cell phones, programs, laptops, gaming systems--he knows it all. He is amazing. He creates his own websites, and even browsers and games. A lot of our friends call him for advice. He amazes the personnel in Radio Shack and Cingular and Apple Computers. They want to hire him but he is just too young. My husband is a contractor doing home improvements, re-doing homes--carpentry, masonry, tiling, roofs, windows, carpeting, painting, decks--and he draws up plans so he can get the permits he needs. He's pretty good at selling the jobs and even doing them by himself when he has to--there is usually a few guys working with him at all times, though.

I work at home...I have a wonderful job at large insurance company. I've been there 7 years and I work in the medicare dept, and they recently sent me home with my computer, a headset and a phone. The calls from members now come into my home office and it's really nice. I love it. Yes, I am very lucky. I spend my days talking to seniors and assisting them with their benefits--prescriptions, medical, hospital...all of that.

I have a couple of animals--and I love them. I have two boxers who happen to be brothers, and an african grey parrot. It gets crazy at times, but I love them to death.

I love Chinese food, reading, renting a good movie, going to Barnes and Noble with my son and hanging out, playing in cyperspace, writing, reading the bible and spending quality time with my husband and son. I also adore old or second hand bookstores. I love winter and the ice and snow and wished I lived in Maine. I also love the water. My dream would be to live on the water--having a townhouse with a view of a lake! I also enjoy building my library at home. The other day I spent time downloading beautiful royal pictures---homes, palaces, interiors, clothing, jewels, and all this helps me while I write.

And basically that's the story of my life. And I really do believe in leaving some sort of legacy, even a very small one. Having the novella published would be a start. Showing my son I could do it...that was important too. I told him that if you want something bad enough, you have to sit down and try your best to do it. Dreams can come true, but you have to try.

.....and.....who was Feodora? It's the end of the post now---so, who was Feodora in Queen Victoria's circle? Do you have any idea? I'll tell you next time who Feodora is.