Out of Tune

The other day I was thinking, "If I get another assignment to write a three-part (fiction) series, I'm going to write about this teenage band that's been brewing in my head."

And guess what.... I got the chance. The editor (another one of my favorite editors) emailed me with the assignment. I wanted to do a cartwheel but remembered what happened last time— which entails me and back pain and finding I'm not as limber as I was in the eighth grade—so I thought better of it. The Happy Dance will have to suffice.

Anyway, I'm ecstatic that I got to use these characters, because I'd really been wanting to. Is it strange to like your own made-up characters so much? Hmmm, probably so, huh? Maybe I should have kept this to myself.

This three-part series, "Out of Tune," will be published in Credo in April, May, and June of '09.

7-Eleven, Oh Thank Heaven!

One day my husband and I went to Carlsbad, California, to the flower fields. And what do we come back with? A picture of 7-Eleven's sign.

But now I totally understand their slogan!

Because that's when—"Oh thank heaven"—regular gas was still under $4.00.

Not so much anymore...