ANOTHER AWARD!
The girls are all out and about right now, but we just got another award, this one as a Blogger Reflection. Sweet Deena awarded us this. http://wholly-devoted.blogspot.com/2007/06/be-moon.html
She told us "The reason for the title is because this award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and have been a Godly example to you. Five Bloggers who when you reflect on them you get a sense of pride and joy... of knowing them and being blessed by them."

The other girls can each choose one but I'm giving one to my friend Rachel Hauck. Her blog is here: http://www.rachelhauck.com/blog.htm. Rachel is the most godly person I know. Her faith is a shining example that encourages me to spend more time in prayer and more time with my focus on heaven. She's a great cheerleader to her friends and faithfully prays for them. Her blogs are fun but MATTER too. She very much deserves this award.

And she's a terrific writer to boot (though that has nothing to do with the award.) This is for free--you MUST read Diva Nashvegas and Lost in Nashvegas. Great chick lit but with a heart and depth that draws you right in--and a peek at country music.

Love you, Rachel! Thank you for all you do in my life.

TOOTIN' A HORN
The girls are too shy to toot their own horns so I'm going to do it for them. LOL I don't have a shy bone in my body.

Kristin's book SPLIT ENDS is up as a possible choice for the ACFW bookclub. This is a huge bookclub (400 members) and way fun to discuss your favorite books. If you don't already belong, you can join. Follow this link to join then go to the poll and vote for Kristin's book to be chosen as a selection. The poll closes tomorrow so you have to move fast. Let's show the club the power of Girls! Here's the link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acfwbookclub/. Incidentally, you can join or drop off any time you want.

Drum roll, please! A new birth announcement. Weighing in a whopping 318 pages the new arrival, BE SWEET, is guaranteed to need to diaper change, only a spirit change to laughter. Mother is doing fine, though she is still on quarantine. The new baby definitely lifted her spirits as well. Congratulations and raves about her new arrival will help as well and you can send those to diann@diannhunt.com. Include proof of purchase and you might hear her squeal. LOL

And one more announcement! We've been awarded a Rockin' Girl Blogger! Robin Lee Hatcher gave us this honor and we're passing it along to some of our favorite blogs: http://robinswritingworld.blogspot.com/
http://www.deborahraney.com/
http://www.noveljourney.blogspot.com/
http://www.fallible.com/
http://www.editcafe.blogspot.com/
http://www.rachelhauck.com/blog.htm

You girls are ROCKIN'!

HOUSTON, I HAVE A LIFE!!

So I've been quiet this week because I've been working at my church's VBS. Oh my gosh, there is nothing cuter than seeing little kids praising Jesus! But the weirdest thing happened yesterday, someone was announcing after VBS, "We're all going to the Billerbecks to swim!" Then, she corrected herself and said where the party really was. We have no pool now. The woman who said it doesn't either. The two of us used to host so much and for some reason, it felt like a kick in the gut to both of us.

First off, I have an unrealistic view of money. Colleen tells me that all the time and I'm sure it's true. Money just never dawns on me. Never has. I want it, I'll find a way to get it. It's probably how I got my work ethic and I've always been a hard worker. Getting older, I want a lot less, I will say that.

So I'm watching all this money in the Silicon Valley and it's just so weird. People are building 10,000 square foot houses (for two!) and across the valley from us on the hill, somebody is building this HUGE fake rock wall with water slides and a vineyard surrounding their pool. I'm not jealous. I live in a lesser house than the last three houses I've had, and I love it a lot more! But I miss entertaining people at the pool. I miss that people could just come over and no one cared that my house was a mess because I'm glad to see them! I miss being "the house".

We have lots of people with beautiful pools extending their hand. In fact, we have two such friends with gorgeous views of the San Francisco Bay that see all the way to the Transamerica building on a clear day. Much more than we ever had! These people don't build things for themselves either, they are more than generous and probably better hostesses than I ever was, but it's interesting when God gives you a new role in life and you want to revert to what you know. That's why I did VBS this week -- it's not usually my thing. I had a total blast and I'm completely exhausted, but since I've got this new role, I better learn my lines!

BTW, the pictures are from my friend who goes to China on business. They used to send me these and let me take my pick when he got back. I still have the role as moocher, Jackie gave me a white Gucci. : )

MAKEOVER UPDATE
Did I REALLY say I wanted to make me over? Do you realize how hard that kind of work is? I've started walking in the mornings. Dave got my old bike out, the kind with the big wide seat and the brakes you backpedal. Anyone remember a relic like that? LOL

And did I mention it's gotten HOT here? What was I thinking when I said I wanted to exercise and get serious about some weight loss? I should have my head examined. LOL

And I still hate my neck. LOL But hey, I figure if the rest of the body looks better, maybe no one will look at my neck. And there are still scarves. Pammer sent me a super resource about style. It's at http://www.missussmartypants.com. Fabulous site! I signed up for my personal profile and I'm going shopping.

But at what point do you do that? That's always my dilemma when I think about something like this. I want to lose weight so it seems a waste to spend money on clothes that might be too small in two months. On the other hand, weight loss isn't easy to maybe they would fit a while. And what if I like them so well, I don't want to lose weight? Er, scratch that. No outfit is worth that. LOL

And what about hairstyles? What's your opinion on short vs long when you get to be my age? My husband about has a cow at the thought of me cutting it any shorter but maybe it's time, you know? I need help!

I'm annoyed. I mean, really annoyed. Artists are known for having hissy fits. It's part of their (our)nature. I'm certainly not above it. So when Isaiah Washington (the actor who plays Burke on Grey's Anatomy) threw a hissy fit, the writers have their own hissy fits and cut him from the storyline. Hello??? They're already losing my other favorite character, Kate Walsh (Addison Shepherd) to her own show -- which I will watch. Grey's I'm not so sure.

I must ask you writers, why is Isaiah not entitled to his own hissy fit? He's an ARTEEST!! Don't let the product suffer by having your own hissy fit -- that's called cutting off your nose to spite your face. I mean, is there someone out there who isn't completely grossed out by the whole Izzie/George plotline? YUCK! It's like watching brother and sister. And men, the chances of Izzie being with George or Seth Rogan in "Knocked Up" are extremely low, FYI.

So anyway, Isaiah throws a hissy fit and calls the George character a gay slur. Granted, that's not going to make for a grand working relationship, but ACT, all right? They can ACT nicely to each other. Where is the storyline without Burke? McDreamy is boring. Meredith Grey is neurotic. Addison is leaving. George as a sex symbol, people!! That's just wrong. I mean, have your hissy fits, and go back to work like the rest of us have to! Isaiah's entitled to his opinion -- it's not like he's lived his life without some prejudice aimed at him -- and by the way, I don't think it was an opinion, I think he was just ticked off. It happens. So here's the thing, without Isaiah and Kate, the only interesting characters are Miranda Bailey and Christina Yang -- and Yang without Burke, it's just not right! There's no Ying!

Producers for the show are saying that Isaiah caused the show a lot of embarrassment. Please. You're a TV hospital show where half the doctors end up in a storeroom without their clothes on -- and Isaiah embarrasses you? Rick Springfield was doing this 20 years ago on General Hospital. A moment of silence for Dr. Noah Drake. The thing that bugs me about all this is Hollywood only cares about hissy fits when someone doesn't believe exactly as they do. It's McCarthyism in the modern day. You can be anti-Bush, but you better not be anti-gay or anti-(choose your ethnicity). You can be pro-abortion, but you can't believe life before nine months is sacred. You can fly all over the place in a private jet, but Lord forbid you take the Hummer out for a spin.

I'm just sick of the bullying. If people are so tolerant in Hollywood, where's the tolerance for Isaiah? Why can't he be forgiven? We forgave these people:

Tom Cruise on the Today Show and his Anti-meds rant

Dixie Chicks anti-Bush comments in Europe

Mel Gibson's Drunken anti-Semite comments

Young Hollywood's Apparent Underwear Shortage

Brad Pitt dumping Jennifer Aniston for a tattooed, serial adopter
(My husband won't let me bring home a puppy!)

Grey's, get over yourself, you are not the litmus test for morality. Lest you think I care that much about Grey's, I'm just so sick of the bullying that goes on if you have an opinion and it's not what it's supposed to be. People are raised differently, they think differently -- it's allowed.



NOW BRING BACK MY BURKE!

PERSONALITIES
After some of the posts this week, I realized just how multi-faceted we all are. This realization started when Crystal said she laughed to discover I had a crush on Mr. Spock. What the heck? Could people not SEE I was a Trekkie by looking at me? And what about D? Isn't she clearly the type who would hate a wet toilet seat. What's so odd about that?

And Diann. Clearly she's the type who might have cooties and have to wear a face mask. I mean, come on. Anyone with an addiction to watermelon has secrets she's hiding.

And Kristin. I mean, who can't clearly see she is a Barry Manilow freak? Anyone that skinny has to have an addiction somewhere. Something worse than a yen for mochas.

But no, I'm not talking about surface things. I'm talking about something so scary you fear to tell your best friend. List the weirdest, quirkiest secret you hold. And remember, this may end up in a book. LOL

I'll get us started. Not only did I have a huge crush on Mr. Spock, but I also loved the vampire Barnabas Collins on the old show, Dark Shadows. What does that say about my personality and the fact I now kill people in my books for a living? I'm sure watching poor tortured Barnabas fight against his basest instincts warped me in some elemental ways. I also floss my teeth every day. Think I'm trying to keep the chompers in shape for, er, chomping necks? LOL

So spill it, folks. Confess something here you have feared to share before this day. We'll love you anyway.

In honor of the single life Ashley Stockingdale had to lead, I give you exhibit A -- courtesy of April, a reader. : ) I don't know, these are so real, I'm not sure they're funny.

Understanding Engineers.
Take One

Two engineering students were riding their bikes across a university campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?"

The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want."

The second engineer nodded approvingly and said, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit you anyway."

Understanding Engineers - Take Two

To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer,
the glass is twice as big as it needs to be!

Understanding Engineers - Take Three

A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers.The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!"

The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!"

The priest said, "Here comes the greens keeper. Let's have a word with him." He said, "Hello, George! What's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?"

The greens keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind fire fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime. The group fell silent for a moment.

The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight"

The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them."

The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"

Understanding Engineers - Take Four

What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.

Understanding Engineers - Take Five

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?" The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Understanding Engineers - Take Six
Normal people believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet!

Understanding Engineers - Take Seven

An engineer was crossing a road one day, when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."

The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.

The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a Princess, I'll stay with you for one week and do ANYTHING you want."

Again, the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess and that I'll stay with you for one week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The engineer said, "Look, I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog, now that's cool!"

COVER HELP FOR A FRIEND!

I know you guys always have an opinion. Homer Hickam (Rocket Boys was made into a movie) has a new book coming out with Nelson. They're trying to decide on two covers. If you would go here http://www.homerhickam.com/vote.htm and vote, we'd be very grateful! And if you DO vote, could you email me and tell which one you picked? I'm keeping track too for Nelson. Email me at colleen@colleencoble.com.

Homer says this about the book: Red Helmet is set in today's West Virginia coalfields, and will be out in February, 2008, just in time for Valentine's Day, which is good because it is a book filled with romance (not to mention action and adventure, of course). I see as a funny but wise tale of a woman, a man, a town, and a coal mine.

I HATE MY NECK
I know there's a bestselling book out there called I Feel Bad About My Neck but it's really true. Why is it that as women get older, their neck is the first thing to age? I put good stuff on my neck the same as I do my face. Why doesn't it work there? It does seem to get be getting better with the new hormone therapy for migraine I'm doing, but it's not changing it enough, fast enough. I'm seeing other youthful things coming back (like hair on my legs and eyebrows. LOL) But the neck remains a problem. I have enough rings around it to account for a tree my age. LOL!

And why is it some women have a natural style? I went to Toronto this weekend to speak at BookExpo. Everywhere I looked women were strolling around with impeccable style. They knew just what jacket to pair with their shoes and jeans or pants. More are wearing skirts too, what's up with that? I agonized over every piece of my wardrobe and even asked my Canadian friend Ellen and sweet editor Natalie for advice on what to wear. You see the result in the pic with the Simpsons but it's only with advice that I looked put together. LOL

Coming home, I decided this is the year of the new Colleen. I'm going to work harder at losing weight. I'm going to try to uncover some kind of style that works for me. Any suggestions for a style that works for us baby boomers? Or at least for THIS boomer? Like shoes. What's the secret of the right shoe to wear? I have these fabulous black mules that I'm never sure what to pair with. Only slacks? A skirt? And can I wear black with jeans?

I need a makeover. I need friends to help me! Rescue me, girls. What's the secret?

Some of us have a past.


For some reason a childhood memory came to me this morning. Something I’m not necessarily proud of, but it’s there just as big as you please.


See, I have—um, HAD a huge crush on Kurt Russell. While in the third grade, my “friend” came over for a visit. We talked about whatever it is that third graders talk about and then it happened. She spotted the humongous poster of Kurt Russell’s face on my bedroom wall. She started teasing me about it, which I didn’t, well, appreciate. One thing led to another and suddenly things turned ugly. Did I mention she had a banana in her hand?


The next thing I know, we’re calling each other names and she takes a hunk of banana and smears it on Kurt’s face. All at once, time stands still. My thoughts turn dark. Very dark.


In the distance, a dog barks.


Springing into action, I wail into her so fast she doesn’t know what hit her. What follows is somewhat of a blur.


Rest assured that I paid dearly. I lost my poster and had to do time. Sometimes being young and in love isn’t pretty.


So tell us about your first crush.

THE SECRET:
I'll admit, I listened to the book on tape. I was curious. I got to the part where you can't look on your fat friends because you might ingest the "fat" energy in the universe and that was about all I could take.

So I'm putting my skinny energy out into the universe -- better yet, I'll take Angelina Jolie's skinny universe energy. In case you haven't heard the premise of this multi-International bestselling book (and clearly, I should be so lucky!), the idea is if you can imagine it, you can will it into being. Yeah, whatever. I believe P.T. Barnum called that energy, lots of suckers born every minute and yeah, here I am.

But it got me to thinking about dreams and goals -- how important they are to have while pursuing the Will of God. Even the dreams that feel absolutely impossible! My goal/dream is that when my kids are grown, I want to live in San Francisco with a Bay or Pacific Ocean view. I will take a place in West Portal, the Marina, Pacific Heights district, just in case the universe energy is listening. LOL But as a white egg-driving, mother of four, that goal seems ridiculous. I will probably be a granny living in my kids' extra bedroom or something. (They'll love that!) But I want to be the kind of old lady who can walk up those San Francisco hills at 80 in cute, orthopedically-friendly shoes, eat in a cafe, buy my groceries in a corner shop and enjoy my reading near my water/city view. Ahhh. I'm open to what God has, but if He's open to me, there it is, that's my dream!

What about you? Anything that feels ridiculous right now? I keep thinking about the cute baby giraffe at the San Francisco zoo. I bet he never dreamed of an Ocean Beach view! So I know, God is capable!

Renovating with Kristin


The new kitchen is on top with the black granite and glass tile backsplash over the stove. The original kitchen is that fossil leaf look with the peach sink. Mmm baby.

You know how you can get advice, but it never registers until you're ready to hear it? And someone's words just suddenly "click" for you? I was watching Oprah the other day and she had this woman on who used to be extremely obese and had lost hundreds of pounds. What she said changed things for her was giving herself a little grace. Knowing if she fell off the wagon, to get right back on for the next meal and act like it never happened.

That just totally resonated with me for some reason. Maybe because I can be a perfectionist. I don't like to exercise and when I've planned to, and the day passes and yeah, I've done nothing, it's over for me. I help myself to a truffle with a double iced mocha and sit this one out. So these words were magical for me -- it was like, really? I can just start over? If I miss Tuesday, I can still try again on Wednesday. It's really a remarkable gift. I've lost 12 lbs in the last month from exercising and eliminating iced mochas (um, I drank a lot of them!) Before you get weird on me, I'm not the kind of person who looks overweight. I'm long and lean by nature, so it's just about the way I feel. I'm drinking iced, soy lattes if anyone cares, but doesn't that sound so California? Ack, I'm almost embarrassed at what a stereotype I've become. Next thing I'll be driving a Bimmer. (NOT!)

I hike to the top of my hill every other day and I'm getting where I can RUN down. Isn't that exciting? And if I blow it for a week, I know I can start again. It's not over til the ahem, skinny woman sings! : )

P.S. Got my kitchen done this week, I'll post pictures on the weekend when the sink is in. With the befores so you can all feel sorry for me. : )



www.kristinbillerbeck.com
www.girlswriteout.blogspot.com
"Split Ends" April 2007 Thomas Nelson Publishers
"Trophy Wives Club" Fall 2007 -- Avon Inspire

CONFERENCE TIME'S A-COMING!
There's been a lot of chat about the ACFW conference coming up. That's the American Christian Fiction Writers one in Dallas Sept 20-23. It got me to thinking about where I would be without conferences.

Conferences are where us Four Amigos cemented our friendship in the early days. Put four women together in a room with only one bathroom and you either learn to love one another or you commit murder by week's end. We chose the love route, even though Denise straightens every single hair on her head (and when it's curly it's gorgeous as I just discovered so I'm a little bitter.)

At conferences we learned to write better, we made other friends, we found out editors we loved were just as nutty and crazy as we are. We found all authors have the same challenges. We are not alone. There are other people out there who make up stories in their heads too.

The ACFW one is special in that it's ONLY fiction so every single person there is a little weird, just like us. No high brow non fiction writers in the bunch. Or if they are, they keep quiet. LOL Anyway, conference time is something we all look forward to and guard with our lives. It's the one time of the year we all get together with no other distractions. We can brainstorm, fight over DeBrand truffles, make fun of Di and stay up too late.

Every year we leave there with our friendship even more solid and new friends we've made a part of us too. I can't wait! Is there an annual thing you look forward to every year?