Carolyn called this morning mad at a bottle cap. “Why do they seal theses things so that we can’t open them?!!” She asked me.  I had just tried to open something myself and was more than ready to yell about it.

“They put a plastic wrap around the bottle that you have to use a knife on to get started peeling it off.  Then, when you get the exterior plastic seal off,  it takes a vise grip to turn the lid.  And when you get the lid off, there is a paper seal-cap glued to the bottle that the only way you can get it started is to stab it with a knife.”

I agreed with her and told her that this morning I couldn’t get the seal broken to open the lid of a cranberry juice bottle and had to lay it down and beat on the lid with a hammer.  Turning the bottle and hammering the lid on every side.  Of course when it came loose, it leaked.  Who are we protecting anyway?

What happened to May???  It’s always been such a wonderful month and this year I feel like I missed it.

I have slowed down on posting...I know.  Once or twice a week seems to be all I can manage rather than five days a week.  I’ve posted over 2500 times.

I’ve been reading the Psalms every night when I crawl into bed.  They are such a comfort.  At least some of them are.  I need to start skipping the war and rebellion of some of the Old Testament books.   I told someone the other day that once you reach my age, you need to concentrate on the happy books and the application books of the New Testament.  What we want is peace and there doesn’t seem to be much of that in the world anymore.  I’ve lived through too many wars...starting with World War two. Enough already.  Greed...money (or land).  The root of all evil. 

Being in the hospital--and a week or two of “sick” since then--has messed up my schedule.  I am back on my feet.  Infected bone where the dentist cut a tooth out started sepsis again--which I am prone to.  The cure to all that ails us is: don’t get old.  Everything wears out.

I’ve been teaching my Sunday class by phone...and that has worked out okay.  Everyone stays with it and doesn’t want me to quit...but I fear my teaching days may be coming to a end. 

People tell me to get a Podcast.  Whatever that is.  Learning something new seems overwhelming.  I did get the book about my brother (The Macau Maverick) to the publisher--final editing.  And “The Letter” just hit the Oklahoma best seller list for the second week in a row.  I’ll be in Pryor on June 24 to sign books in the afternoon.  That’s the plan.

Since it is Friday, Ann always picks me up and we go garage sale hopping.  Or, she does, and I sit in the car and do the newspaper puzzles and the crossword.  Sometimes I get out if the driveway is flat  and short.  

Last thing I bought was a 100 package of one serving plastic freezer containers.  Every time someone brings me what they think is one serving of dinner (friends have been awesome) I divide it into two or three servings and freeze them in my garage sale containers.  Handy.

Eating enough to gain weight is difficult.  No matter how many times a day I eat a meal, I can’t seem to gain any of my weight back.  We spend our entire lives as girls trying to lose weight, so I have no training in gaining weight.  I can’t seem to do it. I started at 145 before all these medical things happened to me and now I am stuck at 128.  Nothing I eat--or how much of it--seems to help. Jeanette agreed that lobster dipped in a gallon butter might help...so we went to Red Lobster last week and I ate two tails with a baked potato soaked in butter and sour cream.  I dipped every broccoli spear in butter as well.  Surely that is worth a pound!! I’m working on it.  

 I spent three and a half hours on the phone with the publisher today making corrections.  Second edition with all of the mistakes fixed will be at Pryor book store on the 24th of June, and I’ll be there as well.

What a journey...and it is almost over.  I can focus my attention on the book I have written about my brother Bill.  It will be out in the fall sometime.

My friend Jeanette brought me a jar of lemon curd she made.  Delicious!!.  She knew I had been stressed out.  I’m ready for Kathy, Kim, and Carolyn to make another road trip to come see me.

I’m going to do nothing tomorrow.

 I said this yesterday, but am still floating.  My class reunion is June 23.  My publisher is going to try and set up a signing date for my book there in Pryor on the 23 or 24th.  Corrections will have been made in the small errors in the book (by then) and those from a second run will be printed.

I have been amazed at the success of sales.  I made the Oklahoma best seller list at number five!  The other four were known authors including Tom Hanks for two different books--#1 and #3.  I am kind of floating.  

If you want a hard back, tell the Pryor book store to reserve it.  They don’t print many of those for a first time author.

If I sell a million books, I will make enough to keep the house in kleenex.  The publisher, printer, and bookstores get all but my one dollar!  Don’t try writing books to make money unless you are John Grisham.  I never did it for money anyway.  I just wanted to tell a story.

I’m back...I think.  After three days in the hospital, I ended up going back after they released me two days later.  But....I think I am on the mend.  All over a tooth that had to be removed from bone.

One good thing happened...although I missed the open house at “Best of Books” bookstore for the introduction of my book “The Letter”, it made the Oklahoma best seller list anyway behind Tom Hank’s book.  I’ll take that!  Thank you--if you were one of the ones who made that happen.

If you haven’t bought it, the only place it is available is at best of books on Danforth in Edmond (for now)  I get one dollar for every book sold and will gladly return your dollar!  The book store, publisher and printer divide the rest...that’s okay...books get printed because of them.  If you want it signed, let the bookstore know, I’ll drive over and sign it.