If you've been receiving WritersWeekly for more than a year, you probably know that the children and I sow seeds each year in our small outdoor garden. Most of them never come up and the majority of the ones that do end up dying sometime during the Summer. Sometimes, we get lucky (or the garden fairies take pity on us) and a few things actually SURVIVE! …
I'm terribly bogged down this week so I have to make this very short. Just want you to know that I did something last weekend that I swore I would never, ever, ever do. I bought...a minivan! …
Zach recently moved into his own place (sniff). While shopping at a craft store over the weekend, Ali and I found some adorable (snicker), furry toy rats in the Halloween section. They looked so real! I thought one would be perfect for Zach's new place. Heh... …
I wanted to send you an update on Richard. On August 12th, I posted that he had a type of vasculitis that only 20 to 30 people per million have. Well, we have since learned that Richard is not quite that unique...which is a good thing! …
When we heard Hurricane Bill was heading our way last week, and that we were supposed to get waves over 20 feet high, Ali (age 18) asked if she could drive to Bar Harbor with her boyfriend over the weekend to see them. I said, "The roads into Bar Harbor aren't 20 feet high so you could get stuck there. No, you can't go. In fact, you can't go anywhere this weekend." She didn't argue, knowing that I was 18 once, too. There were plenty of times when I told my Mom I was going one place when, in fact, I was heading for the beach. (Sorry, Mom...) …
Max and I stopped at the pet store to get crickets for Max's lizard, Cool, yesterday. When we left, Max said, "Look at the cute puppy, Mommy!" I looked to my right and there was a small puppy resembling a tiny Beagle in the car next to us. He was scratching on the window. I said to Max, "Come on." We both immediately got out of the truck. …
We went to the rheumatologist last week because Richard's vasculitis is still coming and going, despite the fact that he's on Prednisone. The rheumatologist and the emergency room doctor had the same diagnosis, which we had to look up online. …
I am very sad this week. I cried Saturday and Sunday, off and on, and then again Monday night. Why? My oldest baby moved out. …
Gosh, it sure would be nice to take a summer vacation that doesn't involve a trip to the E.R.! See: https://www.wirelesstrips.com/day-16-it-wouldnt-be-vacation-without-a-trip-to-the-er My latest update is here: https://www.wirelesstrips.com This week's Maxism: My sister, who came to visit us at a campground near her home, said she needed to change her baby's diaper. Max asked, "Is his diaper sweaty?" Hugs to all! Angela P.S. QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments - Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman's Day - $2,800; Redbook - $3,500; Ladies Home Journal - $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com - $2,000; Lifetime Magazine - $3,000; Life Extension Magazine - $6,480; Natural Remedies - $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - Want to read real book proposals that landed these contracts? Simon and Schuster - $100,000; Berkeley Books - $25,000; Osborne-McGraw-Hill - $19,500; Random House $15,000; and many more! See a complete list here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/3332.html …
We're (still) officially "on vacation" this week, heading north in our RV after spending a week in West Virginia. We're in Maryland right now. To read about our adventures, and to see photos, click here: https://www.wirelesstrips.com This week's Maxism: "When I get married, we're gonna make another Hoy family." Hugs to all! Angela P.S. QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments - Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman's Day - $2,800; Redbook - $3,500; Ladies Home Journal - $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com - $2,000; Lifetime Magazine - $3,000; Life Extension Magazine - $6,480; Natural Remedies - $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - Want to read real book proposals that landed these contracts? Simon and Schuster - $100,000; Berkeley Books - $25,000; Osborne-McGraw-Hill - $19,500; Random House $15,000; and many more! See a complete list here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/3332.html …
We're officially "on vacation" this week, meandering our way down to West Virginia and back in our RV. To read about our adventures, and to see photos, click here: https://www.wirelesstrips.com This week's Maxism: "Abstract artists are people who make up shapes!" Hugs to all! Angela P.S. QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments - Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman's Day - $2,800; Redbook - $3,500; Ladies Home Journal - $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com - $2,000; Lifetime Magazine - $3,000; Life Extension Magazine - $6,480; Natural Remedies - $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - Want to read real book proposals that landed these contracts? Simon and Schuster - $100,000; Berkeley Books - $25,000; Osborne-McGraw-Hill - $19,500; Random House $15,000; and many more! See a complete list here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/3332.html …
On Tuesday morning, we embarked on a 3-week trip to West Virginia and back. We are meeting meeting Richard's dad and step-mommy there for our official summer vacation. …
None of our children has ever had imaginary friends...until now. Mason (age 3) has suddenly acquired a pet that nobody else can see. Last week, Mason came into our room, with his tiny hand outstretched, and said, "See my lizard?" …
Mason turned three years old this week. When you ask him how old he is, he yells, "I'm FREE!!!" Seems like just yesterday when he was hospitalized at just 12 days old. I still shudder when I remember that day. We are so very blessed that Mason is so healthy today! …
We're taking our official "summer vacation" with Richard's dad and step-mom again this year. I'm quite sure this year's trip to West Virginia won't quite compare to last year's trip to Key West but I know we'll have a blast just the same. Richard's dad is an ex-hippy, and is super cool. The kids worship him. His step-mom isn't much older than we are and I consider her one of my best friends. She's a school teacher but you'd never know it when you get her out of the classroom. Heh... …
A non-stop weekend at the Hoy household! …
Our daughter, Ali, attended her senior prom last week. She woke up early, before her friend, Ashley, arrived. Their first appointment of the day was to have their nails done. They then had their hair and make-up done at 3:00 PM. She was supposed to be dressed and ready to go at 5:10 PM because we were meeting an entire group of kids and parents at a local park to take pictures. There's a fountain there and the kids thought it would provide a nice background. Ali's boyfriends mother would be there, too, of course. At 4:45 PM, Ali still had not returned from getting her hair done. …
Richard took me on a surprise getaway last Friday for our anniversary. We returned home on Saturday, packed the RV, and drove to our land in Western Maine. Richard finished the storage shed and set up a solar gizmo that provides us with power in the RV when we can't or don't want to use the generator. It's pretty cool! …
Last week, Max got a sore throat and a runny nose. I'm not typically the type to run a kid to the doctor for a cold but the Swine Flu has me nervous. So, off we went. He had a low-grade fever by the time we got there. Strep was negative and they swabbed his nasal passages to test for swine and the other influenza. Uh, that nose swabbing stuff is NOT like they make it seem on the news. …
Last Thursday, we jumped in the RV and drove to the coast. We already had reservations at a campground there and we were determined to go, despite the forecast of rain - for every day of our trip. …
Richard spent part of last week and all weekend building me a deck and gazebo! It's beautiful!!! Frank helped Richard and he also helped me pull weeds and spread organic fertilizer. Mason enjoyed running his trucks through the fertilizer (yuck). I'm quite sure he won't have completely clean fingernails again until the snows come next winter. Mason and Max understandably want to spend ALL their time outdoors now...which is why we really needed the gazebo - so I can work outside while they play. Unfortunately, now it's supposed to rain all week. …
Swine Flu. Oh, joy. The bane of my recent sleepless nights and new gray eyebrows (seriously - that's the only place I can see gray hair!). …
Last week, I told you the road was clear and that we could get to our land in Western Maine. Despite having a terrible cold, with a cough I can't seem to shake (no, it's not Pertussis), we drove to our land on Saturday. It was a perfectly beautiful Spring day! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the trees on the mountain, while still pretty bare, had tiny buds that you had to squint to see. The stream was gurgling from the recent snow melt and Max and Mason tossed in one pebble after another. …
As I wrote a few weeks ago, we're going to spend our free time this summer building on our land in Western Maine instead of taking long RV trips. Richard learned from our neighbors there this morning that our road is clear of snow and ice now so we can drive out anytime we want! …
On Monday afternoon, Max came inside to tell me that, while he was playing badminton with Daddy, his front tooth got caught in the net. …
During the winter in Bangor, Maine, the Penobscot River freezes over. If you go outside after dark, when there aren't many cars driving by, you can hear the ice cracking as it echoes along the boulders lining the mighty river. …
ichard took me on a surprise weekend trip to Conway, New Hampshire. We visited that beautiful down years ago and it was lots of fun to return. The town is in a valley and snow-capped mountains tower in the background. Our hotel room had a breathtaking view of the White Mountains and Mt. Washington can be seen from almost anywhere in town. …
Thanks so everybody who sent me empty-nest-syndrome support notes last week! They really did help. Ali's leaning toward attending the nearby school for two years so I am quietly breathing a sigh of relief. But, she hasn't signed the papers yet so I'm still a bit nervous. …
You'll be happy to know that I'm not going to talk about the weather this week! ;) Big news around the house these days is Ali (age 18) applied to two colleges and was accepted by both! One is nearby and very reasonable. The other is far away and very, very expensive. …
——– NOTE: The email issue had the wrong link it it. That is why you ended…
We had our worst storm of this Winter season on Sunday and Monday. We received 16.2 inches of snow and more than 100,000 homes lost power (we didn't). It took Richard, Frank and Ali quite some time to clear the driveway and sidewalk. We've been looking at the mounds of snow here, that just keep getting deeper by the week, and we're wondering how bad the Spring thaw and subsequent floods might be. We never flood as we're right on the river and about 40-50 feet up. But, when we have lots of snow during the winter, other people's homes do flood here. We're supposed to get more snow on Friday and even more late next week. …
As I type this, we are in traffic, somewhere in New Jersey on Route 1, heading north. We'll be on the interstate soon and Richard will want to stop and fill up the tank before we drive through New York City (well, around the city...but it's hairy all the same). If we were in the RV, we'd go out of our way, WAY out of our way, to avoid that traffic. But, it's not too bad in the truck. Last night, we slept in Princeton, New Jersey, after driving through the town and have a very nice dinner there. …
We did it! We escaped Bangor for a week, heading south to my sister's house to meet our sweet little nephew for the first time. As I'm typing this, we're racing south on I-95. There's tons of snow on the ground so we'll be looking for the drifts to get smaller and smaller, the further south we get. It is supposed to be in the upper 60's at my sister's when we're there so we all packed shorts. You think I'm kidding? This time of year, we think anything above freezing is a warm front! …
Well, the groundhog definitely saw his shadow here...and he bolted back into the hole he'd dug through the three feet of packed snow we have on the ground. Our poor RV looks so lonely and cold outside. I'm sure she's just dying for a trip but she is out of luck. …
I've been potty-training Mason for 10 days now and, not only does he ALWAYS potty on the toilet when he needs to now, but he also takes apart his little potty and dumps it in the big potty. Yea, Mason! He did have one accident (only one!) in the past week...and it was when he went #2. …
For the first time since we moved to Maine, one of our pipes froze last week. It was -28 when Richard took the kids to school that morning. He was pretty grumpy when Ali reported her car wouldn't start because that meant he had to get out in that cold. I, of course, expressed my deepest sympathy...before rolling over, pulling the quilt under my chin, and going back to sleep. Heh... …
Just after Christmas, while feeling jealous that all the relatives got to see my new nephew while I haven't yet met him in person (I did meet him when he was still in my sister's tummy), we planned a trip to Virginia to see their family. I even convinced my mom to fly there and meet us. We would have a grand time, my sister, my mom and me, along with the boys (her baby and husband, and my hubby and the two youngest boys). I was so excited! We made our hotel reservations and my mom bought non-refundable plane tickets. In the meantime, we've been waiting for a few months for the judge to make a decision in our lawsuit against Amazon. We were alerted this week that the court has requested oral arguments from our side and from Amazon. …
Our holiday was incredibly grand and we sure didn't like seeing it end! We had friends, family, games, snow, too much Christmas candy and much, much more! As I write this, I can still hear the Christmas wreath outside, tapping against the window in the wind. I need to remember to ask Frank to take those down. While he's at it, he'll also take down the outside lights. I'm ashamed to admit those are still up, too! …
Our holiday guests have departed (sniff) and we are officially "on vacation" for the rest of the week, recovering from the mayhem. Please be careful on New Year's Eve, everybody! Angela BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - Want to read real book proposals that landed these contracts? Simon and Schuster - $100,000; Berkeley Books - $25,000; Osborne-McGraw-Hill - $19,500; Random House $15,000; and many more! See a complete list here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/3332.html QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments - Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman's Day - $2,800; Redbook - $3,500; Ladies Home Journal - $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com - $2,000; Lifetime Magazine - $3,000; Life Extension Magazine - $6,480; Natural Remedies - $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html …
We have a house full of family and friends this week to this issue will be abbreviated. We wish all of you a wonderful, warm, loving and FUN holiday week!! Angela P.S. WANT A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA? How to Reborn a Doll in a Day by Angela Hoy. See pics here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1670.html Also: BOOK PROPOSALS THAT WORKED! Real Book Proposals That Landed $10K - $100K Publishing Contracts - Want to read real book proposals that landed these contracts? Simon and Schuster - $100,000; Berkeley Books - $25,000; Osborne-McGraw-Hill - $19,500; Random House $15,000; and many more! See a complete list here: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/3332.html QUERY LETTERS THAT WORKED! Real Queries That Landed $2K+ Writing Assignments - Want to read real query letters that landed these contracts? Woman's Day - $2,800; Redbook - $3,500; Ladies Home Journal - $3,000; DiscoveryHealth.com - $2,000; Lifetime Magazine - $3,000; Life Extension Magazine - $6,480; Natural Remedies - $11,300; and many more! See: https://www.writersweekly.com/books/1409.html …
Well, we did get that ice storm last week and it was a bit nerve-wracking. Richard is always ultra-prepared for everything. He never lets the truck's gas tank get more than half empty and, when they said we might get ice, he stocked the RV with food, drinks, extra gas and even extra propane. If the power goes out, we can simply carry our computers out to the RV and live out there for as long as we need to. We have a satellite Internet dish out there, too! Between our regular Internet connection, our dish, and our phones, we can always get online. …
Three weeks ago, I posted two pictures from the 2008 Hoy Family Picture Puzzle Book. I promised to post the clue photo the following week...and I forgot! …
Doing our part to keep the economy moving, we've almost finished our Christmas shopping. …
I've been checking the weather without luck every single day so I was shocked when Frank woke me up on Saturday morning to tell me it was SNOWING! It was blowing pretty good so I ran through the house, waking up all the children to tell them to get dressed for the annual Christmas Card Photo! Whoo hoo! Of course, the older kids had to call their significant others so we had to wait for them, too. …
In past years, I've published articles about unique and inexpensive gift ideas for writers to create... …