This and That Thursday

LIFE

My laundry pile is slowly getting back to normal after our great trip! If only the rain would stop and we could finally attend our boys' baseball games. So many have been cancelled!

BLOGGING
Monday is the Anita and Kelly Dance Challenge! I haven't taped mine yet.... I had better get my game on and DANCE! Person with the most comments wins (can comment on both) and Anita, I mean, the other person puts $ in the kitty for a charity! ;)

Also, a big thank you to those of you who have given me a blog award recently!! Your thoughtfulness is appreciated (even though I don't always follow the blog award rules!).

READING
I read three books in the last few weeks (fast for me!): The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan, The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker, and Earthling Hero by Anita Laydon Miller (only 99 cents at Amazon or Smashwords!). I highly recommend all three! They kept me turning the pages to see what the heck was going to happen next!

MUSIC
My sixth grader J-Man and I headbanged together at a concert last night. We headed to ROCKford to hear one of our favorite bands, Avenged Sevenfold, along with another great band - Three Days Grace. It was the fourth time I've seen Avenged and third time I've seen 3DG.
Picture me and a male mini-me with short hair screaming at the top of our lungs to metal songs and throwing our fists up to the beat. Yep, that's us.

A clip of my favorite song of all time - Unholy Confessions

Best guitar duo ever: Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates (no, those aren't their given names :) I think the biggest reason I love A7X so much is because of their unique, manic guitar solos.

I hope your day ROCKS!

Bahama Mama

Aloha my friends! Okay, wrong tropical paradise, but hello all the same!
I recently returned from a fabulous family vacation to Paradise Island in the Bahamas. We stayed at the Atlantis resort that has everything an adult or child could wish for in a trip: several pools, ocean beaches, secluded lagoon beaches, variety of restaurants, kids club, dolphin encounters, shopping, casino, huge salt water fish tanks, snorkeling and other water sporty fun, water park & slides, and SUN! Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), we loved it and had a fabulous time. My inlaws, hubby, three kids and I had great family fun in the warm Bahama sun! I even had time to read The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan and The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker - both excellent page turners!

Here's a few fun pics from vacation, and this week I'm looking forward to catching up on your blogs!

I kissed a dolphin and I liked it. The seven of us loved our dolphin encounter. We all got to hug, kiss, and watch our dolphin, Missi, do tricks. She even headbanged with me! Not kidding!

My sweet kiddos at the beach.

I even went to an author signing! This is me and author/actress Carolyn Hennesy. She signed Pandora Gets Jealous for me from her popular Pandora middle grade series.

And another view from our room.

Have a fabulous week! I'll be applying and reapplying lotion to try and keep my tan as long as I can!

Jared Leto Gives Carol and Me a Bath

A blood bath that is! Last night the wonderful Carolina Valdez Miller and I attended the 30 Seconds to Mars concert. The theme: BLOOD BALL! And bloody it was! Here's a clip of Jared Leto spraying the audience with blood.

Carol and I sang at the top our lungs, jumped up and down with thousands of people, and stayed up to the wee hours talking about writing.


Before the last song of the concert, Jared announced that anyone that crowdsurfed to the front could come onstage with them. We were right by the front barrier, so I swung my leg over but I couldn't climb over! Before I changed my mind, fans behind me heaved me over to the other side. I sang chorus to "Kings and Queens" with about 30 other rabid fans onstage with the band. Unfreakingbelievably fun!
Pics from onstage:

Tomo the guitarist



A short clip from onstage:


Thank you, Carol, for being my date to the Blood Ball! Carol is as sweet in person as she is on her blog! 30 Seconds to Mars was AMAZING, and so is Carol!

MCR and Neon Tree Me!

Last night I went to a -yeah, you guessed it - a concert! I rocked it to My Chemical Romance and Neon Trees. It was the second time I've seen both of them in concert. My friend, Sue, and I arrived to the venue a little early and snagged a close spot to the stage. The crowd was 95% teens and also parents with their preteens. And then there was us (though my 6th grade son was mad I didn't take him! But I'm taking him to another concert in a few weeks).

Both Neon Trees and My Chemical Romance were amazing. Neon Trees played from their debut album, MCR mixed both old and new songs. My legs are killing me from dancing!

This is Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees. You've probably heard their song, "Animal."

Gerard's vocals were on, and I loved watching Frank Iero shred on the guitar right in front of us!Here's My Chemical Romance lead singer, Gerard Way. Many teens came to the concert with red hair like Gerard. He's a cutie, don'tcha think?!

Here's a short clip of Planetary Go! montage. It's a great dance song. Love these lyrics!

If my velocity starts to make you sweat, then just don't let go...I can't slow down; I won't be waiting for you. I can't stop now, because I'm dancin'!...Blast it to the back row!

Tonight I rock it with Carolina Valdez Miller! We're going to the 30 Seconds to Mars concert. Some guy named Jared Leto is lead singer. I heard he's kind of cute, too...and there's a theme night for this one: Blood Ball! There are going to be some crazy pics on the blog tomorrow!

Also, My Chemical Romance has created a web page at singitforjapan.com with this song below and ways to donate and help Japan. You can also buy this song on Itunes -proceeds go to relief for Japan. What nice, talented guys, huh?

A post about singing, an incredible dance off challenge, and a $0.99 ebook for kids!

Anita Laydon Miller has one of my favorite author blogs. She usually writes short posts, but packs them with great information. She’s the book columnist for the COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE, so she’s always reading good books. And until recently, she was the client of a sought-after literary agency, so she’s got the inside scoop in publishing. A couple weeks ago, Anita switched gears and decided to epublish her middle grade science fiction on her own. So now she’s an epublishing expert, too.

According to Anita, EARTHLING HERO is an “inexpensive middle grade ebook”—at $.99, she’s right—that she’s hoping will appeal to kids and to families who read aloud together. Below is a short description of the book and then a short video of Anita singing.

Imagine waking one summer night to see someone standing beside your bed. The “someone” is a complete stranger, but looks exactly like you. That’s what happens to eleven-year-old Mikey Murphy. The next few days are filled with adventures—breaking into a high-security military installation, engaging expert assassins in hand-to-hand combat, searching for an evil alien’s hideout in the middle of a national landmark—all with two new alien friends at his side. Can Mikey and his friends survive their adventures and save the world?

That was Anita’s singing debut. Doesn't she look adorable in her cowboy boots?

Now are you ready to watch Anita and me dance? Because that brazen lady just challenged me to a dance-off! Here’s how it works: On May 2nd, Anita and I will each post one-minute videos on our respective blogs. Anita’s video will show her dancing, my video will show me dancing. We’ll count the number of comments we each get during the 24 hours after we post the videos. The person with the least number of comments (and you can comment on both blogs, everyone), will place $10.00 in a kitty. We’ll post new dance videos on the first Mondays of September, October, November and December and keep track of the comments each of those months, too, so that there will be $50.00 in the kitty in December. We’ll give that money away to a to-be-determined charity.

I accept your challenge, Anita. Let the dancing begin! It's ON!

We So Excited About the Library!

This week is National Library Week! Do you love the library? I do! Our local library lends books and DVDs for free, gives access to computers, provides programs for kids and adults, and more. I frequent our local library about three times a month. My kids love to go to the library to check out books.

This week is the perfect time to show my appreciation to my local library. How will I do this? How else but with a music parody! Check out my very amateur video of "Library!" It's quite catchy, and you will be singing it all day!

*Note: I realize that Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris and Possession by Elana Johnson are not new releases yet. They will be new releases in the summer, and I can't wait! Earthling Hero by Anita Laydon Miller is indeed a new release now as are The Liar Society and Odd Girl In!

If you missed my last year's music parody for National Library Week. Here it is! It's a parody of "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance (and I also get to see MCR in concert this week. Woot!).

This and That Thursday

LIFE Can you believe it's April already?! April is going to be an awesome month. I have three, yes, three concerts lined up (one with Carolina Valdez Miller! We are going to drool over Jared Leto together) and a trip to the Bahamas. Plus my boys' baseball season starts too. Definitely a fun, incredibly busy month! WRITING Jon and I have slacked a bit on our middle grade novel, Sasquatch Eleanor, in the last few weeks, but we are destined to keep at it. I've put some good time in this week. It's awesome, I tell you, awesome! Go us!

BLOGGING Next week is National Library Week! I'll be posting a parody of a song celebrating libraries again! I heart the library. Please check out the Bookanista's Give Back contest at Myra's blog HERE! Lots of great prizes including critiques and signed books! AUTHOR NEWS My dear friend Anita Laydon Miller has released her middle grade novel Earthling Hero! She is having a blog tour now and will stop by my blog next Wednesday. You don't want to miss it! Anita is one smart, beautiful, funny woman! You can buy her ebook at amazon.com or smashwords! Plus check out her new Middle Grade blog HERE! Read an interesting discussion about e-publishing and a schedule of Anita's blog tour at Matthew's blog here. MUSIC Speaking of songs, I cannot, cannot get Rebecca Black's "Friday" out of my head! Argh! But here's Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, and long lost American Idol Taylor Hicks singing it!*Blogger formatting is wonky today; Sorry! I've tried to fix it (if it's not fixed when I post this!)

Dear Diary 5

If you missed the Diary of a With It Kid entries, see my aspirations here, puke entry here, and fourth grade entry here, and how Anne Frank helped my love life here.

Next is the ups and downs of a short lived junior high romance. Here are true excerpts from my diary of a three day romance with a seventh grader when I began my eighth grade year. Middle grade authors take note for your stories. Except kids don't say babe anymore do they? List babelicious terms of 2011 in the comments. Hottie? Shawty? (and none of these terms can be applied to my dorky eighth grade basketball picture to the left. They didn't call me Too Tall Maple for nothin'!)

August 28

Hi! We started school yesterday. Yesterday was kind of boring. Today was better. I like Todd again (he's a 7th grader). I call him Toddy Woddy (I called him that on our school trip to Springfield in July). So he calls me Kelly Welly. I guess that's better than Smelly Kelly. I don't know if he likes me. I doubt it. We talked at the end of school (at 3:30) mostly about Springfield. When I had study hall (but I have to do math to get ready for my night classes at the high school). Yes, I was a brain. Mrs. Reynolds left the door open so I could see Todd (he was eating lunch). I waved. He waved back. After lunch they (his friends) stood around (in front of the door) & he goes, "Want this?" (he was holding his half eaten sandwich). I go, "No thanks." I should have taken the sandwich! It was probaby pb&j! Mr. Mills stood by them and came in and joked around and said, "I'm sorry are we bothering you?" He left. Then Todd waved bye and left. Todd is a babe!

August 29

Hi! Today we had our first student council meeting. I was Ms. President. We're having a dance Sept 14. I hope it's a good dance. Isn't any dance a good dance? Todd was kind of a jerk today - whenever he's with Ryan he's a jerk. Ryan's only nice when he's alone too. Toddy is a babe!

August 31

Hello! I can't see Todd for 3 whole days! Mike and Chad know I like Todd so he'll probably know by Tuesday. I talked to him pretty much at school. Usually about stuff like the Springfield trip. Can you please think of another topic to talk to him about, Kelly? Tonight Jon called (he sounded like Todd at first - my heart skipped a couple of beats). Drama! He liked Becky. He told me to call her and ask her out fo him. I called her and she felt bad because of this (and boy I did too) but she said no. We talked a long time to figure out a way to tell him. Finally I called him and told him the truth. That's all folks! Todd is a massive babe!

September 4

Guess what! I'm goin' with Todd! Isn't that super! He's such a babe! Mary Kate and Jenny ran up to me in the hall & said, "Will you go out with Todd?" I go, "ha ha!" cuz I thought they were joking but then they told me what they said to him. I go, "Yes, of course!" They ran to tell him & now I'm goin' with him. Mary Kate and Dawn won for 8th grade Student Council representatives. It was a spectacular day! Todd is a babe! Should I end all my blog posts with "My hubby is a babe?"

September 5

Todd was a babe as usual today. That's just funny! We talked in the halls pretty much. I wrote him a note he said he'd write me a note by 8th hour. He didn't he said he was sorry & promised me one tomorrow so I guess I'll get the note tomorrow.

September 7

Sorry I didn't write yesterday. I'm so polite to my diary. Todd finally wrote me a note yesterday. I was so happy yesterday. We didn't talk a whole lot but we talked. Well, anyway, here's the bad news. Today he broke up. Everything was going fine (well, at least I thought). I wrote him a note like every day Um, which means three whole days straight. I asked him "So do you wanna write back?" He said, "Yeah. I guess so." Then I saw him in the halls and say hi. He said hi. Riveting conversations! Dawn and I filled up the vending machine. He passed and I said "Hi." He said "Hi." I said, "Note?" Man, I put the pressure on writing notes! He shook his head and said "Well, not yet." Then 8th hour Dawn and I were by the L.C. Todd was talking to Mike and when Mike was leaving Todd said, "Don't say anything!" Then Matt and Todd were by the books and I heard Todd say, "Don't tell her yet!" So I kind of knew. Then Matt comes up to me and goes "Todd wants to break up." I go "OK." Then I thought he was going to leave but he said, "Because he doesn't know you that well" I guess I should have talked more than about the darn Springfield trip! I said, "Okay" again & Matt left. When Mike broke up with me in 7th grade I cried (well, tears came down). Not a tear this time. Well, I felt like I was going to when I told my friends. Well, I cried a little when I was listening to some music Which was probably Air Supply, Chicago or Duran Duran at the time. and looking through his picture and note. Way to torture yourself, Kelly. And the note! What is up with the significance of the notes?! I guess I still do like him, but I'll probably know for sure Monday.

Monday

Well, I definitely don't like Todd anymore. I like Allan again. HA! The fickle heart of a 13 year old.

Oops! I almost forgot! Chris is a babe! (Chris is my hubby). Like totally.