My Mother

I know Father's Day is this Sunday June 22nd and most people are thinking of their fathers at this time of year. However, my mother died 21 years ago today.

I try to forget what day this is. Usually, I'm teary-eyed on and off every June 18th. Sometimes I break down and cry. So far, so good. As I was writing the date this morning, realization struck that this is the anniversary of Mom's death. I didn't have any written reminders but it's embellished in my mind. I miss her so very much. I was her only child and so she doted on me. I was spoiled. My grandfather said so. And my cousin. I didn't appreciate her enough while she was here. We often argued. We didn't see eye to eye. But I always loved her. A lot of time has passed since she left us. I've had two more children that she will never meet. She has a grand-daughter-in-law and two great-grandchildren. Several more cousins have been added to the family tree. I earned my MBA and have had several books published which she'll never know about. Or will she? It often feels as if she's my guardian angel and that she is watching over me. I feel her presence, her gaze looking down upon me from heaven. Oh dear, the sting of tears is pricking the back of my eyes. I want to celebrate her life and starting next year, we'll throw a party every June 18th. I think she'd like a party in her honor. Maybe we'll barbecue. A young man in my office recently told us that he wants everyone to grill hotdogs and have a party when he dies. He wants a happy send off and he wants people to celebrate his life, not mourn it. I'm tired of the tears. I want to remember all the good things about my mother. She loved to watch John Wayne movies. She loved to read books, especially historicals. She loved to sew. She made my wedding gown and many of my clothes as I was growing up. She worked in alterations, tailoring, and bridal all her life. She was very good to her ill parents. She loved to bowl. She got me hooked on General Hospital. She liked to travel. She fell in love with California when she traveled there for my wedding. She spent her last days there. I love my dad, my uncle, my husband, and my oldest son who are all fathers, too. Since Father's Day is around the corner, I also want to wish them and all the dads everywhere a very happy Father's Day. But my thoughts today, are with my mother. Ashley http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com/

Google Keyword Tool - What the hell???

I'm blog hopping tonight, one of my favorite past times. Shush, don't tell my editor as I should be writing. I'll write in a few minutes. Promise. Anyway, I surfed to Tiffany Dow's blog about Basic Good Old Traffic Advice and read an article about Ad words at Google:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

As I'm always interested in learning new things and in growing my blog, I checked it out. First, I entered the keyword "writer" and came up with at least 40 related keywords that sound reasonable. Second, I entered the keyword "mom", which I am, too. This time, I was in for a shock. Now, as an erotic romance writer, I didn't think I shocked that easily, but I wasn't prepared for the keywords that popped up. Here's fair warning about bad language, and some downright sick phrases, so if you don't want to read bad words, don't read on. Here are some that came up: "i fucked your mom" "mom gets fucked" "mom getting fucked" "moms fucking boys" "moms fucking teens" "moms teaching teens how to fuck" "hot moms fucking" "drunk mom" "mom fucks son" "mom fucks daughter" "granny fuck" "slutty mom" It goes on and on like this. I put in the keyword "mom", not "fuck" but you'd think it was the other way around. And NO, I did not select any of those weird or sick key words or phrases. Am I the only one that thinks this is weird? I'm still trying to make sense of what is a "lens", "hub", "knol", and how to link them to my domain. Obviously, I have some study and reading time to put in. That's if I want to use my time doing this or do I prefer to do it writing stories? I guess I'll save this blog study for days my muse won't come out to play. Can it ever hurt to self-educate? I tell you what - a lot of things I learned being a writer and promoting my work - has helped me in the day job. A lot of the things we do daily as writers - blogging, editing, writing, using Word, using spreadsheets to track sales/etc., research, designing and maintaining websites, and even surfing online and shopping online, come in handy. You'd be surprised how many people I know who don't know how to save a file as a different name. Worse, many don't know how to find a file, can't remember where they saved a file (I don't mean just every now and then, but all the time), delete a file, or email a file, much less know how to do more complicated things like add, sort, merge, format, or construct a formula or a form. Even if I never sold a single book, even if I didn't derive tons of pleasure writing, I'd still be way ahead because of my writing, both personally and professionally. Here's a joke to make you laugh. It's a groaner and on the raunchy side, but funny. Never Choke in a restaurant in the South Two hillbillies walk into a bar. While having a shot of whisky, they talk about their moonshine operation. Suddenly, a woman at a nearby table, who is eating a sandwich, begins to cough. And, after a minute or so, it becomes apparent that she is in real distress. One of the hillbillies looks at her and says, 'Kin ya swallar?' The woman shakes her head no. Then he asks, 'Kin ya breathe?' The woman begins to turn blue and shakes her head no. The hillbilly walks over to the woman, lifts up her dress, yanks down her drawers and quickly gives her right butt cheek a lick with his tongue. The woman is so shocked that she has a violent spasm and the obstruction flies out of her mouth. As she begins to breathe again, the Hillbilly walks slowly back to the bar. His partner says, 'Ya know, I'd heerd of that there 'Hind Lick Maneuver' but I ain't niver seed nobody do it!' You'll want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, and Sandra Cox are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)