OK, I’m doing it.  I’m going back to school.  At my age this is probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.  Let’s face it folks, I’m a one stop shop here.  I can’t just write the book.  i also have to do the cover and the book trailers.
What I’ll be doing here is called auditing a class.  Even though I’ll be doing the same things as the other students, at least that’s what they tell me, I just want be getting credit for it.  I’m OK with that for now.  Who knows, I may become inspired and decide to continue on and who knows where that might lead.  Right now, at this time, I just want to get better at some of the things I do.
I feel like maybe I should have taken a bit of a different route, but right now this is what I want to do.
Making a book trailer or anything like that isn’t easy.  I’ve been teaching myself as I go with very little help.  Oh, you can go on YouTube and get a lot of videos on how to do this or that.  The problem with this is that if you don’t have the same equipment as they do then it’s kind of pointless.  One of the problems is most of them will tell you don’t use that, use this instead while the other person is saying use this and not that.  Talk about confusing. 
People talk about Boomers, we’ll get into the Boomer thing at a later date, but some of these millennials are nuts.  I don’t care what it is they are into they are all in and that’s it.  When you have someone nearly thirty and all they can think of is some online game to the point that they have it not only on a computer made simply for playing games, but they have televisions all through the house with this game on it, there is something wrong.  Sorry if I offend anyone here and I know that isn’t the case with most young people, but just because you’ve managed to run into a few older people who are totally asses, doesn’t mean we all are either.
We all can learn new things and that’s what I want to do.  The scariest part of this…is that I will be in a room with a bunch of young people who I will have nothing in common with outside of what we will be studying in this class.  I will bet that I will never be asked to join them at Starbucks.  Don’t worry, that won’t hurt my feeling.  I certainly won’t be asking them to sit down with me for a good shot of whisky, and I do like really good whisky, because they are all going to be too young.  No, I don’t drink often or much, but you get my point here.  Like I said, scary.
So, cross your fingers, pray that I can do one of the two things my daughter told me, and I don’t get lost on campus.  I think I may need a motor scooter.
As for the Image, I just wanted to have some fun.

 For those of you who have might have been following my website I’m sorry if I have let you down.  Truthfully since Weebly has declared that most of the “people” who look at a website are robots they have made the whole process pretty much pointless in my opinion.  The way it was explained to me by someone who works at Weebly, anyone who visits someone’s website from another social media site is considered a robot my numbers and well as everyone else’s I’m assuming have gone down.  This was because if someone clicked on a person’s website and didn’t buy anything it was making people mad.
OK, I can get that.  Problem is however to expect someone that decides to take a look at your website just to see what it is doesn’t mean you’re going to make a sale or anything else.  It does mean however that it increases your chances of being seen and you knowing it.  That alone can give someone enough encouragement to continue to blog along and hope that the tide will turn in your direction.  What is happening now just flat sucks.  It’s demoralizing and counterproductive.
Tell me, why am I paying the amount that I am for nothing?  That’s what it seems like.
So, here is what I’m going to assume.  There are still people out there who do look at my website and are just not getting counted.  I didn’t start this to sell my books, just to entertain, inform, and maybe get you to take a look at buying one of my books from where they should be bought, and that’s not on Weebly.
As for what is going on…I’m having to make up my mind about something that if I do this it will be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.  No, I’m not telling and no, my husband and I aren’t having issues, well no more than any other couple that is.  I still love him, he still loves me, at least I hope he does.  We still have three beautiful daughters, somewhere.  I may have misplaced one or two lately.  And some lovely, if precocious, grandchildren.
No this has to do with a book I’ve been working on for a while and it should have been done some time ago, but things happen.  I may fill everyone in on this at a later date, but not now.  I do intend to try and have the ending resolved and the book finished by the end of this year.
I am hoping that my husband and I can get away to the Smoky Mountains this spring so that I can continue some more in-depth research into the background for the book as well as another I am working on.
As for now, I’ve enrolled at a local university to help me with some other things that I do.  Namely my book trailers and photography.  Hey, I’m a one stop shop.  There is also a project I’ve been busy with and please cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me in hopes it results in a really great outcome.  No, I’m not telling what that is either.  Not now anyway.
God bless the ones of you who do read my blogs and support my website, whether you get counted or not.  If you do, please just hit the like button at the bottom or leave a message.  I’d love to hear from you.  Thank you for being there.

 The way Weebly has made me feel.  I'm over it.

 I have been negligent in paying attention to my website.  I have to admit is because of Weebly.  They have made some changes that makes we wonder if there is any point to this at all.  Point blank, Weebly sucks.
Now, moving on.  I have also been extremely busy.  Between chasing a jeweler’s mark on a piece of jewelry, yes, I do that, to dealing with family.  It has been a busy year. 
I can’t go into all that has been going on because, first I don’t want to bore you, and second, some things are under wraps at the moment.  Maybe by this time next month I can let you know what it is.
I recently turned a year older and that was a trip.  No really, that was a trip.  Almost landed my ass at the bottom of a root cellar via a kitchen floor and I’m not talking about stairs.  I then found out that the area where we parked the bus is supposed to have a dead skin walker.  That was fun to find out.  Yeah, this thing was evidently killed while going through the change, and I’m not talking menopause.  OK, if it was a female, maybe she was going through menopause.  If that was the case, she really would be one pissed off old bitch and God help the unfortunate souls who run into her.  Can you imagine, you’re in the middle of changing from human to wolf and half-way through you get killed while going through that particularly irritating time of a female’s life when she has hot flashes.  Yeah, I would say that would be one angry spirit running around taking it all out on poor unsuspecting human.
I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down about being where we were.  Don’t get me wrong, if you love secluded out of the way, really quiet places then this would definitely be the place for you.  I actually love it there.  The problem was that I went there to try and get some photos, maybe even a video of a meteor shower.  What I got was a really cold place to sit out at night and watch the heavy cloud cover while being pelted by some unseen cold substance that everyone claimed wasn’t snow.  Anyway, I did catch whatever the hell it was on video.  The video is kind of cool, in more ways than one, and I did get some interesting pictures and a couple of videos of some old buildings.  It was in one of these that I almost ended up in a root cellar.  The old house was originally built sometime before 1900 and someone came along at some point and added on.  Can you imagine part of a house covered with old aluminum siding while they left the sides of the old timber cabin exposed to the outside world?
I’m sharing a picture of the house that shows the two different looks so you can see what I’m talking about.
I shall close for now and put this sleepy old bottom to bed.  Remember, I’m another year older.  Please check out my YouTube channel and hit like and subscribe.
YouTube;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGpW8kzDQSpPIEG9xaxUXVw/featured?disable_polymer=1

I spent the last part of August and all of September getting ready for an antique bus rally in Blytheville, AR.  The result of this has been a round of bronchitis and a bad sinus infection for the first two weeks of October.  Was it worth it?  Except for when I’m coughing, yes.
A lot of people won’t get this, but those who do, really do get it.  I start saying things like 4106 4104’s it won’t mean a thing to most people.  Try Buffalo or Flxible and nearly everyone will get lost.  Silversides, Scenicruiser, and many more will have no meaning to those who have not been bitten by the bug.  The Bus Nut bug that is.
The sad thing I thought was that it might be something that will die out after the people over fifty are gone, but evidently that’s not the case it appears.  My daughter who is no where near fifty has been bitten.  What does she want?  A Flxible.  She took one look at one and lost her heart.  There was an eighteen-year-old boy at the rally who had his own Silversides.  There is hope for the future of this love affair for old buses.
So, what do we have?  A GM PD4106 converted Greyhound.  Yes, I love the bus almost as much as my husband and that is saying something.  You see, he grew up on Greyhound buses, of all types from the mid fifties on.  His dad was a driver for Dixie Greyhound for over thirty years.  Did my husband follow in in his dad’s footsteps?  No.  He became a Network Engineer, but he never lost his love for those beautiful machines.

 I’ve looked at the covers of some of the top selling books and I’ve found a trend.  Put a half, or fully naked lady, or a guy with a gun and or knife, him sitting on a motorcycle makes it even better, and that book is going to fly off the shelf.  I don’t think it matters what’s in the book on the front end, that book is going to be at the top of the list.  Don’t get me wrong, it may be a perfectly good book, but let’s face it; naked ladies, guns, and knives are what is going to catch most people’s eye.
 You can have the greatest book that was ever written but you better have at least two, better three, of those elements on the cover if you want it to sell.  I’m thinking about taking one of my books and putting a lady with nothing on but her skimpy undies running away from a gun pointing at her back.  I’ll title it Dead Ringer and see what happens.
 Oh no, I just got tickled.  Something evil this way comes.  My horribly mean little mind has come up with the most ridiculous idea ever and I’m just the one to do it.  I am such an ass.  I can’t stop laughing.
 OK, five minutes later, I’m still tickled but the laughing is under control, I am going to do this.

 That is the understatement of the year folks.  I won’t go into everything that has been happening but let me tell you this, sometimes life hands it to you in spades.
Most of these things have been due to family members and what’s going on in their lives but one in particular did involve me.  I got my eyeball shaved.  Yes, you read that right, I got my eyeball shaved.  If you want to do something for shits and giggles, don’t do that.  It will honestly make you consider committing suicide.  Yikes.  Hey, and I still have to get the second one done.  I’m thinking about waiting about twenty or twenty-five years for that and maybe I’ll die before I get around to it.  Yes, it was a medical necessity.  Once I can fully see again, if ever, I’ll let you know if it was worth it.  Am I being a bit of a brat about the whole thing?  You bet your sweet ass, but that too is another story.  I will say I have an awesome eye doctor, but I hate my eye surgeon.  You get this done; you’ll hate yours too.
What really sucks is that I have this awesome convertible that I can’t really drive and can’t even put the top down on when I’m riding in it because my eye is going to be light sensitive for about another week.  Screw this shit.
OK, I’m finished with that.
Since I can’t go into all the other things that have been happening, I’m not blasting family members business all over the internet, there isn’t much for me to tell you.
I do have a couple of things in the works that could be exciting, but we’ll just have to wait and see.  Well, hear about anyway.
I hope you are all well and happy, surprisingly I am right now, and hope to have something more interesting for you in the near future.  Sorry for the parting shot I’m about to upload on you, but what the hell.  If you’re reading my work, then you know it’s all about the scare and shock factor.  Hehe.
 Yes that is my eye the day after when I went for the 24 hour follow up.

 Below is a copy of an email sent to the Kennedy Space Center Gift Shop.  After sending that email, I took a better look at the book and found the book to also be damaged because of lousy packaging.  Yes, they got a second email because of that.  Don’t try to call them.  You get a voicemail that says leave a message.  You have to wonder if maybe they fail to launch a lot of the right things.  Oh, as for the book I wanted.  In paperback it was actually $6.00 cheaper.
***
I recently ordered the paperback book The Darkest Dark published in 2018, what I got was the hardback book published 2016.  I could have ordered that book for nearly $4.00 cheaper on Amazon Prime if that had been the one I wanted.  It wasn’t.  Now I have to decide whether to return the book you sent and try to get the one I actually want somewhere else or keep the one you sent me.
Here’s the problem.  I ordered this book for my grandson for his birthday and that happens to be this Saturday.  The other problem is that by the time I pack this damn book up and return it the shipping fee will cost more than the difference in the price of the book.  Nice work.
Time of my next blog:
07/25/2019
Please be watching for it at cathypacematthews.com, I’m sure you’ll find it most interesting.
***
Please don’t get me wrong, I have always been supportive of our space program.  When I was young, when it was still unheard of for a girl to even think of going into space, I wanted to be an astronaut.  So, for me to be this upset with anything to do with the program and anything affiliated with it is no small matter.  Now my grandson wants to be an astronaut so I was trying to be a good grandmother and get him something that I thought would be fun and interesting for him.
The Kennedy Space Center deals with some of the most complicated, thought-intensive, dangerous procedures launching things into space, but they not only can’t get the right item out the door they are incapable of appropriately packing something to get it across a couple of states safely?
Humm…

 Lately I haven’t found a lot of things funny.  Sad, crappy, scary, even confusing, but not funny.
I’m a person who can usually find something funny in almost anything, but lately, no.  Now is this because of me or is it the rest of the world that’s gone to Hell in a hand-basket and refuses to entertain me anymore.  I go for the second one personally.  I just thought of an old lady tumbling down the steps and it gave me a chuckle.  I pictured myself as that old lady, that part was sad, but yet, I had managed to amuse myself.
I can manage to amuse my daughter when I stump my toe.  No matter how bad it might be, damn, I could knock the thing off, and she would still probably find it amusing.  Not because she finds me hurting myself funny, at least I hope not, but because of the way I respond when that happens.
No, I don’t jerk my leg of the injured toe up in my hands hopping around on one foot, can you imagine the deadly ramifications of that action, nor do I plop down in the nearest location to nurse and whine over the injured appendage.  I also do not expel a long line of expletives in a loud cackling voice or spill out shrieking noises of pain.  I simply go ow in a low monotone manner and keep going as if nothing has happened.  I don’t care how bad it might be, that is always the response.  Seriously, I could probably knock off the whole damn toe and the result would be no different.  Hey, I’ve jammed the damn thing and that was still the response.  Now you know why my daughter finds it amusing.
What’s not amusing is why I usually have this happen to me on such a regular basis.  My dear hubby leaves toe mines all over the house.  Don’t ask me why, maybe he is trying to take me out one toe at a time.  What can I say, I’m Diabetic, so it could be a thing?  I also remember that I have in some way addressed this issue before, but from a different perspective and for different reasons.
No, the problem is definitely you guys, or at least some of you.
Below is a list of things I don’t find funny. I do find them sad, scary, and horrible.

1. “Your car is faster than mine, I don’t like that.”  Bang, you’re dead.
2. “You disrespected me; I don’t like that.”  Bang, you’re dead.
3. “You don’t believe the same things I do; I don’t like that.”  Bang, you’re dead.
4. “My other classmates are going to school and learning something, I don’t like that.” Bang, bang, bang, a whole bunch of you are dead.
5. “You didn’t get my dinner right; I don’t like that.”  Slap, punch, stab, you’re dead.
6. “This very small child won’t shut up; I don’t like that.”  I can’t even finish that one.

So, think about this a minute.  If me accidentally hurting myself is the only thing I can find amusing these days…you should consider all the things I’m finding sad, crappy, scary, and confusing.  Let’s start finding ways to try and stop these things instead of all of us bickering over all the stupid shit in this country?

   To say this past week has been a bit of a challenge is the understatement of the millennium.  Four emergency room visits, no not me, emotional meltdowns, again not me, me spending a good deal of time babysitting from one to three children four days this past week, and a five-year-old’s birthday party.  Added to this I’ve got a project that I’ve been trying to get finished for two weeks now and It’s just not happening.
To give you an idea of what I mean, I was going to write this then go to work on that when my hubby steps through the back door, when I say through the back door I mean out of it not in, and says, “I’m home.”  Really?  My husband has to be at work at six in the morning so I thought I would have at least four or five hours to work on this project, it is a very important project, before he would walk through the door this afternoon.
No, that isn’t happening now.  If my husband is up and moving about the house I can’t work.  He is a distraction.  He doesn’t mean to be, but he is.  I had everything set up on our deck out back and of course with him being home he will be running in and out that back door.  That’s a big distraction in and of itself.  Part of what he’ll be doing while running in and out of that back door is working on a lawn mower that belongs to our youngest daughter.  That will be a great big distraction. The icing on the cake will be our five-month-old puppy who is already the size of a small elephant who when it is just me and her is a little angel, but with daddy home, she turns into a little hoodlum.  That can end with me pulling my hair out.
What it boils down to people is I’m sinking here, and I don’t know how to tread these waters little on swim in them.  HELP!
So now I will take another twenty to thirty minutes to load up my stuff, move it all back inside and call it a day.  Actually, I’m thinking of parking my little, OK, not so little, butt in my car and heading for regions unknown, where I will spend the day hiding from my family.  Yes, I have a cell phone but that doesn’t mean I have to answer it.
If you never hear from me again that means I have disappeared into the nether regions of some distant parallel universe and I like it there.  Actually, if you don’t hear from me, call the police because I’m lost.

Last night feel asleep early, I do mean early.  My husband and I had a rather rough day with a sick daughter and two grandkids that needed babysitting.
Now this is just a little sample of what the past few days have been like.  Yes, they have been a bit hectic.  While writing this just got a text from the sick daughter and I have a feeling that things may take another turn for the hectic once again.
Another text so yep, another turn.
Anyway, I hope I can continue this now.
I had literally passed out on the couch, no drinking involved, just tired as hell.
Now imagine you are in this deep sleep from pure exhaustion and suddenly you are awakened by the most gosh awful crash, rumble, thud that ends with the house shaking and your husband going oomph and you open your eyes to your hubby trying to crawl his way back up to his feet, no, there was no drinking there either.
“What the crap just happened?”  I didn’t ask if he was OK, my bad, I just wanted to know how my usually very coordinated hubby nearly brought the house down.
“Nothing, go back to sleep.”  He responded.
“Go back to sleep: after you nearly shook the house off it’s foundation.”  I couldn’t imagine him thinking me sleeping after that was possible.
“The house didn’t shake, OK, maybe it did.  Thanks for letting me know that I’m fat and my large ass nearly brought the house down.”  My shock at this alone would have kept me up the rest of the night if it weren’t for the fact that he was suffering from humiliation from his close encounter with the floor.
“You’re certainly not fat and your ass still looks great so how about telling me how it happened?”  OK, I admit my sympathy wasn’t very high at this point, but remember, I had just been awaked by my couch jumping across the floor.
“I tripped, OK.  I was putting on my shoes and somehow managed to get tripped up by them.”  You could tell he wasn’t happy.
Now there might have been another reason why I wasn’t particularly sympathetic to his misadventure.  A few months ago I was going through the house and I managed to trip over something of his he had left on the floor, no I don’t remember what it was, and I not only tripped but went flying across a room and landed head first onto the top of my desk.  I’m quite certain the house shook then as well but at the moment that happened, I didn’t give a crap.  Also, we had a couple of quest at the time and they were standing next to my desk looking at something and it was a small wonder I didn’t take them out like a couple of bowling pins.  So, sympathy be damn you ass, that was payback for what happened to me because of you, so suck it up.