Tag Archives: family

mothers and daughters

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My mom has often compared me to Penelope on Criminal Minds. I’m not sure if it’s because the character is always wearing bold colors, cool glasses, does funky stuff with her hair, or is curvy. (yes, CURVY. *koff*) Or maybe it’s a combination of all. Who knows.

But the funny thing about our relationship is the one thing that mom recognizes in me as a core part of ME is the one thing she wishes she could change. And seriously, if I haven’t changed by now, I ain’t gonna.
These past few days I’ve depended on her a lot more than usual because I’ve been helplessly stranded while my car is being worked on. (Thank you, Earl the Mechanic, for the good deeds you are bestowing upon my BlueBelle.) I won’t have BlueBelle back until Thursday, so Mom has volunteered to be my chauffeur. The first couple of days we were stranded by snow. (Actually, I could have gone to work on Tuesday, but Mom wouldn’t give me permission. <–not kidding.)

Enter Wednesday morning.

I open the door to the car.

Mom: THAT’S what you’re wearing today?

Me: No. I have on a whole ‘nother outfit underneath. This is my red
herring outfit.

Mom: Don’t you have some different pants? (the horrid pants in question are black crop cargo pants that meet the top of my black boots.)

Me: Yes. They’re underneath the red herring pants.

Due to the snow, it takes Mom a little longer to drive me to work than usual. Part of this is because she slams on her brakes at various times. And part of it is because she’d rather bitch about the way the other drivers drive instead of actually driving her car. Now because we have an extended time together and there is no way for me to escape (aside from throwing myself out of the car and off the overpass…which I did consider momentarily) Mom uses this time to offer me more advice on my appearance.

Mom: We really need to talk about your hair.

Me: Oh?

Mom: Yes. You know you look like a cartoon, right?

Me: Yes! Thanks! I was going for Jessica Rabbit. How’d I do?

Mom: It’s the wrong color.

Me: Oh? More orange, less red?

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my momma with all my heart. These exchanges serve purely as entertainment. But sometimes, just one turn of phrase or comment in the right tone of voice can make me feel like I’m 12 years old again. How does she do that?

The good news is, I’ve completely reworked my entire wardrobe and am now sporting velour jogging suits, sweaters with puppies, kittens, and rainbows on them, pleated khakis, and SAS Shoes. Thanks Mom!

Okay, so most of you are adults (at least in age)…does your mom still do this to you?

holiday recap with pictures!

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I’m pretty sure my mother’s house is where Christmas went to die, because by the time everyone was finished opening their prezzies, it certainly looked like death and destruction had occurred there.

Here is my mother with her 4 grandkids. Nonnie and the Hellions.

Me and my two hellions.

Me and my brother’s kids: Ryan and Double A

Girl, you got a bow on yo head.

After eating way too much and damn near putting ourselves into a food coma, Fishdog took the boys to his parents’ house for more gluttony and we joined them later for dessert.

Here is a picture of all the kids at the Francis Family Christmas. Only kid missing is my nephew Ryan because he went to see Tron with his daddy.

And here is my fav pic of the day. Me, my kids, and my nieces. There had been much madness and mayhem before this picture was taken. I can’t believe they are all looking at the camera. Especially Ian. Who tries desperately to stay out of every picture possible.

Tomorrow, El Jefe and I are heading east on a road trip. I may be blogging. I may not. We’ll see. If not, I hope y’all have a happy and safe new year and I’ll see you in 2011!

Party on Wayne.

gobble gobble

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Me and the boys are outta here this afternoon.

I’ll be baking pies tonight and a turkey and assorted yummies tomorrow. I can’t wait! I love Thanksgiving. Football, Food, Fun, Friends, and Family. Oh and wine. Lots of wine…

Y’all send El Jefe some good vibes. I’m not sure he’s emotionally ready for the invasion… LOL

Wonder if Rader will help me bake again this year like he has in the past.

have a happy weekend!

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For all my American friends, enjoy your holiday weekend. I know I will!

And if you happen to find yourself in the Mountain Harbor area on Lake Ouachita…shoot me a message! You can join us!

my biggest fans are smurftastic!

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Ryan, my 10 year old nephew is my self-proclaimed biggest fan. He’s all the time talking about when BITE ME! goes to Hollywood, how he’s gonna be in the movie. And how he can’t wait to walk down the red carpet with his Aunt Mel.

Now, he’s never read my books, but he knows that one of the main characters is named Ryan which means he is a very. important. character. He has to be, right?

Well, my nephew is obsessed with my books being a big hit and he very badly wants me to write a 3rd book so the other day when I walked into his house he hands me a piece of paper and says, “Here’s your 3rd book idea.”

And now (with his permission of course) I’m going to share it with you:

The Final Bite
Author Meilisa Francass
Melissa Francis

The drama continues when one day Ryan was hit with a pistol andgot sent back in time to England and he meets his greatest challenge when himand his new friends have to fight Dracula and his vampire goons. Now they haveto kill dracula before sunset (I think he meant sunrise) [&]find out newromance in THE FINAL BITE.

That is truly a story made of 10 year old awesome.

Another thing that is made of awesome?
My friend’s daughter saw this and just had to buy it for me! Right now I’m calling him Count Smurfula but I’m thinking he might need a better name. What do you think? Any suggestions?

RUBY! the (not so) mighty water dog…

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Y’all know Ruby the Pug. She’s is the Owner of my Heart and the Ruler of my World. (Though Clementine the Tart is seriously trying to stage a coup and steal both titles away from Ruby the Pug. I think she thinks being pregnant gives her automatic dibs…)

Anyway, y’all also know I’m a lake girl. (well, a water girl…lake, ocean, river, pond, puddle, faucet, sprinkler…whatever. If it’s water, I’m there.) This past week weekend I took the boys to Lake Ouachita for a fun-filled day on the pontoon boat. I am Capitan, hear me Yar.

We decided that it was high time Ruby the Pug tagged along. Now, Ruby the Pug is all muscle. She’s rock solid. And has NEVER been in water above her little paws…so I stopped at PetCo and purchased her a life jacket.

Oh, and how she rocked that life jacket…

Ruby was excited about her adventure. She didn’t mind wearing the awesome that was pink and she absolutely LOVED the boat ride. I had very good feelings about Ruby the Pug becoming Ruby the MIGHTY Water Dog.
We stopped at an island and we let Ruby roam the bank while I got in the water. Of course, where I am, she thinks she needs to be…so she immediately ran toward me…and immediately freaked out when the ground was no longer beneath her feet. She paddled and paddled and paddled and finally made it to me.

and if I was in the water, this is where she sat. The. Entire. Time. I have a Pug Silhouette tan line. It’s lovely.
We tried several times to get her to swim, play and love the water without me.

but she always just ended up on the bank, staring at me from below, BEGGING me to end her torture.
So I finally did.

Ruby the Pug is much more a sungoddess than a water dog. Guess she’s not a Pisces like her momma…

it’s THURSDAY all up in here!

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First of all, a little housekeeping. You may have noticed that http://www.melissafrancis.net now takes you to a home page. It’s a pretty cool looking page, if I do say so myself. Thanks fishdog for fixing that up for me. We’d been having some issues with the links not working properly, etc. but it’s all better now. You may have to change your blog feed address to http://www.blog.melissafrancis.net if you want to keep viewing Mel-O-Drama in a reader.

So the other day, my youngest niece Scarlette called me. The conversation went something like this;

Scar: Hey Aunt Mel, can you come to my school picnic so my
best friend can meet you?
Aunt Mel: You mean I’ll get attention from an adoring
fan?
Scar: Yes. She loves you.
Aunt Mel: Duh. Of course I’ll be there. Even if your best
friend didn’t give me attention because you’re my niece and you called and asked
me.
Scar: Yeah. Whatever. Thanks!

I believe this means I’m totally giving my niece street cred of some sort. THAT’S AWESOME RIGHT THERE.

So this afternoon I’ll be hanging at Pine Haven Elementary in Bauxite, AR for their end of the school year picnic with my niece. And apparently an adoring fan. Oh yeah. Somebody get the head shrinking gear out. I think I’m gonna need it!

Seriously though, I love it when I get emails and letters from kids (and parents!) who love my book. It makes my day. The fact that this ‘fan letter’ came via a phone call from my niece might just be the coolest of the cool.

What y’all got going on today?

a picture’s worth 1000 words…

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Yes, it’s a bit blurry, but this sums up my boys like no other picture can. Can you believe they are separated by 4 years? Me either.

The favorite gift I gave (My mom will kill me for this. If you don’t hear from me for a couple of days, call the police and have them search her property near the pond. Or in the pond…)I had this blown up to an 8×10, framed it and gave it to my daddy. Best. Present. Ever. (Please forgive me, Momma.)

Even Ruby got a gift:I don’t think she liked her Snuggie very much. Hmmmm. She sure was cute in it for 10 whole minutes though!

who loves Gena Showalter?

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We all love Gena Showalter!

Head over to Fictionistas today and read a fabulous interview with Gena. One lucky commenter is going to win a signed copy of Intertwined, her amazing new YA novel!

In other news, my kids have decided now that I’m famous, we need a pool, a new car, and a home theater. Not necessarily in that order.

I’ve informed them that we don’t need a pool because Robyn has one and all we have to do is bring the beer and it’s as good as ours. That yes we do need a new car, but being “famous” doesn’t necessarily mean being “made of money” and the home theater they so desire is just a pipe dream…no matter how much money we’re made of.

Rader still believes the paparazzi is following us, but they’re just in hiding. I told him if they’re hiding, then they’re Private Investigators not Paparazzi. LOL