Is anyone wondering…. or have you all given up on me?

Well, for the last couple weeks Josh and I have been trading a cold back and forth – it seems like just about the time one of us thinks they’re feeling better, we get hit again. Combine that with a change in diet (no carbs, red meat, sugar, caffeine or alcohol) and hormones gone wonky and I have felt like I’ve been wading through molasses for the last couple weeks.

I’m happy to say that it appears (crossing fingers!) that the colds may be almost over. The diet now includes small amounts of meat and caffeine (thank the Lord!). And the hormones…. well, I will never understand nor have control over them… I’ll just have to roll with the punches on that one!

I can tell that I’m feeling better – since for the first time in weeks
I’ve opened up a notebook and made a fresh new To-Do List!

That’s not to say that I didn’t do anything productive while I was feeling sluggish.
One thing that I did was re-read The Martha Rules.

Have you read this book?

Well, if you’ve got your own business (or are thinking of starting one), I highly recommend it. Martha, of course, has so much experience and wisdom to share. In this book she speaks in a matter-of-fact way, including examples and ideas. She is very approachable in this book and I found myself thinking of her as my own personal mentor.

I first read this book when I had initially created Jenn Maruska Design. Now that I’ve had my business for a few years I related to this book in a whole new way. I am so glad that I re-read it. I really got alot out of it: ideas for packaging my items, blog design, conducting my business in a business-like way, and so much more! I even took notes while reading, and jotted down my own ideas along the margins. I would love to offer to share this book with you, but it has already been promised to Ginny over at iSew – she and I are doing a business book swap soon.

And speaking of Ginny….. guess who’s getting married tomorrow?!?
If you haven’t already, do swing by her blog and wish her well!

All the best to you Ginny & Nick! : D

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I’m off now to tackle that To-Do List of mine!
It feels so nice to have some energy again.
Good bye molasses!

Please stop by here again, as I am back on track now
and will be sewing and blog posting regularly once again : )

Cheers!

It all started when I jokingly asked my pal Rebecca to send me Lake Resort Nurse if I won a contest she was having on her blog. And being a generous and good humored friend, she sent me the book even though I didn’t win her contest.
And so began my Wednesday Lake Resort Nurse posts.

Can you believe it’s been 15 chapters already?
Are you as amazed as me that it’s gone so quickly?
Or did you think it would never end – haha!

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In the past weeks we’ve identified so much with Reba and her small circle of friends: bitter Marie, Skip, Uncle Charlie, etc. We should take a moment to reflect on what, if anything, this romantic story about a nurse, who for the most part wasn’t very romantic and who did very little nursing, can teach us about life….. and stuff.

* We’ve learned that it is unreasonable to ask employees to work later than 5:00 pm, unless you want them to have one of “those” days.

* We’ve been educated that if our first impression of a stranger is that he is “stormy” and “authoritative” or has curiously erect shoulders, then he’s probably going to mess up our life somehow.

* We ladies have discovered that sometimes a gentleman can mistake us for a Buick convertible. And they don’t mean anything bad by that.

* We’ve realized that occasionally we can be with our significant other and not know if they are going to make love to us or fight with us. It’s ok. There is no shame in admitting this. We’ve all been there. But if it happens more often than occasionally, don’t be a Reba. Get some help.

* And we have bonded in the knowledge that, even when things aren’t going well for us, life isn’t so bad. I mean, if Arlene Hale refers to one closed mouth kiss as a “wild flame of passion”, you’ve just gotta feel kind of bad for her.
Poor dear.

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There have also been unanswered questions, too.
And here is where Arlene Hale has given us a glimpse of her genius.
Because it is her unanswered questions that truly encourage her readers to think beyond this Lake Resort. Beyond Windwood.
Questions such as:

* Where does Reba keep her whiskey?

* How is the population of this town going to survive
if no one ever gets to second base?

* Why did Arlene Hale write this novel? It barely talks about nursing and there’s hardly any romance. What was Arlene’s real passion?
$0.10 cokes? Erect shoulders?
We may never know.

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On a personal note, I have to say that I never expected the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response that my readers have had for Lake Resort Nurse. Every day I’ve received dozens of emails asking for “behind the scenes” tidbits about LRN.

The most popular question by far has been:

“Hey Jenn! What were those photo shoots like?
Was it all as glamorous as I imagine?”

And the answer to your question is “No, the photo shoots were not that glamorous.”
And they were made all the more un-glamorous when you take into consideration that the action figures of Reba and Marie wouldn’t stand up, so I often had to tape their feet to the table or lean them up against things.

This is the box where Reba and her friends resided between photo shoots.
See that big Ziplock bag to the right? That is a bag of misc. action figure weapons that Josh generously let me use if I needed them. There is also a package of minty lifesavers that I used as life preservers on the boat.
Now everything in that box smells minty. Very minty.

(Click to zoom.)

And here is a page of my storyboard for LRN.
Josh finds these quick sketches pretty funny.
I used this as a guide to set up the scenes for the photo shoots.

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And now for the contest!

Here is one last photo that I’ve taken of bitter Marie the receptionist,
our star Reba, and a random toy from our collection.

Notice that there aren’t any thought bubbles on this photo?

Well now it’s your turn, readers!

* Leave me a comment with your best suggested dialogue for this photo. *

It can be anything you like – you don’t even have to mention the pig if you don’t want to. And references to anything that’s happened in the book will get bonus points.
The most humorous suggestion will be declared the winner.
I will not be judging this contest, the winner will be chosen by a neutral third party who is familiar with the LRN story.

The winner will receive this box of oh-so-delicious Hello Panda treats.
Reba’s favorite!

(Lake Resort Nurse is a 1966 romance novel written by Arlene Hale. I have read the book and am now offering a summary and photo re-cap for my blog readers. Chapter summaries will be posted every Wednesday. To read the Introduction and previous chapter reviews of Lake Resort Nurse click *here*.)

The next morning Lee walks to work, passing Reba’s apartment.
Uncle Charlie invites him in.
Lee sees Reba in her nurse’s uniform:

(Hey good lookin’!)

“She made a stunning nurse but he liked her better dressed as she was after work.
She was casual then, easier.”

(Don’t most men wish you would dress up as a nurse?
The grass is always greener…)

Charlie and Marie have announced that they’re getting married.

Reba gives Lee a ride to the boathouse on her way to work.

Lee: “What am I going to do about you, Reba Rollins?”
Reba: “’I don’t know,’ she answered in a quiet voice.
’I don’t know what to do about myself either.’”

“He felt reckless, wild, unleashed.”
“For a moment he drew her close,
the nylon uniform smooth and cool under his fingers.”

(Haha. There’s nothing sexier than nylon.
And I’m surprised the author didn’t write “his erect fingers”.)

“He let her go only by the sheerest of will power.”
“’Tonight,‘ he whispered. ‘I must see you tonight.’”

When Lee gets to work he overhears a phone call between Skip and Billy’s father.
Skip has arranged a time for them to meet on Old Mill Road.

Later Lee walks in on Skip cleaning a pistol.

(Skip has a gun.)

Lee tries to take the gun away and Skip punches him until he blacks out.

Chapt. #14.

It’s night. Lee calls Reba from the boathouse. “Hurry.”
He has blood on his face. Lee tries to explain what’s happened
and insists that Reba call the police.

(Authoritative erectness.)

Reba talks to the police and they ask her she’s making a crank call.
Lee takes the phone and the “ring of authority” in his voice convinces them.
They drive out to Old Mill Road and find Skip, badly beaten.
They take Skip to the hospital, where he’s questioned by the police.

One of the officers remembers that a policeman named Chandler was involved in a shooting. And here we finally learn more about Lee’s mysterious past and his “authoritative air”.

Lee reveals that he once was a highway patrol officer.
His career was cut short after he shot and killed a young man.

“The police officer rubbed his chin. ‘Rough, wasn’t it? I know how it must be.
They called you some pretty strong names. People don’t realize what it’s like, enforcing the law.’”

“Reba sat listening, mystified and a little shocked. Lee with the highway patrol?
Yes, that was why he had such an air of authority about him!
She could easily picture him wearing the uniform of a patrol officer.”

Lee: “They ostracized me.
They thought I shot too quickly, too deadly.
They wanted me thrown off the force.
They made threatening calls to my mother.”

(I don’t know why that last sentence makes me laugh – but it does. Ha!)

(Young punk.)

“Where do you draw the line of duty?”
“When a young punk comes at you with a gun, are you supposed to stand there
and let him shoot you?” “They called me the kid killer. The boy I shot was just sixteen.” “You think I liked shooting at that kid? I didn’t want to.
But I had to. I was an officer of the law.”
“I lived with it for six weeks and still everyone at home stared at me,
talked about me, distrusted me. So I came to Windwood.”

(Wait.
The town ganged up on him and he bore their hatred for six weeks and then gave up? Six weeks isn’t that long, dude. But, I guess if folks are getting peeved at having to work until 5:00 pm (see chapter #1), then six weeks would seem like an eternity.)

“She understood so many things now.”

A nurse appears.

Reba: “Will Skip be alright?”

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I’m going to end each re-cap with a few thoughts to ponder until our next installment.
Feel free to leave a question or comment.
*** Let’s discuss! ***

1. Do you agree that Reba should move to a lake resort town
that has a better selection of eligible men?

2. Did you catch the part where Reba calls the police and they think it’s a crank call
until Lee (a man) speaks to them?
For awhile there, the cheap sodas of the 60’s had me sold, but I don’t think $0.10 cokes can make up for that B.S.
No way!