Medusa in the making

I have spent months preparing for Halloween/Storybook day.  Getting a Medusa costume just right takes lots of shopping around and experimenting.  Making Medusa elementary school appropriate is even harder.  Can’t be too scary for the little bitty ones, but has to be authentic enough for the older ones (who have read the Lightning Thief and are full of questions about Medusa’s relationship with Poseidon).  So I ended up with some sort of Medusa/bad fairy that didn’t scare anyone. The hair was the hardest part.   After many experiments I found that setting hair in pin curls got it the fullest and most wild (the best for pinning snakes in).  So Thursday night my mom helped me set it.  I don’t know how women used to do this all the time.  It takes forever and kind of hurts.   Here’s what I looked like:

my hair in pin curls around 11pm

This was really hard to sleep on

I got up around 5am to start working on my hair.  I undid the curls.

I liked the curls so much I nixed the wild scary Medusa and went the cuter route.  The kids loved it.

Kid Friendly Medusa

Those snakes were painfully anchored into my scalp and that crown dug into my head all day.  You can’t see in the picture but I’m wearing 4 inch heels to make me seem more mythical (and my costume was way too long).  After teaching all day and walking in a parade I decided to go shopping and attend a party in that outfit.  The next day my scalp was sore and I wanted to chop off my own feet.  But it was Halloween so I had to go through the whole process all over again.  We were better at it.  The snakes weren’t nearly so painful or heavy.  And I kept switching out my shoes.  I ended up having a lot of fun.  

The finished product

I’m already working on next year’s costume.  This one will not hurt.  But it does involve a lot of sequins.  

It’s November so that means it’s National Novel Writing Month.  

My youtube debut and future projects

Thanks to the wonderful Paul Perea two Deep in the Heart of HS videos are up on youtube. They’re clips of signings and interviews with readers. I had a lot of fun picking out the sound track.

I don’t know much about youtube so I can’t change the stills at the beginning of my video.  The first one shows my mom andthe second has the lovely Tamia Cook.

 

 

This one’s kind of long, but it has interviews from people that have actually read the book.  Plus there’s a really cool Tejano version of Girls just Wanna Have Fun at the end.  Please ignore my terrible hair I tried to do it myself. 

The second video mentions my upcoming event at the Central Branch of the San Antonio Public Library on Saturday August 22nd.  I’ll be giving a writer’s workshop for teens from noon-1:00pm and then there will be a party from 2:00-4:00pm.  It should be lots of fun.  Violeta Garza one of my best friends since middle school is putting everything together, so it should be pretty awesome.

I finally gave in and am on twitter.  I think I’m called @vgoldbach. 

Writing update: Finished a draft of my LA book and sent it off.  Let’s see what happens with that.  Hard at work on my catastrophe novel.  There is a whole lot of research required for that one, so it’s slow going.

Things Tardis has eaten lately: my purse (including the sad contents if the purse: a checkbook, mascara, super cool Britney Spears lip gloss, pricey Buxom Babe lip gloss, mascara, two dollars cash and some coupons – I was worried about her eating the cash since everyone says money has traces of cocaine on it and I was sure Tardis would start having seizures or something), and a really cute pair of sandals that I can’t bare to throw away so I’m just letting her finish them off which is probably a terrible thing to do .  

 

 

Just a guinea pig

This morning was a tough one for me. Nervous about getting all my trash and recycling out on time I forced myself to get up earlier than usual. After taking care of all that plus feeding and changing the water for the dogs and the cat and letting dogs out and in and placating an angry cat I went to check on the guinea pigs. Usually I feed them before anyone else because they squeal for their breakfast, but they were quiet this morning.

I gave them fresh food and as I was changing their water I had my usual morning conversation with Cupcake. She didn’t chatter at me or squeal to demand her morning cuddle. She was curled up in the corner looking at me. It was really kind of cute. She’s never that calm. Usually Biscuit lounges around (he’s not a morning guinea pig), but this morning he was agitated. Figuring Cupcake was just pouting (I hadn’t been paying as much attention to her lately) I reached in to pet her and pick her up. But when I touched her she was stiff. I picked her up and put her down and she stayed in that same adorable pose – curled up like a rabbit one eye looking at me. She wasn’t breathing.

I checked her body for any signs of trauma or sickness. She looked perfectly fine just as chubby as ever. But she was dead. She wasn’t the guinea pig that was supposed to die. Biscuit has been battling ear cancer since January. Cupcake was so healthy – full of life and personality. Cupcake was my favorite. The world’s most demanding and affectionate guinea pig. She was so stubborn and mischievous. She was going to live for a long time, but she didn’t and I don’t understand why.
I didn’t know what to do with her body. I couldn’t throw it out with the trash. She deserved better than that. I wanted to bury her in the backyard, but I couldn’t bear the thought of Tardis or some other creature digging her up. So I reverently placed her in a shoe box and took her to the vet. For $38 they will respectfully dispose of the body.

I could go through all the cheesy reasons the world will miss Cupcake like as a classroom guinea pig she brought shy kids out of their shells and gave all my classes a common bond (they all loved her and wrote stories about her in most stories she was an evil super villain b/c that’s just the kind of personality she had). She was a big part of my class. She would run laps around the room, get in to backpacks and scream at anyone that ate fruit and didn’t share with her.

But what most people don’t understand (I didn’t until I got Cupcake) is how much a part of your life a guinea pig can be. Cupcake was almost like a dog. She would squeal and hop when she saw or heard me. She would chatter at me or scream at me if she felt I wasn’t giving her enough attention. When I cuddled her she would make these strange R2D2 sounding noises. She would chase my cats and even bit Mati. She was curious and brave. She once tried to commit suicide by jumping out of her cage and into the jaws of a dog.
Cupcake loved out of cage time especially when I let her run around Lucy’s bathroom. Cupcake would flip over Lucy’s bowl and try to eat Lucy’s toys while Biscuit huddled in the corner.

Cupcake and I had a great relationship. That’s why her death is such a shock. Since I got back from California on Saturday I hadn’t been paying much attention to the guinea pigs. I was so worried about me. I had all this work to do. I had to clean the house. I did something stupid to my hip. Me me me. I didn’t even notice that she was dying.
We don’t know for sure what killed her. Could it have been the heat? I run the air conditioner as much as I can. If it was the heat wouldn’t Biscuit have died too? They share a cage. They had plenty of food and water. Could it have been old age? Maybe. I’ve had Cupcake for three years, but who knows how old she was when I bought her. We think most likely she got some form of kennel cough.

I think my dogs caught kennel cough from the dogs next door. Tardis made a hole in the fence just big enough for Wiggles to go through. And Wiggles sometimes goes next door to visit. The dogs all got over the cough. Only Wiggles needed medication. I didn’t think I had to worry about the guinea pigs. Cupcake developed a sneeze in May, but I didn’t do anything about it. I’m not neglectful of my pets’ health I spend a couple of hundred at the vet just about every month. Something is always wrong with someone. But with guinea pigs it’s hard. So very few places take them and it is super expensive and I’m broke. Really who takes a guinea pig in for a sneeze? It didn’t seem like much compared to Biscuit and his surgeries. Biscuit was probably protected from the cough/sneeze because he’s on antibiotics for his ear.

I don’t want to go to bed. I don’t want to go to my room and see Biscuit alone in his cage. Guinea pigs are social animals and he’s lost his cage mate. I had a plan for when Biscuit dies. I was going let Cupcake hang out with Lucy because they got along so well. Biscuit is afraid of Lucy. Biscuit is afraid of me. Actually Biscuit hates me. And he can’t even hide from me since I threw away his little tunnel/hut when I disinfected the cage (just in case Cupcake had some sort of disease). I don’t know what I’m going to do with him.

I won’t go get another guinea pig. I know it’s unfair to poor Biscuit, but I can’t do it. According to the vet Biscuit only has a few months to live (but she’s been saying that since January). I will never own guinea pigs (or anything that lives primarily in a cage) again. They are so dependent on you. They love you so much and unlike a dog they can’t go tear up your couch or eat your purse to let you know they need attention. I will not go through this again.

Maybe I am crazy for crying so much over “just a guinea pig.” But I loved her and I let her down. Now she’s gone and it hurts a lot.

Cupcake Goldbach ? 2006- July 30, 2009

I didn’t humiliate myself

DEEP IN THE HEART OF HIGH SCHOOL has finally been released. Six years of hard work is finally on store shelves. So far the reviews have been nice. Now all I can do is wait and see how it does. I have been doing some pubilicity. My first test was a spot on SA Living a local morning show here in San Antonio. Everyone I know was shocked that I didn’t humiliate myself. Of course I can’t blame them for doubting me. My only other appearance on TV had been on a public access show called Stars and Rainbows.

I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I was supposed to do a song and dance routine to Top Hat. I had worked on it for weeks. The girl that went on before me sang Eternal Flame by The Bangles. I was very intimudated and changed my mind about the whole thing. Of course my mom wouldn’t let me back out. We had already put so much work into it (my mom had put together a great outfit: a blue sequened jacket, shiny gold leotard, top hat and cane) and this was my big chance.

I took the stage. The music started. I opened my mouth to sing, but a wailing sob came out instead. I rushed off stage crying. I was totally humiliated and refused to go back out. My mom was having none of that and made me go back out. Looking back I suppose it was a great character building experience, but at the time it was torture. I did my tap dance with a pained smile on my face but… I didn’t sing a word. So by not freaking out on my SA Living interview I impressed my family. Here is the Living interview. Thankfully no evidence of the Stars and Rainbows debacle remains.

http://clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/930912?wpid=311

I also had my first signing! It was a wonderful chaotic experience. All my family (well 2 out of 4 uncles) and friends showed up even my elusive brothers. I had a few people I didn’t know show up. Some had seen me on Living and some had read about me on the SAISD website. We ran out of books! The coordinater went to another Barnes and Noble and picked up some more copies and those sold out too! It was a wonderful experience. It felt like my birthday and graduation all rolled into one party. Of course I didn’t take any pictures. But some people did. Here are a few. Please note my dress. It took me two months to find the perfect Saturday afternoon Barnes and Noble signing dress. Also notice that I am either sitting or hunching over in the pictures. I got the bright idea to wear four inch heels. Really cool four inch heels. But they made me almost 6 feet tall which is not as cool as it sounds.

My next signing is on Thursday May 7th at the Twig Bookstore at 5:00pm.The Twig address is 5005 Broadway SA TX 78209.

Never ignore stinky guinea pigs

My guinea pigs (Cupcake and Biscuit) have been really stinky for about two weeks. I tried everything I could think of. I changed their bedding even though it didn’t really need changing. I wiped them down with special guinea pig wipies. I even checked their feet and bodies for infected cuts. I found nothing. But I didn’t check their ears.

In my defense I have been very busy. I was working on revisions nonstop. Revisions I couldn’t seem to get right. School has gotten really hectic. Grades were do, and the writing TAKS is only a month away. The pressure is really on. Everything has been neglected. Most of my plants have died. My house is a wreck. Even my dogs have gotten pretty dirty.

Anyway, last Friday one of my students asked, “Why is Biscuit’s ear so dirty?” I just nodded and said something about how I hadn’t gotten a chance to clean his ears or clip his nails. Of course I promptly forgot about his ears. I had about a million things to do as soon as I got home.

I remembered about the ear when I was getting the guinea pigs ready for school on Sunday night. You know brushing them, clipping their nails, etc. So I checked Biscuit. His ear looked like it was rotting from the inside. That was where the stench was coming from. His ear. Of course I panicked. I called my mom who came over with some cat ear cleaner. We did what we could, but it didn’t seem to help. After my mom left I went on the internet to see if I could find any home remedies for guinea pig ear infections. There weren’t any. All I found out is how deadly infections are for guinea pigs. If the infection isn’t caught right away the guinea pig will most likely die. Biscuit had been stinky for two weeks. Two weeks! Biscuit was going to die because I was too busy to look inside his floppy ears. By this time I was a wreck. There was no way I could go back to revising. So I gave Biscuit a bell pepper to try and boost his vitamin C and called my sister sobbing. She was the only person I could think of that wouldn’t think I was crazy for crying over a guinea pig. I would have rushed Biscuit to the hospital, but it’s very difficult to find a vet that will treat guinea pigs. And of course nobody was open on Sunday night.

The next day I had to explain to my students why Cupcake and Biscuit were absent. Cupcake and Biscuit are the class pets. The class became worried. While the kids were at PE I called around furiously and got Biscuit an appointment. My mom took him to the vet. The doctor said his ear was too swollen to examine, but it looked like he had a tumor. A tumor! It could be an infection but she doubted it since his other ear and his teeth were fine. She gave him some antibiotics and ear drops (both to be given twice a day) and set an appointment for Saturday. By Saturday the swelling should have gone down enough to find out if he has a tumor. The trip cost $107.00. Yikes!

If he does have a tumor the vet can remove it, but the surgery cost about $600.00. I don’t have that kind of money. There is absolutely no I way can get that much money. The only other humane thing to do would be to put Biscuit to sleep. He is really a sweet pet. He’s not demanding like Cupcake. He is such an important part of our class. Not only inspiring numerous student penned fantasy stories of talking guinea pigs, but he is a regular guest star on our book review show (shown on our school news channel). Most recently he starred as Despereaux. The kids will be devastated. They just went through the death of our music teacher. They can’t take any more loss. But I really don’t have a choice. I can’t pay $600. I wish I could.

But he’s been on medication for four days now and his ear looks a little better. I’m praying that it’s an infection. I’ve never seen him so perky.

While all this drama is going on. Tardis started feeling neglected. I left my mom babysitting Tuesday night while I went to a Mary Kay thing with my cousin. Tardis figured out how to escape my yard and got sprayed in the face by a skunk. That also happened to be the night a cold front blew in and dropped temperatures to freezing. So I spent the night bathing a giant stubborn dog in an overheated bathroom then trying to get skunk smell out of my furniture (including my bed because she rolled all over it as soon as she got inside).

It’s all too much. I can’t handle these pets any more. I’ve got Tardis on special medication for her bladder, Spunky has an enlarged heart and has to take blood pressure medicine everyday, Mati is hypoglycemic and anorexic (a really bad combo), Biscuit may have a tumor, Lucy has post traumatic stress disorder (and only one working eye), and Snips hates me. I can’t take much more!

The Eyes of Texas we can’t escape them

Things Tardis has eaten this week: 1 cardboard box, 1 glove (worn only once), 2 empty Diet Coke bottles, 1 romance novel, 1 shoe inner sole, a couple of popsicle sticks, and some more of the couch

I just got back from Austin. Long drive lots of traffic. I spent the whole day going to graduations at the University of Texas, which was exhausting. I listened to all the inspirational things that are said at graduations and realized that in the five years that have passed since my college graduation I forgot to change the world like my class was supposed to. I guess I’ll get on that.

I found out that even though I didn’t attend UT (my mom, uncle, sister, and a couple of cousins did) I know the school song by heart “The Eyes of Texas.” I think it was my lullaby growing up. The song is kind of scary. “The eyes of Texas are upon you…you cannot get away… do not think you can escape them.” Eek. It’s enough to make a girl paranoid.

I got some advice on marketing my book. Now I just need to come up with some money. Right now my marketing budget is $2. So far a facebook account and this blog are all I have done. If there are any teen reviewers out there interested in taking a look at DEEP IN THE HEART OF HIGH SCHOOL let me know.

Las Tontas No Van al Cielo looks likes it could be good. But the actors speak so fast I’m having a hard time keeping up. I’m going to try and hang in there another week before giving up.

Now I need to decide what to do with the rest of my night either watch a Heather Locklear Lifetime movie and go to sleep or force myself to do some writing. I’ll probably sleep through the movie while Tardis raids the kitchen.

Congratulations Rachel. Two degrees in one day you are so awesome!!

Me

It seems like everyone has a blog, so I figured why not try keeping one. Who am I? I’m an elementary school teacher and author. Yes, author! My first novel DEEP IN THE HEART OF HIGH SCHOOL comes out April 27th! It’s published by Farrar Straus and Giroux.

My life is like a bad sitcom. Single girl lives across the street from her mom, struggling to get another book published while at the same time dealing with all sorts of shenanigans at school, and has way too many pets. Complete with “hilarious” catastrophes, but sadly no love interests.

Most of my castrophes or either pet or plumbing related. I have every type of pet problem imaginable and no matter how many Dog Whisper or It’s Me or the Dog episodes I watch nothing seems to help.

I’ve got Tardis the dog that eats everything (cell phones, computer cables, couches, love seats, mattresses, every shoe I own).

Spunky the dog that hates people, other dogs, and bicycles (he’s really fun to take on walks) and has heart problems.

Darth Spunky

There’s Mati who loves people too much and is always looking for a better owner. She won’t bite anyone but me.

Mati

Two cats: one eyed Lucy who suffers from PSTD and sometimes forgets who I am and Mr. Snippers who hasn’t forgiven me for moving across the street yet.

Snips

Two guinea pigs: the ever demanding Cupcake and the apathetic Biscuit.

One algae eater named Lou who has managed to survive for six years. None of my other fish make it past a few months.

Most days I babysit my mom’s dogs: Gigi and Wiggles, my brother’s dog Hurricane, and my brother’s girlfriend’s dog Bandit. On Thanksgiving my cousin brought over her dog Chloe to join the pack. That was loads of fun.

That’s all I have for my very first post. I must stop now as Las Tontas No Van al Cielo is starting. I have high hopes for this novela. It’s got Jaime Camil and Valentino Lanus what more can you ask for.