ANOTHER BOOK? YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!

Hi folks, this is Miss Fanny and all I've got to say for my little stint on this blog is those Grandmothers, Incorporated writers are at it again!  Lord have mercy, it seems like those two women are always telling our business.  They've been working nonstop trying to get their next cozy mystery out.  It's called Whose Knife is it Anyway?  In that book they're going to tell the world what happened when Bea, Hattie, Connie and me went on a retreat in the woods with a bunch of feuding church ladies. It wasn't pretty, especially when we found a dead body--but, that's another story.  Let me get back to the latest fast one Evans and Rhodes are pulling.

It's not enough that they had us characters from the Grandmothers, Incorporated novels in a play Off Broadway titled like their first novel, Grandmothers, Incorporated, but the heifers turned around and put Hattie and me alone in another play they wrote titled Stake Out.  That one turned out to be one of the ten top grossing plays in the 10th Annual Indy Fringe Theatre Festival.

Now, they've got the nerve to come out with a new book that contains both plays!  The book is titled From the Page to the Stage: Two Plays for Women.  One play is a two act and the other one is a one act play, so they made sure that there's something for everybody, and they're selling From the Page to the Stage:  Two Plays for Women on Amazon.com and Smashwords.com.  None of the storylines in either play has anything to do with the storylines in the books they write about us.  It seems that every time the ladies and me find ourselves in a couple of brand new situations the next thing you know, Evans and Rhodes are in our business--again.  Obviously, they think our lives are funny, since both plays are comedies.

Is there no end to them exploiting us?  Where's the justice?  Don't we have a say in all this?  I guess as long as we keep having adventures, Bea, Hattie, Connie and me will be giving them something to write about.  What a life!

The link to purchase From the Page to the Stage:  Two Plays for Women is www.amazon.com/dp/B00W7IGI68

 

STRANGE PRIORITIES

     I paid a visit to a friend, an old lady who recently turned 95 years old.  She said to me, "Connie, I never thought I would end up like this."  She lives in a nursing home.  I'm Connie Palmer and I have know Miss Lydia since I was a little girl.  She and her husband never had children and since I found out she was in a facility, I make it my business to check on her.

     When she first went to the nursing home, it was clean, comfortable and full of seemingly caring and competent people.  I later learned that new management took over.  They began to cut corners on patient care.  They laid off aides and nurses and removed some of the management staff.  In other words, they made big changes for the worse.

     The makeup of the aide staff seemed to change every week.  The low morale meant that they constantly argued among themselves, often in the halls where the patients could hear.  The food was inedible.  There were shortages of gowns and towels, and medical equipment was so inadequate that patients who needed special help waited for hours.

     On that particular day, I found Miss Lydia in her room crying softly as she sat in her wheel chair.  By this time, she had grown feeble and requirement assistance for most of her needs.  The next day, I made new arrangements for Miss Lydia.

     I know you're asking what this has got to do with me, the reader.  Just this:  the cost-cutting decisions of that facility were made on a profit basis.  I directed my anger from the aides to administrators and government regulators.  The aides were expected to give basic care--duties that were often distasteful to them and demeaning to the patients--for paltry pay.  No wonder staff turn-over  was mind boggling.

     We say we respect our elders, just as we give lip service to the preciousness of our children.  Yet, workers who care for both children and the elderly are sadly underpaid.

     I enjoy a good burger as much as the next person, but if i were going to fight for anyone's pay to be raised, it wouldn't be for fast food workers, but for those workers who take care of our most precious resources, our children and the elderly.  Let's get our priorities straight.

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER ADVENTURE

 

Hello All,

 

Hope this year will be as good to you as the ladies of Grandmothers, Incorporated think it will be for us.  Actually, I'm really not a part of the foolishness that Bea, Hattie and Connie seem to conjure up, but I'm sure there'll be a lot of mess going on when that new book in their series comes out.

 

The name of the book is Whose Knife is it Anyway?  And I've heard that it's a doozy.  It's got murder, mystery, mayhem and of course lots of laughs.  I got a sneak peek and I'll share a bit of what I saw with you.

 

It seems that in this book my daughter-in-law, Hattie, comes up with this hare-brained idea to take a bunch of feuding church ladies out in the woods on a weekend retreat.  Can you imagine?  What is a bunch of city dwelling grandmas going to do stuck in the middle of nowhere but trash talk and gossip!  Well, of course I had to go along to see this fiasco, and that's when the fun begins.

 

Come back and visit us over the next few months, and the ladies and me might give you a taste of some of the things that's likely to happen.  Until then...

 

 

IT'S BEEN A GREAT YEAR!

Hi Folks!  Season's Greetings from all of us--Bea, Hattie, Connie and Miss Fanny.  The year 2014 has been a fantastic one for our creators, L. Barnett Evans and C.V. Rhodes.

It started with the release of our latest adventure, There's Something Wrong with Miss Zelda. Then there was the play that they wrote titled, Stake Out, that featured Hattie and Miss Fanny doing their thing.  It was produced at the 2014 Indy Fringe Theatre Festival and the play turned out to be one of the top 10 grossing plays in the festival.  Not to shabby, huh?

This year Evans and Rhodes have had the privilege of being invited to speak to numerous book clubs.  They've participated in several book festivals, all the while working on the upcoming book that will feature our next adventure.  It's called, Whose Knife Is It Anyway? 

Yes, the ladies have done well by us in 2014.  Many of our accomplishments have been chronicled right here on our blog.  You never know what we'll do next, so be sure to keep reading!

We're looking forward to new adventures and new experiences in 2015.  We hope you'll join us and continue to enjoy us!

LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU

 

            Folks, I got to tell you that as sure as my name is Miss Fanny Mae Collier, it will be a long time before I go to a movie with a teenager or young adult again.  My friend’s granddaughter, Tina, had a birthday a little while ago and I offered dinner and a movie as her present.  Of course, I let her pick the movie.  She chose something called Interstellar.

          There I sat, watching Earth turn into a giant dust bunny, while the hero flies off in a spaceship to save the world.  He’s supposed to find another planet for humans to migrate to.  So this guy flies through worms--a hole full of worms -- or whatever, nearly drowns on a planet full of water, nearly freezes on another planet and jumps into a black hole just to end up...  Hell, I don’t know!  All I can say is that by this time I was too through with this movie!  I didn’t get it and the theater had the music so loud, I couldn’t hear half of what they were saying.  Not that it would have mattered. 

          Tina is a bright girl and she’s into science and space and all that.  For my money, I’d rather have enjoyable entertainment that doesn’t require a PhD to figure it out.  My advice to you blog readers is that you would be better off going to see the play that me and my nutty daughter-in-law, Hattie were in.  It’s called Stakeout and it was funny, even if I say so myself.  Plus it had some touching moments between me and Hattie.

          If the play is not being performed near you, then buy a copy of our latest adventure, Something’s Wrong with Miss Zelda.  Soon we’ll have a new book called Whose Knife is it Anyway?   Both books are delightful--again, even if I have to say so myself-- and at the end you won’t sit scratching your head and wondering what happened.

 

WE'RE STILL HERE!

Oh, oh!  My girls and I have been so busy that we let quite a few months pass without blogging about a thing!  I'm Hattie Collier and back in August Miss Fanny and I starred in a stage play called Stakeout where I showed the world how well I could track down a no good cheating man.  Well, while Stakeout was a success.  I'm sad to say that my case went belly up, but I really don't want to talk about it.  Maybe one day the play, Stakeout, will come your way and you can attend and find out what happened for yourself.

Meanwhile, Bea is still all up on her high horse about trying to get her detective license.  She wants to have it by the time Whose Knife is it Anyway? comes out.  Whose Knife is it Anyway? is the next book in the Grandmothers, Incorporated series by Evans and Rhodes.  In the book my girls and me go on a retreat with ladies from rival churches, and I don't know what Bea plans to do with a P.I. license stuck on a retreat in the back woods with a bunch of cackling hens, but that's her problem.  I'm just praying that I survive the doggone thing.  Lord knows what will happen.  I know that Evans and Rhodes will come up with something weird.

Over the next few months, our creators will be taking our stories to a couple of book fairs.  They've already bent the ears of a few book clubs about our antics.  I tell you, being an infamous--I mean famous--sleuth is time consuming.  Hope one of the girls has time to write the blog next month.  We'll see.

MORE ADVENTURES AHEAD!!

Time is passing faster than a speeding car, and my girls and I are steadily busy.  I'm happy to announce that I--Bea Bell--am working on getting my private detective license, and I'm strutting around here as proud as a peacock.  I can't wait!

Last month, Miss Fanny told you about the case that Hattie was working on in the new play, Stake Out.  It's coming to the Indy Fringe Theatre Festival in August.  Stake Out was written by our creators, Evans and Rhodes, and I hear it's funny.  Shoot, I've got to give Hattie credit for her ingenuity when it comes to drumming up business for us.  I don't care what Miss Fanny says!

Let me tell you what else has been brewing out there in detective land.  Connie, Hattie and I have been invited on a retreat at a conference center, located somewhere out in the woods, with some women we don't particularly like.  Lord knows there will be fireworks between us, but the purpose of the time we'll be spending together is to end the conflicts.  We'll see what happens with us stuck out in the middle of nowhere.  All kinds of mayhem and murder could occur.  That's what happens on TV and in the movies.

Evans and Rhodes are calling our next adventure Whose Knife is it Anyway?   Who knows, I might be able to put my considerable skills to work once again, but this time as a card carrying "real" private detective.  Stay tuned.