Adventures!

I know it's been over a week! I'm sorry! 

Last week was a blur of overtime, car stuff, and random stuff. 

But we went on an adventure over the weekend! We had so much fun and can't wait to do it again. 

On Friday we left to meet up with a friend who has a boat. We got up super early Saturday morning and headed out 80 miles into the ocean. We caught fish, saw dolphin, whale spouts, and just chilled on the boat. I took a sweet nap and we had a great lunch. We were out for like thirteen hours with only a tiny bit of sunburn that didn't last. 

Got back to their house, cleaned the fishing rods, the fish, made dinner, showered, and hung out. 

It was a blast! We'll definitely be doing that again! Left early Sunday because we had houseguests. Our nephew was driving through from his previous assignment to his next assignment and needed a place to stay. Well, no one was home here, so K4 left him a key and they had the run of the house until K4 got home Sunday morning. We pulled in early afternoon, unloaded, and began making a feast for dinner since That Man's family was coming. 

It was fun, but we were so exhausted and sore from our Saturday adventure. I didn't really get to sit down until everyone left, which was close to ten pm. 

So yeah, we're still exhausted. And, of course, today was a super busy day at the day job. 

That's all I have!

Behave!

Week End Wrap Up...

So today's book signing was a bummer. Yeah, it was good for a lot of reasons, but the store was dead and the only books I sold were to my friends who were signing with me. Which was awesome, but...

I had our granddaughter with me, who was a riot and a blast. We had a good time looking for books and talking about stuff. She had fun meeting my writing friends and talking with them. She tried to help me use my store credit, but both of us fell short and I ended up with as much as I started with. (We get new store credit with every signing) Ha! She is so funny though. She tried to convince this older gentleman who said he doesn't read into buying a book anyway. He didn't, but she tried. Ha!

The Friday birthday gig was a lot of fun. The birthday girl didn't know I was coming and was surprised and happy to see me. We had a blast! The winery is super cool and they took awesome care of our rowdy group. 

Currently, I am still in the lead on the words written tracking spreadsheet, which is surprising. But we've all been super busy this weekend. So... 

Yesterday was a super good day. I got all of my house stuff done, wrote, dealt with an awesome natural gas guy who had to come and inspect our stuff. (He was funny and we laughed a lot) That Man got his car ready for inspection and we took care of a bunch of other house stuff. We picked up the kid, made dinner, and introduced her to Back to the Future, which she loved. 

It's been raining all day, which is good. And I am wearing a sweatshirt, which is also good.  

That's all I have!

Behave!

Lots of Stuff...

So this Sunday I have a book signing at my favorite independent book store! I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a year since my last signing! This is a big event around here. There are different authors all weekend, and even a slumber party Saturday night. I can't stay for that this year. I was there for a while last year, but didn't stay over. It was fun and I heard a good time was had by all. 

So...come and see me if you're so inclined!

My next singing is next year in New Jersey at a winery. That's all that is currently scheduled. At least for now. We'll see how the schedule stacks up and what happens. 

Other than that... it's Thursday. I completely lost track of what day it is thanks to our Hello Fresh box being late. Plus, we were supposed to pick up the camper last night, but changed our minds due to the weather. That would have sucked bringing it home in that mess. It was a simple fix, but they didn't have time to do the inspection, so we'll have to go back. Which is fine since it's not out until next month anyway. 

Anyway. Tomorrow is Friday. I have a surprise birthday gig to show up at. A former coworker. (No, she doesn't read this) It'll be good to see everyone. It's been since the beginning of summer. It's nice that we're all still friends. I think it has to do with the absolute hell we went through together for six years though. We kept each other sane and laughing and that counts for everything. 

The words are flowing again, which is very good. I went from being the lowest numbers on our tracking spreadsheet, to leading the way. Of course, I'll get knocked off probably tonight, but it's still a good feeling. 

That is all! 

Behave!

Tuesday!

You know I used to do Tall Tale Tuesday. That stopped being a thing because, I think, my whole life turned into a Tall Tale. lol

Anyway. 

Here we are at Tuesday. 

I have written more words this week (in just two days) than I have in a few weeks! That's awesome. I also finished a crit of an amazing scifi book for a friend. And my laundry is caught up. 

I also discovered that The Shadow Guide is available in paperback now! I wish I had known that when I ordered my books for the signing this weekend, but I might have a few copies available if you show up!

I'm looking forward to the signing. Chances are my granddaughter will be hanging with me. When she came camping with us, we were talking about it and she was super excited to be at a bookstore, with cats, and books. So far, it looks like it's a go, so that's a good thing. 

So... you should stop by. This coming Sunday from 11-1! 

Other than that. This week is super slow and super busy. If that makes sense. 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up

Well, it's late Sunday night and work is tomorrow. Boo! 

It was a good, but busy, weekend.

K4 got her soft top put on the Jeep. It looks cool and she's happy with it. It needs a little more time in the sun to make it fit right, but it looks great!

We dropped the camper off for inspection. A little early, but there's a raw gas smell that needs addressed. (The lightbulbs are good) We couldn't find the cause, so hopefully our mechanic can. We have a trip coming up that we think we're going to take the camper to, so we need to make sure it's good. After that, That Man's car needs to go in, and then my Jeep. Holy expensive month, Batman. 

I will be at my favorite local bookstore next Sunday for a book signing. It's going to be awesome. My time frame for signing includes two of my besties, and my granddaughter is going to be there. I will have limited print copies of Prelude of Lies, and a sneak peak copy of The Shadow Guide (which is not for sale), but I'll let you look at it. Ha! 

Other than that... We did all of the things this weekend. The house got cleaned, the laundry is done, the grass is mowed, the gardens are weeded. I took a nap today, which was awesome. And I slept in both days. I also wrote and critiqued, which is also awesome. 

That is all for now! 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday

We made it to Friday! Yay! It was a long week and it was even a short week for me! 

I'm going to put this up here and not on the list because I realized I never posted about it. Last week our kitty girl went to kitty heaven. She was around 20, maybe older, maybe a bit younger. We got her when she was nine or ten. Her previous owners weren't sure how old she was. She came to us a few months after we lost our kitty boy and our dog. It was a debate on whether or not we were ready for another pet, but we finally agreed. She came to us on a cold day in December and hid under our bed for most of the day. By evening, she was laying on top of the bed and allowed us to pet her. Her decline happened quickly and by last Tuesday, we knew it was time. She'd taken up residence on the couch and didn't move, not even when we ran the vacuum. When we came home Tuesday night, we knew it was time. She was a great kitty and we loved her very much. Despite the fact that we still have three cats, her presence is definitely missed. I look for her all of the time and I miss her little "murf" noise. She never meowed, just murfed. 

And that's all I have to say about that...

So let's get to the list...

1. Cursed Fate came out (again). I know I posted about it a while ago, but I completely boned on release day. I managed other social media, but not here. It was a crazy day/week around here and I was running around like a lunatic. But Wooo! Print copies will be available in six months, so that's cool. 

2. Fresh tomatoes from our garden on BLT's for dinner. So good. We've had exactly six tomatoes so far, but there are tons of green ones on. I'm excited. We also have hot peppers and banana peppers coming in. And basil, oregano, and rosemary. Looks like there's some spaghetti sauce making in my future. 

3. The heat wave being over! My gosh it was hot! I ran outside at work and burned my hand on the mechanism to open the front door. We drove home through some crazy storms, but it was worth it for the temperature to drop twenty degrees. 

4. The possibility of our nephew coming to hang out for a few days. He'll be between orders for the military and heading from south to north for his next gig. We haven't seen him in person since he was like eleven. He's a smart kid and fun to talk to. It'll be fun to have him and his girlfriend in house for a little while.

5. This weekend without a lot of plans. I mean, we do have plans, but they are more the clean the house, work on the camper for inspection (change light bulbs), weed whack, write, and do the grocery shopping. Easy plans, though the cleaning the house part sucks. I do hope to sleep in a little, too. 

6. Speaking of writing. I'm managing. It's slow and some nights its a struggle, but I'm in a challenge with my writing pals, and I have to keep adding numbers. The story is going well though, which is something. 

That's all I have for now.

Behave!

Eight Days...

And it's been a crazy eight days! 

This past weekend was the grands camping weekend. Things were snafu'ed and didn't quite work out like we'd planned, but in the end it worked out okay? 

The aunt and uncle arrived this weekend. Their trip took them way longer than they thought it would. I was texting to request updates and it would take at least a day to get an unsatisfactory response (meaning, it told me nothing about their eta or plans). They didn't arrive until days after they said they would. Despite knowing they march to their own drum and do what they want, it was frustrating. 

We were supposed to have a family thing up at camp but that fell through. The Uncle was supposed to update folks and he didn't. I was supposed to update and I tried, but that didn't work either thanks to my stupid phone and attempts that fell through. Nothing went the way it was supposed to. But the people who said they'd be there didn't check in either, so there's that. I can't run the world... I have enough on my plate and ultimately, I am not and cannot be in charge of everything. I'm not sure, but I may have been blamed for not updating, which my uncle said was bullsh*t because it was his job at that point. I still feel bad though. I did try. 

I mean, our uncle is seventy-seven. Our mom wasn't quite seventy-five when she died. He's our only close living relative on our mom's side. (He's mom's younger brother). He's an amazing guy with a lot of awesomely cool stories to tell. He just can't get up and go like he used to. He cracks us up and teaches us things. I cannot imagine not having him in my life. I will always go out of my way to see him and make sure he's okay. 

We got exactly one grandkid this weekend and she didn't get there until Sunday. We thought we would get her Saturday despite originally making plans to get her Friday. We waited all day Saturday for the word and it never came. Until very early Sunday morning. It was beyond anyone's control and that's okay. 

We moved schedules to keep her overnight Sunday, which meant I took off work today and That Man went in for a half day and then came back to help me break camp. K5's weekend was super rough until she got to us, so our goal was to spoil her as much as we could and give her mom a break. I think at least that part of the weekend worked.

There were bee stings. That Man, S, and both dogs got stung by a nest of ground bees. That Man got stung six times, S got three, and our dog got one (right under her tail near her sensitive spot), my sisters dog got way more than anyone else (uncountable since he's the one who found the nest) and that poor baby was a freaking mess. He had to have Benadryl and lots of love. So far, everyone is okey dokey. S had some residual effects, but I think she's okay now. 

It was a good weekend, for the most part, but I am freaking exhausted. Mentally and physically. So much both. 

Behave! 

First of August...

Cursed Fate releases on Wednesday! If you're fast enough you can get Into the Fire free again at some point this week. I don't know exactly what the date is. There was a screw up with the schedule. 

Well, here we are... Beginning of August. 

This summer has gone by really fast. Or is that just me? 

I am looking forward to fall coming though! I'm tired of the heat and ready for sweatshirt weather. I'll miss my flip flops, but I'll wear them until my feet get too cold. 

Our weekend consisted of getting the kid's vehicle ready for inspection. Again. The framework has been done and That Man and K4 worked on the other stuff all weekend. We dropped it off this morning, so now it's finger crossing time. She's ready to have her vehicle back and we're ready to have ours back. 

We have some fun stuff coming up. Looking forward to those things. I have a lot of lists though.

That's all I have.

Behave!