Tuesday Round Up...

Well, that's not as many days in between posts as normal, so that's something, right? 

So let's see...

The family reunion was really good. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We camped so the cooler weather was very welcome. We actually were cold when we woke up on Saturday! Nice. 

The family turn out was awesome. So was the food. It was lovely to hang out with everyone. And they want to do it again next year, so that's good. 

Other than that...

Not much. Doing the work thing and the yard work thing. And the writing thing. 

Our weekends are booked, which has been the norm lately. 

But! 

This Saturday is my book signing at the bookstore! If you don't know where and want to, hit me up. It's always a good time. I'm looking forward to it!

And that's all I have!

Behave!

Catching Up... Again... Again...

Man! It is hot! It's been hot and we have at least one more day of holy hotness to get through! It's brutal and I know we're all feeling it. 

Thankfully there is air conditioning in most of the places we go. Not like when I was a kid and slept on the second floor with just an open window. We didn't even have a fan. When it was this hot though, we usually slept in the living room, with the fan, but it was still hard to not sweat to death. I know I'm not the only one that grew up like that. Air conditioning was a luxury that most couldn't afford, so we did what we had to do. 

The worse place for me currently is my office at the day job. It's fine in the morning, but by noon, the temperature starts to become unbearable and it feels like a convection oven. I'm at the end of the air conditioning chain and there isn't a lot that can be done about it except to add another unit, which I said no to because then I will be freezing to death. I do have a fan which is positioned in a way to pull the cool air from the hall. It works a little. It is what it is. 

Anyway...

I got print copies of Prophecy! They are so pretty and I'm thrilled! They came far earlier than I'd been told to expect them. I didn't think I'd have them until my October signing, but I will have them for my signing in two weeks, which is awesome!

Oh yeah! I'll be at the book store on the 20th! It should be fun. And chaos! 

Other than that... 

Thursday night a huge tree branch fell in our backyard from the neighbor's lightning struck tree. It broke our fence and our porch swing and generally made a mess. By Friday evening, we had it taken care of. Which was good. The fence is still a mess, but it's going to stay that way for a bit. We don't have time and lumber prices are still too high. 

We helped my brother and sister-in-law get their camper fixed. Well, That Man helped. I hung out with my sister-in-law, niece, and great niece. And we had awesome food. It was a good day and hopefully they will get to camp with us again. 

This weekend is a family reunion for That Man's family. It should be good, but we have a lot to do to get ready for it. 

And that's about it. I mean, it's not because I know I missed tons of stuff, but it's probably mostly boring. Ha! 

Stay cool! Fall is coming soon! Yay!

Behave! 

Twenty Days!

Ha! I said not to get used to it!

It's been a little nuts here, if you hadn't already figured that out!

That Man went on his fishing trip and had a great time! I had a very quiet weekend at home and ended up having to restart my book, which is sucky, but it needed to be done. I got a lot of words in and slept in. 

I know I said it's nuts, but there really isn't a lot to report. 

We got a new battery for the Jeep and that seemed to fix our electrical draw, though my radio does not want to work now. It was working on and off, so I think it finally just died. We need to do the frame fixing next and as it turns out, it's worse than we thought. Big surprise there. 

Work is crazy, but that's also typical. 

It's hot, though I'm sure you know that. I hate it. 

And that's really all I have! 

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Hey! I'm back twice in a week! Ha! Don't get used to it though. 

Let's hit the list!

1. Friday! For a short week, it sure was a long one! Of course catching up after being off for a few days will definitely add to the load. But I was done with the backload by yesterday, so that's something.

2. Yesterday we met our daughter-in-law to help wrangle the grandboys. Little B had a doctor's appointment, so Mr. B hung with Pappy while I went in to help keep Little B occupied so his mom could actually talk to the doctor. It was good. He was hysterical and did really well. And Mom didn't have to worry about him trying to leave when she needed to do mom things. 

3. Friday is our evening with the grandboys. We head over after work and sit on them for a few hours while mom goes grocery shopping. It gives her a little break and we get shenanigans. Tonight was pizza night. Little B wanted nothing to do with pizza even though he requested it. The boys and I had a felt sword fight. I have no arms or legs now (and I probably have a few bruises even though the swords are felt). Ha! I walked through the kitchen and commented about how there must be a ghost in the house because two drawers were open. Mr. B decided to open every cupboard as a joke. It was pretty darned funny when his mom came home. 

4. A lack of weekend plans. It's the first weekend in ages that we don't have a million things going on. Which is good because our yard looks like the jungle. Of course, there's a pretty good chance of rain tomorrow. But we'll see. 

5. Getting back on the writing bus. I had taken a pretty long break due to chaos and constant obligations. We started our 50/50 challenge on Tuesday and I'm happy to say I have done well every day so far. I'm writing new and editing an older book, though I don't report that in my numbers because I'm not sure if I'm actually going to submit it yet or not. 

And I think that's most of it! 

Behave!

Man! I Suck!

I know! It's crazy! And it's been crazy! 

Our latest adventure was a gathering with the family, a surprise birthday party for my sister, and a brief visit from our uncle and aunt. And then camping with Mr. B. We had a blast! 

Well, mostly... Our pup is getting old, but still thinks she can run around like a lunatic. She overdid it and ended up being so sore and tired, she was leaking urine. In my bed. I got up to use the bathroom and when I got back into bed, I somehow centered myself on top of a huge puddle of pee. Gross! After a change of clothes, a bunch of towels, and a change in sleeping venue, I finally got to sleep. We got her some medication the next day (Thankfully she'd just been to the vet) and we started her on a joint supplement. She's been good since then, so that's something. We're also making sure to watch how much she's running around and that has helped too. 

We also took K5 out for her 12th birthday - first to lunch and then shopping. Shopping with her is like trying to herd cats. Ha! It's one thing when she knows what she wants. It's a totally different thing when she doesn't. Oy! But it was a lot of fun! We stopped for Italian Ice, and then the playground. We got her home shortly before her evening obligation. I cannot believe she's 12 already! She's so much fun to hang out with. 

We should be in Missouri right now visiting the aunt and uncle, but they wanted to stop here since they were already out and about, so that's fine. Though I do miss taking the trip with That Man. It's a long drive, but we always have a good time. And it worked out because That Man's back up would have been off at the same time and that's never a good thing for the day job. 

What's next?

A quiet weekend! Yay! Our yard looks like a jungle, so there's that. And we haven't started the Jeep work yet, so that needs to happen. 

That Man goes on his fishing trip soon. He's really looking forward to it. I'm not sure what I'll be up to during that time. Probably writing and sleeping. Ha! 

After that... I'm not sure. 

And that is all...

Behave! 

Catching Up...Again...

Sorry for the silence...

And here I am catching up... again!

We went to the Jeep thing. It was an absolute blast. We found our volunteer calling and will be signing up for that slot next year. We loved hanging out with everyone there and doing the job, so there's that! We worked Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. When we were done Friday, we were free for the rest of the weekend. 

So of course, we decided to hit a trail. 

And that was the last one... As we went through, we noticed a loud banging noise that continued every time we had a left dip of the front tire. Ugh! We got through the trail and immediately pulled over to check it out... 

Yep... frame broken. The only section not previously welded. We knew it was coming, but not this soon. We were fine for driving home, just not for anymore trail driving. Which meant we had to give up our state park ride (that we paid for), and forego any other trails. That sucked, but we still had a good time watching the Jeeps on the playground and talking to people. 

We also are dealing with a parasitic battery drain. We had to pull a fuse every time we stopped for more than a few minutes or it wouldn't start. Pain in the butt. Buy we'll figure it out!

But we've been at the festival for enough years now that people recognize us and seem genuinely happy to see us again, which is cool. We got roped into helping for stuff we weren't signed up to help with, which was fine, but still funny. And, of course, we don't mind. 

Oh and Wednesday before we left, I decided to run one last load of laundry. Ha! The washer completely shit the bed! It's been giving us issues for a while now - not spinning and making a lot of loud noises. It finally gave up the ghost and was just making this loud humming noise with a half-full drum of water. So we come home with a ton of muddy clothes to no washing machine. 

By Tuesday we had our new one after having to cancel one, reorder, and then re-direct the delivery driver. But it's all good. The clothing has not been spun this dry for months now and I am so happy! 

And that's all I have for now. Currently, we're prepping for our next adventure and then we have a few quiet weeks!

Behave!

Oof! Over a Week!

The silence was unintentional! Sorry about that!

Got home from retreat and immediately went into camp preparation mode! The camper needed cleaned and packed. The shopping needed to be done. I had grocery lists from both grandkids! 

The older two grands joined us this weekend for the Memorial Day camp out! We picked up Mr. B on Thursday. He spent the night and got to play with his neighbor friend for a while. Drove the camper into work on Friday with Mr. B and the dog. Worked less than half a day and then went to camp. During a tornado warning that just happened to hit while we were on the bridge over the river... in the RV... with the grandkid and the dog... Ha! Obviously we were fine, but I can't say that I wasn't nervous. 

It rained like heck, leaving our meadow a complete pile of mud. We waited to get our camper into its spot, and then miscalculated... And that left us buried in the mud with both sets of back tires. Oy! We were level though, so we left that as a Monday problem. Lots and lots of mud. Mr. B wore my mud boots for most of the rest of the day. The creek came up quick and looked like chocolate milk. 

But that was the last rain we had! Mr. B slept in his own tent for the first time ever and he did great! Picked up K5 on Saturday morning and then set up the "castle tent" for the two of them. They did great in their "home". I didn't fuss about the mess at all (and it was an ever loving mess if I've ever seen one. Ha!) It was also the first time K5 spent the night in a tent. I felt like I had a brain bleed on several occasions. ha! 

Sunday was the potluck picnic and it was awesome! My family came and it was great to hang out with them! Our bestest old neighbor friends came too with two of their grown adult children and their double set of twins grandkids. And one of the besties kids came with her child. Work friends came. It was so good! We had a blast talking to and catching up with everyone. My brother and sister-in-law and niece and her now old husband (ha!) and great-niece stayed for our little private fire and it was fun! My great niece is the absolute cutest! But man... we were exhausted. 

We all slept in on Monday. Some more than others, but it was good. I hadn't slept much Saturday night, so I needed that. So did the kids since they played in the creek all day when they weren't eating or getting injured. Ha! They had a blast!

Tuesday was my first baby boy's birthday. Umm... we're not going to talk about how old he is... ha! 

So now... this morning... I woke up without a voice. I mean I can talk, but I sound like I'm growling and it's hard for people to understand me. It got better during the day and now it's worse. The only thing I can think of besides the pollen and driving the Jeep for the last two days in the heavy pollen, is that I talked a lot this weekend and I literally screamed at my neighbor Monday night to stop setting off fireworks every two seconds. (it was bad. I mean... who sets off bottle rockets... into traffic...every five seconds at almost 10pm?) And when I say into traffic, that's what I mean. There is a traffic light less than 200 feet from his front porch. There is no green space. He was literally setting off the fireworks into the street. Which we're used to, because he's lived there for over 20 years and does it all of the time, but I just lost my shit and screamed at him to stop it because it was driving me insane. (I don't know if there will be retribution and I don't care. I am not scared of him and he thinks I should be. He has tried to intimidate me before and hell no...Ha!)

So that's my story of the past week... We have Jeep stuff coming up soon. But first we must tune up my Jeep and I need to fix the seat covers. I have a plan for that. 

Also we have a funeral this weekend. I didn't post about the first one, but That Man's aunt passed away about three weeks ago. We went to the funeral with That Sister. That Cousin was glad we'd come and we also caught up with the other cousin while there. Now... That Cousin's husband died. What kind of suck is that where you bury your mother and your husband within the same month? That's the worst! 

And that's all I have!

Behave!

Retreat: End of Day Three

What a blast! 

I topped out at 12,001 words for the weekend! And I am fried! 

It has been amazing! We've all done more than we expected and had amazing conversation and laughter! My book is going super good and I'm excited about it!

Earlier we walked to the ice cream shop for french fries and milk shakes, which meant I didn't eat dinner until 7:30, and some of us haven't eaten dinner yet. It was good though. A cool building and a super retro theme. And they have burgers and stuff, so I can see myself doing that for dinner next time. Ha! 

I probably won't write again until I get home at this point. I'll go to bed soon and then pack up in the morning to head for home. We don't have to be out of here until noon, but I have some stuff to do tomorrow when I get home so will be out of here well before that. 

And that is all.

I will probably fall off the face of the earth for a few days, so expect that! Ha!

Behave!

Retreat: Day Three

I totally missed yesterday! 

I was busy - either writing or talking. Ha!

I did take a nap, which was lovely. And I was in bed pretty early, too. Just tired. But I had already made that one of my goals...to nap and sleep in. 

Today is very quiet. We're all working. It's getting super hot outside, and it's already humid. 

Okay. Sorry. Got distracted. Had lunch and in the making of lunch, I decided to use my arm as a block for the quickly closing oven door. Ouch. And, of course, the burn is exactly where my arm rests on my laptop. 

Then, I got hit with a terrible sinus headache. Had a nap and am feeling better.

I'm sucking at getting words on the page so far. I mean, I have, but not as many as I wanted. But I'm heading to it now, so maybe it'll be good/better at the end. Ha!

Behave!

Retreat: Day One

It's been a really long time since I've been on a writing retreat! And! Here I am! We rented this same little house last June...so that's how long it's been - pretty dang close to a year! 

I arrived about five minutes before check in time, quickly followed by one of the others. We both unloaded and got our stuff put away. The other two arrived shortly thereafter, and we proceeded to talk and laugh before trying to be serious and get some words on the page. 

Had dinner - tonight is the only night we do dinner together, which is always nachos that we each bring ingredients for. Other than that, we are all on our own for every other meal. Which is fine since we all eat different things and at different times. 

I drew the twin room this time. And it's absolutely fine. It's a comfy room and I have my choice of beds! lol! The air conditioner is already on. And it won't be very long before I head up there, because I am beat!

Though I am trying to get some words on the page now, but we can't stop talking! And we're all exhausted, so you can imagine...

Time to get busy! 

Behave!

Long Time No Blog...

Sorry about that! 

Time and life... you know? 

So what's been happening? 

Not a heck of a lot... 

I had a book signing in New Jersey. It was fun, but loud. Didn't sell a lot, but the sales I did make meant a lot. If that makes sense. 

Everything has pretty much been the same around here. Work. Work. Yard work. You know...

I am, however, heading to retreat this week! Woooo! It's been way, way too long. I am looking forward to 2 1/2 days of writing and being with the writing friends. It's going to be good. 

Then we have camp, the Jeep festival... and then it's gets muddy because That Man got summoned for jury duty, which could potentially wreck our July plans. He is going to call and request a deferment based on plans that were already laid out and arranged and paid for, but we'll see what happens.

That's all I have! 

Behave!

It's Release Day!

Prophecy is here! 

Prophecy

I hope you will check it out! Right now it's only available on Kindle, but it'll be in print around October!

(Sorry for the long silence! It's been crazy around here!)

Behave! 

It's Time!

As a pre-bonus before Prophecy releases next week, The Shadow Guide will be FREE from tomorrow until Friday!

 

This is a re-release. It originally came out in 2014 as "For the Love of Isaac". It's been (obviously) re-titled, re-covered, edited, and edited again. But it's yours for free for the next 3 days! Since it's my birthday week, I'm calling it my birthday gift to you! :)

When evil comes for Alaina, bringing with it a destiny she can’t deny, can love stand against the forces of darkness? When Alaina inherits her grandmother’s house, she gets far more than just the eccentric woman’s massive knickknack collection. Desperate for help with the increased paranormal activity around her, she calls the one person she thinks can provide it—despite the memory of the night he rejected her. Patrick doesn’t want to get involved with Alaina and her demonic inheritance. He’s lost enough to the demons already, and so has she. If he refuses, she could be murdered just like her grandmother. Just like his wife and child. And he can’t live with that either. Together they must find a way to restore the balance of good and evil, while coming to terms with emotions neither of them thinks they want.

And then on April 27th... Prophecy releases!

Twelve years after a devastating flu that eliminated much of the world’s population, the human race is trying to survive while living a much simpler life. Gabriella is a midwife and a demon hunter. She helps bring new life into the world, while doing her best to prevent evil from growing. Only there seems to be much more evil lately, and far less new life. Something big is happening and she may be the only one who can stop it.

Jack is an angel in a human vessel sent to protect and assist Gabby in solving the puzzle of good and evil she faces. It should be a simple assignment, but he doesn’t count on the emotions he now must deal with, or the attraction he feels. He faces exile if he oversteps his moral boundaries, but when he realizes his love for Gabby, he wonders if falling from grace because of her is so bad.

I hope you enjoy!

Behave! 

Coming Up!

In three days you'll be able to get The Shadow Guide for Free! (For two days!)

This is a reprint. It was "For the Love of Isaac" back in the day, but it's been re-covered and edited about sixty-five more times. And it's free! For two days! You can't beat that. 

Prophecy comes out on April 24th! So while you're downloading your free book, you can download my newest book! 

Consider it a birthday present from me to you! :) 

I hope you get it and I hope you enjoy!

Behave! 

Another Monday...

Holy freaking Cow!! It's stupid and ridiculous outside! What the hell is up with the freezing cold and winds? I hate it so much. So much!

I guess it's supposed to get warmer later this week, but rain, and that sucks, too. We need to do a little work on my Jeep and the weather is not helping. The check engine light is on and the codes show it's probably a stupid sensor. So we're ordering that and will get it in asap-probably in the rain. What a pain. 

Nothing else going on here. It was a quiet weekend. That Man and his sister went to a birthday party for his aunt. i could have gone, but I opted out so they could spend some much-needed time together. I went shopping with K4 instead - we had a blast. We both needed dumb things like socks and underwear and candles. Ha!

Anyway. That's all I have... Yeah, things are quiet right now... 

Behave!

Monday...

I think it's the first day of Spring? Where I live, the weather is like a menopausal woman (ha). You never know what you're going to get. It's warm and sunny, and then ten minutes later a huge storm rolls in to cool everything down. Or just make everything even muddier. Flowers are coming up. Well, some. Some are like...heck no, Ima just sleep a little longer because y'all are crazy and it might snow tomorrow.

What is going on around here? Not much to tell you the truth.

We had an awesome day with the grandboys yesterday. It was their mom's birthday so we took them lunch and hung out with them so their parents could go out for the first time in a very long time. We watched weird videos (really weird and repeatedly), played video games with Mr. B, played cars with Little B, laughed a lot, and really enjoyed our time with them. They are both a hoot! Little B cracks me up, but he's three and that's what they do. And it's fun to see Mr. B's interests and how he does things.

Other than that... well... I don't have much. The day job is the day job. It's fine and good. We're still cross-training, but I think we'll pretty much do that forever.

In this house we're looking forward to being able to work in the yard again. We're working on our project list and believe me, it's extensive. Yay. Ha!

That's all I have for now!

Behave! 

 

Pre Order! Whoot!

It's here! Available for e-book preorder on the Amazon! Official release date is April 27th! Go and order it! It will automatically be downloaded to your device on release day! :)

Print books will come out around October... Which is perfect since I will be at the Hershey Library event in October! 

I love this book! There might be a second one in the series! We shall see...

That is all!

Behave! 

 

 

Long Time No See...

Sorry for the silence! I know it's been like three weeks...

I did live through doing two jobs, and I'm glad to say that I didn't screw anything up too bad. There was one thing... $2. That neither me or our controller could figure out how to fix. After the two of us spending like an hour on it, we decided that it wasn't cost effective for us to continue and we left it to be fixed when she came back. Ha! (She had a few questions, but she got it taken care of. Ha!)

Oh and I had to go to the bank for work a few times. I plugged it into my gps, knowing the directions were wrong. The first time it took me on the highway, when I thought I just had to turn left at the end of the street. I followed and ended up a ridiculous amount of mileage away. And then on my way back, I decided to ignore the gps and go back roads. I made it, but the gps kept telling me the wrong thing - right up until I got to our building. Dumb! The next time, I still plugged in the address, but went the way I was pretty sure of. Everything is good... But I get to a light and the gps is telling me to turn right and my destination is like five miles away. I pull up to the light, look to my left, and the bank is right freaking there! Ha! 

We went to a bunch of basketball games for K5 over the past few weeks! Her team made it to the championships! The game that determined if they would be in the championship game was so stressful (actually, they are all stressful). The opposite team was super aggressive and rude and had like 20 fouls. But K5's team won by one point! They unfortunately lost the final game, but they played so well, there was no disappointment. I thought I'd hate middle school basketball (we never did it in this house, so I had no point of reference), but I actually loved it, despite being super stressed out! Ha! 

Other than that... there's a lot of family drama going on. No, I can't get into it here, but it's painful and ridiculous. (Text me and I'll fill you in. You know who you are.) It's been a long week and it's hard to sleep. That happens when you continually get stabbed like a serial killer is after you... That Man and I are maintaining. That's all we can do. 

I finished my ARC's for my next book. It comes out at the end of April! I'm so excited. I love this book so much! And even though it's not quite the six months, I should have print copies for my Hershey Library signing in October! That makes me very happy! 

I am trying to write. I did finish the 50/50 with a pretty decent word count. I'm about halfway through with the book (for the like third time... ugh), but it's going okay. I got a few hundred words tonight, which is the first I've been able to all week. So that's something. I guess. 

That's all I have!

Behave!

Feed Good Friday... on Saturday

And late Saturday, too! ha!

Let's just go to the list...

1. Living through the week! By Friday, I had made several mistakes... I missed a duplicate check, which caused me and my boss much time of searching, researching, and confusion. I finally figured out what happened, and am in the process of correcting it. And then... the one report I had to do is partially correct, but partially wrong. My boss can't figure out where I went wrong and honestly, I have no clue. I followed the instructions, but they are confusing as F. We'll address it again on Monday and hopefully between the two of us, figure it out. He laughed at my instruction list though. ha! (I will say I have the best boss I've ever had! He's super understanding and chill. If you make a mistake, you fix it and learn from it. But when he calls back and says "can you come and look over my shoulder" you know you did something wrong. Ha!)

2. Going out last night! We haven't seen our old "friend group" together in almost two years. Last night, friends were gigging at a local place. We went on a whim, and omg, we had a blast. None of us had been out, so we were all a bit anxious and worried, but that didn't last long. When I say we were all giddy about being together and seeing each other, I mean it. There were so many hugs and conversations. No one wanted to leave. We had so much fun. 

3. Sleeping in this morning. It was lovely. 

4. Not much going on today. We ran to the farm store. The grocery store. Took the kid to pick up her Jeep (she had to catch a ride home last night after having one too many. Good girl. And it was funny that our one friend didn't realize that she's 22 now and worried about how she was going to get into a 21 and over place). The snow squall was amazing and too short. I took a nap. 

5. I did write a whole bunch today. Well, not today. Just these last few hours. My writing pals are on retreat. I couldn't go this time because of having to buy a new stove and not wanting to sleep on a couch. (long story) But together they got me to an awesome word count and there was an epiphany and laughter. Much needed for me. Yeah, I would much rather be with them, but it is what it is. May is coming! 

6. Plans tomorrow. We're hoping we can squeeze in K5's last basketball game in addition to an already full day. We haven't been able to make a single one this season and that sucks! We're working on it, but we'll see. I am hopeful. 

7. I should only have about two more weeks to do the two jobs. I can do that!

8. It's freaking cold outside! And that wind! Oy! But we're in late February, so spring should be coming sooner than later. (I don't listen to rodents and I don't care what he said)

9. Texting with Mr. B. He's a hoot. And he has the funniest things to say! He sent me pictures of him and little B with a moustache. I sent him the picture of me with a photoshopped beard. He laughed a lot. And he always sends me memes he think will disturb me. He's really good at that. Ha! 

10. Making an excellent dinner. We had a Hello Fresh to use, but added some chicken and garlic and it was so good. Still digging the Hello Fresh after over a year, so there's that. Sometimes I'm frustrated with the lack of stuff that looks good or the constant potatoes, but usually we find something good. There are very few meals we've said we wouldn't get again. Plus, it's expanded our own horizons as far as spices, cook times, and stuff that goes together. 

And that is all...

Behave! 

Week End Wrap Up...on Tuesday?

Yeah, I know it's Tuesday... 

I got nothing to say about that, except... Happy Tuesday! :)

The book signing was a ton of fun! Our table was so busy that my table mate and I barely got to speak two words to each other! I sold quite a few books, which was spectacular. I got to talk to a bunch of super cool people. I had my awesome chicken salad sandwich for lunch. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and I took a little nap. Seriously, the day was so awesome. 

Sunday was "family dinner" for February birthdays. We gathered here with pulled pork, baked beans, mac salad, cole slaw, and a first try peanut butter pie. (it turned out amazing) We talked and laughed and had a really good time. 

Yesterday was back to the day job. Oy. But it's going okay. I'm just busier than normal. Like a lot busier. (ha! twice as busy since I'm doing two jobs) But I haven't totally screwed up anything yet, which is a bonus. The errant dollar had gone away yesterday, but it's back again. ha! That's good for a laugh. Everything else was spot on, so that's something. 

Last night we made dinner for the lady I'm covering for. It was supposed to be stuffed shells, but the store was out of shells. So we got manicotti and cut them in half to make them easier to fill. Even though the pasta was thicker than I like it, they turned out well. (We made enough for dinner for us tonight, too). 

So now I'm back to writing and surviving. I'm tired. I already have words on the page for tonight, but I might get a few more before I head to bed. 

And that is all...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Yay, Friday! 

Here's the list:

1. It was a short week, but a rough one. Thursday was the start of me taking care of two departments. I felt like I was drowning. Still do. I am still behind from my days off, and things were being thrown at me that I had no idea what to do about, despite training. But I muddled through and by the end of today, I felt pretty confident. (And still confused)

2. Nothing too weird happened this work week, except I think the sales counter guy is messing with me. Yesterday when I counted the counter cash box, I came up with a buck extra. Despite the fact that there were no cash sales. Today, I had that same buck over, (and I had double-checked my box to make sure I was on point and again, there were no cash sales), but I was less a buck in quarters. The sales counter guy said... well, that's curious. Uh huh. My guess is that Monday it's the dimes that are off. We'll see. I'm not letting on that I know he's behind it. He's known for this with other people and I think he doesn't know that I know that and I think he forgets that I worked here before. Ha! 

3. Tomorrow is the awesome greenhouse signing I look forward to every year! I am mostly ready. I figured out my Square reader and have all of my stuff loaded in. I have my change. And I am hopeful for sales! But the bottom line is that I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and the experience. 

4. Ordering pizza for dinner! We had plans to cook, but after we got home and did some yard work and prep work for tomorrow, we decided we were too tired to cook. K4 came home with a massive migraine. That Man and I were both exhausted. So. It worked out. 

5. Plans with the family this weekend. Yay! 

That's all I have for now!

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up!

I know it's Monday, but technically it's my Sunday!

That Man and I took a long weekend at our favorite cabin along the creek. It's the perfect space for the two of us. It's quiet and has everything we need. We left Thursday (took a half day) and came back this morning. It was also That Man's birthday in there. We had awesome food, tons of sleep, and just general relaxation. It was much needed! 

After all of the rain we had, the ice broke up on the creek. It was crazy watching it flow down and crash together. The creek looked like chocolate milk and the water was rising. We'd been told that we might have to move our car if the creek flooded, but we didn't have to. 

Came home this morning and took care of a bunch of house stuff. Finally took Santa off of the front porch and cleaned up some plants. Took a nap. Now the dread of going back to work tomorrow has started. I only have two days until I have to do two jobs for 3-6 weeks. I also have almost 100 emails in my box to take care of. And some training left to do. So... 

And that's all I have!

Behave!

So Many Wrap Ups....

I know I've been absent! Sorry about that! Things have been a little nuts around here! 

The wedding was amazing! My niece was stunningly gorgeous and so was her sister (her sister. my niece.), and the bridesmaid, (Their dresses had pockets and they were beautiful)! The ceremony was short and sweet, and the reception was a ton of fun. We danced and laughed and probably embarrassed the bride a bit. Not that we intended to. At all. The food was good, the staff at the venue were amazing, and we had a great time (and they were tipped very well). We got to catch up with old friends and people I grew up with. There was phone stealing and a ton of selfies taken. Ha! Dancing and singing, and a DJ that didn't seem to know how to read the crowd, but I think we brought him around. Almost. Ha! It was a struggle. My great niece was a riot and did not sit down the entire time! 

Sunday was dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's. Spaghetti Dinners are our thing because everyone has a sauce and it's an easy and cheap meal to feed a crowd. (just don't let our uncle at the sauce. He talks about hot dogs going in...ewww) My brother's sauce is amazing and so were his meatballs. We had a great time hanging out. (I will never order spaghetti at a restaurant because I know at least four or six people who make a better sauce than any place and I'm related to all of them!)

Monday we went back to work. We were freaking tired. We headed to my sister and brother-in-law's for Taco Night afterwards and to stayed to do the airport trip in the morning. Our aunt and uncle were staying there before having to be at the airport at o'dark-thirty. It would have been tons easier if they would have stayed here, but there's no way our uncle can navigate our stairs. So we adapted. Got up at the buttcrack of dawn and got them to the airport on time and actually got to work on time. 

Taco Night was a lot of fun. There was a lot of talking and laughing. My bro and sister-in-law (and great niece) left early and I don't blame them. They had a ton of stuff over the past week and they needed the rest and a break from constant people! The rest of us stayed up way to late talking and with my aunt trying to tell me that she can teach me how to crochet. Ha! Like that will ever happen. We came home last night and just crashed. K3, K4, S, and J came for Taco Night, too. It was a lot of chaos and a ton of fun. 

The aunt and uncle made it home okay and now we plan for our next visit! We can't go too long between visits. 

We've got fun stuff coming up, too. And I have my favorite booksigning at the greenhouse! And I got my new cover! Coming in April!

It's gorgeous and I love it!

And that is all! 

Behave!

Family Dinner

It's Thursday! Yay!

Our aunt and uncle flew in today for the wedding. My brother picked them up at the airport and we all met for dinner. What a freaking blast! Our poor waitress and the poor food runner (it was the food runners first day and she did a fantastic job. The waitress came and hung out with us after she was done and we had a great conversation. She was interested in how we were all related). There was some grumbling because my uncle ended up paying the bill, which was not what we all had wanted or expected. I swear that will be that last thing they pay for while they are here! 

We had a blast! I think our aunt was kind of scared (she really wasn't) about how my sister, sister-in-law, and I interact with each other, but she'll be okay! ha! (She knows we're all nuts, but this was an in-your-face example of friendships that have been going on for close to 40 years. We really are all tuned into the same station, so there's that. Even our husbands shake their heads when we are together! ha!) It was the first face-to-face for us after a weeks worth of texting about various things, some of them stressful, so it makes sense. At least to us. Ha! It was a lot of fun and we wished we had more time, but a lot of us have to work tomorrow.

Other than that.... My books came. Yay! That Man had to take a Covid test today because of potential exposure and it was negative. Also yay. Tomorrow is Friday. Yay. We got most of our errands taken care of tonight. Also yay! We just have to make one stop, maybe two, tomorrow. Oh and my second mammogram was good! Huge Yay!

And that is all! I will likely not be back until after the wedding, but we'll see! I may swing in with a Feel Good post tomorrow. 

Behave!

Tuesday...

This week has seemed so long already and it's only Tuesday!

Let's see... 

I'm maintaining my words for the 50/50 challenge. That's something. 

I have to go back for another mammogram because there was too much "movement" on my first one. I already knew the tech was struggling to get good pictures yesterday. She took the one side four times because it was blurry. She said your heartbeat can do that, and that makes sense because my anxiety was super high. That's tomorrow. I can't tell you that I'm not nervous about it, but at the same time, I'm not. I mean, what can I do but make sure? So I will drop That Man off at the day job and then go and get that taken care of. (And figure out a way to not have my heart beat so fast.)

The day job has been and will continue to be brutal. I'm still so far behind and the training has ground to a halt since she is working from home again. Sigh. Whatever. I'll do better figuring everything out for myself. They did cancel our inventory day. Again. No idea when that will happen now. It's a big deal, so... I'm not going back home until/if I have no choice, so there's that. 

The wedding is coming up fast and we're excited! We're making plans for off wedding gatherings with our aunt and uncle for the short time they're here. There are many text messages and phones calls, and while we had some hiccups initially with plans and arrangements, it's all good now. This is my brother and sister-in-law's shiny time and we'll do whatever they need to make it special. I have to say, I love my siblings and siblings-in-laws. We always come together and make stuff work! 

Other than that, it's 2 1/2 weeks until my big book signing. I'm a little nervous because the books I ordered 3 weeks ago haven't arrived yet. But there is time, so... We'll see if it actually happens though. The book signing I mean. Covid numbers are crazy here and while some people are worried, it seems that most are not. I don't know what the venue will do yet. So...

Other than that... I got nothing...

Behave! 

 

Weekend Wrap Up...

Here we are at Sunday afternoon...

Man. I am tired. 

I did head back to work Thursday morning. We unloaded my gear in the snow and the day was crazy. I will be covering for a coworker in about two weeks for 3-6 weeks, so I need to make sure I'm proficient at her job. We've been cross-training for a long time now. Heck, I started cross-training before we went home two years ago, but it was with a different person (she retired), so different style. So anyways, we're supposed to be each others back up and we've been trying to get it done, but every time we get into the training, there's another outbreak and we're back home. And everyone else gets to stay home another week now, but I'm staying at the office. In fact, unless it's really bad, I will be staying at the office going forward. I can't do two jobs from home.

Anyway. 

We had the grands this weekend. It was awesome chaos! Mr. B got dropped off at work shortly before we ended our day. We made a quick trip to the grocery store for snacks and juice and then headed to pick up K5, ordering stromboli's on our way home. The kids were so freaking excited to see each other. It was so good. We got to spend a little bit of one on one time with each of them. K5 had a basketball game on Saturday, so we had just B for a little bit. And B was busy doing something, so it was just K5 and I for a bit. She had another basketball game today, so we packed up (like herding cats swimming in jello), got them lunch, and started the drop off trip. They were exhausted. We are exhausted, but it was really good. 

After drop off, we went shopping for clothes to wear to the wedding this coming weekend. That Man and I made a stop at where he'd seen pants he liked and then we met up with K4 so she could find something and so I could find a shirt. Very successful and quick. 

Now we're home and exhaustion doesn't even cover it. We straightened up the house before we left so we didn't walk into the chaos mess that was our weekend. Of course, the kids took most of that with them, but the rooms were clean, the dishes were done, and the worst of it was out of here. That was nice. Now it's laundry, which is normal. And I'm working on getting my words on the page. 

Tomorrow is back to the grind. And that is all...

Behave! 

Tuesday...

Well, here I am still at home. They extended our work from home through this week. I'm actually going back on Thursday due to a pile of work and other things that interfere with Monday, which is totally fine. 

We have the older grands this weekend, which should be a hoot. Only one will be surprised at this point because the beans got spilled. Ha! I still need to hit the store to make sure I have snacks and stuff. And clean my office (one of the reasons I'm taking my stuff back early. There would be no room to pull the bed out otherwise).

The snow was kind of a disappointment. It sucked to shovel and was just a mess. I've heard a little bit about the potential for snow tomorrow and possibly over the weekend, but we'll see. 

I was invited to a book event later on this year. My registration form is in the mail. It sounds like fun. We'll see. I have a signing coming up next month, and another in April, so this one kind of rounds the year out. 

I'm still waiting on my cover for Prophecy. It's due out in April, so it's maybe possible that I could have my print copies by the October signing. I hope! 

And that's all I have for now...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

What a long week! 

Let's just hit the list, okay?

1. Getting an additional day to stay home. We're expecting snow Sunday into Monday, so we were told just to come back to the office on Tuesday instead. Nice. 

2. The shopping being done already. No going out and interacting with the "bread, eggs, & milk" crowd. I ran out at lunch today to get tomatoes and avocadoes and the store was absolutely insane. 

3. My brain seeming to be working when it comes to writing. I've hit decent numbers every day since our 50/50 started. I'm trying really hard not to push myself and burn out my cells. Ha!

4. Upcoming plans to have the older two grandchildren for the weekend! They haven't seen each other in a very long time. We're trying to surprise both of them, but we'll see. 

5. Snow in the forecast! Yay! Of course because I want it so much, we'll get nothing. 

6. Registering for our yearly Jeep event. Now all I have to do is pick a hotel and reserve it. But it's exciting!

7. Light weekend plans. We're doing some house stuff and not much else. And I like it that way. We might take the Santa stuff off of the porch, but we'll see...

8. Fun stuff coming up. We've got a wedding, family coming in from out of town, and then That Man and I have a little trip planned. 

That's about it! 

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

I know we're only halfway through Sunday, but the rest of my day will be spent napping and relaxing, with a little bit of laundry thrown in there for good measure!

My edits are done and sent back! Whooot! That's a huge relief! I am taking off the next two days. On Wednesday, my little writing group will start our 50 words a day for 50 days challenge. I need to be back up to speed with my current work in progress before then. 

Christmas is gone from this house. Well, mostly. The porch is still decorated, but it's too cold to do that now. And today it's freezing rain. As beautiful as the decorations were and how much I wanted to keep them up, it's good they're down. I like the extra space. 

Tomorrow is back to the day job. The best part of that is that I don't have to get dressed or go out in the cold. Ha! I'm due to go back to the office next Monday. The only way that will change is if we have more cases. So we'll see. 

This week should be quiet around here. Our original plans were cancelled temporarily. But we'll see what happens...

That's all I have for now. 

Behave! 

Post New Year Post...

Yeah, I'm lame. Sorry for not getting on here sooner. It's been a little crazy...

So let's back up a bit...

New Year's Eve was good. Just five people and three dogs. We talked and laughed. Ate some good food. Talked about how sad we are that Betty White passed away. 

New Year's Day was also good. We took a walk in the woods, in the rain, to check out this old truck That Man had seen through the trees. It was cool, but too far gone for restoration. But there's another one there that isn't in terrible shape, so we'll see... As we were walking we were making up our own "getting lost in the woods" stories. It was awesome. 

The kids came up for dinner. It was chaos, but fun. Got to hang with the grandboys and do our traditional LOTR watching. We got home early evening and continued the movie. Went to bed pretty early. Sunday was laundry and the usual Sunday stuff. 

Back to the day job on Monday. And then Tuesday we were told to go back home to work. We have several positive cases at work and within people we know. I stayed the day because That Man can't work from home and it made no sense to do multiple trips. Got set up when we got home and so far so good. Except my office heater died. 

Now I'm adjusting to working at home again. The dog is ecstatic. The cats just want to come into my office and eat my plants. I have another week after this one at this point, but we'll see if that changes or not.

I don't know if I'll do a "year in review" or not. Seriously not much happened this year. 

Behave! 

Post Christmas Update!

Sorry I fell off the face of the earth! 

It has been crazy around here! 

Let me sum up! Ha!

We did have K5 the following weekend and did get to see family! We had an amazing time watching Disney movies, eating, drinking coffee, and laughing about everything. K5 got to hang with her little cousin and we got to hang with a few of the siblings! It was really good! 

Then we had to shop, wrap, clean, shop, wrap... Oh and work the day job. But by the time Christmas Eve came around, we were ready to go! Hysterical Dirty Santa exchange. Awesome Christmas Story reading. Lot's of good food. Surprise presents. Lot's of talking. It was good. 

Christmas Morning rolled around far earlier than I expected. I knew That Man and I would get up early, but I did not expect K4 to get up at 6:30am. (She works a late shift, so usually doesn't get up until like 10am) It was good though. We took our time with the presents, made awesome coffee, and an awesome breakfast. Cracked open the champagne for mimosas and settled in to watch a movie and nap. K3 and A got here, partook of mimosas and also settled in to nap. Then I got a call from J. We talked for a long time and then hung up. Not more than five minutes later, she's calling me back to tell me they are coming over! 

They had Covid a few weeks ago. They were being cautious as they have been since the pandemic started. Understandable. But then realized they were actually good to go and so are we all here. So... for the first time in months, they came over. It was so good. I won't lie, I cried. I have missed them so much. Little Mr. B is a hoot and kept me on my toes! He has the funniest "crab dance"!

Sunday was coma day. We stayed in our jammies and napped and watched movies. We only ate leftovers and did nothing except for a load of laundry and take the dog out to pee. It was good. 

Today was back to the day job. That Man and I and maybe two other people were in the office. All of our vendors are closed, so I got zero emails all day. And it will be that way all week. Luckily we only have to work until Thursday afternoon. But it snowed! And that was awesome! 

New Year's Eve is coming. We're going super low key this year. It's just going to be five of us old people and three dogs. I don't think I can do New Year's Eve chaos anymore! Ha! Though we have had some epic times in the past! 

And that's about it! Except I got my next round of edits. I actually got them a week ago, but my editor doesn't expect them back anytime soon, so I am not starting them yet. But I will probably tomorrow after my online evening meeting We'll see. I did read through them and most of the changes are pretty easy - just a sentence or two. Others I will have to think about. 

That is all!

Year in Review coming soon! (Like it won't be boring! Ha!) 

Enjoy your celebrations!

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up!

Oy! We're back at Sunday! Back to the day job tomorrow after an exhausting weekend...

So, K5 didn't get to stay Saturday night. We had a bit of a miscommunication in our plans, but it was fine. We had a full day and we'll have her all of next weekend. We grabbed breakfast, went to the store for cookie supplies, decorated our tree and piano, got to see Santa in a firetruck thanks to our local fire station, made some truly ugly and awful cut out cookies. Seriously, they taste amazing, but the look like a crazed toddler decorated them (those are K5's words). They were a test batch though, so none of us took the decorating seriously. Ha! 

Hopefully next weekend K5 will get to see some of the family. She wanted to this weekend, but we just didn't have time. That was all she talked about though - how much she wanted to see everyone and how long it's been. We are going to K2's next Sunday to do birthday and Christmas with them, so she'll get to do that. 

Our tree is very pretty. At least I think so. It is full of lights and crammed with decorations. It's a bit crooked, but we'll get that fixed. Our packages are coming in, which is good, but we haven't moved forward at all. I looked for some of the things I need on the "mega warehouse" site, but couldn't find what I need at a reasonable price. K5 and I went out on Saturday to look and also had no luck. 

Since my edits have been done, I have been searching for a story I had written previously and think would fit in with the series I have going on. But I cannot find it. So... I have wasted enough time on that. I pulled two other stories to my desktop to consider, but they will sit there until I think about it some more. And I went back to sector two. I am reading it again since it's been a little bit since I've touched it. And then we'll start new writing again.

And that is all for now...

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

Whoot! Friday! 

Sorry it's been nine days! It's been... pretty much the same around here. Ha!

I did a "ladies night" book signing event at the greenhouse this week. It was fun. Not a lot of action as far as book selling went, but my cohorts did okay. I did have an awesome chicken salad sandwich, and I got to catch up with my besties, so there's that. Our next event is the February one! I am really looking forward to that!

Anyways... Let's do the Feel Good, shall we?

1. Not cooking tonight. We ordered in, which we haven't done in ages. 

2. Picking up K5 in the morning. She'll be with us until Sunday. We're decorating the tree this weekend!

3. Finding our tree in less than five minutes yesterday! Whoot!

4. The Christmas shopping being 99% done! Just a few things to get but other than that, we're done. Except for the wrapping... Ha! 

5. Eight more full days to work until the Christmas break! Yay!

That's all I have! 

Behave! 

December 1st...

And my edits are done and sent back! Woooo! 

Obviously I didn't finish on Tuesday like I'd hoped. I got about 60-70 pages from the end and all of the letters started looking like tiny dancing stick men. Ha! For real though! I finished, obviously, tonight! 

Now it's December! And what like a little over three weeks until Christmas? Which means I have a lot of stuff to do! And don't we all? 

Next I will see what I have in my stockpile that will fit with my "Challenging the Fates" series. I have a few ideas, which I was working on before I got my edits back. So I'll get back to that, and then I'll get back to Sector Two. I had a very good thread idea for Sector Two, which was solidified by my critique partners, so I'm thinking on that and will add/change the story as necessary to add it in. I think it'll make the story a lot darker than it is, but I'm really okay with that. 

The day job is fine. Still busy. Today I did a seminar, which was fine, but... ugh. I really didn't learn anything new, but I guess it did make me more aware of stuff. I get continuing education credits for it, so that's something. As we head into the holidays, folks are less serious and more inclined to joke around, which is freaking awesome. 

And that's all I have... 

Behave! 

Tomorrow Is the Last Day of November...

Wow... 

Another crappy year gone by so fast. I'm not going to be sorry to see 2021 go, just like I wasn't sorry to see 2020 go, but really? How many more crappy years are we going to have? 

We had a really nice Thanksgiving at my brother and sister-in-law's. We got there first and that was good. Lots of catching up and talking. (like...what else do we do? Ha!) The guys took care of the turkey and we sat at the table talking about weddings, stuff, and things. 

The food was amazing. I got to have good conversation with my nieces. Got to see my great nieces, and nephew. And my nephew and his new wife. And my "adopted" sister. Though I'm still not sure what's going on with my real sister. She hugged me tight for a long time, but then didn't talk to me much at all. In fact, she turned away when she sat next to me and rolled her eyes when I said we had to discuss LLC business and ignored me when I brought up a potential trip. I wish I knew why she's so mad at me. I think she believes things that aren't true. I guess it doesn't matter because she doesn't know me at all anymore and I'm just doing the best I can to get through my own life. I'm not going to get into any more of that at this point though. 

Sigh.

Other than that... My hard drive crapped out just as I started to finish my edits. Of-freaking-course! A good friend of ours fixed it, quickly, but it's still having issues. Ugh! I should have been done with my edits by Saturday, and here we are at Monday and I still have almost 200 pages to go. Oy! 

I hope to finish them tomorrow, but we'll see. Tuesday is usually a busy night for us. 

And now... It's freaking Christmas?? Oy! So much to do!

But one thing at a time... 

Behave!

Thanksgiving Eve!

Well, here we are on the eve of Thanksgiving!

How did the holidays sneak up so fast? Last I remember it was June! 

We are heading to my brothers for our Thanksgiving feast! I have made cheesecake and I will be making sweet potatoes in the morning! Though... I am still learning my new oven and the cheesecake might be a tiny bit overdone. It looks awesome though, so we shall see. Looking forward to the day! Though, unfortunately, we both have to work on Friday, which will mean an earlier leaving time for us. Plus, we're hoping to meet up with the kids for some dessert, but we'll see how that works out. Pretty much everyone has to work on Friday.  

We got out of the day job early today, which was good since K4 was having issues with her Jeep. Turned out to be a vacuum line(s) and seems to be fixed now. Though as we drove my Jeep home today (K4 had our other car), we noticed that "something" is going out in my Jeep - either the water pump or the alternator. Not sure yet. That's a weekend project. Oy! Always something.

My edits are going well. I'd told my editor that she'll get them back after the holiday and that will be the case, but I'm able to work on them more than I thought I would. I still don't think she's getting them back before this time next week though! ha!

And that is all... 

Behave! 

Weekend Wrap Up!

Oy it's Sunday evening again! Tomorrow starts another work week, though it's a short one. I do have to work Friday. I'm out of vacation time, so... Whatever. 

So this weekend was leaves, car stuff, camper winterizing, laundry, cleaning. We killed ourselves with the leaves. My arms hurt, my ribs hurt, and I must have stepped in nine millions piles of dog poop. (my shoes are still on the porch) Yeah, we don't often pick up the landmines because we don't have any little kids running through our yard anymore. 

I was getting ready to get back to the writing when my editor emailed me. I need to go through my manuscript again. I said I was worried that I'd butchered it. Apparently when I changed names and did sweeping word changes, it screwed stuff up. And while I did do a final read through, I wasn't thorough enough. So now that's on my "to do" list again. I did get through the comments tonight, now I just need to read line by line. 

The new stove is awesome! We went out Saturday and bought a tray that might work for the air fryer until the actual basket comes in. We haven't checked it out yet though. We went to "The Restaurant Store". It was the first time we've ever been and we missed probably half of the store, but oh my gosh... For me this place is like Harbor Freight for That Man. Ha! 

That is all... Dinner is ready.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Happy Friday! 

Over a week isn't that bad though, right? 

I did get my edits done. Woo! I only hope I didn't butcher the story too much. I made un-asked for changes when I did my read through. I love my editor though. She's amazing and insightful and comes up with stuff I hadn't thought of yet. And, yeah... it was the first round of edits, so there will be more to come. 

At the same time, I had to do my art sheet which was pretty cool because I was already into the story and knew what I knew. Except I realized that I'd never given the heroine a physical description. That's not a bad thing though. I mean, she looks like what you think she looks like, which has always been my goal. 

This book is going to be the first in a series. I don't have a series name yet, but I have ideas for the next books. It's a tragic awesome world and I can't wait to delve into it again. 

In other news...

Of course... a week before Thanksgiving, our oven dies... 

We tried to find a replacement part, but they are half the price of a new stove and backordered until the unforeseeable future. Of course, our stove is over 22 years old and the brand has been discontinued, so there's that. It was an awesome stove though. We did realize that this is the very first stove we've purchased in 35 years of marriage. We've done every other appliance, but this beauty is our first stove. Ha! 

We struggled and price compared and model compared... We didn't want to have to spend the money, but we had no choice. It's really hard to make cheesecake without an oven. ha!

This new stove... It's freaking awesome. It is an air fryer, dehydrator, and apparently you can connect it to wifi, though that didn't work for me. K4 is going to check it out then. I tried and I'm not dumb when it comes to this stuff. Also, everyone I know who has a wifi appliance can't connect, so there's that. I really want it to work though. How cool would it be to decide to make sweet rolls or bacon and preheat the oven from my bed? 

Other than that... We're less than a week from Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing the siblings on Thursday! And now I can actually make the cheesecake! Woo! 

That is all for now! 

Behave!

Mid-week...

So it's Wednesday. 

Look it took me three times to spell that right, so that will give you a clue as to how my week is going so far. Ha!

The day job is busy. I took on some extra projects today only to get slammed with my regular stuff. Like major slammed. This is typical of how it goes for me, and it's fine, but oy! Tomorrow we have an employee appreciation lunch. We got to pick our lunch and it's being delivered to us in our offices since we're not supposed to gather together. It's fine and good and my favorite diet soda was purposefully purchased for the day. Nice. And I'll still eat lunch with That Man in his office like we do every day. 

I am editing. And losing my mind. I have eliminated extra pulls, looks, it, just, and things. Ha! Okay, so I did pull, look, and am working on it. The rest will come. It's a slow process and I have to remind myself that some are okay. My editor is in no hurry for this since the book doesn't come out until April, but it's seriously going to need a few more cleaner passes to make sure it makes sense. Reading it through is hard when the track changes is still on. I do like the fact that I got my art sheet for the cover at the same time. I'll be able to fill that out quickly and efficiently since I'm back in the story. 

We got our giant doors installed between our living and dining rooms. They are super big and pretty damned cool. They definitely cut the draft when it's cold. Work still needs to be done, but we're getting there. Next is getting the furnace ready for the super cold. We need parts, which we are having trouble locating, but it will be okay. We're also working on our front steps to make sure they don't crack more during the winter, though we can't find the stuff we bought to do this. Ha!

That is all... Back to removing (it) from my manuscript!

Behave!

Holy Over a Month! Yikes!

Gosh! Sorry about that! That was a crazy long time!

So what happened in the month + since I posted last? 

Well...

I came back home to work for two weeks due to a Covid outbreak at the day job. Everyone is still super paranoid. All of us keep our office doors shut and rarely just "chat" anymore. It's relaxing a little bit now though.

We went to the beach. It was an amazing time. Every day was the "best" day, though we did have one that outshone the rest. Our niece is now engaged. That was pretty awesome. We had beach fires, watched the full moon rise over the ocean and a thunderstorm. The rain never reached us, but the lightning over the water was cool as heck. We had amazing food, amazing sleep, amazing beach days, and lots and lots of laughs and great conversation. No fish were caught, well, no fish that you could keep. That's sad, but no one was catching fish at all. 

That Man and I booked a beach trip in April, which I think is going to be a thing going forward. Wooo!

I got my edits for my April release. Oh and here's a ridiculous story for you... I knew I needed a new charging cable for my laptop thanks to one particular cat's penchant for chewing on electronics. Of course, the day my edits came, I started up the laptop only to discover that I no longer could charge. Ordered a new cable, which came on Thursday. Great! Started edits. Stupidly left the cord tucked into a dining room chair Friday night, and lo and behold when I went to start edits on Saturday, my cord was chewed again and did not work at all. Crap! I ordered two new cords, which came today and I will be ever vigilant with making sure the cord is no where that the ahole chewer can get to it. 

Other than that we have a lot of stuff coming up! Dinner at my brother's for Thanksgiving, holiday stuff, my oldest niece's wedding in January which should be an awesome blast. We're looking forward to that. I've already started to get my holiday spirit, which is odd, considering. And we've made the decision to downsize Christmas gift giving this year. Not that we ever went crazy and into debt. My porch is decorated for Thanksgiving already. Those pilgrims are out there greeting people and they are still solidly together. 

That's all I have for now... Hopefully it won't be a month until my next post!

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

I know it's a little earlier in the day than my normal end of weekend post, but hey, whatever! Ha!

I've been by myself for the last few hours. That Man went to help a friend who lost his driveway in the massive rains. Yeah, like it washed away. He does have a creek that runs under it, but still. The kid was off with friends for the weekend. It was just me, and I got a lot done. I finally finished a critique for a friend and I found my story again. I cut about 150 pages, but I am back on track. That feels good (even if I feel sick about the pages cut). More than I can even tell you. 

I also finished the laundry. Whoopie! ha! 

Other than that, I made the stupid decision to clean out our little shed. It's on our back porch and it's supposed to be for the stuff you use frequently, but don't want out. Ha! It's been a catchall for everything for a very long time. In fact, I haven't even opened it for a few years. Yeah. I know. So, anyway. I decided it was far past time. We have probably a million feet of extension cord. And far more screws and bolts than anyone could ever use. Ha! I also found two camp chairs. Nice, except they were in there so long they are dry rotted. 

I stepped on a fishing thing and punctured my foot. I ran my arm along a rusty saw and gashed my arm. (Yes, I will be getting a tetanus shot) The whole process was pretty much a disaster with stuff falling over and falling on me. But it is done now and I am super happy with the results. Now the charcoal, cooler, and porch blower can be stored away again. 

And our nephew came for dinner. That was nice. We rarely get a chance to hang with him.

My foot does hurt though. I'll be soaking it in a bit and keeping an eye on it. The fish thing wasn't rusty though, so there's that. 

And that's all! 

Behave!

Another Mid Week

 It is mid-week again!

Nothing is new here. We've been doing Jeep work, yard work. Blah, blah, blah.

Work is work. The writing is going. 

It's Fall now! Whoot! That's the best thing that's happened this week! Ha!

We went to our great niece's fourth birthday party last weekend. We didn't know anyone besides That Man's family. It was still nice. Our great niece is the cutest thing and so is her newborn baby brother. We had good conversations with the family. Our niece was stressed, but we had a good time with her and our nephew-in-law. We left right after presents were opened. We were like the old people there though, so Ha! Also, a deer tried to kill us after we left. 

That is all I have!

Behave!

Mid-Week Check In

Here we are at Wednesday. Already. 

So far, this week has been crazy! The day job is busy and there's a lot of random, crazy stuff going on there. 

I figured out what I need to do with my story, so that was a HUGE relief. I've been struggling with it for a little while now. I was supposed to brainstorm with K3 the weekend before last, but he had plans he'd forgotten about so it never happened. I have been trying to figure it out on my own, and today, with the help of my writing pals, I got it mapped out. Yay!

The Jeep is done. It did take a few bucks, but it needed to be done. Now all of that bull crap is finished. Except I need new bump stops, which is no big deal except for off roading, so that will need to be taken care of before we start going to Jeep events. Now That Man is working on K4's Jeep. Her heater core went out and he made things work over the summer, but now that heat is going to be needed, well... It's been a huge pain in his butt, but he's almost done. 

In the meantime, I made some spicy ketchup and actually canned it! I am pretty proud of myself for the whole thing. I had never canned before and I kind of winged the whole thing, from the sauce making to the actual canning process. It turned out pretty darned good and my jars actually sealed! 

That's all I have!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday & Weekend Wrap Up

Yeah, it's a two-fer around the old blog today.

Sorry! It's been a busy week!

So here's the list:

1. Getting to see my family last weekend! It was so good to hang out and catch up! We haven't seen them since Easter, which was way too long. We had a great time sitting around the fire!

2. My great niece is the cutest child! My niece (and future nephew-in-law) is/are doing a fantastic job raising her! I'm proud as only an aunt can be! My niece was my mini me for a long time. People used to think she was my child and I loved that. We always went back and forth with the kids being at one house or another and it was awesome. 

3. Having K5 last weekend. She's so funny! We had a blast with her! She got to see my brother and sister-in-law for the first time in a very long time and that was great. Hopefully we can keep that connection going. 

4. That Man's car passing inspection even though it cost us a pretty penny.

5. The camper passing inspection. No where near as much cash outlay, but since we had it in for a fuel line problem last week, it was still more. Fingers crossed that the Jeep passes with no issues. I hate that we have three vehicles all due at the same time! 

6. The body work getting done on the Jeep. That Man hates it, but he does a fantastic job. I, personally, despise the smell of body filler. It makes me sick, but the job needs done. He's almost finished. As we speak, he's out there sanding. It won't pass inspection unless it's done. So...

7. Not cooking dinner tonight. We haven't eaten yet, but the subs are in the fridge. 

8. Work people who are awesome and make me laugh. Also, writing people who are awesome. 

9.  The cooler temperatures. I am in heaven to be able to wear my sweatshirt all day. We had to drop off a sweatshirt for K4 since she drove her Jeep with the top down today and was freezing. But that's the way it goes sometimes. Ha!

10. Weekend plans. They weren't what I thought they'd be, but they are good. We haven't been home the past few weekends and even though I need to wash sheets and vacuum this house within an inch of its life, I'm looking forward to the relaxation of being home!

That's all I have! 

Hopefully it won't be another week until I get back here, but you never know!

Behave!