Birthdays and Stuff...

K3 turned 19 today.
How does that happen? I don't feel any older than the day I had him (notice that I didn't say I don't look any older... ha ha)
He's a great guy and I'm so proud he is my son! He's got so many things in the pipeline and I'm so excited to see what he does next! Currently, he's working like crazy, looking for a second job, and taking classes. Like I said, great guy and I love hanging out with him!
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It's almost the end of October!
Thursday night is Trick or Treat. I can't wait to see Mr. B and experience Trick or Treat night with him. I'm also really glad I don't have to take kids out! Ha! K4 is the youngest and is too old to go out. Bonus! Our old neighbor is coming over because she misses this street on Halloween night!
It should be a good night (if I remember to stop and get more candy!)
Halloween Night That Man and I have some plans which should be awesome! I'm excited.
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Thanksgiving is coming!
We are hosting this year. We also have K2, J, and Baby C this year, which will be awesome! I'm really looking forward to it. It will also be our first Thanksgiving without Mom. We've had a lot of firsts without her the last five months, but this one will be big. (The Halloween parade, trick or treat night, and birthdays are also big... Okay, so every first without her is big. I don't know what to say about that. It's just the way it is, but Thanksgiving is going to suck without her.)
We will be getting a new dishwasher before Thanksgiving. There is no way I'm standing there to wash all of the dishes for hours! I already told That Man that it must be done and he agreed!
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Christmas...
I know it's way early, but we are also hosting both days this year. K4 is turning 16 and her only request was that we do both nights - Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. She has never had a 'traditional" friend party. It's always been whoever can come on her birthday and whoever remembers on Christmas Eve - all has been fine for her. We won't have folks staying over, which is really okay and for the best, but I hope that it's a birthday to remember for her, especially considering it's our first Christmas without her Gram. And she feels that. And she'll be 16!
And then in the few days after Christmas, she will be going for her learner's permit, because if she doesn't she will have to drive for a year, instead of the six months if she gets it before the end of 2015. Yeah. my last kid will be driving soon. Weird. She already has a car - actually two, but that's another story.
I am forcing myself to get excited for the holidays. I will force myself for Baby B and Baby C and K4, K3, K2 and K1, That Man, and my siblings. I miss my momma, but I will honor her by going completely overboard this year! Yeah, it's like that!
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I am writing! A lot! Not as much as I would like, but enough that I feel good about what I'm getting done!
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That's enough for now!
Behave!!

Good Weekend!

This weekend we had our Mom's Spaghetti Dinner.
Mom wanted to have a Spaghetti Dinner after her kitchen was done to thank everyone for their help and to have a gathering to just celebrate.
She hadn't set a date, just that she wanted to do it as soon as her kitchen was back together. Her kitchen wasn't back together yet when she died. We decided to still have her dinner and have been working towards it all summer. This past Saturday was the day.
We just got back from the beach on Sunday. We had a crazy week readjusting to life at home, our town's Halloween parade, homework, writing, work - crazy. That Man and I met my sister and her husband at Mom's on Friday to start getting ready for Saturday. We had some tasty adult beverages and did some cleaning. Saturday was the big push. There was a lot to do, but we managed to get it all done with the help of my sister-in-law and the crew.
At one point, I turned to my sister-in-law and asked about the spaghetti. We had a miscommunication. I thought she'd gotten it and she thought I was getting it. Hysterical.
We didn't have as many people as we thought we would, but we still had a great time. It was really good and so much fun. The sauce my brother made was amazing. We had lots of tasty desserts and an epic bon fire.
It was a bittersweet night. Mom would have loved it.
Behave!

This Beach!

A few pictures (even though my formatting seems to suck)

This was only a few steps out of our back door all of last week! Perfect and beautiful!

This one is K4's little friend. She named all of the birds, which was hysterical. Baby B chased all of the birds, which was equally hysterical. 

O'Dark-thirty on the boat! We watched the sun come up and had an epic time!

When I can figure out this formatting thing, I'll be back with more pics! Behave!

I'm Baaack!!

Maybe you didn't notice I was gone? Sorry about that! I guess if I posted on here more regularly, you'd miss me more! Ha!
Anyway...
I'm back from our first OBX vacation in 10 years!! What a needed and tremendous trip to our favorite place in the whole world!!
Yeah, we had some crap - our Jeep being dumb on the way there, while there, and back, That Man's car (which K1 drove) doing some crappy losing the bolts things, high water, being trapped in the house all day Tuesday due to the storm surge (but, really... we had wine, beer, pina coladas, a pool, two hot tubs, and beautiful sunny beach so we didn't care) stress in some form or another... But on the whole it really was an amazing trip. We did things we've never done before - like go out on a charter boat to fish (very cool for those that weren't chumming all day. At one point, we'd lost 1/3rd of our group, despite motion-sickness medicine, but it was super, super awesome and K4 caught a shark!), shared our beach with people who have never been before (some loved it and some not so much), had some amazing family time (family soup & a ceremony), had a few injuries, got to watch Mr. B loving the beach, aquarium, life in general (he was so stinking cute!!), hang out with cousins, and our uncle and aunt, had an awesome ashes ceremony for our folks, saw a lot of sunrises, sunsets, stars, laundry, sand, shops, food, a fire on the beach, driving my Jeep on the beach (even though that was super stressful, when it should have been fun, thanks to losing my radiator hose in the parking lot - it was fixed super quick, but still)...
I could have stayed another week, if not, forever....
We got back pretty late last night thanks to stupid traffic. Our Elsa was waiting for us. Our awesome friends had her all week and then dropped her off at home for us so they could get their brand new puppy. Our other awesome friend watched our kitties and facilitated the puppy drop off. Everyone was safe, happy, and healthy when we got home.
It's good to be home. But not at the same time. I'd like to start the vacation over again, please?
We were all off today, but tomorrow is back to the grind. And it's our town's annual Halloween Parade, so we'll have a houseful of company.
Oh and did I mention I was one of the injuries? Yeah, scraped the back of my foot on a rusty metal block as we were waiting for everyone on the docks after the charter boat. It was just a dead skin thing, really. We doctored it up Thursday night, and it felt really good until today. Now I'm soaking it in peroxide and dreading having to wear actual shoes tomorrow.
So now we're back to the grind...
We're in the 50/50 challenge in my writing group and I've already exceeded the daily goal. Awesome. I'm trying to get back into my groove. This challenge will totally help.
That is all for now! I hope to have pictures soon!
Behave!

Oh Man...

It's been 12 days since I posted! What is wrong with me?
Well...
It's just been crazy here!
We lived through the "flea outbreak of the century". It was bad. Real bad. We're still paranoid as hell. Thanks to some kick ass flea treatment from the vet, we kicked those jerks to the curb. Now we're dealing with the aftermath - making sure everything is vacuumed and clean. Luckily we don't have carpet, but we're still vacuuming like crazy. All of the animals are clean now. Thank goodness.
I'm nearing the end of my short story. Also... thank goodness!
We're slowly, but surely getting our house back to normal. It's been 17 months since we've been home regularly. We're still not, but we took September off to take care of our own much-needed stuff. It's been really weird, but good, too. The house is back under control...mostly. We still have much to do, but we have a handle on it.
Working overtime at the day job. Oy! That's a crazy all by itself! There is no time to take care of stuff and things. I go in early and get home late. And then have to take care of all of the normal stuff. What to do...
This week will be insane! Every night is booked with stuff.
Anyway...
I found a four star review of my book on Amazon and Good Reads! Yay!
I hope to be back this week, but if you don't hear from me for another two weeks, just know everything is good. I'll post when I can. We have some epic stuff coming up and I'm so excited!
Behave!

Tuesday Tidbits...

1. I knew Ghost Hunters was back, but I hadn't had time to actually watch. Thank goodness for "on demand". I am now pretty much caught up and have not lost my love for this show! Awesome!
2. Mostly quiet night around here. (see above) Laundry working.
3. I wrote a whole bunch tonight! Yay! I'm at the "official"  halfway mark on my short, thought it will need some serious editing. It feels good!
4. I ordered my swag for Prelude. It should be here by Thursday. Yay!
5. The weather is gorgeous!
6. OT sucks. The day job is sucky right now, but what are you going to do?
7. My house is slowly getting back on track. Yay.
8. Weekend non-plans. We have a bunch of stuff to do, but no "commitments", which means we'll be spending the weekend getting much needed stuff done! Yay!
9. Thank goodness for finding a beer in my fridge! It was much needed after today!
10. It's almost time to take the air conditioners out! I can't wait to have a fresh air breeze again! Just not quite yet...
That is all...
Behave!

Monday... Again...

Ugh. Monday.
Today sucked. We lost a person at work and we're already down two....  We're super hyper busy. OT is open again. Which means I'll be working my *ss off until I'm caught up. My brain is broken... I want to stay home to write full time again!
The weekend was good though...We're taking a break from clearing out Mom's house. A much needed break... It was strange to wake up in my own bed and not hearing "It's Yard Sale Time" being screamed along with some kind of obnoxious country music being blared.
Friday night we went to the races to see my nieces boyfriend drive his car. Sweet! It turned out fun and we could have stayed longer, but we had other commitments. Then we went to hang at our friends house - we haven't seen them in forever and I've never seen their new house. It's awesome and we had a blast.
I slept until 10 Saturday, but got a lot done. Completely rearranged my kitchen and put away most of the boxes I've been lugging home week after week. Got rid of a ton of stuff, too. I'm pleased with my progress and I even cooked both nights! It was really nice to be home and not have to go anywhere.
Sunday, I slept in, too. Got up, made coffee, and caught up on some shows I never get to watch. K1 and J came over with BOSS. (Actually Grand Uncle dropped him off here since they watched him the night before) B is so stinking cute. We hung out, played, read some books, took a 'yard ride' in the Jeep, and had fun.
I will have my dining room back soon and I will finish my short story soon!
And it's almost Fall! Happiness is coming back, I think...
Behave!

Weird Wednesday...

So...My computer is being really dumb. I finally managed to load the Internet after an hour plus of BS! Damn!! I can't say that it's Windows 10 glitches or not... I have had this computer for about six weeks, and honestly, have spent most of my time in Word documents.
My plan was to write tonight. But I'm just now back on and it's pretty much bedtime. (or not... we'll see)
It's Wednesday. For work purposes.. Simplified... It's been at least three weeks packed into 4 days.. only it's been two days at this point... Yeah... that's what kind of week I'm having... Argh....
I'm going to bed now... Tomorrow will be better...

Train Wreck Tuesday

So, it's Tuesday! It's September.
We did camp this weekend. It was awesome in so many ways! We didn't get there until Saturday afternoon, which sucked, but couldn't be helped. I had my meeting. That Man had his stuff. But we got there. I'm so glad.
We had a blast Saturday night with K1, J, and Baby B. Baby B is so stinking cute! But they left after the picnic on Sunday. K2, J, and Baby C were there. Baby C is so stinking cute! I was in Nanners heaven!!
Our friends came up to hang out and ended up staying the night. Totally awesome! Our adopted sister and our adopted brothers. It was epic and awesome! We had so much fun hanging out, talking, laughing, singing. That's no regrets right there... You can't plan that stuff...
I'm not sure I got to relax as much as I needed to. I slept for crap both nights. The first night was due to K4 and a migraine with symptoms that had us both on edge. She was fine in the morning, but we had some rough times through the night. The second night I had a dream that is now written down for story fodder. It was so real and scary and it hung with me all day. And I don't know if I slept for more than an hour or so... I woke up grumpy and exhausted. That Man and I took some time together to go on a mission. We got lost. My phone died, but it was good. We got back and my head was killing me. He and my bil starting working on beach stuff. I took some headache meds and a nap. Then we had to pack up.... Ugh...
So last night I also slept like crap again! Or didn't sleep. I don't know.. I couldn't decide if I'd slept or not. I worked the full day job today. I felt lost and crabby most of the day.
Got home and picked K4 up to take her for new headphones since hers died. We did that and hit the grocery store and finally made it home. Ugh. I'm tired...and probably still a little crabby. I have no idea why...
Behave!!

Woah Wednesday...

Woah! My book... Prelude of Lies... released today! So excited!! I got an congratulatory email from my editor this morning and several people told me they got it on their Kindles. Nice! I hope you're watching, Momma! I wish you were here to share this with!

Woah! Apparently, I am allergic to adhesives! Be prepared... this is a long story... There was this skin tag/mole on my neck that had been there for a long time. My sister told me how ugly it was when we were taking down the tree in my backyard, and quite frankly, I knew that, which is why I rarely put my hair up or wear a shirt that shows any skin. That Man and I have been discussing "the mole's" demise for a while now, but I never moved forward on the ideas of remove it.
My hair would get tangled around it a lot. Certain shirts rubbed it. I was always aware of its presence.
Friday night I had a dream that it was disintegrating. I think my hair had gotten caught in it again. It bothered me all day Saturday. I kept touching it, expecting it to fall apart in my hand, but sadly, that never happened.
Cut forward to Saturday night... We had a yard sale at Mom's. It was a Hell day - hot and no customers, lots of leg work, and cleaning out box upon box of old papers that should have been thrown away thirty years ago. Once we cleaned up, the adult beverages came out, and yeah, I had a couple... My hair had yet again gotten tangled in "the mole", and I grabbed a pair of scissors on my way outside. Everyone was hanging on the back porch, relaxing. I asked if anyone wanted to cut of "the mole" and through the groans and "no way", my daughter-in-law jumped up. The pair of scissors I grabbed were dull, so that hurt a lot. She ran inside and grabbed a better pair and cut that bitch mole right off my neck.
I was/am ecstatic. It didn't bleed much at all and it didn't hurt much either. Then, I asked her if she'd cleaned the scissors first... She hadn't, so my sister dragged me inside to properly clean and dress my neck. The bandage lasted like 11 minutes because it was so stinking hot and I was so sweaty. I left it to air until Tuesday morning when I stopped at the pharmacy to get bandages and antibiotic ointment. It still looked really good at that point, but I was concerned enough to think I should do something. Slapped a latex free bandage on it and went about my business. By the time I asked That Man to check it last night, it was red. He said about the adhesive, but I'd woken up a few times the night before with my hair stuck to "the mole's" grave, so I wanted it covered.
By the time I was ready to leave the day job tonight, my neck was sore and uncomfortable. I took the bandage off and it looks like I have a severe sunburn where the adhesive was. Everything else is good, but that rash or whatever is way more uncomfortable than the actual "mole wound". Ugh! Aren't you glad I shared that with you?

Woah! Its Wednesday! This weekend is my writing group meeting, which I am very much looking forward to, and it's a camp weekend. The jury is out on whether or not we'll make the camping trip. There's a lot going on and it's supposed to rain. I want to go, so we'll see...

I'll let you know if "Mr. Mole" comes back to life. I flushed him and have visions of him growing and procreating in the septic tank...

Behave!

Guest Blogging!

Come check me out over here!

I'm guest blogging on my publishers site!

Two more days until release day!

Behave!

And NOW!!!

Available for preorder now!!
Officially out September 4th!!

I am so happy for this book to come out! This is my Momma's book! The first one I let her read! Mom loved this book so much! I love this book so much!
I wrote this book after a fantastic camping trip with friends. The idea started the minute we got there, and grew and grew. I had a whole notebook of notes by the time we left, and still had time to have so much fun. It came together in a month - the first month after all of Those Kids were in school full time and I could concentrate on writing without interruptions. (Yes, it was a while ago, but trust me, it's been edited a lot)
Some time later, Mom and Dad had stopped by our house one evening. We weren't really doing anything, just hanging out - watching a movie or something, I don't remember exactly. Mom and Dad had been out to dinner and saw our front door open as they passed by. They circled the block and came back to stop in. We were happy to see them.
We broke out some adult beverages. Had a blast talking about all kinds of stuff. They had just gotten a new laptop and were confused about stuff. We had them bring it in, hooked it up to our wireless, and downloaded all of the things they needed. (they couldn't get wireless at their house at that time, though they lived just a few miles from us.. and yeah, it was a few years ago...maybe more than a few... (When they got a new laptop, mom transferred the file onto the new one because she would read it every few months)
So...Mom and I's conversation turned to writing. She always asked me what I was working on and what was happening. She was always excited about this story. I had brainstormed it a bit with her. I had already submitted it a bunch of times and no one was interested. I decided to let her read it... I downloaded it onto their new computer for her, after she'd read several chapters on my computer.
Mom loved this story... even in it's unedited state. She'd call me to tell me she found an error, but that it was minor to the fact that she couldn't stop reading. She defended this story to the end. Every time I'd get a rejection on this, she was mad for me. Even when I signed contracts for my other books, she'd ask about this one... wondering when someone would take a chance on it. At last count, this had over 110 rejections.
After Dad passed, I was floundering a lot with writing. As we sat with him in the hospital, I was working on a Halloween short for my other publisher. After submitting it and discussing with my editor, we agreed it wasn't really something that would fit with the Halloween line, and that there were a few plot holes that needed to be addressed, and how it would really be better as a full novel. I wasn't sure it would, so we backburnered it... and I continued to feel lost and without spark.
We do a publishers showcase in my writers group every year and my awesome editor from Soul Mate was part of it. I really liked what she had to say and I loved that they accept many different genres. I thought maybe it was time to dust this book off again and give it another shot. So, I submitted and within a few weeks had a request for a full. I didn't tell Mom. I didn't want to have to disappoint her again.
About a month after I submitted, I was spending the weekend at Mom's. She had bought this awesome desk and needed someone to put it together for her and needed the company. She was in a lot of pain due to a sciatic nerve problem and needed help getting certain things done. I had conflicting feelings about going, only because some of my writer friends were having a mini retreat and I wanted to go, but I couldn't leave Mom in the lurch. I was so glad I went.
I got there and went to work on the desk (only had to take it apart 3 times to fix something)... We ordered food, and after we ate, I took a break to check email. That's when I got the contract offer. I had walked outside to check out the sky and after pacing and calling That Man, I went inside.
Her face when I told her is something I will never forget. I knew right then that I was supposed to be with Mom when I got this news. She was so ecstatic. She clapped, stomped her feet, and nearly cried. It was an epic moment. She wasn't too happy when I said she could only tell her best friend until the contract was signed, but not a real unhappy - just an impatient unhappy. (I had to text her once the contract was signed so she could tell her other friends.) :)
So, fast forward to May. The day Mom started feeling bad was the day I got my first cover shot. The title was incorrect, but the basic cover is the same. I was so excited to show her, but she was sick and in pain. We got her to the hospital and they pumped her full of morphine. By the time they were nearly ready to take her to surgery, her pain level was low enough that I asked her if she wanted to see. She couldn't really talk thanks to the tubes and dry mouth, but she grabbed my hand and squeezed when she saw it. I'm so glad I got to share that with her.
And now I'm a week away from release day! I very much miss my momma and I will miss sharing this with her, but I know she's still here with me for it - just in a different way.
That's my story...
Behave!

It's Done...

This is the tree that fell on my house last July. Or what's left of it... (yes, that's my finger at the edge of the picture. I'm very talented that way.)
It took four cases of beer, 16 lbs of taco meat and the stuff to go with tacos, some cash, a few injuries, several sore backs, and a lot of very appreciated help, but the deed is (mostly) done. The mess you see there isn't the same. it's better, but there's still clean up to do.
So weird in my backyard though... I miss my tree, but as the branches came down, we realized how lucky something major hadn't happened.(Like a brand new roof and a few windows wasn't major...) It was in really bad shape - rot and carpenter ants.
The guys spent Sunday splitting wood and getting a major amount of cleaning up done. Monday, That Man and That Neighbor put the fence back up.
I'm still not used to it. Our major shade is gone, and of course, it's stinking hot outside right now. (and how considerate of us to plan the tree take down on the hottest weekend of summer... Ha ha! Ugh... Was not what we wanted at all, but we all lived)
And on top of all of that, I received my final edits on Thursday. So instead of cleaning my filthy house, I trekked over to Mom's and hunkered down so I could work without interruptions. It was a good call. When I left for work Friday morning, I only had 98 pages to read through. Finished that up by Saturday morning and sent them off before the crowd got here. Turns out no one cared about my dirty house but me... Ha!
So that's that...
Behave!

Weird Wednesday...

Almost a week again...Sorry about that... Someday things will ease up. I think. I hope.
We have discussed that once we're done with the house and the estate that we won't know what to do with ourselves. I have no idea if that will be true... But my house and my family hope it is. I do know that once we come to the other side of this, that I will see my sibs as much as I do know - which is completely awesome and will be good for all of us.
I am waiting for the next round of edits... my book is supposed to come out in two weeks. I'm a little nervous...
We have a crazy weekend ahead... Our big tree - the one that fell on the house the day of Dad's funeral is coming down. We have a huge crew coming to help, besides the guy we actually hired and will pay. The deal is food and beer once the job is one. I'm on the fence as what to feed everyone... guess I should decide soon. My house is still destroyed. We're working on it.
For  now... I'm working on stuff for my new book! I'm working on a short that kind of tie into the new book. I'm dealing with estate stuff. That Man is fixing up the Jeep... The Day Job is insane...
There is never enough time.
I did take Baby B out for ice cream tonight. He's been begging me for a few weeks now. I really wanted to cancel tonight because I hurt all over, but how could I do that to my little man? He was so stinking cute! I'm so glad I went despite my neck ache and list of things to do - spending time with him was so worth continuing to be behind...
That's all for now...
Behave!

Feel Good Friday... On Thursday...

Doing this now, because I know I won't have time tomorrow... I'll either be busy at Mom's going through stuff, or busy puking my guts out since my entire family has had the flu this week, except for me!!

1. Getting my Jeep inspected! Yay! We're legal now and while we have some work to do, we're good. I love her.
(I was trying to upload a photo, but haven't figured out how with the new computer! Rude!)

2. Stuff is done. Not everything, but the major stuff. Or most of it. I can't keep up.

3. Living through the week. Brutal. Between the flu, running constantly (like so much, we didn't cook in this house except for one night and that was That Man), and everything else....

4. Tomorrow is Friday. Yay!

5. Weekend plans! It will be busy, but good.

6. So yeah... I am the last man standing... I'm scared. That Man came home from work early today with the bug. Everyone else in this house has had it. I do not want.

7. My brand new "Beach 2015 OBX" notebook. Yeah, you heard that right. We're going to the beach this year!! WHOOT!!! It's been 10 years!!

8. My new book releases at the end of this month. I know you know that, but I'm excited!!

I got 8. That's pretty good after so long without a feel good Friday!!

Behave!!

Wait? What? August?

Holy Crap!
This summer has flown by! We have less than a month until K4 starts her sophomore year of high school! That's crazy! (Eww... and it means school shopping!)
So, I know I was gone for a little while. Sorry about that! I was in crazy mode working on my edits! Got those sent back in, but will have at least one more round before my book comes out!
We had Baby B on Saturday night. He'd stayed Friday night with K2. (Mom and Dad had their first weekend away and had no cell reception!) K4 and I picked him up Saturday afternoon. He had a blast with K2, J, and Baby C! We did some running around, played in the backyard for a little, and then he came into the living room and plopped down on a bean bag and said he needed a nap. I picked him up to try to figure out what was wrong and he threw up all over me and the floor. Wasn't sure what was up at that point. Checked the juice I'd just bought to make sure it was good. It was. He bounced back a bit and was hanging with That Man and I as we worked on my new ride (more on that in a bit). He was sitting in the front seat and ended up throwing up again. And then again, and again. Poor baby! We felt so bad for him! It wasn't as bad of a night as we expected. He was up early and hungry. Thankfully feeling better! Mom and Dad came to get him shortly after noon. They felt really bad he was sick, but we wouldn't have called anyway. Been there, done that. Plus we could have reached them in an emergency, but some puke isn't an emergency.
And NOW... K4 has it... She is currently moaning and has thrown up several times already. Poor baby! That Man and I made a run for Gatorade, Ginger Ale, ice, and soup. We're kind of afraid. I mean, I was puked on several times. He cleaned up puke several times. K4 quarantined herself after the second time Baby B threw up and she's in rough shape right now... So...
So, my new ride! I got a fantastic deal on a 99 Jeep Wrangler. I love her! Her name is Polly after my momma. She is fun to drive, has a sweet convertible top, and is a 5 speed. She needs some rust tlc... more than we thought (we just found something unpleasant tonight and I'm a little scared!) We took care of the one spot and discovered another in the process. Ugh.
I'll post a picture of my new ride and my new book cover within the next few days!
Behave!!

What's Going On?

It's Thursday. This week has gone fast and has been insanely busy.

1. Our floor is crap. There are spots were the polyurethane is rubbing off. It makes no sense. 90% of it is gorgeous. Of course, the spots are in the high traffic areas... We're not sure what to do. We can't put any more poly down. I guess we'll be looking at rugs. Argh.

2. We managed to get Mom and Dad's vehicles transferred to their new owners. Yay!! But...Ordeal. Per usual.

3. We managed to get the Estate account opened. Ordeal.

4. We also managed to pay the pressing bills - funeral and mortgage. The mortgage company is filled with buttholed idiots. They have the short certificate listing me as an administrator, but said they couldn't talk to me. Jerks. And again... Ordeal.

5. Because they deserve a special shout out - The funeral home is amazing. They are so caring and wonderful. Everyone is awesome, but Funeral Bob is a great guy and has checked in with us frequently over the past two months. We are so lucky to know him. He's become a friend over the last year and I'm grateful.

6. I did manage to take a half day on Wednesday. Got a lot of editing done, which is awesome. I came home to a still sleeping teenager, which gave me time to get busy.

7. Edits are going pretty well. I need to do another read-through. Punch up some emotions and things, and I'll be ready to send it back! Yay! Of course, this is going to take time, and we have an insane weekend ahead.

8. First yard sale at Mom and Dad's this weekend. We're not even remotely ready, but we will be. This is the first of many. We've only scratched the surface there. It's all hands on deck, though. Basement will be started by whoever is not working the sale, and then we'll switch out. And we'll be having a birthday party for my future brother-in-law's twins.

9. My puppy got fixed two weeks ago. We were able to remove "the cone of shame" permanently. We actually did it days early, but watched her to make sure she wasn't licking. I still have bruises. She's done with restrictions, which is awesome. She has been wanting to run so badly. She still has a day or so of antibiotics to take, but she's doing well! I'm so happy I don't have to deal with a doggie period anymore!

10. Here's an all in one for ten.... I am exhausted. I keep forgetting things I wouldn't normally forget. I don't sleep. I need a new car. I wish I was in New York for the National conference going on now. I want to go away and have some fun. I want my living room back. I want to spend a full weekend at home and have a jammie day. ... I'll stop there...

I may be back for Feel Good Friday tomorrow!

Behave!

Where were we?

Let's see...
I last posted on Tuesday... That seems like a lifetime ago...
Wednesday was crazy. Running around and trying to get stuff done.
Thursday I took a very much needed break and went out with friends to see Magic Mike XXL. We'd all gone to see the first one and had made a pact that if they released a sequel, we would all go. Dinner was really nice - great food and company. The movie was surprisingly good. I expected it to be as dark as the first one, but as it turns out, it was a really feel good, women empowering, sexy men, buddy, and growth movie. I really enjoyed it, and for more than the beefcake.
Tonight we sanded, cleaned, and put another coat of polyurethane on our floors. Fingers crossed! It already looked better when we cleaned up and left. Got back to mom's and ordered food. I got my edits and looked over them. I'm good with everything, so just need to make it happen.
Tomorrow is crazy busy. I have to be in Ship first thing to take care of Estate bank accounts. The way things are written, my s-i-l and I have to be present for every transaction. What a pain. But once we get the account open, we can start paying bills. Once we get the vehicles transferred, we're good for a while.
Then we head to my sister's to help with their annual wing cook off competition. Should be fun. And work.
Sunday I will start edits.
I was supposed to take some time off from the day job next week. Was looking forward to it for editing time until I realized I might have to let my time go for someone who needs to lose time since OT is not approved right now. Damn.
I'm a little... okay, a lot... overwhelmed right now... I have a hard time shutting my brain off these days, which makes sleeping interesting and makes me teary during the day. I think it was after two until I feel asleep last night and it's been the same all week. I keep a notepad beside my bed so I can write stuff I don't want to forget down, and I end up with a lengthy sticky note on my phone by the time I leave work. I check one thing off and add three more...
This, too, shall pass.
Behave!

Summer Survival...

*My last post was written on the 9th, but then edited and posted on the 11th. I didn't realize the date would stay... you would think I would know that by now.... Ha!

I miss those days a lot... Being home with the natives - their antics, their perceived boredom, they way they occupied themselves... Summer was a lot more fun back then. Although it didn't seem like it at the time, I had a lot more time to do things. I was writing a lot, my house was clean and organized.
Now it's just same thing, different day. Or so it seems. I have a lot on my plate these days. I don't have time to do half of the things I want and need to. It's been ages since I've been able to "just" relax - not take a break from a task to relax, not relax after a long day of doing whatever, but to spend a day doing what I want to do, instead of what has to be done...
I'm not trying to complain, though it does sound like it. This is life at the moment and I have to do what I have to do. And I am. I'm just feeling a big of nostalgia for simpler times. This will pass soon enough into yet another phase and I'll deal with that, too.
So... my floors need another coat of poly. I thought they would be okay, but the more I look at them - as lovely as they look in many places - we're not pleased with the end result. We knew it wouldn't be perfect, but we didn't expect the floor to look "this" bad. The didn't all fill, there are spots that were somehow missed with the final coat, and all of those areas are not places we can cover up with furniture or rugs. We'll lay down another coat this weekend and see where we end up. Has to be better than right now.
My dilemma is now that I don't want to put my crappy ugly furniture back. I'm searching for something reasonable to replace it. I can't spend a lot and I don't want to considering the three cats and dog, grandkids (and messy teenagers). So we'll see what happens...
Okay... time to write...
Behave!

I Am Trying...

There is a lot these days.
Estate stuff, family stuff, work stuff, writing stuff... OH HEY!! I am writing again!!
Or I was until my computer DIED!! Getting used to the new one is a pain! I haven't had much time to actually play with it! I do like it though, but the learning curve is steep! Red lasted me for 7 years, so there's a lot of new stuff to get used to!
But I lost my story...That sucks hardcore....
I expect my edits soon as my book comes out in August. We're going to have to be quick, but my editor and I are confident we'll get them done in time!
I had to write a letter to a family that were a part of our lives from the time we were little. There was a long stretch of not seeing them, following by a long stretch of seeing them, then followed by another stretch of not seeing them. They aged. My parents aged. They moved to Montana. We had no way to get a hold of them. Mom's address book is missing. It wasn't until she sent Mom a birthday present that we knew how to contact them. It's been almost 2 months... That sucks... It took me over a week to write the letter. The first letter ended up being 14 pages long and was a lot of spew of how things are going now. The second letter was to the point and just had the facts, but it still sucks. This letter has been hanging over my head. But it's done now. And I still feel bad for having to tell them that way.
There are a lot of things like that these days. We got through the anniversary of Dad's death. Hard, but what are you going to do.
Our Uncle and Aunt are the best! They aren't too very far away and they are making sure we're good. Our cousins are doing the same. Texting, calling... we're supported, and that's great, but we're still doing this with just us...But I will say that my sibs are the best. The four of us that have been here through thick and thin are still here through it. We agree. We get stuff done. And we're so much closer than we've ever been, which is saying a lot! A whole lot. We had our first fourth of July campout without our parents, and it sucked, but we did good. We have each other.
My family stayed at Mom's all last week. We started redoing our hardwood floors over the 4th and the dry time is insane and suckage! I made sure the kitchen and dining room were comfort places - completely free of boxes and stuff to go through.
We spent the weekend working hard - got the office gone through, boxed up for yard sale, and cleaned enough that K3 could actually sleep in there. We'd been using it as a storage room when Mom was having her kitchen redone and were still going through boxes when she died. It was a horrible mess, so it's a huge accomplishment! We also got the garage organized. We had a family meeting, which was productive.
I'm beat though. Home again, but there is no furniture in my living room, except for bean bags. The floor didn't turn out like we expected, but it's still beautiful. There are still a few tacky spots, so we're waiting to put the furniture back. I still have a bunch of dust to clean up. Our cats are happy to be free again - we had to keep them contained so they wouldn't get on the floor. They had everything they needed, but they didn't like it.
Elsa got fixed on Thursday and is now wearing the cone of shame. My legs are covered in bruises. So are everyone else's. She's knocked over so many things, broken glasses and beer bottles, gotten stuck on furniture and in doorways, and is generally pathetic. She's doing really well though. No ill effects from the anesthesia or surgery. Except we left her antibiotics at Mom's, so she'll be running a day behind on them. We took the cone off once we got settled in at home. She's not licking at all right now, but we'll be putting it back on before we go to bed. I hate it, but I understand why she has to wear it.
I'm done in. Though I did write a few words tonight. I'm still learning this computer, so everything is a little strange.
That is all...
Behave!