Feel Good Friday

Oh it is Friday and there is some Feel Good...

1. Friday! Duh! Lived through the week. Good, right?

2. Dinner out with That Man and K4. We went to a local pizza shop. Had some good food, but not so stellar service. And I can complain about my pizza - I ordered two slices with mushrooms. When it came out, the pizza was barely warm, with raw mushrooms scattered on top. I asked for my slices to be heated up again. They came back out warmer and the mushrooms still raw. It was not at all what I'd expected. I ate one slice and gave the other to K4. The fried zucchini was banging though.

3. We did have a lot of laughs. There was talk of a spreadsheet for our bathroom, among other things. I won't get into it, except to say it was hilarious and I think K4 was embarrassed to know us... Ha!

4. There's good and bad in this one... I left the day job early today, but it was to pick up Mr. B from the babysitters. He was sick and miserable. Fever, ear pain... a mess.

5. Also good and bad... K1 made Mr. B a doc appointment and told me it was at our regular docs. He had mandatory overtime and no way to get out of it. I get to the doc with 5 minutes to spare and they tell me I'm at the wrong office. The office Mr. B was supposed to be at is about twenty minutes away, without traffic. It's rush hour. It takes me thirty-five minutes to get to the right office and I have no confirmation that they'll actually see Mr. B. But when we get there, the parking lot has a lot of cars, so we go in. Surprise. They knew we were coming, K1 had called and explained, and apparently the regular doc had also called. We get back to the room and they ask if we're willing to see a different doc because the one we're scheduled to see is running really late. (so basically, we would have waited even longer even if we'd been there on time.) We see the different doc and find that Mr. B has a virus - no ear infection like we thought - and to do the stuff we already knew to do. Mr. B was so good and pleasant. The doctor even complimented on how well behaved he is. Nice. He's a great kid.

6. My writing meeting tomorrow. Yay!

7. The figuring out of the rewrite story. I love this story and I'm thrilled to be working on it again! I'm digging into the motivations to figure out what makes it tick and I love it.

8. Warmth in my house.

9. Sleeping in a little tomorrow.

10. Getting to talk to my sister from another mister tonight. I must have said "I need to get going" twelve times, and then "Oh, I need to tell you this.." It was a good conversation and I miss her!

11. Weekend plans. I hope they work out!

That's enough.

Behave!

Irksome Thursday

While I'm glad it's Thursday - only because tomorrow is Friday, but there are things... Things that bug me.

1. When someone adds me to a Facebook group without my permission. It didn't happen just once today, or twice, but three times!! What the heck? I don't care if you're adding me to something you know I love, freaking ask me first if I don't know about it beforehand!
If you don't ask me, the first thing that will happen is that I will go to the page and leave. And I'll be irritated. I don't have time for the million emails that come with these groups and I'd like to make that choice for myself - not check my email and see that I have two million notifications for a group that I don't care about or one that's trying to sell me something...

2. People inserting themselves into things they know nothing about. Did I ask for your advice? No? Then shut your mouth. Maybe ask questions and listen before inserting your opinion. And I'm not talking about close friends and family - they always have the right to say things, because they do listen. I'm talking about practical strangers who ask what's up and then launch into their "knowledge" on the subject without taking the time to find out if you even know they things they "know". Excuse me, I'm not stupid... (and yes, I'm talking about people who ask why I shaved my head and then try to tell me how to cure my sister-in-law's cancer that she's fought for twenty years...like everything big and small hasn't been tried by now? Really!) This also happened more than once today.

3. The general disarray of my house. My kitchen is clean. Enough. Because That Man and I cleaned it after dinner. My bedroom - okay. The living room - halfway passable. Dining room - kind of okay, but mostly not. I can't see my table and it's not my stuff. I know these things would take a moment to clear, but it's not my mess and I'm being stubborn. Yeah, we all work and stuff, but gah! It bugs me. And I know I have guilt in this scenario, too, but still...

4. I love my dog. I really do, but she's been kind of rotten the past few days. She's gotten into the bathroom trash, the drawer in the bathroom, the kitchen trash, and my bed. None of it was really awful, but the fact that I've made my bed every day this week, and when I leave for the day it looks pretty and inviting. When I come home, it looks like someone had a party in there. She gets under the covers and throws the pillows on the floor and wrinkles the whole thing up.

5. This computer shopping thing. I thought I found what I wanted, but then I found a better one cheaper, but I'm not sure about the mode of delivery or the warranty. And then, I'm not sure this one can't be fixed. I'm seeing a pattern in the bullcrap it does. I need to talk to K3's friend and see what his opinion is...

That's enough. Five isn't too bitchy, is it?

Bring on Friday!

Behave!

Weird Wednesday...

What was weird about today?

Well... As I was walking into the day job, I noticed something weird on the pavement. I looked and it was this ginormous spider. I tried to take a picture of it, but no matter how I tried it didn't look like a spider. No, I didn't squash it, either. When one of my coworkers pulled in, I was sure he'd smashed it with his car. At lunch, I went out to my car and realized it was still there. And that it wasn't a real spider at all. It was a plastic bug - not even with eight legs. Duh!

Another weird - we made it to school on time. Probably the first time in weeks. I was stunned, especially since our schedule has changed a bit.

The whole day was weird in one way or another. Much of it I can't put into words. Nor will I try.

The sickness is here in this house in two forms. The stomach bug and the cold crap. Hopefully both stay away from me. I have disinfected and will continue to disinfect...

I'm computer shopping. I think I found the one I want. It has what I need. I just don't want to swipe my card for it yet... But this one continues to shut down on me. Argh.

And now it's time to shut down to sleep...

Behave.

Oy! This Computer!

I fear we've begun the final stages of life...

I've only had this thing going on two years and honestly, compared to previous computers, I definitely am not on this one as much. Not like I was when I didn't work the day job. Heck, Red lasted for like seven years or something and the one before was awesome until I spilled coffee all over it.

I don't know if this is just a "cheap" computer, or what... The casing is cracked somewhere, too. I can't figure out how that happened - it's not like I throw it around or take it anywhere without it's special case.

I was working earlier and it just went blue screen on me, shut off, restarted, and here we are again.

There are updates to be installed, but I'm afraid to do it - just in case it further crashes it.

Ugh!

But I guess I could dump coffee on it, or drop it, and that would make it die as well. So, I'll just stick it out, make sure I back up frequently and keep my fingers crossed. (and search for a replacement when the time comes)

On top of this, though, I updated my phone and now most of my apps won't download because I'm out of memory. I've deleted as many pictures as I can stand to, dumped voice mails, texts, gotten rid of unused and underused apps and it's still not moving forward. It's pretty frustrating because, of course, the apps I do use daily are the ones that aren't refreshing. Argh.

Apparently, Mercury is in retrograde, which explains a lot. And it's the last Tuesday in March, so that should explain some, too? Ha!

I don't know...

Behave!

*Updated - right after I posted this, I got the blue screen of death. I managed to get it back, but who knows for how long. I was, actually, surprised that I was able to get it going again. But now I know it's only a matter of time...

Weekend Wrap Up...

So no taxes got done this weekend... whatever... They'll get done before the deadline. At this point, we owe money so I don't really care to get anything done early.

Friday...
Dinner with our friends. It was a lot of fun. And a late night. But so worth it.

Saturday:
Sleeping in. A little bit of laundry. Eagle Ceremony for one of our boys that That Man guided along the way. He received a mentor pin. They always choke him up and he feels that he doesn't deserve, but, in my opinion, (and obviously in the scouts opinion) he definitely deserves it. He spent a lot of years as Scoutmaster and he loved every minute of it. (not the paperwork part... at all, but the camping/activity part... yes) Watched Mr. B.

Sunday:
Slept in again. That Man took Mr. B to the religious place with him after getting him pancakes for breakfast. I woke, got coffee x4, and watched the only show I ever watch. Then... Laundry, grocery shopping (OH... I am seriously checking out the grocery delivery service from out local store... I have heard many many good things about it...) A bit of writing - just reading through....and a lot of thinking. I need to rewrite the first book in the series before tackling the rest... And it's okay. This book has been begging to be rewritten for a really long time. I'm good with it, and it will be epic. And I am really excited about being at this place to rewrite this book.

Tomorrow is Monday...Ugh... I love my day job, but I am in serious need of a day off... And that won't happen until Retreat (51 days). I have about four or five days until my three year anniversary at the day job.

That is all...

Behave!

Thursday Ramblings...

So I finished my read-through on my book and I think I'm going to be taking the basic premise and starting from scratch. I think.before I like the idea, the heroine, the supporting characters, and some of the world-building. The hero is somewhat of an ass through a lot of the book, so he definitely needs to be fixed, and the world is lacking in a lot of ways. So... I'm still thinking.
Part of the world relates to another book I love, but that also needs to be rewritten, and there's a third that goes along that is not written. Technically, I should re-write the first one before I tackle this one, which is one of the reasons I'm in such a quandary...
Must think this through...

Anyway.

It's Thursday. One more day until the weekend. The conflict worked itself out, so that's good. That Man and I are heading out to visit some friends tomorrow night, which is much needed. Then some sleeping in on Saturday before the Eagle Ceremony we're attending. That's about all of our plans, except for housework and writing. Oh and the grocery store stuff. And taxes that need to be finished... urgh. Yeah...

We're getting closer to the release of the anthology. I'll share the cover and the links as soon as available. And I do promise to share my cover for my summer release soon.

That's all for now...

Behave!

Halfway Through the Week...

So we lived through Wednesday.
I think?
I'm exhausted and ready for bed. And will be going there very soon.
I got through a lot of pages of editing and found my love for this story. It needs a lot of work and I might end up rewriting this one. It goes along with another story I've been wanting to rewrite - not premise, but character and the organization the heroes work for. So, now I need to decide if I can save it in its current state, or if I just need to start over.
We'll see... I'm still thinking.
Other than that...
I'm looking towards the weekend. Just found out we have a conflict on Saturday, which doesn't make me very happy. We'll work it out, I hope.
That's all for now.
Behave!

All Of the News That Might Not Be News...

And then some...

So let's see...

(on a side note: K3 really hates when I use ellipses. I do it all of the time...)

1. We had a fantastic Saturday. First - Baby C's second birthday party with the family. We had a lot of good food, my s-i-l made an awesome strawberry cake with a monkey, Baby C received a lot of cool presents, and we hung out. Baby C is so adorable, funny, and smart. K2 made masks with the kids. It was very good.
Then, we went to my sister's bar to hear my b-i-l's band. Always awesome. That Man and I stayed until the break, but we were both so exhausted we couldn't hang any longer. Came home and I was freezing, so went to bed while That Man and That Brother hung out.

2. Sunday was equally as awesome. We picked up K5. Grabbed Mr. B, and went to That Man's sister's house for a family gathering. Baby C was there, too. It was so awesome to have ALL of my grandkids (until June) together at the same time. (yes, there are a million pictures). My b-i-l smoked a pork butt and we had a ton of awesome food. G'ma was able to make it, which was a good surprise. She's doing okay, but all of the activity wore her out. We kept Mr. B when we took K5 home and those two were a hoot the whole way there. Siblings. It's like a time travel back to when ours were little - they act just the same way. (maybe genetic?) It was a late night, but so very worth it.

Needless to say, I didn't get any writing done except for what I managed Friday night.

3. That Brother left Monday morning. It was good to see him, even if we were a bit cramped in this house. He pulled his weight though, and we had some awesome meals thanks to his cooking skills. We had some great conversations and laughs.

4. Just sent in all of my author info for an anthology I'm in with some friends. Keep your eyes open. This one will be a freebie. I'm excited about it!

5. I received my final cover proof for Into the Fire! Yay! I'll post that soon!

6. It's Spring! How weird is that? I feel like we didn't have much of a winter. Yeah, it was cold, but I think it only snowed twice and except for last week, not much at all. Dumb. I like Spring, but I also hate the mud that comes with it. The dog... well. Anyone with a dog knows...

Lived through Monday - barely. Also lived through Tuesday - same...

That's all!

Behave!

p.s. K4 says hi.

Feel Good Friday

Aah, Friday!

I love you bunches, Friday.
(I had a negative thing to say, but I deleted it because I can't do anything about the fact that I'm not able to be home to write full time right now.)

Anyways...

Let's get to the list...

1. Snow Day! I lost eight hours of pay, but I wouldn't have gone into work if we had actually been open because I don't want to die. I made up the delay hours from Wednesday, but that's about it.

2. The snow was so pretty! It really was!

3. Writing time! I'm working on stuff and I'm happy!

4.  That Brother being here. He's a good house guest and it's good to see him after a bunch of years!

5. Going out with That Man. We had a great dinner at a newly reopened eatery in our town. The food was amazing and our server was awesome!

6. Seeing our granddaughter this weekend!

7. Talking to K5 on the phone on my way home from work. She is awesome and we are so proud of her for her just being her and the things she's doing at school! She is so kind and gentle and forward-thinking. We are amazed by her. She talked my ear off and I wouldn't have it any other way!

8. Sixty days until retreat!!

9. Going to see the band tomorrow night! Always fun!

I didn't get to ten, but that's close enough!

Behave!!

Thursday Now...

The roads are better.
They weren't last night, or even this morning.
On my way home from work last night, I spun out and nearly got hit. It was scary, but I escaped without injury to myself or my vehicle.
K4 had off school yesterday, and I had a delay for work. That was for the best. I made it into work without incident, but then the wind kicked up and so did the drifts.
Going into work today was kind of bad, but by the time I came home it was good.
Not going to make up the ten hours I missed of pay, but whatever.
Tomorrow is Friday. Yay!
We have a busy weekend, but it should be fun.
Hopefully, I will be back with Feel Good Friday tomorrow!
Behave!

Stella...

Stella started around 9pm last night. I wasn't sure, even when I went to bed at 11pm, that anything was going to really happen. I woke up at 2:30am and was excited to see how much snow we had already... and I couldn't go back to sleep.
I got up with That Man and K1 around 4am. Made them some coffee and helped them get out the door for their snowplowing gig. (Have no idea when they'll be home) Went back to bed... it was 5:30 until I finally fell back to sleep.
Luckily enough, I woke at 6:30 to a text from the day job saying we were closed. Yay! Went back to sleep for a while, but had to get up with the dog and the furnace.
That Man's brother is here from California. He opted to crash here last night due to his schedule. He's been staying with their sister about an hour from here since we have a full house at the moment. He ran the snow blower and cleaned off my Jeep so the snow wouldn't cave in the soft top and he and K3 did the shoveling. Nice!
I cleaned a bit, started laundry, tried to nap, drank a ton of coffee... Now it's writing time. Though a real nap just might be in my near future once I get some writing done.
It's so quiet. The dog is napping. K4 is doing homework. K3 is taking a nap. The television is off. That Brother is working with his head phones in. I have about three hours until time to make dinner.
We have around 16" in my backyard. I think. I'm not willing to hike the twenty feet to the picnic table with a ruler to find out for sure. The winds are kicking up now, so we'll see what happens next. Everything is closed and they are asking people to stay off of the roads. The plow has come by once and that was hours ago.
We'll see what tomorrow brings...
Until then, here's my crazy dog running around like a freak. She loves the snow! It's not a great picture, but you can kind of see That Brother clearing off my Jeep in the background! (This was around nine this morning)

Behave!

2017 Snow-pocalypse...

Or whatever it will be...

It's snowing now. Started about an hour and a half ago.

Schools are closed.

My work day fate is unknown at this point, but if it does what they say, I'll be home in my jammie pants regardless of it we're open or not. I'm not afraid to drive in the snow. At all. In fact I love it, but there's a point when you realize your life is more important than a job. I saw something earlier that really stuck with me - "Your job can replace you, Your family can't." And if it does what they're saying, it will be very risky to drive anywhere.

We'll see...

The shovels are out. The snowblower is ready. The fridge and pantry are stocked. We have everything we need to be hunkered down in the storm.

I'm ready!

Bring it, Mother Nature...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap up...

I don't know how both of my visiting author posts came on the same day. That wasn't how that was supposed to work, but...

Anyway...

Friday night That Man's brother was here. He's in from California for a visit. He's staying with That Man's sister, but came to hang with us Friday night. He cooked some awesome curry chicken and we hung out for a while.

Later that night, Mr. B got sick. He puked everywhere and was so pathetic and miserable. We were up until almost two with him, and then That Man was up with him early in the morning.

That Man and I went to do the grocery shopping. Then back here to get ready to go to my sister's for the banquet for the ducks that she's involved in. She takes a pair of siblings every year since our folks passed. This year was our turn. We had a great time. My brother came, too. We won a picnic basket, had some good food, drinks, and tried to win other cool stuff. It was fun to hang out with everyone and be a part of the thing. They have "Tom's Bar", which is a shout out to my sister's fiance who passed away and was really involved in this event. That was cool. We were home at a halfway decent time, which I didn't expect.

Today - well, we lost an hour of sleep - but I still slept in as much as I could. Had to get up with the furnace since it went out overnight and That Man had to restart it this morning. But K4 and I did our usual Sunday "stupid television" watching. We made some food, did some laundry... I finished up my short and sent it back for final line edits and prep for publication.

We're prepping for a winter storm now. I'm very excited! I hope it's going to be what they're saying and more! But since we fired up the snow blower, pulled out the shovels, cleaned up the yard, and prepped the vehicles, it probably won't do a darn thing.

We shall see...

Behave!

D.R. Grady's in the House!

D.R. Grady and I walked into our very first writers meeting together, though we'd never met. We sat together and chatted, and became friends and critique partners. I've known her for a super long time and I'm proud to introduce her book on my blog.

Her new release comes out soon. Here's a preview...

Odd things keep happening to Dr. Sara Newton. She’s a soon-to-be-unemployed pediatrician with an alleged stalker, a hot cop on her heels breathing dire warnings, and way too much student debt.

It doesn’t help that the hot cop is Clay Morrison, her best friend’s older brother. The man has made her heart pound and her palms sweaty since puberty. The trouble is, he only interacts with her when he’s expounding on new security measures. He sees threats everywhere.

Clay Morrison is frustrated. He hates his new job, misses his Army Ranger days, loves his well-meaning, pushy family—and when did sweet Sara Newton grow up? She won't admit she has a stalker, and she won't keep out of his thoughts. He can only protect someone in denial for so long. No matter how attractive she is...

Clay and Sara are circling each other, trying to meet in the middle. Then a brand new threat sends them in a completely different direction.

D.R. Grady lives with her husband near Hershey, PA. She adores chocolate, laughing, collecting bags, books, and shoes, and writing stories that resonate with others.

Website: www.drgradybooks.com

Twitter: @drgradybooks  https://twitter.com/drgradybooks

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007HR0ULS

Facebook Page: D.R. Grady https://www.facebook.com/drgradybooks

Google+:  D.R. Gradybooks   https://plus.google.com/u/0/114138197846185543554/posts

Check her out! 

Behave!

Coming Tomorrow!!

My very good friend, Misty Simon's, book comes out tomorrow! Seriously, you do not want to miss this! I loved brainstorming this book with her and you just can't go wrong with an Ivy Morris mystery! :)

·         Ivy Morris Mysteries – Hoedown Showdown

With the Tasty Tomato Tournament just days away, the small town of Martha’s Point is all abuzz. This is the first year without a sure winner, and the competition is fierce to gain the judges’ approval, even before the tournament starts.

But when Ivy finds one of those judges dead in a shed across the street, things go from bad to worse. All she wanted was seven glorious, kid-free days of messing around with her husband. Instead, she’s going to be tracking down a killer, staying out of the way of a pickle-obsessed farmer, and dodging the new cop who seems out for her blood.

Rating: Spicy

Excerpt

“Myrt,” I said patiently, as if talking to a small child. “First of all, this wasn’t the tomato crusher. It was Judge McIntyre.”

I didn’t even get to the next part since she started wailing. “Oh, my stars! I’m never going to win the Tasty Tomato Tournament now! It’s the fiftieth anniversary, and I wanted at least one chance before I die! And now I will never win this! I’ll be a dead woman long before I can ever show my face again in the tournament! And this was supposed to be my year!”

Not only was that a lot of exclamation points, but she also dragged the last word out until it sounded like a cat dying. I tried to calm her down by settling my hand on her shoulder. She shook me off while dropping her cane at her feet. With a ton of creaks and cracks, she knelt down beside him and started babbling about how sorry she was.

“I don’t think you should touch him.” I said this while definitely keeping my distance. I did not want to touch him more than I already had. To be honest, it had been some time since I was involved in anything more than feeding and playing with my kids or running my store and being a wife. Occasionally I would help Ben with a case or two in his work as a private investigator, but it was more paperwork than anything else. I did not want to even know what had happened to the judge, much less who had done it. Ben was not going to be pleased. At all.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. McIntyre,” Myrt said with her face close to his, her hand patting his chest. There was a crinkling noise, but she was still talking. “So very sorry. When Irma died last year in her sleep after winning her forty-ninth straight tournament, I thought I finally had a chance, and now I hit you, and I’m so very, very sorry, and I can’t believe I mistook you for a burglar.” She twisted her hands together like she was wringing out a dishtowel. And she was going to draw blood if she continued biting her lip in between babbling some more.

I had few choices right now. I have to admit here that I had no desire whatsoever to call the police. I didn’t want to be involved in things. I had plans this week. This was not going to keep me from swinging from the freaking chandelier if I could.

Of course, I could go across the street and call from the house, or have Ben call and then remove myself from the situation altogether. But that would be completely unfair to Mrs. Crandall.

I couldn’t help myself. I let out a scream that would have brought down an opera house, something between frustration and fright because, at that moment, something furry ran against my leg before shooting into the bushes.

In the end, the decision of what to do was taken out of my hands because the police came tearing up in the one marked car in town, screeching to a halt at the curb. A man in uniform was out of the car before I could blink again. And I’m glad I didn’t blink because I would have missed the way he jumped from the car and then did a forward roll across the front lawn as if he was in some crazy-assed shootout.

You can find me on the web at:

Website: www.mistysimon.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misty.simon.18

Twitter: @MistySimon

Buy Link: http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4892-hoedown-showdown.html

Author bio: Misty Simon loves a good story and decided one day that she would try her hand at it. Eventually she got it right. There’s nothing better in the world than making someone laugh, and she hopes everyone at least snickers in the right places when reading her books. She lives with her husband, daughter and three insane dogs in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel or three. She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at misty@mistysimon.com

Crashing Computer & Other Stuff

So... I was right in the middle of a post on Sunday when my computer died... It went into "recovery" mode and would not come out. I tried to restart at an earlier point, and each point I tried crashed again. Grr... I have no idea what caused it, potentially my virus protection update, but maybe not... I went to bed after setting it up to do it's recovery thing and come Monday morning, it was still stuck in the same loop.
Monday night I reset the whole darned thing.
I lost all of my files and pictures.
Luckily, I had backup on most things, but I lost a crapton of writing files - which is my bad, but I'm not feeling the loss. Not really. Yeah, I had a pretty good chunk of a story, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I guess it's okay... It is what it is. I'd be buying a new computer if I hadn't gotten the reset done, so it's all good. I will be backing up a lot from now on...
In other news...
I have no hair again.
My sister-in-law (That Man's sister) is going through chemo and her hair is quickly on the way out. That Man came home Sunday and told me that his sister has lost almost all of her hair. I know she didn't want me to cut my hair for her. She even told me that, but given the fact that I don't listen to those kinds of things.... I made him cut my hair off. She's struggling a lot with it, so I decided to shave mine to let her know she's not alone. She says I'm crazy, but I want her to know that it's okay.
Work was a lot shocked. I had a lot of head rubbings.
It's all good. My hair will grow back. I still have my eyebrows and eyelashes and other body hair... Boils down to the fact that I had a choice in this and my sister-in-law did not.
I will do this for every woman I love, without question...
That is all...
Behave!

Ahh... Saturday.

I love you, Saturday.
I love sleeping in. I love the relaxed pace and four cups of coffee - starting laundry before my meeting...
I love my writing group meeting, even though I didn't get to stay for the whole thing or have lunch after... :( It was still very good. I love getting the check for retreat swag and the fact that retreat is in 73 days.
Also, shopping with That Man. We hit up the discount grocery outlet and stocked up on snack foods. Then the regular grocery store. (ouch) More laundry. Finished up my short for critique. Scheduled Thursday blog post with a cover reveal for a visiting author friend. Took care of the checkbook from the day's shopping (ouch).
I love the South Bay Chowder we had for dinner, and I love the fact that we have a ton of leftovers. I love having candles lit. I love the fact that my house is "almost" clean.
What would make Saturday all the more perfect... Snow! Yeah, I said it. I just seriously want a HUGE snowfall where no one can leave the house, except to shovel.
You can hate me now... I do not apologize.
(Also, I love that tomorrow is Sunday and my only obligations are to write and cook.)
Behave!

Feel Good Friday

How about that? I actually made it....

Let's get to the list so I can hit the sack. (shush... I  know it's only ten pm on a Friday night, but I am wiped out...)

1. Sleeping in a little tomorrow. Thank goodness.
2. Having a warm house. It's freaking cold outside.
3. Finishing the edits on my short. Yay!
4. Writing meeting tomorrow!
5. My puppy dog sleeping beside me. She's snoring and it's really cute.
6. Getting the bills paid and that administration stuff organized.
7. Grandkids... 'nuff said.
8. Warm and comfy pants.

That's all I have for now. I can't stop yawning, so I'm calling it.

Behave!

Almost Done With the Week...

And almost done editing my short. Yay!

K4 made an awesome dinner tonight. I helped her with parts of it, but that's okay. She picked something a little labor intensive, and she's been suffering with a migraine all week. She did a great job though.

I really dig this "cooking night" thing. The person who cooks plans the meal, makes sure we have everything needed, and are responsible for cleaning up afterwards. It's been working out well, though That Man and I pitch in to help with the clean up most of the time.

Looking forward to the weekend - writing meeting, potential plans with That Man, sleeping in...

I might be back tomorrow night for Feel Good Friday.

Behave!

March...

Wow.

It's hard to believe we just started month three of 2017!

I think I'm doing better than last year since there isn't a hint of Christmas still out - just some snowmen that are sad they didn't get to see more of the stuff they're made of fall from the sky... Ha! They'll go away by the end of the month and dream of much snow and cold weather to make them feel alive again.

I got to see a preview of my new book cover and I adore it! I'll share as soon as I'm able. I'm really excited for this book! It'll tentatively hit as an e-book in June, and then the paperback will follow 9-12 months later.

Working on something to submit now so I hopefully won't have a great deal of time between releases, but we'll see how that goes. I can only control my part of it. Also, finishing up the short that's going to be a part of a free anthology with four other authors. Exciting stuff. I'm about a third of the way through a final round of edits, and then will do a read through before sending it off to be critiqued. Not sure on a release date or anything at this point, but will let you know when I do!

Also, look for some guest authors here coming soon. I think I have four or five scheduled over the coming months.

What else? I'm tired. The day job is brain draining. An illness is running through the office again. I've been lucky and hope I stay that way, but we've had at least two or three people out every day this week so far. It's Wednesday though, so that's a very good thing.

That's about it for now... My pillow is calling to me...

Behave!

Tuesday... Again

It seems like it's always either Tuesday or Thursday around the old blog... Weird.

So, the weekend was pretty good. That Man and I had date night on Friday night, which was nice. Out for dinner and then back home to hang out by the fire and talk. Very good stuff.

Saturday, I tackled the pantry in between hanging with Mr. B and running back and forth into the city. It took all day to get it done and I still had a few things to do on Sunday. K4 had a school thing and since parking is an issue, I took her. I was on my way to pick her up when she called and said she had a ride home with her bestie, so I turned around and went home. Then, about forty minutes later, I got a call that the bestie's battery was dead and could I come and help them. Ran back into the city with my trusty jumper cables, had to pay for an hours worth of parking for being inside the lot for four minutes... What are you going to do?

Headed out to see the band. We had a really great time. Got to see a lot of folks we haven't seen in a long time and awesome music. Home late and slept in on Sunday - for a little bit. Then the usual Sunday craziness, with some extra thrown in.

Monday was Monday. Dumb, but K3 made a great dinner.

Today - Tuesdsay. Blah. Good food again, though. Got some stuff done.

Working on a story...

Now it's bedtime.

Behave!

Thursday Random

The temps were in the 70's today and are supposed to be the same tomorrow. Yay! But we all know winter will come back soon enough! Which is actually fine by me. I would love some major snow!! And I mean MAJOR snow - like a few feet or more!
I don't care if you think I'm weird for that! I love nothing more than being "stuck" in my house - writing, watching Lord of the Rings, playing Grand Theft Auto with my kids (in death mode), writing, cooking, napping - and SNOW! And yeah, I don't even mind shoveling... (too much) This is why I think moving to Alaska would be cool, but I do know that I would get sick of it after a long while. (a really long while)
But, I did love having the windows down and running around in no shoes... I don't know what that means when you match it up to wanting to be snowed in... Hmmm...
Anyway...
It's Thursday!
Friday is in a few hours and that's a very good thing. Just gotta get through the day job hours to get to the relaxation of the weekend.
The weekend is a little bit crazy with some fun stuff thrown in. Looking forward to it. I get to see both of my sisters at the same time (and hopefully my brother) and hear my brother-in-laws band, and sleep in. Can't ask for much more than that. (we're not talking about the laundry I have to do, or the pantry and linen closet clean out that must happen)
That is all for now... My pillow is calling to me...
Behave!

Tuesday... Oy!

What a long and laborious day!

We started early with a butt-crack-of-dawn orthodontist appointment for K4. Good news is that the teeth that were stuck are coming down. Yay! Average news is that we have to continue the every three week appointments for a while yet... But progress is good. Stopped at the convenience store for breakfast for her, which is our routine since she can't eat before. Got her to school and then to the day job...

Brain bleeding chaos. That's all I can say... I think my brain is still hemorrhaging from the craziness of the workload...

Home to the kid cooking a delicious dinner (and cleaning up) (nice!), laundry, usual Tuesday night chores (trash, etc). Family meeting night - thankfully a quick one.

Finished the edits on my short! YAY!! (one more round until it's ready) Started the critique! Also Yay! Took care of retreat stuff and emails... Time to relax now...

Tomorrow is same day job stuff. In the evening, we're running over to see K2 quickly, so Mr. B can give Baby C some of the toys he wants to pass along. Little Baby Turtle is getting big and will come in about 16 weeks. Yay!

Still a lot of chaos here on the homefront, but we're getting there. I'm practicing the utmost patience and "chill". I know it's going to be okay and work out.

That is all...

Behave!

Monday...

Well... The weekend happened.

It wasn't as organized as I would have liked it to be, and we didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but we did make progress.

K4's friend's play was excellent. We had dinner afterwards, which was also excellent. Then home and between whatever allergy-type/sinus thing I was dealing with all day and the chaos from the weekend, I completely crashed around 8pm and slept straight through until around 7am this morning. That was nice, but I'm still so tired. (day job = brain drain)

Didn't get as much editing done as I'd wanted over the weekend, but I am making progress. Thinking about what I want to do next after critiques and polishing.

The weather is gorgeous right now and is supposed to be all week. Not nice enough to take the top off of the Jeep, but still awesome to go without a coat and not freeze my rear off. I know the cold is going to come back, and when it does, it better bring some snow - just saying...

Not sure how the week is going to go yet... We'll see...

Behave!

Almost the Weekend...

I'm ready.

Though this weekend is going to be crazy. We have a million things to do, including going to see K4's best friend's play. And all of the regular stuff needs to be taken care of, too.

So that's what I'm doing... Organizing myself for the weekend. The grocery list is shaping up. I've gotten a bit of a start on the laundry, and the cleaning... But I still need to check coupons and pay bills. Oy! Not going to happen tonight.

I did get a good chunk of editing done tonight. Almost there. Then, I will critique for a friend, and after that, do another pass of the short before I figure out what I'm doing next. I have edits coming at some point, but also retreat, too!

That's all for now!

Behave!

Monday Madness...

Oy Monday... How I seriously do not like you...

They did a big switcheroo of territories and sales reps at the day job. It's kind of good because I got my old territory back, but bad because I lost two really great reps and we worked really well together. And re-learning my old territory after a year away is rough. And bound to be rougher. It was a crazy day!

No really having to cook tonight was nice. And from the looks of it, I won't really have to cook tomorrow night either.

Oh and to back up to yesterday - the house meeting never happened because the baby shower had me running later than expected. Laundry only kind of happened. The baby shower was okay (I usually hate baby showers). I got to catch up with friends, won a prize, had some good food, and an amazing chocolate cheesecake cupcake. And the mom to be is so adorable with her ginormous twin-filled belly. The mom is K2's best childhood friend. This now woman grew up in my house. I distinctly remember her running home in tears one day when K3 and S were babies and in their bouncers in the living room and one of them pooped, but with the motion of the bouncer... well... it was kind of explosive. I called her mom to let her know she'd be running in the back door and we laughed our butts off. So weird how they grow up! ha!

Now I'm back to the edits... I am making fantastic progress and am pleased at how things are going even though I have a "little" bit to do...

Behave!

Post Book Signing Happiness...

It was an awesome day!

Got to sleep in a little. Coffee with That Man. Ready, and off to the signing.

It was a gorgeous day! The temperatures rose to a nice enough temp that I wasn't shivering like Pennsylvania is Alaska! Also, I hope none of the neighbors were watching, but I cleared the snow from the back porch with the scraper that's supposed to be in the Jeep... Ha!

Got to the farm and garden store - place is awesome! I love the way it smells and all of the cool stuff they have. I could spend a million bucks in there... easy. Set up my stuff, then off to get swag for the giveaway baskets. (and an amazing BLT for lunch)

The signing started and one of my oldest besties shows up! It was awesome to see her and get to spend a few minutes talking! It was also great to see so many of my writing friends. Some of them I hadn't seen in a really long time.

I sold some books! Talked to some great readers! Had a blast with my fellow authors! It was amazing! K4 came to hang out with me and did some social media posting for me. Even though she ended up taking over 500 pictures on my phone, it was fun! :)

After the signing, we went to dinner at the awesome place next door to the greenhouse. Good food, good friends, and Mr. B made $4! lol.

It was a very good day!

Now home and working on edits! But... so tired... Being "on" for so long is draining!

Tomorrow is laundry, baby shower, house meeting... Then back to the day job on Monday.... (enjoy the moment... enjoy the moment... lol)

Behave!

Snow Day...

Well, not for me. I did get an hour and a half delay this morning, which meant I got to sleep in a little. That was nice, but totally necessary since I barely slept last night.

Happy for snow though! It was so pretty.

The kid had off school, which she loved. She shoveled and slept. Lucky.

And... it's supposed to be in the fifties this weekend, so the snow will be gone.

Anyway...

It's been a crazy week. Again. The day job is nutso. Enough that I was approved for overtime (which got eaten up by the delay, of course - that's my luck).

But Yay for Friday tomorrow!

The book-signing is Saturday. I'm looking forward to it! And to our usual dinner out afterward. We'll have Mr. B with us, too. Sunday I have a baby shower for one of my best friend's daughter. She and K2 were the best of friends from the time they were four through high school. She's having twin boys.

And that is all for now... I hope to be back with Feel Good Friday tomorrow, but no promises!

Behave!

Missing...

I've been missing my momma a lot lately.
Thinking about her and the things we used to talk about and do together. I even drove by the house on my way home tonight. I don't know why. I just felt like I needed to. It looks the same as it did when we sold it.
This morning I even reached for my phone to call her like I always did in the morning.
In a few months, it will be two years since she left.
Maybe it's the timing. Maybe it's just wishing I could talk to her about all of the stuff going on around here. A lot of it is, I think, the fact that the book signing I do every February is coming up, and she always went along with me and hung out with me throughout the whole day - sitting with me and talking up my books to passerby's. It makes me miss her even more.
This time last year, we were waist deep in getting the house ready to sell. We were tired - physically, emotionally, and ready to get back to our own homes and lives, but we still had each other every weekend to talk to and cry with. It sounds weird because while I am happy to not have that constant commitment, I miss it in a lot of ways.
I don't know. I guess it is what it is and that's okay.
Behave...

Catching Up

I had a post started on Saturday, but I was trying to do it on my phone, and it wouldn't format and then it disappeared... Huh...

So here's the wrap up...
Lived through last week. (this week is looking the same, except, so far, no technical issues at the day job) And had date night with That Man. We were both exhausted and couldn't decide where to go to eat, but we had a good time hanging out and talking. I was asleep by 9pm though.
Had a blast with K5 on Saturday. We had to go to a birthday party and crazy stuff like that, but it was a good day.
Sunday - cooked dinner for my niece and her husband. He just had surgery. Made stuffed shells, apple bake, and garlic bread. Cleaned my house (kind of), and oh hey! The Christmas decorations are put away and organized! Yay!

Monday was a very long day at the day job. I was asleep before 9.

Today wasn't much calmer at the day job, but I'm still moving, so that's something. Though once I get the laundry out of the dryer and work on some edits, I'll be heading to bed.

My original post was better, but...

Behave!

Thursday Nonsense...

1. The people that live in this house with me are nutty, as are the family members that visit. That's not really news after all of the years I've done this blog, but sometimes I need to remind you. For example, I came home to crazy music, a grandson running around with no shirt on (yes, it's winter), toys all over the living room floor, and a whole ton of chaos.

2. K1 cooked us dinner tonight. He made fried chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, grilled brussel sprouts, and he even made his own butter. It was very, very good and was a nice surprise. That Man and I cleaned up the millions of bowls and pans he used, but that's okay. It was worth it.

3. Work was another interesting day. When I got in, all I could do was clock in. The phones, Internet...everything was down. For three hours, I scanned nonsense paperwork (boring) to help the accounting department. *snore* Did have some good conversations with co-workers, and the laid back atmosphere was nice. Then, the system came back up and I realized how backlogged I am... Yeah, a day like that.

4. I've touched my editing every single night this week. That's a good feeling. I'm getting there.

5. This weather is weird! This morning was warm enough to go without a coat, by lunch, I was freezing my butt off and trying not to blow away in the wind. It's still windy and cold and I want to know where the snow is...

6. We worked on the basement tonight. Managed to get a decent amount done in the time we'd allotted. Neither of us wanted to do it, and we both had other things to do, so we agreed to work like hell for a certain amount of time and we nailed it. We still have a lot to do, including getting the Christmas stuff down there. Technically we could put them down there now, but we might as well get the whole tiny room done before we do that. We call it the "body room". It's probably six feet wide and fourteen feet long with shelves on one side and a door - probably the old root cellar. We primarily use it to store the decorations and kitchen stuff we only use every once in a while. In recent times, well... It's time to clean up....

7. Date night with That Man tomorrow night. I hope. We've tried to do date night every weekend for the past three weeks and have failed miserably. Hopefully we can make it work tomorrow night.

That is all for now...

Behave.

Mid-Way Through the Week...

Hey! Look at that! I managed to get here two days in a row!

I don't have a lot to say....

It was nice to see the sun today! Very nice! The temperatures were decent, but it wouldn't have mattered because that sun was just awesome! I definitely think it makes a difference in everyone's moods.

I made good progress on my editing last night! I have one more critique to get through and then a general clean up and fix up to take care of, but I'm making progress!

Also, I have a little over two weeks until the annual book signing at our local nursery. This will be our fourth year (I think) and it's always a great time! It's fun during the signing and after, too.

That's about it for now. Be impressed with me that I made it here two days in a row, even if I didn't have much to say today! Ha!

Behave!

Tired Tuesday

Ugh, I'm tired.

Getting ready to head up to bed in a few minutes - once I take care of a few things.

I worked ten hours at the day job today. Not overtime - making up time. We had a power outage yesterday and had over three hours without work. I came home and took a little nap, and then went back in when the power came back on - staying until almost seven (until someone called in to say the roads were getting slippery). I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any time, so was more than willing to go in early/stay late to make up the difference. Heck, I wish it was overtime, but alas....

Helped K4 with an essay. (She says Hi, by the way) It was an exercise in hilarity because we were both working in the same google doc. Every time she went off the doc to fix music or whatever, I would type something completely ridiculous in the essay, and she would do the same when I took my attention away. It had us both laughing hysterically, which was worth it. She's finishing a section on Poe, which has been a groan-worthy section for her (and me, since she's needed help quite a bit).

This week is moving slow for me. Maybe it's just being so tired...

Now I'm off to edit a bit before I hang it up for the night.

Behave.

Weekend Wrap Up

Nine-thousand bags of trash, the equivalent to fifty-two cases of water bottles, a million loads of laundry...
Yeah...
It was bedroom cleaning with the kid weekend...
I exaggerate quite a bit on the volume, but it was a long day. (There were a lot of empty water bottles, though)
We even cleaned out the closet that hasn't been opened in a really long time. (She has two closets in her room - one is huge and has traditionally been used as storage for seasonal clothing or to store clothes waiting for kids to grow into them.) Now she has taken over this closet (except for the shelves which is stuff stored for a yard sale or donation run), and it's really nice for her since her room isn't too big.
We rearranged, fixed some furniture, vacuumed the carpet within an inch of its life, and made many trips up and down the stairs with trash, laundry, and the like... But it looks awesome and she is so happy with how it turned out. Up next is new paint and flooring, but that's a summer project and she still has to decide what color she wants.
Anyway...
I managed to get the Christmas dishes out of the hutch and stored, but the other decorations are still in the living room. Argh. But the shelving needs fixed in the basement, and That Man had to rescue K3 today. First with overfilling his car with oil. He had to take That Man's car to work and left the lights on... so dead battery. Poor kid has had a rough weekend...
Now I'm still doing laundry and editing...
And it's Sunday, which means work tomorrow. Ugh.
Behave!

It Must Be a Wednesday Thing...

Wednesday seems to be the only day I post and I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's a quieter night around here?
This week has been hectic. Somehow it's already Wednesday!
K4's school performance is coming up and we've been running around trying to get stuff ready for that.
I've been working on editing a short, which is going okay. I have several critiques to get through with it, and some rewriting to do on it, but I'm getting there. Baby steps right now...
I'm also taking an editing class, though I haven't participated yet. It's not a requirement, but the lessons are worthy - which is all that matters.
The Christmas tree finally came down - or at least the ornaments and lights came off and got stored in their box. The tree itself is still on the front porch and the decorations are still in my living room, but that's only because That Man has to fix the shelving the stuff goes on since everything broke. That's one of his weekend projects...
That's all for now... I have food cooking for lunches, laundry going, dishes to do, editing to do, and a headache the size of Texas...
Behave!

January is Slipping Away...

Literally and figuratively...

Today was an ice delay for both the kid and I. She was delayed two hours and I was delayed an hour, which meshed our schedules pretty well. The extra sleep was nice, too. Making up the time at the day job, however, is not that much fun. The roads weren't too bad by the time I left, except for a few slippery spots.

It's been hectic and chaotic around here and not in a great way. A lot of worry and weird happenings. Not stuff I can really talk about on here, despite how much I want to...so... I'll just say I'm very proud of the way the family has come together in support.

Let's focus on the good stuff...

1. Mr. B turned four yesterday. We went over to his house to give him some presents and spoil him - which is our grandparent rights. Ha! Plus, the bonus is that the huge noisy helicopter his Pappy found for him stays at his house. Ha!

2. Did I mention we're going to be grandparents again? This summer K2 and J are expecting number two. Gender to be revealed in a few weeks...

3. Gearing up for the February book signing! It will be my first time at this signing with actual books and I'm excited for that!

4. Getting to hang out with friends for birthday celebrations. Ping pong was the best with my nieces and sister and a friend. We had a really good time.

5. Talking to my uncle on his birthday. He cracks me up a lot. Hopefully we'll get to hang out with them soon!

That's all I have right now... It's Wednesday. It's raining. I'm tired. I need to write now...

Behave!

BTW - K4 says hi...

2016 in Review!

I sucked at blogging in 2016... Hopefully 2017 is better that way!

January:
36" of snow. A houseful of company riding out the weather. One long post....

February:
Braces, learner's permit, writing, dental work for me, working at the 'rents, book signing event, hanging with my sibs.

March:
Promotion at the day job, retreat countdown, gearing up for the coming months.

April:
More cleaning of the 'rents house, birthday with my kids, taxes

May:
Retreat!! Books in print! Camping, doctor for the dog, Grief.

June:
One post - random

July:
No posts...

August:
K4 passing her driving test, selling my Suburban, School begins again, book signings.

September:
Dead dryer, me sick as a dog, prepping for the beach

October:
The Beach! Selling the 'rents house. Birthdays. Random

November:
Random. Thanksgiving - fun with my sister-in-law!

December:
Random. Christmas chaos. Glad 2016 is behind us.

That was quick. Hopefully 2017 is a much better year the whole way around!

Behave!

Happy New Year!

Sorry I've been MIA around here. I did start two posts, but ended up losing them to my own stupidity...

Well here we are in 2017!

2016 sucked in a lot of ways. (I'll do my year in review post soon) But there was also some good stuff.

Let's focus on the good...

1. We have a new grandbaby on the way!
2. All of our awesome grandkids! They are the best.
3. Finishing our parent's house and selling it.
4. Awesome friends and awesome siblings.
5. Getting a promotion at the day job.
6. The beach!
7. Writing. Selling a book. Great booksignings.
8. Retreat!
9. That Man and Those Kids.
10. Ringing in the new year with great people!

That's all for now. Our pizza will be here in a minute.

Behave!

We're Getting There...

There's the tree! It's the fattest one we've ever had! When we took the string off, it had a total Christmas Vacation moment and actually make a "spoing" sound as it busted out of its bindings.
We had Mr. B, J, K4's bff, and That Man and I on tree decorating duty. K1 and K3 bailed on us to go play some game or something. K3 has ornaments to put on when he gets home - you're not allowed to not put ornaments on the tree if you live inside of this house - house rules. Queue up some Vince Guaraldi Trio from Charlie Brown, some eggnog (no spike - boo), and a whole lot of fun and that was our night. We had some light issues. You can't see that part. And yes, we do have bush lights on our tree.
That's because two years ago, we sent the teenagers to the store to get more lights for the tree. They bought bush lights on accident. Instead of sending them back out, we just went with it... And, believe it or not, they actually work really, really well. There's no wrapping the lights around the tree, just stretch them out and drape them over and... viola! Of course, after adjusting the tree to cover the dead light sections, we found a brand new bag of bush lights someone gave us last Christmas as a joke gift. Too late, but I'll make sure to put them on top of the bin for next year.
Many of these ornaments came from my parent's house. Remember when most of our stuff ended up ruined last year due to a freakish leak that filled my decoration bin with mold? Yeah. You can see the many decorations on there - and we split their decorations between the five of us. I guess fifty years of marriage accumulates that kind of stuff, though they did pass down stuff to each of us as we moved out, just as I've done for our kids. We did replace a lot of them last year though, so not everything came from there.
You can't see the button garland in this pic. The button garland is this hideous string of buttons and bling that my mom received from a friend the Christmas before she died. She used it on her Ugly Sweater for our party that year, and won, and then she left it here. She disliked it immensely. I put it on a tree as a whimsical reminder of her. She laughed at me for doing that, and then I found more in her basement... I think she'd appreciate it!
It was rough though - pulling out these ornaments from my childhood, or ones that I knew Mom really adored. My folks would have been here tonight - helping and watching the chaos. I don't think they missed many of our tree decorating nights. They enjoyed hanging out, but I'm sure they enjoyed going home to their quiet house even more. Ha! Especially when all four where home and younger.
I don't know if missing them gets easier or just different. Time makes things different, but you never stop missing them like crazy. You just miss them differently.
Anyway... We're getting there with the Christmas stuff.
Still have ALL of the shopping to do, but I have a list and it will get done.
That's all for now!
Behave!

Catch Up!

Since my test post seemed to work, let's try this again... mhm?

Well, heck, we're about two weeks away from Christmas. Or let's say, in two weeks, I should expect to be ready and done with all of the stuff I haven't even started. That's right. I haven't even started.

The piano is decorated. The Christmas dishes are in the hutch, but only because I never took them out after last Christmas. Convenient? It is now. The front porch is sporting Santa, the snowman, and Christmas flowers. Oh, and my kitchen stools are covered in festive fabric. But that's where it ends.

We should be getting our tree tomorrow. Today is crazy starting a little after noon. Unfortunately, we have a funeral and then a party-thing. Next weekend is my work shindig - which should be fun. And then that's it. I'm sure you're well aware of the time press we're looking at.

So what else has been going on? The usual, I'd say. Working the Day Job, kid having the flu and multiple migraines, dealing with estate stuff, and some social stuff. Not much writing going on, but I'm about to remedy that here in a few.

That's all for now. We'll see if this post stays...

Behave!

Where Have All of the Posts Gone?

I've been posting on here! I swear! I don't know what's happening to my posts! So... this is a test...

Stand By...

Behave!

Post Thanksgiving Wrap Up

I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving, no matter how you celebrate!

We had a fantastic time with That Man's sister and the rest of the family! We went Wednesday to help get stuff ready, and laughed, cooked, and generally goofed off and were silly. Our air mattress deflated overnight, but that was okay - we were all in bed early and up early to get a turkey in the roaster and one in the smoker. The food was amazing and so was the company. We got home still stuffed and exhausted - and three of us had to work on Friday, all early. Needless to say we were in bed before nine! Ha!

Made it through my second Friday of the week! We were all sick of cooking, so pizza came to our door. We relaxed with a movie, and were, again, in bed insanely early. Which was fine. Our very good friends, who are/were also our neighbors and have been for around twenty years (and are traitors) are moving away. They bought a sweet house about a half-hour away, so we went out to help them get stuff done. The new house is super awesome and That Man has garage/pole barn envy. The guys built a floor in the garage attic and us ladies put together pain-in-the-butt stools for the kitchen. It was nice to hang with them! After that, home, dinner, blah blah blah...

Oh yes, I did write every night!

Today has been catch up... Bill paying, grocery shopping, dreaded laundry (last load in the dryer), and made leftover turkey with waffles and a weird gravy (that was actually pretty tasty) for dinner. Now I'm writing (already met my word count) and we're folding the laundry, relaxing, and getting ready for yet another early bedtime. Day job tomorrow... what can I say?

That's all I can report...
Behave!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

I hope you have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving - no matter how you celebrate.

The loved ones you're missing are in your heart and always will be. Let their memories fill you with joy.

I hope your day is drama free, full of delicious food, and awesome company.

Behave!

Two Fridays!

I get two Fridays this week!

Today and actually Friday!

I took off tomorrow - spur of the moment decision, but rooted in real need. I have so much to do to get ready for Thursday - weird considering I'm not hosting Thanksgiving, but definitely needed! I'm not sure I actually have the time to take off, but I'll worry about that later. My boss told me to go for it and I did. It was approved, so there is that.

I'll be up late tonight. I have two pies in the oven and a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake waiting to go. I think the pies have at least twenty minutes in the oven and then the cheesecake has seventy-two minutes... Yeah, I could have baked tomorrow, but I have a million other things to do, so it's best this way. Plus, I can sleep in tomorrow before I have to make two kinds of fudge - wait - help K4 make two kinds of fudge, do laundry, gather things, shopping, writing, organize stuff, etc, etc.... (Did you see sleeping in? Yeah, that! Awesome!)

We had company for dinner. K1 and J came over. Mr. B helped me make the pumpkin pie filling. He wanted to help with the rest of the pumpkin pie and the cheesecake, but his daddy has to work early tomorrow. He was a little upset when they left because Nana wasn't ready to make the cheesecake yet (after he told me the pumpkin pies would be gross when I put the eggs in) - said he was "walking home" - which cracked us all up, but he did come around and give hugs. He's so funny and he always wants to help me in the kitchen. I don't mind at all, in fact, I love it - even when he puts three times as much pepper in something. When he stays over, we always make pancakes and "cookie" sausage. (round sausage - for some reason he calls it that). Cute. He's a joy and I'm so happy he's my boy.

***

Now it's later...

In the meantime - K3 came home after picking up one of his best friends from college and then going to see a movie he absolutely loved...
We spent some time looking at movie trailers and talking about everything. That was awesome and really nice!

The pumpkin pies are out (and look amazing) and the cheesecake is taking forever to bake... We're now twenty minutes longer than estimated, and it still shows no signs of being done! Yikes! But when I stick the knife in to test it and then taste what's on the knife, I am pleased... I love this cheesecake, but it forever thwarts me when I make it...

I have at least twenty minutes on my timer and it's already midnight! Yikes!

It's all good though... I do get to sleep in, and now that the majority of my baking is done, I should get to take it easier tomorrow. I do need the relaxed day - more than I can say or explain.

That is all for now!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Ah... The end of the work week... Thank goodness!

This has been a crazy one, despite the day job not being as busy as usual... (Umm.. that's what they're saying, but I'm definitely not seeing it. Go figure!) Plus, the flu has visited within our walls. People are dropping like crazy - but we lost three today alone. Not cool, considering we're all touching the same things and working together on stuff... To say I'm a little worried would be an understatement. Plus, it's going around K4's school. She actually had it earlier in the week, though it was mild. When I called in to let them know she was puking, the receptionist said they were losing at least a half-dozen kids a day to the flu.

But... I'll keep my fingers crossed, though I'm definitely not feeling my best at the moment. I barely ate dinner, though I didn't really eat lunch either. That Man is feeling similarly...

Here's my feel good list:

1. Making it through... See above...

2. My bed. It was my friend all week, and will be my bestie when I get to stay in it for an extended amount of time tomorrow. Yay for sleeping in!

3. Weekend plans - light, but busy!

4. Getting closer to wrapping up the estate.

5. Thanksgiving plans. Yeah, I keep saying that.

6. Keeping the words on the page! Yay!

7. The possibility (?) of snow on Sunday! Yay for snow!

8. Getting "likes" on my author page!

9. The stuff I am cooking this weekend!

10. Uhhh...I think I need to go to that awesome bed I mentioned... My poor belly is not happy right now...

Behave!

Gearing Up...

It's that time of year again...
Thanksgiving is in a little less than two weeks.
Then we start the Christmas craziness.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.
December is going to start with a bang. I have two parties the first weekend, one that requires me to do a lot of preparations, in addition to prepping for the party during the day. Oy. Don't know why I did that to myself. Wait. Yes, I do. I had to fit it into everyone's schedule. The following weekend, we are hopefully hitting the road for our thirtieth anniversary, but that will depend on a few things we need to figure out first. Then it's my work Christmas party, which is always a blast.
Then the day.
It's going to fly by.
I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for all that needs to be accomplished and scheduled. Luckily, I  never put my Christmas dishes away last year. They are still in my hutch. (yeah, I know. Lame, but it is what it is. At least they were safe!) I did bring home some decorations from my folks, but I'm still sorely light on tree swag. I don't know how crazy I'll get with the rest of the decorating. We'll see. Time will play a huge factor in that.
Neither of my kids still at home want much. K4 said she didn't really have a list. That's scary and good at the same time. Of course, she'll be 17 on Christmas, so there's that.
I'm getting old, people.
I'll do Christmas Eve. I'd been asking Mom to let me take it on since it was becoming too much for her in the previous years. She wasn't ready to give it up because she loved it so, but now it's mine by default. I'm not sure if my brother is going to make our traditional soup or not - haven't talked to him about it yet. It's a few hours of utter chaos, but still good. Luckily, the holiday falls over the weekend this year, which should give me plenty of prep time. Not like last year when it was Friday and I had to work a full day.
Hmm... Now my head is full of holiday stuff.
I'm out. Going to Lady Jane's Salon to hear one of my cohorts read and I have an hour until my ride gets here and I need to shower and dress. I'm a little nervous about going since I've never been. I've been so out of the writing world loop for so long... I'm pushing back in though, and that has to count for something. Right?
Behave!

Here's Some Fluffy Nonsense...

We all need fluffy nonsense right now... We just do... Don't believe me?

Sign into Facebook and see all of the terrible ways people are talking to each other and the terrible things they're saying and doing (across the board - there is no target here. I don't care about your politics. I just care about you!). Hopefully things calm down shortly and we can go back to seeing what people are eating for dinner, cute puppies and kittens, otters, and way more videos of our military coming home to surprise their families (those always make me cry and make me feel good).

Here's the fluff!

Cute Horse!

Cute Cow

Cute Gnome!

Cute Dangerous T-Rex!

Not cute Alligators! Not cute!

Cute Puppy! Aww! He should have been mine!

My adorable puppy when she was a tiny baby! Aww!

Behave!

Did You Vote?

I don't care about your political affiliation. I don't care what you think about the candidates. Or the issues.
But, please, exercise your constitutional right and let your voice be heard.

We voted when I arrived home from the day job. I was a little sad that K3 went over to vote without me. It was his first time, and I was hoping to share that experience with him. He had a different agenda though and it is what it is.

So Facebook had this little check in thing about voting and I clicked it. And then my kid starting posting reactions to this show we were watching and it turned into a forty-five minute back and forth with over 100 comments. We were laughing so hard at each other's posts. I was stupid and I'm sure it annoyed people, but whatever.

Time to put the words on the page.

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up

Things are interesting and weird around here right now. 

Lots of stuff going on that I can't really talk about here. I'm not trying to be cryptic - just saying so you know that things aren't "normal". They haven't been for a while, but have gotten even worse and strange and it's not all one thing. Nothing in my house, but still greatly affecting us and our loved ones... And that's all I've got to say about that... 

So...

Since my last post...

Feel Good Friday was a trip to the grocery store, writing, and an early bed time. Awesome (except the grocery store). 

Saturday was my monthly writing group meeting. Always a Yay! We had our elections which means I'm officially off the board of directors for now (starting in January). I am, however, still in charge of our annual retreat, which I am very happy to be. (I want to keep it forever!) Our speaker was awesome and gave me much to think about. 

After that, we headed to my sister's for the Fall Birthday Bash. We got there super early and hung out. That was good and needed. I made the vegan chili and my sister made the "regular" chili, and everyone else brought food to share. A ton of people came - many I haven't seen in a long time, family, good friends, and many people I didn't know at all. We had a good time, but left early because we brought Mr. B home with us for the night. He had a blast playing with his friend and the dogs, and fell asleep not long after we left after telling us hysterical things in his exhaustion. 

Today was hanging with Mr. B, doing car stuff, house stuff, laundry, a little driving, talking to That Man's sister about Thanksgiving plans. Looking forward to that. We don't get to hang out with his sister and her husband often enough, but we have a great time with them every time we get together. We used to be with them all of the time, but life, kids, and jobs happened. 

Didn't have the writing day I'd planned as early as Thursday, but I will be getting words down here in a few, and spending time with Mr. B was very important. 

Off to Write! 

Behave! 

November...What?

So I've only posted 41 blogs this year - my lowest posting year yet (okay - so far - I might beat my other lowest year, but who knows?)
I do feel bad about that. Actually, I hate it. I love this blog and I hate not posting!

Halloween went well. Mr. B was adorable. We were pretty much out of candy, which is a first in a long time, but people were driving in for Trick or Treat... Hasn't happened in a long time. We had a house full, which was awesome. And we had a blast!

I am writing. I've missed very few days in the 50/50 challenge. New story is coming along nicely. I dig it. It's a little different, but it's good.

It's Wednesday. Almost through the week. Come on weekend. Writer's meeting. Fall Birthday Bash.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving, even though no turkey from the grocery store this year. How weird is that?

That's all for now...

Behave!

Mixed Bag...

We closed on my parent's house today.
I definitely have a mixed bunch of emotions going on right now.
I'm thrilled that our work days over there are done, but also a little sad because I got to see my siblings every weekend.
I'm also thrilled that the work of being an estate administrator is nearly done and that the estate is on it's way to closing.
It's hard to think about not going over there anymore though. My parent's lived there for over twenty years - so there are a lot of memories even though I didn't grow up in the house. My kids did, though. They've only known that house as Gram and Pop's. Christmas Eve's, New Year's, birthday parties, small dinners, big dinners, helping out with stuff, doing crafts together, working on cars, just hanging out... So yeah, I'm not quite sure how I feel at this moment... I have no more keys to open doors, no more need to head over and make sure everything is okay, no more checking the mail a few times a week. It's going to be a little weird, for sure.
It's a new grief - one I wasn't really expecting, but the finality of it is like a sharp knife into the wounds of losing both of my parents so close together and so quickly. It's like an end cap on the last two plus years. I lost more in those two plus years than I even thought possible. Some I'll get back, some I won't, but it feels weird.
I'll figure it out.
Met my sister's for lunch afterward, which was nice. Food was awesome, and we laughed a lot. Then to the post office to make sure that transfer happened. Now tonight is Trick or Treat night here. We'll see how that goes, but I get to see my Mr. B.
That's all for now!
Behave!

End of October....

Already?

So my baby boy turned 20 on Thursday! I feel old, even if I don't "feel" old! It's hard to believe that 20 years ago, we were doing trick or treat night and he was sleeping on me, That Man, or another family member all night. He was always the sweetest kid and still is. Funny, smart, and always full of spunk. He's turned into an amazing man, and is still funny, smart, and full of spunk. He makes me laugh, goes out of his way to help out, is super talented, and has so much potential. I'm very proud of him and excited to see what the future holds!

So I didn't do Feel Good Friday yesterday...
I'll do a really quick one now.
1. No cooking on Friday.
2. Sleeping in this morning
3. Living through the work week with multiple people off, so extra work load.
4. Sushi for lunch on Wednesday. Yummy.
5. Writing every night!

Five is enough since I'm a day late...

Yes, I slept in this morning. It was awesome. I went to bed at 10:30 last night (yes, I know. Lame for a Friday night...) and woke up at 9am. Had some coffee, paid the bills, cleaned up the basket of mail that's been piling up for a month, including the mail I've brought home from Mom's, did dishes, and then That Man came home and I made him go with me. We ran to the high school to see Misty and Barb at their book signing. It was a craft show and that place was crazy busy. They were doing well, which is awesome. Grocery store next, which is never a good idea when you're hungry. And I was starving. I'd eaten earlier, but messed around for so long before leaving that breakfast had worn off. Anyway, I saved $56.00 in coupons which is amazing, and didn't break the bank.

We came home, he changed a tire on K4's car with her help. K3 was home from work and stinking up the kitchen. Then we had to test drive the car to see if the problem had stopped, which meant running down the road for the ice we forgot at the store.

Made burgers and homemade mac and cheese for dinner. I'm still full and we ate hours ago... Ugh...
Tomorrow is our last day at Mom and Dad's before closing on Monday. I just want to be done. There was some drama that I'm assuming is okay with the second mortgage on the house. It better not mess up closing - everything is set. After closing, I'm meeting my sister's for lunch. Then it's trick or treat night here. I'm only working for a few hours on Monday - there's no way I'll be able to go back after closing. I was going to, but when I was talking it over with my boss I started choking up and I knew I wouldn't be able to. *shrugs* I'll get through it. It's like the last hurdle or something...

That's about it from here.

Behave!

Why I Need The Beach...

1. The Ocean
2. Sunrise
3. Sunset
4. No day job
5. Having my own bathroom
6. Fishing
7. Hot tub
8. No day job
9. Sand
10. No pressure.

Yeah... It's been like that around here.

We close on the 'rents house a week from today. I had to do some finagling to get the time off of work for the paperwork signing - mainly because I'm not returning to work afterwards. I get a little choked up just thinking about being wholly and completely done over there, and I know it's going to affect me greatly once everything is final. For now, I'm just working on getting through the work week, and then getting through the weekend when we go over to make sure everything is out of the house and cut the grass one final time.

This week is pretty busy, so that should help. K3 turns 20 on Thursday. How crazy is that?

I am writing and journaling, so that's something, at least.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to get over here more. Be patient with me. I am coming back though, and one day I hope to be as amusing as I once was...

Behave!

Holy Heck!

We're 3/4 of the way through October!
Sorry for the radio silence!
We went to the beach and it was amazing. Our house was awesome - perfect for our little group. The weather was mostly awesome, except for Hurricane Matthew threatening us. Luckily, we listened to the locals (and not the major weather people on the major channel) and had a full wealth of knowledge available to make our decision on whether or not we should bolt. Not bolting was the right thing to do. When we talked to the realty company, they advised to be off of the island by high tide - which was four hours after check out time, and we checked out about an hour early, so we were great.
It was an awesome week! Great food (really great). Great views. Great company. Not so great fishing, but that's okay. We didn't have a lot of good beach days - too windy and then rain, but we had a ton of fun hanging out at the house on the days we couldn't be at the beach. I read three books, journaled, hung out with my husband, sisters, kids - it was good. There was never a moment when I felt overwhelmed by dishes or laundry. Everyone kept up on the dishes and keeping the house neat - I swear that dishwasher ran 24/7. And we worked together on laundry - mainly because the stupid dryer took 3 hours to dry one load so we had to be on our toes and switch fast and pay attention. Our bedroom was awesome, heck, all of the bedrooms were awesome. We were right across the street from a cute little store/gas station - so close we could walk to it, which was sweet. Hell, the whole week was sweet. I wish I was still there. I want to go back now.
Actually, to tell the truth, I want to buy that beach house.
I found a cactus leaf on the beach on Friday. I decided to bring it home. I babied it the whole way home and then, sadly and suckily, forgot about it. I guess that was a good thing, because you're supposed to let them get "calloused" before you plant them. I'll be planting it tomorrow and then... eventually, I will transplant this cactus in front of our beach house when we buy it. :)
Oh... On the way home - as we were keeping just ahead of the rain, in Virginia - the water pump went out on the Jeep. What a pain. Our original ETA for home was 5pm. We arrived home at almost 11pm. Yeah, suck. But the guys were great getting it back together, even though they did so in the pouring down rain, and I'm talking bucket fulls of rain. It was crazy. We were all soaked!
We came home and had our Halloween parade, worked, worked, unpacked...
And now it's now...
Closing on the 'rents house soon. We'll be glad to have that behind us.
And I am writing! My sister suggested I try to journaling thing to free up my brain and I'll tell you, it's definitely working. I either journal before or after I write, but I've managed to hit word count for every single day of my group's writing challenge so far. That's progress like I've not had in over two years, so I'm good.
That is all for now.
I'll try to be better about blogging. I'm slowly putting the pieces back together, so bear with me.
Behave!