Weekend Wrap Up...

So Sunday is winding down...

I have taco soup on the stove and laundry in both machines...

Let's hit the highlights.

1. The college visit was amazing! We submitted the application as soon as we got home yesterday, so now all we need is the supporting paperwork - fafsa's (ugh), transcripts, essay... blah blah blah. She's in a good spot though. She'll work with her high school counselor on the essay and transcript stuff. I have until May 1st to do the fafsa's (ugh). At first, we were super overwhelmed - in a gym with at least 600 other people. Then, we went to the academic booths to check out her desired major and had to fight the crowd. She finally got to talk to one of the students, grabbed some information, then we went to the women in industry table.
This school is primarily male oriented due to the nature of the programs. The population of women on campus is about 10%. Spent some time talking to them - they do so much to make sure the women on campus are a unit and supported and we loved that a whole bunch.
Went to wait for the bus to take us to the shop for the major she's interested in. Drank a bunch of coffee. We decided it was taking too long, so we took the shuttle to our car and drove over. Had a tour from one of the instructors which was awesome, and then, we found one of the women in the program. We'd talked to her previously at the coffee station. She and K4 talked for at least a half hour while That Man and I checked out other parts of the shop.
It was awesome! She's definitely sure this is what she wants to do and where she wants to go to school. Everything about it was amazing. (Hence the application being submitted as soon as we got home) The only thing we're unsure of is if she'll live on campus or not. That will be decided later once we find out about scholarships and grants. It's only an hour away, but the few students she talked to that commute said it gets old fast, so she's considering her options.
We didn't do the food trucks. It was too cold and windy and we were excited to get to the shop to check it out.
After we left, we found a brew pub for lunch. Amazing, amazing food! We were so full and happy and decided this will be a place we'll frequent often while she's in school!

2. No sleeping in on Saturday, but sleeping in and naps today. That Man is currently taking one. I have taken two so far - one this morning when I got up earlier than I'd intended (though I was in bed before 10pm last night and actually slept all night, which is rare), and then one before lunch. Ha! Love it.

3. Watched the most recent Star Wars movie last night. I really liked it, though K3 absolutely didn't. (He went to the theater to see it. His opinion is probably one of the reasons it's taken us so long to watch it, but...) K4 didn't care to see it. Totally not her thing, but the rest of us really enjoyed it and spent a little time discussing what happens next and our opinions on this or that.

4. So my Suburban...
It was running so bad that I stopped driving it around Christmas. When I had to pull over three times on a hill to let traffic pass I knew it was done being a safe vehicle to drive. That Man had driven it to his mom's to finish cleaning out her apartment and said the same thing. Life happens and we haven't had a chance to address the issues. That Man started it right up today. We're definitely going to restore it. We just need to figure out what it needs. For so long That Man has wanted a project car. We were talking the other night and came to the realization that we actually already have a project car. It will go in for state inspection soon, so hopefully we'll be able to find out what's causing the issues and fix them.
I so want to be able to drive it to the beach again.

5. Helped K4 clean up her room. That wasn't super fun, but it kind of was, too. We had a chance to talk - about lots of things. I found many many of the missing socks. And many of my missing spoons.... LOL

That is all... Going to write now!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Oh, thank you, Friday! I love you so! Especially at 5pm when I clock out! Ha!

So here's the list:

1. Friends from far West coming home for a visit soon! Can't wait to see them. Face Time, Skype, and texts just don't cut it! We miss them a whole heck of a lot and are soo excited to see them! It's been over 3 years since we've seen them together. We saw him about two years ago when he had to come home for his dad's funeral, but we haven't seen her since right before they took off on their journey West.

2. Living through the work week! I was behind all week, but ended the week with the most closed cases in my category, which is awesome. I was busting tail all day and am almost caught up! I was super happy to see 5pm roll around though. Despite how busy I was, the day crawled by...

3. Picking up That Man from work and then a subsequent dinner out just the two of us. A beer. Gift card success and a quick trip to the grocery store for snacks and now we're chilling.

4. College tomorrow. We have our schedule and our plan. They will have food trucks, which is exciting. K4 is super excited. I am excited to see her excited. The snow seems to be a no go, which is good.

5. Plans to check out the college town after the visit. And have dinner. Nice.

6. Not much writing this week, but enough to still make me feel goal oriented. That's something. And sometimes, that's enough.

7. Mini Writing Retreat on the horizon. The big, super cool, retreat is not happening this year and that makes me super sad, so I'll take this mini one (especially since I'm planning it). I will forever mourn the big writing retreat though...

That is all... Hopefully an update after College tomorrow, but we'll see...

Behave!

Almost the End of the Week...

Thank goodness...

I've been to more work meetings this week than I've been to in the last six months! To say I'm behind in my regular work would be an understatement. Oy! But the meetings were good and productive, so there's that. I got to go to dinner with the big bosses and new sales rep last night which was actually pretty fun. And I get to go on the road with my new rep to meet with key accounts for a few days soon, which is super exciting and also super necessary. I'm looking forward to it a lot. My new rep is awesome and I think she's going to do a great job. We're already working together quite well, though we've "known" (emails and phone calls) each other for a few years now when she worked for someone else. And I just had my four year anniversary at the day job, which is also kind of surreal.

So yeah, the writing time has been pretty compromised this week. I have gotten some words on the page and done some other things, so that's at least something. And here I am again, hiding away in my bedroom (again, watching Dead Pool... Ha!), doing my thing. The writing documents are open and as soon as I finish this, and my other task, the writing will commence, so there's that!

This Saturday is a college visit with K4, which means I have to miss my monthly writing meeting. I'm super bummed, but this must be done, so... It's supposed to snow 4-10" inches on Saturday, too,  though. How strange is that? We're playing it by ear at this point. We should be able to get there, but might have to come home earlier than intended. We'll see. I'm just excited that we're at this stage.

Other than that. Talked to my aunt earlier. We're planning on a visit to the mid-west this summer and she wanted to firm up dates a little. She cracks me up and it was a great conversation. We're really looking forward to the trip - just have to work out the details with the family, which is not as hard as it seems. I think.

And that's it!

Tomorrow is Friday. Yay!

Behave!

Tuesday Yammering....

Cause that's what I do...

Did sleep in this morning, but not as long as I'd hoped. I set my alarm and everything, but alas, since we went to bed so early last night, I had (believe it or not) slept as much as I could and was up an hour earlier than I wanted to be. (though by noon I was wishing for a nap). Took a shower. Made some phone calls I've been needing to make, which ended up in our local taxes finally getting filed (we won't talk about the other ones yet). Registered for college visitation on Saturday.

Ortho appointment was good but soo long. Work day was okay. Met my new sales rep and worked with her a little on the territory. More of that to come tomorrow and as she trains.

That Man made dinner - fish tacos. Nice! Did some laundry. Watched the B-man for a little and then escaped to get some work done while watching Deadpool. (I know... my life is so exciting)

That is all.

Behave!

Monday Madness...

What a day!

Day Job = OY! Long.

Tomorrow will be crazy. New people and training I must be there for. I have to go in late since K4 has an ortho appointment in the late morning and we're down to two cars between the three of us. But YAY! I get to sleep in about an hour longer! And then my day is shot in training.

Excited about the ortho appointment because the tooth has moved a whole lot!

Grabbed some fried chicken for dinner. I ate a tiny bit - not hungry - too much going on inside the head.

Doing some things I'm both excited and scared about.... Oy! Can't talk about it yet, but hopefully good things will come...

Yeah, we got that April Fool snow. My work actually delayed by about an hour and a half, which was awesome because I went back to bed after a night of not going to sleep until almost 2 am. I was so freaking tired last night. I went to bed at 8:30. How does a body that tired not go to sleep? And trust me, this old body was tired! I ran around from about 8am until about 4pm with no breaks...

We had a nice Easter at my sisters. We arrived late. But we had no choice. That Man and I had some semi-quality time together. Mr. B was funny with his Easter baskets. See above. We were home early...

I'm also having one of those days that whatever I say is wrong. I think I have the information and then someone tells me I'm wrong. I give my opinion and then someone negates me in a way that makes me want to cry. Not in my house, just everywhere else. Boo. And I'm totally willing to admit if I'm wrong.

It was just one of those days....

Behave!

Feel Good Friday, Easter, & All the Stuff...

I blogged over at the Soul Mate Publishing blog today... https://smpauthors.wordpress.com . Check it out if you're so inclined.

So That Man and K4 are finally on the mend. Still rough in spots - the cough and fatigue mainly. But yikes, what a terrible two weeks.

I missed blogging last night because my brain had passed away. From exhaustion, stress, an insane work week, and a whole bunch of things. We were in bed by nine.

Today we've been running around and getting prepped for tomorrow. Had to help That Man do some stuff a the religious establishment. Got to spend a good amount of time talking to a friend I don't get to see much, which was good. Then came home to start the food prep.

I made vegan shortbread for strawberry shortcake for my vegan babies, got the strawberries ready, made deviled eggs, burgers and sausages on the grill for dinner with awesome grilled veges - carrots, mushrooms, and baby brussel sprouts.

Now I'm doing laundry and writing.

Yes. My life is really that exciting. Don't hate.

Tomorrow will be a quiet day at my sister's. Half of the family are otherwise engaged and we'll miss them a whole lot, but that's okay. It just makes the times we are all together even better.

Then back to the day job on Monday... Joy.

I'm off to write!

Behave!

It's Never Going to Go Away....

K4 missed school again today. I had to pick her up and take her home at lunchtime yesterday. She still feels like death, though her color is better today and her symptoms are better. I am paying attention to all of the things. (Sorry. I'm a little defensive after my talk with the school nurse yesterday)

She will be going to school tomorrow. Then she has another four days off to start feeling human. Gah! I hope that happens.

That Man is still feeling crappy. His back is tweaked. He's still coughing. We ran around for a little bit tonight - long story - but he spent the whole time with a huge grimace on his face. He was in pain. I got him home as soon as I could and he's now sleeping, though he's guarding his back.

The flu is the devil. That's all.

Behave!

So This Plague...

Is a very real thing.

That Man and K4 are STILL struggling. K4 hasn't been to school in over a week. That Man is doing the job thing, but that's about all he manages. They are coughing and snotting and feeling like general Hell...

This weekend was spent managing symptoms and sleeping. And with me taking care of everyone. I cooked, cleaned up, washed sheets, blankets, delivered hydration and medicine. I did nap, which was awesome, but I didn't write much at all, which is not awesome.

We did get the bank stuff mostly situated - meaning, we got out "provisional" money back. Which is good because that meant I could go to the grocery store and get gas.

Anyway - It's been a week, so here's a quick update:

Wednesday: Snow day. That Man worked for a few hours, then came home and slept. K4 slept all day and then puked a bunch. I did write a little, napped, and did laundry and cooked. The snow was beautiful.

Thursday: Blah. That Man and I took a little time away from the house for talking. Came home and went to bed. Headache. That Man with the cough. K4 still sleeping.

Friday: Frozen pizza for dinner. To bed by 8pm on a Friday. Yeah, we're socially relevant around here.

Saturday: Sleeping in a bit. Coffee. Laundry. A bit of time out with my kid and That Man. Grocery store. In bed super early again only to be awakened by K4 and her sickness. Ugh and Oy.

Sunday: More sleeping. Laundry. Cleaning up. K3 came for dinner and we made epic vegan fajitas. Talking and laughing. To bed early and then of course, I could not sleep.

Monday: Long day at the day job. K4 still feeling like death. (Yes, we have been to and called the doctor. Many times. It has to run its course and we are doing all of the right things.)

So I've been kind of skimming the edge of this feeling bad thing - a lot of headaches and aches. We'll see, but if this is all I get, I will be grateful.

That is all for now...

Behave!

Still With the Plague...

And, so far, I am still unaffected... Yee haw!

That Man is still rough. He tried going to work today, but they kicked him out and he was home shortly after lunch. K4 was home again. She's still super rough. Fever, horrible cough, and miserable. If she's still feverish tomorrow, I'll have to call the doctor again. Hopefully this predicted snow really happens so she's gets a "free" day to rest and recover. K1 has fallen. He's currently moaning in between sleeping. Yay. My hands are rough and raw from all of the hand washing. Every surface of this house has been scrubbed repeatedly. Work people are afraid of me though I have no symptoms, except the headache - which comes and goes.

I'm watching the movie "Contagion", which is probably not the best choice given the state of my house, but still pretty interesting. Slow, but interesting. I play a game similar to this, so it's kind of cool to see it in movie form. Anyway.

So, it's snowing. We're supposed to get a lot. I think. I don't know. It's hard to know. Last time they called for a bunch, it was a ridiculous disappointment. So far, nothing in our area has closed or delayed yet.

The worst thing about today is that someone stole a crap ton of money from our bank account. I woke up and checked the bank like I do every morning and had a heart attack. I had checked it after my grocery store trip last night and everything was as it should be. Not so much this morning. My card was compromised. Big Time. Someone bought a very very expensive mattress and spent a super ridiculous amount of money at a cell phone store. I called the bank as soon as they opened. They closed my card right away. That Man stopped at the bank to start the fraud paperwork, but since it was my card and I'm the primary on the account, I had to leave work early to sign the forms. Then I had to go to the police station to file a report. The bank insisted since it was so much money. So it's a bunch of crap. The bank will investigate and I have to wait 7-10 days to get my money back. Ugh! And let me tell you, it's inconvenient as hell. I did get a new debit card, which is good, but actually kind of worthless, too.

I'm just angry as hell though. The police will investigate, too, but he said there is probably not much they can do unless we can figure out the cell phone charges and get a location so they can run the security footage. Still he was helpful and understanding. He waited for me outside of the station since the doors were locked. The bank said not to think to hard about how it happened or you'll wreck your brain. WTF is wrong with people that they think it's okay to do something like this? Asshats! I do love my bank though. They are so supportive and helpful. They assured me, many times, that everything is going to be okay and talked me through everything and let me rant a bit. But we're pretty screwed at the moment.

So... Happy Tuesday! Oy! This week is shaping up to be stellar! Ugh!

Behave!

The Plague of March

I'm think I'm going down...

My shoulders and hips ache. My head is killing me. My nose is burning.

I'm not down for the count yet though. But I am in my room on the bed. I've already said my goodnights and did my before bed stuff. I just need to put some words on the page before I call it.

That Man and K4 are still feeling crappy. K4 had a fever of over 102* earlier. That Man has one, too, but he won't let me take his temperature. There's coughing and snot and moaning.

I got up and started laundry. Went to the grocery store. Cleaned a bunch of stuff. Took a nap. Made a pretty danged decent dinner of shrimp and chicken alfredo. Did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

So if I'm really getting sick, I'm in a good position to do nothing. Laundry is all done. Groceries are purchased. House is in decent shape. Hey, shut it. If I have to be sick, then I'll feel better just knowing my chores are complete. Ha!

That is all.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

Well, it's Friday. That's a good thing.

This house has the flu though. Everyone but me. That Man is coughing up both lungs and possibly a kidney. He achy and has a fever. He's been on the couch and under a blanket (which is so, so unlike him) for hours. (It's hot in here. I'm normally the one under a blanket and I'm running around in a short-sleeve shirt and no shoes. There's your comparison) He only ate half of his dinner. K4 is also achy with a fever. Her symptoms are more sinus and head. She's been holed up in her room since before I got home - only emerging for food and medicine.

So far, I'm clear. Just exhausted. Though I just spent the last five minutes sneezing my brains out. But pray for me...

We've pretty much cancelled our plans for the weekend, though at this point That man and K4 are still at "let's play it by ear". Ha! I'm thinking I'm going to be playing nursemaid all weekend and that's that.

Anyway... Let's hit the good parts of the week...

1. Friday! Duh! What a long week!

2. Breakfast at work  - pancakes and french toast made by management. Corn flake french toast is awesome. Pizza provided by one of our sales reps.

3. Ordering in for dinner. I only ate half of mine (see #2), even though it was really good.

4. Weekend writing plans. If I'm going to be home with the sickness, there will be words on the page! (and sleeping in, and house cleaned, and laundry done and naps)

5. Watching television on the new bigness. It's pretty epic. And then having the old tv in our bedroom. Huge... Distracting. Epic though.

6. Texting with K3.

7. Texting with the bff - even if it's only for cancellation of plans. Her suggestion of Lysol enemas after I felt bad for my Lysol in the eyes comment was epic.

8. I'm trying to get to 10, but honestly. This week rated a 2 on the goodness scale. I got to 7, so I'm going to call that more positive than negative.

And that's what it's all about...

Behave.

Is It Only Thursday?

This week has been freaking brutal. I know I say that a lot, but I'm serious. Brutal. Painful. Exhausting. Ridiculous.

Lots of crazy stuff going on at work. I'm about 90% or more busier than I was this time last week. My phone is ringing non-stop and my stupid phone cord is so tangled I can't move, and then when I do move the bottom part of the cord pulls out and no one can hear me. That's getting fixed asap. Apparently, I'm getting a wireless headset, which will be awesome!

Exhaustion is the name of the game this week. I'm not sleeping well, if at all. Too much in my brain... We had to take pictures today for the boss's presentation and I just look pale and dead. A little photo shop and viola - I had a beard. The pic is awesome and I'll share it when I can.

But tomorrow is Friday. Yay! Our plan is to order in and watch a movie and then sleep in on Saturday. That Man is sick. He's running a fever and currently laying in bed trying not to die. I'm at the other end of the bed - feeling bad for him, but staying as far away as possible.

The writing has suffered a lot this week. I managed to get some words on the page Monday, but that's been it. I'm not sure if I'll get there tonight or not. I still have a bunch of things to take care of that have to be done before I go to bed, so there's that. Keeping my fingers crossed for a productive weekend.

That's all I have.

Behave!

The Long Silence...

Sorry for that!

While we were on our weekend away, the winds took out the Internets. That Kid tried to fix while we were gone. I tried to fix when we got home. There was nothing for it. The best appointment I could get was for Saturday.

It was a long week without the InterWebs. The cable guy was awesome and fixed us up within two or so hours. He was hysterical, too. And he was impressed by our gratefulness. Ha! 

And we were supposed to have a "snowpocalypse" mid-week last week. That was disappointing... They cancelled K4's school, but only because the building the school is in closed. There was no snow. We were hoping for a crap ton, but it never happened. Dang it. We're about past the point for significant snowfall. Though it still could happen. Ha!

Anyway. Our weekend away was awesome! Just That Man and I! We grabbed one of the grocery store's premade dinners for Friday night, which was okay - not great, but okay. Watched a terrible movie that we could not shut off and swept up a bunch of flies.

Oh the flies... They were everywhere - very slowed down due to the cold, but a few kept crawling out of my pile as I swept. I probably threw an entire big dust pan full outside within the first twenty minutes of arrival. That was just downstairs. That Man was working on the heat and the stove so we would be warm and I was de-infesting the place. Upstairs wasn't much better. I shook out all of the bedding and swept another huge dust pan full. The upper floor is just an open space with one corner curtained off into a private sleeping space. As I shook out the sleeping bags, I realized there were probably a thousand flies on the curtains. Ew...

But as the heat emerged, they all went towards the warmth. That Man sucked them up with the vacuum cleaner and we were able to settle in to our relaxing weekend. Though when I woke up Saturday (super early, btw), he was vacuuming flies. We had some coffee, mimosas, watched the Lord of the Rings (all day). I wrote. We walked by the river, took a nap, took another walk, I wrote some more, and then went up to the food truck at the brewery less than a mile away for dinner. Take out. Awesome, awesome food. Talked to UB and Auntie Em for a while. Watched LoTR more. To bed early. Up way early again, but went back to bed. That was super nice.

When we got up again, we chilled with coffee and the extra discs from LoTR, eventually getting stuff packed and cleaned up. The best thing was that we were only about an hour away from home, so we weren't in a huge hurry to get things done. We were home in enough time to do laundry, unpack, more writing for me, and a nap.

It was an excellent weekend. I am very excited to go back there again! It's the perfect place and pretty much what I want in a cabin. And I will have a cabin someday! I'll show pictures soon.

The work week was brutal beyond brutal! We made it to the weekend and then went to the banquet with the sister, which was fun, though I lost some of my family when it was time to say goodbye. We won a 50" TV which is now in my living room. Awesome. We had a blast.

It was super late when we got home, and I forgot to turn my alarm clock ahead. But then we got the awesome big tv hooked up and moved the downstairs tv to our room. Awesome! Sunday was basically doing whatever and ignoring the fatigue.

Ha! Time Change sucks!

That is all for now! I will continue to catch up through the week!

Behave!

Thursday Ugh...

Still a brutal week, but not for long.

Leaving early today to take the kid to the doc was awesome. All is well there and we were done earlier than we thought. She was starving, so a quick trip for food before the grocery store and all was well. No more hangry. Home a little earlier than normal. Started laundry and dinner.

Organized for the weekend. Yay!

Have to go to the day job earlier than normal tomorrow, but that also means I should get out earlier, too, so I'm willing.

Good plans on board for the weekend. That Man and I were presented with the opportunity to go away just the two of us. Yes. Hell, yes. So we'll be heading out into the wilderness for a weekend of just us, movies, good food, and just us... And I will be writing, too.

Thankfully we have people living in our house that will take care of the animals and the mail and the stuffs that we won't have to take care of. I am so excited!

Stay tuned for a Sunday update!

Behave!

Wednesday

Mid-week...

Yay!

Tomorrow I get to bail on the day job early to take the kid to a doc appointment. I already have my time made up, so... while sitting in a doctor's office is low on my favorite things to do, leaving early is high on my favorite things to do. It's kind of a wash, but whatever.

This week has been pretty brutal. See above. I've been working early and late to make up time, and hopefully make up a little more so I can head out earlier on Friday. (also very awesome, if it happens) And it's super busy - which is the norm, so I don't know why I even mention it.

Had a super interesting conversation with the Fabulous Simon on the way home from work tonight. Writing stuff. How to get words on the page as presented by a PodCast she listened to. My wheels are spinning and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about those wheels.

That is all. It's late and I'm tired.

Behave!

Woah! Almost a Week!

It was a long week last week!

Lots of insanity at the day job. Long days. Brain disintegration. Exhaustion.

I did write.

I also ran around a lot.

This week is probably going to be the same.

The weekend was good though.

Friday night was paint night with friends I don't get to see often. In fact, it's probably been a year for a few of them. K4 and I went and had a blast. We painted pretty pictures, ate a lot of junk food, and had great conversation.

Saturday was a flash signing at the bookstore. Didn't sell any books, but it was super fun to hang out with my writing friends!

Laid low last night - hanging with That Man.

Slept in this morning. Very nice. And I took a nap today. Stayed in my sweat pants all day. Got to see K3 for a little bit. Made an awesome dinner. Did laundry. Writing.

But oy! Tomorrow is Monday again.

That is all!

Behave!

Another Weekend Wrap Up on Monday...

I was too tired to post an update last night!

The weekend was pretty darned good! Friday night was hanging out, packaging sausage, laughter. Slept in a bit on Saturday. Ran around with That Man. Then home for beautiful snow! Yay! And writing! Sunday was race day and we went to my brother and sister-in-law's to hang out and watch the race and eat. That was a lot of fun. Came home and laid on the couch. Ha!

The good news is that Into the Fire hit print on Amazon! Yay! I was a little worried because it wasn't on yet. Exciting.

The other good news is that The Second Sentence anthology is also live on Amazon!

Look at the choices I just gave you! :)

Now I must write!

Behave!

Thursday...

One more work day to live through until the weekend! Yay!

I get to go in late. "Get to" like I have a choice and I'm getting paid for it. Ha! K4 had an orthodontist appointment yesterday and they attached a bunch of hardware into her mouth. So I went in late then. Today I get a call from her, really upset, that some of the things they'd hooked up had broken. Great. So now we have to go back in the morning and get it fixed. She's not happy and is in pain. I am also not happy because instead of making up the time I lost on Wednesday, I will be losing even more time. So there's that. Plus, my kid is hurting, which is never good.

It's raining. It's warm out. I opened our window so we can hear the rain when we go to bed. That will be nice, but it's not going to last. We're supposed to get snow this weekend. Weird.

I'm also fighting off some aches and pains, sinus pressure, and a weird feeling stomach. I am doing my best to ignore these things. I have to make it through the day tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the weekend, darn it, so no way!

This evening went super fast. Came home to dinner made, did the dishes, did the writing, did the bills, and now it's now... and I'm fried.

Behave!

Look What Came!!

I know the book has been out for months, but it was only available digitally and now it's in print!

There is nothing like the feeling of holding your book in your hands! :) Coming home to my books made a pretty crappy day so much better!

Look at that!

Ignore my dry hands and my lunchbox in the background. I was so excited, I don't even think I took my coat off! ha!

I already have a bunch of people who want copies, which is epic! I'll probably have to put another order in soon, just because I have a few events coming up that I'll need them for!

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up on Monday

Yeah, it's Monday.

I never made it on here yesterday (obviously).

Let's wrap up...

Friday night - Rushed home so we could take K4 out on date night. We went to a cute little place with a food truck and music. Had a lot of fun and good food.

Saturday - booksigning! Yay! It was awesome. Not very busy, but I did sell books. K3 came out to see me and take pictures. K4 came to be my PR person. It's always amazing to get to hang out with my writing friends. After the signing, we all went over to the restaurant next door for dinner. That was good, too.

Anthology partner Bix, gifted the rest of us in the anthology with a print copy of The First Sentence, which was so very awesome! We were all really excited and are in love with getting to hold that book in our hands.

Finally got home and took my boots off. My feet were killing me. Crashed pretty early - done with being "on" and being on my feet.

Sunday - slept in a little. Coffee. K3 came over and went to see That Mom with us. He hung out a while. After he went home, I took a nap. That was awesome. Made dinner. Then to bed.

So exciting. I know. I can't help how exiting and crazy my life is. Ha ha!

This week is much of the same old, same old. Working the day job. Trying to get writing done. Getting "stuff" done. I'll try not to bore you as much with my next post!

There are two exciting things -

Into the Fire will be a print book in my hands very soon. Probably by this time next week! Whoot!

The Second Sentence Anthology comes out on Valentine's Day. It's only $2.99.

That is all!

Saturday Plans?

Hey! If you're local-ish and not doing anything on Saturday, come on out and visit a super cool greenhouse and meet some authors!

You might find some books to get you through the rest of this super long winter!

And you can plan your flowerbeds and garden for when it finally does warm up.

Ashcombe's has a great lunch, too.

Last year, we had two author sponsored gift baskets.

Also, it's usually warm in the greenhouse, so you won't have to worry about freezing to death!




Hopefully, I'll see some familiar faces!

Behave!

Snow & Ice Day...

It was pretty yucky out there today. Awesome!

K4's school cancelled at 5:30. It wasn't even doing anything yet. I got up and turned on the coffee pot for That Man, took the dog out, and then went back to bed. About an hour later, just when I was reaching for the snooze on my alarm, work texted that we would be delayed until noon. Yes! I went back to sleep for a while.

Got up about an hour later. Made coffee. Took the dog out again, and then went back to bed to watch the local news and do a little journaling. Work had said they'd reassess the situation around 10:30, but around 9:30 I got a text that said "we are not closed". Texted my supervisor for clarification. Did I need to get moving and get in there? Were we really closed and it was a typo? She texted HR who had to contact the guy responsible for the texts. We were closed. His next update cracked me up. He said "Correction. We are closed. (I feel like a missile warning in Hawaii now)" Well, maybe not funny to some, but if you knew this guy...

Stayed in bed and kept up my journaling. Finally got up and started a load of laundry, put away laundry and cleaned our room, made a bagel, saw "the boys" off to work. (K1, my nieces bf, and my adopted son - yes, they all work together and they have a blast) Tried to take a nap, but kept thinking about the snow out front. The snow had turned to rain by this point and after talking to That Man, I decided to shovel.

Oy! That crap was heavy! I did the sidewalk and a parking space for That Man. There was a lake forming in the road from the ice jams. I am hurting a bit now. I'm kind of afraid to know what I'll feel like in the morning. My forearms, shoulders, and back are on fire. Yeah. Apparently I need to get into better shape. When I was done shoveling and spreading cinders, I came in and changed. I was covered in dirty gross water from cars going by me while I shoveled.

Made dinner. Talked to That Man. K4's school has already delayed tomorrow. Don't know if my work will or not.

Tomorrow is my baby sister's birthday! Happy Birthday, Meme! (that's what the kids all call her) Love you bunches!

That is all!

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

It's Sunday, people. I mean, really?

It's been a pretty good weekend.
Slept in a bit on Saturday, then to my writing meeting.
Then to the grocery store - that was crazy. Snow was in the forecast and everyone was out in full force buying their eggs, bread, and milk. I was just doing regular shopping. I did save like $60.00 in coupons, which was awesome.
K4 met me at the store, which was good because I needed her car for the grocery haul. Then we headed out to get a birthday present for That Man.
I did get the Christmas decorations put away, and put away in the correct place. Yay.

In an epic twist of fate, That Man and I were all alone Saturday night. I mean - alone all night! Woah! It was an awesome evening. We made a great dinner, talked a lot, and watched movies. Oh and did laundry.

Woke up this morning to snow. It snowed for quite a while and then started sleeting and raining. K4 made it home safely after leaving her lights on and needing a jump start.

K3 was supposed to come over for dinner for That Man's birthday, but we told him to stay home and be safe. I made That Man his birthday dinner - cheeseburgers and mac and cheese, and we've just been hanging out. He liked his presents and was only a little sad that I screwed up on the birthday cake.

Now we're watching the Superbowl. We'll kind of. Mainly the commercials. The first movie preview that came on was scary enough that we made Mr. B close his eyes and cover his ears. The movie looks awesome though. The second movie was the new Jurassic Park, which also looks scary, but awesome. And I'm writing, so there's that.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

We made it! We all made it!

Yay! It's Friday!

Here's the good:

1. Stupid turned Good.
I was supposed to pick That Man up at work.
He drove K4's car. I drove his car.
(There's a lot of convoluted stuff in there to explain this, but you really don't care)
I left the lights on, by accident. (I seriously drive his car maybe twice a year) (I'm an idiot)
The battery died.
The work peeps had my back, but That Man got done working sooner than he thought so one of his buddies drove him to my work to jump the car before I even clocked out.
I left work and got into a warm car.
Jesus, it's cold here.

2. That Man and I had date night.
Since the car fiasco had us running at least an hour early, we ended up getting a table at a place we've tried to try a few times. Yay for getting a table!
Decent. A little expensive.
But good.

3. Brief trip to the grocery store for junk food and trash bags.

4. Tomorrow's writing meeting.

5. Snow in the forecast for tomorrow. Also hopes to get the Christmas items "properly" stored tomorrow. Not like I have them now - chaos.

6. Potential writing time tomorrow. Yay.

7. Sleeping in. Just a little tomorrow. And then hopefully a lot on Sunday.

8, Sunday is That Man's birthday. He doesn't care, but I do...I need to go shopping.

9. I stickered my new computer. It was time. This new big shiny has proven itself to be trustworthy and useful. I love so many things about it.
I used the last sticker we had with my parent's picture on it, (my niece's bf had stickers made with my folks dates on them.) Everyone in the family got one.
But That Man saved his for when I would need it, because he is amazing. I had one on my old computer, which is probably why I resisted in getting a new one for so long. When I was distressing over the state of my computer, That Man gave me the sticker he had saved.
So I put it on.
And it's freaking crooked!
It's fine. I'm not going to try to move it, though I really freaking want to and it really does bother me.
I have some beach stickers and a Shine sticker. And I will get more stickers as time goes by.
I'm actually feeling more settled with this computer after applying said stickers. I  do love it. The key touch is satisfying and I have written many words just because I love the way it feels to type.
That probably sounds super stupid to most people.

10. It's stupid cold.
This house is warm.
We're watching Harry Potter.
I am a happy camper.

That is all.
Behave.

Thursday Exhaustion

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.

I'm beat.

This week at the Day Job has been harrowing, to say the least. My work load is insane and I found out today that it's going to get even more insane, though some of my duties will hopefully shift. It is what it is, and things will even out soon. Even though it's nuts, we have a great team and awesome supportive supervisors who treat us like real people and value not only our input, but us as people, and that's something you don't find many places. So yeah, there's that.

We always ended running around through the last part of the week for one reason or another. Last night we had a meeting to go to. Tonight we ran all over the place gathering food for That Man's Inventory lunch tomorrow. He was in charge of procuring the food items needed. He does it every year. It's a huge day for them, so they like to show the employees their appreciation by serving them lunch.

Tomorrow night is Date Night, though we can't decide where we're going yet. We still haven't remembered what our Saturday commitment is, so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Ha!

That's pretty much all I have to say at the moment. I need to get a few minutes of writing time in before I hit the sack.

Behave!

Wintry Tuesday

It snowed overnight. We had a good coating this morning - enough to delay school. Not at my job though, so K4 had to get herself up and drive into her dad's work. He took her to school (just a few blocks away) so she wouldn't have to pay to park (that's hella expensive), and then picked her up when she was done and took her back to her car (and then worked late to make up his time). We ended up with maybe two inches of snow. Definitely not enough.

Someday we'll get the epic snow I crave! I want to be totally snow bound! I don't care how much we'll have to shovel or the pain in the butt that so much snow brings. I want major crazy snowfall! State of the emergency snow fall! Where we have to dig tunnels for our seventy-five pound dog to go potty. Yes. That's what I want. I want GTA and LoTR all day. I want naps and mimosas and being home. I want epic writing time.

Anyway.

It's Tuesday. Monday was Monday. Fried after the day job and went to bed before nine. Still had a hard time getting up this morning. Imagine that. Day Job Tuesday was not as intense as Monday, but still plenty intense. Tomorrow is going to be the same. But it is what it is. I do my best not to bring that crap home, even though I tell you about my brain being fried.

Finished my friend's critique on her awesome book. Once I'm done here, I'm off to write my own stuff now that I'm clear of critiques. Yay!

That Mom's new home is locked down due to the flu. We haven't been able to see her for over a week now and they are telling us it's going to be another week until we can. The flu is awful. So far, it hasn't come into the day job, except for sales reps that don't come into the office. Still, though. One of our ladies has it in her house, but not her yet. Yet. Once Patient Zero presents in the building, we're all doomed.

What am I'm looking forward to?

Date night with That Man on Friday.
Writing meeting on Saturday.
Saturday plans though neither of us can remember what we committed to! Ha!
That Man's birthday on Sunday.
Making beach plans very soon.

That's all...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up....

The decorations are still up. Nothing happened there. Whatever.

I did sleep in a bit on Saturday. Of course, we were in bed stupid early, but whatever....

That Man and I went to breakfast on Saturday, then did some running around that included the grocery store.

The pantry did get cleaned out. Oy vey! It was worse than I thought. It took K1 and I a few hours and a trash bag and a half to make it happen. I also organized two cupboards. There are 4 more that need to be done. Yes. I only have 6 cupboards in my kitchen - hence the pantry mess. I also, only have 2 drawers. That's a b*tch.

I tried to nap - that didn't work so well. I finished all but one load of laundry. That Man ran the vacuum and cleaned downstairs.

Then we headed out to see friends we haven't seen since before Christmas. They used to be our neighbors, but moved last year. They bought a great house and it's so comfortable to be there. It was awesome for it to be just the four of us. The guys talked and us ladies talked, and then we talked together. We had an awesome dinner and got back home way later than we'd planned. And I broke my glasses.

Slept in a little this morning. Got up and then went back to bed to watch stupid tv and doze off. K4 joined me, but she is not feeling well at all. Don't know that she has the flu or not yet. She's still feeling crappy - has body aches and a migraine - too soon to tell, but oy!

Did the rest of the laundry. Made dinner and put it in the oven, and then went to see one of That Man's longest friends after a spur of the moment text. We don't get to see them much, because he works out of town. That Man and him talk frequently though. It was awesome to see the boys together - to hear their stories, to catch up. I adore his wife, too. She's one of those people who are easy to be around and make you feel comfortable no matter what. We'd planned to see them before Christmas, but then we got the sickness here and didn't want to spread it.

Still working on the critiquing. I have  just a few pages to go, but I can't keep my eyes open any longer... Tomorrow is Monday. Oy....

Behvave!

Feel Good Friday

Let's hit the high spots, shall we?

1. It's Friday! Duh! What a long, long week. I swear all we did was run around until late after work hours for the second half of the week. And the Day Job! Oy! Super busy Wednesday, Thursday, and today. No matter how fast I worked, I couldn't dig myself out. It didn't help that my phone did not stop ringing with fires to put out and more things to do.

2. K4's Mid-Year performance. She didn't want me to invite anyone to see it because she was sure it was going to be a train wreck. They didn't start rehearsing until the week before. There was a lot of drama, and not the good kind, during their rehearsals which left her in tears and in a bad mood. And we won't talk about the scramble for props and costumes.

The show was really good though. She did awesome. She has such a strong stage presence and doesn't even need the mic. (surprised? ha ha) The rest of the show was good, too, but it was super long. Three hours in auditorium seats with a ten minute break three-quarters of the way through, with a woman who coughed throughout the entire performance behind us. (That was rough) And a woman in front of us who, for some reason, believed I was the cougher and kept shooting me dirty looks...

We got home late. K4 got home even later since we left her car for her, knowing she'd have to run the props back to school. She was super exhausted.

3. That Man cooking dinner tonight. Open-faced turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy. How awesome is that?

4. Finally getting some laundry done. (see #1). There are a lot of household things that need to be done this weekend. We'll see how many actually get done. Ha! (yeah, I'm kind of okay with having a few Christmas items still out, even though it's been a month.)

5. Sleeping in tomorrow. Yes! I'm already in bed - watching the Pirates and getting stuff done. My head and feet hurt. I'm stuffy and my throat is kind of raw. I'm kind of scared because the stomach flu is going around the office and then... coughing woman for three hours.

6. Bills are paid. Grocery list is in process. House is in semi-decent shape. Writing is commencing.

7. Fun Day at work. We had silly fun - played a rousing game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. I made it to the final round and then forgot my strategy because I was laughing so hard and lost. We all brought pictures in of either us as children, our parents, or pets. That was fun, but hard, to guess. I got 10 out of 17 and there were at least four that I kicked myself for. We also brought food in, well, some of us. Most forgot, which sucks when a just few put a lot of effort into it. There was also the option to make paperclip and post it note art. I ran out of time because I was buried in work. The funniest thing was the organizers entire work space getting covered in post it notes while she ran an errand. Hysterical.

8. Very minimal weekend plans. (see#4)

That is all. The writing is commencing.

Behave!

Woah! It's Tuesday!

Well...

I had started a post on Saturday, and then realized I had nothing new to say. Ha!

We did the weekend - it was pretty good. That Man and I did some running around on Saturday. We cooked on the grill. Blah, blah, blah.

Sunday was quiet at first - did some writing, laid in my bed after not getting to sleep until 3am. Then we went to my sister's for a little while. Ate some pizza. Hung out with the family. Came home and did some laundry, caught up on emails, listened to Mr. B's WWE rantings and videoed him and sent it to my niece. Hysterical. He has to "talk to her" about WWE and John Cena. The kid has never ever watched WWE.

Monday was brain-draining at the day job. Of course. I came home and made a turkey dinner. How weird is that? The turkey was ready to cook. We had taken it out of the rapidly defrosting freezer (before we realized Mr. B had turned the freezer down to zero. Ha!). I threw it in the roaster, so it was ready by the time I got home. Made some cream cheese mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and everyone was happy. We have a crapton of leftovers.

Today was the same at the day job. The kids cooked dinner, so that was amazingly awesome. I wrote a bunch of words and critiqued a bunch of words for a friend.

Now I'm done...

Feel Good Friday...

The I'm too stuffed to move edition...

1. That Man and I grabbed K4 after work and went out to eat at a new-ish place not far from That Man's day job. He's been raving about this place for weeks - sending me pictures of his awesome lunches and bragging about the whole thing. So we decided to check it out as a family. 

The service was a little slow, but she was sweet and awesome. Not too busy at all. We had awesome loaded fries and then... the food. Amazing. It was one of those deals where you're full, but you just can't stop eating because it's so damned good. Yeah. It was like that. I had a french dip sandwich with onions and mushrooms. So freaking good. I never even touched my hand cut and amazing fries. I ate 99.8% of my sandwich. That Man got an Italian boli, which I had a bite of an almost died from how good it was. K4 got a burger with bacon, tons of cheese, and an egg on top. She actually got a box for half of it, but that half a sandwich died about two blocks after we left the place and she was left with the empty box. We'll definitely go back. Next time I'm not going to eat the entire day before.

2. It's Friday, bitches! What a super long week at the day job. I broke my own record today in the amount of work I got done - which is awesome, but the reason that happened was because I had a ton of easy stuff to do, so whatever. I don't think I talked to anyone I work with at all today until after work - except for the usual pleasantries when you pass each other or whatever. I had headphones in and was focused on the work. That's how it usually is for me, but today was a little different for some reason. And I have about ten phone calls to return on Monday....

3. The week, while long, ended up being pretty decent. I got a lot of critiquing done and a little writing, kept up on the laundry and kitchen cleaning. I did the adulting thing and paid the stupid bills when we got home tonight. I also sorted through a stack of crap that I had stuck in a drawer - you know, that stuff that you need to look at, but just not at that moment. It's all shredded or tossed now - the only things that survived were the things I had no choice but to keep. I have a zero-ish mail policy now. I keep nothing unless I have no choice.

4. Plans to sleep in tomorrow. Yay!

5. Hanging with That Man tomorrow. We have a bunch of running around to do, but we'll be together so it doesn't matter what we do.

6. Managing to actually find K5 her unicorn slippers. After a first failed attempt and return, between her mom and I, we found a pair that worked and she's happy. Who knew unicorn slippers were going to be so hard to find? It's ridiculous! Her mom and I have both been looking since Thanksgiving!

That's all I have for now...

Behave!

The Second Sentence Anthology

So our project anthology - the second one, aptly named "The Second Sentence Anthology" is available for preorder now. This one will cost you $2.99.

The First Sentence Anthology is still available at the low price of ninety-nine cents. You can find it on Amazon and all major retailers.

Why are you guys charging for these stories now, you ask? Well, all of the proceeds from the books will be donated to "Women Helping Women" (Mary's Shelter) for this year. Next year, we may pick a different charity, but the Women Helping Women cause is something all of us feel very strongly about. It's an awesome cause and if we can help them out, then why not? We started off doing these stories for fun, but then realized that we could actually do something awesome with them.

It's a lot of fun to write these stories and it's an honor to be in an anthology with these amazing authors. It's also exciting to know that we'll be donating any money earned to a great cause. And we'll have a third one out later on this year.

I hope you feel inclined to check it out. My story is a love story set in a zombie horde. Ha!

Behave!

Wednesday...

The snow is very pretty, but it'll be gone by this weekend...

K4 didn't have school today. That Man and I had work delays. My work was supposed to be delayed two hours, but I was there an hour before then. The roads were fine. I got gas, stopped for coffee where my niece works, and headed in. Now I only have an hour to make up, which is good considering there are only two days left in this week.

The worst part of today was finding our that our niece's husband passed away. This is That Brother's oldest daughter, who lives in Oklahoma. She's a tiny bit younger than K2. Her husband had a massive heart attack over the weekend and was gone for about 10 minutes on the way to the hospital. They brought him back and then put him into a coma. Over the last few days, they started bringing him out of it, but found little to no brain activity. She had to make the decision to stop treatment. She's 32 weeks pregnant with their fourth child. He was 34. We received a horribly sad picture of him with his hand on her pregnant belly right before he passed. God. What awfulness. My heart is breaking.

On that sad note...

Behave!

It's Snowing!

Yay!

We're supposed to get up to 5"! We probably have close to 3" now. I was talking to K5's mom earlier and they don't have a thing yet (flurries now). K5 is a bit jealous of our snow. It's weird because they don't live that far away.

K4's school dismissed early and she already has a delay for tomorrow. We'll see what my work does. They don't generally close, but sometimes we get a delay, depending. It was slippery as heck on my way home. I struggled to get up a hill, and then slid down another one - ending up on the berm of the road turned a little funky. No harm done and I popped it into four-wheel drive so I could continue on. I was driving K4's car today, which is a little beast. I wish I would have driven the Jeep, mostly for kicks and giggles, but we drive K4's so we don't freeze to death. Ha!

Today is the four year anniversary of Elsa's adoption!

Look at how little she was when we brought her home!!











Here she is now:

This picture was taken last summer, but she's pretty much the same size. She's not as big as we expected her to get, but she's still a heifer. Ha! She's a good dog - a little crazy at times, a little bad at times, but on the whole, she's a sweetheart and I can't imagine life without her. She "mostly" gets along with the cats, though sometimes she feels it necessary to chase and chastise them.







I think that's all I have for now... I'm a half-hour passed my designated writing time, so I must get to it...

Behave!

Sunday

It's cold. Damn cold. I wouldn't mind the cold if we had some snow to go along with it! But whatever. Only a million and a half days until Spring, right?

We had a little birthday party for Mr. B yesterday. He's a crack up. Lot's of wrestling with Grand Uncle, which they both love, and despite the fact that he wanted nothing to do with the chili we made, he had a great day. He received some awesome presents and was busy the rest of the evening playing with, looking at, and talking about how great everything is. He decided the Harry Potter shirt his Auntie K got him was his new favorite and wore it the rest of the night and into bed.

Once everyone left, we cleaned up and pretty much crashed. I was in bed at a stupid early time for a Saturday night, but I was beat after the day of running around, cooking, and cleaning (though I did have a lot of help with all of it). K4 wasn't feeling good at all. Managed to get some food into her and spent some time talking with her.

Slept in this morning, which was awesome. Ran to see That Mom and hit the store for dog food. Back home to do laundry and nap. The nap was amazing.

Did 2/3 of the critiquing I need to do. I'll do the other one tomorrow and then it's back to my own writing. Yay!

Tomorrow is Monday! Boo!

That is all!

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

The new hotness is in the house! Whooo!

Oh this wonderful huge screen and the keyboard has a fantastic touch! I had no idea it was coming today! (no shipping update! Dammit, but nice surprise, too)

It took like an hour to set up and I have all of my stuff exactly as I left it thanks to Microsoft and Google Chrome! Nice!

So here are the feel goods...

1. Friday! What a long-assed week at the day job. So freaking busy. We were standing outside of work after hours and our supervisor looked up and said "You all look like crap", to which we advised her that she also looked like crap. She meant it in the "you are all overwhelmed and it shows kind of way" (and we did too), but it's a testament to the kind of week we had. We have a fantastic team though and we made it through the week because of that. Oh, and I got a raise! Whoot!

2. No cooking! Though ordering food was a chore. Our favorite pizza place's website was down. I tried three different computers and my phone and there was nothing for it. We had to order and then K4 went and picked up the food. But still...

3. Talking to my uncle yesterday. It was his birthday and we had a great conversation about computers, weather, and everything else.

4. The weather. It's like 60* out there right now. It's only going to last for about another 18 hours though... Then it's going to get super cold again. Boo, but it is winter.

5. Getting to see the family tomorrow.

6. Ooh. This keyboard makes a clicky sound. Nice!

7. Driving my Jeep today after a long spell of not driving it. It's been too cold. It was awesome to drive it today!

That's all I've got at the moment. It's bedtime soon. I have the same headache I've had since this morning (sinus), and I'm ready to crash. That Man thought it was Saturday this morning. That made for a super rough and late morning for all of us. Yikes.

Behave!

Happy Birthday, Mr. B!

Today my smart, funny, super-active, and awesome grandson turns 5!

We had pizza for dinner and his Aunt Didi made him cupcakes with orange icing.

And we're doing a last minute birthday shindig for him on Saturday. It's such short notice though - I have no idea if any of the family will be able to make it. We didn't know if it was going to work for this weekend until tonight, so there's that...

He's been giggly all night and running around breakdancing and beatboxing when he's not chasing the dog or asking for more food. He also got to talk to his Sissy for quite a while, which is awesome. Now he's waiting for his pappy to get home so we can have cupcakes.

All I know is that after my day, I'm ready for bed already. I've been ready for bed since I walked in the door - wait, before that. I'm cold and exhausted. But we had frozen pizza for dinner, so not much clean up, and K4 did the laundry, which is awesome.

That's all I have for now.

Behave!

2017 in Review

As promised...

January: New grandbaby news, 2016 Year in Review, Mr. B turning four, Birthdays for friends, major bedroom cleaning for the kid, overtime, snow, writing.

February: Missing my momma, snow, writing, annual book signing at the nursery, crazy day job stuff, plays, editing, 70* temps, date nights, K5.

March: New book cover, kids cooking, Feel Good Friday, Saturday, the beginning of my computer failing, guest blogs, writing, duck banquets, Snowpocalypse, grandkid birthday party, K5, editing, taxes, ongoing computer issues, Weird Wednesday, Irks, date nights, sick Mr. B.

April: April Fools, hanging out with the family, stomach bug, no taxes done yet, hanging with That Sister, Easter, dysentery, finally getting the taxes done, my birthday, Easter, injuries, first round edits, days off work, fires in the back yard, counting down to retreat, True or Not, writing.

May: Counting down to retreat, missing my momma, more illness in the house, bad dogs, finding a random pair of panties out front, Retreat!, writing, getting my 'burban back, margaritas, First Sentence Anthology coming out, Mother's Day, improv shows, lots of retreat posts, end year shows for K4.

June: K1's birthday, submitting stories, funeral, prepping for Into the Fire release, more sickness, hanging with family, dead crockpots, kittens in the backyard, writing, the end of the school year, K4's new job, yard work, Father's day, new grandson, movies with Mr. B, street fair, new release prep, hanging with K4, camping, girls weekend, release preview, prepping for our trip, K5 birthday.

July: Road trip to Missouri, more oral surgery for K4, attic cleaning, That Brother visiting, That Mom failing, somebody (animal) peed in our bed (gross), super hot temperatures, eye doctor, missing my dad, attic renovations, house repairs, random, Mr. B and legos.

August: Awesome author moments, attic work, hanging with the kids, parking lot pennies, thunderstorms, birthdays, missing birthdays and meetings, baby showers, more attic work, super hot, That Mom doing better, tomatoes, rough at the day job, mosquitoes, Mr. B's room reno, Summer Survival, writing, shopping, K5, more sickness.

September: Camping - kind of, visit from my uncle and aunt, more sickness, more painting, making plans to go away just That Man and I, writing, missing meetings, stalkerish behavior on the book of face, beach cactus update, more painting, getting my Jeep back, Fire Stick, date night, going out on my own, cleaning, writing, walking with That Man, top down on the Jeep, guest blogging, missing coworkers, brutal day job, writing, broken molars, broken glasses, weekend away plans coming together.

October: Writing, hanging with K4, winter preparedness, more oral surgery for K4, writing meeting, dinner with friends, more sickness, Halloween parade with garbage chili and rude people, just That Man and I getting away - awesome!!, day job suck, sickness, bad dog, broken window, Funeral Bob, pumpkin carving, trick or treat, K3 turns 21 and camping.

November: Cold, writing, day job, writing meeting, Christmas lists already, turning clocks back, writing friends, birthdays, overtime, writing, overtime kicking my butt, broken work computer, editing, prepping for Thanksgiving, Women Helping Women, productive meetings, helpful family, writing, rainy Saturday and missing book signings for friends, going to the store two days before Thanksgiving, car trouble, cooking, Awesome Thanksgiving with the family, more computer crashing (I didn't post every time it happened, but it happens a lot), Small Business Saturday Flash Book Signing, hanging with That Man, leaves, K5 and reindeer, potato soup, visiting graves, watching Christmas movies already, guest bloggers, more sickness, doc appointments.

December: Writing, hanging with the kid, Writing Group Christmas Party, epic Christmas shirt, Office Space, adulting, work Christmas party, insanity, decorating and shopping, Christmas Pajama Jam party, Christmas movies, the plague, bad dogs, near loss of Christmas spirit, shopping with That Man, Our 31 year anniversary, prepping for the day, missing family, 18th birthday, moving That Mom, very quiet New Year's Eve...

So there you have it...

Behave!

Snowy Monday...

It's been either snowing or sleeting here all day.

They kicked us out of the day job around noon. Which was pretty cool, though now I have to make up as much time as I can. I stopped at the store because we had no food and then came home and did adult-type things. And took a nap. (that was nice considering I didn't sleep hardly at all last night)

Let's see...

Weekend recap -

Great writing meeting on Saturday! Very positive and encouraging.
Good food and conversation with my siblings Saturday evening.

Sleeping in Sunday.
Staying in my jammies all day.
Hanging out with Mr. B.

It was a quick, but good weekend.

Still no shipping on the new computer. Blah. I don't know why they make you wait so long. The status says the order is complete.

I'm going to be blogging every now and again on Soul Mate's blog site. I'll let you know when that happens. I have about a month until my first gig. I'm looking forward to it!

I'm off to finish dinner and then hopefully this old dinosaur holds up long enough for me to get a few more words on the page.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Thank goodness!

What a long (but short) week! I actually had to think really hard when I clocked out and realized I was off on Monday for the holiday! Sure didn't seem like it!

So anyway! Here's the list:

1. That Mom being completely moved out of her apartment. One day before the cut off. Yay! (We won't talk about the boxes and furniture in my house. They will go to the storage unit next week when it's a little warmer.)

2. That Man being off work today (see #1) and taking care of the shopping and cooking. He made me coffee this morning and started the car so it would warm up. And he made a special trip to the store to get me tissues with lotion.

3. This old beast having enough juice to actually let me pay the bills tonight. It sucks paying bills, but it would have been far more frustrating had I not been able to.

4. Being snuggled up on my couch under a blanket. My ear is killing me. My nose won't stop running and I just want to sleep.

5. The status on my new computer saying it's been built. Now I just wait for it to ship!

6. One of the guys at work went out and started cars about ten minutes before work ended. That was nice.

7. Writing meeting tomorrow.

8. Plans with the family tomorrow evening. Yay!

9. Hopefully Sunday will be the taking down of the holiday decorations. Not that I'm looking forward to it, but I'll be glad to get back to normal around here. I am, however, looking forward to not having outside of the house plans on Sunday. I'll be staying in my jammies and doing laundry. Or, depending on how I feel, I'll just stay in bed all day. We'll see...

10. Sleeping in a tiny bit tomorrow. Just a tiny, but still. I'm sure I'll be crashing here in a few, so there's that.

It's still ridiculously cold here. Negative windchill. The wind cuts through to bone and makes your skin feel like mush if you're outside too long. Even the dog is not about going outside. She goes out if she has to, but there's no ball throwing or messing around. I've been driving K4's car all week. It's just too cold to drive the Jeep, plus there's a huge chance of my brand new plastic windows breaking. The old ones were on the back porch and the untouched one (the one we were going to save  - just in case) has shattered into a million pieces. So far, my new ones look fine, but I'm terribly worried about some punk walking by and punching the plastic... So there's that...

That is all! It's time to find a pillow and snuggle in further.

Behave!

Four Days In...

It's freaking ridiculously frigid out!

I just checked my weather app and it says it feels like 3*! We are to expect wind chills anywhere from 10 below zero to 30 below zero through Saturday morning. Schools have already delayed for tomorrow and I wouldn't be surprised if they started closing here soon.

The house is, surprisingly, warm, which is a switch from this past weekend. We've had to fight to get it warm and we're almost out of coal, which is a huge issue. That Man is on it, though.

So, I had to order a new computer. This one I am using (the one I've had for almost four years now)-has worked more tonight (of course) than it has for the past four days. I've checked everything (and I'm not computer stupid at all) and there's no excuse except for the fact that I need to update Windows, and every time I do I have to reset the entire thing. As you know, I've been fighting with this computer for almost a year now. It's time for a new one.

The cool thing is that I found an awesome deal and I got a 17" screen with mega memory for less than the price of a 15" screen with a so-so memory. The down side is that it will be another 7-10 days until it gets here...

I have everything backed up now. Once my new computer arrives, I'll do the updates to this one and reset it and maybe it'll work good enough for That Man to do what he needs to do. Or maybe I'll take it outside and run it over a bunch of times.

I did manage to send my final copy and info for The Second Sentence story, which was stressing me out because it took me two days to do what should have taken an hour. The Second Sentence comes out January 15th! Look for it! (Thought I may be late to announce here, depending on my computer situation.)

So, after having the plague twice now, I am now the proud recipient of a cold. Everyone at work has it as well and it sucks. I started feeling weird in the middle of the night last night - waking up with a burning nose and a face headache. I did my best to ignore it, and then this afternoon, everything started going downhill. Sneezing, running nose, more intense face headache. I'm sniffling, sneezing, and seeing the bed in my near future.

We had plans to see one of That Man's oldest friends tonight, but between his maladies and mine and the black ice everywhere, we chose to not go. The last thing we want is to pass this crap. Or die on some back road because of ice. It sucks because we haven't seen them in forever, but it is what it is...

It's time for me to go... I'm seeing the signs of this computer hosing up, so hopefully I get to post this before it's too late.

Behave!

Happy New Year!

It's been officially 2018 for almost a whole day now.

It's been a good day.

Slept in a little, which was really not sleeping in since I stayed up later than I'd expected. Coffee. Bacon breakfast with homemade biscuits. A nap. A shower. Then off to see the grandkids at K2's. We hadn't had a chance to do Christmas with them yet, so off we went.

Those two grandbabies are so stinking cute and adorable. Baby C made us tea and eggs and all manner of things from her kitchen. She was super excited the the "mixer like mommy's" that we got her, and the toaster and tea kettle for her kitchen and the cute frog my sister-in-law and brother gave her. She kept hiding the frog and then acting worried because it was missing. The toaster pops up super fast and made all of us laugh. Baby I is such a snuggle bug. He's six months now and has the most gorgeous brown eyes and dark curly hair. When you pick him up, he just snuggles right into you and looks up at you with the most trusting and cute eyes. He's so busy, too. We were buddies all afternoon. Then, he snuggled into his Didi and I think she almost lost it in the cuteness.

Back home to make dinner for our guests. Nice dinner. Yummy mashed potatoes. Good company.

I wrote. Yay! My very good friend says to do all of the things on New Year's Day that you want to do all year. So... I wrote. I kissed That Man a lot. I did not do laundry, even though I need to. That Man and I worked as a team on dinner and cleaning up. I laughed with K4. I napped. That was good stuff.

And now tomorrow we are back to the day to day grind and the holiday season is officially closed. (Now to just get the tree down and decorations packed away)

Behave!

New Year's Eve

Well, it's only a few hours until the end of 2017.

I'm apathetic about 2017. It was what it was. We had some changes. I'll do the recap soon. I can't say it was a great year, but I can't say it was horrible, either.

The past week was long and full of freezing cold, another round of sickness for me - where I missed a half day of work and moaned a bunch. It's cold here, like under 20 degrees. It snowed yesterday, which was awesome. That Man didn't do his snow plow gig, which was also awesome. It was nice to have him home to play in the snow (not that we actually played in the snow. Well, we did, but we were in the Jeep.) We did the shopping stuff and then cooked on the grill for dinner. Yes, we did. It was really good.

We're still getting That Mom moved out of her apartment. Well, she's out and safely in a place where she's safe and her medications are supervised. It's been a rough few months with all of that - decisions, evaluations, hospital trips... That Man has been over there constantly. And currently I have a stack of boxes, two bookcases, and random stuff in my house...

Anyway. We're getting ready to kick off our evening. I need to put new socks on and put my slippers back on. Ha! So looking forward to a quiet evening at home. We thought about going downtown to check out the dropping of the thing, but it's too freaking cold out, so I don't think that's going to happen.

Be safe out there and don't drink and drive!

Behave!

Post-Christmas

Sorry I fell off the face of he earth for the last 5 days!

We managed to get it all done - wrapped, cooked, cleaned, and prepared.

Saturday was insane - wrapping and cleaning and preparing. Another trip to the grocery store.

Sunday - up early to cook and prep. Took That Grandma to church with as many of the kids as could come. She really enjoyed that. Ran home (after yet another trip to the grocery store) to get the food ready and prepare for the family.

Missed my sister so much, but she's sick and couldn't make it. Booo! I have several calls into her to see how she's doing, but I know work is probably kicking her butt.

My brother made the awesome soup and it was fun to hang out with everyone! My crap dip turned out like total crap and there was nothing I could do to save it. Boo. Mr. B got super spoiled! He's so cute and loved everything he got. In fact, he talked about the presents he got Sunday night on Christmas.

Christmas - up way earlier than I figured for having no little kids in the house. K4 was up before us! We made coffee, took the dog out, lit candles, and did a slow start to opening presents. Since she was our only one, we decided on a plethora of little gifts to keep her busy opening stuff for as long as possible. It didn't last as long as we'd hoped, but she was happy with the little and big things she received. K3 arrived for mimosas and gifts. Then K1. I took a nap, which was much needed and very awesome after running around for so many days.

Then we shifted to birthday. Stuffed shells for dinner. Ice cream cake. Not the big birthday present that's coming, but some little ones she appreciated. Games. Cleaning up. Stayed up way, way later than we should have playing a game.

Then it was Tuesday morning and I had to go to work! Suck! I could barely stay awake and it was super slow, so that made it worse!

Today wasn't much better! Even with three people out, it was slow. I was busy, but not as overloaded as you would expect with so many people out of the office.

Two more days of this week! Oy! And it's freaking super cold outside! I can't even! My Jeep is getting more framework done, so I hope to be able to pick it up tomorrow!

We're not doing much for New Year's Eve. Going to hang out at K3's house for a little while. Need to come up with some awesome food for that. We'll be home early because he has to work early on New Year's day.

That is all!

Behave!

Pre-Christmas Chaos and Plague...

I can't believe 11 days have gone by since I posted last!!

We're in full on prep mode around here. The shopping is finally done after a last-ditch quick and hard effort tonight. It sucked because That Man has the plague and was not doing well at all. We got home as soon as we could, but still. He's a trooper.

Speaking of the plague...
After a wonderful day with K5 and B on Sunday, I ended up falling asleep in the car on the way home. I was "tired". We hit the grocery store quick, well, just I went in because B was crashed and I didn't realize how bad I felt. I should have let That Man do it. Every motion was an effort. When we got home, That Man started dinner and I had to lay down for a minute - only it was three hours. With a fever, chills, and a killer headache. I managed to drag myself upwards to eat a tiny bit and then went to bed, and didn't get out again until Tuesday morning. (That Man is amazing - he did the school trip, dinner, and everything that needed to be done).

Tuesday I managed to get the kid to school. She was feeling a little strange when I dropped her off and I was not any better. I managed until noon - then I got a call from the school nurse and let my boss know I was out for the rest of the day. I picked her up and we came home and crashed for hours. That Man took care of everything again.

Wednesday was much better. All of us made it through the day. That Man and I went out for our anniversary. (31 years married! Whoot!) Believe it or not, despite the plague, I wanted Mexican food and it was amazing. We did a little shopping before coming home. We also did a lot of talking, which was super good.

Everyone at my work is sick. There are two different things going around. I had them both - back to back. Most everyone at That Man's job is sick, too. The receptionist at K4's school told me the plague is super bad there, too.

Last night we had company for dinner. I ran to get a present I needed for That Man (epic quick shopping. nice) while That Man took care of stuff here. We did a quick inventory of our previous shopping adventures and made a semi-plan for tonight.

The dog decided to open one of the presents already under the tree yesterday. She's dealing with some separation anxiety or something, but still... I did warn the other people in this house that the dog loves to open presents and they should probably think twice about it. No one listens. The gift was for me. I still don't know what it is, but apparently the dog does. Ha! She didn't damage it, just left K4 with a mess to clean up when she got home.

Tonight, Feel Good Friday, Oy!!

I'm spewing. I know I am. It's been a super long week and I'm excited for Christmas. The day job was exceptionally lame today and with pretty much zero Holiday spirit. Everyone is sick, so there is that. One of our guys did buy pretzels from the awesome place, but that was the extent of our holiday cheer. I do love my co-workers though. There were sarcastic hugs, ridiculous videos, and general tom-foolery.

Ran out of there as quickly as I could. Stopped at our store to get That Man something for his achey elbow. (copper sleeve. we'll see if it works) Came up and picked up Plague Man (though at this point, he thought he felt good). Ran to the store we thought had what we wanted. Nada. Second store. Also, nada. Made a snap decision and kind of found what we wanted at the third. Not exactly it, but, hey, zero hour, good price. Whatever. Ran into two friends. Nice. Also finished up the loose ends of the shopping.

Then it was the grocery store. Oy and ouch. And I still have to go back tomorrow. (Noooo!) It'll be a super quick trip for prescriptions and cheese, but still...

K4 did a lot of cleaning today, but there is a lot for me to touch tomorrow. I have wrapped nothing. At all. And I have a crapton of cooking to do. That's okay. We'll get it done. I do want to sleep in a little tomorrow. Because, damn, after this horrid week, I deserve it!

I'm looking forward to seeing my family on Sunday. I'm looking forward to Monday and my baby's 18th birthday. After Monday, every single one of my kids are adults. That feel super weird, but also super awesome. And I am super old now.

I don't know if I'll be back before Christmas, so if I'm not... I wish you the happiest! And I wish my baby girl an awesome birthday!

Behave!

Late Weekend Wrap Up

I know it's Monday and I should have posted this yesterday. I didn't get on the computer all weekend, so...

Friday night: The Feel Goods...

1. Quick dinner. No mess. No fuss.

2. Watching Christmas movies with the family.

3. Finally relaxation.

Saturday: Crazy Day...

1. Car inspection preparation.

2. Making food for evening.

3. Sleeping in just a little.

4. Talking to my aunt and uncle.

5. Rearranging & cleaning in preparation for the tree.

6. Organizing That Mom's apartment for moving.

7. SNOW!! Just a little, but still...

8. Going to get our tree in the snow.

9. Christmas Pajama Jam party - it was so good to see everyone. We had a blast! We give out prizes and the reason for the prizes depend on what we have to vote on... This year - we gave a family prize (entire family showed up in matching pajamas), there was a prize for our friend who wore his girlfriend's pj bottoms and long socks (he's super tall and she's not), a prize for the least effort (which went to my brother and sister-in-law because they didn't dress for the occasion. Ha!) and each of the little kids in attendance received a prize. And the grand prize... for the most ridiculous...

The grand prize winner and the grand prize. (the decorated plunger). He was wearing a kangaroo onsie complete with a baby kangaroo (I believe he said the joey was sleeping at this point) and a really hideous sweater on top. Winner!

Above is my "sweater". Yeah, it's a sweatshirt, but I love it. Captain Santa! All of the sailors are wearing santa suits and presents are exploding out of the canons. I love it!! I will wear this for years to come!

Sunday: Exhausted and Busy...

1. A little sleeping in.

2. Getting trapped in the basement by the Christmas decorations.

3. Porch almost done.

4. Piano decorated.

5. Mr. B helping to decorate. He's so funny.

6. Dropping car off for inspection.

7. Quick naps.

8. Running errands with That Man.

9. The beginning of resolution on some things.

10. Decorating the tree. K3 came over and it was really good. We had the nog and the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack playing. The tree is not as big as I wanted, but it's still very pretty.

Yes, the creepy snow children are out again. (to the right, under the window) Their batteries are dead this year and that's just fine. B loves them, so I will put them out until he doesn't. It looks like there's a blank spot in the lights and I don't know why. When I look at the tree in real time, it doesn't have that spot.

I'll post a picture of the piano later...

I did a little Christmas shopping tonight. Ordered my secret Santa gift for the family gift exchange and one gift for one of the kids. I need to go out and get the stuff for the giving tree at work tomorrow. And hopefully we'll get the rest of the shopping done this weekend... Hopefully.

That is all...

Behave!

Thursday... Bring On Friday!

What a week! It's a been a week full of headaches, viruses, bad dogs, insane work days...

Friday is much needed!

That Man and K4 have struggled all week with a virus and migraines. I've had a headache as well, but have somehow managed through going to bed early and doing my best to ignore it.

The day job is insane. Today there was two of us to do the work of six people. Needless to say, it didn't all get done, but tomorrow will be the same, so it is what it is.

The dog has been getting into everything this week - she ate a pillow, a sandwich still in the bag, a dish towel, and dug in the bathroom trash - among other things. We think she's dealing with some separation anxiety and are trying different things to ease that.

Getting a little of the holiday spirit back. Hopefully, we'll get our tree this weekend and the decorating will begin.

That is all.

Behave!

Sunday Before Monday...

Yeah, I know. It always works this way... Ha!

I need another day, though. I'm achey, tired, head-achey, and my sinuses burn. Just freaking great. That Man and K4 have/had some grossness that's going around. That Man is still hacking up a lung.

Yesterday was fun! Had my writers group Christmas party. Lots of good conversation, laughter, and food.

Came home and tried to take a quick nap, but that didn't work very well. Changed and got ready for my work party. Got there early because we were supposed to meet up with a coworker, but she ended up sick and didn't come. Walked around the huge place and people watched until time for the party to start.

Good food. Good laughs. Good and silly conversations. It was great to hang out outside of work. It was also great to see the boss - she's been away at another location for weeks and we miss her. Had a good conversation with her. The entertainment - though it was a hypnotist (and I am not a huge fan) - was actually great. He was hysterical, but there was no way I would have ever volunteered to get up there. Though, he did say if don't want to be hypnotized, he wouldn't be able to do it. So there's that.

We got home later than we thought and had to babysit the furnace for a bit. When we finally got to bed, we thought we had a leak in our mattress. Well. No. Some stupid animal peed in our bed. Right in the middle. Gross!! If you know anything about waterbeds, you know that it's not a simple sheet change. There are layers of bedding on top of the mattress. Layers of bedding that were soaked. Gross! We switched stuff out - at almost one am - and finally got to sleep.

I've spent the day washing the grossness!

On the upside - my short story is done and sent off for another round of critique. That Man and I ran some errands for lights and groceries. I did not get a nap. I'm not happy about that. I so wanted one. Made some banging chicken pot pie for dinner though.

My Christmas Spirit is a big lagging at the moment. I hope it comes back! I was all fired up to start decorating, but then... meh...

That is all. You may now return to your regularly scheduled life...

Behave!

December First...

Well, here we are on the first day of the last month of the year!

I really, at this point, have nothing to say about 2017... I don't know if it was good or bad yet. I don't know if it was just one of those years - the kind that take us from one to the next - or if it was something more. Or less. Maybe I'll figure it out before the end of the year. Maybe I won't.

Let's cut to Feel Good Friday, shall we?

1. Reasonably seamless morning getting the kid up and moving for school. We were a tiny bit late, but that was only because I forgot to get gas yesterday. Slept super good last night with the window open. Didn't wake up at three like normal, which is awesome.

2. Leaving work at 11. The morning was hectic with numerous fires to put out and things to be done before I left, but I almost managed to get it all done. And when I left, I didn't think twice about the work still waiting.

3. Hanging with my kid. We did the doc appointment, lunch, shopping, and had a lot of laughs and conversation. I bought new Christmas lights for the piano! Though I could not find the garland I want anywhere we went. I also bought myself a new pair of jeans, and a sweater, because I needed to. No Christmas shopping done by me, but That Man did some.

4. Getting my house vacuumed and cleaned up and doing the "adulting" things. Things were "picked up", but not "cleaned up", if that makes sense. All I can tell you is that I'm sitting here with a sense of calm and peace after all of the stuff I did today. The house smells amazing thanks to the pine candle I impulsively purchased.  I also made macaroni and cheese for dinner, and also for my party tomorrow.

5. The short being >this close< to being done. It'll be done by Sunday come hell or high water. Or... I really hope so...

6. Sleeping in a bit tomorrow. The mac and cheese for the party is already made and only needs to be heated up, so that's a bonus. I had planned on doing it all tomorrow, so yeah....

7. Laundry is 98% caught up.

8. They took our ginormous pile of leaves from the street. The 'burban is now covered in debris.

9. Watching "Office Space" and cracking up.

10.  Planning Christmas Eve... It's a process.

That is all.

Behave!

The End of November...

How weird is that?

This year has flown by! I was at work earlier looking at something from May. I thought "well, that wasn't that long ago", and then I realized it really was. We're heading into the last month of 2017 and I still don't know how I feel about 2017.

Anyway...

Tomorrow is Friday and I only have to work until 11. Yay! Though I do have to take K4 to the doc and do some shopping, then grocery shopping. And then hopefully finishing up my short story. It'll be way better than sitting at my desk!

Saturday is the first of our crazy weekends, but I hope to get some decorating started on Sunday. We'll see...

Everyone in this house is sick but me. That Man had to pick up K4 from school today and he ended up staying home, too, since he wasn't feeling much better than she is. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays away from me!

That is all!

Behave!