Thursday Thoughts #13: Welcoming a new year.

Good afternoon on this New Year's Eve!  Do you have big plans to party hard tonight?  Or will you be spending the evening curled up at home.

I'll be on the "curled up at home" side of the New Year's Eve fence.  For me, it's a night where it's safer to not be on the roads.  There will be too much drinking, and ultimately too much driving for anyone to feel safe.  Besides, I lost that partying-feeling many, many years ago.  LOL!

Welcoming in a brand spankin' new year is something that I've always enjoyed.  The prospects of the new year are exciting to contemplate.  What could happen?  What will happen?  Will this year be better than the last?  What new adventures will life take me on?

It's time to think about our future, what we want to do, how we want to change our world for the better.  Positive thinking is at its best when it's New Year's.  How can you not feel better when you're considering all the new and exciting developments to come into your life?

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but I do consider the plans I have for the future.  I never air them, or even write them down, but I have my own personal list of things I'll do, books I'll read, life improvements, fun ideas, and even new people I'd like to meet and introduce myself to. 

We all have something similar, even if you don't realize it.  A running list of thoughts and ideas that dash through your head at the end of a long day.  The fluttering conceptions that flicker behind your eyes right before you lose consciousness each night.  These ideas make up our lives.  Hell, these are the ideas that start off a lot of my book storylines.  They are the sparks of life that my imagination uses to build a whole new (fictional) world.

So don't look at New Year's as a day to make plans you won't follow through with.  Use this time of the year to look forward to the fun times you will have.  Look closely at your internal list of things you want to do, and how you can accomplish the tasks.  It's all about welcoming a new year and the happiness it COULD bring, if only you'll allow it to.

Each new year has the potential for greatness, we just have to know where to look for that greatness, how to cultivate the seeds of excitment, and understand that we're the only ones who can harvest our own desires.

Happy New Year, everyone!  I wish you all great happiness, prosperity, and ultimate joy in everything you do in 2010!

Wanna Know Wednesday #47: The day my oldest was born.

Today is my oldest daughter's 13th birthday.  I can't believe she's already 13.  The years seem to have flown by.

The kids have been at my sister's house since Monday, so it was easy enough to get up this morning and get straight to work on the party preparations.  I had two pizzas, a bowl of punch, and one 2-layer chocolate cake ready and waiting by the time everybody arrived at noon.

I'd already given her the birthday gifts from me (we went to see New Moon & move her into her own bedroom).  My sister is taking her shopping tomorrow for some of those fur lined bookts all the kids are wearing these days.  My mom gave her a gold necklace and earrings.  And the in-laws gave her a Wal-mart gift card to spend.  That's definitely a good stash of birthday gifts for someone who has one only 5 days after Christmas.  LOL!

After the party was over, I helped set her up both a Facebook and a MySpace page.  Both sites require users to be 13 or older, and even though a lot of parents don't follow the rules and allow their young children on anyway, that doesn't fly with me.  I required that she actually be 13 before allowing her to have those pages AND I have them locked down tight.  She's perfectly fine with that, just as long as she has them.  LOL.

Today's Wanna Know Wednesday is all about my oldest baby girl....

10 Tidbits About Cassandra

1. She was a bald baby.
2. She has eyes that change from blue to green depending on what she's wearing.
3. Her hair is straight as a board now, but had lovely blonde ringlets as a toddler.
4. She has glasses because she's afraid to try contacts.
5. She doesn't like bananas.  Not because she thinks they taste bad, but because she ended up with a stomach bug several years ago after eating one and blames it on the bananas.  LOL!
6. She and Tim have the exact same temper.  Ugh!
7. She's only 5 inches shorter than me, and will probably be taller than me as an adult.
8. She takes longer showers than anyone else in the house.
9. She wants her own cell phone, but probably won't get one until her next birthday.
10. She is a smart girl who loves to read, write, and watch movies.  She comes by it all naturally, and that makes me a very proud mom. :-)

That's it for today.  I have laundry to do and a kitchen to clean up.  My entries will go back to nearly every day once the kids are back in school next week.  I'm looking forward to the brand new year and all of it's wonderful potential!

Um, what day is it? Oh, okay. Tuesday!

Good morning, good morning! How have you been since I last saw you?  Yes, yes, I know.  It's been far too long.  Four days is an eternity in the blogging world.  I apologize for that.

After the Christmas power outage fiasco, I had a lot of house cleaning, toy playing, battery hunting, mp3 player setting up, and the millions of other things that needed to be done.  Not only that, but I have a birthday party to tend to.  Our oldest daughter turns the big 13 tomorrow!  Eek!

Then, my sister surprised me by saying she wanted to take the kids Monday and not bring them home until Wednesday!  Wow! 

She showed up at lunchtime yesterday and off they went.  Tim and I took the opportunity to use our last two free movie tickets to go watch the new Sherlock Holmes movie.  It was very good.  Lots of funny parts, with a couple of slow spots.  But all together, it was a good movie.  :-)

After all that, we picked up dinner & brought it home to watch Dr. Who on the DVR and "Angels & Demons" from Netflix.  As for today, we have absolutely no plans for today.  I don't know what we'll do.  So far we've only been out of the bed for a hour and I've been cleaning out e-mails, touching base on Facebook, Twitter and Plurk, and now posting this.  Who knows about the rest of the day? LOL!

Okay, that's it for now.  I need to...  Well, I don't know what I need to do, but I am getting off the computer for some breakfast.  LOL!  Have a great Tuesday & I'll see you back here tomorrow for a Wanna Know Wednesday.  :-)

Happy Boxing Day!

No, no, that doesn't mean it's time to box all of those relatives in the nose of out the door (even though you probably want to after yesterday's craziness).  LOL!

It's the day after Christmas.  Did you get everything you asked Santa for?  How about those gift cards you collected?  What will you use them on?

Our Christmas Day turned out to be a very adventurous one.  On Christmas Eve, the electricity went off at 9:30pm.  Now, normally when that happens, it's back on within the hour.  If, for some reason it's still off when we go to bed, it's always back on by morning.

Unfortunately neither was correct this time.

I played Santa by candlelight after all the kids went to bed.  I vaguely recall seeing my alarm clock blinking in the middle of the night.  However, when the kids woke us up at 5:45am the next morning, the power was still off.  We opened gifts by candlelight (which isn't as sweet, fun, whatever you wanna call as it sounds) and waited and waited and waited for daylight to arrive.  Ugh!

16 hours later, after playing hundreds of board and card games, after canceling my Christmas Day lunch and rescheduling for dinnertime, after feeling like I'm going to strangle one particular husband, after emptying the contents of my fridge into two big coolers, and worrying myself to death over the freezer stuffed to the gills with food, the power finally came back on.

I was hand washing my second sink full of dishes when the lights came back on.  It couldn't have done that before.  LOL!  Thank goodness for our fireplace that kept us warm all day and the candles that I love to have around the house.

It'll definitely be a Christmas the kids will remember for a very long time. 

The rest of the day was filled with cooking, cleaning, laundry, Xbox, PS2, radios, and tv shows.  Everyone made up for the power shortage.  LOL.  I was exhausted when I fell into bed last night.

All in all, aside from the power outage, our meal turned out great, the kids got loads of new goodies to play with, my family was happy and healthy together, and Tim gave me a gorgeous double heart diamond necklace... that he picked out all on his own!!  Woohoo!

Here's the picture from the Zales website.  Mine has only white diamonds, not the black that it shows.

I like it!

Okay, one last thing before I go.  We've had a busy day just cleaning up all the shredded wrapping paper, stray instruction manuals, and torn open packaging.  Then we went to spend a few of our gift cards and get groceries.  Not real exciting, but town wa super crowded.

Oh, sorry, I digress....

Today's the day I announce the winner of my December-Twitter Giveaway!  This person was randomly drawn from all the entries and will receive an autographed Alex & Fiona book of her choice.

****Drum roll****

Congratulations to Christine (@cz415ad)!!  Be sure to email me your mailing addy and book choice so I can get it right out to you.  :-)

That's it from me today.  I hope you all have a memorable Christmas, with power.  ;-)

Thursday Thoughts #12: Holiday Foods

Happy Christmas Eve to all of you who celebrate it.  Do you have any big plans for today?  I figured I'd go ahead and post this entry while I had a few free minutes to do so.

I currently have a turkey in the oven that's been cooking for just at an hour now.  It'll be done just in time to take it down to the in-laws' house fresh out of the oven.  I'll also warm up some homemade dinner rolls that I made last week and put in the freezer.  Everyone loves those dinner rolls!

We'll be eating and then opening gifts.  Their living room floor will be littered with discarded, torn, shredded gift wrap paper, along with empty boxes and those awfully frustrating toy packages that take four adults and numerous cutting utensils to get into.  But all in all, we'll have a good time and walk away with full stomachs and happy children.

After all of that, we'll have just enough time to bring our new gifts home, pick up more gifts and food, and head over to my sister's house for the family fun for my side of the family.  For my side, we always do a buffet-style dinner with finger sandwiches, chips and dips, desserts, and numerous other goodies.  I'm taking my bbq smoked sausages (as per requested by my sister).

What is it about holiday foods that make us want to scarf them down with mucho gusto?  Why does cheesecake give us such a happy feeling during this time of the year, and yet we look at it with calorie-laden disgust (though secretly lust for it) the rest of the year?

I love holiday foods!  I even permit myself to enjoy any and all of it during the holidays (with special awareness of how much though).  Yet, if someone were to offer me pecan pie with a mountain of whipped cream on top at any other time of the year, I would graciously decline.

Maybe it's the cold winter months.  This time of the year makes many people feel like eating and hibernating.  What better to indulge in than the happiness of holiday foods!

Nonetheless, no matter why we eat it, I'll always look forward to those holiday meals, treats and desserts that only taste their bests during this time of the year.

Merry Christmas Eve to you all!  I hope you have a wonderful, love-filled day.

Wanna Know Wednesday #46: I'm thankful for...

The big day is nearly here.  The kids are excited, Tim's asking one more time if he can open his gift early, I have cooking to do tomorrow and Friday, and a certain slowness is surrounding the house.  Time seems to slow down when you're waiting on something special to arrive/happen.  No matter how much you wish the days to speed away, they just will not oblige.

I had a fairly peaceful day yesterday.  I managed to do very little, including finishing a book I was reading.  I don't know how it happened, but it played out that way and I was very happy it did (after Monday's room cleaning & moving fiasco).

Today doesn't look too busy either.  However, tomorrow will start the craziness.  I'll get up early to cook a turkey & heat up dinner rolls to take to the in-laws' house. We'll have lunch and open gifts there before heading to my sister's house for dinner and more gifts.  After all of that, we'll come back home to make Santa's cookies, prep the reindeers' carrots, open one gift (I buy the kids new pjs every year to be opened on Christmas Eve), and then rush the kiddies off to bed.

Oh, and Tim will be getting his Christmas Day ham ready to smoke the next day.  It will be a busy, yet fun day.

With all the craziness, I'm glad I finished our shopping before now.  You couldn't pay me enough to go anywhere near a mall, grocery store, or the always busy Wal-Mart.  I hate crowds to begin with, but those last minute holiday shoppers can be downright spiteful if they think you're even thinking about the item their hands are reaching for.  Nope, not me!  You can keep that insanity all to yourself.  LOL!

Since it's the time of the year to reflect on happiness, love, and the people you cherish the most, here is my Wanna Know Wednesday for this week:

Christie is Most Thankful for--

1. Tim.  I love that man to pieces.  Probably far more than he'll ever fathom in his lifetime.
2. My babies.  These kids are spoiled, love to fight & argue, have the eye rolls down to a science, an yet I can't imagine life without them.
3. My health.  We should all be thankful that we're still here for one more day.
4. My home.  It may be small, but it's ours.  Well, as long as we keep those mortgage payments going out every month.  LOL!
5. My family.  I wouldn't know what to do without my mom, sister and grandmother.
6. My friends.  Both online and off, I have some of the most wonderful friends around.  You guys and gals are the best!
7. Creativity. Yes, I can be thankful for something that comes from myself.  LOL. I'm thankful for the fact that I can come up with stories over people enjoy and, dare I say it, love.
8. Books.  There's never a day that goes by that one book or another isn't on my mind for some reason.  Could be one of mine, or one I want to read, but there's always a book there somewhere.
9. Rex the Super Pup.  I didn't want an indoor dog, but I'm glad the kids & Tim convinced me.  He's a doll and a lot of fun to play with.
10. The internet!  For without this precious commodity, none of us would be HERE today.

Okay, that's if for today.  I hope you're not out there in the last-minute shoppers checkout lines, but if you are just know, I feel for you.  ;-)

I'm exhausted!

Oh goodness, it has been a busy few days.  Yesterday we spent the entire day cleaning the girls' rooms. Our older two girls share a room.  Well, we were planning to empty it out completely, clean the carpet, walls and baseboard before putting it all back.

It turned out that we weren't fated to have a day that easy.

The oldest has been begging for months to trade rooms with our youngest, therefore having her own room and the younger two would be sharing.  I finally gave in and that process was thrown in with the plans to just clean one room.  LOL!

We started before 10am and finally declared the day over a little after 6pm.  At the end of the day we'd clean two empty rooms from top to bottom, moved three girls' stuff back into their rooms, and two of them traded places.

It was exhausting!

At the end of the night the girls even exchanged the gifts they'd bought for each other.  They just couldn't wait any longer.  LOL!

Today, well, today I don't know about.  I'm still tired and would like to just have a quiet, easy day...  I know that won't happen though.  None of them can tolerate a day of nothing, especially Tim.  Something will happen, I don't know what, but something will.

Before I go, a little reminder that my December-Twitter giveaway will be ending soon.  If you haven't already entered, stop by and tell me what's on your holiday wishlist.  Use hashtag #wishlistforChristie and you'll be in the running for an autographed Alex & Fiona book.  :-)

Happy Tuesday!  I hope you have all of your holiday shopping done, or that you at least survive the hectic last minute shopping.  LOL!

It's finally the Friday before Christmas.

Happy Friday everyone!  It's a rainy one here this morning.  Seems like it's always raining here these days; reminds me of why I hate winter. 

Oooohhh, the online Christmas party was so much fun last night!  I want to thank everyone who came.  I had a blast talking to all of you.  Congratulations to Lisa S. for being the winner of an e-book copy of A Midnight Infatuation.  I hope you enjoy it!

The discussions last night were numerous, varied, and quite interesting....

Here's the list of conversation topics from last night's online party. Definitely not in order, since that would've been near impossible with all the drinking and the speed of the chat. LOL

Sex, Music, Sing-Alongs, Boob Jobs, Sex, Birthdays, Cats, Dogs, Sex Toys, Lingerie, Snow, Christmas Sluts, Cars, Alcoholic Beverages, Men on their knees for me (hi Larry!), Writing, Blogs, Sex, Money, Places Lived, Kids, Wrinkles, Botox and Age! Whew! I think that's about right.

I had a great time, and we'll definitely be doing it again.

Today is the last day of school for our older girls.  Turns out that my oldest has decided to never ride the school bus again.  I'll be picking them both up from school every day now.  It's okay though, I always hated riding the bus, and I didn't have the option to be picked up.

They will be out of school until January 6th, 2010.  Wow, 2010!  This year went by very quickly, and for the most part I'm glad its over.  I'm looking forward to the new year, new opportunities, fun, good times and great success on the work front.  I'm confident and excited about future prospects.  :-)

Ooohh, before I go, Tim's gift to me arrived yesterday!  He still hasn't received a shipping notice, nor has the order status updated on the Zales.com website.  So if anyone is ordering there, be forewarned.  Tim is quite relieved that it's here; he and the 4yr old wrapped it right away.  LOL.

Everything's done, ready and waiting for next week.  I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season no matter which holiday you celebrate.  Lots of hugs and wishes of happiness to you all. 

Thursday Thoughts #11: Time to party!

Good afternoon to all of you wonderful people!  I'm in a super cherry mood today.  The 4 yr old slept all night last night... and so did I!!  I'm feeling mighty fine today.  :-)  Not only that, but I finished the shopping for my Christmas dinner today.  Even got the stocking stuffers and cookie dough for Christmas Eve.  Everything is set, in order, and all-around ready for Santa's arrival.

Last night our oldest daughter had her first Quiz Bowl meet.  She had a great time, and I'm gad she did.  However, I was bored out of y ever-lovin' mind.  The younger girls were bored and hated sitting around for hours (I don't blame them one bit).  I didn't even take them into the rooms for the Quiz Bowl because they wouldn't be quiet.  So we sat out where no one was and let them dance, giggle, play and run around until big sis was done for the night.  It was nearly 8pm when we got home (and the 4 yr old goes to bed at 7).  We were all tired.

Well, today's the day for my Christmas party!  Woohoo!  Time to chat, drink and have a good time.  I'm sure most of you have already seen my previous entry with the details, or possibly the reminder I sent out on Facebook a while ago.  However, if you haven't, here they are again....

Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009
Time: 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Eastern
Where: Christie's ChatRoom

It's a Java chatroom, so don't be worried if a box pops up making sure your Java software is updated.  :-)
 
I hope to see you all there!  And remember, each guest will have their name entered to win a gift from me at the end of the night.  :-)
I hope you're having a fantastic Thursday!

Wanna Know Wednesday #45

Good morning.  Well, I was wrong yesterday.  Tim didn't receive his shipping confirmation last night for the gift he bought me.  And he's frantic.  Poor guy.  This probably wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that this is the first time, in the 15 years we've been married, that he's chosen a gift for me that I didn't pick out myself.  Usually I literally walk up to something, pick up, hand it to him and say, "Buy this."

Of course I did have to give him ideas, and point out some items I like in the stores, but he actually went online and bought it one evening while I was in the shower.  He came into the bathroom gloating that he'd done it and I don't know what it is.  LOL!  I love surprises like that.  :-)

Since the man barely knows how to do more than just check his e-mail a couple times a week, I had to sit down last night and find out what the problem was with his order.  Making sure not to look at anything more than just the order number, I contacted Zales for him.  Turns out he's ordered something "Special" so it takes a little longer to ship out.  However, Zales has a guarantee right now that if you ordered before today, the package WILL arrive before Christmas; that's the only reason he ordered it online.

So now he's a little calmer; I've informed him that he's too high strung; and maybe he'll stop worrying about it.  Geez, it's not like it won't get here eventually.  LOL!  There are still plenty of shipping days before Christmas. 

Anyway, hopefully his gift will arrive so that he'll feel better about it.  I can't wait to see what this "Special" item is that he's getting so worked up about.  :-)

Okay, it's Wanna Know Wednesday, again.  Only seven more weeks and then this series will be retired.  Some Wednesdays I just don't know what to list.  This week included.  LOL. 

10 Things I Plan to Do During the Rest of the Month

1. Watch the last of the holiday cartoons I enjoy.
2. Host my online Christmas party tomorrow.
3. Finish up the December-Twitter giveaway next week (have you entered?).
4. Go to my oldest daughter's first Quiz Bowl meet (tonight).
5. Cook, cook, cook!  Lots of that next week.
6. Have a 13th birthday party for my oldest (her b-day is the 30th).
7. Plan a 5th birthday party for the youngest (her b-day is Jan. 15th).
8. Clean house from one end to the other (while the kids are home to help).
9. Try not to lose my sanity.
10. Anything I can possibly do to stay busy, enjoy the holiday season, prepare for the new year, and try not to think about my manuscript sitting in the e-mail inbox of a New York editor.

Yep, that's about it.  I'll stay busy and have a good time.  One way or another!

Okay, I'm out.  The washing machine just stopped, so I need to throw in another load.  Keep your fingers crossed for the high-strung husband.  LOL!  Have a great day.  :-)

Christmas Party Details...

Happy Tuesday morning! What do you have planned for today? I can't believe it's almost Christmas. Tim's still waiting for the gift he ordered me to arrive via FedEx; and he's getting pretty anxious. I keep reminding the man that he still has plenty of time, but he's determined that if he ordered it last Thursday it should already be here.  LOL!

The poor guy has such a difficult time thinking of anything to get me for Christmas or birthdays, and this time he did it all on his own (I have no idea what it is, just that it's from Zales).  Now he's worried it won't arrive in time.  I'm sure all will be fine and that he'll receive a shipping e-mail by the end of today.

Speaking of Christmas...

I mentioned the other day that I'll be hosting my very first online Christmas party this week. Here are all the details!

• Date:  Thursday, December 17, 2009
• Time:  7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Eastern (maybe longer if we're partying hard, LOL)
• Where:  Christie's ChatRoom

We'll chat, sing songs, enjoy drinks and eats, and all from the privacy of your own home. Just use the link above, choose a username and enter (no password required). At the end of the night, one lucky guest will go home (log off) with a holiday gift from lil ole me.  :-)

When I have a chat people always have a great time. My LTTM ladies can attest to that. ;-)

I hope to see you there!

Now I'm off to get my Tuesday started and eat some breakfast.  Have a wonderful day and mark your calendars for the Christmas party!

It's the last week...

That is, it's the last week before the craziness of Christmas sets in.  People will be running around like headless chickens, searching for just the right last minute gift, and forgoing all traditional mannerisms and etiquette.  This is suppose to be the happy time of year, but each Christmas I discover that people are just plain mean when it comes to shopping.

Luckily, I have all of mine done, and I have no reason to be out in that craziness.  I'll stay in my safe little world where I can enjoy the excitement of my children without worrying that someone will run over them trying to get to the last video game, doll or bicycle on the shelf.

I wasn't planning for it to be, but this weekend turned out to be a very busy one.  Saturday was a non-stop go, go, go.  Tim wanted to go to town, and then when we got back, I sat down long enough to check emails and then I rushed off to take the oldest to see New Moon at the theater.  She's been begging to go, so we made it part of her birthday gift.  She'll be thirteen on the 30th.

I was actually surprised at how much better this movie was over the first one.  I've read all the books, but I found the first movie disappointing and lacking.  New Moon, on the other hand, was fast-paced and very good.  They cut out a lot of small parts, but only one of those parts really needed to stay.

All in all, we had a good weekend.  Oh, and I accomplished getting the girls to sit still long enough to take their Christmas picture yesterday.  I think it turned out very well.

Now it's time for a new week!  The older girls only have this last week of school left and they they're out for Christmas break.  I'll have them home for two weeks.  Eek!  LOL.  I don't plan on getting much, if any, work done while they're here.  However, I do plan on having a good time with my babies as they anticipate the arrival of Santa and beg to open presents early.  :-)

Lastly, don't forget about my first Online Christmas Party this Thursday.  I'll post all the details in tomorrow's entry, along with the link to the chatroom.  I hope everyone will be able to stop in and chat.  It'll be fun!

That's it for this morning.  Have a wonderful Monday and a fantastic week before Christmas!

Thursday Thoughts #10: It's just a reading...

Good afternoon everyone.  How has your Thursday gone?  I ended up spending half of my day in town, and I'd only planned on going to one place.  LOL. Oh well, all of my errands are done and I did finally make it home.

Today's blog entry is about something near and dear to my heart.  Through personal channels, I've received a promise to read from a New York publishing house editor!  Eek!  I'm very excited, but have to keep reminding myself, and the people around me, that this is only a promise to read... not a promise to publish.  Though I'd be more than thrilled with a promise to publish.  LOL!!

Normally this isn't the traditional route one takes when aiming to get a novel into a NY editor's hands.  Usually you have an agent first, then your agent handles the process of getting the novel into the right hands.  I would like to be overly excited and just KNOW that this is the beginning of big things to come, but I'm staying neutral, only a little giddy and maybe a touch jumpy.  LOL.  I don't want to be disappointed if it doesn't turn out to be something more than just a read.

Yes, yes, I know.  I WILL be disappointed, but I'll be less disappointed than if I were running around expecting the most from it.

Soooooo, all of you out there, keep your fingers crossed for Time for Death as it makes its way towards New York, and maybe even toward a life of book shelves!  ;-)
Have a great Thursday!

Wanna Know Wednesday #44

Good morning everyone.  Well, it's almost noon, but we're still in the morning.  How has everyone been?  I know I only missed posting yesterday, but it feels like it has been a week.  This is one of my daily enjoyments, so when I don't post it feels like my day just isn't complete, something's missing.  :-)

Yesterday was one hell of a day here.  With Tim being unemployed, finances ar becoming strained, especially with the holidays and upcoming birthdays.  Yesterday was a bad mail day for financial news.  I had a mental break down for about half an hour, I deserved that time.  Then afterwards I brushed off and started working on the situation.  Here we are, almost 24 hours later, and all has been worked out to our benefit.  Woohoo!

I'm in a much better mood today.  No tears at all, only a much cheerier disposition.  :-)

Let me see here, next Thursday is my online Christmas party.  I have it all set up and ready for the party.  Be sure to stop by next week for the link to the party.  We'll have a great time!

Don't forget about the Twitter giveaway.  It'll continue to Christmas Eve & then I'll chose a winner of an autographed Alex & Fiona book.  All the detail are on the website.  Stop by!

Since it's Wednesday, it's time for this week's Wanna Know Wednesday!  Today's topic is....

Books I've Read in 2009

1. Twilight  by Stephanie Meyer
2. Grave Surprise  by Charlaine Harris
3. New Moon  by Stephanie Meyer
4. Sunlight  by Moira Reid
5. Librarian by Day  Paige Tyler
6. Eclipse  by Stephanie Meyer
7. An Ice Cold Grave  by Charlaine Harris
8. Breaking Dawn  by Stephanie Meyer
9. Dead and Gone  by Charlaine Harris
10. Doomsday Can Wait  by Lori Handeland
11. Undead and Unwelcome  by MaryJanice Davidson
12. Real Murders  by Charlaine Harris
13. A Bone to Pick  by Charlaine Harris  (reading right now)

I highly recommend all of these books.  I enjoyed them all!  :-)

Okay, I'm out of here for today.  Tomorrow I'll be back with my Thursday Thoughts... it'll be about something exciting I found out yesterday.  Until then, have a fantastic Hump Day!

Online Christmas Party!

Who wants to party with me?  Technically, there aren't many of you who could physically party with me, but we can certainly party together online! 

On Thursday December 17, 2009, from 8pm - 10pm EST, I'll be hosting my very first online Christmas party.  Come, eat (your own food), and be merry with me!  Settle down in your comfy computer chair, have a glass of wine, and snack on some cheese and crackers while we chat, joke around, and just have a good time.  We might even sing some Christmas carols!!

At the end of the night, I'll give a Christmas gift to one lucky guest.  I'll post all the details close to time (where the chat is, log-in info, etc.).

Speaking of Christmas gifts, don't forget about my December-Twitter GiveAway that's going right now.  All the contest details are here, so pop by and tell me what your Christmas gift wish is for this year.  :-)

All righty!  Today's Monday, the start of a brand new week, and I get to go back to my writing work.  I'm very excited to pull out my manuscript of Time For Death, go over it once again and get it all ready to send out into the world.  I'm planning to have it sent off to several people by the end of the week.  Then it'll be time to jump back into Time for Battle to get it finished up.  I'm sure Liz'll be happy that I'm back to giving her the time of day.  LOL.

Speaking of Liz, one of my lovely beta readers informed me last week that she was going through "Liz withdrawls".  LOL!  Looks like I better hurry up with book 2 before she starts having seizures from the withdrawls.  ;-)

I'm of now.  I hope you all have a fantastic Monday.  I'm going to work until I have to pick the oldest up for her orthodontics appointment this afternoon.

*Smooches*

The day after the snow.

Good afternoon on this very chilly Sunday.  Have you missed me over the last three days?  It has been a busy weekend for us.  Friday night the kids went to my mother's house while Tim and I tried to finish up our Christmas shopping for the kids.  I have 1 more "Santa" gift and 1 regular gift, plus stocking stuffers to buy.  I also have a gift from the kids to Tim and their gifts to each other to buy.  Not too bad, but I am behind at this point in the game.

Then yesterday morning we woke up to snow on the ground.  It was just a light dusting, probably no more than a 1/4 inch, but it was snow nonetheless.  We don't get much of that around here.  :-)  And it only hung around for a few hours before the sunlight hit it and melted the tiny white flakes down into puddles.

I called to see if the kids were up and out playing in it, because it wouldn't be long before it melted.  They were though.  My mom took a bunch of pictures of them for me, so at least I didn't miss it.

Then later, we picked them up and planned a family outting.  The kids thought we were only going to see Santa, but afterwards we drove them across the street to the movie theater for a surprise showing of A Christmas Carol in 3-D.  Everyone had a great time and were very well-behaved.  The movie was good, but the 4 year old didn't enjoy the Ghost of Christmas Future part.  It was very dark and a bit scary for her.

While she covered her 3-D glasses with her small hands, I patted her leg and assured her that once this part was over everyone would be happy and bright.  She liked that idea and happily enjoyed the ending.

That brings us to today.  We went to visit the in-laws this morning, and had lunch with them.  And now we're back home.  The oldest is doing her laundry (because I have a rule stating that if they don't bring it to the laundry room then she has to wash them herself), Tim's playing Xbox, the younger two are watching cartoons, and I'm roaming around the internet trying to catch up on what I've missed.  LOL.

Tomorrow starts a new week, and thus, time for me to get back to work.  I took my week off and now I'm ready to get back into it.  Gotta make some money to make up for all the Christmas gifts I've purchased.  LOL.  Plus, my writing helps me with the seasonal "unhappiness" that always hits me during this time of year.

I'll be glad when Spring arrives.
I hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday.  No matter what you're up to today, take some time to relax and enjoy the people who love you most. :-)  I'm off to do just that!

Thursday Thoughts #9: Why Vampires & Werewolves?

What is it about vampires and werewolves that intrigue people?  They're both creatures of the night, which in and of itself is intriguing enough.  Darkness is scary, a time when all good boy and girls should be safely tucked into their beds with the covers pulled up to their ears, wondering if the boogie man was about to pop out of the closet at any second.  But there's also something sensual about darkness, something enveloping, something that brings out the curiosity in all humans.

Werewolves are monstrous, dangerous, some are ugly, but in their human form they're generally described as strong, large and handsome... well, at least the men are.  The mystery around how the full affects their body, changing them from handsome human to monstrous, blood-thirsty beast is more than most can handle.  However, for those who find it interesting and exciting, they're rewarded with an experience very few are presented with.

Vampires on the other hand are known for their higher intelligence, their long lifetimes, their smoothness in conversations.  They tend to glide through the night in such a manner that only a select few even know they exist, and most of those people won't live to tell about the encounter.

Danger is exciting.  The "bad boys" are sexually intriguing.  Even if the idea of blood drinking makes your stomach curdle, the thought of offering yourself up to someone so full of power, strength, control and sexual prowess is enough to make many people (women especially) weak in the knees.

So, why werewolves & vampires?  Because we lust after darkness, the desire to be controlled, the want to turn a "bad guy" good, and yet to be controlled by someone stronger, offering our minds and bodies up to them totally.  They don't even have to be handsome (does anyone really think Béla Lugosi was handsome?) to be the object of our affection.  Strength, control and the real need they have for us to keep them alive is enough. If they have good looks, then all the better!

I figured today's Thursday Thoughts would be something related to what I do.  I've always enjoyed a good vampire and werewolf movie.  I love the night!  I love the feeling of excitement and rush of adrenaline when you're way out past curfew... maybe that's why I was terrible about sneaking out as a teenager.  LOL!  Sorry, Mom.  Give the oldest a few years and I'm sure I'll get paid back.

It humors me to think of how the "Twilight saga" has gotten so many people excited, both young and old.  And yet, these same stories have been around for centuries.  It feels like our exclusive club of vampire lovers have been invaded by a new younger group willing to take over... even though they come nowhere near having as much knowledge on the subject as the older ever-loyal members. 

Most of the new members will move onto the next big thing once this is over, but there will be a select few who will take their new-found love of darkness with them throughout the rest of their existance.  Those will become the next leaders of the Vampire & Werewolf Loving Club.  To them, I thank you for reading, watching and helping to keep alive the genre that I adore the most!

Wanna Know Wednesday #43

Happy Hump Day everyone!  It's a wet, rainy, dreary day here this morning.  That didn't keep us from going out in it though.  LOL.  We had to get some groceries and run by the bank.  When I told the 4 yr old to get dressed she asked, "Do you know that it's raining out there?"  LOL!  She's such a ham.

We made it back though... maybe a littler wetter, but definitely safe and sound.  :-)

According to the Weather Channel, we'll have rain all day, clouds over the next four days, and a possibility of snow showers on Saturday.  That's pretty early for snow showers here in north Georgia.  Usually it's not until after the new year.  We'll see if it happens though.  Don't want to get the kids excited until we see fat flakes falling from the sky.

So, it's the time of the year that every time a parent takes their small children shopping (even just for groceries) we hear the phrases that won't stop until we leave the store...  "Can I have this?  Will you buy me this?  I want this!"

Holiday displays run amuck these days.  Kids have voices that live in a constant state of whining, begging, pleading for something, anything that's within the grasp of their small hands.

Yep, my 4 year old has joined the ranks of these holiday begging soldiers.  I've heard so many Oooohs and Ahhhhs and I want and I need and Buy me this and of course....  Pleeeeeease!  It's enough to make a parent pull their hair out.

In the holiday spirit of giving, today's Wanna Know Wedneday will be......

10 Gifts Under My Tree

1. 1600 Xbox Live Points
2. MP3 Player
3. Books
4. Journals
5. Strawberry Shortcake games
6. Twilight Jewelry box
7. Twilight Poster
8. Star Trek dvd
9. A Tupperware set
10. A photo calendar

There are more, and there are more to get.  These are just the first ten that came to mind.  All three children got books and I need to get them each a new pajama set.  We have a Christmas Eve tradition that they get to open one gift and it's always new pjs.  It's fun and they like to see what I've picked out for them.

Santa still has to make a trip to Toys R Us this weekend, too.  Then I'll be all satisfied with everything being ready for Christmas.  Of course, five days after Christmas is our oldest daughter's 13th birthday and two weeks later is our youngest daughter's 5th birthday.  I'll have to figure something out for their birthday gifts too.
This is a busy time of year, but I so love it.  The lights, the happiness, the fun and games, the parties, the time spent as a family... I love it all.  :-)

I'm off to do laundry now.  My monthly newsletter went out this morning, so I hope everyone on the list enjoyed it.  Thank you all for reading.  *Smooches*

Have a great Wednesday.

It's December. Time for another giveaway.

Good afternoon, lovely readers.  I hope your Tuesday is going fabulously.  It's a cold, dreary one here today.  The baby girl is definitely all better today, too. She's back to getting in trouble and demanding her way in the world.  LOL.

Since it's December 1st, I wanted to let you know that I'm holding a new giveaway.  During this month I'll be taking entries via Twitter for a random drawing on Christmas Eve.  All you have to do is use the hashtag #wishlistforChristie to tell me what your Christmas gift wish is.  You can read all the details on my website's Contests & GiveAways page, and in tomorrow's monthly newsletter.

Since this is my week off of writing work, I've felt kind of lost at what to do with myself.  I don't mind that feeling for a week, but definitely no more than that.  A week off is relaxing... more than that is unnerving.  LOL.

I started reading Real Murders by Charlaine Harris (Aurora Teagarden series) today.  I'm on chapter six and it's pretty good.  I don't find it as appealing as her Sookie Stackhouse or Harper Connely books, but it's flowing well enough that I'll keep going.  I'll be done with it by the end of the week and jump right into book 2, since I picked them both up at the library yesterday.

I like to get lost in a good book, and tend to read through them very fast when they're good.  I also like hearing from readers that my own books flow so quickly that they read them books in a matter of hours instead of days.  I know of at least two ladies who told me they received on of the books that morning and finished it that night.  LOL. 

Now I'm off to think about cooking dinner.  Tim was suppose to grill, but now he's not "feeling it".  We'll see...

Have a great evening!

One more day...

Welcome to the last day of November.  Boy, this year has gone by so quickly.  Just one more day and it'll be December, and the mad dash to the new year begins.

We woke up to a rainy Monday here.  That didn't matter much to me though.  Our youngest daughter came down with a nasty stomach bug late Saturday night and she was so sick all day yesterday.  She couldn't keep anything down, was running a fever, and ended up hanging out in my bed all day.  I hate when the kids are sick, especially when they're this young.  She couldn't even keep a cracker down yesterday.  :-(

However, this morning she woke (after sleeping all night) feeling much better.  After a small bout of dry heaves, she ate some oatmeal and drank orange juice... and it all stayed down! Yay!  Looks like it was just a 24 hour thing.  Thank goodness!

After a warm bubble bath, baby lotion, sweat shirt and pants, brushed hair and painted fingernails, she's feeling like a new 4 year old.  :-)  I'm so glad she's feeling better.  I have her in my room watching Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure right now.

Today marks the start of the one week that I take off after NaNoWriMo.  After such a strenuous month,  need one week to de-stress, feel normal again and catch up on housework.  Tim and I kicked off the day with some "alone time" while the baby was still asleep.  If you have to have a sick kid you might as well take advantage of them sleeping late.  ;-)

I'll finish up Christmas stuff this week, as well.  It's just a nice week to re-connect with the world and the stuff that makes me happy.  I even have a whole week of easy dinners planned so that I won't have to deal with much of that in the evenings.  Awwww, peace...

Okay, before I go I want to remind everyone that my monthly newsletter will be going out on Wednesday.  It will have all the details about my December-Twitter GiveAway.  Be sure to sign up & not miss this issue.

That's it for me today.  I'm off to play Xbox with Tim while the sheets are washing.  Before I know it the day will be over & I'll be off picking the big girls up from school.

Have a great day and an extraordinarily fantastic week.  :-)

Waking up a winner.

Good morning everyone.  I hope you're waking up to a wonderful day.  I went to bed and woke up this morning as a winner of NaNoWriMo.  I'm soooooo grateful that November is officially over for me now.  It's time to get back to my normal writing routine, and to tear what I've written over the last month to complete shreds.

Yep, I'm ready to dig in, tear it apart, throwit in the trash, shake it until it pukes, and just rip it to shreds.  And I'll be so happy to do so!

I'm ready to take a deep breath, sit back, and decide what lives and dies in this story, while also finishing it.  Hopefully it won't take me more than a few months to get it up to par, but we'll see.  However, for the next month I will not be focusing on this story.  I'll instead be sending Time For Death out for judgement.  I want to get it out there into the world so that I can come back to book 2 and focus only on it. 

There's nothing better than working on book 2 while waiting to hear back about book 1.  It helps keep your mind off the long days and nights of waiting for emails and snail mails arrive.  All while visions of great contracts and people loving your manuscript dance through your head.  Oh, wait.  That's Christmas stuff...

Anyway, before I start my day I just wanted to celerate that November is over, NaNo is over, and my story needs to be torn apart at the seams.  Yay!  LOL.

Happy Sunday!

I don't mind not knowing.

For someone who always plans, plans and plans everything I can posibly plan, writing is the one place where I don't mind not knowing where I'm going.  I really don't know where a story will go, or how it will end.  I'll find out when I get there.  The ending will arrive when it arrives.  I can't know where the characters are going until they go there and tell me about it.

That's the fun of writing like I do.  I get to sit back and let the story go where it may. 

I am sooooo glad that NaNoWriMo is nearly over.  I'm coming up on the 50,000 word goal for November, but the story is all rushed and... well, to be honest... It's crap!  Yes, yes, you've heard me say that all first drafts are rubbish, and they are, but I hate rushing a story just for the sake of a word count.  I like to let it linger, ferment, season over time as I get to know the characters and what they're up to.

I go into a story knowing just a small amount about what will happen, the jist of the story, I suppose.  Most of the time the idea starts out as a handwritten note consisting of a few sentences to a couple of paragraphs... and that's it.  I work from that and weave something out of those small snippets of the characters' futures.

Basically, I'm whining about the fact that once this month is over, the story I'm working on right now will have to be rewritten in its entirety just so that I can go slower, make more out of it, and fix the bullshit that's only there because it came to me and I didn't have the time to turn it into something good. 

Yep, I'm feeling very unhappy with the overall flow of the story right now. 

There are some scenes that I absolutely love.  Those will be kept, of course.  However, there are a lot of scenes that I abhor!  Those will be deleted, changed, cut, burned, castrated, and stomped to bits and pieces while I cackle in that evil take-over-the-world kind of way.  Hey!  Come to think of it, that actually sounds kind of fun!

In the end, I think that I'll link myself to this entry so that next year I can look back on it and remember why I didn't want to do NaNoWriMo to begin with this year and will make sure that Tim reminds me to refuse next year.

I like the writer that I am and will stop screwing up my process every time the month of November rolls around.  That's it, after I meet goal this year, I'm warding off NaNoWriMo.  Thanks for the ride, but I'm done.

I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day yesterday.  We all ate too much, had loads of fun, and even put up our Christmas tree.  I will NOT be out in the Black Friday mess today.  If you read this blog regularly you know that I hate crowds.  I'll be right here, doing my daily word count, wrapping gifts, and enjoying the time with my family.  No deal is good enough for me to leave that!  LOL.
Have a great Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thursday Thoughts #8

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving Day!  It's a day for rest, relaxation, enjoying your loved ones, and pigging out on enough food to feed you for a week.

We're going to my sister's for Thanksgiving lunch today.  I usually take the holiday, but she & her new hubby moved into a new house a few months ago and she wanted to host.  I wasn't about to complain that someone wanted to cook for ME for a change.

I figured I'd post this morning because I'm sure I won't feel like it this evening after all the food and Christmas decorating.  The kids will want to be lazy and watch movies, and I'll be right there enjoying the peace with them.

With a day all about being thankful, today's Thursday Thoughts will be all about what I'm thankful for this year.  Sure, there are days when things don't go quite right, and we feel less than happy with the world around us.  But on days like this, we have to look around and remember how happy and loved we are.

Even when the kids are screaming, fighting, and driving us up a wall.  Even when the spouse can push our buttons from dawn to dusk.  Even when the phone rings non-stop and all we want to do is go back to bed.  Even when everything piles up on us and we aren't sure that we can take another day of nonsense...

That's when we need to look around and be thankful for what we do have, who loves us, and who we love.

I'm thankful for a mother who happily takes the kids off my hands every other Friday.  I'm thankful for the husband who has loved me every single day since June 1993.  I'm thankful for my girls, who make me laugh even when I feel like exploding.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to have a job that I enjoy.  I'm thankful for my health and happiness... even when I'm dealing with a migraine and feeling quite unhappy.

I'm thankful for so many things every day.  I only wish that everyone could see through the negativity of the world around them and find the good.  There are so many negative people in the world that some days it's difficult to be happy with ourselves. 

So take today and do just that.  Be happy, be thankful, be the you that you want to be.  Ignore the naysayers and be cheerful!

Now, I'm off to get my babies dressed and head out to enjoy Thanksgiving Day.  I hope you enjoy yours!

Wanna Know Wednesday #42

Since it's the day before Thanksgiving, I figured it'd be a good day to share some of our favorite Thanksgiving Day foods.  I was busy this morning making sure that everything on my end was ready for tomorrow.  Normally I'd be hosting the holiday, but my little sister wanted to do it, and who was I to complain?  LOL. 

We have a small family (only 9, and 5 of them are in my house, LOL), but we always fix enough food to eat on for days.  LOL.  Here is our menu list for tomorrow.

1. Roasted Turkey
2. Mashed Potatoes
3. Gravy
4. Dressing
5. Cranberry Sauce
6. Deviled Eggs
7. Homemade Rolls
8. Green Beans
9. Jello Pie
10. Pecan Pie

I'm sure there'll be more, but I can't think of them right now.  LOL.  There's always such a spread that we eat lunch, and then everyone takes home enough to eat laterfor dinner.  When I host, there's also enough for the five of us to eat on the next day too.  It's a lot of food!  But it's a lot of fun.

Today has turned out to be a better day than yesterday was.  The sun is even shining!  I woke up with the 4 yr old cuddle up next to me because she was cold.  She hasn't done that in months.  We made breakfast before Tim went to work with his dad and the girls and I went shopping.

I had to pick up some things that I need for tomorrow and next week, cause I'm not leaving the house during the Black Friday craziness if I can help it.  LOL.  When we got home I made a dozen deviled eggs and one Jello pie.  Then we had lunch and sat down to watch a dvd.  I like it when the girls are engrossed in a movie and I can do whatever without interruption.  :-)

Right now they're watching Hoodwinked and I'm writing this.  When I get off here I'll get to work on today's NaNo word count before Tim gets home.

Tomorrow we'll go to lunch at my sister's and then back here to put up the Christmas tree and wrap gifts.  It'll be nice.  :-)

All right, that's it. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.  I'll be back tomorrow (when I have time) to talk about what we're thankful for.  Lots of love to you all!  *Smooches*

Last day for this week

Morning all.  Welcome to Tuesday.  Today is the official end to this week.  The big girls only had two days of school this week and then five days off for Thanksgiving.  I'll get to sleep past 5:50 am for the next five days.  Yay!

Things are coming along nicely with the NaNo novel.  I won't be finished when I hit 50K words, but the storyline has picked up and I'm satisfied with it as a first draft.  Liz has had quite the turbulant life since discovering her vampire parentage.

I know this is a short entry, but Tim's off working with his dad and the youngest is eating lunch, so I must get some work done while it's quiet in the house.

I hope all of you U.S. friends and family have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Enjoy the time with your family, and even when they drive you completely batty, remember to be thankful that they love you.  :-)

Furniture & dinner rolls up to my elbows.

Good afternoon to you all.  It has been a rainy, yet very productive Sunday around here.  Tim woke up with a headache so we stayed home instead of visiting with his parents (which is perfectly fine with me).  However, I'm not the kind of person who will just sit around all day.

I had the girls doing chores while I started in on the living room.  We spent half the day emptying the room out, cleaning everything, and then rearranging everything as we put it all back into the room.  There is a whole new layout now.  Not too sure if I like it yet, but it'll do for now.

In the meantime, I've had the breadmachine doing its thing all day.  As of right now, I've made three batches of dinner rolls.  One will go with our dinner tonight (stew) and the other two will go into the freezer for Thanksgiving Day.  Yum!  It's quite difficult keeping the kids away from them when I want to build up a freezer stash.  LOL.

Right now it's just after 3:30pm.  This weekend has gone by super fast, but it has been very productive and a lot of fun.  The rain and darkness makes me want to turn on Christmas music, light some good smelling candles, and wrap presents in the living room floor.  Too bad we don't put our tree up until Thanksgiving night.  :-)

I'm waiting on the last batch of rolls to finish rising and then I'll start dinner.  In the meantime, I'm going to get some novel writing done and hopefully get closer to catching up my word count for NaNo.  The month is nearly over, but I've got a fresh set of plot ideas to finish the rest of my word count out with. The story won't be finished (very few ever are at only 50K), but I will reach word count.  :-)

I hope you're having a lovely Sunday and ready for a new week.  Those of you in the U.S. will be enjoying a short week, too!  :-)

What do you want for a holiday gift?

Hello out there!  What's everyone up to lately?  It's been very quiet here on the blog lately.  And I know you're still reading.  LOL.

I have a single question for all of you out there.  What do you want as a holiday gift this year?  Sure, we all have a list of things we'd like to have, but what is the ONE thing you want the most?  No, I probably won't be buying it for you, but I do feel that when you put what you want out into the universe there's a better chance that you'll get it at some point.  :-)

It's actually a difficult question for most of us.  To narrow our mental lists down to one single item is hard.  Especially when you look at that list and say, "No, that's not as important as this.  But I'd like to have this more than that.  Oh wait, what about that one?"  So which one comes out on to when you have to choose only one?

I won't share mine until tomorrow because I don't want to influence other people.  I want to hear what YOU want.

Since we're talking about the holidays...

Last night was date night.  Tim and I had sooooo much fun.  Usually we stay home and grill out, or we'll go see a movie & grab something quick to eat on the way home.  But last night we went out on the town, dressed up and everything.  Woohoo!  I even wore make-up.  LOL.  Those who know me personally know that I don't wear make-up very often at all.  Maybe once a month... at most!

To those on my Facebook page helping me decide what to wear last night:  I went with black dress pants, a purple-colored dress shirt, black high-heeled boots, black sweater jacket with earrings and matching bracelet.  Oh, and yes Tammy, I totally went naked under my clothes!  Hahaha!

We dropped the kids off and then went straight to Chattanooga.  Since the roads were crowded with work traffic, we decided to go eat first.  It was sooooo nice being able to sit and actually enjoy a meal without the rush of having all three kids with us.  You know how they say you'll fill up faster when you actually CHEW your food?  Well, it's 100% true.  LOL!  We were both stuffed.  And my first strawberry margarita (I've only had regular ones up to now) was super YUMMY.  I didn't even know they would put sugar instead of salt around the glass rim until the bartender asked me which I wanted. 

After dinner we hit the mall and I lost myself in Barnes & Noble.  I so love bookstores.  I could spend all day in a bookstore that size.  And yes, Tim had to go see if my books were on the shelves.  Hahaha!  Surprisingly there was one complete set sitting there.  Amazing!  Most of the time people have to order them if they want them from a particular brick & mortar store.  I thought about signing them to give the next buyer a little surprise, but figured they wouldn't know if it was really me or someone forging me.  LOL.  So I just put one of my cards in each one.  :-)

I did manage to find two lovely journals for the older girls before we went out and walked around the mall.  We didn't buy a single thing after that, but it was fun.

After that we headed back toward home, stopping off for a bottle of wine on the way.  We got here a little after 8pm and spent the rest of the evening watching movies and enjoying our time together.  It was super nice.

Now that I've bored you enough for one day...  I hope you're having a fabulous Saturday.  It's beautiful and sunny here, so I'm going to go enjoy more of it while I have the opportunity. 

Love to you all!

It's date night in the Silvers Household.

Happy Friday everyone!  Today will be a fantastic day, I'll be my happy-go-lucky self (gotta make up for yesterday), and Tim is taking me out tonight.  Woohoo!

It's Mom's night to have the kids; I'll be taking them to her when the oldest gets home from school.  Then Tim and I will be heading to Chattanooga for an evening out.  First we'll have dinner at Famous Dave's (a yummy BBQ place we like) and then we'll go over to Hamilton Place Mall for some Christmas shopping that I can't get done down here.  I need to hit Barnes & Noble up there since all of our bookstores appear to have closed down here.

I'm getting the older girls brand new journals for Christmas and I can't find any good ones here.  I didn't see any I liked on Amazon either, but the B&N website shows a lot of pretty ones.  So we'll do that.  And afterwards we'll come home to watch some Netflix movies, enjoy the peace and quiet, and enjoy each other... tremendously!  ;-)

This morning however, I have lots of writing to do, since I'm way behind on my NaNo word count... still.  I have no doubt that I'll finish (I'm not a quitter), but it'll be a rush to the end in those last few days.  I'll be sequestered in my bedroom with death threats to anyone who dares to knock.  Seriously, there will be dire consequences in those last few days.  Fear of bodily harm will be practiced by all.  LOL!

Tim knows how I am when I'm on a deadline and I'm rushing to meet it.  This isn't his first rodeo with me.  He can't leave me alone up to those last days, but when it comes right down to that point he has a deep rooted fear of death by my hand.  I know how to use every tool in this house and have no problem fashioning some of my own, if need be.  LOL.

Nonetheless, today I'll do laundry and work.  Tonight we'll be kid-less and out on the town.  Then back home for drinks, movies, and dare I say it... NOOKIE!  Oh yeah, baby!  ;-)

So that's my Friday plans, what about yours?  What will you be up to today/night?  Whatever it is, I hope you have a great day and enjoy every bit of it. 

Thursday Thoughts #7: Why bother?

Morning all.  Today will be a brief Thursday Thoughts rant.  If you're not in the mood for that, then turn away now. 

Here I go:

If you know someone doesn't like you, enjoy your "attention" on them, doesn't want you around them or their family, why, oh why, would you send them a friend's request on places like Facebook?  I'm serious here.  My personal stalker seriously sent me a friend's request on Facebook yesterday.  I don't get it.  You know I can't stand the ground you walk on, so why bother?  I happily, yet confused in the process, denied your request and will deny your request no matter when you send it.

I check all friend's requests on all of my social networking sites.  I don't automatically add, approve, or follow anyone on any of these sites.  I will always go to the requestor's page and check them out.  Spammers won't get by me an neither will people I don't want to associate with. 

So stop!  How many times do I have to say this?  Just stop.  It's been almost a year now, and I certainly don't like you anymore today than I did a year ago.  Or sixteen years ago, for that matter.

Why bother?

Okay, so techinically that wasn't a short entry, but I warned you ahead of time that it was all a rant.  It's been cloudy and dreary around here lately, and that makes me antsy and "down".  I apologize to those of you who came by for the cheerful Christie, but she's not here right now.  However, I am grateful for the times Tim tells me I look hot.  That can make any girl feel better.  ;-)  Well, as long as it comes from the right person.  >:-(

I hope your day is happy and productive!

Wanna Know Wednesday #41

Good morning. It's another cloudy day here in north Georgia.  Yesterday was quite dreary, but tolerable  suppose.  We had a day at home where I cleaned and just had an easy-going day.  Then after the kids got home fro school we went to visit Tim's mom.  She's in a regular room and the doctors are talking about sending her home on Friday.  We'll see how that goes.

On the way to the hospital, Tim pointed out some vehicles he pines over.  He's always quite vocal about the things he wants, but will most likely not have.  You know, we all have those desires, but we know that a $100,000 car is generally out of the budget for most of us.  Me, well I'm not as vocal about my nonsensical desires as he is, but I did mention that I, too, would like many things. 

Some of my wants are tangible, and will happen.  While others are pure fantasy.  Nonetheless, here is my top ten list that I recited when he asked, "And what do you want?"

1. A new car.
2. A bigger house.
3. The body I had when I was 16 (yeah right!).
4. Firmer boobs (goes along with that16yr old, pre-childbirth body).
5. An e-book reader (currently saving for this one).
6. For him to surprise me with shiny gifts from time to time (never gonna happen).
7. My own deserted island.  I'd live so happily away from people as long as I had internet & cell service.
8. New carpet for the house.
9. A bigger laundry room.
10. A new set of living room furniture.

See?  Some are plausible, some will happen, and others are pure fantasy.  Nevertheless, we're all allowed to dream, want, desire things.  We all just need to know when our wants are simply something we fancy and when they're something we can work hard to obtain.  And no, Tim will never get one of those $100,000 cars.  Even if I had that kind of money I refuse to spend more money on a car than we paid for our house.

So anyway, it's Hump Day and I'll be hanging out here at home for most of the day.  I have the second load of laundry in the washer and need to do two days of writing for my NaNo novel (since visiting his mom screwed up my schedule yesterday).

Have a wonderful day!

Ooops! I missed Monday.

Morning, morning, morning!  Tuesday started with me hitting the snooze button twice before realizing that I'd already hit it once.  When I finally crawled out of bed I discovered that my cell phone was dead and a text message I'd sent to Facebook at 4pm yesterday showed up at 1am last night.  LOL.  No, I was not picking up the oldest, nor was Tim seasoning salmon to grill at 1am.

Yesterday was quite the laid back day around here.  I suppose I could have found a few minutes to blog, but I was wrapped up with Tim, doing laundry, and just enjoying the sunshine while I could.  After picking the kids up, we grilled out dinner and then when the youngest went to bed I plugged my ears and wrote for two hours.

It was just a simply day around here.

Oh, and after four days in the ICU Tim's mom was moved out into a regular hospital room yesterday.  They say she's doing better and her oxygen levels are back up.  She says she's determined to quit the smoking, and I hope that's th truth.  However, we heard that when they put on portable oxygen a year ago.  They'll both have to do it for either of them to succeed.  Hopefully they'll do it this time.

Today...  Well today I will be doing my NaNo writing early in the day so that I can watch V when it comes on tonight.  The NaNo story is coming along nicely, though it certainly won't be done when it hits 50,000 words.  I'm only on chapter 9 after all.

Speaking of my work, I received another glowing review from a reader of A Midnight Infatuation yesterday (shout to Sherie!).  I love when readers let me know how much they're enjoying the books.  It definitely makes my day worthwhile.  :-)  Writers are only human and we want to know that our work is enjoyed by others.

Okay, Tim is about to take the kids to school.  I better go make the youngest some breakfast.  I hope you have a beautiful day, and I'll see you back here tomorrow. 

How I write, on this sunny Sunday morning.

Good morning to all you wonderful ladies and gentlemen reading this.  I hope you've had one fabulously extraordinary weekend.  Mine has been pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Yesterday our oldest daughter had her very first school dance.  It was very sweet, and really only the tip of the iceberg for her.  She's in 7th grade and this was a two hour "social" at school.  She wore jeans, a black t-shirt, black heeled boots, and her jean jacket.  I fixed her hair and put her very first full face of make-up on.  She was so excited.

There was no date for this dance.  She met up with all her friends, and from what I hear they had a fantastic time.  She even brought a friend home when I picked her up.  We ended up with a sleepover buddy, but they were very well-behaved and had fun. 

I had a great writing day yesterday.  Today, once I find the time to write, I'll hit the halfway point.  25K here I come!  I can't believe the month is half over.  I wasn't even planning to do NaNo this year, so it's no wonder that I probably won't be finishing early this year.  However, I know I will at least finish on time.  Woohoo!

I love how a story starts out one way, you have an idea of how it's all going to go, and them *WHAM* it takes a turn you weren't expecting and the entire story changes.  I had a character in this story who was going to be a helper in the story.  However, things went dark and he's actually turned into the bad guy!!  Eek!  I wasn't expecting that one!  It's very exciting to see where my characters go and down what paths they'll take me.

I'm a character driven writer.  I let them take the lead in a story.  I have an "idea" of what the story will be about, or what the ending will be, but I never know how my characters will create the ending.  I couldn't imagine being the type of writer who plots the entire story out from beginning to end.  I actually tried to do that once and the story went so far off of my story outline that I couldn't believe I'd even tried it that way.

One thing that I love about being this kind of writer is the fact that even I don't know what will happen next.  I've had moments with all of my books where I will literally say out loud, "Wow! I wasn't expecting that to happen."  Tim just looks at me like I'm nuts, but it's true.  LOL.  I really didn't know that was going to happen next until my fingers type it out.

So anyway, that's how it works for me.  I let the characters take me where they may and I'm simply along for the ride.  :-)

Right now I have banana bread in the oven.  Once it's done, I have to get dressed, take the oldest's friend home, and head to the hospital to visit Tim's mom. 

She's still in intensive care, with no hint of when she'll be moved to a regular room.  They're saying this hospital visit will be a long one for her, and the doctors were even discussing life support wishes with both her and FIL.  And when we were up there Friday, the nurses had been discussing the option of putting a breathing tube down her throat.  It doesn't sound good to me.

I'm off!  If anyone wants fresh banana bread, come on over!  There'll be plenty for sharing.  :-)  Have a great day!

Eek! It's Friday the 13th!!

It wasn't until about an hour ago that I actually realized that today was Friday the 13th.  LOL.  Maybe that's a good sign that I'm not too worried about it.  Just the other day I hit 666 friends on my Facebook page.  I was screaming, "Send someone to me in a hurry!" to all of my friends.  Of course I survived and made two new friends in a matter of minutes.  I announced to my worried few, "Crisis averted with two new friends!  Whew!  Thought I was a goner there for a minute!"  Everyone had a good laugh and I had new friends. 

I'm not very superstitious, as you can tell.  LOL.

Though technically, I get many new friends on Facebook every single day; I never stay at any set number for very long.  Twitter followers are starting to pick up as well, even though I'm not on there as often as Facebook.  My Twitter page is over 200 followers behind my Facebook friends.  So if you're on Twitter and not following yet, pop on over and say hi.  I always follow back, as long as you aren't a spammer or distributor of porn.  I might write smokin' sex scenes in my books, but I still my personal ideals.

On a different note, Tim's mom is in the hospital again.  She was taken via ambulance yesterday afternoon while I was waiting at school pick-up.  Tim texted me to let me know, so I told him to bring the youngest to me if he wanted to go along.  However, he didn't want to go and we waited for his dad to call with news later in the evening.

His mom has been on oxygen with asthma and all sorts of meds for a while now.  The doctors told her she needed to quit smoking.  She's had heart issues too.  Has she stopped that nasty-ass habit in order to improve her health??  Of course not!  It really irks me when people know stopping will improve their quality of life and yet they still keep doing it.

Anyway, she was placed in intensive care last night, will be there all day today and tonight, and then we'll see where they're at tomorrow.  We're going up to visit this evening, after the kids get home from school.  I hate hospitals!  I even hated them when I was there giving birth to all three girls.  Hate it!

That's my day thus far.  I've actually had a good day and will do some writing when I head off to pick-up in a bit.  We bought groceries this morning and I picked up a few Christmas gifts that I didn't order online last night.  My oldest now has several Twilight/New Moon items to look forward too.  And the 4 year old graciously pointed out every single toy in the story and declared, "I want that!  Can I have that?"

Oops, I hear that both the washer & dryer have stopped.  Guess I'll go change out laundry before packing the laptop up and heading out.  Have a fabulous Friday the 13th!