And we're off...

*Yawn*

Morning. It's finally Thursday. We'll be leaving in a few minutes to make our way down to Tybee Island. It's a six hour drive, so we should make it by lunchtime, even with pitstops and bathroom breaks.

Last night I ended up being up alone after Tim fell into bed at 8:30pm. LOL. I still had two loads of laundry to tend to from everyone taking showers before bed. Tim asked me how I could still be so awake after getting up so early. I replied, "It's a mom thing. We can't pass out until everything that needs to be done is done." Ain't it the freakin' truth?!

I ended up watching Stepbrothers on Netflix Instant Play while the laundry was drying and then finally making it to bed at 11pm. *Yawn*

Okay then, I'm shutting the laptop down now. Time to get the kids into the van while Tim downs an Amp for the first driving shift (we take turns). Have a great weekend and I'll be back Sunday with pictures to share. :-)

Oh, and if you're a friend on Facebook, you'll probably see updates from time to time during the trip. :-)
http://www.facebook.com/christiesilvers

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The winner is....

After a random drawing (read: names on tiny pieces of paper, in a jar, & 1 drawn out by the hand of my lovely 4 yr old), congratulations to Jenn P. for being the winner of an autographed mini-poster of A Midnight Infatuation!

I hope that you'll enjoy the poster. It's just a gorgeous cover. I have one of my own framed and hanging in the livingroom (along with the other two).

Wanna Know Wednesday #25

Good morning all. Yes, I'm up super early this morning. I couldn't sleep after Tim left at 4:30a.m. After tossing around for 40 minutes, I finally just got up and popped in a Netflix movie. This morning's movie of choice: Cloverfield. It's interesting. I won't say good or bad, since I'm not that far into it, but it's interesting.

Today is the day that I pick the winner of my July Give-Away. I'll choose the winner at noon (EST) via a random drawing of the entried. If you've entered, Good Luck! If you haven't entered, the entry form will still be available on my website until 11 a.m.

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

I'm so glad it's finally Wednesday. Tomorrow morning we'll be driving toward the beach by this time. I still have a lot of packing to do today, and will be making sure all the laundry is washed up and put away. In the morning I'll have to pack all the cold foods/drinks into the cooler right before we leave, but the pantry foods are already bagged up and ready to go.

Thank goodness for my lists! I'm a big list maker. Without them I'd be completely lost. I didn't use to make lists, but with each child born I was more inclined to forget things. Thanks kids! LOL. So now I make random, long lists. Groceries, the weekly to-do list, vacations, holiday menus, holiday gifts, and even our vow renewal. All with lists. Hell, I even have a list of all the movies I've watched this year and the books I've read; just because I wanted to see how many at the end of the year.

Since I'm a list person, here's this week's Wanna Know Wednesday!

10 Things I'll Be Doing On Vacation

1. Relaxing
2. Tanning
3. Listening to the waves
4. Playing with the girls
5. Sightseeing
6. Drinking (oh yeah!)
7. Celebrating Tim's sterility. LOL!
8. Eating fresh seafood from the docks.
9. Just watching the ships going by
10. Having a great vacation!

Okay, that's it for this morning. I'll stop by later to announce the contest winner. I'm going to finish watching this movie and then start the laundry and packing. The girls will start waking up as soon as the sun rises, so that gives me about an hour of quiet.

Have a great day!

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Time to Celebrate

Good morning all. Tuesday is just Tuesday. Nothing special, or planned for today. Maybe that'll mean I'll have a productive day. :-)

Yesterday was quite eventful though. I did just as I said and waited until after lunchtime for the urologist's office to call. When the phone hadn't rung by 1pm Tim told me to go ahead and call them. I did, but the recording said they were out to lunch until 1:30. Not only that, but the recording said that the doctor was out of the office until next Monday. ACK! I was heartbroken at the thought that we wouldn't find out the results of his lab work until next week. :-(

However, I called back again at 2pm, and went into my lovely, sweet Christie-mode. The receptionist helpfully transferred me to the nurse where I ended up leaving a message with all the details. The receptionist's idea was that maybe the doctor had already signed off on the lab results (because she did confirm that the fax had arrived safely) and that maybe the nurse could tell me the results.

I left the message and then waited. It was two hours later, and no phone call, when Tim was on his way from work. We always talk on the phone during his hour drive each day, and then the other line beeped! Woohoo!

The nurse told me who she was and let me know that the doctor wasn't in the office, and hadn't signed off on the lab results, BUT she was happy to go ahead and tell me that the lab results showed that Tim is all clear! Yay! Woohoo! Party time!!! I'm so giddy I could scream! We've waited 3 MONTHS for this.

After I hung up with her I clicked back over to the other line and told Tim the good news. :-)

We will now happily celebrate his sterility as often as the mood strikes, and with no consequences. Woohoo!

Now that all that's over with, today is the last day to enter my autographed poster give-away of A Midnight Infatuation. I'll be drawing the winning name tomorrow so that I can get it shipped out to the winner before we leave Thursday. Go enter before it's too late!
http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

No one had any thoughts on me doing a monthly video blog entry yesterday. I still don't know if that would be something you'd like to see. I'll see about doing one when school starts back and the house is quieter. It should be interesting and new. We'll see.

I'm off to get the rest of the house cleaned. Tomorrow I have to run errands in preparation of us leaving, and I won't have time to clean. I don't like coming home to a dirty house after a trip, so I make sure it's spotless beforehand.

Have a good day!

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Should I Vlog once a month?

Morning all! Welcome to another brand new week. How was your weekend? Ours went very well. Tim and I had lots of fun and relaxation over those four days. However, now it's time for the new work week and relaxation is out the window.

I can happily say that my nasty headache is still gone. Woohoo! Here's hoping that it doesn't come back anytime soon.

We have vacation in just a few more days. Early (very early) Thursday morning we'll be packing the sleeping kids into the van and driving for six hours to our favorite place in the world--Tybee Island, Georgia. I cannot wait to be sitting on the beach, watching the kids dig in the sand, and tanning to my hearts content. Awwww! It'll be awesome; it always is.

Okay, so I've been considering doing a once a month video blog. I'll probably wait until school starts so that the house is quieter. LOL. However, I'm curious to see what you guys think about it. So? Would you like to see me rambling along on video once a month? Or should I just stick to rambling in words on the screen?

Today's going to be a long day. I have a lot to do in preparation of vacation, and just general everyday stuff. Not only that, but I'll be waiting for the urologist to call about Tim's lab results. He has until lunchtime to call and then I'll be calling them when they get back into the office. We want to know before vacation. ;-)

Ooohh, a big congratulations to Amber from New Mexico. She was the winner of her very own autographed copy of A Midnight Infatuation. Saturday's contest on Robin Renee Ray's website was a lot of fun. I enjoyed all the comments/questions that everyone left. :-)

Now there's only 2 more days until I draw the winner of the autographed mini-poster. If you haven't already entered for your chance to win, now is definitely the time to do so. I've had a lot of entries, but there's still plenty of room for more.

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

Well, I better get going. Laundry won't wash itself. :-)

Have a great day!

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Time to give away a free book!

Welcome to Saturday! Today's the big day for everyone to enter for a chance to win your very own autographed copy of A Midnight Infatuation. All you have to do is stop by Robin Renee Ray's website and leave a comment/question/Hello to my newest interview.

http://robinreneeray.webs.com/apps/blog/show/1444125-christie-silvers-interview-giveaway-contest-#comments

It's super easy! There have already been several comments, and I'm going to be keeping up with it all day to answer questions and respond to comments. Stop by and check it out.

Don't forget that my mini-poster give-away ends next week. If you haven't entered for your chance to win, stop by and do it today. You never know when your name will be the one chosen.

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

Now that those are out of the way, I'm guessing that some of you are curious about how the lab situation went yesterday. LOL.

Mom had the girls for last night, so at least we didn't have to explain to them what was in the plastic cup and why we had to rush it to the hospital. LOL!! It was 5:20pm when we left the house and headed to the lab. We got there and had to fill out paperwork at the front desk. Then they sent us back to the lab where I had to fill out a very interesting form with the following questions:

1. How was sample collected? ____________ (Masterbation, i.e.)
2. What type of container? _____________ (Plastic, Glass)
3. What time was sample collected? _________
4. What time was sample submitted to lab? ____________

And a few other questions with name and age, and such.

I couldn't help but giggle when I saw the first question on that paper. LOL. I looked at Tim and he kind of just shrugged and roamed around behind me. I simply wrote "SEX" in the blank and moved on. Hahahaha! Later that night we were laughing about it and joking that I should have put, "A little bit of this & a little bit of that." Hahahaha!!!

After all that was finished I texted my friend Shannon with a Woohoo! It's done! Now we just wait until Monday for the doctor to let us know the results.

Some people think it's funny that I'm so excited about this, but seriously, it took me YEARS to convince this man to do this. And it took and "Oh shit!" moment back in February before he'd consider it. Oh, that and the fact that one of his friends had it done and he didn't DIE. *eyeroll*

I'm ready to be out of the baby birthing part of our lives and get into the enjoying our lives mode. Woohoo! So yes, I am excited, and I can't wait to hear that he's all clear Monday. :-)

After sample submission, we went to the movie theater and saw the new Transformers 2 movie. It was awesome. We used one of my Buy 1, Get 1 Free movie ticket coupons, so we only spent $8.50 there. Yay!

Okay, I better get going for today. I have laundry to do and Mom will be bringing the girls home soon. It's quiet in the house right now, and quite nice. Tim is going out to change the oil in the van in preparation for our trip next week. And we're planning to go swimming later. Should be a nice day. :-)

Stop by the contests today. Don't forget! ;-)

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Welcome to Friday. Today's the day!

Good morning all. So did you miss me yesterday? I took the entire day away from the computer just in an attempt to get rid of that nasty headache I'd had for two weeks. Tim was even threatening to take me to the hospital if it didn't go away. Ack!

However, after lots of meds, rest, and half a day spent with our electric neck massager, the headache finally left me be. Woohoo! I was so glad to see it go.


Yesterday afternoon I ws feeling decent enough that we went ahead and bought groceries for the next week and made my weekly bank deposit. That leave today open and empty.... until this evening!

For anyone who is here on the blog reading this entry (instead of through email, Facebook, or some other RSS reader), you can see that the countdown ticker at the top of the page has reached "Today is Analysis Time! Woohoo!!!" Yay!!! Today is the day that Tim needs to give his sample in order to make sure the vasectomy worked. Of course we won't know the results until next Monday.

The lab tech I talked to about it said that they'd know right away when we dropped off the sample, but they aren't allowed to tell us the results because of patient privacy laws about medical records and such. Sooooo, we have to wait and get the news from the urologist on Monday. I'll be giving them until lunchtime Monday to call either Tim or I, and then it's on. LOL. I'll be calling them as soon as they're back from lunch. ;-)

Mom will have the kids tonight. What better timing? LOL. After sample drop-off, we're talking about going to see the new Transformers movie. I have a buy 1, get 1 free movie ticket coupon that I got from MyCokeRewards.com. At least it'll be a cheap movie date. LOL. I actually have two of these coupons, but we're saving one to go see G.I. Joe next month. For that date night I also have a $25 Applebee's gift card from MyPoints.com that we'll use for dinner. Lots of fun, cheap date nights!

Okay, here's your manditory reminder about the contests this month:

Tomorrow is the big book give-away on Robin's website! You'll be able to read my newest interview, and one lucky winner will walk away with their very own copy of A Midnight Infatuation! Yay you!

Then, next Wednesday I'll be announcing the winner of my autographed mini-poster give-away. There have been a lot of entries, but only a couple that achieved double entries by getting all the answers correct. Stop in today for your chance to win. You could be my next winner. :-)

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

I hope you'll join in on the fun. :-)

Well, I'm off for today. I have some housework to catch up on since I've been down this week. I hope you have a nice day.

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Wanna Know Wednesday #24

Good morning all. Welcome to Wednesday. What will you be doing to make the best of this brand new day?

There's suppose to be a fantastic solar eclipse today. Something like the longest one of the 21st century, and lasting over 6 1/2 minutes. Of course, we won't see it over here. You would've had to go to China to get the best view of it in person. The rest of us'll just have to look at pictures. LOL. Not that it'd matter since I woke up to clouds this morning and would've missed out anyway. *Shrug* Oh well.

I was hoping that this crazy headache would be gone this morning. I attacked it with 800mg of prescription ibuprofen and a can of Pepsi yesterday, but at 3am this morning I had to dose it with another 800mg. Ugh! It does seem to be a bit more mild this morning, but not gone. I'm going to take it easy today and just relax. Maybe that'll help.

So it's that time of the week again. Time for the 24th installment of Wanna Know Wednesday. This week's topic is about the first book in my Alex & Fiona series!


10 A Midnight Infatuation Tidbits

1. A Midnight Infatuation starts out on Thanksgiving, with Alex on the hunt.


2. Fiona has a strained relationship with her mother.


3. Fiona's best guy friend, Freddy, use to be her boyfriend, until she caught him in bed with HIS boyfriend.


4. The first edition of A Midnight Infatuation was released in October 2007. With the updated cover version coming out a year later in October 2008. Now we're coming up on it's 2nd birthday. Yay!


5. Fiona was bleeding to death in the forest when Alex decides that the only thing he can do is turn her.


6. A Birth at Dawn picks up a few months after A Midnight Infatuation ends.


7. Alex and Fiona are intrigued by each other. That intrigue quickly turns into much, much more.


8. Alex becomes Fiona's caregiver while she's healing/turning.


9. Neither knew that the other species existed until they met.


10. The "Fight or Wed Law" is something no one should ever have to endure.

Remember that you can now purchase each of the Alex & Fiona books in e-book form for only $5. That's a huge discount over the paperback copies.

Only a few more days before my friend Robin gives away a copy of A Midnight Infatuation on her website. Saturday, July 25th is the big day. Don't forget!

My July Give-Away will be ending next week. If you haven't entered for your chance to win an autographed mini-poster, now is definitely the time to do so. I'll be announcing the winner on July 29th. Then I'll be heading to the beach on the 30th. Woohoo!

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

I guess it's time for me to get off of here. The radar is showing a lot of rain coming into the area. I hope it doesn't get too bad, but the garden definitely needs the water.

Have a great day!

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Welcome to another installment of Tuesday!

Morning all.

So the headache I've had for a week is still here. Sure was hoping it'd be gone this morning. I loaded up on Excedrin and caffeine yesterday--and it was easing up--but low and behold, it's still here this morning.

Yesterday I mentioned that I have a goal of editing fifteen chapters in Time For Death this week. I planned to break them up into five chapters over three days. Welllllll, the kids weren't very cooperative with that yesterday; I ended up getting two chapters done. Is it time for school to start yet?

Today I need to run a few errands, and then back home to hopefully get edits done. I have a couple of article ideas that I might work on if I have time. We'll see.

As you can see, I'm not really "up" this morning. I'd prefer still being in bed. However, a particular four year old refused to allow that. And now she's throwing a lovely, early morning temper tantrum. Ahhhh, the joys of motherhood never pass me over.

Before I sign off, here are some pictures from my sister and new BIL getting married. http://www.christiesilvers.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=6580904

Have a good day. I'll try to have a more exciting entry for you tomorrow. ;-)

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Only four days to go!!

Ahhhhhh!!!! I can't believe it's only four days until Tim's semen analysis. I can't wait to make sure that the vasectomy worked properly. Woohoo!! LOL. And just in time for vacation next week too. ;-)

Welcome to Monday, and a brand new week. I have a lot planned for this week, but luckily most of it can be done here at home.

Already this morning I've washed two loads of laundry, fed everyone breakfast (it's almost lunchtime), cleaned the kitchen, trimmed all the hedges around the house, and took a shower. Oh, and I sent some emails that needed my attention, and did some stuff in my website's forum. Welcome to all the new members, by the way! I hope you enjoy being there. :-)

For this week I have the goal to edit fifteen chapters of Time For Death. That will put me near completion on this set of edits. I'm breaking that up to five chapters over the next three days. That's definitely do-able as long as the kids continue to behave today. So far they've been good. Fingers crossed that it continues. LOL.

I have some tweaks to do to the August newsletter and then it'll be ready to go out... well, as soon as the 29th arrives and I add the winner of my contest to it. Oh, and the winner of Robin's contest.

I've decided to give away an e-book copy of one of my books (winner's choice) to a random member of my website in September. If you want your chance, stop by the forums and join. :-)

Okay, I'm off to get some work done while they are feeding their stomachs some lunch. Friday is analysis day and next week is vacation! I can't wait!

Oh, and here are some pictures from Sara's 9th birthday yesterday. http://www.christiesilvers.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=3693497

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Contests, Contests, Contests

My July Give-Away is only ten days away from announcing the winner. This month as gone by very quickly and it's nearly over. So stop by and enter for you chance to win an autographed mini-poster of my book, A Midnight Infatuation.

Even if you haven't read the book (though I hope you will), the cover is just spectacular to look at. I have one of these exact mini-posters framed (along with posters for the othe two Alex & Fiona covers) and hanging in my livingroom. They are gorgeous!

The contest is very easy to enter. You simply answer five questions, fill in your information, and hit submit. The questions are multiple choice, and you don't even have to get them right! How easy is that?!

Stop by today for all the details and to enter for your chance. :-)

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

While you're there, check out the information about my contest with friend, and author, Robin Renee Ray. Not only could you win an autographed mini-poster, but you'll have the chance to win an autographed copy of the book too!

On Saturday, July 25th, go by Robin's website to check out my newest interview and enter to win the book. Just leave a comment, question, or simple "Hello" and you'll be entered into the drawing at the end of the day.

Good luck to you all! I hope you'll enter, and have a good time doing so. :-)

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Happy Birthday, Sara!

Today is my middle daughter's ninth birthday. She's such a big girl now and so vey helpful, when she wants to be. Sara is an excellent student, so very cute, can be such a pain in the ass, and likes to fight with both her older and younger sisters. LOL!

However, she really a gentle child. She's super quiet in school, and is quite timid at times. She was only 4 1/2 when the youngst was born. Actually the youngest is that age right now. Wow! Time sure does fly, doesn't it?

Sara loves Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, and anything artsy. She loves to paint, draw, color, and even does a little writing from time to time. She was a kinky-headed blonde when she was tiny, but now she likes me to straighten her hair. I miss those baby curls she had.

Today we're having a family birthday party to celebrate our middle daughter. She'll have us, Tim's parents, my mom, my sister, and the girls' brand new uncle here today. LOL. I'm baking her birthday cake right now (yellow cake with chocolate frosting) and will start on the homemade pizzas soon. The party is set for 12:30.

As for gifts, Tim and I got her a lovely jewelry box with mirror that she can paint and decorate herself. It's a nice little kit. Tim's parents will be bringing a gumball machine that she asked for. My mom is bringing a Blendy Pens set that she was begging for. And Aunt Amanda & Uncle Dusty will be bringing a pile of new school clothes that Sara had already picked out. Sounds like plenty of goodies for a 9 year old to enjoy! :-)

Here i a picture of the girls when the youngest was born. Obviously, the birthday girl is on the right with her blonde ringlets. :-)

Have a great day everyone! I'm off to celebrate. :-)

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A busy weekend around here.

Good morning all! Welcome to Saturday. Woohoo! It's going to be a busy weekend around here. Of course, it's been a busy month so far, so why would this weekend be any different? LOL.

Yesterday Tim had to go to work for a little but and finish up hi lay-off paperwork. He only has nine more work days left. I hope he has a little but of time off before he finds something better, or is called back to his current job. I don't think he'd be happy with being out of work indefinitely though. One month is plenty of time for him to get a few things done that he keeps putting off because of work. In particular, a little updating on his education is on the top of the list.

I know that he's hoping we'll hit the bigtime and he can be a SAHD instead. LOL. I don't know about that, but I do know he said he'd be in charge of the kids and house while he's home so I can finish my book edits faster. Gosh, I'll be glad when school goes back so I can get more work done, with few kids screaming.

Yesterday also marked 1 week until Tim's semen analysis to make sure that the vasectomy worked. Gosh, it took soooooo long for these last 11 weeks to pass by. Twelve weeks seems like a very long time to be in limbo about this. Whew! It's almost over! Plus, next Friday is one of the nights that my mom usually takes the girls. Perfect timing!! We'll be able to run a sample to the lab without any little questions from the kids. LOL. Woohoo!

Tomorrow is our middle daughter's 9th birthday. Sara is sooooo excited to be turning 9. She wants cake and pizza for her party tomorrow, so there are lots of preparation going on today. We have the regular housecleaning and such, but also, she wanted me to make the pizzas so I have to make dough all day. I make it in the breadmachine and it takes 1 1/2hrs for each ball of dough. I have to make three for pizza and one for a dessert pizza. Plus tomorrow morning I'll bake the cake and all the pizzas. Busy, busy!

I'll share pictures from the party tomorrow. She's getting to be such a big girl. Next year it's double digits! Ack!! Of course, our oldest turns 13 in December. Eek! Where do the years go? Only one more year before the baby starts school. I'll be all alone come August 2010. LOL.

Okay, I better get going. The first ball of pizza dough is rising and the kitchen needs to be cleaned. Have a great day!!

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Wanna Know Wednesday #23

Good morning! It's Wednesday. My weekend will begin when this day ends. Monday was dentist appointments, today is my sister's wedding, Friday Tim has to get all the paperwork turned in for his upcoming lay-off and unemployment. Then Sunday is our middle daughter's 9th birthday and party. Busy, busy, busy!

Just a reminder about my give-away this month: Don't forget to stop by for your chance to win an autographed mini-poster of A Midnight Infatuation. Also, on July 25th my friend Robin will be giving away an autographed copy of A Midnight Infatuation on her website. All the details for both give-aways are posted on my website. http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

It's that time of the week. Time for Wanna Know Wednesday. This week's topic is......

10 Things Planned for Sara's 9th Birthday

1. She wants a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Yum!
2. She wants pizza, but is has to be the pizza I make. LOL!
3. She wants fruit punch that I make for all their birthdays.
4. It'll be a small party with just family.
5. We have it planned for 12:30 on Sunday. Good time for lunch!
6. I bought her a jewelry box kit that you paint and decorate yourself. She'll love it!
7. I have to go out Friday and buy her a gift from the in-laws. No idea what to get though.
8. She'll be one happy 9 year old when the day is done.
9. Next year is double digits! Ack!
10. Happy Birthday to my baby girl.

That's it for today. I'm watching the new movie The Haunting in Conneticut. It's a spooky one, too! Lots of fun though!

Now I'm off to make some breakfast. Have a good day.

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Happy Wedding Day!!

Today is the day that my little sister gets married (for the second time). She's finally met someone that I can see her with for the rest of their lives. He seems to really love her, and I know she loves him. I'm just thrilled to pieces for the both of them and I hope that they're as happy as Tim and I are.

Lots of love to you both!

Mr. & Mrs. Dusty Ayres

Tuesday in my world.

Morning all!

Yesterday's visit to the girls' dentist was quite the interesting one. The older girls went through their checkup and cleanings with no problems and a clean bill of health. The youngest, wellllllllll, my little Kaitlyn was all gung-ho at first....

Then, as she realized that it was actually going to happen, the terror set in................

Finally, after a lot of screaming and tears, she realized it wasn't so bad afteralland the cleaning proceeded. LOL.

My poor little peanut. She's had a cleaning four times and still isn't comfortable with it. She even told her hygentist beforehand, "I'm a wittle nervous." She's such a doll. Her sisters never had this kind of trouble with dental checkups. They've always just hopped right up in the chair and let it happen with ease, and then happily collected their goodies afterward. LOL.

Maybe one of these days my little Kaitlyn Rose will be able to do the same. :-)

On another note... Tim ended up coming home early yesterday. He was feeling bad Sunday night with a stomach issue, and it didn't go away Monday. He made it home before we had to leave for the dentist appointment. That's Tim's arm in the second picture as he's trying to console Katie-Lynn (his pet name for her).

It was cute to see him so concerned. He's never been to a dentist appointment with us, so it was all new for him to see the girls dashing around in known surroundings like they owned the place. LOL. I had to explain several times about the things they were allowed to play with while they were there (it's a pediatric dentist's office) and how they know all the ladies who work there.

In the end, Kaitlyn happily declared, "I did it! I did a great job!" She clung to her purple balloon until bedtime.

Tim went off to work this morning. Hopefully he's feeling better; I'll find out when he texts me later. I have laundry and writing to do today. Tim'll be home by 5pm this evening. Hopefully we can spend some time together when he gets home. Yesterday wasn't quite conducive to "quality time" for the two of us.

Have a great Tuesday!

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A new week & all its potential!

Good morning! Welcome to yet another brand new week. What does this week have in store for you? Or better yet, what do you have in store for this brand new week? A new week can only give you as good as you put into it. So go out there and put your best self forward, and the universe will give you good in return! Or at least I like to think that. LOL.

Today I have to take the girls for their routine every-six-months dental cleaning. Hopefully they will be all cavity-free, like always. Maybe the youngest will be easier this time. She kicked and screamed and cried last time. Ugh! So this time we're taking "teddy" with us, and she's declared that she's big enough now that she won't cry. LOL. I'll report back on whether or not that's true. ;-) I'll take them to the library afterwards, as we didn't have time to go Friday.

I did manage to make my sister's wedding shirt yesterday. However, I completely forgot to take a picture of it to share. That's okay, because our mom will be taking pictures before their ceremony and I'll share those.

Yesterday I finished a story for an anthology book. Hopefully it'll get picked up and I'll make a little money. This week I've got more book edits and rewrites for Time For Death. I also dreamed up another story idea last night that I need to make notes about for future reference. Maybe another article idea will pop up this week too. We'll see, as the writing fairy doesn't always cooperate with my weekly ideas. LOL.

Okay, the picture above is Tim & I right before my sister's pre-wedding dinner party Saturday. Once I saw this picture, I knew it was time for a haircut. LOL. I like to keep it right above my shoulders because when it gets longer than that it gets heavy, weighing down the top, and the Georgia humidity frizzes it to high heaven. Soooo, this week I'll also be getting a trim. I hate not being able to do anything with my hair. I tend to live in ponytails and hair clips when it gets this bad. Not only that, but I'm really missing the red hair. I always look so washed out in blonde. Luckily, it's only for the summer.

Okay, I'm out. I have things to do before the girls' dentist appointment. :-)

Have a good one!

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Saturday & Sunday, with a little Friday thrown in for spice!

Morning all! How has your weekend been? We've had fun this weekend. Even with it being shortened by Tim having to work on Thursday, it has been a great weekend.

Friday night Tim and I had a night out all by ourselves. The kids were with Mom and we had plans. We bought Sara's birthday gift first off, as soon as the kids left. I got her a wooden jewelry box that comes with a painting kit and gemstones for her to decorate it anyway she wants. She'll love it as she's starting to get into jewelry a little more now.

Then we went off to Rome and visited the "adult" shop that we like. We went to look for a new outfit, but they didn't have anything new since the last time we were there. I did end up buying one little novelty choker that's pink leather. It's cute, and definitely only for the bedroom since it says "SLUT" on it. LMAO!!!

Afterwards we came back to town and ate dinner at Red Lobster. We had two meals and two alcoholic drinks, and spent $50! Eek! Sheesh! But it was really good and we hadn't been there in a long while.

After dinner we hit the liquor store for Coronas, Mike-aritas, and Coconut Rum. Yum! Lastly, we stopped by the bakery and picked up a "Congratulations" cake for my sister's party on Saturday.

Saturday morning we slept until almost 9am. No kids = Sleeping late. LOL.

We spent the day at home. I washed laundry, picked vegetables, we all cleaned the pool, and just bumbled around the house until it was time for the party.

We took the kids to Tim's parents and headed to the party. It was a lot of fun. My sister only had the two of us, our mom, and our grandmother as her guests. The rest of the many, many guests were from her guy's family. LOL. And boy there were a LOT of them. The room we'd booked was full!

Lots of laughs, alcohol, good food, and just all around fun was had by all. :-)

We came home, put the youngest to bed, and Tim watched the Nascar race. It was relaxing and peaceful.

Today we have to go for our weekly Sunday lunch with his parents. When we get back home, my sister is coming over so I can finish the top I'm sewing for her wedding day (I'll take a pic to share). Dinner tonight will be steaks on the grill since we didn't cook them Thursday or Friday. LOL.

I hate that tomorrow is Monday. I'd like to have a few more days to the weekend. It has been such a nice one. Oh well, we can't stop time. I'll just have to look forward to next weekend. I have work to do this week anyway. :-)

Have a great day!

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It's finally Friday!

I'm sooooo glad that it's finally Friday. This felt like the longest week ever! Geez!

This morning I got to wake up next to Tim, finally. That's one thing I hate about him working an hour away; he has to leave so early, even on the days where he doesn't go in until 7am.

Anyway, we woke up together this morning with our four year old, Kaitlyn, climbing all over the bed. She was all giggles and squeals as her daddy tickled her between us. LOL. It was funny. Then she decided to jump all over him like a trampoline. LOL!

We woke the other girls up at 7:30am, got everyone dressed, and went out for breakfast at IHOP. It was 9am by the time we were eating. Afterwards we ran to the bank to make a deposit, over to Wal-mart for groceries & more, and then back home to pay the power bill and unpack all the items we'd bought. We were home by noon.

Now, my mom is coming to pick the girls up in a couple of hours, my sister is taking our middle daughter shopping for her birthday, and Tim and I are going out. We have to pick up a gift for Sara's birthday, run by Hobby Lobby for some things, and then we're heading to the "adult" store that we like.

Yep, we're going for a shopping trip. ;-) We haven't been since April, and it's time for a new outfit, at least. Woohoo!

Now we just wait on Mom to come get the brats. LOL!!

Depending on how long it takes us to get our stuff done, we may grill out steaks or chicken tonight for dinner. I don't know though. I won't be eating much of anything the rest of the day anyway. IHOP has done me in for a long while.

Well, Tim just came inside drenched from head to toe, with a very unhappy look on his face. Guess I better go see what happened.

Have a good day!

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Good morning to you!

Good morning all. Welcome to another installment of Thursday! LOL. Well, I was expecting to start my weekend, but it turns out that Tim had to work today. So it's just another weekday for me now. Blah!

This month is a crazy one for us. It's one of the busiest ones we've had in quite some time.

This Saturday we have a party to go to that's to celebrate the upcoming marriage of my sister and her guy. Next week the kids have their routine dental checkup, my sister is getting married, Tim has to turn in his unemployment papers for the lay-off, and on the 19th my middle daughter turns 9. The week after that we have Tim's semen analysis on the 24th. And I'll be doing the contest with my friend Robin Renee Ray on the 25th. Then, the last week of July has us getting his analysis results, me announcing the winner of my give-away, and us leaving for vacation.

The first week of August doesn't slow down either. Tim has his last three days of work. Then we'll be working on more plans for the future, and preparing for school to start for the kids.

Ack! It's going to be a crazy few weeks around here.

Anyway... Tomorrow my mom will have the kids for the night. Tim & I are going to go out to buy a birthday gift for our middle daughter, Sara. She's turning the big 9 on the 19th and she sill has no idea what she wants for her birthday. LOL. That child is so indecisive. LOL. I'll find her something that she'll love though. She's asked me to make her a chocolate cake and pizzas for her birthday. She doesn't want bought pizzas, oh no. She wants me to make the pizzas for her party. Sooooo, I'll be spending the day before just making pizza dough and putting it in the fridge. LOL.

On her birthday I'll be baking all day. I never make the cake until the day of their birthday parties because I like them to be fresh and soft. Seems to work out since everyone always comments on how soft and delicious they are. Then I'll have to do at least three pizzas to feed everyone. Should be interesting. :-)

Saturday is the party for my sister and her man. We've booked the back room at Logan's Roadhouse and will be having a nice sized get-together there with friends and family. I'm going to have the in-laws watch the kids so that Tim & I can enjoy ourselves. There will be food and drinks, and I'm bringing a cake from the bakery for all to enjoy. Should be fun!

Oh well, back to today. Nothing special planned for today except survival. The kids are starting to get antsy about summer being so long. We *should* only be a few weeks away from the first day of school. However, the school system moved it from August 6th to September 8th, making summer vacation an entire month longer than usual. Eek! Maybe I'll survive with a little sanity, and hair, left intact. LOL! We'll see!

Well, I'm off. Guess I'll do some housework and see how dirty the pool is. Do a little cleaning & maybe pick some veggies from the garden. I picked some beans yesterday and there were a few cucumbers that were close to ready. I don't like them, but two of the girls do.

Have a great day!

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Wanna Know Wednesday #22

Good morning! Wecome to yet another Hump Day. I was hoping that I'd wake up to sunshine this morning, but it didn't happen. Looks like it'll be yet another dreary, drizzly day around here. I'm missing my good friend The Sun.

Thank you for the kind responses yesterday, both on here and personally emailed to me, about all the negativity. It really does drive me batty. Tim and I have--what we consider--a wonderful life together. And it really bothers me when others try to begrudge that because of their own negative thoughts and actions. You will always get back what you put out into the world. Be positive, and be happy! :-)

I'm happy to say that my give-away entries have picked up. Good luck to all who've entered! For those who haven't, stop by and enter for your chance to win an autographed mini-poster of A Midnight Infatuation!

While you're there, check out the forums and photo gallery. It only takes a moment to become a site member to be able to post in the forums with me. I have several family pictures and pictures of things we're considering for our vow renewal ceremony in the photo gallery. Leave a comment with your thoughts. :-)

Ahhh, it's that day of the week again. I've been doing this for 5 1/2 months now. This week's Wanna Know Wednesday topic is:

The Last 10 Movies I've Watched

1. Better Than Sex
2. Leatherheads
3. Feast of Love
4. Blackout
5. The Secret
6. Yes Man
7. Confessions of a Shopaholic
8. Inkheart
9. When Nature Calls: Without a Paddle
10. Henry Poole Was Here

I love having Netflix. It makes it so easy to watch movies you'e never seen--even if they stink to high heaven--and not waste money on the bad ones. Trust me, I've watched enough bad ones lately to make me thankful of not having to spend $5 a pop at the local video store. Yay for Netflix! Plus I really like the Instant Play, and being able to play it on the Xbox 360.

So today is Tim's last day of work for the week. He only has twelve days of work left after this week. Twelve days! That's not even half a month. I give him a month before he's bored. LOL. He's already declared that he'll become my househusband when it happens so that I can finish the edits and rewrites for Time For Death a little sooner. I'll be amazed if he even comes close to being able to handle all I do in a day. Especially with the kids out of school. LOL.

I have a touch of a headache this morning, but at least I don't have to do any running around today. I did a lot of that yesterday. Today I just plan to do laundry and work on edits. I have one article pending an offer, and will share it when it's published. Oh, I'm getting closer to that 1 million pageview mark on there! If you'd like to help out, visit my page on AC and read an article (or two). :-)

Okay, I'm off for today. Have a great one!

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What a busy Tuesday this will be.

Good morning out there in internet world. How is everyone doing on this Tuesday morning? We're doing well, but today is going to be a busy day.

I have to head out in a little while because I have a 10am appointment for a tire rotation on the van. I figured that since I was going out anyway, I might as well do a few other errands in the same area of town. Soooo....

I've gotta put gas in the van, take some trash off, go for my tire rotation, run by JCPenney at the mall, take the middle daughter by the toy store for birthday present ideas (her birthday is the 19th), go to the bank to make a deposit, and check on the price of a new cable modem at Wal-mart. After that I'll take the kids for lunch and then back home. Eek! I'll leave out at 9am, and just HOPE that we mae it back before 2pm.

Okay, so something is irritating me a little bit. I've decided that there are just too many negative people in the world. Yep, I've always known that, but here lately it's just gotten worse, and some of these people are actually moaning at me for being so positive all the time.

Seriously though, why would anyone want to be negative all the time. Yes, we're happy, and I love my life and family, but Tim and I do have disagreements on ocassion. Some are louder than others. LOL. But why dwell on that stuff when you can happy the rest of the time? Work out the bad and more on with the good. Besides, our disagreements usually end up with a very NICE apology. ;-)

Another example: Tim's getting laid off in August, and yes it's terrible, but why cry and moan about something that's out of our control. We just make preparations and plans, while hoping for the best. It's just the close of one chapter in our life so that we can start the next one.

Life is life. You'll never be happy wishing for someone else's life. You'll never get the future that you want by jut dreaming about it. You'll never find happiness until you come to terms with the life you already have available to you. Make the best of what you have and move onto bigger and better things one step at a time.

And seriously, don't bemoan those of us who already know this, who are already happy, and who find it kind of creepy when someone tells us over and over that they wish for our life. Eek! Once is a compliment. Twice makes you feel even more grateful. But when you're told numerous times, by the same person, it starts to make you a little anxious.

I know it's hard in this economy to look at the positive, but every situation can be turned around into something better. Tim's lay-off isn't ideal, but it's not drastic either. He'll be able to drawn unemployment and I'll still bring in my income. We're prepared, planned, and taken advantage of options that we have. Things will be fine as long as we look on the bright side of things.

He has plans to do work around the house he's been putting off. He's going to improve his education. And he'll get to spend time with his family that was previously put off when he was work 50-60 hours a week. He'll get to relax and rest his overworked body. He may get called back to work, or he may find something better. Heck, for all we know I could sell my next book and have it become a bestseller bringing in enough money that he can be my househusband for years to come. LOL!

You just never know what the future holds for you. But you'll also never get anywhere by wishing for what other people have.

Lots of love to you all! Stay strong, be happy, and look for the good in your life.

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Today is Monday

Welcome to a brand new week, yet again. The weekend sure did go by quickly this time. We had a fairly nice one though. We stayed home for the 4th of July, but filled the day with swimming, grilling, catching fireflies, and even watching some of the neighbors shoot off their own fireworks. It was nice in the end. :-)

Okay, so today I want to remind everyone to stop by the website and enter for your chance to win an autographed mini-poster of A Midnight Infatuation. However, I also want to give you some detail about another contest that'll happen this month.

My good friend, Robin Renee Ray, who I introduced you to the other week, will be holding a contest on July 25th where she'll be giving away an autographed copy of my book A Midnight Infatuation! Last week I answered a whole slew of fantastic interview questions for her. She'll post them on her site (in the blog section, I think) and everyone who posts a comment and/or question will be entered into the drawing to win my book. The winner's name will be provided to me and I'll ship out the book right from here. Woohoo!

I did an interview for Robin a while back on her Blogspot blog. If you'd like to read it, click here. There are also numerous other interviews linked on my website here.

Now I'm off to start this week. I need to call about getting a tire rotation done on the van before vacation at the end of the month. I need to mail off that color sample to the wedding planner (meant to do it last week, but never got around to it), and I need to send back some Netflix movies. After all that, there's writing and editing. Sometime this week I need to run by JCPenney, too.

I hope you have a good day!

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Happy 4th of July!

Happy Indenpendence Day to all you US friends. What do you have planned to celebrate today? Whatever it is, please stay safe while you're doing it. No drinking and driving! You hear me?? You better be listening. ;-)

I'm not sure what we'll be doing today. I do know that Tim is grilling out burgers and hotdogs on his new grill, but we're not sure after that. We'll see how the day goes and what temperment the girls are in when it comes time to go see fireworks.

The girls spent the night with the in-laws last night and they always seem to come home with bad temperments. So who knows what today will bring.

However, Tim and I did get to sleep until 9:30am this morning! *Shocking* I woke up at 7am and then went back to sleep and it was 9:30am the next time I opened my eyes. LOL. It was nice.

We spent last night grilling ribs, drinking, talking, and then Tim watched a Nascar race while I did some reading. After the race went off I had our bedroom decorated with candles and goodies. It looked lovely! We had a nice and peaceful evening. ;-)

Oh, and we did go for that drive in the mountains yesterday and we did discover the exact location of tha bed & breakfast I want to visit. It's in a very nice location with a gorgeous view. I can't wait to go for the weekend sometime in the future.

Okay, I'm off to get some laundry washed. The girls just came home and they stink with cigarette smoke. Yuck! Time for laundry and showers. *Gross*

Have a wonderful holiday!

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Friday, Friday, Friday.

Yay, it's Friday!

Okay, so I was expecting a lot more give-away entries this week than I received. Just because you've got all month doesn't mean you should wait until the last minute to enter. And you don't even have to get the answers right either! Just guess and you'll have an entry. How easy is that? Come on now. Enter and you could be the name I call at the end of the month. :-)

http://www.christiesilvers.com/contestsgiveaways.htm

So Wednesday was a long, tiring day for me. I hadn't slept well the night before, and couldn't wait for Tim to get home and take care of me. I always relax better when he's home. The day ended beautifully and I slept soooooo good that night.

That day, Tim suggested that it was time for us to take another weekend trip. Just the two of us! So iI spent some time looking for a bed & breakfast that is closer than the one we went to back in February. I found one that's just minutes down the road that I didn't even know existed. I love the look of it and we'll definitely be visiting it in the future.

Thursday we woke up early (6:30am) because the dog was barking, barking, barking. Sheesh! Why do we have pets? I'm so not an animal person when it comes to barking dogs. Ugh! Luckily, I'd slept so well that I was actually okay with getting up at that time.

We all got dressed and decided to do our Friday errands today. In the process of doing so, it was decided that we wouldn't go away this weekend, but that the trip money would buy Tim a new, bigger grill. We do grill out a lot, so I'm not too sad about the change of plans. But I sure was looking forward to the weekend away with my man. Oh well, it was his idea, so it's okay. And he will make it up to me allllllll weekend. ;-)

Thursday ended with us just chilling out at home. Sure would've liked to have been packing instead, but it's okay.

Today we slept a bit later than yesterday. The youngest was up and at my bedside at 7am, but I didn't climb out of bed for another 45 minutes. LOL. Since we don't have to rush off today, I'm making breakfast this morning. I'm making waffles right now. Yum!

The girls have been asking to spend the night with Tim's parents, so we might actually get a night "away" tonight. Tim's already preparing to grill ribs this evening, but we made sure to have enough for the oldest to eat it with us too (the younger two aren't into much meat right now). I guess we'll have leftovers if they're gone tonight. We'll see...

I'd like to go for a drive in the mountains today; specifically to find that bed & breakfast for future reference. I'll let you know if we go. I don't know what Tim has planned for today though. You never know.

I guess that's it for now. I hope you all have a fabulous Friday, 4th of July, and entire weekend. Have fun & be safe!

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Wanna Know Wednesday #21

Good morning all. Well, not really good, but it is morning. I slept ridiculously terrible last night, so I'm not feeling on game this morning. I guess I got about three hours of solid sleep before finally just getting up at 4:30am. Blah!

Okay, let me start out with, YAY it's July 1st!

That means it's time for my July Give-Away. Stop by my website for your chance to win an autographed mini-poster of A Midnight Infatuation!

This will run until July 29th, when I'll announce the winner. I'll do it that day since we're going on vacation July 30th and won't be back until August 3rd.

10 Things That Frustrate Me:

1. Sleepless nights for no good reason.
2. Stupid drivers.
3. People who can't get the hint, even when you clearly say, "Leave me the fuck alone."
4. Horrible movies that waste my time.
5. Plans that can't get finalized.
6. Screaming children who don't seem to comprehend that I don't wanna hear it.
7. Rain when you don't want it, and none when it's needed.
8. Banks taking their own sweet time when it's something you want, but expecting you to jump through hoops when it's something they want.
9. The economy.
10. Mud being tracked across my sparkling clean kitchen floor.
    

I just realized that Friday will make 9 wks since Tim's vasectomy. Only 3 weeks until his analysis. Then a week later we're going on vacation. Yay for vacation fun!! Woohoo! We should have the "all clear" from the urologist before we go out of town. How great would that be? Vacation with worry-free playtime! Just the thought makes my morning a little better. ;-)

Okay, before I sign-off today, my oldest daughter has decided that she's a budding photographer. We bought her a cheap digital camera for last Christmas. It's not a good quality, but it's a good starter camera until we see if she's capable oftaking care of a more expensive one. Anyway, she wanted me to share a picture that she took of me. The quality sucks, but she did take a good pic, and she says I look very happy in it. :-)



If the quality was better you'd be able to see that I'm managing a nice tan these days. I can't wait for beach-time!

I'm out now. Have a fabulous Wednesday. It's Hump Day, so enjoy it! ;-)

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