Welcome to the world!

Please welcome my beautiful grandson, Grady Lee! 

After two days of induction, he finally entered the world Saturday, the 23rd, at 12:15am. It was his actual due date, as well. I was on video chat with my daughter for those two days and was lucky enough to be able to see my grandson born. I wish I could have been there in person, but at least we had that much.

What a stubborn little boy we have here. However, is quite the cutie pie! :)

I think he looks so much like his mommy when she was a baby. A lot of friends and family are saying the same thing, so I guess he will be just as adorable.

In the meantime, you may not hear too much from me over the next week or two. I'm spending a lot of time helping my daughter with her little man and making sure she's eating and drinking without too much effort on her part. I've been cleaning, sweeping, doing laundry, showing her little tricks to newborn life, and anything else she asks for.

Grady Lee is named after his father's grandfather (Grady) and my hubby and his father (Lee). It's a nice tribute to both sides of Grady's family.

Once I held that little boy in my arms all the quarantine, mask wearing, hand sanitizing was more than worth it to make sure I could hold him the day he came home. He has my heart and always will!

School Starts & Writing Begins, Again!

It has been two weeks of luxurious silence in my house during the day. Granted, I haven't been home most of those days since I have the day job, BUT my youngest is back to school now and Fridays (the only weekday I am home) has been extremely productive on the writing front. YAY!

I only have the youngest at home now. She's in grumpy teenager middle school mode, but I am able to get a few grins out of her from time to time. This picture was from the first day of school and I had told her I'd keep taking pictures until she actually smiled. This is only pic #2. LOL! She knows I'm persistent.

Nonetheless, writing is moving forward on the new Liz Baker book and I'm hoping to have a release date for you guys by the end of the year. The words are flowing and the gang is getting into more trouble (like always), with a new bad guy leading the charge.

If you aren't all caught up with the Liz Baker series now is certainly the time to do that. The new book will be Book 7, and there are two free short stories in there, as well. The newest short story actually introduces Liz Baker to Penny Montague from my other series. Check out Sorrow Meets Death and see how an immortal and a dhampiress interact.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is having a great week and check back often to see what's happening around here.

Catching Up & Writing

I swear I never thought getting a part time job would take up so much of my time. Yes, yes, I knew I'd be actually leaving my house on a regular basis, driving 20 minutes to the next town, and working for a few hours before making the trek back home, but for some reason 24 hours of job time didn't seem like a lot in the scheme of things.

That is, if I actually got 24 hours. Eek! The first week was 28 hours. The second week was 31 hours. This week is scheduled for 34 hours. However, I am the only person in this position... for now. Next week a full timer comes on and I'm supposed to finally get on a regular 24 hour schedule. Monday through Thursday from 8:30am to 2:30pm, and every other Saturday (9:30am-3pm) will make me a happy woman.

I'll bring home enough $$$ to make the job worth my while and still be able to pick my youngest daughter up from school every day. Not to mention the few hours every afternoon/evening of writing I'll be able to get in before dealing with dinner and preparing for the next day. Oh, and of course every Friday off to run my errands, pay bills, and buy groceries. And every other week I get a 3-day weekend. Woot, Woot!

Now if I can just get there. I'm off today, but the next two days will be long 9 1/2 hour days. I just have to keep reminding myself that this is for the greater good. I'm doing this for a reason. I do enjoy the job and the people I'm with all day. It will give me a greater sense of people by being out in the middle of all of them. (It's too peopley out there!) And, I've already seen some interesting folk who will be making appearances in future stories.

Overall, it's a good thing, but I'm really looking forward to a more rigid everyday schedule so I can get back to my writing. My goal of 3 books and a short story in 2017 NEEDS a more rigid schedule. The 500 words a week I've gotten over the last 3 weeks is soooooo not gonna get me there.

Okay, I'm off to get more writing done today (since it's my only day off 'til the weekend). I hope all of you are having a great week!

Oh, and Happy 41st Birthday to the love of my life, Tim! I love you, baby!

Working Outside & Inside the Home

This past week has been a new experience for me. I've never had an outside the home job AND children. I was able to leave the public working class when I was six months pregnant with our first child. I worked from home for many, many years... 20 years to be exact. I was able to always been 100% accessible to my entire family, including all the pets we have. Now, for the first time in all these years, I'm not available at all hours of the day. And everyone is having to adjust to that new arrangement.

I've had numerous texts throughout the days I'm at working asking how to do something, if I can talk, where something is, can so-&-so go somewhere, etc. Even my dog has decided to get an upset stomach, out of the blue, during my first week at work. WTH?!

I knew it would be an adjustment, but this is crazy. I still haven't been able to figure out my writing schedule because the new job is still working on getting things in order so there will be two of us working part time instead of me doing full & the other just doing Saturdays. Once that's worked out I'll have more time at home & truly be working part time.

Soooo, keep your fingers crossed that both my family & I will survive this transition without me committing some sort of murder. LOL!

Oh, and BTW, the hubby and I celebrated our 23rd anniversary on Sunday, April 9th. We had a nice day together and I got to enjoy some yummiliciousness at The Cheesecake Factory. Mmmm!