Learner's Permit: Valium Requested!

Sooooo, I've taken on the parenting task of teaching my oldest daughter how to drive. Tim isn't as secure in his ability to remain calm and reassuring when it comes to this task. Therefore, it has fallen to me.

I'm trying. Very hard. Trying to get through this parenting trial with the kind of grace that I've been able to hold on to throughout all other parenting obstacles. I laugh, encourage, smile, trying to make it light heartened and enjoyable, all the while not showing my teen the real turbulence inside. . .

Heart tightening, stomach clenching, breath gasping, FEAR!

Is it a Capricorn mother's reluctance to relinquish control of a dangerous motorized vehicle into the hands of her clumsy 15 year old daughter? Or is it that the aforementioned teenage daughter is a terrible driver?

I'm going to have to go with the first option!

She's actually performing very well. I'm very proud of her. She listens to my instructions, and doesn't even beg and plead to drive on an hourly basis. She has only driven over a curb in the high school parking lot once (inducing one of those stomach clenching moments). However, I'm kicking myself right now for never buying her a go-carts, or some other small "vehicle" when she was younger. LOL! Eek!

Anyway, this mommy is having a harder time than her teenager is with the learner's permit. I certainly hope it gets easier on my nerves as she improves in her driving skills. I have no doubt she'll glide right through her driver's test when the big day arrives, but will I have more wrinkles, an extensive amount of gray to cover up, and a minuscule amount of patience left when this is over?

Wish me luck! And if any of you out there who've been through this have any advice, I'd love to hear it. :)





*Image Credit: arinas74 @ Sxc.hu*

Holidays, 2012, Learner's Permits

I survived.

"What did you survive?" you may ask.

Well, I survived the holidays, my oldest daughter's 15th birthday, New Year's, illnesses, and even the teenager getting her learner's permit! Eek!

The holidays were a rush of my teen in my cousin's wedding, my mother's birthday, FIL in the hospital, hosting Christmas Eve, hosting Christmas Day, hosting the teen's 15th birthday, celebrating New Year's Eve, kids being home from school for two solid weeks, and then dealing with colds, ear infections, sinus infections, and being sick myself. Lastly, I took the teen on January 3rd, 2012 and she successfully passed the test to gain her learner's permit to drive.

So yes, I say... I survived!! Woohoo! I can't believe it's all finally over. Well, almost over. A week from today is my youngest daughter's 7th birthday. After that it's smooth sailing until April.

Yeah, yeah, smooth sailing... Bwahaha! I girl can be delusional at times, can't she?

I have a busy 2012 planned, but then again, aren't all my years busy? ;) I'll be attending the Book 'Em NC conference in a short 47 days from today. I have three stories to write and put out in 2012. Lots of home projects, including the addition of goats to our family in the spring. And all the normal work, family, friends stuff that I enjoy throughout the year. :)

Celebrating the new year is more than just saying "Hooray" when the clock strikes midnight. It's a celebration of surviving another year with my sanity intact (at least the majority of it anyway) and being able to enjoy the fresh start that each January 1st allows us.

Happy New Year to all of you! I wish you a happy and prosperous 2012!

Back to school celebration!

It's the first day back to school! Time for the 2011-2012 school year to begin. I hear the cheers of gleeful parents pushing their kids out of the house and cars with smiles on their faces and excitement in their hearts. "Have a good day, dear. I love you." Then they throw their hands to the heavens and scream, "WOOHOO!"

Or maybe that's just me. . .

After three months of summer vacation, several weeks of school preparation, and four school visits to two different schools last week, it's finally time for me to get back to MY work year. That's one of the best things about being a writer and stay-at-home mom; I can take off when my kids are out of school. However, I get antsy when I'm not creating on a regular basis. I miss my writing schedules, the worlds I work within, and conversing with my characters. That makes a new school year a time to celebrate. :)

So what do I have planned for my new work year?

• The third Liz Baker novel


• A new erotic novella


• A short Liz Baker story that will be given away on the website for free


• Preparing for & attending Book 'Em NC Conference & Book Fair in February


• Staying on top of the Turkish book releases

All of that on top of my regular mommy & wife duties: housekeeping, animal care, errand running, family member helping, school volunteer, and the many other things that I do on a regular basis. I also have some home improvements planned, but not yet scheduled.

If you're a parent with kids heading back to school, I celebrate with you! We all have different reasons for being excited, but that doesn't mean the excitement is any less. And if your kids are anything like mine, they're just as excited to be heading back.

Here's an exciting new school year for us all!

Plans for the week

Last week was a bust, what with Tim being off work and the kids home for summer break. Everyone was here and no one wanted to get along. There was more than one occasion where I threw my hands up in the air and declared an end to my day. Yep, it wasn't pleasant.

This week Tim goes back to work and the fighting between the children seems to have slowed down. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get some actual work completed. At least I have a list showing me what all I want to complete this week.

That's not to say nothing was completed last week. Oh no, there was definitely a good bit marked off my list. However, most of that was household stuff and not book stuff. Yeah, I'm happy about the household stuff, but I'd rather have the peace, quiet and alone time to complete my book stuff. I get frustrated when my writing time is decreased.

So, here I am, typing up my plans for the week for all to see.

• Complete edits on a three book project


• Discuss the new cover of Alex & Fiona Forever with my beloved designer


• Work on Liz Baker, book 3--which is still untitled


• Remind everyone that TIME FOR DEATH (Liz Baker, book 1) is still on sale for only $0.99 on Kindle and Nook


• Continue working on the list of goodies I need to order for the Book 'Em NC event in February


• Take my children to the library on Friday


• Finish reading DEAD IF I DO by Tate Hallaway so I can take it back to the library


• And still be the perfect wife & mother with the clean house, clean laundry and three meals a day on the table.

Whew! That's a lot to do in only 7 days. Well, I guess it's technically 6 days since today's Tuesday. It's no damn wonder I never feel like there's enough hours in the day. And here I am distracted from all this proposed work with wondering what color to paint my nails next.

Week Two: Insanity Sets In

Summer Break: Week Two

This week isn't starting off the way I had hoped. Saturday went okay, but it all started down hill on Sunday morning. Yep, that's when the insanity started to grow. I knew things weren't going to go as easily this week as they did last week.

Sunday we had a family reunion to go to for Tim's mother's side of the family. We stopped down at FIL's house to see if he was ready; he was as far from it as he could be. FIL was having trouble breathing and I ended up calling 911 to take him to the hospital. That set it up with Tim going to the hospital with FIL and me taking the kids up the mountain to the reunion.

The day was beautiful for an outside family gathering, if only there had been family there. Yep, there were only 10 of us by the time I left, two hours after the scheduled time. Some were sick, the majority had a funeral to attend, and others just didn't show up. The kids were disappointed that their favorite cousins (and the only ones their ages) didn't arrive either.

At least we came back down off the mountain with full tummies and plates of food for later that evening. No cooking for Mommy--other than the more than two dozen homemade dinner rolls I made the night before and half were brought home due to no one being there to eat them.

There was a hospital visit with FIL (he has pneumonia, again) and then finally home for the evening.

That brings us to Monday. I won't even go into how screwed up that day was. Ugh! And it doesn't look like today will be any better.

I miss Liz. I miss my quiet days. I hate having to shush the kids all day so Tim can sleep. Now I remember why I'm always so relieved when school starts back. My fingers miss flying across the keyboard (which is probably why this entry is too damn long).

Whatever, I suppose. I'm now off to get dressed so I can run numerous errands, listen to whining children, and take more stuff to FIL in the hospital. Oh, and while we're there I get the enjoyment of making the children share the elevator button pushing responsibilities.

Raising my girls.....

Most of you know that I have three daughters. Some days they make you wanna scream your head off and other days they are the most adorable, sweet, and carrying children you could ever know.

Anyway, I started another blog that is all about life with my spoiled girls. LOL! If you'd like to read about the craziness, or just have a good laugh, then stop by and check out Raising My Girls.


.

It's finally Friday!

Gosh, this week just drug by sooooo slowly. I didn't think Friday would ever get here. Sheesh!

We have 8 days until we leave for vacation and everyone is getting so excited. We leave out on July 5th and return on the 12th. We'll be sunning it up on the beach of Tybee Island, GA. I can't wait. I need a break soooo badly. Apparently the kids do too because they are at each others' throats constantly this week.

I usuall run around to do my weekly errands on Fridays, but the kids were being soooo bad this morning that I refused to ake them to town with me. I went to my grandmother's to pick up some plants she had set out for me and then we went to the library. That's it. I brought them right back home and will not be going to town to get groceries, and such, until their daddy comes home from work. They gave me such a migraine yesterday with their bullshit that I'm just flat out refusing to do it today.

Last night I took some Tylenol PM and passed out by 11:30pm. I'm usually up until 1am when there's no school to get up early for. But with that migraine I needed extra sleep. I was literally drugged out by 11:30. I was walking sideways and wondered if that's what a drunk felt like (since I've never been more than tipsy before). LOL! But boy didI sleep good last night. I didn't even wake up when Tim left for work at 5am.

Then, of course, I was awakened by screams, squeals, and arguments at 7:30am. UGH! Hmmm, maybe I should look for a damn bootcamp or something. LOL!

Anyway, that's my Friday, thus far. I hope Tim gets off work early and one of the grandparents decides they'd like to be tormented by these children tonight. LOL

I hope you're having a better day!! Happy Friday!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful fathers out there. I hope that you are having a lovely day with you children.

My husband was awakened by his little lovies working diligently in the kitchen to create a perfect breakfast for him. They planned this days ago, so I just stood back and let them go at it. LOL! They made waffles, eggs, and bacon (I cooked the bacon). They were so proud of themselves when they put his plate all together and took it to him.

Then I let them present his gift to him. The other week he was complaining to me about needing some new pictures of the girls for work. Plus he didn't have a picture of me at all. So I ordered a 5x7 collage with pics of all of us in it. Then I bought a magnetic frame and VOILA! a nice Father's Day gift is born. :-) He liked it.

We went to have lunch with the in-laws and presented FIL with a collage picture of his own... only ths one didn't have me in it. LOL! Now we are home and DH is getting set to watch the Nascar race. I don't think he'll watch all of it though because he's talking about jumping in the pool. Which means that I'll get some nice quiet time while he and the girls are in the pool and out of my hair. I might actually get some writing done without interruption today. YAY!

Days like this make me miss my own dad. He passed away 5 yrs ago from Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS). We always loved celebrating Father's Day with him.

Ok, I just wanted to post a Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I hope that you're all having a great day!

Happy President's Day!

Well, it's Monday again. The big girls are out of school all this week for President's Day & a "Mid-Winter Break". Luckily, they were pretty good today, without many problems. Of course, tomorrow all hell may break loose. LOL!

I've been busy on book edits today, and trying to stay focused and off the computer. Sometimes the computer just calls your name like the little "You've Got Mail" chime alerts you to a new message. What is it about being connected to cyber-space at all hours of the day? I just can't disconnect when I know someone is sending me a message.

To everyone waiting on A Birth at Dawn, you'll be happy to know that this book is even closer to being released. I'm *hoping* that it will be ready for release by the end of March. So be on the look-out for a release announcement soon.

To everyone reading this, I want to share one of the newest places on the internet that ha drawn my attention away from work... LTTM!

LTTM stands for Less Than Traditional Moms. This is a Yahoo Group for all the moms out there that don't quite fit into the "traditional" mold. As a lover of vamps, werewolves, witches, and numerous other paranormal creatures, pretty much fit right into the category. LOL!

If anyone is interested in joining our little group, enjoying some good old-fashion chatting, and getting to know other interesting mothers, stop by and sign up. I'm one of the moderators, so feel free to say hi and jump right in!

Ok, I guess that's it for today. I need to disconnect and get back to work before I have to start dinner and welcome the hubby home from a hard day's work. I hope that you have a wonderful week and don't forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter (use the blue & white box on the right), as the March issue will be sent out in two weeks. :-)