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!

Hot Vampires! Who's your favorite?

Happy Friday morning ladies and gents!  It's finally the weekend.  Woohoo!  My mom will be taking the kids tonight and we'll be enjoying a peaceful evening.  Then tomorrow we get to sleep late.  I like sleeping late.  I hate the sound of my alarm clock Monday through Friday.  That sucker scares me half to death every single morning.

I don't have much more than writing planned for today.  I got an e-mail from DS wanting me to write more articles, but I don't "do" articles during NaNoWriMo.  I like to focus solely on my story without having my attention spread out over web content as well.  I love my fiction!  Articles are just there to make some extra cash when I'm not having to process a fiction story.

When I work on my novels I like to think about them all day.  Even when I'm not writing, the story is going through my mind; I'm working through scenes, conversations, locations, etc.  I might be watching television, folding laundry, giving the youngest a bath, but I'm rolling the story over and over in my head.  If I start writing an article about gardening, well, that just throws my story thoughts right out the window for a while.  It ruins my work flow.

This is why I only write articles when I'm editing or doing rewrites.  If I'm working on a story from scratch I just can't do articles.  I've learned this about myself over the years and figure I should just stick with what works best for me.  :-)

Now, back to the title of this blog.  Hmmm, hot vampires!  I love hot vampires.  Hot vampires are what makes the movies and books worth watching and reading.  Hot vampires are the ones that make you wanna swoon and offer up your own neck for their use.  Mmmm, the world would be awfully boring without hot vampires.  Hell, my books would be pointless without hot vampires!!  LOL!

Yesterday a friend shared 20 Hottest Vampires of All Time.  Stop by and check out.  Do you agree with the findings?  Do you have suggestions for others?  I like the list, but would totally reorder it to my own liking.

Before I go, I wanted to share that I got some fabulously potential good news yesterday.  It's pretty big for me, but it's a done deal.  It may not even pan out at all.  But if it does I'll be shouting it from the rooftops & you guys will be some of the firsts to know.  However, at this time I'm asking for everyone to cross their fingers and toes, and to think happy thoughts for me.  I believe in karma; if you send goodness out into the universe it'll come back to you tenfold.  Most of you know that about me.  Fingers crossed!

Have a great day!

Only 1 Week Away

Morning folks.  How has your weekend been?  It has been a peaceful, quiet weekend around here.  The sun keeps fluttering in and out of the clouds.  We'll get glimpses of bright loveliness and then it's gone again.

Yesterday was spent here at home.  Mom brought the kids home around 11 a.m. that day.  Then the girls and I spent the day baking, cleaning, watching movies, playing outside, and just hanging out. 

Tim's been dealing with some sort of stomach issue for the last couple of days.  I had him piled up in bed yesterday.  He's as bad (or worse) than the children when it comes to being sick.  He whines and pouts and complains.  That's mainly why I shoved him into the bedroom and out of my way.  LOL!

I received more good words about Time For Death yesterday.  "...you drive the reader in a tense manner in a huge way..."  I absoutely LOVE hearing things like that.  She went on about certain book details that she likes (that I won't post here), and then I got this, "You are an amazing novelist!!!"  Awwwwww!  I love you too!

I have no real plans for today.  Tim's still not feeling well, so it'll be another at-home day.  That's okay though, I may just go get some pumpkins and let the kids carve them.  I'm actually enjoying these peaceful days before the storm of November arrives.  Today marks exactly 1 week until NaNoWriMo begins.  I'm definitely ready to get started on book 2 of my Liz Baker series.  Hell, I already have notes for book 3, too.

Once the contest starts I'll add a word count graphic to the blog.  You'll be able to see how many words I have done and how much closer I am to the 50,000 word goal.  This is my third year doing the contest, and I reached goal early for both previous years.  Hopefully I can again this year.

A Birth at Dawn was the book I wrote during NaNoWriMo 2007.  Then in 2008, I wrote the first draft of Time For Death.  This year's book will be Time For Battle (unless I change the title). 

Okay, I'm off.  Have a good Sunday!




*Photo: Taken by me Oct. 2008.*

Wanna Know Wednesday #36

Good morning everyone.  I woke up with a touch of a headache this morning, but I'm not letting that stop me.  I tookthe kids to school, made oatmeal for breakfast, washed 2 more loads of laundry, swept & mopped the kitchen & diningroom, and after this entry I'll be getting to work on the book's printing and reading.  Woohoo!

Last night's event at the oldest daughter's school went well.  We got there before the crowds and were in and out in about 30 minutes.  It was nice meeting her teachers and hearing about how great a student she is (which I knew already, but it's always nice to hear).  I enjoyed talking to her Language Arts teacher and watching the girls play with her active board.

I have a lot to do today, so let me get right to this week's Wanna Know Wednesday.

10 Foods I Don't Like

1. Tomatoes.  I will not eat raw tomatoes, or chunks of cooked ones.  Tomatoes have to be pureed if they're in my food.
2. Cucumbers.  I hate cucumbers, but absolutely love pickles.
3. Squash.  Nope, not gonna happen.
4. Buttermilk.  The smell is horrid, but I do like buttermilk biscuits.  ;-)
5. Jalapenos.  Yuck!
6. Caviar.  Seriously?
7. Snails.  Really?  Nope!
8. Pickled pig feet.
9. Pickled eggs.
10. Tootsie Rolls.  Ugh, I've never liked them.

That's it for today.  I need to get busy and start reading once the printer stops churning out pages.  Have a great day!  :-)

Not so lazy after all.

Boy, for yesterday to be a lazy Saturday I sure did get a lot done.  LOL.  I ended up doing two loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and wrote two articles.  Oh, and I watched a dvd that's been sitting here for a week from Netflix.  I even did some research for another article before I went to bed last night.  What else was there to do?  Tim was yelling at a football game on television.  Might as well work while he's busy.  LOL.

Today we're going to visit Tim's parents for a couple of hours.  We decided last weekend to cut our weekly visits down to every other Sunday.  Today's when he gets to break it to them.  Better him than me.  LOL!  It doesn't matter, we're reclaiming OUR Sunday mornings.  We want to be able to sleep in, get up and make breakfast with the girls, maybe go for a drive in the mountains, and just enjoy the day. 

I refuse to be locked into this routine for another 15 years of my life.  I have plans and will not wait around on them.  If that makes me a bitch, well so be it.  I've been called that, an much worse, over the years and it doesn't bother me in the least.  It means I'm doing something RIGHT in obtaining my life goals and happiness.  Go me!
Anyway, we'll be heading down there in a bit, and then Tim wants to run out for a new handle and lock latch for the door he's been working on.  It's a new door for our crawl space under the house.  However, those of you who've been here know that our crawl space is fairly high and the door is larger than most.  Our old door was warped from the weather, so Tim made a new one, painted it to help prevent warping, put brand new hinges on, and now wants the new handle and latch "So it'll look right and match".  LOL!

After that we'll be home so he can watch the Nascar race.  I'll probably work on another article or two, and do all the other stuff I do on Sunday evenings.  Thinking I'll even make breakfast for dinner today.  Hmmm, yeah, that's it!

Okay, I'm off for the day.  Wish me luck!  Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the snippet of Time For Death... yeah that's something else I need to do today since I haven't chosen the snippet yet.  I hope you enjoy it!
Havea great Sunday.  :-)




*Photo Credit: Christie Silvers - Taken in my backyard.*

A stormy Saturday.

Morning all.  It's a nasty, stormy day here.  Tim and I didn't even wake up until nearly 10 a.m. because of it.  That was nice.

Mom had the girls last night, so we spent some "quality" time together, grilled out dinner, did some marathon drinking, and had loads of conversation in the process.  It's always so peaceful when we get to just sit outside and talk without interruptions.  It was about 10 p.m. when we fell into bed and passed out.  LOL.  I woke up at 3 in the morning stilling quite tipsy.  Luckily I just needed to turn over and not actually get out of bed.  LOL!  We had a lot of fun.

This morning a storm rolled in right after we woke up.  Just in time for Tim to bring in a door he'd painted yesterday.  Mom brought the kids home at 11; in the midst of a downpour.  They were soaked.  LOL.

Now we're all just hanging out.  The younger two are watching Peter Pan in my room, the oldest is in her room, I did a little kitchen cleaning before this entry, and Tim is watching some car building show.  It'll be a lazy day in the Silvers household.

I'll do some laundry (always, since it never ends) and research for a new batch of articles.  Oh, and I need to pick the snippet of Time For Death that I'll be sharing on Monday.  From my Facebook friends, the consensus is that they'd like to read a sex scene, so I guess that's what I'll share.  Of course I did here some saying they wanted both storyline and sex, but I'm just sharing one.  ;-)

Okay, so I'm off for the day.  Guess I'll start that laundry and get a little work done.  I did manage to edit my goal of 10 chapters in Time For Death this week.  Plus I wrote three articles for DS and claimed six more for the new week.  I better get busy! 

Have a great day.



*Photo taken by Christie Silvers. I took this to go with an AC article a few months back.  These were our original set of wedding bands.  We don't wear them anymore (upgrades since then), but I still love them.*

Friday... all day long!

Morning all.  It's finally Friday.  These days Friday means I get two days of sleeping late--6 a.m. sure does come early since school started.  LOL.
So yesterday ended up being busier than I expected.  We decided to go out and get groceries yesterday morning instead of doing it today.  All in all I ended up getting groceries, paying several bills, doing 4 loads of laundry and putting them away, and editing two chapters in Time For Death.  Then of course you add the cooking of dinner, baths, and bedtime routines, and boy it was a busy day.

During edits I found some snippets that I'd like to share with my readers as a sneak peek of Time For Death.  However, there are soooo many snippets that I now have to decide which ONE to share.  LOL.  Who wants sex, and who wants normal storyline?  I have both.  LOL!  Let me know and I'll post a sneak peek on Monday.  :-)

Today I'll be spending it here at home, working, writing, planning for the weekend.  The kids are scheduled to go to Mom's tonight and Tim is planning to grill ribs for us.  We'll drink, grill, and watch movies in peace and quiet.  That's always nice.  :-)

How is everyone enjoying the new pictures with most of the entires?  I thought it'd be something nice to add to the blog, and I get to show off my own photographs.  I'm big on taking pictures when we go places.  Pictures of the kids, Tim, the location, and anything that sparks my interest.  I have hundreds upon hundreds of pictures from over the years.

Okay then, looks like it's time for me to get going this morning.  Let me know what kind of story snippet you'd like to see and I'll choose one to share on Monday.  Have a great day!


*Photo: Taken by Christie Silvers, February 2009 in Pigeon Forge, TN*

Ooohh, I can't wait.

Only 4 more days until school starts. Four more days. This extra month of summer vacation definitely came in handy when planning day trips and such, but I'm DONE with the kids being home all day long. Actually, they're tired of it too. They're as excited about the first day of school as I am. Woohoo!

Today is half over already. We slept late and then went out to do some Friday errands. I bought some grocries so that there was actually food in the house. LOL. If there's not cheese and ham in the fridge then there's absolutely NOTHING to eat... or though Tim thinks. LOL. So now he has food in the house. Hahaha!

Tonight is Mom's Friday to have the girls. Tim and I will be staying home and grilling out for dinner. We're doing grilled salmon, corn on the cob, yellow rice and steamed green beans. This is one of our favorite meals. It's so flavorful, yet light and easy. Yum!

I have two articles that I need to finish and submit today, while I want for payment from other ones. I love payday! :-) Luckily the two I need to write are already started and outlined. I know what I'm writing, I just need to write it. Another reason I can't wait 'til school starts.... more time to work!

Oh, it just hit me! I haven't shared the pics from our weekend trip, have I? Sorry all. Here you go. Just pop over to my Shutterfly account and watch the slideshow. There aren't a lot of pics since I didn't take the camera to Dixie Stampede, but there are a few of WonderWorks. :-)

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8JZtmbZw3Y6o

Okay, I'm off to finish up my work so that I can enjoy the evening with my loving man and no worry about these articles. I don't think the laptop will go well with what I plan on wearing tonight. LOL!

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Welcome to the weekend.

Good afternoon all you wonderful friends, family and fans! Woohoo, it's Saturday. What have you been up to today?

We had a very busy day yesterday. Lots of running around, doing errands and combating Tim's boredom. LOL! That man just can't take it. I told him he wouldn't be able to; that a week into the lay-off he'd be hollering about having nothing to do, and not wanting to do the things I suggest. LOL! And I was right! Hahaha!

Today we woke up and decided to go to the lake for some fishing with the kids. Most of you probably know that fishing with kids means no actual fishing will occur. Apparently Tim had forgotten that fact and expected to actually fish. ROFL! Sheesh! I love that man, but sometimes he can be mindless. LOL.

Our fishing trip lasted a few hours, that kids had a blast and we all came home wet from playing in the water. LOL. Unfortunately, Tim was frustrated with the reel Cassandra (our oldest) was using, and then his brand new rod we'd just purchased YESTERDAY broke in half. Ack! Needless to say, he didn't have a good time.

We're planning to try it again Monday morning. Hopefully he'll have a much better time at it.

Kaitlyn, our 4 year old, kept handing me her small fishing rod and saying with a sigh, "Mommy, will you please catch me a fish?" She just didn't understand that it doesn't happen just because your throw the hook in the water. LOL. Then Sara, our 9 year old, kept stating that fishing was boooooooring. LOL!

We'll see how Monday goes. I plan to let them wear their swimsuits and just let 'em go.

Right now we're back home. Tim is outside vacuuming the swimming pool so the kids can go play later this evening. I haven't decided what's for dinner yet, so I guess I better figure that out in the new few hours. I have one article to work on and laundry to finish.

Before I go, here are some pictures from our fishing today.............

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 #15

Good morning all. Welcome to another wonderful Wednesday. The temp is moderate right now and the sun is shining brightly.

I took the big girls to school this morning and then came home to make breakfast for the youngest. We had just started eating when the phone rang. It was the oldest telling me she'd forgotten some money for her Beta Club and begged me to bring it to her. Sheesh! LOL. So breakfast got put on hold so that I could run her money to school. She was very gracious though and that made it better. You can't resist when your 12 yr old (who thinks she's 16 most days) gives you the, "Thank you sooooo much, Mommy".

Ah well. Spoiled children are part of raising happy, healthy, and loved kids. Of course that doesn't mean they don't get their share of punishments. Hell, the exact same sweet 12yr old from this morning is currently grounded because she was signing up for websites without asking permission first. Luckily it wasn't anything dangerous, but she knows where I stand on website monitoring and she didn't ask first. This was her second offense so she received a 1 month grounding from the computer. Kids!

Okay, so it'sWednesday. That means it's time for Wanna Know Wednesday!! *Said in my best game show host voice*

Today's topic is.............

10 Things I'm Looking Forward to This Weekend!

1. Tim being home for 5 days! Yay for Memorial Day!
2. Not having to cook because Tim is on a grilling out kick when he's home. LOL!
3. Only 2 days of school after this week.
4. Staying up later.
5. Sleeping later. LOL.
6. Getting the pool ready for swim season! I miss my pool.
7. Doing a little writing.
8. Relaxing.
9. Making more vow renewal plans.
10. And just spending time with the family.

It's nice to know that this week is nearly over. Today is Tim's last day of work this week and he'll be off until next Tuesday. Unfortunately, next week he'll be working on Thursday to make up for his work being closed Monday. But hey, he'll make an extra 8 hours of holiday pay for next week's check. LOL.

Maybe I'll even convince him to take the girls to school in the morning! Well, a girl can dream, right? LOL.

He was just asking me what I have planned for dinner tonight? Um, it's only 9am. I have no idea! LOL. I think it's worked out though. Like I mentioned above, he's on a grilling out kick right now. Soooo, looks like I'll be getting some steaks into marinade in a little bit. The girls will have left overs from last night's spagetti dinner and Tim will grill our dinner when he gets home from work. It'll be late since he doesn't get home until 6:30pm, but that's fine when it's just the two of us eating at that time.

I guess it's time for me to go get some housework done and run to the store for steaks. I've already started the laundry and watched the new "My Bloody Valentine" dvd (fantastic horror movie if you're into that kind of thing, like I am!). However, I have more to do.

Have a great Hump Day! I hope you enjoy it. ;-)

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Good Saturday morning.

Morning all. It's Saturday! Time to relax, be happy, and enjoy your family and friends. :-)

The girls ended up staying last night with the in-laws, so Tim and I had a peaceful evening. We grilled out chicken breast and corn on the cob. We had a few drinks (I was quite tipsy) and just enjoyed the evening together.

We went to bed to the sounds of a thunderstorm outside. It was lightening and rattling the house around us. However, the burning candles and soft bed helped distract us from the world around us as our attentions were focused on each other. It was nice (as always).

This morning we drug ourselves out of bed at 8am. You never know when the kids will be ready to come home, and they usually come home especially early when they stay with the in-laws (that's a whole other issue). However, we got about two hours of quiet before they arrived. Tim got steaks into marinade for us to grill tonight, I cleared out my emails, we watched a little television, and had some nice time to talk uninterrupted before the children burst through the front door and chaos ensued. ;-)

It's noon here now. The laundry is washing, the kids are cleaning their rooms, I've given the youngest a bath (the girls stink when they come home from the in-laws' house--they smoke), and I've been getting some online work done. Tim is playing the Xbox.

This afternoon sometime, the kids are suppose to go to my mom's for the night (yes, we're getting TWO nights alone. WOW!!!). Tim has plans to grill steaks out for the two of us for dinner, but he also wants to run by Old Navy sometime to see what new men's shorts they have out this year. LOL! He loves those loose, comfy, swim/beach shorts. He wears them around the house all the time.

Who knows what will happen? We usually just go with the flow on the weekends. We'll see. Either way, I plan on relaxing and enjoying my time with the man I love (like always).

At some point I need to take off my old nail polish from toes and fingers and pick a new color for the next week. Maybe I'll go with a purple this time. Hmm...

Okay, before I head off, I had two new articles published yesterday. Stop by and check them out if you get the chance. Also, I'm still trying to hit the 1 million pageviews mark on AC, so feel free to check out as many of my other articles as you'd like. ;-)

SAHM: Where to Advertise Your New Playgroup

SAHM: Scheduling Your Day

All right, that's it. I hope you're having a fantabulous day! If you're one of my Facebook friends, don't mention my drunken Facebooking last night. LMAO! ;-)

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Thursdays are for burgers!

Good afternoon to all of you lovely readers! How has your day been? I hope that it was a good one and that you will soon be able to enjoy the evening in peace.

Thursdays are the beginning of my weekend these days. Tim is home on Thursdays and when we're together it's all about... well, US! LOL. Therefore, I never get much work done and it starts the weekend. :-)

We went out this morning because I needed a new ink cartridge for my printer. We also picked up a few things for dinner this evening, and then back home we came. I had to print out some paperwork for the refinance we are working on with the mortgage company, and then I mailed them off this afternoon.

We hung out for a few hours here at home, had some lunch, had some of each other, and then it was time to head to school for pick-up time. It was quite the productive morning. ;-)

Right now we're at home for the rest of the day. Tim is going to grill burgers and hotdogs out for dinner tonight (YUM!), and I'll mix us some alcoholic drinks to go along with it. Then at 8pm we will enjoy the season finale of Bones. Woohoo!

For those who have asked me about our progress after Tim's vasectomy. Well, remember how I said my research shows 12-24 "times" to clear out the "boys"? After this weekend, we'll be past 12 times. ;-) And yes, tomorrow marks 2 weeks since the procedure. LOL!

He's healing perfectly (apparently, right?) and hasn't had any major issues at all. There was some swelling after he went back to work, but that was to be expected. We had the doctor take a look at it and he said it was just from Tim overworking (could have been the sex the day after too, LOL), and for him to just take it easy last weekend. That didn't happen.

Anyway, all is well, everything works, and I give it another 2-3wks before we hit #24. ;-) Of course we still won't know for sure until the analysis on July 24th. But by that time he'll be wayyyyyyyyyy past 24 times. LOL!

Okay, I'm off to mix some drinks and get Tim to fire up the grill. It's 4pm now, so we'll be eating by 5pm and kids will start heading to bed at 7pm. Woohoo!

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Okay, I was a day off.

TODAY is actually 2 weeks until Tim's vasectomy. The first appointment date was for next Thursday, but his now appointment date is May 1st, which is the Friday after next. Soooo, today marks two weeks. LOL! Duh, me!

Anyway, good morning to my wonderful, fabulous, loving friends out there. I hope that you've had a great week. Mine has been pretty well, I must say. I got a decent amount of work done... both writing and household. That always makes for a nice weekend because I'm not rushing to get work done when I could be spending it with Tim and the girls.

Tonight the girls are going to be spending the night with my mom. Tim and I will be home alone. His 33rd birthday is in two days so we're going to be grilling out, watching some movies (yay Netflix!), and enjoying the quiet in celebration. Then tomorrow I'll bake him his favorite birthday cake (white cake with chocolate frosting). I would wait for Sunday to do it (his actual birthday), but he said he wants it tomorrow so he can eat it during the Nascar race. LOL! He says it'll make a good snack. LOL!

Nonetheless, today is another gorgeous day here. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. I love days like this. It's a little cool this morning, but is warming up pretty quickly. It will be so nice outside this afternoon.

Early this morning I took the girls to school, bought groceries, paid the Verizon bill (still loving Verizon!), and did a few other errands. We were out so early that we made it back home by 9:30am. We've just been hanging out since then. I need to do some laundry, but will wait until the girls get home from school in case they require a change of outfits before they go to Mom's. Anyone with daughters knows what I'm talking about. They go through more outfits a week than anyone I know.

Okay I better go now. The youngest is begging for an early lunch since she didn't want to at breakfast this morning. Tim is in the kitchen getting our dinner steaks into merinade and seasonings. He loves doing that and I don't mind because it keeps me from having to cook. LOL!

Have a great Friday and weekend to come. :-)

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It's Saturday already?

This week has gone by fairly quickly for me. I can't believe it's already Saturday. Of course, the days do roll into one another when it's rainy day, after rainy day, after rainy day. I'll be so glad when the sun decides to grace us with its presence again.

Today has been a lazy day around the house. Tim's watching his Iron Man dvd at the moment. Now that doesn't mean I have been able to be lazy. I've cleaned the kitchen, done three loads of laundry, swept and vacuumed the floors, and stripped down my giant bed to wash the sheets.

Plus I have homemade pizza crust rising in the kitchen right now for when the oldest daughter's friends arrive and they can make pizzas tonight. Tim and I will be having a Mexican dinner that we'll make ourselves. He's not in a pizza mood.

I also worked on the Character Dictionary for the website. It's almost complete! I'm working on the section for A Twilight Abduction at the moment. I never realized that I'd written so many more characters into that book than I did in the previous two. It is fun to go back and recap my previous characters. I like that it refreshes my memory of how much I loved them while I was writing them.

I currently have 12, yes TWELVE, book projects in the works. Most are in the form of a few paragraphs in my notebook so that when I get time to write them I'll know what my idea was and how passionate I felt about writing that story when I made the notes. Others are already started in their own computer files here on the laptop. Then, I have notes about linking one story with another in my cell phone. I use to carry around a digital voice recorder to make notes anytime, but found that it wasn't as conducive to how I work as a good notebook and ink pen.

With so much work ahead of me, it's no wonder that I go through phases of disinterest. I write, and write, and write until I just can't write anymore. Then I go into hiding for a couple of weeks before the urge to write strikes me hard and fast. Writing is definitely my passion, but sometimes passion takes a break as the world around us interrupts it.

This is how it is for me anyway. Every writer is unique and therefore has his/her own techniques and style for getting work completed.

Well, I better stop rambling and get back to work. The dryer stopped, so it's time to put my warm, soft, Egyptian Cotton sheets back on the bed so Tim & I can mess them up later tonight. LOL!

Have a fantastic day!

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Friday Morning

Good morning all. It's finally Friday. Yay for the weekend!

Today is my errand day. However, I didn't have a lot to do and we were finished and back home by 8:30am this morning. Of course we also didn't go to the next town over for a bank visit and a trip to Wal-mart. LOL! We just stayed ver here and hit the local Bi-Lo and CVS, then back home. Now I have the rest of the day to laze around with Tim and wish for sunshine.

It's another rainy, gloomy day here. I'd like some sunshine, but this does make for a good lazy day. Gloomy days are only good for curling up in bed with the one you love. Or possibly for getting some writing done. LOL! Nonetheless, right now I'm chilly and am preferring the bed option.

It looks like this weekend will be filled with days inside as well. Even if the rain stops it'll just be too wet to do anything out there. Things are flooding and the ground is so sloppy. Yuck!

Our oldest daughter is having a sleepover here tomorrow night. That's always fun (NOT). I already have a house full of screaming girls and then she goes and adds more. LOL! Blah! I'll let them make some homemade pizzas and then send them off to do preteen girlie stuff in her bedroom. She has movie watching and nail painting planned.... nothing that'll require my attention. Yay!

I'm planning to finish the Character Dictionary on my website for the Alex & Fiona series this weekend. And my monthly newsletter goes out next Wednesday, so I have to make sure it's ready. I have several articles that are requiring my attention, and Liz is bugging me about doing to edits for Time For Death. Come on Liz, give a girl a break! Sheesh, she's such a bossy bitch! LOL.

Okay, I'm cold, so I'm headed to the bedroom. I hope you're all having a much drier day than I am!

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Sunday.

Good afternoon all. I can't believe it's nearly Monday again. These last four days have flown by so quickly.

Yesterday we spent most of the day outside. We worked around the yard, played with the dog, installed some new solar lights and japanese lanterns around the backyard fire pit. Unfortunately, it was so darn windy that we could safely light the firepit. However, the new lights worked like a charm once the sun went down. I'm looking forward to enjoying them once it's warmer. The girls keep begging to roast marshmellows and make smores. Maybe we can do that soon, now that's it officially SPRING! Yay!

Today we went for a visit with the in-laws and then came back home. I cleaned out the front flowerbed and moved some of my yard irises into it. Tim washed his car and then the girls tackled washing the van. Everyone was dirty and wet by the time we were all finished. LOL!

Now everyone is inside, though the windows are open and the house has a light breeze running through it. Tim is watching Nascar and the girls are off playing, or watching cartoons, or whatever they are doing. As long as they aren't fighting and screaming then I leave them be.

Me, well, I just finished writing up a contest over on the LTTM blog (so if you're an LTTM member, pop over and check it out) and now I'm doing this entry before heading over and working on the April issue of my newsletter.

I WAS going to do some book writing, but every time I started the girls would yell for me, or someone would start fighting. It's like they can sense when I'm trying to get work done. If they knew how much I enjoyed writing here on the blog then they would be interrupting this too. LOL! Luckily, they have no idea how much I like my blog. Tim is a different story though. He started flirting with me as soon as I began writing the LTTM entry. LOL!

Since it is Sunday, I've started my "to-do" list for the new week. It's an ever-expanding list, but here are a few things that I need to do in the upcoming week:

*** Repaint fingernails (yes, I actually have to schedule nail painting)

*** Make dinner rolls for the freezer (my sister got my last bag last week)

*** Call the urologist about insurance stuff (gotta make sure all the vasectomy details are perfect)

*** Make Spring skirts for the girls

*** Clean the carpet in my bedroom

*** Clean my laptop

*** Finish the Character Dictionary for my website (have you been waiting on this? LOL)

*** Work on my April newsletter

Yes, that's a lot of stuff, but it's also just the tip of the iceburg. It doesn't include all my normal household stuff, or my book writing. I might even throw in a web article or two, since I haven't written on in a while. Not to mention that I have a couple of magazine articles I need to finish. LOL! It's never ending.

Okay, I'm out. I need to do some other work and hopefully everyone will leave me be for a while to do it. Of course, the phone will probably ring as soon as I hit publish on this entry. LOL!

Oh, the picture above is of my three beauties while we were playing outside at the in-laws' house earlier today.

Have a great one!

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You can link to Christie's Thoughts now!

My wonderful friend Mis (yes, the one I posted about last week) has created some gorgeous graphic buttons for the blog here. I only needed one, but she never goes with just one. LOL! So we now have three gorgeous buttons for anyone to use if they'd like to link to my blog here.

You'll find my favorite one over at the top of the left column. The code for you to use is right under it.

Here are the other two as well, in case you'd like them instead. :-)

Feel free to use which ever one you'd like (or all three) on your own blog, website, MySpace... where ever. :-)

Today has been a dreary one. It's cool and rainy. Totally the opposite of the gorgeous weekend we had last week. Looks like it'll be this way for like the next week, or so. I can handle it as long as it doesn't stay around longer than that. I was loving not having the heat on and being able to sleep with the windows open and hanging laundry outside. Come on Spring! I'm ready to start planting my garden and spending days outside all the time.

Our middle daughter is getting over a cold this weekend. She's been coughing and sniffling for days and the meds I was giving her weren't helping. So I changed her meds yesterday and today she's feeling much better. Yay! I get tired of hearing sniffling all the time. LOL.

The youngest is not happy about being cooped up in the house today. She's an outside girl and hates rainy days as much as I do.

The oldest has a sleepover to go to tonight. She's all excited and I've used it to get some actual housework out of her as leverage. LOL! Any good mom should know how to use a party against their child. It definitely helps to get their chores done faster and with less whining about them. LOL.

I've spent the morning doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning my bedroom, reorganizing my closet, and spending time with the family. Tim cooked breakfast for us this morning too. I'm not a morning person, and when I was pregnant I couldn't stand the sight of breakfast foods, so Tim started being the breakfast cook years ago. He does a good job too.

Oh, speaking of my hubby. Yesterday the new Resident Evil 5 video game released and he just HAD to have it. LOL. The poor guy has been waiting and waiting for that day, so how could I say no? I did, however, negotiate for a foot AND back massage in exchange for the $60 to buy the video game. I think I won big time on that deal! LOL! Plus, if he beats it as fast as he did the last game he bought, then we'll be able to take it back to Gamestop for a refund (they do that if you beat it within a week).

Well, the youngest is begging for lunch, so I better get to that before the tantrums begin. I hope you're all having a sunny Saturday! :-)

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