Sunday Morning

Morning everyone.  How has your weekend been?  It's been gorgeous here in north Georgia, but it's cloudy this morning.

Yesterday Tim & I got to sleep late since the kids went to Mom's Friday night.  We got up at 9:30, but I probably could've gone back to sleep for at least another hour.  I really needed the rest it seems.  I did wake up quite refreshed though.  :-)

When the girls came home we spent several hours outside cleaning up around the house and enjoying the sunshine.  We cleared out the pool and put it away.  Straightened up the outside furniture and focused them around the rock firepit Tim & I built a few years ago.  We don't use it much during the summer but it gets used a lot in the autumn.  Then we confisgated the dog's stick collection.  That dog picks them up all over the year and piles them in one spot.  It gets bad if we don't clear them out from time to time.  LOL.

After that we spent the evening just hanging out and enjoying our time.  Tim watched some Nascar and football.  The kids played games together.  I watched some missed shows on the dvr & Hulu.  Just stuff like that.

Ooohh, I did find out that I finally reached 1 million pageviews on Associated Content on Friday.  Woohoo!!  It was actually 1,000,006 pageviews.  ;-)  A big thank you to all of you who have read my articles from time to time!  It makes me happy.  :-)

In about an hour we'll be going to visit the in-laws.  After that we'll come home, I'll do laundry, Tim'll watch Nascar, the kids will play outside, and then I'll lock myself away to finish up my chapter writing.  It has to be done today as tomorrow and Tuesday will be dedicated to article writing.  I'm planning to make enough $$$ from the article writing over the next 2 weeks to cover all the expenses for our race trip on the 17th.  It won't be too difficult, but it does take 2 full days per week of article writing focus.

It'll be a fun trip though.  And it makes my man happy.  That's what matters in the end.  :-)

Okay, time for me to get going.  I need to go change clothes and make sure the kids are dressed.  Have a fabulous Sunday.  Go out and enjoy the sunshine, if you have some. 


*Image: Another lovely tag from my friend Mis*

The start of a wonderful weekend.

Yep, that's right.  The day hasn't even really begun, but I know that it's just the start to a wonderfully fantastic weekend.  I don't care what happens, I'm determined to have a great weekend, and that's that.  Determination and a positive outlook can accomplish anything!  And I definitely have tons of both.  :-)

Yesterday I made something I haven't tried before... homemade bread bowls.  They were super yummy, and since I made a beef stew in the Crock-Pot, just the perfect thing to set off a super yummy dinner.  Our middle daughter doesn't eat a lot of meat, so she passed on the beef stew.  Well, the 4yr old told her, "Sara, you missed a yummy dinner!"  It was funny, and super cute.

I had a productive day yesterday.  We did grocery shopping, I washed 4 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, cut up and through everything together for beef stew, and made those bread bowls.  Tim cleaned up a bit and did some weed eating.

Speaking of the man, he did manage to find some race tickets in the monetary limit I'd set for him.  LOL.  I knew he would if he wanted to go bad enough.  Now I have to go and order the tickets for him.  ;-)

Oh, and I did some book writing too.  It was a good day.

Today we don't have to go out for anything other than school drop-off and pick-up.  I've sworn off article work this weekend until I'm done with the new chapter writing.  I've decided that I will do NaNoWriMo after all this year, so I'm determined to get this one finished so I can write book 2 in this series during November.  Should be lots of fun... yeah, fun, that's it!  50,000 words in 30 days.  Why do I torture myself so.  Oh yes, I'm a writer and that's what I do.  LOL.

Nonetheless, today will be another work day.  I'm thinking that I'll lock myself away in the bedroom and let Tim & the youngest fend for themselves together.  Surely they'd survive a few hours without me.  Um, yeah, wishful thinking, I know, but I may try it anyway. 

Mom is suppose to take the kids tonight.  Tim & I are planning a peaceful night at home with cheddar turkey hotdogs, potato salad, grown up drinks, and Netflix dvds.  I enjoy our nights alone... and the morning after when we get to sleep until 10am.

I'm off for today.  I hope you have a fabulous Friday and a glorious weekend.  :-)


*Image: Taken by me on our first trip to the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte, NC. Oct. 2007*

Welcome to October!

I love the month of October!  I can't believe it's finally here.  October has always been a magical, fun, exciting month for me.  As children, it's the month we get to plan out our Halloween costumes, think about all the yummy goodies we'll receive, and maybe even throw a Halloween party of our own.

As an adult, I still enjoy costume decisions, parties, and the excitement the children share with me.  When else can you buy arm loads of costumes, make-up, decorations, and candies without being looked at sideways.  LOL!  Oh, and I can't forget about apple-picking and making all sorts of yummy things with those apples.

However, I also find that October is a happy month around here.  I like the milder temperatures, the changing leaves, playing outside as much as possible before cold weather hits.  Tim & I also like to plan a get-away for just the 2 of us in October.  For the last 2 years we've been going to Charlotte, NC for a Nascar race.  I doubted that we'd get to go this year, but Tim's determined to find tickets in my pre-assigned ticket price range.  LOL.  We'll see if he manages to do it before the race.  ;-)

Yes, yes, I know.  I spoil that man far too much.  Sex anytime, anywhere he wants, a nice library of Xbox games, meals he loves, attention whenever he wants it... yep, he's quite spoiled.  Oh well, I have fun, and he does anything I ask him to do. 

Anyway, back to October.  This is a fun month for me, and I know it'll go by too quckly.  Nonetheless, I still have a lot of work to do, too.  My goal is to completely finish the rewrites and edits for Time For Death before we go to the race (if we go).  Then I'll have about 2 weeks left in October before I have to worry about NaNoWriMo starting on November 1st.  I already know what story I'll write that month, but if I don't get done with this one I won't even bother starting another in November.  Soooo, I'm determined!

I did start the new chapter 13 today, and tomorrow I'll get more done on it after we run some errands.  Well, if Tim leaves my laptop alone long enough for me to work.  He likes my laptop for ticket searching over the desktop.  I might have to buy him his own after the new year so he'll leave mine alone and stop whining about using a purple one.  LOL.

Okay, since today is October 1st, it's time to announce that my September e-Book giveaway is over.  The winner of an Alex & Fiona book in e-Book form is Shannon S.!  Congrats and I hope you enjoy it!  I've already contacted the winner and hope to hear from her soon.  :-)
Thank you to all of my new blog followers, and be on the lookout for future goodies.  I love giving away goodies.  :-)  My next contest will probably be in December, so keep an eye out for announcements. 

That's it for me this morning.  I've got big, busy plans for today... and I need to keep Tim on his toes begging for race tickets.  It's always a lot of fun to see how much extra attention I get from him when he wants something big.  *giggle*  I got a foot rub last night!  Woohoo!

Have a great Thursday.  :-)



*Image: Taken by my oldest daughter back in Feb. Tim & I were getting ready to head off to that bed & breakfast we visited.*