The end of January. How was it for you?

Happy Sunday, everyone!  It's a cold morning here.  Friday we had a big storm come through that left us covered in snow and ice.  However, by Saturday morning an overnight rain had washed all the whiteness away, leaving behind a world of mud for us to slosh through.

Yesterday the temps didn't get out of the 30's.  Today is suppose to get into the mid-40's, but it was soooo cold last night that we'll just have to wait and see about that.

So it's the last day of January.  This first month of 2010 went by very quickly.  Hopefully the rest of the year will slow down a bit so I can enjoy it.  LOL.  It was a decent month... if you don't consider that I'm van-less and Tim's $12,000 hospital visit.  Hell, if I had $12K I'd buy myself another van.  *Rolls Eyes*

Tomorrow starts another new month.  I have to take the girls for their semi-annual dental cleanings.  This week I also have to get the February newsletter written and sent out, plan for our camping trip, do a lot of article writing, and do some work on Liz's second book.

Oh, and hopefully the last piece of paperwork I'm waiting on will arrive in tomorrow's mail so that I can file my tax return.  I'd like to start counting down the days until our refund is direct deposited.  It'll definitely be put to good use this year.  Planning to pay the oldest daughter's braces off a year early and knock that monthly bill off of us.  Also hoping to get my van fixed (it's gonna need a new motor), though Tim wants to just buy another one.  I'd rather keep the one I have since it'll be cheaper to fix it.

Oh, how I love tax time!  While we have the children to claim anyway.  LOL.  Once they're all gone I probably won't feel the same about tax returns.  ;-)

Okay, I'm off.  We have to go visit the in-laws for a few hours.  Maybe, just maybe, Tim can occupy himself with the Xbox long enough for me to get some writing done when we get back.  *Fingers Crossed*

Have a great day!

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!

On your mark, get set, WRITE!!!

Welcome to Sunday, and November 1st!  Today is the day that the National Novel Writing Month begins.  Woohoo!  I'm super excited about this month and hope to have the first draft of the next Liz Baker story completed by November 30th (preferably sooner).

I won't be able to get started on my word count until we return from visiting the in-laws today.  However, I do have loads of notes, ideas, and thoughts on paper, in the computer file, and stored away in my head.  I have the book's computer file all set and ready for the story to begin.  It's open and sitting here on my desktop so that I'll be able to jump right in when we get home.  Woohoo!

Okay, so last night was Halloween.  We took the kids and Rex the Super Pup out to forage for sweet things to eat. It was sooooo crowded in the neighborhood that we go to (my grandmother's), and we got rained on.  Blah!  Therefore, I was thoroughly thrilled that their candy buckets ended up full to the tippy top after only 8 houses.   Yay! 

After that we loaded them back into the van and partook in the 50 cent corndog deal at Sonic for their late dinner.  It's not everyday that you can feed three children for only $7 (including fries).  Tim & I had Subway.  Yum!

Rex the Super Pup had a decent time.  He freaked out when he met my mom's chihuahua, but that only lasted a moment and then he was intrigued by this other dog so close in size.  LOL.  However, he was happy when we returned home and he was back on his own turf.

Well, I'm off.  We need to get ready for Tim's parents and the back home for me to get started on NaNoWriMo. Once I get the word count widget on here (on the left), you'll probably notice that some days will be low in word count and others will be extremely high.  My ideas come in spurts--some are small and some are gigantic.  :-)

Have a great Sunday and try not to get a tummy ache from all the candy you collected last night.

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.*

Just don't...

Good morning ladies & gents.  It's Sunday once again.  We're going down to visit Tim's parents in about an hour since we're going to be out of town next weekend.  Other than that, I have no other plans aside from book work once we return.  I did all that terrible laundry yesterday, and the house is nicely clean.  Yay!

Over the years that I've been a writer, I've discovered that there's a code of conduct that many people don't understand when they contact a writer.  I receive large amounts of emails on a daily basis from people who like my work or want something from me because they know I'm a writer.  This morning, one finally struck a nerve with me.

1. -- Don't ask an author if they're making money from their books.  It's rude.  Would you walk up to a random person and ask, "So, how much do you make a year?"  There are some things that are none of your business, no matter how well you know someone--or don't.  Do you really expect them to tell you?

2. -- Don't contact a writer to ask them if they'd like to read your manuscript and offer advice.  We don't.  We have our own work to read & edit.  We have our own lives to live and most of us barely have as much time with our friends and family as we'd like to have.  Do your own work; we do.

3. -- Don't contact a writer to say that you have this awesome idea and thought they'd like to write it for you.  No, we don't.  We have enough of our own ideas, and not enough time to work on them like we want.  Again, do your own work.

4. -- If you haven't seen the writer review products on their blog, don't ask them to review yours.  This is what set me off this morning.  I received an email from a "company" wanting me to review their photo software on my blog.  Does this look like a review blog?  Have I ever reviewed a product like that?  If they've read the blog they'd know the answers are NO.

Now keep in mind that this list is my personal preference, but many writers have shared the same thoughts on this subject.  Some actually do editing work on the side, so ghost write (writing a book for someone else to claim as their own), and some don't mind telling you how much they make a year.  However, if you don't know the writer, haven't seen them advertise their editing and/or ghost writing service, then please, don't ask them this kind of stuff.  It's annoying and it takes our time away from our own work and family just to respond to your emails and questions.

Anyway, there are my rants for today.  Now I have to go get dressed for the day.  I'm looking forward to getting back home and finishing off my book edit inputting.  Watch out test readers, it'll be on the way soon!  Woohoo!

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*

Sunny Sunday

Yay! It's sunny again here in north Georgia!  The rain was bad yesterday, but at least it's gone now.  I love sunshine.  :-)

We had a terrible disaster ocurr here in Chatsworth yesterday.  The old rock building--built in 1933--that housed Murray County High School all those years ago was apparently struck by lightning and destroyed by fire yesterday.  The picture above was taken by my sister with her husband's cell phone and she then sent it to me.  Such a horrible fire and a terrible loss for the community.
The rain was so bad yesterday that we had numerous flooded roads, basements, car wrecks, and the fire in the county.  Such destruction all around.  Makes me glad we stayed sequestered at home all day.

Today we're at home again, but at least the day is lovely.  I'm feeling a bit better.  I think the head cold has nearly run its course, thankfully.  I did however wake up with a headache this morning, but Tim doped me upith Excedrin and Pepsi as caffeine usually helps me get over them much faster.  Unfortunately that backfired and I ended up with caffeine jitters because all I'd eaten was a banana.  LOL.  I hate to eat a full meal to get my system back in order.  Now I'm feeling better though.

I had planned to get book work done this weekend, but with coming down with the cold and feeling badly, I didn't get a bit of writing work done.  I didn't even manage to claim any new articles for the new week until today.  It's going to be one busy week for me.  But then again, when isn't it busy around here?  LOL.

Five articles, one chapter to write, and another twelve chapters to edit... yep, that's a lot of work.  At least the laundry is done until Tuesday.  LOL!

Okay, I'm off to do some research.  Maybe I can get 1 or 2 articles written today, and then I won't have so many to do tomorrow and Tuesday.  The girls are playing quietly and Tim's playing Xbox.  Wish me luck!

Have a great Sunday.  :-)

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.*

Good morning. :-)

Morning all.  As you can see, I've been a busy, busy girl!  I worked on both the blog and the website yesterday for several hours.  The website is basiclly finished, but I still have a lot of work here on the blog.  Things are coming together though.

What do you think of the new header banner?  My wonderful, bestest, and most talented friend (and cover designer), Mis, created it for me yesterday.  She always does a fabulous job and I love everything she makes for me. *Smooches*
Today we would normally be going for a visit to the in-laws' house.  However, Tim and I hav decided that we will no longer be going down every single Sunday.  We've been doing that since the day we married and we're just tired of it.  We don't go see my mom every week.  Sheesh!

So now we're reclaiming some of our Sundays to spend with our kids and enjoy doing our own things.  Our livesjust get busier and busier with each passing year and we definitely need this extra day.

I have a few loads of laundry to wash, steaks to marinade for grilling at dinnertime, and more blog work to do.  Tim's still in bed, but the kids are awake and making noise, so he'll be up soon.  LOL.

Yesterday morning Tim and I watched Crank 2 before the kids came home.  Oh geez, that movie sucked big time.  We enjoyed the first one when it came out, but this one was absolutely horrible.  Sure there are some funny parts, decent action, and of course Jason Statham is a hottie, but the overall storyline was utterly ridiculous.  Even Tim was saying it blows.  That was a disappointment. 

After the movie disappointment, we picked up the kids and went to Lowes for a new sheet of subflooring.  We had a place in the laundryroom that needed to be replaced, so we worked on that for a little while and then put some of those peel-&-stick linoleum tiles in the space until we decide what kind of hardwood flooring we want in there.  At least the floor is fixed though.  :-)

Okay, I'm off for today.  Time to make some breakfast and spend time with the girls.  Have a great day!

And we're off... again!

Morning all! We're packing and getting ready to hit the road for the last time this summer. Thought I'd post a blog entry before shutting down and packing up the laptop to bring along with me. I never leave home on a trip without my laptop... even if where we're going has absolutely no internet access. Gotta have my baby with me. LOL.

So we'll be on the road in a couple of hours (unless Tim gets overly excited and wants to leave sooner) and will reach the hotel in Pigeon Forge, TN about 3 hours later. We were last up there in April for our anniversary.

It's funny because when we were first married (and 17 years old) we could get there in 2 hours. However, over the years our times have increased. I'm guessing we drove a lot faster when we were stupid teenagers with no kids to worry about. Hahaha!

I called yesterday to make our dinner reservations at Dixie Stampede for tomorrow at 6pm. We're all set!

Today we're just going to make it up there and hang out and enjoy the pool with the kids. Everyone is excited though. Hell, Tim was begging me to go yesterday, but I set my foot down with a resounding "NO" when I saw that the hotel price for Saturday was $80 and we're only paying $50 a night for Sunday and Monday. "Nope. You're jobless, remember?" LOL! Poor guy.

So anyway, we're leaving in a bit and will be home on Tuesday. I will still have internet access so feel free to email me if you need/want to. I'll only be checking them in the late evenings, so don't expect a speedy response.

Time to shut this down now. Have a great Sunday! <3

.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all those dads out there. I hope you're having a fabulously beautiful day with your family. :-)

This morning the girls and I made Tim breakfast. I'd given him strict instructions NOT to leave the bedroom until the girls came to get him. He did just that. We made biscuits, eggs, and sausage and as soon as it was done and his plate was put together the girls ran in screaming "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" LOL. Luckily he was already awake or they might have scared him half to death.

They showered him with his homemade cards, lots of hugs and kisses, and then we presented him with his grilling apron. It was a hit! He loves it. Of course, secretly he asked me why my handprints weren't in a lover position on the apron. LMAO!! My naughty mind had actually thought about that before we started the handprints, but space confinements didn't allow it to work out like that. LOL. He cracks me up.

After the morning here at home, we went to visit his parents and we all went out for lunch together.

Then back home. :-)

Right now he's out there cleaning the pool for our daily swims. When he's done we'll spend the rest of the day in the pool. For dinner we're doing a Mexican dinner. It's quick and easy so we won't have to get of the pool until we're ready to.

Too bad the weekend is almost over. With him working Thursday it just went by too quickly. Tomorrow is Monday and the start of yet another new week. Last week was all about getting my article quota written and submitted. Well, this new week will consist of getting the July newsletter ready to go, getting the July gveaway all set up and ready, and working on Time For Death edits. Oh, and I have my routine dental cleaning on Tuesday, as well.

It'll be another busy one! LOL.

Well, I hear Tim coming to tell us the pool is ready. Thankfully I already have my swimsuit on. Time to go play. Have a great Sunday all!

.

Another beautiful day.

Good afternoon. How has your Sunday been? Mine has been pretty great and fairly productive.

Usually we go to the in-laws' house for lunch on Sundays. However, we were suppose to go to a family reunion for Tim's side of the family. He didn't want to go, sooooo, we didn't go. LOL. I'm sure his mother is pretty unhappy with us today, but I don't care since it's not my deal. It's up to Tim when it comes to his side of the family. He said no, and that's that.

I took the free morning to work with the youngest on cleaning and organizing her bedroom. It was a mess, but looks really good now. Yay!

After lunch we sent the kids out to the pool for some fun. Tim wanted to watch the Nascar race in peace and I wanted to finish a chapter in Time For Death. I'm in the editing and rewriting phase and I always, always end up writing new chapters during the process. I have one more new chapter to write and then it's back to the editing.

Anyway, I got one chapter written today and will do the other one tomorrow, the girls have been in the pool for two hours, and Tim is still watching the race at the moment.

I'm about to go out to enjoy the sunshine and listen to the kids beg me to get into the pool. I'm not, since the water is still too cool for my liking after the cool days/nights we had last week. Nope, it ain't happenin'! LOL.

For those who like my dinner choices, tonight we're grilling half a salmon. YUM! Grilled salmon, red potatoes, and green beans. Love it!

I can't believe it's Sunday already. The weekend is over. Tomorrow starts a brand new week full of chores, kids, work, and all the other stuff that I always have to do. I always have a running "to-do" list in my notebook from week to week. I add to it continuously and just mark stuff off as I go. It never ends. LOL.

One thing that I'll be doing on Wednesday is taking the kids to Hobby Lobby in search of Father's Day supplies. I was at a loss for ideas on Father's Day this year. That is, until I was joking with Tim about him needing a special apron for all the grilling he's been doing lately. At first I thought about using Snapfish.com and ordering a photo apron. However, I didn't really like that you can't change what the apron says.

Sooooo, I decided to just make him an apon from the kids and me. We're going to get a blank one, get some iron-on lettering, and some paints when we go to Hobby Lobby. It's going to say, "Our Favorite Griller" and then I'm going to do all four of our handprints, from mine down to the four year old's. Then I'm going to have the girls make cards for him. I've already written something special and private that I'll put in the apron pocket for him to find the first time he wears it. Oh, and we'll make him breakfast that morning like we always do.

Should be a very nice Father's Day for the man of my life. :-) Thank goodness he doesn't read my blog! LOL! And I swear, if any of you family/close friends out there tell him, I'm disowning you forever! Or at least until you make it up to me. ;-)

Okay, that's it for today. I'm heading outside for a while. I'm not a Nascar fan and the cars going around, around, around is boring me.

Have a great Sunday, and week to come. :-)

.

Welcome to another Sunday.

Good morning all. It's Sunday already. Gosh, the weekend went by fast. Tomorrow the girls start their week off for Spring Break. Yay, I get to sleep late for a whole week!! Woohoo!

As you know, we went to the mountains yesterday to do a family photo shoot. We ended up taking nearly 100 photos, had a picnic, and just goofed off (too bad you won't be seeing the stupid goofy, outtake photos we took, lol). It was a beautiful day. The birds were chirping, the sky was blue, the sun was shining brightly, and the waterfall was flowing nicely. It was great.

Sooooo, here is a small sampling of the many, many pictures we took. These are some of my favorites.

This is my new favorite picture of Tim & I.






Okay, that's it for this morning. I need to go get ready for our weekly visit with the in-laws. We won't see them next week since we'll be out of town.

Have a great day!

.

Good Sunday morning, and it's done!

Good morning all. How was your Saturday night? I hope it was pleasant. Mine was filled with squealing, screaming, giggling girls.... and no, not just my own three. LOL!

The sleepover went well. They all had a good time and I was able to wrangle them all into their sleeping spots before midnight. Now I'm not promising that they actually went to sleep before midnight, but at least they were where they needed to be. LOL!

I'm currently waiting for the parents to arrive and take half of them away. Then we have to get ready for the weekly visit with the in-laws. The girls love visiting them every Sunday, though Tim and I could do without their smoking. Yuck!

Oh, I guess you're wondering about the "it's done" comment in the title of this entry. Well, after all these months, and me putting it off and pushing it to the side in favor of other projects......

THE CHARACTER DICTIONARY IS DONE!!! Yay!!

Yep, it's finally finished. I completed the entries for A Twilight Abduction late last night while I was waiting for all those 12yr old girls to go to bed. Woohoo!! Tim was smiling at me as I announced, "It's done!" with great delight.

Soooooo, go on over there and check it out. You might even find out something new about some of your favorite characters. :-)

ChristieSilvers.com Character Dictionary

Okay, that's it from me this morning. Have a great Sunday. Enjoy it to the fullest because tomorrow is Monday again. ;-)

.

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!

.

Not everything goes as planned.

Yes, I'm home today. Normally I'd be at the in-laws' house right now. However, the oldest woke up vomiting this morning. Soooo, no visit this weekend.

I spent the morning cleaning the 4yr old's bedroom. I washed the sheets from my bed, and then started the regular laundry afterwards. I've emptied the dishwasher twice today, as well. Oh, and I finally got around to painting that spot in the diningroom from Tim cutting a hole in the wall three weekends ago. LOL!

Tim went out and changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter in my van this morning. Now he's playing Nascar '09 on his Xbox.

Soooo, I'm home today, but that's okay because even my horoscope said I should probably stay home today. LOL! Now if I could just figure out what I'm making for dinner tonight I'd be a happy camper.

Tomorrow starts a brand new week, full of the unknown. I'll be happy to send the girls back to school and get back to my regular routine. Though I have to admit that they did well, and didn't make me want to pull all my hair out. :-)

Back to laundry I go now. Two more loads to put away and it'll be finished. Then I can get to book work. I'm planning to finish the last chapter on Time For Death in the coming week... then it'll be editing and rewriting time. LOL! It never ends, that's for sure. :-) But I love it!

Have a great Sunday and a productive week ahead.

.

Happy weekend everyone!

Good evening all. Have you had a good weekend thus far? Do anything special, or just hang out at home? We've had a pretty peaceful Saturday, after a busy and fun Friday. :-)

I just realize that I never got around to sharing the pics from my weekend away with Tim two weekends ago. I just finished uploading and resizing them, so I'll go ahead and post them now while it's fresh in my mind.

We stayed at the Edelweiss German Inn in Helen, Georgia. It was gorgeous, though I imagine it's even better in Spring when everything is green and blooming. We'll definitely have to go back one day.

This is the upstairs sitting room that was right outside our room. The wall of windows led out onto a wooden deck overlooking the patio sitting area.

More of the sitting area. There were all kinds of games, books, and things to keep you occupied (if you need that kind of entertainment on a weekend away, lol). There was even a computer and internet connection... though I never touched it. Shocking, I know. ;-)

Our room!

We had a gorgeous room that was full of reds and dark wood tones. The king sized bed was massive. It was so high that I had to literally jump up into the bed. Tim was laughing at me. Overlook my purse and our bag that were discarded on the bed as soon as we walked into the room.

The Jacuzzi tub was nice. Too bad they were having hot water problems that night and we didn't get to play in the tub for too long.

View from the other side of the room. The bed was a four poster bed with wrought iron canopy across the top, connecting all four posts. It was so high that there was no more than 1 inch between the canopy and the ceiling.

There were a lot more pics, but they weren't family-friendly. LOL! We had good time up there. It was a nice way to get awy for the weekend without being too far from home. The staff was friendly, the inn was beautiful, the food at the resturant downstairs was delectable.

Okay, now that I've shared those I'll recap yesterday and today for anyone bored enough to read about it. LOL!

Today was a normal Saturday. Tim & I woke up in a quiet house. We took some cans to the recycling center and made a few dollars for Tim to stash in his wallet for work next week. We picked up the girls from my mom's (they spent the night with her last night). Then we picked up a new running line for our mutt dog since she broke her line this morning. The it was right back home for us. Nothing exciting... though the girls were outside for a while (*wink, wink*) and Tim grilled out for us at dinnertime. :-)

Now yesterday was fun. We did the normal Friday stuff--grocery shopping, trip to bank, etc.-- and we took the girls out for breakfast (it was actually more like brunch since we got to sleep in). After all that, we came home for a few hours until my mom came to get the girls.

As soon as the girls were out the door Tim & I dashed off to my sister's house. THEN, we went to a new "grown-ups" shop. We've been to a few different ones over the years, but we'd never been to this particular one. It's always interesting to see how classy (or not) adult stores can be when trying to display the same "merchandise". LOL! This one was pretty classy, thank goodness! *giggle*

We came home with $70 in new goodies and lingerie to enjoy. Not bad since we spent like $85 two weeks ago at a different shop. LOL!!

After that we picked up a quick dinner and headed home to an empty, QUIET house. It's always nice to enjoy the sound of silence together.

That's it for our weekend. Tomorrow we'll visit the in-laws for a few hours and then head back home so Tim can change the oil in my van and watch the Nascar race. Oh, I cut my hair Thursday night too. Funny how I can do in 10 minutes, for free, what the hair salon does in 45mins and $40.

Until next time, I hope you've had a good one!!

.