Quick Update

In an hour, B and I are leaving for the house with my in-laws. Going to do some painting, and a guy is coming to measure for carpet. We’ve done some fixes, gotten the vents cleaned (much needed!), put in a couple new doors, and painted a formerly Disney-princess-pink-with-purple-trim room. Not much left to do, thank goodness. We’re going to paint the family room, front room, and one of the bathrooms. Other rooms aren’t top priority, and will only be repainted if we have leftover paint. Saturday I was painting doors outside, and got sunburned. Been a while. Not fun. Bringing sunscreen from now on. We’re getting new carpet in the family room (previous owners had three dogs in there), and getting the rest cleaned. Really looking forward to all this pre-work being done, and being able to actually live there!

 

B had his first “monster-under-the-bed” experience. Now added to the bedtime routine are checking under the bed, telling him everything is safe, and leaving the door open.

 

Moving date is May 23. Not much longer! Still have packing to do…

 

Oh, and Happy Mother’s Day to any mothers who read this! My husband bought me a radio/CD player, which I have been wanting. :-)

Remembering Mothers' Day

Saturday, my husband 'interrupted' my dinner plans by offering to take me out to Chili's. I certainly didn't complain about not having to cook dinner. :-) As he knew his parents were also celebrating by eating out, he invited them to meet us somewhere. B was very excited when he got to see 'amma and 'ampapa. It was a very nice outing.

 

Sunday morning, my husband cooked french toast and bacon (says a lot, as he doesn't like french toast) for breakfast. He also took care of dinner - yummy pork chops. The surprise came when he pulled out a wrapped gift. I expected the meals to be my gift, which was fine with me. He bought me the soundtrack to "August Rush"! We saw the movie recently and I commented on how I loved the music. He listened to me. :-) I am loved. It was a very good Mother's Day.

 

I hope all mothers had a wonderful day yesterday. We have an important role in this world.

Karma? Magic? Mother's Day and an Update

The universe is being good to me! After posting Need to Read, two wonderful things happened. The first, I got a comment from Erica saying she'd send me a book as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness). Isn't she an angel? I look forward to receiving the mystery (referring to the unknown, not the genre) fantasy book

The second thing to happen was a package magically appearing on my doorstep (well, it said FedEx, but no one could be seen when I answered the door, and it was completely unexpected). The label gave no clue as to its origins. I brought it inside and painstakingly peeled open the flap. The only thing in the envelope was ... an AC* of The Specialists: Model Spy, by Shannon Greenland. I should crave books more often! I had to think long and hard to figure out why I might have been sent the book. The only conclusion I came to (with the help that the book is YA) was the monthly contest I entered at TeensReadToo. They must have drawn my name. =) Very rare for me to win something. I started reading the book, and I love it. Great voice, very teenage angst like. I'm five chapters into it already. Seeing as there are only fourteen chapters, I figure it will be a quick, enjoyable read. Adults can read Young Adult books too. ;-)

You can read my most recent fantasy newsletter on the difference between Inns and Taverns at Associated Content. I do a monthly fantasy newsletter on Writing.com, and usually post it somewhere on the web afterward for more public viewing.

I'm not going to post the numbers for the Tuesday Tally, as they are exactly the same as last week... I've done some reading through it, a little bit of editing, notes where I want to do major editing, but haven't written anything new on Emergence. I did work on Mirror some more. My goal for this week is to finish writing Mirror. Once that's done and polished, I'll delve back into seriously working on my novel.

Friday we bought a Wii; they are finally staying on shelves long enough for us to see one! It is now my husband's favorite console. We already have the XBox 360 and the PS3. We only have one Wii game (in addition to Wii Sports which came with the console) - Zelda. The next one we'll be getting is Mario Party 8, which comes out in two weeks.

Mother's Day was wonderful. My sister-in-law had her baby, my husband gave me a new CD - Celtic Lounge II, and I didn't have to worry about meals. After putting our son to bed, we watched a couple movies on Netflix (love their Play Now feature). Not as comfortable sitting in our computer chairs as cuddling on the LoveSac, but very convenient when we don't have any movies.

*AC = Advance Copy. Proofs version of the book, sent to authors for last minute review and to reviewers for, well, advanced reviewing. Though my copy was printed before the first edition, the book is already on the shelves (as of May 10), so you can go buy it!