This Life...

  • Fall Is Here

    Fall has always been my favorite time of year, maybe because I was born in late September and I think of myself as a fall baby. But since we got the lake cottage, summer has ranked pretty high on the favorite seasons list, too. This year, I’m kinda ready for cooler nights and crisp days, jeans and sweatshirts, and apples from the orchard, but I’m dreading leaving the lake. In about another month it’ll be time to close up the cottage for the winter, get the boat stored, and say good-bye to our lake friends. That’s the hardest part about shutting down our lake life–saying good-bye. I miss them all…

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  • Just Musing . . .

    Okay, I’m wondering if there is an alarm app I can get for my PC to remind me to blog–I’d have to put it on my laptop, too . . . hmmmm . . . I need to Google this because clearly, I suck at making time to do this. I want to blog. I like blogging. It’s fun and good writing practice, but yeesh, I just don’t seem to make it priority in my schedule. Updates: my copy editing work is good–three projects on my table right now and they’re all coming right along. My Avon book is Eloisa James’s newest and she is so amazing! Love, love her…

  • Deep Breath . . . And . . .

    I’ve been doing it again . . . stressing. The knot in my stomach is present again in spite of just having spent ten days with our darling Grandboy. I can’t even say why it’s there, except that I think it has something to do with not writing. Oh, I’ve written blog posts and thought about my novels, but I’m not writing regularly, so there’s that space inside me that’s empty. And I know that if I fill it with stress and worry, my body and my mind will suffer. And at this point in time, my body is doing pretty well. I’m down about 25 pounds and the diverticulitis…

  • Happy Mother’s Day

    Today is my rogues’ gallery of family Moms . . .this isn’t near all the great moms I know, but they’re ones I love . . .   My mom in the late 1970s–love that smile!               My darling daughter-in-law with Grandboy–she’s one terrific mom!             Sister Pam and her sons and daughters-in-law–she’s a terrific mom!           Sister Kate, who loved her kids and grandkids with all her heart and soul. Then there’s me, also a mom to a pretty terrific kid. You get a double dose of me because there’s also Grandboy . .…

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  • Lent Check-In . . . I’m Still Here

    Wow, I’d sure like to say that I’ve been hugely successful at unknotting the knot, which was my Lenten goal, but sadly, I’m not quite there yet. But, I can say that I’m trying, I’m releasing stuff, just not everything. But in an attempt to let go of the body issue worries, I’ve scheduled the CT scan and Can’t wait for it to be done, so that the doc can tell me, “Kid, you have diverticulitis, welcome to aging, and pay attention to your diet.” One thing I have learned about the diverticulitis thing is that everyone is different. Some folks can eat whatever they want, some can’t. I’m being…

  • Lent Check-In

    It’s been several days since my last check in, which is okay because I’m consciously not stressing about not blogging regularly. It’s a knot thing, you know? But here I am, reporting in. We saw the doc on Wednesday–I really, really like her. She’s very reassuring without dismissing my fears and anxiety. She agrees it might be time to take a look inside me and verify that we are dealing with diverticulitis and how severe it is. Apparently there are other things we can do for it from different antibiotics that don’t wreck me all the way to having surgery to remove the offending portion of intestine. Hopefully, we won’t…

  • More Days Later

    . . . I don’t want to count them and besides, getting particular about this kind of stuff does nothing at all for the knot in my stomach, so let’s just say, here I am again, checking in. Life goes along . . . we’re enjoying some lovely spring-like days in February, which probably means March will be a nasty bear, but maybe not. Sometimes we just get a soft winter and an easy spring that slides right into lovely summer days. We got some outside stuff done and I’m still working quite a bit on editing gigs. We’re enjoying Wednesday Lenten Study at church and sad that Downton Abbey…

  • Days 5 Through 10

    I know, I know . . . I could be a better blogger. Actually, I could do a lot of stuff better. However in the spirit of knot-dissolving, I’m not going to list them here. Instead I’m going to talk very briefly about how the knot is getting smaller and why. First of all, I got a lovely note from sister PJ telling me not to worry about the African violets, just water them and they’ll be fine. I’m trusting her on that one–they are her plants after all. Plus, it occurred to me that if I kill them, I can always buy her new ones, so no need to…

  • Days 3 and 4

    So, I never promised I’d blog every day, now did I?  As it happens, I did some serious worrying on Friday night, but I talked it out with Husband and it got better–imagine that. Yesterday was the monthly IRWA meeting, which was fun and enlightening and just plain enjoyable. I loved seeing all my romance writing buddies, getting to know a couple of them a little better, and having pizza after the meeting. A big question about my job in the organization (which, yes I had tucked into the knot in my stomach because . . . well . . .it’s me) got resolved in a very good way, so…

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  • Day Two

    It went pretty well today. Oh, the knot’s still there and yeah, I perseverated over a thing or two, but mostly, a calm day. I finished a big editing gig and yes, okay, I went over it one extra time, but only because this one is for a really, really big-name author and her big-name publisher. I’m looking at that as just being extra careful, not actually worrying. Hey, look, it’s my Lenten sacrifice, so I get to define it, right? Otherwise, except for crying at dearest PJ’s response to yesterday’s post (gosh, I love my sister!), I handled life today with a peaceful heart and a looser belly. I…