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Sunday Snippet: The Happy Easter Edition
Remember Easter when you were a kid? Man, I do. It was an event at our house every spring. The night before Easter, we colored hardboiled eggs with the Paas Easter egg dye kits. Remember those? After we kids went to bed, Mom, who was probably already exhausted from working at the grocery store all day and studying whatever courses she was taking for her nursing degree, hid them around the house. Then, she’d iron everyone’s Easter clothes–usually made by our Aunt Alice, who was a stellar seamstress–so we’d look spiffy the next morning. I loved my dress and hat and little umbrella purse the Easter I was seven. I…
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Sunday Snippet: The I Shall Thole Edition
It’s here. The New Year. It snowed yesterday and I opened the front door to take a picture and to inhale the crisp, cold scent of it. Snow brings a hush to the world and peace to my heart. So many people my age leave the state for warmer climes and I totally don’t get it. I like the change of seasons here in the Midwest, I don’t mind the snow–I don’t even mind being stuck inside if the snow makes travel hazardous. I’m writing the third book in The Walkers of River’s Edge series. It’s Cameron and Harper’s story and it’s coming hard, I confess. I’m not sure why…
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Sunday Snippet: The Moments of Blessing Edition
Thanksgiving week is a time for gratitude. To look back on the year and count my blessings because oh, how I am blessed. This past year has been such a busy one. Between writing and book releases and editing gigs and promotion, I’ve barely had time to simply breathe. But even amidst all that scurrying and time spent at my computer, writing and working, I’ve had moments. Too many to list them all here and too many people in my life to mention them all here, although they are always in my heart, but here a few moments from this year. Moments with Husband: Dancing in a vineyard in Oregon…
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Sunday Snippet: The What the Heck Happened to Summer? Edition
Seriously… how is it already August 6? I mean, wasn’t it just May and Husband and I were looking forward to our 50th anniversary trip to Oregon and I was busy making plans with my writer pal Carol Light for our trip to San Juan Capistrano and the Tule Author Retreat and checking with my sibs for a visit to my brother’s in Woodland Hills? I’m sure that was just a week ago… Yikes! Oregon is a fond, wistful memory now. The Tule Author Retreat remains ingrained in my heart and mind as a wondrous time with fellow authors and editors and the Tule team, as well as a fun…
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Sunday Snippet: The I’m Really Tired and I Got Nothin’ Edition
I’m not going to whine, even though I feel like I could. Isn’t it funny, though, how you can’t seem to catch up on sleep? Why, do you suppose? I mean, it makes sense to me that if you miss some sleeping time, then sleeping more later should fix it. But things don’t seem to work out like that. Right now, I feel like I could sleep for a week, but I can’t do that, so here I am. On the upside, I’m at the lake, I’ve gotten to swim several times this week with friend Moe and Grandboy and Son, and we had time with our kids up here.…
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Sunday Snippet: The Heart Update Edition, Rev. 2
I think this is update 2, but if it’s number 3, well, sorry about that, and thank you for being patient with me processing this whole thing with y’all. I won’t update you every time I go to the cardiologist because that would be major TMI for you guys. That said, you’re kind to come along and I always appreciate all the good wishes. Right off, the good news is things are improving. I’m way less tired and can pretty much make it through a whole day and not lose steam. I still get breathless when I walk too fast or uphill or exercise too strenuously, but my cardiologist, Dr.…
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Sunday Snippet: The Hello, Gorgeous Edition
“Suddenly, I thought, This is my body. I live in it. I play in it. I can’t deny it anymore. This is my fat body. I’m standing at the corner of Life and You Better Get Going. I stepped off the curb and I never looked back.” ~~Camryn Manheim, actor “Hello, gorgeous!” That is what I’m practicing in my mirror every time I pass it. “Hello, gorgeous!” This whole I’m old, I’m fat, I hate my body, I need to lose weight thing has become a common topic of conversation among me and my friends, in women’s groups on FB–just everywhere women of a certain age gather. And I think…
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Sunday Snippet: The Grandboy Edition
Grandboy days are always the best for Husband and me, and they’re fewer right now because he’s in school and he’s involved in things like being in plays and doing stuff with his parents and friends. Plus ,you’re never sure exactly how interested a ten-year-old boy is in being with a couple of old farts. But in his words, “I love being you guys. This house feels so comfortable.” I’m not sure there’s a higher compliment in the world than that. He was sad when we sold the “Christmas House,” thrilled when we lived with him and his parents for six months, and sad when we found our new home.…
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Sunday Snippet: A Day of Lake Life Revisited
Some days are just perfect lake days, you know? Days where you’re having so much fun, you forget to take pictures, you forget you even have a phone, so what this post lacks in pictures, I hope I can make up for in words. I got up early to write, but before I started, I made coffee and checked the outside temperature. When I opened the front door to slip out onto the deck, a doe and her two fawns were nibbling our neighbor’s hostas. The fawns still had spots, so they were pretty young. They bolted when they heard me, but they sorta hung around because we kept spotting…
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Sunday Snippet: Holy Cats! It’s December!
Wow. It’s December! How did that happen? Just last week, it was Halloween, right? Somehow, days slip by and the holidays are nigh and I have a book due in about 6 weeks… So, I’m writing in the mornings, working on editing gigs in the afternoon, and trying to get holiday stuff done in the evenings. All in all, breathing is out of the question until after January 15, 2022. That’s not really true…I am taking a breath now and again, and as I look at my December calendar, there isn’t all that much on it. The overwhelm only feels…well…overwhelming. But I can do it. I’ve done it before and…