A Time For Everything

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FRIENDS!

It's been a year, hasn't it? It started off pretty well. DH and I and his parents went on a wonderful cruise to the Western Caribbean -- yup that was 2020 -- and when we returned home, the world changed pretty drastically.

 Despite it all, I have things to be thankful for:

My husband, my three wildly different children, my fur babies, my two moms, my siblings, my nieces and nephews, for our business that keeps on keeping on, the ability to write and publish books, for my dearest friends (known to each other as the Cotton Patch Kids), for my writers group, for other authors and their books, for fan fiction, for music, for Perfectly Mint Tea, Benedict Cumberbatch, my online friends far and wide, my Dallas Stars and hockey in general...

Hope you have a lovely day tomorrow filled with delicious food, family and/or friends, and fun.

Three days to go.

The ham is thawing. The temperatures are dropping. The tempo of life is slowing.

I baked pupcakes this weekend and they turned out pretty delicious. A little on the dry side, but they taste as marvelous as ever once you slather on the frosting. Flavor sensation!

 From this...

To this...

It's not the greatest frosting job, but I never claimed to be the Cake Boss, and it certainly has no bearing on the taste. :0)

Have a great short week! Catch you on Wednesday...

So DD and I went shopping this past week. She wanted to look at fabric paint for a project for her little kiddos. We went to Michael's because that's where we go... She walked out with nothing and I walked out a few dollars poorer. :0)

Two of the treasures I walked out with were...

With Thanksgiving next week, I was going to bake pumpkin cupcakes for our employees and when DD pointed this out to me, I couldn't help myself. I was pleasantly surprised when it rang up at 50% off.

And this!

I shared my little tiny nutcracker back in August here. I had planned for this to be Stars colors, but as I type, the idea of a red, white, and blue theme appeals too. I guess we'll see what happens when I sit down to paint him.

Wishing you a delightful weekend...

Four day weekend coming and isn't that delightful!?!?

Due to the black cloud that is COVID still hanging over society's heads, Thanksgiving will be limited to our household only. I've bought most of the dinner fixin's. I just need to buy another bag of potatoes, because Thanksgiving is NOT complete without mashed potatoes no matter what else you serve. Otherwise:

Ham. ✅

Corn. ✅

Hawaiian King Rolls. ✅

Gravy. ✅

Canned Pumpkin. ✅

Cream Cheese Frosting. ✅

DH also wants turkey, so hopefully there will be a small package of pre-cooked turkey and I want to make cupcakes for the office, so I'll be hunting down another can of pumpkin and container of frosting. I also love stuffing, so I might hunt up a box of cornbread stuffing...

DD is looking forward to a full week off school. She has the 2 / 3 year olds, so they're a handful.

I wish we had a whole week, but I'm definitely thankful for the four days I do get.

I was thinking this morning that I have time to percolate more of the new WIP--I'm writing a short Christmas story to submit to an online publisher for release next holiday season. The deadline is March 1.

Four days of writing for at least four hours at approximately 350 words an hour...that's 5600 words, which is about half the word count I'm shooting for and would be a heck of an accomplishment.

That doesn't include any of the words I write in the meantime and...

I'm getting super excited about the prospect & possibilities right now. 💖

In order to prime the pump a little I'm going to have to work on my Romancing the Beats, well, beats...and get a road map put together.

Oh--I commissioned a book cover for one of two historicals I've had in my back pocket. I think I mentioned them a while back. I got the cover back for the one and I'm so pleased. I wanted to have it to keep me focused and inspired to finish the book, and this cover is gonna do just that.

Have a great rest of your week!

The book is done!! 

 Well, insofar as all the revisions were made. I've set it aside to get some distance from it and I'll read it again in a week or two. I'm still debating on finding a beta reader.

I finished Saturday, so as a reward I slept in on Sunday. Only for an hour however and then I was awake. Now that Book 4 is done (for the moment), it's time to turn my attention to Book 5 and so I've been working on building the characters. They've been percolating for a month or two, but now it's time to get things nailed down, make decisions about who they are, what they want, what they need, etc., etc., etc.... I've made progress on hero 1 mostly and I know a little about the other. These things take time and this is not one of my strong suits.

* * * * *

Fun with Dick, Jane, and Spot... 

These guys ventured forth while I was sitting outside on Saturday afternoon. I don't know if these are all the same squirrel or what. There were actually three of them nibbling and squabbling.