Well, let’s just say that I’m really not happy with the school district. Who’s bright idea was it to give the kids a holiday on the Friday before Spring Break AND the Monday after? Who? Do they not realize that eleven days is too long for the kids to be off school, especially as I just got all of them BACK to school after a horrible winter of illnesses. To top it off, we went camping, and guess what? Two of the kids in the other family were ill! They holed up in their RV, but still….I’m holding my breath, wondering what tomorrow will bring…

We had a great time at the beach. Yes, the beach in April. It was a bit cold and blustery, especially at night, but the days were gorgeous and warm. We took a day trip to Solvang and ate Danish-type food, shopped, and rode a 4-person bicycle around town. My legs are still protesting.

Granny sent the kids money for Easter. Mr. Wonderful, because he really is the coolest Dad in the world and the most caring and considerate father, took the boys to Toys R Us to spend their moola after dinner. Yeah, it’s a school night but I enforced a nap this afternoon. We’ll be lucky to get their squirmy butts into bed by nine o’clock anyway.

Drama Teen, with her totally mad time management skills, waited until this afternoon to do ALL of the homework assigned for Spring Break. She did manage to get it all done and is now working on her hair for tomorrow. I’m assuming that indicated that she has the intention of getting up in the morning and going to school.

Writing, you ask. Yes, I dragged my book to the beach…it sat in the backpack the entire time. Needless to say, I really am looking forward to cracking the binding, so to speak, and editing it over the next few weeks. My goal is to start subbing it out to agents in May.

My Big Cat Shifter story got put on hold. Spring Break intervened (grumble, grumble, grumble) and honestly, I’ve realized that I’m not James Patterson…I simply cannot work on more than one book at a time. But I will work on my ONE book this coming week (germs allowing).

I’m writing my post on Monday evening as we have a trip planned to the eighth level of hell tomorrow. Where is that, you ask? Chuck E. Cheese’s, of course.

As the weather gets warmer, I’m instituting a new Tuesday rule in our house.

No TV Tuesday.

We’ll see how long I can survive without the boob tube for kid anesthesia.

Spring is in the air and we invite you to join us on an Easter egg hunt.

You can find complete information here: http://www.longandshortreviews.com/promo.htm

There are a total of TEN sets of prizes shared between the sites – and prizes include: $25 Amazon or BN.com Gift Certificate, publisher GCs, eBooks, autographed books, tote bags, Easter baskets filled with goodies, T-Shirts so much more!

It’s easy to enter. Each of our author sponsors has hidden an egg on their site — you earn one entry for every egg you find!

I’ve donated a $10 gift certificate from Lyrical Press. So, hop on over and start collecting those eggs! Good luck!

Essie, the Accidental Mommy, didn’t do a too true Tuesday challenge this week. So, I’m pretty much on my own. Hmmmm…

Today’s will be an easy one.

My favorite flavor of M&Ms (especially the speckled Easter egg-shaped ones)is….Peanut Butter!

Have you ever spent THREE WHOLE HOURS in Target? We did, yesterday. That’s what we get for doing a family shopping trip. Everyone needed things (okay, I just *wanted* colored filed folders for my writing stuff) but Drama Teen needed new tennis shoes, Kinderboys needed new socks (theirs are always in holes), even hubby was shopping for a calendar/planner. He’s picky and frugal (C-H-E-A-P, that spells frugal). He found a Franklin Covey planner that *might* be just perfect, but…it’s $130 (I don’t blame him, I don’t think I’d spend that much money on a calendar). The $20 planners at Target/Staples/Walmart/Online have been calling for him to do some comparisons. So, we spent some time in the office supplies and then just meandered through the store enjoying our popcorn, sodas and together time. There were no temper tantrums, no fits, no….nothing. It was wonderful!

I spent most of the weekend not writing but doing craft-improving things…reading, reading, and more reading. Most of the reading was focused on writing-related articles; however, I took out a little time to enjoy Plum Spooky, by Janet Evanovich. Research, I tell you. It’s all research!

After having had ill people in the house for a total of four weeks and being ill myself for almost two weeks of that time, the sun came out a couple of days ago and I think it’s here to stay! Wahoo! I woke up still a little pink around the edges of my eyes but tossed in my contact lenses anyway. Then, despite the fact that I didn’t want to, I went for a walk. Not my 2-mile version, but put in a little over a mile and am feeling darn spunky.

With that…I’m off to write. I have 14K to pound out in 9 days. I think I can, I think I can (even with spring break fast approaching)…then, I’m gonna print off my historical romance (working title Nevermore) and take it camping with me. I plan on editing the historical while the Big Cat shifter “cooks”, the same way Nevermore has been simmering. This method is just an experiment on my part…I’m honestly not sure this is the way I *can* write, as my historical novel keeps bumping elbows with the shifter story in my mind (picture two kids in the backseat of the car shrieking “he touched me” and “he looked at me funny” at inconvenient times). I may end up being a one-story-at-a-time kind of gal. Which is okay too. Because you know there’s only one rule a writer has to follow and that is:

To Write!

I’ve got five minutes to blog before I have to dash to the high school to pick up Drama Teen. The rest of the afternoon will be spent waiting for the arrival of the ice cream truck, which, quite honestly, is about all I can muster the energy for.

I’m almost well again, except for my eyes. Being nearly blind, I hate wearing glasses. I’ve worn contacts since I was 16…so to be sentenced to wearing frames on my face for a week has been miserable. I’m not vain, but I feel downright dowdy and old in glasses.

Spring has sprung here in the High Desert. Night time temperatures have been in the high 30’s and daytime temps have hit the upper 70s. Gorgeous sunlight! I’m excited to be able to tote my Alphasmart out to the patio and write in the evenings. Especially since Mr. Wonderful has been taking the boys out to ride their bicycles after dinner.

I’ve been doing the happy dance all week as I got an offer from for one of my books. I’ll make a full announcement when I have a few more details about the when and where to share.

Now, I have to get back to writing the Big Cat shifter I’m striving to have written by the end of the month. In April, I will start hitting edits for my historical romance — I’m hoping to start shopping it around in May. I’m hoping that by alternating writing and editing, it will give me a little more distance from the book and help me be a bit more ruthless in editing.

Yep, I know you’ve been anxiously waiting for this post. Essie over at the Accidental Mommy has thrown out the gauntlet again this week to ‘fess up to our secret indulgences…those things you would give up everything except chocolate to have. In fact, in order to keep these two things, I’d seriously consider going to boot camp.

Diet Pepsi. I was never a coffee drinker, but in college, developed a strong addiction to soft drinks. Then, I went to work for Frito-Lay for 5 years. The result, I simply cannot live without Diet Pepsi. When we went to Guatemala to pick up the boys, I had to subsist on Diet Coke. I lived…barely. Our trips to Canada and Sweden introduced me to Pepsi Light. I’m just hoping that if we troop off to Egypt next year that they, too, will have unlimited sugar-free Pepsi products for my consumption. If not…well, I won’t NOT go, but I’ll be grouchy until I get my hands around an ice cold can…

The next is books. Books, books, more books. Yes, it’s true, I have heard that there are places they call libraries where I can pick up books to read for free. And I do…but honestly, they never have the exact titles I want when I want them. B&N.com, Amazon.com…one click of the mouse and voila, I can have books sent to the house. Even better, e-books. One click of the mouse and “poof”, they are right there for my eager eyes to devour.

Heaven is a Diet Pepsi and a book.

What about you? What’s your secret indulgence? ‘Fess up, you know you want to.

Got up this morning to pandemonium. Drama Teen got herself up, hurraye, hurraye. Kinderboy #2 awoke complaining of a sore throat. A glance at his tonsils determined that he needed another trip to the Dr. Unfortunately, having just come off antibiotics, they weren’t willing to dish out any more to him. So, grape chloroseptic for kids it is. He was home all day (can you hear the despair in my typing?).

I’m bright-eyed…unfortunately, my eyes are bright PINK. Yep. So, I, too, went to the doctor to get eye drops. No sign of improvement yet…hopefully by morning (fingers crossed).

The case of the gift has gotten more complex, convoluted, and confusing. I figure my daughter will be lucky if ANYTHING arrives for her. Supposedly Ex- canceled the gift to be delivered today, then, told me that UPS called for an address…so does that mean it’s back on??? And the replacement gift that he purchased (because the first one was canceled) was supposed to just be a gift card (to arrive in the mail), but he supposedly canceled that as well and bought her a Jr. Drum Set (we suspect the first gift is a Jr. Drum Set as well). The problem…Drama Teen is 16 years old and the Jr. Drum Sets are geared toward children 10 and under. Hmmmm…. even if the gifts do get here (I’m not holding my breath), they won’t be age appropriate. Thankfully, she’s taken this in stride and doesn’t seem too bothered one way or the other).

Drama Teen has a good heart…she was concerned for the Ex- and his wife that they were spending money they didn’t have. So she convinced Mr. Wonderful to give the caged cobra (Ex-‘s wife) a call to make sure she was cognizant of all the $ being spent on gifts, as from her experience, there was often a lack of communication that resulted in fighting over expenditures. For the heads up, Mr. Wonderful got an earful of spite and was told to mind his own business. Luckily, he, too, took all of that in stride.

The best part of the situation…it’s all MY fault. I’m just amazed that without any effort at all on my part, I can screw up things 2000 miles away. Am I good or am I GOOD?

Despite this being week 2 of sickness, only one person in the family seems to have fully recovered. That’s the child who brought it home and gave it to everyone. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

As a result, everyone has been dragging, sniffling, coughing, sneezing, medicating, coughing some more… I had the Lysol spray out this morning treating doorknobs and other surfaces, hoping to kill off some of those germs. I figure anything will help.

My word count has been dismal. I’m participating in the write a book in a month challenge hosted by Deanna Lee at Cobblestone Press. Luckily I’m just writing a tryst. I’m 3400 words into a 15K novella. If I can stop coughing and/or blowing my nose, I should be able to spit out 12K more by the 31st.

Writer’s are people too…we all have lives outside of the books we write, some lives may be idyllic and some fraught with pitfalls. My major pain in the butt is an ex-husband. Drama Teen is the child from that union…I’ve posted her a little about her troubles with her bio dad and his new wife. For the past 1.5 years, things have been more than a little rocky with them. Just this past week, I made an appointment with an attorney to see what needs to be done to clarify some of the child custody terms and make them more favorable to our sixteen year old daughter being able to make the decision of when and where to see him.

I wrote a huge open letter to him this morning, just to get a few things out in the open. I probably won’t ever mail it. He doesn’t have “the time” to read “drivel” from me, and honestly, I just needed to get the words on paper so they were no longer jumping around in my head, competing for attention with my WIP. However, I thought this last part was simply too witty (and true) for it to go to waste. So, for your entertainment, I’ll post it here…

To my ex-husband —

You have called for the past two mornings, not to talk to our daughter but to ask ME a favor. What about the word EX-WIFE do you not understand? What burns me the most is NOT you trying to charm our daughter with flowers and gifts. Hell, I expect that. However, did you HONESTLY think I was going to be an accomplice in getting you back into our daughter’s good graces? You screwed up the relationship, you need to make it right.

So, you mailed her a package and put the wrong address on it? Do you HONESTLY think I’m going to fix the problem to make YOU, the looser dead beat ex-husband, look like a hero? SNORT. I don’t think so!

UPDATE: The story gets EVEN better. When he first called yesterday, the Ex- reeled off the tracking number to Mr. Wonderful who scrawled it down on a post-it note. After we discussed our non-action on the issue, we discarded the post-it (trash pickup was about 9 am this morning). About noon today, I get another call from the ex-. He needs the routing number of the gift HE SENT through UPS so that he can change the delivery address. Could we please let him know what it is? WTF!?! You ordered it…why don’t you have the tracking number? Repeat, what about EX-WIFE do you not understand????

Now, in case you’re wondering, this man, my ex-, will be 50 years old in a few weeks. A half a century of ineptitude. Where is Darwin when you need him?

Once again, I missed my Monday blog due to illness. This time, mine. Yep, I’ve succumbed to the virus my family insisted upon sharing with me. Good thing they are “mostly” well, so I can stay home and rest.

I’ve been making coffin jokes…don’t need a fancy one, or it’ll only cost the price of a shovel to bury me, etc… Which brought to mind today’s too true fact about me.

Do NOT bury me in socks!

I don’t sleep in socks…so if I’m heading for eternal rest, don’t put socks on my feet.