Cliff Notes Version of a Quickie Catch-Up!!

Feels like forever since I've been here, and pretty much it has!! ;-)

Wow, where to begin? Seeing how life's still going at a much faster pace than I'd like, guess I'll give the Cliff Notes version of what's been going on!!!

For the most part, writing, revising, writing, revising, etc. Ugh. I've crammed so much writing into the past week, I feel like my eyes are crossed!!! Good news, last night at 7:45, I got my book shipped off!!! Bad news, our Fed-Ex guy said that branch is closing, as is every other branch aside from the Tulsa airport. (A million miles from my house.) We'll still be able to use Kinkos, but seeing how bless their hearts, but the poor Kinkos people don't have a clue what they're doing when it comes to international shipping, this is NOT good news. I work with the Harlequin office in Toronto, Canada which, as far as shipping from Tulsa, might as well be outer Mongolia!!! My manuscript cost $67.50 to ship, but Fed-Ex is the only way to get it quickly through customs. Otherwise, I've had it take up to two weeks to arrive!!! My editor at the time was lovely about it, but still, that's not cool!!

Other good news, not only do we have a partially black-topped road, but real live concrete curbs!!! Bad news, we have no driveway and must park on the road at the top of the hill for two more days until all concrete work is finished.

Good news, the house is painted. Bad news, I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the color. Don't get me wrong, it's a perfectly acceptable beige, but I wanted something darker and richer than standard beige. I gave darker chips to Painter Joe, and he about had a heart attack. "Oh no, Ma'am, you don't want to go that dark." Um ... Now that my latest book is out and I'll have nothing better to do than obsess over the house, yes, I very much did want to go that dark!!!!!! Oh--and the doors were supposed to be cranberry. They're not. Again, they're okay. But not my ideal. In other bad paint-related news, Painter Joe is done, but he was seriously broad-chested, strong-shouldered eye candy I no longer have access to. The day he painted my office door (there's a small deck off my office), he had to have the door open to paint, and he was quite flirty in a painter-sort-of way. Under a spooky green Oklahoma sky, in a dead calm, his last words to me were, "Thank you, Sugar." Five minutes later, we had a raging hail storm.

Today is my best bud Margaret's birthday!!!! I am ROTTEN with dates, so Tuesday night, she reminded me!!!! Thank goodness, because I would've forgotten. I also forget my anniversary, all parental birthdays, etc. I'm thinking this is because outside of deadlines and school functions, I usually have no idea what the date is. Anyway, I hope she has a happy day!!

Also today, is the big premiere of the school play my babies are starring in!!!! It's called Who Done it, and to Whom. I think. I'm always getting the title wrong. Anyway, my folks are coming to watch and spend the night. Oh my. Last night, we went on a whirlwind cleaning spree, as when I'm approaching a book deadline, I stay in my office 5 AM till 12PM and the house pretty much falls apart around me. Hubby cleaned carpets and scrubbed bathrooms. I picked up general clutter, dusted, and supervised kid work--of which there was hardly any, seeing how they didn't even get out of play practice till seven. Then, Son had acting class till 8:30. Meanwhile, Daughter and I picked out plants for my deck, in an attempt to make the ugly beige house color go away. Have I mentioned I really wanted the house to be darker?????

Whew. I think that's it. Next week starts Daughter's high school Cheer tryouts. I'm not sure if my stomach or heart can take it, but at least for the moment, I'm tress-free from writing!! ;-)