Naked Dreams & Party Update

Well, after narrowly surviving the kids' party (more about that later), I'm now playing catch-up in getting ready for RWA in Atlanta. I was supposed to have lost a hundred pounds, but seeing how that didn't happen, I've been squeezing myself into the stuff I wore last year and haven't been overjoyed with what I see!! LOL!! One impulse buy I grabbed last year at the Reno Macy's with Margaret before the big booksigning, I'm thinking I want to have tailored. The pants are way too big, but the shirt's too small. Weird, huh? Anyway, I just got a new shirt--again while shopping with Margaret--that I love, but I think it's too big. Oddly enough, the big pants are a perfect match with the big shirt, so we'll see what my fave sewing guy Thu can do!

In the mean time, after getting a surprise check in the mail from my Harlequin editor (God Bless you, Jen!!!!), Daughter and I hit the shopping trail. Why is it that when you actually have a few bucks to spend, you find nothing, yet when you're flat broke, everything looks and fits amazingly great??!! Anyway, I'm now having dreams of showing up naked at the conference, which isn't a good sign as to the level of my wardrobe preparedness!!!! LOL!!!

On to the party . . . Dear Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those kids were soooooooooo bad!!! Evil, evil teens that will NEVER be invited back!!!!! We've had big parties lots of times before, but I don't remember the kids having been quite so wild. Running and chasing and screeching. I was on food replenishment duty while my pals Dixie and Debbie bartended. (We bought fancy, plastic margarita glasses and made virgin margaritas and pina coladas with umbrella and fruit garnishes.) Hubby manned the Jupiter Jump and deck area. (Oh--the deck is finished save for the expensive trim pieces. Hubby and Son did an AMAZING job!!!) Daughter wasn't happy with the usual cake selection at our fave grocery store, so we got her one from a wedding cake designer. Not only was the cost double, but it was supposed to be ready at 4 Saturday afternoon. Then 6. Then 6:15. By 7, me, with my hair still dripping from the shower, along with Daughter and her friend, were sitting on the sidewalk outside the closed cake shop, just praying someone arrived with this cake we'd already paid for!!! They finally showed, then we dashed back to the house to finish doing helium balloons and cooking.

Around 11 that night, Daughter's long-time boyfriend presented her with a GORGEOUS Tiffany's necklace. The thing came in that distinctive, robin's-egg-blue blue box in a blue suede pouch, along with an engraved card. I shudder to think what it cost, and my father apparently thinks she should give it back. (I got this news from Son, who was instant messaging with Pee-Paw Monday afternoon.) Hubby and I thought about it, but looking back, when I was 15, I had a boyfriend give me a gold drop necklace with his initials--this was all the rage back in the early eighties in small-town Arkansas!! It had to have cost well over a hundred bucks, which, considering inflation, would about equal out. Dad didn't make me give that back, so I don't know why he's upset over this. I consulted with my pal Winnie (crazy-talented Americana historical author, Winnie Griggs), who felt that making Daughter give it back turned the necklace and the boy into a forbidden fruit kind of thing that had the potential to make her rebel. My Winnie's raised five perfect kids, and Dad only had me, so I'm following Winnie's advice!!! (And if by chance my father ever reads this, I am sooooo grounded!!!! LOL!!!)

Anyway, by the time Hubby and I got in bed around one Saturday night, my feet and back hurt so bad, I just laid there wondering how it was possible to hurt so bad and still be alive??!! Finally, I got up to take sleep assistance in handy pill form!!!

On the writing front, I've got the partial for my anthology due the 15th, so I've been steadily stealing moments to work on that. It's cute, but my people won't stop kissing!!!! At the end of Chapter Three, I'm putting them both on opposite sides of the town!!!

Also, my July Harlequin American, To Catch A Husband, just hit the stores, so it's been fun seeing it while running errands!! I LOVE the cover!!!!! Thank you, Cover Gods!!!! LOL!!!