May 11, 2005

Its getting too busy...
I'm getting too busy and yet it seems I'm standing in place.Work is going well. MEB is down in the Valley a lot lately. My hours are strange, some days I get off at 12 noon, other days I'm there until 2 pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm...At home, Richard and I are progressing on the house. Two weekends ago, we cleared out the attic and some of the garage, plus all the boxes stored in Richard's office (the books and stuff we packed up when we cleaned out the living room for space and painting). I came home last Friday and started right in, cleaning the now almost empty attic. We keep our moving boxes wherever we go so we don't have to buy much during moves. I swept the attic out then stacked the boxes neatly.Once that was done it was time to start on the garage. I loaded all the stuff going to the dump into my car. I loaded all the stuff going to the storage unit into the trailer. I then swept and cleaned up as best I could. I had this bright idea to put the hurricane shutters in the attic. Well. About the 4th shutter, I wrenched my back really bad. Rather than resting, I decided to keep working and just try to be more careful. Big mistake. Ricahrd rushed home and helped me take the stuff to the dump and then we went to the storage unit. He had to unload everything by himself. The next day we took off to visit Jenny. Four hours in the car going up and coming back. We went for a joint birthday/Mother's Day dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. VERY good! My back was screaming by the time Richard and I got home, though. Jacuzzi, heating pad and some aspirin did much to let me sleep through the night. On Sunday, we did a run to Goodwill and finished up the garage. It's amazing how big that garage is when its not loaded with junk! If I want to, i can park my car in there right next to the trailer! On Monday, Richard and I fiddled around the house, doing a little cleaning and packing. I went to bed early because my back was still hurting. Last night, we re-caulked the kitchen sink. Its needed it for a while, but we never got around to it. I also cleaned the music room from top to bottom and closed the door. That room stays closed while we continue getting the rest of the house ready for the real estate agent. Tonight, I made another curtain for the living room windows. I got off work late, so don't feel like doing much. I may make another curtain...or even both of them. Off to play.

Writing News...
And oh, yes! I've been writing steadily for two weeks now. I am getting up half an hour early every morning. I am doing at least 3 pages a day. I've been getting more than 3 pages in most days. Today I had some free time and ended up writing nearly 20 pages! I've also been attending some chats with various publishers and authors to get myself back into the writing world. I'm enjoying it. I have a full request from By Grace Publishing and a deadline of June 1, 2005. If the book is accepted, it will be published in the Christmas timeframe. This is a holiday story called HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. I will post further news as I get it. And I submitted another book to Cerridwen Press. The tentative title is ONE TOUGH LADY. Still waiting to hear on it. Back to work and play!