No matter how old I get, I still struggle with how quickly time goes by!  

I know I've been very busy this week - but ask me doing what and my mind's a blank! LOL.  I have been tinkering around with my living room. One of my best friends laughs every time she comes over and sees what she now calls the mantle picture de jour!  - I have put everything up there. It looks so different now that we painted the mantle white and I moved the drawing of mom and me from forty years ago into the living room.  Actually, If I'm honest, paintings are moving all around the house !  It's days like today that I really wish Mom didn't have dementia and remembered how to paint - then she could just do a large painting for over my sofa. Instead I'm perusing online marketplaces for a nice affordable piece of wall art.  If I finally decide on something - will share! 

The shame of it is that I have a gorgeous water color my father gave me when I got married.  It's the right size and beautifully framed - the problem is that it's very very tan and green and those colors just fade into the background of the beige wall over the big sofa - so I moved it to a different wall but it would be perfect if the darn thing had a bit more blue to the sky of cobblestone to the street or something! LOL  

Instead I've moved the George Washington praying print to the front entry.  Originally the watercolor looked great in the hall with what were once dark green walls - it really made the print pop - but now that the walls are beige it just didn't look as good.  And poor George, looked great when I had dark burgundy furniture, but now with so much cream and greige, he simply looked out of place. I think he looks better in the entryway - though I am on the hunt for a new lampshade for the little lamp that should go on that table. 

From the photos the two look the same size - but the watercolor of Cartagena is about 44 x 33 and George is maybe 30 x 24  - a good size but dwarfed over the three seater full size sofa! 

Of course I'm also working on Owen - this guy's story is coming out SOO slowly.  Pulling healthy teeth with string and a broken door would be easier!  I know in general what has to happen - but the little stinker isn't cooperating with the details! LOL.  In case you're wondering - the heroine for this is Constance - Connie- an interior designer and the rehab project is the hotel. Now you know almost as much as I do!  

I'm going to cut todays chat short as I HAVE to try and convince Owen to talk to me - I need a LOT more words on the page and fast if y'all are going to get to read his story before the next millennial LOL (wish I knew how to put smiley face emojis on this blog!) 

Am I the only one who fusses about what's on the wall???  

​

I am back in Dallas and back to the normal routine. Though, besides writing books, painting the first floor, and hanging artwork now that everything has moved around, I still have to take my mother to get her address changed on her state ID so she can qualify for her senior property tax discount - this has been a six month process and I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel! Fingers crossed. 

I seem to be lacking a large painting for over the sofa - I've tried smaller ones and they just didn't blend well - so now I see that a larger painting works best, but the only large one I have has the wrong colors in it. So I decided to see if I could find some artwork from the New England lake where my husband grew up - the one that inspired the Hart Land series.  Well, I came across this photo and stopped cold - I thought wow that looks like my hubbies old porch. A little closer look and then the name of the photographer and sure enough it WAS my hubbie's family porch.  These are the green rockers that inspired green rockers in so many of my books! 

Obviously the rocker on the left is the rocker inspiration, but the photo on the right was taken on a visit back this winter by a cousin. While this isn't the Main house, it's the inspiration for the cabins and the views.  So pretty,  don't you think? 

There has been a lot of talk lately among authors about selling products - I keep thinking I should do canvass bags or coffee mugs, but my to do list is so very long - Do you guys like buying that sort of thing? If I were to make book related products, what would y'all be interested in? 

Also- did anyone watch the oscars? I didn't but today I've caught a glimpse of some of the gowns - I agree that white dress with the huge head gear was incredibly inconsiderate of the people seated behind her - and I think Angela Bassets purple dress was lovely, but I'm not fond of all those big flowers that were everywhere, and I really dislike slits that come all the way up past the hip line - I think just above the knee is about as enticing as I like - otherwise it just looks like too much. What do you think? 

I thought Jessica Chastain's dress was nice - simple - elegant. While I didn't care for the canary yellow, I did like kerry Condon's dress.  I'm more for classic elegance a la Audrey Hepburn than too showy. Then I would have like this red gown if the slit weren't so high and the bow on the shoulder weren't so big. As for Lady Gaga - I think I would have liked this dress a lot if the mid section weren't see through.  (if you click on each photo - the heads won't be cut off anymore! LOL ) 

SO many gowns were lovely, but reminded me of prom dresses not Oscar night.  Did you have a favorite? 

The jury is still out for me - no dresses yet that I've seen that I simply loved and certainly nothing I would ever wear LOL.  Besides, it's time to get back to writing Owen so I'll leave y'all here and see you again next week! 

Another week has gone by and I am delighted to report I feeling so much like myself again! 

This week I have been blessed to spend time with the grands.  My only regret is that my daughter snapped this photo of me fresh out of the car and looking very much like Grandmama Addams LOL.

I am however, having an absolute blast with the baby. I love babies. Think they are all so cute and sweet and fun to watch. My little grandbaby is crawling around on her tummy like SpeedRacer! She hasn't quite figured out how to sit back up when she falls over, so she just scoots around to keep herself entertained ! 

My favorite part is that when I first got here she stared at me like - who are you and why are you here. By the next morning she was smiling when she sees me and now she throws herself at me!  One day she even picked me over mom! Imagine that!! ​

I am being a good girl and working on Own for the April release - he's coming soon, have you preordered your copy yet?  I'm also delighted to announce there are release dates for the new series! Yay!  Just One Date and Just One Spark and Just One Dance will release on August 29th - and Just One Date will be FREE! Now, for the moment - they're not all live everywhere - the August releases are live on Nook.  Book two and three are live on Kobo, Google and Apple.  Amazon is always difficult LOL. Book one will only be available for purchase at Google, Apple and Kobo on Release day.  Book 4 - Just One Take, will be out on September 21 and the rest will be out every month - I am so excited - hope everyone loves the new series! 

And as a reminder - if you're in a hurry, Books one, two and three are available now direct from my website! 

The other fun thing is we just booked our second annual family beach vacation. We had so much fun last year and I'm hoping this new house works just as well for us.  We would have booked the same house, but my husband and son in law both prefer taking Friday off of work and there were no Fridays available in our desired April or May months.  The prices pretty much double after labor day so that wasn't an option. 

Off to work on the stories! 

Until next time! 

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for rooms. As you know I shared last week that we’re painting away.  I also have for months – at least three maybe four – been faithfully watching online market place looking for new family room furniture to replace my old stuff. 
 
For the last twenty two years I’ve had a leather sofa and loveseat that we bought on sale. It’s been good and comfortable for our family. It’s been through parties and sleepovers and pool escapades. It’s also burgundy. While it had a good hint of red wine to it for many years, now it’s gotten really dark. Some days it almost looks brown.
 
Well today after searching so long, THE sofa set came on sale. I had to scramble and borrow money from a friend to beat everyone else out – but I did.  It’s perfect. The furniture was used to stage a new construction and the buyers didn’t want it so the decorator moved it to another house. Turns out it doesn’t work with the new house and she decided she was not hauling it all over town or storing it so for the price of used furniture I got a great quality, nearly new, sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman.  No idea what I’m going to do with the chair and ottoman but for the bargain basement price we got – I’ll find someplace to put it!! LOL. 

As you can see below - to the left - the dark older furniture (with my hubby and grandpup lol)  - to the right - the new sofa ! 

I'm very happy with the progress the house is making.  When I come back from visiting the grand kids this week, I'll take some photos of the finished projects to share! 

Have you placed your preorder for Owen?  Just for you - here's a little unedited snippet: 

    The long hot shower had been a small slice of heaven. After the almost seven hour drive his back had let him know that despite the comfort of his nice new pickup, driving back and forth between Oklahoma and Texas was getting beyond very old. The modern world had advanced to talk to computers with no need of a keyboard, communicate anywhere in the world instantly via cell phones, or if they preferred, see the smiling faces with video calls, and a slew of other sci fi realities. How hard could inventing speed travel be?
    Though he preferred handling business from an ergonomically comfortable chair—yeah somewhere he’d become that old – at least thanks to all the wonderful advances of  modern technology, he’d been able to knock out several phone calls to unruffle some feathers on two of the Oklahoma renovations underway while driving. Their construction crews were some of the best, able to accomplish the world without him or his brothers having to micromanage them. If only he could say the same thing about some of their subcontractors.
    One in particular had been at the root of both of those phone calls. One of the interior designers they used had a nasty habit of going over budget on her work.  The woman had no sense of numbers at all, but she had to have lost her mind on the Chez Gerard renovations. One of the most exclusive velvet rope restaurants in the entire state of Oklahoma, Farraday Construction had managed to beat out five of their best competition for the project. The numbers had been tight and unlike most of the projects, the contingency budget was next to nothing.  Neil had insisted Constance Swenson was the right choice. Considering how many times Owen had had to do battle with her over numbers, he was less than convinced the fit was right.  After multiple calls with their book keeper, the furniture gallery, and the logistics company responsible for the delivery of the imported chairs—from France no less—he wouldn’t mind wringing her pretty little neck.  Except that was one thing his mother and Aunt Eileen would agree on—they’d both kill him.
    Now it was up to him and his brothers to find a way to offset the unexpected expense of imported restaurant chairs. Towel drying his hair, he shook his head wondering, what was wrong with Made in the U.S.A.?
     Booted heels stomped up the wooden steps of the old ranch house. He’d always thought the home a comfortable place, but it didn’t hold a candle to his Uncle Sean’s spread.
     “About time.” His brother Paxton’s voice boomed from down the hall. “We don’t have all day.”
      As his brother crossed his room in a few long strides, the same towel now wrapped around Owen’s hips, he flung open the bathroom door. “For what?”
       “Tomorrow’s design meeting on the new ghost hotel has been pushed up to today.”
     “We really are going to have to find a new name for the place. You can’t keep calling it Ghost Hotel.”
     “Don’t see why not.” Pax shrugged. “Any how,  Neil is still in Tuckers Bluff, so you’re going to have to meet with Harriet. Fortunately this is only the prelim gathering. Going over the plans Neil drew up and the budget you’ve laid out as well as sharing a few photos of the not ghost hotel, and discussion of the direction we’re going in.” 
    Thank heaven Neil hadn’t insisted on that woman who had given him a headache the size of Texas. “Why me?”
     “I told you. Neil is still in Texas and you’re here.”
     “So are you.” Why his brother wanted him to meet with the design team was beyond him. He was just a numbers man.  “You’re a landscape designer and she’s an interior designer. The two of you probably speak the same language.”
      “Plants and wallpaper are unrelated.”
     “You’re both creative. I’m all about numbers and spreadsheets. You speak her language.”

And that's it for this week's update - see y'all soon ! 

I have so much catching up to do!  This week I finally have energy and it's SO nice!  

I'm doing my best to catch up on Owen for y'all. I know so many of you are waiting for him to release at the end of next month. Unfortunately, today when I was hoping to make great strides, I got sidetracked putting my living room back together. 

It's amazing what a difference a lighter color can make. As I mentioned last week, my house hasn't been painted in about fifteen years (december of 2007).  We stayed in the same tone - but went a few shades lighter - then because the furniture was all taken out - I get to rearrange everything and am quickly learning that furniture placement really changes the feel of a room!

The only photo I could find of the way it used to be was a few years ago during a writer's plotting session - And as you can see  we still have things to hang up and I no longer have the white chairs by the window or the piano under the mirror.  The piano was no longer tunable so we had to let it go. It's hard to tell that walls are so much lighter - but trust me - they are! 

Looking at this photo I never really thought about it but there isn't a single piece of new furniture in that room.  The sofas I bought at a garage sale thirty years ago - loved them so much I had them reupholstered a decade ago in the same fabric! Some things were inherited from my grandmother, some (like the Victorian mirror on the far wall) were inherited from my in-laws, other things were my mom's when she downsized, lots of garage and estate sale finds! Though I'll be getting rid of some of the lamps now that we have overhead lights. The brightness makes it look lighter too! 

All of this brings me to the next tidbit of news.  Baron book three - Just One Dance is now available on my website ! YAY!  I still don't have major vendor release dates but if you don't want to wait you can pop over to my store by clicking here!  

Thanks for popping by - and I'll see y'all again next week! 

The good side of feeling better is - well you feel better lol - the down side, you want to fix all the things wrong with your house lol

Actually, it wasn't an 'all at once' observation, it was more of a - 'it's been twenty years since we painted the house' observation.  Which led to: I should take the popcorn off the dining room ceiling.  That was a great idea, except that led to: While we're at it we should put some ceiling lights in - Old houses like mine the only light is from lamps plugged into outlets that connect to a switch. Now I have canned lights if I need them!  

But that wasn't the end. As long as we're fixing the ceiling: We should fix the wall cracks (old houses move a lot in texas)  which of course led to: We really should paint this room. So here we are!

Most of the big stuff was shoved into the middle of the room - all the extras, paintings, tables, lamps, dining chairs were all shoved into the guest room.  In other words - What a Mess! LOL

And yes - all those white marks are where wall repairs had to be made. You see when we bought the house thirty years ago there was a dreary mural on the far wall with picture frame molding around it. I removed the molding, painted over it, but never repaired the wall. Ten years later when we painted the whole room again after installing the wood floors, we didn't bother to repair it.  I mean... who looks that close? Especially with all the mirrors on that wall.  But - the big crack down the middle - well that is only a few years old and pretty bad - so we went ahead and said: in for a penny in for a pound - and it's getting fixed. I'm also hoping it lasts another thirty years because I don't think I'm ever doing this again! 

Which brings me to the next event - lol - We've been waiting for two months for the countertop guy to be ready to do the island countertop - well - today was the day! Totally unexpected but wow what a difference! 

There are still key features missing: Doors to the island storage side - under the hangout is for holiday dishes and linens! Under sink cabinets - I want drawers that pull out not cabinets. The ventahood - hard to find white bell shaped that isn't loud as a freight train and weak as an asthmatic. And of course what to put on that far wall under the ventahood - thought a little color might be good - who the heck knows!  Oh and ignore the messy counters - I was too excited to share and too tired from being sick to clean! 

On the health report, I am doing much much better. Still struggling with blood pressure thanks to all the meds and coughing, but we're talking night and day from two and three weeks ago! 

So that's all the news that's fit to print today - and yeah - we had a glitch with the Barons and book three isn't ready this week, but I promise book three will be available by next week exclusively on my website.  If you want notice as soon as it's available - make sure to sign up for my newsletter at www.chriskeniston.com/newsletter.html

That's it for today! See you again next week! Same Chris time, Same Chris channel LOL ! 

It's hard to be punctual when you're not feeling well.  Turns out the dizzyness, exhaustion, lack of breath had nothing to do with post covid exhaustion and everything to do with my blood pressure. 

One of my challenges is I have perpetual allergies. Anyone who knows me knows I cough all the time.  Usually a little Sudafed stops that - but - with the trip and being sick, my allergies got away from me. So I've been taking the full dose of sudafed every four hours and still making no progress.  Well.... there's a reason my cough had gotten out of control and wiped me out - yep - Bronchitis.  

No I'm on all new meds - no more sudafed - and should be better in a few days - we'll see. 

Until then - I'm goinig to share the opening even though it's still in first stages of revisions for Just One Take book four of the Barons. 

 
 
No one ever mentioned how young old age starts. Craig Baron took a long swallow of cool water. Rebuilding the bull-proof fence line between the Baron and Gold ranches was proving a bit more challenging than any of the brothers had expected.
“The old gray mare, she ain’t what she used to be,” Chase sang to his younger brother, a huge grin on his face. “Growing older isn’t for sissies.”
“Pot calling the kettle black?” Leaning on the shovel handle, Craig straightened his shoulders. “And for the record, I am neither old, nor a sissy.” He wasn’t even going to address the mis-assigned gender of mare.
“Speak for yourself.” The eldest of today’s workers, his brother Mitch pulled a traditional bandana from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “I freely admit this was way easier a decade ago.”
“Ditto.” Kyle, the sibling most likely to be in the best physical condition, chugged a bottle of water, then squeezing it, he tossed it into the nearby bin. “I think fence digging is for the next generation.”
“And car racing?” One brow arched high on Jared Gold’s forehead.
Kyle blew out a long sigh. “It’s not official yet, but,” his gaze lifted to a point in the distance, “I think it’s time to hang up my helmet.”
Having taken another long gulp of water, Craig almost spit out his drink. His entire life, every single Baron family member had a competitive streak as wide as the Nile. Each and every one of them strived to be at the top of their game, no matter what it took to get there. The idea of Kyle walking away from racing was as absurd as Craig walking away from the deal of a lifetime. So not happening. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope.” Kyle removed his hat and slapped the dust off against his thigh before placing it back on his head. “I think it’s time.”
“Wow.” Mitch shook his head. “I know you’ve been hinting at it, but didn’t expect to see it actually happen. At least not yet.”
“Like I said,” Kyle grabbed hold of one side of the two man auger for digging deeper post holes, “nothing’s official yet. Might need to give Gibs another year.”
“Unless someone moves over.” Craig waved his fingers. “I’ve heard rumors that Bergeron isn’t happy with his team. He’s not as good as you, but he’s close.”
“Hmm,” Kyle muttered.
From what Craig could see, his brother might think he was ready to hang up his racing suit, but maybe not so much ready to be replaced. Heaven knew Craig and Kyle weren’t that far apart in years, and yet Craig was just beginning to reap the benefits of his hard work. Making it to the top of the movie industry was not any easier than climbing to the top of the racing world. He couldn’t fathom Kyle walking away any more than he could fathom not fighting tooth and nail for that next big film that would make Baron Productions the holy grail of the industry. The company that A listers would be chasing after him to produce instead of the other way around. Biting his tongue, he shook his head. No way could Kyle walk away.
Jared Gold, soon to be an official member of the Baron clan thanks to Craig’s sister Eve, took a minute to survey their work for the day, then glanced up at the sky. “Heat’s starting to bear down on us.”
“This is Texas,” sarcasm dripped from Kyle’s words. “The heat is always bearing down on us.”
Rather than get all bent out of shape, Jared chuckled. “True, but in today’s case, I think we’ve made nice progress. This would be a good place to call it a day and pick up again tomorrow.”
Craig’s back twinged at the mere mention of doing this again tomorrow. He really had let his desk job make him soft. “I admit, right about now, Hazel’s French cream crumb cake and a cool glass of blueberry lemonade sounds heavenly.”
“Hazel made French cream crumb cake?” Mitch’s head whipped around. The man had his moments. Just when Craig thought his older brother was totally in his own little world, he’d perk up and let everyone know he was right in step with the conversation even if he’d not said a word. The man also had been spending a great deal more time at the ranch than usual. Flying back and forth to DC for conducting his business, and then scurrying home again for as long as he could. Every last member of the family considered the ranch home base and on any given weekend at least half of them would arrive and settle into their old rooms as if not a day had passed since their childhoods spending summers and weekends with the grandparents.
Still, Craig wasn’t sure when was the last time Mitch made even a short pit stop at his his downtown home. Almost every weekend, sometimes weekdays too, he could be found in the barns. Despite their best efforts to subtly uncover what, if anything, was bothering Mitch, none of the brothers had been able to learn why he was spending more time than usual on the ranch the last few months. The ache beginning to poke at Craig’s lower back reminded him that about now a good hot shower was in order. He could pick up worrying about his big brother another day.
“Last one back to the ranch is a rotten egg.” Of course Kyle had to reduce everything to a race. The man might think he was ready to retire from the adrenaline rush of the racing world, but Craig was yet to be convinced.
In record time the entire family made it back to the ranch for that long hot shower, a change into clean clothes, and a short respite before dinner with the Governor and Grams. Even Jared and Eve joined them for the family meal.
“Any news on a date yet?” stroking the pup nestled at her side, their grandmother casually asked her granddaughter. Much the same way she’d managed to ask every week since Jared got down in front of the entire family on bended knee and proposed.
“I want to look at a few more halls before we narrow down availabilities,” Eve answered just as casually as she had each and every other time her grandmother had asked the same question.
The truth was that he knew his sister was still waiting on their mother to give Eve a window when she could abandon her hideaway in Europe to brave another family wedding. Since tension tended to run high when it came to the Barons and their mother—the first ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—his sweet kid sister willingly took the flack.
“I understand Paige’s plans for making the winery available as a wedding venue are coming along well. Perhaps that would be a good fit?” His grandmother’s dimples deepened as the corners of her mouth lifted into a teasing smile. “I could pull a few strings if you like.”
Eve’s broad grin widened to match her grandmother’s. “I might have a few strings of my own I could pull.”
“What strings are we pulling now?” Paige, the aforementioned sister—daughter of the second ex Mrs. Bradley Baron—fluttered into the room, immediately planting a kiss on her grandmother’s cheek.
Smiling up at her granddaughter, Lila Baron waved her arm at Eve. “For a wedding at the vineyard.”
Paige’s gaze whipped around to Eve. “You interested?”
Lips pressed tightly together, the corners of Eve’s mouth began to tip upward as she bobbed her head slowly. “Maybe.”
Slapping her hands together with enthusiasm, Paige took her seat and leveling her gaze with her older sister, waved a finger at her. “After dinner. We’ll talk.”
The two siblings grinned at each other like the little girls at the table he remembered from so long ago. Though it didn’t seem like it had been that long ago that there had been a lot of discussion on Paige’s ambitions for the family winery. Somehow, he hadn’t realized she’d made enough progress to host a Baron family wedding.
“Where are you filming this week?” The Governor sliced his beef tenderloin, and stabbing at the piece, held it on the fork dangling in midair, waiting for Craig’s response.
“Vancouver.”
“Long flight.”
Craig nodded. Didn’t he know it. As Executive Producer he didn’t need to be on set for filming every minute of every day, but his grandfather had taught him a long time ago that the only way to get ahead of the next guy was to work twice as hard. Besides that, the old man had also taught them all that the best way to avoid unpleasant surprises was to always keep at least one eye on any project. Whether business or pleasure, Craig had done just that, and more than once it had saved his bacon.
“Any luck with that option you were telling us about?”
Craig had to think which the heck option was his grandfather talking about.
“You know,” his grandfather continued, as if he’d read Craig’s mind, “that actress who lives near Austin that you were so excited about.”
Oh yes. The difficult diva from Austin who no longer considered starring in movies filmed outside of her state, and who just happened to own the rights to the hottest commodity out there at the moment. The potential golden goose. A slam dunk for an Oscar nomination if handled correctly, which his production company would do, and the movie that would be the ultimate deal to put him at the top. “Still a negotiation in progress.”
“Texas studio still the sticking point?” Holding a glass of water, the Governor lifted it to his lips in a show of casual chit chat when in fact, much like his grandmother’s approach to Eve’s wedding, there was nothing casual at all about the question.
Craig nodded. One of many where this particular diva was concerned.
“A studio closer to home wouldn’t be a bad thing. Give it any more thought?”
 “Some.” That was most likely not the response his grandfather wanted, but it was the truth. Or at least part of the truth. With productions often running simultaneously all across the country, and his constantly catching red-eye flights to keep up, he’d more than thought about it. Including the expense and headache of undertaking the kind of project he would need, especially his preferred location in or near Houston and the ranch—a part of the country that was virtually a production desert. Austin was closer to his condo, but considering he spent more free time at the ranch than his own place, and that the cost and availability of land in the popular metroplex was beyond prohibitive, even for a Baron, that option was out of the question. Which left the idea of instead focusing on Dallas, a city that would bring him closer to his brother Chase, and that already had a healthy pool of industry professionals. Despite the head start the North Texas location offered, he couldn’t bring himself to be enthused about driving four hours to visit family and the ranch any more than sitting on a plane for that amount of time. So instead, he’d done his best to charm the diva out of Texas—so far to no avail.
“You do know that the legislature has just passed approval for new tax incentives for just this type of project?”
He couldn’t help but lift his gaze to meet his grandfather’s. Honestly, he hadn’t paid any attention to whether or not the State of Texas had perks lined up for such a project. “I’ll have to look into it.”
The Governor gave a single dip of his chin. “There’s a folder with the highlights in my office. If you’re interested, you can take a look after dinner. There also may be a few property suggestions your cousin Devlin left in the same folder.”
Again, Craig nodded. Whether he was interested or not, which he was most definitely at least curious, a suggestion from the Governor might as well have been a military order. The civilian equivalent of voluntold. The military concept of being told to volunteer was not lost on his family. Of course, now the question that ricocheted in his mind was whether or not this particular idea would be the Holy Grail solution to his travel exhaustion and negotiation frustrations, or a suicide mission.
 
Okay - I'm off to take an afternoon nap since I didn't get much sleep last night - already the inhaler and cough pills have me feeling better so I'm hopeful that this time the recovery will be much shorter and soon February will be back to normal!! 

take care, 

It's quite the morning today.  Where I live can be 75 one day and 35 the next. Which is why the average temps this time of year is 55 degrees.  This morning is one of those really cold snaps for two or three days. In this case they are predicting three days.  Normally the snap wouldn't be too bad, except this one comes with drizzle. That's right, cold drizzle means icy roads and in Texas that means the world stops. We'll see how bad it gets today, but I'm suspecting hubby will be home tomorrow and Wednesday. 

Now the good side of that is I'm still recovering from my nasty little bout with covid. My resting heart rate (on medication) is usually over 90 and moving around shoots me up to 120sh. Normally I would just stay in my recliner and wait for this post covid spell to pass, but, this week I get my 7 month old granddaughter. Sooooo, sitting is most definitely NOT an option LOL. 

​Thankfully she's a sweet little thing. Very smiley and can entertain herself for a good thirty minutes before she decides that she's had enough and wants Oma to pick her up. Which you know I do! LOL 

We've also discovered she's very fond of pizza crust LOL. Not sure if she's going to love the real stuff like her older brother, but it's looking that way! 

As for my work, well, my brain is still a little foggy. I'm going to try and work on the edits for book four: Just One Take, which means that book three will be available on my website very soon.  Promise to keep you posted when it is. We're not sure yet if my other scheduled releases are going to need to get pushed back or not. I'm hoping not, but at this slow rate of recovery, I'm just not sure. 

Did y'all have a good new year? I can't believe January is almost over. This year is going to fly - I just know it! 

​Until next week.... 

Did you notice my little absence last week? 

Tuesday after my blog, I flew home. Should have known something was off when I only got through a few pages of edits on Baron book four and then promptly fell asleep. Unless I'm flying across the pond, I never sleep on a plane. Always work. 

Well, by Wednesday morning it was pretty clear I'd caught a stomach bug. A dear friend was kind enough to pick me up some chicken soup and I was sure that in a couple of days what we lovingly referred to growing up as Jewish Penicillin would do the trick.  Except that by Wed night my aunt called to tell me one of the four had tested positive for Covid. Sure enough - me too. 

Until two weeks ago I had never heard of Gastric Covid. Always assumed it was a pulmonary virus who knew it could also be the stomach bug from hell!  And hell it was.  For almost ten days I was the equivalent of sea sick. Nausea was king. Sleep eluded me. Brain fog set in. and well getting out of bed was so not an option.  I did finally to a tele health visit and got on some meds. While that did make me feel a bit less seasick, it was still another week before normal set in.  Even today, almost two weeks down the road, I'm still very tired and slow to respond, but I can walk without falling over and am pretty darn hungry most of the day, so that's a good thing! 

last night hubby made pre-packaged barbecue pork. I ate a bunch of it and felt fine. SO happy to be on the mend. My biggest problem is everything tastes very salty. I'm sure that will fix itself soon too! 

Since I'm still very very tired, there's nothing new to report on any front - no book info, kitchen info, but I am praying to be 100% by Saturday because that's when I have to babysit the grandbaby for a week so everyone start saying your prayers for me. 

​Will report back next week!  Thanks for sticking with me! 

Oh what a lovely start to the new year!  Last blog I left you off in Tortola. Next stop on the cruise was Guadaloupe. Another new to me island and so much bigger than I expected. 

Not only was it a fun day exploring Guadeloupe, but I got to practice my French for three and half hours (our driver spoke no English) !  Our only mistake was not stopping to sample the local foods. I'm told the food in Guadeloupe is delicious.

Our next stop was Martinique, but it was a horribly cloudy day so we stayed on board. And when four women stay on board, what do you do?? Play RummyKube LOL. 

But my favorite part of the trip - was spotting the Baron yacht. If you've forgotten, my next series is the Billionaire Baron's of Texas.  And of course like any good Billionaire family, the Barons own a yacht. Well they followed me to the Carribean and parked it in St. Maarten.  Isn't she pretty? LOL

Two more days at sea and the long awaited family trip was over. I'm still visiting with my aunts and spending time with all my cousins, most of whom I haven't seen in a good twenty years. The disadvantages of living across the country from each other.  I do promise as soon as I get home to Texas I will be back to writing the Barons. For those of you who don't want to wait for the official release, book one and two are available from my website. 

until later! take care!