​This week was a beauty – as some of you who track my facebook page may already know – we had a little visit to the ER last week.  I tried to get into my cardiologist all morning and finally had no choice but to go to the ER.  We now know I did not have a pulmonary embolism (- note I’m rolling my eyes- ) but we also now have a new cardiologist.  When he refused to see me the day of the chest pains and then refused to let me take the spot of a cancelled appointment the day after the ER for follow up – I decided – nope – don’t care how long I’ve known the guy – time for someone who is at least a little available – or if nothing else, their office allows for same day appointments.
 
The interesting thing was I had two female EMTs and they were so lovely. I’m going to have to remember to put a female EMT in the new series. There was no mention of one in the book Lily, but that doesn’t mean things can’t change!
 
PHOTOS
 
So – I had my first visit on Friday with the new cardiologist and though the man was mostly stone-faced the whole visit, it was pretty clear from his questions he was not thrilled with the care I’ve been getting. I have a slew of ‘investigative’ tests coming up over the next two weeks. It will be interesting to see if he finds things my old cardiologist never even looked for.  The biggest thing that seemed to annoy him is that I hadn’t had an echocardiogram in eight years. We’ll see how those go.
 
Because I spent most of the week in ‘discomfort’ – yeah the low-grade chest pain has been mostly a constant companion all week – not a whole lot of anything else got done.  Though – we did send Sweet Courage off to the ARC team so we’ll have it available for early purchase on my website in a few days.  And one evening when I was feeling a little better I did work out a few details for the next book – Sweet Trust.  I now know that the K9 in need for that book will be another German Shepherd, her name is Faith. Don’t you love that name? And so far it’s looking like she will have developed a case of claustrophobia. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to write.  
 
Then we had the most interesting turn of events. My mother’s new caregiver is a gift from God. She’s perfect. She and Mom get along like a house on fire. They laugh a lot, Mom is more energetic, more alert. It’s been wonderful. Except I found out that her and her husband’s one or two weeks to go home for a visit is actually going to be FOUR weeks over the holidays. A week or so we could all cover, four weeks was going to be a challenge. Except – turns out- she and her husband invited my mother to join them.  How about that?
 
Now Mom is all excited to get to travel again. I’m especially happy about that because I simply don’t have the patience to corral mom when she veers off and she so loved traveling with me. A slew of fans met her a decade ago at a reader conference before her dementia became obvious.  And  I am so thankful that even though it was a financial push, we got to do a few cruises before she became too hard for me to track.  For this trip she’ll be going to El Salvador. We bought the tickets yesterday.  She leaves the day after thanksgiving, and will be home just after Christmas so we’ll have to celebrate two christmas’ this year– One traditionally on the 25th and one again when mom comes home.  It will be lots of fun. And Mom loves the beach so it will be perfect because the caregiver’s home is near the beach. We’re all pretty excited that Mom is going to have this chance to enjoy the warm latin culture (she’s fluent in Spanish so that’s not an issue) and the music, and frankly, a more slow paced and patient culture suited to her memory loss. It’s such a blessing to give her this gift in her very old age.
 
I will keep y’all posted on all my test results – and anything new that comes up with Sweet Trust. I’m feeling quite good today, no discomfort so far so I’m hoping to make some progress on the new book that I can share next week!

That’s if for this week.

Everyone take care! 

​Well – this has been a busy week – what else is new right? LOL.
 
I’m recovering from all the driving around during my families visit and have spent the last few days editing Sweet Courage that releases in a few weeks – I hope to have it up at my site for early purchase soon but until then, I thought I’d share a little snippet that made me laugh. 

            Before he could respond, he felt a tug at his pant leg.
“Mama says you look like sin on a stick.”
Hanson blinked. He’d been told an array of euphemisms for being handsome, but never by a little girl who didn’t look to be more than three feet tall.
“Janine?” a voice hollered from across the store. “It’s time to go.” The woman began walking in her daughter’s direction, her pace quickening when she spotted her daughter with a stranger.
“I told the man what you said. I was going to tell him he might want to come to church with us on Sunday.”
The lady’s brows dipped in confusion before her eyes grew surprisingly wide. “Janine, it’s not nice to bother people when they’re shopping.” The woman took hold of the little girl’s hand and turning them away, looked at Hanson over her shoulder. “Sorry if she bothered you.”
“No bother at all.” He smiled.
“But Mama, you said he was sin on a stick. He should go to church.”
He had no idea who was more mortified, the woman practically running down the aisle, admonishing her daughter in low tones, or him with his cheeks flaring hot with embarrassment.
 
I hope you find that as cute as I did!
 
On the home front, Mom is doing super well.  The caregiver and I went grocery shopping. No wonder mom doing so well—look at the grocery cart! Nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables and proteins. Not a frozen food, not a canned good, not a jarred item.  We also tried a freshed squeezed juice of veggies. Tasty. Makes me want to buy a juicer. I also learned that apparently head massages help with hair growth. Mom is getting little sprouts of dark hair and the caregiver mentioned that she’d been giving mom head massages to help with hair growth. Who knew! 
 
Then today, the internet wasn’t working at her house so my son in law went over to with my grandson to look at the equipment. While he was doing that, my grandson was with mom in her room. I went over to see how they were doing and my grandson was fascinated with a stuffed bird mom had in a corner. He was laughing and bouncing and happy as a clam and my mother was standing behind him going – Cockadoodle-doo, over and over. It was SO sweet. 

That's it for this week - Everyone stay cool and safe! 

  I​This has been a family filled week for me.  As you know from last week’s blog, my  aunt and two of my cousins came for a visit to North Texas for the first time- well, my aunt was hear eight years ago for the first time, this is the first time for my two cousins. I have to say, even though we haven’t spent much time together since we were kids, it was a blast hanging out again. And let me tell you, can those ladies shop! LOL. 

Of course we did the standard tourist things (sorry no photos ) of the cattle drive statues and where Kennedy was killed and the real cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards and the weekly rodeo. It’s always fun for the tourists.  
 
The downside is words on the page didn’t happen with all the driving around and dinners etc.  But I do promise to get working on Sweet Trust ASAP!
 
The other fun happening this week is that my friend’s house was finished up and went on the market – I think it turned out very well! I'm especially proud of how we managed to turn the small master bath into a bath with two sinks not one tiny space and keep the linen closet as well!  I'm really pleased with how the landscaping turned out in front too - simple but effective! 

Turned out great don't you think?  As for today - I'm about to head out the door to pick everyone up and go to the airport. The week went by super fast, but then again that old saying time flies when you're having fun comes to mind. 

I'm going to keep today short and sweet as I've got a lot of driving to do. I hope everyone enjoys the coming week and we'll visit next Monday! 
​

​And the week moves on!  My poor grandson caught a bug and was heaving for two days. Today he seems to be a bit better, no fever, no more vomiting, and he’s eating lots of crackers.  As for my granddaughter, she came to spend the afternoon with us yesterday and she learned to play go fish. I have no idea if I could play cards at four but I don’t think so!  The kid is going to be smarter than her Oma pretty soon!

Book wise -  Sweet Courage is off to the editor and the first chapter of Sweet Trust is written and will be releasing in November – it says December at Amazon but I’m hoping it will be November. I told y’all I’d get Sweet Courage done in time for the scheduled August release.

Then Saturday I got a lovely surprise. My dad’s sister was supposed to come to visit my cousin (her youngest daughter) who lives near me.  Last time my aunt cancelled at the last minute so this time I told my cousin to let me know when her mom was on the flight. I got word, she was on the plane- yay! But both my cousin and I got the surprise of our lives when both her sisters got off the plane as well. I haven’t seen either of them in person in decades so having lunch and chatting like we were all kids spending the summer with our grandmother again was lots of fun.

I just love when life blesses us with small—or big—surprises.
 
My friend’s house is nearing the end. The curb appeal is finished and now the last interior touch ups are happening. Lots of painting but we’re making progress!  isn't this hall bath transformation great! (remember to click on the image to see the whole picture) 

 And I just love how the master bath cabinet turned out  - of course - it needs to be painted still - that's getting done over the next few days - and I just know the new owners will love having the laundry in a closet IN the house instead of in the garage! but tell me if this exterior photo isn't leaps and bounds above before!  The green front door wasn't quite the shade I was going for - but it beats the ugly white! 

This last photo comparison is my favorite - look how much brighter the room is having added that window in the dining area - isn't it terrific! 

Well, that's it for this weeks report - will see you again next week - same Bat Time lol Same Bat Channel !! 

​What is it they always say – the days are long but the years are short.  I understand that but the weeks seem to be just as short as here we are on another Monday!

Are you up for a little more of Kentucky?


Churchill Downs  was the biggest reason for going to Louisville, but there was so much more to see.  I had no idea this was the home of Mohammed Ali. We were able to see both his childhood home and where he’s buried – an absolutely gorgeous cemetery. While we were there we stumbled across the grave for Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. 

 ​We enjoyed interesting architecture. So many charming neighborhoods - ​and my friend got a fabulous shot of the Louisville slugger factory/museum.  You'll need to click on the photo of the baseball bat in order to see why she got such a fabulous photo of it - the top is the key! 

No surprise - I'm a little behind on sending Sweet Courage off to the editor, but no worries, it will release on time - by hook or by crook - as my mother would say!  I'm actually a little excited about this one because after so many books set in two series throughout West Texas, I was almost dreading figuring out something new and exciting to happen - well, to my surprise, I actually thought of something I'd never done before so hopefully I will be able to do the climax of the story justice - fingers crossed and a few prayers wouldn't hurt! 

If anyone is curious about the construction project - that sucker is coming together as well. 
The kitchen appliances are in - yay! still some painting to do there and a few tweaks, I don't know if you remember the old master shower (middle photo), but the new one is pretty impressive!  A little different huh? :) 

Well, that's it for the Kentucky flashbacks and sneak peek on the construction work. I'll be back with more next week! 

​The Booksigning itself was quite busy! I was not expecting so many people and was extremely grateful for my friend who came to help.  Thankfully, she has retail experience so had little trouble handling the crowds and keeping everyone in line happy until their turn!
 
It’s especially fun to meet readers I’ve interacted with through the years on social media. Some I feel as though I’ve know them forever I think meeting Mrs. Claus was the biggest surprise though! LOL. 

Did you spot the new items on my table photo from last week's post that are in stock and will be available for sale now at my direct shop?

​And then we moved on - ready for photos of Louisville?  We need to start with our hotel – we stayed at a historic hotel downtown. I LOVE historic hotels. This one did not disappoint!  Not only was the hotel a fun place to stay, they are known for the invention of the famous “Hot Brown” meal.  The thing when described sounds awful, but, taste it and my oh my oh my! 

My favorite thing was going to Churchill Downs home of the Kentucky Derby! I loved learning about Secretariat – his normal heart was much larger than the average horse! Do you know that the ONLY gate number that no one has ever won a derby race from is #17? Yep – owners and jockies wince when they draw #17.  I may have to bet on that gate horse till I die – odds are it’s bound to winner eventually LOL. And of course, you can’t be at the Derby and not at least try on a hat—and let me tell you, I came with in inches of buying that big pink sucker! LOL – fortunately, good sense kicked in, I mean, where the heck would I wear it?? 

I think that's enough Kentucky overload for now! 
I'm still working on Sweet Courage - am desperately behind, but chugging away.  Say a prayer that things go faster now that i've gotten a handful of other things taken care of! 

​Catch you next week! 

Today was a very busy day for me - but my daughter changed the baby's sleep schedule so instead of housesitting while she napped this morning, I was entertaining her till nap time so I couldn't get the blog written early - so very sorry! 

I should probably start with my friends house remodel - here are some work in progress photos of the kitchen - you remember how it started? There's still more painting to be done - but even so - pretty different huh?  Still need appliances installed - second coat of cabinet paint - cabinet handles - and then when it's all done the paper protecting the floor and counters can be tossed out. 

then we have more photos from Kentucky  - the book bash - was overwhelming. SO many readers, and so much work, at one point, I actually forgot my name lol! One reader brought me a lovely gift, and another is Mrs. Santa Claus! Another reader and I have been online friends for years - FINALLY we got to meet in person! Then there were lines of folks and I wasn't as ready as I could have been.  One reader I'd never met before had to set up venmo for me on my phone lol ! And another had to help me make sure my ebook cards worked. I'd have been in quite the pickle without those two ladies! Oh and I can't forget the nice reader who volunteered to drive this starving author and her assistant/friend to dinner when the hotel restaurant closed at 7pm! So many great people. 

After all the hard work, there was an after party. Lots of dancing and laughing and motivation to go on a diet!  Though I did put all my poundage aside and danced like it was high school again! lol :) First photo is my author friend Elle James, some of you might remember her from when we took an author cruise a few years back. 

The grandbaby is on a new sleep schedule. When I was raising kids, I put them down for a nap at a particular time of day and let them sleep till they woke up, then put them down in the afternoon. My daughter has this strict schedule and at four months the baby is now doing two hours of sleep with two hours of awake time, only she doesn't seem to agree with the program so today was a bit of a challenge for us. We'll see how it goes! 

as for writing - hasn't been easy to stay on schedule, but I knew that with the new baby which is why books are now three months apart instead of every month. I did get some words in yesterday and am sticking to the schedule no matter what! 

​okay, that's it for today - better late than never! 

Let’s pick up on Kentucky.  I had a photo taken with a thoroughbred stud named Life is Good.  In North  Texas there’s a thoroughbred track. Out of curiosity, I looked up what horses run and discovered that so far this season one of Life is Good’s ‘children’ has won a bunch of races – that was so exciting. Now I have to figure out how to find and read the horses in the upcoming races and their sires. I would really love to see one of Life is Good’s sons race.
 
In the afternoon of our first day in Lexington we went to a little town, I think it was called Midway or something like that lol. Anyhow, we had a tasty little lunch. The most fabulous cream of asparagus soup ever. Sadly I didn’t take a photo, but everything we ate was clearly farm to table and what a difference!   My friend did take a photo of me in front of the cute book store – after all, authors HAVE to go book stores.

​Then we have day two in Kentucky.  I didn’t get near as many photos as I should have. We went to Waveland property. It’s always fun for me to visit historical locations. In this case I learned the origin of two things. The first, the lovely lady showed us the loom and the weasel (which looks like the steering wheel of an old ship lol) and something else. She explained that they loaded the yarn onto the weasel and when it was full it would make a pop sound. Then they would give that to the person who had the large loom. Who knew that’s where the lyrics- Pop goes the weasel came from!  They also showed us a bed in one of the back buildings.  Like many of the beds we saw from the 1800s, it was a rope frame with a stuffed mattress on top. The tour guide showed us how after the ropes stretched, there’s a massive wooden key that is used to tighten the ropes so everyone can… sleep tight. LOL – I just loved learning those expressions.
 
Apparently, I thought very highly of lunch because I have lots of FOOD photos from day two in Lexington LOL.  I will say all of it was crazy delicious! Just don't ask me what any of it was LOL - though the first one - the baked brie was amazing! 

​We also went by Keeneland race track. It was really nice how it’s all open so you can walk around the original betting booths, and the seats, and the edge of the track. I really do like horses and racing. Should probably have been born in Kentucky LOL.  

And of course, you can’t go to Kentucky without visiting at least ONE distillery. So we picked a pretty one. Castle and Key.  And it was really lovely how they refurbished an abandoned distillery. I bought a bottle for my son in law who likes bourbon. ​

If you want to see how busy the preorder party was after all this sightseeing, you need to pop over to my youtube channel and get a look at a few of the 600 people attending! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL6Ud4GSBNs&list=PL6l_TXWcJ1-hRnRtceLWNV5nnwJg2T_1w&index=3

And I think that's enough for one day! I promise I'll get back to the business of books soon! 

​Well Kentucky so far has been beautiful and the book signing was crazy!  I’m not used to people standing on line to see me and at one point I was so tired from signing and talking that a woman handed me the conference booklet to sign my photo (everyone was doing this) that I just stared at the page and the lady softly leaned forward and whispered, ‘your name is Chris Keniston’ lol.  I said thank you and signed. I seriously blanked out on what was I supposed to do because I had been multi tasking for hours!
 
We’ll start with Lexington – our first morning was WinStar horse farm. What a gorgeous place and I learned so much more about thoroughbred horses.  They take darn good care of those babies. I’d never seen horses with mesh blankets or face covers to protect from flies. All the horses I have ever been near are just flicking their ears and swishing their tails to get rid of the bugs.  Then again, I’ve never been by horses as valuable as these thoroughbreds! 

Since I'm the one doing all the photo taking most of the pics are just scenic or of my friend. It's really nice to have been here in the foal season!  And one horse Constitution - a stud - that horse had so much personality it was hilarious - reminded me a bit of Mr. Ed and of course when I turned on the video he stopped performing! LOL 

And what would a horse farm be without the foals!  The younger ones stick close to mama but spook easily.  A crunch sound on the grass and they back up - but SO cute - and you can see the mask on this mama's face! 

I learned SO much so of course - this will be incorporated into the new books - not just the Honeysuckle books but the next wave of Farradays will have to have some thoroughbred learning on Connor's ranch!  It will be great - 

​Sorry to keep this short - but trip isn't over - we'll be running out the door again - catch you next week! 

One of the downsides of writing when you're tired - you forget to save and have to start all over. Yep - that's what I'm doing now! 

I am currently packing and sorting for my trip to Lexington. I'm signing books at the Knockout Book Bash.  Now I remember why I don't do these very often - it's a lot of work!  I've got books piled everywhere, old signage and new signs to make, and then there's clothes - that part would be so much better if I hadn't gained twelve pounds this year LOL. 

Anyhow, while I'm prepping for the book signing, I'm also hosting the annual girls' weekend. Yep. In the middle of everything else I'm sorting mail, dusting tables and frames (can anyone tell me where the heck all this dust comes from? LOL), and of course, bathing the dog was a must! ​

As you can see from the bed - there's a lot of books to pack and that's not all of them. Some are already in the suitcase. If I'd had a brain in my head I would have boxed it all up and shipped it - but no one said I had a brain LOL.  

Of course the next photo is our snack table - what is a girls' weekend without lots of carbs? LOL. Of course I gained two pounds this weekend, but I enjoyed every minute of it! the third photo was Sunday morning before everyone arrived. I kept meaning to take another photo with the whole gang, but never got a round tuit. lol. And yes, dominoes is addictive! 

What I didn't have time to do this week is personally check up on my friends remodel project. Thankfully, the contractor is really good at working without a lot of supervision and he sent some photos. The upper cabinets are up. The lowers have to wait until the floor is down. The floor has to wait until the walls are painted and the plumbers are done fixing the sewer lines.  I can hardly wait- already it's SO different from before!  Another thing done was the floor was leveled. No more sunken living so folks can fall and break their ankle or neck! 

ADid I mention during all this, I also had to squeeze in a baby shower for a friend's daughter and a birthday dinner for my middle grandchild? Yep - busy week/ weekend! 

I have however been a good girl and written EVERY day! Which means we're on track for an August release of Sweet Courage! I'm hoping y'all are going to love this as much as the other K9 books. 

And that's about it for me for this week - next week I'll be reporting from Louisville Kentucky!  See you then!