All in all we’re quite happy with the results! And even though I don’t care for the dark gray, Mom liked it. Including the blue counters LOL. 

Do you lean more toward old style design or modern trends?  Me, trend traditional. 

Okay, have to run, still so much to do! ​

It’s been a very long week – we’ve scrambled to work on Mom’s new house.  The goal is to move her and the big stuff in this coming weekend so we have a lot of painting to do.  Though we did get started. Hubby painted the walls and I followed up on the trim. Of course first I taped off all the baseboards so we don’t have to paint them again. I also started out cleaning all the dust from the repairs. There was a large sitting area in the room originally. I know from all the houses I’ve seen in the area that there must have been an option to make that either a closet or a sitting area. That or the previous owners tore out the closet – we put it back.  This made for a LOT of dust. I basically swept twice, dust mopped twice and then really mopped to have a clean floor for painting. 

Hubby snapped a shot of me up on the ladder. And I’ve included a shot of the area before, the closet under construction and that wall painted after – didn’t get a good shot of the whole room but will! 

​I used to do this stuff all the time when my kids were little. I was a stay at home mom and doing house projects myself, I would call the money I saved my salary- LOL ! As a result I know how to do a whole lot of stuff – even basic – and I mean REALLY basic – electrical. And I actually enjoyed it because I’m a one and done kind of gal. Love seeing the before and after of hard work, but hate things that have to be done over and over, like laundry LOL.
 
Any how – off to the races!
 
Do you like doing household projects? 

Welcome to November. I can’t believe we’re in Thanksgiving month already. I’m going to have an exceptionally robust holiday this year – I’ll have three first cousins and their families joining us for dinner! I’m already figuring out how to make room for sixteen adults and seven children in my dining room, and I can’t wait! Big leap for us. Until a few years ago it had always been holidays for just our little family of four! Having extended family continue to move into our state is a ton of fun!

Once I have the house organized and ready for Thanksgiving, then I speaking at local luncheon group in December. In preparation I was searching for cut scenes from the upcoming new Christmas release Picture Perfect, and stumbled across this cut snippet. It’s from Iris in the Hart Land Lakeside Inn Series. No idea where it came from or why I cut it – but here it is – just for you guys!

          “I uh,” Eric stuttered, either gathering his thoughts or debating how much he wanted to say in front of a room of witnesses.

          “Is something wrong?” Concern dripped from Iris’ words.

          “No. It’s just that. Well. We had a surprise for you.”

          This time her brows rose high on her forehead. “A surprise?”

          “You know the old house across the road?”

          Iris hesitated. This part of the country was full of old houses.

          “The one by the creek,” Eric elaborated.

          “The old Watson place?”

          He nodded.

          A cute gingerbread Victorian at one time, that old house had been abandoned since the old man had died a good ten years or so ago.

          “It’s in remarkably good shape considering how long it’s been since someone
lived in it.”

          Iris’ gaze narrowed. “And you know this how?”

          “I’ve had contractors over there all week inspecting and repairing.”

          Her eyebrows shot up high again. “Why?”

          “Because according to my lawyer, the two siblings who inherited the house are tired of paying property taxes.”

          The entire room grew very quiet.

          “Do you still think it would be a fun house to fix up?”

          Iris slowly bobbed her head.

          “I put a deposit down and pending your approval—”

          “My approval?”

          He nodded. “The contractors are ready to start work on Wednesday. All they need is a little direction.”

I’m guessing this is why they all live up the hill in Hart Land LOL. I really need to do better about keeping little things like these that I don’t use for some reason or other.

Do y’all like this sort of thing? Would you like me to share more?

Okay, I need to go clean and sort and work on the first book in the new series that still doesn’t have a name! LOL. Feel free to share any of your holiday family stories!

This has been a whirlwind week. The good news for our family - we bought a new house for my mom that brings her closer to me! For anyone with an aging parent, they’ll understand why a house less than a mile away without a traffic light in route is seriously fantastic. Especially for my sweet husband. The man drives fifteen minutes north of us to take my mother her meds every day, then drives fifteen minutes south again to go to work.  Having Mom a three minute drive will be huge for him. And for me.
 
Many of you know Mom has dementia, so some things just don’t make sense to her no matter how many times you explain it. Being forgetful is an understatement. And change never sits well. So when she sees a house and asks every day about it, you know it’s the right house to move her into. We had to do some fancy footwork (read dog not letting go of a bone) to get it, but we did!
 
There’s some work to be done to make it an easier transition for her. First thing we did was widen the entry to the kitchen – this had to be done for a couple of reasons. First, the room really needed more light (too easy to get depressed with dementia) and secondly, she needs to see the way to the kitchen easily and not just a doorway or all the doorways confuse her.
 ​
I have been over there every day for the last three days (hence why this is a day late) sweeping up after the contractor, carrying wood, fetching tools, even painting. Anything to make the work go faster and cheaper!  Yesterday the electrician was there all day – so many switches that we have no idea what the heck they go to! Took a while to track most of them down!
 
Today I get to take Mom to show her what has been done and then we have to pick out tile for the bathroom where we ripped out the tub and are installing a walk in shower. Will keep you posted!
 
How are things going in your neck of the woods? 

Well, seems I made a big Oops last week. I forgot the blog. My mom came down with an infection and we spent Monday morning at the doctor – thankfully we were able to catch it in time before she got so sick that she wound up in the hospital again. Then we had an unexpected blessing with a house for mom near me available and we had to do some fast moving and fancy footwork to pull all the pieces together. On top of that I had to prep for my long drive and great babysitting adventure starting Tuesday. I am very very sorry  the blog slipped through the cracks!
 
Now we go from the oops part of this post to the Oma part.  First, Oma is grandmother in Dutch and German, and homage to my maternal grandmother’s Dutch roots. Many of you know that I’m a grandmother and I have a sweet, and of course delightful (most of the time lol), two year old grandson.  I am coming to the end of my time to spend four  days just baby and me while his mom and dad went to an out of town wedding.
 
Let me tell you, having raised two kids from toddlerhood to adulthood there is a lot of time to forget what it’s like to have a two year old! I think I know now why I was skinny when my kids were toddlers and now, well, now I’m not. LOL. I’m also adding a question to my list of things to ask God when I get to heaven to go along with who really killed Kennedy, what really happened to Emilia Earhart, and where is Jimmy Hoffa. Now I’d like to know why did He design children with no responsibilities to have so much energy and older folks with massive to-do lists, well, not so much energy!
 
And did I mention I’m also Oma two four cats? Yep, one daughter, four grandkitties. The big fluffy one named Mr. Sofia (long story for another day) used to live with us when my then single daughter was home. My son-in-law came with a shy tuxedo that I had rescued as a feral kitten years before. Then as a newlywed couple they added Phoebe, a black kitty with a heartshaped white patch of fur on her tummy, to the mix. And then last but not least, they adopted the ever friendly Leo. A gray tabby, Leo was a barn cat at the in-laws family farm. Now he’s a suburban cat and the most affectionate of all – as you can see by the photo of him determined to stop me from writing ​and then later shown above with him snuggling with my grandson and me.
 
Tomorrow I get to travel back home, back to my ordinary routine and hopefully back on schedule to finish Picture Perfect. It was due today but I may have been a tad distracted the last few days! LOL.  If you haven’t preordered Picture Perfect yet – pop over to the coming soon page and get shopping! (P.S. Yes there will be a paperback available soon too!) 
 
Do you like holiday stories? What’s your favorite kind of story? I’d love to know! 

Sorry I’m a little late today -  it’s been a busy weekend. We had to make some changes at my mom’s house and as her dementia downgrades, getting her on board can be challenging. On the bright side I managed to get in 8000 steps walking back and forth inside her house! 
 
So, my mom’s computer room and art room are now combined – though it’s kind of sad because the truth is she will never be able to do oil paints again. It’s simply too hard for her to remember all the steps. But she still uses her computer so we’ll have that up and running as soon as I get a hold of her internet provider.
 
With the larger room empty, we moved the furniture around and are prepping for my cousin’s arrival next week. She and her hubby are going to use mom’s house as home base for the next year to help us keep an eye on Mom while they relocate to Texas.  The timing has been wonderful that we can be a blessing for both sides. Now that we’ve gotten over the hurdle of moving rooms around, Mom is very excited that my cousin is coming.
 
All the changes in society are bringing more and more of my relatives to Texas. We’re actually very pleased that this is coming together. Next on the list is another cousin from the other side of the family who may be moving here with his family from California. My daughter is very excited at the prospect of having so much family within driving distance!
 
Today has been a day of catching up on words. I know y’all are expecting Neil and Honeymoon for Five in the spring – and that’s not changing –but now we’re adding a little Christmas book.  Yep – We’ll be sharing Christmas with the Harts!  I’m pretty excited.  The title will be (so far) Picture Perfect.  I’ll know in a few days more about covers and release dates, but now I need to get back to typing!
 
In the meantime I’m sharing one of Mom’s paintings from 1956. It was one of her earliest and I didn’t even know it was in her closet. So we found a frame (she has a bazillion frames in the garage) and now it’s on my wall!

I freely admit I love the ocean.  Don’t necessarily want to be ‘in’ it but love being near it or on it!  This past week was spent mostly on the shores of St. Pete’s Beach in Florida. Every couple of years I attend a writer’s conference held at a popular resort. Though it’s not my favorite hotel (especially this year with rats—yes rats—running around the beach bar area at night), the views are always stellar.
 
My good friend, author Olivia Sands convinced me to join her in the ocean on our first day. I honestly can not remember the last time I stood in the ocean above my ankles! It was warm and pleasant and we even had a dolphin swim past us. Of course my first reaction was to reach for my phone, which sensibly was on the shore LOL! That’s one of the pitfalls of being ‘in’ the water rather than near it—no photo ops!
 
Today I’m back in landlocked North Texas but delighted to be in my own home. As much as I love traveling, and I do LOVE it, it’s always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed and be loved on by two dogs who think the sun rises and sets around you! But if you ask what was the one thing I really missed about home while enjoying the sunny shores of Florida—my teacup warmer. LOL.  This morning as I slowly sip my tea that has been perfectly warm for two hours now, (it’s a mini mug size hot plate like thing that is on my end table and plugged in always) I realized just how much I missed that!
 
Here are a couple of photos of my working week, including a last day photo with the wonderful authors Susan Stoker, Elle James, and Olivia Sands!

Here's a view from my room - you can see why I say the views are phenomenal!  And thankfully the only rainy day was the day afternoon I arrived - after that it was all blue skies and sunshine! (and heat lol) 

​Are you an ocean or water person too? (even if like me you don't go in it lol) 

​This week is short and sweet – I have landed in not-so-sunny Florida for a writers conference. Even under the cloudy skies, it’s still nice to see the ocean.
 
Having grown up within a short drive to a handful of beaches on the East Coast, living so far away from water is one o the few downsides to North Texas. I’m hoping to get my fill of squawking birds and rolling waves to last me another year!
 
Will share more photos next week if the sun ever comes out
 
Just curious – anyone else enjoy walking on the beach?  

​Are you a techie person? I’m not. I even struggled with digital cameras when they first came out. I loved my 35mm. Had no trouble with apertures and other things, but figuring out how to take a photo without accidentally filming was not my strength. LOL.
 
It’s only gotten worse through the years. I am constantly having words with my phone. It does not cooperate. And my computer. Oye!
 
Well this weekend I got struck with technology mishaps in spades! We are trying to set up my website to sell autographed copies of books – well – we as in my help and the mouse in their pocket LOL.  Of course, everything is in building not-ready-for-prime-time stages, and I should know better than to touch any of it.
 
But, I got an email from a newsletter fan pointing out an error  with a cover. So in my eagerness to be expedient, I went in and changed the cover, hit publish, and set all the incomplete work live! O-M-Lord! Who is dumb enough to do this on a Sunday morning! Apparently ME! Lol.
 
A panicked call to my daughter who is much more tech savvy than me, and we worked through undoing some of what I’d done. Only accomplishing some meant I had to get on the computer with chat support, and after telling me that the part we couldn’t figure out couldn’t be undone, I was in full on freak out mode.
 
Fortunately, a few more minutes of interaction and the guy (assuming it really was a man named Daniel) undid it all for me and I didn’t have to lose too much of the work that had been done.
 
Are you a new gadget and technology person or do you run and hide under the bed, refusing to upgrade like me ? LOL. 

​Hello!  I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. I love holidays that involve a little extra time away from real world responsibilities. Of course that means I’m a wee bit late with my Monday blog.  My daughter and her family were here for the weekend and went on their way this morning. It’s always hard to see them go.
 
I do have one good thing behind me. Last night I sent my most recent flirt to my review team. They get first eyes on my finished work, help with typos, miscellaneous errors and miscommunications. After that it goes off to the general public. I don’t write a whole lot of flirts, but this time I went back to the Aloha world for a few minutes.
 
Originally it was titled Night and Day but when the short story was done, it didn’t fit anymore so we changed it again. Now it’s The Cat’s Meow. J  For those of you unfamiliar with my flirts  - they’re snippets in the series world. I call them glorified meet cutes. They remind me of the old television show Love American Style. The first step to what we all now would eventually be a happy ever after.
 
Which means now I get to focus all my attention on the new series – I’m chugging along with book one. Have a pretty good footprint – although my daughter, editor and friends all agreed the first scene had to go and I need to start with the second scene. Oh well, I liked a lot about the original opener, but anyone who asks the advise of professionals around them and doesn’t follow it, is pretty foolish. So, we start at scene two and onward we march!
 
Make sure you’re signed up for my newsletter as those folks get a free copy of the flirts before they go on the open market J
 
Enjoy the rest of your week and share what you did this weekend!