Diet Time

Well - this has been an interesting morning - I wrote the entire blog - hit post - and the whole thing disappeared - hopefully I'll remember everything i said but somehow, I doubt it! 

first off - the holidays are behind us, the pies and whipped cream and biscuits and rolls are all gone and surely have nothing to do with the ten pounds I've put on since returning from Ireland LOL.  Like it or not, I weigh more than I have at any time in my life which is not the plan. For my heart health, the scale is supposed to be moving in the opposite direction - and I have one month to drop these ten pounds (more would be nice) before my trip with my bestie for her big upcoming birthday. 

Besides the holidays, I've also had an author house guest this past week and that was super fun for me, but also meant lots of eating out. But now that my house no longer has any visitors - except my daughter and her family but that's different lol - it's back to work time.  I'm currently working on Sweet Rescue the next book in the Honeysuckle series and even though I'm a bit behind with all the family for the holidays and then the crud that struck the keniston house after that, my editor is also behind so we should be good to go for end of January release! 

We did have a bit of an unsettling this Saturday. The grands finally got over that climbing fever that came with the crud and my daughter who got sick first also seemed to be on the mend, but she had stabbing pain in her back when she woke up that her doctor said to go into the hospital and be checked out. The good news is the baby is doing perfectly fine. But it took twelve hours of blood tests and scans to decide to send her home with a - hmm not sure what this is all about diagnosis.  She's on a heating pad, taking it easy, drinking more fluids in case it's her kidneys grumbling and though yesterday was so so, today seems to be much better. If anyone has ever had any experience with stabbing pain on the lower right side of your back while six months pregnant - I'll take all healthful suggestions to make my daughter feel better! 

Now I'm moving into finish Sweet Rescue mode while prepping for my January trip to help celebrate my bestie's upcoming big birthday.  Her dream has been Antarctica, so off we'll be going. I still have so much to prep for, all I've bought so far is long underwear- well, actually my friend picked me up a set at Costco recently, but i did buy that face mask in a pretty blue that would probably be suitable for a bank robbery- lol.  Hopefully it will work the one day I am willing to get off the ship and face the cold.  For anyone who doesn't know - I HATE the cold - it's why I moved away from New York. The part of the trip that I'm looking forward to is after - Buenos Aires Argentina, Iguazu falls on both the Argentina and Brazil sides and then Rio DeJaneiro.  The Iguazu falls have been on my bucket list since my cousin and her husband went their for their honeymoon-- the video was amazing so I'm looking forward to seeing it in person--and in warmer weather than Antarctica! LOL. 

Which brings us to welcoming a slew of new folks from yesterday's Bookapalooza! It was lots of fun interacting with everyone and it's lovely to have so many new folks join us. Please feel free to comment, especially about your preference in reading a blog like this. I pretty much spit out what ever is going on in my world this week. Sometimes I share excerpts of a book I'm working on, sometimes I share photos that I wouldn't post on Meta and the world - this feels a bit more private, could be a delusion on my part but it feels that way to me. 

And looking back, I realized I never shared any excerpt from Sweet Redemption releasing later this month! So for anyone whose been wondering what Clint's story is all about - now we'll all see! 

“Are we really going to do this again?” Clint took a deep breath and clamping his eyes shut, counted to five before exhaling. It was getting harder and harder to communicate with Carol. He’d tried his best, working two jobs, moving them to a larger house in a nicer neighborhood, holding his old blue Ford together with spit and a prayer instead of getting a new work truck the way he needed.
He just didn’t understand what had gone so wrong. Why was his wife so terribly miserable? Happy one day, desperate the next. He’d begged her to go to therapy; even though he couldn’t afford it, he’d find a way. Something had to give. With Jason tucked in and sound asleep, he started for the kitchen to help clean up after their dinner of warmed up canned ravioli, only to have Carol start throwing silverware at him. Instead of reasoning with her, he gave up. Grabbed his jacket and his keys and headed for Kelsey’s bar. He’d probably had one, okay, two more than he should have, and he probably shouldn’t have gotten behind the wheel of his truck, but he needed to escape from the hell his marriage had become at least for a few hours.
Parking in the driveway, he almost tripped into the house, collapsing on the lumpy sofa rather than make his way upstairs and risk another fight with Carol. He’d been asleep before he remembered closing his eyes.
Hot. Fan, he needed the fan. So hot. No. November. Not hot. No fan. Rolling slightly, he almost slid off the sofa. That’s right. Not in bed. So hot. Blinking, he looked for the fan, but couldn’t see. Blinked again. And again. Still so dark. Then he heard it. A sizzle, or a crackle, or… his eyes flew open. Fire. The house was on fire. The kitchen was bright orange. The dining room sparked. The stairs. He needed to get to the stairs. His lungs felt weighted. Heavy. Hard. Pulling the hem of his shirt up over his nose and mouth with one arm, he stumbled to his feet. Had to get upstairs. So much smoke. Something somewhere in the back of his mind repeated, stop, drop, and roll, only he wasn’t on fire…yet. Still, he got down on all fours and crawled up the stairs, barely able to make out where he was going. The smoke was so thick. Feeling his way as much as looking, he found Jason’s door. Ignoring the sharp pain on the burning knob, he opened the door and hurried inside. On his bed, coughing but asleep, his son was at least still breathing.
Clint threw a blanket over Jason’s head, then placing another around them both, upright now, he rushed out the door and down the stairs. The living room was almost fully engulfed. The sofa he’d been sleeping on only minutes ago was a sea of dancing orange and yellow flames, shooting high to the ceiling. He barely had a path to the front door.
Not caring about his hands, he pulled the door open and hurried outside, nearly collapsing on the lawn. Carol. He had to get Carol. Only at that moment, still coughing, Jason hacked out, “Daddy.”
“It’s okay, Son. You’re okay.” Turning his head, the house was almost fully engulfed. Windows exploded as flames continued to burst through the house.
 “You wait here,” he told his son, then turned to the house.
“Clint.” A hand clamped on his arm. “You can’t go back in there.” It was Jerry, their next-door neighbor. “We called the fire department. They’re on their way.”
“Carol,” was all he managed to spit out. “I have to get Carol.”
He saw Jerry’s eyes widen. The neighbor on his other side had turned on the hose and was watering down his own roof, turning the spout from time to time toward Clint’s house.
“It’s too dangerous,” Jerry repeated, his grip on Clint’s arm even tighter. “You can’t.”
“Carol!” he shouted as loud as he could, as if she could hear him and would wake up and run out of the house on her own two feet. “Carol!” he screamed again.
“Clint!” another male voice shouted at him.
“Carol!” He had to save Carol.
“Clint!” the voice shouted louder. “Wake up, man.”
Wake up? Clint blinked, forcing his eyelids open. Where was he? The fire. No. Not the fire. Not his house. And then, closing his eyes, he slumped back against his pillow.
“You okay?” The voice belonged to Benny, the new hand they’d hired.
It was all coming back to him. He wasn’t living in Wyoming anymore. He was in Texas. Working on the Sweet Ranch. A foreman. If he wasn’t so exhausted from his nightmare, he would have laughed at that. “Sorry, kid. I guess it was a bad dream.”
“One helluva dream. You were screaming so loud I thought the place was on fire.”
Right. On fire. “Sorry.” Since they’d fixed up the old foreman’s house for one of the Sweet newlyweds, he’d insisted he’d be fine bunking with Benny. Now maybe he should have given that more thought. “I’m okay. You go back to sleep.”
Nodding, Benny straightened, eyed him a moment longer, probably convincing himself that Clint was indeed okay, and then turned on his heel and went back to his bunk in the other room. 
Unlike most bunkhouses, this one was broken into more private cubicles with a living area in the middle, so he stayed on his end and Benny moved into the other end. Throwing his feet over the side of the bed, he dropped his face into his hands, then wiping the sweat from his forehead, raked his fingers through his hair and blew out a long slow breath. He’d thought the nightmares had finally stopped. Pushing to his feet, he walked to the single photo that had survived that horrible night. Him and Jason in happier days. That sunny-faced little boy brought a smile to his face. What Clint wouldn’t give to go back in time and fix everything. 

And there you go - place your preorders now if you are so inclined or wait to get it a week or so early directly from me - will keep you posted! 

​Take care and enjoy the season! 
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