I have no idea how time flies by so darn fast - but it does.  The baby is just growing like a weed - I know I'm going to blink and she'll be running around like my three year old, twirling dresses and showing off her red patent leather shoes! 

the week was also busy helping my friends daughter make her kitchen more practical - I showed you how we gave access to the house from the garage (Though I have no ideas why the builders sixty years ago didn't think that made sense!) -Now we're on to the kitchen, not a real remodel just a 'more sense' change. 

You'll see from the original photo - that was all there was for counter space and storage - no pantry (the old pantry now holds a stackable washer dryer) and heaven forbid you want to bake and cook at the same time! sooo - we moved the fridge to an open wall - added a refrigerator water line in case they get a fridge with an ice maker some day - adding a trash cabinet next to the fridge, a dishwasher and another cabinet - Don't you think this looks better?  I'm sorry I didn't remember to grab a nice photo when I was there yesterday seeing the final product but my friend took the two close up photos so you get an idea :)  - If you're wondering why there's a gap between the fridge and the cabinet - it's because that's a smaller 32 inch fridge and we had to leave room for the larger 36 inch in the future. 

On a personal note - I lost an entire pound - I know it's not much - but it's fun because i wasn't trying! Whether it's from all the walking I'm doing with the baby or because I'm too busy and eating less but I'll take it - I'll also be curious to see if i lose another pound next week! 

And just for the fun of it  - here's a photo of me with the baby and the teddy bear (that looks more like a monkey to me!) that my three year old grand thought I needed to hold since I was doing such a good job with the baby. ​

Now - television - since life has been a bit crazy and yes a tad stressful - I've started running an old television series in the background - The West Wing.  I don't remember it being quite so funny.  Though I suspect - much like Barney Miller (a favorite comedy of mine) that a lot of the subject and comments would be tabu in today's media. 

In the meantime - I hope everyone has read their copy of RYAN - I would love to hear from you here in the comments if you were happy with the Mariah resolution and the upcoming new branch of the Farradays - I'm hopefully it's going to be as much fun as the originals with all the cast of characters we love playing with in Tuckers Bluff! 

Okay- I'm calling it a day - so much to do.  Oh - and for the folks who like the remodeling stuff - I'm going to help another friend update her kitchen so I'll share that and try to do a better job of photographing! promise! 

Oh it's been a busy week for this little author!  lol.

I actually didn't have very  much grandbaby duty because the other grandma was in town for the week so I only visited one afternoon and then again yesterday.  Today, it's back to helping mode. I'll be on my way over in a few minutes to watch the baby while mama does morning carpool with the older ones.  She's coming along well enough that she can do morning drive, but by afternoon Pawpaw is doing pick ups - that's too much for her still.  Hard to believe it's already been three weeks since the baby was born, almost four. And already, she feels so much bigger and heavier! I just love the newborn stage and already I'm starting to miss it since she's more alert and squirmy LOL. 

I've been scrambling working on a bunch of translations - finally after almost three years of translating my books into German, we're doing French. I'm actually looking forward to having this done so someday I can do a booksigning in France.  Some of you may know I am actually conversational in French so it would be a load of fun for me to be able to meet readers and chat in person.  I'm also working on Sweet Devotion, the next book in the new K9 set of Honeysuckle Texas books set at the Sweet family ranch. By the end of April, we'll be starting on the new series. 

Did I tell you that we decided by majority vote of the fans to return to Hart Land and do the firefighter series? I should have those up and ready for preorder before summer. This will be the first time a series releases one book at a time instead of dropping the first two or three at once.  Hopefully no one will mind! 

​Most importantly, Tomorrow (or tonight if you preordered on amazon or Apple) Ryan Farraday will be available everywhere (he's already for sale on my website) 

Well - as you can see - never did get to finish the Blog on time! 

Yesterday with the baby was long - she slept on Oma most of the day and then when my granddaughter came home it was time outside with her - I think of the two siblings, she's the one feeling the most 'left out' - so we're all trying to make a point of one on one time with her - mine was yesterday from five to six pm. Then it was Pawpa's turn. 

here we have a couple of shots of happy Oma - and the weekend when pawpaw and the grands played in the hot tub - too cold for the big pool yet! it's not heated :) 

Then, to add to the massive to do list - A friend's daughter who lives in California has a house here in dallas and her property manager dropped the ball, so - guess who gets to step in and spruce things up a bit to make it more appealing to a renter? Yep - yours truly! I love doing this kind of thing but it makes things pretty busy - 

​For those of you who love before and afters - here are a few shots. The first photo is the dining area from the living room - you can see it's a solid wall. This is a one car garage house with no access to the house from inside the garage - I figure working single women want the safety of access to the house without going back outside and moms with kids don't want to lug the groceries around the house in the rain and cold - so - we added a door to the garage- that's the second shot - the third is the access from the garage - easy peasy! 

And of course the big news of the day - RYAN is here!   Run and get your copy - and let me know what you think of the Aunt Mariah resolution and the intro of Seamus!  And you can preorder Seamus too now! 

Cutting it short since I'm late!  Hopefully will be more caught up next week! 

To say that today did not go as planned - would be an understatement. Which means, instead of writing this at 11am, I'm writing it at 11pm. So very sorry. 

My days are mostly filled with new baby efforts. My daughter is doing great after her C-section, but still needs help a little longer - and of course, I'm loving every minute with the new little one.  Even though I have to share this week with my son in law's mom. 

For anyone wanting to read RYAN early - as promised - the last of the Construction Cousin books in Farraday Country is up for sale early on my website - click here to access it if you don't want to wait for the world wide release next week! https://store.chriskeniston.com/products/Ryan-p822671521  So far, I'm hearing that folks are loving how we wrapped up the family feud issue. I'm really happy to hear it because it took me this long to fully understand what happened. As usual, it wasn't until I was writing the scenes that the characters stepped up to the plate and told me what was happening! LOL - I love it when that happens, I just wished they'd spoken up a little sooner and saved me some stressful days and night lol!

For fans of my aloha series - i'm currently working on transforming my original series book Waikiki wedding into a clean and wholesome version-- I hope that's good news for some of you. 

Our next release is in May and I have to wrap my head around Sweet Devotion -  with every book an author writes, trying to keep the next one and the one after that and the one after that fresh, gets harder and harder. The number of ideas we have to toss away because - did that two books ago, or ten books ago, or in a previous series...or two - happens too often. Some times we hope that we can change an idea from another book or series around enough that it still seems fresh. After all, a kitchen fire and a brush fire are not the same thing, still, it's not getting any easier. But I'll keep doing my best as long as you let me! :) 

Since its pretty late for me and my restless leg syndrome is kicking in (always does when I'm tired) I'm calling it a night - 

Wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick's day! 

Oh how much fun it is to struggle out of bed with an hour less of sleep - NOT.  As much as I enjoy bright summer days lasting late in the day, I would prefer to only have it be bright till 8pm and stick to ONE time zone all year.  I truly love late days in the summer. More time to run errands, to brighten your mood, but then I feel for the small children who have to walk to school in the morning in the pitch dark of night.  I remember parents complaining the year that we didn't switch back because of the energy crisis.  Of course, back then mom's rarely drove car pool, but still. I'm not convinced the extra hour is worth doing that to our kids - BUT  - if that's the way the world wants to go, I'd be on board.  I'd be on board with anything to avoid switching back and forth twice a year. 

What would  you prefer? 

Back to book news.  Ryan is out with the review team so everything is rocking and rolling for release this month on the 24th!  Yay for the Farradays!  If you like early releases direct from my store- keep an eye on my facebook page, or just check the website after the weekend - the early release should be up, if not this weekend, by next tuesday at the latest. 

This is also a good week for German readers.  This week starts the release of books 1- 3 of the Aloha series in German.  Aloha was my first contemporary romance series. The way the whole thing got started is I have a friend who likes to scuba dive - so we went to the Big Island for her to dive. I of course do not like being 'in' the water so I stayed 'on' the boat. I looked up from reading, saw the captain doing pushups from the back and thought- hmm, I bet there's a romance in there. My friend and I brainstormed some ideas and Aloha Texas was born. The last photo below is later on Maui while making notes for Mai Tai Marriage, book number three.​

​Early in my career i wrote Women's fiction but Aloha Texas did so well that I was told I was to write romance now. It's pretty obvious to anyone who reads my newer stories that the first book was different - it was longer, more complex, and much more serious.  You can see the bridge between larger complex women's fiction books and the rest of the aloha series.  As the rest of this first series continues, it's easy to see my style emerging.  It will be fun to see what the German's think of it all! 

I'm writing this a little late because I'm still on burp and rock duty with the new grandbaby. Today we added a load of infant laundry to the chores - poor thing was out of sleepers! 

Okay- Off to work on Seamus and Sweet Devotion!  Have a good week! ​

I'm still a little flabbergasted that I made my deadline for Ryan - well- that's not totally true - I turned it into my editor five days late, but close enough for her to still deal with it and for the book to hit the shelves as scheduled late this month. whew!  

It was not easy - as many of you know, Ryan is the last of the Oklahoma clan - the Construction Cousins - and I needed to reveal the mystery of the family feud.  Considering I only had a whisper of an inkling of what the problem was, I was thrilled when the resolution worked out. I will admit, I was concerned Mariah wasn't going to tell me what the heck went wrong - but - it came together and you'll finally get to read it for yourself. 

In Ryan, you're also going to meet a whole new branch of the family no one knew about and I think you're going to love it.  You can thank my husband's Irish family for pulling it all together - If any of you saw my blog posts over the summer of visiting the birthplace of my husband's grandmother, you might recognize some of what will come up in the next collection of Farradays- I think you're going to like it - at least I sure hope so! 

We are continuing to put the Honeysuckle books into boxed sets - the next one will release in April.  The next Honeysuckle book will be delayed a month to May.  It was just too close to the wire for Ryan and I simply can't spit out a decent story that fast - AND - spend some time with my new grandbaby!  

Yep - imagine that - the author of family sagas actually likes family LOL.   We didn't know what we were having. My daughter and son in law wanted to be surprised this time - but we have a baby girl. 7lbs 11oz and 20 inches long. She's the smallest of the three because she came with a C-section, but she's a real sweetie.  They had thought she would be bigger - they thought she was bigger a week ago and since natural delivery for the previous two got a bit stressful and baby two actually got stuck - we went the safe route and I am glad to report mom and baby are both doing great. 

I'm not allowed to share any clear photos - but you'll get the drift here: 

Our next stop on this years big trip was Rio De Janeiro.  I always wanted to see Rio. I've had more than one relative live there for a few years because of their work but we never could make visiting work - so I finally got to visit! 

we stayed in a hotel at the famed Copacabana beach- You know it's going to be an interesting stay when the elevator is a work of art. Next thing you realize the hotel is so old that the ceilings are maybe ten or twelve feet high? Felt like we were in a palace! and the views from the room weren't bad either! 

or our second day in Rio - we did the typical tourist stops - Sugar Loaf (and much like the beach I have no idea why this little mountain is so famous lol) and Christ the Redeemer statue - for me this wasn't that big a deal because I've been to the same statue in Cali Colombia that is only a few feet shorter.  It was supposed to be cloudy and rainy our entire stay and yet - the sun kept peeking out and the rain mostly stayed away- though we did get a good shower at the Redeemer statue and had to wait for it to blow over in order to take the elevator back down to the train - this little writer was NOT doing 220 steps down :) 

And that pretty much wound up our trip - it was SO hot and exhausting in Rio - A lot of the reason was that even though most establishments all had central a/c - they kept all the doors and windows open too!  It was SO hard to just cool down for a little bit. As a result on our third day we opted to stay in our cool hotel room and enjoy the view from the window! LOL. 

All in all, it was a lovely trip with a good friend and crossed a few things off my bucket list! 

Now we're getting ready for grandbaby number three who should arrive this week! And of course getting all the book biz caught up.  Tomorrow is release day for the Sweets first box set - Honeysuckle Texas books 1-3.  If you have any friends who prefer box sets to individual books - let them know more of these are coming out soon!  And don't forget about Ryan coming next month - If you haven't put your preorders in - now is the time! 

And that's it for today!  

I'm curious - does anyone have one bucket list place they have always wanted to go? Post below in the comments! 

I'll start with a little business - had a wonderful time Friday night at the Galantine party - I gotta laugh - Still talking with my hands :) 

And for anyone with nothing to do tonight at 5pm pacific, 7pm central - pop over and join Sheila Roberts and myself for a little Monday night chat!  https://www.facebook.com/p/Sheila-Roberts-100044180452595/

Now - we return to the travels of a wandering author! LOL. 

From Buenos Aires we moved on to Iguazu Falls.  This water fall system is seven times larger than Niagara Falls and the largest system in the world - though there are taller waterfalls. The thing spans both Argentina and Brazil so we spent two days on the Argentine side and two on the Brazil side. 

The thing I will always remember from the Argentine side was the warning - We had to sign a waiver that we were held responsible for the Monkeys. Monkeys you ask? Well, it seems that if you do not lock your patio door, the monkeys know how to open the door. More importantly, they know how to find and raid the mini bar - for which you are financially responsible. I couldn't stop laughing when they told me that.  We got to our room, lovely, the balcony was huge, but the view was sweet. You can see the falls WAY in the background, so I said to my friend, wonder where the monkeys are - I turned around and Oh boy! they were running around quietly everywhere!  SO cute! 

And the falls were amazing! they also have these cute little animals called Coati - nicknamed the pig racoon.  They have a long snout like an anteater (hence the affiliation with a pig?) and a ringed tail like a racoon and dark eyes- not the same as a racoon but similar! And they were running around everywhere - the staff kept shooing them away from the tourists! 

From there we crossed the border into Brazil and stayed at a hotel on the brazil side of the national park.  More amazing photos - but the first night was the most stellar- so to speak. 

We accidentally - or more accurately, unintentionally- booked our stay during a full moon.  During a full moon our hotel offered full moon tours - sure, why not! Well, I had no idea there was such a thing as a lunar rainbow- sometimes called a moonbow.  A full arch of white from one side to the other from the moons reflection.  With the naked eye - it's only white - sometimes with the camera shot, you can see hints of color! 

The moonbow was seriously impressive - I'd never scene one before and doubt I'll ever see it again!  The next day we took a ride down to the bottom of the falls and then caught the sunset from the front yard of our hotel - if you like mother nature - you got quite the show! 

The downside of Iguazu is that we were starting to REALLY feel the heat! Very humid and very warm and we peetered out quickly! But, this has been on my bucket list since before bucket lists was a thing! (yeah, I'm that old) 

As for my writing - needless to say, on this trip I got almost NOTHING written so I am SCRAMBLING now to meet my editors deadline, there's a slight chance that Ryan might have to be pushed back a month, but we don't know yet - fingers crossed I get struck by a rush of inspiration and meet the deadline! 

Everything is being planned around the 26th when my daughter is scheduled for a C-section. Due to issues when my granddaughter was born, the doctors feel that with a large baby (already almost 8 lbs with three weeks to go!) that a c-section is in everyone best interest. This will be a little different for us, knowing what day the baby will be here. On the bright side, if it works out as planned, it will be easy to remember the birth date: 2- 26- 26 LOL. 

Okay- off to write some more in Ryan before I fall behind for my daily count! 

First day back to Buenos Aires after the cold Antarctic we settled in from a late arrival and prepared for the next days trip to Colonia Uruguay.   It's a boat trip across the Rio de la Plata (widest river in the world) and we were quite pleased with the ferries. Air conditioned, comfortable seats (wish airlines were like that) and a smooth ride despite our concerns. 

On arrival we were met by a guide, and off to walking in the summer heat we went! I think I was expecting something more like Cartagena - spanish styled houses sort of thing - but it wasn't there were some colonial period buildings scattered around the old section but it was very pleasant. 

For one thing, I hadn't expected so many tree-lined streets - they're everywhere - throughout the old and newer parts of town. Made it feel a smidge cooler some of the time but mostly made it all look so pretty!  Though as you can see - I did have to buy a hat because I could feel my scalp burning like that day on the Delta and thought, nope, not doing that again! LOL. 

The ruins is an old convent built right up against that little lighthouse. Then we had an afternoon snack at a little - and I mean little - cafe overlooking the river.  Had the sourest lemonade ever, I suspect they didn't add sugar or much water! But it wasn't a pleasant break. Then we got to the center square where the old cathedral was. Like most colonial period buildings, the style is quite simplistic - no ornate gold or massive statues. 

 We had a quiet night back in Buenos Aires. This time we stayed in a hotel in the Recoletta section of Buenos Aires. More to do within walking distance so we walked to a local italian restaurant. Probably some of the best food we'd had so far in Argentina, but nothing to write home about!  For delicious foods, I still prefer Europe. South America has a different seasoning palate and it didn't appeal to me much (remember that awful pumpkin side dish - ugh) 

Next day before leaving for Iguazu falls, we walked to the Recoletta cemetery where Eva Perone of the movie and show Evita is buried. The cemetery is all above ground mausoleums. They all have stained glass either ceilings or in the walls. Many are quite ornate and beautiful to look at. Some are better kept than others. That's how you can tell where there is still family and where the last of the family has died off. The handful we saw that were crumbling was truly sad. 

I expected Eva to be buried in her own large mausoleum with Eva Perone in huge letters - but no - she's in her family's cypt - Duarte. You can see my reflection taking photos of the plaques with her name on it as well as her brothers and anyone else buried in there. 

I will say of the four cities we hit in South America - Buenos Aires and its suburbs are my favorite! 

Also - for anyone who is going to be in North Texas this coming Friday - I will be doing a romance author panel and booksigning at Obrien's bookshop in Midlothian. 

That's it for today - now I'm off to finish Ryan the next Farraday book that I am SOOO behind on!  Say a prayer for me - this is going to be quite the push as I didn't get near the writing done on the trip that I had hoped! 

 ​Yep – we have lots of photos of snow and ice and penguins and whales and orcas – and yep – we saw all of that in the Antarctica region!
 
Many of you who know me are aware I do NOT like the cold – I avoid it like the plague. When we have freezing weather in Texas, I bundle up and stay home – well - there are exceptions to every rule!
 
The Drake Passage can be some rough seas leaving the tip of South America to reach Antarctica and we were very blessed to have rolling seas but nothing too bad.  Though we all looked like drunken sailors trying to walk that day.  Next stop – Antarctica and let me tell you – I was working on my computer trying to get caught up on some things and when I stopped and looked up I almost fell out of bed – Oh My – the views are more than impressive. Walls of white mountains and so much deep blue in the ice – it was inspiring. And yes – there were lots of penguins! You can see them standing in the background behind me (the one in red lol).

​One of the nice things about Viking is that they gift you that parka (and the under jacket too) but all I can think is where the heck in Texas am I going to wear that thing! LOL.  Oh well.  The ship had lots of perks – great food – somehow I managed to only gain two pounds and I am thrilled! Then there is the best hot tub in the world with one heck of a view! 

​One day, I'm playing cards with some ladies and we noticed the ship is sort of slowly spinning - we think 'I guess the Captain needs to turn around' - next second a voice comes over the PA : Folks the Captain has spotted ten or so Orcas playing and he's turning the ship - How the boat didn't just tip into the ocean is beyond me - I swear - All three hundred passengers were at the front of the boat –
 
Turns out there were whales and Orcas - and we had a blast following the 'blows' and splashes and tails (the whale tail is in another post) - the sunlight makes the orcas look more brown - but they were black and white (in third photo) and put on quite a show for us!
 
We think... and that's a big 'think' - that the mama whales were pushing the juveniles closer to the ship to get away from the Orcas - because until now, all the whales have been really far away and these guys were real close - one was practically kissing the ship.

​Now whales breach really fast – but somehow with all of us snapping photos like crazy – we managed to get these great photos! 

​And as much as I hate to admit it, with no humidity, when there was no wind, I think it was warmer in Antarctica than most of y’all back home in the states!  I didn’t go outside all that often – remember I don’t like the cold – but some days, even in capris and sandals, as long as I had on a ¾ or long sleeve shirt, I was perfectly okay outside!  

​My friend lugs around three different cameras so she got some great shots – some of these were hers! And since no Antarctica trip would be complete without a few other lazy animals – here are a few shots of penguins and seals too!  The last shot is me in Ushuaia Argentina - the southernmost city in the world - and the last stop for our ship!  

And that - is my trip to Antarctica - while  I've got your attention, I want to thank everyone for picking up a copy of Sweet Rescue that released last week -  SO very thankful for my fans! 

​I hope everyone is staying warm!  Looks like I picked a good time to escape North Texas – everyone is bundling up and hunkering down!  Me – well – we’re having a lot of fun.
 
I’ll share warm thoughts with you!  Our second day in Buenos Aires we did a ‘delta’ tour. Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, only that the hotel desk recommended it as a good afternoon tour. (I don’t do mornings!)

First we stopped along at a suburban park to see how wide the Rid de la Plata is – apparently it’s the widest river in the world and I admit – I would have sworn I was standing on the shore of an ocean – the first photo you can see Buenos Aires down stream – but if I turned and faced Uruguay, you’d see NOTHING – that river is crazy wide. Then, we stopped in a little town called San Isidro to see the cathedral.  It was just lovely. I really liked the tree lined streets in this little suburb. 

Were we surprised to find ourselves in a small boat toodling down the delta waterways of Argentina. Apparently there are only five in the world and this is one –Since the Mississippi is another, there were times when I felt like I Tom Sawyer could pop out from under a shoreline tree any second. Can’t you picture it – in the first photo – in the shade – two kids fishing off the shore in straw hats and cut off jeans. Yep – I could so see Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in my mind! It was surprisingly fun. 

Next stop, the town of Tigre. No surprise with all the waterways that suburban Buenos Aires is big on rowing (crew?).  They have so many clubs. The one photo is of the second largest and oldest club – that building was amazing. I didn’t get a photo of the largest, might have to make another trip LOL.  The guide showed us the new large casino – frankly, it looked a bit like an IKEA parking lot LOL – he says everyone hates it because it’s so ugly (not that an IKEA parking lot is ugly) and after seeing the original casino—now a museum—no wonder they don’t like it. It’s just a beautiful building.  We did stop for a snack and I snapped a photo of an Argentine rotisserie. A little different than how we do it.  It’s a little hard to see in this photo – but – there’s a large rack of ribs hanging from the right side. That spins around the fire that’s usually in the middle. Since they’re done cooking, they moved the coals to the edge so the meat wouldn’t keep cooking, but picture it- a huge coal fire in the middle, and racks of hanging meet spinning around the coals, slowly cooking. 

​And that, is the end of my second day in Buenos Aires. Day three meant meeting the Antarctic group at—gulp—five am to catch a bus to the airport.  Anyone who knows me knows I’m more likely to be up at five am writing than climbing out of bed. Sooo, I did when any normal, red-blooded, nocturnal animal would do—I stayed awake all night! But, I didn’t miss the bus! LOL.  Next Monday I’ll share all the fun photos of Antarctica!