What a Week

As y'all know, I'm getting ready to head out to Kentucky in less than two weeks!  I have never been to Kentucky and I'm quite excited - I'm also pretty stoked to have learned how to do preorders for the book signing!  I ordered them ahead and will bring them with me - it's kind of fun getting ready.  The only challenge is I'm also hosting a group of longtime friends coming to my neck of the woods for our annual summer get together.  Another friend of mine and I go back and forth hosting and this year it's at my house - just a few days before I leave for Kentucky.  Can you spell STRESS? lol.  Yep, trying organize, pack and clean. I did however on a small burst of energy (something I'm lacking considerably since gaining those 12 pounds while my daughter and grands were staying with me) I finally hung up the three tile pictures I brought back from Rio De Janeiro.  They look pretty nice in my kitchen - though I think one of these years I may get around to changing the frames. ​

The first framed tiles are Copacabana beach - you can tell because the mosaic sidewalks are wave shaped. The second is Ipanema Beach (remember the song? Tall and tan and young and lovely the girl from Ipanema goes walking...) - you can tell because the mosaic sidewalk is more chain linkish in shape. And lastly, the Christ the Redeemer tiles. 

Back to helping my friend remodel her house, there's been quite a bit of progress this week.  They cut out the window and I am SO thrilled with how much light comes in.  As you can see from the first photograph - this is the view of the back wall from the front door.  There was a pony wall we took down and there's a sunken living room that will be leveled - after all the thing is a fall hazard for young and old! Because we closed up some of the glass door panels to allow for more cabinetry, we decided to cut out a window in the dining room. It's a little messy and it was a cloudy day - but here's the new view! ​

Even though I wasn't standing all the way back by the door when I snapped the photo - you can see the fan light is turned off in the second photo and yet, there's more light in the room than the first photo with the fan light on!  It's just a huge difference. And that wall between the full length window and the door is where a peninsula will be for homework or other projects. I can hardly wait till it's finished. 

As for book news - well, I finally was able to move forward on Sweet Courage - the book releases in August and I have been STUCK for weeks.  When you've written as many books as I have, keeping the stories fresh can get tough. I mean, how many ways can folks 'meet' lol. I think we -yep had to go to my friend Kathy Ivan and her sister for brainstorming help- came up with something that works. I'm kind of excited about it. Fingers crossed I can carry it through! 

Now, I can use some advice from anyone with a green thumb.  I was given an orchid plant when I returned from Brazil.  It was lovely and I was quite proud of myself for keeping it in bloom for almost four months!  The flowers have died and the leaves fell off. So I cut back the two brown stems and cut the green stem off above a nodule (that's what the internet said to do lol).  Now I'm going to water it every week as I have always done, but since I have always had a brown thumb that can kill the heartiest of plants, if someone out there is good with orchids - tips please! 

And now - another week of juggling grandkids, work, home, and now... guests! 

​See y'all next week!