Happy New Year

 

I'm a few days early but I'm eagerly looking forward to the new year. I hope you and your families have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2026. 

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah

                                                    Merry Christmas

                                                              and

                                                     Happy Hanukkah

 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  Nothing writing related last week since I finished the first draft of Garrett's story at the end of November. I'm letting it rest so to speak and will start the editing and revision process in January.

Motivational Quote:  "Fear has a very concrete power of keeping us from doing and saying the things thar are our purpose." ~ Luvvie Ajayi

What I'm Reading:  I'll finish reading He Falls First by Jill Shalvis this evening. This is the first book in her new Colburn Brothers series. 

Random Things:  I still have packages for gifts I ordered online that haven't been delivered yet, but all of the gift shopping is done except to pick up a couple of gift cards which I'm doing this morning. I'm hoping to start wrapping the things that have been delivered sometime this week. I have about 40 gifts that will need to be wrapped plus I help my mom wrap her gifts as well so getting an early start is crucial to ensure everything is wrapped or gift bagged by December 21st when we'll celebrate Christmas with two of my nephews and their families. 

Random Photo:

Mrs. Green also thinks it's the most wonderful time of the year since boxes are arriving almost daily for her to take over sometimes before I can even get the items that were delivered out of the boxes.
 

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I finished the first draft of Garrett's book late yesterday afternoon. Whew! Now the hard work begins. This draft will need a lot of editing. I'm almost certain parts of it will need to be rewritten. I want to ensure I have the right amount of setting details as well as character information and emotion. I'm going to let the manuscript sit for this month so I'll have some distance from it in January and be able to see what's working and what isn't more clearly. It's a good month to let it sit because I never manage to get much writing done in December. The days are taken up with shopping, baking, decorating, wrapping, and helping my mom with those same things. 

Motivational Quote:  "No matter what situation you're in, find something good about it, rather than the negative things. And in dealing with other human beings, find the good in them as well." ~ Wilma Mankiller quoting wisdom from Cherokee elders

What I'm Reading:  I'm a little more than halfway through These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean. I love her historical romances. This is her first contemporary novel. I had a really hard time getting into it. It's very slow going. Some of the characters are completely unlikable. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not. The main female character is somewhat of a doormat as well. Despite those things, I'm trying to finish reading it.

Random Things:  I can't believe it's December 1st already. It seemed like November just started a few days ago and now it's over. I'll be putting away our few fall decorations and putting out our Christmas decorations today but not the Christmas tree yet. I usually do that 2 weeks before the holiday because I have to rearrange the living room to have a place for the tree so that it's not in the way.

Random Photo: 

 Here's a old photo of Somebody checking out a Christmas ornament. If you look closely, you can see the teeth marks on the toe of the boot where he decided to see how it tasted.
 

Early Thanksgiving Wishes

 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone to celebrates the holiday.

 I know I have a lot to be grateful for this year.  

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I had a good productive week and am on track to finish this first draft by the end of the month. I'm hoping to get some extra writing in this week since the following week will be Thanksgiving and I'll lose a couple of days of writing time due to the holiday and doctor appointments for both myself and my mom.

Motivational Quote:  "You'll have bad times, but it'll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren't paying attention to." ~ Sean (played by Robin Williams) from the movie Good Will Hunting.

What I'm Reading:  I'm a little less than halfway through We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter. This is the first book in her new North Falls series. It's a good book. I'm finding it hard to put down. 

Random Things:  We're getting a new stove delivered today. Buying a new one wasn't planned. I turned the oven on to pre-heat to bake bread and when I went back into the kitchen to check that it was up to the correct temperature, there was a noticeable gas smell and the oven had only heated to 150 degrees despite being on for 30 minutes. Needless to say, I immediately turned the oven off. My nephew who is a firefighter for our city came over to make sure there was nothing wrong with the gas line connection. There wasn't so rather than risk blowing up the house, we went shopping for a new stove the next day. I baked the bread dough I had ready in the toaster oven. It came out pretty well. It's the first time I ever really baked something in it. We usually use it for things like toast, melting cheese on something, or making hash brown patties and such.

Random Photo:

   Mrs. Green likes to sleep on my house shoes whenever I take them off to sit on the sofa.