THERE'S THIS:
Cancer sucks.
But if you check out this book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPnKdMXnfHI
You'll see that the real Lisa is doing well... and the fictional Lisa does pretty well for herself! And Amazon has that beautiful 4-Star story for sale right HERE!!!!
So that was part of busyness, the joy of a book release... and another proposal approved for winter 2014! Yay. :)
And then there's this:
Not the cute guy... although there is another one:
Anyway, that's Bob-the-Builder in that first picture (yes, really!) and he's building us a nice big family room so that when my big family comes to visit, we have space to spread out. A family room.... I have waited over two decades for this room, and now when the 12 grandchildren come to celebrate at Grammy's house....
Some of the adults can sneak away to the quiet end of the house, LOL!
:)
And yesterday a huge dumpster came to live in my driveway. H-U-G-E. And a load of stuff to make my front roof of this old house look better... and keep rain and snow out better. So from end to end we have construction.... and little kids... and I'm pretty sure someone will end up at least hospitalized, right?????
Sigh.
And did I mention the dead mice? That I have to pull out all of the decades-old (our own fault, right????) stuff I have behind the walls and under the eaves of our finished attic.... So they can put new baffles (WHAT???? WHAT ARE THOSE, EXACTLY????) to help the air circulation.... Let me just say, if I don't die of Hantavirus in a few weeks, you can be assured that the antique bodies and droppings weren't from the deer mouse...
PHEW! Then I can celebrate that we have regular field mice, and the difference is in the ears. Deer mice have bigger ears but without a second specimen, I was stymied by how to identify the corpse.
And such is the life of the upstate Yankee author.
:)
We took stock in glue boards.... and D-con.... years ago. Welcome to country living, 101!
So that's my lameness for why there's been nothing in the kitchen, but there was THIS:
:)
Smiling is good!
So while the kitchen has stayed somewhat quiet food-wise... life's been a little crazy and fun in every other corner of the house!
You'll never guess what I picked up at Walmart yesterday!!!
ReplyDeleteBut busy days with our church hosting a big meeting - so I won't be home, won't have time to write OR read...but we are taking a group up to Mt. Rushmore this afternoon. That almost makes up for it.
And I'm so tickled about your new family room! With Bob the Builder on the construction end and Ruthy on the making-the-place-cozy end, it will be fabulous!
And bagels? I tried making them once...and the family voted that I keep buying them. The Cretans.
Like yours, mine tasted great, but looked a little less than desirable. But they tasted great!
Did I mention my family is a bunch of Cretans?
Stinkin' Cretans is what I call them, Jan.... Bunch o' know-nothings! :) You know, these are so good that Dave is hankering for them. And he never eats bagels so I think this recipe... and doing fun assorted things that made my non-kitchen-loving daughter roll her eyes because of the "effort"... this recipe just worked from beginning to end! You and me will get together and make bagels for Seekervillagers and THEY WILL LOVE US!!!!
DeleteFamily.
Sheesh.
Guess I need to head over to our Barnes and Noble. I have a coupon I have been itching to use!
ReplyDeleteI was sitting on my porch the other day and thought I was living in a magazine spread. All the mess and craziness was well worth it. I know it will be for you too.
Don't you love having cute kids, btw?
Peace, Julie
I love your porch, Jules!!!!! And yes, it will be like that because we've waited decades to do this.... I remember when we got our first washer and dryer.... I had two kids in diapers and every other day I went to the laundromat to wash diapers.
DeleteI was so happy when Sears delivered my very first store-bought appliances!!! YAY!!!!!
Bagels, yep. (Although I am eating buckwheat waffles--made by my hubby since it's his day off--for brunch.) Now you're putting me in the mood to make some...but I have all this editing/revising to do...so stop it, Ruthy! ;-)
ReplyDeleteBagels... *drool*
Mice...yeah...although we don't live in a farmhouse or on a farm, we do live in the country and we've had lots of mice over the years come to visit us. And leave presents. Ahem. And even bigger "things" have ended up in our basement, as found several years ago when hubby and dear friend were redoing plumbing and bathrooms. Yuck. D-Con is OUR friend, definitely not theirs.
Can't wait to read the new book!
Hugs,
Melanie
I hope you love, love, love the new book which is still sitting (in the envelope) on my dining room table. Calling it a dining room table makes me feel better about it as a whole, but you cannot SEE the table. It's hidden under stuff. But if I can't find a willing soul to get to the Post Office tomorrow (normally it's no big deal but the construction zone aura has folks ducking and hiding...) I'll go first thing Saturday.
DeleteAnd then you can relax... after edits, of course! ... and read.
:)
I just loved this book, Ruthy! Can't stop thinking about it. You done good. :-) Can't wait until Christmas because I think that's when your next book is out, right?
ReplyDeleteExcited for your family room in the making. Sympathetic with the whole mouse issue. I've been having such a time with mice this winter. One keeps coming to visit the crumb drawer of the toaster oven. One day I was cleaning it out and wondered what those tiny burnt bits were and then realized they were mouse poop. Ewwwwww! And this one enterprising fellow slips into the kitchen through the stove -- pops out of the element ring! I need a cat.
And thanks for the synopsis critique back so fast in the midst of all your bedlam! I haven't opened it yet because I'm at work but I'll be good and brave when I do. :-) I'll email you back when I've recovered! LOL.
Ran a grueling 4 day Scholastic Book Fair this week so I'm toast. Still picking up the pieces...and gearing up to run another one at my other school in another week. Argh.
You will love the synopsis critique because I wanted your life to be easier!!! (I say those things to lessen the blows)
DeleteAND.... the mouse thing in the toaster oven, oh yes! We know that trick.
Stupid rodents.
I'm so glad you loved The Lawman's Second Chance, Kav!!!! Thank you! BIG GRIN IN UPSTATE!!!
Oh, I'm laughing, I'm signed in from my "Hearthside Kennel" account so it's me and my daughter in law Lacey... whom you would all LOVE.
DeleteAnyway, Kav, I have a September Kirkwood Lake book coming out... Falling for the Lawman, a story that's so fun... and so in keeping with what's going on up here (and across the U.S.) in farm country that I felt honored to write it. I can't wait to hear what you think about Piper and Zach's story...
And then TWO Christmas books out... one with Summerside Press, a duo-novella with Anna Schmidt and me... I did the historical, a delightful post-World War II story set in Manhattan... And Anna did the contemporary, about my character's grandson....
How fun is that??? That comes out in October... and then The Lawman's Holiday Wish in December for Love Inspired.
I'm SO PSYCHED!!!! :)
Ugh! It's already at Walmart? So not fair. I ordered mine on Kindle long ago, but it won't download until May 1:-( Of course, I'm reading Missy's right now, so it's a good use of time:-)
ReplyDeleteLove the book trailer, love, love the book cover, and love, love, LOVE that you're getting a new family room. So exciting!
And again I am in awe of your baking skills. Only you, Ruthy, would make their own bagels.
I just realized that I'll be getting books by the Yank AND the Midwesterner on the same day. Looks like y'all are going to have to do rock, paper, scissors to decide whose I read first:-P
DeleteMindy, isn't that exciting???? To have Jan's book storming the shelves, too!!! And in a few months, yours????? YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!
DeleteGrinning big time at your continued success, ladies!!!!