UPDATE: The winner is…Jeanine Lesperance!
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Just a quick note about what this day means to me, and then I’ll move on. One year ago today, my mom passed away. She was at home, being cared for by my dd and myself because she wanted to be home until the end and knew she wasn’t going to beat her pancreatic cancer. I’d just walked away to get a washcloth to clean her face and returned. I began gently cleaning her face, talking to her, telling her that my sister was nearly there, hold on, when I realized she wasn’t breathing. One minute later, my sister arrived, too late to tell her goodbye. It was such a sad, sad day, but the only thing I can be thankful for is that she didn’t live to see what was to come just two months later. She left in peace.

So, here we are…how many months in? We cope. We also find joy. Little things matter more. My 16-year-old granddaughter has become our hairstylist. She watched YouTube videos so she could cut our hair. Here she is giving her 7-year-old sister a trim last night.

And isn’t she lovely? All that lovely strawberry-blond hair. She’s going to be a redhead like her mama.

We mostly stick close to home. Get our groceries delivered curbside, pick up our takeout masked. The one place we frequent, because it’s a big open, well-ventilated warehouse is our local flea market. We make that an event. See the treasures we found yesterday?

My mother had a collection of that old-fashioned, mid-century white Corning Ware with the blue flowers. We’ve been slowly adding pieces (it’s very collectible!). We paid $6 for two pieces, now we’ll have to hunt down lids on eBay (something else we enjoy—the hunt!). My dd got rid of all our plastic storage dishes and mixing bowls, and we’re replacing them with midcentury Pyrex (also, very collectible!). That brown set with the mushrooms we got for $40. If you think that’s insane, see how much it goes for on eBay! See the bent glass serving tray? It’s midcentury as well by George Briard ($10).

I added some odd bits to our haul—the yellow tin ($1) that I intend to cut up for tin jewelry, the small wood inlay picture frame ($1.50) that I’ll fill with a painting, the ceramic disk with raised lettering depicting the Cherokee alphabet ($6), which I will use to set my brush pot on for use on my art table, and I think I’ll press it against a gel plate covered in paint for background marks. See the yellow swan? It arrived in the mail today, so I added it to the display. I used a picture of it for the last jigsaw puzzle I posted.

So, we craft and “hunt” and have family movie nights. We’re fortunate, and we know it, because we aren’t hurting for money or searching for food banks. This situation isn’t normal, but the kids are happy, learning to cook and cut hair, and we have a little farm of animals they care for. We’re busy and not feeling especially stressed out about the restrictions. My police officer SIL got the vaccine this week, which is a huge relief. Hopefully, sometime this year, the rest of us will get it, too. We have lots to look forward to—warmer weather, swimming this summer, working on flower beds. We spend evenings talking about the trips we want to make to familiar haunts once it’s safe—Beale Street in Memphis, New Orleans.

We’re enjoying simple pleasures. Grateful we’ve, so far, dodged the virus while missing my parents and grandmother, who left us just before all this hit. We are finding things to be happy about and grateful for during this long-ass pandemic.

I’d love to hear how y’all are coping and whether the vaccine is headed your way soon. What plans do you have for when we get back to something approaching “normal” again. Comment for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card.

Today’s all about setting up my calendar. I have a spreadsheet prepared with all the work I hope to complete. I know I’ll be deleting things as I run into snags, but I always like to plan “big”. Here’s a little snippet from my annual plan.

I know, it looks very confusing. January is cram-jammed: a Montana Bounty Hunter to wrap up, another to start. I have to read Cowboy anthology stories and write my own. I hope to begin my next SEALs in Paradise story, or at the very least, have an idea what it’s going to be about! And I hope to write a little Love in Lockdown Valentines Day story. We’ll see. My weekly plan has more down-to-earth goals and considerations, like helping kids with online school, etc.

But I do love the start of a new year. Love, love, love seeing all those colors lined up, one project after another. Tomorrow, I start the real work—the writing!

I hope you all enjoy your holiday. The entire family here managed to stay up until midnight. The kids toasted with sparkling apple cider. The adults drank champagne. Today, everyone slept in late. 🙂

My dd and I were up early, starting breakfast, then we began our chores. Mid-day, I was ready to do one last run through my schedule and update my planner. I’m ready for tomorrow! What are you doing this first day of 2021?

UPDATE: The winner is…Damaris Schuler!
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I won’t be raising a glass tonight. I’m not much of a drinker. However, I will be burning sage and a handwritten note wishing only good things for the New Year. 2020 has been such a powerful mix of horror and happiness that I’m ambivalent about its ending. Let me explain.

The year started with the death of my mother in January. That was bad enough and required a lot of adjustment. My dd and her family moved into our family home, and we’ve been unpacking and decorating, and making this place into OUR home.

The pandemic has, of course, dominated the year. Like many, many people, our family hunkered down, starting in March, unsure of what the future held. When the initial lockdown ended, we enrolled all four kids in online instruction. We’ve masked, done no traveling, and ordered our groceries for curbside pickups. We’ve watched the news for every bit of new guidance regarding safety and shared what we learned. We’ve done our part and kept our loved ones safe. We’re crossing our fingers that we’ll be able to do the same in the new year.

All those things could have hung like a dark cloud over us. Instead, we’ve managed to find ways to make this time very special as a family. We make everything an event. We’ve learned to FaceTime with those we love. For example, a couple of nights ago, we “met” with my son and he participated while we went through destashing bags of old jewelry that I’ve collected from flea markets and eBay. We spent three hours online, laughing and trying things on.

My dd has thrown herself into new hobbies—like sign-making with her Cricut and creating book graphics for me for use on Instagram and Facebook. I threw myself into painting. We’re looking forward to re-opening my Etsy store in January with all-new offerings of art and jewelry. She’s experimented with new recipes for the fabulous meals she’s cooks.

We have movie nights, family game nights. In the summer, we spent many, many hours in the pool. We’ve all grown closer. Even the teenagers aren’t dark and gloomy about the prospect of another year of restrictions because we’ve put in the work to make this work.

So, we’re now a glass-half-full family. I hope that you’ve found your silver linings, too!

New Year’s Eve Puzzle Contest

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me how, or if, you’ll be celebrating tonight! Enjoy the puzzle!

UPDATE: The winners are Sheryl Stark and Theresa Piper!
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Does this picture stress you out? The Christmas tree branches beside the notes that will fill up a New Year’s resolutions list…?

My professional background, before I became a writer, was as a project/program manager. So, lists, plans, goals are kind of in my DNA. I know, I’m one of those people. A “To Do lister”, a planner. Not that having a plan guarantees I’ll follow it. Still, I love this time of year. The decorations are coming down. My “mind map” for the coming year’s work and personal goals is starting to take shape. For years, I ran online workshops, teaching other writers how to construct a mind map and a project plan to get them where they wanted to be. I kind of miss teaching, but a couple of years ago, I decided to pull back from online teaching. I wanted more “me” time.

However, I still do the planning—even if my plans go awry. Having a vision of what I want to achieve keeps me moving forward. Yes, my plans are less aggressive now. They allow for lots of downtime. This year will have even more, since we’re in the midst of the pandemic and this household has moved toward supporting the kids’ education from home. There won’t be any travel plans that include overnighters anywhere. If we can’t go somewhere that’s within a couple hours’ drive, and where we can keep isolated from other people, we’re not doing it. Yes, safety is part of this year’s plan. It wasn’t anywhere in last year’s goals but we adjusted rapidly. To me, that’s how plans roll. There has to be room for adjusting to unexpected events.

So, if the thought of planning your New Year’s goals doesn’t make you break out in hives, when do you begin? Have you been jotting down notes already? Do you have home improvement plans? Online classes you want to take? Places you want to visit (which I hope include safety measures!)? Work goals you want to strive to achieve?

Share a few of the things you have on your list or in your mind for a chance to win your choice of one of my downloadable stories! I will choose two winners!

I rabbited away from work today. Completely.

If you recall me talking about it, I broke my left pinky in a fall in September. I wore a splint for six weeks and thought that would be that. However, my middle, ring, and pinky fingers still have limited motion, even after physical therapy. So, today, my dd and I headed to the city for a CT scan of my hand. Hopefully, they’ll figure out why I still have swelling and a limited range of motion. It’s not causing me any big problems. I never typed with my ring and pinky fingers anyway. Still, it’s a pain and I’d like the swelling to go away.

After the appointment at the hospital, we masked up to hit a flea market. I mean, if we’re already out, why not? At least, so long as we’re taking the proper precautions (masking, social distancing, buckets of hand sanitizer). We returned home in the afternoon, and I just didn’t feel like looking at my computer. Not at all. I checked my phone a few times, but there are days when you just want to blow everything off, and this was one of them.

Tomorrow, I’ll be where I’m supposed to be—back at my desk. Although, I might kick off early to watch some cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie because…’tis the season and all.  🙂

UPDATE: The winner is…Donna Bullard!
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Is it too soon for a picture like this? Well, was there ever a year that couldn’t end fast enough? Yeah, 2020 will be that year for lots of folks. Our family is so eager to get to the end, we put up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving!

Not that we haven’t found joy along the way this year—in our house, anyway. Yes, we’re staying home as much as possible, taking as few risks as possible. My SIL is a cop who interacts with people every day, but he’s masked and does his level best to distance. The older kids have fast-food jobs and mask. We order our groceries for pick up. The kids are online students. We make no unnecessary trips, except for the rare trip to the flea market! We are doing our part. I hope and pray everyone else does, too, so we make it through the end of this horrendous year.

And you’d think that all this self-isolation would have meant greater productivity for this hermit author—but noooo! I spend more time with family, doing family things, helping kids with homework, my dd with housework and dishes. We binge-watch TV series together. At present, we’re watching Yellowstone and The Boys.

December will be the worst for distractions. Our “Elves on the Shelf” made their appearance this weekend, so they’ll be moving all around the house every night. We have advent calendars to load nightly with goodies, and “Kriskindelnacht” coming up this weekend. Kriskindelnacht is a celebration our family adopted after two tours in Germany. On the night of the 5th, the kids put their shoes out for Santa to fill with coal if they were naughty or something cool if they were good. My dd says Santa told her that the biggest kid in the house has to leave out a shoe this year, too! 🙂 (I’m beyond thrilled!!)

Of course, there’s editing and writing to do this month, but I think I’m not going to be very ambitious. I want to enjoy this holiday season like no other because we’ll likely never have this chance to be so together again. Silver linings, folks.

So, I shared our family’s Kriskindelnacht tradition. What traditions do you observe? Share for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Joy Boutwell!
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My family keeps me locked down tight. I don’t leave the house except on rare occasions. I’ve been to one dentist appointment, the ER (when I fell and injured my hand), the ortho doctor’s office, and physical therapy twice. That’s it since March—except for one “treat” they allow me every couple of months—a trip to our local flea market.

I arrive there beyond thrilled. It’s a large warehouse building with high ceilings and industrial fans running through it. Everyone’s masked. We made a trip right before Thanksgiving and there were only two cars outside, so yippee! We pretty much had the place to ourselves. We inspected every single stall searching for hidden treasure. Sometimes, I come away with maybe one item. This last trip, I found so many! Here’s the proof. And hold your eyerolls until I tell you what we found. 🙂

The stamps on the left were brand new, unused, and super cheap ($1 apiece), so I’m adding them to my considerable collection of art stamps. The handmade leather journal is brand new. The pages inside are a thick art paper—perfect for use as an art journal and just $9! I bought the crappy old leather wallet for a dollar because I intend to clean the outside and paint it with acrylic paint. Just a fun project I may toss, but an experiment for me.

More treasures! See the lidded swan jar? Well, I collect antique glass powder jars, in particular, those with animals on the lids. So, yes, I paid too much ($20), but I had to have it!!!! The praying boy is collectible Fenton glass for my dd ($8). Fenton’s hard to find here locally because everyone grabs it, but we got to this one first! See the little English double-decker bus tin? It was $1, but I plan to cut out the “windows” and use them for earrings. The biggest treasure? See those dishes? It’s 10 pieces of antique Wedgwood dinnerware, that we paid $8 for! We could sell individual pieces for more, so we’re still deciding whether to build out the collection for our own use or to sell it on Ebay. We came away totally stoked!

So, see? You can still have adventures—treasure hunts—in the midst of a pandemic!

Puzzle Contest

Solve the puzzle then choose one item that interests you for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!