A new week

This LOLcat reminds me of my kitties. I can just imagine them having similar thoughts running through their heads. There has been some unusual stuff going on with them—behavior, sleep, eating. I wonder if they're still adjusting to Rocket. It's only been a week.

One of my soldiers named a kitten they saved Rocket. He emailed, "For you."  Very sweet!

So I'm slowly checking off my To Do list. On that list is website contests. I know I'm behind (as usual) but it is on my list.

I'll be doing a $10 Amazon gift card giveaway later this week on Harlequin Junkie. I'm being interviewed there. I'll be sure to post a link once it's live so you can enter.

This week is all about getting stuff done. Oh, and cleaning. Which I hate. So I'm trying not to think about that too much. But cleaning is important. We have a birthday coming up and some people coming over. I can't put it off much longer!

Do you have any plans for this week?

Walking away

I wish my cats offered to walk away yesterday. Instead, stacks of folded laundry and piles papers I've organized toppled like a house of cards. I won't even go into my TBR tower of books and how much fun the cats have with that on a routine basis.

And then they look at me with an "what-I-didn't-do-anything" stare that cats have down pat!

I'd happily offer treats, tuna or salmon, whatever they'd like if they'd just walk away.

So my trying to check things off my list continues. I made one run to the post office yesterday to mail the five packages I'd managed to get together. I have more to do today. I finished one of my RITA books and started another. The new one is by an author I hadn't heard of and I was laughing out loud at various points. I love when that happens. And more cleaning. Yuck!

I'll be back at it today!

Enjoy your Wednesday.

To do

Now that my manuscript is with my editor and I'm waiting for revisions, I feel a lot like this picture:

The white cat is my To Do list. I'm the deer!

I've pushed so many things aside due to Christmas, then the book and sick animals. It really feel like my To Do list is chasing me. I'll admit I'm running away from it.

Some of the stuff on the list isn't fun to do (cleaning or organizing, anyone?) but I am going to take one thing at a time and hope I can get to most of it before revisions come back.

Better get to it! Hope you have a great Tuesday!

Christmas Eve

Christmas To Do list almost complete! I can't wait until I can say Mission Accomplished but that won't happen until tomorrow.

At least the Grinch kitty can't keep Christmas from coming. I had my doubts with everything I needed to do, but it all worked out. Having the kids gone helped. Immensely.

I finished up the decorating around the house. All the groceries for Christmas day was purchased. As well as a couple of last minute presents. I also bought stockings for the newest four-footed members of the family!

I spent Saturday wrapping while watching Christmas movie after Christmas movie. I kept switching between the Hallmark Channel and USA. Needless to say there are finally gifts under the tree. That means the animals have to squeeze around the presents to nap.

This is Cato before presents. He sure likes it under there. If he's not there, you'll find Beauty and Yoda. I wish all three would nap together, but so far that hasn't happened. Maybe I need to touch of Hood Hamlet Christmas Magic for that to happen!

The kids returned from my parents house in time for Finn's soccer game. They won! He scored two goals. I was thankful it was indoors not outdoors in the cold and rain!

Last night we made our gingerbread house. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. But our tradition is to do 12 Days of Christmas so we really don't do much celebrating until now. And this helps me since I need all of Advent to get ready. I'm always behind due to writing and life!

The angel finally went on the top of the tree last night. We had to wait because it was Finn's turn (we rotate each year) and we weren't completely finished decorating the house. The angel is the last thing to go up. 

The tree doesn't have decorations on the bottom branches because of Cato. The puppy is having a grand old time with the garland which I strung too low this year. Oops! Lesson learned.

We kept the breakable ornaments off the tree once again. This is for Cato's sake on the lower branches but mainly for Beauty who likes to climb through the center of the tree and cause havoc. It doesn't look too bad. I miss seeing the other pretty, fragile ones I've collected over the years, but oh, well... I love my animals. I did hang two Radkos on the top shelf of our great room built in on ornament hangers!
 Well, I have to finish getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve brunch with my side of the family.  I got up early this morning to make chocolate covered strawberries! One of my nephews loves them and no matter how many I make they are the first thing gone each year!

Growing up I had dreams of these big family Christmas celebrations since there was always just my parents and sister every holiday. You know the kind you see on TV, not perfect but loud and full of laughter and food. But everyone has their own idea of how they want to spend Christmas day and evening as well as Christmas Eve, so a few years ago we decided a family brunch would be a good compromise. And it has been.

Do you have a big get together with friends and family to celebrate Christmas?

Almost Christmas!

Yesterday was a full day. I was running around town trying to get a lot of things checked off my Christmas Prep To Do list.

First up on my list was a trip to the mall to see Santa. My 14 yo did not want to go. But the two youngests were game. My 12 yo said he didn't want to see Santa, but he changed his mind after he walked around a bit and then joined us in line.

My 9 yo was so excited. She loves Santa, and couldn't wait to tell him what she wanted for Christmas—a Justin Bieber Cardboard Cutout. She'd already written him a letter telling him this, but she wanted to make sure he knew this was the number one item on her list!

My son debated on what he should tell Santa he wanted. Number one on his list this year is the LEGO Death Star set. But he decided that was too big to ask for so he told Santa he wanted the second item on his list instead—Call of Duty Black Ops, an XBOX game.

After Santa, I surprised Rose by having her ears pierced. She's been asking and asking. I figured this was a good time. Hubby wasn't so sure, but I reminded him that Mackenna was a couple months younger than Rose when she had hers done. I think that surprised him. We always think of our youngest as the baby. Needless to say Santa and ear piercing made her day!

We grabbed lunch at Burgerville. Egg nog shake, yum! Then had a few minutes home before we headed to Crossfit. While the kids worked out, I wrote letters. I had some packages I needed to send out later. Then it was back home.

The kids left for my parents (I have a kid free weekend to finish up Christmas stuff) and I headed to the Post Office, Bank and Outlet Mall, specifically Harry & David. I realized baking just wasn't going to happen (at least not beyond what my family will want for Christmas) so I bought our neighbors Moose Munch. Even hubby agreed this was the best way to go this year so that was a big relief.

I'm up early for a Saturday in order to get stuff done. Wrapping is first up on my list, and then I'll go from there. The only thing I'm not sure of are cards. I'm coming to the realization that picture Christmas cards are a pain in the butt for me to deal with. I've been asking for pics for three weeks (they aren't on my computer) and it's not happening. I still have my Happy New Year cards from last year with our annual Christmas letter all done because the family never sent them out for me (plan was I make card, they address and mail them because I was too busy with a book.) So I think I'm just going to do regular Christmas scene cards from now.

What are you doing today?

Soon...

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Like the LOLcat above, I keep telling myself soon, very soon. I'm not after a white light, but trying to put a dent into my ever growing To Do list.

The most important item on it is my May 28th deadline for my current manuscript. Saying I'm behind right now doesn't even come close to where I am, but soon I'll be finished and can move on to the other things on the list. Some which really need to be done. I still haven't sent out my New Year's Cards (which I'd tasked the rest of the family to do!) Or mailed autographed books to people who've helped me with my last two stories. Soon, very soon.

I did accomplish something yesteday! I finally got all my pictures and videos downloaded. I thought I'd share a few of them with you today:

Dolphins at Sea World's Blue Horizon Show

Mackenna and Shay at the NEASC Specialty Best of Breed Class

Awards for the NEAA National show 

Mackenna and Astra before NEAA Best Jr. Handler Class

Moooom!

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This pic cracked me up! Whether one of my two-legged kids or a four-legged one, they each have their own way of calling for me. Depending on the sound of that call/cry/meow/bark, I know whether I can take my time or I need to get there fast!

Not much going on around here and that is a very good thing! Still crossing items off my To Do list, working on my new proposal and reading RITA entries. I have two of the eight books left.

What are you reading? Any new-to-you authors you recommend me checking out?

My Day Off Yesterday

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It's rare for me to have a day that I don't write. But yesterday was one of those days. I didn't write, revise or plot. Instead I pulled out my To Do list and checked several items off. I rested. I spent time with the kidlets. I watched Monday's episode of The Event. I had my haircut.

A productive day. I need more of them.

The kidlets reminded me we're hosting Easter. If I do a little each day, we should be decluttered, organized and clean by April 24th! The kids asked if I'd serve salmon in addition to ham. Since hubby smokes the ham and he'd grill the salmon, I told them to talk to him! He'll be home today. I can't wait! I've missed him!

Okay, better get started on the new book and prepare for the classes I teach today. Have a great Wednesday!

Organizing

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My first day with the kids at camp was full of errands, phone calls, appointments and writing. I got lots done, but not as much as I thought I would. Each letter I opened seemed to need a follow-up call. It was very strange.

The heat slowed me down a little. But...

The foyer is now almost clean except for a dog crate, a tent and E-Z up tent. All are too heavy for me to carry and hubby's out of town again. I just have to sweep and mop, but I think I'll wait until all the floor downstairs is ready for that.

Today's cleaning zones include the dining room and kitchen area! I'm not as organized as the LOLcat photo above with labels, but I do hope to put everything away in it's (or find a) place. I also need to read through 100 pages of my AAs and write at least 1000 words.

The best part of all this free time is that the kidlets love their camp! They will be putting on a show called Broadway Kids at the end. They couldn't wait to tell me their team cheers, sing their songs and show me the dances.

Hope your week is going well!

My Struggling Empire

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World domination isn't high on my To Do list. I don't think I'd be a very good ruler of the dark side. Just look at the design of this blog. A little too cheery for the dark side don't you think?

But I do like to rule this house. With the kidlets, cats and dog it's a recipe for disaster when the rulership goes amiss. Like now.

I haven't been feeling all that great with my arm/hand/neck issues and then the minivan issue. That means all the camping gear from the 4th of July is still in the foyer. We've dug a path to get through it. Bad, Melissa. Really, really bad!

I finally went to the grocery store yesterday, and not just to pick up enough stuff for a meal or two. It was the first time in over a month I actually shopped.

I must be feeling better because I can't take it any longer. This is the week I can finally hit my To Do list hard. All three kidlets are in camp from 9 to 3 every day. That will give me time to write, read my page proofs that just arrived Friday, clean and organize. I cannot wait!

What's your week look like?

Sneaky

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I'm getting pretty good sensing any sneakiness around here. Whether it's a kidlet or a furbaby I can spot it pretty fast. Sometimes pre-sneakiness. That always puts the funniest expressions on their face!

Slowly I'm checking off items on my To Do list.

- I had two email accounts with thousands (not exaggerating) emails. Some hadn't been read since my ski accident a year ago. I'm down to 8 unreads (can't find them no matter how hard I search) from 2800 and on another account 300 from 1500. I did a lot of deleting. The 1500 account was mainly spam. The 2800 had a lot of yahoogroups and other things.

- mountain of laundry is now just a hill

- printed a lot of research for my new story and started reading with highlighter in hand

- grocery store run. I hadn't been in a couple of weeks. Hubby was shopping during that time which means he only bought enough for whatever meals he had in mind. No extra stuff at all!

- continuing to put all the paper from the deadline crunch in the recycle box. I've got about 2/3's of it picked up.

- visited a few blogs and actually posted comments early this morning! It's great to catch up with my friends though facebook helps with that when I can't blog hop.

I'm going to try to get more done today before revisions wing their way back to me! Hope you're getting lots done wherever you are!

Can it be?

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I can't believe tomorrow is February 14th? Where has the year gone?

Valentine's card and chocolate are on the tops of my To Do list today. I'll buy the kidlets something chocolate. I'll probably make hubby's card. Just seems a little more romantic. Considering we'll be watching 1) the Olympics (our choice) or 2) Starstruck (kidlets' choice) tomorrow night, it's not going to be a lot of hearts and violins around here.

I might have to pick up a Papa Murphy's heart shaped pepperoni pizza for dinner, too. That way no one has to cook!

Do you have any big plans for Valentine's Day?

Checking things off the list

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I feel like a kitty in a fortress! I've got myself surrounded so I can get done what needs to be done. I'm on a mission to get things done around here and my To Do list cleared!

What are you up to today?

Busy

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The funny thing about coming off a deadline is realizing how much you've let slide over the last week or so. Because of hosting Thanksgiving (Someone had asked in the comment section, but I made everything except the rolls and pie), the house was clean. (Thanks to hubby, not me!) But everything else has just piled up. Literally.

I slept in a little yesterday, then attacked the laundry. Next was recycling all my expired coupons. And then... You get the picture.

Not a lot of relaxing. I also had two classes to teach and another class to take the kidlets to. Typical Wednesday. I left home at noon and got home around 7 pm. But it felt good to get back to my usually routine. And I made a lot of phone calls since I haven't talked to people in weeks because of the surgery, Denver and then deadline.

I've started catching up on other blogs, too. That's been fun.

What have you been up to?

Attack!

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I'm in full attack mode. I'm attacking the house. I need to find things in order to check them off my To Do list and a full on frontal assault is the only way. I'm cleaning every cabinet, draw and closet.

I started yesterday in my office. Our study that's never really been used as anything other than a large closet since we moved into the house nearly four years ago. Next I moved on to the foyer. Our ski gear from last season was still there along with tons of other things. Then the hallway and closet. I found two packages I thought I'd mailed underneath boxes. That wasn't the scariest thing.

I cleaned the buffet in our dining room and cleared all the craft stuff from the girls group I was trying to organize. Now I'm using my dining room table to sort things from the great room.

I only managed four pages yesterday (seven is my daily goal) and I've yet to write a word today, but I'm on a roll so am going to keep going. I'm ahead a few days with pages so as long as I get a couple pages at some point tonight I'll be fine.

I also watched two soccer games in the pouring rain. It was so wet and the kidlets were drenched. Life in the Pacific NW. The only time they cancel games if it's lightening.

That pretty much sums up my weekend. How is yours going?

Futility

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Have you ever felt like this LOLcat? I know I have.

Lately, I've been wondering where I'll find the time to get everything done on my To Do list. There are about ten items that I can't put off. They must be completed on time, and a few of them are things I can only do myself. My hand injury kept me from getting to some things until now which means...

Everything is coming to a head at once making me feel like George Clooney's crew in The Perfect Storm. I'm sure you've found yourself in the same situation. You might even be there right now yourself.

I've realized freaking out won't help matters (even if I might feel better throwing a hissy fit or two!) What I need to do is be more organized and micro-manage my time. Neither of those things are strong points of mine, but I work best under pressure. I've come up with a schedule to help keep me on track the next few weeks. The key will be sticking to it!

If you're curious, I'm using a block schedule, assigning alloted chunks of time, but not the specific time/hours I will do things. I think this will help me keep the schedule better and still give me time to have fun with the kids. (i.e. trying to set myself up for success, not failure!)

I really want to succeed. I don't want to feel like the LOLcat above!

An Early Morning

This was me and my youngest around five am this morning. Except we were sitting in the bathroom with the shower going and steam surrounded us.

I woke up thinking a seal had decided to move in. The barking, croupy cough dragged me out of bed and down the hall. The poor thing sounded miserable. Having been through this before, I knew what could happen so had hubby steam up the bathroom while I carried her in. We sat there, just like the cats in the picture. Through coughing, tears and yawns, I had her breathing in the steam and soon she was feeling better.

She wanted to go back to her own bed, but I took her to ours instead. It was a little crowded with all the four-footed babies on there, too, but she finally fell asleep. So did I.

Anyway, I haven't uploaded the gingerbread house pics yet, but will. The kidlets did a great job.

I also managed to get my Christmas cards ordered at Costco. I also do a photo card and this year they had ones with more than one picture. I picked the one with four pictures. I know they'll be small, but I chose pictures from January (Disneyland), March (Smith Rock), August (Leavenworth) and October (Halloween.) We never got around to getting a family photo around the tree so I'll have to have one snapped sometime soon.

Now to figure out when I can get out to get them. It snowed last night again. I haven't peeked out the window yet so have no idea what we'll be facing today. My goal is to have them out by Dec. 24th.

Cats and guest blogging

I'll be blogging at The Wedding Planners today. The topic: More Wedding Movies. I found one that's coming on Lifetime tomorrow and one that's premiering at theaters in January. Hope you have time to stop by and say hi!

I did want to leave you something here. I found this on YouTube. It's an old Christmas commercial:



I just love to hear a cat purr! Did you know they've done studies and found the frequency of purring helps heal broken bones and things? Not sure how scientific the studies were, but that's pretty cool. I know my cats would lie near my hands and arms and purr when they were really hurting me!

I'm slowly getting through my To Do list. I sat down to figure out Christmas cards, but my inbox was really bugging me. So last night I went through over 2000 unread emails on one of my email accounts. You can't believe how good it feels to have all those gone! Many I just ended up deleted, but I found a couple I couldn't believe I'd missed. I baked chocolate chip cookies, and we put together a gingerbread house so we can decorate it today! And I also talked to a friend of mine on the telephone and caught up on what's been going on. Something I haven't done much of lately. It's so great to have my life back!

Before I forget, all the gift cards from the November contest have been sent according to the various websites I ordered from. I've heard back from two of the winners so I'm hoping the third also got her prize! Please let me know if you didn't.

Hope you have a great Friday! It'll be interesting to see what kind of weather we end up with today!

To Do or Not To Do

Sarita mentioned she had a big To Do list in her blog yesterday. I have an enormous one myself with stuff dating back to August and so many emails I haven't replied to in months it's scary. But rather than get overwhelmed (if you haven't figured it out yet, I'd fall into the ranks of overachiever), I decided to just do one or two things a day. It might be make phone calls, declutter a certain area of the house, check ten of my unread emails, etc. Not the fastest way to get through the items, but for me, probably the best way since I can get totally freaked out when I have too much to do. I'm really trying not to get caught up in the must-get-it-done mentality. So far it's been working. The tree still isn't decorated, and I have a ton of green and red containers and tubs sitting all around my downstairs! Best yet, I'm not worried about it! And the kids are using the buckets to build forts and having a blast with them! I keep reminding myself that Advent, the period of the church calendar we're in now, is all about preparing for the Feast of the Nativity aka Christmas. The preparation is supposed to take weeks. There's nothing that says I have to get it all done now! I used to spend the weekend of Thanksgiving getting all my decorations and houses up. The revisions this year and the deadline on Rescued by the Magic of Christmas last year, put an end to that. I could just go and do all my decorating, and spend a couple days knocking off a dozen or so things off my list each day, but I'm really having fun with the family and relaxing to do that. We had a great time at the Wizard of Oz. The kids were thrilled that they used a real dog for Toto! Afterwards, the actors (many children) stayed on stage and answered questions. Yesterday's task was to get caught up on all of my contest wins. All but one (the person didn't send me her address) are now finished. I'll be heading to the post office today. I also sent all the winners their e-gift certificates for the November contest: 1st Prize - Marianne - a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate 2nd Prize - Sarita - a $15 Wild Rose Press gift certificate 3rd Prize - Tori - a $10 Books-in-a-Million gift certificate. Last night while I worked, I watched television. The first time in a long while. I watched The Year with out a Santa Claus with the family and Hallmark's Moonlight and Mistletoe with hubby. The movie ending was a little predictable, even hubby told me what would happen and was right, but sweet. It definitely reminded me of a category romance novel! Have you seen any good Christmas movies lately?

Happy Friday!

I don't know why I'm so happy it's Friday, but I woke up smiling and relieved the week was almost over with. We have a typically busy schedule this weekend: 2 soccer games, a birthday party for one of the kidlets to attend, first swim team practice of the season. Maybe it's because I'm finally going to get to go climbing. I haven't climbed in what feels like forever. Okay, it's only been a few weeks, but I've missed it so much. I want to get on the wall. I want to see how my hands do. I want to catch up with my climbing partner!

On the writing front, I've been re-reading my page proofs for my June 2009 release. All they need is to be typed in and emailed. I've been writing new pages on the current story I'm writing. And I've been critiquing my critique partners current work in progress that's due in a couple of weeks! I'm also trying to get my website updated with my new release that's coming out in a month. I'm so bad with promotion usually, but I'm really behind with this book and need to kick it up a step! Especially since I thought it was a December release, not a November one.

What plans do you have for the weekend? I'll be doing all of the above!