Getting there...

Our fireplace

This was our first Easter since the kids were born that we spent just the five of us. Usually it's my family: my parents, my sister's family and whoever might else show up. But no one wanted our germs. I don't blame them. This crud lasts forever.

My dad said at least I wouldn't have to clean my house, but we did anyway. All of us pitching in to help as we felt up to it. We managed to get eggs dyed and the Easter decorations up on Saturday. The eggs had been boiled earlier in the day, and I was worried the dying wouldn't happen as the time kept slipping away. But it did, and so did the decorating.

We all still have symptoms, but four of us were healthy enough to attend Mass yesterday morning. A lovely service with the church full of white lilies. We saw a few friends who we hadn't seen in a few weeks, a combo of sickness and spring break, in our case both!

Of course as soon as you wake up feeling better, an hour or two later you crash again. So Easter naps became a new tradition. At least for me! But we're slowly getting there...as in getting healthy! I can't wait until that happens. Though I have a feeling the youngest still hasn't hit the worst part yet. Praying she doesn't!

The kids were up to the two egg hunts. One with the dyed eggs courtesy of the Easter bunny and one with candy filled plastic eggs later in the day. A few had change and the Golden and Silver eggs had dollar bills. They missed their four cousins being there, but still had fun. Hey, they scored lots of candy what's not to like?

A much quieter and relaxing Easter than usual, but that was okay. We celebrated the Risen Lord and spent time together. That's all we needed. I hope you enjoyed yourself this weekend!

Happy Easter!

Wishing you blessings and joy! Here's a video of Kelley Mooney singing her lovely adaption of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. She received permission to rewrite the lyrics. Perfect for Easter. Worth a listen. Enjoy!

The False Prince

As a mom (not to mention a writer), I love when a story captures a kid's attention so much the book is carried everywhere with them. A few spare minutes means time to read another couple of pages. The most recent book to do this was The False Prince: Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen

The Easter Bunny left the book in Finn's Easter basket. There was also a copy of Special Forces Military Elite magazine which got read first. Though the first thing he took out of the basket was a water pistol. As hubby said, nothing says Easter like a gun!

Once Finn started reading The False Prince he was hooked. If you've read this blog, you know my son is athletic and a very busy boy. He's not the type to sit around. He'd rather be outside running and playing. Yesterday, with the sun shining, he was sitting inside finishing the book. I can't imagine a greater compliment for a book.

As soon as he finished last night, he asked me to look up the next book in the series called The Runaway King: Book 2 of the Ascendance Trilogy. Looks like we'll be buying a copy today or ordering one if we can't get to Target.

Not sure how the Easter Bunny knew this was the perfect book for a 12 year old boy, but well done, Bunny!

Wishing you a blessed Easter!

Monday Morning

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I can so relate to the LOLcat above! It's exactly how I feel this morning. I woke up at 4 am from a dead sleep with one thought on my mind...tulips.

I'd purchased three bundles of tulips to decorate for Easter, but cats and flowers don't mix so at night and when we were at Mass on Sunday, we put them in the garage. Last night I was so tired, I went upstairs and never went back down. I'd forgotten all about the flowers.

Fortunately hubby hadn't. He'd put them in the garage and put all the candy dishes and Easter baskets up so Chaos couldn't get into the chocolate. Of course, he wasn't too keen on my waking him up in a panic!

I fell right back to sleep. When the alarm went off two hours later, I thought no way. It wasn't until the phone rang this morning at 7-something that I finally got up. But I'm still dragging from all the standing in the kitchen yesterday cooking! (Menu included: Ham, Salmon, scalloped potatoes, cheesy potatoes (brought by my mom), baked beans, roasted asparagus, peas & carrots, broccoli salad, tossed salad and rolls.) The meal turned out well, and we had a great time! But tired or not, now it's time to write.

How was your yesterday?

Happy Easter!

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Lolcats and funny pictures

He is Risen! Thank you, Jesus!

I hope you have a Blessed Easter Sunday!

Random Saturday

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Too cute! I couldn't resist this LOLcat given I wrote two books with royal weddings. I love royalty and weddings so a wonderful combination. If you're curious about the stories they are Expecting Royal Twins (Kindle version on sale for $2.99) and Not-So-Perfect Princess. The second book features a black kitten who was modeled after my cat Yoda when he was younger!

All the kidlets are home and accounted for! I sure missed them. The cats, not so much. But they are enjoying the extra sets of hands to rub them. Hubby and I can only do so much!

The one thing I noticed when I picked up my daughter at the airport last night was she looked tired. It was 11 o'clock our time so even later for her body clock. The second thing I noticed was her lack of make-up. She's 14 and never goes out unless her hair is done and make-up on. She's even willing to get up early to make that happen. For those who know me, I promise she's my kid, but yes, I find it strange also.

I asked one of the chaperones about the lack of make-up because it was so not her. I was told she cried it all off in D.C. saying goodbye to the group of kids from Palm Springs who were part of her tour group. I guess everyone was crying, including the tour guide. My daughter's school group departed first and the California kids walked them to the door and stood at the window while the plane left. I was told everyone was crying both on the airplane and in the terminal. They all really bonded over the last eight days.

Today is going to be about prepping for the big family gathering tomorrow. I still have some eggs to stuff and some things to buy at the store. I also need to wash my new Easter tablecloth for the kitchen table that I got with my Kohl's cash a couple of days ago. It's so cute. I don't decorate until after the Easter Vigil tonight, but I'll have everything ready so it shouldn't take me too long. I love Easter! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!

What are you up to?

Baskets

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All I can say about the pic above is it is so true! The kidlets are currently wondering what's going happen come Easter time when we're one basket short. We've been getting the house in order (Finally!) and found one of the Easter backets that had been somewhere it shouldn't. But before we could get it out to the garage, it was commandeered by the cats. They love it. So it's currently up in my room. I told the kids they cats could survive without it on Easter Sunday!

I'm hosting my family this year so the annual spring cleaning has been going on. The downstairs is looking so good if I say so myself. The upstairs not so much. Oh, well... I still have a couple of weeks!

Have you started your spring cleaning yet?

Egg Hunt

Holidays with my family are always loud and crazy gatherings with lots of yummy food and great music (if my 16 yo nephew has access to instruments.) Yesterday was no different (and my nephew had both Rose's electric guitar and Finn's electronic drum kit!)

When it comes to Easter, there's one thing that never changes. We always have an egg hunt, but that's not it. It's that my sister will either forget to bring candy-filled eggs and need to stop on the way up to buy more or she won't be able to find the eggs from last year and have to buy more. The latter happened this year. Of course, after she bought the new eggs she found the old ones.

What this means is that our stash of plastic eggs doubles yearly. We had approximately 400 eggs this year. For six kids ages 8 to 16. We had so many eggs we had to do two egg hunts. Even then, we could have done three or four.

It was the never ending egg hiding. We couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. And we blamed my sister (lovingly, of course) for always having to buy more eggs each year!

At one point during the egg hunt, my sister looked into a boot lying on the floor in the foyer. Someone (she blamed her husband) had dumped twenty eggs inside. She made him rehide them.

At the end of the second hunt, there were still a few well hidden eggs missing. I think it took the kids twice as long to find that handful as it did to gather the hundreds of others. As we split up the eggs so we can use them next year, my sister promised not to lose these or buy more!

Guess we'll see what happens next year!

Have a great Monday!

Happy Easter!

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday!

Saturday Happening

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If this little kitty had green eyes, he'd be the perfect Boots. That's the name of the cat in my July release Not-So-Perfect Princess.

Busy day ahead with soccer, writing, shopping and preparing for Easter. Hubby continues to do an excellent job with the downstairs. Unfortunately, we're running out of time to do much with the upstairs. But we'll see what we can do after all the eggs are stuffed with candy for the big hunt!

Anything happening in your corner of the world today?

Spring Cleaning

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I'm kinda wishing it was still Sunday. I never got around to blogging, but that's only one of a couple things that didn't get done.

While I worked on the new proposal, hubby and kidlets whipped half of the downstairs into shape. I should have taken before and after pics. It was that striking. With all the deadlines and stuff going on around here since last March, the house hasn't been a priority. The bare minimum has been done. Mainly that's all I could manage.

The family started at the front door and worked from there. The foyer had become the catchall for things as we walked into the door: everything from sports gear to bags of stuff needing to be donated.

My office, to the right of the foyer, was so messy you had to step around books (lots and lots of foreign translations) and craft stuff some left over from last spring when I helped out with a girls' group. The ones who used the room the most were Rocket, the cat, to sun himself and Chaos, the dog, to see if we were home or watch the kidlets play out front. Now it's clean, dusted, awesome! I'm so psyched to have it back! Okay, the reality is much of the stuff in there has now been packed up and moved to the garage, but with people coming over for Easter I have no complaints.

Next was the hallway. The little decorator table had been full of stuff. All of it's now gone, including the table. Flat surfaces are a magnet for me so the less places I have to lay stuff the less clutter I'll have.

And finally the dining room. We only use it for holidays or if we have people over. I hate to admit it but all my Christmas linens were piled on a chair in there yesterday. I'd washed and folded them, but couldn't find the plastic bin where they went. But hubby took care of all of that and a lot more. When I went downstairs, I noticed the two leaves had been put into the table! All set for Sunday's Easter meal!!!

That's the front half of our downstairs. The guest bathroom is part of that, but that's one room we've managed to keep clean. You just can't let bathrooms go especially when you have a 10 year old boy using them! The kitchen, eating area and great room are what's left. But those aren't as messy since we actually use those rooms not store stuff in them!

I'm now not so panicked about the house. A little more work each day will have the downstairs sparkling come Easter Sunday! The kids will be in charge of the playroom upstairs. My goal now is to finish the first three chapters this week (before Holy Thursday Mass, if possible) and then work on the synopsis next Monday. That would give me Tuesday to proof everything. Fingers crossed!

How is your week shaping up?

Happy Easter!

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My furbabies don't like wearing bunny ears. Good thing I didn't try actual Easter clothing!

Hope you and your loved ones have a Blessed Easter Sunday. This is my absolute favorite holiday. We went to early Mass. The kidlets have done their egg hunt and are going through their baskets the Easter bunny left them. I'm finishing up my decorating this morning and will keep everything up until Pentecost.

He is Risen!

Love,
Melissa

Happy Easter

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Though a cute bunny with colorful eggs might get some glory, nothing can take away from Jesus' glory on this day. It's a day full of hope, light and love. It's my absolute fave holiday.

Happy Easter!

Love,
Melissa

Nervous and Excited

Today, we are planning to drive out and meet a dog. She's two and a Norwegian Husky. Fingers crossed this is a good match!

Of course in between doing that, I'm cleaning and trying to get ready for Easter. Oh, and writing, too.

Tomorrow is my oldest's birthday. She's so excited to have her birthday on Easter Sunday. It will never happen again in her lifetime. At least that's what everyone keeps telling her. We went to the Dollar Tree yesterday. She's not having a party this year, but wants to give her siblings and cousins goody bags tomorrow. She picked out some cute Easter things for them. I asked what she wanted for dessert. Chocolate fondue. So I'm going to do that as well as bake a cake. I bought some pastel colored icing and Easter sprinkles to decorate the top of that.

What's on your agenda today?