Spring Break Day 1 - The Hell Drive

Ever hear about someone's vacation going badly and then it kept getting worse? Well, that's how I feel right now. How bad has the first day been?

I just got home from the ER. My niece, who we thought had been car sick (she forgot that she takes Dramamine when going on long rides), was still throwing up when hubby took me to the hospital.

Can we have a do-over please?

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I'm not sure I want to know.

Hope all is well where you are!

Splish Splash Swim Championshps

My 13 year old son and I drove to Corvallis on Thursday. The Oregon State Swimming Championships started that afternoon and went on until Sunday! We had a great time!

Some ask why the entire family doesn't go. Well, first, school on Friday for the other two. The youngest started Spring Soccer season so had two games this weekend. And finally, I love having the one-on-one time with Finn.

During the meet, he's with his team. I see him swim, but that's about it. Afterwards, I get him all to myself. Meals, hanging out. It's wonderful. This has become our same time next year! We stay at the same hotel, in the same type of room (jacuzzi tub in the living room which he likes to use after a long day of swimming) and we have a routine down.

The biggest change this weekend happened Saturday night. The past two years we've gone to Mass then headed to the pool to cheer on his teammates in Finals. Well, this year, he made finals with a Sectional cut time in the 100 Back. He went into the finals in the 8th position. Someone scratched so he moved up to 7th. During the race he dropped more time so placed 6th! Not bad for a kid who was seeded much lower and not expected to make finals!

He had a great weekend, scoring points for his team in the 100 back and the mile, and swimming personal best times in all six of his individual events. One of the best parts was seeing his team do amazing as well. Last year, they placed 13th with a handful of swimmers. This year the were 3rd in the team competition with a team of 25. Woo-hoo! Way to represent!

Needless to say, a fun weekend. I managed to get a little writing done and a lot of reading! Took advantage of the down time between events. Now to get back on track until we have to do this all over gain in a couple of weeks for Sectionals. We thought he'd just be racing the 200 Back on Sunday, but now he's got the 100 Back on Friday! A good thing I made reservations for the entire time, though I'm thinking he might want hubby to take him so he gets some one-on-one time with him. Guess we'll see!

What did you do this weekend?

A Post and an eBook for You

Did your team win yesterday? Mine wasn't playing. But I live where everyone is a 12th man and the number 12 flags fly everywhere. Fireworks and shouting were going on like it was New Year's Eve. I felt so bad for Chaos. She doesn't like noises like that!

One of my critique partners, Lisa Creane, who is brilliant and doesn't let me getaway with much (okay, anything) when she reads my chapters, wrote a great blog called House Tone that combines Harry Potter and parenting. Worth a read!

Lisa is a mom-extraordinaire, a psychologist and writer, a woman who wears many hats. I'm honored to work with her and more importantly, have loved getting to know her. Click here to go to her blog.

If you happen to be a Harry Potter fan, you might be interested in the link on Lisa's post that sorts you into the four houses from the book.  If you take the test, I'd love to know how you were sorted.

As part of my Valentine's Giveaway (click here to enter), I'm doing random contests on the blog and Facebook between now and Valentine's day. Today's prize is an ebook from my backlist. To enter, post a comment. I'll randomly pick a winner and post the name on Friday so if you'd rather not leave your email where I can contact you, just check back on Friday to see if you won.

Good luck! And have a great Monday!

Eleven

Happy birthday, my beloved Rose! You are a special girl and I love watching you grow up. Just wish you'd slow down a little, but you'll always be my baby! 

Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake

My youngest turns eleven today. I wish I could say this was going to be her best day of 2014 so far, but I don't think that's going to be the case. There have already been tears of frustration and disappointment. She was diagnosed with the flu on Saturday after a very rough Friday night. Really sucks, doesn't it?

She's staying home from school today even though she's been begging me to let her go. I have no doubt the school would take one look at her glassy, sunken eyes and be calling me to pick her up (that is after they isolate her from every other child in the school!)

I'm hoping the Tamiflu helps her kick this sooner rather than later. On Friday, she gets to sit at the Birthday Table during lunch and I can bring her a special meal. Her request—a burger place called Top Burger!

But thanks to a friend on FB who sent me some ideas on Saturday, we'll be trying to make today fun even if she's stuck at home and sick. We'll be hiding eleven goodie bags full of Dollar Tree items around the house and she has to find them. We have leftover ice cream cake from our mini celebration last night (see pic above - hubby did the writing on the cake himself!), but we'll also get her fave cupcakes—chocolate ones from Safeway! She also has a special gift to open.

We were planning to go out to dinner both last night and tonight (her choice of places) but she's not supposed to be around people so I'll let her decide if she wants me to cook or pick something up. We'll eat out once she's feeling better and won't get anyone else sick!

As you can imagine, my weekend was all about having a sick kid. I hope you had fun!

Ingenious De-Cluttering - Crap Baskets

As part of my focus on diligence, my word for the year, I've realized I must take control of my household. It's a mess. The clutter is out of control. When this article from buzzfeed came across my Facebook newsfeed, I knew I could incorporate a few suggestions that would really help my clutter situation without being total time drains.

Five Crap Baskets

The first ingenious de-clutter idea I took from the article was crap baskets. These go on your stairs (or somewhere within easy reach.) Items left where they shouldn't go inside. You and your kids can then take your own crap basket and put the stuff inside back where it belongs. (I'm really hoping this will help with our puppy destroying things, such as stuffed animals, left out!)

Yesterday I made my own crap baskets! One for each two-legged member of the family.

I went to Michaels Craft Store and bought 5 baskets for $5 each. Michaels is having a 50% sale on all baskets right now so perfect timing. I love a sale.

I chose black and gray because the colors in our great room are gray (couch and two gray/white checked chairs), black (tables and pillows), red (chair, ottoman and pillows) and white (in the checked chairs). I wanted the baskets to coordinate.

Close-up of two of the baskets

I used the picture in the buzzfeed article as my inspiration for the name tags and purchased a piece of scrap book paper (69 cents) and a package of sticky labels ($3.99) that I used a 40% off coupon on. I had the white ribbon (bought on clearance a while ago) so total cost for my crap baskets was under $30.

It took me less than 30 minutes. The majority of my time was spent looking for the ribbon. Thankfully, the silver Sharpee marker was right where I thought it would be! An easy-peasy project if you know where everything is.

Now I need to make sure the family uses them and Cato, our 15 month old puppy doesn't eat them. I think they will go above the gate on the stairs.

I'm going to pick another ingenious idea to work on next. Just haven't decided what it will be!

Frozen

While much of the country is literally frozen, you'd never know it here in the Pacific Northwest. The temperature is a little chilly but nothing like the midwest and east coast. But that's not why I titled this post Frozen. The reason is the movie I saw on Friday with my two youngests and another little girl.

I loved, loved, loved Frozen!

The songs stuck with me so much I bought the soundtrack and keep listening to it over and over again. Idina Menzel is amazing as Queen Elsa and her song LET IT GO is my new favorite. Here it is so you can take a listen:



Total awesomeness, don't you think?

I love the storyline. The characters are three-dimensional and have real conflicts. True love doesn't get the standard Disney princess treatment here, but I don't want to spoil the big moment for you! All I can say is go see it. We watched the film in a theater that seated 48 during a Friday noontime matinee. Every seat was full. I'm not surprised now. I'd see it again that's how much I enjoyed it.

Have you seen Frozen? What did you think?

Wait a minute...

Can you believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow? I can't. Because I should have the rough draft done of my Special Edition. And no, it's not finished. But I won't start panicking until December 1!

I think my internal clock never recovered from the time change. Then I started doing promo for two Christmas stories at the beginning of the month and making Christmas care packages to send to Afghanistan. And now our neighborhood is full of Christmas lights and more trees are going up each day. It sees like December, not the day before my mom's birthday aka Thanksgiving this year.

She's not cooking this year. I had a brilliant idea in July on how to keep her out of the kitchen tomorrow. No one should spent their birthday cooking for thirteen or more people. And she and my dad went for it. But I'm not saying another word until I see her eat food she didn't make. Just don't want to jinx myself!

Are you relaxing today or preparing for turkey day tomorrow?

The fun never ends...

I thought things would be settling down around here. But nope.

On Wednesday, Miss Mousie came down with what Spirit had. Luckily we could get her on the right meds right away on Thursday and she's doing fine. Spirit has completely recovered, too! Amazing considering a week ago I thought we might have to put her down!

On Friday, Rose twisted her ankle at a trampoline place. She had to miss her soccer game on Saturday and limped around most of the weekend.

On Saturday night, we ended up at the ER with Finn. He could barely walk after his swim meet on Saturday. The kid still managed two personal bests and two state A times, but turns out he has tendonitis in his left foot. He's in an air splint, and we see his pediatrician tomorrow. I was just so happy something wasn't broken. The last time this happened we discovered he'd been swimming for two weeks with a broken arm.

As you can imagine, I'm ready for life to settle down. I hope to be back to my normal blogging once that happens. Been praying and crossing fingers. Seriously not sure how much more this mom can take.

On the writing front, I wanted to tell/remind you about a couple things.

First, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter, please do. Click here or go to the right column to sign up. I'll be doing giveaways for subscribers in November and December to celebrate my two Christmas releases. Gift cards and gingerbread are the prizes so sign-up before 11/1 to be entered in the November giveaway.

Second, there's a Goodreads giveaway going on right now for copies of my upcoming release A Little Holiday Magic. Go here to enter or you can use this gadget to get there, too.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Little Bit of Holiday Magic

by Melissa McClone

Giveaway ends November 01, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Hope you had a nice and uneventful weekend!

Back to Normal...

I hope things are getting back to normal around here. My daughter, who had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, is heading back to school today. My sick cat Spirit, who I spent 7 hours with yesterday at the emergency vet after two vet visits on Friday, now has medication to help her feel better. My novella that I turned in on Monday was accepted, too!

Of course, Beauty has discovered Sanchez. Who is Sanchez? A betta given to Mackenna by a friend and named after NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez who had the same shoulder surgery as my daughter on the same day. If you remember, Beauty was intent on killing Mackenna's goldfish Butler this summer. Yesterday we found Beauty on the dresser staring into Sanchez's bowl. Let's hope the door to the room remains closed or it won't be pretty.

So given this was happening in August, I guess things are back to normal.

As for me, I'm jumping back into a project I'd put on hold to write the Christmas novella! I can't wait and it lets me stay right next to Spirit in case she needs anything.

How are things where you are?

Another week!

We've almost survived another week of full-time school. And this week hubby has been gone. But I've been so busy I've hardly noticed I'm alone during the day. Well, alone if I don't count the fur kids. One thing I realized this week is I wish there was a bus to take my oldest to her school and bring her home! Spoiled by the other two already!

One reason for wanting that bus is I started a new story, one I'm writing super fast, and having a blast with! I just can't wait to write and write again. Love when this happens! I'll tell you more about this project soon!

The kids are still loving school. Nothing but smiles. The only tears happened this morning when Rose was making her lunch. Chaos grabbed her sandwich off the counter and ate it. Thankfully, we had another package of ham in the fridge!

On the bummer side of things, my oldest is sidelined from swimming, right as the high school swim schedule gets underway. Her shoulder is still bothering her from her bike accident back in early July. She has an MRI on Monday. Would appreciate healing thoughts and prayers sent Mackenna's way. She's still going to practices and was at the first meet yesterday acting as the swim team manager. Sure hope she doesn't have to stay dry the entire season.

Well, time for me to get to work! Hope you have a wonderful Friday whatever you're doing!

BOB

Mackenna and Cato on Sunday

This weekend the girls, the dogs and I attended three days of dog showing in Enumclaw, Washington. The show, put on by the Olympic Kennel Club, is a big one with lots of breed specialty shows, including one for our dogs, Norwegian Elkhounds. I used this show as the setting for the final scene in The Man Behind The Pinstripes!

To say we had a good weekend doesn't do what happened justice.  At least that's what everyone in the know keeps telling us. All I know is my two girls and my two dogs did very well and I couldn't be happier for them!

Friday was the PSNEA Specialty Show. Not as many Norwegian Elkhounds were entered this year, but there were still going to be enough dogs for the show to count as a major. In order for a dog to get his/her championship, they have to win two majors and earn 15 points. There aren't that many Elkhounds in the Pacific Northwest so majors are a big deal!

Cato, our 10 1/2 month old puppy, was entered in Puppy Sweeps, Breed and would be shown in Junior Handling by Mackenna. Chaos, our 8 year old, was entered in Veterans and would be shown in Junior Handling by Rose. Since the girls were the only two Junior Handlers entered, I knew they'd be winning their classes and one of them would be Best Junior.

Other than Junior Handling we didn't expect any wins. Cato's not only a puppy, but also a boy puppy who is smart but very silly and has more growing and maturing to do. Plus he'd lost a lot of his coat and only recently stopped looking like a mangy coyote. Chaos is gorgeous, but is a thief and will steal any food left within her reach. She needs to loose a few pounds!

The competition on Friday afternoon began with Puppy Sweepstakes. This competition doesn't count for points, only bragging rights and a few dollars if you win. Mainly we wanted to get Cato more ring experience and this was a way to do that.

Cato won 1st Place in the 9-12 months Puppy (he was the only one in his class) then went on to win Best of Sweeps Juniors (i.e. best puppy that was was competing in the sweep!) We were thrilled. He and Mackenna looked so good together in the ring. I was a very proud mom of both my two legged and four legged kids. A great start to the weekend!

Next up was the Breed competition. The puppies went first. Cato one 1st place in 9-12 month old pups (only dog again.) But that meant he could now go on to compete for Winners dog. He surprised us by winning Winners dog. It was a three point major, too! His first major and his first points! None of us could believe it because he beat older and more mature dogs! 

A few of Friday's ribbons

Being Winners dog meant Cato got to go back into the ring for Best of Breed. There they pick the Best of Winners (between Winners Dog and Bitch) and the Best of Breed (aka BOB!.) We were stunned when Cato was picked Winners dog as well as Best of Breed! Mackenna had so many ribbon and prizes she needed help to hold everything!

But the day wasn't over. Mackenna won Best Junior showing Cato. (Chaos had placed second in Veterans and both she and Rose looked good in Juniors, Mack and Cato were on a roll!)

It was so exciting and everyone kept telling us how big this was! A dream day is how someone described it!

On Saturday, Cato won Reserve in Winners Dog (kinda like second place), then he and Mackenna made the cut in Juniors against twenty others. Not bad for the pup's first time in AKC Junior Handling. Rose and Chaos did well in Jrs. but didn't place.

On Sunday, Cato won his class and Winners dog. He was also named Best Winners again. His second major! That means all he needs is points to finish his championship. Not bad for a puppy! But he was finished showing by then. Mackenna took him into the Juniors ring for the Open Senior class and that was the last place he wanted to be. They didn't make the cut, but she couldn't complain after getting two majors in one weekend!

It was then Chaos and Rose's turn. They were spot on and won the Open Junior class. We were all excited. Wins for both kids and dogs. It doesn't get much better than that at a dog show!

I Should Know Better

In the Fall, my youngest Rose joined Cat 4-H. I thought this would be easier than Dogs. A weekend (well, three days) showing cats at the county fair vs. seven days with dogs. It had to be easier right? Well, the weekend is fast approaching which means it's been a mad scramble to get everything ready.

You see, Rose can't decide if she wants to compete in all the events or not. When I left for San Diego she didn't want to so that meant nothing was done over the weekend. But now she might want to. That means we still have to be ready just in case.

We also keep finding out more and more stuff we need such as a 5x7 of Rose and her cat. They told us that last night at 7:30 pm. Oh, and they need it by Friday. I must admit that the dog project, even though the week was an utter hell for me with my writing schedule, was more organized. But I keep going back to three days vs. seven.

Beauty received a bath yesterday. She looks pretty and smells great. We also got all three kids' photographs entered. Today is all about cage decorating. Fingers crossed that goes well. 

Last night hubby happily told me I'd brought this upon myself when I dragged myself through the front door at almost 9 pm, tired and hungry. I know he's right. I should know better, but what was I going to do? Say no to my daughter? I couldn't for a very good reason. At least I think it's good, others, like my hubby, might disagree.

Rose is the youngest of three. She plays soccer and Irish danced because her brother and sister were doing those activities. Same with her swimming and dog showing, including dog 4-H. Why not have her join in when otherwise she'd just be sitting there watching?  Sure she loves swimming and soccer and dog showing (her activities now) but I think it's important to let her explore things without her brother and sister. Other than her hip-hop dance class, Cat 4-H is the first thing she's done that her siblings haven't.

And really, how bad could three days be? Well, once we're finally ready for them to start! Wish me luck!

Stumptown

Chaos and Rose on Saturday

This weekend the girls competed with Chaos and Cato at the Portland Stumptown dog show.

This was Cato's first indoor show and beyond wanting to play with the other Elkhound in the ring when he went back in the first day, he did well. He and Mackenna look good together! The only problem is he isn't as into treats as Chaos so on Sunday morning she didn't feed him breakfast. That fixed the problem! A good thing they showed at 8 am!

Rose hadn't been in the Junior Showmanship ring since February, I believe. Back then, she was using our friends' Australian Shepherd, Piper, because Chaos was still getting used to her seizure medication. Well, Chaos is back. And she and Rose did fantastic. On Saturday, they won the Open Junior Class. That was Rose's first win as an Open. On Sunday, they received third place. Pretty exciting for them and us!

I bumped into a handler who'd helped Mackenna at this very show three years ago and planted the seeds for writing a romance about the dog show world. I'd forgotten to bring a copy of The Man Behind The Pinstripes to give her, but on Sunday (I stayed home to write) my hubby did!

How was your weekend?

Is it Friday yet?

Where has the week gone? I've been playing catch up since returning from vacation as well as bus driver. From a little after 5 until around 9 pm, I drove kids to swim, from swim, to soccer and back to swim. Crazy! And very little down time for me to read or write. But we survived and I crashed hard only to be woken up at 5:30 am by barking. I wonder if Barbara Cartland's little dog ever did that to her?

On the good news front, my oldest's shoulder is just a sprain. She should be back to her activities in a month, six weeks at the longest! Just in time for high school swimming. They gave her a sling to wear when she's out and about as well as exercises to do and a referral for PT. We celebrated with lunch at a new-to-us place on the Columbia River called the Puffin Cafe. Best part for the kids-snow cones for dessert.

On the TV front, we've started watching a summer show, a 13 episode series called Under the Dome. The kids found it on Amazon Prime, watched the pilot and said I'd enjoy it. The series is based on a Stephen King novel. So far it's interesting, but there's this whole kidnapping thread that I wish wasn't there.

On the movie front, Sunday was family movie night at the theater. Of course, that meant seeing three different movies at the same time. Sigh... Rose and I saw Monsters University. It was cute. Finn saw The Lone Ranger with a bunch of his swim team members. He was more interested in being with his friends so couldn't tell me much about the movie which makes me think it wasn't very good. Mackenna saw White House Down with a swim buddy and enjoyed it.

Well, it's time for me to jog. I'm on week 5 of my training app. I keep thinking I should be farther along, but at least I'm now not dying when it tells me to run for 5 minutes. Today's run is for longer and there's a distance involved. Most likely while I'm still inside blogging instead of outside getting it done. Haha!

Have a great Thursday!

Home

I gave up blogging during vacation. That was the closest thing to writing I was doing and I decided I wanted a complete break from "work."

Of course, Mackenna going over the handle bars of her bike and ending up injured changed up our vacation a little. Out was whitewater rafting. In was mani-pedis. Though we probably would have had our nails done anyway! But she couldn't go down the water slides or play tennis or do a lot of the things we had planned. A good thing we plan on going back next year! We see a specialist tomorrow. Fingers crossed this won't impact her swimming too much!

Outside of the bike accident, the vacation was exactly what I needed. Relaxing rather than running around. Hanging out as a family. We met up a couple of times with friends that were there. Watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. Fun times.

On the drive home, we stopped by my parents' house. The three kidlets decided they wanted to spend the weekend there so we were kidless until Sunday. That meant going out to brunch on Saturday after our jog and just spending time together (and with the furbabies)

Now it's back to the same old same. Hubby is back to his traveling. I'm back to my writing and driving the kids all over the place! But now we're not so tired! A little R&R can make such a difference!

Hope you had a great Fourth and week!

Sun and H2O

SHARC at Sunriver

Yesterday was all about water! We spent the morning at SHARC. Fun times. The picture is my son making his way across the pool using ropes and floaty log thingys. It was a little too easy for him so hubby decided to tip the logs to make it harder for him.

Not sure if you can see all the blue sky in the pic, but it was a gorgeous, clear day. Another hot one, too. High nineties.

On the food front, we discovered a great place in the village. The Sunriver Brewhouse. It was being built when we were here last year. We ate lunch there. Great atmosphere and food and customer service. Our meals took a really long time to arrive so the manager gave us our drinks for free as well as 10% off the check.

In the evening we went to the Juniper Swim and Fitness in Bend so the kids could get in a swim practice with Current, a local USA swimming team. The pool is 50m long so it was a great opportunity for them to train given the long course state championships coming up later this month! The coach and team were very welcoming and friendly. Finn met them at another pool this morning at 5:15 am to get in more practice and had in spite of the early hour.

Hope you're having a great day!

Monday

For once I woke up on a Monday morning fully rested. That took falling asleep early. Unplanned, of course. I'd been writing last night. I remember closing my eyes for just a minute. The next thing I knew hubby was taking my MacBook Pro off me and my glasses. I'd been asleep for two hours.

I got up, changed into jammies, brushed my teeth and went straight back to bed. Even the puppy behaved himself this morning and waited until after 5 am to want out. Amazing how nice even a Monday morning looks when you're not tired!

We had a great weekend. Swim meet all three days and soccer on Friday. A good thing I'm rested because it's going to be a busy week with a soccer Jamboree tonight and a three day tournament this coming weekend, not to mention a dance recital. All of those are for one kid too, our youngest!

But once the recital is over, no more dancing. She had the choice of playing rec soccer and continuing her dance class or playing club soccer and not dancing. She wanted to play at the competitive level so we can scratch one activity off her list!

Hope you had a nice weekend! Enjoy your Monday!

Swim Meet

For the second Friday in a row, I'll be at a swim meet. The kids are now in two different age groups which means they don't always swim at the same meets. It gives me more time to wear my swim mom cap!

Not that I sit glued to the races. Lots of down time in between heats to write. Of course the sky is gray and I have a feeling it'll be wet so I'll leave the electronic devices at home and go old school. Pen and paper.

Do you have any plans today?

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all the dads, grandpas and stand-in dads a very Happy Father's Day!

Being a dad is such an important and huge job. Thank you for all you do for your kiddos!

Hope all you dads out there have a great day and are spoiled rotten by your minions.

Last Night

This LOLcat pic was me last night. It got so bad I called hubby and put on speakerphone so he could hear what I was dealing with. Think two teenagers with attitudes. Not a good way to start the week. For any of us!

But I'm now in possession of 2 cellphones and a Kindle Fire HD. I just need to find where they put my iPad. One will be feeding the cats each night (I get the morning shift) and the other will be doing the dishes. Usually we rotate. Oh, and the TV doesn't go on for the rest of the week.

But they asked for it!

The joys of parenting.

I'm going to try to get writing done this morning. After my oldest leaves for high school and before my two homeschoolers wake up.

Hope you have a nice day!