I'm Back!!!

 

       Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        Did you miss me? I missed you guys!

So, where have I been and what have I been doing? Well, let me tell you!

The day job has been…busy (and yes, that’s an understatement!). I’ve been using the phrase ‘Embrace the Chaos’ because…well…that’s what it is.

The DH caught a cold over the holidays. No big deal, right? Except, it was. I was worried about pneumonia or bronchitis but it turned out, they were the least of the issues. He fell, not once or twice, but three times, while he was having a coughing fit. The last fall was the worst….he broke a couple ribs (lower back, darned close to where he had his laminectomy) so we’ve been dealing with that. He is recuperating, thank God, but it’s going to take a while.

Brought the dog (my ‘little’ girl, Pepper) to the vet twice. First off, let me tell you that when I say ‘little’, I do mean it as she’s smaller (kind of) than her sister, Lacey. Anyway, she has arthritis in her hips, which we knew and are treating, but then, she got an infection so…

Now, I should probably explain that with the arthritis in her hips, she does not have the wherewithal to jump into the car. She just puts her front paws up on the seat then turns her head to look at me like ‘aren’t you going to help me?’. Well, of course, I am. What kind of a dog mom would I be if I didn’t? Gotta tell you, lifting her into the back seat is no easy task. She’s a big girl, even though she’s my ‘little’ girl. She’s a German Shepherd (and rather spoiled, I admit). She and her sister are the biggest shepherd’s I’ve ever had and I’ve been raising shepherds for over 45 years.

Get to the vet and open the back door for her, at which point she gives me that look again so I have to lift her out of the car. If anyone had seen me and recorded this, I’d be famous and rich from the video being seen on ‘America’s Funniest Videos’. To say I’m a bit uncoordinated would be an understatement and she didn’t help at all, which made me even more uncoordinated!

The vet examines her, agrees that she does indeed have an infection. He prescribed antibiotics (the same ones my DH was on a couple weeks ago) and then, the vet gets serious. We have to talk about her weight, he says. I tell him that she’s already on weight management dog food (although sometimes, she steals from her sister’s bowl—I didn’t tell him that) and then I defended her. Pepper is just ‘chonky’, I said. He’s a nice man, the vet, but he wasn’t having any of that. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “She is not ‘chonky’. She’s fat and she needs to lose weight (she weighs 141 pounds!!!!). Well, I couldn’t argue with that. I knew, but I was in denial…except, I know she has trouble getting out of the doggy door, not only because of her arthritis but because she is ‘fat’. She barely makes it through. It’s not her fault. Part of it is mine because when she looks at me in that way (you know what I’m talking about), she gets a cookie. Dog cookie, but still…

A blood draw reveals she has thyroid issues. A low functioning thyroid just like me. Ordered medication through Chewy as that’s what the vet told me to do…would you believe, she’s on the same medication as I am?!?!?! And I’m supposed to replace one cup of her dog food (at each feeding) with carrots or string beans. Hmmmm, if that works for her, will it work for me?

Have I been writing through all this upheaval (I don’t like upheaval or drama. I like things on an even keel but it hasn’t been that way since the holidays)? Yes. Sorta. Kinda. I know where I need to go in my current work in progress. I know where I’ve been, but for some reason, the words are not there to bring me to that point. I tried what I always do, which is jump ahead and puzzle it in later, but even that didn’t help, but I’ll get there. Tomorrow is another day and I will give it my best shot.

Oh, gotta go…Pepper is trying to get through the doggy door and needs some help…

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Holiday Wishes

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

Happy Holidays! I can’t believe Christmas is around the corner! How did that happen?!?!??! Wasn’t it Thanksgiving just a minute ago? I guess what they say is true: the older you get, the faster time flies! Being that Christmas and 2024 is almost here, I wanted to express my wishes for you for the coming year.

I wish you good health.

I wish you peace. We need it more than ever.  

I wish you joy—in whatever makes you happy—from seeing a perfect sunrise to picking up that next great book.

Lastly, I wish you love—from family, from friends, from your four-legged fur-babies (or two legged, if you like birds)—from whoever or whatever makes your heart sing.

Have the most wonderful of holidays and Happy New Year. 2024 is going to rock!

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

The Hunt Is On...

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

So, the hunt is on….for a pair of jeans. My problem? If they fit well in the waist, I end up with the baggiest butt you could ever imagine. If they fit well in the butt and thighs, well…they will eventually cut off my circulation! Or I can’t button them. (I am not the world's best shopper...I only get things when I need them, which may be part of my problem, too.)

Can’t tell you how many pairs of jeans I have tried on (and yes, I’ve giggled in the dressing room by what I see in the mirror) and I can’t tell you how many places I’ve gone. 

The boyfriend jean that everyone seems to love so well? Yeah, not happening. I look like a munchkin (short and round). The skinny leg jean? Again, not happening. I don’t like the way they feel at the knee and calf (picky, aren’t I?) and again, makes me look like…well…a munchkin. Oh, and they can’t be too expensive. I did find a pair at JC Penney but I wasn’t going to spend that much. I also stopped by one of my local Goodwill stores and they had lots of jeans; however, no place to try them on. I will not buy something I cannot try on first.

Jeans with a little spandex are okay, but again, finding a pair that don’t make it difficult to breath seems to be just out of my reach.

Jeans with holes already in them? Nope. I want to put those holes in them myself through regular wear and tear (and hopefully age).

I just want a pair of Levi’s or Wranglers that actually fit. It shouldn’t be so hard to find, right? You would be surprised though. Clothes nowadays are not aimed at my demographic (older, chunkier, a little conservative, and geared toward comfort). And ordering on line just doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried and been disappointed.

I am determined to find what I want though. Today, before I do my grocery shopping, I’m going to Old Navy. I’ve heard they’re having a great sale (yay!) and I’ve heard they have stuff for hard to fit (which is me). Hmmmm, maybe I’ll even find a sundress or two! Wouldn’t that be lovely? Wish me luck!  

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Still Researching...

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

        So, my last post was about falling down the research rabbit hole…you won’t be surprised that I’m still there, though I have expanded what I’m trying to find out. I try to learn something—just one thing—new every day. I hope my thirst for knowledge never goes away.

        Here are two of the things I learned since my last post:

        Took my girl Pepper to the vet (I have two fur-babies. German shepherds. The other one is Lacey). So, Pepper hadn’t been feeling well and I have a history of losing dogs too young (which is heartbreaking so needs to be avoided at all costs). I thought, maybe, she was having sympathy sickness because the DH isn’t feeling well either. Here’s a question I may never know the answer to: why is it that dogs—and maybe cats—always head for the carpet when they’re about to be sick instead of the tile or outside (even the vet couldn’t answer that one)?

        Anyway, she wasn’t feeling well—lethargic, didn’t want to eat—just not herself so…off to the vet we went. Now, this isn’t as easy as it sounds…she’s a big girl. She weighs as much as I do and when she doesn’t want to move, well, it can be difficult. She will just sit and no matter how much I try to coax her or tug at her leash, she won’t move until she’s ready. Yeah, she’s stubborn like that and truthfully, she doesn’t like going to the vet. Can’t say I blame her there.

        I finally get her in the office and…she’s fine. The vet thinks she probably ate something she shouldn’t have…like a bug. This is quite possible. I’ve seen a lot of grasshoppers this year and well, like a toddler, it’s always ‘what do you have in your mouth?’ at which point (most times anyway) they’ll drop it. I guess she didn’t drop it this time.

        But here’s what I learned. The vet’s assistant showed me how she cut the Pepper’s nails. And it was easy. Oh my gosh! So easy. No struggle. No chasing them down. No holding on to them so they stay still. It usually takes both the DH and I to do it, both of us on the floor. (They're not small girls so I can't just put them on my lap though they do believe they are lap dogs). Not anymore. I can do it myself…because it works! Took five minutes to cut Lacey’s nails! Why didn’t I know this before!?!?!?!? I've been raising shepherds for over forty years and cutting their nails has always been a pain!

        The other thing I learned? The answer to why the DH has not been feeling well for quite some time. Thank you Google. I researched his symptoms (because neither his PCP or his Gastro came up with any viable options) and found five possible things to test for, and what do you know, the thing he has, the thing that makes him feel so bad? After insisting (all right—down right demanding) that he have a blood draw and an ultrasound (because neither one of these simple tests were done before and I don't know why though it rather ticks me off), we have an answer. He has gallstones. I don’t know how many or how big they are, but we have an appointment with a surgeon this week so I’m thinking his gall bladder needs to come out. I’m hopeful this will fix the issue he’s been having…well, this one at least. He’s got a few others we’re working on getting a handle on, too. One thing at a time.

        See what a little research can do?

        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Beta Read Ready (or Not)

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

Let’s see…what shall we talk about today? Oh, I know! Yesterday, I sent Wife Wanted out to my beta readers. This is a big step because believe it or not, I never feel like my manuscripts are ready for eyes other than mine or my critique partner, but at some point, you gotta let go so I did. I struggled though, thinking I should read it over one more time, put it through the “editor” one more time looking for misspellings and grammar, give it one more day to just think about it a little more.

I was procrastinating and I know I was (I should have done it Friday or Saturday but waited until Sunday). Up until the moment I hit the “send” button (the email was already prepared and sitting in my draft folder), I still wasn’t sure it was ready, but sometimes, you just have to do it. Does that mean to say I don’t have doubts about the story? Hahahahaha! I always do, even after it’s been published and the whole world can see it.

In fact, it’s usually after it’s available to everyone that those doubts hit hardest! Then those famous words “shoulda, woulda, coulda” start playing havoc with my brain.

What’s the cure? I don’t know if there is any, but I would have to say just moving on to the next story helps (a little). It doesn’t stop the inner critic living in my brain (who sounds sorta like Meryl Strep in “The Devil Wears Prada”, kinda condescending, kinda cruel, and I’m sure, kinda right…come to think of it, it’s her voice I hear when I step on the scale, too!). Do I think it’s a good story? I do. Do I think readers will enjoy it? Well, I certainly hope so. I fell in love with my hero (but then again, I always do), but will everyone else? Ugh!!!!

In order to stop those questions from ramping up in my brain (and quiet that nasty, patronizing voice), I’m rushing full speed ahead into Wife Desired. Hope that works!

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Whoooo-hoooo! A New Story Begins

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

So, now that Wife Wanted is pretty much finished (except for the last chapters to be critiqued and the beta read…oh, and the crying to get it all right), I get to start another story. It will be called Wife Desired and it’ll be the third book in the Wives of Bravado County. This time, the story revolves around the Sheriff of the town where my stories are set and his search for someone to love.

I love this part of the process—building my characters, finding names that fit them, outlining what will happen in the story. Oddly enough, I don’t do this part on the computer. It’s all long hand on a colored 8 ½ by 11 pad. Wife Wanted was a lovely lilac shade (and yes, I used purple ink). I think Wife Desired will be on green or maybe pink. I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see what my local grocery store has in stock (I won’t go to Office Max because the temptation to get all kinds of office supplies is overwhelming—not sure if any of you have that problem, but I certainly do).

I already have a lot of the details sorted out (in my head) because that’s kinda how my brain works—close to the end on one, time to start thinking about the next and I finally settled on a name for my heroine. Now to figure out who she is. I already know who he is…he’s been in the last two books.

What else is happening besides that (and the rush of adrenaline that accompanies it)? The search for a New-to-Me car continues, but I think I’m getting close. And the day job is still crazy busy (I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon but it’s all good. Keeps those pistons in my brain functioning).

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Welcome Back, Kayce Lassiter!

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!

It would be remiss of me not to welcome Kayce Lassiter back to the Happily Ever After Thoughts fold. I missed you. Your posts always make me laugh or take a step back and say “hmmmm”! And I so agree with your last post about coffee creamer missing from the grocery shelves. I’m a dedicated Sugar Free French Vanilla fan (though I will use Sugar Free Italian Sweet Cream in a pinch) in my coffee and it has become harder and harder to come by. Hope that changes soon! I've tried just using regular creamer (even half and half) and it's just not the same!

So, what have I been up to? I had a really good writing week, once I got over my problem as mentioned in my previous posts (and even the latest rejection didn’t quell that momentum). On top of that, I (with the help of my lovely and supportive critique partner) came up with two more stories to write even though I’m not done with my current work in progress (again, see my previous posts). I so love the beginning stage of a story. Finding my character names and their back stories, pinpointing the location, coming up with the plot lines. It doesn’t matter that I already had several other stories to write – seven as of last count…that will take me up to retirement from the day job when I can devote more time to writing!

All that being said, I should get back to it…those stories aren’t going to write themselves!

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie