**I have to post this early on Thursday because my blog scheduler keeps timing out.

TGIF! Let’s all share five random things about our week!

1. My scratched eye is much better. I’m leery about put in contacts though. I may wait another day as it’s still dry and easily annoyed. But that first day it swelled 3/4s shut, so this is a huge and welcomed improvement.
2. Wizard and I are cleaning up as much as we can, getting the house as ready as it’s going to be for market. Yesterday we laid the new bark. It’s interesting to do it on a hill while trying to stay balanced. I’m happy to report, no one fell! While I pretty regularly walk into walls that have been there for twenty years, my balance is very good. The fresh bark looks fresh and clean. We do this every couple years, but not quite so much at once. Note to self: Maybe don’t do a mile walk plus yoga before big physical projects!
3. When we had our old house on the market, I was insane trying to keep it perfectly clean with three boys. I don’t have the energy to do that again. Good enough will have to do. Plus Wizard picks up after himself and will help with the rest so it should work out.
4. It’s going to be a bad fire year. We already had a fire in Laguna Nigel (not by us) that took out more than 20 homes. Wizard and I were watching it on breaking news. While the day wasn’t too hot, the winds kicked up and the fire raced up a hill right into a track of homes in less than a couple hours. The firefighters were doing all they could, but they couldn’t stop it. New Mexico is burning too. It’s all so terrible. What’s really frustrating is that some of these tragic fires are caused by either careless people or awful people who like causing destruction and death. Those are the ones that make me sick and furious. To end this on a bit of good news — a frantic woman told a firefighter her cat was in one of the houses being threatened, and the firefighter got the cat out for her.
5. Let’s lighten up with a fun story: I have a stuffed Koala bear sitting on a chair in our exercise room. Maggie goes in there once in a while, grabs the bear and throws him down the stairs. Other times she just knocks him off the chair and leaves. It’s funny because she never gets into anything else. She just has it in for the Koala bear. Maybe he’s mean to her when I’m not looking? (Just an FYI, I don’t care if she wants to play with the bear or I’d have told her no.)

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone have a great weekend!

So I did something to my left eye. It’s probably just a scratch, maybe from my contacts. There’s a good chance it’ll be much better by today. At least I hope it will be as I have a 9am doctor appointment it took me weeks to get. I need to be able to drive I’ve worn contacts for decades and never had anything like this. But life is full of new experiences, LOL. If it’s this bad tomorrow, I’ll go to the doctors just to rule any bigger problem. On the upside, I managed to get grocery shopping and helping Wizard remove old bark from a large front hill done before the eye got really,  non-stop watering and unable to keep it open, irritated.

So how’s your Wednesday going?

Such a nice weekend! Since Youngest invited us over, it gave me an excuse to bake cookies I make non-diary lemon cookies and non-diary peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. We went over to youngest house, and had a great time. Daughter in law’s mom and sister were there along with her niece and nephew. It was one of those stress-free relaxing afternoons, and we both really like DIL’s family. I also took their dog, Phoebe, her new toys. She loved them, but first she just wanted me to pet her and tell her she’s pretty–only then did she take her toys to her bed and play with them. I love a dog with priorities.

Youngest and DIL gave me a Bromeliad plant with a gorgeous orange flower. Youngest told me it’s for the new house and not to kill it, LOLOL! I know he’s not joking, so I may send him a proof of life picture daily just to prove I’ve managed to keep it alive. Unless it dies…but I’m trying! I’ve read up on it and everything. Eventually, I’ll find a really nice pot for it and replant it. I’m also trying to think of a name for the plant. Wizard is like… “Are you serious?” Yep

Oldest and Middle both called too, and it’s always great to talk to them. All the boys (and their wives!) are always a phone call away, which is the best gift for any mom or or dad, I think.

Wizard and I went to check out the framed house. It’s really coming along. The estimated date for closing is mid-August but delays are very likely. We’re just planning the best we can and trying not to stress of the things we can’t control.

Otherwise, the weekend was filled with too much food and hanging out with Maggie.

How was your weekend and Mother’s Day?

TGIF and Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there! I mean ALL the moms, in whatever way you became a mom. To me, it’s not so much the path to parenthood, but the journey of loving and guiding a child into adulthood and beyond that matters the most.

Now let’s share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s hot again. I’m switching back to my summer routine of walking Maggie about 6:30ish in the morning. I like that doing that as long as it’s light enough to be safe.
2. I got my hair cut this week and added more layers so it’s a bit shorter. I like it and Wizard is being nice If he had his way, it’d be straight and held back with a hair band of some kind. Thankfully, it’s my hair so I get do decide how I want it.
3. Yesterday Biker Witch (my sister) came out and we went to coffee, then fun shopping (I bought a dog toy for a grand dog, because I’m a big spender like that) and then we went to lunch lunch. We can pack a lot into a couple hours!
4. I’ve been switching to a new (virtual) yoga teacher, and trying a different kind of practice to do a little less on shoulder. I think the small smug part of my brain secretly thought that because it looks slower, it’d be easier. That smug little part of me was wrong. So wrong, LOL! I’ve even managed some sore muscles. But I like the challenge.  One day, I hope to find a yoga studio close to my home so I can learn more with guidance and corrections, but in the meantime, this is working for me.
5. Wizard and I made plans for Saturday night, but then Youngest called and invited us to his house for dinner. That was an easy choice, we can go to dinner anytime, but time with our kids is priceless.

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I wrote a blog, set it to post and hit publish. Then I got a timed out message and the blog vanished. I waited to see if it would materialize in an hour or two.

Nope, gone like magic and I started to get a little worried. Because, well, remember that book I’m listening to that was annoying me because the heroine kept harping on being depressed and not taking a shower? It’s gotten way more interesting despite the repetitions driving me batty. The latest being “You feel me?” about twenty two thousand times. But the mystery character that I speculated might be a ghost? She turned out to be a character from the heroine’s first and only, badly written, Regency romance that nearly killed her writing career before it began. Then more characters began showing up from her best-selling paranormal books. Its an eclectic mix of fictional characters, and they’re all there to help her solve her problem…and creating a bit of havoc along the way. It’s getting funnier by the chapter.

At least it was funny, until my blog vanished and I started looking around for my characters. Like Phoenix Torq from the Wing Slayers. He’s got a mile wide mean streak when it comes to me. And that man holds a grudge. In his view, no amount of physical problems should stop me from finishing the series, especially when they’re are more witches that need to be rescued.

Or Eli who’s really pissed I stopped writing during his story. I’m regretting ever giving him that whip that he can’t get rid of. I mean that really pissed him off, and if he turns that pissed off whip my way…shudder. I don’t want to think about that.

Or Ram whose been waiting for-freaking-ever for his story. If that man were to cross over to my world…I’d have to talk fast and made rash promises about writing his and Ginny’s story or my body would vanish like my blog.

So here I was really enjoying the book until my blog disappeared and I’m thinking Phoenix did it just to open the doorway between their world and mine. I wonder if my doctor would think it’s strange if I asked him to write a note about my physical issues to my fictional characters I’m worried might be haunting me?

Or maybe he’d suggest I stop reading paranormal books, LOL!

Happy Wednesday!

P.S. This time, I’m posting it now, rather than scheduling it. I’m hoping to get it live before any fictional characters snatch it again. And no, I haven’t been drinking, why do you ask????

The big achievement was that Wizard and I did a huge cleanout of our storage closet upstairs. This extra walk in closet will be a selling feature, so I wanted it to look roomy and organized.

Youngest and his wife came by, and we went over to the house to see the progress of rough plumbing. Maggie  had a great time, but she slept after they left I really wish I’d thought to take a picture of her in the back of his Jeep. He had the sun roof open, and she’s sitting there with her big doggie smile and her tongue hanging out. It’s always the best day ever in Maggie’s world.

So books. I started listening to a new-to-me audiobook, and the first four chapters are droning on about how the heroine’s so depressed she hasn’t showered. My patience is wearing thin. I get it, she’s depressed that she caught her husband with another, younger, woman on her kitchen table. But then she mentioned that it was months ago and I’m rolling my eyes. I know there’s a plot building, and I’m trying to be patient. I also think this might be more annoying in audio than it would be in print where I can skim over stuff like that. It’s not as easy in audio, so this one repetitive thing is annoying. In fact I was so irritated as I listened in the car, I snarled out loud, “Take a damn shower and move on.”

It’s also a reminder to myself as an author.  We don’t need to hammer a point, especially something like this. In real life, depression can be very dark and debilitating. But in a book, or movie, we don’t need to hear or read it over and over. And it’s lazy writing, relying on a prop to illustrate depression, rather than showing us her state of mind. Most of us can quickly understand that it sucks to be cheated on and betrayed by a significant other. But she’s really relying on not showering, while mind you, the character is spitting out one liners that are supposed to be funny.

So why am I continuing to listen? Because somewhere in this mess, a mystery character showed up. I can’t figure out if the character is a ghost, or what. I’m curious. I’m not liking the heroine much, but this mystery character is interesting.

And the heroine finally took a damn shower

So that was my weekend, how was yours?