It's only Monday and I'm already exhausted!

It's going to be a crazy week.

My grandmother is still in the rehabilitation center. She is still weak and is suffering from gout on top of her other problems. The good thing is that she's in good spirits and is determined to go home soon. For that I am very thankful.

My husband hurt his ankle six months ago. He's been going to a specialist and had surgery on it this morning. He'll be off of work for a week and will have to stay off of his feet. He has a boot he has to wear for the first 24 hours then he'll only wear it if he has to stand up and walk. (with the aide of crutches) In two weeks the doctor will check it again, so hopefully he'll be on the mend and his poor ankle will be healing.

I plan on writing this week and hopefully getting my current WIP closer to be completed. I'm sure I'll be hooked up from taking care of my hubby, so I don't know how much I'll be able to get done.
Wish me luck!

I hope your week will be a great one.

*Hugs*

Update on my Grandmother

We've had a stressful week. As you know, my grandmother has been in the hospital for almost a week and has been literally fighting for her life. She was bleeding internally and the doctor's had no idea why she was bleeding and what was causing the bleed. After a series of many tests, they found the bleed and although it would be an easier fix for someone much younger or someone who does not have to be on blood thinners, hers is more complicated. They said when she was admitted to the hospital, her blood was a thin as water, so it took some time for them to thicken up her blood. She also received many units of blood to keep her alive. The doctor told us that if she had waited another couple of hours before going to the ER she would have bleed to death and died. This was a wake up call for her. She has promised to tell us if something is going on with her, instead of ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away.

She is still in the hospital and will be transferred to a rehab center in a day or so. Because of her massive blood loss, she is very weak and is going to have help to get back on her feet again. I want to thank everyone who has emailed me, left a comment on my previous post or made a comment on facebook giving her and my family support and good thoughts. This means a lot to me and I'll never forget it. Although she's not out of the woods, she's getting there, and I know I for one and truly thankful.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

*Hugs*

My Grandmother

Yesterday, we woke up from a phone call telling us my grandmother was in the hospital. This surprised me, since I just spoke with her on the phone the night before, and although she sounded tired, I had no idea she was feeling as ill as she was.

Apparently, she's been bleeding internally for over two weeks. Being the stubborn woman she is, she didn't bother to tell anyone she was having any problems. She's always been a strong woman. She's one of those people who wouldn't tell you she's in pain or sick because she always believes she's either putting you out in some way or she thinks whatever is going on with her will improve and she'll feel better. This has always been something I've always fussed at her about, but she's set in her ways and when it comes to complaining or health issues, I might as well be arguing to a brick wall because she's going to do what she's going to do.

She lives almost two hours away from me, so it seemed like it took us forever to get to the hospital. When we arrived her room was filled with my other family members, and although it was good to see them, my eyes zeroed onto the fragile, pale figure on the bed. I was startled by tiny she looked and by her sweet, pale face, but it didn't stop me from thinking how beautiful I think she is or how much I love her. (Stubbornness and all)

Her blood count was low, so she's been given several pints of blood as well as some kind of strong antibiotic. They are going to keep her for several days and will be running a lot of tests on her. Throughout the years, she's had a lot of health issues. She's had heart attacks, one functioning kidney, she's had a stroke and she's almost totally blind. Every time something goes wrong with her, it makes me catch my breath. I fear of losing her. I fear my life without her sunny smile and the unconditional love she's always given me. I freely admit I'm scared. In July, she'll be 85 and sometimes I feel as if I have borrowed time with her. She's always been spunky, sweet and a lot of fun, but in the past few years, her zest for life has diminished. She once told me that if you are lucky enough to live long enough, you somehow outlive your usefulness to others. People stop seeing you as a person, but just as someone who doesn't matter. I cried like a baby when she told me this, but soon afterward, I noticed that when we took her places, she would be ignored by sales staff, waiters and so on, so I began to understand what she meant by it.

I've made it my purpose in life for her to know how much I love her, respect her and need her in our lives. I know having a strong will to live can get you through a lot in life and I want to make sure she has the determination to get through her day and to have something to live for. I hope I've succeeded in doing this, but you never know.

I feel like she'll come through whatever is going on with her okay, but I would really appreciate it if you would keep her in your good thoughts. She means the world to me and without her, I'd be totally lost.

Thank you. *Hugs*

Happy Weekend!

It's been a while since I've blogged anything. In all honesty, I haven't had the energy to write a lot. I know a lot of you know what's been going on at Silver, so there's no reason why I should get into it. I've had several readers ask me if I'm okay and if I'm going to stay with them, so here's my game plan.

At the moment I'm sticking with them. The owner is trying to get things into order again, so I hope that everything will work out. This has not been an easy decision for me to make. Many of my author friends, whom I greatly respect, have left or are in the process of leaving Silver. I totally understand and respect their decision to leave.  It's not an easy choice to make. Silver was once a great publishing house (hopefully it will be again) to be a part of, but with its uncertain future, it's certainly understandable why people leave. I still don't know if I'm doing the right thing by staying. I have the "Damned if I do...Damned if I don't" feeling about it, so who knows if sticking with them is the right thing to do. I guess only time will tell.

In saying this, I don't know when I'll be continuing my Men of Charlestown, Kissed by an Immortal or Sons of Aphrodite series. I hope to do so soon because the characters are driving me crazy, but I'm waiting it out right now. 

Because of the stress of it all, I haven't been able to write like I should. Up until the past few weeks it's been short of a miracle to get any story started at all. I've tried, but I couldn't. Writer's block and and stress from everything took a toll on my creative juices, but thankfully, I've been able to work through it and now I'm almost finished with my book. I don't know where I'm going to submit it yet, but I'm going to branch out to other houses and see where I stand. Wish me luck.

Personally, things have been going pretty good. My niece, Snow White has been excelling in her first year of Kindergarten. My husband and I are doing well and my grandmother has been feeling better lately...so all in all, I can't complain.

Thanks for being patient with me. I'll try and do better at keeping y'all informed of what's going on with me. Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to My Beautiful Grandmother

Today is my grandmother's 84th birthday. We were all going to go to her house to celebrate, but since she's been feeling under the weather it was postponed until next Sunday. Here is a recent picture of her with my mother and Snow White. I really hate not seeing her today, but hopefully she'll be feeling good enough for her belated birthday celebration next weekend.

Not a lot going on right now. I'm trying to keep caught on some things and I'm continuing to write on my Christmas stories.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead:)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey y'all:)

For the past two days I've had a really great time with my grandmother. We've talked, watched the movie 'Water for Elephants' and have had an all around fun time together. I spent most of the day today cooking and getting ready for our trip to my mother's house tomorrow. 
Since I'll be away for a day or two, I thought I would wish everyone who celebrates it a Happy Thanksgiving.
I promise to take many pictures and post them soon.
Have a Safe Holiday and Happy Week Ahead.

Preparing for the busy week ahead...

Friends,

I was an exciting weekend on my blog. Amber Kell graciously allowed me to post a part of her ongoing story on Friday and my little blog lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July. I want to thank Amber Kell and her amazing fans for stopping by...it was a blast!

Today, I've been cleaning, doing laundry and preparing for my grandmother to spend a few days with us. I'm picking her up tomorrow and we'll stay here until Thanksgiving morning. We are driving to my mother's house for Thanksgiving supper and will be spending a few days there. As much as love spending time with my family, it's always stressful to me too. Plus, my loving husband always puts lights on my mother's massive house the day after the holiday and between the house lights and the lights and lawn ornaments in her yard, it's an all day affair. But, since my sister will be working on Thanksgiving this year, hubby and I plan on at least putting the lights on the house after we eat. This way it won't be such a long day on Friday.

Gosh, just thinking about it wears me out!

My sister sent me this picture of my niece and I had to share it. I swear I could stare at that smile all day and be happy doing it. Isn't she growing up fast? She's starting to lose that babyish look and more like a little girl. I have mixed feelings about this....

I plan on blogging before Thanksgiving, but if for some reason I can't, I would like to wish those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving a very happy one AND may all of you have a great week ahead.

*hugs*

My Reason to Smile

Hey Y'all:)

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me. I submitted a story to Silver Publishing called Kissed by Death. Now I'm obsessively watching my email like a crazed fan at a Adam Lambert concert. The waiting is always the hardest part. I'm nervous about this book because it's darker than my normal stuff. Also, it's a paranormal...but it's not a typical one. If it gets contracted I'll tell y'all more about it then. Until I find out one way or the other, please wish me luck!

My grandmother's birthday was a couple of days ago. We brought here out to our house and had a big birthday shindig out here. She had a blast and of course my niece Snow White was in rare form as usual! I managed to snag a picture of her and my two year old sheltie Lily. Both of them never fail to bring a smile to my face and I want to share one of my reasons to smile with you:)

We had a great time but now that every one's gone it's time to work on my current WIP and get it submitted hopefully by the end of the week.

I hope all of my friends here will stay out of this heat and have a great week ahead!

Great News!

I have some great news I had to share with y'all!

Silver Publishing accepted both my Father's Day submission, Men of Charlestown 3: Daniel's Dream and Sons of Aphrodite 1: No Greater Love today.
I'm very excited and thrilled to continue to be part of the Silver Publishing family.

Daniel's Dream will be published on the 18th of June.

No Greater Love will be published on January 28th. (When you read the story you'll definitely understand why!)

I spent all day today with my Mother, Grandmother and Niece. We celebrated a belated Mother's Day together and had a great time today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Back from OZ

Hey y'all:)

I'm sorry I've been away so long. I've had some interesting things happen to me and my family these past couple of months and it's taking some time to get back on track.

My sister has been fighting pneumonia for over the past month. At one point she had to be hospitalized, but now she's doing better and was given the red light to go back to work as long as she doesn't overdo it. This is hard for her, because of my almost four year old niece and well...my sister doesn't know what the word "Relax" really means. That just simply isn't in her vocabulary. Hopefully, after all of this, she'll learn to slow down a little and not push herself so hard.

My grandmother is practically blind now. She's been taking treatments to try to help her eyesight, but it hasn't worked. She also insisting on NOT moving in with my husband and I, so we're still fighting to get her out here with us. Whether she will or not remains to be seen. Otherwise, she's still strong and wonderful and she amazes me everyday.

I don't know if y'all have heard about the tornadoes that hit Arkansas. We lucked out that they didn't hit our area, but it did do some damage to relatives of ours. We've been trying to help out, and the community has been great. Strangely, up until this year I've never worried about tornadoes, but after all of the damage they've done this year, my opinion has changed.

On a much happier note: Silver Publishing has decided to put my first two books in the Men of Charlestown series in print! YAY! Reese Dante has worked hard on developing an amazing cover for it and I can't wait to show y'all when I get the green light. I don't know when it will be out in print yet, but as soon as I do, I'll let y'all know.

I hope everyone has been doing great! Thanks to everyone who has dropped me a line and has been concerned about me. I have wonderful and caring friends. Thank you.

I can't believe it's already Sunday!

It's been a crazy week here. It seems like I've had to do things twice to get things right.
My Father-in law continues to struggle with poor health and we've been trying to talk my Grandmother into moving by us. Talk about stubborn!

Not a lot of news with me. I've been pounding away at my Christmas story that will be published the 22nd of December by Silver Publishing. (Yay!) It's called His Christmas Wish and I'm pretty determined to get it done and submitted within the next week or so.
Then I'm starting my Valentine story, which I think will be the beginning of a series I've been flirting with. The pretty man pictured above is definitely an inspiration! He looks like he needs his happy ending next doesn't he?

Now I just have to find the time to get it all done before the deadline. UGH!

Have a great weekend!

Whew! It's been a busy weekend! Chris and I spent some time with my Mother, Grandmother, Ashley and Snow White. We had a lot of fun together reminiscing about the past, and talking about our hopes for the future; especially when we look at my two year old niece. We had an excellent time, and as usual time goes fast when we are together. We'll see them at Thanksgiving, so it's something else to look forward to besides the food!

Ashley has read what I've wrote on my latest book. She said she really likes what I've written so far, so I'll hopefully be writing more on it tomorrow.

Chris has decided to start on putting lights on the house this week. For the next two weekends we will be busy with family and friends, so he's wants to get a big dent of it done before next weekend. It will depend on whether or not the weather will hold up. Let's hope it does!

Thank goodness it's time to wind down and relax for the rest of the night! Yay!

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone:)