Full steam ahead, or scale back??

The holidays are always a busy time of year. If you guys are like me, the weekends are jam-packed with parties and holiday merriment. It's such a fun time and we always make so many memories. In my opinion, life is meant to be enjoyed, and I will take advantage of every opportunity I can :)

But sometimes it is tough to find time for everything.

Last week I wrote Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But then Turkey Day hit and it was just so hard to find time for myself. Now I stare down this week. My kids are off Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences. I always struggle to write when they are home. But on top of that, we're hosting an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Saturday. I have a ton to do this week.

So it makes me wonder what others do this time of year. Do you charge forward, full steam ahead? Or do you scale back and set a slower pace?

If I had a job outside of my home, I'd still have to go every day despite what I had going on in my personal life. I think many writers, including myself, treat their writing like a job outside the home and set specific hours for it. But since I do not work a traditional job, I enjoy the perk of making my own hours and taking a day off (or a week) when I need to. I've often heard the statement- "Real writers write every day." I consider myself a "real" writer even though I don't write every day. I have a family and a life. I adore writing, but everyone needs days off.

This week I definitely have to scale back, considerably. For the rest of December, I will still be moving forward, but I will not hesitate to take days off when I need. Cause I know come January, when the holidays and hoopla are over, I can get back on my horse. I have a very good work ethic and can pump out over 50K in a month when I set my mind to it. So I don't see anything wrong with taking it slow for a month :)

How do you show your Green???

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!!!! I don't know about where you live but it's a pretty big deal around here. Everyone wears green, no matter what their background, and partakes in all kinds of debauchery! LOL

Our celebration each year includes a party at a friend's house...all kinds of fun stuff! Here are some pics from last year:

Me and my girls! (I'm on the far right!)

Me and hubby!

Being silly!

This year's party is actually tonight! Very much looking forward to it. There are custom designed t-shirts and everything. 

And I gotta post my newest release, Karma Kameleon, since the cover is green and all ;)

Ain't it sexy???

Go to my Excerpts page for the first chapter! :)

So...what do you do to celebrate St. Patty's Day???

Wanna win some GREEN??? Well, Amazon green, anyway!! $10 worth! :) All you have to do is comment below and make sure you post your email address...use "at" and "dot" in place of the symbols if you'd like to cut down on spam. Only those with valid email address can win.

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Nothing says 'I love you' like....

Many people scoff at Valentine's Day and insist we don't need one day to celebrate love...we should do it every day. And while I do agree and try very hard to always show my love for my husband, family, and friends, one day a year dedicated to love isn't a bad idea!

For busy people, like me and my husband, with kids and jobs and appointments and this and that, sometimes celebrating love is kinda of pushed to the side. This holdiay reminds us to set aside everything else and celebrate the love we have for each other.

And I don't mean by shelling out big bucks for flowers, candies, cards, stuffed animals... (My husband and I have an inside joke..every Valentine's Day when the stuff comes out, every time he sees a stuffed monkey holding a stuffed heart, he says "Nothing says 'I Love You' like a stuffed primate!" But we do enjoy a night out though, a dinner alone, just us to reconnect, but we like to do that all year, not just on Valentine's Day. And the restaurants are crazy today anyway.

I worked in the floral business for many many years, so I know first hand what it's like to be on that side of the fence on Valentine's Day. Not really all that fun and romantic. I remember one year working 9 am until 3 am (yeah....18 hours!) and then having to be back at 9 am again. And just so you all know, the florists don't raise prices on roses just cause they want to. The suppliers charge triple the cost because the growers need to hire more workers and bump up production, and therefore, also need to charge more.

So tonight we are staying home. I am making a new recipe for dinner that sounds like something everyone will love (A bacon meatloaf! And it's a low fat recipe...not sure how that works..but hey, I'll try it!) I bought a box of brownie mix last night (also low fat. I guess we'll see how that comes out!) and I will make a glaze for it and dye it red. I also bought some cute pink and white sprinkles with some red hearts mixed in. The kids will love that.

What are your plans for tonight???

Christmas party!!!!!!

It's the holiday season!!!!!! Such a wonderful time of year!!! I love how cheery people can be! (And yes, I ignore the grumpy people...they obviously don't get what the holiday season is all about!)

My author friend Sandra Sookoo is hosting a Twelve Days of Christmas Blog party on her blog!!! I am guest posting today, so please stop by and check it out!!! And check out her other posts too!! Giveaways!!

Click here!!

Back to the real world!

Hello everyone! We're back from our Disney World trip!! We had a really great time...always love spending quality time with the hubby and kids. It wasn't perfect by any means- the kids still annoy each other on vacation and standing in lines and dealing with rude people wears on you. But we still loved it and can't wait to go back! Hoping to get some pics uploaded and posted here by the end of the week! :)

So now we are home and trying to get back into the swing of things. Today is day 4 of being home and only two suitcases have been emptied, but I did do all vacation laundry. We came home to between 3 and 4 feet of snow covering our entire property, less the area my dad snowblowed in our driveway so we could pull our car in when we came home. And we have been thrust into holiday festivities. Had a party last night and the night before were theater tickets for opening night of "A Christmas Story" at our local theater. Luckily we did get most of our shopping done on Black Friday and we really only have a few more gifts to pick up.

I'd really like to jump into edits of Karma Kameleon, but I know that is at least a few days away. Hubby's aunt has decided to do a scrapbook for her parents this year and each family was asked to contribute pages to it. I don't have a problem with that...I adore scrapbooking. But I do need a good chunk of time to do it. She wants an entire 2-page layout for each of our kids (the great grandchildren of the recipients), plus hubby, then an additional 2-page layout for our family. So 8 pages total...that will probably take me 3-4 hours. Yeah, I could just slap the pictures on some patterned paper in a half hour, but that's not my style.

So as much as it saddens me, edits will have to wait, at least a few days. And as we all know, this time of year is pretty busy, so who knows what will come up after that.

Hope you all are enjoying your December!