Monday, August 1, 2011

August.  Wow.  As we move into what is always the hottest month here in Texas, and I look at the weather  Forecast, (108, 110, 110, 110, 109, 109, 108) for this coming week, I'm filled with dread.  Those are actual temperatures folks, not heat indexes.  We are under some kind of severe heat alert here, because with the heat indexes of 115, it's well... severe.

And there is a roofing crew on top of my two story house right now, tearing off my old roof.

Note of things to be thankful for - that I'm not a roofer.  Or that I don't work in any kind of outside job. 

What's really weird is this past winter, we had the coldest winter here in 15 years.  Now they're saying we're having the hottest summer in 10 years.  What gives?  Global warming?  Either way, I'm ready to move North.  Far North.  Like Alaska.  If I could get my husband to go with me, that is.  Ain't happening.  Sigh.

So I'll lurk in the house except for when I go to the gym.  Drink iced tea and iced coffee and eat cool, crisp salads for lunch.  And long for fall.  Or what passes for fall here.  Which won't be until early October. 

Arrrrgh. 




























Sunny

108 83 Sunny





Sunny

107 83

Friday, July 29, 2011

Well, it's Friday and also the last weekend of July.  The unrelenting heat has me down and the ozone alerts are messing with my asthma in a bad way.  Two more months.  Two more months of heat - here in Texas, the temps don't really start dropping off until October, unfortunately.  August is much like July and often hotter, 100 plus days, blistering sun.  In September, the temps actually drop into the 90's, and then usually late September/early October, we start to see 80's and even - gasp! - 70's, if we're lucky. 

Have I mentioned I hate Texas summers?

I turned in my chapter, after doing a round of edits from both my friend and critique partner Anna Adams and my agent, Lucienne Diver.  I'm happy with it and planning to start on the second chapter (may as well get a head start on the book, right?).  On a plus note, I'm going to see the movie Cowboys and Aliens this weekend and grab some dinner at PF Chang's.

I have been making some awesome salads for lunch though.  I plan to repeat that again today. 

Speaking of food, due to the bad cough/my laziness/the heat/writing, I've been skipping out on the gym this week.  I only went once, on Monday.  Which has caused the end result of me gaining 2 pounds, which I will have to sweat off starting next week.

For now, I plan to enjoy the AC and get started writing chapter 2.

Wednesday, July 27,2011

I finished up the line edits for my January Nocturne The Wolf Whisperer.  It was so amazing to be able to work on them UNINTERRUPTED (for the most part) and not try to juggle them with the day job.  Even though I had to add several things and do a completely new ending, the job went smoothly and I finished up in a day and a half. 

Then, because I no longer have the office copier, I had to go to Office Depot and make copies.  While there, I bought a small copier/scanner/printer (Canon) and my husband installed it in my office.  No more having to run to Office Depot!  I sent the line edits winging their way to NYC via USPS Priority Mail. 

Then I started on the first chapter of my next HRS.  The Powers That Be at Harlequin are working on my next contract, but my editor has indicated to my agent that it will be 6 books.  Yay!  I'll be gainfully employed again.

Meanwhile, our super heat streak continues.  I think we're at 25 straight days of plus one hundred.  So staying in the house and writing sounds wonderful.  Add in the summer cold/allergies that is haunting me, and I'm *very* grateful for air conditioning.

Monday, July 25, 2011

We survived the garage sale.  After spending all day Wednesday and all day Thursday setting it up, the garage sale was over in 4 hours on Friday.  As soon as I opened the garage at 8am, truckloads of Mexicans pulled up and pretty much bought everything. And there was a lot of junk - er, stuff.   They had teams of people - I've never seen anything like it.  Four or five people per vehicle and they fanned out, snatching up stuff they wanted.  They were competing with each other and at one point very early on, we had fifteen to twenty people in our garage. 

By noon, we were done. We ate lunch and then hauled what was left (one truck load) to Goodwill and got a tax donation slip. We made $336., which is not bad. We could have made more if we'd priced stuff higher and been willing to sit in the blistering heat for two days, but I didn't want to do that. So I said one dollar to most everything. And it's all gone and the garage is back to normal.

Thankfully, my daughter came over and helped on Thursday and honest to God we couldn't have done it without her help. So Friday night we took her to dinner - her choice - at Spring Creek Barbeque.  It was very good.
 
Now line edits have arrived on my January book and negotiations are underway about my next contract with Harlequin.  So it's back to writing work for me, and I'm glad.  Especially since the forecasted high today is supposed to be 106.  Yikes!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lonnie and I spent all day Wednesday carrying stuff into the garage to get ready for the garage sale.  The garage is a MESS.  There is so much JUNK!

It's embarassing, really.  Yet there is so much stuff I actually think we might make some money.

I advertised on Craigslist, in the local newspaper, and on tagsellit.com.   We stopped by Home Depot and picked up signs.

Today, I will be organizing everything by table, emptying the boxes.  The sale starts Friday and goes thru Saturday.  I'm already ready for it to be OVER.  Have I mentioned it's super hot here?

I wonder how long it will take to get all this stuff in some sembalnce of order?

Wednesday July 20, 2011

I always watch the weather on the nightly news.  Despite the weatherman being wrong as much as he (or she) is right, these days I've become competitive about the weather.  As in, if I'm going to be stuck in this awful heat, might as well go for a record.  Each night when the weatherperson announces yet another triple digit day, I nod.  Satisfied, I can then brush my teeth and go to bed. 

That doesn't mean I like this heat.  Oh no, on the contrary.  Especially since my darling husband wants to have a garage sale in the middle of it.  (I know, right?)  It's too hot to swim and because I have asthma, the ozone air thingee has me coughing a lot and doing my rescue inhaler as well as my daily Advair.  I still cough though.  It's a mirace I made it through watching the new (and last) Harry Potter movie yesterday without coughing, but I did.  This cough does make working out interesting, to say the least.

I'll leave you with a scene from this past winter.  I feel cooler just looking at it. 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The heat blast - er, wave - continues.  However, in happier news, today is my beloved Boxer dog Mac Macadoo's fifth birthday.   I fell in love with his puppy picture on a Boxer Breeder's website.

Mac then.

Mac now

Mac then

Mac now

Mac then (when his dad thought it was cute teaching him to sit in the recliner with him)

Mac Now

Mac still thinks he should be able to fit into the same small size dog bed

Mac then

Mac now

He loves to play

Mac with his lake toy

And with his most favorite toy of all - his frisbee!

Happy 5th Birthday, Mac Macadoo!