The Day After

I have no idea what was going through my mind when I bought my husband’s Christmas presents. I found him some Chinese Health Balls that you roll around in your hands. He has arthritis and it’s supposed to help. Then at another store they had golf balls on sale so I bought him a couple of boxes. Next I came across a golf ball initializer and got it so he could initialize his balls. When he commented that he might have gotten a complex if I’d bought him a new putter, I told him his putter was just fine and still good for a few more rounds.

We had a great Christmas! I think any time you’re surrounded by family then you’re blessed. Presents are nice, but just having my children home, the grandkids here, that’s all that matters. We had lots of good food and a home overflowing with love.

I’ll leave the tree up until New Years Day, but I’m going to start writing down my New Year’s resolutions today.

How about you? What’s the one thing you want to accomplish in 2006? The most important thing on your list? Mine is the same thing every year: lose weight and get healthy. Someday I’ll do it. I have no doubts. Want to know why? I’m published. And what’s that got to with anything, you ask? Because that was a goal of mine for six years. Because I haven’t smoked a cigarette in 6 yrs and 2 months. I remember because I quit on my birthday. That had been a goal for longer than I can remember.

That’s the thing about goals. You can’t give up on them. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

So, what’s top on your list?
Karen Kelley
Available Now! TEMPERATURE’S RISING/BRAVA
06/06 HELL ON WHEELS/BRAVA
09/06 Texas Bad Boys/Brava
http://www.authorkarenkelley.com

Read Full Post »

worse present???

Soooo, how’d the present scene go? Everyone get what they wanted or pleasantly surprised by something they got?? A good surprise or a bad one.

Tell us about it. Let’s throw a little contest. Who got the worse present???
Actually, I think I get the prize as my dh gave me a funnel!! I’m not kidding here, a bright yellow plastic funnel. Said he couldn’t find one in the kitchen the other day and thought this was a nice addition. A set of 3.

My kids laughed till they cried, I wore the big one like a hat…I looked like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. I’m considering making the smaller ones into matching earrings.

So, if you think you can really beat out my yellow funnels let me know. The prize is a pink boa. Now that’s a really good present. I might even send you a funnel.

Read Full Post »

New Winner!

For a gift pack of my December releases, the winner is…Julia B! Julia…if you already have them, you can choose an alternate book from my backlist…or an advanced copy of WILLING. 🙂

Hugs,
Lucy

Read Full Post »

Hello ladies… and Chad and Mark!

Today is my blog day, and as I promised this morning… here it is… a bit late, but better late than never – right??

I had to do major grocery shopping this morning (A madhouse!!). And since dh is out of town, I had to lug it all in and put it all away myself. I’m such a whiner. 🙂

Our younger daughter, Anna, is coming home tomorrow along with her hubby, Chris. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary yesterday. They’ll arrive in time for dinner and will stay until about 8PM on Thursday. Then they go to his parents’ house until Saturday evening. They’ll be at their own apartment Saturday night, and then we we’ll see them again Sunday for lunch at my mom’s in Chattanooga.

Our older daughter is 8 months pregnant and has flatly refused to do anything but stay home, which we all understand. We’ll be opening presents with them sometime from the 25th to the 27th… still fine tuning that.

Anna and Chris have requested roast and mashed potatoes tomorrow night. Plus my grandmother’s “flop-over” rolls. The rolls are labor intensive, but so wonderful. The house smells amazing when they are cooking.

I also have to make dough for “cut out” Christmas cookies. That is one of those Christmas traditions that no one wants to give up! We’ll play Rook after dinner… Chris used to be a newbie, but he has played with us enough now that we are all pretty cut-throat. Ha!

All my shopping and wrapping has been done for awhile, but I have to go out tomorrow and pick up one last gift. We have a stained glass shop near where we live, and every time we go by, my hubby says, “I’d love to have one of those.” Our house is old and has big windows, and in his office, he hangs all sorts of pretty colored glass. In mid-November, I went to the shop and talked to the guy. He is making a stained glass piece approximately 10 x 12 inches that will include mountains, sky, a waterfall, maybe a bird or two, etc. I hope it turns out well… this is the only surprise I have for Charlie… his other stuff is practical… either that or books which he asked for.

The picture at the top of this post is our sweet Anastasia! The coat is one of her Christmas presents from Nana and Granddaddy. We gave it to her early so she could begin wearing it. The photo is from last Sunday en route to church.

Well, I need to get back to the kitchen. Looks like there’s no hope of a white Christmas for us. Supposed to be in the 50’s Saturday and Sunday. Oh well, that will make travel easier.

I hope everyone is having a good week. More later…

Janice

Read Full Post »

Hello ladies… and Chad and Mark!

Today is my blog day, and as I promised this morning… here it is… a bit late, but better late than never – right??

I had to do major grocery shopping this morning (A madhouse!!). And since dh is out of town, I had to lug it all in and put it all away myself. I’m such a whiner. 🙂

Our younger daughter, Anna, is coming home tomorrow along with her hubby, Chris. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary yesterday. They’ll arrive in time for dinner and will stay until about 8PM on Thursday. Then they go to his parents’ house until Saturday evening. They’ll be at their own apartment Saturday night, and then we we’ll see them again Sunday for lunch at my mom’s in Chattanooga.

Our older daughter is 8 months pregnant and has flatly refused to do anything but stay home, which we all understand. We’ll be opening presents with them sometime from the 25th to the 27th… still fine tuning that.

Anna and Chris have requested roast and mashed potatoes tomorrow night. Plus my grandmother’s “flop-over” rolls. The rolls are labor intensive, but so wonderful. The house smells amazing when they are cooking.

I also have to make dough for “cut out” Christmas cookies. That is one of those Christmas traditions that no one wants to give up! We’ll play Rook after dinner… Chris used to be a newbie, but he has played with us enough now that we are all pretty cut-throat. Ha!

All my shopping and wrapping has been done for awhile, but I have to go out tomorrow and pick up one last gift. We have a stained glass shop near where we live, and every time we go by, my hubby says, “I’d love to have one of those.” Our house is old and has big windows, and in his office, he hangs all sorts of pretty colored glass. In mid-November, I went to the shop and talked to the guy. He is making a stained glass piece approximately 10 x 12 inches that will include mountains, sky, a waterfall, maybe a bird or two, etc. I hope it turns out well… this is the only surprise I have for Charlie… his other stuff is practical… either that or books which he asked for.

The picture at the top of this post is our sweet Anastasia! The coat is one of her Christmas presents from Nana and Granddaddy. We gave it to her early so she could begin wearing it. The photo is from last Sunday en route to church.

Well, I need to get back to the kitchen. Looks like there’s no hope of a white Christmas for us. Supposed to be in the 50’s Saturday and Sunday. Oh well, that will make travel easier.

I hope everyone is having a good week. More later…

Janice

Read Full Post »

Hello ladies… and Chad and Mark!

Today is my blog day, and as I promised this morning… here it is… a bit late, but better late than never – right??

I had to do major grocery shopping this morning (A madhouse!!). And since dh is out of town, I had to lug it all in and put it all away myself. I’m such a whiner. 🙂

Our younger daughter, Anna, is coming home tomorrow along with her hubby, Chris. They celebrated their first wedding anniversary yesterday. They’ll arrive in time for dinner and will stay until about 8PM on Thursday. Then they go to his parents’ house until Saturday evening. They’ll be at their own apartment Saturday night, and then we we’ll see them again Sunday for lunch at my mom’s in Chattanooga.

Our older daughter is 8 months pregnant and has flatly refused to do anything but stay home, which we all understand. We’ll be opening presents with them sometime from the 25th to the 27th… still fine tuning that.

Anna and Chris have requested roast and mashed potatoes tomorrow night. Plus my grandmother’s “flop-over” rolls. The rolls are labor intensive, but so wonderful. The house smells amazing when they are cooking.

I also have to make dough for “cut out” Christmas cookies. That is one of those Christmas traditions that no one wants to give up! We’ll play Rook after dinner… Chris used to be a newbie, but he has played with us enough now that we are all pretty cut-throat. Ha!

All my shopping and wrapping has been done for awhile, but I have to go out tomorrow and pick up one last gift. We have a stained glass shop near where we live, and every time we go by, my hubby says, “I’d love to have one of those.” Our house is old and has big windows, and in his office, he hangs all sorts of pretty colored glass. In mid-November, I went to the shop and talked to the guy. He is making a stained glass piece approximately 10 x 12 inches that will include mountains, sky, a waterfall, maybe a bird or two, etc. I hope it turns out well… this is the only surprise I have for Charlie… his other stuff is practical… either that or books which he asked for.

The picture at the top of this post is our sweet Anastasia! The coat is one of her Christmas presents from Nana and Granddaddy. We gave it to her early so she could begin wearing it. The photo is from last Sunday en route to church.

Well, I need to get back to the kitchen. Looks like there’s no hope of a white Christmas for us. Supposed to be in the 50’s Saturday and Sunday. Oh well, that will make travel easier.

I hope everyone is having a good week. More later…

Janice

Read Full Post »

Ooops…late with my blog…

I was supposed to blog on Saturday, but I took the weekend off. I didn’t mean to take it off from blogging. I really didn’t, but not going to the computer had that effect. I feel really silly now, but hope you all will forgive me and if my message gets bumped by another blogger…well that’s okay too. 🙂

We had an awewome weekened anyway…wish you all could have been at some of the parties we went to. Friday night, my sister hosted a caroling party and a few dozen of us tramped her neighborhood serenading her neighbors with Christmas carols. Saturday was the annual family reunion on my dad’s side…four generations of family show up to share our joy in Christmas together. We ate, we sang and little ones opened gifts. The family has been meeting every Saturday before Christmas for over 50 years and I’ve been going since my birth 37 years ago. It’s an awesome heritage for my children. Yesterday we spent Christmas shopping and then having dinner with my mom (it’s a weekly event for us as she’s been ill for quite some time) and that was lovely, even though it meant driving both ways on sheets of ice.

Today, I’m catching up on email and then I’m going to supervise Christmas cards and gift wrapping. I say supervise because the teens do most of the work to save my wrist joints. 🙂

What are your last minute Christmas preparations?

Hugs to all,
Lucy

Read Full Post »

And we have a winner…

:o) nope, I didn’t forget…

Jennifer~she posted in Karen’s entry on tuesday 12/13. Name was chosen by my daughter.

I’ll get in contact with Jennifer once she responds. 😉

Read Full Post »

Stretched too THIN!!!!

Oh man!

I love the Christmas season but for some reason, this year it’s kicking my butt.

Well, it might have something to do with a sick preschooler, sick friends calling me to ask for help, working on THREE different books, and the fact that … as always… I can’t sleep.

Sadly, I’m not getting much accomplished on my book(s). So I think it’s time for a plan. Less email, less shopping~Santa’s already bought the kids everything in the known universe anyway!~ less play time and just focus on writing.

The good news is… I have finished one book, and a second is coming along really well, but the ideas for that one tie into the next two I plan on writing, and I’m going to go ahead and start them and hopefully they will all flow together.

Christmas is almost here and then things do slow down a little. Soooooo if I can just hold on a little long…and if I can just keep the kids healthy… and NOT ANSWER THE PHONE… I may get some work done.

Don’t you all ever feel stretched out to the limit?

And I haven’t forgotten… I’ll be drawing a winner here in the next few days!

Read Full Post »

Contest is over ahhhhh

But the winners are:
Sheila—who wrote that her mother gets her brothers the same thing every year
Jenny—gryffindor
Cindy—Lil Bitchy
These were picked totally at random. You can choose a book from my website http://www.karenkelley.com Then e-mail me your snail mail address to kkelley@classicnet.net
Merry Christmas and A Happy Holiday! Now I’m going shopping!!!
Hugs,
Karen Kelley

Read Full Post »