Contest!

It rained so hard today that I was afraid to go down to the basement and see if my dream of one day owning an indoor swimming pool had finally come true. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) it remained dry during what had to be one truly horrendous rainstorm.

Guess I don't have to tell you which two NJ idiots were out and about during the worst of it. Naturally R and I decided that this was the morning we would get the taxes out, go to the bank, visit the produce store, etc., etc. Why this morning? Why not tomorrow? Why not wait until Noah and his Ark weren't floating down Amwell Road?

I have no answers. Only questions.

I do, however, have a new contest. Down in that aforementioned basement (that's the first [and probably last] time I've ever used aforementioned in a sentence) I uncovered a stash of books and among those books were copies of Forever In Time. Now I don't blame you if the title is unfamiliar. Forever In Time is a collection of my three time travels, Somewhere in Time, Tomorrow & Always, and Destiny's Child. Three books in one 895 pound volume!

Two copies of Forever In Time will go to two lucky winners who will be chosen via random number generator (visitors to our knitting blog Romancing The Yarn know all about our RNG) on Tuesday morning.

Want to enter? Send me an email by clicking here and typing BLOG CONTEST in the subject header. That's it! I'll do the rest.

And I promise a post with something to say before the day is out.

No Words But Lots of Winners

I may not have a lot of words today but I do have 5 winners!

1. Joy I
2. Rita H
3. Debbie A
4. Stacyschooler
5. Linda C

Watch for an email. Thanks to everyone for entering. I'll post a new contest tomorrow.

Right now it's t-t-taxes and w-w-writing.

I'm getting greyer by the second!

Why I Love Kali and Marie

A big box of fabulousness arrived from Brooklyn today and made this Jersey girl (by way of Queens) very, very happy.

Tell me that isn't gorgeous stuff! And that's just a tiny bit of the goodies. There are decorated cookies. Handmade nut clusters. Marie's Faux Mounds Bars. Handmade lollipops, both long-lasting and marshmallow. Chocolate-covered candy eggs. All from the extremely productive kitchen of the gloriously talented, creative, beautiful, sophisticated, fascinatingly wonderful Marie . . . who just happens to be the mother of my pal Kali who is the Food Goddess at my website.

I know they're embarrassed right about now but it serves them right. I couldn't think of anything wonderful enough to say to them in email so I figured a little public praise was in order.

Thank you, ladies!! I love you madly.

Retail Therapy

I've been under House Arrest for so long I've forgotten what it's like to breathe air fresh from the sky. Unfortunately, I've also forgotten how to behave in polite society. Wow! People actually get out of their jammies and go about their business in broad daylight. Who knew?

In an effort to jumpstart my brain, I decided to jumpstart the car (my wonderful aging please-bury-me-in-it Buick) (you wouldn't believe how old it is if I told you) (I'll have to give it a bath and take a picture) and go out for a little retail therapy.

Now don't go getting all excited. My idea of retail therapy may not be yours. I didn't hie myself off to the mall to wander around Bloomingdale's or Williams-Sonoma or Border's or even go in search of a yarn shop.

I went to the dollar store and bought an Easter Egg coloring kit, four sets of 2-each dish towels for a buck a set, two lighted Owl magnifying glasses that don't work, some stackable Glad storage containers (be still my heart; I love these things), a little book light, some scrunchies, Cheez-Its (hey, why not?), hair glaze in light auburn, four little brown notebooks, a four-pack of highlighters, a pack of index cards, and Dawn Power Resolve better-than-a-dishwasher spray.

You know what? I had a blast. And now it's snowing outside. In April. I mean, it just doesn't get any better than this.

CONTEST NOTE: Scroll down for info on the first blog contest. Check back on Monday for the winners' names and news of a brand new contest. I think I'm going to make that a weekly feature.

Almost There . . . and a contest

I went to bed last night at nine o'clock. I think that's when your average American ten year old goes to bed. Somewhere around 8:30 I realized I hated yesterday and the best way to make it end was to go to bed.

So I did.

It would have been a great plan if I hadn't brought a notebook and pen upstairs with me. Instead of drifting off into restorative sleep, I sat there scribbling really bad ways to end the book I'm struggling with. One of my suggestions was "Run away with the circus" which should tell you how desperate this situation is.

I know my characters. I've brought them all together in one place at a very crucial moment. The time is right for major confrontation and healing and promises. It should be a snap to write. It should write itself.

So why isn't it?? Why am I struggling to see through the darkness?

No, I don't expect answers.

But I do expect you to enter my FREE BOOK contest. I'm offering 5 lucky winners copies of SHORE LIGHTS and CHANCES ARE, my two Paradise Point books. All you have to do is send me an email with Blog Contest in the subject header and I'll pick the winners on Monday.

Would somebody please turn on the lights so I can find my way to The End?

Third Time's The Charm?

Okay. This is the third time I've tried to post here with no success. I've had every crazy thing that could happen electronically happen, right down to having the page whistle bird songs at me.

I'll keep it short and sweet: I am losing my mind.

I'd like to blame it on the full moon but the truth is that it's a raging case of Deadline Psychosis. I'm in the last few pages and I canNOT make people behave the way they're supposed to. Short of whipping out my Taser, I don't know what to do except keep on typing and keep on hoping it all makes sense when I reach the end.

I had a cute graphic to put up but every time I try to load it, Blogger decides to load it upwards of 40 times (no joke) then crash my computer.

So today we'll settle for text . . . and a quote:

I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on.
--Roseanne