December 19 2017 - Christmas 2017 at the Boomer Chick's House #Christmas #boomerchick

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away. My my my. What are my thoughts right now as I'm juggling a mental list of food I still need to get, have I bought enough presents for everyone and will I actually be ready in six days? Ugh. Too little time, but like in Christmas pasts, it'll get done and before you know it, spring will be here and summer and then Christmas rolls around again. Time sure has a way of doing that. You would think that after all the Christmases I have had, the holidays would get old after awhile and there for a few years Christmas was really rough - emotionally and financially - but for me anyway at the point I am now Christmas is magical. I am appreciating each day I have left on this earth whether it's Christmas or an ordinary day when nothing really major is going on. I have to because you don't know if a car can strike you down or you get some incurable disease - you just never know. So as long as I have my health and I have my wits about me, this is the way I'm approaching life and not taking any day for granted.

With that said, I thought I'd share a few Christmas pics with you:

 

 

Are the snow gods listening this year?

It's one minute before 5 a.m. I knew I was coming down with something - what was the big mystery - and now I know. I think. I have. The Cold.

I feel miserable.

Anyone notice how colder it is this year? Cold windy blasts of air coming off the ocean isn't unusual on the island this time of year, but if I can remember right, last Christmas we had the windows on the kitchen side open.

And get this...they are calling for - are you sitting down? - SNOW. Not until tomorrow and there's only a chance of it but it could get ugly.

Pfft. If it does, then I'll eat the biggest piece of yellow snow out there when it happens and I'll even take a picture of it to prove it to you.

See, the snow gods tease us every year until you get to the point where you just do not believe it's ever going to happen. We had a slight slight slight dusting last year, barely noticeable. No bundling up to take the dogs romping in it. No snow cream. No getting out of work because the roads weren't passable. Not even one bit of yellow snow. By the time the dogs peed on it, it had disappeared.

I blame the fact on global warming as I don't have any other excuse. I'm not a weather woman and I haven't bought a Farmer's Almanac in years so I don't know what it's going to do from one day to the other, but I do know we have not had a decent snow in years.

I am a snow bunny. Give me a pair of plastic shopping bags tied to my legs and I'm set. I don't need any fancy boots. In fact, we don't buy them here because it never snows so all they'd do is sit in the closet and take up room which we don't have that much of as far as storing things we don't need.

I'll have to ask someone here on the island if they remember it ever snowing here. Maybe I won't have to and it'll snow 3 feet and I'll thank the snow gods for listening to my prayers. Or, I'll be eating my words and wish for summer back.

We had an interesting day yesterday. My daughter is just now getting over food poisoning so we thought it would be safe to venture to the mall to try to find some Christmas gifts. Now...come closer and really understand this question - does anyone notice how ugly the clothes are this year? I mean, are they buying Walmart rejects, slapping a price on them and think that the buying public is going to see through it or maybe they're thinking the buying public will have no choice?

Me? I buy from QVC. You haven't lived until you have spent hours upon hours watching what great deals you can get. And they're name brands and you're more than likely not going to return them because they are so perfect and....you don't have to get into your car or truck or snow mobile to get them.

I love QVC.

Anyway, so we're out and about yesterday trying to find SOMETHING to give to my son who wants nothing. I ended up settling on a shirt in Macy's he'll probably hate. I bought a couple of gifts for co-workers at Boscov's and some lotion at Victoria Secrets for another co-worker and I was done. All that way for that.

But my daughter who knew the mall would have nothing decided to buy something a little different. See that picture to the right? That's Skylar with her brand new princess play house. I guess when you don't have kids, you buy silly little things like that for your dogs.

Well Skylar loved it, then later we found Max camped out inside it and when Skylar went to reclaim it, Max lunged at her. Melissa had to grab Skylar and fling her back, causing the both of them to land flat on their backs.

Max ain't messing around when it comes to princess play houses.

Anyway, I'm going to try to go back to bed. Feeling a little better but I'll never be able to go into work after getting up at 4 a.m. Hope you all have a good day and hope it snows!

101 Internet Talk Radio Shows to Promote Your Books!

I am so happy to announce the release of my new ebook, 101 Internet Radio Shows to Promote Your Books! It's 60 pages of talk radio show links with their descriptions and contact info, plus tips to make your interview a success!

If you'd like to check it out, visit www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com/radioebook.html.

This ebook took months to put together and, finally, it's done. What I would like to mention is that all of these radio shows are for the lazy author who wants to just do everything out of the comfort of his or her home. I'm that lazy author and that's why I knew there was a need for this and, besides, it's cheap. Grab you a copy if you're on the lookout to be interviewed on radio shows...believe me...it's worth every penny.

On the home front, it's yucky outside. We've had rain for days, and muggy. BF is still alive and kicking, but back to work. Thank goodness. We actually made it a whole week unscathed.

Of course, there are two more weeks of vacation coming up, but I have it all planned.

One of those weeks, the kids and I are going on a mini-vacation. Don't know where, but we're going. And BF gets to sit home with the dogs, poor baby.

Anybody have any suggestions on where to go? I'm on the east coast and don't want to go to far since I have the California trip coming up in September if all goes as planned. I've thought about Williamsburg and doing the Busch Gardens thing, but we do it every year, and like my daughter said, "Can we go somewhere we haven't been before?"

She's got a point there.

So, whatcha think? Where's a good place to go for a couple of days on the east coast?

Tags: vacation, Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, talk radio shows

Vacation Hell Week Day # 2

Well, it's Vacation Hell Week Day # 2 and BF is still alive. Darn the luck.

Before I start, I need to know something. What is it about men and weed poisoning? Is it just BF or is there an army of men out there who are chomping at the bit to don their gloves, face mask and destroy every living, growing thing that sprouts up on God's green earth?

Now, BF has strict instructions on what he can and can't spray, but what is it about men and women that there is no communication thingee going on? I talk, he listens, agrees, and still does the same damn thing he was ordered not to do.

So, I'm out there (still hobbling, but better) and I notice that my baby's breath hasn't come up this year. And...then...I happen to notice my beautiful patch of oregano isn't coming up either. Both sprout up year after year and, then...I remember....BF's obsession with the weed killer.

He thinks he has pretty good excuses, too.

"You want to cut the grass? I don't."

"But, I showed you where NOT to spray."

"But, I didn't spray there!"

"So why aren't they coming up?"

"I don't know. But, I didn't spray there!"

Yeah, right, like they decided to declare this year was the year they wanted to sleep a little longer.

Speaking of plants, I got a really nice gift in the mail today. It was from one of my authors who is going out on tour next month named Karen Magill. Now, Karen lives in Vancouver and I live in the States, so it's a wonder her little present to me today made it and I so want to find the camera to take a picture of it, but for now, I'll find one on the Internet. Hope I can anyway. Hold on, I'll be right back.

Okay, this is close, but mine is much prettier!

Isn't it the cutest thing? It's called a Bamboo Good Luck Plant. I've heard of bamboo but didn't realize you could actually have one in the house and Karen must have realized how much I love plants or I needed a bit of good luck!

Wasn't that so nice of her? Thank you, Karen!

Well, I'll let you know tomorrow if BF is still alive and, btw, I'll have a guest blogger tomorrow!

Her name is Sandy Lender and she's on a virtual book tour for her book, Choices Meant for Gods. Ought to be a great interview so y'all come back now, you hear? ;o)

Tags: boomer chick, vacation, bamboo good luck plant , Karen Magill, Sandy Lender

It's Vacation Hell Week at the OK Corral

You haven't lived until your significant other takes vacation and because he's flat broke, he spends his vacation cooped up inside the same house as you. FOR A WHOLE WEEK.

Hi. Welcome to Vacation Hell Week at the OK Corral. It may get grisly and I suppose I should give these series of posts some kind of violence-related rating; but so far, it's not come down to swinging from chandeliers and calls to the cops yet.

Now, I guess I love my BF in a weird sort of way. Haven't quite pinpointed just why, but as he's been around for the last ten years and he hasn't been thrown out yet, something must be there, right?

I knew his vacation was this week, but I don't think I quite prepared for it enough.

Sunday was pretty calm. I came home from work and my house was clean and the dogs had had baths. I guess BF was gearing up for Vacation Hell Week and was trying to score a few brownie points before it hit.

But, Monday. Monday, Monday, Monday.

I woke up with my feet swollen for some ungodly reason and had to sit pretty much in front of the computer (dang the luck) all day long. Daughter comes out of the bedroom and I'm telling her about my feet and BF wakes up.

Being as this was the first day of Vacation Hell Week, I didn't think ahead of time to close his door so he wouldn't wake up. You can't have the festivities start too soon, now can you?

It starts out fine. He asks me about my feet, tells me I'm getting older, and goes out to cut the grass.

So far, not too bad.

But, dinnertime, I'm about had it with these freaking swollen feet and hobbling around, and I'm getting hungry.

"You want a sub?" he calls from the bedroom.

See, he lives in the bedroom (that's where the TV is) and I live in the living room (that's where the computer is) and never the 'twain shall meet.

So, I said sure and went to get some money to give him to get the dogs some food, other odds and ends, and THE SUB.

Now, I'm not sure how much the sub is, so I ask him, and he tells me $3 ought to cover it. I said, "Are you sure?" and he said, "Yes. If not, I have some quarters."

I'd like to see his quarter stash. Whenever he wants me to feel sorry for him and give him more money, he always says, "It's okay. I have quarters." I picture his trunk being filled to the brim with quarters upon quarters.

So, I said okay, and went back to working on a brand new website for Pump Up Your Book Promotion PR, and being as I have a new set of authors going out on tour next week, I was hurrying and not paying a bit of attention to BF when he got back.

I look up from the computer and yell to him in the bedroom, "Where's my sub?"

He says, and this is a direct quote, "It's in the fridge."

So, I go back to my website designing and notice there's a bag of marshmallow peanuts sitting in front of me that I gave him money to get me from the store. I'm in my marshmallow peanut craving stage.

Of course, I'm fully engrossed in this website designing and, not thinking, I open the bag and start munching down.

I look up about an hour later and BF has gone on to play poker, so I get up to get my sub.

Only, I can't find it.

I opened the fridge and the only thing closely resembling to my sub was this half-eaten sub full of mayo and some kind of hot peppers. Now, mayo sends my stomach to convulsing and I won't go near a hot pepper, so this obviously wasn't mine, or if it was, BF was going to have hell to pay because he knows damn well by now what I get on my sub.

I wanted to cry. I paid for dinner and dinner was nowhere to be found. I'm still hobbling around with these freaking swollen feet and, now, I have nothing to eat on top of that.

I fix myself a sandwich and sit down to have a good lengthy sorry-for-myself cry.

BF comes home a few hours later and, by that time, I'm ready for him.

"Where's my sub?????"

He smiles and says, "I didn't think you wanted one."

Heeeeelllllooooooo?????

"I specifically asked you how much they were and gave you money for it!"

"Oh. I thought that was for my sub. You're kidding, right?"

So, this is what the first day of Vacation Hell Day was like.

It didn't take too long before fire was coming out of my ears when BF dashed back to the sub shop and I could finally have my dinner.

So, this was Vacation Hell Week Day #1.

Stay tuned for Day #2 of Vacation Hell Week tomorrow. If BF lives long enough.

Tags: Over the Hill Boomer Chick, baby boomers, Dorothy Thompson, book promotion

So Much for Living in a Small Town

Everyone's read my past posts about how much this place is getting to me, but this broke the camel's back.

A week ago, I sent off my electric bill. As the post office was closed, I taped two quarters on the back like I've always done in the past when the post office was closed, knowing that the postmaster who knew me well and had even bought my books from me as Christmas presents, would stamp my mail and leave the change in my box.

Today, after a slow day at work (three tables total) and not in a particular jolly mood might I add, I walk in and there's my electric bill laying on my desk. No stamp. And the quarters? Someone had taken them off and God knows where they are but I'm presuming someone's pocket.

I know it wasn't the kind lady I've always dealt with and I'm presuming someone new.

Now, how low can one person go to steal fifty cents? I had deposited the letter into the inside slot so I'm very certain the quarters had not come undone and, even if they had, they would be lying there in the little box where all the mail drops (this is a small town so there's just so many that would be lying there between 5 in the afternoon and the wee hours of the morning when the postmasters arrive).

What it basically boils down to is someone had taken my fifty cents and put my electric bill back into my mailbox.

How low can someone be? I know it's not their priority to go to the trouble and take my money to buy stamps and stamp my envelope for me, but take the fifty cents off the back and pocket it?

Am I being unreasonable here???

And this only adds to the frustration of living here. It's pretty bad when your local postmaster is a thief, too, and it only leads me to wonder just what else might have been stolen there, and gives me more incentive to find a place I can call home where maybe, just maybe, you can trust those that deliver your mail.

I'm quite frustrated and will let them know this Monday morning.

Tags: boomer chick, Over the Hill Boomer Chick

HOME ALONE

Does anyone else besides me actually come up with blog posts while doing mundane things such as going to the bathroom?

Serious.

Actually the idea came earlier when for some odd reason, I realized being home alone isn't as much fun as it used to be when I wanted everyone gone so I could finally get some work done in complete silence.

Oh, sure, I have loads to do. I've got tours going out in three days with three authors depending in making sure everything runs right. I've got promo to do on The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost. I've got a radio show ebook that I've given myself a deadline of May 1 so I can go on, get it out there, and get it selling. I've got a relationship book that should have been at the publisher's as of...yesterday. I've got loads of work in my "to be done before I croak" pile.

But...you know...for some odd reason..it really hit me tonight...one day...one day in the not-so-far-off future...I might really be alone with NO ONE and it really freaked the living sheep doo right outta me.

How in the world does one live alone each and every day and stay sane?

You know, we don't think about this earlier in our life. I asked my daughter tonight after she got home from work, "Wouldn't you hate living alone?"

She looked up at me and said, "Nope."

She just doesn't realize how scary it would be, I suppose. I mean, what if something goes up and you are the only one who is supposed to fix it? What if the dogs bark because maybe someone's outside? What if it's snow on the ground and you need a necessity you forgot? What if the car breaks down and you have no one to fix it? What if? What if?

Doesn't that scare anyone?

And...I find...that the older I get, the more scarier it becomes.

Well, my daughter is home now. I fixed spaghetti and we sat out in the living room together, eating our meal, and talked about the idiotic guys in her life. But, you know, this time, I really really listened instead of staring at the computer screen.

One day, this will be gone, you know? And I don't think I'm going to like it one bit.

Tags: boomer chick, Over the Hill Boomer Chick, home alone

The Pine Bench

I couldn't leave the pine bench that BF gave me yesterday sitting outside, so I brought it in. I've got a lot of work to do on it and waiting for warm weather to do it so I can do it outside, but this is what it looks like in my living room at the time being...sigh...I am so in love....

Can you imagine the history behind this? Who made it and why? I ran my hand over it, slowly, to let the beauty and craftsmanship enter my fingers, and omg, it's downright magical. It's something about possessions that I feel spirits continue to hang onto...that for every something special that we, as human beings, feel a certain belonging to, we continue to keep a part of this with us when we pass onto the "other side." I have an antique black rocking chair that my mother-in-law let me "borrow" when my daughter was born. I can't even begin to imagine the history behind that, but I gave it a bit of history myself. Both of my kids were rocked in that every night when they were babies. It is where I did my most deepest thinking, too, as I breast-fed both babies. What a history I have given this black rocker.

And I will do the same for this wooden pine bench.

Have you given a history to a certain non-animate object? Is it something you just cannot part with for whatever reason?

If you do, then you know what I'm talking about. Even if that RV is in my future, that pine bench, along with the black wooden rocker, is going in there somewhere!

Tags: pine furniture, pine bench, RV