Just look at that pie! Yum! I just took 3 of them out of the oven. Yup, there'll be 23 people at my house tomorrow, eating great food, and talking...lots of talking. Husband's family members will be here from out-of-state, and I'll be playing hostess and catching up with folks all day. Which means I won't be here...probably will try to pop-in on Friday, but there's a second gathering Friday night for a "pizza-showdown". Male members of husband's family (including him and one of our sons) will be making home-made pizzas and us lucky folks will get to try them all and vote for our favorites. Diet? Not this week!
One thing I will NOT be doing is shopping. I recently quit my second job working in a retail clothing store because I couldn't stand the idea of working one more Black Friday, and spending another 8-hour shift getting yelled at by irritated, impatient customers who blamed me because the size/color/style they wanted wasn't on sale, or in the store--and waiting for it to be delivered to their house wasn't acceptable...or the check-out lines were too long. None of these things was ever in my control, yet I had to smile and take the brunt of their displeasure...for minimum wage pay! No thanks. Our Christmas-giving will be leaner this year, but I'm less stressed, so hopefully the family will approve the trade-off. I'll be supporting the law that made Thanksgiving a national holiday, which means NO ONE should have to work on turkey day. And I'll be staying out of stores on Friday to boycott the rampant consumerism that makes people turn into abusive monsters just to save a few bucks.
*Note: if shopping is your "thing", and you are happily anticipating which stores you'll hit and in what order, enjoy. But please be kind to the retail salespeople you interact with...in the spirit of our shared humanity that is what we're supposed to be celebrating during the holidays.
*****
Congratulations to the two winners of the contests I posted on The Romance Studios Thanksgiving Party, which ended at midnight. ELF and Laurie P, I've sent emails to both of you. Once you respond your books will be on their way for your reading pleasure!
*****
On the writing side, I'm still working on the sequel to Only One Man Will Do, which has debuted and will be available in paperback soon. And there's still time, until December 9, for you to enter the give-away I'm running at Goodreads for 5 signed copies of the first book, For The Love Of His Life.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/71881-for-the-love-of-his-life
One thing I will NOT be doing is shopping. I recently quit my second job working in a retail clothing store because I couldn't stand the idea of working one more Black Friday, and spending another 8-hour shift getting yelled at by irritated, impatient customers who blamed me because the size/color/style they wanted wasn't on sale, or in the store--and waiting for it to be delivered to their house wasn't acceptable...or the check-out lines were too long. None of these things was ever in my control, yet I had to smile and take the brunt of their displeasure...for minimum wage pay! No thanks. Our Christmas-giving will be leaner this year, but I'm less stressed, so hopefully the family will approve the trade-off. I'll be supporting the law that made Thanksgiving a national holiday, which means NO ONE should have to work on turkey day. And I'll be staying out of stores on Friday to boycott the rampant consumerism that makes people turn into abusive monsters just to save a few bucks.
*Note: if shopping is your "thing", and you are happily anticipating which stores you'll hit and in what order, enjoy. But please be kind to the retail salespeople you interact with...in the spirit of our shared humanity that is what we're supposed to be celebrating during the holidays.
*****
Congratulations to the two winners of the contests I posted on The Romance Studios Thanksgiving Party, which ended at midnight. ELF and Laurie P, I've sent emails to both of you. Once you respond your books will be on their way for your reading pleasure!
*****
On the writing side, I'm still working on the sequel to Only One Man Will Do, which has debuted and will be available in paperback soon. And there's still time, until December 9, for you to enter the give-away I'm running at Goodreads for 5 signed copies of the first book, For The Love Of His Life.
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/71881-for-the-love-of-his-life
