Happy Halloween!

Our Little Vampire Princess

I went over to chalk Ayva's hair. Took me a little bit to figure out how to do it. Finally I wet her hair and it worked.

Andersen Pool is now available!

I am so pleased to announce that the third book in the Saginaw Series, Andersen Pool is now available. You can go to the link by clicking on the picture of the three books to the right.

In this book the three friends get jobs at the Andersen Pool. Two of the girls have boyfriends - one does not. Will Jealousy break up the trio of friends? Aunt Sarah plans her wedding.

My friends Tom and Steve and their fabulous restaurant, Fandangles' show up in this book. I stole their menu right off their website for Sarah and Joseph's Wedding.

I hope you enjoy the third book in the series. Make sure you write a review when you have finished the book. Thanks for being such loyal readers.

My Favorite Halloween House

Just a few blocks from us is the greatest house with Halloween decorations.  I love it.

Almost Done!

I just published the third book - Andersen Pool - it is in review and will be available within 12 hours! I am so excited. The art should be done for the final book of the series before Thanksgiving. That means the whole series will be available for Christmas gifts. Marketing begins when the fourth book is published. Say prayers!

Pat's Annual Birthday Trip

Yes, we are back at Tahquamenon Falls. Upper this time.  We always celebrate Pat's birthday in the UP. Even though we are early we were just ready for a road trip!

It is a cloudy day, hence, no other visitors. Our favorite kind of day!

What an afternoon!

We met the greatest couple at the Peninsula Grill this afternoon.  Jack and Jackie Frisinger from Kalamazoo. They have been married 63 years.

Jack Frisinger played for the St. Loius Cardinals farm clubs 1947-1951. He started in Albany Georgia.  He played for several clubs. She even had a picture of him in his uniform! (Click his name above to see his stats!)

Bats:  Right 
Throws: Left 
Height: 6' 0 
Weight: 160 lb.
Born: 1928  (Age 84)

Then he was drafted in 1951 and was stationed in Korea and Libya. He was a decoder in the Air Force.  When he came back he never played baseball again.

They were a delightful couple. We enjoyed our visit with them. They are watching tonights game with the hopes that Detroit will play St. Louis in the World Series.

Pumpkin Farm

What a gorgeous fall day in Michigan.  First to the pumpkin farm then the Arcade at Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth to celebrate Ayva's birthday.

Birthday pictures to follow.

Tiger Fever

I have to say this was such a roller coaster year. I wanted to shake Leyland all the time. But watching them through this American League series has been great!

We are so excited about the World Series.

Rain Delay?

How crazy was that???? A rain delay before any rain! Then the game postponed before any rain! I think they might be sorry they did this. However, Pat says that getting done with these games early is a bad thing. Too many days off before the world series. So maybe it is for the best???

Spoiled

The sun is coming up! We have had a couple of rainy gloomy days and I can't wait for a beautiful sunny day.

We are spoiled from all the beautiful days we have had.

My brother-in-law decided to redo the Andersen Pool cover. So it will be a little bit longer before I can get the last two books published. I am blessed to have him care so much that he wants to get it right.

We get to see Lillie in her swim meet tonight. Can't wait to visit with Lillie and Anna and their parents afterwards.

Mmmmmm......

Dinner at Caroline and Jesse's last night! Mmmmmmm.... Enchiladas and rice. It was delicious.

Had fun playing with the kids - they have such a great imagination. They were Zombie killers and they kept saving their Nana! Javier had alarms rigged everywhere to detect Zombies. Ayva had fun pretending to be a Zombie - she couldn't wait for the Walking Dead to be on TV last night! Caroline says that if she has done nothing else she has prepared these children to survive a Zombie attack!!!!!

I just couldn't resist!

Fall

We decorated at church + I use "we" lightly. Jean and Nancy and Pat did most of it. I twisted my back the wrong way and couldn't bend!

I found the cornicopia at Goodwill in Traverse City last winter. It is exactly the right size for the altar. Ron brought a truckload of pumpkins, squash, gourds, hay and corn from his farm. The mums are beautiful colors. It is too bad they won't last very long.

Nancy and Jean do so much for our parish because they love this community.

Eleanor Charlotte

My Niece, Sarah, gave birth this morning to Eleanor Charlotte who weighed 9 lbs. Joanna and Caroline were both over 9 lbs and I loved having 3 month olds come home from the hospital!!!

She has the coolest birthday: 10/11/12

Welcome sweetie - I know your Mom already said we are going to be Tias instead of Aunts so instead of AME you will call me TME! Can't wait to kiss you.

Crazy Alma

Temperature is 54 but the windchill brings it down to about 44 - top down!

Feedjit

I have a gadget called Feedjit. It tells me a little information when someone views my blog.  Where, when, what - not who though.

It's fun to watch. Today someone from Herndon, VA entered my blog to see "Robbie snapping pictures of an eagle eating breakfast!" Back in 2008 I posted pictures that Robbie took.

I ALWAYS smile when I see that someone has left my blog to see Bishop Ken's homilies.

I also love it when someone leaves by clicking one of my books!

And when international people show up that is fun, too.

Oh yeah, every morning I get to say hi to Fran!!!  I know when she stops in every morning and it shows someone from Shalimar that it is her.

So Proud!

Robbie was promoted to Cadet Senior Airman at his Civil Air Patrol meeting on Thursday. He has his future all mapped out. It is a joy to watch this boy grow into a man! We are so proud.

Crunch Time!

Tomorrow is the first craft show of the year!

The dishes are done, the knives are wrapped, just need Robbie's strong arms to help load the van! I can't wait - I even printed out business cards to give out for my books! Now when I get busy if I just remember to put one in the bag!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Ayva and Clifford

Ayva loves Clifford! She says he is cuddly. She named the other dog, Ayva. She says Ayva is soft.

Now she decided to rest her eyes like Papa and she is pretending to snore!

She is drawing now. She says, "Oh man, I messed up." Then she says, "On the bright side I have more paper!"

"I'm doing my homework, I am in college."

She cracks me up!

Oh Heavens, Mary Lynn!!!

Mary Lynn, my cousin, mentioned we should create a Kindle book of Aunt Bernice's letters she wrote to her brothers during WWII. She had a few friends read the original book we put together and they really enjoyed it. I gave one to my friend, Olympia, because she was a friend of my aunts. She has let her family and a few friends read her copy and she said they really liked it. So, I thought that creating an ebook was a good idea!!!!

However, I just pulled out the book we put together in 1985. Mary Lynn chose which letters to use and edited them. I used my Apple IIe with Screenwriter software on floppy disks to create the book. I cannot believe how much word processing was involved and how little the font is in the book.

I don't even know how I could have had time to put that book together. Joanna and Caroline were in elementary school. During that year I was working on a chemistry book for a professor at Delta College. I was a part time secretary to two non profit organizations and did word processing out of my home. Not to mention, working at Blessed Sacrament part time in the learning center. I must have had a lot of energy back then!

I wonder if I know anyone who has a scan to document program so I wouldn't need to enter the whole book from scratch. Anyone reading this call me if you know someone who has that software, PLEASE!