End Of The Year Checkup

Currently Reading:  Fatal by Michael Palmer
Could Not Finish:
Such Devoted Sisters-Eileen Goudge
Beverly Hills-Pat Booth
I'll post my entire new TBR list tomorrow.

It's been quite a year for us!

Jan:  Daughter's b/f moved to Kentucky, and after more bouts of morning sickness, we held a meeting with her school counselor and moved her into the Academy, where she went to school from 12-3pm, and did her schoolwork ala Independent Study.  Suddenly my previous A-student appeared again:)  Someone also nominated Kenzie's Tracher's Pet in the P&E poll, and it reached #10.  Love Finds A Way was re-released.

Feb:  Ultrasound revealed we were going to welcome Miss Alexandria Nicole into the family in June.  I loved S's new doctor and was thrilled by the new ultrasound machine, but was NOT happy S decided to find out the baby's sex.  The SU also had his disability hearing, in which the judge needed more time to weigh the evidence.  It could go either way.  Forbidden Love was released, and sales of my Arbor U increased.

March:  With tensions mounting, I let S go to Kentucky for a week, with the hope since they'd been apart for a while now, maybe their affections had 'cooled', or being together 24/7 for a week would open S's eyes.  Didn't work, but I was yelled at for several weeks.  To escape the SU's 'wrath', I packed up my youngling and we headed for my parents' home for a few days of R-n-R.  I even consulted a lawyer, so I'd know my options.  Unfortunately, divorce was not one of them, given everyone's financial status.  But it calmed me down, and on the way back, D called; his disability had been approved.  When I arrived home, I looked over the paperwork and noticed the instructions had been to call the office.  So we did.....and discovered his back pay was already on the way!  We'd thought it wasn't coming until August or Sept!  So the spouse's mood improved, and he was no longer quite as grumpy.  Cover art and edits for Balancing Act arrived.  My college kid got into some trouble while vacationing in Texas; chalk it up to a Learning Experience.

April:  BC Brown, B (her SO), and I took off one Saturday for Chicago, to go to the RT book signing.  We enjoyed the afternoon meeting Bronwyn Green, Mia Watts, and Brynn Paulin, plus a bunch of others!  Spent $300 in books, then took the train to Wicker Park and wandered around. Came home and began edits for Balancing Act.  Youngling went through 1st Communion, and our Easter service songs were beautiful.

May:  S was now finished with school; she'd passed all of her junior classes by March and had been taking a few of her senior classes.  But at the end of April, they refused to open any more for her, so S's summer break began a month early.  Which turned out to be a blessing, since the SU and I had planned to go to the zoo with the youngling's class, but he ended up in jury duty.  So S filled in, and we had an enjoyable day.  Balancing Act released, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  Youngling was NOT happy about being retained, but perked up when we told him he'd be 'the expert' next year, the one who would already know the material.

June:  The heat hit.  Miss Alexandria Nicole made her appearance on June 7th, after a 13-hour-induced labor.  They finally took her via C-section, which turned out to be a good thing, since the cord was wrapped around her neck.  She reduced her Uncle K to a pile of mush; and wrapped herself around Grandpa's fingers.  My college kid received the heartbreaking news his grades weren't good enough to stay at Purdue.

July:  I had a tooth extracted, which laid me low for ten days.  I also managed to see two movies:  Rock of Ages and Magic Mike, though I overran my 'vertical' time and nearly got sick 3/4 of the way through MM and had to go take a ten minute nap in the ladies' room.

Aug:  Mom had her hernia surgery, so I spent two weeks with her, 1st in the hospital, and the 2nd at her house.  Bought That Book and began displaying it on my table at craft fairs.  Sales of Kenzie's Teacher's Pet shot up.  Kids returned to school; youngling was thrilled to be back with his 2nd grade teacher again.

Sept:  Did more signings with fantastic results:) Also entertained my readers with my witty Book That Shall Not Be Named critiques:)

Oct:  This was a busy month.  Attended a mini-reunion and was disappointed with one of my classmates didn't show up, but was thrilled with someone I'd not seen in six or seven years DID show. I was also involved in an outdoor Mass, where several choirs came together for the service.  And the Methodist church organized a community choir concert where three of us from our church joined the members from at least five other choirs, plus the Bell Choir from the UMC, and performed a two hour show.  I was only able to attend three out of the four practices, but did well, at least until the final song.  Somewhere I managed to get 'lost', but kept mouthing the words until I found my place again!  Spouse griped about me being gone every Tues-Wed-Thurs, and even then, going to karaoke afterward on Thurs, but I reminded him he'd okay'd my joining the choir back in Jan!

Nov:  Spent the month writing book #8, Love is Color Blind, and editing Kenzie's Class Reunion.

Dec:  Spent the month baking cookies and shopping.  Snow arrived the day after Christmas.

Books Read:  Not that many; mostly the 14 I picked up at RT, plus another 4 or 5 at a bookstore in Aug, and ones picked up at used bookstores.

Author Read:  'Met' and read Jean Joachim and Kellie Kamryn this year, who have now joined a short list of 'Auto-Buy' authors.

Karaoke Titles Accomplished:  Began the year at the end of the 'B' titles; ended the year with two rounds of the 'D' ones:)

******
Present Day:
Daughter had an altercation with her boyfriend.  He apparently took a handful of pills; broke up with her; then passed out on the couch.  When he came to, he tore apart the coffee table and threw the legs into the wall.  Broke two windows, then when S threw him out, he called his mommy, who came and got him.  We went over after telling her to call 911.  I also called the police, so we could get a hold of her maintenance department, to fix the windows.

Yesterday, he checked himself into the psych ward for 3 days.  They're supposed to be setting him up with a regular counselor.

Meanwhile, S and Alex spent the Sat and Sun here, and are currently on their way back to clean up the apartment and find out if she's being evicted, or if she gets to keep it.  Son K was so furious, he posted a rant on Face Book, which prompted some discussion.  E's mom texted me an hour ago with a veiled threat toward K:

Text #1:  "If ur son starts a fight with E after he gets out its his own fault if E f***s him up  I just got on his FB him and S are saying bad things."

Text #2:  "I do not want any drama whatsoever and ur son and S needto quit cuz if K comes here he's going to jail and I'll let my son whoop his ass so plz stop"

I was tempted to text back 'They're only telling the truth'...but decided not to.  Why sink to her level?  Anyway, I'm off to take care of the granddaughter and do some last-minute shopping.  We're hoping to visit my parents tomorrow for another family Christmas:)  Supposed to get more snow today; let's hope it doesn't affect travel plans!