Girls Have Moved!

 As advertised, Naomi and Lydia have moved out!

Last Friday was crazy as we ran around like insane people getting them shifted into their new apartment.  

Here are some pics.

Lydia's room here before the move.

Their bathroom.  Simple but workable. They obviously have to provide their own shower curtain!

Naomi's room

The main living area

Lydia's room

The new study/playroom

  Kevin and I watched a (truly terrible) movie where an action hero type came home after years away and his mother had left his room exactly as he left it. That wasn't the terrible part, to be clear. I was just amused because Lydia left and we had her room transformed into a study/play room within a couple of days. Don't get me wrong, we adore the big girls. BUT there are a lot of people in our house, so when a room opens up, we use it!

COVID vax, new book launch, and moving week

 Kevin and I are now eligible to get the COVID vaccine, and will do so on Thursday assuming nothing comes along to bollix it up. Of course, we are pretty sure we had COVID back in November but we never had an actual positive test for either the disease or antibodies, and we don't know how long the antibodies last anyway. So we're going to go ahead.  It is a new vaccine and I am not keen on the kids getting it quite yet, but I feel like as a 51 year old woman with diabetes type 2, it is a good call.

New book launches in a couple of days, which is exciting. We did a preorder period this time, and already have over 100 pre orders.  We hope it will be well received.

And yes, the time has come for our big girls to move out.  Wow.  The house is kind of chaotic as boxes are here and there, but that's Ok.  They will only be 10 minutes away by car, which is nice because they will probably discover various things they forgot and/or need.

Tonight is exciting as well because for the first time since the COVID lockdown a year ago, the older kids are able to attend in person youth group. That's awesome and they are excited.

So yes, lots going on.  

Pictures

 

Most of the horde

Neighbor kids playing with our kids on a warm day

Rose loves Lydia

Sarah loves plushies

Rose loves plushies too

We did have snow!

Experiments with colored water

Microscope work

Beautiful

Busy busy!

 It has been busy around here lately!

I have been finishing another book entitled Longbourn Inheritance.  It will be published in a few weeks.

Naomi and Lydia are gearing up to MOVE OUT!  They are going to share an apartment. It is very exciting for everyone. I will miss them, but I am also thankful that they can move out and be independent. 

Isaac got a part time job at Goodwill.  He isn't driving yet so we have to run him back and forth, but this is really good for him.  He is only taking two college classes this semester so he has time for working.  So far he is doing fine with it.  They keep scheduling him for the morning shift which means the first couple of hours are kind of boring; he grabs donations out of people's cars, and most people aren't swinging by Goodwill at 8 a.m.  But at 10, everything picks up. 

I am dealing with College Credit Plus, which is a lovely program where the state of Ohio pays for high school students to go to college.  Our older 3 children took advantage of the program and Isaac will use CCP this coming year at Wright State University.  I would like Joseph to take a couple of classes at Clark State in 2021-2022, but I have to jump through additional hoops to get him signed up.  They have tightened up the requirements a bit because, I presume, a bunch of people were getting credits who then couldn't actually do college work?  So he has to take a standardized test soon before he will be accepted.

Spring is springing, which is lovely.  We had a huge snowstorm a couple of weeks ago but it has all melted now and yesterday there was a high of 60 or so.  Delightful.

Deep breaths, deep breaths.  I feel a little frazzled with so much going on, but I need to remember that what needs done will get done.  

The Enigmatic Mr. Collins

 The is the title of my last book.  Yes, it is an odd title.

It is the first time I published a sequel, as it is a follow up to my previous book, A Fortuitous Fall.

It was so much fun to write. The basic idea in A Fortuitous Fall is that Mr. Collins, who is a bumbling idiot in the original Pride and Prejudice, takes a hard fall in MY book and wakes up a genius.  

The Enigmatic Mr. Collins takes place after Darcy and Elizabeth are married, and combines more romance (for other side characters) with a bunch of fun science of the early 1800's.

It has been, compared to my other books, rather a flop, which is to say it hasn't sold well.  People who read it like it (currently sitting at 4.8 out of 5 in the ratings, which is great!) but it is a strange book and obviously a lot of people don't want to read it.

That is, truthfully, fine.  I enjoyed writing it so much as it is light and fun, and gave me an excuse to study up a bit on ballooning and locomotives and steam engines in the early 1800's.

It is also a reminder that in general, I have been quite successful as a new author. My other books did so well that I was thinking, hmmm, maybe it isn't that hard to make quite a bit of money!  The truth is apparently that if I wander off script, it is hard to find readers.  Off script being away from Darcy and Elizabeth falling in love!  My latest story, which is more than halfway done, is focused on Darcy and Elizabeth so will probably do better.

Family Pictures

 

The Boys

The parents

The girls

All of us!

Cucumbers

 I really like cucumbers a lot. They are also low carb so, yeah, good for a diabetic!

Until this year, I was always disappointed with store bought cucumbers in winter. They were inevitably mushy.  I hate mushy cucumbers.

We discovered that Sam's Club sells "baby cucumbers" that are excellent.  

What kind of crazy world do I live in where I can have cucumbers throughout the year? Good cucumbers???

What a blessing.