Today Michelle is hanging out at Sandra Robbins blog and I'm sharing my pups at QuidProQuills.
Come on over and say, "Hi!" Michelle's craziest thing she's ever done is a doozy. I was there. It was very awkward. And you know you want a helping of Gladys and Gertrude. Ha.Ha.
Have a fabulous weekend. We are watching hot air balloons, babysitting our little bambino and remodeling all weekend!
1. We have two five star reviews on Amazon!!!!
2. People are letting me know they are receiving their copies!!!!
3. I missed an article deadline that I forgot I had. Oh my goodness. RelzReviews is the best. She's going to plug it in sometime soon. Somehow it got lost in my inbox...sweet mercy. Worst nightmare!!!!
4. Michelle is at Seriously Write today.
5. Kathryn is interviewed by Fern and Zula at Zu-fer.
And. Well. I think that is enough for today!!!!
For anyone wanting a copy and willing to try for a twist of fate, here you go. A giveaway. One of two signed copies could become yours with just a lil luck.
Go to Michelle's blog to join.
Writer off the Leash or click on this bad boy, a Rafflecopter giveaway
I've heard from early orderers that the book has shipped. Oh my! I personally have yet to hold a copy in my hand. So I'm looking forward to that.
Did I mention we'll be doing two book signing events in the Twin Cities in just a few weeks? We have to do a reading and I'm hard at work on what that's going to look like. Michelle gave me an assignment. I've almost figured out how to pull it off. Almost. And we've been invited to speak at a writer's tea in November. Ha. Ha. Ha. Not sure they know what they've done there.
I'll be posting more and more about Fern and Zula as the interviews and the guest posts happen on the blog tour and well, etc. Like the one on Friday where I talk about my writing life with beagles. Yeah. That's one to look forward to.
What did you do over Labor Day weekend?
I worked like a beast!
We finished hauling stuff out of two of the three rooms we are turning into our new space so the kids can take over our upstairs. Drywall, studs, old insulation, carpet, disintegrating carpet stick on pads, it all had to go.
I pounded through the walls with a fire ax. It might be a construction ax but fire ax sound so much more powerful doncha think?
We then had to clean up of course. Jules and the kiddos helped tremendously. Those little buggars can get some clean up done when motivated.
Oh, and after we had loaded more stuff into our sons car for his Service Learning Group garage sale fundraiser, we had some furniture we wanted to get rid of. Before just taking it down the road to the Goodwill just to get rid of it, a friend texted me that a friend of her's son was just getting an apartment after rehab and needed everything. Uh, we had a futon, a queen size bed that we were going to probably put in the landfill because who's going to buy a used mattress from Goodwill ya know?
He wanted those and brought a buddy with a trailer over to get it. While we were waiting we decided to just go ahead and purge more furniture. We will have very limited space. My bedroom is so small we can only have a bed, a dresser and two nightstands or it's going to feel overwhelming. Our little sitting area will be plenty full with our armoire, couch and recliner. Everything else has to go. This guy took almost all of it. It feels real good that our stuff can bless someone who needs a little extra help.
After we hauled it down so they could load it up, after we got the last bit of drywall torn off the wall we all collapsed into hot, filthy messes but were all so satisfied with what we got done!
Sunday we got a bit more cracked out.
Monday. Wham! We killed it again. I even cut up some branches into logs for fire pit fires when the big remodel is done. Rob wouldn't let me use the chain saw for obvious reasons all of which would involve pain and blood. So I used his saws-all. Ha.Ha. Which he hurt himself with later. I'm lucky to be alive.
Oh, and today, Out of the Frying Pan RELEASES! Fern shares a bit about herself here.
Pssst. Hey!!!!!
Drum roll. Please.
In my first author interview you can read about my shopping shame and my dream travel idea here.
Did I mention this was my FIRST author interview in my FIRST book promotion/marketing tour for my FIRST BOOK?!?!?!
I think the American Dream used to be centered around courage and strength and good old-fashioned grit. You know, like John Wayne style.
People weren't afraid to work hard and break a sweat and make a decent days' wages. Just enough, not too much, but not too little.
They grew a lot of their own food and food wasn't tossed very often. My grandma quipped after I took her to visit the organic farm we worked at, "We ate organic when it wasn't cool, it just was what it was."
Somehow the American Dream has twisted itself into collections and toys and possessions. And that's bothersome.
A few years ago I set a goal to get rid of 1000 things in a year's time. That goal was busted out in three months and I haven't stopped. Now that we are making room for four more people in our home the purging has intensified and I'm appalled at the amount of stuff we have accumulated because materialism had become part of our American Dream.
This picture is the second large batch of stuff we are getting rid of in just a month. And there is more in the room. I just took a picture of half of it. The last load filled my husband's pick up. And I have actively been downsizing and purging for almost three years.
This stuff is in the way of the life we want to live. Literally and figuratively. In order to make room for the ones we love we have to get rid of mere stuff. Stuff that required space, upkeep, dusting and hard earned money. Good riddance.
Posts over the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty Out of the Frying Pan centric.
I'm posting all sorts of stuff all over the internet. Chances are good you'll see unique material when you follow the links.
Now. I'm not going to lie. Gladys has some less than photogenic moments and she might be a little inspiration for Fifi.
Fifi? You might ask.
Fifi is a character in Out of the Frying Pan. Zula introduces her here. Gladys did her best to do a Fifi impression that was believable.
Believe it or not. This book releases next Tuesday. As in a week. The last week of ten years worth of work. Not sure what else to say. Maybe buckle that seatbelt. It's going to be a ride.
I pounded through the walls with a fire ax. It might be a construction ax but fire ax sound so much more powerful doncha think? 
We then had to clean up of course. Jules and the kiddos helped tremendously. Those little buggars can get some clean up done when motivated.
He wanted those and brought a buddy with a trailer over to get it. While we were waiting we decided to just go ahead and purge more furniture. We will have very limited space. My bedroom is so small we can only have a bed, a dresser and two nightstands or it's going to feel overwhelming. Our little sitting area will be plenty full with our armoire, couch and recliner. Everything else has to go. This guy took almost all of it. It feels real good that our stuff can bless someone who needs a little extra help. 
Somehow the American Dream has twisted itself into collections and toys and possessions. And that's bothersome. 
Now. I'm not going to lie. Gladys has some less than photogenic moments and she might be a little inspiration for Fifi. 