It’s New Year’s Eve Day! W00T!

Any plans for tonight? Watching the ball drop on tv? Going to see the ball drop? Going to a party with friends? Hanging with family? Chilling with some popcorn, a fireplace and some comfy socks? For whatever you choose to do tonight, I wish you a safe and happy New Year’s Eve.

My kitty is sick. She’s been sick for about 2 weeks now. She stopped eating for some reason and then developed fatty liver disease. I guess what happens when a cat stops eating is their metabolism gets messed up and then the liver doesn’t work right. We took her to the vet and came home with a bunch of pills to give her and a high-calorie food we have to force feed her.

Let me tell you, I am not her favorite person right now. I’m sure all this will be worth it when she gets well, but it sure is frustrating in the meantime.

There’s no point to this blog. I just wanted to vent. Hey, if there’s anything you want to vent about, go right ahead.

I have a day job that I really like…but my passion is writing romance.

I think most of us have a job or something that we have to do that we like well enough….but there’s usually something else in our life that is our passion. It may be gardening, scrapbooking or any number of things.

My husband’s passion is building prototypes of riding lawnmowers? Sure it’s not conventional…but who says a passion has to be. He loves to work on the design, weld different parts together, do…well, whatever you do when you’re building something.

But I could be wrong. Perhaps not everyone does have a passion. Maybe it’s possible to go through life enjoying a lot of different things but not feeling passionate about anything in particular.

Do you have a passion? Do the people closest to you have a passion? Or am I waaaay off course in even asking???

Hello! It’s Jaunty P. Quills, Porcupine Extraordinaire making an unscheduled visit here. It’s Shana’s day to blog, but who cares! (Okay, okay, Shana!) Shana says that if you care, her blog is below. (Happy now?)

We Jaunty Quills are celebrating big today. We have 3 big announcements!

Drum roll, please. Seriously, do a drumroll on your desk. I’ll wait.

First of all, congrats to our own Jess Michaels (aka Jenna Petersen) who has made Lifetime’s Hottest Romance Books of 2007 with Everything Forbidden. Lifetime says “Michaels turns a deliciously erotic phrase in this sexy romance that pushes sensual boundaries just a blissful tad.” Go, Jenna! (Can I have some bark now?)

Secondly, two of our Quills have been nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards. Robyn DeHart is nominated in the Historical Romantic Mystery/Gothic category for Tempted at Every Turn. I hope you win it, Robyn (then maybe she’ll give me those pine nuts she promised).

Shana Galen is nominated in the Historical Love and Laughter category for Blackthorne’s Bride. Avon authors pretty much swept that category, but we’re still rooting for Shana (she promised me acorns if I said that).

Okay, time for the big finish.

2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate?
Jaunty!
P.!
Quills!

Well, Christmas is over and it’s time to start thinking about New Year’s Eve. Ultimate Sportsfan and I are going skiing a few days into 2008, but we’re still going to a big party for New Year’s Eve. I hope it’s as much fun as it sounds like it will be.

But, given that 2008 is fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about resolutions. According to one study, the top ten resolutions are
1) Quit Smoking
2) Lose Weight
3) Quit Drinking
4) Go Back to School
5) Spend More Time with Family
6) Try Something New
7) Spiritual Growth
Take a Trip
9) Pay off Debt
10) Get a Better Job

Any of those appeal to you? In the past, I’ve resolved to do #2, #5, #6, #7, #9, and #10 with varying degrees of success.

I know New Year’s resolutions aren’t as popular as they used to be. It’s cliché that no one ever keeps them, but there’s something appealing to me about wiping the slate clean, starting over, and resolving to do better.

So I’m looking for a great New Year’s resolution. I want something that means a lot to me and something I know I can accomplish.

Do any of you know what your resolution will be yet?

The holiday cookies have been reduced to crumbs, presents wrapped (or stuffed into a gift bag with tissue paper) and then unwrapped, sincere thanks given for the DVD and fountain pen I wanted, a perfunctory thank-you for the socks, and now it’s time to think about the coming new year. You know what I mean.

Resolutions.

Some people get very detailed, with long lists of what to do and how to do it in every major area of their lives such as physical, emotional, spiritual, blah blah blah. I think most of those people tend to give up before the 1040 and Schedule C are due.

One friend chooses a single word and looks for ways to apply it throughout the year. Time meant being punctual for appointments, finding more efficient ways to work, and spending time with her grandkids.

One word. Simple, easy to remember. I like it. With a newborn, I’ve discovered the hard way that we must simplify wherever possible, to figure out what’s really important and what can slide, and then actually let it slide. (Despite what your mother-in-law might say there’s nothing inherently wrong with dust bunnies. Though I do draw the line at cobwebs.)

What do I want to work on in the coming year? Be a good mother and writer is a no-brainer, and get more sleep is a necessity not a resolution. I don’t smoke so I don’t have to quit, and I don’t drink or gamble so I don’t have to cut back. What’s the other of the most popular resolutions?

Oh yeah. Exercise.

Christmas Day we bundled up and drove through lightly falling snow to visit my mom’s husband at the rehab center, where he’s lived since having complications following surgery this spring. A nurse was kind enough to take a family photo for us, my mom and her husband, my husband, myself, and Daniel decked out in a Santa hat and booties enjoying his first Christmas.

My first thought upon seeing the picture was that it’s a “before” photo in an ad for a weight loss program. Granted I had a baby only five months ago and I wasn’t exactly a svelte size six to begin with, but still… I want to be an “after.”

So my word for 2008 is Exercise. Like my friend I’ll look for ways to apply it, such as parking farther from the store entrance to get in a few extra steps, take a hike around the mall before doing any shopping (without stopping for Cinnabons) and maybe even actual workouts here and there. (If I set too strict of a goal my inner demon will sabotage my efforts. “You missed yesterday’s workout so you might as well give up.”)

Do you make resolutions? Long and detailed, or focused on a single task or trait? Do you tend to keep them, or have a horrible track record? And each year by the time spring and summer roll around do you remember what resolutions you set?

…and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse.

Our stockings are slung o’er the tv with no care
In the hopes that our sugar high soon would be bare

The kitties were nestled all snug on our bed
With visions of cat nip toys dancing in their heads
And El Guapo with his movies and I with my hats (and shoes and skirts and blouses)
Had just settled down for a long, Christmas nap.

Yeah, that’s as good as I could do. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are recovering well from sugar and toy high. And just think, soon we’ll be celebrating the New Year! 2008 or bust!!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! Enjoy …

It’s the weekend before Christmas…a tense time for some as they try to complete their shopping and/or get ready to spend time with family. A perfect time for a little levity.

So, let’s talk about laughter. More specifically, at what inappropriate place have you ever dissolved into laughter?

I’ll go first. Several years ago, I was visiting my daughter in Chicago and we went to a church near her home in Lincoln Park. It was a Lutheran church and we didn’t realize it was confirmation Sunday. So family and friends of the confirmads were out in full force.

Bit of back story–my daughter’s phone had died that weekend. It wouldn’t even turn on. Still, she’d tossed it into her purse when we’d left her apartment that morning.

The minister was giving his sermon (which was being taped) when Wendy’s phone started playing the Flight of the Bumblebees. Her face turned red and she jerked it from her purse and hit the power button. IT WOULDN’T TURN OFF!!! It was as if the phone was possessed.

I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. I was so embarrassed. Everyone was staring and Wendy was frantically trying to get the darn thing to SHUT OFF and that tune echoed in the church. It was funny and pathetic at the same time.

Finally she pulled off the back cover and jerked out the battery. And then, blessed…silence. We still laugh about that time now.

How about you? Ever had an experience where you started laughing when you shouldn’t have??

C’mon, there has to be at least one time….