Mondays after a long holiday weekend are…like triple espresso Mondays–a real kick to the system. Which is weird because I work at home and there are times when I’m not sure which day of the week I’m actually in until I look at the calendar. But Mondays? Yeah. Anyway.

So last week was the American Thanksgiving. We did the Kung Flu version this year–Only, Baseball Boy, and Stormageddon came over for turkey sandwishes and pie. Cooking was ridiculously easy. Thank you, Butterball for coming up with the whole bone-in turkey breast freezer-to-oven thing. My family doesn’t do the dark meat and not having to thaw the turkey before roasting? I’m sure my southern roots are twisting up but hey, it works for us. True story, I also learned the “correct” way to slice the breast. From watching Josh Gates’s talk show. No, seriously, and it totally worked! Anyway. We had turkey sandwiches on paper plates with pies of the pumpkin and pecan varieties. Clean-up meant stuffing everything into the trash. FYI, my family isn’t big on dressing and ll the trimmings. Just sayin’. We believe in getting straight to the good stuff–turkey sammaches and pie.

Today is the last day of National Novel Writing Month. Technically, I hit 50K back on the 23rd but the novel wasn’t finished. I hit 62K words this past Saturday and typed The End. Yesterday and today consists of edits, revisions, and proofing. Hopefully, I’ll be sending FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE off to Aces Press for formatting and uploading for pre-order by the end of day. If not, then tomorrow, which isn’t far off deadline. Should I mention that I made myself cry? And laugh. And groan a couple of times. I really hope readers love Justice and Jack as much as I do. Once I’m done, I’m going to take a day or two before I dive into the next project. That’s also to give me time to consider what’s next.

TV. I know better. But did I listen to myself? Nope! So, Saturday night, there was a Hallmark movie premiere, USS CHRISTMAS, about a Christmas tiger cruise on an aircraft carrier. It was typical Hallmark fare and I enjoyed the story. Then, instead of being smart and turning to something else at 11:00, when I should have been dead to the world because I’d been up since 5 a.m., I watched the next movie, THE ANGEL TREE. Did I fall asleep during it? Oh hell no! At 2 a.m., I switched to Crime 360 on C&I because I can sleep through that $h!+. Note to self: Do NOT watch Hallmark Christmas movies when you need to sleep! Yes, they are sappy and sweet and make me sniffle and I love them. So there.

Reading is something of a current bust. I finished Nalini Singh’s ARCHANGEL’S SUN and adored it. The same with the last book in Jennifer Lyon’s Savaged Illusions Trilogy, SAVAGED DEVOTION. All the feels in that book! Then I looked around for something else to listen to. The first book in a historical series by an author I really enjoy turned out to be available on Hoopla. The story is okay but the narrator’s accent is driving me batty. I mean, it’s fine. I need to be reading my own writing but for those times when I’m doing other stuff…Anway, we’ll see. There’s nothing else out there that has grabbed my attention either.

So…what else? My OSU Cowboys won. OU didn’t play. The stupid Covid thing. Yadi and Wainwright are still in free-agent limbo wth the Cardinals and I’m trying not to think about the Redbirds without them.

Loki actually semi-snuggled with me one evening. He also likes my 5 a.m. internal wake up because if I don’t wake up, he gets the zoomies and wants to play. All the ferals are present and accounted for. The squirrels are tormenting Jake so he is in. Out. In. Out. And Boone is almost as bad. Ah, Fall. 🙄

Sadly, that’s pretty much my laugh. Don’t get me wrong. That’s not a complaint. I finished a book in a month–literally. Writing, editing, submitting. I’m hoping that trend continues though I’m not going to push through the holidays. Just writing every day is a big deal for me. Anyway…

That’s it for me. For those who celebrated, how’d your Thanksgiving go? Who’s ready for Christmas? (I promise not to shoot anyone who raises a hand…) Who has news of any variety? Who just wants to get through Monday? 🙋🏼‍♀️ Y’all have a good one!