The owners of Stonecreek Media, which designed this website and blog, have moved on to bigger and better things. Good luck, Amy and Justin!

Samhain has named a new executive editor, Laurie Rauch; a new managing editor, Lindsey Faber; and hired on Lucia Carr as Director of Public Relations. Congrats to all and great job, Crissy.

I’m looking at my second Christmas catalog in two days and it’s August 31. (They come in the mail, what am I supposed to do?) Lucky for me, I’m a Christmas-a-holic as soon as the temp drops below 100. Which it did today. Woot!

In the whopping two days I’ve been registered, Facebook has pleasantly surprised me. Because I’m limiting it to people I actually know–seriously, how do you find time to live if you have 569 status updates in your inbox every day?–it’s not such a time suck. I’ve also decided not to do an author page, at least not for a while, because I enjoy having a place to go where I don’t have to worry about promo and can ramble about other things that make up my life (yes, there’s more than writing! gasp!). Also, doing this new thing has somehow unlocked my writer’s-blocked brain and made me brave enough to dive into another book, which I worked on during the school day. Hooray!  

My momma is having some health issues, so if anyone knows a doctor with a brain that works (the five she’s seen can’t seem to crack it), send ‘em this way.

**ETA: Heaven help me. I did it. If you know my other name, please drop by and friend me. If not, hang tight–I’ll add an author page if I decide it’s not too much of a time suck!**

Somehow, over the past year, I’ve gotten several friend requests for this bleeping thing even though I’m not a member. I always delete them because, well, I’m not a member. There have been plenty of times when I’ve wanted to say hi to someone but…you guessed it. Not registered.

The temptation is growing.

I’ve never peeked at Facebook. Haven’t looked anyone up, haven’t signed myself up, only peer over my husband’s shoulder now and then to see if he’s chatting up any cute girls I haven’t heard of. So tell me the truth, experienced Facebook-ers: how much time does this suck out of your day? Will I ever write again, or will I be so enthralled by up-to-the-minute details of acquaintances’ lives that I forget to breathe? What’s the best/worst thing about having a page? This would be a personal page, not an author site, so I can’t even call it work. Darn.

I hate summer. I hate it because I live in a part of the country where it’s 105 for three months straight. I hate shorts (because my legs suck above the knee), swimming (because I color my hair and therefore can’t put it in the chlorinated water) and teenagers running rampant on the streets and in the mall (because going anywhere is a big, crowded pain in the butt). Oh, and I also strongly dislike my horrendous a/c bill. Any questions?

Fortunately, sweet September is around the corner. Even though in these parts it will probably remain 100 degrees until October, just knowing fall is on the way brings a smile to my face. For all the ways I don’t like summer, there are even more reasons I love autumn. Consider:

a) Back-to-school

b) Less heat

c) Candy corn and those addictive orange pumpkin mellowcreme things…

d) Only 2 more months until November–my favorite month of all–because it brings 24-hour Christmas music and the return of the Gingerbread Latte (sorry, Karen, it’s all about the gingerbread! Not that I’ve ever tried the pumpkin…*blush*) AND this year November will also bring my little bro’s wedding (WTH is that woman thinking? lol) and my second book release! Yay!  

Whatcha looking forward to this fall?

The Samhain cover gods have smiled on me again. Happy sigh. Waiting for the official “go” to post it. Did I mention it is SMOKING hot?

5. “Meet the Teacher” Night is just a nice name for ”See the classroom, get a bunch of paperwork and so many rules/policies/procedures you can no longer see straight–much less process how you’re going to keep up with everything–then go home, sit alone in a dark room and sob/hyperventilate for an hour” Night.

4. The kids have to memorize a five-digit number and type it into a keypad in order to access lunch. What is this, the year 3000? What happened to bringing a lunch box or paying a buck to buy something from the cafeteria?

3. Apparently we parents are not capable of deciding what life events are important enough to warrant taking our children out of school for a day. Family wedding? Too bad. Vacation? Forgetaboutit. Sick? For an excused absence, it better be life-threatening.

2. Going from a preschool class of 8 to a kindergarten class of 22 is far too intimidating (for Mommy).

1. He no longer looks like this (four days old, sob/hyperventilate):