Karen Whiddon

It’s Monday and I’m back home after a wonderful weekend in Shreveport, LA.

I headed out there Friday after work with my husband driving. It’s about a 3 hour drive, but usually more if there’s traffic, which there always is on Friday night. So it took about three and a half hours. I went to see the wonderful ladies of the NOLA Stars, the Shreveport chapter of RWA.

While there, I got to eat at my favorite restaurant, The Blind Tiger.

If you are ever in Shreveport and want some delicious, authentic Cajun food – go there. And they make a mean margarita as well!

Now I’m home and have to get back to work, both on the book and the day job. Better get to it!

Back to realty. I had an absolutely lovely last couple of days. My daughter turned – gulp – thirty and I took a half day off on her birthday and she and I went and had Spa Day. We got a massage and manicure and pedicure at a wonderful day spa. After that, we all went to dinner at PF Changes.

The day after her birthday, she and I went shopping. So much fun. I boguht some new clothes in my new, smaller size. We had lunch at Olive Garden – all you can eat soup and salad and breadsticks – delish! And shopped some more. We were supposed to see a movie, but didn’t. We finished up fairly early, so I hit the gym an hour ahead of time and got in a lot of extra working out. In addition to my normal stuff, I did weight and machines for about half an hour. All in all I worked out 90 minutes and by the end of the day, I’d burned 2450 calories! Wowzer! Usually I have to push to get 2100, which is my goal. Mall walking will do that for you, I guess. At least I know I burned off lunch.

This weekend I’ve got a conference with my pals at NOLA. It’s been a couple of years since I went to Shreveport. Looking forward to it, as I know my dogs are looking forward to having housesitters stay with them!

Well, gotta get back to the WIP (work in progress)!

Wow – time is flying. It’s March already.

I’m guest blogging over at Cathy Mann’s site on E-Harlequin this week, along with my pal Caridad Pinero. We’re tallking about Nocturne Bites. I hope you’ll stop by.

Here’s the addy:

http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/simply-series/catherines-mannly-men-karen-whiddon-and-caridad-pineiro

Well, my house (and my life) is back to normal. My brother picked up his giant dog and his girlfriend’s cat and now all I have to do is clean up the aftermath.

But first, I’ve got to get back on track with my writing. This Pack book is due May 1st and I’ve dithered around long enough.

My husband left to go to the lake place. He had to take down the new kayak that we got for Christmas, as well as put the purple martin house back up.

This is last year. We enjoy those birds so much.

I miss the lake. Can’t wait for spring.

Now, back to the writing. Wish me luck!

Yes, I know I’ve been gone awhile. I haven’t posted. I’m sorry.

So, to catch up – yes, I’ve been working out. Every night after work, except Tuesday when I had to go to a meeting.

Yes, I’ve lost weight (yay!) and am within three pounds of where I’d gotten to before the holidays.

My kitchen looks fantastic – all back together and normal. The grainite makes the room so warm feeling and I love the solidness of it and the sound it makes when I place a glass on it.

Finally, today is the last day I’m dogsitting my brother’s dog and his girlfriend’s cat. I’m not a cat person (sorry!), and this dog is ginormous, but he’s grown on me.

He’s a big dog, but has a HUGE heart. He’s goofy and clutzy and silly and floopy and sweet. I really like him.

Even though he’s 13 months old, these large breeds (he’s an American Bulldog) don’t mature until they’re two (or three) and for all intents and purposes, he’s still a puppy.

A giant, goofy, warm hearted puppy. No matter how irritated my other dogs are with his presence, he’s never snapped back. In fact, he appears genuinely shocked and hurt.

Honestly, I texted my brother and told him he couldn’t have the dog back. I think he realized I was kidding, but still…. I really like this dog. So does my husband.

And Ace likes him too.

A lot. (My boxer feels differently – look at his face!)

It’s Monday and I’m tired, but my kitchen is finally back to normal. I sealed the stone backsplash with stone enhancer – two coats. I rinsed all my pots and pans and put them back in the cabinets. I cleaned the granite, Lonnie hooked the stove back up, and everything was washed and put in its place. I also vacumned and dusted the rest of the house, and cleaned the wood floors.

I think my kitchen looks wonderful.

Yes, I still want to make the cabinets brown, but not today. Not anytime soon.

It’s good to have my stove hooked up again (it’s gas). Last night I made a pot of shrimp gumbo and we ate it over brown rice. Yummm.

Now today, I’ve got to get back to writing my book. While dogsitting my brother’s huge American Bulldog and his girlfriend’s cat.

He’s still not much older than a puppy and very overweight. He’s got a kind heart.

Well the tile guy (who showed up at 6:30 am yesterday morning) finished doing the backsplash around 3:00 pm. The plumber installed the faucet and garbage disposal and hooked up the new sink.

And it’s not done yet. Nope. I have to wait three days and then seal the tile with something called tile enhancer. There’s dust everywhere. And, while I adore the granite and love the tile, now I have to do something about the color of my kitchen cabinets (they’re painted – from several years ago).

Yup. The color of the cabinets needs to change. I haven’t told my husband yet. I’m thinking they need to go dark.

Anyway, here are pics of the backsplash, unsealed.

I’m told once I seal it, it will darken. It’s beautiful and goes very well with the granite. It’s soothing and calming and looks very simple and natural.

Finally, here is my awesome new faucet and my amazing new sink.

Ok, so yesterday the granite went in. The installers arrived late, around 11:30 and stayed until 4:30. It looks nice.

I got a new sink too, as you can see from above. Here’s another shot of my kitchen.

Now today the tile guy is here to do the backsplash in natural stone. His name is Tex and he arrived at the unbelievable early hour of 6:30 am.

That’s right. Six Thirty. In. The. Morning. As a matter of fact, he’s downstairs right now working (and it’s 7:30).

I’ve also got a plumber coming today – sometime between 8 and 12. They’ve got to hook up my new sink and new faucet and install my new garbage disposal.

Hopefully after this, my kitchen can eventually return to normal. Except I have to seal the backsplash, so I’ll probably be running to Home Depot or Lowes once the installer is done.

I didn’t get to work out last night. I got dressed and everything and then my husband came home and pointed out that we could put our kitchen drawers back. So I changed to my around the house clothes and we did that, then ate and watched American Idol.

I’ll put up new pics once the backsplash is done. One more pic of the granite counters.

Wow, there are a few things I wanted to talk about this morning.

First, we still have snow on the ground in the backyard. Not a lot, but some.

Second, I started reading the newest Kristin Hannah book last night. I’ve had it since the day it came out, but I’ve been saving it. Her books are like a special treat, to be savored and enjoyed. I’ve got to remind myself to read it slowly.

Right.

Third, this year’s home improvement project has begun. You might remember that last year I got wood laminate floors downstairs? This year I’m replacing the kitchen countertops. With granite. That’s right. Granite. Wheeeeeee!

I’ve taken pictures of the old kitchen and will try to take pics as they install. It’s a two day process. Today granite, tomorrow tile backsplash. Oh, and I got a new sink and faucet and even a garbage disposal.

Should be an eventful day here!

Here are a few pictures of the old kitchen (drawers removed)

Here in north Texas, we got snow. Snowmaggedon, Texas style. The snow that started falling yesterday and continued to fall all day and into the wee hours of the morning, broke all records for this area.

We got – wait for it – 12.5 inches! I’ve lived here since 1978 and have NEVER seen this here (I’m from up North, as they say here, and was used to snow in Colorado, NY, and MA). My husband has lived here his entire life and has never seen anything like this.

You should have seen my poor dogs! I took a ton of pictures and need to upload them from my camera. But I took these from my cell phone.

We lost half of one tree and possibly another. I was outside and heard the loud CRACK when the tree broke from the weight of the snow.

All the schools were cancelled. Even my work was delayed. So I’m here, drinking coffee, playing on the computer.

I made a wonderful Italian sausage soup last night in the crockpot for dinner. Easy peasy too. I did this:

1 can frozen lima beans
1 can chicken broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup
onion – diced
garlic – 2 gloves, chopped.
oregano and basil to taste
pepper to taste
1/4 cup white whine
1/2 cup water
5 pre-cooked chicken/spinach sausages (I got these at Sam’s Club), sliced.

It was yummo! Husband loved it.
I’ll post more snow pics later, after I’ve uploaded them. I’ve got to go write.