Catching up and catching things on fire

Hello, lovelies!

I took vacation last week to hang out with a dear friend who came to visit from the East Coast. At least that was the original purpose for my time off.

The Friday before, I had to go in for an MRI of my hip. Dislocating it again royally screwed it up, so the doctor thought I might need surgery. I don't, thank goodness! But the muscles and ligaments around the joint are pretty much useless at this point, so the joint is doing way too much work, which means it wasn't healing from the dislocation. The doc ordered me off my feet for a week to give the joint time to heal before resuming physical therapy. I'm not going to lie and say I followed his orders because, well, I don't know how to sit still, let alone for an entire week. But I did take it as easy as possible.

We hung around the house, watched movies, and attempted to keep the demon cat occupied so he'd stop trying to escape every time we open the door. Total failure by the way... he's now decided if he can't go out, I'm not allowed to sleep. He's figured out how to open my bedroom door, sneak up on the bed, get right in my ear... and meow as loud as possible. At two in the morning. This is why I call my cat an asshole a demon. He is an asshole a terror. Whatever though. I have caffeine, all sorts of stuff to keep him out, and I'm stubborn as hell. He'll lose this war or I'll curl up in the fetal position and admit defeat. Either or. ;)

My sister, my mom, and the kids came over Thursday so my friend's girls could meet my sweet little nephew. He charmed them into playing games with him. Embarrased my husband by shouting out, "Hey! Can I pull your finger?" as loudly as possible at the most random moment possible. And SQ and the girls got to see the inner workings of my family, which is kind of frightening. We're all kinds of crazy Southern. They may be scarred for life.

They headed home on Friday, and my husband's friend arrived Friday night. I behaved myself and stayed on the couch for the most part. They cooked dinner, and didn't destroy my kitchen. Yay!

On Sunday, I went back to work at my favorite charity. Half an hour into my shift... I set the kitchen on fire. Yep. As in flames shooting from things.

I was doing dishes that were sitting on top of the stove for some unknown reason, and accidentally bumped the knob to turn the burner on while moving some over to the sink. While throwing stuff away, I started thinking, "Man, it smells like burning plastic in here.". So I probably should have been prepared to see flames shooting from the dishes on top of the stove when I turned around, right?

Pfft. No. I turned around and nearly died.

I managed to put the fire out. A burner plate and a plastic serving dish were the only causalities, thank goodness. Also, my pride. I'm never living down setting the kitchen on fire. Ever. Laughter has been the general consensus. When I walked in yesterday, the Executive Director shouted for a fire extinguisher. Today, my doctor almost fell off the stool laughing at me. The husband just looked at me and shook his head. I don't even want to see that thought bubble!

Ay yi yi.

Little Miss, the sweet little dog who was abandoned in my yard has been adopted by my friend Lis! I'm so happy she went to a wonderful home. And I'm still pissed at whoever neglected her so dreadfully. The poor girl has a lot of health issues and needs a lot of medical attention as a result of her neglect. We're really rooting for her, but it's tough right now. Once we know more, I'll update all of you.

Odin is doing great. He's recovered so well! He's spoiled rotten and is such a big, lovable baby. He's terrified of storms, so he's had a rough time lately. Poor guy tried to curl up in my lap like a toddler yesterday. That didn't work so well. He's almost 75 pounds now. His separation anxiety is improving, though he may need drugs to cope with the storms when we're not here to sit with him. They really terrify him.

I have a new editor. Her name is Chrystal, and I'm excited to work with her. I have my fingers crossed she's ready to tackle my crazy and all those pesky passive phrases I love so much, because lord knows I gave the B.E.E. a run for her money with both. I will miss the B.E.E. dearly, but I'm so excited about the wonderful things happening in her career and life. Go, Krystal! :)

The lovely Michelle is hard at work on the cover of FALL. We're not quite ready for a reveal, but the whole thing is starting to feel real now. How the heck did I become a soon-to-be twice published author?!

I'm really nervous excited about the release plans I've been cooking up with some of my favorite people. I can't wait to share those with you. Which will hopefully be soon! :)

Anyway, that's what life's been like around here lately. After the insanity of the last week, I'm excited to settle back into writing this week. Because of the hip pain, I didn't accomplish as much as I'd hoped with JulNoWriMo. I got about 20,000 words, which was close to my goal. But those words were spread between three different WIPs instead of solely dedicated to FLAME. Yikes!

What's happening in your life this summer? Anything exciting I'll be completely jealous about? Share, share, share!

 

xoxo,
Ayden

Fade - The Ragnarok Prophesies: Book One - On Sale at: Amazon US | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Books-a-Million