Christmas is long gone. January 2020 is fading fast, finally. Why is it January seems ten times longer than the rest of the months? But I digress.
A former schoolteacher, I love decorating for holidays. I guess it’s a holdover from all those bulletin boards I had to do. I have boxes for Valentine’s, St. Patrick Day, Texas Independence Day, 4th of July, and, since I live in Texas again, boxes of Fall décor. Then comes Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and there are several boxes of those.
Anyway, I’m getting out my February decorations box for Valentine’s Day and what do I find? Leftover Christmas.
I’m surprised guests who’ve been to the house didn’t notice.
Maybe not the counted cross stitch Merry Christmas heart, but the guest hand towels were pretty obviously leftovers. I guess they pretended not to notice.
I appreciate the kindness.
The leftover discovery was really disconcerting. I believed I had all Christmas tucked away by Epiphany. That’s January 6, my yearly goal though it doesn’t always happen. Oblivious.
This year I honestly thought I’d aced the put away Christmas. Then this discovery.
I’d feel badly except I still see Christmas clearance items in stores next to Valentine’s Day merchandise. Unlike those retail stores who will hang onto leftover Christmas until it’s reduced to practically free, I’ve stuffed my two little leftovers in their boxes to come out again next Christmas.
As an elementary school music teacher, I have quite an assortment of puppets which I have collected over the past 30+ years. One of my first is a long, green snake-like puppet with alligator teeth.
I call it my “snakagator.” I named it Juba from one of the first songs I learned in my elementary music methods courses.
The song lyrics say “Juba this and Juba that. Juba chased a yellow cat. Juba up and Juba down. Juba running all around.”
It is one of the first songs I sing in my youngest classes. I can let them pick animals of particular colors for Juba to chase or I can fill in children’s names.
The kids love it! My two year old preschool class particularly loves Juba. In fact for a while, every time they saw me, they would shout “Juba!”
It doesn’t bother me at all. I have been called much worse.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the federally established day of service that celebrates the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy.
On the National Day of Service everyone is encouraged to volunteer to improve our communities. Something, in my opinion, we should consider more than one day a year.
If you can only manage one day, then make it this one.
And, whatever you choose to do today, think about this excerpt from one of my favorite King quotes:
“… anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
Looking for ideas on how you can serve? Find opportunities available in your community hereyou’ll need to enter your zip code.
Not all of our chickens have names. Lili, however, is special. She is the only D’Uccle, or dusseldorfer as I call her, in the flock. I must confess, she is my favorite.
She is much smaller than the other chickens and has wonderful long feathers on her feet.
Lately she has taken to hanging out on the roost in the coop in the mornings. She runs back and forth as though she is afraid to get down.
So I gently pick her up and set her on the ground. Actually I give her a little hug first.
I’m not sure how she feels about this but these morning snuggles get my day off to a nice start.
Especially now that I have no children left at home.
Welcome Leeann Betts who joins us today to share her new release.
Spotlight on Missing Deposits – with a giveaway
Carly looks forward to a vacation when Mike is hired to help an association of ranchers in western Colorado catalogue their various mineral rights following the discovery of several large deposits.
However, Carly soon learns that the real wealth—and the real danger—aren’t below ground.
Someone is out to keep a secret bigger and more profitable than gold and copper. And they’re willing to kill for it.
Leave a comment, and Leann will randomly draw for a print copy (US only) or ebook version (winner’s choice) of Missing Deposits.
Leeann Betts writes contemporary romantic suspense, while her real-life persona, Donna Schlachter, pens historical romantic suspense.
Together she and Donna have published more than 30 novellas and full-length novels. They ghostwrite, judge writing contests, edit, facilitate a critique group, and are members of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, and Sisters in Crime.
Leeann travels extensively to research her stories, and is proud to be represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary LLC.
Website(Receive a free ebook when you sign up for their quarterly newsletter.)
One thing I enjoy over the Christmas break was having the time to breathe and notice my surroundings. When I am teaching classes and private students, I find myself in survival mode only thinking of the next thing that needs to be done.
I seldom stop long enough to see what is around me.
For example, one morning, as I was coming in from feeding the chickens, I noticed a bird’s nest above the garage door.
There was no sign of occupants and I wondered what type of bird had lived there, whether it laid eggs and how many, where it went, etc. It would have been fun to watch the whole process if only I had taken the time to look up above the door.
So as I head into a new year I am planning to look up more often. Hopefully I will have another chance to see something wonderful right in my own back yard.
Donna Schlachter’s visiting to tell us the story behind her new release, Double Jeopardy.
Donna will randomly draw one name from all who leave a comment for a free ebook copy of Double Jeopardy.
The Story Behind the Story- Double Jeopardy
The story behind the story is often told in the form of back cover copy on the book, but I think it goes way beyond that. Sure, that bit on the back tells us a little about the main characters, the overall plot, and perhaps some about the decisions the main characters must make, because always—let me repeat this—always the choices they are faced with conflict with each other. At first glance, it seems they cannot have everything.
So let’s delve a little deeper into the story behind the story.
Rebecca Campbell was born in New York City, the only child of wealthy socialite Matilda Applewhite Campbell and Robert Campbell. Her mother is everything Rebecca—Becky to her friends—wants to be. Beautiful. Poised. Confident. Instead, she seems doomed to inherit all her traits from her father, who she adores. Reckless. Impulsive. A daredevil.
Becky’s father is gone more than he’s home. When a year passes with no word from him, she sets out, on her own, for his last known location—Silver Valley, Colorado. On her arrival, she learns he has been murdered. Determined to make his mine a success—his last letter promised that as soon as he struck it rich, he’d send for her and her mother—and to find his killer, she settles in at the mine.
But somebody doesn’t want her to succeed. And after a series of accidents and near-misses, she admits she’s in over her head. And the only person she can trust is Zeke—or can she?
The hero is Ezekial Graumann. Most everybody calls him Zeke. Zeke and his family own a fairly large piece of land in southwestern Colorado near the town of Silver Valley. Zeke has two married brothers, as well as two unmarried sisters. In good years, with enough rain, their land can support the three families if they are diligent and careful with their stock. However, the last few years have seen droughts and not enough snowfall, and the grazing is poor. Zeke wants to build his own house, maybe get married and have his own family, but the land won’t support another household.
Unless he can buy water rights from a spread upstream. But he doesn’t have the money to do that. So he looks around town for some weekly work to earn enough to buy the water rights and receive his share of the family land.
And along comes Miss Rebecca Campbell. She is feisty, stubborn, and doesn’t know anything about mining. Yet her determination to find her father’s killer and her resolve to make his mine successful gnaws at Zeke’s heart. And soon he finds himself imagining what it would be like to have her at his side as his wife. Except she’s obviously not ranching material, either.
But when accidents happen at the mine that threaten her safety, he must acknowledge that his feelings for her are more than mere curiosity. Now he must choose between saving his ranch or saving this woman who has stolen his heart.
So what keeps them from getting what they want? The villain, of course. Suffice it to say, it is a man. This man is one of the longest-term residents of Silver Valley, a man of impeccable reputation. On the outside, he looks wealthy. Wears nice clothes. Speaks well. Sounds well-traveled and educated.
But on the inside, he’s dark, greedy, and lazy. Well, lazy only in the sense he wants to get rich quick. He actually spends a lot of energy trying to cheat and steal his way into wealth. If only he’d use his superpowers for good.
As with any good romance, our two main characters figure out a way through all the hurdles and obstacles in their path to solve the mystery of who killed Becky’s father, as well as resolve the problem of not killing her mother who is coming to town to see her daughter married to the wrong man as the result of switched letters. In the process, Becky and Zeke establish a solid foundation for their marriage of clearing up miscommunication quickly and forgiving promptly.
Which all of us married and want-to-be married folks should remember.
Donna Schlachter loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Home is in Denver with her husband, who is her first-line editor and biggest fan.
A hybrid author, she publishes historical suspense under her own name and contemporary suspense as Leeann Betts. She’s also a ghostwriter and editor of fiction and non-fiction. Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management represents Donna.
We’re almost one week into 2020. It’s gonna be an awesome year! New Years always excite me.
Fresh slate!
New focus!
I refuse to make New Year’s resolutions cause I tend to abandon those by the end of the first month.
I’m saying FOCUS.
My primary 2020 focus is to finish book 3 in the Fitzpatrick Family series to make up to all my faithful readers for not getting a book out last year.
You see, 2019’s manuscript – Seeing Clearly – was a finalist in the West Houston RWA Emily Contest Romantic Suspense category. Hoping for good news in February when finalists are announced.
Click here to see all the other category finalists.
So, what’s your focus for 2020? Are you starting something new? Or finishing something from 2019?
