2009 - the good stuff

In the spirit of gratitude for my blessings, I've made a list of the stuff I've had reason to be thankful for in 2009.

• Watching my son's business go from strength to strength.
  
• Completion of my second contemporary romance novel. Here's wishing it finds its wings in 2010!
  
• The launch of author blog Novel Spaces.
• My book stacks have been growing again, thanks to gifts from friends and late nights spent prowling Amazon's alleys.
• Found almost every movie I've always wanted to see on Amazon, and am thrilled to order a few every month.
• Got lots of great reviews of and feedback on Café Au Lait!
• Met more wonderful people, writers and readers, on the net.
• Goodreads, I love you! Thanks for inviting me, Sandra!
  
• Pillaged the M.A.C. store in West Mall several times. If I look terrible it's not for want of beauty products!
• Created a proper writing space in my bedroom.
  
• My Dell laptop continues to run like clockwork after more than a year, despite my initial skepticism as I don't have a good history with the brand.
• My family remains safe and sound.
  
• I've finally, finally gotten around to renewing expired ID and travel documents. That took some intense running back and forth, not to mention generous dollops of cash. No, I didn't bribe anyone, but when the registration office suddenly throws up its hands and tells you the name on all your documents, certificates, and expired IDs is actually your third name, and tries to foist a new first name on you, you get your butt to a lawyer to sort out the mess - and those fees don't come cheap. Deed poll, statutory declaration et al out of the way, I'm well on the way to being fully back on the grid, y'all!
• I never, ever take the beauty of my island for granted. It's easy to forget the local politics and social challenges when I look out my windows at the verdant valley where I live, or take a drive up the North Coast to Maracas Bay. It's medicine for the soul.
  

Here's to friends, family, love, laughter, accomplishment, soul medicine and dreams that come true in 2010. Happy New Year, everyone!

Gifts

I'm posting over on Novel Spaces today on Precious Gifts. Come join me!

Painting-pilates

You already know I'm no fan of Christmas fuss, and I'd happily run away for the entire holiday season and amuse myself doing the stuff that pleases me: reading, walking, writing, observing nature and exploring new places.

Sometimes one must compromise, though. I live with my mother and Christmas means a lot to her. I have one sister who doesn't participate on account of her religion. I have one brother who has taken his family and sailed to another island for their Christmas vacation. That leaves me to provide the 'family' and 'celebration' in my mother's Christmas.

So, my little getaway in a far-flung beach house with a writer friend begins after the big day, as I wouldn't dream of leaving my mom alone with her turkey and Christmas tree on December 25th. And, since a big part of the excitement for her is getting the house all spruced up, I offered to give her the gift of a newly painted living, dining and kitchen area.

I bought the paint on Wednesday, and figured that I'd have it all done by Thursday night - two coats on every wall as we had decided to change the colour from coral white to shy shrimp. It's four days later and I'm still not done. The pale peachy-shrimp colour on the catalogue swatch just looks pink on the wall, but it's a pink with a peach undertone, so we're not too disappointed. It might not be the colour we envisaged but it looks quite beautiful.

And I ache. Climbing ladders, balancing a can of paint in one hand while, bent at odd angles, I apply the colour to walls, stooping, stretching, lugging, pushing and pulling heavy furniture and large appliances around - it all adds up to pains in muscles I'd forgotten existed.

I'd come out of this painting jag fitter and trimmer - if the exertion wasn't making me so hungry I devour everything in sight the minute I step off that cursed ladder.

For those who still hate Christmas

Last year around this time I ran a post in which I countered a friend's blog call to nominate the best Christmas movie ever by offering a list of 10 movies For Those Who Hate Christmas. Still not content to keep my Scrooging around to myself, I'm blogging on Novel Spaces today where I offer more twisted advice for those who're thinking of jumping the Yuletide ship right - about - now.

T'is the season - to run away!