Merry Christmas to Me

On Writing: I received an early Christmas present. I found out that Why Can't This Be Love? placed 1st in the ST category of the Unpublished Beacon Contest! My very first win and it feels pretty great. This contest is sponsored by the First Coast Romance Writers and they did a fantastic job of communicating throughout the process. The first round judges gave me great critiques on my manuscript so that even if I hadn't won, I know WCTBL? is a stronger m/s coming out of the contest than went in. So, a big thank you to the FCRW, the Unpublished Beacon, the coordinator Tory Michaels, the individual category coordinators, the 1st round judges and final judges and all the other writers!

On Life: #1 son will arrive home today. He got leave for Christmas and this time is driving home from his base in MS. (I think he wants to take his guitar back with him and doesn't trust the airlines.) The other three kids are all finally finished their semesters and darn if they didn't all have great semesters. In fact, #2 son might have gotten a 4.0, which is good, but the battle over his gaming addiction was constant and stressful over the semester. Daughter #1, also living at home and commuting, also tried to help me keep him focused, but the stress of it really got to her. I know she's dreading a repeat of another semester like it in the spring. I am too, so we'll need to sit down and with him and evaluate.

I'm taking the puppy-sister, Bella,  to the vet today to get her lytes checked and for her next percorten shot. My Vet is soooo not happy with me. He said he would try the "low-dose" percorten protocol (Thank you Dr. Julie Bates and the Addison's Dog Yahoo group!) that I researched but he is fighting me at every stage. I think I may need to find a new Vet after all. The good news though, is that even after the first reduction of percorten (from 2ml to 1.5) she is already more playful and affectionate and (knock on wood) no tinkle accidents for weeks now.

Other than the Vet, it's just a day of cleaning and getting the Christmas cards addressed. No more procrastinating on that. I'm going on record to say that I will not go to bed tonight unless I have all the cards addressed. Seriously. I mean it.