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And then came Connie

A couple of months ago I sat down with a cup of coffee and scrolled through my blog posts. All the way back. I was looking for some inspiration because I really wanted to get back to writing regular posts. It felt like the more time I was away from regularly blogging, the harder it was to write a post. That seemed odd to me since I have been able to write 80,000 word plus novels. Yet a 500 word blog post stymied me. Go figure. So I thought a look back to when I was regularly writing blog posts might help me get back into that groove. Well, what I realized was that I never wrote about Connie joining our family. Well, I’m going to do that now.

If you haven’t met Connie yet on social media, here she is. Connie came into our lives after a rough four months. Our beloved Susie passed away unexpectedly over the Memorial Day week. She was fifteen. Then four months later, Billy passed away. He was fourteen. Our hearts were broken and our home was so quiet. Then Connie came and it hasn’t been quiet since. And she was exactly what we needed.

Within two months of her coming home, I enrolled her in puppy school. There she learned the basics, met her best friend, Maura (they still have play dates) and got her diploma.

Connie has a lot of energy and she loves a good game of tug of war and ball playing. She’s also curious, so I love taking her places like a local garden center that has animals. She always rides shotgun in her booster seat.

She loves holidays (probably because there’s always a new toy for her) but she’s also a hard worker, so much so that she’s been promoted to my office manager. The girl keeps me on task. 🙂

In June, Connie celebrated her second birthday and in a few weeks we’ll celebrate two years of her joining our family. She’s still a ball of energy and she’s a bit of a ham in front of the camera and doesn’t mind wearing a hat. 🙂

While Susie and Billy will always be in our hearts, Connie has carved out a place for herself. Do you share your life with a pet? Leave a comment below sharing something about your best buddy.

Pets, Writing

My Shih-Tzus Don’t Care About My To-Do List

The struggle is real people. Susie and Billy don’t give two-licks about my to-do list. Just look at them. Do they look like they’re concerned about any of my deadlines?

The correct answer is “no”.

I have copy edits due. I have an outline to write. I have another book to begin brainstorming. I have social media posts to write. A newspaper interview happening. Oh, and a release coming up in a few days.

I try to explain but all I get in return is pure silliness.

And I couldn’t be happier!

It’s a nice reminder to stop and take a breath. Or, in their case a long walk. The days of tossing the ball around or paying tug o’ war with a stretchy toy are long gone. My little mops are now seniors but they’re still little balls of energy (just in spurts these days).

I’ll get through my to-do list and I’ll meet my deadlines thanks to organizing and priortizing my work. I rely heavily on a paper planner to track all my due dates and assigning specific tasks throughout the day. My system isn’t perfect. I’m still looking to tweak it more so that my time spent working is more productive which will give me more time for silliness with the pups. I admit, I can’t resist those faces!

I’m curious, how to you organize your day? Paper planner, digital planner or do you just wing it?

 

Coffee & Chat, Pets

Coffee & Chat #21

Happy Wednesday! It’s not going to come as a surprise that our weather here in Connecticut has been hot, humid and rainy. The Holy Grail for feeling miserable. I’m counting down to September 22nd, the first day of fall! Considering how the summer has been it’ll probably be 90 degrees with 70 percent humidity. But it’ll be fall.

I missed last week’s Coffee & Chat because I was taking care of my patient, Billy. We ended up at the vet’s office yet again. But he’s on the mend and going for a follow-up on Friday. I’d really love to stay away from the vet’s office for one month. I’m trying to get Billy to go with me on that idea. Just 30 days without visiting the vet. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

By Saturday he was much better, though he’s still wearing the cone to keep from scratching behind his ear, and I was able to go out to attend our niece’s baby shower. We left for New Jersey and arrived with a few minutes to spare. The weather was horrible on the drive down. But since we were inside and with family celebrating the upcoming arrival of our new nephew, the afternoon was lovely.  Along with the baby gifts for my niece, I baked her a batch of her favorite Double Chocolate Crescent cookies. I also love these cookies and usually only bake them at Christmas but I wanted to spoil our niece a little. If you’d like to bake these cookies you’ll find the recipe here.

Our neice wasn’t the only one to leave with new clothes for her baby. My sister-in-law, Alice, gave me the cutest little outfit for Susie (she also gave me one for Billy and I’ll be sharing that pic soon). The shirt pretty much sums up my little diva. She’s little and totally fabuous. I can’t wait to put the bows in her hair. Though, since her head is so tiny probably only one will fit. 🙂

I’ll wrap up this post with a puppy photo. Last week I visited my friend, Carolyn, to play with puppies. Her dog, Penny, had a litter of puppies six weeks ago and they are so precious. And full of energy! I was there for an hour playing with them and I was exhausted. I hope to go back next week for another puppy fix. Can you blame me? Look at the face of the pup dubbed Pippa.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. I’m currently at work polishing Food Blogger book #3. Copyedits for book #2, THE HIDDEN CORPSE, have arrived and I’ll tackle them next week. Have a great day!

Debra

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