It's been over 3 years since I posted here...

It's been a long time...long enough that I can't remember why I stopped using Blogspot.

One of the last posts was in May of '06, where I spoke of Tiffany going to the emergency room and being sent home without a clue of why she was ill. Little did I know that just a few weeks later, she'd go again. And we'd find out what had be the problem all along.

Cancer.

Now here it is over three years later. Tiffany is doing great.

We went back to Arizona for her treatment, and then came back to Ohio.

And we are soooooo ready to return to Arizona.

We have two houses to sell. Once that happens, we going back. This is such a depressed area, and I miss my writing friends and groups. I miss the Butterscotch Martini Girls.

Brit - working to get back

Off to another good start?

What would it be like if life went smoothly? If just once, I could stick the key in and have the engine start? It’s not bad enough I have to mow five acres of grass that will more than likely end up belonging to someone else because I can’t afford this farm and the place in Arizona too. And I don’t even want to talk about the Victorian in town…my money pit. The only thing good about it right now is I don’t have a mortgage.

Mowing, lead paint, new roof, wiring, leaking pipes, Mom’s dog, illness one after another, $210.00 seizure medicine that lasts three weeks, lawyers who want a small fortune to settle Mom’s estate, contracting the house in Arizona five times now and no end in sight for a “real” sale…

And the faery costume is now hanging on a plant hanger in the front window, so I can be reminded of my harebrained ideas…

Bad Day/Good Day

How I wish for a calm day. Wednesday, Tiffany went to the emergency room for the third time with the same ailment…still no diagnosis.

Yesterday was an emotional day…dealing with Mom’s estate, my brother and I had harsh words.

Already in a bad mood, I decided to go for broke, so I called Avalon. I didn’t expect to hear they planned to call, but weren’t far enough along in their schedule to make an offer.
They’ve tentatively slotted Thoroughly Mannerly Millicent in April of 2007. An editor said even though it’s not official, I can tell… Not only is it great because I’ll have a book I can use my own name on, I can actually put Andrew, Payton, Paige and Parker in the dedication and make it a legacy. Plus, I really liked hearing she loved it!

So to celebrate, I put battery operated Christmas light on my faery skirt! It’s cool in the dark, however, a little bizarre otherwise. You can’t see the wire, just the little lights peeking through. The good news…I think my spurs will distract from the lights.

Lori, I know you are dying for a picture. I wish you were going to be there with me.

The Fairy Obvious

A cowgirl faery????

This is a sub-species I believe I may have errantly invented. When I realized being part of the RT Faery Court meant wearing a faery costume, and training my brain to write “faery” instead of “fairy”… I entered rebellion mode.

Rebellion mode is my internal nemesis. I’ve entered it often and usually it’s not good for me or anyone around me. In my early twenties, I was qasi-Goth, before it even existed. I’ve never followed the crowd and I don’t know why. I generally play well with people.

Anyway, I digress. My fair…faery costume. The thought of frou-frou and tufts of gauzy material floating on my body gave me the chills. I like beads though and denim, leather, and spurs, so in my mind I envisioned a different kind of faery. Not that I dislike a frou-frou faery, I like to look at pictures of them. However, if they are dark and mysterious I like them a whole lot better. Now that I think of it…I should’ve been the mysterious Black Faery. I could’ve done gauzy material in black…I know I could.

My mind is wandering again…are you getting to know me better? Denim seemed the logical choice, so I sliced a pair of my husband’s jeans open at the legs and then started to add other pieces of denim here and there. I frayed the denim pieces and added really cool beads with messages and handmade glass beads, beads from old necklaces belonging to my grandmother, and chains, and then I went out to the barn to find old bridals with silver. After removing the silver, I put it on the skirt too. But wait, I needed leather, straps from the now disassembled bridal because there were still some really cool pieces of silver I couldn’t get off.

But wait, after looking at the skirt, I’m thinking it’s interesting, but why would a faery wear this? (Why would anybody, it weighs a ton) So I concede to adding little gauze rosettes here and there. Every faery needs gauze, don’t they?

Why didn’t I let someone make my costume? I was an art major, and love to create. One of my very favorite artists…Salvador Dali. Can you think of what the costume looks like now?

Now back to the spurs…it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now I’m wondering if it’s over the top?

The Fish

I’m mourning a fish today I’d owned less than 24 ours. I’d named him/her Suck-U-la. I think the girl who took Suckula out of the Walmart holding tank, injured his little belly. To make matters worse…I don’t get any sympathy. My daughter says “I told you so.” And goes off to gossip with her husband how I didn’t follow the proper procedures introducing the fish to the tank. Insult to injury.

To make matters worse, the poor little fish lingered. When I took Corey to the airport, the rest of the family went to buy a new fish. The new fish looks nothing like Suckula…maybe I shouldn’t go there.

Brit Blaise Blogspot

Mike's coming for a visit today! Hooray!
I haven’t written anything new in days! It makes me uneasy to go so long without a WIP. A work in progress to me is something new and exciting, but in reality I have many WIPs—too many. Time to stick my nose to the grindstone.

Trace sent a preview of the cover of FIX THIS! It’s really fun! I’m behind on uploading my covers to my website. OUT OF SPACE will be released before I preview it!

Brit Blaise Blogspot

Pre-coffee rambling...

Up at the butt-crack of dawn and trying not to worry that I’ll have another disappointing a day at the house. I have an electrician coming to give me an estimate. Already I can see this place is dominating my
time and thoughts.

I returned the edited “Fix This” to my editor yesterday, so that only leaves me one story to edit…“Two Weeks in Paradise”. I need to get writing to take my focus off the negative beginning of the house or else buck up. I once started a story where a woman was restoring a house her mother left her. I’ll think about that story today and see if it helps.

For pictures and an update of our progress go to
Our-Old-House.com.

One nice note this week, my portfolio is on the rise since I’ve taken a more proactive stance. My cash positions used to outweigh the securities, but no longer. Of course I can envision a big old house gobbling my profits;-)!

Brit Blaise Blogspot

A New Blog...

at Our-Old-House.com to see pictures of the monster I bought. And to hear the latest in the saga...