Where have I BEEN?

So many places!
First, my apologies for the long silence.  As you know, Mom recently moved into assisted living, and there was a lot involved, even though I must admit my sibs, Jerry, Sally and Pam, have done most of the work.  Mom’s a collector, and she has quite a bit of stuff to be sorted, packed, given away, etc.  I’m happy to report that she’s very happy at the new place, though she has had breathing issues and wound up in the ER a couple of times.
Soon after she moved, and when I had just returned from the charity gig in Tampa, Florida, I came down with the worst case of flu I’ve ever had in my fairly long life.  I mean, I was WIPED out for something like 10 days.  My sister, Pam, was so sick with this stuff that she wound up in the hospital for three days.  I had barely recovered when it was time for a quick trip to New York to meet with my agent, Irene Goodman, and have lunch with the crew from Harlequin Books, some of my favorite people.  And I’m thrilled to report that we’ve made a deal for my Civil War novel, NORTH OF EDEN, along with two connected stories–SOUTH OF GLORY and WEST OF—well, I haven’t quite figured that out yet.  🙂  Any suggestions?
I know it’s Tuesday, a day late for the new contest to begin, but here we go.  Just comment, and you’re entered.  Two winners will be chosen at random, and each will receive an autographed copy of ONCE A RANCHER, my current book.  Forgive me for bragging, but it’s been on the New York Times list for 3 weeks–and in the top 10, too.  Thank you, once and all, for the part you played in this achievement.  Next Monday (unless I come down with the plague), I will announce our winners right here and start a brand new round for the following week.
The pets are all thriving.  Mowgli and Tule have turned out to be quite the little mischief-makers, and it’s a good thing they’re so cute.  While I was sick, they swiped one of my bras out of the laundry room and headed for the back yard.  When I finally noticed, they were playing tug-of-war with it.  Tule must have figured they were in trouble, because he took off while I was getting my phone (I know, most people would go for the bra, not their cell) in order to take a short video.  Anyway, by the time I got back, Tules had jetted off to another part of the yard, as if to say, “Mom, I had nothing to do with it!  I was over here by the planter the whole time!”  Mowgli, on the other hand, is an incorrigible little stinker, and he was having a great time playing with Mom’s underwear.  I retrieved it, and took it back to the laundry room, only to have Mr. Mowgli steal it all over again.  (I told you he was incorrigible.)
Between being sick for so long and traveling to and from NYC, I’ve listened to a LOT of audiobooks.  I greatly enjoyed the DOROTHY MUST DIE series, by Danielle Paige.  The stories are a clever twist on the Wizard of Oz, and I couldn’t stop listening.  Gobbled up all three full-length novels, one after the other.  And since I was on a YA kick, I listened to I WOKE UP DEAD AT THE MALL and DREAMLAND SOCIAL CLUB–though written for teens, all these books were clever and entertaining.  There were a bunch more, too, but I’ll tell you about those in future blogs.
Tomorrow is my Weight Watchers meeting.  It ain’t gonna be pretty.