This entire week has been about the wall. Not a writing wall. Nope. Book is fine. In fact, my brain coughed up yet another book last night while I was sleeping, although it’s a romantic suspense, so maybe a tough sell. But a brain made to invent stories will keep on inventing them no matter what, so this is why I am awake with a new proposal in my head.

The wall is in the laundry room, a shared wall with the preschooler’s bedroom, and it has a dead valve where a live valve should be, hence water has been leaking into the wall from the pipe. We discovered this when we noticed that the carpet along the wall by the above-mentioned daughter’s bed was damp and went looking for the cause. This totally explains my ongoing asthma attack. Hello, mold. So, no laundry, water shut off, various people called, and then waiting for various people to appear to fix said problem.

The final fix is scheduled for this morning, and this afternoon we will hopefully be done with the wall.

It’s been kind of like that settling in post-move. Between the furnace, hot water heater and plumbing, really unless a meteor hits the roof nothing else can happen, so we should be good to go with the house now. But TGIF, people. I am so done with the week of the wall.

Now I’ll just go write down this new idea I dreamed. Because you never know when somebody might want a sexy romantic suspense.

Okay, with Pinky and the Brain the plots always happened at night, and I’m not really trying to take over the world. Just this book. I know there’s going to be chaos this afternoon, so I need to get my plotting in this morning. Writing a book is kind of like getting Pinky and the Brain to work together and actually accomplish something. An interesting process. Brain wants power, Pinky wants to wear lederhosen. Both contribute to the story. Without the Brain’s plotting, there’s no structure. Without Pinky’s wild and wacky contributions, there’d be nothing stirring the plot up.

Maybe this is a lame analogy but it’s the best I’ve got without any caffeine in me. Good thing there’s a large bag of coffee beans in the kitchen. Happy Thursday, world, and happy birthday, Mom!

Ann tagged me with this meme, so here are 6 unimportant things about me:

1. I’ve never worked in a coffee shop.
2. I can’t wear watches.
3. I don’t wear shoes in the house.
4. I change hair length, style and color regularly.
5. I currently don’t own any dress-up clothes.
6. I have dragons on my desk.

In other news, I’ve been visiting the local bookstores to sign stock, and am happy to see that Borders and B&N both have Satisfaction on the shelves. Yay!

Satisfaction Guaranteed is officially on sale in stores near you, and shipping from online retailers (e-tailers?). If you see it, let me know!

Satisfaction has one of my favorite heroes ever in Kane. Hope you enjoy reading him as much as I enjoyed writing him!

And don’t forget, Wild Wild West is still available. Here’s a fun write-up at J. Kaye’s blog!

Once upon a time, the husband (before he was the husband) asked me to spend a week with him in Hawaii. Kauai, to be specific, known as the garden island. Many famous movies have been filmed there. The scenery is spectacular. We lugged his view camera all over the island and many gorgeous photographs resulted.

We saw the rugged Na Pali coastline. We saw Waimea canyon, looking like it was carved out of God’s own pastel box. We saw red dirt and the greenest greens, flowers everywhere, including orchids of incredible variety. We heard the music of the surf at night from our beachside home away from home, ate unbelievable food, and agreed hourly that this was paradise.

Our beachside home came with a guestbook, and one day we leafed through it to see who else had stayed there. Two stood out. One, a mother and teen son who’d come so he could snorkel Poi’pu. He sounded like a riot, a great kid who knew how lucky he was, and I wished we could’ve met them. His entry made fun of another guest who stood out…The Ant Lady.

The Ant Lady had stayed there while getting married. Her entry was a litany of complaints. Everything was wrong. The island hospitality was substandard. She hated the place on the beach because at night, she saw…ants on the lanai. Oh horrors. Ants. Outside. In the tropics.

I don’t know if that marriage lasted. I doubt it. If it did last, that is one unhappy husband, because there is no pleasing somebody who was fortunate enough to spend a week in paradise and spent it complaining.

The Ant Lady stands out in my mind as the embodiment of the takeaway. All of us decide what to take away from an experience. We took countless memories of sun and surf and stark raving beauty, and it lives on in large framed prints all over our house, plus two original watercolors by a local artist. The kid took his memories of a great time with his mom at the beach, maybe one of the last vacations they had before he went off to college, who knows? And the bride took away, not memories of her fabulous Hawaiian wedding in one of the most beautiful places on earth, but ants on the lanai.

We don’t always get to choose our circumstances or experiences, but we can choose what we take away. That ant lady, no matter how much she had in her bank account, is one poor human being, impoverished where it matters. Life can enrich us by the hour if we let it. I don’t want to waste my life dwelling on the ants on the lanai and missing the sunset hung across the horizon in streaks of crimson and pink and gold.

In no particular order, ten things I’m grateful for:

1. An organized garage!
2. a great morning walk in the sunny foothills with my family
3. coffee with a shot of espresso and a chocolate-covered coffee bean
4. pussy willows starting to bloom
5. sunrises and sunsets
6. books and bookstores and libraries
7. hugs and kisses
8. cuddly cats
9. a bright, sunny office
10. a very clean house

Hope this Sunday finds you full of gratitude for the little and big things in your world.

Somehow this book fell into my shopping cart, despite the houseful of bookcases and the pile of unread books on my bedside table. And I knew the minute I opened it I would be sucked in, and I am. I love the way he makes ordinary objects sinister and ordinary events gripping. I love the imagery and the way he talks about creative work as simultaneously something supernatural and something that deserves a solid work ethic like any other job. Most of all, I love stumbling across a quote from Christian mystic Dame Julian of Norwich and feeling like I caught the inside joke. Stephen King delivers solid entertainment and something to think about, too.