How is it the middle of May already? Almost half the year is gone and I (Deanna) currently don’t have much in the way of writing to show for it. If you’re a regular subscriber here, you already know that I’ve been in the middle of selling the Washington house. Greg and I headed out there at the end of February this year and worked nonstop all of March on fixing up a few things inside and doing our spring cleanup outside in order to get it ready to sell. It went on the market in early April, had an offer within two weeks, and then sold a month later. In that same time period, Angie and I went to Hawaii for a week on a vacation that was planned last fall, and then I got home and hit the ground running with packing up and moving out. To make matters even more difficult, my husband, Greg, fell and pulled a muscle in his leg in early April, leaving him well below 100% while we packed and moved.
But we made it! The house is sold. Most of our stuff is in storage, and we’ve moved out. We even made the four-day drive to Tennessee right after closing. Angie hosted us and our two dogs, Stout and Stella, for a week while we did some house hunting. Greg liked one house and I liked another. We ended up making an offer on the house that I liked, but we didn’t end up coming to an agreement with the sellers and walked away. Honestly, when Greg and I have looked for property in the past, we were almost always on the same page. But this time we weren’t, which felt really strange to me. Usually, we are really in sync with each other, so walking away was the right call. Especially since on Friday we found land we love, in a neighborhood we both love, and we made an offer that has been accepted. Luckily, a friend of ours (who is part of Angie’s family) is a licensed contractor, and she’s taking on the construction of our new home. We feel like we are in great hands, and if all goes well, we’re getting a house built this summer exactly where we both want it on a nice five-acre parcel of land. Whew! It’s exciting, but it’s been… A. Lot.
Greg and I made it back to New Orleans yesterday, where I will be digging in to do some serious writing. Which leads to me an update on Fibers and Felonies. If you preordered, you may have noticed that the preorder on Amazon was canceled yesterday. That’s because Amazon only allows us to move a preorder out twice, and with all these big life upheavals going on, Angie and I just couldn’t meet the deadline. The book will still be published; it’s just not up for preorder anymore. It is partially written, and pretty entertaining so far… if you ask us. We just couldn’t rush it, as we want every book to be written to the best of our abilities and to meet or exceed your expectations of us. As soon as we know when it will be published, we will let you know. Fingers crossed, you won’t have to wait too much longer.
Now I’ll leave you with a funny anecdote from our visit to Angieland. As I mentioned, our two dogs, Stout and Stella, went with us. They are both just over a year old and full of puppy energy still. Meanwhile, Angie has Lucky, her sixteen-year-old cat, who used to be a surly puss who had no hesitation about letting someone or something know when he was tired of their crap, usually in the form of a vicious swipe of his claws or an out-of-nowhere nip with his teeth. However, these days he’s much mellower, thank goodness. Because tiny little Stella, the supreme diva trapped in an eight-pound Havanese body, absolutely fell in love with him. Every time he was in the room, she was all over him, wagging her entire body as she flirted with him and kissed his ears. For the entire week, where ever Lucky was, you would find Stella, trying to get his attention. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing for her, and soon enough we started calling her a hussy. It was said with plenty of affection, but still, the girl needs to learn how to play hard to get. After six straight days, Lucky still wasn’t super interested in her, but at least he put up with her shenanigans and no blood was drawn. We all called it a win.
