Moving

No, I'm not, moving that is. At least not in the near future, but after an evening of hunting for my hole puncher so I can move ahead on the edits of a first draft, I'm not sure that even near future is late enough. Hey, I'm a creature of habit. What can I say?

It all started early this year. We have 3 bedrooms, the largest a very nicely converted garage that Mallory, my youngest, occupied. I had the other 2 bedrooms, one on the small side, the other fairly roomy. This all came about after the other 3 daughters had moved out on their own. My bedroom aka sleeping space was in the larger of the 2 rooms, while my office occupied the smaller. I began to wonder why. I spend more than 2/3 of my life in my office (and the bathroom and the yard chasing grandkids, etc.) and only sleep less than 8 hours in my bedroom. My office was crowded, especially when the playpen was set up for the youngest of the g-kids. And I inherited (although I'm adopted) my mother's penchant for hoarding. There should be a AA-like org for that, believe me. The logical thing to do was switch rooms. I did, which brought about the second breaking of my poor desk, but I rectified that with a broken yardstick and nails. Don't ask. It was a fast move made on a weekend. Remember, I'm switching rooms, not expanding. Furniture and boxes were moved from the bedroom to the living room, then from the office to the bedroom, and then the living room to the office, now the bedroom. It was a nightmare, and I was slowly---very, very slowly---beginning to sort through boxes and toss the junk. Key word? BEGINNING.

Then Chelsea moved home. Chelsea and Mallory get on like cats and dogs, meaning not at all, especially in the confined space of a bedroom, no matter how large or whether on separate planets. They fought, I stressed, until I finally gave in to Mallory's pleas to let them have my office and bedroom. Separately. Blessedly. Luckily, we have an abundance of beds and other furniture. (See "hoarding" above.) I had come to love my office in the bigger of the two bedrooms. I was comfortable, things were within easy reach, and except for the boxes that yet needed to be sorted and tossed and filed, everything was perfect. It had the right "feel". I switched again.

With a hand-drawn floorplan, I mapped out the placement of my things. It looked good. The sleeping and working areas were seperated by furniture (shelves, mostly), and I thought it would work. It didn't. I had to move everything around again, even my poor, pitiful desk, which is nailed together completely now and probably sturdier than it was when I first got it. The room(s) still isn't right, but I'm stuck with it. My back is to the door when I'm at my desk. Bad Feng Shui. Very bad. But at least there's a little room to move. Very little.

And that's where the lost hole puncher comes in. I'm not a neat, compartmentalized person, so when clearning my desk for each move (3), I tossed things into boxes and baskets and bins. None of those moves ever afforded me the time to replace things where they needed to go. The hole puncherer is among those things.

I have no room. I'm surrounded by boxes of my stuff, her stuff, and her stuff, and real moving would be the only thing that would straighten that out. No, I'm not moving, not in the near future, but if I could be blessed with one small miracle--finding the hole puncher--I would be eternally grateful.

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend, while the girls are gone playing?

The Two Cases of Mistaken Identity

"How obvious it is now--the gift you gave him. All those letters, they were you... All those beautiful powerful words, they were you!.. The voice from the shadows, that was you... You always loved me!"- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac, Act 5

My name came from the above reknowned play. Roxann(e). I just don't have the E at the end, as the character did. Blame it on my mother. My middle initial is E. If you've never read this classic, you can always watch the movie Roxanne, starring Steven Martin and Daryl Hannah. While it's not nearly as touching as the original play, you'll get the gist. It takes a different spin on the mistaken identity theme, something that's come up twice lately in my life.

Not a real common name, Roxann(e), although there was one girl a year younger than me in high school in a small town I shared it with. I never expected to be a part of a small group of romance authors that had another Roxanne in the midst. The Ditzy Chix. Two Mary's? No. Two Linda's? Not even one. In fact, ours is the only name that is shared by two. Weird. Just plain weird. But I digress.

The confusion came about when a friend asked one of the OKRWA members at RWA's National Conference this month in Washington, DC, if Rox won the National Readers Choice Award. My book, Family by Design, was a finalist in the Short Contemporary category, which I was extremely surprised and humbled to learn this past spring. When I say it's an honor, I mean it sincerely. The friend asked and the OKRWA member said, "Yes! She did!" The thing was, it was two days after the announcement of the winners of the categories, and I hadn't been notified. Not expecting to win, I was still basking in the glory of having been a finalist, happy that I hadn't won since I couldn't be there in person. Again, quite an honor. So what was the deal? I was finally able to reach a friend who was attending conference and verified with her that I was NOT the winner of the short contemporary category. "No," she said, "I was there, and I don't remember who did win, but it wasn't you." Mystery solved, right?

Wrong.

Just how did this rumor get started? And it did get started, even though I assured everyone who congratulated me that I did not win, but was fine with the outcome. (That "honored" thing again.) A few days later, I returned to the OKRWA website to check out a suspicion I had. I was right. Roxanne St. Claire was the winner of the Romantic Suspense category of the widely acclaimed contest. (BTW, Huge congrats, Roxanne! And to Michelle Celmer, who won the Short Contemporary category!!) A simple mixup with the names. Nothing more. Not even a disappointment. At least the mystery was finally solved. :)

Then came the second case of mistaken identity. A few days ago I received a message from my fellow Ditzy Chix, Roxanne Rustand, who asked if I'd received the author copies of my August book. I had. But so had she. It happens. Sometimes the wrong books are shipped to the wrong author, although not usually because of the same first name. Today I received a phone call from Harlequin, verifiying that I had received my books. I had to laugh. With only three Harlequin/Silhouette authors out of literally hundreds, if not thousands, sharing the same somewhat unusual first name, what were the odds that this would happen?

Having gone through the majority of my life knowing less than a handful of people with the same first name as mine, having two incidents of confusion in the same month has been, well, weird.

I think I'll change my name to something unusual. Then again, what name these days is unusual? Mine obviously isn't. I'm just pleased that I share it with three lovely women, two of which are very talented writers, that I know. What could be better?

Signing of for now as Rox...

Lazy Days of Summer

Not quite! If you think late July and August are the time for lazying around, you haven't been to our house!

July 4:
One lost puppy. Our Bassett Hound, Willow, disappeared in the midst of pops, whistles and bangs. We suspected foul play. No trace of her or how she escaped the yard. (Did she escape??? Or did she have help???)

July 25:
Three weeks later. We get a call from the animal shelter. Willow has been dropped off. Do we want to pick her up? Uh, yeah. In spite of the fact that she's one more living being to take care of--and don't we have enough?--of course we want to pick her up...to the tune of $70 plus rabies shot plus license plus promise to spay in 30 days at the cost of $50. Uh-huh. Well, like L'Oreal, she's worth it. But just why did I think we needed a puppy? And why did I ever think my youngest daughter, who I got the puppy for, would actually take care of an animal? Four grandkids, a step-granddaughter, and another granddaughter on the way, plus the two new fish, Shrimp and Spock, aren't enough? I can barely take care of myself!

How the mind works:
I was driving home from the other side of town on Friday and saw an interesting billboard. Because I was on the interstate that runs through and around the city, I didn't get to read all of it, but what I read sparked some ideas. It read: CEO OF LARGE CORPORATE...WIFE BEATER. Whoa! It wasn't until a few hours later when I was copying notes down from a hopefully upcoming book set in Desperation, OK, that I realized this was the heroine's backstory! I was pretty much stuck, until that lightbulb went on, so I'm hoping now I can move forward with it. Now you know where ideas come from. ;)

How the fingers work:
As soon as I hear the words "we want to buy" from my editor, I create a schedule. You see, I'm the Queen of Procrastination, and if I don't have a reminder of something coming up...like a deadline...I'll play around and not get it done. With Morgan's Pride (w.t.), the deadline for the finished book is September 15, a very doable date. I set my goal to finish the first draft for August 23. At 3 pages a day or so, that would work fine and still give me time to revise what's needed and polish before sending to meet that deadline. I finished the first draft at 4 a.m. on July 23, one full month before my stated goal. I am in heaven!! Well, for a few days. There are still revisions and polishing and printing involved, but the way seems pretty clear (knock on wood) to be able to get it to my editor in advance of the deadline. But all I have off is a few days, because there's a deadline for the second book, Nikki's Secret (w.t.), too. A full proposal (first 3 chapters and synopsis) is due November 1. After that, I get to write the rest of the book. This means to stay ahead, I can't procrastinate. BOO HOO! I can't sit and veg out, watching movies or reading books that keep calling to me or even stories that have only just birthed themselves in mind and keep whispering write me... No, one must buckle down and do what needs to be done, not what one wants to do. RATS!

How the mind messes with...everything:
Needing to get started on Nikki's Secret is a priority. There's no reason why it can't be ready to send for that November 1 deadline--or earlier!--except it just doesn't want to come together. The heroine is being a willful brat, not following my directions. We've had a little chat, and maybe she'll behave. Maybe. I'd rather be thinking of Garrett's Woman (w.t.), the story mentioned above with the abused heroine. Why? Nikki is just as interesting as Libby. Both are strong, independent women who only have to surmount unimaginable odds to find true love. (Hey, this is romance, folks! It can't be too easy!) Nikki and I will soon come to an understanding. She can be as smart-mouthed as she wants, but she must adhere to my plot. And she needs to realize that Mac isn't glowering at her. He simply has an arrogance about him and knows this woman (or any woman) is, for now, off limits. Poor Mac. Poor Nikki!

So if you should happen to run into me and find me muttering to myself, it's the characters I'm talking to, not pure madness. When I do hit that pure madness state---and it could be soon---I'll be found in a corner in a fetal position, humming lullabies. Or maybe some Michael Jackson songs. Oh, you'll know what it is. The question is, will I?

Happy lazy daze!!

A Very Weird Miracle?

Yesterday I blogged about the disappearance of our dog, Willow, on the 4th of July. Less than fifteen minutes later, the phone rang. I couldn't imagine what the City would be calling me about on a Saturday afternoon. It was the animal shelter! Someone had brought in Willow!!

Last weekend, a cute little lost Pomeranian showed up at my oldest daughter's house. Sabrina created, printed, and posted signs around the neighborhood about the dog, but in a week, she'd had no response. So when the animal shelter called to say Willow had just been found and dropped off there, we decided an exchange was in order. "Muffy" was returned first, then we were off to find our baby. We roamed the holding kennels until we finally found her. There was no doubt who the Bassett belonged to. She recognized us immediately. As we returned to the desk with the necessary paperwork to get Willow released, we could hear her howling. She was ready to go home!

I still find it very strange that it took three weeks for her to be discovered and taken to the shelter. The paperwork stated she was found about five miles away by someone who lived more than twenty miles in the opposite direction. At this point, it probably doesn't matter, but we've decided she can't be left outside when no one is around to make sure she isn't escaping (which I highly doubt happened) or being snatched from our yard.

She loved the backyard and spent both days and nights there, before she disappeared. Because we were still working on house training, when inside, she slept in her kennel or had free roam of the kitchen, which leads to my office. I can see her from my desk, so she isn't lonely...which doesn't mean she isn't going to howl for attention. :)

So to whomever found our Willow, thank you!

Shame on Me!

Almost an entire month has zoomed by, and I haven't stopped in to say hello. Shouldn't summer be lazy? Not here! And not for me!

It appears I haven't been blogging, but that isn't true. Besides here, I also blog at Bits & Bytes: Romance...the Writers Way, my writers group's blog. The 29th is my day to blog, but I'm constantly posting comments on everyone else's posts. It's very interactive, and we're having tons of fun talking romance writing. If you aren't a writer, that's okay! Readers are more than welcome to share their thoughts, and maybe learn something along the way.

Want to meet your favorite Harlequin American Romance authors? Check out our blog! News, recipes, writers' tips, cleaning tips, and all kinds of good stuff can be found there. My blogging date at HAR is the 19th, but I missed it this month. :( Must do better!

Last weekend, two of my daughters, my oldest granddaughter, and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. I was sadly disappointed. I've only read the first book, so I'm not privy to all the ins and outs, but I have seen every one of the movies. I had a really hard time following what was going on in this one and even dozed off at one point, which resulted in a poke from my daughter. :) Mallory, my youngest, said it was because so much was left out, yet there were things in it that weren't in the book. (Mallory is an HP expert, having read each book multiple times. DO NOT play HP Trivial Pursuit with her unless you want to lose, big time.) Maybe I should start reading those books!

Sad things going on here. I posted earlier about our new puppy, Willow. On the 4th of July, someone stole her from our backyard. :(( She was playing out there in the early evening, while the neighborhood fireworks were going off. I could hear her howling at one point and went out to check who was making all the noise. (The fireworks, not the pup.) Discovered it was a neighbor, three houses to the south and muttered some unkind words under my breath, then went inside. Willow was fine. The next morning, she was nowhere to be found, her collar laying open just inside the fence. She's chipped, so if she'd run away and someone found her, a trip to the animal shelter would be all that was needed for her to be returned to us. No more pups for us. I'll stick to our two cats, Tosca and Mocha. They're tortoiseshell calicos that look like mother and daughter, but aren't related. One of these days, I'll post some pictures of them. Oh, and there are the four betta fish we have. Two belong to my daughter Chelsea, a male (the fish, not the daughter and whose name I forget) and Harley, the female. My two are both males, Shrimp and Spock. Watching them swim around can be soothing, and they notice when I'm paying attention. Maybe a bird someday? Who knows?

I've just finished writing the first draft of the third book in the Desperation, OK series. I hope readers love this one as much as they seem to love the first one, The Rodeo Rider, available in stores next month. Hearing from readers adds such a spot of joy to my day! Don't be shy to let me know what you think!

Last but not least, if you haven't met the Ditzy Chix, my very very bestest friends, stop in at our website. Or even better, come visit us on our Facebook page! We've just gone from 10 of us to 11, and will probably have another new chix or two in the future.

Yes, you can find me on Facebook! (How did this happen?) I love chatting with others there!

Until next time, have a lovely summer! Fall will be here soon--my favorite season--so what's left of the lazy (ha!) days of the last of summer should be savored. Make some memories!

The Ditzy Chix on Facebook

Crazy Days

Can things get any crazier? Last week, my front tire blew out on the Interstate and we found a snake in the house. Baby bull snake, but I don't care what the size, they are not my favorite, um, pet. Wrote 20 pages on Friday (big WOO HOO), saw Harry Potter Sat. night (thought it was booooring), and proceeded to have a recurrance of May/June's asthma attack, so Monday netted another trip to minor emergency. Not a cheap thing.

This week? It's already piling up with stuff. Stuff done, stuff needed done, stuff being stuffed into other stuff. I'd like to stuff the stuff and go on a road trip to anywhere. Not possible. :( What's a vacation????

Facebook has been busy with many attendees posting during and after RWA (Romance Writers of America) National Conference in Washington, DC. A conference I was not able to attend and wanted to very badly. Bummer. Next year: Nashville. Maybe a road trip? hmmmmm

Those familiar with the Ditzy Chix might be interested to know that the Chix will soon have a group on Facebook for fans. We LOVE fans!! And we ARE ditzy. Who but a bunch of ditzes would admit to that?

One more chapter to write on first contracted book, then it sits for a week to wait on first read-through. I'm a month ahead!!! While it cools, I'll be starting the proposal for second contracted book and working on a couple of new websites. And all that other stuff, too.

The bright spot in everything has been the temp cool down lately. It was 62 degrees when I got up this morning. Now that's what I call sleeping weather! Too bad I didn't have time to sleep.

Oh, well, another day, another list of things to do.

Crazy days.

Crazy and Ditzy

Yeah, that's me.

The week started with a front tire blowing out on the Interstate that runs through the city. I was able to hobble the car off the nearest ramp and pull into a parking lot behind a Dog & Shake drive-in. The trunk was full of boxes of things we picked up from storage over the weekend, so everything went in the back seat. I pulled out the spare and discovered there was no jack, but, hey, the tire was full-size and in super condition! What can I say? I know how to change a tire, but I'm not macho enough to lift up the car to do it.

Called the only one of my daughters available where she works, and she and her hubby came to rescue me. Things were going fairly well until the next discovery: Son-in-law's lug wrench didn't fit my lugs. We're 1 for 3, so we find an auto supply store and buy a nifty new lug wrench, which will stay in the car, along with a small hydraulic jack I have at home. No, I did not know the jack and lug wrench were missing. I'm not that crazy. Unfortunately I don't have two new tires sitting in a closet, so that's a purchase I hadn't counted on. Does it ever end?

Copyedits for Bachelor Cowboy (available in January 2010) arrived on Tuesday, so I made most of the changes needed yesterday and will finish today, then mail them off to my editor. I emailed her this morning to ask a question about one change needed, but totally forgot she's at RWA National Conference in Washington, DC. Obviously I'm not there this year. :( One more ditz moment.

32 days until school starts!! I'm giddy with anticipation. Okay, I'm giddy about a lot of things, but three less g-kids during the day will be heaven! Of course there's a new granddaughter who'll be coming along about the same time, so I shouldn't be feeling all that giddy. Does it ever end? LOL

With a book to finish (Morgan's Pride is the working title) and another to start (Nikki's Secret, working title), there's much to get done in the next few months. Both books are set in the same fictional town of Desperation, Oklahoma, where The Rodeo Rider (available next month) and Bachelor Cowboy take place. I love Desperation! No, not the desperate kind, just the fictional town kind. ;) I hope there'll be more, and I hope readers love them as much as I love writing them. Check out my website for more information and excerpts.

Until later, have fun!

Flying Fingers

Oh, don't I wish?

Each month, my writers group offers a BIAW challenge. For those who aren't "in the know", BIAW means Book In A Week. No, we don't really strive to write a whole book in one 7 day period, but we do try to make headway--even if that headway is only a page or two a day.

Switch gears for a moment:
When I'm on a contracted deadline, I've found that cutting my goal down to bite-sized pieces is the only way to get it done. If I don't do that, just the thought of writing 160 pages in a couple of months can leave me wordless. Imagine that!

The first thing I do after I hear "we want to buy the book" is to sit down and map out a writing schedule. I have to take into account the time of year. While summer is great for some people, it isn't my time to get a lot of writing done. The g-kids are out of school. (Bless teachers and school!) When school is in session, there's the dropping off and picking up to contend with, but it's the same every day, five days a week, so that makes it easier. And there are other things that will always interrupt, but most things can be worked around and time can be made up somehow.

I'm one of those people who, even on a short trip, must have a map handy to see my progression down the roads. It's the same with writing. I have more charts than a cartographer has maps. My charts are my maps. I know when I've hit the 30% finished, when I'm over half-way, what days I wrote and how much, both page and word count. Much of that in duplicate, if not triplicate. There's a name for that. Anal (as in analytical). I'm not like that at all in my everyday life. Not even a smidgeon. But it works with writing, which is why I am more than 2 weeks and 2 chapters ahead of schedule, and unless something comes along to bring me to a screeching halt, I'll gain even more speed--and pages and words--now that I've passed the 60% mark. It's all downhill from here, and I can almost see the light in the tunnel. I'm just hoping, as my friend Kathie D would say, that light isn't a train.

So if I should disappear for a few days and not make it here to blog (and whine and laugh and complain), it's because I'm reaching for that brass ring, that moment I can lean back in my chair and say, FINIS!

Which brings me back to WARA's BIAW. In spite of a gazillion interruptions and moments of absolutely writer's block, and aware that anything can happen, I set my goal for 30 pages. As of this moment, I'm close with 27, and that will be reached if not surpassed later tonight.

Flying Fingers? No, just determination to get ahead of the game and stay there, one word at a time. This is really a no-fly zone.

Music for the Soul

I nearly always listen to music when I write. For one thing, if it’s snappy songs, the writing goes faster. But if I’m writing a deeply emotional scene, I’ll put on my “writing” music, songs I’ve collected over time that put me in the mood. Among the artists are James Taylor, Phil Collins, a little Chicago, several Barbra Streisand, and an occasional country song, among the 169 collected songs.

Music, like fragrance, can recall memories. (The smell of Chantilly perfume will always remind me of the Christmas dance my sophomore year.) Songs from the late 60’s are my favorite among the 642 songs in my player. Those songs dredge up memories of high school. I was lucky. I consider those the best days. Sad, huh? But it isn’t. They’re happy memories, for the most part.

The ringtone on my cellphone is Hello, I Love You by the Doors. One day my phone rang in a store, and a lady near me chuckled. Ha! She got it! Hey, I thought it was appropriate. Truthfully, my oldest daughter is a bigger Doors fan than I ever was and she wasn’t born or even thought of when it played the airwaves. But that particular song reminds me of summer days dragging Main with Sandy in her mom’s red Buick Opel. The one we could ride all afternoon in on 50 cents worth of gas. Of course that was in the days of 18 cent a gallon gas during gas wars and attendants who rolled their eyes at our wealth. That’s only one song. 99% of the time, I can peg the year a song was played by simply connecting it to a memory.

Kicks – Paul Revere and the Raiders 1966: The style show (home ec dept’s little “play”) spring 1967 and dancing to the song on stage as part of the storyline, then getting a pitcher of water dumped on my head…part of the storyline. Saw the band perform two or three times. I lost count. But I did sneak up the center aisle of the Cotillion ballroom with my trusty Swinger Poloraid, avoided getting caught, and snapped a picture. Totally against the rules.

These Eyes – The Guess Who 1969: When I got up the nerve to ask a guy to the prom. (He turned me down. Oh, the heartache!) And then I saw the band perform it live in 1970.

Can’t Help Falling – Elvis Presley: Don’t know when it came out, but a trio of girls sang it at our Jr/Sr prom when I was a junior, 1968. And wasn’t that an after-prom party to remember!

People Got to Be Free – The Rascals 1968: Again, dragging Main with Sandy. Yeah, we did that a LOT. It was a SMALL TOWN with little to do. When not dragging Main, we were sitting in the park, resting the engine. ;) And getting ready to drag Main again.

Okay, that’s enough. I could do this all day, and words are not getting on paper. Well, the right words and the right paper, that is. Music ready, blank page staring me in the face…let’s write!

Happy 4th of July!

Independence Day. Freedom. So that means I don't have to do any work, right?

Didn't think so. :(

I slept late (hallelujah!), and the house is quiet without the sound of children fighting (hallelujah!), so I'm feeling lazy. No plans for celebrating the holiday, which suits me fine. The best fireworks were already done at RiverFest in May, and the neighborhood is filled with snap, crackle, pop, which I could do without, easily, so it's not like I'll be missing anything.

There's plenty to do today: Get some pages written. The book is "officially" half written now, which means I'm a quarter of the way to my deadline. Huh? (whispers: Three chapters were already written for the proposal.) The living room, especially, is a disaster zone, so something needs to be done today or tomorrow. Or both, more likely. Some kind of nourishment is in order sometime today, but QuikTrip has hot dogs, so... Hey, let them do the cooking!

Sending wishes that everyone has a happy and glorious holiday, spent any way you want. I'll be...well, back at it, just as soon as I can put my feet on the floor and do it. Don't hold your breath.

Oh, Crap

What? Another five years has gone by and it's time for a class reunion? Well, yeah, and it's been ten years, because I wasn't in the mood nor did I have the time five years ago. I have even less time now, but people have been asking, so...

I'm Official Class Reunion Alumni Planner. OhCRAP Which is what I say every five years. How did that happen?!

Don't get me wrong. I truly enjoy spending an evening or even more with old (relative term) friends from high school. Once every five years is fine, although some friends I'd like to see more often. Oh, come on, nobody likes everybody with the same degree. The feet-dragging comes in when it comes to planning and contacting. Because we skipped a reunion (okay I skipped it), it's harder to find where some may have moved. Even with the information highway aka internet, some people just can't be found.

And it isn't like there were hundreds of us. There were like 54 graduates in our class. We do invite some who didn't graduate with us, so the total of invites is much nearer 60. That's 60 email addresses or mailing addresses to track down this year. We're close to having them all, but missing contact info drives me to the edge of insanity. Next comes sending out the infromation, frustrations and all, with hopes that no one will trash it, thinking it's more spam or junk mail. Then comes planning some sort of activity to get things rolling. However, with this group, things are always rolling. Still, some sort of entertainment comes in handy.

So I'm digging in. The first letter is written and will be sent out by the first of next week. (It should have gone out in March.) What I'm really, really hoping is that someone--anyone--will come up for a place where we can have this thing. Right now, I'm at a loss. So what's new?

Hear that sigh? Back to the goals.

Goals? You Must Be Kidding!

No, no goals. No way, no how. I don't want to hear the word, at least for a couple of days. Which of course doesn't mean they aren't there, whispering in my ear. And some will get done, only because they must. But I'm not going to think about it.

I am SO looking forward to the weekend. The first person who comes along to mess it up is dead meat. Seriously. Plans? Absolutely NONE! Oh, wait, there is one. No family. As it is, my two youngest live with me, so that's more than enough. I'm NOT in the mood to add the other two daughters, their spouses and especially their kids. I am officially Nana'ed out.

More later...