Debbie Macomber's Blog, page 43

And We're Off!

The grand adventure is about to begin.  Wayne and I are headed to London this evening and then France for a river cruise.  This will be Wayne’s first time on the continent.  As for me, my French is very poor but I do remember how to conjugate verbs from two years of high school French classes.  I hope to send pictures along the way if I can make my electronics work properly!

Easter Egg Hunt

The great Macomber Easter Egg Hunt took place this weekend.  My eight-year-old grandson, Isaiah, wrote out a list of ideas for me.  First item:  more candy, more money.  I did my best.  On Saturday afternoon, kids and grandkids came to our house here in Washington, eager for our annual family hunt. (God supplied a beautiful, sunshiny day.)  After the mad dash around the property came the tallying of who had collected the most eggs and the most money.  Candy and coins were spread across the living room carpet like pirate plunder as the kids counted their loot.  Maddy gleefully announced she had the most money because Carter bought all her candy for $5.  And Carter?  He had the most candy!

A Day at the Beach

My daughter, her husband and three of our grandchildren have been with us for the last eight days.  The kids have had a blast fishing off the dock, swimming in the pool and running down the beach.  They’ve gone to the beach (less than a half mile from the house) to swim in the ocean, and yesterday they had quite an adventure.  Kevin, my son-in-law, was with the kids, who were out quite a way. Suddenly several kids shouted at them from the beach and were pointing at the water.  Kevin didn’t think much of it until a number of adults joined in, pointing and shouting, too.  Sure enough, a shark had headed their way—an eight-foot-long shark! Kevin scrambled to get the kids out of the water, and they all raced home, fighting with one another on who could tell me about the shark first.  All is well that ends well!

Competitive Streak

Both Wayne and I have a competitive nature.  We’re constantly looking to best the other, but never more than since we got our FitBit.  This tiny device totals our steps every day.  (You can also log onto their site and keep track of food intake, workouts, calories burned etc., so it’s more than a pedometer.) Because I have a sedentary job I rarely get in my 10,000 steps a day, but I average a good six to seven thousand, and on good days manage the 10,000.  For the last several weeks we’ve been challenging each other to do better, to be more active.  Because Wayne’s been doing a lot of physical therapy following his shoulder surgery, I’ve bested him quite a bit recently.  He hasn’t taken kindly to that.  In fact, I found him trying to place his FitBit on Bogie.  No fair, Wayne Macomber!

Rap Song by Bailey

[image error]One of the questions I'm asked most often has to do with my children.  Will any of them be writers, too?  I have wonderfully creative children, but none share my passion for writing.  However, my grandchildren show real promise.



Allow me to brag a little. My granddaughter, Bailey, ran for school vice-president and WON, due in large part to a rap song she wrote with her father.  Here it is, in part:



Well my name is Bailey, people call me Crazy

One thing about me, I'm sure not Lazy

Work don't phase me, smellin' like a Daisy

Running for VP, rhyming like Jay-Z.



As you can see, the talent in this family runs deep.  I'm so proud of her!

 

Fun Being a Grandma!

Three of my grandchildren are visiting Wayne and me this week.  (Their parents tagged along, too!)   As soon as we landed, I grabbed the kids with their backpacks and headed to the house, leaving Jenny Adele and Kevin to deal with the luggage. The kids weren’t in the house two minutes before they changed into their swimming gear, raced to the pool and plunged into the water. After a five-hour plane ride and another two hours in the car, they were more than ready to play.  I can describe the experience in one word:  cannonball.  Wayne and I got into the water with them, and we all had a blast.  In fact, we were having so much fun that we didn’t hear Jenny Adele or Kevin arrive . . . with all those suitcases.  It’s so much fun being a grandma!

First Day of Spring!

Bogie and I welcomed the first day of spring with a long walk this morning.  I wanted to give him lots of extra attention, as I’m leaving for Seattle this afternoon and will be away for a week.  I’ve been loading up the refrigerator with packaged meals for Wayne.  If I don’t he would eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the entire week.  Peanut butter and jelly might not be such a bad thing. A steady diet of PB&J will guarantee Wayne will miss me!

Rehab with Bogie

Wayne is busy at work on his rehab, and I have to admit he's doing a great job with his exercises.  Notice the golf club he has in his hands.  He's working on his shoulder and improving his game all in one.  The only negative is Bogie, who loves to have Wayne down at his level.  He thinks it's great fun to lick Wayne's face or climb on his belly while he's exercising.  Oh, the joys of recovering from shoulder surgery!

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Lunch with The Love Squad

I had a lovely lunch yesterday with a group of ladies who call themselves The Love Squad.  They read my book  A Turn in the Road and fell in love with Max.  The table was set with a toy motorcycle at each place setting and the napkin rings were small tires (I envision toys all over Vero Beach missing tires).  There was even a road map on top of the tablecloth, indicating the stops Bethanne and Max made on their trip.  Every item on the menu was taken from the Cedar Cove Cookbook.  I was wined and dined and loved by the Love Squad!



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The dreaded black screen

I’m not much of a technical person.  When it comes to computers, I can write a chapter, store a chapter and print a chapter, and beyond that I’m pretty much useless. 



Saturday afternoon, while I was watching an on-line lace-knitting class, my computer screen suddenly went completely black.  Nothing I did helped (and probably only added to the problem).  I’ve never had a computer crash on me before, so I did what every sane, sensible woman would do.  I prayed over it.  Big time prayers.  Prayers that would move mountains and part the Red Sea.  When I finished, I called and left a message with the computer fix-it guy.  My prayers worked.  Not only did he call me back on a Saturday, but he walked me through the rebooting process, and I have my computer back!