Debbie Macomber's Blog, page 45

Goals for Life

I’m having lunch out today, meeting with three other Florida writers:  Roxanne St. Claire, Rachel Hauck and Martha Powers.  We meet every year and go over our goals.  It’s fun to mark our progress, and I always come away inspired and encouraged by my friends. 



For the last six weeks I’ve been working on a life list.  This is a lengthy list of all the things I hope to accomplish in my lifetime--places I’d like to travel, accomplishments big and small that I look forward to happening.  Goals for my life.  I’m up to about 130 things now.  It’s been great fun to stretch and grow my mind.  Every day I think of something more.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Years ago, when Wayne and I were dating, and I was oh-so-in-love (still am!), I came up with a pet name for him.  I called him Bunny Toes, because he has hair on his toes.  (Those were the days when everything was romantic, even hairy toes.)  I still call him my Bunny Toes, although I’ve shortened it to B. Toes.  Today he proved that he can be just as romantic as any hero in one of my books.  Wayne remembered it was Valentine’s Day, and he gave me a beautiful ring.  You gotta love a guy like that . . . hair on his toes and all!  Happy Valentines Day!

Yellow Roses

One of my goals for 2012 was to take an art class.  It’s something I’ve been putting off for years.  Then I heard about a class taught by a former student of Bob Ross, who had the amazing series about how to paint on PBS for years and years.



This painting of the yellow roses is the result.  My daughter, Jody Rose, has a birthday this week, and I’m giving this to her.



I don’t think Thomas Kincaid has anything to worry about with me behind a canvas, but it’s wonderful to have achieved one of my goals for the year already.

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In our own backyard!

I’d just sat down at my computer this morning when Wayne yelled that there was a manatee by our dock.  Naturally, I grabbed my cell phone (for the camera) and raced outside.  Bogie raced after me, barking at my heels, wondering what all the excitement was about.  We routinely see manatees in the inland waterway--that’s no surprise--but to have them swim right up to our dock is a rare treat.

A Special Bird

Our Florida home is on the inland waterway and I’m often distracted with the different species of wildlife right outside my back door. As I was dressing this morning I looked out my window and saw a large bird perched on a piling near our house.   I was afraid if I got closer this beautiful bird would fly away.  What makes this bird so special wasn’t its coloring or even its size.  This bird reminded me of home and family and all the fun times we’ve shared over football.  Yes, you guessed it.  The bird was a sea hawk!

A Good Day to be Indoors

It’s raining here in Florida.  Now, I raised my kids in the Pacific Northwest.  I know about rain.  After all, Washington State has the only rainforest in the continental United States.  However, Washington can take a lesson from Florida rain.  This is rain unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  It comes down so fast that windshield wipers can’t keep up with the flow.  So, Wayne and I are hunkered down.  I’ve got a pot of soup simmering on the stove and Bogie asleep at my feet.  It’s a good day for writing.

An anniversary year

My good friend, Lisa Jackson, and I keep in touch via email.  I reminded her that in 2012 the two of us will celebrate 30 years as published authors.  We both sold our first books in 1982 to Silhouette Books, which, at the time, was a division of Simon & Schuster.  We laughed about the changes in the business since we first sold, not to mention all the technological differences. I mean, who would have imagined we’d be able to read books on a phone, or that there would be such a thing as a digital reader, both of which I have and love.

Super Bowl Party

Wayne and I are having friends over for a Super Bowl party on Sunday.  We’re a big football family.  Everyone gets into the games, big time.  We aren’t alone either.  Seattle is football crazy.  Last year when the Seattle Seahawks were in the play-offs, Marshawn Lynch ran a touchdown in the last minutes of the game for a win against Super Bowl XLIV Champions New Orleans Saints.  The cheering was so loud that it actually registered as an earthquake.  Trust me, our family contributed to that noise.  To prove how big an influence football has had on our family, the first word our youngest grandson, Jaxon Paul, said wasn’t Mama or Dada it was . . . yup, you guessed it right.  It was football!

The Best Way to Shop

Wayne is fishing this morning with his buddy, Norm, so I thought it was the perfect time to make a run to Sam’s Club.  You see, shopping with my husband is not always a pleasant experience, especially someplace like Sam’s.  It’s in and out, get what we need, and nothing else.  I wish I had a dollar for every time Wayne’s said to me, “What do you need that for?”  He asks me that for every-day items like toilet paper or, even worse, chocolate.  Once in a while other women will pass our cart and send me sympathetic looks.  My guess is that when he returns from fishing he won’t even notice the cupboards are full! 

Treasures from my Grandmother

I've been working in my yarn room, sorting through my stash--going through the projects I have lined up to work on and dreaming about others.  The urge came after I received a package from my cousin Linda, who mailed me several crocheted projects our grandmother had made.  Oh, what a treasure to open that box and lay my hands on the things Grandma had created.  As far as I know, I'm the only grandchild who inherited her love of needlework.  She died when I was four or five, and this is all I have that was hers.  It's enough.  It's more than enough.



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