Kensi always wants what she's not allowed to have. She wants to sit where she's not allowed to sit. Here, she's on the top shelf of my knick knack stand...forbidden territory. But little Miss Kensi isn't content. She wants to play with Hubby's mounted deer head. If only her arms were a little longer...

I now have a treadmill. It’s in my basement, facing the big window looking out into our backyard. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Darling Hubby found me a used one. Well, yesterday, we went to pick it up. The trip alone was a bit of an adventure. He had to put the battery charger on the old pickup truck to get it started. It’s a 1990 Chevy Silverado Heavy Duty. We bought it new when gas was around a dollar a gallon. I love that truck. It pulled my horse trailer for many years. The horse and the trailer are gone, but we still have the truck. We just can’t afford to drive it. I commented to DH as we cruised down the road yesterday, “I feel like I’m on top of the world.” Compared to my Saturn Ion, where my backside is about six inches off the ground. DH just grinned. He loves that truck, too. What we expected to be a forty-five minute trip turned into an hour. One way. Gracie Garmin, the GPS, took us a long way around to avoid 25MPH traffic through a park. But it was a nice day t

The thermometer has reacquainted itself with the sixty degree mark…even if just for a couple of days…so I’ve been able to shed the funk I’ve been along with my winter coat. But it’s not only the weather that’s lifted my spirits. Yesterday, I downloaded the proofs for the upcoming Guppies Anthology, Fish Tales , including my short story “A Murder Runs Through It.” All contributors were asked to check their pieces for typos and such. I’m a lousy editor where my own work is concerned, so the fact that nothing glaring jumped out at me doesn’t mean much. Well, it means that after the thing is published and readers start pointing mistakes out to me, I’ll have no one to blame but myself. The other thing that perked me up yesterday was the release of the list of Agatha Award nominees . I’m thrilled to see so many friends’ names. I was jumping up and down as if I were on the list. Hey, if I’m not there, at least I can live vicariously through my mystery writing pals. Congratulations all around!

I'm over at Working Stiffs today blogging about my role as Conference Yoda for the 2011 Pennwriters Conference. Actually, I'm touting the wonderful work done by this year's conference coordinators while I simply sit in my cave in my swamp and offer advice. Come over and see what's in store for this year's conference goers.

I shot this while wandering around my yard this afternoon. I love the texture of the bark and the contrast of the snow and the blue sky.

Yes, I know I haven’t been blogging as much as I should. My excuse? It’s winter and there hasn’t been anything to write about other than the miserable snow and cold. And since I’ve been griping about that since early December, I figure it’s getting old. To show how miserable this winter has been, let me tell you what just happened this morning that absolutely made my day. My darling hubby came home with the news that someone he works with is selling a really nice treadmill for really cheap. As in we-can-afford-it cheap. Did I want it, he asked. Hell yes, I want it, I replied. Pathetic, don’t you think? With the aforementioned snow and cold, I haven’t been getting out to walk. With the dreary, dark mornings, I’ve been sleeping in all too frequently instead of getting my backside out of bed to workout or do yoga. As a result…well, let’s just say not only don’t my skinny jeans fit, but I’m starting to fill out the fat jeans. Plus, my mother keeps coming out of the grocery store with baker

Over at Working Stiffs, I'm subbing for Will today. Since there was a little football game going on during the time I would normally write my blog post, I simply made it a diary of the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the ending didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, but if you can stand to see a grown woman cry, come on over and check it out.

Steeler mania is rocking my brain this week, and since it's my day to blog at Working Stiffs , what else would I possibly write about?