Visiting the “Draft” file…

I spent a good part of Monday afternoon reading through the 123 (no exaggeration!) blog posts I’ve drafted but haven’t published. Some turned out to be great stories that I’ll publish with a word of warning that the content came from the draft file. Then there were several wonderful titles that got me super excited to read what in the world I’d blogged about, only to open the post and see nothing, or just a few words or sentences. So, because misery loves company, I’m going to share some of these titles with you all so you can all be like me and wonder “where was that going?!”.

• Yard Sales vs. Rose Gordon (The only line in the post said: Yard sales for the win!)
• Backhanded Compliments (The only line in this post read: No matter who you are, we’ve all received one of these little jewels…)
• Let it Go! (Not the song)
• My Favorite Things (Yes, because you ALL have been waiting with bated breath for what I love. As if I’m Oprah. Good grief.)
• In My Former Life (Actually, this one has a LOT of content. I write it when I was 27–I’m now 31–but I might post this one one day when I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel.)
• From the Marshmallow Man to a Beast! What’s a mother to do?! (This was from two years ago when my son started wrestling at school and got his butt handed to him. That didn’t last too long. 😉 )
• Candid, Blunt and…well, perhaps a little TMI
• Didja Know #10 the definition of a Nincompoop
• Wicked Wednesday!
• Didja Know Facts about Humans (Contrary to the cute kid in Jerry McGuire, the human head weighs approximate 12 pounds.)
• The Truth about Passions of a Gentleman (Ooooh, so many things this post could have contained, but probably didn’t.)
• Wanna be my friend? Probably not.
• Looking into 2015
• Sometimes I wonder…
• A Day in the Life: Humble Pie (I dearly wish I’d written something–ANYTHING on this page to know what I was talking about because I am quite certain that since the date I wrote that heading I’ve eaten a lot more humble pie.)
• Ten Year Reunion?
• Unspoken, but not unimportant, rules among authors
• End-of-Year questions for teachers and moms (final plea as homeroom mom). This was the year an alien had inhabited my body and told the teacher I’d be delighted to be the homeroom mom for a gaggle of kindergarteners. 
• Research
• RT Anyone?
• Kids + Outside = Resistance, “no fun”, and a tinge of whining! Why, oh why?
• Awkward confession…totally off topic.
• Seeking suggestions.
• I need help… (yes, yes I did and still do!)
• A writer’s confessional
• A writer’s biggest reward
• Let’s talk spam, and I don’t mean food.
• No title
• Advice on friends from Edward Banks
• Poor Bob
• A candid discussion and a few revelations
• Come laugh at me!
• Authors are human, too. At least this one.
• Writerly Woes
• Oh. My.
• Scandalized. (Another Florida escapade.)
• An Impromptu poll (AKA I need help again.)
• Inside joke for those who’ve read Intentions of the Earl (I’d love to share with you all where I was going with this, but alas, the contents were blank.)
• Oh help us all…I’ve been asked to act as host.
• Drawing lines–Warning Touchy Subject
• It’s tough being a writer… (So tough, I seemed to have given up on this topic after writing the title.)
• In regards to my books, please note:
• Guilty pleasures
• A hot date
• 10 things you probably don’t know about me (Seeing as how I only got to #5, I’m going to take that as a hint that I’m pretty dang boring.)
• Hard lesson: old manuscript copies do not make suitable scrap paper.
• Not a fairytale wedding
• Do romance novelists have a more stellar romantic life than everyone else? (I can answer that without a post: no.)
• Ever wish the ground would open up and swallow you whole?
• Honest chat
• Perceptions
• Men can be such babies
• Henry and June, Part 2
• Right on!
• Unconventional
• Where did you come up with THAT?!

 

There were many other fully written blog posts that might require a little polishing and posting. Turns out I blogged more than I originally thought I had. 😀

 

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Death (wish) by Summer Sausage

[WARNING: you might want to skip this post if you have a weak stomach–or at least wait until you aren’t eating.]

I love summer sausage. Nay, not love. I LOVE summer sausage.

Summer sausage, however, doesn’t love me…

Around this time of year, my local Sam’s Club will sell have a display full of about 300 logs with a label: “Yard ‘o Beef” slapped on the front. I cannot force myself to walk past the display without my mouth watering and my fingers itching to grab just one…OK two.

And so it was in October I came home from Sam’s with six feet of beef (these things are about as thick as the business-end of a baseball bat). It was all I could do to wait until I got all of my groceries put away before sawing into one. Then, I did a few more chores and I cut off a few more thin slices. I sat down on the computer to do emails and check book sales–grabbed a few more slices for the task. Dinner time came, I wasn’t so hungry so I cooked for my boys and just snacked on another couple of slices. Played a game with my kids and spent an hour of us all doing some clean up. When they went to bed, I decided to watch an episode of Switched at Birth (I just discovered this show and it’s really good). Anyway, I was feeling hungry now so…you can guess where this went, I grabbed that blasted summer sausage log, a knife and cutting board and headed for the living room.

By the time I was ready to head for bed, I realized that in the course of the afternoon, I’d devoured approximately half of that log! Yep, that’s about 18″ of a slab of densely packed beef.

Gritting my teeth, I shoved it as far back in the refrigerator as I could so I wouldn’t have a repeat performance the next day.

I soon found out, that step was unnecessary when an hour later I was awakened with the most painful stomachache I’d ever experienced.  Followed by a taste in my mouth so foul my nose and eyes watered. I rolled over to get more comfortable and the situation intensified. Immediately, I shot up. I need to get to the bathroom! It wasn’t a far walk, but alas, the trip was made for naught. Nothing was budging either way. In fact, it just made me sicker. I slunk back to my bed and crawled in, another round of the noxious gasses filling my mouth. Blech. I laid on my side and a HUGE air bubbled filled my stomach. Groaning, I rolled back onto my back and in all of my infinite wisdom, I tried to push my stomach for relief. Nothing.

Sweat started t0 dot my hairline and my stomach roiled and burned with pain as what felt like a ball of broken shards of glass started to move in my intestine. I thought I was going to die.

The ball of broken glass only moved about three inches, then stopped. I clenched my eyes closed tight and repressed a groan, then flipped onto my stomach. Pressure! I need to put some serious pressure under my stomach. Let’s force this ball through! No such luck. Never in my life have I ever wanted to have gas, but at that moment, I’d definitely welcome it.

Gas! Perfect. Clutching my stomach and trying to blow out the nasty taste in my mouth as quickly as I could, I hobbled to the bathroom to see if I have any sort of GasX or PeptoBismol. No and no. Another eruption of nasty taste accompanied by bile surged up my throat and into my mouth. Instinctively, I clenched my belly and just knew 18″ of summer sausage was about to reappear. Nope. Not that fortunate. Nothing.

I glanced at he clock. It was barely past midnight which meant the Podunk dollar store about 1/2 a mile from me wouldn’t be open and my conscience wouldn’t let me drive to town to get the relief I sought while my kids slept. It was almost bad enough to consider waking them. Almost. Thoughts of having to hobble around Walmart at dark-thirty while clenching my stomach and groaning in pain kept me from going. What if someone thought I was on drugs and called the police on me?!

Another rush of pain shook my body and I flung my writhing, hot self up into the bed, waiting to die because surely this would be my last night on earth.

Obviously it wasn’t, but it went by slower than a UPS delivery when you know something’s coming. With each tick of the clock, I could almost hear “sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage, sausage”.

When morning finally came, I felt no better than I had hours earlier and had to take three breaks on my way up the stairs to wake up the boys. (A good old fashioned wake up call might have been a better idea.)

When at last I got them downstairs, fed, clothed and out the door to the bus stop, I flopped like a worm out to the car, climbed in my car and floored it to the dollar store.

“Pepto,” I croaked to the clerk when I walked in.

She blinked at me. “Pardon?”

“My stomach is about to explode,” I said through gritted teeth. “I need PeptoBismol.”

I can’t be sure, but I swear that clerk started giggling. I just followed her outstretched finger and with one hand groping along the racks to help keep me upright, I padded over to the far back corner of the store. Of course. I finally reached the back. My eyes raced across the rows of antacids, gas relief, laxatives. No Pepto or Mylanta. My eyes blurred with tears. No, this cannot be. It MUST be here. I looked again, this time using my finger to help my eyes stay on track. Finally, at the very bottom all by itself was one lonely, pink bottle. Grunting like a madwoman, I leaned so far forward I feared I might fall face first into the display (scarcely concerned about the laws of nature and that it would be this very minute that the glass bubble decided to exit–but secretly hoping it would just to relieve the pressure. Who cares if I’d be too embarrassed to ever shop there again. Relief was NEEDED.).

Making my way to the checkout, I noticed what I had in my hand was some cheap imitation. I didn’t care. it was pink and it was by the stomach relief items. That as good enough for me. I started pulling off the plastic that surrounded the cap and shoved it in my pocket. I got up to unoccupied counter and plunked my bottle on the belt. With a groan, I rang the bell, then twisted the cap off and in a move that would make my germaphobe mom shudder in disgust, I took the biggest key on my keyring and stabbed it through the foil seal on the bottle of knock-off Pepto. Vaguely aware that the cashier was now at the register and ready to scan my bottle of summer sausage antidote, I chugged about a third of that bottle.

Wiping the back of my hand across what I’m sure was a pink mustache dotting my upper lip in the most undignified way, I reached into my pocket and paid the lady, then muttered an apology, grabbed my bottle of serum and grunted back to the car.

Ten minutes later…

Everything was fine and I was contemplating breakfast (just no summer sausage).

And now, I have been cured. Just Sunday I was at Sam’s and walked past the display without having even a twinge of an urge to take one home. No, thank you!

QUESTION: What could you eat (or have already eaten) so much of you could make yourself sick? If you have overindulged, did it cure your hankering? Come on, let’s hear those stories!

Long time, no blog

For those of you who don’t know (or remember me :-p ) my name is Rose Gordon and once upon a time I wrote historical romance–mostly Regency-era.

Here’s a few visuals…

Me at RT in Chicago 5 *gulp* years ago.

 

 

And when I wasn’t slaving away to write about unsuspecting fellows and their over-scandalous counterparts, I was on here blogging about nonsense like…

Jezzie–the mannequin head my family and I pass around.

 

(The time I fell through the attic on Thanksgiving.)

 

(Crazy stuff I’ve found–and maybe bought…–at the fair or craft mall.)

I also shared on here about my failed attempts at crafts:

Held crazy votes:

 

Or shared stories about my kids:

(100 “signed by author” stickers, plus autograph for 100th day of school; and my kids fighting over a stuffed enema…)

So many of you supported me when I raised $10,000 for MS and looked like an idiot while doing it!

On the bike for the first, but certainly not last, time for the weekend. (Picture blurry to protect the guilty…as well as the innocent.)

Let me share some seriously scandalous “swag” I’ve picked up at different conventions:

 

I had so much fun writing over 600 blog posts whether they were stories about the craziness in which I live, a man’s POV of my books, hosting contests and so much more. I have missed out on so much by not posting very consistently for the past three years. A fact I wish I could change–but some things aren’t things you post. Or at least not things *I* could ever post.

Many don’t know that about 3.5 years ago my world tilted on its axis when the happily-ever-after I believed I was living fell apart. I have gone through fire after fire since and in my own opinion, I think I’ve emerged a much different, and perhaps stronger person.

Am I ready to write romance novels again? No. Maybe one day, but not today.

Am I ready to start blogging about the craziness that I now face with boys who are 10 and 12 and have entered into their first year in public school? Oh, absolutely. (Funny sidetrack: on Halloween my kids left for the school bus 10 minutes earlier than they needed to. Why? Because they could and I was in the shower and couldn’t tell them, “Oh, hell no.” When I got out of the shower, I noticed I had received about 5 texts from my kids. “Mom, we’ve been down here for 5 minutes and haven’t seen a single bus. I don’t think they’re having school today. You know, Halloween is a holiday.” Oh, my poor kids who’ve always been in a church school or heaven help me homeschooled for an overwhelming year. I wrote back: “Wait for the bus. You left 10 minutes early. The bus doesn’t even get there until 7:40 and you usually leave at 7:30. Writing me at 7:25 to tell me you haven’t seen the bus and you think there’s no school in observance of Halloween will be posted to Facebook if you two argue when you get home tonight. 😀 Love ya!”)

So, if you’re up to following my blog to follow more about me and my shenanigans, my crazy parenting, unusual finds, ridiculous signs, craft fails, wild tales and other craziness where truth is stranger than fiction, than please stay tuned and subscribed. (After all, it IS called Rose Unscripted.)

If you followed my blog as a means to keep up with my writing progress and being informed of new books only, I will by no means be disappointed if you’d like to unsubscribe.

Again, I want to thank you all. Whether you’ve been a follower since I started blogging in Feb. 2011 or have subscribed recently, it doesn’t matter, I just appreciate that you’ve enjoyed my work enough to sign up!

Winner!!!

Thank you all for sharing your stories and comments yesterday. The random winner is…..

 

Pansy Petal! I’ll be in touch shortly to get your address.

 

In other news….my mom texted me last night in a way that makes me think that there is a mannequin head traveling in my direction today… I shall keep you all posted as I’m sure you’re all anxious to hear about this.

Well, I’m a weirdo! But we already knew that.

As you all know, I’m a little strange. But hey, who isn’t?

We just made our way through the Holiday Gauntlet lined with crazy family members and staunch traditions. To offer a little comic relief to everyone who survived, I am going to share with you all a little bit about some of MY crazy family traditions. Well, just one.

When I turned 30, my sweet parents threw me a huge party. They drove in from out of state, decorated my house and pulled out all the stops. The theme: Rose’s Favorite Things. Sitting on  the cake table was a green trifle bowl with a new cluster of wax grapes. To drink we had one of those bottles of sparkling grape juice to go with:

Yes, that is a cake shaped like a hedgehog!

And finally, when I went to the kitchen, I was terrified when I saw:

I wasn’t sure what was the gift, the fake head or giving my heart a jumpstart. My mom explained that the head was because I like hair styles and this was a “practice head” that cosmetology students use to practice styling on. Since I’m  not in the market for a new career, I just nodded as the prefect idea for this head came to mind.

“Don’t you like it?” my mom asked.

“Of course. I love it! And I know just what I’m going to do with it.”

A few weeks later, I was packing up my dad’s Father’s Day gift and sending my mom something I’d found at a flea market. There was a little extra room in the box….so in went the head!

I can only imagine the surprise on their little faces when they opened that box and pulled back the tissue paper!

This is the picture they sent me when she arrived.

From then, the game was on! This head has gone back and forth between us.

They gave me a box of old DVDs they didn’t want…and what else did I find in the box?

When my kids went to ride in the car with them during another visit, I put the head in one of their backpacks and asked them to very quietly (no giggling!) slip it into the floorboard of their rig.

It was all well and good until they went to look for something and found it before they drove off and when I went out to the porch to say goodbye, I saw this:

This head has gone back in forth hidden in bundles of clothes. Hidden behind objects in the bed of a pickup truck. And what I’d consider the most daring of all, if I do say so myself, involved getting some help from a source outside the family!

After my parents’ last visit, I got up early and drove down to their hotel, then carried that head inside the hotel in my jean jacket as if I were smuggling a watermelon out of a farmer’s market. Anxious of what the clerk’s reaction would be upon seeing me remove a head from under my coat, I carefully approached the counter and asked if I could leave something for one of their guests. She agreed and asked if I wanted it brought up to them? I said, “Nah. Just when they come to check out give it to them.”

She said that’d be fine. Taking a deep breath as I reached into my jacket, I said, “Please don’t panic when you see this.” I set the head on the counter and we both dissolved into a fit of giggles.

I quickly explained the story behind the head and scribbled out a note to my parents.

A little later, I received a text:

If you look close, you can see where I wrote “enjoy” on their note!

The “gift” as the hotel referred to it had been delivered!

 

 

Now that you all know about MY weird traditions, I want to hear about yours! Weird or normal, I want to hear them all! I have a mystery box to send the winner! (I promise, there will NOT be a head in it. 😀 )

 

New Covers and a HUGE sale!

Yesterday, marked my 6 year scandal-versary as my friend called it. It was six years yesterday that Intentions of the Earl debuted! In honor of this, I put my first series–Scandalous Sisters Series, which includes Intentions of the Earl, Liberty for Paul and To Win His Wayward Wife on sale for .99 for the complete boxed set through Sunday!

Due to how large the file is, Amazon is the only store that can support it right now. I’m still working on trying to get B&N to post it, too. *fingers crossed*

Intentions of the Earl—Andrew Black a penniless earl makes a pact to ruin Brooke Banks, an American hoyden, never suspecting for a moment he’ll lose his heart along the way…

Liberty for Paul—Liberty Banks, an American vicar’s daughter, loves propriety almost as much as she hates Paul Grimes, the man her father is mentoring, and will go to any length she sees fit to see the improper man out the door and out of her life. But when she’s forced to marry him, she’ll learn there’s a lot more to life, love and this man than she originally thought.

To Win His Wayward Wife—A gentleman who’s spent the last five years pining for the love of his life will get his second chance: marriage to the beautiful, witty, but rather withdrawn Madison Banks. The only problem? She has no interest in him.

Amazon

 

And…I wasn’t going to share this because I am sure you are all tired of me changing these particular covers, but the ebook covers for my Fort Gibson Officers Series have changed for the last time. I think she did a fantastic job. I really enjoyed the previous covers as they were done by someone I know locally, however, I was having a hard time getting these books to move, so to speak, and I took someone on board to do the marketing of them and this was a change they wanted to make. Nothing inside of the book has changed.

And here they are! (Paperback updates will come shortly.)

Happy New Year!

Good Morning and welcome to 2017! May we all have a healthy and prosperous year.

Catching up:

1. Settings fixed!

I didn’t realize until a few days ago that every time I was posting, it was just being saved as a draft. I have no idea how that happened, but it’s fixed. That said, I really didn’t say anything THAT important in the last few weeks, so only one or two posts will I re-post. One is about a traveling head. Stay tuned.

2. Starting up a newsletter again. 

In 2011 when I was first published, I had a monthly newsletter. I stopped doing it sometime in 2014 in favor of a “notification only” type newsletter when I had a new book. I really feel like I lost touch with my readers when I did this, so I’ll be doing up a new one with lots of trivia, games, and of course links to freebies!

If you’re interested, please sign up here!

I think that’s all for today. I hope you all have a wonderful start to the new year!

Holiday Recipes and the 12 Days of Christmas has returned!

For anyone who may not know, I’m not the best cook. (Shhh, don’t tell my kids!) But it’s true, I’m not good with food. It wasn’t something I learned to do very well. I can follow a recipe exact and still mange to screw it up. In the past few years, I’ve gotten a little better. Still not good enough to host my own holiday party though.

However, if YOU are one to do a holiday party, I have just the thing for you.

Red Door Reads is hosting a “Progressive Holiday Dinner Party” with more than a dozen recipes from different authors sharing some of their best and favorite holiday (or anytime) recipes! My contribution: Corset-Busting Cheesecake. Now, this, nobody can mess up!

And… as promised, the 12 Days of Christmas–filled with all sorts of fun questions and giveaways will begin TOMORROW on Facebook.

This will be for 12 weekdays (Thursday and Friday, then the following two weeks Monday through Friday).

Blog Hop Winner & Some Sales to Reward yourself with for putting up with THAT relative yesterday!

First, a huge thank you to everyone who hopped with us these past few days. The random winner of my giveaway for a copy of Jessie: Bride of South Carolina is Colleen C. (I’ll email you shortly.)

The Grand Prize winner of the whole hop is: Laurie.

Now, something for everyone who had to deal with that relation yesterday–you know the one: He scrapes all the crusty stuff off the top of all of the casseroles. Or she nags you “When are you going to find someone to marry?” “When are you going to have a baby” (even if it’ll be your fifth). Or he wants to stand in front of you and talk about the election results and you can’t get away and by the time you do, your favorite pie is gone! The list is long, we all have that ONE person who you invite because they’re family and you truly do love them to pieces, but they’re like a fine wine or cheese: a little of Uncle Ralph or Aunt Fern goes a long waaaaaay.

Well, in honor of surviving it, hopefully like a truly lady…or gentleman, I have put my entire Gentlemen of Honor series down to .99 each from now through Monday!

 Secrets of a Viscount

One summer night, Sebastian Gentry, Lord Belgrave hauled the wrong young lady to Gretna Green. When her identity is exposed, the only obvious solution is to get an annulment. Only, just like his elopement plans, things didn’t go as planned and while she has reason to believe they are no longer married, he knows better. Wanting to make things right for her, he offers to help her find a husband…

Isabelle Knight has just been given an unexpected fortune and is in the midst of doing what she never believed she’d have to do: spend a Season on the Marriage Mart. Finding no one who seems to catch her fancy–or even seems bearable to tolerate until death do them part–her entire world is sent spinning with the sudden appearance of none other than her former husband.

Isabelle is in no position to refuse his offer to help her find a husband and reluctantly agrees, but what neither counts on is her future husband just might be the one she’s still secretly married to.

           

 

Desires of a Baron

Giles Goddard, Lord Norcourt is odd. Born with his life’s cord wrapped around his neck and sent away to Ireland to be raised in an orphanage run by nuns, he’s known nothing but the cold sting of being misunderstood and altogether unwanted. But that’s all about to change…

Lucy Whitaker is a fallen woman who has done her best to build a life for her and her son. But when her son finds a battered gentleman left on the side of the road, her entire world is about to come crashing down as she once again finds herself caught between two brothers: an heir and a spare.

Will Lucy’s dislike for nobility forever keep her from eternal happiness or can Giles convince her to follow her heart and take a chance on loving a baron?

    

Passions of a Gentleman

After being thrown over for the second time in one Season, Mr. Simon Appleton’s interest in courting another young lady is less than his interest in reconciling with his estranged brother.

Entering into her third, and dare she hope final Season, Miss Henrietta Hughes has a single goal: make it to August without becoming engaged, thus securing her sister’s promise of being allowed to become a spinster.

But with the most scandalous woman to ever step foot in London acting as Henrietta’s chaperone and Simon’s undeniable urge to vex her every chance he’s afforded, they both might find themselves with new plans.

    

Also, still on sale through Monday:

Jessie: Bride of South Carolina.

Tired of living under her father’s iron thumb of control Jessie Wilcox decides to do the unthinkable: run away to Montana as a mail-order bride. The only obstacle in her way: the one hundred miles between her home in Williamsburg County and the train depot in Charleston.

Joel Cunningham is in utter disbelief when the girl he once loved beyond reason is on his front porch asking him to disobey her father’s wishes and drive her to Charleston. Logic and reason scream no; his lips, however, say yes.

Will the one hundred miles ahead of them be enough to overcome the five years of painful regrets or will Jessie follow her dream for a new life in Montana?

Amazon ~*~ Apple ~*~ Barnes & Noble ~*~ Google ~*~ Kobo

 

I hope you all have a fun and safe Friday!

The Best-Worst Thanksgiving Ever ~ Turkey Trot Blog Hop

Thank you all for “hopping” on over here today as part of the Turkey Trot Blog Hop.

This year, I am most thankful that I survived LAST Thanksgiving.

Last year, Thanksgiving was more like the Fortunately, Unfortunately Game.

My day started early–very early, with the release of my first official Mail-Order Bride book: Jessie: Bride of South Carolina. 

Tired of living under her father’s iron thumb of control Jessie Wilcox decides to do the unthinkable: run away to Montana as a mail-order bride. The only obstacle in her way: the one hundred miles between her home in Williamsburg County and the train depot in Charleston.

Joel Cunningham is in utter disbelief when the girl he once loved beyond reason is on his front porch asking him to disobey her father’s wishes and drive her to Charleston. Logic and reason scream no; his lips, however, say yes.

Will the one hundred miles ahead of them be enough to overcome the five years of painful regrets or will Jessie follow her dream for a new life in Montana?

This book is ON SALE for 99 cents from now until Nov. 28, 2016

Amazon ~*~ Apple ~*~ Barnes & Noble ~*~ Google ~*~ Kobo

After getting up at 2 am, my time, midnight PST, to make sure this released without a hitch and all the formatting looked great, I went back to bed for a few hours. Got up and made all sorts of goodies for Thanksgiving including: potatoes, a relish tray–complete with sliced turkey and a delicious from-scratch pumpkin cheesecake. I had it all out on the counter (uncovered of course) and ran up to my attic to get grab something from my attic i just HAD to have. Then this happened…

Yes, I feel through the attic. Fortunately, I was able to grab a hold of one of those beams and my legs just dangled. But still.

Then I came downstairs to find this:

Insulation had “snowed-in” my kitchen…covering all of my freshly baked/cooked goods!!

Fortunately, I was safe. Yes, my food was ruined and yes, this was going to be a costly repair, but I didn’t fall. Had I fall from my 12′ ceiling onto either those counters or on my concrete floor, I probably wouldn’t be able to write this today. So, I am so very thankful for that.

A little stirred–okay EXTREMELY shaken up–I went to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house and as I was relaxing just enough while watching Home Alone, I started drifting to sleep, envisioning I was falling through the attic again! Good times.

After going home, I realized insulation was still snowing down (I’d cleaned it all up before I left) so I decided to go get my drill and a ladder to screw the ceiling back together. (No worries, I didn’t fall from the ladder–thank goodness.)

For whatever reason, last time I went to my climate controlled storage unit, I was working on some project and left my drill there. So I hopped in the car and drove over and my code wouldn’t work to get past the security gate. I tried the code over and over and over and finally I called the number on the keypad. Thinking I was about to get in, I was in for a rude awakening when the lady on the other end of the line said “You didn’t make your last payment.”

“Impossible!” I scoffed. “My debit card is attached and you guys–like clockwork–suck my payment straight from my bank account.”

“Well, it didn’t happen this time. You don’t pay, you don’t enter.”

Just then I remembered…A few weeks before I had to get a new debit card because someone had stolen my number and was trying to create dating profiles for a dating site somewhere in Africa… So, no, indeed, I hadn’t paid and though I offered to write her a check for double what I owed if she’d come let me in, she was unwilling to leave her family and drive those two miles to come let me in. (I bet she was really down at Wal-Mart waiting in line to get it for Black Friday sales! Just a theory.)

And at that moment, I had the oddest sensation: burning eyes and moisture on my cheeks! I’m not a cryer, but I was just then. It was like the flood gates opened.

However, in retrospect, I am so thankful all of this happened because I had no idea I had missed that payment and as it turned out, if I had reached Dec. 5th without payment, they’d have auctioned off my storage unit which was full of all of my swag, books, costumes, props for trade tables, and all other sorts of “Rose” things. Things that aren’t easily replaceable. Nobody would want them, but I wouldn’t want to not have them.

So in a way, it was the best-worst Thanksgiving ever and I want to thank all of my loyal readers for always being there for me. The ones who who have read this story before and the ones who sent me good vibes and thoughts.

Okay, okay, enough emotion, please leave a comment below telling all of us about a time when something great came from something you thought was so horrible to be entered to win a copy of Jessie: Bride of South Carolina.

Then please click the following graphic to go hop on down the list. Please remember, the more blogs you visit and comment on, the more chances you’ll have to be entered into the grand prize drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card.