It's amazing how long it's been since I've been here last!  There's a lot of catching up to do, if you have time to read.  Speaking of reading, I want to thank my fans for staying fans even though I hadn't been writing anything new.

Before I begin writing, I want to call my mom and tell her goodnight, so I'll be back here in a little bit...

And, now I'm back!

Where should I start?

Let me start by saying that I finally took that vacation.  Originally, it was going to be a VERY budget one of staying a couple of nights at the local Motel 6 in order to have use of their shower.  However, the part of the motel where the rooms with roll-in/walk-in showers are located has been having some kind of problem getting hot water.

I believe that the place has about five buildings, and two of those buildings (including the ones with the showers) just simply aren't getting any hot water.  They've been having all kinds of trouble-shooters there and still haven't solved the mystery.

So, I decided to stay at a place that cost slightly more than Motel 6.  I can't think what the name of it is at this time, as it's been under several names.  In fact, it was the original Comfort Inn here in town.  At some point, it became the EconoLodge.  However, I don't believe that this is the name by which it now goes.  To make a long story short, they had several styles of handicapped rooms.  Some where regular tub-shower combos with grip bars.  Others were walk-ins, but you didn't walk directly in and had to step over something.  Currently, I'm not up to that.  They did have a single roll-in (fit for wheelchairs and those--like myself--wanting a floor-level access) but it was being rented.

I had stayed at the current Comfort Inn before and enjoyed it but had remembered it being somewhat higher.  However, it was under five dollars higher, if I recall correctly.  It had everything I needed.

So I checked in there--and ended up staying four nights.

How wonderful it was to have that shower and a working TV that wasn't off in a cold room!

It was close to Christmas (I ended up returning home on Christmas Day), so I got to watch a lot of the classics that I always enjoy; hearing some wonderful Christmas music; and--as an extra treat--seeing The Sound Of Music.

I didn't get as much done during my vacation as I'd planned on doing, but I certainly got lots of mileage out of the shower, the TV, the free breakfast buffet, and something called The Manager's Reception, which occurred on select evenings and included cheese, crackers, meatballs, veggies, other goodies, and beverages.

There was one convenience store open, so my mom and I got some food from there for a picnic-style Christmas dinner.  We ate it in a favorite spot and, then, drove around looking at the lights.  We were both snuggled into our own homes to wait for the snow to come in after that.

The snow barely arrived.

In fact--other than a powdering every now and then--the significant snow didn't arrive until well into the new year.

We did our usual New Year's Eve thing of leaving home in one year and returning in another.  During our excursion, we had our first meal (picnic) of 2007 in the parking lot of a country church.  Then, we drove around and looked at the lights before arriving back home about two or so in the morning.

Due to the weather (slick weather and trick-knees don't get along very well), I've not been on any more outings since arriving home on--Wait!  That's wrong!  It just seems that way!  I've been on a couple of outings since January 1.  However, I've had a lot of indoor time and have been using it to work on different writing projects.

Right at this time, one thing I'm doing is to try to connect the majority of places where I spend time on the Internet together in some way or another.  All of this is time-consuming, and I've been keeping some pretty odd sleeping and waking hours.

One thing I'll eventually have is a page with all of my active blogs on it (links to them), and that will enable me to be more regularly active in more of them.

That seems to be my progress report for now, as far as my writing activities go--that is, connecting myself and joining new sites.

My "adopted" kid brother and computer guru  has been, in some of his rare spare time, properly paginating the book I've been writing.  Once he's done, I can finish it and have it up for sale.

Tonight, I played catch-up with one of my goddaughters.  Her oldest daughter is having some serious health problems, and she wrote an e-mail to me last night asking me to pray for her.  Macie started having problems with her colon a couple of years ago (mostly, bouts of constipation) , but her problems now cover her entire digestive tract.  She was in and out of the hospital this past week, and, this week, her doctor is going to look at some tests done on her to figure out what the best plan of treatment will be.

Michelle's been so angry with the school system, because she trusted her three kids (two daughters and a son) to it, and at least two of them got bullied on a regular basis.  We suspect that this might have been what has led to Macie's health problems, because this began to happen a couple of years ago when Macie was in second grade and she suddenly was depressed every school morning.

I brought this possibility up first, and Michelle told me that she had been wondering the same thing, because stress could lead to the first symptoms (the constipation and explosive bowel), and those first symptoms could bring on the next symptom (colitis--Macie has the colon of a 70 year old woman, according to the doctor), which have led to other symptoms of ulcers  and near-ulcers all through her digestive tract.

Anyway, Michelle is homeschooling now, and her kids are thriving.  But Macie is still sick.  Sick or not, she's doing fifth grade courses in all but math, which is still fourth grade.  Her first-grade boy (who had been getting bullied day in and day out by the same fifth-grade boy) is now working at second grade level, and her second-grade daughter is working, for the most part, at third and fourth grade level.

Michelle's married to a sweet man who had never had any kids, and, as far as he's concerned, Michelle's kids are just as much his kids as if he had fertilized the eggs.  Macie has a father who will show up when the moon is blue.  Ryann's father was murdered.  Karl's dad is involved in his life in an active way (though, now, he's serving over in Iraq), so he has two dads in his life.  So does Ryann, because she has a close spiritual connection to her late dad.  Macie's dad is just the same as absent, so Allan is the only dad she thinks of as a dad.

Allan and Michelle met when she was working at a service station/convenience store and he was one of the customers.  He's like someone out of another era (an old-fashioned guy), which appeals to Michelle, because she's the same way.  They're a very modern family in many ways--especially, when it comes to the Internet--but they're more like a family like you might see in one of those 1950s sit-coms or The Waltons.

They think outside the box--especially, Michelle (a trait she, no doubt, got from her godmother  LOL).

Well, I think I've pretty much said all that needs to be said at this time, so I'm going to get  back to work on some of the other things I'm doing.  Looks as if I'll be staying up through the rest of the night and, hopefully, stretching out to get some real shut-eye in a few hours.

I'm doing much better when it comes to inserting more sessions of stretched-out-and-comfy shut-eye....Bye!