Dear Diary: Back to Work, NYC, WIPs and The Oscars

Ahhhh, what's that I hear? The sound of silence? Well, not entirely... The kids are back to school after 10 days off, but Brandy and Louie are having their first morning wrestle and the guy is here to take the doors off the rooms in my house. The doors are the final frontier in the recent home renovation project. For nearly 10 years, we've lived in a house that has all different doors on all different rooms. I scratch my head wondering when that was ever in style. Umm, never? We've been saying we were going to do this job for ages and now, it's ON. So one final week (I hope) of disruption in the house before things really get back to normal.

Over the vacation, I took my kids to NYC for a few days. (Photo to the left was taken at the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The building under construction to the right of the Empire State Building is the new World Trade Center tower.) We got very lucky with balmy weather that made walking around the city much more pleasant than it would normally be this time of year. The kids ice skated at Rockefeller Plaza, we went to the top of 30 Rock and my daughter got to see Jimmy Fallon practice his monologue. Funny story about the monologue... They were giving away tickets in the NBC Experience store, so we grabbed three and of course never looked at them. When Emily heard she was going to meet Jimmy Fallon (one of her favorite comedians), she had to go back to the hotel to shower and change. I thought that was really cute. She was like a giddy little kid, and I haven't seen her like that in a long time. We get back to NBC and we're told by a self-important security guard that Jake can't go in because he isn't 17. "Well," he mutters under his breath, "she isn't either." Okay, shut up now, please! Emily has always looked much older than she is, even though she won't be 17 until July. No one would argue if you said she was 20 or older. Jake, on the other hand, won't look 17 when he IS 17.

What was funny about the whole incident was that he was far more indignant about the crack to his age than he was about not getting to see Jimmy Fallon. So here I am in NYC with a major dilemma: do I let my kid go off by herself to see one of her favorite comedians or do we scuttle the whole thing? She was very good about it and said if Jake can't go in, I won't go either. Another mom standing in line with her two girls spoke up and offered to take Emily with them. She needed two more tickets to get her group in, so we gave her our tickets and she took custody of Emily, which was very comforting. I did tell her, "If you steal her, you deserve her, and she's VERY expensive to have around." The other mom, who was there with two teenage girls of her own, thought that was funny. I think she can relate! Of course it all worked out fine, and Emily actually exchanged words with Jimmy Fallon, which is the highlight of her life thus far. The other mom waited with her until we were reunited which was really great of her. While Emily was in the show, Jake said he would've been really bummed if she'd had to miss it because of him. There's hope for him yet, but he did tell me he "needed" a Coke to get him past the disappointment. Such an operator! One of my friends pointed out that letting Emily go off by herself in NYC was a good "dry run" for 18 months from now when I might be leaving her there for college. Sniff... I don't like to think about that!

Speaking of college, while we were in NYC, we toured NYU for Emily. I can sooooo see her there. Sigh... It's four hours by car from here, but a quick one-hour flight. She would have some amazing opportunities as an NYU student. Now we'll have to see about getting her in. I think it's great that she is seeing these schools now and realizing what she needs to do grade-wise for the rest of her junior year to make it happen. We also went to see the 911 Memorial. After living through that searing day, I wasn't all that keen on going to the memorial, but both kids really wanted to see it. In the end, I was glad I went. I think the memorial is beautiful and fitting and so incredibly sad. Have you seen the memorial? If so, what did you think? If not, would you want to?

Not much work got done while we were in NY, but over the weekend I wrote the first two chapters of McCarthy book 6, Season for Love. I needed to get the first chapter done so I can include it in the back of Hoping for Love. Season will feature Owen and Laura with snippets of stories for all the earlier couples as winter sets in on Gansett. It will show our island friends over the holidays with a wedding thrown in and possibly an engagement. Book 5, Hoping for Love, is off to the proofreader for a last look before it goes live in March. This week, I'll also be showing off the cover of Hoping for Love at the McCarthys of Gansett Island Reader Group on Facebook, so make sure you join the group for the first look at Evan and Grace's cover and to be the first to hear the release date.

This week, I'm back to work on Fatal Attack. Time to kick that book into high gear! I've also been chipping away at Duchess by Deception in my "spare" time. If you're keeping score at home, yes, that's three books currently in various stages in three different genres: contemporary, romantic suspense and historical. And you wonder why I worry about my head exploding?!

Finally, what did you think of the Oscars? I thought the show itself was a major SNORE. I hate all the stupid "bits" and the acrobats and other junk that sucks up time I'd rather see given to the winners so they aren't played off five seconds after they get on stage. Billy Crystal was just okay, in my opinion. Robert Downey Jr. was hilarious and should be next year's host. I was disappointed that my fellow Rhode Island native Viola Davis didn't win, but I love Meryl Streep, and as always, she was classy and perfect. (LOVED Collin Firth's Mama Mia comments. I don't know about you, but I could listen to him read the phone book. He's adorable!) I loved Meryl's dress, too. Normally, she's somewhat of a fashion disaster, but last night, she was spot on. Angelina, please keep your leg in your dress. We really don't care. I swear. Brad, love that you're sporting "The Rachel" these days. Nice tip of the hat to Jenn. The only nominated movie I saw was "The Descendants." I had soooo many issues with that movie and the plot (they're going to hunt down the mother's lover while she is DYING in the hospital? Really?), but I had no issue with two hours of George Clooney on the screen. Dreamy. I was thrilled to see Christopher Plummer win as well as Octavia Spencer. I'm looking forward to seeing "The Help." What did you think of the Oscars? Have you seen any of the movies? Which one is must-see?

Happy Monday!

Dear Diary: School Vacation Week

The kids are home this week, which clearly changes the writing dynamic. One of them sleeps until noon and the other is up earlier, but he's good about entertaining himself when I'm working. So I'm trying to get some writing done in the AM and then hang with them (as much as teenagers wish to "hang" with their mother) in the afternoons. Tomorrow, we're heading to NYC for a few days for college tours at NYU and Fordham for my daughter, the artsy-theater-musical type. While we're there, we also plan to tour the 911 memorial, which both my kids wanted to do, and go skating at Rockefeller Center, which my hockey-playing boy wants to do. He also asked if we could score some tickets to a Knicks game so he could see their new sensation Jeremy Lin play. I laughed. Hard. As if! I'd like to see Wicked while we're there if we can fit that in. We'll see! My husband HATES NYC, so it's a great time to go with just the kids since he is working this week.

Some of you have asked how our new dog Louie (also known as Screwy Louie when he is being crazy and just LOUIS when he's misbehaving) is fitting in. Well, it's like he's always been here. He fits in perfectly with all of us. He and Brandy get along great. They love to wrestle and play and then they collapse for a nap before starting the whole process over again. We have an invisible fence in our yard, which is the only kind of fence we could possibly have since our yard is really weird. The invisible fence gives them the full run of the place, and Louie is now fully trained on the fence and knows his limits. It makes life a lot easier when we can send them out to play in the yard when they are getting too wild inside. Brandy really seems to like him, but even she has her limits. On the first night we let him sleep outside the crate, it was like she told him, "I don't mind having you around here, but don't get any ideas about sleeping with us." That first night, he got in bed with Jake and has slept there every night since. Jake loves having Louie snuggled up to him. He says, "Let's go to bed, Louie," and off they go. The only bad part is when Louie uses Jake's belly as a springboard when he bounds out of bed in the morning. Ooof! He's a cute little dude, and already love him.

Next on my mind is the season finale of Downton Abbey. WHOA! Did you see it? That last five minutes made my foolish heart go pitter patter. My friend and fellow Downton addict, Julie, sent me this link to a blog that deconstructs each episode. It's pretty comical reading and the author is, like me, a HUGE fan of Maggie Smith's dowager countess, who in my humble opinion, steals every scene she is in. I agree with the blog's critique of some of the second season's bigger failings, but even with the glitches (Robert's "thing" with the maid? UGH!), it's still riveting TV. I've even got Dan watching it, and he agrees that Maggie Smith is hysterical.

On the writing front, I made great progress on Duchess by Deception this weekend. It's coming right along. I'll be spending more time on that today along with Fatal Attack, which is also continuing along. There won't be much writing getting done while we're in NYC, so I'll hit it hard again next weekend.

I'll be back on Saturday to report in on our trip. Wish me well! Three days in NYC with two teenagers! Pray for my sanity! :-)