Dear Diary: Super Bowl Mania

It's all Patriots all the time in New England this week as the team headed to Indianapolis yesterday for the Super Bowl. The picture of a smiling Tom Brady was on the front page of the Providence Journal this AM. I adore him and that smile. He's so damned cute! Looking forward to Sunday's game and hoping for a better outcome than the last time we faced off against the Giants. I have to laugh at my son, the Boston sports fan, and the run of luck he's had since he started rooting for our local teams:

1. Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007
2. Celtics win the World Championship in 2008
3. Patriots play in the Super Bowl in 2008 and lose, but have an undefeated season. What will happen in 2012?
4. Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011

He's suffered from an embarrassment of riches in his young life as a sports fan. We tell him all the time about my mom who lived her whole life as a Red Sox fan without seeing them win a World Series. In fact, she died Aug. 31, 2004, two months before the Sox won their first series in 86 years. My husband's father lived 86 years as a Chicago Cubs fan without ever getting the big win. I fear my son is in for a future of disappointment after such an amazing run! Can it continue? We certainly hope so! GO PATS!

I was supposed to go to the gym today, but I've got a sick boy home with me, so I'll be hanging with him. There's always tomorrow! Over the weekend, I cruised past the 50,000-word mark with Hoping for Love, so that brings us within shooting distance of THE END. Will keep you posted on how Evan's book is coming along!

Since it's Monday again, I thought I'd share some more reader mail from the past week...

From Marian:

Just wanted to let you know how much I loved Falling for Love. I'm completely smitten with all of the McCarthys of course and have been since I first met Mac & Maddie!!

From Hattie:

Omg Marie! Just finished reading true north. You are my new favorite author. I'm about to go on a reading spree. This is the first of your books that I've read. I've got some catching up to do! 

From Jane:

Gansett Island series...wow! Great series!  I'd downloaded your Love at First Flight  last year and really enjoyed it. Recently I went looking for other titles you'd done and found the Gansett Island Series.  I'm hooked!! I just downloaded the 4th one to my NookColor and finished Janey and Joe's story last night.  I couldn't put it down. Please keep up the great series; you're a very talented writer!

From Debbie:

Just finished the 4th book in the McCarthy's series. I just couldnt read the series fast enough. Cant wait for the next one. Time to start the Treading Water series.

From Barbara:

I'd forgotten what a wonderful island Gansett Island is.  I've decided that it is a magical place full of a powerful love potion.  WHY did I wait so long after finished "Starting Over," before starting "Falling for Love?"  I was so glad to be back home on Gansett Island.  I'd forgotten what a glorious place it is to reside.  Of course, now I've got to re-read all of the series.  I'd forgotten some of the storylines in the other three books.

So who are you rooting for in Super Bowl? Do you watch the game or just the commercials?

Have a great day!

Dear Diary: What Weekend?

Another weekend has flown by in the blink of an eye leaving me to wonder what happened to the last two days. We spent some time on a snowy Saturday getting ready for the next phase of our home renovation project. Our new king-sized bed arrives tomorrow. I ordered it online and "some assembly required" has Dan up in arms about just how much assembly may be required. We went with a storage bed with drawers underneath since we have a small room and can use all the storage space we can get. Brandy the dog will be bummed to lose her under-the-bed "office" hideout, but it's her fault we needed the bigger bed. She insists on sleeping with us and is a huge bed hog! We're also sacrificing bedside tables for a bookshelf headboard. Can't wait to see it all put together, but tonight we get to move everything out of our room. Our current bed is going to the guest room downstairs, so that's where we'll be sleeping until the new bed is put together. Good times! More upheaval! Can't wait to be done! My goal was to have it mostly done by the end of January. We may make that goal. We'll see!

Yesterday, I spent a big chunk of the day on the odious task of paperwork. Where does it all COME FROM? It piles up in my kitchen until it starts to avalanche and I have no choice but to deal with it. There's personal stuff and business stuff and kid stuff galore. I caught up my business checking account and tax deduction spreadsheet that I let go for a staggering amount of time and then I am left to piece my recent life back together so it makes sense to the accountant. When the check register says "PayPal," something else has to go with that transaction. Thus a trip through the PayPal history is required. Are you seeing why this process always gives me a headache? New Year's Resolution (it's not too late to make them, is it?): Keep track of expenses and deductions AS THEY HAPPEN rather than weeks later. If that actually happens, I'll be shocked. But I will try...

Also yesterday, I got to see my son score a point in hockey and then get into a scuffle with another player that involved the use of their hockey sticks in an unauthorized manner (AKA stick to body). Dan and I were shocked that Jake took a swing at another kid with his stick, because that is soooooo not like him. He says he was provoked. We say if he does it again he won't play anymore. Sheesh! This isn't the NHL, boys!

Watching the New England Patriots earn another visit to the Super Bowl was a highlight of the weekend. The game was sooooo stressful! Can you tell me why I care so much? I'm not much of a fan until things get interesting at the end (sort of the same way I am about the Bachelor—talk to me the last three weeks. Before that, who cares?). However, I'm ALWAYS a fan of Tom Brady who is just too cute for words. He's not only the best quarterback of his generation, but he's a gentleman and not afraid to say he played terribly in a playoff game in which he didn't throw for a single touchdown. I like that about him. He takes the blame when it's his fault. There's not a prima dona bone in his body, at least not that he shows us. We're hoping for a different outcome than we got in the 2007 Super Bowl face off with the Giants, a win for NY that my son still calls "cheap." (One of his favorite words.)

Over the course of this weekend, I also did a re-read of what I've written in Hoping for Love so far (good news, I don't hate it) and laid out the print version of True North while I watched the game. That will be coming soon to Amazon! I'm trying not to put pressure on myself to write on the weekends, but I'm certainly using that time for other business-related matters. Here's another New Year's Resolution (I really hope it isn't too late): Take a day off every now and then. What must that be like? I can't remember!

Have a good Monday!

Rumor Has It...

...That the Tom Brady engagement story is FALSE. His father was quoted in People magazine saying the airplane, the roses... never happened. Does that mean I can use the Tom Brady False Engagement Scenario in a romance novel someday? The team spokesman says Tom likes to keep his private life private. Damn him. I heard a snippet of sports talk in the time it took me to relocate a car in my driveway the other day in which Tom was being vilified for getting engaged during the season that he sat out after blowing his knee in the first quarter of the first game. I have to admit, even as Tom's biggest fan, I wondered why he didn't wait a week or two to propose until the team was either done for the year or in the playoffs. Guess what? I feared he would be vilified in the Boston market for having ANY kind of life outside of football during the season. Surprise, surprise, he was ripped up, and now we hear the story might not even be true! This is a tough place to be a professional athlete. Fish bowl anyone? I saw a comment online after the engagement story broke where someone said that Giselle (hello, the SUPERMODEL) looks old enough to be Tom's mother! LOL! Who are these people?

How sad it is that I can't WAIT for the next season of The Bachelor to begin on Monday? The reality matchmaking show with the DISMAL success rate sucks me in every time. I keep planning to not watch it, but have yet to succeed in meeting this goal. For those who are not fans, single dad Jason was on his way to bended knee when De-ANNA stopped him in last season's Bachelorette finale. She picked oddball snowboarder Jesse over Jason, who is cute but let's face it. He's no Andy Baldwin. After watching every season except the first one, I've noticed some patterns. They spend a LOT of time at the very beginning showcasing people who end up going the distance, so it was no surprise to me that Jason went all the way to the finale after the long intro they did featuring him and his too-cute-for-words son Ty during the first Bachelorette show. Now he is the first-ever single dad Bachelor and he's said he's engaged and madly in love. For once, I find myself hoping for it to take, but I'm going into it with a healthy dose of skepticism so I don't get my heart broken again. (HA--just kidding! I love the train wreck romances that come out of this show!) If you love to make fun of The Bachelor, you MUST read Lincee's recaps on the I Hate Green Beans blog. She is freaking HILARIOUS, and she's already handicapping the likely finalists. Check back here for frequent discussions of the insanity during the season.

Our New Year's Eve plans are in peril thanks to snow... I hate New Year's Eve but I'm looking forward to seeing our friends The McMahons, who were our neighbors in Jacksonville. What's everyone else doing on amateur night?

Is Anyone Else Feeling Lazy?

How did it get to be the 28th already? Whew... Not much motivation to do, well, anything around here. It's all I can do to get a load of laundry all the way to the dryer. Yesterday, I did get Jake's room totally cleaned. It was one of those cleanings that includes getting rid of too small clothes and outgrown toys. I want to hermetically seal the room so it will stay that way. I paid Emily $10 to help us, which was money well spent. Without her, I'd still be in there. Ask her to use her powers of organization in her own room? HA! As if!

Let's see, since we last chatted, we had a fun Christmas Eve at Aunt Betty and Uncle Bob's, an annual family tradition stretching 30 years. This year, Cliff Claven got to play Santa. Now that we no longer have believers in our house, he can do it without shattering any illusions. Some of the older kids at the gathering outed him, but not before he successfully read the Night Before Christmas and distributed the gifts. Doesn't he look cute in red and white fur?



As expected, the kids freaked when my dad gave them the Wii on Christmas morning. He comes over every year to open presents with us and eat pumpkin bread for breakfast. I'm so glad he does that, because the kids love having him here. This was a big electronic Christmas. I gave Cliff a home theater system, which he loves. He's already got it all installed. My refrain all day has been TURN IT DOWN. It's loud. Really loud. The kids got all kinds of stuff to go with the Wii, including Rock Band from my cousin Steve (who is Jake's godfather) and all the racquets, bats, swords, etc from my cousin Jean (Jake's godmother). They also got the tennis game from my brother George and his wife Holly. We also gave them a karaoke for their iPods, which I am secretly more excited about than they are! Cliff is freaking out about all the stuff that has to be connected to the game system center downstairs. His long weekend has been all about finding batteries, some assembly required, crawling around in the attic, and, for good measure, replacing the plumbing on the kitchen sink, which suddenly let go tonight in the midst of our Patriot's football gathering. (The Patriot's won, the Ravens and Jets lost, so the Pats are out of contention. Boo hoo! With an 11- 5 record no less! And Tom Brady got engaged, which I still can't talk about. Speaking of boo hoo! The kids reminded me that I'm married. Details.)

Holly outdid herself with Christmas dinner, which consisted of tenderloin and baked stuffed shrimp. I made my friend Cheryl's potatoes and they were a big hit. The day after Christmas, my annual "Boxer Day," in which I normally don't get dressed at all, was interrupted by a send off lunch for my dad who left for Florida at 1:30 am on the 27th and made it all the way from Rhode Island to southern North Carolina the first day. Yes, that would be 12 hours and more than 800 miles. He's a mad man. Either that or he's fleeing as fast and as far from his koo koo family as he can get. I suspect it's the latter.

Last night, Cliff and I had a fun night out with some new friends, and today we had football madness with my brother, sister-in-law and a bevy of cousins.

Anyone surprised that I'm not getting much writing done? I can't believe we're already down to one more week of vacation. I'll need a vacation to recover. Tomorrow I promised the kids a shopping trip to spend their gift cards because God knows they don't have enough stuff!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! I need a nap!