A New Puppy

Tallulah Mae

Meet Tallulah Mae!


I missed Ethel and Ella so much and knew that I'd never replace either of them. Ethel was a temperamental dog who came to us with severe separation anxiety, so we got Ella as her therapy dog. And it worked. Oh, Eth still had issues, but she did better. They were my constant companions for more than a decade. They were even cover models for Everything But a Dog. When Eth passed, Ella was so lonely. We thought about getting another dog, but in the end decided to let Ella rule the house. And she did. The youngest minion took his naps with her curled up next to him. She got all the love and snuggles. And all the treats.


When Ella passed earlier this year, I thought I was done with dogs for a long while. I was still recuperating from the surgery on my leg. It was a good time for a break (on dogs...not lets). On a trip to Philly I happened to listen to Miranda Hart's Peggy and Me. I realized I was indeed a crazy dog lady. What's a crazy dog lady without a dog? Maybe it was time?

Still, I dithered. There are a lot of plusses to not having a dog. I could come and go as I pleased and didn't have to worry about a dog's care. Uh... It was hard to think of other plusses.

But there were so many things I missed. As I recuperated and started walking again, it was horrible walking solo. There was no yips of delight when I came home. There was no one snuggled next to me as I worked.

Tallulah, Toy-Slayer

Himself kept an eye out for dogs. And he spotted a little mixed girl whose face looks a lot like Ethel, but has that curly, wild coat that Ella had. And though we've been staying in the house or at the Cottage, we went out to pick her up. (We stayed 6 feet away from anyone and used sanitizer like crazy when we got back in the car.)

First Walk

I'll confess, I was a bit nervous. It's been a lot of years since I had a puppy in the house. I felt that same sense of worry that I had every time I was pregnant. What if I didn't love the new baby as much as its sibling(s). But every time I held my newest baby, I fell in love. No, not in the same way as I loved their sibling(s). I loved them in a totally unique way. But I loved them all as much.

Her white-tipped tail

That's how I feel about Tallulah. She doesn't replace Eth and Ella. I still miss them. But she's filled a hole in my heart. I'm going to refer to it as the crazy-dog-lady hole. And I love her in a totally unique Tallulah-way.

Play hard, sleep hard.

So, how'd her first day go? She slept until 2:30 last night. Got up, went outside, then went back to sleep until six. Not one of my new babies did that! And there was a certain baby (who knows who they are) who never slept a night through for TWO WHOLE years. Yeah. That happened. Back to Tallulah...so far, she hasn't had an accident in the house. (My kids couldn't say that either.) I'm keeping an eye out and really it's more that I'm well-trained than she is, but that's why this is a perfect time to train a puppy. She's only barked twice, and they were tiny, small yips. She came and sat on my feet when we first met, and she's pretty much following me around the house since she'd come home.

So thanks everyone who's welcome Tallulah! I'll try not to overwhelm you with puppy-tales, but I can't promise anything! LOL

I hope you all are staying in and staying safe. I hope you're all finding ways to spend the time. I've been finding things to keep the minions busy (Tallulah's going to help with that) and share them in two blog posts. 1 and 2. I've read, spring cleaned and baked. And I'm working on a new short story for you all. Something to help pass the time. More on that in the next week or so!

Holly

PS  If you're looking for a book to relax with, I have a series for you.

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

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Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

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Preorder: Homecoming
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The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!

More What to Do With Your Kids

It sounds like there's a chance we'll have kids home for a while yet, so here are a few other ideas.

The Cincinnati Zoo is rocking! They've got the Fiona Show and a daily Live Safari on FB.

I've been addicted to a Live Stream of a nesting bald eagle. I check in now and again. The kids love it.

More on STEM. Have you read Andrea Beatty? Check out:
Rosie Revere, Engineer
Ada Twist, Scientist
Iggy Peck, Architect

Oh, and check out yesterday's project:

We've built a solar powered robot and a remote controlled car. I'm ordering some magnet sets today. Oh, and check out the Turing Tumble. Mine's on backorder, but I know someone who has one and loves it for the kids.

The oldest minion is learning to spell states. We made it through Hawaii this week. Once we've, we're hoping to learn capitals! The little minions are working on sight words. Well, we do sound them out first, but they're learning to recognize them quickly. I added a new word yesterday. Lamp. I think we're going to keep building our vocabulary one word at a time. They love Sight Word Palooza. They run with the cards, labeling the objects. It's a very kinetic way to learn that works for them.

I have some birdhouses we'll be painting and hanging next week. And since we've been watching Mo Willem's Doodles, we're going to be making our own books! (I'd like to say that the fact that I'm a writer inspired them to write, but I'm pretty sure it's Mo. LOL)

Check out GoNoodle on YouTube. Get the kids up and moving!

The oldest minion has been reading a book a day to the little ones. Reading. If there's nothing else we do, that's the ticket. I've always said that books raised me. It's the truth. I've lived thousands of lives. I've learned so many things, but mainly I've learned empathy. It's hard to not feel empathy when you've walked miles upon miles in someone else's shoes. So reading. My goal is at the end of this, the minions are all reading better and reading for glee!

Good luck, everyone!

Holly

PS After a long day with the kids, if you're looking for a book to relax with, I have a new series for you.

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming
Amazon
iBooks
Nook
Kobo

The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!

What to do with your kids...

So yesterday, the minions and I started homeschool. What did we do?

Our favorite was Mo Willem's Lunch Doodles. If you've never read his books, our favorites are the Knuffle Bunny trilogy, but any are fun!

The Cincinnati Zoo is doing a Home Safari weekdays at 3. We'll be watching that today.

Okay, what else.

For the littles, we decided to work on reading. We're playing "Sight-word Palooza." Basically, I made index cards with words for our family room objects. Chair. Couch. Fireplace... They ran through the room, trying to label the proper objects. Yes, a race and reading. We'll add words to the pile as we go.

For the 2nd grader, there was reading to younger siblings and learning to spell all the states. We made it to Hawaii yesterday.

We played math War. Basically deal out two cards to each person. The younger ones added theirs together, the older one multiplied.

So let's see, reading, spelling, math, art.

Science.

Thankfully we had some STEM projects already going. We're building a solar robot and a remote control car. We worked on those and will finish today. We'll look for something new next week. I ordered a Turing Tumble. It's on back order, but we'll get it in April.

Oh and a great way to explain washing your hands to kids:

My minions thought it was amazing!

We took a walk, played basketball and talked about nutrition at lunch...an ongoing discussion here.

Today they're making cornbread. I grind my own grain on an average day, so I'm going to let them do that, measuring out ingredients and the rest.

Hope this helps. There are more and more activities online for people who have kids at home. If you have some good ones, please pass them on!

Holly

PS After a long day with the kids, if you're looking for a book to relax with, I have a new series for you.

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming
Amazon
iBooks
Nook
Kobo

The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!

Social Distancing

It's a scary time. I get that. It's frustrating. And if you're a social butterfly, social distancing is so difficult.

They closed my university today for the rest of the term. I'm sad about no more studio time until my own studio is done.

But there are things to do. Since I can't be at the studio today, I'm spring cleaning. That way, when we're all given the green light, I'll be caught up in the house.

I cleaned off my bookshelves (well, a few...I have a lot of shelves, it'll be a few more days) and cleaned off a display shelf over the dining room windows. I took down my teacups and replaced them with some of my pottery and my Burlon Craig teapot. (If you're bored, you can go back and read about my girl crush on BB Craig here.)

Yep, I'm pleased. I'll have a few more pieces to add when I go up to school and clear off my shelves.

Then I scrubbed and waxed my counters. They're soapstone and I wax them every six months or so. Don't they look great?

Then I took a walk. When I walked by my front lawn, some crocuses were up. I stopped a moment and smiled. You see, my MIL (who inspired Briar Hill Road) planted them decades ago. They used to spell out SPRING, but don't anymore. Still, every time they come up it feels like it's really spring and I think about her. So she was on my mind as I walked today. And I gave some thought to being thankful I'm walking again. I think it's more important than ever to be thankful when times are troubling.

I came home and emailed my professor about clearing out my studio space, then I cooked. I made that springtime cake I mentioned on FB the other day, homemade bread, and I made a beer can chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. Comfort food, baby!

I started planning how I was going to keep the minions busy since they're not in school. I'm making Sight-Word Palooza cards for the younger two. I'm going to make flashcards for common items here like television, book, table, chair... The game will be to match the card to the item. As they get better, we're going to time them. Yes, if it's a competition, the minions are all in. I pulled out all my easy readers for the oldest minion, and I'm going to print out the states for "spelling." Also printing out all the presidents. When my kids were little, I had them memorize them all. To this day they can still recite the presidents. We'll also be working on our STEM cars and definitely planning a lot of days at camp.

Oh, and I worked on my new book.

Day One is done. Well, almost. I'm planning on picking up a book and reading the rest of the night away.

It was a busy, productive and thankful day.

I think that's going to be my theme for the upcoming days.

Hoping you're being careful, listening to the CDC and finding things to keep yourself busy! Things you enjoy. Time with your family. And I hope you remember to find things that give you glee each day, and then give thanks for those things.

Do you have any plans around the house?

Holly

PS If you're home and looking for something to do, catch up on our Trippin' with Holly and Susan videos.

PSS Looking for something to read? My Hometown Hearts series is out...well, the first two books are out. I hope you'll pick them up!

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming
Amazon
iBooks
Nook
Kobo

The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!

A Long Drive

I drove home from Philadelphia yesterday and listened to my second Miranda Hart audiobook, Peggy and Me. (I listened to Is It Just Me on the way to Philly.)

I listened, laughed and basically mulled all sorts of things on the ride...

1. When Miranda talked about dancing, I thought, "Here is a kindred spirit."
I can't dance. I have something called, anti-rhythm. Yes, it's a thing. But that doesn't stop me from dancing. I find my skills are appreciated most by the under six crowd. (Know your audience is my motto.)


2. Listening to a book that's a love story between a woman and her dog may have been a mistake. I've been missing Ella Fitzgerald and now that I'm allowed to walk again, I'm hating dogless walks. I'm seriously mulling a new dog.

3. Philly is as far as you can get from Erie and still be in Pennsylvania. It's a beautiful state. (But though I love the whole state, I love Erie most!) I took a hike through Valley Forge while I was in Philly. I love the beauty and the history of it all. Miranda talked about taking her dog Peggy on a holiday and I thought I need to be sure if I get another dog it likes the car.

4. My buddy Miranda talked about losing a manuscript in Peggy and Me. I got nauseous at the thought. I reaffirmed my neurotic need to back up files is not really neurotic but wise.

5. Speaking of books, I hope people are liking the first two books in Hometown Hearts. (Worrying about what people think about a book is a thing. I try to ignore it, but listening to someone talking about losing all that work brought books to the forefront of my mind and I crossed my fingers.)

6. Frequently when Miranda says, "Peggy," I hum, "Angelica, Eliza...and Peggy." (If you're not a Hamilton fan, it's a song from the musical.) And that makes me think about going through Washington's headquarters in Valley Forge and marveling over the fact I touched a railing that both Washington and Hamilton must have touched. It's just cool...in a nerdy sort of way. I wonder if Washington and/or Hamilton had dogs and if they hung out at the headquarters.

7. Dogs. I listen to Miranda talk about Peggy and really miss having a dog. I know I'll never be able to replace Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald, but I really miss having a dog.

8. Why did I pick a book that's about a dog? (The reason is I adore Miranda Hart...if you have a minute, check out her series Miranda on Hulu.)

9. Himself called while I was gone and had gone out to The Cottage. I realized if I got another dog, it needed to like the woods.

10. Home. I am always happy to go on a trip, but I'm even happier going home. I think that makes me pretty lucky. And I appreciate how lucky I am. And I realize that I hate coming home and not have someone bark with joy.

11. I've got two more CDs in Peggy and Me to listen to. Hm. I may need to take a drive out to The Cottage this week so I can finish it off!

12. I so enjoyed my ride with Miranda, but it's good to be home! (Now, Susan, you know I love Trippin' with you, too! LOL) I wonder if I get another dog if I can top Ethel and Ella's names?

Dogs. Miranda, I so enjoyed driving with you (really Susan, you know I adore driving with you too)!

Holly

PS I mentioned my Hometown Hearts series. Have you picked up your copies? If so, I will happily add you to my worry-about-people-liking-it list. (Miranda talked about worrying if people would like her sit-com. It's the same feeling, though it's different.)

OUT NOW: Crib Notes

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: A Special Kind of Different

Amazon

iBooks

Nook

Kobo

Preorder: Homecoming
Amazon
iBooks
Nook
Kobo

The rest of the Hometown Hearts series will be coming soon.
Suddenly a Father will be out in September of 2020 and
Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Something Perfect in 2021!