Back to the book

This morning I had a very nice email from my copyeditor. Now, maybe they're supposed to say nice things, but she didn't have to say these particular nice things. I really felt like she understood my book; she got me. It made my day.

And now I have to read through to see the edits she's suggesting. This round of edits will be more technical: grammatical and wording changes. This will be my 3 millionth read of Monsoon Season...

Coming to the end

Okay, not really the end. I'll be doing smaller projects here and there for the rest of my life. But things are finally slowing down.

vanity

closet built-ins, wall color: silver bells AND carpet!

And I can move into my bedroom tomorrow!

Red, white and "grayish"

For months I have been carrying around gray paint chips with names like "misty morning", "maralynn's dress" and "gray bunny". Every trip to Home Depot, I pick up more. There are a million shades of gray.

When I narrowed it down to three choices, I went to my neighborhood Sherwin Williams to find the equivalent. I wanted to buy my paint there because it's a product that's made in America.

After all that agonizing to find the perfect shade, I ended up with something called "grayish". It is perfect, as you can see: 

Unfortunately, made-in-America paint costs twice as much as made-in-Home Depot paint. So, the other rooms in my house will probably be less... patriotic.

Progress!

Don't tell my wood floors, but I might have a new favorite...

tile finished!

grout finished!

shower finished!

The adventure continues...

I've got more than two weeks of home ownership under my belt and I'm swamped with home renovation projects. My stuff finally came and I was right- it is better than other people's stuff. (That it arrived un-mangled doesn't change my advice to go with the more expensive, reputable company.)

My stuff is definitely making the place seem more like somewhere people might actually live. But all the unfinished projects are messy. Right now, there are several rooms that can't be entered because of wet grout. The dog does not understand.

'We' are making progress. The kitchen peninsula is gone. The new master bath should be done this week. The stucco guy starts tomorrow. My favorite so far is the new floor in the den:

The cover!

I just handed in final edits and my publisher sent this over: