Osiyo~

I’m on (blog) tour this week and asked some friends to help me keep the ranch running while I’m gone. Today is Joanna Aislinn’s turn to feed the chickens!

So excited to be here on the day before the release of Calisa’s debut romance, HOME, and so looking forward to picking up my copy! Congrats again, my author-friend, and thanks so much for hosting me.

Today I’ll chat about a topic that I think about too often. At this time of year, I thought this an appropriate time to share. Thanks again, Calisa.

I can’t wait to hear what you have to share today, Joanna! You bet I’ll be popping in from time to time! (Who else will moderate the comments? :))

On more than one occasion, a cousin referred to Everybody Loves Raymond as a great illustration of Sundays at my house. Not sure that I totally agree with that but I believe Ray Romano lived what his sitcom showed. That show does not resonate by accident.

As a kid, Sunday after church usually meant an Italian pasta-and-meatball dinner followed by a trip to my aunt’s house for coffee and dessert. By the time I’d hit my twenties, my brother and/or I usually had a friend or two join us for the repast, which now included chicken cutlets and salad along with the best Portuguese and/or semolina breads  around. (Hey, this Italian family is open-minded when it comes to food.). Coffee and cake shifted to my aunt’s daughter’s house. My cousin had four kids and worked full time as a teacher, but most Sundays we could count on winding up there, at least while the kids were small.

So here I am on a Sunday morning writing this post. I didn’t go to church and turned down an invitation to dinner at my mom’s this very day because (1) I’d hate to infect her with mine and hubby’s apparent colds/sinusitis; (2) the NY Giants are playing Aaron Rogers—I mean the Green Bay Packers 😉 ; (3) a trip to mom’s means my whole afternoon and part of the evening and when will I finish getting my house back to baseline clean before Monday and the new work week rolls around? (4) I’m supposed to be finishing up an evaluation for school and starting the next one. (5) One son wants to decorate the house for Christmas—he’ll tear up the questionable order I have in the garage if I don’t work with him; (6) the other son will most likely show up with friends…

Are you getting the picture? And is it me, or is this image far too busy?

Please indulge me as I digress briefly (but with purpose). At least ten years ago, I had the pleasure and privilege of listening to inspirational author Jan Carlberg speak at a women’s day-conference. I bought a small book of her essays (The Welcome Song: And Other Stories from a Place Called Home), which I’ve read time and again. One entry talks about when Saturday was the day to prepare for Sunday: when did Sunday become the day to prepare for Monday?

I wonder that too. My cousin’s kids are grown and she’s now a supervisor in the school district where she once taught. (After about four years of trying, we kind of gave up on a cup of coffee on a weeknight. Every now and again, she, myself and two other cousins get together—we’ve managed once or twice a year for the past two years. That’s definitely something.)

Sunday afternoon dinners and coffee-dessert are distant memories. Sunday is for frantically catching up with a prior week of running around keeping up with responsibilities. Just this morning, I watched an ad for audiobooks, with the actors talking about how audiobooks make ‘reading’ possible while they are engaged in other goings-on. (This while I pulled apart the slipcovers on the sofa for washing, while I watched The Nanny, the half-hour I “rested” Sunday morning. And while I’m still catching up because I spent Saturday morning finishing a book I couldn’t put down.) And, lest I forget, in between there are emails to check, tweets and status updates to post, texts and cell phone messages waiting and kids wanting to go to the mall. And did I mention the laundry?

Are you getting this illustration? Is there nothing we don’t multi-task anymore? Sometimes I get really sad. I’m not lacking for friends or ways to connect with them—all over the world, given the internet—yet who has time to talk? Can’t tell you how many walks I take scrolling through my contacts list looking for someone who might be available to chat for a whopping twenty minutes.

Maybe it’s just me. Sometimes, I just want to sit with someone in particular and have coffee. Think this Christmas and holiday season I’m going to try and do just that: invite some friends and just sit around the dining room table, make my New Year’s resolution to make that happen more often during the rest of the year.

On another note (since Calisa so kindly reminded me at her recent visit at my virtual place), for those who love a sweet, straight-up contemporary romance, my debut novel, No Matter Why, is celebrating its second anniversary. Find it in digital and print versions at The Wild Rose Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and others too.

Me you can find at these haunts: my blog and website; Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks, Calisa, for allowing me to share my thoughts with you and your wonderful support network. You all showed how awesome you are during Calisa’s virtual visit at my blog!

I’m so happy you could come for a visit today, Joanna! Meanwhile you can find my hero being interviewed on Penumbra by my friend Silver James! http://www.silverjames.com/ Wonder what Sam Callahan really thinks of Poppy Tippen? Come on over for day FIVE of my countdown when Joanna’s finished with you! And thank everyone for coming by here, and for your support of my tour!

Dodadagohvi~