SPRING IS IN THE AIR

March blew in mild and warm to Central Pennsylvania, then swept out while morphing into rainy days and chilly weather. We know April will be fickle here and always brings us breezy, sometimes blustery days as well. But, April showers will bring May flowers, as the saying goes.

As we look toward to spring marching in, we start thinking and rehashing in our heads all the outdoor and various chores we want to accomplish. Just remember the old phrase, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Take time to make time for yourself.                                                                    

Find something you like to do: Read a book, work on a craft, re-order your aggravating miscellaneous files or your desk. Put in order anything that makes you uncomfortable at a first glance. Clean an untidy corner. Take a walk. Do whatever will make you happy and feel good.

This month, I’m highlighting my book, “Courting Betsy,” Book 3 in the Ashmore Brothers Series. It’s a romance with a touch of mystery, but has the humor of children, the quibbling of grown siblings, intrigue, and of course, Two Bears, a Ute Indian and friend of the Ashmore Family.

BLURB:

When Betsy Ashmore, adopted sister to a family of four brothers, discovers U.S. Marshal Luke Ashmore is lying wounded in a renegade Indian camp, she can’t refuse to help a brother in peril—especially one she has loved all her life. With the help of a wily Ute Indian, the spunky shopkeeper saddles up to rescue him.

 Marshal Luke Ashmore never expected to be bushwhacked  while escorting the young boy of a murdered army scout northward to Fort Collins in the Colorado Territory. Outlaws want the boy and believe he knows the location of a hidden treasure.

As Betsy and Two Bears struggle to get the marshal and the child to safety, can they outwit the ruthless outlaws following them? And what will they do with two more orphaned boys they stumble upon along the trail?

Fall in love with the plucky shopkeeper and her three scheming youngsters—all determined to help the U.S. Marshal lasso her heart so they can become a family.

A sweet romantic western and mystery!
Best Book Award Finalist!

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FAMOUS PET PEEVES OF THOSE DESIGNATED AS THE HOUSEHOLD MAID

As a wife and mother, I’ve often talked with other married women about their pet peeves family members seem oblivious to--and which drive us "straight to the moon."

 1. Unmade beds. Everyone should make his/her bed. Please don’t placate me with the excuse you didn’t have time. It takes two or three minutes. There is a saying, “Unmade bed, unmade head.” Start you day our right and end your day slipping between sheets and blankets that don’t look as if a herd of disgruntled buffalo organized a stampede through the room. 

 2. The kitchen sink is not the dishwasher. There is no little elf or industrious dwarf who miraculously schleps the dishes from the sink or countertop and stacks them in the dishwasher. But I will tell you that there is a “Grumpy” female dwarf if it’s not done. Oh, by the way, while we’re talking about dishes, please rinse your dishes and glasses when you’re finished eating or drinking. It helps when soften the grumpiness, just a tad.

 3.  Learn to iron. At least, learn to iron your good “stepping-out” shirts, pants, and dresses. No, no, no, everything is not “wrinkle-free.” Let’s heat up the iron and chase away the wrinkles on that cotton shirt, especially if you’re going on your first date, to an interview, or to church. It would be wise to make a good impression at all three of these places. You need to look in control and organized—like you care and certainly not like you slept in your clothes.

 4. Take out the trash. Please don’t try to squash the last pizza box onto the top of the already overflowing waste paper can! This is the one time when all men’s spatial perception flies out the window and heads for Mars. I’ve watched men crush pop cans in their bare hands to try to make the “little sucker” fit the last two-inch space in the trash can and spare them the task of taking the entire heap outside to the proper receptacle.

 5.  Pick up your shoes and stash them out of the way. Anyone, who has ever stumbled over a size 13 shoe coming in the entrance way or better yet, waltzed into the bedroom in the dark and stumbled over a shoe worn by Big Foot, knows what I’m saying here. If others wanted to jump hurdles, they’d enter a television survival show.

 [P.S. Changing the toilet paper roll won't make you brain dead.]

 Now it’s your turn, ladies and gents, to add your favorite pet peeve.

 

NEW - NEW - NEW     

COURTING BETSY - Book 3 of the Ashmore Brothers Series

  

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