Let me tell you about my day. This boy was annoyed.
Ok, let’s get a few things into perspective. Being a spouse with two cats and one new kitten is kind of taxing. I’ve become the mom of our little den and well…..I guess I’m naturally taken to it. I do the cooking and cleaning…..Wait, let me tell it to you this way:
I sit to write. Five sentences in and Phillip calls from the other room, “Do I have any work pants washed?”
Click clack on the keyboard, but still able to respond with a resounding, “In the dryer!”
A paragraph more I get. Mom brain shifts in. Must defrost some chicken for dinner….Done. Ok, back to work, what will happen to the Madam and Mr. Brown next? I mean at the end of book two, they’ve been handed a serious dilemma. One that I don’t think either one of them is equipped to handle.
BOOM! A cat pounces into my lap. Says he demands it. Fine. Back to work….the other cat says, “No, no, no. You know the rules. You get mommy when he’s on the couch, I get him when he’s in the chair.” A little scrapping starts to happen, with claws dug into my knees. “FELLAS! Mommy needs to write! He’s trying to crank out some bestsellers here!” The kitten thinks we’re all playing a game and leaps on my shoulder, so that she can attack from a higher launching pad.
Do the laundry, feed the kids, dress the husband, tend to husband (he has a cold, but if you ask him he’s dying of an incurable disease secretly sent here by the Chinese. Didn’t you see Contagion?)
My household is swirling around me as I click clack these keys, everyone in need of something from me. I swear to you, and we’ve all had those feelings (“Can I get an AMEN?”) you just wanna grab your jacket, hit the door, slam it on your way out and scream, “ME TIME!”
But, you don’t. Because deep down….you know you’ll come back to the house where the cats are having ice cream for breakfast and your husband is making himself a ketchup and peanut butter sandwich. (EWWW!)
I drift for a minute onto youtube. They’ve recommended a video I should watch. I was looking for something by Richard Robbins. I like listening to him while writing my Madam and Brown Series. But instead, I click on a suggested video by the robots that be at youtube.
Apparently, Bananarama have a new song. I click play while Phillip asks randomly, “How much is the price of tea in China anyway? Do you think it’s more or less what we pay at Publix? Oh! And we need milk.”
The song starts playing and I think, “Hmmmph. Too disco, to nostalgic….” Wait for it. Wait for it….I found myself chiming along. Caught myself while house was in crisis be-bopping to it.
“Stuff….like….that….”
Lovely. Cats are trying to kill each other, husbands about to kill himself putting a metal fork in the microwave by mistake, but I didn’t care! I was dancing about, singing along, feeling great! As a matter of fact, and I take no embarrassment in saying I played that song three or four times back to back. Catchy, needed. You know? I needed something to make me feel better and it did the trick. Never underestimate how a simple catchy song can make you feel so much better, help you to forget the madness.
It is now my official “go to” song for immediate mood lifting.
When the song was over I took off my headphones and went back to my life. “Ok! It’s 5 o’clock!” I shake the back of treats, the cats and kitten come running. I pour some into their bowls and they feast like the bitches that they are. I then head to bedroom where Phillip is fumbling with a shirt. “I think this button is loose.”
“I’ll get my sewing kit.”
“Thanks, babe. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I smile, turn back to him and respond with a big, fat, slobbery kiss on his cheek. “Just keep sayin’ stuff….like….that. Ok?”
I love my life, love my little brood, my giant of a husband (seriously, he ducks in cathedrals…), and my swarm of felines always pacing around my legs hungry for my affection.
I put order back into the house and realized how much they needed me. And it felt good for a guy to feel like mom.
They come to you for your needs, they come to you for their comfort. Hearing it out loud, “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” from my husband, or the wrestling for affection that the cats do, makes sitting here in the quiet while writing yearn for them even more….
I love their madness. I love this little family of mine….
-And funny enough! While writing that last sentence Phillip whimpers from his chair over there in the living room, “Do you think you might make me a cup of tea? Just lemon, no honey. I think honey is a conspiracy….” HA!
I guess I better go. I did enough writing today 🙂
(And I double dog any one of you to write a blog post so artfully while spinning in Bananarama! THAT is legendary….)
To read more about the Madam and Mr. Brown, click here.
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Ok.
After the second beer you begin to realize none of them actually said, “Well, first write a really good book.” And second, “If people love it, they’ll tell other people how much they love it.” After all, in this virtual world, something goes viral because it touches a part of the heart, not because it was promoted the hell out of. You sit back and begin to think about all of the things you really appreciated because someone else told you how much they enjoyed it, not because you saw the same consistent ad over and over. My mother still calls me to ask what she should binge. She trusts my judgement, knows that I know her well and will say, “No, I don’t think you’d care for Killing Eve, but give Sharp Objects a try.”
“Oh, wouldn’t you love to know. Think of it this way. The Madam has never been loved, has never had much in her life. Despite that, she’s one of the most optimistic people you’ll ever meet….because she enjoys what she has. No one ever gave her roses, but she certainly does appreciate having clovers blooming in beautiful purple around her duplex. And for Mr. Brown? It represents the idea of what he had and eventually lost. After all, his wife put a purple clover behind his ear on their first date.
I was ready to jump in and start book three. But, I’m going to spend more time with them on a more intimate level. I’ll be doing more crocheting with wild and unnaturally suited colors as I spend time with the Madam, as I delve into her head. And I’ll be knitting more and more of Mr. Brown’s very drab colored socks as I try and figure out just how he is going to react to the last line of “DUPLEX.”
Well, well. “DUPLEX” came out today! 🙂 YAY! If you fell in love with the Madam and Mr. Brown in “TENANTS” you are going to love love love reading more about them before they moved into the DUPLEX and how those decisions brought them into each other’s lives at just the right time.
AND! I sent a copy of both “TENANTS” and “DUPLEX” to Judy Davis’ agent just letting them know I had written these two characters and she really was an influence in forming the Madam. What could it hurt, right? The agent contacted me back just last night, on the eve of the release of “DUPLEX,” to tell me that Judy Davis doesn’t accept unsolicited material…..except they really like the two books and were going to send them to her. HOT…..damn 🙂
It’s so very true. This was the first bear design I ever knit. He was so popular and so many people wanted to have him that I called him, “The Teddy Bear That Saved Me.” If he had never been born, I don’t know what may have happened to me. But, he rescued me, set me on a path that gave me food and shelter. I will forever be grateful to this little guy for bringing me so much life, and with that, so much purpose. I have such honor and admiration for this little bear because he was the key to my being free of homelessness.
The place we found can be within reach soon, if this little guy is able to help me again. The place we found is closer to Phillip’s job, is small, comfortable, and behind a Target so I’ll still have access to a close grocery store. But, the reason we loved it so much was that it was new, clean, modern….and only slightly more than what we’re paying now. And that little screened in balcony. Oh, I can just see our little fur babies sprawled out there at all hours of the day. But, moving is expensive when you consider deposit, first month and last month rent are all due on signing. And I’d like to secure it by the end of the month. Or at least have the deposit settled and take it from there. I look at this picture every day. I got to bed at night visualizing myself walking through the front door, seeing where we’ll put our books and yarn.
