Saturday Sample: Flood

Welcome to Saturday Sample. We'll continue with out excerpts from Flood. I hope you're enjoying them because I really enjoyed writing the book. Today's excerpt is the end of Chapter 1 so next Saturday we'll be reading something else. 

Blurb:

Drawn together by their love of animals, Aria De Luca and Caleb Hawkins burn for each other. They never suspected that malignant forces around them were successfully plotting Caleb’s ruin from the moment he entered her life. When the flood of a century strikes Aria’s hometown, an alienated Caleb is all that stands between her and catastrophic loss.

Buy Link:

http://amzn.to/2qRgYD7    

Last Week:

“He did. His name is Caleb Hawkins. You should have seen Peaches. When she saw him, she ran across the yard and knocked him over.” 

“Did he look like a dangerous man?” 

“No, Mama, he didn’t. In fact, I hired him to fill in for Melissa.” 

“Then I want to meet him. Invite him to co me to dinner tomorrow night.” 

Aria giggled. "Do you want me to come too, or do you just want Caleb?

This week:  

“Hmm. Let me think. If he’s cute maybe he should come alone.” She laughed. “Of course I meant you too.”

“That’s good. Daddy probably wouldn’t like it if you took up with another man.”

They made their arrangements, and Aria went back to work. Her patients wouldn’t wait all day. Even then, she could hear Mr. Simms’ Siamese cat howling like a soul in torment. 

Command Center AKA My Christmas List Was Strangely Calm

If you were reading my blog last year you know that right after Christmas I resolved to simplify things because I almost killed myself with too many commitments and too much cooking and entertaining. I'm happy to say that I kept that resolve. How did I change things? Here goes.

First of all, I omitted a couple of parties. These particular parties were things we went to because we felt obligated to do so, not because we particularly wanted to. This year we politely declined.

Second, we usually have a quick lunch with our good friends on Christmas Eve. That was when we exchanged presents. We never had enough time because we had to rush away to cook for a dinner that night. (You really wouldn't believe my schedule. If you'd like to check last year's blog you can see for yourself.) This year we had dinner with them on the twenty third instead. We had plenty of time to exchange gifts, talk, and enjoy each other's company.

Third, I ordered some food this year instead of cooking everything from scratch. Our local grocer baked my turkey, cooked my stuffing, and made the gravy. A local bakery baked pumpkin and apples pies for me, and I bought frozen sausage biscuits, brownie bites from Atlanta Bread Company, pita chips and artichoke-spinach dip, and a fruit cake from Costco. My tropical fruit salad came from a can.

I did a ham from scratch as well as a macaroni, but that's it unless you count coffee and tea.

Was the food as good? Almost, but not quite. The fruit cake was awful, though, and the pumpkin pie was nowhere as good as mine. Did it matter? No, not at all. Everyone ate, drank, and laughed just as much as if I'd done the whole thing from scrach as I did last year.

I gave as many gifts as ever, but I ordered some of them instead of going to the store to buy them. I also gave gift cards to some of my hard to buy for people instead of wracking my brain looking for something they wouldn't like anyway.

I didn't skimp on decorations, and I still used my Christmas china which I had to drag out and wash the same as usual, but these things are too special to skimp on.

Will I do the same thing next year? You betcha. I like having enough energy to enjoy myself instead of feeling exhausted. I even plan to go shopping tomorrow to exchange a couple of gifts.

I guess what I've learned is that I should pick and choose where to invest my time and energy. Some things are worth going all out for and some aren't. From now on I'm going to figure out which is which.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.