It’s December 31 in our corner of the world, and the kids are planning to spend it with their significant others, so it will be Gordon and me. Tomorrow is my birthday. My father has Skyped to remind me, in case I forgot. 🙂
2019 was a tough year. I am not going to go into all the things that it brought, good and bad, but I am happy it is almost over and I am happy that while it was difficult, we dealt with all the curve balls it threw at us, one way or the other.
The new year promises some challenges. We have to rehome out munchkin cat, Edward. He is trying to commit suicide by hawk. He insists on going outside, but he is only 7 pounds and he is hampered by tiny legs. We can’t keep him secured, because we have an overabundance of dogs at the moment, and he darts into the back yard every chance he gets. We’ve had two close calls with very large birds of prey. My dog, Del, will probably leave us this upcoming year. There is nothing I can do about it.
The kids are getting onto their own trajectories. Kid 1 is going to finish her cyber security studies and hopefully pass several certification exams, after which she is considering finding a job in another state. Kid 2 decided to go back to school, and she wants to go somewhere else as well. We have to decide if we are staying in San Marcos.
It’s a beautiful area and our property is lovely, but it might be a little less than we’re looking for. We’ve renovated the house – and still renovating – but it would be nice not to have to drive an hour to get to a decent restaurant or to see a good play or a concert. The only hospital that takes our insurance is in the next town over. The allergies are still killing both of us and over the counter stuff doesn’t seem to help.
There is not much to do in San Marcos. We thought we wanted the country quiet, but I guess we want it only when there is a city with all the amenities nearby. Plus, there have been break ins in the neighborhood and shootings on the Square, which is only 10 minutes from us. And Gordon’s wanderlust is kicking in. I think if we end up moving, we may have to rent, because he will want to take off again after a year. Unless we can find him something with a pool large enough to meet his approval.
In light of this, Jeaniene Frost has resumed her “Come to Florida” campaign.
In professional news, we are finishing up the holiday novella and resuming work on Emerald Blaze, and after that we are taking a break and then jumping into Iron Covenant 2.
It’s just been a long hard year and I am tired. But tomorrow is birthday, and possibly even more yarn, and the new snippet of the holiday novella. Because it’s fun to give presents on your birthday. 😀
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Ilona, and prayers for a healthy and prosperous New Year for all of you. Many, many thanks for the hours of pleasure you and Gordon have given me.
Happy Birthday Ilona. Thank you for all of the awesome stories. I’m sorry to hear that this was a rough year. Come to Charlotte and live in the suburbs. You’ll love it.
Happy birthday. Sounds like problem will the cat could be solved by moving. Go for it.
Happy Birthday! I live in Detroit, Michigan. We got the Great Lakes, 10mins from Canada, & an abundance of urban wildlife like hawks, pheasants, Canadian geese, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, etc. My cat Albert darts out too if I’m not careful. After almost cutting him in half with the front door 3 times, I just try to be outside with him 90% of the time, & told my neighbors to keep an eye out. Consequently, Albert’s gaining weight from eating at 2+ houses… He proudly leaves offerings (dead birds and rodents) on the front step Spring- Fall, & keeps the rabbits & squirrels from eating too much from the garden. Good luck rehoming your munchkin cat.
+1
Good thoughts for the upcoming year and changes you are planning on.
P.S. Early birthday to you Ilona.
Happy Birthday Ilona. Some thing magical about new years and birthday when you can pause, reflect and hope. Thank you for all the wonderful work in 2019.
Yes indeed it’s fun giving gifts on your birthday ???? and you deserve a great one !!!
So Happy Birthday and have a great New Year’s Eve tonight.
Happy Birthday! Have a great day. Enjoy your New Year/Birthday good luck meal. I am originally from Natchitoches (central LA, the state:), though you know there are issues with population mobility when Ancestry genetics identifies you as being from area as well… ), so looking forward to black eyed peas, rice, cabbage, cornbread, pork for the traditional New Year meal. Have a wonderful New Year.
Happy birthday, and happy new year. I’d say come move to Kirkland, Washington (we’re not that far from Seattle) but the rainy autumn and winter weather might drive you a little bonkers if you worship the sun. I’ve adapted though, and would looooove to have you as a neighbor!
Many Happy Returns of the Day!!! Blessings on all of House Andrews for the coming year 🙂
Happy Happy Birthday!
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Hope the birthday goes well. My last one was a significant one and not in a good way. I have no wanderlust so I would not be happy to move. I have been told I am a nesting mallard duck. It is hard when the kids start to go their own ways. We have kids in Virginia, Florida and Washington state. With all the uncertainty I am so glad that you share your talent with us. I do love the philosophical chickens and wait for the other shoe to drop. . Thank you for sharing with us. Good luck on the birthday and hope lots of nice yarn comes your way.
+1000
Hope you have a great birthday!
Hope 2020 is a bit better. 2019 threw us a hard one at the Solstice where we said goodbye to our family dog due to kidney failure. Also too many things presenting themselves as choices which I guess is better than reactions but I’m not one who rushes to meet change.
Many happy returns Ilona!!
Many happy returns of the day, and may it portend a better year!
Happy birthday and Happy New Year! I agree, am ready to put 2019 in the rear view mirror and look forward to the 20’s. We too will be facing some tough decisions and challenges in my family in the coming months- our munchkin kitty is looking at 16 years and the past few months has had health issues. I feel your sorrow for what’s coming to pass. I wish you and your family all the best for 2020!
Happy Birthday! Happy New Year!
Happy birthday! My SIL’s birthday is January 1st also.
And happy new year! I hope the coming year brings you the right amount of joy and success, however that is defined. Thanks as always for the stories you tell. They really do bring me hours of relaxation and happiness. (I literally gasped in excitement when I saw your plans for 2020 include working on Iron Covenant 2.)
Sending you lots of love and cheer and positive energy for 2020! It’s been a long 2019 for everyone, but thank you for continually lifting our spirits with your great books and by sharing snippets of your life in your blog!
+1 ????
Happy Birthday! My niece-in-law Michelle, whose BD is today, and I just had our discussion about 2019 being a difficult year for us too. May your new year be better and the path you are on have fewer dips and bumps.
Happy birthday! Mine was 2 days ago and I got a great purse with a gift card for Yarn!
Hope everyone’s new year is safe, happy, and healthy.
Thank you for the great books!
Happy Birthday and I hope the this new year treats you better than 2019 did, 2019 has been so full of WTF
+1
You can find “country” plots in Little Rock and not be a far drive from anything. I grew up there and miss the hills and all of the urban green spaces. Mild winters, but hot humid summers and probably not an improvement for your allergies. As much as I don’t like how flat and gray the Mid West has been, my seasonal allergies have greatly improved and the summers are mild.
Oh boy, a new part of the novella before Friday? Thank you for giving us a present on your birthday. Happy birthday.
May your Birthday celebration be full of fiber and fun memories to look back on. Happy New Year to you and your family as well!
I read fiber and thought of food fiber, like you were wishing her a whole grain, fiber full cake. ????
Hope you have a Happy New Year! My entry in unsolicited relocation advice would be East Tennessee, particularly the Chattanooga area. Close enough to Atlanta to fly from there, outstanding internet , reasonable real estate prices with acreage, pools etc. From a business standpoint no state income taxes (and never will be as it is a state constitution prohibition .)
Renting is spending money for a place to live until you move and someone else owns it. Buying is spending money for a place to live, but at the end, you own it. Why rent? If you fear commitment, you rent. If you know what you want, you buy.
Allergies are something I was attacked by as an adult. They are controllable, but it takes more than one thing to control them. You need an antihistamine, which I buy as diphenhydramine, AKA: Benadryl in generic form. You need something to stop that running nose and cough, which I buy as guaifenesin, AKA: Mucinex. No medications work for everyone, but those work for me when combined with Flonase every 24 hours. The trick is, you have to find what works for you. But basically, you need antihistamine and decongestant. You won’t need everything every day, but you should keep it all on hand for the days when you do need them. You have to try them all to find what works for you, but you also need to stay indoors as much as possible to escape pollens and outdoor things like mold and pollution in cities. You also need an air filtration system that works to trap those things in the house. Allergists will tell you to get rid of the animals, ditch the house plants, and go get a shot every week or so. I ditched no animals, I have house plants, and I get no shots because taking them for two years did nothing for me at all. When I moved, I took the list of what I’m allergic to, and the new allergist I saw told me it did no good to tell him what they tested for without telling him what I reacted to. I told him that was not the full list of tests, but just what I reacted to. He called me a liar. I left him, because I do not lie and refuse to deal with people who tell me I do. He told me that no one is allergic to all those things. Yet, here I sit.
If you have allergies bad enough to make you wish you didn’t have to breathe at all, going to Florida will only make it worse. You need to go north, where there is true winter and pollens die down for a while. It won’t cure the allergies, but you will feel better overall while the plants all sleep outdoors. If you really need that pool, build a building around it and you can use it all year. You CAN have amenities when you own the land, because you can install them.
Find a place with a lot of land, buy or build what you want in the house, and get happy. Small towns can have good places to eat or see a play or concert. Look around, find a city with everything you want in it, and move outside the city. Not all traffic is like Texas traffic. No matter where you live, there will be criminals. You can’t escape them, it seems. We learned to lock our cars when some cretin opened the doors and took my husband’s toll road change container. Fortunately, they missed his stash of ready cash. heh heh Our alarm system told us someone had been in the house a couple of times, but they never actually did anything, because the alarm screams very loudly as it calls in the intrusion.
Many years ago, the comic strip “Hagar the Horrible” had Hagar talking to his son. He said, “The secret of being happy is to be happy with what you’ve got. So get enough.” Get out of allergy weather, and find your happiness.
And have a happy birthday! May the next year be better than this one was, for all of us! I look forward to years of reading your work, as many of us do. I hope it pleases you to know that you are a bright spot in so many lives around the world. Thank you for all you do.
like you, 2019 kicked my arse and almost won, major car accident, new car YEAH, but debt with that, and a neverending continuation of school (which I really do love). here is to a banner 2020, the roaring 20’s and to good eats, good reads (you guys have us covered) and good times for all! Happiest of New Years to all and Happiest of bdays to you Ilona – or Hippo Birdie Two Ewe!
(Canada has much to offer – consider moving to a different country for a year or two….then we can get you to tour all our local amazing independent bookstores).
Renting is a good idea, especially if you want to see if you like an area first, and especially if you’re prone to allergies. One of my brothers lived in Dallas area for around 20 years, minor allergies. They moved to Oregon hus wife had some allergies, but when they moved down to San Antonio, my brother was hit hard, really hard, by allergies. So I definitely recommend renting for at least 1 year wherever you move to so you can see if A) you like the area, and B) you can live with the allergies. Then start looking for a house or building one.
Oh, and Happy Birthday, Ilona. Poor Gordon has no excuse for forgetting your birthday. ????
Best wishes to House Andrews for 2020. Hopefully a better year for you guys (humans and animals alike!)
Happy Birthday Ilona.????
Happy New Yeay to the BDH ????
Happy New Year!
Dunedin, FL is a fun town to live in! In the Tampa area, so close to “big city” things but the town is small and walkable and has many great restaurants and fun happenings! Also the beach! Plus my daughter dog walks/sits and is offering her services to you at a discount lol.
Happy Birthday ???????????? . Wishing you and your family a Happy Healthy New Year.
I’m with Jeaniene, come to Florida. East coast or West Coast. There’s St. Augustine, the St. John’s River, Miami, Sarasota, Tampa, or Cedar Key only 45 min drive to Gainesville (major University town, so restaurants and plays). Cedar Key is a hidden treasure of an island. Even Tallahassee, or Pensacola, so you’re a closer drive to Texas, and of course New Orleans.
Cedar Key IS beautiful, darn it. Good fishing.
Happy birthday. May you have all the yarn ever. If you have even a portion of the joy you give us, it will be amazing!.
Best to you for your birthday and in your life choices. It isn’t easy.
Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday for the 1st.
Thank you for all the joy you both continue to give, through your writing and your interaction with your readers. Good things to you and yours.
Happy Happy Happy Birthday!!! And Happy New Year! And if you feel like wandering north, Columbus, Ohio would love to have you!
Happy Almost Birthday! Today is my birthday, so I’m sending extra birthday love your way. <3
Happy New Year to both of you! Thanks for everything you do, including your trip to the east coast this fall so I could finally meet you both!
Lots of love and a Happy New Year and Birthday.
You deserve a wonderful and exciting 2020. We never know what we want until we try it. Personally living on the Oregon Coast was never a dream until I lived on the Oregon Coast. You will find your dream home and place, just trust in yourself.
Happy Birthday! Know that you have brought joy to others having rough 2019s with your wonderful books. Hope your 2020 is great!
Happy birthday!!
The allergies are still killing both of us and over the counter stuff doesn’t seem to help.
Allergies never bothered me until I hit middle aged, and I used to do the OTC thingie too, but I never liked them. I had always heard about how honey can help alleviate the symptoms, so I decided to give it a try even though I don’t particularly like the stuff.
It works for me.
It has to be raw and harvested locally.
It’s not a cure, it’s a lifelong treatment. I still need aspirin for the headaches and a box of tissue for a runny nose, but the swollen nasal passages are a thing of the past.
Happy birthday early. I’m sorry that 2019 sucked for you. I’m not going to campaign for you to move anywhere but Tulsa Oklahoma is a nice place to live.
Please have a great birthday and happy Happy New Year.
And yes I love your books.
Happy Almost New Year and Happy Almost Birthday! I moved to Florida a few years ago. There are bugs here.
Also there are many hot muggy sunny days with intermittent or constant rain.There is always something new to do as a family right here. Other than that and some hurricanes it is a fun state. Hope to see you here and that you have a good 2020. Thank you for all you do for your fans.
Happy Birthday and hope you guys have a happy New Year as well.
My 2019 wasnt so great and we are taking some of the fallout into 2020 with us. But we are here still and will continue moving forward as best as we can.
Thank you for all your lovely stories that have brought us happiness and comfort through out the year.
See you next year.
Good luck & good health to all in the new roaring 20’s! Thank you both for being excellent writers who send us into different worlds with loving families with lots of action and banter. I can’t imagine moving again so soon, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I moved to SC after a 30 year stint in the Baltimore area. I like it here but stay inside a lot to due to very hot summers. Housing is very affordable to buy, and there are some nice big plots of land still available here in the midlands. I would suggest that you next buy fairly close to an airport if the kids are going to scatter. Happy trails!
Happy Birthday and Happy new year…sending you love, light and healing xx
I second the motion for Floida.
Come to MN lots of water and allergies inly half the year ????
Come to Florida!!!! Rent a house on the beach south of St. Augustine or Crescent Beach. Try it on or out, whatever. ????
Happy Birthday, Happy New Year, and a toast to 2019 being OVER. I’m sure ready for a new one. Cheers!!
The other day I went out for a walk to de-stress a bit, and a bird proceeded to crap on my shoulder. That really felt like a fitting end to 2019. Life just kept throwing crap all year, with literal crap as a grand finale.
Getting to see Dina, Sean, and Orro again was one of very few bright spots. Thank you so much for that wonderful gift. It meant a lot. I really look forward to tomorrow’s snippet and hope you have a lovely birthday. Here’s to a better 2020 for all of us.
Maybe giving the cat a vest like this for scheduled outings might help?
And Happy Birthday!!! https://www.coyotevest.com/products/hawkshield-2018