I can’t believe it’s already Friday again.

I do know where the time has gone though. Physical therapy appointments, lots of exercise sessions at home, doctor appointments (I had the staples removed yesterday!!!!). Everything is moving along as it should, and I’m so happy I finally got this done. I have a stable knee and it straightens and bends better already than my own knee had done for years.

My oldest son came and spent four days with us to give my husband a little break from the chores and errands. That was a big help…..he was so surprised to see me up and walking around, climbing stairs, and doing the exercises. He thought I’d be down in bed for a week or so, but that’s not the way it’s done these days.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll see my baby brother passed away the morning I got home from the hospital. It has been a hard week for the family over in Illinois, and I was stuck here in Colorado with the healing knee, but we got through it all okay. Life always seems to dump a truckload instead of a thimbleful of trouble at any one time. I guess that’s how we learn to roll with the punches….

On the happy side, as soon as I’m able to travel and to handle the transfer of my brother’s little black Scottish terrier, Sassy, from Illinois to Colorado, we’ll have a new member of our household. In the meantime, she’s with a wonderful young couple who will be her foster parents for a couple of months. She’s a real sweet dog, so I sure hope Katie Cat can adjust to another animal in the house. I’m just not sure what’s going to happen.

I am still taking advantage of the extra time to read. I finished Justice at Redwillow. I would call it a classic Western (except the cowboy kisses the girl instead of his horse), as well as a traditional mystery. It’s pacing is slower than a thriller, and the story line was excellent. I’m going to be reading a lot more books from the Five Star Frontier Fiction and Western lines in the future.

Right now I’m reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. I was turned on to this book by author Janet Lane who has been writing a series on happiness for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog.  If you’re interested in reading her posts, here are the links:

The happiness advantage – To write better novels, lighten up!
The Happiness Advantage – Don’t set a goal without it!
50 Shades of Happy: How an RMFW “Failure” panel brought this topic home

And I highly recommend the book. It’s eye-opening. There’s also a link to a survey you can take online that helps identify your greatest strengths. I was pretty sure I already knew mine, but did get a couple of surprises–things I hadn’t even thought about in the context of “strengths.” The survey is free and can be found at the VIA Institute on Character website.

Okay, that’s it. Exercise bike time. Must keep to the schedule.