Mama Reeny's Pizzeria

The boys and I made homemade pizza tonight for dinner.  Picked up some yeast last week when I was grocery shopping, and we used a bunch of stuff we had in the fridge: leftover pepperoni, salami, mushrooms, red onion.  What a great way to use leftovers!  Had some root beer, CFDC, and honey on the crust for dessert.  I love Saturday nights with my boys.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Judge of a man by his questions rather than by his answers.

Voltaire
1694-1778

In the Company of Women

I live in a house full of males.  Even the dogs are male and have nothing to do with me unless Stan and the boys aren't around.  Usually when I want to talk about girly stuff I don't; I sit and think about it and look up things on the internet.  It's okay but ....

Today I had a MAJOR treat!  I went out on a girls lunch!  (Insert a picture of a gigantic smile here!)  I cannot tell you how much fun it was.  We talked about hair, makeup, purses..... our children, what we're doing, and childbirth stories.

These three women are so off the charts incredible that it makes me pause to think that they're my friends.  Rachael is (ta-da!) an award winning photographer who sees beauty in the simple things that surround us.  Kristeen is a musician with an accepting heart who willingly shares her talent.  And Tara, my sweet, loving friend, has shown me unconditional love only a true friend can give you.  I've never known a more generous heart than hers.

This afternoon has left me feeling full of love, encouraged by friendship, and energized by their strong spirits.  There are some things that husbands and boyfriends just can't do for you.  I am so thankful for the company of women, and these women in particular.  Yay!

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else.
Ivern Ball

Homesick

I'm feeling homesick.  My arthritis is bothering me, and all the stairs in my house are so painful to get up and down and I'm missing my sweet house back in California.  Everything on one level.  So nice!

And I'm missing being near family.  My parents and sister were only 70 miles away, and Stan's sister was just a twenty minute drive from us, his parents only three hours away.  I didn't appreciate the proximity until I was too far away.

And I'm feeling homesick for my old ward too.  I wasn't the old lady in the ward then.  Of course that was over ten years ago, so who knows how it would be now? 

I had a job I just loved working in a high school library and I still miss that.  The kids, the teachers and staff, and of course the librarian I worked with.  It was a dream-come-true job for me and leaving it was just as hard as leaving my family and friends and my old house.

I miss going to the beach, the briney smell of the shore and the sound of seagulls crying as they fly overhead.  And the redwoods.  That musty smell and the coolness in their shade.  The aroma of eucalyptus trees along the damp roads leading over the hills to San Juan Bautista. 

But home is Colorado now.  So am I feelilng homesick or nostalgic?

I guess I'm just feeling blue.

Freebies!

My cozy mystery What Would Nancy Do? is currently available on smashwords.com in a wide variety of formats.  This is an ebook, and is not available in print format as of yet. 

However, you can preview the first twenty percent of the book for free to see what it's like.

You may also download a companion short story Emails: A Maeve and Kate Mini-Mystery.  This story features the characters from the novel and is a complete mystery on it's own.  Emails is available for free. 

Both of these can be found at http://www.smashwords.com/ or you can go directly to my author page there at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/maureenmullis if you desire.

I hope you'll take the time to check them out!

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Langston Hughes

1902-1967

Haircuts, Lunch and a new 'Puter!

We've been having a ton of lightening storms complete wih thunder, rain and hail the past week.  The last one we had fried our poor old (relatively speaking...it was 8) computer.  Today we bit the bullet and went out to get a new one.  But we decided to make a day of it.

First we we went to the barber shop and got the menfolk purtied up.  Don't they look good?

Then we went to Gunther Toody's Diner, where AJ used to work.   Wednesday is Burger Day.  You buy one burger and drink and get a second burger for five cents.  Of course you need to buy a drink for that burger as well, but with four of us we wind up with a pretty good deal.

After that, looking good, our tummies full we went computer shopping.  Stan is having them double our memory, and we got ourselves a really good surge protector.  Should pick up the new toy tomorrow morning and we'll be back in business!

Funny how quickly you can get addicted to all this stuff, isn't it??

Now Available!

My ebook, WHAT WOULD NANCY DO? is now available on smashwords.com!  I am so excited to be able to make this announcement which has been a long time in coming.  Within a few weeks you will also be able to find it on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and others.

WHAT WOULD NANCY DO? is the story of Maeve Haile and Kate Hanson who have been friends for over forty years. Having met in junior high the two quickly discovered a mutual love and admiration for the girl detective Nancy Drew. It was the cement that bound them and now, all these years later, they fondly remember the heroine.


When a woman is killed in front of them and the detective assigned to the case dismisses it as a gang related murder, the two friends decide to tackle the case asking themselves "what would Nancy do?" as their guiding force.

A stay-at-home wife and mother Maeve volunteers at the library with their former high school teacher who helps them with research and advice. Kate, a therapist, runs court appointed anger management classes giving her access to the detective in charge. Together they use all their resources to delve into the woman's life and family to discover secrets, sibling rivalries and deeply rooted resentments that convince them the woman's death was not random act of violence.

More shootings around their small town convince them they are on the right track while they hurry to put the pieces together. As they deal with all of this, one of Kate's court enforced clients seems to be of the notion that she is the one standing in the way of his success, and continues to interfere in their investigation and frightens Maeve with his confrontations.

With their lives at stake, Maeve and Kate learn they can rely on each other in ways their friendship has never been tested before as they race to find the killer and turn him over to the police before he kills again.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then--we elected them.

Lily Tomlin

1939 -

Ain't It The Truth?