Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates to my blog.  A few weeks ago, my baby daughter accidentally spilled coffee all over my laptop.  It was still under warranty, thankfully, but that meant in order to fix it, the entire laptop needed to be sent off to TN.  UGH.  I waited about two weeks to get it back, and when I did, I learned the only things that hadn't been replaced were the monitor and the hard drive.  WOW!  It's like getting an entirely new computer.  I was amazed and thankful that I didn't have to buy a new one!

I can't tell you the different levels of heart failure I went through when I saw that coffee on my laptop.  First, it happened in slow-mo, with a long, drawn-out, "NOOOOOOO!!!"  But of course, it's one of those things you can't stop from happening.  I felt like Helen Keller without my computer, even though DH sacrificed his work laptop so I could have a computer at least.  But it didn't have MS Word installed on it, so I couldn't write, nor could I do my edits on THE JACKAL PRINCE, and it was killing my inner child!

BUT, I finally have my computer back, and I've been working on edits and writing.  YAY!  I got my first round edits turned in on JACKAL, Book V of my Desert Princes.  Book IV, THE SPIDER PRINCE, releases from Carnal Passions on Wed., February 16th!  You definitely do NOT want to miss that book, it's my favorite out of all the princes. 

My current project, HEART OF A SCOUNDREL, is almost finished.  Right now, I just have wrap up to do and then clean it up before I turn it in.  My publisher thinks it's title is too clunky, and has suggested naming it simply to SCOUNDREL.  That will most likely be the book's finished title.  But I've had great fun writing this one.  It won't be too long, probably a few thousand words past 40K, but it's a great little story, I believe! Hopefully you won't have long to wait before you can read it. 

DH and I have been taking care to eat better and measure our food portions, not to mention getting out and exercising more.  Since January 1st, I've lost 16lbs!  It's very rewarding to see the scale go the other way, considering I lost about 65 lbs before I had my baby daughter, then promptly gained it all BACK!!  Ugh.  So I've got to lose all of that AGAIN before I see any "new" progress.  But this time, I've been very good about not sneaking food or cheating.  Every week to two weeks, DH and I have our "cheat" days, and that helps a lot.  Couple that with low calorie Skinny Cow ice cream desserts, and we're doing just fine.  I don't even miss eating like I used to.

The thing is, whenever we cheat, I feel like I have a gut bomb in my belly now and I pay for it a few hours later.  My insides just don't like to eat greasy fatty foods after being fed good stuff for awhile.  So I don't always like to cheat because of how I feel afterward.

My goal is to lose enough weight so that I can buy an affordable treadmill for home.  Ironic, right?!  They do make treadmills for fatties, but you've got to shell out the dough.  The moment I can get down a bit, I'm going to buy myself an affordable one.  It's just easier than packing up five kids and walking around the neighborhood.  It's very hard for me to get the proper speed I need to get my heart rate up and calories burned when I've got to keep five eyes on my kids.  So right now, I'm more focused on MOVING more rather than speed and cardio.  Once I can get my weight down enough with diet and moving more, I can focus more on speed and cardio after I buy a treadmill.  And that IS the goal.  I can't wait to strap on my iPod and just WALK (or jog) without having to worry about the kids lagging behind or when am I going to exercise if the baby has to nap kind of thing.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated on my progress.  That's it from my end.  Hope y'all have been doing well!

~~Becka