Hello World.

I've missed you.

Life, that is. I think what you can chalk my absence up to is the Cone Of Silence. I've been visiting it for the last few days.

And by Cone of Silence I mean Land of the Migraines!!! Grrrr.... Today, I am finally, finally better, but now my whole head and neck are sore. You know? Like how your brain hurts after a bad one??? If you don't get migraines and have no idea what I'm talking about, I officially hate you.

No. I don't hate you. But please count yourself as one of the Chosen, because they suck.

Do I sound like I'm complaining?

I. Am.

I hate migraines.

Especially when they interrupt my work schedule. And especially when they interrupt my Trip-Preparation.

Anyway, I'll stop now.

If you are reading this to find out when Endless will be out... Sorry!!! I wish I could tell you more, BUT, it's not finished yet. Let's get that STRAIGHT out in the open. I am hoping to have it finished this week. Edited next week. And then Live by next weekend.

That's the plan.

Of course, my original plan had the release date due on the Fifteenth of this month and you can see how well that worked out for me.....

Yikes. I tell ya what! This has been the HARDEST book I have ever written. And since I've written such an extensive collection of books, (ahem, sarcasm... ahem) that's saying a lot.

Well, truthfully, it has been hard. I had no idea Life could get in the way like it has! In the past two months alone, I've lost three loved ones!! That's a lot to deal with, even for me!

And since the majority of my books have been written whilst I have the three kiddo's, this one seems particularly hard to distract them while writing.

Reckless was the only book technically easy to write... Only because I only had Stella, and Scar was just itty bitty.

But anyway. So, the goal is a week and a half from now. Thank you everyone for your patience!!!!!!!! I know, I'm frustrating to work with... Yikes!!!

Ok, now onto other life things that have nothing to do with my books....

My Living Room grew up yesterday. That's right. Grew up.

We bought a couch.

And by We bought a couch, I really mean, We bought a couch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it exciting???

Ok, maybe not the biggest news in the world, but let me tell you something. In my entire six and a half years of marriage, Zach and I have officially bough Two pieces of furniture.

Yep. Two.

I technically bought our mattress before we were married, so that doesn't count. And the first piece of furniture we bought was a $30 couch from Goodwill.

Which, was actually pretty nice, I'm not going to lie. And oh my gosh, I bought it without Zach's permission.... and then fretted over that $30 like it should have been $100,000 or something. Oh to be young and that poor again.....

Or not...

Ok, and then our second furniture purchase was another couch, because we moved and couldn't fit the $30 one into the house we moved into so we had to give it away and buy a love seat. It was a sad day. That $30 couch and I had some good times. Like, when I was pregnant with Stella and too sick to get off it.

We also had a cat at that point, and I actually loved that animal. We used to take naps together on it.... But that's besides the point.

The love seat we replaced the $30 couch with was only $200. We got a deal from a friend at a furniture store. And we were very proud of that purchase.

Granted, only one of the feet recliners worked, and it's seen some wear-and-tear, but it's a good seat.

Here was our problem though. In our old house, aka my mom's basement, there was only room for a loveseat. So, when we moved into our farmhouse, our rather large (Well, for us large...) living room dwarfed it.

Plus, it's not very much seating. You can only sit two people on it comfortably, and if you don't know the other person very well, seating can get very awkward. It is a Loveseat after all. I mean, you don't want to get stuck on it with the wrong person....

We knew we had a seating issue. Trust me, we were fully aware. But I'm also starting to realize we are just kind of different people to begin with.... I'll talk more about that later.

So, this is how our living room was set up. Think of it like an L. I mean, it's a rectangle, but the back wall holds the TV, and another wall is dedicated entirely to the brick fire place and built in bookshelves/cabinets. So, the L makes up the seating arrangements.

And until this couch, oh, how do I explain the room.... A relative Hodge Podge of furniture!!!!

Lets start at the top of the short side of the L and work our way around. The girls have this very nice table, you know just their size, and that sat at the very end. It's now in their room, but for some reason we have a LOT of little kid tables. People just keep giving them to us. So there was already one in the girls room, Now that one is broken and has been replaced with the nice one.

Next to that was this antique Roman Chair. It's a handmade antique from the Art Deco period, and probably one of my favorite pieces in our extensive collection of chairs... :) No, but seriously, I LOVE the chair, and it is a nice antique, although I'm sure it's not worth anything. But it's super cute. However, it is really, really uncomfortable to sit in because it doesn't have a back and it's not really all that stable.... (Yes, we can all say Yikes together...) But it filled up some space.

Next to that was my grandmother's rocking chair. Which, not much to say about it, except that it's from like the fifties, and it's a real rocking chair. It's precious to me, but no way does that have any room in anybody's living room unless your my grandmother's age.

Which is dead by the way.

Did that sound callous??? I didn't mean it to be. I love my Gramma.

Ok, then in the corner of the room, was a recliner. Oh, but not just any recliner. Oh, no. This recliner is especially made for old people. We inherited it from my other grandma. It is super easy for the elderly to sit in, and get up out of. It's tiny, not at all the size of normal recliner, but it makes a good seat.

Next to that, we have one of the children's chairs. Why? Oh, because we use it to set drinks and such on. We don't have a coffee table.

Then we finally get to our Loveseat, center back, in perfect view of the TV. Another children's chair to separate the Loveseat from the final piece of furniture: an actual recliner.

Not just any recliner though, Oh no, this one is for sure, not new, or pretty, and Zach's brother definitely gave it to us. His younger brother who bought it for his college dorm and then asked if we wanted to "store" it for him, since we needed more furniture, even in our small basement apartment and now I'm pretty sure he just never wants it back.... I can't really blame him though.

Sounds like a party doesn't it? I mean with all that seating, we might as well invite our entire group of friends over so everyone can have their own, unique chair.

Wrong.

It was awful. And terribly awkward.... And, how do I say this.... UGLY. As in U G L Y, you ain't got no alibi-kind of ugly.

We have been talking about upgrading to a couch for, well since we moved in here. (Probably longer than that...) And finally, a year and a half later.... We did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's about normal for us, right? I mean the length of time it takes us to talk about something and then actually follow through.

Shoot I've been talking about getting new sunglasses for the least, oh, I don't know at least eight months. I'll get around to it, don't worry.

But it's a sectional! (We're talking about the couch again.) And it actually looks like we have some taste! It's very exciting!!!

Now we only have two pieces of furniture in our living room, instead of fifty! The couch and the recliner.

One day we'll upgrade the recliner. And one day, I'll get one of those hideaway coffee tables, that I can put blankets and toys in.

I've been talking about getting one of those for.... 1, no 2, no.... 3 years. One day soon, I'll actually get around to purchasing it. Soon is a very objective term, don't ya think?? Like Check Engine Soon? How soon is soon? Really, it should be Check Engine Right NOW NOW NOW. That might actually get my attention.

Back to my point.

And then my Living Room will be complete. Oh, wait, except we definitely need a new entertainment center, since the one we use is from Zach's room when he was in High School!!!!!!!!! Ok, then I will have a complete Living Room.

So, my goal for completion is 2020. I think that's a realistic date, don't you?

What? You're living room is all put together and you have all of that stuff?

Well then I bet you even have an alarm clock made in the last decade. Oh, that's right, the other night our alarm clock was acting funny (And by that, I mean, Zach worked all night doing snow, literally all night, and then had a conference all day, so he didn't go to bed until 7pm that night and so he set the alarm for 9:30pm so he could have a regular nights sleep and then forgot he set the alarm clock and then was too disoriented to figure out how to turn it off so he banged the crap out of it... muah, ha, ha, haaaaa....). Anyway, he broke it and then fixed it, because that's what he does. He fixes things. And I was like, well maybe it's time to get a new one, you had that alarm clock before we were even married!

Thinking that was a long time ago.

He goes, Uh, Rachel, I've had that alarm clock since I was 8!!!!!!!!

Well, he didn't use quite so many exclamation points. Or any at all, if we are being honest.

But seriously, we are using a 20 year old alarm clock.

Who are we???

That's exactly what I asked Zach and he said, well if it ain't broke don't fix it. And I said, but you just did break it and then you fixed it. And then he said, and look, it still works!!

Again, he didn't use exclamation points. But sometimes I like to pretend he gets as excitable as me. :)

Anyway, one day we will have it together, and our house will look like something that belongs in a magazine. Granted, maybe an outdated issue of what NOT to do with your house, but still, a magazine.

And since, I've heard the story about the woman who wanted to throw two parties when she bought her first house, the first party being when she first moved in and then the second planned for when she got her house decorated and set up just like she wanted. Guess what party she never had?

Exactly!

So, I will not wait for my living room to be perfect. And instead, I will be throwing a couch party!!!! That's something to celebrate right???

I think so.

Although, don't hold your breath for an invitation.... Seriously, who knows when I'll get around to this one. :)