Home Renovation and Other Marital Disasters

Here's a little known tidbit to digest over your morning coffee: There are more than 90,000 women in prison in the US at this moment. Most, according to a source I found, were incarcerated for economic crimes. Hmm, maybe, but I have my own opinion on that. I'm willing to bet that if anyone bothered to dig a bit deeper into the subjec, they'd discover HRV was at the root of most of the crimes.

HRV, or House Remodeling Violence shall soon become a perfectly acceptable defense plea. Half the juries are made up of women, right? There's the sympathy vote right there.

Have you ever painted with your husband? Wall-papered? Picked out new window treatments? Then you might have an idea of where this is going. If you've ever remodeled a room or portion of a house with a spouse, it's easy to understand how homicide might be the result. Or, at the very least, resorting to vigorous beatings.

You might have guessed, we're doing some remodeling at our house. Pretty much the entire upper story--five bedrooms and bath. More than the ordinary remodeling, because we raised five kids in that house

and by the time they all left it was a toss up whether to start renovating or to call a priest for an exorcism. (We opted to save the priest as a last resort.)

At the beginning I. Was. Pumped. At last, the moment

I'd been awaiting for decades. No longer was Menards the place where my dreams went to die. I'd visualized what I was going to do When The Time Came. I knew what I wanted. I'd picked out samples in my mind.

I'd also forgotten to factor someone else into the equation.

Really, a man only ought to be allowed an opinion if he also has taste. This is the guy who once (very early in our marriage) nailed a quilt over the sliding glass doors in lieu of curtains, and to this day fails to understand what was wrong with that. A man who has never grasped the correlation between buying cheap and looking tacky. A man that doesn't understand why we're remodeling bedrooms no one sleeps in anymore. One who could get all his renovating needs met in the pages of Craftsman and the aisles of Walmart.

A man who is seriously wishing he'd found a wife with similar tastes :)

The good news is, progress has been made in the remodeling. Tile has been laid. Painting has been done. Carpeting bought. And although one or two unkind words may have been exchanged, we haven't yet come to blows. (There was the one instance of a switch plate sailing through the air and coming suspiciously close to making contact. Note to self: work on the wind-up.)

And homicide has not (yet) been done. But I remain unconvinced about those 90,000 other women languishing in prison....

What about you? Have any building or remodeling nightmares to share? Need a character witness at the subsequent trial? And most importantly, anyone willing to post bail if things deteriorate before the rest of our projects are done???

And the winners are...

Cories5 and Heather, you've each won a copy of a book from Ann's backlist! Please contact her at ann@annvosspeterson.com !

Guest Author: Ann Voss Peterson

Please help me welcome the fabulous Ann Voss Peterson, author of over twenty Harlequin Intrigues. Not only is Ann a great writer, she's extremely creative, as well. So I expect that she's going to try to explain away this photo as research. Having partied with her before, I tend to believe it's a real arrest photo after we closed the bars down at RWA. But hey, this is her blog post and we'll let her tell the story the way she wants to :)

Whew! I'm so glad to be here at Riding with the Top Down. Thanks for inviting me, Kylie! The wind in my hair. The open road in front of me. No worries.

You see, lately I've been scrambling. My life has gotten away from me. This fall has been chaos. And to top it off, I spent the last few weeks running from the law.

Literally.

At first I simply had a revoked driver's license. When the sheriff's deputy pulled me over, I panicked and dashed from my car.

But then there was the time I was wanted for strangling someone. That time the deputies chased me. Some of them caught me. Some of them I managed to escape. One of them yelled at me so loud, my bones shook. And then he pulled his gun.

It was exhausting.

Now, before you toss me out of the convertible, call the cyber police and turn me in, I can explain.

It was all pretend.

The past few weeks, I volunteered to role play in training scenarios for my county sheriff's department. I was a speeder who'd had her license revoked...and ran. I was a speeder with an unregistered vehicle and a revoked license...who ran. I was a stranded motorist wanted for a violent felony...who ran...and was chased. I did a lot of running in those days. And I learned a lot about how law enforcement officers are trained to think.

1. Before giving chase, decide if the charges are worth it.

2. When giving chase, remember to notice street signs and other landmarks so you can tell dispatch where you are.

3. Don't rush in. Take cover, observe and wait for back up.

At the same time all this volunteering was going on, I had a few other challenges. My oldest son's school was taken over by mold over the summer, so his return was delayed by two weeks. My youngest son's school started on schedule and was clamoring for my volunteer time and fund-raising attention. I had too many writing projects, speaking engagements, promotional opportunities and family obligations demanding my time. And my

house was a complete disaster.

So I decided to think like a deputy.

Before I chased after every interesting project, school obligation, promo op, I sat down and looked at each, deciding whether it was worth the time for me. I had to get my kids set up for school, help them with adjusting and homework, but I didn't have to sell wrapping paper for the damn PTO fundraiser. And the house? Clutter isn't deadly, usually. It's okay to say no...it's okay to say no....

Instead of rushing in, I called for back up. I don't have to do everything myself. I don't. I really don't. I can ask others for help (as you can see, I'm still working on this...well, on all of it.)

So my life is a bit more under control. At least I hope it is. I have writing to do! But I have to remember to have fun, too. To refill the well with research opportunities to cool to miss, like being part of the sheriff department's training scenarios. And with fun, like riding with the top down.

Now, you didn't see flashing lights in back of us, did you???

What are your tricks for organizing your life? Share. Please, please, please. I need all the help the help I can get! And I'll be giving away two books from my backlist, names drawn from commenters.

And if you want to see other cool adventures I've had in the name of research, check out the Ann's Research Adventures page on my website: http://www.annvosspeterson.com . Or pick up my October Harlequin Intrigue,

A COP IN HER STOCKING.

Winners of Laura Wright's ETERNAL HUNGER

Congratulations to Gina (the Librarian) and Martha Lawson. You each won a copy of Laura Wright's ETERNAL HUNGER! Woo Woo!!

Please e-mail Laura at: Laura@laurawright.com with your full names and mailing addresses and she'll ship the autographed books out to you!

Thanks for stopping by the TopDown!

WELCOME LAURA WRIGHT!

COVER LOVER?

First let me say thank you to Cindy Gerard and all the incredible authors at Riding with the Top Down for having me. It’s so great to hang out with you guys
and talk ETERNAL HUNGER, the first book in my Mark of the Vampire series,which hit the shelves as of October 4th!!














And...(drumroll) here's a debut sneak peak of the hot off the presses cover for my second book in the series, ETERNAL KISS!
(out 4/2011)








Covers. Oh boy, that can be a wild, interesting, maddening, thrilling topic, no? Walking down the aisle in your favorite book store, your eyes running over the sea of titles – what catches you and makes you pick it up, flip it over and read the back? Or heck, what makes you cringe and turn the other way?



Since moving from category romance to paranormal, I’ve seen hundreds of awesome covers, drooled over many a hunky bare-chested hero, and yet I’m always interested in what everyone
else deems a ‘killer cover.’ There’s been some talk lately about the hero chest cover shots being overdone. For me, there can’t be enough ripped chest - and throw in a little strong jaw and a tat and I’m a buyin’!

Hee hee.

So what about you? Are covers a huge deal when you buy a book? What kinds of covers attract you? And what kinds have you running from the store?

I have 2 copies of ETERNAL HUNGER to give away so please comment!

Hey gang - Cindy, here, chiming in to let you know that the buzz for ETERNAL HUNGER
is at a fever pitch! Publisher's Weekly, in a starred review says: Just when it seems every possible vampire twist has been turned, Wright launches a powerful series with a rich mythology, page-turning tension, and blistering sensuality. Cool, right? Make sure you rush right out and check out this amazing book! http://laurawright.com