Feeling Upside Down

I have a cold
and it's making me feel all discombobulated.
You know that feeling when you're light headed and everything you say sounds like you're talking in a tunnel?
Never fails that I pick up a bug at this time of year when I'm running around like that ol' chicken without a head.

Basically I'm ready for the holidays. There are a few small exceptions. Like I woke up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night realizing I hadn't done the Christmas sugar cookies with the kids yet. No biggie. We'll do that today. I'll try not to cough all over the batter.

For me, "being ready" just means the shopping is done. The rest of the stuff ... cleaning ... cooking ... strangling relatives ... all that just comes in it's own time.

So are you all ready for the holidays? And what does being ready for the holidays mean to you?

Feeling a little Grinched?

Well, it's done. The decorating that is. Every year I say the same thing: "I'm NOT putting up ALL the decorations." Every year my children smile and nod knowingly as ALL and sometimes more than ALL (the extras bought on sale after Christmas the previous year) manage to crowd the house.

Yes, it's true. I'm an excessive holiday decorator. I've found a way to crowd the house with items from all the major occasions; Halloween, Christmas and, yes, even the arrival of the Easter Bunny. Holidays arrive and kitschy crap explodes onto every available surface. It's a sickness that's taken on mythic proportions.

How about you? do you exercise restraint in holiday decorating, or do you get a little carried away?

And now to hide the body...

Returned from a research trip to Seattle. Brought the kids so I decided to get their input on where to hide a body in my next book.

Their ideas:

Between the rows of an abandoned movie theatre =>





<= The traditional weed choked ditch.






And my personal favorite.
The taco bus =>



How about you? Any personal preferences for hiding a body?