My Son, the Hero

So a couple days ago, we packed up our stuff and headed back home to Sunset Valley for the holidays.  The intention is to celebrate the holiday there, for the Plumb family reunion. My youngest daughter, Skylar, was excited because she'd never been to Sunset Valley, though she'd probably always heard me and the older kids talk about it.  She and her younger brother, Sawyer, were born in Hidden Springs. 

I have to admit, I'm excited to see my old haunts again, for longer than the couple days I was there signing books.  I'm even more excited to show my kids my old haunts. 

We've decided, while we're there, that we'll stay in our old house.  The one I grew up in. 

The first night we were there, though, and I mean the very first night, something happened that I was very familiar with, from living here.  Apparently the police force hadn't upgraded since I left, lol.

There was an attempted robbery.  I do mean attempted.  The robbery didn't happen, thanks to one person -- AJ.

Here's how it went down.  The sneaky little burglar tried to get in through the front door.  My parents had left the alarm system installed, and the alarm went off.  AJ and I had gotten up at the same time, and we'd surrounded her. 

We looked at each other.  Before I could say anything, he'd wrestled her down to the ground.

After he'd wrestled her down, I held her feet while he continued to pound her.

After a few minutes, she was apprehended, and then had the nerve to complain of a sore back.  Hello, you should have thought of that when you decided to come on to this property.  My son had put his paramilitary training to good use.  When he caught her he gave me a little sly wink.

Needless to say, I was one PROUD mama.

It reminded me of the days when I was footloose and fancy free, when no burglar dared set foot on my parents' property, because I'd kick their butts.  I'm raising or have raised seven kids -- 9 if you count my brother and my nephew.  You think I'd let any harm come to any one of them?? 

I reached over to AJ and gave him a quick hug before he went off.  The police officer that showed up, ironically, was named Sierra, which is the same name as my middle daughter, who along with her sisters were upstairs asleep when all this was going down, lol. 

I watched with satisfaction as Police Officer Sierra led the would-be burglar, Sheila something, away in handcuffs.   AJ even got five hundred simoleans for his heist.  I haven't asked him yet what he's going to do with the money. 

I'd decided, right then and there, we were going to beef up our security by installing a security gate.   We're also hiring an interior decorator to remodel the place but that's for another post. 

I'd also decided that if AJ can handle burglars, he can certainly handle an entitled little princess. 

Junior grew up that night.  He's going to be okay. 

Me and AJ

The other day I had a lengthy conversation with my son, AJ.
AJ is my oldest biological child.  I adopted 2 children from Egypt before I married my husband. 
AJ has had some issues, a lot of which are my doing, because when I had him I wasn't at all ready to be a mom.  And I froze.  I had no clue what to do.  Thankfully, Andy is a far better father than I ever was as a mother. 
But I digress.
The reason I had this conversation in the first place was because I'd heard some interesting things about his involvement with a certain princess.
A quick recap:  Prince Consort Renauld, Queen Catarina's husband and the father of her twin daughters, died suddenly of a massive heart attack while he was getting dressed.  Somehow AJ ended up at the palace during his funeral dinner. When AJ was there, he met a girl who called herself Alex.  Later I found out that Alex was actually Princess Alexandra Vanderburg, one of the twin daughters of Queen Catarina and Prince Renauld.
Alexandra had enlisted in the military reserves and enrolled in the royal flight academy to undergo flight training. 
I found out later that Alexandra was in AJ's regiment and his class at the flight academy.  I've also found out that they're spending a lot of time together, both in training and doing outside activities.  I've found out that she's invited him to the castle on multiple occasions. 
Hence, my reason (or one of them) for our talk that evening.
"AJ, do you take your medicine every morning?"  AJ has to take a prescribed elixir to regulate his moods every morning before going to work.  It was given to him at the hospital.
"Yes, mom," he replied between bites of homemade spaghetti.
"AJ -- I know about Alexandra.  You like her, don't you?"

"Mom!"
"AJ, it's not a crime if you like her. It's just that -- you know, she's a member of the royal family.  Just be careful, that's all."
"Mom, we're just associates.  We have to work together."
"AJ, she took you to her favorite hangout spot up in the mountains."
AJ's eyes widened.  "Mom, how'd you know THAT???"
I smiled.  "A mother knows these things, son." 

After I pressed him a bit, he admitted his mountain trip with Alexandra did in fact happen.

"It was a training exercise, we were doing a run to increase stamina.  She decided to take a detour.
"Come on, I've got a place I want to show you."
"Are you sure it's okay?" I asked.
"Sure," she said, and she kept running while I was huffing and puffing behind her. 

"My dad used to take me here all the time to go fishing and camping and whatever.  I often came here on my own whenever I had an argument with my mom."
"What happened to him?"
"He passed away in October.  I still miss him like crazy."

"Alex!" I called.  "Alex, this is crazy!"
"Come on, valley boy," she teased, "tired already?  Us mountain folk, we're used to climbing and such."
When I finally reached the top, I collapsed.  She stood over me, fanning me with the vest she took off, and I woke up a few moments later. 
"When I'm done with you, you're going to be a better climber than me." 

When AJ finished telling his story, I couldn't do anything but laugh, for they sounded exactly like his father and me.  Except I was the polished suburban slicker and HE was the outdoorsy fisherman.  Trying to climb hills in heels... well, let's just say... I got a few blisters from all that. 
I took in a few more bites of spaghetti.  "Did I ever tell you how on our first date, your father took me to Crystal Springs, his favorite fishing spot up near the stadium here?"
He shook his head no.
"I told him that I'd never been there before, and I hadn't even though I grew up here.  Now, I know Alexandra took you to that fishing spot up there in the mountains, and the two of you went fishing together.  Tell me honestly, AJ, are you attracted to her?"
"We're just friends.  Our birthday is the same, almost, she has the same favorite color and she likes the same things I do."
"AJ, I have no problems with you being friends with her, I like the idea that you are making friends.  I just, you know, want you to be careful." 
I kind of think Alexandra wants to be more than friends... but I couldn't tell AJ that just yet. 

I have to admit that I'm tickled to death at the irony. My son was a juvenile delinquent, sentenced to Fort Starch Military Academy, and now he's hanging out with a princess.
My baby, you know, he's all grown up now... how time flies. 

My two Simoleons

Just like I predicted, the queen was pissed that Alexandra joined the army. 

In fact, she's so upset now that she's given her and her twin sister an ultimatum.  They have to get married in two simweeks or forfeit their inheritance.

Seriously?  Are you kidding?

What century is this?  I know my latest book takes place mostly in the twelfth century but this isn't it.  Marriage ultimatums?  Really?   Even Alys de Montfort managed to dodge one of those.  And that was in the twelfth century. 

Personally, if it were my daughter, I'd be proud of her.  And support her.

Then I hear the other daughter, Anastasia, designed and is building the family funeral crypt, and the queen is upset about that, too. 

If she's building a cemetery, more power to her.  The Sim world needs more good architects.

Like I told AJ when he enlisted, I was going to support him in whatever he decides to do.  Even if I don't like it myself.  Even if I worry myself sick if he's going to come home again.

Speaking of which, he's been deployed now, to the foot of the mountain where there was a minor earthquake.  *sigh*  Such a big boy now, my son.  I don't have to hold his hand anymore to cross the street.   I still worry myself sick about him though.  I suppose that's natural, as he's my son, my first-born.  The fact that he's in the same regiment as Alex doesn't help either.

And I support Sety and Satis even though I don't like the fact that they're back in Egypt, back in a war zone.  Satis has written me and told me she is doing important diplomatic work there.  I hope they are safe.  I love them and miss them bunches. 

I'm hoping they come back home for Christmas.  We're making big plans for a Plumb family reunion in the Valley.  I have written them about the reunion. 

My current research is into a possible genetic link between Queen Catarina and Alys de Montfort, through Queen Catarina's mother, Queen Eloise.

I have great respect for the work Catarina Vanderburg has done as Queen of Hidden Springs.  She's done it for many years and she's done a great job of it. 

But I have to say it, I think she's a horrible mother.

Start with her son, Crown Prince Sebastian. She arranged a ball for him to find a bride there.  Granted, the bride he chose there is the new crown princess, Ella Carlisle, and she's everything the crown could possibly want -- but still, I don't think that was the way to go about that.

And her daughter -- where do I begin about Princess Francisca? 

Francisca wanted to travel and write, and her mother went ape, and wanted her to get married, and she disappeared and didn't return for many years, until, according to the gossips, Ella had been secretly talking to her, and she and the Prince are trying to negotiate a peace between her and the palace.

Even I know, in the issues I had with my own mom about wanting to travel and write while she wanted me in a nice, safe society lifestyle, that eventually the will is going to win out. 

But, in my opinion, she's failed the twins worst of all. 

Most psychologists (including Dr. Bill himself, who told me this in my dealings with Sage) say that the most powerful role-model in a child's life is the same-sex parent. 

I had to change what I was doing, in order to get closer to my daughters.  I rearranged my work schedule, and did whatever I needed to do so that I could have a better relationship with them.  It's not perfect but it is a work in progress.

These girls' mother absolutely failed them.  When they needed their mommy, she wasn't there.

 

I first encountered the little girls when my husband and I first moved to Hidden Springs.  I'd been an invited guest of the queen at the girls' teen birthday party.  I thought, you know, that they were a couple of little spoiled brats. 

She sent them away to Smuggsworth finishing school in order for them to become proper princesses. 

And I've heard that they wrote letters to her, constantly, begging for her to come and get them.  Personally, if they were my daughters, I'm on the first train smoking to bring them home and give them a big bear hug. 

So, my daughters are hooked on their TV show, Vanderburg Squared, and of course my son kind of stumbled into a bit part in it by going on an outing with one of the stars (lol) and winding up in a movie theater and in a rock climbing contest (he won yay)... apparently he is friends with her (only, thank the Goddess!)  and they're fellow cadets at the military academy so they'd have to work together.

I've heard that the Crown Prince has banned the show's cameras from the academy so that's a good thing.  He said he didn't want to compromise the privacy of the other cadets. 

The last episode I caught, the queen had just made the ultimatum and the girls had decided they were going to throw a costume ball. 

I don't watch the show regularly.  And I won't start now.  Even on my packed schedule. 

Homecoming Day

The next stop on the book tour itinerary is my birthplace and hometown, Sunset Valley. 
Though I've lived practically everywhere on the Sim map, I still consider Sunset Valley my home, even though my brother and my kids don't see it that way.
 
Sunset Valley is where I was born and raised.  Even though I no longer live or work there it is still my home.  My father was born here, my brother and I were raised here, I graduated from the Community School for the Gifted, I got married here, and three of my children were also born here.  (The younger two, Skylar and Sawyer, were born in Hidden Springs.)

It'll be good to see some of the old haunts.  Especially the bookstore, where I'll be spending most of my time.

Before I left Hidden Springs, I gave a deposition to the magistrate there.  The deposition regarded Bassy's daughter, Kaydence, and requests that Madison's parental rights be revoked.  When I gave the deposition, I made it clear to Bassy that I wasn't doing it to help him.  He's beyond my help.  I was doing it on behalf of Kaydence, who is totally innocent and had nothing to do with the situation her parents put her in. 

Speaking of Hidden Springs...

Before I left there, I laid eyes on Kyra Foster's son, Aaron, for the first time.  And it was completely accidental.
I had dropped AJ off at the airport in Riverview because Hidden Springs doesn't have an airport.  He was on his way to basic training (why he wants to go to flight school after what he went through in boot camp, I'll never know, but it's his life and I'll support him in whatever)
There was this young teenage boy there holding a baby. 

I'd recognize those cheeks anywhere, and I could pick them out in a police lineup. 

They belong to my brother.  And he needs to step up to the plate.

And another thing.  This Alex thing has me majorly uneasy.  First of all... it bothers me that, from everything I've heard about what happened that night, she basically threw herself at him.  If girls are willing to go to those kind of lengths, even princesses, on account of my son, then I wonder what this Sim world is coming to.

So, I told you guys that my son, AJ, met this girl Alex at the funeral dinner for Prince Renauld at the royal palace here in Hidden Springs. 

A part of me is still wondering what the heck he was doing there in the first place, but whatever. 
(Prince Renauld, Queen Catarina's husband, died suddenly in his bedroom.  The palace doctors tried to revive him, to no avail.)

His Alex is, in fact, Princess Alexandra Vanderburg, daughter of the aforementioned Prince Renauld and Queen Catarina Vanderburg.  She has a twin sister named Anastasia.

Now, a part of me is tickled pink that a princess is head over feet over my son.  But a bigger part of me wants him to run the other way.  Like I said the other day, though, it's his call, not mine. 

Have to say, on the surface she sounds like someone after my own heart. She has got to have some kind of gumption, though, willfully disobeying the royal family by enlisting in the military and enrolling in flight school. Have to admit I can't wait till Queen Catarina finds out. I'll be grabbing my popcorn.

Although part of me suspects that the only reason that Alex is in flight school is because of AJ.

Andy and I have told our children time and again, that as long as they're happy, then we're happy. We even told them, if they want to be thieves, my goodness, be the best damn thieves you could be.

It's the same approach my dad took with Bassy and me.

He never forced us into the music business, even though he was in it and that's what he wanted to do.

My mother, on the other hand, gave us bunches of lessons. Bassy is a classically trained pianist, yet he chose acting. Mom tried to give me piano lessons but I refused.

I'm tickled to death that my son is in flight school. It seems like he is finding a purpose and a meaning to his life.

He gets excited talking about spacecraft, about the different controls and such. He doesn't want to admit he is a sci-fi geek but he is.

We've kept up his appointments with his therapists twice a week, and he's taking an elixir once a day.  Andy and I realize that he has MY high strung makeup instead of his calmer temperament.  He's naturally shy, and he got into a lot of trouble as a teen because he idolized his big brother and wanted to be like him. 

I have to admit, this Alex situation has me more than a little uneasy. 

Bassy

I know I unloaded on Queen Catarina and Prince Renauld and AJ and that girl, Princess Alex, in my last entry, and to be honest Queen Catarina created a good chunk of that situation with her daughters, but my baby brother, Sebastian Ryan Plumb, deserves special mention.
He deserves his own entry. 
I love Bassy to death, but frankly, he has utterly screwed up, and I'm not sure if he's got his head screwed on straight.
I'm not sure if he ever did.

First of all, my job since he was born has been to protect him.  That's my job as a big sister.  But there comes a point where I can't protect him anymore.  And I certainly can't protect him from himself. 

Let me see if I can summarize my brother's love life.
Back home in Sunset Valley, he dated his childhood friend, Daisy Patricia Ramsey, the daughter of my parents' good friends Cole and Ariana Ramsey, who were the grandchildren of Gage Briody and Dave Ramsey.
We hired this photographer, Joyce Ward, to take pictures of our family.  Joyce and Bassy played this cat and mouse game of flirting, etc.  Joyce claimed Bassy got her pregnant.  I insisted on a DNA test, and the child was proven not to be my brother's. 
When he graduated high school he went to Bridgeport and met this girl, Kyra Foster.  They fell madly in love.  Problem is, he forgot to tell Kyra about Daisy and Daisy about Kyra.
But the tabloids did.  And nobody was happy. 
So Kyra, in an attempt to try to get him back, goes to the tabloids about their relationship and spills that she is pregnant.
Bassy gets his handlers to write up a statement denying that he even slept with her. 
And this cat and mouse game continues until he meets this girl Madison at this nightclub in Hidden Springs.  He and Madison start dating, Madison releases a hit record and becomes a recording star, Bassy knocks Madison up and she gets pregnant with their daughter, Kaydence. 
Oh, btw, three different magazines publish photos of Madison gettin' it on with random men, and Bassy breaks up with her and heads to Hidden Springs, where a magazine snaps a photo of him at a party with...drum roll please...

Francisca Vanderburg.

Yes, that one.  The one who ran away from the castle all those years ago.

I'm already retching.

Both their handlers completely deny it ever happened.  Francisca even goes as far as to deny even knowing my brother.

I think she is lying.  I think she is in CHA (cover her ass) mode.   

How'd I do?  Did I leave anything out? 

The whole thing is enough to make your head spin.  Seriously.  He's catching up to my dad in the broken hearts department. 

I always explained to Bassy, if he made the babies, he needed to take care of them. 

He completely denies Kyra Foster's baby but acknowledges the child he made with Madison. 

Now, I'm here in Hidden Springs doing promo work for my book.  And of course I hear stuff. 

I advised Bassy over the phone that he needed to, as soon as possible, lock up parental rights to Kady, and if all possible, deny Madison visitation rights.  I also advised him that he needed to find Kyra Foster, settle the DNA question, and do what he had to do for that kid if in fact the child was indeed his. 

I even suggested that I could take Kady for awhile until all this blew over.  She'd have access to her cousins AJ and Sage and Sierra and especially Skylar, who would probably make a great playmate. 

Bassy needs to grow a pair.  And grow up. 

Psychic and not so psychic advice

Hello everyone!  Sorry I haven't written, been busy!
I'm in Hidden Springs now doing promotional work for my new book, Alys in Wonderland.  I'm due to return to Moonlight Falls to speak at the supernatural convention, and then my agent is sending me on a book tour. 

 

Before I left Moonlight Falls, however, I had a few words for this 'psychic advisor' of Sierra's. 

"Would you like a reading?" she asked in what sounded like a standard, rehearsed greeting.

"No," I said firmly.  "I've called about my daughter."

"I have plenty of clients, who is your daughter?"

"Sierra Plumb Cheesman."

"The little girl with the mohawk?"

"That's the one."

"That one, she's smart as a whip.  Doesn't really know it yet."

"Well, I wish you'd stop taking all her money and taking advantage of her."

"I'm not taking advantage of anyone.  I provide a service to people.  My readings are only for guidance purposes.  People are not to follow them to the absolute letter.  And I tell them that as soon as they walk in."

"Well, in my opinion you're a charlatan and an entertainer.  You're taking all my daughter's money, taking advantage of her, and filling her head with foolishness.  She may act tough but she is an impressionable young girl."

Immediately after getting off the phone with her, I warned Sierra not to go to see her again.  But I know she won't listen. 

 

Then my son, AJ, called me, wanting advice.
He'd met this girl at Prince Renauld's funeral dinner at the Vanderburg Palace, named Alex.  A part of me is wondering what he was doing at the palace in the first place, but anyway.  I'm thinking it's one of the Vanderburg twins, named Alexandra and Anastasia.  I know they had been sent away to Smuggsworth, and the last time I had seen them was at Crown Prince Sebastian's wedding. 
I also know that when they became YA's their father, Queen Catarina's husband Prince Renauld, gifted them with a shitload of plastic surgery and they signed on to do this reality TV show, and Queen Catarina was not happy about any of that. 
How do I know all this? 
Hey, I have 2 teen daughters.  And my other daughter calls them all the time about this stuff.
My opinion, plastic surgery is not one of the things I'd give my kids for their YA birthday... but that's just me. 
And seriously, if these girls went from this:

 

To this:

They certainly had serious, serious work done. 

 

Anyway, AJ also told me Alex was on the list of new cadets for Hidden Springs' military, undergoing basic training and then going to flight school.
Now, if she is in fact one of the Vanderburg twins, as I suspect she is, I know this is going to be a problem.  Because knowing Queen Catarina as well as I do now, she has very traditional views on women.  Even though she and I are friends, we have clashed on a couple of occasions about my adventuring and writing career.  Her ideas on the role of women are outdated, and honestly, they're a bit hypocritical considering she herself is a sitting monarch. 

In fact, I'm currently investigating a possible genetic link between Queen Catarina and Alys de Montfort, the medieval queen who was the subject of the book I'm currently promoting, through Queen Catarina's mother, Queen Eloise.  The link is not through Catarina's father Rudolph's Vanderburg line, but through Queen Eloise's family in Champs Les Sims and Tredony.  Alys de Montfort was of Tredonian origin. 

Anyway, back to AJ.  He said that he was assigned to 'mentor' Alex in her military training.  And he wanted some advice on how to proceed. 
Now, my son is a youth counselor there at the military complex.  Next to the complex is Fort Starch Military Academy, where he and Sety did their stint. 

I'm going to be quite honest.  I don't want AJ within 10 feet of that girl.

But, it's not my call to make.  It's his. 

I advised him to keep their relationship professional only, and then let it proceed at its own pace, if it proceeds.  But like I told him, it's his life, and his decision to make.  If he wants to get involved with her on a basis other than professional, I just want him to be careful. 

On the road

I'm writing from my hotel room, as I'm at the supernatural convention, where I'm to give the keynote address.  I have no idea what I'm going to say, and I haven't even started on my speech.  Right after the convention, my agent is sending me on a six-city book tour, with stops in Bridgeport, Barnacle Bay, and Twinbrook, among others. 

It's funny, but I miss my kids already.  And Andy too.

 

We've been married twenty-seven simyears, and have five kids to show for it.  And yet, he still makes me laugh.  It's funny though, back in school we couldn't stand each other.  I haven't told the kids THAT yet.  I bet they get a kick out of that.

Speaking of the kids... finding out your 12 year old daughter is dabbling in wiccanism is one thing.  Finding out she also has a psychic advisor is a bit of a shock.  You can't make this stuff up.   Then again, nothing Sierra does surprises me anymore.

First night we got to Moonlight Falls, she came in at 3 am after going into the catacombs.  Not only is this script so familiar to me but I know how it ends. In fact I think she's gone even further than I did.  I don't want to see her going down that road, that's what scares me.    

I also suspect she's dabbling in alchemy too.  The other day I saw her at Aleister's while I was getting a book.  Who knows what she was buying... and was that a werewolf? 

Sierra

 

This is my middle daughter, Sierra Myst Plumb Cheesman.  She insists that I had to be drunk off of the stuff when I decided to name her that.  After all, I handed my Aunt Margaret's name to her older sister, Sage, my first-born daughter.  So when it came to naming her, well, I was fresh out of options.  I actually wanted to name her Siobhan, which I actually think I should have.  But Siobhan is such a beautiful Irish name, not sure it would have fit my little spitfire.  I have to admit I have a soft spot for Sierra.  Not just because she looks exactly like me save for the fact that she has blue eyes and she has my husband's complexion.  It's the fact that she's so much like I was when I was younger I'm actually scared.

Sierra was never the girliest of girls, unlike her older sister.  Instead of ballet, Sierra insisted on scouting lessons.  She hated dolls and dresses and didn't like dressing up.  She thought nothing of playing cops and robbers and pirates in the tree house and going fishing with Andy.  She also thought nothing of throwing the football outside with our butler, Max.



 
So when Sierra made her birthday and became a teen, I thought I was going to have it somewhat easy, since I hadn't had to bring the police with Sage like I had with her brothers.  I was wrong.  The day after her birthday, Sierra was caught throwing eggs at an elderly woman's house.  The police came, and poor AJ was rushed to the hospital because he passed out.  Sage pretty much blames Sierra for AJ going to the hospital. 

We don't know what's going on with Sierra.  She didn't even bother showing up to the hospital with AJ until the last day, and no one knows where she was until then.  Meanwhile the rest of us -- even Satis and Imsety -- stayed there round the clock watching AJ's progress.  It was like, you know, she didn't even care.



 

 

She and Sage argue constantly.  I don't know what it's like to have a sister, since all I had were brothers, and my closest brothers were either significantly older or significantly younger than me, so I'm not exactly an expert on this.  I think Sage was upset with her for not showing up to the hospital till the last day. 

 

And we have YET to figure out what on earth Sierra did to our computer.  Whatever she did to it, we had to buy another one, because when we turned it on, it started smoking and spitting out gobbledygook.  If she put that kind of effort into her schoolwork she'd be a straight-A student.

Poor Andy is at his wit's end with her. He is absolutely beside himself. The shouting matches between them go on constantly after Sierra comes in at all hours, and who knows where she is. I know, though, that the first night we got to Moonlight Falls, she was at the catacombs. That script is awfully familiar, and I know how that movie ends. That's why we need to nip this in the bud. NOW. 

Absolutely no one was prepared for Sierra's latest metamorphosis, for her dyeing her hair green and sporting goth clothes.  Certainly I wasn't.  Frankly I'm not sure what on earth has gotten into her.   

And it's not just the hair.  Sierra is spending an inordinate amount of time at the gypsy wagon and the gypsy area.  I've heard she may be experimenting with wiccanism. 
I've spoken about this on the phone with Dr. Bill, and he thinks that teens do a lot of experimenting with this kind of thing, but he thinks there's something she's looking for. 

Sometimes Sierra is capable of surprising us, like the time she gave Skylar her old bakery stand.   I'm definitely concerned about how this is looking to Sky, though.  The optics of all this are horrible as she is watching every move her sisters make and hanging on every word they utter. 

That is why I remain convinced that underneath the green hair and the attitude is the little girl I knew.  She's in there somewhere.  And I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to bring her back. 

 

 



Odds and ends

 

Oh my goodness.

This new job I got in Moonlight Falls is amazing and incredible.  I can't really say enough about it. I would have been kicking myself if I didn't take it. 

 

I'm now the chief archivist and paranormal researcher at the Library of Lore and Antiquity.  Basically I spend all day cataloging old books.  Very old books.  I also coordinate supernatural trivia contests and occasionally share stories from when I was an active ghost hunter. 

I no longer actively hunt ghosts.  I don't have the desire to do that anymore.  I find this work (studying paranormal phenomena and alchemy) a lot more fulfilling and mentally stimulating than just going from house to house stamping out specters and poltergeists.  Another plus is that, since I'm no longer working nights, I'm not coming in at 3 in the morning, so I have more time to spend with my kids.

One of my favorite books that I've found so far is a manual on alchemy that was co-authored in the medieval times (!) that I've been able to authenticate.  The listed authors are Balin, who was a master wizard in the court of Queen Alys, and the queen herself, who had dabbled in alchemy and magic and had been a student of his. 

I decided that I was going to make a deal with my kids, who were against me taking the job and uprooting them from their school and their lives.  It was going to be difficult but we were going to find a way to make it work.  They were going to continue to attend school in Hidden Springs, but we were going to live in this new house we're building in Moonlight Falls.  Besides, we were outgrowing our place in HS.  My youngest son, Sawyer, was sleeping in the hallway. That couldn't happen anymore. 

I delayed the release of my book Alys in Wonderland, but it is coming out this year.  I'm going to address the supernatural convention in Moonlight Falls and promote the book heavily there.  Alys in Wonderland is a historical biography on Alys de Montfort, the Queen of Arkovia, and details my own encounter with her ghost.
 

 

Alys de Montfort was a fascinating woman.  Of Tredonian descent, she took over as queen of Arkovia upon reaching her age of majority, because her father, King Edward, was killed with his own sword by his ambitious nephew in a sword fight.  She'd been educated at the foot of the wizard Balin, who taught her alchemy and magic.  She'd learned government with Lord Jonas Darron, her father's steward, and she'd learned 'womanly' manners with her great-aunt Cordelia.  She never married.  She skillfully held off her suitors using guile and the occasional sword point. 

 

 

I'm going to be heavily promoting Alys in Wonderland in Moonlight Falls.  As the keynote speaker at the supernatural convention, I'm having to write the keynote address -- and also keep an eye out for my daughters, who I'm afraid have inherited my tendencies. 

 

 



 

I'd be remiss without introducing the newest member of our staff.  This is Bonehilda, our skeletal maid.  Hear me out.  Poor Max in Hidden Springs was completely overwhelmed by the size and activity of our household, so after talking it over with Andy, we got him some help.   Bonehilda is great with our youngest son, Sawyer...

 

...and with Sage's dog, Bitsy!  Poor Sage hasn't had much time to deal with the animals as she'd like, preoccupied as she is with school and extracurriculars.  So Bonehilda has stepped in the breach.

And this of course is our youngest son, Sawyer Nathan Cheesman.