Dad is my hero!

My father is my hero.

Today is my father’s birthday and today I wanted to take the time to share with you how much I love, admire, and respect him. I want to share with you why my father is my hero.

As some of you may know my dad recently decided to leave his wife behind and come spend Thanksgiving at my place. Thanks, mom for letting Dad go for the week. [GRIN]

He arrived the morning before Thanksgiving and we hung out the first night and had a great steak dinner. . .that I did not cook. Thank goodness for Longhorn steakhouse.

Thanksgiving morning we both woke up early, oh, about 4 AM. Without an alarm! Now I know where I get my early rising habit from. We had breakfast and then we got ready to go run/walk in the Feaster Five annual road race. You see, before my father told me he was coming to visit I had already signed up for the race thinking it would be a good way to work off the day’s food before I even ate it.

My father, being the good man that he is, he agreed to do the walk with me. Well, okay, I coerced him into it by signing him up. See the picture to the left of him standing on the corner in Andover waiting for the race to begin. Now something you should know is that my parents live in Florida so dad is not exactly used to the chilly mornings or winters that we have up here. And Thanksgiving morning was definitely a wee bit cold. Okay, it was dang blustery.

But the holiday music was playing, the hot cocoa was flowing, and the number of runners dressed in various if not freaky attire was growing. A great place to people watch!

When the gun went off signifying the start of the race, we inched our way up to the start line. Seriously, ten thousand people crawled, shoulder-to-shoulder to the start line on their to an end goal of receiving a free apple pie at the end. Yup, anyone who finished the race received their dessert for the holiday table.

Dad and I crossed the finish line, hand-in-hand. What a great way to kickoff a visit with my father and a holiday. Now if I can convince him to make this an annual event. HINT! HINT!

After that wonderful Thanksgiving, the rest of my father’s visit was spent on my “Daddy Do” list. Yes, I had a list.

He got up in the crawly area of my attic and put in more insulation for me. This is the space that I tried to get up in and freaked out once I found out how small it really was. Then, of course, he helped me re-do the other part of the attic cuz I did it wrong. Sheesh! We put insulation in every outlet throughout the house.

Dad changed the ceiling fan out in the master bedroom. This is no easy task when the ceiling is 13 feet tall and he’s sitting on a ladder doing this. He fixed my garage door opener do-hickey that allows me to open the garage from the outside while playing in the yard. He’s so smart, he even taped the instructions on getting it to work to the garage door opener. . .just in case.

He replaced the outdoor light above the garage. This light now illuminates my driveway and part of my yard. It will prevent friendly visitors from running over flowers that I leave in my driveway before planting them. Uh, yes, that has happened. I have squished mums. But not no more! At least I hope.

Last winter I had the carpet in the spare bedroom replaced and when the wood swelled, guess what happened? The bottom of the closet door would scrape along my beautiful new floors. Yikes! Ah, here is where dad comes in. Dad took the door off and sanded it down for me. Voila! No more scraping.

OH! And one of the best things dad did was build a TV riser. I have been wanting one for months and months but could never find one that was the right size. Who needs to buy one when you have a handy dandy dad! Dad is a regular artist when it comes to woodworking. Seriously! You should see some of the things he has made. Dressers, nightstands, jewelry boxes, game boards, headboards, grandfather clocks. He’s a true genius.

So what does dad do? He built a TV riser out of maple. It is wonderful!
Speaking of wood. . .my father is a true guy. He saw my tree limb pile in the backyard from the tree that crashed against the house this summer and my firepit. So what does he want to do? He wants to get out the chainsaw and cut some wood for my firepit. Not kidding! Power tools!! Such a guy!

And of course, after we cut some wood we then had to start a fire and share a bottle of wine. Yup, we did, two nights in a row. It was fantastic!

This is my dad. Is it any wonder I think he is my hero?

Happy birthday, Dad!
Hugs and kisses - XOXOXO

Today is my birthday and I’m giving away a book

To help me celebrate my birthday I don’t require a birthday cake (although for the record…I like chocolate) or even a birthday card. I will, however, get a call from my sister who will sing “Happy Birthday” to me. Love that!!

What I need from you to help me celebrate a day where I get a year older but look a year younger is a book giveaway.

And since it’s also writing prompt Wednesday, I thought I would encompass the writing prompt with the book giveaway.

How does this work?

All you have to do is finish the sentence below. If you feel compelled to write more than a sentence then hey! who am I to argue.

Leave your sentence and your email address and I’ll draw a winner at random on Sunday.

Here is the sentence you have to finish:

All she wanted for her birthday was. . .

Daddy’s little girl…

Today is my father’s birthday and today I wanted to take the time to share with you how much I love, admire, and respect him. I want to share with you why I am daddy’s little girl.

Daddy’s little girl…

I’m daddy’s little girl, of this I know is true.

I’m daddy’s little girl because he loves me too.

He tucked me in, held my hand, and soothed my broken heart.

He clapped with joy, bought me ice cream, and shared a little part.

I’m daddy’s little girl, as no man will ever do.

I’m daddy’s little girl, he is the man I compare every man to.

He’s caught me when I’ve fallen and dusted me off to take a new flight.

He’s helped me soar and fly to my destiny.

I’m daddy’s little girl and that is how it should be.

I love my daddy and he loves me.

I’m daddy’s little girl.

~by Denise Robbins for her father

Many of you know that my father, Keith Goodman, is my first round editor of all my books. He has endured every word, every scene (don’t forget I write romantic-suspense), both good and bad at least twice. He does it because I ask.

This is the same man I shared with you months ago who wrote a poem about me when I was about two years old and kept it. I think I get my writing ability from him.

I admire my father for his common sense, for his ability to take on anything and do it right, for his undying love even when I probably get on his nerves. I respect him for holding his own against an establishment and taking care of the folks who worked for him.

Ten years ago we had this tremendous surprise birthday party for dad and the number of people who came out to hug, kiss, and surprise him was overwhelming. Even a high school friend of mine flew in from overseas to see my father’s face when everyone showed up. This is a guy who for whatever reason became my father’s adopted son and has been since I was about 15 years old. At the party, I heard story after story of how great my father was. I’m here to tell you that I know this first hand.

My father is the person I turn to when I need to talk something through. He’s the first person I called when I got my first book published. Heck, I still call him whenever a book is bought or I get the book cover. He was here when I bought my house and helped me clear out all the Forsythia that had taken over the yard.

When I was a kid, dad was the one who helped me learn to ride my purple banana-seat bike. He was the one who introduced me to different books to read. Dad was the one who endured algebra with me. Let me tell you…that was not pretty. While both my parents went to all of my sporting events it was my dada who was on the field with me as coach and friend, and the person who would play with me in the yard when I couldn’t get the throw or the kick quire right.

Both my parents support me in everything I do and for this I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Happy birthday, Dad! Hugs and kisses and birthday wishes.

Wishing my nephew a happy birthday

My youngest nephew, Brandon, turned 21...oops! I mean he turned 12 yesterday. Don't want him to grow up too soon.

With red hair, blue eyes that glitter with mischief, and a grin that makes you forget your words, Brandon is a nephew any Aunt would wish for and love dearly.

This Aunt has loved Brandon since the moment my sister told me she was pregnant with him. I remember sitting around with my sister and brother-in-law and other friends and family tossing out baby names. When we hit on Brandon it was as if he reached out from his mother's tummy and snapped up the name because we all knew that he was Brandon.

Isn't Brandon a great name for an Irish bartender who I cast him as in my fourth novel? :-) Wait until you meet him in print!

Brandon loves to read a good book, but can't sit still for very long either. Hmm...that must be a family trait. He's an active guy who right now is into baseball.

Brandon is the next writer in the family. How cool is that?!

I am so proud that he wants to draw pictures with words and put them on paper for others to read and enjoy.

Please give a big birthday shout out to Brandon!

Happy birthday Codi!

Every now and again I write something about my family. Since today is my nephew Codi's birthday, I thought it appropriate to talk about him.

Codi AKA Codeman has always been a skinny kid and it's hard to believe he's grown up to be a teenager. He was so skinny I used to call him "no butt." His response to me whenever I said that was, "I not no butt." Then he would turn around and flash me his little no butt tushy. Isn't innocence wonderful?

At age three, we introduced Codi to the computer. We bought him a Tonka Truck game and a colorful, blue-red-yellow kid computer mouse. He took to the PC like a fish to water. He even decided that he preferred the "big person" mouse. After that, we invested in a boatload of computer games. Thank goodness there are some terrific educational software companies out there. Now the kid wants to learn to program games. Cool!

I believe it was that same winter that Codi took his first skiing lessons. Being a kid from Florida, he thought snow was very cool and whenever he visited he wanted to ski. Of course, when he found out that we snowboarded he wanted to do that instead of skiing. Fickle kid.

Codi has always had the most amazing memory. He remembers absolutely everything anyone has ever given him and cares for the fuzzy, quacking duck I gave him for Easter as if it were worth a million dollars instead of the 5 dollars it cost. Now, he still holds every gift as though it were a most valued possession, but the price of those gifts has gone higher than 5 dollars. For his birthday this year, I sent him an Xbox game. Not only did I send him a game, but I had to send my other nephews the same game so they can play across the internet with each other. Isn't family wonderful, not to mention expensive.

He loves spending time with his grandparents and strives to be like his grandpa. He enjoys shopping with grandma and nagging her to make him stuff like a quilt for his bed. He's crazy about doing "guy" things with grandpa. Codi and my dad do the "guy" things such as going to the driving range and hitting some golf balls, mowing yards, building things at Home Depot. Occasionally, the two will go off and take a day trip where there are "no girls allowed." Hm. Hope Codi isn't teaching my dad any bad things on those outings.

Codi is a wicked smart kid, but the poor guy has my personality when it comes to learning something new. If he doesn't get it the first time or right out of the gate, he gets frustrated. Hopefully he figures out that frustration leads to learning and that persistence is a wonderful tool to success.

Codeman - I hope you have a wonderful day and that your birthday celebration is filled with family, friends, and fun. And don't forget to call your Aunt Denise.

Love ya!

Great birthday present. . .

Yesterday, as some of you know, was my birthday. As a terrific surprise and present, I received a wonderful review of Killer Bunny Hill from Night Owl Romance.

To quote Danya at NOR: "The only complaint is the wait till the next book comes out."

Now that is what I call a great last line! And a happy birthday surprise.


See the rest of Danya's review of Killer Bunny Hill at Night Owl Romance click here: Killer Bunny Hill Review

Happy Birthday to. . .

Happy birthday to ME!

Yes, today I am celebrating my birthday so blow up the balloons, sound the whistles and horns, toss confetti, and my favorite. . .drink champagne and eat cake.

I don't know about you all but a birthday is not a REAL birthday without cake. The cake cannot be just any cake. It has to be a Chambord Torte. Chambord and raspberry mousse layered in between dark chocolate cake. Mmm. My fave!

No, I do not require candles on the cake. Just lots of shaved chocolate pieces!

The champagne is Veuve Cliquot. OMG! This is just the best! Ask my friends.

I will be celebrating this event all week long! Help me celebrate the day I was born and forever more became known as "Sweet Cheeks" in my father's eyes.

What are you going to do to help me celebrate? Come on, put your thinking caps on, spin that propeller on that beanie, or just think like me (scary thought).

September is my favorite month. . .find out why

September is my favorite month for a couple of reasons.

First, this is the month we go from blistering hot to breezes and cool nights when we go from summer to fall. Yards and trees go from green to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red. We go from wearing peek-a-boo shorts during the day to jeans and a snuggly sweater at night. Instead of listening to the air conditioner kick on and hum, we listen to the crackle of logs on a roaring fire and the smell of marshmallows toasting over the open flame.

Can you tell I love fall?

It's funny, but summer and fall are my favorite seasons. Summer is when everything comes to life including us and we celebrate the outdoors. Fall is a celebration of color, long walks, and coziness.

Another reason I love September is that it is the month of my birth. Yes, September is my birthday! That being said, I am taking a page out of a friend of mine's book rather than celebrate my birthday for just that one day, it is my intention to celebrate my birthday all month long.

Oh! Don't even think about asking me my age! :-)

First, the month is nine days down and I have yet to celebrate. Well, that may not be totally true. I did spend Sunday planting a bunch of flowers and I ordered a boat load of bulbs that I will get to plant when they arrive.

Other than that, nope, I haven't even had a bottle of champagne yet. That's because the actual day has not arrived.

So how do I celebrate all month and where do you come in?

I am so very glad you asked. :-)

1. I still need a digital picture of a street sign with the name Charley on it. For those of you who don't know, my friend Gina Leuci takes pictures of street signs as a hobby and because they make terrific and unique gifts when framed.

In my case, the names on the street signs are names of my characters in my novels. Cool idea, huh? Anyway, you can help me celebrate my birthday by sending me a picture of the name Charley on it. I would be grateful in the form of a book.

I will gladly exchange a copy of either of my books for a picture of a green "Charley" street sign.

2. If you live in New England and are reading my book for your book club, email me and invite me to your meeting. Send me a picture of your club reading one of my novels.

3. If you don't live in New England and are reading my book for your book club, email me and invite me to be on a phone call with your group to discuss the book.

4. Signup for the Wine Mystery Event I am planning with Zorvino Vineyards on November 13, 2009 by clicking here.

5. Attend a group book event at the Borders store in Concord, NH on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 2 PM. Join Nora LeDuc, CJ West, and me for some suspense and mystery.

6. Need a speaker for an upcoming event, why not ask a local author? Email me.

7. Are you a published author? Would you like to have your book featured in my Book-A-Week Challenge and an interview posted on my blog? Email me.

Last but not least. . .

Beyond all these nice and lovely things that would make my birthday celebration all the better, what I need or would like from you all are some other suggestions how you think I could celebrate?

What would you do for 30 days to celebrate your special month?

Post your ideas or comments back here. I look forward to reading your ideas. In the meantime, I have to go finish responding to last week's writing prompt and then read!