Brunch on Fridays 7/7

A once-a-week hearty sampling of my life and lessons I have learned along the way.

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Remember to read through to the end for this week’s recipe!

Whew.

I made it almost a week into my social media break and guess what?

My behind is still on social media.

What the absolute hell, Tiff?

Yeah, I know. I haven’t been posting but I have had to go on there a few times to retrieve information stashed in DMs and that leads me to checking out my friends and scrolling through my timeline. This ain’t no damn good, y’all. So, I am going to delete the apps to keep myself off of there. Wild it has had to come to this, lol.

Hi, I am Tiff and I am addicted to social media.

Dramatic, yes. But also, true.

I need to cut the cord, that place can dominate your life for real.

Good things that happened this week.

It hasn’t been all bad news this week though. I learned how to schedule posts in the Business Suite and my manager Anna has access so she can post as me with ease. Given that we are both going to be on break soon, this helps the both of us out tremendously. We plan to drop some “light” and “soft” posts over the next couple of weeks without ever having to set one finger scroll onto these damn apps.

Winning!

Also, I figured out how to bill people for my services, and for a single person operation over here, that’s some incredible shit, y’all. I was just collecting checks in the mail, days late and shit cause I don’t be checking my mail that much. Or folks would pay me via Paypal and would select “goods and services” and that would trigger Paypal to put holds on my money for a week or so. It’s my money and I need it now! Sheesh. And Paypal got fees out the ass too…

So, another win for ya girl.

I had time to get started on making my home breathable again. Or period. Allergies run wild over here. I have been scrubbing, dusting, vacuuming, washing, prepping, rearranging, tossing out, bringing in, setting up air purifiers, etc. for about a week. I just finished up Aidan’s room and realized that his room looks rather clinical. He appears to like it that way, but I am going to see if we can liven it up a bit.

There’s still so much house to go but I am going to celebrate the wins. His room smells so good with the addition of the wallflowers from Bath and Body Works. Those things ain’t cheap though so I don’t know how much I can keep using them. You honestly need a small loan to shop there. Or I am just cheap.

We have pretty much finalized the West Coast tour stops and I could not be happier about doing so. This was a damn chore, y’all. But we made it through. I have booked the hotels. I have mapped out our routes there, back, and everywhere in-between. I have also put together a list of fun things to do when I am not working or doing author events. This is going to be an amazing 2.5 weeks.

This week Anna is sharing our author event stop list for California, Nevada, and Washington. We will announce the specific dates, times, and locations for each stop but we wanted to give those in the area an idea of what’s going on and they can start making their plans for it.

Things I am getting into next week or have started this week.

Homeschool planning is underway. That is always a massive undertaking for me. I am not a teacher. Well, not a formal one with resources and access to district accommodations at my back. So, I start doing this stuff during the summer months. I work out our schedules, see what the boys need to work on, see where they are at. I explore new materials to use in the new year. This is the time of year I evaluate my record keeping. It isn’t required in Texas that homeschoolers keep records on grades and whatnot, but if they want to get into college, you better be keeping some records.

Jojo hasn’t yet decided on college. But we are definitely in the preparation stages. I also prep for college with Aidan, you never know, he might want to go and I do feel that one day he will be more than ready and capable when he makes that decision. I ain’t putting no restrictions on my kids. I am going to help them in whatever way that I can. I will share our process and things I am successful with and struggling with when it comes to homeschooling in other posts that will most likely be paid ones cause them be taking a lot out of ya girl.

Latest book proposal. I don’t know if I shared this with you all but I am not going to stay with Row House Publishing, the ones who published A Day with No Words. It’s better to put that out there now instead of treating it like it is a secret or something. I wanted to focus more on what I felt was best for me. And because of this renewed focus, I am writing the book that I have always wanted to write. Something that is reflective of the space I created with Fidgets and Fries. I am also aiming to write a second book to accompany ADWNW and teaming up with the great Kate Cosgrove again. My beautiful, wonderful agent Annette is all over pushing that proposal out so hopefully someone picks it up.

So, I am out here writing a few books. I haven’t yet revealed what the third one will be because it is something that is digging deep into my vault of creativity. I will share about that one with the time is right.

Trying to find the right diet and exercise plan for the family. Jojo is wanting to exercise more and eat better. I am with him on that. So, we are looking for the best diet that will reduce and/or eliminate the health challenges we experience as well as lose weight. It is challenging because many doctors advise against children being on diets, but we are working with Jojo’s doctors and a nutritionist who will help us to help him. Like most things I do these days, I am entering it nervous as hell, but I think we can do it!

Hammy is off for four days this cycle so I think we are going to get into something fun this weekend. I will share all about our adventures next week. I am thinking geocaching or going to the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory. Oh, or exploring a ghost town, we always like doing that!

Alright, this week’s brunch is brought to you by:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Spice Cookies!

I haven’t actually made this one, but I think I will give it a try soon. I received this recipe from Liv Sampson for Aidan’s fundraiser for his wheelchair cookbook. If you happen to give it a try, let me know what you think!