Marilyn's Musings

There have been a couple of reviewers who have called my Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series a Police Procedural Soap Opera. And in some ways, I suppose they are right. The series has a regular case of characters whose lives continue you on in the next book. In one book, one character may be the most important, and in another it could be someone else. I certainly follow the lives of the different police officers and their families and friends. In some cases what is happening in their private lives is more important than what is happening on the job.   Thanks goodness that's where the comparison ends. I follow the soap opera, General Hospital--mainly because it's after lunch and a good time for me to rest. I must confess, that often I sleep through most of it. One of the things that happens on this show is that the characters change. Often it's because the actor playing a character wants to try something new. The character will be killed off by the writers or in some cases...

One of the biggest fans of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series is Sheri Smith. Sheri and I are good friends though we don't travel in the same social circles. (Frankly, I don't travel in any social circle, I mostly stay home behind my computer.) Sheri and I have done some interesting things together though. We're both fans of the soap opera General Hospital and we've been known to chat on the phone about the often stupid things that happen on the show. What's unusual about that is I'm not much of a phone chatter--in fact, I usually only do that with family. Hubby and I take Sheri to movies with us that her other friends don't want to see like all the Harry Potter films, the Twilight series (we have another coming soon) and others We both like sushi and we went to our local Japanese restaurant and ordered a huge platter of all their sushi offerings. We ate enough sushi to last forever. Sheri loves holidays--all of them--and decorates her house fo...

I bet you think the first thing I do is sit down at the computer wearing my p.j.'s. I know there are many authors who do just that, but not me. I shower and dress because I never know what the day may bring. With a family as big as mine, sometimes things come up I hadn't planned for and it's always best to be ready to go. Because I'm nearing the end of my blog tour for Angel Lost, the first thing I'm going to do today is check out the blog I'm visiting, and today it's an interview at Examiner . Once there I'll read it, leave a comment, and then spread the word (and the link) through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and on some of the lists I subscribe to. As the day progresses, I'll check the blog to see if there are comments I should subscribe to. Next, I have to make an appointment with a tax consultant. My taxes are done, but I have an issue I can't figure out and need someone smarter about taxes to help me. If I can get an ap...

Confession time, I do enjoy watching TV. I'm picky though, and what I like most is to order a whole season of one show from Netflix and watch it that way. Even bigger confession, when we're home, hubby and I watch General Hospital. It comes on at 2, an ideal time for us to take a pause in our day, put our feet up, and watch the most outlandish goings on, improbable plots, and things that would never be allowed in a hospital or police station which often make us laugh, or just say, "Oh, sure, that would happen." Despite all that, the actors are really good though I wonder sometimes what keeps them from bursting out laughing. Sometimes we even snooze through most of it. Hubby likes to watch reruns--yep, the same shows over and over, his favorite is NCIS. We both like the Closer and loved Ghost Whisperer before it went off the air. I loved Medium, but hated the way the writers ended the series. We're loving The Good Wife, but watching it on DVD sure beats stayi...

I've admitted that my husband and I both watch General Hospital every afternoon that we're home. It's kind of our rest period--and I say that because we both tend to fall asleep. But while we're not sleeping we're often laughing or saying something like, "Oh, sure that would happen." For instance, they had a scene once, where the very sexy Samantha went into the police station, flirted with an officer at the front desk and stole a gun that was evidence in an important case. Never happen. A couple of days ago, Carly, the mother of three children--whom she seldom spends anytime with, in fact the youngest boy seems to have disappeared and no one has noticed--spoke about her son Michael's ankle monitor. I had no idea he had one--and if he had he'd be back in jail, because this young man goes everywhere, including on a boat ride with his step-father, mother and kids. When people are in jail everyone gets to go in and see them and spend private time with...

Years ago I watched General Hospital because it came on about the time my kids were coming in from school--and often it was the first time I had the opportunity to sit down. I watched Luke and Laura and their improbably romance that began with a rape (no doubt the writers were surprised by the chemistry between the two of them and changed the story line). I watched when Elizabeth Taylor played the part of one of the evil Considines and I believe she came to the wedding. Ms. Taylor is the same age as I am and since she liked General Hospital enough to become a part of it for a short while, then it made my watching even more okay--at least in my mind. When I had my care home, I watched GH when I folded clothes. When it was over it was time to get up and start dinner and greet the ladies as they came in from work. Now, my hospital watches GH with me in the afternoon and sometimes we snooze through parts of it. We guess at what outlandish thing is going to happen next. We yell at the chara...

The older I get the harder it is to do all things people do for the Christmas season. Though I decorated, we didn't put up a tree because last year the cat's completely undecorated it and broke all the glass balls. I gave out Christmas cards to everyone at church rather than mailing them. (Did mail out to those who were missing.) For my other friends, if they sent me a card, they received one in return. The weather has been very cold, lots of snow on the mountains and that helps with the Christmas spirit. Hubby and I attended our church's Christmas party last weekend, which was, as usual, lots of fun, good food, and a wild time as we played our usual game where we bring ornaments, open them one at a time, or choose to steal one we like better. Tonight, we're going out to dinner with my writing critique group, another Christmas tradition. Tomorrow afternoon, we're going to my good friend and fan, Sheri's home, where I'll get to enjoy her Christmas decorations...