This is a special day. My oldest granddaughter is eleven. I was with Jody when Jazmine Lynn entered the world. Until that moment I was pretty blasé about becoming a grandmother. It sounded wonderful, and I knew my friends who had grandchildren were ga-ga over their offspring's offspring.

I, on the other hand, assumed I would accept being a grandparent with grace. Then the doctor placed this newborn baby in my arms. Jazmine looked up at me, and our eyes locked. That sweet baby who was only a few minutes old sank talons into my heart. Overwhelming love flooded my soul, and I understood what my friends had been telling me. Each grandchild is special in its own way, but Jazmine was the first, and she paved the way in my heart for the six others who followed. Happy eleventh birthday, Jazmine Lynn.

Wayne and I had a tremendous weekend on St. Simons Island this weekend. We headed north to Georgia and stopped at two yarn stores along the way. (I do have a patient husband!) Naturally, I came away with projects from each store and ideas whirling in my head for more. We connected with old friends and I had a stellar autographing at The Bookmark, a lovely independent bookstore on the island. While this was technically a business trip, it hardly felt like it as I chatted with readers and with friends.

Wayne and I attended a friend’s surprise birthday party last night and had a wonderful, wonderful time. My children threw a surprise party for my 50th birthday a few years back. They did a beautiful job of it, too, with a rented hall, catered meal, flowers, balloons, a gigantic birthday cake—the whole nine yards. The thing is, I knew about it all along. Finally I asked them why they were calling it a "Surprise Party." The surprise, they said, with sheepish grins on their faces . . . I got to pay for it. But they knew I wouldn't want them to take this kind of money from their family budgets. The joy for me was how much trouble they went to so that their mom would have a fond birthday memory. I have great kids!

Life is a little more relaxed here in Florida, and because of that I did something I rarely do: I purchased a frozen entree for dinner. Because Wayne and I are watching our calories, I checked out the fat grams before I plunked the meal into the oven. Soon the aroma of Chicken Marsala permeated our small condo. I was feeling virtuous, because the box said there were only 150 calories per serving. Then I happened to notice the number of servings per box. Are you ready for this? NINE. This was made by a company that advertises their products as meals for those who are either dieting or trying to keep from gaining weight, and the meal was the size of a Weight Watchers frozen dinner. Nine servings. Can you imagine setting this down at a table for a family of NINE? This wouldn’t feed nine mice let alone nine people. To me, folks, this is just plain wrong.

In this month and February I’ll be signing 6,000 bookplates for Susannah’s Garden, my May hardcover. These autographed bookplates are for a special promotion my publisher is doing. How does one author sign 6,000 bookplates, you ask? The answer is one at a time. Fortunately, American Idol is back on and I had a good two hour session last night. My cousin, Shirley, the former nun who inspired Changing Habits, is helping by writing in the Bible verse I always use. However, every single one of those signatures is mine. For you.

So, if you happen to see Susannah’s Garden on display with an autographed sticker, just think of me writing my name 6,000 times while watching American Idol and cheering for my favorite singer–which at this time has yet to be determined. However, it’s not the man in the blue dress with the blond braids and beard.

Wayne and I are going on a date tonight. I want him to see the movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia," which I saw with my cousin, Shirley, shortly after it came out. It was my favorite movie of the year. Wayne isn’t much of a movie buff. However, he’s more willing to go here in Florida than Port Orchard. The reason: in Florida you get to put the butter on the popcorn yourself. Wayne likes movie popcorn, and he really likes butter. In preparation for the movie he went out biking this morning to burn off those extra calories he’s going to digest with the popcorn and butter. I just hope he remembers something about the movie.

In case you didn’t hear that wild shrieking yesterday evening, that was Wayne and me when the Seahawks won their football game. Our Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl! I should mention that for 29 years we have been season ticket holders . . . . or we were until 2005. That was when Wayne decided that our lives were just too busy to be attending football games any longer. My response was, “Just wait – they'll go to the Super Bowl now.” And guess what happened? Ah well, my dear hubby was right . . . our lives have gotten terribly, terribly busy, but we still have time to cheer on our favorite team. Go Seahawks!

The set-up I have here in Florida reminds me of the early days of my writing career. I’ll write two or three pages, then stop and do the breakfast dishes. Then it’s back to the computer until I remember the clothes from the washer need to be put into the dryer.

I have a big desk that takes up one entire wall. It’s shaped like a T, with Wayne on one side and me on the other. He plays poker and computer games while I’m off in my fiction world. When I’m into my story, Wayne can always tell because I hum as I write. (I never realized this until he pointed it out.) Apparently I’m humming quite a bit these days, which tells me the story is good.

My daughter phoned me first thing this morning to ask if I’d seen "American Idol" last night. To my bitter disappointment, I’d completely forgotten about it. I’m not much for television, but "American Idol" is one show I really enjoy. I understand what it is to have a dream and be willing to sacrifice everything to see it come to fruition. It took me five years and four completed manuscripts before I sold my first book. I wasn’t politely tapping against the door of opportunity, either. It was five long years of rejection, frustration and doubt. I see the hope in these young singers. Their dreams are as strong in them as they once were in me. Yes, "American Idol" is one television show I really enjoy.

Living in the south has been something of an adjustment for this Yankee girl. I’ve certainly acclimated easily enough. Just yesterday it was 73 degrees here in the Vero Beach area, and I needed a sweater!

One thing that I’ve really come to appreciate about life in the south is the food. (I’m not talking about boiled peanuts, either.) There’s a thing here called Southern Fried. Now, I’m of the mind that anything fried is good. You can dip cardboard in batter, fry it up, and I’d be willing to give it a try. This week I’ve discovered two additional Southern Fried specialties: shrimp and, drum roll please, lobster. Yes, Southern Fried Lobster. Now that’s something the Colonel should have introduced right along with chicken.