Y’all. The past month or so have been so tremendously busy that I’ve not had a chance to come here and post AT ALL. For that, I apologize. Having said that, I know the primary reason most people were coming to Cootiehog over the past year was for my Hallmark content, so maybe not as many people missed me as I’m assuming.
The Hallmark For All Seasons site is going really well. If anything, my Hallmark-related readership has INCREASED by moving all the content to a dedicated site. So I say “Thanks!” to my mom for suggesting I move all the content to a separate site. Having that site has allowed me to do some fun stuff – the actor Trevor Donovan sent me a short clip of him saying hi to my site visitors, I did an interview with one of my favorite actresses, Ashley Williams, and in the next few weeks I’ll be posting a recent interview I did with a Hallmark-adjacent romance and cozy mystery writer. I’m hoping this leads to more interviews going forward, and look forward to developing the site into something really great.
Likewise, the Friday Five podcast that I started in September with my friend Lori is also going really well.  We’ve had a blast recording the episodes thus far, and plan to continue on with the venture. What’s funny is that Lori is such a Luddite that most of the attention that we’ve gotten has been strictly due to my trolling for listeners. Up until two weeks ago she had never even listened to one of our episodes! But when we were heading to NJ for Christmas Con I made her listen to my two personal favorite episodes (“Things We Want on a Desert Island” and “Things We Can’t Live Without”) and she thought they were hilarious. Finally, this weekend, after weeks of nagging her to do it, she shared the podcast Facebook page with 40-50 people in her life, so I’m hoping that listenership continues to grow and word spreads. As it is, we passed 500 listens in about 9 weeks and in the last week we’ve already had 62 listens, which I’m very excited about.
When last I posted I was getting read to head to a Christmas/Hallmark convention in New Jersey with Lori. It was a very fun weekend – my two Loris got to meet in person and immediately became BFFs. We recorded three episodes of the podcast during the trip (those weekly episodes start their release this Friday). Lori and I got to spend a lot of time talking with the Deck the Hallmark boys and they are truly outstanding and fun human beings. The highlights for me were getting to meet Hallstars Ashley Williams and Nikki DeLoach. Both were adorable and lovely, and it was during that meet/greet that Ashley Williams and I connected about doing the interview. Lori got to spend 5 seconds hugging Ryan Paevey, and became a complete fangirl afterwards which was HILARIOUS to witness. She was googling him almost the entire 4 hour drive from NJ to NoVA that afternoon. While the convention itself was not perfect, it was still a fun time and I’d totally go again if the opportunity arose.
Two weeks ago we had a leaky pipe in our TV room ceiling. It was CootieGirl that saw it – neither Denis nor I noticed it that morning. Once she pointed it out I got on the phone and the plumber was at the house within a couple hours to repair the pipe. But they left in their wake a ginormous hole in our TV room ceiling. After letting it dry out for a few days we had two contractors come to the house to provide quotes to repair. The one recommended by our plumber wanted over $400, the one recommended by several neighbors wanted just under $200. Who do you think we went with? *lol* That contractor will be at the house Wednesday morning to repair it and get our ceiling back to normal.
A few weeks ago Denis and I were able to see Elton John in concert here in Charlotte. That was a bucket list item for me and we ended up having GREAT seats for a great show. He sang a lot of oldies and had the entire arena dancing and singing along. But my goodness, he’s gotten OLD – you could tell he has a bit of arthritis by the way he shuffled around the stage. But his voice was still stellar, and his piano playing sublime. He did a couple songs that just blew me away when he got into his piano solos and instrumentals. So can now mark that off my bucket list, which allows me to add something new!
This past weekend we started decorating the house for Christmas. On Saturday we put up all the little things around the house – the garland, the stockings on the stairs, the wreath on the front door. Then on Saturday I put together the foyer tree only to discover that 2/3rds of the lights were non-operational. We debated just wrapping string lights on it, but in the end I dragged CG with me to our local At Home store where I snagged a 9 foot unlit slim tree for $100. The original tree was 7 feet, and I’m glad I got a 9 footer because it makes more sense in the two-story foyer to have a taller tree. I got the lights on it last night and it looks AMAZING. As much fun as getting pre-lit trees might be, the fact is that unlit trees last longer. The main tree, which we’ll put up tonight, is an unlit tree that we’ve owned for over 20 years and it looks just as good today as it did when we first bought it. No more pre-lit trees for me. Even if you can make them twinkle.
We’ll do the outside decorations this upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. We were going to do the same partial display we did last year, but then the neighborhood announced a display contest, so we’ll be putting out a bit more than last year. Not the full kit, but more than the third we put up last year. I’ve done no new programming, so the light show will be the exact same as last year, we’ll just have more inflatables and lighted animals out this year. If I hadn’t started the podcast and the Hallmark blog, I probably would have had the energy to make a couple new props and program a couple new songs, but it just didn’t work out that way.
Our White Elephant party is now only 19 days away and we are getting into that mindset now. Our guests have been sending us their RSVPs and this might be the biggest attendance in a while. We now have 34 people that have said yes, with more yet to respond. We’ve picked our menu – lots of new stuff this year, and almost all gluten-free without even trying to be GF. It’s always a good time and I’m looking forward to it.
Finally, after months and months of not caring whether or not he’d ever get his learner’s permit, CootieBoy has decided he’s up for it and wants to get it during Christmas break. This way he can still get his license by his 16th birthday in August (SC requires the student have the permit at least 180 days before they are allowed to take the driver’s test). The plan is to study and take practice tests as much as possible between now and Christmas break. The week of Christmas we’ll go that Monday morning and take the test since I have that day off from work. Fingers crossed that he passes his first time up, like CG did!!
And that’s why I haven’t posted in almost 3 weeks! Phew!
