Wow, A Very Happy Thanksgiving is Underway!

November 24, 2016 marilyn jaye lewis 2 Comments

So much to be thankful for here, gang!

1.) I bit the bullet and decided to get cable again after I moved here because I don’t have an HD television anymore and can’t watch everything on an iPad — and my new cable lineup carries reruns of Perry Mason, one of my all-time favorite shows! Yay!

2.) I discovered an AMC megaplex 3 minutes from my new house and was able to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them this past Tuesday afternoon, without having to drive 40 minutes each way! Yay!

3.) My 50-year-old 10-cup Corning Ware percolator finally bit the dust and I bought this beautiful shiny retro-looking new one yesterday at Sur La Table! (Welcome to the future of coffee while still managing to live in the past!) Yay!

4.) I’m having Thanksgiving dinner today at one of my favorite places — the Buxton Inn in Granville, Ohio, which is now, quite conveniently, only 10 minutes away! (It used to be 30 minutes away, but, as you know, I recently moved to the middle of nowhere!) (Just FYI — in my TV movie script, The Tea Cozy Murder Club: A Murder at Parsons Ridge, the Buxton Inn is renamed the Peabody Inn and Granville is renamed Parsons Ridge.)

And, speaking of my TV movie script…

5. ) The same production company in LA that is interested in developing The Tea Cozy Murder Club, the same company that had also asked to see my TV pilot proposal, Cleveland’s Burning, a couple months back, finally gave me their feedback on that project and guess what, gang? They loved it! This week, we officially signed the contract to begin developing Cleveland’s Burning!! Double, triple YAY!!!

Yes, that’s right. I officially could not be happier.

Oh, and of course I’m thankful for my good health and the rollicking, robust health of each and every single one of my remaining 8 cats, gang! I’m thankful for this great house we’re living in (and now that the old, expensive house is gone, my credit scores are through the roof again! Yay!!) (But, sadly, the new owners of my old house cut down all my trees, my rose bushes, my azaleas, my rhododendron — you name it, they cut it down. I was devastated when I drove by there, but we must move on, gang.) I’m also thankful for this lovely little town I’m living in! And thankful that, after several thousand dollars’ worth of repairs (!!), my beloved 2001 Mercury Sable LS Premium Sedan is in terrific shape once again!! And, well, the list goes on…

Yes, after a truly difficult year, we are winding it up on a very high note. Hope it’s going the same in your neck of the woods! To everyone living state-side, have a lovely Thanksgiving. And to everyone else, have a great day!

Thanks for visiting! See ya. (Click the image; it gets bigger.)

The town I now live in actually looks like this (for the most part)... — The area of Ohio that I now live in actually looks like this for most of the 40-minute drive back to town…

Yes, I’m Happy

November 10, 2016 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

We’re adjusting to life without Bunny and Fluffy and finding that life does, indeed, go on.

The shrine to Bunny, Fluffy, and Buster on top of my dresser.

And we are adjusting to a much smaller living space (discovering that we actually like the smaller space better!) and adjusting to the endless, endless, ENDLESS driving in order to get anywhere.

In case I wasn’t clear before — I am only renting this faraway house until I find a townhouse I want to buy back in “town,” as it were. So the endless driving won’t go on forever.

I am in the process of trying to streamline my schedule in order to settle back into writing again. I’m still a bit discombobulated by the many changes in my life — all during the last several months. The fact that I will have to move again in the not-too-distant future keeps me from really feeling settled in, but we’re getting there.

Also, just FYI, by “we” I mean myself and 8 cats… (The cats who will soon be earning their keep by being featured prominently in my upcoming mystery book, The Miracle Cats and the Case of the Purloined Passport.)

So. Speaking of mysteries…Two of my favorite worlds are colliding! Johnny Depp is slated to appear in yet another remake of Agatha Christy‘s Murder on the Orient Express!!

I’m guessing that with both Oscar-winning Judi Dench and oft-nominated-though-never-Oscar-winning Johnny Depp in the cast, their budget for creating a really splendid re-creation of the Orient Express train will undoubtedly be through the roof!! (YES! Diagram that sentence if you feel foolhardy enough!)

Also, at least in the tabloid gossip, Johnny Depp is rumored to be re-attached to his ex-common-law-wife, Vanessa Paradis. I have no idea of this is even partially true, gang, but I, for one, think it would be so great if it were true! For reasons I cannot reveal here, I am a Certified Expert on the number of times Johnny Depp has smiled in his entire life — the number is 5, by the way. And 4 of those times occurred while he was with Vanessa.

(Do you recall this photo?? This was the 2nd known time he smiled in his entire life…)

2nd known time Johnny Depp smiled in his entire life

We shall see, right, gang? Meanwhile, life goes on… Have a terrific November 10th wherever you are, whatever you’re doing — and, most importantly these days, to wherever you might be driving!!

See ya, folks, and thanks for visiting!

Nothing pithy or enlightening today

November 4, 2016 marilyn jaye lewis Leave a comment

Just saying hi and letting everyone know I’m adjusting to the new house and to the loss of Bunny, so close on the heels of the loss of Fluffy.

The other cats have adjusted just fine and enjoy gamboling across the wide hardwood floors…(at all hours) (but particularly in the middle of the night)

I love living out here in the bucolic rolling tree-filled hills of non-urban, non-suburban Ohio. I’m not sure my beloved 2001 Mercury Sable LS Premium Sedan is as happy as I am, though. I’ve already had about $1500 worth of work done on the car in 2 weeks and also need to invest this coming week in a set of brand new tires… But I’m hoping that will be that for a while and that the car will be around for a lot longer. I’m racking up hundreds of miles on this poor car, really quickly. It wasn’t really meant for this kind of tootling around. But so far, so good.

I’m trying to get back on track with my various writing projects. The one-woman musical (Hiding in Plain Sight) with the actress in NY (Sandra Caldwell) is going superbly!! We are both verging on getting giddy about it. I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again — man, these revisions and re-writes and re-focusing stuff takes FOREVER. But… it is worth it.

Next, I get back on track with The Miracle Cats and the Case of the Purloined Passport, illustrated by my friend, Val, in Brooklyn. There have really been a lot of intense challenges in both our lives this whole year, but we are finally feeling able to tackle this project again. I will work on that while I await revision suggestions on the two TV projects I’m tackling with folks in L.A.

Yes, life is good.

Okay, I leave you with what Ive been listening to in my car lately!! Remember Lou Bega? He’s still around. I love Lou Bega. And I love this old song of his from the 90s: I’ve Got A Girlfriend Everywhere. Give it a listen — preferably at top volume, while you’re driving around! And, as always, thanks for visiting, gang!!