I am feeling blessed right now. It all started last week when I got my front yard cleaned up and pine straw put down. In the South, everyone keeps it on their flower beds or around their trees. Alma, who runs the business, is a beautiful Latina with a heart of gold.

“Do you know of a good painter?” I asked her. “Yes,” she said, his name is Rafael; I will give you his phone number.” I told her about having so many poor painters that I was almost afraid to have anything done. She said he was honest and my heart felt lighter.

When I called him a few days later, he said he could come out the next day. I hired him to paint the long deck at the back of the house and the short one at the side. He brought an assistant with him who didn’t do much. It was Rafael that worked long and hard.

On the second day he arrived promptly once again and finished the decks in about 8 hours. It took the first day for him to pressure wash them. During the time he was here, he never asked me for a thing, nor did he stop except for lunch.

I asked him if he could touch up the paint on my kitchen cabinets and he said he would. My next-door-neighbor called to see if I could send him over to their house to work on a few things. This man has something about him that is very special that had me rejoicing that at last the deck was painted properly. He got down on his hands and knees to put two sealer coats on the decks.

So this morning I am doing some housecleaning, washing and list-making. When Rob goes to Memphis in early May, I will have plenty of time to work on my 7th and final ebook. I have printed it out and now have to edit, edit, edit. That is a job most people hate, myself included.

There will be a tiny readership for the book, but that’s okay. Marketing is a bad word for me. I am just one woman doing her thing, which happens to be writing. I shall find a way to make it fun.

Vicki Woodyard