Thunderstorms rolled through the area last night. We got a lot of heavy rain and some thunder and lightning but that was it. No threat of tornados and this is the time of year for them. At one point, I felt safe enough to plug the computer back in and turn it on and a few minutes later – BAM! – a crash and the power blinked off and on. Great.

I was worried about the computer the most since that’s irreplaceable even though I have everything backed up. It was fine, thankfully.

The loud thunder and brief power outage, though, scared the baby and we had issues after that. He wouldn’t go to bed but I assured him all was well. I went to bed early too (AFTER unplugging the computer and the TV) and I had hoped to sleep in this morning.

Not the case as the baby was up at the early morning hour of 7 am. So we got up and had breakfast and I hit the ground running. We went to the bank, then to the mall so I could return something. Then it was on to the pet store for cat grass. The baby likes to look at the fish and the frogs and he’s decided he wants a pet lizard. This particular PetSmart has a “pet hotel” and they had all the big dogs in their room playing. It’s behind glass and these big puppies were so funny. We had a good time watching them.

After we hit the pet store, I stopped by the house to post a few things and then it was back in the car.

It’s a beautiful day today. Everything is so lush and so green from the recent rains. And the sky is brilliant blue. It’s awesome. We hit Party City and Half Price Books and I got a bunch of stuff for the baby’s Easter basket. Then it was on to Target.

I’m in search of a “prize pack” as a giveaway for Murder at the Booksigning. I’m calling it the “Ransom & Fortune Suvival Kit Prize Pack” – haha. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted at Target and ended up getting the baby a new little toy – a Spiderman cell phone with camera. Of course, it’s all pretend but he loves it and it was only $7. Best $7 I ever spent I think. Oh and he got a new metal Batman lunchbox too. Yeah, I’m a sucker.

We were starving by this time so it was back in the car and off to McDonald’s where I knew we could eat cheap. The one by my house has been a total disappointment lately. I have to really watch them when I order, especially the Happy Meal and especially when they have the boy and girl toys. I checked the bag and sure enough they had given me the girl toy – which was a doll. I knew the baby would have a fit if we got home and that was in his bag. So I hand it back to them. Then they forgot my 3 cookies for $1. Idiots! I shouldn’t have to do their job for them.

We ate lunch and then got BACK in the car because I realized I had forgotten a bunch of stuff for Easter at Target. I needed to hit WalMart insearch of that prize pack stuff anyway. It was my last stop. So I got Easter grass and egg dye, jelly beans, chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, and a whole mess of Easter stuff for his basket. I have 36 plastic eggs that I filled with the jelly beans. I found some candles too I needed (yeah, NEEDED – I have about 230498 candles at home), as well as the items for my prize pack.

Since I had exactly 18 items, I went through the 20 items or less line and got right out…$60 later. Why is it I went in there for only two or three things but come out with a basketful of stuff? hehe

Home again and I was exhausted. I let the baby boy play some computer games and then watch a movie while I cleaned my dirty bathrooms and the litter box. I still need to vacuum and start laundry but I’m so tired I can hardly stand it.

I considered going to The Man’s restaurant for dinner tonight so I wouldn’t have to cook but then then thought of driving all that way beat me down, so I think we’re having frozen pizza instead.

I’ve got to find the time and energy to get back to the book and soon. I can’t believe tomorrow is April 1. Sheesh

AND! Loreena McKinnett will be on PBS tonight so I’m taping it. I can’t wait to see it!

The last few days have been super busy and I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and work on the edits. But I’ve kept them in the back of my mind the entire time.

So much so, that I had sort of a breakthrough. I came up with a great idea for the time travel to up the stakes a bit. I had asked a friend of mine what I should do to make my hero more likable and he said – “If he’s kind of a bad guy, then introduce an even badder one.”

I got to thinking about that and I have the perfect character to mold and shape into the “badder” guy. hehe So I was bouncing this idea off Best Good Friend and asked her what she thought. She liked it and then I asked her, “But, how do I pull it off?”

She gave me a great idea on how to do just that. So I’ve been itching to get my hands back on the book and write it. Knowing I couldn’t get to it for another day, I scribbled some notes to myself.

I did manage to get some work on it done last night, but fatigue hit me hard and heavy again. I had to shut it down when my eyes were drooping and I was falling asleep at the keyboard.

The patter of rain outside didn’t help matters much. It just makes me want to sleep. One of my favorite things in the world is listening to it rain outside while snuggled under the covers.

Hopefully I can get back to work tonight. I wanted to have all the edits done this week, but that surely didn’t happen, did it?

If only I didn’t have to sleep…

I’m blogging over at the Chicas today! Stop on by. 

Ever since I upgraded the blog, it’s been giving me fits. I’m about 2.3 seconds away from emailing customer support with my hosting service and tell them to put it back. It’s really ticking me off. I have to log out and log back in to start a new post. And it won’t delete some of the categories I want to delete for some reason.

Anyway. LOST kind of annoyed me last night. And so did Hurley. His character the entire episode just bugged me.

And I don’t have much to blog about so if you want entertainment value, check out Voodoo’s blog here. I wept when I read this entry. It’s so dang funny. This part left me in stitches:

Take a spoonful of vanilla ice cream.  Melt it all the way down to liquid form. Add a half a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Get a peppermint and hit it with a hammer until it is in tiny bits.  Pour them into the melted ice cream.  Stir and then pour it into your mouth.  Don’t swallow.  Just swish it around. 

So do yourself a favor and please go read my Best Good Friend’s blog. Gaw, I haven’t lauhged that hard in a long time.

Ever just feel blurry? Like you’ve been walking through a fog or something?

These last few days/weeks have been like that for me. They all run together. In fact, I have to stop and think hard about what day it is. And where I’m going. I have to write EVERYTHING down because if I don’t, I’ll forget.

Perhaps it’s been the late nights and all the work I’ve been doing. Not only at the Day Job but in the evenings as well. Last night, I brought the work computer home with me and worked for a bit before hitting my personal PC and working on edits again.

I gotta admit…I had reservations about having a company laptop, but now that I have the VPN and everything working, it really rocks. It’s like working right at my desk in the office, except with fewer interruptions. I did get a lot done, which is good. But I have a loooong way to go yet. I’m just going to plow ahead and keep on keeping on.

In my writing world, I worked on BREAK edits for a while. I have the first five or so chapters rewritten and I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions about the storyline. It’s really rather weak (thank goodness I’m getting the chance to fix it!) and my heroine is rather annoying. I’ve been thinking her internal conflict is about her warring emotions for the hero. Because, after all, he IS a hit man. Which is giving me an idea for Thursday’s post over at SFC…I’ll save it for that. And I better go ahead and write it up because if I don’t, well, it’ll be gone too. HA

Ran by Office Depot last night and got some ink for my photo printer. $75 later… EGADS it’s expensive. But as I paid, I thought, “Tax write off!” Then it was back to home with the Sweetie Boy who fell asleep in the car.

He was so cute when I picked him up, he was ready and waiting for me. When I came to the door, he came running up. “Mom, I wrote you a letter!” He reached for this little envelope with sticks on the outside that said missing you and love you. I thought that was so cute.

So I opened it. And inside was a hand written little note from him that said I love you mom. Talk about a weepy moment. I love it! I will cherish it forever. He hugged me hard and said he was missing me. Even his grandma said he had been missing me and kept asking, “When is my mom coming?” all afternoon.

It’s the little things like that that make it all worthwhile. Makes you keep going and taking it one more day at a time.

I gotta say, too, I’ve been pretty happy these last few days. Things are looking up. Even though the Day Job has its moments, I’m pretty happy there. Due in large part to the fact I have a fantastic boss. It’s always nice when you thoroughly enjoy working for someone. The flowers are blooming, the birds are chiping, we’ve been getting some nice rains lately. It smells and feels like Spring (the baby told me Saturday he was so happy it was Spring because the flowers were blooming and the leaves were coming back on the trees – gosharootie I love that kid!). There are other good things happening – things I can’t really blog about yet but I will in time.

And uh… is it Wednesday? Someone tell me because I’m still blurry. haha

I had a super busy day yesterday - at work and then some – and it’s stuff I can’t really blog about right now. BUT it’s all good and I’m a happy girl.

Had a nice glass of merlot last night courtesy of The Man and by the time I got home I was super relaxed. I went to bed at 9, listening to the rain patter on the window. It rained all afternoon here – much needed. I still think I was right on the edge of insanity driving through a torrential downpour to meet The Man for dinner and drinks. But it was fun and I was glad I went.

Woke up at 4:15 this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep until seconds before the alarm went off. Isn’t that always the way? So I’m groggy this morning.

And I need much coffee.

Sorry for the short entry but it’s time for me to get to work

I’m blogging over at ShoeIQ this morning. Check it out! 

Sunday was kind of a marathon. Got up early with the baby boy, cooked breakfast, and then his dad called letting me know he was up and about and I could bring him home anytime. We scheduled for around lunchtime. I had laundry to finish folding and all of his stuff to get together,, not to mention finishing homework.

I packed him up and took him home around 11ish and then it was off to Target where I was in desperate search of a new photo album. I found one on clearance for $5 and then some magazine holders for $1.87. It was bargain day at Target. I even got cash back for the movies.

Back home, I ate lunch and got readh to go. Hit the road at 1 and me Brother and Best Good Friend at the theater for 300. It was a great movie. Lots of blood and guts and gratuitous sex scenes and I’m still blown away that the ultra cute and sexy Rodrigo Santoro is Xerxes. Amazing. And yes, ladies, we even get a butt shot of Gerry AND a hot sex scene. Heavenly.

Drove home with a headache from the movie and cooked dinner while I chatted on the phone with a good friend. I had been out of touch all last week and we needed to catch up. It was good for me. I told her my woes and she listened and I’m sure she’s sick to death of all my problems.

I worked on BREAK again and found out the tenative release date of NICE GIRLS DO is in November. Very dismayed by that, but it’ll be okay. I’ll just have to promote the crap out of it when the time comes. Anyway, I got another chapter done on BREAK and my goal is to finish all the rewriting and edits by the end of the week. Wish me luck!

As soon as I finish the edits, I’m going to focus 100% of my attention on the dragon story. I want to get it DONE and start querying agents. I have a few in mind as well as a publisher in mind.

I can’t believe it’s Monday already again. This weekend FLEW by. Overall, though, I feel like it was very productive. I love weekends like that.

…was not one of my better days.

I screwed up my blog (but managed to fix it later). I made a major error on the contest and had to do damage control. I was so ticked at myself I could hardly stand it. Then I went to a Tupperware party, vowing I wouldn’t buy a thing, and ended up $23 lighter in the bank account. Which is okay because the thing I bought it totally awesome and Best Good Friend says she can’t live without hers. It’s a mixing bowl thingy.

I DID get my free shoes from Easy Spirit as well. You can see them pictured here. They are super ultra comfy and I totally love them. I’ll be reviewing them on ShoeIQ tomorrow.

Most folks who know me, would look at these and say they are NOT Michelle Shoes. But even a gal who wears stilettos every single work day has to have a pair of comfy shoes every now and then. Right? Anyway – they are great and I love them.

Today the baby boy goes back to his dad and I head off to the movies to see 300 with Brother and Best Good Friend. I can’t wait to see this movie. I’ve been pining away for it for months. I’m just thrilled I can get someone to go with me to see it. Of course, for them, it has nothing to do with Gerard Butler and everything to do with Frank Miller (they loved Sin City – a movie I just couldn’t sit through).

And that’s it for me! I gotta jump in the shower. I feel more rested today and not nearly as braindead as yesterday. When I get home tonight, though, it’s back to Revision Hell. I did allow myself one day off after all.

Yes, I’m still in it. It’s really starting to be okay, though.

The baby boy fell asleep almost the second we walked in the door last night. He was out by 6 pm and so I figured I’d get some work done on The Book From Hell while he slept. Turns out, he slept ALL evening. So I rewrote the first four chapters of the book.

I’m starting to like it better.

After reading through it, I discovered my heroine was not the same one that ended Book 1. So she’s going to need some work. The dialogue needs to be snappier so I’m trying to fix that too. I figured it was easier just to rewrite the thing than to try to edit the thing. So a lot is getting cut and a lot is getting rewritten. And some of it is actually okay.

I emailed my editor late last night and told her I was going to need more time. We both agreed that it would need at least two more rounds of editing. The release date will have to be pushed back, which is disappointing to say the least. BUT…the good news is I won’t be putting out a piece of shit. It’ll be a much better book if I take the time to do this.

And besides, I really don’t want to disappoint the readers who spend their money on the book.

I fell into bed shortly after 11 and immediately fainted from shear exhaustion. The Man was closing last night and called at around 12:30. He knew he woke me up from the groggy sound of my voice but I insisted on chatting with him. Of course now I can’t even remember what we talked about. haha

The baby woke up at 3:30 this morning – as I expected since he slept all night and didn’t have dinner. He wanted something to drink and something to eat so I gave him a snack and some water and put him back to bed.

Once again I fainted from exhausted. I heard him up early this morning and he came into my room shortly after 8 wanting breakfast. I cooked bacon, sausage and eggs and was thankful for coffee. I’m still tired, but at least I’m not a zombie.

And now that I don’t have the deadline pressure, I can actually enjoy my weekend. Best Good Friend, Brother and I are going to see 300 tomorrow! OoO! I can’t wait! I get to stare at Gerard Butler in a loincloth for 117 minutes. *drool*

I was super busy at work yesterday. Which was totally great becuase it made the day fly by. I left work a little after 5 and got home at about 5:50. There were two messages on my machine – one from the repair place and one from the rental place. Apparenlty, my car was ready.

They closed at 6.

I had to hurry. Luckily the place, was only about 2 minutes from my house. The insurance liasion at the repair shop was fantastic. I called him back when I was on my way to let him know I was coming. My car was already pulled around front by the time I got there.

Signed the final paperwork, paid the bill, and then I was ready to go. I got all the stuff out of the rental and into my car and as I was driving away, I realized I had forgotten to put gas in the rental. ARGH!

I quickly called the guy back and told him. He said I could come right back or swing by in the morning. Knowing my morning is already jam packed, I told him I’d turn around, come get the car and fill it up.

“How about this?” he said. “Since you have your little boy, why don’t I met you down the street at the RaceTrac? Then you can pay and be on your way.”

WOW! Now that is some seriously awesome customer service. Don’t you think? So I agreed and drove up the street to the gas station. He even pumped the gas and watched the needle to get it to exactly 3/4 full. I was very pleased with the overall experience.

Last night I was back in Revision Hell. I decided the best way to tackle this monster was to Divide and Conquer. Just take one thing at a time. Last night it was all the “delete this” edits. Tonight I will conquer all the reptitive phrases. I finally climbed into bed shortly after 11, exhausted.

The Man called and we chatted for a bit. He sounded as tired as I did – probably because he had talked my ear off the night before until well after midnight. After we hung up, I started to drift off to sleep…and an idea began to form in how I can rework the first part of the book. I’m moments away from being excited about the book again.

Funny how that happens, isn’t it?

It’s off to work and school. TGIF everyone!

I’m completely frazzled with this book. Which means I have nothing to blog about at the moment because I’m swimming in edits.

However, you can read about my Large Hate of these edits over at Southern Fried Chicas today. Check it out.

PS Happy Spring!

It’s coming – and it’s going to be a hoot!

Join Shot In The Dark Mystery Games, The Romance Galleria, and me, Michelle Miles, for a night of virtual mystery! If you’ve ever wanted to play a murder mystery game from the comfort of your computer chair, this is the event for you!

On Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 8 pm EST, people from all over the world will meet in The Romance Galleria to play the newest Shot In The Dark Mysteries murder mystery game, Murder at the Book Signing, and you can be a part of this thrilling event!

The Venue:
Murder at the Book Signing is taking place at The Romance Galleria. The Romance Galleria is a chat room, a bookstore, a theater, a forum…and so much more. Discover a virtual world like no other in the romance industry. No other community can come close to offering an expansive virtual environment or real time interactions like the Romance Galleria. Murder at the Book Signing is taking place at this state of the art facility, where you assume a virtual version of yourself (AKA an avatar) and mingle with other players, all from the comfort of your own home.

The Storyline:
Romance author, Michelle Miles, is kicking off her book tour and her fans are eager to meet her. Miles’ best-selling novel, A Bend In Time, has established a cult following, and her fans are eagerly awaiting the second book in the Adventures of Ransom and Fortune, A Break In Time. But when Miles’ agent is found dead, the suspect list begins to grow, and fans and authors alike are held to determine who committed the Murder at the Book Signing.

The Featured Author:
Michelle Miles writes in several genres but finds she enjoys creating other worlds best of all. In addition to working full time, she has numerous projects underway.

Her time travel adventure, formerly a serial with Inara Press, has been released in novel length from Samhain Publishing. The first book, which encompasses the first and second seasons of the serial, has a new name: A Bend In Time. Look for it in print later this spring!

The Murder Mystery Game creator:
Shot In The Dark Mystery Games creates and sells murder mystery games for kids and adults in a variety of genres. Mystery game kits are the perfect way to spice up your next get-together! Visit us online and chat it up in our forum, buy a game and sign up for our ezine!

The Murder at the Book Signing Characters:
Michelle Miles – The Author:
Michelle Miles is an exciting new addition to the best-seller list, giving readers a break from the pontificating memoirs of late and helping them slip into the thrills of adventure. Michelle has been writing for years, and the success of the first book in the Adventures of Ransom and Fortune series, A Bend In Time, is no surprise to her long-standing die-hard fans.

Fletcher Flemming – Michelle Miles’ Publisher
Angel DiTosto – The Agent’s Mistress
Risto Rasmussen – The President of the Ransom and Fortune Fan Club
Sonia Sparrow – Michelle’s Close Friend
Sophia Bernesque – The Rival Author
Sally Mustard – The Romance Galleria Event Coordinator
Horrace Halliday – An As-Yet Unpublished Author

The Fans:
Marilyn Paradise
Ian Kirstofferson
Rose Seabrook
Ross Westcott
Vivaine Vincente
Germain Leblanc
Brenda Calhoun

In addition to the murder, attendees must also use their sleuthing skills to determine the identify of Michelle’s stalker! It’s two mysteries in one!

Tickets to the event are $10 (US). Don’t want to play a character? You can still attend the event and solve the mystery. Spots are limited, so sign up now for a great night of fun, murder and mystery! To learn more and sign up, visit Shot In The Dark Mysteries.

All attendees will be entered in a drawing to win some fabulous prizes including a bookmark, a signed copy of the print version of A Bend In Time (once it’s released in print in May), as well as some other cool adventuresome goodies.

So mark your calendars! Hope to see you there!

You ever feel like you’re having one of those moments? A brain meltdown of sorts. That’s me. That’s right where I am these last few days. Man, I can’t remember ANYTHING lately and it’s sucky.

It was back to the old workplace on Monday and for some reason, I was really kind of okay with that. Jolly almost. It was nice to know I was missed around the office and people told me it was super quiet around there. Yeah, I’ll bet. Especially with Mouthy Broad #1 gone for five days. I was up to my usual harrassment of the hired help (i.e., IT) and managed to get some good pestering in before the day was out. Ahhh, bliss.

Took my car in to be repaired post-accident this morning, too. Now usually these places just suck my will to live, but today it wasn’t so bad. Since I had called on Saturday, they had already had all my paperwork done up and ready to go. So it was just a matter of renting the car.

Now, I vowed never to use Enterprise again after the Ikea Fiasco… but since my insurance covers $35/day car rental and the collision repair place has Enterprise as their car rental place, I didn’t have much of a choice. So I sucked it up and put on my Happy Face and headed for the Jaws of Death with a Light Heart.

The guy was actually pretty nice. And organized and like…on top of things. Shocking, I know. When it was my turn, I told him my insurance company had made a reservation for me and he checked the system and, naturally, no reservation. Since I was still in my Happy Place, I decided to not let this get to me even though my first instinct was to growl and have ‘tude. He asked me if I knew what my claim number was and I told him – no clue.

He was good enough to get on the phone and call the insurance liason next door at the collision place and get the number. He was then able to find it in the system.

“So they only told you a half lie,” he said with a grin. One of those cocky grins that is so Han Solo-ish.

“Well, I suppose that’s better than a whole lie,” I quip.

He laughs.

He gets the paperwork done and flings open the drawer full of keys. “How about an Xterra?” he asked.

“Okay,” I said, trying to sound like it’s really no big they are giving me a super cool SUV. Inside, I was doing the happy dance because I knew I wouldn’t have to drive a two-door Spec for the next three to four days.

“I like your style,” he said, still with the cocky smile.

We walked outside and he circled the vehicle for previous damage. As he’s finishing writing up the paperwork, I ask him if it’s unlimited mileage.

“Yes, as long as you stay in the state of Texas.”

Okay, um…how are they gonna know I’ve stayed within the border of Texas? I could drive all the way to the panhandle and then down to Brownsville and that would be like… a lot of miles.

“I guess that rules out my roadtrip to Vegas,” I said.

He laughs again. “I like your style,” he said. Uh huh, sure. Whatever. He hands over the paperwork. “This is your copy. If you get pulled over while driving to Vegas, just show them this and you’ll be on your way.”

Well, at least he had a sense of humor.

I was in and out of the place in about 30 minutes and actually made it to work shortly before 9 am. Not bad, I think.

I did actually get some words in on the dragon story today, which is a tremendous effort. The edits for Break are looming, though, and I will need to turn my focus to that. I came home, though, with a horrendous headache. One of those head-splitting ones. Plus exhaustion hit me hard and heavy since I was up until midnight the night before and had horrible dreams. Nightmares, actually. I just work up feeling out of sorts. Oh, and I forgot to set my alarm to the mere fact I woke up at 6:30 was a miracle in itself.

Anyway… I printed some pages of the ms. to start taking notes since I couldn’t stand to look at the computer second another nanosecond. It hurt my head too much.

And now it’s off to work I go!

I’m thoroughly annoyed that it’s Monday already and last week went by so freaking fast.

I’m also thoroughly annoyed that this is the second time I’ve written this post. Apparently I had a Senior Moment or an Almost Middle-Aged Moment or something because apparently I blacked out in mid-type and forgot to save the fracking post.

Sheesh.

Anyway. Sunday was a lazy day and the Sweetie Boy and I didn’t bother to get dressed until nearly noon. We stayed in all day. He played games, I didn’t laundry and finished reading the bestest book ever.

On Saturday, Ames and I went to the local B&N because Candace Havens told us the previous Saturday at the chapter meeting we HAD to go because Rosemary Clement-Moore was having her first booksigning for her debut novel, Prom Dates From Hell. (Was that like the worst run-on sentence EVER?) Rosemary is a total doll and Candy was there helping her stay organized.

I bought the book, of course, and came home on Saturday afternoon and started reading. I couldn’t stop! I couldn’t wait to get the baby to bed so I could crawl between my own sheets and read. I finally fainted somewhere close to midnight and had to stop. I finished it on Sunday and it was, may I say, totally awesome. Rosemary is a wonderful writer. I loved Maggie and I could relate to her on so many levels. The dialogue is snappy and witty and there was some laugh out loud moments. It’s the kind of book you feel like those characters are your best friends by the time you reach the end. I want more, dammit! More about these characters! hehe Do yourself a favor and run to your local bookstore and buy this book. You will NOT be disappointed.

Anyway. It was hard for me to take the baby boy home Sunday evening. I have moments of sadness. The house was terribly terribly quiet without him there. At around 7:30 I shut the TV off to get some work done. I read some chapters from Ames’ new book (another awesome story!), all the while having a rousing text message session with The Man.

This is going to be a busy week, seeing as how I’m going to have to get my car fixed. I have an 8 am appointment with the collision repair place this morning. I hope they don’t have to have the car too long because I hate driving something that doesn’t belong to me. I want to get this done and over with and I BETTER not get shafted by the guy’s insurance company or I’m going to be one pissed off lady.

Tuesday I have a date with The Man (tentative) and then Wednesday through Sunday the baby boy is back with me while his dad is out of town. We’re going to a Tupperware party on Saturday afternoon and somewhere in there I’ve promised the baby we’d bake cookies.

AND… somehow I’ve got to get all the edits done for BREAK IN TIME and back to the editor by …Thursday.

I’ll need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. Especially since it looks like I’ll be burning the midnight oil.

So…I’ve been having some technical difficulties lately with bandwidth issues. It seems some yokels out there decided to LINK to an image I had of 300 on my server. You morons. Don’t you know you’re supposed to right click and Save As and link to it YOURSELF?

Doesn’t matter now because guess what? I deleted the fracking picture. HA! The joke’s on you now.

PS Thanks for causing my entire server to get locked out. You jackasses.

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!