Guys, I am so excited to be able to say that we hit $500 in pledges on the Holidays at the Toy Store pre-order campaign! This pre-order period has been rough. I've been fighting getting sick again (I was diagnosed previously with copd), running the oldest around everywhere, and working. On top of that, the campaign itself is just moving slow. I've had my ups and downs with it, but I've never given up hope that we'll make it. Today, that hope has been rewarded!

Hi, everyone! We're almost a week into the pre-order campaign and we've raised 20% of the total needed to bring the book to print. I'm super excited! Only about $1200 more to go. I have total faith that we can do it. Remember, this is for our very first coloring book as well as Holidays at the Toy Store.

It's up! Eric did a smashing job and finished 95% of the graphics. The others will be done soon and inserted, but that was enough to get it up and running. It will launch on January 31st, but if you want to be notified when it happens, I'm going to share a link with all of you. You just click that and then click notify and you'll get an email when I hit the go live button!I can't wait for all of you to see this book! I'm super excited about it. Remember, if you want to be notified, just click the title of the book here: Holidays at the Toy Store

I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way so we can focus on the good stuff. Remember that cough I've had? Well, just before Thanksgiving, it got a lot worse. I thought I'd just gotten bronchitis or something. I gave it a week and when it wasn't getting better, I went to the doctor. Well, I've been diagnosed with COPD. Just what a girl needs, more initials in her life. In my case, I've irritated it and now I'm on medication to help settle things back down. It's slowed me down but I'm trying my best to press forward.

Guys, it's happening! After months of trying to figure out how to make it happen, it's happening. I've spoken with both Maxx and Eric and they've agreed to take payment from the Kickstarter campaign! That means that instead of me worrying over where to find the funds to pay them, I just get to gush about how awesome this book is and raise the funds to not only pay them but to take the book to print. 

If you'd like to place an order, just click this link: Kat Scratch Press Merch Link ! 

...or at least I think that's what I'm drinking. I could be wrong. I'm far from being a Starbucks expert. I am, however, some sort of expert at coughing. That's right. I still have this cough! I went to the doctor yesterday and she's not sure why I still have it. So, she's sending me for a cat scan on my lungs to rule out anything. I have to go out of my usual network for that so I'm waiting on that phone call.

Whew! I almost didn't get a post up today. I had a doctor's appointment, went shopping, came home, and after lunch took a three hour nap. Then, tonight, I was on a livestream to help promote an awesome anthology called Cthulhu Invades Neverland. It's currently on Kickstarter. If you're into either of these fandoms, you should check it out.

When the chance to create a holiday happened, the sheep were first in line to add January 20^th as Cheese Lover’s Day. They loved cheese and tried to have some with every meal. The other toys could tell you that whenever the sheep were in charge of food for an event, there was always cheese. They didn’t know the types of cheese, but the sheep always chose delicious ones for everyone to enjoy.

On January 20^th, the sheep laid out all different types of cheese on their outdoor tables. There were soft cheeses like Brie, ricotta, cream cheese, and even cottage cheese. There were hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and Swiss. Each of the cheeses was labeled with its name and had a small plate of crackers next to it.

As each of the toys stopped by that day, they tried different types of cheeses, and the sheep told them about each one.

“Brie is from France. It tastes great on crackers or even on sandwiches,” Baa told Teddy when he stopped by.

“Cheddar cheese comes from England and is white there. Here, in the United States, it’s yellow,” said Black Sheep.

“I bet you can’t guess where Swiss cheese comes from,” said Baaa to Sylver when he took a nibble of the holey cheese. “Umm…Switzerland?” answered Sylver. “You’re right!” the three sheep yelled, making Sylver jump and almost drop his cheese. He scrambled and managed to catch it before popping it into his mouth.

He was about to head back to the ocean life cubby when he noticed a tv set up next to the tables. “What’s this?” he asked. “Oh that…that’s something that we thought the toys might enjoy. It’s a game called Cheese Game.”

Sylver walked closer to the screen and noticed that controllers had been hooked up. “Can I try it out?”

“Of course you can. That’s why we set it up!” said Baa while his brothers walked back to the tables to put out new pieces of cheese. “It’s one player or I’d play with you. Try it out and if you would like a snack, come back over for some more cheese. Perhaps some cheddar this time or cream cheese.” Baa smiled and walked away.

Sylver picked up a controller and hit start. He chuckled when he saw that he was playing as a piece of cheese that looked a lot like the piece that he had just eaten. The game started easily enough. He was a piece of cheese that had to avoid everything because everything wanted to eat him. He beat a few levels and when he paused for a moment, he noticed that he had drawn quite the crowd around him. Quite a few of his friends were there supporting him and cheering him on.

He took a deep breath and unpaused the game. It was time for the final level. With his friends watching, he dodged left, and he dodged right. There were rocks falling from the sky and a miner trying to catch him. He kept dodging and running. The rocks were falling faster now and the more intense the game got, the quieter his friends got. There were only thirty seconds left. Could he beat the game?

He dodged to the left again. A rock barely missed him, and his friends held their breath. He was so close. Another dodge to the right and around a pair of rocks that came raining down. The miner was right there, but he managed to veer around him. Ten seconds left. Suddenly the rocks were coming down faster, but with each rock that rained down, he dodged around it. Five seconds left and the miner was right on this tail. He flipped around and ran around the miner. Time was up and he won! He let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and grinning, turned around to hug his cheering friends.

“You did it! On your first try you beat that game!”

“Oh my gosh, that was awesome!”

“Thanks, guys! We should celebrate with some cheese!”

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Hi, guys! It's me. Then again, who else would it be, right? I have some bummer news. I have pneumonia. I've been coughing for two months but thought maybe it was severe allergies or something. No such luck. This explains why I'm tired so much and why I start having coughing fits after doing things like grocery shopping. The doctor prescribed some meds for me so hopefully I'll be on the mend quickly. As for my hands, it looks like a pinched nerve in both elbows that will require me to see an orthopedic doctor and probably splints that I'll have to wear. I'll be calling on Monday to see what my next steps are. 

Happy Thursday, everyone! I'm back with my weekly update. Sadly, it's not a great one. Over the past week, I've developed carpal tunnel like symptoms in both of my hands. This makes it really hard to type. I'm also between a rock and a hard place because my doctor's office has stopped taking my insurance and it may take up to two months for my waiver to be approved/denied. If it's denied, I have to find a new doctor and start completely over. No fun. 

It's been a week since I last updated you and though the progress has been slow, it's been there! If my estimates are right, I'm only three to four more stories from having the book complete. After that, it will be in the hands of my artists. Max does an incredible job with the interior art and if you've seen the covers of Tales from the Toy Store and Return to the Toy Store, you'll know Eric is one amazing cover artist. I only ever have the vaguest of ideas for covers and he always comes up with these fantastic covers.

Hey, everyone! I just wanted to give you a little bit of a life update. Some of you know that drama that happened last year with my house. Well, the house is still stressing me out. You see, I have to have $5500 saved up by May 1st so that I can buy the house. If I don't have it, there's a good chance that the cats and I will be homeless. Soooo...as part of me trying to really do what I can to boost the signal, I've decided to really try to post weekly here. I may also put together a GoFundMe in the future as well as sell some things. I really hate to do it, but if the choice is between pride and having a place to live...well, I'm going to go with having a house to live in.