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Thursday, August 30, 2012

It is OFFICIAL! The GUARDIANS OF FERAL MOUNTAIN IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!

The Guardians Feral Mountain
I am so excited to announce the official copy of The Guardians of Feral Mountain is now available on Kindle and NOOK! 
Please enjoy an escape from reality into the world of the Mysterious Mountains of Idaho. 

Take a journey with 14 year old Feral who escapes into the woods to live on her own away from her abusive distant relatives.  Alone, forging her new life, she finds company in her chickens and her work.

Emma and Elliot enter her life.  Her attraction to Elliot is undeniable, but also inconceivable.  He has been dead for over 100 years..... 

Friday, August 24, 2012

What a Boy Wants- you will want it!



What a Boy Wants




Nyre Dawn writes this fun light read with a guy every woman loves and hates.
This is a fantastic story where you want to slap the main character or ask him to prom- the problem is, you can't decide which.
Light entertaining, fun and incredibly good at nailing "typical guy" personality.
Add that to the fact it is written by a woman- makes this a fantastic read.

Characters are well developed, sub-characters -make sense, they stay true to who they are. The adult characters are not stupid- one of my pet peeves in young adult lit- they are caring, flawed and well- normal.

My advice, read it- then pass it to the nearest teen to enjoy.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Magic Mike- has some sparkle

Magic Mike PosterI admit it, when I attended opening night of Magic Mike, I wasn't going for the script.  I mean, come on, it is about male strippers.  It has Mathew McConaughey, who has been vying for this role his entire career, and JoeManGaniello from True Blood fame, along side of course, the true former stripper Channing Tatum.  Looking at the cast, tells you this isn't going to change your life, or move you into a new view of the world.  It is to Movies what Maraschino Cherries are to fruit -very little nutritional value and strictly there for decoration.
The good news is, it lives up to expectations.  There is several shots of male skin and some pretty good dance moves.  The story is thin, not surprising however, because once they get through all the performance numbers it leaves very little time for an actual plot to develop. 
It could have been better, I liked where they wanted to go with the story, and hoped it would have been focused on a BIT more.  Having said that, hey I am a writer, I live for stories, and look for them everywhere.  My group that I went with however ,was completely satisfied, appetites satiated as we walked out.
Overall, the scenery was worth the movie.  Channing Tatum did a better performance in this movie than I've seen, which was a plus.  Cody Horn, in my opinion did a stellar job as the older sister to Alex Pettyfer's character, Adam.  Mattew McConaughey was creapy for the record, which saddened my greatly.
For a fun girls night movie, this one works.  out of 5

Monday, April 23, 2012

Wanderlust is Wanderfully Fun!


Take a moment and laugh with the girls!
Wanderlust staring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston is a fun whimsical comedy taking on job loss, career changes, and facing your inner fears. 
After two high powered people leave New York, broke and embarrassed, they head to Atlanta to move in with family.  They end up in a commune of free thinking hippies who invite them to stay and enjoy their free lifestyle.
Jennifer Aniston looks amazing, and her character is so enduring.  We’ve all had the desire to run away at one time or another and this story takes us along with them! 
Fun movie, even the guys may like, (Jennifer looks amazing) filled with great after lines- you know the ones, the lines you and girlfriends repeat for days after?
Paul Rudd is adorable as always, nailing normal and making the audience love him.  Fun film, great lines. 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Friendly Frustration

Ever have one of those days?  You know the ones when your to-do list isn't that long.  It appears to be manageable.  Everything should be checked off before noon- OK 3 at the latest-
But looks can be deceiving....
You start on the list, check a few little things off and think all is going well with the world.  Then you start on number 4 or 5 on the list- the really important things- and BAM!  There it goes- all out the window.  One questions leads to another, and another and before you know it- it is almost 5 and you still don't have your list done.
Frustration. 
Not only is the list not done- you are now faced with even more questions and the little voices in your head (not the friendly ones either) are asking if you really are strong enough and smart enough to do what your list indicates needs to be done.

Frustration.

This is one of the most difficult parts of the process we call the "process."  You know the one.  Every time you get discouraged, you get irritated, you get -frustrated- your friends call it "all part of the process."

Frustration.

It is true, the process can be over whelming, irritating- maybe even annoying.  BUT

Could it be so when we get the finished list in our hands, the project done, the masterpiece mastered that we appreciate it more?

Maybe-
But I'll have to get back to you on that!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

17 tips for every day things

I received this as an email and instead of saving the email, I decided to post it here so that I know I always have these great tips on my site. I plan on trying every single one of them too.
And the shaving tip?  Try baby oil-  amazing!!! (also pretty cheap)
So enjoy and know I didn't come up with any of these- just passing them along to you!!
A lot of these tips are things that I can actually use on a regular basis too.
1. Reheat Pizza
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove , set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
2. Easy Deviled Eggs
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing roughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.
3. Expanding Frosting
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
4. Reheating Refrigerated Bread
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated , place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
5. Newspaper Weeds Away
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.
6. Picking Up Broken Glass
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily.
7. No More Mosquitoes
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
8. Squirrel Away!
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.
9. Flexible Vacuum
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.
10. Reducing Static Cling
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and — ta da! — static is gone.
11. Unsticky Measuring Cups
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
12. Foggy Windshield?
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!
13. Reopening Envelopes
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.
14. Smoother Legs With Conditioner
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…
15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!
16. Get Rid of Ants
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home”, can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains , but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!
17. Info About Clothes Dryers
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like.
WELL…the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film , but it’s there. It’s wha t is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free – that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new every day! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I’d share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn’t any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!
17 Tips To Make Your Life Easier

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Social Networking…are we really being social?


I was asked recently to assist some of my writing group members to, “get with it” and join the world wide web crawlers.  They needed my assistance getting set up on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter and even the basics of creating blogs. 
(Of course I found it irresistible to not set them up with Pinterest too, after all how could they see everything they were missing if they weren’t on it?)
I was astounded at how many simple things I had taken for granted when it came to the social world.  I began to wonder if I was the one who had been missing out on real social time…
I mean these people had wonderful social lives, filled with group activities as well as connections with several organizations, however they had never ventured off the beaten path to the world of internet yet.
I started thinking…
Maybe they had the right idea.   Maybe they were the ones who actually had a social life, and I was the one with the pretend group of friends.  Maybe I needed to branch out…
But by the end of the night I realized I liked my little safe virtual life-  I checked my boards on Pinterest, noting another few places I wanted to visit, updated my status and tweeted about my day…
Maybe in the end- I am virtually positive I like everything the way it is…