Links for Friday

I've been packing up boxes to get into the mail. The international mailing deadline is looming, plus I realized I entered the RITA and never sent in the books. Best to get those off while I'm still thinking about it! Especially before the line at the post office gets way too long!

I have a couple links for you today.

The first is for cat lovers (okay, they are both for cat lovers, but what do you expect from me?), though the fifty photographs are so good even non-cat lovers might like them. Go to buzzfeed here. Be sure to listen to the optional soundtrack. It's not annoying music, but really adds to the viewing.

This on catser.comis going on my list of things to buy if I ever hit the NYT or win the lottery. Is that not a cool book case? Cats and books, what more could you want except maybe a Chris Hemsworth lookalike to be at your beck and call!

Before I forget, today is your last day to enter my $10 gift card giveaway. Winner's choice between Amazon and BN.com. All you have to do is post a comment to be entered!

I finally got Maria's prize, a box of goodies from the RWA National Conference, sent out and it arrived in two days! I'm almost caught up except for mailing a set of RTCs (Romance Trading Cards from Not-So-Perfect Princess) and a couple other books with autographs.

Where has the week gone?

Anyone else feel like time is speeding up? The week has flown by. Granted it's been busy with a big solar system project for Rose and proposal writing for me!

I also think I need to submit Chaos to that dog shaming site on Tumblr. Last night she outdid herself by getting into a box I've been preparing to send to a soldier we adopted. Early Christmas treats for her! She had herself quite a feast. Bad, bad doggy!

If you've wondered about adopting a soldier, there are lots of programs out there. I went with Soldiers' Angels because it has a lot of resources and support for newbies like me. They also have teams where you can just write letters or do a one-time care package so lots of ways to support our troops! Though I never thought it would be my dog causing me so much trouble. LOL!

Well, I need to get the kids up and to school.

Hope you have a great day!

Gangnam Style Christmas

My hubby sent me a link this morning to an article on The Daily Caller called "Gangnam Style" Christmas. It has videos of the top 10 houses decorated Gangnam Style! It's pretty cool. But if you don't have time to peruse all of them, here's house #1.



Hope you have a great Tuesday!

Red Puppy

Grandma Chaos and Grandson

 Norwegian Elkhound pups are just so cute. I guess puppies by definition are cute, but red puppy was adorable and so sweet!

Yesterday Rose and I drove red puppy back to the breeder. We were sad to see him go. His personality really came out after Thanksgiving. He liked to run, chase and play with anything he could sink his sharp little teeth into. We had to watch our hands and clothing and most especially, shoes.

When he arrived, he'd never used a leash. It didn't take Mackenna long to get him leashed trained. He had no issues with it at all. He also learned when we took him out to the grass, it was time for him to go potty. Oh, there were still some accidents in the house, but he was doing much better by the time he left.

Hide & Seek or Naptime?

He wasn't quite sure why no one wanted to play with him. Not humans, but Chaos and the cats. He tried everything to get them to play. But he usually got bopped on the head by a cat or earned a growl from Chaos. Still I have to give him credit for trying. At one point he bopped Beauty on the head. She bopped him back. This went on a few times until the puppy crouched ready to play. Beauty, however, turned and walked away. Poor red puppy.

We'll be getting one of his brothers sometime this week to socialize so will go through the entire routine again: leash training, potty training, socializing. A good thing since the house seems really quiet now. And this house is rarely quiet!

What did you do this weekend?

Holiday Weekend

I'm taking it easy over this holiday weekend. I've done a little shopping, some reading and writing, and lots of playing with the puppy.

Serious cuteness overload.

The cats aren't nearly as impressed as we are. The puppy loves Beauty, but the feeling is not mutual.

Last night we got into the Christmas spirit by watching one of my favorite holiday movies The Christmas Card. I enjoy that one so much I bought the DVD! It's usually shown on the Hallmark Channel if you want to check it out.

Do you have a favorite Christmas movie you like to watch?

Hope you have a great Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you believe it's Thanksgiving? I can't. But I'll happily eat turkey and sweet potatoes and all that other yummy stuff this afternoon! Pumpkin pie is one of my faves, too.

A lot of people on Facebook have been doing daily gratitude posts. I missed the memo, but ever since doing a gratitude journal (ala an Oprah show featuring a book I'd read) I do this anyway.

This year I have much to be thankful for. I won't deny it hasn't been a hard year. But then again, life is hard. With good days and bad days.

The last couple of weeks have been really difficult because I've been missing my friend Elizabeth who died of breast cancer in June.  I realized one good thing about being so sick and having tight deadlines for so many months now is it didn't give me a lot of time to think.

Now that I'm not under so much pressure a lot of what I tried to put off while revising my manuscript has been coming out. But I am thankful for the decades we shared together. I was a year old when I met her so when I say she was a part of my life for as long as I remember, I'm not kidding.

I'm thankful we'll all be together today. There was a chance hubby had to go overseas on Sunday and attend a meeting today. He'll still be at the meeting via conference call. So much better than in person. I realize how lucky we are to have that choice. So many men and women in our armed services won't be with their families today. I'm grateful they made the choice to serve our country and us.

Red collar puppy

It'll be an interesting Thanksgiving for us. We added a temporary addition to the family yesterday.

We picked up red (collar) puppy from our breeder Jan in Hillsboro. This Norwegian Elkhound puppy is eight weeks old. He is oh-so-cute. A real sweetie, who is a little scared being on his own, away from his two brothers. He's eight weeks old and our dog Chaos' grandson.

We're "socializing" him until Sunday. Sometime after that, we'll bring home another puppy and keep him for a few days. It's good to expose puppies to different situations which is why we did this with the breeder's last litter, too!

And who knows? One of them may end up with us more permanently. Time will tell.

I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving. Is there anything you're especially thankful for today?

Whatcha Doin?

I'm interviewed at Manga Maniac Cafe. There isn't a giveaway, but if you post here that you've commented there, you'll get an extra entry in this month's blog giftcard giveaway. Click here.

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow. I did do a little Christmas shopping yesterday, mainly because a couple things were going off sale today so I didn't want to miss out!

Today we pick up a Norwegian Elkhound puppy. We'll be socializing all three, one at a time. The kids are besides themselves with excitement. We'd hope to get him last night but schedules just didn't work out. I'll be getting out the X-pen and setting up an area for him in the great room so we have a safe place for him to go. And a way for us to get a break!

What are you doing today?

Call Me Maybe Redux

Don't forget to enter my Larkville Legacy Giveaway at Harlequin Junkie. Click here. The winner will be picked tonight. Say hi if you get the chance, too!

This came across my Facebook feed last night. It's one of the better Call Me Maybe takeoffs. The status message was "The Quiet Professionals." Special Forces guys? I have no idea but it's worth a watch. US Troops in Afghanistan remake the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders' version and you can see both versions at the same time!



It's a short three hour day at the alternative school for my two youngest so I'll be hanging out at a coffee shop and writing this morning. What are you up to?

Guest Blogging Oops

I knew exactly what I planned to blog about this morning because I thought I was guest blogging with a giveaway, but I must have written down the date wrong on my calendar.

Update: The date wasn't wrong. The server was down. But the interview is up now with details on the giveaway. So go here to Harlequin Junkie and enter!

So I'll leave you with this...

I'm getting into the Christmas spirit with my newest story. Love being back in Hood Hamlet on Mount Hood. Love finally getting to tell Bill Paulson's story. Love trying to figure out what's going to happen next.

A very busy, but good day ahead. Hubby is coming home tonight, too!

Hope you have a great Friday!

As You Wish

Total awesomeness from BuzzFeed. You've got to see the ESPN NFL Show with all the references to The Princess Bride. Football and fairytales? Inconceivable! You can watch it here.

Hope you have a great Thursday. A lot going on here with mine. Cannot wait for a little down time!

Just dance!

Life is crazy right now. Flying solo with the three kidlets while hubby's off doing whatever he does while he's away. Needless to say, laundry and dishes and the new manuscript are waiting for me.

But I saw this on Facebook and wanted to share. Very cute!



When all else fails, I must remember to just dance! It always makes me feel better! Especially when my kids are so embarrassed and begging me to stop.

Have a great day!

Monday, no, Tuesday

I don't know about you, but today feels like a Monday. Holiday weeks are always like that for me. It was hard to get motivated yesterday even though I had a huge list of To Do items. I actually got a couple checked off, but I should have had many more. I kept thinking "but it's a holiday."

This morning, I was out the door with my oldest to drive the high school carpool. When we arrived at our friends' house to pick up their son, they were already in their minivan ready to back out.

I got that look. The you-really-messed-up-again one my fourteen year old likes to give me whenever I do anything—right or wrong.

I told her it's Tuesday. My day to drive. She just rolled her eyes.

My friend took one look at me and realized what she'd done. She thought it was Monday. Her other kids were loaded up to head off to their school, too, so my daughter hopped in their car and I drove home.

Now to get to work.

What are you up to today?

Happy Veterans Day!

This morning I called my dad to wish him a Happy Veterans Day! Both he and hubby's late father were both veterans (AF, my dad and Navy/retired Naval Reserves, hubby's dad). One of hubby's brothers served in the Marine Corps during the Gulf War, too. My mom was a little girl with pigtails and still playing with dolls when my dad served so his being in the military never affected our lives except, I suppose, when he got a VA loan to buy their house, which I don't remember, either.

But today is the day to remember the service and sacrifice the men and women of the US military made and continue to make for all Americans. And to thank them!

Like the LOLcat above, our military has saved us and our way of life so many times. And many things they've done we will never know about. Some are most likely doing something right now in a place far, far from home. And like the little kitten above, we should watch over those warriors who've done so much for us. Not only today, Veterans Day, but every day.

A website I've mentioned on this blog is SOFREP. When you have a moment listen to their SOF Heroes Project. Members of the SOFREP community read the names of fallen Special Operators.

And this is a nice video to watch today...



Thank you to all the veterans and those who serve now! Happy Veterans Day!

Cooking

Hubby is in charge of cooking around here when he's home, but when he's gone or busy I do try to help out. I'll be honest, I haven't cooked anything in a while, a long while due to being sick then on deadline. I also hadn't used my ATM card in weeks since I didn't go shopping so forgot the password and can't for the life of me remember it. Not good.

I don't complain about what hubby cooks because, well, he's doing it and I'm not. If there's something I don't feel like eating, I'll say so when he asks what I want, but pretty much whatever hubby puts in front of me I eat.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday morning, I was starving. I couldn't believe how hungry I was so hubby offered to make me an omelet. TA couple eggs, some spinach and mushrooms. I skip the cheese after Whole 30. Easy-peasy, right?

I took a bite.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

What the... I spit it out.

Omelets shouldn't crunch when you chew. At least none I've had.

I studied what was on my plate. It looked like an omelet but it sure didn't taste like one.

I faced a big dilemma. Here I was with breakfast in bed that my wonderful hubby had cooked. Except I had no idea what those crunching granules were. My "no complaining" rule was mocking me.

I decided to try another bite.

Same thing.

At this point I'm dying to eat. The kids Halloween candy was looking like a healthy breakfast option. I told my youngest to ask dad if he put anything crunching into the omelet because this one tasted funny.

A minute later, hubby appeared bedside with a very contrite look on his face. He told me "some" of the egg shell "may have" fallen in to the omelet.

That explained the crunchies.

Writing & Cat Links

I took Monday off to relax and play with my new Kindle Fire. Tuesday I did some edits/critiques for an online writing class I'm in and caught up on the assignment I missed the first week due to revisions. Now I'm back to writing. Next up...

Twelve Days in Hood Hamlet!

Okay, that's the working title, but I think it's cute and I hope they keep it. This is another one of my Mount Hood Mountain Rescue Christmas Magic stories and it features a fireman hero, Bill Paulson. He's the last of the original group (one was already married.) It's hard to believe I've gone through them all when I was only going to write the one story. And my next release in March features another mountain rescuer who was new to the group.

On the kitty front, Miss Mousie's stitches are out. She's doing well. There's an update here if you want to know more.

I also found two very funny cat links I have to share:

The first one came across my Facebook page yesterday. It's on enpundint and is called If Fonts Were Cats. Definitely worth a click. Here's the link.

The other I found through my Twitter friend Eliza Evans, who is a big Miss Mousie supporter. She'd tweeted about a cat who was his own uncle. Of course, crazy cat lady that I am, had to click on the link and came across Cat-Shaming on Tumblr. It's similar to the Dog-Shaming one and hilarious. Worth a visit, too! Here's the link.

Norwegian Elkhound Puppies and Surprises

Puppy pics showed up in the my inbox last night. What a nice surprise!

 I don't have any photos of Chaos when she was a puppy so have no idea if any of her three grandsons look like her. But no matter, they are still adorable! I just want to cuddle and hold them. Norwegian Elkhound puppies are the cutest!

The samples from my photographer friend, Jennifer, from the photo shoot came out great. I don't know if I can post them here, but she has a Facebook page. Here's the link if you want to see three of the pics. Since Camas Photography is a public page, you shouldn't need a Facebook account to see it.

I must admit it's been a week of surprises. I got my biggest on Monday. I'd gone to due a volunteer shift at the alternative school my youngest kids attend two days a week. My shift in my son's classroom falls on a holiday this month so needed to reschedule volunteering and consulting with the teacher.

I was so tired after doing revisions and sending them off Sunday night. All I wanted to do was sleep when I got home so I went straight upstairs. There was something on my pillow and it wasn't a cat!

My sweet hubby had purchased a Kindle Fire HD for me. A present to celebrate getting the book turned in. This was the book I wrote while sick. Pretty much I was sick most of the writing and revising process so to say it was a bear is putting it lightly.

He also got me a pretty red leather case for it. Red is my fave color. And a fast charger.

I was and still am so touched. We don't do presents around here. The kids get them, but it's rare we exchange more than a card. To get something like a Kindle and not have it be for anything special even... Well, I get a little misty eyed.

I've never had an eReader before because I prefer paper. But we have Amazon Prime and I love to watch movies when I have free time. Monday night I got to see Thor on my Kindle. Pretty cool! I did buy a couple of eBooks, too. So we'll see how that goes.

Have a great Wednesday. Mine won't be too crazy, but I do have a couple classes to teach at church!

Election Day

No matter what party you belong to, or if you belong to neither, please vote today. It's a privilege and one all Americans should be honored to have. Make the most of it and cast your vote today if you haven't already. I'll be dropping off my ballot once the two youngest kids wake up!

Have a great day!

Revisions off!

 I emailed my revisions last night! Huge sigh of relief.

It was a crazy weekend with being up in Olympia, Washington Friday and Saturday for my oldest's high school swim districts. Friday night I sat on a chair out in the hallway and worked until 2 am. My roommate, another swim mom, went to go to bed at 10 pm and I needed light since I was reading through the manuscript on paper. I had a comfy chair and it was a great place to sit to make sure no swimmers decided to go out.

The team did well. All three relay teams placed in the top 8. My daughter swam on two of them. She placed 13th in the 200 IM. The captain of the team is going to be swimming at state. She won the 100 Breast and placed 3rd in the 200 IM.

I spent yesterday reading through the manuscript one last time and typing in those revisions. I would have liked to do one more pass, but there wasn't time.

This morning, I'm heading to the school to volunteer. I missed my shift last month due to being sick and there's no school on my scheduled day due to a holiday. I'd much rather sleep in and have a lazy morning, but oh, well...

Hope you have a nice Monday!

Contest Winner and Norwegian Elkhounds

Chaos in her Halloween costume

The kidlets and Chaos had a very fun time Trick or Treating on Wednesday night. A friend of Finn's came over to join in the fun and spend the night.

Mackenna dressed up as a purple crayon. She headed over to a friend's house for the evening. That neighborhood has homes that give out King Size candy bars. She was happy with her candy haul.

Finn dressed up as Finn from Adventure Time. He got lots of comments about his costume. That show is more popular than I realize.

His friend Matthew was a lumberjack. He made an axe out of wood to carry. It was very cool.

Rose was a raccoon. She looked absolutely adorable with her little black mask and furry hood.

Of course, Chaos goes out, too. If not I wouldn't be able to answer the door to pass out candy. Can you tell what she is?

Last night we went to Camas Photography which is owned by my friend Jennifer. The Norwegian Elkhound breeder, Jan, from Hillsboro met us there for a photo shoot with three puppies. These three little guys are Chaos' grandsons!

We had so much fun! They are the sweetest little puppies. All over the place, but oh-so-cute all you want to do is cuddle them. I can't wait to see the pics. The one on the right I took with my iPhone so not the best quality!

It's time to announce the winner of the October contest. The winner is Jane who commented on my post Calling In Dead. Jane, please you the contact button to send my your email address and let me know whether you want a $10 amazon or bn.com gift certificate. You have 7 days to contact me or I'll pick another winner! Thanks to everyone who entered.

A new contest started yesterday. Each comment gets you an entry. Be sure to check back at the beginning of next month to see if you won!

Have a great Friday!

On the Shelves!

My latest book, HIS LARKVILLE CINDERELLA, is on sale in both paperback and digital. I realize my confusion over my release date for those who may have read my blog on Tuesday is that there are two different dates. One for the paperback (that was Tuesday) and one for the digital version today.

The book is #5 of Harlequin Romance's The Larkville Legacy continuity series, but my story is very much standalone.

The story is set in Hollywood, and I must admit I had a blast writing this one. The hero, Adam Noble, is an A-list actor (think someone like Chris Hemsworth) and the heroine, Megan Calhoun, is a costume design intern.

Here's the back cover copy:

Swapping the Texas dust...

The small-town girl with big dreams has finally reached Hollywood! For years, costume designer Megan Calhoun has longed to be seen for who she is, not who she isn't. But under the gaze of A-list hearthrob Adam Noble, this Cinderella begins to step out of the showdows.... 

For Hollywood glitter!

Adam hides from his painful past behind every role he plays. But something in Megan is threatening to smash apart this carefully construed facade. Will he finally take his biggest risk...throw away the script and open his heart?


Okay, sales pitch over with. That should appease hubby. Anyone got any cute pics of cats?