Reconnecting...New meaning for giving thanks

As the Thanksgiving holiday draws near we are spending a lot of time getting the house ready.  We have been doing this for the past two weekends.  Mucking out old stuff, reorganizing cramped storage spaces and freshening up our place.

It's for one main reason, beside the whole Kelly is a cleaning Nazi.  We have a old friend coming to visit.  He will be here for a week, over the Thanksgiving holiday.

You should know we are not the type of people who think holidays should only be spent with family.  Being in the Navy, you learn that family can grow and take on new meaning and we have certainly broadened ours with the friends we have made.

Captain Kid and I have not seen Tatum in almost nineteen years.  Wow, what long time.  I wonder how different he will be.  I wonder how different we will seem to him.  We had plenty in common back in the day, but will that carry over to now?

Scott spent every holiday at our place when we were stationed in Okinawa.  He didn't live too far from us, but shared a house with room mates.  This made us ideal for him as we were within walking distance and I love to cook and did so quite often.

Having Tatum over was never a hard ship and he was always welcome.  When we left Okinawa we went on to Alaska and he went back to the states after he was discharged from the Navy.  Life took us in two completely different directions and through fate and a social networking site, we reconnected all of these years later.

We picked up right where we left off and when he called to tell us he would be in New Orleans the weekend before Thanksgiving it didn't seem odd to us at all to extend the invitation for a visit.  He will be here for a week, but staying at the beach.  

I am looking forward to renewing this old acquaintance and my husband is thrilled that he is getting to reconnect with one of his best friends.  I wonder if there is any etiquette for this type of situation, besides cocktails, that is.  Well for Scott, I will have plenty of Corona on hand, his drink of choice.

As I sat down to write this posting I started to think about the things I have to be grateful for this year and I am especially giving thanks that I will get to spend the holiday with Scott.  Plus I get to show off my mad cooking skills which have greatly improved since Japan.
 
When was the last time social networking offered you a great surprise and do you guys have any advice, words of wisdom, etc. you care to share?

Saving all my love for you...or something

When my husband and I were dating he said our song was "Saving all my love for you" by Yes.  I should have gotten a clue then.  

My husband is a Pack Rat.  Not like the hoarder on that episode of Bones that caused the ceiling to cave in.  Ewww.  No he is not quite that bad.  But he does have a problem with getting rid of things.  His mentality is that someday he may need that orange pair of parachute pants that he has not been able to fit into since 1992, and lets face it, they had ceased being popular prior to 1992.

Since the weather has turned cooler getting the house back into some semblance of neatness becomes a priority with me.  In fact you could say my Nazi cleaning ways become a bone of contention, much the same way his "saving" tendencies do.  That being said, this past weekend was the weekend we had set aside to muck out the junk clean and straighten up his office.

Going into it, I was advised not to throw anything away unless he approved of it ahead of time.  Oh yeah, that was gonna happen.  Let me give you an example.  He had six, count them six, old cell phone head sets.  You know the ones of which I speak.  They look like headsets but with a single ear bud.  And they don't work by bluetooth (gasp) they actually have to be plugged into the phone.

He has not used a headset like that in five years.  But we can't throw them out.  No sir.  He also still has old stereo equipment he can't part with either stacked up in the closet.  An old record player, but no records.  An old cassette player and no cassettes.  Are you seeing the theme here.  We can't get rid of these things because hey, you never know.

But after it was all said and done and we had filled an entire garbage can with shred from all the old files he no longer needed, and the cell phone headsets, and the few other things I was able to get him to part with, no he kept the stereo equipment, baby steps, people.  Baby steps.  After, he came clean and admitted that it had felt really good to spend time in there knowing his office was organized and cleaned.

I really am a good influence.  Heil Kelly!  Now strike the Hitler pose.  Well I couldn't get him to do it either!  So what brings your inner Nazi out of hiding?

When you can't get the teeenage dream out of your head

Today is Thursday and while I am so glad you stopped by I want you to head over to Karla's blog The Last Word to catch the next segment in our Fun and Games with K&K.  It is worth the trip, I promise.  And just in case you missed the first installment from this week you can find it here. 

Okay since I really want you guys to go and check out my twitterista's blog posting today I decided to just make mine a tribute to one of my twitter sista's and bookhungry club pals, Abby Mumford.  

Yesterday I was slammed at work.  Slammed and  stressed.  I had very little time to check my twitter stream and even less time to catch up on my blog reading.  For whatever reason a tweet came across the tweetdeck that caught my eye.  @abbymumford tweeted that she couldn't get this song out of her head and attached the link to the video at youtube.

I was feeling pretty stressed and hit the link and sat back to take a meditation minute.  And suddenly I was bopping and swaying and my mood improved about 200 percent.  By the way Abby, my co-workers thank you even though they thought I was pretty nuts for bopping and dancing around, everyone was glad the crazed, freaked out Kelly was gone for the day.  For whatever reason once the song was there it just seemed to stay in my head.  

So here is a shout out to one of my twitterati who make me glad I stay tuned to the list of my twitter favs and always pay attention to what they say.  And for the rest of you I hope you enjoy it.  What's that feel good music you fall back on when you are having that kind of a day?

The one where I had to give it up....Literally

I have a confession to make.

Yesterday I did something I have not done in three years. 

I went to the dentist.  I am embarrassed to say it has been three years and I have no excuse.  Well I guess in a pinch I could tap my blogger/twitter buddy @linda_grimes for an excuse.  She is the queen of explanations. 

The bottom line is that my particular dentist stopped taking the insurance I was on three years ago and while we knew we needed our regular check-ups it just got easier to not find a new dentist that did.  Now I am just peeved at myself, because I paid for the insurance and just didn't use it. 

Well this year we found out our dentist is on the insurance we currently have so I made an appointment to get in and get cleaned up.

Before I went I brushed, flossed and deodorized with mouthwash because that is just how I roll.  My hygienist congratulated me on how great my teeth looked since it had been three years and I had not cheated on Dr. T. in all that time.  (They thought that was so funny.  I thought that just showed laziness on my part for not wanting to find another dentist.  In my defense, I love mine.  He has a great bedside manner and he is always so cheerful.)

During the exam my hygienist Vicky, who I am always impressed with, asked me what kind of toothpaste and mouthwash I was using.  They ask me this question each and every time I go and I know how they feel about the abrasive toothpastes I prefer so you know what I do right?  Yep you got it, I lie.  Now how freaking pathetic is that?  My mouth looks great, my gums are healthy, no cavities and I feel like I am sitting in the principals office being grilled for cutting class when they start in on the questions. 

That spotlight they use to see into your mouth is suddenly blaring in my eyes and for whatever reason I am hearing a thick accent telling me she has ways of making me talk. 

In the end I crack.  I always do.  I think this is almost like a game.  I get instructed on what I should be using versus what I am using and why.  After that ten minute lecture when I start rethink my high regard of Vicky I am finally excused to go home. 

Of course last night I promised myself I will start using the sonic toothbrush again, even though I like my regular one.  I promised myself to let the whitening toothpaste going, even though it makes my teeth sparkle and I promised to change from my heavy duty mouth wash to one that is more sensitive to my gums.

Yeah, I was depressed after that too.  What have you been forced to do lately, that you know will be better for you, but is killing you to give up?  And Patty...don't say chocolate. 

Round Robin: Let's Get This Party Started

This week Karla and I are unveiling our Round Robin writing experiment.  This is where we work together to create a literary master piece.  My posts will go up every Tuesday and she will be posting over at her blog, The Last Word every Thursday so make sure you stop by to catch the next installment.  We hope you like it so make sure you tell us either way.

Grace Monroe flew out the door on a run, almost losing her book bag in the process.  She was late and she hated being late.  It was all Harper’s fault.  Smiling to herself, she decided she liked that excuse and was going to keep it.

She had to yank on the door handle three times before getting the driver’s side opened and flinging her books in the back seat.  With the flick of her wrist, the old broad came to life.  Another smile tipped her glossed mouth as she thought of the name Harper had christened her car with. 

Her father had gifted the car to her three weeks ago as an early Christmas/guilt gift.  Jack Monroe was an airline pilot who spent more time flying the friendly skies than spending it with his teenage daughter, when he remembered he had one.

Grace’s care was handled primarily by Mrs. Maguire, the live in housekeeper that was brought in after her mother died when she was three.  It didn’t bother her all that much that she and her father didn’t get along or for that matter really know each other.  She only had the rest of this year to get through and then her life would officially begin.  And she couldn’t wait.

Pulling out of the driveway Grace left the thoughts of a discorded family behind as she headed out to pick up her best friend, Harper Simonson.

Harper and Grace had been friends since pre-K and while Grace didn’t remember the exact nature of how they met, Harper’s mother did and she liked to tell the story often.  Smiling over the memory she almost missed the turn on Harper’s street but caught it at the last moment and made a screeching right, not quite on two wheels.

God she loved driving this little car, even if her father only bought it to appease his own conscience.  Slamming to a sudden stop in front of the rambling house the Simonson’s called home, Grace laid on the horn.  It drove Harper nuts, especially when she was already on the sidewalk waiting. 

Harper was petite.  No other word could or would do her justice.  She had a small frame and Grace mostly felt like a giraffe when standing next to her friend.  With long brown hair that was always neatly clipped back she had the presence of someone wise beyond her years.  “An old soul” as Mrs. M liked to call her.  She liked hiding behind her stylish square framed black glasses of which Grace was pretty sure didn’t even have a prescription. 

Sliding into the car, Harper tossed Grace the pop-tart she had warmed in the toaster for her.  “You’re late, and no way is this my fault,” she added before Grace could give her excuse.   Turning she stored her violin and flute in the back seat before strapping her seat belt on.  “Hurry before the brat gets out here and wants to bum a ride.”

Grace just grinned over the pop-tart she had stuffed in her mouth, put the car in gear and hit the gas.

  

“Did you bring the CD?” she asked around the pastry.

Harper shot her a look sideways and shook her head.

“Come on, I want to hear it.”

This time Harper shrugged.

This was one of the things that really drove Grace crazy. She loved Harper, she really did but it drove her nuts how insecure Harper was about her music.  She was a freaking genius.  A savant or whatever they called musical Prodigies and she got all twitchy about letting Grace hear her stuff.   

“OK, look.  We can go the ten rounds like normal, but you know you are going to just give in and play it. So, can we just skip to that part today since we are already running late?”

A steady stare was her answer. 

“If I say please?”

Harper leaned forward, removed the CD from her bag and pushed it into the player.  “Just remember it’s not finished” of which not finished was said in tandem. 

Listening to the rough cut, Grace was once again struck by what her friend could do.  And if a little bit of jealousy streaked its way up her spine, well it was understandable.  Harper was one of the lucky ones.  She had great parents, an enviable talent and she even had brothers.  Grace sometimes found herself just sitting in the midst of the chaos that was the Simonson family grinning for no more of a reason than the fact that she was there.

Pulling up to the back entrance of the School Grace was just about to lavish praise when she noticed the young man who detached himself from the building and started moving in their direction.   He stopped a few feet away from the car, waiting.  Waiting and watching.  She knew the exact moment Harper noticed him, her posture went from relaxed and friendly to arrow straight and don’t come near me. 

“Who’s that?”

With a quick “Nobody” Harper got out, leaned back in to retrieve her stuff and tried to smile.  Without meeting Grace’s eye she murmured “I will catch you later at lunch” and slammed the door.

Okay, that is the start, be sure to check out what happens next on Thursday when Karla picks up the ball or in this case, the flute and runs with it.

Tag your it!

My blogger buddy and twitterista Karla Nellenbach and I are going to be doing something a little different starting tomorrow.  We will be conducting a writing experiment much like a Round Robin project that we are calling Fun and Games with K&K. 

For those of you who know me, you know that I have been suffering a bit in the writing department.  I don't know why, but I have not been able to shake it loose. 

The idea was actually born about a month ago and what I originally started with is not what you will be reading tomorrow.  Mainly because where I started sucked.  After that I had a hard time with it and while I would love to blame it on the writers block, honestly I think it had more to do with giving myself an impossibly high bar to overcome.  Karla is a little intimidating.  Which means she writes good.

I have to say after writing my first draft for the like the 100th time and then getting her reply in an hour (no I am not kidding) I am now positive I will be throwing some plot twists and turns at her that will be fun.  (Insert evil laugh)  Although, her mind works at warp speed, mine still travels at the speed of Fred Flintstone.  But I am up for the challenge.

What I like about the idea of a red robin writing session is that I won't be able to plot every point like I normally do.  Scary, yes, but in a more exhilerating way.  I will have to rely on her help in driving the story so I can't know the outcome of everything.  Plus this is way to stay sharp.  I feel energized and excited about working on this.
 
So make sure you stop by tomorrow to see the very first installment of Fun and Games and let us know what you think.  I am including an easy reference right here to find Karla's blog and I promise to post a link to her write up every Thursday so don't forget to stay tuned.

What do you think about the idea of writing with someone else like this?  Just curious.

Another Great Halloween!

For starters, I want to apologize. This post was scheduled to go up on Tuesday, but since I am a total dumb ass when it comes to blogger and scheduling...it didn't.  I took a couple of days off to regroup and re-energize with the hubs and one of our agreements when we take off is no outside contact at all.  Which of course includes all of you guys.  So I apologize in advance for missing three days of blog post.  No, I am not going to add them all today, instead I will just be happy that I am three days ahead in postings.

Have I mentioned lately that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays?  I am not even sure it is considered a holiday.  I mean you don't get the day off work unless like me you take it. I do know that part of it is based on the Celtic tradition of Samhain.  Samhain marks the end of the harvest and the time of the year we say good-bye to the light and hello to the dark.  I really like that symbolism since we are getting ready to change the blasted clocks again.

This year for Halloween we spent it at home giving out candy.  And the night before which is called "Devils Night" where I come from was spent partying with our friends at their annual Halloween Party.  There was food and drinks to be had and a lot of laughter and stories to be shared.   

We spent the evening dressed up in our funny costumes, watching football and playing funny games.  Some singing may have occurred.  At least I sound good in my own head.

Anyway, this year I was the Devils Queen and I attended the party with Darth Vader.  And can I just say it was fun bringing him over to the dark side.

Okay as promised here is a picture of us and our fabulous costumes.

What did everyone else end up doing?

Meet Charlie

For starters, I want to apologize. This post was scheduled to go up on Monday, but since I am a total dumb ass when it comes to blogger and scheduling...it didn't.  I took a couple of days off to regroup and re-energize with the hubs and one of our agreements when we take off is no outside contact at all.  Which of course includes all of you guys.  So I apologize in advance for missing three days of blog post.  No, I am not going to add them all today, instead I will just be happy that I am three days ahead in postings.

Our weekend was awesome.  Mainly because it didn't not go exactly the way I had planned.

Normally we decorate the house up big for the trick-or-treaters and have just as much fun as the kinds coming around and bargaining for candy.  This weekend it didn't work out quite the way we planned it.

Oh, we made our friends annual Halloween Party and had a great time, but during the party I stepped outside to help with the traffic jam, that had become her driveway.  While I was trying to help a crossfire not get crushed by a ram a kitten came out from under some bushes to talk to me.  

Now with three of them at home I was not interested in the least to add to our family at this time.  Or at least that is where my thinking started until he stretched up on his back paws begging for a lift.  There was something about this little one that tugged at my heart strings.  More than usual.  

He followed me to the house and I finally gave in and picked him up.  I even tried to introduce him to Captain Kid, but he was having none of that.  Sadly I left him on the porch of my friends home and went back to join the party.  

Originally we had planned to stay the night, but at the last minute we decided she really did have a full house and going home would work better for us.  Since hubs had not imbibed we were good to leave.  I changed from awesome Demon Costume (pictures to come) and packed up our stuff to head out to the truck.  

Imagine my surprise when I arrived outside and found kitty standing by the front tire of our truck waiting.  I swear he was waiting.  Just standing there and when we approached he started to do the happy dance.  You know the one.  He purred and started winding himself between my legs so naturally I had to lean over and pick him up for a cuddle before we left.  Hubs packed up the truck and even opened my side door.  I sat the little guy on the ground after sadly explaining we were not ready to increase the size of our family.  Turning away to grab my purse off the back of the truck he immediately made himself at home and jumped right up into the truck.

Startled, with a laugh, I removed him back to the ground where we played this game twice more.  After the third time it was up to hubs to remove him from the truck.  Now the one thing I can say for the Captain is he is just as much of a sucker as I am.  This little on had hopped up onto the center console and was rubbing his head up against hubs shoulder with a purr loud enough to wake the dead.  Hubs looked at the cat, looked at me, looked at the cat and said, "Shit!"  

And that is how Charlie came to be added to our family.  Hey everyone...Meet Charlie.

My Top Ten on Visiting Reality

Another plug for one of my faves on twitter and in the blog world.  If you are currently not following Mrs. Linda Grimes you need to stop reading this post right now and go and follow her.  Okay you don't really have to do it right this second...but you will after you read the following.

Linda is a freakishly awesome person who cracks me up every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with her new blog updates as well as keeping me entertained with her daily micro blogging comments on twitter.  You can find her blog Visiting Reality here and she can be found on twitter right here.

Top Ten Reasons to Follow Linda Grimes

10.  Because she is an attention whore and proud of it.

9.    She has the best caption contests on the web.

8.    Need an excuse...she's got you covered.

7.    You can find her blog by googling "whip and chill" (I swear this is true.  She said it, I tried it and I did.)

6.    She believes that chocolate is a cure all, and since that is true...well need I say more?  Plus she eats chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and calls them the Breakfast of Champions...so take that Wheaties.

5.    Coined the phrase "sweater puppies".  Okay I don't know if that is true, but I had never heard it before she wrote it...so I am giving her the credit for that one.
4.    Believes that housework is the mark of the devil.
3.    Can be counted on in the event you would ever need help disposing of a body.

2.    Thinks Daniel Craig is hot...hot...hot

And the number one reason to follow her is 

1.     She makes snark look good

So you know the drill...give me someone...anyone that I should be following.  I'm waiting.  

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is this weekend and I am pretty psyched for it.

We have a Halloween Party to attend on Saturday evening and while the hubs has his costume all ready I am still up in the air on how I am going to proceed with my costume this year.  I am sure that whatever I pick will be awesome, don't worry pictures will be forthcoming next week.

So this first picture I found over at Jill Shalvis' blog this morning with the caption how do you make pumpkin pie.  I love this.

The next set of pictures are me in some of my recent Halloween costumes.  This is something we do enjoy doing and every year we dress up for the Annual Halloween Party our friends throw and again for Trick or Treating.

This is me as the Queen of the Vampires.  I really liked this one.  What you can't see in the picture are my really wicked spider tattoos on my neck and the huge spider ring on my finger.

This is my clown costume

from two years ago.  This was one that the hubs and I were both able to use so that worked out well. 

This is my witch costume from last year and yes the green hair is my own.  I bought one of those cans of hair color that you spray in...It looked totally terrific but make my hair really dry and took three days of washing to get it out.  What do you guys think about the face tattoo?  Nope, it wasn't real, but I liked it.

Tell me how are you going to spend your Halloween.  Do you dress up and if so what are you going as this year.  

So from me to you...Happy Halloween!  Have a great one.

Unanswered Prayers

As you all know by now I am married to my best friend and the love of my life.

Last night we were watching a movie called Our Family Wedding and I had an epiphany.  First I should say this was a great movie.  Premise: Basically in the weeks leading up to this young couples wedding is rife with stress and comic relief especially as their fathers are feuding.  It is in no way a Romeo and Juliet type of story but a great watch none the less.

When I met Captain Kid we were both stationed in Okinawa Japan doing time in the Navy.  Nah, I am kidding I loved the Navy.  It wasn't like doing time at all.  Not really.  Okay, sometimes it was like doing time.  But after I met my very own McDreamy all that changed.

When we said our "I do's", okay we didn't actually say I do.  It was more or less an ancient Japanese women came out of the Mayor's office handed us our paperwork and told us to have a great life.  When I asked her when the ceremony was going to be she shook her head and mumbled something like "Ah, these Americans."  

Turns out when you get married over seas by a Justice of the Peace who is really not a Justice of the Peace you just have to sign a lot of documents and get everything translated from English to Kanji and back again.

When we were first talking about getting married we didn't see it happening for at least two more years because we would need that long to save the  money for my "dream" wedding.  I knew exactly what kind of wedding I wanted.  Hey I am female, of course I knew.  I even had the dress already designed.  Yes I do have many talents.  Instead it was time for him to rotate and orders were being cut and the only way we were going to be assured orders together was if we were indeed married.  *sigh* 

So to make a long story short we shelved the big wedding and decided to do it right there in Japan.  Our wedding was very low key.  Just us and our attendants which consisted of his best man Ray, and my maid of honor, Eric.  (Did I mention I always got along better with the guys?) 

If we had planned the big wedding with our families back in the states I don't know how that would have effected our first years of marriage.  To say that my mother-in-law and I don't see eye to eye is an understatement and the planning of the wedding would have been a disaster.  I can clearly see that now.  No one would have been happy.  We didn't have a Catholic ceremony which bothered my Gram right up until the day she passed away and we would not have gotten married in his hometown which I learned after the deal was done that was expected.

And last night for the first time I was truly glad that prayer went unanswered.  Our wedding was small but our party was big.  Friends from section and neighbors who joined us for what they thought was a house warming party, which turned out to be our wedding reception.  We had a bar-b-que and plenty of drinks and dancing.  There were no expectation to fulfill except our own and we were both extremely happy.  I wonder how much different it all would have been if we had the wedding I originally wanted to begin with?

So are there any unanswered prayers you are thankful for?

Laptop Vs. Desktop

If there was a title match between the laptop and the desktop who do you think would win? 

When I work at home I work from a laptop.  Don't get me wrong, it is a velocaraptor...or at least that is what my handy IT guy Eric calls it.  It weighs as much as a desk top but has all the convenience of a laptop.

At work I have a desktop that would make Bill Gates jealous.  I have dual monitors and my computer has the latest and greatest state of the art stuff in it.  Do I know what that is?  Heck, no and guess what?  I don't have to, that is what I have an IT guy for.

Recently though I am not enjoying working from the laptop as much.  

In the beginning I liked the versatility of being able to move through out the house and on to the back patio.  It is fun to work outside when the weather is awesome. 

Now, not so much.  I find myself increasingly frustrated and missing my dual monitors when I am working from home.  I don't know how I ever worked without them.  I also find that when I work from my office instead of moving all over the house I can concentrate better, especially when I am writing so the portability is becoming less and less important.

The reason I bring this up is because it made me wonder what type of writing situations and challenges do you guys face?  Do you have enough lighting in your space?  What about the work surface?  Also is any of this really important or am I just suddenly fixating on this because the writing is not coming to me right now.  I sit there at the ready and try but I am just dry.  

You guys all gave me such great advice yesterday and I appreciate it.  I wish there was like a twelve step program to get me back on track with the writing right now.  I will keep plugging away trying to find that well of inspiration I had a couple of months ago when all I wanted to do was write, write, write.

When your not inspired...

This weekend I spent the whole thing working.  I wish I could say I was immersed in a current WIP or even the Round Robin writing expedition that Karla and I are going to embark on (more on that later), but I can't

It was work pure and simple.  

It was hard and challenging and I learned quite a bit but I found myself fighting the urge to check twitter and the rest of my social media outlets every hour than every thirty minutes, than every five.  After eight hours of keeping my nose to the grindstone I decided I could reward myself and spend the next couple of hours writing.  

It didn't work out quite the way that I hoped.  

Here is my question.  How come when I go shopping and want to spend money I can't find anything to buy?  That is how I felt about my writing after working all day.  When I finally carved out some precious time to do what I had wanted to do for myself all day I had literally nothing to say.  Nada. Zip. Zilch.

I tried going back and looking at older works.  No inspiration whatsoever.

I tried turning on the tunes.  I just sat there singing into my stapler.

I was flummoxed.  Finally after an hour, an hour which I should mention that I can never get back, I moved on to something else.  

I am currently working on a book for my sister-in-law.  As you know she had her baby boy in August.  While she was pregnant we designed and maintained a website all things about upcoming baby including a daily blog which I maintained on her behalf.  Now I am converting it into a hardback book as a gift for her and the baby.  Something he will have as he grows into adulthood.

It gave my brain a rest from writing and was something fun to do.  But here is my dilemma.  I believe in setting aside time to write everyday.  But what do I do when the words won't come.  I don't want to abandon my me time, but I also don't want to sit and stare into space for an hour or longer because my sunbathing muse has suddenly deserted me for better climes.  

How do you guys stay true to the writing time?  Tell me some of your secrets so I have something new to try next time.

In Preparation of the Weekend

Yesiree, today is Friday and can I get an Amen!

I know right?  This has been a long one even though it has moved by at the speed of light.  First we planned a major vacation for our twenty year anniversary, thank you very much.  Next we got our Xmas shopping done.  Thank God that is over!  Than there was a special Birthday in the Blogersphere to celebrate this week for Mr. Lenny Lee.  And finally yesterday we capped it off with the latest of the Book Hungry Club reviews.  So today I am a little tired.

But not too tired.  I did find a video to share with you guys.  Cause that's the way I roll.  I love this one.  So enjoy.  

And we have a winner from yesterdays entries.  The Book of Beauty goes to:

Drum Roll Please...

Michele Shaw...check out her blog here.

Congrats Michele.  Just DM message me via twitter with your address and I will get it mailed out to you ASAP!  And look at that win a prize and get a plug for your Blog.  How cool am I?

Happy Friday everyone and enjoy.

2010 E*Trade Baby Out Takes...cracks me up every single time.

Beauty....A Book Hungry Club Selection

This month our book club choice was brought to us by Ms. Elizabeth Ryann.  She recommended Beauty by Robin McKinley.

You can check out all of the book reviews by the Book Hungry Club by looking to the right and hitting the links to their individual pages.  

This is the story of Beauty and the Beast.  Now if you pick this book up expecting to read a retelling of Belle's story from Disney's animated version, you are going to be disappointed.  This story is more reminiscent of a period piece and Ms. McKinley did do it justice.  

There are moments in the time line where you can't help but feel Beauty's pain, just as there are moments in the story where you just want to smack her for her obvious immaturity.  I had to remind myself that I was indeed reading a young adult novel and that McKinley did indeed portray her leading lady accordingly.

I am sure if I had read this book when I was seventeen I would have swooned and loved it.  I mean, come on she falls in love with the beast.  How could this not be a tale to get the imagination of a young girls heart beating overtime.  Oh, the romance of it all. 

The first two parts of the story seemed very slow moving for me, yes I admit it, I wanted to drown myself in the romance of it all.  McKinley built her story slowly giving us the background and understanding of how it came to be why Beauty has to go to the castle in her father's place to placate the beast.

Her descriptive prose will place you right at the castle and you will feel the beast's pain.  His hideous outside covers the soul of a man who has paid a price for his vanity and has learned a lesson and McKinley does teach her lessons well.

I promise if you are fan of this genre you will love it.  The magic of the castle, the growth that Beauty does go through, maturity, falling in love.  This book has it all.

So what is your favorite fairy tale.  If you follow my blog leave me a comment and tell me so you can be entered into a drawing to win your own copy of this beloved classic.  If you don't follow and want to enter, just follow this blog and leave a comment.  Come back tomorrow where the winner will be announced.  See how easy that is?

Happy Birthday Lenny Lee

Today my friend Lenny Lee is having a birthday.  He turns eleven and is a bowl full of awesome sauce as my buddy Abby would say.  No, you don't believe me?  Well go and check out his blog, Lenny's World right here for yourself.  I promise you won't be disappointed.  If you are not already a follower of this phenoms wonder work you need to be.

Lenny has a great view of the world that has not yet been tarnished.  He writes funny and thoughtful posts that will make you smile.  He loves his family and animals and has a heart of gold.  I am truly honored to have gotten to know him through his blog and always look forward to reading his posts and getting messages from him.

That being said we got us a birthday to celebrate.  So lets get this party started.

Lenny my friend, I thought about getting you a cake but came to the realization that a virtual cake didn't have the same effect as a real one so I am going to leave the cake and birthday cards up to your family, and I am sure they will do me proud.  That being said I do have a present for you today.  Just know I hope this is the happiest of all the birthdays you have had and that from here on out they just get better and better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENNY LEE!

Thanks for being my virtual blogger buddy.  You Rock!

Lots of Hugs for you Today...

Miss Kelly B.

Best Way to Spend a Sunday

So Sunday night I got to spend the evening planning our anniversary trip.

To say I am excited is an understatement.  I am freaking over the moon about this.  A while back I wrote a blog entry Celebrating a Milestone telling you guys about the fact that in 2011 Captain Kidd and I are going to celebrate twenty years of marital bliss.  And believe me when I say it has been total bliss, no that is not sarcasm, but okay it really is.

So after a lot of sex for getting my way a great discussion on the pros and cons of us taking a real trip he finally agreed.  I narrowed it down to the points of interest I really wanted to see and he grudgingly picked one.  

We are taking a cruise.  Now it should be noted that the main reason he went with this one is because we get four ports of call in a week for a price that if we were to go to Bora Bora wouldn't even buy us the plane tickets needed to get there.  Never mind the cost of staying at the great resort I had picked out.  Of course that could have something to do with fact that the rooms were about, hold your pants on this one, $5,000.00 a night.  You got that right?  Not for a week, but for a night.  Yeah, the cruise looked really good to him after that.  I swear I didn't plan it that way, and no, my fingers are not crossed behind my back.  I swear.  Kind of.  Sort of.  Hey, how did that happen?

Anyway, today we put the final plans in motion.  We are going to some great ports of call, and we are going to take in some amazing sites.  He is getting his way on the shore excursions so that means no Indian ruins and no tours of old houses.  Instead we will be taking a snorkeling trip, riding in a glass bottom submarine where we will be submerged below the water and taking a trip via a 60 foot Cigarette boat.  Yes, he likes speed and water, what can I say.

But I got a couple of the things I wanted too.  Instead of staying in an interior stateroom we splurged and got a balcony room.  We will be dining at one of the very exclusive restaurants on the ship for our anniversary and in one of the ports we are visiting I get to spend the whole day shopping.  Thank God for credit for credit cards.

So last night was a very good night.  A very good night indeed.  Tell me, what was the best trip you and your significant other have ever gone on and I don't care if it was only an over night trip in a tent in the back yard.  Just tell me already.

 

Romance without any Blood

Yesterday on a sweet tweet with a couple of my friends they were telling us about a field trip they took on Saturday to a local crime lab.  While it sounded very interesting and I would have loved to have been able to hang out with these gal pals of mine, I would not have been very good company for the lab field trip.  

Unless the new look is an adult female walking around the crime lab with a trash can strapped to her face.  Either that or I would have passed out and been on a gurney.  Of course that sent me on a whole different track with me waking up in a coffin.  Don't ask.

Captain Kidd has learned the hard way that I have a little problem with blood.  But I can assure you that has not slowed down his thirst for weekend warrior projects in our backyard.  Every year he takes on a new one and every year he does something that inevitably leads us to the emergency room.  God bless that man.  

Unfortunately not all of the ER trips have been for him.  Fourth of July seven years ago we were hosting a big BB-Q when he decided that a piece of furniture needed to be fixed that day.  Suffice to say he drilled a hole in his hand when his drill breached the wood.  Who knew?  I think that is the reason they insist you anchor whatever you are working on to a work station safely and NOT hold it in your hand.  

When he came into the house he asked me if we had an band aids.  Now in our house that is code, yes code for blood, but not alot of blood.  Unfortunately on this day we had our code words messed up.  Or he did.  You got it, there was a lot of blood and when he showed it to me I toppled like a tree.  Put a lovely gash in the back of my head.  Three stitches later, yeah go ahead and laugh.  It did give me a great story for the party later that day.

One of the things I can promise you is when I write there will be no blood and guts because quite honestly I don't think I could get through the writing draft.  So what, I am a big baby.  I can live with it.  Don't judge me.  

But after this discussion it made me wonder if the rest of my writer buddies, don't look now that would be you, has thing or ideas they would not feel comfortable writing about.  Share with me.

Top Ten Reasons to Follow the Space Lord!

It's Friday and you know what that means.  

Time for me to give up another one of my favorites.  This one is gonna be too easy.

Top Ten Reasons you should follow Patrick Alan

10.  He's cute.

9.  His tweets will make you laugh.  Example:  I'm having a mid-tweet crisis. Where can I find a fast convertible red tweetdeck? I want to tweet with the wind in my hair.

8.  He believes everything he reads on the internet.  (I have the tweet that prove it.)

7.  He believes in sharing personal details through his blog.  i.e. His blog about ten tips to lasting longer in bed.  It starts with a comfy pillow.

6.  He is not afraid to beg for followers.

5.  He is the Space Lord but you don't have to curtsy

4.  He blogs because he can.

3.  He will make you laugh and snort drinks through your nose.

2.  Invented the twitter 1k1h which you can read about here.

And the number one reason....Because he thinks it's a good idea and by that he means Just do it!

You can catch up with him on twitter here and his blog here.

Trust me it is totally worth it.  So now your turn.  Go.  Share with me someone I have to follow.

Sour Grapes can be a good thing

Recently I have been partaking in being educated.  Which means, I have been taking a writing class.  I think that you can never stop learning and knowledge really is the key.  So with that I decided taking a class could only help.  Right?

Well I have to tell you I am a little confused.   We had a lively discussion where the instructor, whom I am sure is quite lovely when she is not doing her Nurse Ratched impersonation.  Okay, she isn't quite that bad...we do get bathroom breaks.

But I digress.  

During our last class she was harping and harping insistent that good writers write what they know.  Write only what they know based on life experience.  Huh?  I know quite a lot of things that I have not experienced.  For example I know the North Pole is cold, frosty, frigid, with temps that plunge dangerously low.  Have I ever been?  Nope and I truly have no desire to go.  Not even to meet Mr. Clause himself.  Okay, maybe I would change my mind if he had a really hot son/brother/friend with Christmas tatts on his body...again I digress.

My point here is I completely disagree.  I think many authors have written well with no first hand experience of their subject matter at all.  Research is a great tool that can help and also having a wicked imagination doesn't hurt either.  I just don't buy that I need to experience space travel in order to write about it.  Or own a car that is possessed to create great drama and horror.  

I would like to say I did get something useful from the class but that would not be truthful.  No, wait, I just thought of something I did get out it which made spending that $99.00 more palatable.  I know what kind of a writer I don't want to be.  I don't want to be the kind that closes her mind to the ideas of others.  I don't want to be the kind that can't be open to new things.  No, wait, sorry.  I already learned that through blogging and tweeting.  

One of my good friends Alyson Peterson wrote a great story called Sour Grapes.  Her writing is spot on and her character development blew me away.  When I first heard the story premise I clearly thought to myself that it would not interest me.  Thank goodness I was wrong.  Her story is about St. Peter who guards the pearly gates of heaven.  Well suffice it to say, the story telling was marvelous and the only thing I can say is I hope it gets published because her writing was so well done I could see it being made into a movie. 

Anyway, I just thought I would share that with you guys and ask the question:  What have you been told about writing that you find to be completely untrue?  I can't be the only one let down in a writing class.  Can I?