Okay. What’s not to love? Kit Harrington (Jon Snow of Game of Thrones fame) and Toothless. Need I say more? Have a great weekend, everyone. I’m still wrangline new furry children. Fun times.
Hump Day. Again. And that means more Wednesday Words. Today’s #1lineWed theme is one near and dear to my heart. I’ve loved horses since I could toddle out the door to confront anyone riding one down the street we lived on. Seriously. Small-town Oklahoma? Lots of people kept horses and other critters in their backyards. We had a donkey. Long Ears was NOT my friend. But horses? Oh, yeah. Anyway, because I’ll inspiration where I can get it, I wrote this scene for RDR#9 (Cooper’s story) which may or may not make the final cut. It was a fun scene to write regardless. There’s no set up because it’s totally random, but it is during the period Cooper is courting Britt in hopes of seducing her into marriage. 😉
****
Britt settled on the bale of hay. She wasn’t much of a country girl but hey, hay was hay, right? Horse and cow food and a place to sit while she watched Cooper brush the big gray horse. Yes, that summed up hay nicely. And was about as deep as her thoughts could get at the moment. Cooper wore a heather gray T-shirt that molded to his body. Faded jeans hugged his butt and every time he bent over, she had to swallow the saliva pooling in her mouth. Why was he so sexy? And such a nice guy. She really needed him to be a big ol’ jerk because her heart was at stake, which it shouldn’t be.
Granted, they’d had a series of one night stands, and in one case, a one morning stand. They had nothing in common. He was rich. Really rich. He belonged to a powerful family. He looked as good in old jeans and a T-shirt as he did in a designer suit and that, she decided, was a tough at to follow. He was handsome, in a rugged, outdoorsy way that tripped her feminine switches. He always had. She’d all but thrown herself—okay, she had thrown herself at him like five minutes after she first saw him.
Jerk, she reminded herself. He should be a jerk. But he wasn’t. She watched the muscles of his arm bunch and relax as he brushed the horse, concentrating on that rather than his broad back. Little shivers teased through her body. Why did he turn out to be a really good guy? The good ones were supposed to be as rare as unicorns.
“What’s her name?” Britt had to focus on something besides the man.
“His. This is Tramp. He’s a gelding.”
“Okay…”
Cooper glanced over at her. “Three kinds of horse, Girl Wonder.” He held up an index finger.
“Mares. Those are the female horses.”
“I knew that,” she muttered.
“Stalliions,” he said, holding up a second finger.
“Know that, too.”
“And geldings. Who used to be stallions.”
“That’s weird. When dogs are neutered, they’re still just dogs.”
“It’s the same with cattle. A bull that’s been cut is a steer.”
“Cut?”
“That’s the cowboy term for neutering a horse or cow.”
Britt opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. “I thought a cow was female. So you spade cows?”
“Cow is the singular term for any bovine. It is also a female cow, as opposed to a bull or steer.”
“Stop. You’re going to make my head explode.”
He moved around the horse to brush the other side, watching her over the big animals back.
“Okay. I won’t explain about calves and heifers then.”
She glowered and moved her curled hands up to both sides of her head and expanded them with sound effects to indicate that her head had, indeed, exploded, at least figuratively.
“And then there’s all the classifications for horses—”
“Shut up, Coop. Just…shut it.”
The grin he flashed was full of wicked intent. “Make me.”
****
Writers, do you have any horse sense, horse of a different color, horsing around, horse power, or a dark horse in your WIP? Feel free to share!
Okay, I’ll admit it. I love monkey bread. And peanuts. One of my favorite semi-fast food places to eat is Five Guys because one, awesome burgers, and two, peanuts in shells fresh for the snacking. And who doesn’t love peanut butter, am I right?
Total time: 40 Min
Prep time: 15 Min
Cook time: 25 Min
Step up your dessert game with Peanut Butter Monkey Bread. Raisins and peanuts add even more flavor and crunch to this Peanut Butter Monkey Bread recipe.
What You Need
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. maple-flavored or pancake syrup
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. raisins
6 Tbsp. PLANTERS COCKTAIL Peanuts, divided
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 can (16.3 oz.) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, each cut into quarters
Let’s Make It
1 – Heat oven to 350°F.
2 – Microwave brown sugar, butter, peanut butter, syrup and water in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted; stir until mixture is well blended. Pour into 9-inch round pan sprayed with cooking spray; sprinkle with raisins and 1/4 cup nuts.
3 – Use pulsing action to process remaining nuts and granulated sugar in food processor until nuts are almost finely ground; pour into shallow dish.
4 – Dip dough pieces in nut mixture, turning to evenly coat each piece. Arrange in single layer over ingredients in 9-inch round pan; top with any remaining nut mixture.
5 – Bake 25 min. or until golden brown. Cool 1 min.; invert onto plate. Remove pan. Top bread with any nut mixture remaining in pan; cool slightly.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1 – Substitute: Prepare using PLANTERS Honey Roasted Peanuts.
Tip 2 – Special Extra: For an interesting twist, sprinkle 2 slices cooked and crumbled OSCAR MAYER Bacon over syrup mixture in pan before sprinkling with the 1/4 cup nuts. Continue as directed.
Head over to Food & Family to get the low-down on this recipe. Just CLICK HERE. This is what happens when you leave kids alone in the kitchen. Liam, Hope, and Cody were left to babysit Micah, Grace, and Sally. And since they were at Annie and Sean’s house and Annie cooks, they came up with this idea. Shhh, don’t tell Kraft Foods. 😉 Anyway, Liam’s birth is covered in MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS. Cody enters the pack in WOLF MOON. Hope and Grace make appearances in BLUE MOON, and baby Sally is born in MOON SHOT. Micah, the son of Michael Lightfoot and Dr. Liz Graham, appears in ROGUE MOON, though the story of his birth will be covered in MOONSTRUCK: BETRAYAL, which will be out sometime in the future. *hangs head in shame* Yeah, yeah. I know. All it takes is time and inspiration. Anyway, I’m featuring MOON SHOT today so just click on the cover pic, and you can click on any of the other titles for buy links. MOONSTRUCK: SECRETS is available a bunch of different places so the link goes to a landing page with all the retailers listed. The other books are still on Kindle Unlimited for free reading with a KU subscription or buy from Amazon.
This is exactly how I feel. If I don’t get sleep soon, I’m going to be a zombie. There are reasons. And this week is going to be crazy for more reasons. I’m not quite ready to talk about them yet but Life (yes, with a capital L) has taken a turn into crazy and I’m coming up on deadline and all these changes are totally insane at this time but hey, what the hell, right? Y’all will understand when I reveal everything.
Went out with Boone last night. There’s still a hint of cool in the night air, a rarety for around here this time of year. The back patio light was on and by the time we got back from the grassy part of the yard, the first June bug of the year was clinging to the screen over one of the Florida room windows. Summer’s here.
So, my OSU Cowgirls did good, until they hit OU in the quarter finals. Then Washington sent them home in the semis. That’s okay I’m proud of them. They beat the #4 and #5 teams in the nation to move forward and were taken out by #1 and #3. The Cowboys are…hanging in. Sort of. They won through to the finals but lost to the team that came up through the losers bracket. Thing is, that team has to beat them again and hopefully, the Cowboys will get their $h!+ together. And, my Cards came back to win some this weekend too.
Stormageddon’s first T-ball game got rained out. We adjourned to our favorite Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. The thunderstorm blew up out of nowhere and really hammered the area–lightning, 60 mph winds, HEAVY rain. Fun times. Not.
Live PD is back! And we’re giving “Blood & Treasure” a chance. It’s…sort of a light-hearted and modern homage to Indiana Jones. That’s the extent of my TV because…Softball and Baseball!
Reading is moving along. I won’t be finished with Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series before the newest book releases tomorrow, which is the whole reason the for re-listen of the complete series. I did take a break to listen to PRISONER OF NIGHT by J.R. Ward. It’s a book set in her BDB world but an off-shoot and not really part of any of the BDB series. I like it and gave it 3 stars.
So, that’s my update. I’m so freaking far behind and come Wednesday, things are going to get really interesting. I need to write like made despite the distractions. What’s up in your world?
I’m 17K words into the Red Dirt Royalty book due in about two weeks. Yesterday, I fell short of my word count, which means double for today. Also, things going on RL. Not necessarily bad things, just time-consuming things. More on that in the future. Anyway, I forgot about setting up a post for today so as minutes tick by and I’m procrastinating opening the WIP, I went searching for a video. And this one? It sort of sums up the relationship between Britt and Cooper, the heroine and hero of this book. Maybe I should put this on loop and write all the sad parts. Have a great weekend. Pancake breakfast and T-ball with Stormegeddon for me then many more words before I sleep. What’s on your agenda?
I’m still in a sad place these days. My heart is heavy and I look for Cooper in all his familiar places. Boone is getting better but he’s still needy, wanting lots of pets and reassurances that he’s a good boy. The time will come when our next good boy (or girl) coms along and we’ll be ready. In the meantime, this message from the Universe hit home because I so very much want to believe that all dogs (and cats and horses and critters of all types) go to heaven.
There’s no such thing as a lost soul, Silver.
I know where they are, and everyone makes it home.
Thanks for caring,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®
The things that mystify you, Silver, need not worry you.
I take comfort from this. And being mostly practical with a side of emotion because I write those kind of books, I can’t help but also apply this to romance novels. When a couple is first introduced, they’re both lost to one degree or another and they find themselves when they find each other. Maybe that’s simplistic, and it doesn’t always work that way in real life but hey, as a “mini creator,” I dream up worlds and people those worlds and I get to decide. And in my worlds, all good critters go to heaven and everyone gets their HEA.
Risky business? Taking a calculated risk? Run the risk? Is the risk worth the reward? Because, you know, virtue is it’s own reward… 😉 The #1lineWed theme for today is Risks and/or Rewards.
Today’s snippet is rather long. It’s the first draft of a scene from my next Red Dirt Royalty book, which is due in mid-July. Yikes! Anyway, forgive typos, repeats, etc. I’ve only read it over once because that’s how I roll when I’m writing. Edits will come later.
****
Cooper scowled at his brother’s retreating back. Technically, Bridger was correct. Britt had boogied without saying goodbye. Twice. After they’d made love. Well, maybe not…love. Wild monkey sex. Still, it was some of the best sex he’d ever had and there was something about the damn woman that aroused all sorts of deep-seated feelings inside him. She was bold and beautiful.
If his face didn’t hurt so bad, he’d thunk his forehead on the side table. Wasn’t that the name of some soap opera his mom watched? He didn’t have time for drama. He worked for a living. And Bridge was right. While he wasn’t the ladies’ man of the Barron-Tate clan, he didn’t have to sit home twiddling his thumbs because the object of his affection chose to ignore him. There were plenty of fish in the sea. Only he didn’t want tuna. He wanted filet mignon. His stomach chose that moment to growl. Not surprising since he’d been too busy watching Britt to eat much. He vaguely remembered beef. And potatoes. Yeah, he was hungry.
For Brit. The remembered taste of her settled on his tongue. What was it about the vixen that heated his blood? Bold and beautiful, he reminded himself. There was something about her nerdy glasses, the scientific language. Who knew that a one-sided discussion of quasi linear convective systems made for good pillow talk.
“Idiot,” he muttered, before his thoughts were interrupted by a burst of applause. They were announcing the silent auction winners. Crap. He’d meant to fix his mother’s bid. Too late now. He sighed, resigned to dealing with his mother when the time for her ride-along came. He considered slinking out of the museum and taking himself home. Bridger could escort their mother home. Or any of his Barron cousins who were in attendance.
Reaching up, he tugged on the bow tie strangling him and loosened it. He shifted the ice pack, not quite ready to abandon its cold comfort. Yeah. He’d go to his truck, text his brother, and head home. That was a good plan. Right after he put Britt Owens out of his mind.
Coop heaved out of the chair and glanced around, furtive in his movements. If any of his family lurked about, his plan would fall apart. The coast was clear. He slipped outside into the cool autumn air and paused, inhaling deeply. Beyond the entrance portico, glittering stars scattered across the night sky. Something eased in his chest. He was a country boy at heart and life in the big city with tall buildings, bright lights, and traffic? Yeah, sometimes it was hard to breathe but on clear, crisp nights like this one helped him cope.
He headed across the parking lot toward his truck and stopped dead. Right in front of him, wrapped in decals touting KOCX TV’s weather team, sat Britt’s chase truck. Fate had to be working overtime. He leaned his butt against the push bars on the front bumper and settled in to wait. He was taking a big risk but if things worked out, he’d reap a reward that would make everything worth it. There was just something about the woman that made him want to risk everything to keep her.
Unable to get her out of his head for the last three months, he’d been plotting ways to cross her path. In retrospect, the series of unfortunate events tonight leading up to him laid out in the women’s lounge with Britt for company was a good thing. And yeah, he was probably a pathetic excuse for a single guy but he didn’t care. There was just something about the woman that checked off every item on his list. Until he got her out of his system, he’d continue being in danger of losing his man card.
Better to confront the situation head on. Even better would be getting his hands and mouth on her again. Things stirred inside him. This was nothing serious. Just chemistry. And just until he got bored with her. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
****
Posting a bit late because…reasons. I got distracted last night. More on that another time. Anyway, do you have any risky words to share? Reward yourself and post them. Happy Hump Day.
This quick and easy chicken dish works year-round. If you’re looking for something with a little bite and a little different, give this one a try.
Total time: 1 Hr
Prep time: 25 Min
Cook time: 35 Min
These cream cheese and jalapeño-stuffed chicken breasts are simple enough to make on the spot—but you can easily prepare them as part of a meal.
What You Need
8 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided
2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded, finely chopped
1 egg
3 cups tortilla chips, finely crushed (about 1 cup)
1 cup green salsa
Let’s Make It
1 – Place chicken on work surface. Mix cream cheese, 1-1/2 cups shredded cheese and peppers until blended; spread onto chicken. Roll up tightly, starting at one short end of each breast. Refrigerate up to 8 hours.
2 – Heat oven to 375ºF. Beat egg in shallow dish. Place crushed chips in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in crushed chips. Place, seam sides down, in single layer in shallow pan sprayed with cooking spray.
3 – Bake 35 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF). Meanwhile, warm salsa.
4 – Top chicken with remaining shredded cheese. Serve with salsa.
Kitchen Tips
Tip 1 – Variation: Prepare using PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese and your favorite KRAFT Mexican Style 2% Milk Finely Shredded Cheese.
Tip 2 – Serving Suggestion: Serve with hot steamed broccoli.
Tip 3 = Special Extra: For more heat, do not remove the seeds from the jalapeño peppers before chopping them.
Tip 4 – Note: Chicken roll-ups can be secured with wooden toothpicks before baking if desired. Discard toothpicks before serving chicken.
MY Tip – I use “jarred” jalepenos because I always have them on hand, and I also serve red salsa and taco sauce for those who aren’t into green.
CLICK HERE to get all the nutritional and other details from Kraft’s Food and Family site. This happens to be a Tate family favorite. Miz Katherine will whip this up for any of her boys who wander into the kitchen looking for dinner. And no. None of them eat the broccoli, much to her every-lasting chagrin. 😉 You can read about Katherine Tate and her “machinations” in THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS PROPOSITION and BILLIONAIRE COUNTRY. Just click on the covers for the buy links. Clicking will take you to the book’s Harlequin page but links for all the other retailers are listed there. What about you? Do you like a little spice in your food?
It’s the last weekend in May. In many places, it’s the unofficial start to summer. Around here, it means Lawyer Guy standing in front of a store with a fistful of poppies, handing them out, and hoping for donations. If you see a veteran out there today, stop to say hi. Take a poppy, and donate a dollar or more if you can.
In other news, I’m still fighting the respiratory crud. I’m sick of coughing and hacking. At least I’m mostly up and about so there’s that.
The weather has been brutal around here. Between the floos and the tornadoes, my home state can’t catch a break. My little corner of Okie-land is safe so far. We’ve had our share of rain but we’re on higher ground so no flooding though surrounding areas are, and the tornadoes have split around us. *knocks wood*
As most of you know, last week was a brutal one emotionally, too. We lost Cooper, our Landseer Newfoundland. He was 10 and we thought in good health. He didn’t want to come inside Tuesday night and since the rain had already come and gone and it was cool out, we decided to let him stay out. LG woke up and went out to check him about 2 a.m. and he seemed fine. I went out at 7 a.m. and he’d gone over the rainbow bridge. Boone is very clingy and my constant shadow now. I really thought, since he is older by a couple of years, that we’d lose him first. Actually, I thought we’d be saying goodbye to Adidas. She’s 17 and has had health issues. You just never know. I can’t help but be on the lookout for another Newf rescue. If you see one, let me know!
The writing is hard right now. The hero of the Red Dirt Royalty Desire due in 3 weeks is named Cooper, and his personality is loosely based on Cooper Dog’s. I find myself tearing up as I write, have to stop and regroup. Gotta get it done though. And yes, the book will be dedicated to him.
In good sports news, PISTOLS FIRING!!!! OSU Cowgirls defeated the #4 (and defending national champion) Florida State Seminoles at super regionals and are headed to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series! OU, the current #1 team in the nation, also won their super and so there will be two Oklahoma teams out at Hall of Fame Stadium! Woot! And I can’t forget the Cowboys! Cowboy Baseball took the Big 12 Championship. They’ll be holding regionals in Stillwater as they start the road to Omaha and the College World Series.
Reading/listening to Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series, still. I’m up to…I don’t know, #22? Something like that. Don’t freak. About half of those are short stories and novellas but I’m doing a chronological read-thru. I am taking a short hiatus because one of the books I had on hold at the library jumped into my queue. I’m currently listening to PRISONER OF NIGHT by J.R. Ward. It’s set in her Black Dagger Brotherhood world, but doesn’t involve any of the main characters, as far as I can tell. I’m not far into it because I’m trying to make myself work/write rather than hide/procrastinate.
Believe it or not, I watched something besides LIVE PD and sports on TV this past week. CBS has a new series, BLOOD & TREASURE. It’s…very much a modern homage to “Indiana Jones” with shades of “The Mummy.” Ex FBI art expert teams up with former lover art thief to retrieve Cleopatra’s and Anthony’s sarcophagi(?). I have no idea what the plural of sarcophagus is. Anyway, I’ll be giving part 2 a chance this week.
And that’s pretty much what’s going on in my weird little world. What’s up in yours?
It’s been a tough week. Saying goodbye to a furry child, helping the other furry kids cope, along with Lawyer Guy (Cooper was LG’s special buddy), fighting the crud that’s taken up residence in my lungs, and very little work down. Then by a quirk of something, I ended up watching this video. And I smiled. So I wanted to share it. I hope it makes you smile too. Also, there’s a romance novel here. Just sayin’…
NEW RELEASE
NEW RELEASE
NOW AVAILABLE
Silver James 