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Friday Sinema: Coming Home
I’m a sucker for military homecoming videos, especially this time of year. I remember when Lawyer Guy and I stayed on post for Christmas and opened our quarters up to some soldiers who either couldn’t go home or didn’t have homes to go to. It’s still one of my favorite Christmas memories. Get your hankies out because Toyota got this one just right.
If you celebrate the winter solstice, have a blessed Yule.
Thursday Thoughts: Universal Giving
Karma can be a bitch witch. Or an elf, as the case may be. Almost all of the winter holidays are about giving. Not receiving, but giving. And you know what? That giving doesn’t have to be material goods all wrapped up in shiny paper and sparkly ribbons. It can be quiet looks, hugs, kisses. It can be shared laughter and food. Friendship. Caring. It’s about people not things.
Give with a truly glad heart, Silver, for the sole purpose of the good it will do, and whatever you give shall return to you, multiplied, as if on wings, covered in sparkles.
Richly,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®Just don’t expect the beneficiary of your kindness, Silver, to be the bringer of your new blessings – very rare; not their job; I know faster ways.
Pay it forward, my friends. Eventually, it will call come back to you. Happy Holidays, happy hearts.
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged family, holiday, inspiration, musing, quotes, Thursday Thoughts, Universe
4 Comments
Wednesday Words: Caught in a Web
What happens when a young woman is caught up in a WEB of lies? Does she go to the World-Wide WEB to find answers? In today’s response to Twitter’s #1lineWed, our heroine has to fight the cobWEBs in her head before the worst happens.
****
Melanie stood there swaying. Blinking blearily, she searched her surroundings. A smoky haze hung in the air and the stink of cigarette and cigar smoke mixed with rancid body odor. Low voices murmured in the background, none loud enough to understand. Another sound caught her attention—quiet sobbing. Was she making that noise?
A man swam into her fuzzy vision. A scar slashed from his forehead to his cheek, crossing his eye. He looked dark, dangerous and her instincts warned her to run. Too bad her body wouldn’t obey. He grabbed her chin, twisting her face one way then the other.
“Too bad there is no money for you.” His thick Russian accent sent icy sludge into her veins.
“Do you favor her then?” A second man stepped into the light. He was… The cobwebs in her brain kept her from finding a word. Magnificent finally came to mind. He was light to the other man’s dark but danger rolled off him in waves. She could feel it like a touch against her skin, as if he stroked his palm down her back, over and and over.
“Too fat for me,” the Russian spat.
“Aye, each to his own.” The hint of Ireland in his voice was like poetry and Melanie leaned toward him. His hand in the middle of her chest kept her from face-planting. “Christ, how much did they dose you with?”
She tried to answer but her mouth seemed to be full of peanut butter. How was that even possible? She hadn’t eaten anything. Mel sought out the man’s eyes. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find there, but it wasn’t the total lack of emotion she saw. Recoiling, she staggered back.
What was wrong with her? She pressed the heels of her hands against her temples as his words finally penetrated the haze. How much did they does you with? Roofie. Somebody had roofied her. The greasy, black miasma of unconsciousness roiled up from the pit of her stomach. She managed two words. “Help me.”
****
Before anyone gets excited, that’s a snippet written as a bit of flash fiction based on a word/phrase theme, which was: Too bad there is no money for you. Iffy took me to this scene and eventually, Mel and her unnamed Irish hero will get their story. I can tell you that he’s a Wolf and a member of the Irish Mob.
Anyone have WEB words to share?
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged #1lineWed, #flashfiction, herding cats, inspiration, Moonstruck, snippet, Wednesday Words, WIPs, writing
4 Comments
Tuesday Treats: White Christmas Margaritas
So…Christmas is a week from today. I got the Bee Dubyas** together to discuss holiday traditions in the Barron family. I suspect the Moonstruck Mates might also use this recipe that Quin Kincaid Tate (wife of country superstar Deacon Tate, cousin to the Barrons whose love story is told in THE COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS PROPOSITION) shared with the Bee Dubyas. Quin said she might not be much of a cook but she can dang sure mix a drink. The former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper adds, “Caveat! Don’t drink and drive, y’all!”
If you have one of those families, you might lay in the supplies so you can have a “White Christmas” too. 😉 Look, there’s even a YouTube video to see how it’s done. 😆
INGREDIENTS
14-oz. can of coconut milk or coconut cream (for sweeter taste)
12 oz. silver tequila
1/2 cup lime juice
8 oz. triple sec
2 cups of ice
1/2 cup of mint (garnish)
1 lime, sliced (garnish)
Lime wedge (for rimming glass)
Sugar (for rimming glass)
Cranberries (garnish)
DIRECTIONS
Mix coconut milk, tequila, triple sec, lime juice and ice in a blender.
Rim glasses with lime wedge, then dip in sugar.
Pour mixture into rimmed glasses.
Garnish with lime and cranberries
**Bee Dubyas are the Barron Wives…the nickname coined by the Tate cousins as the Barron Boys started falling for their cowgirls.
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Barrons, Tates, Wolves, and Sade’s Scoobie Gang.
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged books, characters, food, fun stuff, holiday, inspiration, Moonstruck, Nightriders MC, Penumbra, recipe, Red Dirt Royalty, series, video
4 Comments
Monday and Counting…
So…I normally set up these posts the afternoon/night before. Yeah…I sort of blanked out yesterday. My brain is mostly a moldy lump of mush these days. It has occurred to me that Christmas Eve is a week from today. Should I admit now that I have not bought one Christmas present? Yeah…I need to get on that. Hey, I didn’t get the dining room and mantel decorated. That counts for something, right? The stockings are hung but I’m thinking coal this year…
Okay, on to things less depressing. *thinks*
*drums fingers on desk*
*thinks some more*
OKRWA had its Christmas party Saturday. Lots (TONS) of good food. Only 8 of us made it but it was a fun group. There was food, fun, fellowship and wine. We do a Dirty Santa exchange with books. We laugh a lot. We talk about writing, life, love…you know, the important things. 😉
I finished my relisten of Suzanne Wright’s Mercury Pack series and jumped into her new release, ECHOES OF FIRE. There are two more wolf shifters whose stories I want. Hopefully, she’ll get on those soon. 😉 Next up a relisten of Thea Harrison’s first two Moonshadow books before I listen to her newish release, LIONHEART, which I think is the last in this spinoff set in her Elders series.
There was some TV viewing. Oh! I finally caught “Dr. Strange.” It was fun though parts of the special effects (totally cool but… 😆 ) reminded me far too much of a M.C. Escher painting. My equilibrium gets all wonky.
Sports start up again soon with the college bowl season starting up next weekend. Until then, not much going on that I care about. Not a NFL or NBA fan. That said, I’m totally in love with the St. Louis Blues NHL team’s new “puck dog” Barclay. He’s too cute for words, as Lab puppies are. 🙂 Barclay is being socialized by the Blues and he will eventually be trained as a service assistance dog for a child with autism. Oh, and it’s 57 days until Pitchers/Catchers. So yay.
And that’s it for the late edition of my Monday followup. Hope y’all had good weekends and that this week will be an easy one for you. 🙂
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged coffee, follow up, holiday, Monday, OKRWA, procrastination, reading, sports, stuff, TV
2 Comments
Friday Free-For-All: Holiday Edition
This week’s version of Linky Dinks is all about the holidays. Just click on the links. Trust me, you’ll want to check out the LOLs because we ALL need some LOLs in our lives. Right? Right!
Thanksgiving THINGS TO BE THANKFUL for.
Bad Christmas pets… Sorry, Not Sorry
These faces say it all about these pets who got their Christmas wish for FURREVER HOMES.
And just because this is my life… Why I’m up by 6 a.m. EVERY FREAKING MORNING.
And finally, thoughts of randomness:
I can always tell when my email provider gets hacked. The psychics, “sexy” girls, and loan sharks come out of the ethernet, flooding my spam filter.
Dear authors/publishers: If you are going to end a book on a big, honkin’ cliffhanger, do NOT make the readers wait a year for the next book. It just pisses them off.
Live PD lines:
Reasons Not to Drink #312: Man arguing against taking the DUI balance test: “I can break my leg if I do this.”
Reasons Not to Drink #113: Drunk girl: “In my heart I’m just a dumb girl. There was a boy…” As if that explains everything. 🙄
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged Friday, fun stuff, herding cats, holiday, links, lolpic, procrastination
4 Comments
Thursday Thoughts: Universal Fears
When I was in college, a good friend of mine made a statement that’s stuck with me all these years–and trust me, there’s a LOT of years between now and then. It was one of those nights in dorm where the crew had gathered in someone’s room for rounds of lime daiquiris and conversation. We discussed many deep and philosophical topics, like…well…never mind. Anyway, this particular night we were talking about men and beautiful women. Don’t get me wrong, none of us were slouches and we were all dating hot guys but…lime daiquiris. Anyway, my friend sits up straight, sticks her index finger into the air and says, “Even the most beautiful woman in the world has snot in her nose.”
As if the most accomplished amongst you didn’t have their own piercing doubts, fears, and worries. Didn’t have spells when they believed they were inadequate, lost, and dependent. Hadn’t at times felt downhearted, discouraged, and all alone in the world.
Yet still, Silver… you know their names.
You are no less,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®Silver, bar none.
My reminiscence does bear relevance to the Universe’s message. We all have doubts, fears, and worries. About ourselves, our loved ones, our friends. We get discouraged, depressed, and sometimes, the angst gets so thick you’d think an entire Junior class of teenage girls lived in our heads. When it hits, it’s hard to remember that even those we admire and aspire to be have felt the same at some point in their life. They made it. So can we. Because remeber? Even the most beautiful woman in the world has snot in her nose… Just sayin’. 😉
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged friends, history, inspiration, life sucks sometimes, memories, musing, quotes, Thursday Thoughts, Universe
1 Comment
Wednesday Words: Babe, It’s Cold Outside
Last night, I was thinking it was Wednesday. It wasn’t. It was Tuesday. So…I set up today’s blog accordingly. *headdesk* Yeah…about that. Today is WEDNESDAY. That means #1lineWed and WORDS. Today’s theme is **WEATHER**. I found this snippet in my files and even though I have no idea which Wolf this is–whether he’s a Nightrider or a Moonstruck alpha, he makes me smile. Eventually, this will make it into a book because… Well, just read it. You’ll discover why. 😉
****
“Stop!” she shrieked. “I think we pushed too far.”
“Yeah?”
She glowered and I barely concealed the twitch of my lips, wanting to grin. Hell, I wanted to bust out laughing. She made a humphf sound. Too freaking cute. Unlike her tiny car. I had no idea the thing was so light so yeah, I’d pushed hard. With my Wolf shifter strength that puppy squirted out of the snowbank and straight onto the frozen pond. The ice hadn’t cracked, a miracle in itself.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Hands on hips, chin jutting, eyes blazing and pink in her cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold.
What was I going to do about it? Kiss her, maybe. My wolf liked that idea. I shrugged. “Wait for the spring thaw?”
“That’s not funny.”
I thought it was, but managed not to crack up at her outraged expression.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“No.” Too bad the word came out strangled as I choked back my laughter. I have the worst poker face in the club.
“You are.” She gave me a squinty-eyed glare. The cute was gonna kill me. “This is all your fault.”
“Uh huh.” I pinched the bridge of my nose hoping to hide my lip twitches. “Babe, you’re the one driving a clown car after a blizzard. And in case you haven’t noticed, it’s cold out here.”
She opened her mouth and one word came out. “Kittens.”
“Kittens?”
“There’s a box of kittens in the back seat.”
“Guess I’m going ice skating.”
****
Does the weather affect your characters, plot, and story? If you’re a reader, how’s your weather?
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged #1lineWed, fun stuff, herding cats, inspiration, Moonstruck, Nightriders MC, quotes, series, snippet, weather, Wednesday Words, WIPs, writing
4 Comments
Tuesday Treats: Caramel Apple Crescent “Dumplings”
Technically, winter doesn’t start until the winter solstice on December 21st. Therefore, I’m going to share this “autumnal treat” because it’s just about perfect for chilly evenings. Curl up in front of your fireplace, warm up a “dumpling” and enjoy!
Time
34 Minutes Total
20 Min Prep
Enjoy the flavors of fall with Caramel Apple-Crescent “Dumplings.” These apple-crescent “dumplings” are a great way to use apples this season.
What You Need
8 KRAFT Caramels
2 Tbsp. milk, divided
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened, divided
1 Tbsp. flour
1 can (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 Gala apple, cut into 8 wedges (Note: I used a golden delicious. I don’t think the kind of apple matters but that’s just me. 🙂 )
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Let’s Make It
Heat oven to 375ºF.
Microwave caramels and 1 Tbsp. milk in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 40 sec.; stir.
Cube half the cream cheese. Add to caramel sauce along with the flour; stir.
Microwave until caramels and cream cheese are completely melted and sauce is well blended, stirring every 10 sec.
Unroll crescent dough; separate into 8 triangles. Place on parchment-covered baking sheet; spread with caramel sauce. Top with apples, placing 1 apple wedge at shortest side of each triangle. Roll up, starting at apple-topped sides. Rearrange, if necessary, until roll-ups are point sides down on baking sheet.
Bake 12 to 14 min. or until golden brown. Meanwhile, mix sugar with remaining cream cheese and milk until blended.
Cool roll-ups 5 min. Drizzle with cream cheese glaze. Serve warm.
Serving Suggestion
One serving of this warm fruit dessert makes a nice dessert for a crisp fall night.
Special Extra
Sprinkle evenly with 1 tsp. ground cinnamon after drizzling with the cream cheese glaze.
As always, CLICK HERE to head over to Kraft Recipes for all the details. This is a hit with the kids in the Moonstruck books and I wouldn’t be surprised if Annie or Jacey didn’t fix this treat for the crew on their Christmas road trip. Mac McIntire is faced with a touch choice: Save the girl, or save Christmas. As Liam described it, “Dad, it’s like a ‘Die Hard’ movie!” If you’d like to read about the Wolves’ Christmas adventure, just click on the cover. Kindle Unlimited subscribers read it for free, or you can snatch it up for $1.99.
Posted in Writing Life
Tagged books, characters, family, food, fun stuff, fun travel and adventure, holiday, links, Moonstruck, recipe, series, Tuesday Treats
2 Comments
Silver James 