Monday – Deja Vu

funny-pictures-i-know-those-feels-monday-catWhere did the weekend go? How can it be Monday? Where’s my coffee? Who had fun this weekend? Go on. Don’t be shy. Raise your hands. Yeah…that was pretty much my weekend, too. At least the weather was more springlike. I’m in the middle of contest/judging season. I caught up on some unpubbed entries for a contest. I’m always interested in the range of expertise. The stories were interesting but it’s fairly easy to spot the beginners from the ones who’ve learned the craft. I’m going to read Allison Brennan’s new book, NOTORIOUS, before I get back to the pubbed entries.

Work continues on the proposal for COWGIRL’S SWEETHEART even though I haven’t updated the word count. And speaking of updates, over the next few months, I’ll be revamping this site. Right now, it definitely leans toward the dark side. 😆 I need to lighten up the header on the welcome page and this page (blog). Not sure what I’ll do. The Only and I are tossing some ideas around. Suggestions are welcome.

And now for some total randomness:

Did I mention Game of Thrones starts next week?

I did a Thursday Threads flash fiction word prompt last week for 250 words on BLUE MOON, which is Antoine and DJ’s story. I need to get through the proposal and FAERIE FREE (which might be FAERIE FEUD and/or A VERY FAERIE CHRISTMAS) that’s going in a Christmas anthology.

I’m out of Cafe Du Monde coffee. This necessitates a trip to the Vietnamese grocery store.

Today is opening day. Baseball, people. Baseball! Go Cardinals!!!

How was your weekend? And are you ready for the week?

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Friday Night Cruising

Winter is being a tenacious witch. Mother Nature is bi-polar running cold then hot then cold then…well, you get the idea.

Every time I hear this song, I think about warm weekend nights back when I was in high school and had, rather than a candy-apple red rag top, a lemon-creme yellow one. Of course, I remember cruising the main drag on Christmas night with the top down, heater and 8-track blasting, too.

Anyway, I’m ready to at least pretend warmer weather is on the way so sit back and enjoy a little Friday Night with Eric Paslay.

Anybody have big plans? Little ones? Me? I’m working and reading contest entries. It’s that time of year… 😉

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Universal DNA

universeThe whole family is analysing the Magic Bean Sprout to see who he looks like. Until he’s like 16 or something, he’ll look like everyone. 😆 Needless to say, when the Universe dropped this into the inbox, I couldn’t resist.

A coincidence?

Silver, do you think it’s just a coincidence that you look exactly as you do?

Do you think your height, the color of your eyes, or the sound of your voice were accidents?

Do you think your insights into life, your gifts of perception, or your sense of humor were the result of random genetics?

No. You are exactly as you now are, with every freckle, trait, and charm, because they all added up to how you could make the biggest difference with your life in time and space, while having the most fun.

In appreciation,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

And, Silver, you’re doing it.

Well, that certainly explains things, but how the heck did the Big U know I have freckles?!?

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Wednesday Words – Coffee and Texts

coffee faeToday is all about coffee. Well…mostly. Here, have a couple of quotes about my favorite beverage.

If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee; it is the intelligent beverage. ~Sydney Smith (English wit, writer and Anglican cleric)

Coffee comes in five descending stages: Coffee, Java, Jamoke, Joe, and Carbon Remover. ~Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein

I haven’t read GLORY ROAD in ages. I need to go back and reread it!

Have you ever wondered where the term “cuppa Joe” came from? According to my sources, the US Navy once served alcoholic beverages onboard ships. However, when Admiral Josephus “Joe” Daniels became Chief of Naval Operations, he outlawed alcohol, except for very special occasions. Coffee then became the drink of choice, hence the term “cup of Joe.”

And finally, a liquids alert before you click on this link. Don’t drink and read, but take the time to go read. The texts are too funny. Seriously. You want to click. Do it! Do it now! MOMS TEXTING

Happy Hump Day!

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Tuesday Treats – Family Favorite Hershey Pie

hershey pie ingredientsNow that Magic Bean is here–and I suppose I should find something else to call him so I don’t give the kid a complex though I figure The Little Prince is probably too much 😉 –I went back through the family recipe box(es). I inherited handwritten recipe cards from both sides. When my niece married, I put together a cookbook of family favorites. I did the same when my brother-in-law married–for my new sister-in-law, though BiL actually cooks as much as she does. When Baseball Boy joined the James Gang, I did the same for him–since he cooks more than The Only.

Anyway, I came across one that I make on holidays for the BiL. Welcome to the southern treat of Hershey Pie!

Ingredients:
12 large marshmallows
4 regular size Hershey’s Chocolate with Almonds candy bars
1/4 cup milk
1 cup Cool Whip
1 graham cracker crust

Combine marshmallows, chocolate, and milk in a medium pan. Stir over low heat until chocolate and marshmallows are melted. Cool. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into pie shell. Chill before serving.

You can serve plain or with dollops of Cool Whip on each slice. It tastes a lot like S’mores, only cold. 😀

Who is the repository of your family recipes?

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Monday Spotlight – Bronco’s Rough Ride

Since my weekend update was added yesterday, today I’m spotlighting the sexy new release from my good friend, Siobhan Muir. I met Siobhan doing Six Sentence Sunday and we connected as authors and later as friends. I’ve watched her talent grow from her first book to this latest one, BRONCO’S ROUGH RIDE. I got to beta read this book. Enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s sexy–REALLY sexy! But you’ll love Bronco and Lindsey is not only hot but kickass. Just my kind of book.

BRR-coverBLURB
What happens in Vegas, stays in the heart…

Chief Petty Officer John “Bronco” Andrews only meant to stay one night in Vegas for a little R&R before resuming his duties as a US Navy SEAL in Coronado. But someone slips him a mickey in the bar and he finds himself in Madame LeBeau’s sex trade. As the product. Doped up on ketamine to keep him docile, Bronco has no choice but to let it ride.

Detective Lindsey Jarvis has been undercover in LeBeau’s sex slave racket for two years and she almost has enough evidence to take it down. Between abduction, prostitution, and murder, she has LeBeau by the short hairs. All she needs is a “product”. John is the perfect witness if she can get him out before the drugs shut down his heart. Then she’ll be free to start a normal life.

Lindsey doesn’t count on her overwhelming attraction for Bronco or her need to see him through detox. But she’s a cop in Vegas and he’s a Navy SEAL, two lifestyles with too much unpredictability to maintain a relationship. Neither have time for more than one wild rough ride, and what happens in Vegas, stays. Forever.

EXCERPT

John woke to find himself tied to a bed tilted to give him a view of the door. Or to give someone else a view of him. A thick strap wrapped around his chest holding him upright. He tried to jerk free, but his body wouldn’t respond. At all. What the fuck?

As a highly decorated and experienced SEAL operator, John had honed his body into an efficient and responsive killing machine. But that same body now lay against the table as inert as rag doll. His mind screamed at it to move, to roll, hell, to even wiggle its toes, but the messages went nowhere. He wanted to turn his head, to scan the room around him, but his neck refused to respond.

John inhaled to roar, to scream for someone to help. His lungs expanded and his chest rose, but the muscles of his throat wouldn’t tighten to make sound, and the air slid out his nose. Holy shit, what’s wrong with me?

Panic built in his chest, increasing his heartbeat and tightening his gut. His limbs refused to move and a gut-felt moan issued from his chest. Dial it back, Andrews. There’s gotta be a way outta this. It’s just not clear yet. The pep talk dampened the fear and allowed him to focus on external sensory data. He couldn’t feel much, but the grayness had left his vision.

The room, while dim and small, smelled of dusty concrete, and the only sound inside was his breath. Probably not more than ten by ten feet. From what he could see the only portal in the room consisted of a steel door with a barred window roughly a foot on each side. The concrete dampened any sound coming from outside and heightened the sounds of his breathing.

Some sort of cell. He rolled his eyes. Ya think, genius?

The door rattled and muffled voices came from outside. Keys jingled just before the scrape of the lock turning heralded the motion of the door. John slitted his eyes as two women came in, both dressed in casual elegance. The taller, younger-looking of the two grabbed his attention immediately as she scanned the room with implacable serenity. Dark hair woven into an intricate pattern lay on the top of her head and his hands itched to pull it down. Her pale-gray eyes slid over his form and his cock rose in response to her causal perusal.

What the fuck? That works, but the rest of me doesn’t?

“I’m so glad you finally accepted my invitation to visit, Lady Aislynn. As I said before, it’s a great honor to have you here.” The older woman’s voice held admiration bordering on reverence and a smug smile curled her thin lips.

“I was intrigued by the rumors I’d heard of you changing your marketing strategies.” Lady Aislynn paused beside the angled bed and her mouth tightened as her gaze returned to John. “How will you increase outreach?”

“Like you, we have a very specialized clientele, so the more traditional advertising avenues are closed to us.” The other woman straightened her spine and strode to John’s other side. “But we have our chat and email groups through discreet channels. Of course, word of mouth is the best advertising out there.”

Aislynn nodded. “And who is this?”

“This is one of our latest acquisitions.”

“Acquisitions?” She raised an elegant eyebrow. “You don’t appreciate the male of the species?”

“On the contrary. I highly appreciate them.” The older woman leaned close, the cloying scent of her perfume swamping John’s nose. “Especially when they’re docile and immobile. The best man is bound and silent, am I right?”

Aislynn grunted a non-committal sound and studied John’s eyes. She raised a hand and stroked him from his shoulder to his hip. A fresh scent—like flowers and spring—reminded him of Washington DC. Cherry trees in bloom. Yeah, that’s it. Cherry blossoms. The flowery smell pushed out the cloying perfume and sent blood shooting to his cock. Her touches don’t hurt, either.

“He’s remarkably responsive for being so docile. What have you given him?”

“Ketamine. It allows the genitals to be useful while disengaging the more annoying traits of males—their mouths and their strength.” The perfume intruded again and his arousal ebbed. “I see he responds to you pretty well. A hard man is good to find, eh?”

BRONCO’S ROUGH RIDE is available now at

AMAZON | SMASHWORDS | ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS

BIO
Siobhan Muir lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband, two daughters, and a vegetarian cat she swears is a shape-shifter, though he’s never shifted when she can see him. When not writing, she can be found looking down a microscope at fossil fox teeth, pursuing her other love, paleontology. An avid reader of science fiction/fantasy, her husband gave her a paranormal romance for Christmas one year, and she was hooked for good.

In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens and to the bottom of Meteor Crater.

Siobhan writes kick-ass adventure with hot sex for men and women to enjoy. She believes in happily ever after, redemption, and communication, all of which you will find in her paranormal romance stories.

Siobhan’s latest release, Bronco’s Rough Ride, is a prequel to The Navy’s Ghost in the Bad Boys of Beta Squad series. She has published A Hell Hound’s Fire (a free read) and The Beltane Witch in the Cloudburst Colorado series. Siobhan has also published Not a Dragon’s Standard Virgin and Queen Bitch of the Callowwood Pack through Siren Publishing, and Her Devoted Vampire through Evernight Publishing.

Want to connect with Siobhan?

HER LINKS
WEBSITE | BLOG | GOOGLE PLUS | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS | PINTEREST

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Magic Bean Sprouts

After a very long night and day, and almost another night, the Magic Bean finally sprouted. The Only is a trouper! And so is Baseball Boy! They were checked in at 6 p.m. Friday night for pre-inducement measures. She labored all day Saturday and into the night.

MB arrived at 11:47 p.m. on March 22 weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 21 1/2 inches long. According to his parents, he has hobbit feets. And a big head that’s slightly pointy now. 😉

Mother and baby are both doing fine. Father is draggin’ ass and grandparents are ready for a long nap despite sleeping fairly well last night. Once we finally got home.

And in case anyone is curious, I’ll be known as Jammie. It’s a long story but Only and I thought it was funny. 😀 Life certainly won’t return to “normal” but it will get back in rhythm now.
Liam first DS

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TGIF! And a Book! And Coffee!

It’s Friday. I finally get a day to myself. After almost two weeks of back and forth to The Only and Baseball Boy’s new home, I’m done. They have a kitchen. They have a table and chairs to eat on. They have a nursery–all Dr. Who themed. 😀 Yes, I will get pics eventually. They have a “goffice” in case the other half of the in-laws wants to come down. I’m ready for the weekend! Except it’ll be busy. Magic Bean is scheduled to make an appearance. I’ll keep y’all posted here, FB, and probably Twitter–if I can figure out how to post from my iPhone. The Only is my tech guru and she won’t exactly be a position to explain to me. shifty-eyes-ani2faster

BRR-coverIn the meantime, my good friend Siobhan Muir has a new book out. BRONCO’S ROUGH RIDE is available now at AMAZON, SMASHWORDS, and ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS. I’ll add other links as the book goes live. Siobhan will be here Monday with more details. In the meantime, I beta read this book. It’s hot. I love Bronco. He’s a Navy SEAL who gets shanghaied in Las Vegas.

1029993And finally, to celebrate the arrival of warmer weather (at least until tomorrow when the next cold front comes through… 😛 ) here’s a little drink recipe I came across: BAILEY’S IRISH CREAM SUNDAE. It’s coffee. And ice cream. And Baileys. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?!?!

Who has plans this weekend? Tell us what’s going on!?! And enjoy yourselves!

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Universal Signs

universeI’m always looking for signs. When I find a penny on the sidewalk, I get answers from either my dad or my FiL. (Long story… 😉 ) Hawks are Lawyer Guy’s and The Only’s totem animal. Whenever we see them, we know things are good. I’m superstitious enough that during the period when I was waiting on word from Harlequin, I carried state quarters in my pocket–New York (for obvious reasons 😆 ), Nevada (horses), Montana (steer skull), and Wyoming (bucking bronco).

So now we’re waiting for The Only to sprout the Magic Bean. I was hoping for St. Patrick’s Day because…well…ST. PATRICK’S DAY! Plus it was a full moon. Didn’t happen. So now we’re waiting and watching. The doctor is also watching for signs. 😉 Maybe this weekend.

When this popped up in my inbox this week, I had to laugh. Babies have a way of coming in their own sweet time.

Silver, if you have to ask for “signs,” let this need of yours be a “sign” that you should make haste very s-l-o-w-l-y.

Tallyho,
The Universe
© http://www.tut.com ®

Silver, consider this a “sign” that perhaps, for the moment, no decision should be made.

And I must admit, this was my first thought when I read the message:

Nope…Santa was making one last ride…. Just watch the video. *nods*

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Wednesday Words – Reading Material

Due to circumstances and on account of because, I’m at MURDER SHE WRITES today, instead of yesterday. My bad! mobile phone and booksLast week, I went on a YA binge, though these dark retellings of two familiar fairy tales aren’t your squeaky clean Young Adult fare. Since they were written by Lilith St. Crow’s YA persona, Lili St. Crow, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. The themes are dark, some words blunt and crass, though the sexy bits are mild. I read the books out of order, which wasn’t a big deal, but if you plan on reading them, I’d go with NAMELESS (based on Snow White) first, and then WAYFARER (Cinderella) so they’re in the right order.

Ms. St. Crow’s language can be magical like this bit from WAYFARER, A Tale of Beauty and Madness:

Even the dust hung motionless in the air, shafts of liquid gold sunshine braving Juno’s** charm-latticed windows to fall in orderly diamonds on the mellow-glowing wooden floor scuffed by who knew how many feet. Sister Mary Brefoil droned on about participles and turned the mellifluousness of French into murdered poetry, robbed of all its breath and fire by her flat delivery.

[**Juno is the name of a month]

Or it can be full of snark like this exchange in NAMELESS, A Tale of Beauty and Madness:

“You can open your eyes now, Cami.” Ruby sighed. “That wasn’t even very fast.”

“Death by cardiac arrest, induced by vehicular shenanigans.” Ellie waited for a few seconds, unclicking her seatbelt.

What have you read lately that made you “sit up and pay attention”?

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