I WON!!

Well...I had to brag  a little...for the 8th year in a row, I've Completed NANO!!  Yeah!!!  lol

I was determined to actually finish the story this time, and I did.  I ended up with 55,100 words.  Not quite the leviathans that some have done, like over 70,000 or even 100,000 -- but I'm happy with it.

Now I can go back to normal life...lol

Happy thanksgiving!!  ;)

An amazing book to read...

I got the chance to read another book for review - Outer Edge of Heaven.  Oh boy!  This was a good romance!  The author, Jaclyn M. Hawkes, told a convincing tale of life on a ranch, that made you feel like you were there.  I was laughing at some part and frustrated with people in others.


"Charlie's a girl?  When did Charlie become a girl?"


That's one of my favorite parts in this book.  It cracked me up when it was discovered that Fo (short for Forest - some fun nick names in here) the male half of two best friends has a girl (Charlie)as his best friend.  They've known each other since children.  Charlie is talked into spending her summer with Fo in Montana on a large Ranch where she ends up watching the children like a part time nanny.  There are many great adventures, some hair raising action and a great confusing romance.

If you want something that's an easy and fun read, you need to grab this.  It's totally contemporary, and a good read - so go check it out!  You can purchase it at Amazon, here's the link.


This is another blog tour, so there are plenty of other's who have done reviews of her book, so you might want to go check some out.

I have to say, the cover doesn't really do it justice, and it's not perfect - (there aren't many books that are now a-days, ya know?) but it's darn good!  I'm tempted to ask the author if there is a sequel on the way!

Go get your copy and curl up by the fireplace with a cup of chocolate.  You'll enjoy it!

Book Review - FALL - and a contest!

Okay - being acquainted with many writers (since I'm a writer...ya know...lol) I get the opportunity sometimes of reading and reviewing new published authors.  I get that privilege today.  I just finished a book by Jennifer Hurst, and man, it's a change of pace for sure.


Fall is not your typical romance, thriller or fantasy.  It's kind of like a horror movie and romance mixed into one...but I'm not sure I am doing it justice.  If you're into fantasy type stuff, with a religious edge, you'll love it.
Jennifer has a blog, so you might want to check it out.


I was pulled into the story by the unique twist.  I don't usually read books about angels or demons, so it was quite the change for me.  I wouldn't recommend it for the younger reader - the subject matter is not for youth. But otherwise, definitely something to read.


If you're into ebooks, there is a version of that too that you  might want to look into.  Here's the site to go to.


Anyway - good read.  Go find a copy and don't turn the lights off.

Along with that, the author is having a contest. Below is a list of questions about the book.  Answer the questions for a chance to win a mention in the sequel!  The more blogs you read about this book, the more you can enter your name, thus increasing your chances of winning the gift certificate, a copy of the book FALL, and your name in the sequel.

Get the book, read the book, and then read over the questions below.  Once you have your answers, e-mail them to Jennifer.  fall.jenniferhurst@gmail.com

Your privacy is respected and your email address will NOT be used for anything but the contest.   Once the contest is over - your email address will be deleted from the database.

Here are the questions for you to answer:

What does JD stand for?

What were the inscriptions on the wedding bands?

Who is Roy Parker's father?

If you would like to visit the other sites, go here for the master list of all participating sites:  http://fallbyjenniferhurst.wordpress.com/

Best of luck, and thanks for participating!

Can't sleep....sigh...so thoughts on a great movie

Okay...I've been having bouts with insomnia lately...and it really bugs me.  I'm sitting here, knowing I need to be in bed, I'm really TIRED, but all I do is lay there and my brain is going.  I try and think soothing songs, but it doesn't seem to help.  sigh.

I've been taking melatonin, but I try not to take it every night, and I thought I'd be tired enough tonight.  Also...have to get up and go to church - if I ever get to sleep.  UGH.

So, I'll talk about my wonderful hubby and the date he took me on today.  He said he had a surprise for me this morning (well...saturday) and took me off to the theaters!  I was thrilled one, because I love, I mean LOVE surprises, and two, because I like movies.  I was even more happy when he got us tickets to go see The Help.

It's kind of funny how things have been working.  I read an article on Yahoo about the author of the book, and how she'd gotten 60 rejection letters before finally getting published.  I felt like if she got that many, the book might be worth looking into.  Then on Friday I read an article on KSL about the movie, and how he really liked it.  That made me a little more interested, though kind of guardedly, because sometimes when a movie critic likes a movie, I'm not going to.  So, I looked up the trailer and watched it, and my daughter and I both thought it had promise.

So, anyway - that's what he took me to see.  It was pretty fun, we were the first ones in the theater, so we had our choice of seats.  By the time the movie started, there were more men in the theater, but they were definitely out numbered by the women.  It cracked me up.  But I digress...

The Help is definitely worth watching. It is so well done you don't even realize the amount of time that passes, as it's almost 2 and a half hours long!  The acting is so good, the characters so believable and the story so touching --  you've got to see it.  It's a great lesson in society and the culture of the 60's.  My hubby wants our children to see it, and he's already planning on buying it when it comes out on DVD.

It's strange to see the one actress playing a 'bad' role, but she does it well.  You really hate her!  lol  But anyway, I don't want to give any of it away.  Go see it, enjoy and learn.  You'll not regret it.

Okay...so then we went to do the first driving lesson for our youngest sons.  UGH.  I'm so glad my hubby is patient and willing to do this.  Granted, the older of the two managed to do better than I ever dreamed, but still...it's a manual transmission!  sigh.  We ended up spending a half hour or so at Harmons while they drove the little by roads.  They have the most fun cooking section of any grocery store!  I was in heaven.

Well...It's really late now, (or should I say early??) so I'd better try and see if I can get my brain to shut off.
Have an excellent Sunday!

Some thoughts for the day - it's finished!!

One of my favorite movies is Julie and Julia.  Mainly because it's about food, and I'm all over anything about food and how to cook it...lol  And in part because it talks about blogs and writing, the angst of a writer, which is me.  So I feel in a way that it's a movie kind of about me and what I'd love to be doing with my life.  

I've never thought about writing a cookbook, however.  I've always wanted to be a published writer of romance or something.  It's only been the past couple of months that it's been encouraged by my family to write a cookbook, so I guess that's my next project.  

Anyway - One of the reasons this has come up is I've finally made sourdough starter and sourdough bread.

That may not be a big deal for many of you...if any of you, grin.  But it has long been an ambition of mine, well ONE of my ambitions.  Another one was to build an outdoor oven and then bake the sourdough in it.  I can say that I've accomplished part of that, or two parts.  I've finally finished my oven!!!  I tell you, this is a landmark day in history!!  

This is what it looked like when I rebuilt it...I don't know if you remember the story of it's demise last fall...sigh.  IT was not pretty.  :(  But I persevered and rebuilt!!

So this is how it looks now!  You can't see the can because it's inside the mud stuff as a proper chimney.  We are going to use it this Friday, I'm soooo excited!  

And since my starter has finally grown and worked and I've made bread, I'll be making a batch of it in the oven after we're done enjoying decent pizza!!!

sigh.

Life is good.

So anyway - back to my thoughts.

I'm munching on a piece of this amazing sourdough bread, (for photos you can go to my food blog.) and thinking that I've finally achieved something I had to work at for longer than a year.  I kept at it, even though it was frustrating and discouraging.  It was becoming a joke in my family, mom's dying jar on the counter.  And I've come to the realization that apparently I like cooking more than I like writing.  I wonder why that is???  I'm not sure.  But, perhaps I can combine the two, because I will spend a whole day looking at recipes and cooking and have to force myself to write.

I have resolved several times in my life to make my writing a non-hobby occupation.  So far that has NOT happened.  sigh.  My hubby is very patient and takes it in stride, but I think it's time to get myself going and get a grip on my life.  I don't have unlimited time to explore my talents and build them.  I don't know how much time I've been given in this life.  I've been wasting it.  totally.

So, I think I'm going to rethink the writing I've been doing.  The book I've been working on is not progressing, and I don't feel any attachment to it right now.  I know that's when I really need to work at it, so I'm going to give it another try, but I'm also going to start contemplating the cookbook idea.  My hubby is going to build a website for me that involves altering recipes for people who want to shape them into lower fat, healthy things. My focus, therefore, is going to be more on food.  Since I haven't published anything that makes anyone want to come hunt me down and beg for another story (other than my neighbors), this won't be a heartache to many.  Say la vie.  I'm sure things will change in a year or so, the writing bug never leaves me for long.

I hope you find me in a better place next year.  Be sure and check my food blog for photos of the pizza on Friday!!  We know how to party at my house...lol

a wonderful weekend...

Okay - the past weekend was one of the best I've had in a while.  I mean, June was amazing, and that goes without saying (you know, 25 year anniversary and all that...lol) but this past weekend, hmmm.

For one, my hubby was home for 4 days!!!  It was like we were on vacation.  I got to spend the WHOLE freaking day with him on Friday (had to add freaking for emphasis), which was just too much fun.  We spent most of the day at his mothers, helping her with her computer issues, but it was okay.  I had him all night for his college open house, which was good food and location as usual.  Unfortunately they ran out of deserts before we could really have some...or should I say fortunately??  sigh.

Saturday we spent the day running errands and ended up going to see the late showing of Thor at the local theater...(love that movie) and my sons had a great time.

Sunday we got my granddaughter to babysit all night thru Monday!  It was great fun.  She loved her bath

 and playing with the dog.

It was entirely too much fun.  She's so cute!!  I realize I'm totally prejudice...lol  We also had a bbq at my sister's house, and they did fireworks after we came home so hubby could get to bed.  He has EARLY summer hours!  sigh.

Have I mentioned that we have this new little dog??  

It was my brothers that passed away in April.  He was a big Indiana Jones fan, and so he had these two little dogs.  One was Indie, and one was Anna....this one was Indie, (anna had an unfortunate encounter with a car - sigh) and when my brother died, we kind of inherited the dog.  It's some kind of chihuahua mix thing.  It's WAY too cute for a puntable, I can't figure out why I like him, but he's cute and follows me around everywhere and loves the baby.

Anyway...I've been getting my oven going again!  You might not remember last year how I started an outside earth oven.  Here is the picture from last year...

Unfortunately, when my bro came to visit in September, we tried it out and it wasn't ready yet.  It cracked like crazy and ended up collapsing.  sigh.  I hadn't done the second layer and the first one was too thin.

So, I've tried again.  This time I made it a titch smaller, and THICKER!

Here it is now - I'm trying to get the rest of the sand out for the next layer.  

I decided this time to use balls of mud so that it was more even in thickness.  So far, so good.  I included a chimney, as you can see.  My hubby was thinking it could be out of pvc pipe...um, for an oven??

Anyway - I'ts been an interesting summer, in that I've been visiting a lot of food sites.  I always thought I'd have a site that people would come and look at, but I have a hard time getting photos taken of the food I make because I'm not in the habit of taking pictures of EVERYTHING...lol  So, as a result, you don't hear from me much.  I'm hoping to change that,  so you might want to check out my food blog every now and again.

Have a great rest of July!

I'm still alive...

Really - just because I haven't posted in like Forever doesn't mean I've disappeared off the face of the earth.  sigh.

I used to think that blogging was a great thing and I loved doing it.  Now I hardly have time to think about posting, let alone coming up with things to post about.

Right now I have this gorgeous bird outside my window and I'd rather watch it in fascination than come up with something someone might want to read.  Part of the problem is I know that while I have followers - if they're like the kind of follower I am - they aren't waiting with bated breath for me to write something.  They have lives and they are most of them writers themselves, so hey - no biggie.

This blog covers many aspects of my life, though it was only meant to be a writing outlet.

One of my critique group has self published and is having a great book signing/release party at Barnes and Noble in Layton on Monday.  I know I'd be excited if it were me to have all my friends writing about it, so I thought I'd mention it for anyone who decides to peep at my blog between now and then and lives in the area.  I'm so excited for her -- I'm also jealous as heck.  I have to remind myself that it could be me doing this - if I'd the drive and gumption.  sigh.

So anyway - lots of work this month to get some writing done and off to Createspace for my free copy of the book I wrote for Nano.  If it works out, perhaps I'll publish both sets, and you'll have access.

Hope you have a great first weekend of school out!!  ;)