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!!  ;)

The Perfect Gift

For anyone who's been a mother...that is.  Okay - Mother's day is coming up, and if you want something inexpensive and hilarious to give your mother-type person, you'll want to grab this little jewel, The Crazy Daze of Motherhood.  Jane Still has written a collection of stories about being a mother that are just sooo close to home.  Anyone who has been a mother, has lived with a mother, wants to be a mother or knows a mother should pick up a copy and hand it over.  It's a laugh a page, and many of you will totally associate with her.


For example, one story is how her husband became a hypochondriac when they had their first baby.  Another story is the about getting a spiral perm that I certainly related to.  She delivers each story with dry wit and humor, bringing the story totally to life.


It has cute little illustrations (though, Jane, did you forget I do illustrations???  I don't remember getting contacted...ahem.) that enliven the story and add to the humor.  Really - you need to grab this and gift it to anyone who needs a laugh about motherhood.  Which is like, well everyone female on the planet.  Right?


And to make it even better, you can win a fun prize from Jane to help celebrate the release of her book.  Just go to her blog at http://www.janeisfeldstill.blogspot.com and become a follower, and then leave her a comment and tell her that you're a new follower.  You could win: 

1. Mother's Daze basket, soap, chocolate, lotion, decorative candles, and recipe cards

2. Box of blank cards with a smattering of Canadian chocolate

3. Chocolate

Anything better than chocolate??  Most woman wouldn't think so...and since most of you will be hinting for a copy of the book for Mother's day, then hey, there you go.  Enjoy!!

I should have brought...

My notebook. 

I'm sitting at work at the phones today, standing in for the secretaries as they do training.  Do I have much to do??  No.  Nope.  Nada.  Zingo.  sigh.

Once in a while someone will come with something for me to do, but it's the most bored I've been on the job in months and months...  Interesting. 

I finally made a post on my political blog, but I don't dare post it here, because I could get my daughter upset with me, since it's about unwed pregnancy.  sigh.  minefields...everywhere. 

Then I realized that I hadn't written a blog on this one in about a month, and that's depressing.  I knew I was busy, but ya know...

and so, here we are.  One of my favorite bloggers, It's Like This, posted that she'd realized she hadn't posted in a while.  She claims to have two readers...well, that's better than me, by a long shot.  lol

I could be spending this time getting caught up on my writing, which is terribly behind right now, but I'm stuck here trying to catch up on blogs and looking at recipes.  lol  Well, at least I've got lots of soup recipes I want to try now...much to the bane of my youngest who seems to hate all things soup.

I think I've found a good chicken dumpling for my hubby - won't he be surprised?  That's his favorite and I've made it like 2 times in our whole marriage.  I guess it's time to perfect the thing and let him know how much I love him by cooking what he really wants!!  ;)  Good thing he generally likes what I cook anyway. 

Have a good one!

In a perfect world

I would like to be a famous writer.  Unlike most people, I am not, and never will be popular.  I just don't have that little something that draws people to me.  People like to talk to me, tell me the strangest things that I would never dream of telling a complete stranger...but they don't befriend me and want to follow me home.  Not that I'd want perfect strangers following me home...

But anyway - every time I watch Julie and Julia, I think about the blogging world and how I so missed the boat.  Back in 2003, I started a blog about our pizza store.  I had a reader comment, and I was hooked.  Our store tanked, the free site started charging, and I switched to blogger.

Now everyone has a blog.  Everybody can write and have the world read it.  Some people actually make a living at it.  I think some people are actually worth reading, and I have those blogs attached so that I can see when they've written something new.  Invariably it's something humorous and witty, something that makes me smile.  Which is why I like their blog in the first place.

My stuff, on the other hand, is what happens to come out of my thoughts and through my fingers at the time.  Usually I just need an outlet to share my thoughts and figure no one is really going to be reading it, because rarely do I get comments.  I know I have readers, but they have lives --  Everyone has more exciting things to do than sit and read blogs all day.  (or should ;)  )

However, watching that movie always makes me wish I were there.  Wish I had that something that makes people want to know more about me, and eager to see what I've written.

The problem is, I've discovered I don't want to be tied to the computer.  I already spend enough time during the day at my computer, either at work or at home.  It's where I write, after all.  I try to write each day - and usually I make it.  But adding the pressure of keeping up a blog every day, just doesn't work.  I even thought I'd try it once a week and do a scripture thought.  Nothing came of that, did you notice??  Tuesdays are just blank as every other day.

I was going to document my experimenting with recipes on my cooking blog, but I don't have the time to do it on two places, since I'm usually eating what I'm cooking and have to keep track of it on sparkpeople.com.  (which is a wonderful place to help with loosing weight, by the way).  Sigh.  I feel like there are already not enough hours in the day, why add more to it??

So.  There you have it.  The ramblings of a 50 something woman who is feeling some days as if life is passing her by and she's never taken the bull by the horns and made it hers.  Some days I do - but most days I just wonder if I'm letting too much get by.

So...I guess I might try again.  But I'm not going to announce it like some great fanfare...it's not like anyone's going to notice.  But if you happen to read my stuff and like cooking, I will try to be more consistent with my entries on the cooking blog.  I won't be posting everything, because my hubby is determined for me to publish my recipes and doesn't want anyone to steal them.  We don't live in that kind of society, do we??  right.  Even Julia Child was afraid someone would steal her recipes when she was mailing them to her friend in the states.  So.

I won't promise to write more here - but I will try and be a little more consistent.  I realized the other day that I could have been sharing my weight loss adventure.  While I've given updates a few times, I haven't really let you know when the weight was coming off and what I've been doing from month to month.  Well...I've lost 85 pounds now (which is a lot less than I thought I would have lost by now...sigh) and am still going.  Next week I'm teaching a class to my neighbors about how to adapt recipes and menus to lower fat stuff.  I'm hoping they like it.  I couldn't believe my measurements last week.  I've lost 10 inches off my hips and 10 off my waist.  It blows the mind.

I guess my encouragement would be if a 50 year old can still do it, you certainly can!
Enjoy life to it's fullest and remember each day is a gift.  That's why we call it a present.  ;)

Well...He's on his way...

Well, Wednesday we took our son to the MTC.  The first time either of us has been back in over 27 years.  It's amazing how little things have changed, and yet, how much they have changed.

The curbside bit is totally new -- and I guess it's better for everyone all around.  It was fun to meet the missionaries that were leaving in three days for Korea, and I know they'll do great.  It was hard to hug my son goodbye and hurry into the car to leave.  I did fine till we got out of the car to go eat and then the tears started threatening.

It's crazy how hard it is after they are gone.  It's not like he hasn't been gone before, so I guess perhaps it's the whole idea that he's gone for a longer period of time and I can't just call him when I want.  I don't know.  But anyway, he's off, and he's doing what we always dreamed he would.  sigh.

Life is good.  ;)