Song of the day: “Here I am” by Brian Adams, of course. It’s been a while since I had any Adams in my head, so that’s a nice change. Yesterday, strangely enough, it was Michael Bublé’s “Haven’t met you yet”, so maybe it’s connected. Hah.
Still working, but only two more days to go ‘till two weeks notice if over and don with. Nothing’s resolved yet, so there’s really nothing more I can say than, we’ll see.
As you can see in the last post, Doing It The Gangster way (did you get the double pun, by the way? The sexual innuendo, is obvious, of course, but the other? Huh? Huh? Remember how I was asked to revise it three times, adding more and more about the gangster angle so it’d be nice an dark? Well, voila. This is the gangster way. I am resolved to also publish the original, which was just downright sweet. They you can decide for yourself which was better.) where was I…right. Doing It the Gangster came on life, available for those who are interested…and don’t forget to post a review, please, pretty please…with a cherry on top? *wink*
Okay, that was my shameless self-promotion for ya. If you can’t do that on your own blog, then I don’t know where.
On a sad note, to have out of the way, today Sama, our 16 year old husky passed, peacefully and without any fuss. Gawd, I still remember when we first got her and her brothers and sisters. We had bought Akata (white male) at a breeder for big brother, back in ’97, because he wanted a pup he could train properly, and a year later, we discovered that said breeder still had the majority of Akata’s litter, which included Sama, Dhiti, Puma, and Tadaika I, all of whom he’d been unable to sell…the same went for three bobtails, so rather than have him put them all down, which was his other option, we offered to take the lot off him, to which he agreed. So, in the spring of ’98, we were seven dogs richer, and have enjoyed their company in the years that followed. Now Sama was the last one to go, which is a pity, but not something I want to be sad about. She had a wonderful life, knew freedom after spending the first year of her life in a 3 by 8 foot cage (they were all agoraphobic—afraid of wide open spaces—when we first got them), ate well, was loved, and what more can anyone ask for really.
Knight had to go for his checkup to the vet this morning, and regarding his pneumonia the vet said he was okay. He still coughs once or twice a day, but he’s eating well (gained a total of eight pounds since he’s home) and is making a pest of himself again being snarky to Fortuyn. They got into a fight the day before yesterday, leaving Knight with a big scratch on his cheek, while Fortuyn has a hole under his chin and in the back of his neck. Stupid boys, I tell ya…though admittedly it’s the girls in the packs that are usually the problem. Girl dogs will rip each other apart while the boys will just posture and snarl a lot.
But anyway, while we were there, she had a look at this black small lump on his skin, and decided that it was better to remove it, because it was growing so fast. It had me worried a little, but the procedure involved a small injection at the spot, tweezers and scissors and two stitches afterward. Phew. Such a relief.
I got stabbed by a wasp the day before yesterday. Am having some sort of allergic reaction to is, since the majority of my lower arm has been swollen ever since. Hurts like heck too, not to mention that I have a patch of about three inches in diameter that is hot and red. Today the pain turned into itching, though, so I might be on the mend at last.
Am going to be doing some cooking later on (it being my free day and all) something like a pumpkin squash, buckwheat burgers and something really veggie tonight. Yay. But first I’m going to do a workout. I need it. It’s been weeks since I managed to fit one in, and it really is time that I use these ol’ joints properly for a change.
The foot. At the moment it’s not too bad, but I have good days and bad days in that regard. I can’t really find a pattern there. I do know that I didn’t drink my habitual glass of wine last night, and this morning I could hardly stand on the darn thing. Might be that the revreratol and antioxidants have something to do with that. I’ll have to try having some again tonight and see if I have less trouble standing on my foot tomorrow morning.
Writing. Haven’t done a lot of it, this past week. Mostly because…well, no time, seeing as we spend a couple of evenings getting Doing It the Gangster Way on the Kindle program. Also because we had to prepare a package for Saving Nina, which we’re sending out to publishers again. Strangely enough, all that takes a ridiculous amount of precious time. *sigh*
Did read a rather wonderful romance novel. I’ll post the review I did for it soon. You should really see about getting it if you’re into old fashioned romance, as in, no sex but lots of sweetness. I really enjoyed it.
What else? I’m sure I’m missing something, but for the life of me I can’t think of a single thing. Thinking…thinking….thinking some more…
Grrr.
Right, the MOT is coming up again, meaning that we have to have the car checked at the garage again for the basics. There go the savings. *sigh* Ah well, I’m not expecting big disasters in that regard. For the moment the Land Rover is running rather well. *knock on wood*
Grandpa is still having a lot of trouble adjusting to the changes, which is not surprising since he’s on his own a lot. Not that he needs us to hold his hand, or anything, but it is hard on him, I can see it, in particular since we were all used to working together a lot. He flourished then, and now you can see his age, if you get my meaning. It doesn’t help that there’s not a lot to do now, not little projects to keep life interesting, since our hobby area is gone completely, and that we lost a lot of the tools in all the messes that were caused during break down. Several of them ended up in he rain, which is lethal for electrical tools. In this regard (grandpa) the job ending is a good thing. We’ll be home more a bit, at least until we find something else. Hopefully it will settle him a little, make him feel less lonely. Sally, cousin Ed and tenant were good friends of his, and he misses their presence, I think…heck, so do I.
No news yet from town hall, but mom did deliver pictures to show that we removed what we were ordered to remove, so let’s hope that that’s enough to have this whole thing disappear for once and for all.
Labhana is getting worse by the day, I fear. Even grandpa is noticing it these days, and he’s not one to notice such things until it is really bad. I’m trying one more thing, a herbal mix, to try to alleviate her pain, but if that doesn’t work, I’m not going to drag out her suffering just because I don’t “like” having to make that decision. I would find selfish of myself, not to mention cruel, so…yeah, need to get that decision set in my head.
The weather is still agreeable, despite that we really need some serious rain before summer, because the country isn’t even green at the moment, which it should be this time of year. We had three, maybe four decent rainy days this winter and that simply won’t do. We’re suffering from a drought, clearly.
Well, this is going to have to be it. I don’t remember anything else worth mentionable, and I do want my workout before the day is through. I’ll be back…I hope.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
Will you look at that!
It's there, yes! Rather than letting it gather the proverbial dust on my computer bookshelf, "Doing It the Gangster Way" is published on Kindle! I spoke of it often, I complained, I raved, I...well, I nagged, but it's finally available to readers.
Yay!
Amazon Kindle
Do let me know what you think, if you decide to get it, and if you can, post a review, which seems to really make a difference these days. I hope you love it!
Thanks a million!
Yay!
Amazon Kindle
Do let me know what you think, if you decide to get it, and if you can, post a review, which seems to really make a difference these days. I hope you love it!
Thanks a million!
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
What do you think???
Song of the day: “Who wants to live forever” by none other than Queen, of course. You’d think that’s depressing, but it’s not, actually. It feels like there is change in the air, might have something to do with spring, or the fact that our one week notice at work is almost at an end, or something else entirely. Whatever the case, I’m ready for it. Let it come and…well, you’re guessing my next words, I’m betting: We’ll see. Hah
So, what’s been going on? Not much that I can tell about, I fear. A lot of it involved work, so that’s off limits, as you know. Dontcha just hate it when there are parts of life that one can’t discuss on a perfectly respectable blog? Ah well, no matter. Let’s see what else I can talk about.
The mess of what used to be the yard is basically cleaned up. Now we’re fully in the waiting game of when town hall comes to check on us. I do hope that they don’t dawdle. The waiting is friggin’ killing me. I want to be put out of my misery for once and for all, for crying out loud.
Knight II is back home, still very weak and skinny, but as of yesterday eating well again, thank gawd. He is still hacking up slime through out the night, which makes sleeping mighty interesting, and during the day he sleeps a lot. Like right now, he’s stretched out on my old porch, in the full sunshine, really enjoying himself. Big lug just loves sunbathing. Went in for his checkup today and the vet was pleased to note that his lungs sounded a lot better. Far more capacity than the last time, which is a vast relief.
The weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment. The sun is out, the clouds at a distance, and the wind still nicely fresh. For as far as I’m concerned, it can stay like this forever…weather wise anyway. Hah.
Considering it’s my free day today (the way things look right now, my last free day before actual unemployment) I spent part of the morning making pattie dough. Did three varieties, lentil, bean, and chickpea, because it is just an easy thing to have when you don’t have a lot of time to cook. They’re healthy, nutritional , and, well, just jummy. Will be making some sort of veggie mash to go with it tonight. Something with peppers and zucchini I’m thinking. Maybe some sort of ratatouille. Hmmm. I’ll have to think on that some more before I decide. I also still have a beet salad in the fridge, might have to go for that one. We’ll see.
Like I mentioned the other day, the competition is now in full swing, I’m so curious what these reviewers will think of it. Might be they hate it, but I’m trying to maintain a positive attitude and will therefore maintain that they’ll think it splendid. Hah. The 18th will the date when we know.
Still haven’t heard from the cooking competition people. Whether that is a good sign or not…you’re guess is as good as mine, on that one.
A bit of sad news is that our oldest dog, Sama, a 16 year old husky that has been with us since 1998/1999, is doing worse these days, and is in pain, so we will have to take her to the vet one of these days, and if it turns out that her many ailments are too far gone for anything to help much, the dreaded decision will have to be made again. Gawd, I just hate it when that happens, but her life is now becoming a question of quality, rather than longevity. For a little girl with various cancers through her lifetime, an awful viral infection in the blood that almost cost her her life, she held out a real long time with relatively little trouble. Now she is blind, however, almost deaf and losing what was left of her mobility. Also the large cancerous growth in her stomach is rapidly progressing. She eats like a mammoth, and yet she is losing weight, and the pain is getting to be so that she’ll cry out every now and then. The time is drawing near, that’s a fact. Sadness…heck any emotion, should not cloud this decision, this about what is best for her.
Some nice news, we’ve decided to just go for it, and publish the book that was recently declined by a publisher. Sure, very disappointing and everything, blah blah, but that doesn’t change that I think some folks out there will enjoy reading it, so it’s going to happen one of these days. Big brother and I have been working on the cover and came up with this one:
1st option:
But there has been a word or two about the color, Big Brother included. I love this color, but this is not only about what I love, but also potential readers. Here are the other options:
2nd option:
3rd option:
4th option:
5th option:
6th option:
7th option:
Let me know what you think. Which one would totally draw your eye if you were looking for a lovely romantic gangster story set in the roaring 20s, in Chicago of all places?
I should probably be offering some sort of reward for the one that picks the “winning” color…a free book when it comes out? You let me know if you want one. *wink*
What else? Drawing a blank here…well, most of the dogs got rid of their cough. There’s some hacking going on every now and that, but that too should disappear in a few more days, a week at most.
Again I’m blanking out. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Finally I’ve got a moment to write this week’s blog, and the stupid head decides to forget most of anything remotely interesting to report. I mean, seriously, you don’t want to hear about the bill paid for Knight II (although, the vet, gotta love her, didn’t ask payment for his hospitalization, which would have been a mint seeing as he was there for almost a week.) or how I had to go to the bank four times this month because ever since the changes with the bank being bought by another, none of the automatic payments are being paid. *sigh* Very aggravating, that, by the way. Also, there’s nothing interesting about having to rush to our insurance broker because we were late paying our medical insurance, also due to the bank messing up. *double sigh*
No big news about Sally and tenant. The first is still alive, just barely, although she apparently suddenly did respond to cousin Ed, which had been ages, so maybe she’s still there somehow. Tenant and cousin Ed are both enjoying their dogs. Already there are plenty of stories about Sammie and Julia needing to get used to city living, which they had never done before. Can you imagine, always in the country, and then suddenly you have to behave. Hah. It’s good for them, I think. Change is vital to keep life interesting. Tenant did have a little bit of a scare. She and cousin Ed were swimming the other day, and she got a dizzy spell after which she wasn’t able to come up from the water, scaring the both of them out of two months of their lives…I can imagine. But apparently it is not unusual. The doctor said that it probably had to do with water in her ear, throwing her of, so to speak.
Oh, I had a work related road trip the other day. I got to see the area near Almogía, which was very different from here. Very bare, and remote, even though I was no more than twenty minutes away from Málaga. Always nice to see new places.
Well, this is going to have to be it. That’s all she wrote, as they say. Let’s hope I’ll be back same day next week, and remember a little more of the things that have been happening.
So, what’s been going on? Not much that I can tell about, I fear. A lot of it involved work, so that’s off limits, as you know. Dontcha just hate it when there are parts of life that one can’t discuss on a perfectly respectable blog? Ah well, no matter. Let’s see what else I can talk about.
The mess of what used to be the yard is basically cleaned up. Now we’re fully in the waiting game of when town hall comes to check on us. I do hope that they don’t dawdle. The waiting is friggin’ killing me. I want to be put out of my misery for once and for all, for crying out loud.
Knight II is back home, still very weak and skinny, but as of yesterday eating well again, thank gawd. He is still hacking up slime through out the night, which makes sleeping mighty interesting, and during the day he sleeps a lot. Like right now, he’s stretched out on my old porch, in the full sunshine, really enjoying himself. Big lug just loves sunbathing. Went in for his checkup today and the vet was pleased to note that his lungs sounded a lot better. Far more capacity than the last time, which is a vast relief.
The weather is absolutely gorgeous at the moment. The sun is out, the clouds at a distance, and the wind still nicely fresh. For as far as I’m concerned, it can stay like this forever…weather wise anyway. Hah.
Considering it’s my free day today (the way things look right now, my last free day before actual unemployment) I spent part of the morning making pattie dough. Did three varieties, lentil, bean, and chickpea, because it is just an easy thing to have when you don’t have a lot of time to cook. They’re healthy, nutritional , and, well, just jummy. Will be making some sort of veggie mash to go with it tonight. Something with peppers and zucchini I’m thinking. Maybe some sort of ratatouille. Hmmm. I’ll have to think on that some more before I decide. I also still have a beet salad in the fridge, might have to go for that one. We’ll see.
Like I mentioned the other day, the competition is now in full swing, I’m so curious what these reviewers will think of it. Might be they hate it, but I’m trying to maintain a positive attitude and will therefore maintain that they’ll think it splendid. Hah. The 18th will the date when we know.
Still haven’t heard from the cooking competition people. Whether that is a good sign or not…you’re guess is as good as mine, on that one.
A bit of sad news is that our oldest dog, Sama, a 16 year old husky that has been with us since 1998/1999, is doing worse these days, and is in pain, so we will have to take her to the vet one of these days, and if it turns out that her many ailments are too far gone for anything to help much, the dreaded decision will have to be made again. Gawd, I just hate it when that happens, but her life is now becoming a question of quality, rather than longevity. For a little girl with various cancers through her lifetime, an awful viral infection in the blood that almost cost her her life, she held out a real long time with relatively little trouble. Now she is blind, however, almost deaf and losing what was left of her mobility. Also the large cancerous growth in her stomach is rapidly progressing. She eats like a mammoth, and yet she is losing weight, and the pain is getting to be so that she’ll cry out every now and then. The time is drawing near, that’s a fact. Sadness…heck any emotion, should not cloud this decision, this about what is best for her.
Some nice news, we’ve decided to just go for it, and publish the book that was recently declined by a publisher. Sure, very disappointing and everything, blah blah, but that doesn’t change that I think some folks out there will enjoy reading it, so it’s going to happen one of these days. Big brother and I have been working on the cover and came up with this one:
1st option:
But there has been a word or two about the color, Big Brother included. I love this color, but this is not only about what I love, but also potential readers. Here are the other options:
2nd option:
3rd option:
4th option:
5th option:
6th option:
7th option:
Let me know what you think. Which one would totally draw your eye if you were looking for a lovely romantic gangster story set in the roaring 20s, in Chicago of all places?
I should probably be offering some sort of reward for the one that picks the “winning” color…a free book when it comes out? You let me know if you want one. *wink*
What else? Drawing a blank here…well, most of the dogs got rid of their cough. There’s some hacking going on every now and that, but that too should disappear in a few more days, a week at most.
Again I’m blanking out. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Finally I’ve got a moment to write this week’s blog, and the stupid head decides to forget most of anything remotely interesting to report. I mean, seriously, you don’t want to hear about the bill paid for Knight II (although, the vet, gotta love her, didn’t ask payment for his hospitalization, which would have been a mint seeing as he was there for almost a week.) or how I had to go to the bank four times this month because ever since the changes with the bank being bought by another, none of the automatic payments are being paid. *sigh* Very aggravating, that, by the way. Also, there’s nothing interesting about having to rush to our insurance broker because we were late paying our medical insurance, also due to the bank messing up. *double sigh*
No big news about Sally and tenant. The first is still alive, just barely, although she apparently suddenly did respond to cousin Ed, which had been ages, so maybe she’s still there somehow. Tenant and cousin Ed are both enjoying their dogs. Already there are plenty of stories about Sammie and Julia needing to get used to city living, which they had never done before. Can you imagine, always in the country, and then suddenly you have to behave. Hah. It’s good for them, I think. Change is vital to keep life interesting. Tenant did have a little bit of a scare. She and cousin Ed were swimming the other day, and she got a dizzy spell after which she wasn’t able to come up from the water, scaring the both of them out of two months of their lives…I can imagine. But apparently it is not unusual. The doctor said that it probably had to do with water in her ear, throwing her of, so to speak.
Oh, I had a work related road trip the other day. I got to see the area near Almogía, which was very different from here. Very bare, and remote, even though I was no more than twenty minutes away from Málaga. Always nice to see new places.
Well, this is going to have to be it. That’s all she wrote, as they say. Let’s hope I’ll be back same day next week, and remember a little more of the things that have been happening.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Review of "Winter's Heart"
Well, I didn't have time for a blog again this week, so y'all will have to do with a review space-fill. Did warn you the other day. Hah. Stuff is happening at the moment, so there might be some change in the near future. Hopefully that will mean more time for writing. Yay. Oh, and just as an FYI: the ABNA competition is now running, and we'll know whether we're through the first round on the 18th. Keep yer fingers crossed...better do your fingers too, just in case. Hah.
Here's the review...and cover.
Review of “Winter’s Heart”
by A.C. Warneke.
By my own 1-7 star stystem
* * * *
A wonderful story, but…
I have to say that I was wonderfully surprised by the writing style of Warneke from the moment I started reading her Winter’s Heart. Flynn, the heroine, is a wonderful girl, with witty dialogue, a quick smile and a sweet character that won me over immediately. Winter, the hero, is similarly impressive from the moment I met him and was nicely complex in his character. Perfect counter points, I would say.
To give you a small outline, it is basically “Nottinghill” in reverse, with a normal girl falling for a big handsome movie star, and him falling just as hard. Then there are the pitfalls of fame, the backstabbing and corruption of “the Bizz” and then love conquering all.
Nice. A perfectly respectable story line that had me at the get go…in fact, I was really getting into the story when suddenly, out of the blue (shows me for not checking out reviews of this then freebie, I suppose) I got slapped in the face by a sex scene that had me agog for a several lengthy pages. I mean, I guess I could have seen it coming with the occasional rather liberal mentions about the hero “helping himself” and the virginal heroine having this obsessive fear for STDs, but I dismissed those as the story just being very modern.
As it turns out, it might just be a bit too modern for me. Both in language (no pretty wording when it got serious) and actions. A pity, too, since except for those sex scenes, which went on endlessly and were totally unnecessary to make these characters interesting (they were!) I loved the story. Heck, I even shlogged my way through the supposedly hot spankings, the toys, the submissions, the bodily liquids, the endless varieties of A and B, and C, and D, and…gawd knows how many appendages and orifices coming together, just because I wanted to know what happened to these characters.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read my fair share of sex scenes, I even enjoy them if they fit the story, but I really found myself getting that “icky” feeling from the complete lack of inhibition displayed by both characters whenever sex came into play. Which was often. And long. And I hope not too realistic in most cases because, yikes! A serious case of TMI for me, I fear.
Story wise, the characters, dialogue, talented descriptions (even during the sex scene *shivers*) humor and nicely fast-paced prose, this story would have gotten the highest marking from me. Regretfully, I’m going to stick to four stars only.
Conclusion: For some this could definitely be the perfect read. It’s hot, it’s modern, and…creative. For others, like myself, who’re more into old fashioned romances where it’s about the characters just falling in love, rather than girth, speed, and some serious exhibitionism, better steer clear.
You want to check out Winter's Heart yourself. Go Here
Here's the review...and cover.
Review of “Winter’s Heart”
by A.C. Warneke.
By my own 1-7 star stystem
* * * *
A wonderful story, but…
I have to say that I was wonderfully surprised by the writing style of Warneke from the moment I started reading her Winter’s Heart. Flynn, the heroine, is a wonderful girl, with witty dialogue, a quick smile and a sweet character that won me over immediately. Winter, the hero, is similarly impressive from the moment I met him and was nicely complex in his character. Perfect counter points, I would say.
To give you a small outline, it is basically “Nottinghill” in reverse, with a normal girl falling for a big handsome movie star, and him falling just as hard. Then there are the pitfalls of fame, the backstabbing and corruption of “the Bizz” and then love conquering all.
Nice. A perfectly respectable story line that had me at the get go…in fact, I was really getting into the story when suddenly, out of the blue (shows me for not checking out reviews of this then freebie, I suppose) I got slapped in the face by a sex scene that had me agog for a several lengthy pages. I mean, I guess I could have seen it coming with the occasional rather liberal mentions about the hero “helping himself” and the virginal heroine having this obsessive fear for STDs, but I dismissed those as the story just being very modern.
As it turns out, it might just be a bit too modern for me. Both in language (no pretty wording when it got serious) and actions. A pity, too, since except for those sex scenes, which went on endlessly and were totally unnecessary to make these characters interesting (they were!) I loved the story. Heck, I even shlogged my way through the supposedly hot spankings, the toys, the submissions, the bodily liquids, the endless varieties of A and B, and C, and D, and…gawd knows how many appendages and orifices coming together, just because I wanted to know what happened to these characters.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read my fair share of sex scenes, I even enjoy them if they fit the story, but I really found myself getting that “icky” feeling from the complete lack of inhibition displayed by both characters whenever sex came into play. Which was often. And long. And I hope not too realistic in most cases because, yikes! A serious case of TMI for me, I fear.
Story wise, the characters, dialogue, talented descriptions (even during the sex scene *shivers*) humor and nicely fast-paced prose, this story would have gotten the highest marking from me. Regretfully, I’m going to stick to four stars only.
Conclusion: For some this could definitely be the perfect read. It’s hot, it’s modern, and…creative. For others, like myself, who’re more into old fashioned romances where it’s about the characters just falling in love, rather than girth, speed, and some serious exhibitionism, better steer clear.
You want to check out Winter's Heart yourself. Go Here
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