Tera's World

It's time for a change

2008-12-03T19:51:00.002-05:00

Yup, you heard it. It's time for a change. A change in my blog that is. =) I'm upgrading and switching to Wordpress. Yeah. It's better and will enable me to do a lot more. Plus, I've been irritated with some things with Blogspot, such as RSS feeds and the like. So yeah. I'm switching. So go see me here, at http://editortera.wordpress.com

Harry Potter

2008-12-03T08:08:00.003-05:00

Remember me telling you a couple of months ago that I had succumbed to the madness that is Harry Potter? Well, the week before last I finished with Year 6, which is Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I wanted to make my comments on the series so far and then read the last one, since we all know how much the final book in a series can change your opinion of it. =)

In short, I loved them. I can now easily see the obsession as I am now wondering how close I am to it. Hahah. I'm not used to reading books so "simple" and I was amazed at how well they did everything "adult" books do but much better. I mean, when I'm reading a book I sometimes visualize the scenese in my head, but not all the time. When I was reading Harry Potter I had a vision in my head 99% of the time. I always knew the emotions of each of the character, and the character development was something else entirely. I loved it.

The stories kept me enthralled, and I didn't care about the fact that they doubled in size with each book. All I wanted was more more more. And then some more after that, which I guess I'll get when I read Year 7, which is the final one. Plus, I haven't seen the movies, so I'm looking forward to watching those, too.

I couldn't even tell you know why I avoided them for so long, but I'm actually sorry I did. I've never been one for reading YA, but with the introduction of Harry Potter and the Twilight series I think I just might peek into it more often. Another one keeps catching my eye, too, that I think I just might go ahead and get. The title is "Luxe" but I'm not sure who the author is.

But I digress.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books. The only irks I had were in the beginnings of the second and third ones, when I felt that they repeated way too much of the previous book. Then I remembered that most people weren't reading them as quickly as I was and that the previous book probably wasn't as "fresh" to other people as it was to me, so the annoyance of it dissipated rather quickly.

My hat is off to JK Rowling and her amazing storytelling abilities.

Bound By Love by T.A. Chase

2008-12-02T11:34:00.002-05:00

It's a release day! Woo hoo! I'm late this evening on it, but hey, I'm getting to it. =)

Two cowboys fall in love. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.

Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin’s shadow. It’s time he gets a life of his own—and maybe the man he’s always dreamed of, too.

Ren Alston’s always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man’s return as a sign of good things to come.

But first, they have to deal with Tyler’s twin, past indiscretions and Ren’s brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?

Warning: Explicit manlove. Hot naked cowboys, caramel sauce, spanking, whipping and a new twist on the old fashioned roll in the hay.

Go buy it here!

PictureMail

2008-11-29T21:18:00.001-05:00

You have a Picture Mail from mkleinfelter01@pm.sprint.com

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Oh my God.  A pink Christmas tree. I'm in love.

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Christmas!

2008-11-29T10:56:00.003-05:00

So, today is the day for Christmas. Yesterday we ended up having to replace a dryer at one of the rentals, so that took up most of the day, which meant that I didn't get to put up all the Christmas stuff. So, today is the day. =) Woo hoo! I've got all of my little knick knacks to take down and replace with Christmas stuff and my two trees to put up. Yes, I said two. I have our main one in the family room where we spend all of our time, and I have the simple one with white lights that I put up in the front window, since I love the look of it from outside. =) We also have the lights to put up outside and the big wreath at the peak of the roof above the garage.

And the Christmas trees up means that the cats get their favorite places to sleep back. =) They will CONSTANTLY be underneath the trees. And Piper? Well, we don't think he does this anymore, but when he was a kitten, he would climb up the tree and lay across the branches in the middle.

Query letters

2008-11-28T21:29:00.003-05:00

Guess what? I'm not going to bitch about them this time. =) Isn't that amazing. I just got one that is probably the best I've ever seen. Instead of starting out with the normal "My name is... My book is... (brief explanation of the book)..." and so one and so forth, the author uses a tagline.

"I've just stolen two million dollars from you. What are you willing to do to get it back?"

It immediately had my attention and piqued my curiousity. It was a great idea because it immediately got my attention. It stood out...and in a good way. Because, well, when query letters stand out for me it's normally in a negative way. And as we all know, first impressions are everything, and it can affect your opinion of a book/author.

Now, I haven't even opened the manuscript, so I have no clue what the quality of the writing is. But, they've got my attention, which is ALWAYS a good thing. Considering the fact that 95% of what we read is rejected. And trust me, it's not always an easy decision.

A quiet Friday night

2008-11-21T21:20:00.002-05:00

So Myles went out with a friend tonight to play penny poker, have some beer, and have some guy time. Works for me. I headed to El Rodeo with David and Misty and the kids for some Mexican food and BIG margaritas. Had a bunch of laughs with/at the kids and then treated myself to some Starbucks to attempt to stay up late and get some editing done. I've got a bunch I want to get done this weekend so I can take a break next week over the long weekend. =) Especially since I'll be putting Christmas stuff up. Woo hoo! I love putting it up, but God I hate taking it all down. For some reason, it just doesn't feel like work when I'm putting it up since I'm so excited. Then come January 2nd and it's time for it all to come down... Yeah, I just don't want to do it. It usually takes me until about the middle of January to force myself to do it. LOL And no, it's not because I'm all sad to "put Christmas away", I just really don't want to spend the time and energy on it. And this year will be sucky, considering last year, we were heading to Hawaii on January 8 for two weeks. Yeah. That would be so nice to be able to do that every January. Becase, really, is there anything good happening after New Year's for like, months. lol Literally.

But for now, I'm in a good, positive mood. See me again in January and I'm sure it'll be a different story. I'll be hermiting and editing and really just not wanting to leave the house in general unless it's to go to work or get food. =P

Funny pets

2008-11-16T11:14:00.004-05:00

I've spent my weekend switching off between cleaning and editing, and I've gotten quite a lot of both done. Right now, as I'm trying to type, I have a Piper Pussicaticus next to me on the arm of the couch, head-butting me and swishing his tail in my face letting me know just how displeased he is that I haven't been very loving this weekend. =) But hey, I fed him and cleaned his litter box? What more could he ask for?

Yesterday, Myles and I were putting curtains up in the bedroom and Piper decided he was going to play in them. They're longer and rest on the floor, so it's a perfect cat place, though Myles and I aren't too happy about it. Well, to attempt to dissuade the cat/s from playing in the curtains and potentionally/definitely snagging up the sheers, Myles began to freak Piper out by doing whatever he was doing and telling Piper the Curtain Monster would eat him. *shaking my head* So, here's Piper, all worked up. He runs into the hallway, and I'm at a vantage point where I can see him and Myles can't. He is laying up against the wall, his tail going about a million miles a second. He turns back to look at me, and his tail hits him in the face....and scares him....and he jumps about two feet high. People, you can't just make this stuff up. For serious. I haven't had a laugh that good in a while. =)

Yes, it's a stupid, but I felt the need to share. So, share it I have.

I steal

2008-11-13T09:11:00.005-05:00

And I steal from Angela...well, this time at least. She posted a video of Keith Olbermann and his reponse to the passing of Prop 8 in California, and I've got to say, it really touched me. I'm not even going to bother to say more because he says it so much better than I ever could. Thanks, Angie!!

The Catcher and the Lie by Rita Oberlies

2008-11-12T08:01:00.004-05:00

I had a new one release yesterday! Go buy it here!

One player works extra innings to make Abby break her own rules about love.

After a year of personal and professional upheaval Nick Valente is in the market for redemption, not temptation. Getting involved with any woman, especially smart-mouthed Abby McCabe, is simply not in this player’s game plan.

Experience, mostly bad, has convinced Abby McCabe that she has a special gift for finding men who can’t help falling out of love with her. Getting close to a man, especially one who plays the field professionally, is sure to add another loss to her emotional score sheet.

As summer heats up an unexpected spark turns into a flame. But fear of getting burned winds up putting two strikes in their relationship. With Nick on the bench, it’s up to Abby to turn the game around. Trusting this man with her heart could deliver the biggest save of her life—or the biggest error she ever made.

Will they strike out or end up with a homerun?

Warning, this title contains the following: a hot baseball player with all-star equipment, a smack talking woman who doesn’t know the score, and a world class collection of inflatable dolls.

Yes, I'm up

2008-11-09T09:38:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to force myself to wake up earlier on the weekends. When I sleep until noon I feel like I've wasted so much of the day. Especially with everything I have to do, the last thing I need to be doing is wasting time sleeping. And now the weekends are so much more important for getting stuff done since the evenings are trash for doing anything much. When it gets dark out at five, you really don't have the energy to do anything. It's a struggle to stay up past nine right now, since my body is still adjusting to it getting dark so early. Hopefully it adjusts soon. Sigh.

Today I plan on finishing edits on Rockstar and sending that off and then I'll be getting some stuff around the house done. Oh, and grocery shopping. The cats have no wet food left and they are making it known that they are NOT very happy about that whatsoever. I swear, when we give them dry food, they sniff at it and then turn their noses away. They only eat it when they realize they're not going to be getting anything else. =P Yes, they're very spoiled. But hey, when you don't have any kids yet, your pets are your kids.

Another thing I'll be doing today is looking through my recipes for casseroles. I can make a 9 x 11 pan of something and Myles and I can eat it four 3 or four days. Make a second one and switch them off and we eat for a whole week. With the prices at the grocery store, this has become even more important. It sucks when you pay $70 bucks for only a few things.

Anyone have any good casserole recipes your family enjoys? And keep in mind, Myles won't eat vegetables...or they have to be big enough for him to pick them all out. =)

I know I know

2008-11-06T08:03:00.003-05:00

I've sucked at blogging. I sit down to write one and I have a great idea, but then something distracts me. A submission I'm reading, or edits to do, or someone talking to me. Something, anything, pulls me away from the task at hand. And for those of you that know me, you know that's not hard to do to me. I'm a distractable procrastinator. Yes, I'll admit it.

But this week, I've been working hard to complete all those little things I've been putting off. I've been an asbsolute machine when it comes to editing and reading submissions, but other than that, I don't have much to be proud of this week. =P I'll be spending the weekend doing a lot of catch up stuff around the house and hopefully I can persuade the Myles to hang some curtains with me, but we'll see how it goes. I'm sure he'll spend a lot of time on with his new toy, the lawn vac, sucking up every stray leaf he sees. lol He's even told the neighbors not to rake. =)

So, yeah, that's about all in my life now, but I've been going through a lot of writing and grammar stuff, so be prepared for posts related to the subjects in the very near future, since I've been slacking from sharing the editor side of me lately. And I know how you all love it when I talk grammar and the like!

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

2008-10-30T08:07:00.002-04:00

When I heard another Chuck P book was being made into a movie, I immediately had to go out and get it. I love his writing and his books do lend themselves to being made into movies. For those of you who don't know, the movie Fight Club was based on Chuck's book Fight Club.

Choke is written in very much the same style. I could actually picture Edward Norton soeaking the main character, Vince Mancini's, lines and thoughts will I was reading. That should give you a pretty good idea as to the tone of the book. As for the whole choking in restaurants thing, I can understand it for the attention, but as for the people who "save" him sending him checks and cards and such, I think that's a bit fartfetched. But hey, it's a fictional story. If that's the way Chuck wants it, that's the way it will be.

I'm anxious to see the movie now to see how it compares to the book. There's a lot of stuff in there that I'm wondering if the movie will portray or not. I mean, a book from the POV of a male sex-addict has some pretty interesting narrative and situations in it. LOL Plus, the whole situation with his mother and...well, let's just say you've got to read it. Keep in mind, Chuck P's books aren't for everyone. You'll either love them or you'll hate them. There is no in between.

Query letters

2008-10-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't done a post on writing/editing in a while, and since I'm sitting here doing nothing, I figured now would be as good a time as any. I know I've probably posted on this before, but since the query letters aren't getting any better, I'm going to post on it again.

First off, in your query letter, don't tell us you're the next Nora Roberts, Danielle Steele, or God forbid, Stephen King. Believe it or not, Stephen King is the most prevalent name I think we all see. You are not Stephen King. You never will be. And when you compare yourself to him, we pretty much immediately know that when we start reading your manuscript, it's probably no good.

And secondly, proofread your query letter. I mean, seriously. Don't use "your" in the place of "you're". It doesn't look good for your mauscript if you can't even get your query letter right. I have seen query letters where authors even misspelled their own name. Yes, I know that sounds a bit out there, but I'm not lying. I've seen it before.

Also, don't tell me that you've submitted your manuscript to lots of other publishers. That doesn't tell me anything good about you or your manuscript. Trust me on that one. All it does is tell me that you've been rejected by lots of other publishers and you're pretty much going down the line and submitting it everywhere, hoping/waiting for someone to pick it up. And I'm sure there is a publisher out there that might just do that, but that's not us/me. With the amount of submissions we get, we don't need to accept second or third rate material just to bump up or output like some publishers do. That is NOT Samhain.

When writing your letter, tell me about your story. Don't give me the whole synopsis, give me a mini-blurb about it. Hook me, get me interested. Then, tell me about yourself. Don't tell me you started writing to get over the pain of your husband leaving you, your cat dying, or your children growing up and leaving the house so you needed something to fill the void. Tell me what makes you such a good writer that I should offer you a contract, and no, any of the above-listed don't count!

And in your query, don't just say "Dear Editor, This is my book. I hope you like it." Yes, I have seen MANY query letters that say simply that.

I know...

2008-10-27T07:41:00.003-04:00

I've been horrible at this this past week. And before that too. I keep getting sidetracked every time I try to sit down and blog. Or to do anything else for that matter.

Last Wednesday was my birthday and I had a good day. =) Myles cooked dinner all by himself, and David, Misty and the kids were over. Had a great laugh over Kevin, so that was actually a great gift. =) And even with Misty being there, Myles cooked all by himself. I told Misty she wasn't allowed to step into the kitchen. She cooks for me--and everyone else--all the time.

Saturday we ended up tailgating and the Purdue homegame from the time we woke up and then went to the bars with that whole gang afterward. And I'm so proud of myself...I was in bars and I was drinking all day, and I only bummed one smoke from someone. That's amazing. Seriously, for me, that's a miracle.

The quitting smoking thing is going pretty good. The cravings and rough times are less and less now, so that's always good. I miss it, but I'm thinking about it less now. We didn't quit because we wanted to, per se, but we quit because it's just so freaking expensive. Over four bucks a pack and they're talking about imposing another tax on it. Yeah, it's just not worth it.

This week is for getting thank you notes done, cleaning the house, and getting through all of my submissions before Friday, that way I can spend Friday sitting out on the porch with my Misty and a glass of wine and handing out candy to Trick-or-Treaters without having to worry about what I have to get done. Plus, I'd like to be able to get some organizing done this weekend in the kitchen and in my office without having to worry about cleaning anything. That'd be really nice. Ooh, and hang curtains. =)

What are your plans for the last week of October?

Getting caught up....

2008-10-19T12:00:00.003-04:00

Can be a big pain in the butt. That's what I'm working on doing right now. Editing, submissions, housework, laundry. lol Not to mention writing all the Thank Yous for the wedding. Yeah, it's a lot, but I'm not as busy as I was before the wedding, which is really nice. It's nice to have things back to normal, or at least to as normal as I ever am. =) I enjoy editing, and even when we were on our honeymoon, I kept wishing I had my computer so I could work. But the deal from the very conception of the honeymoon and where we went was that it was no phones and no computers. I did end up having to buy some word puzzle books, though, because just sitting there and watching TV and movies was getting boring for me.

Tomorrow I go back to work, which I'm so-so on. As much as I love being home, I need to get back into the swing of things. I'd love to be able to stay home all the time and have no evil day job, but that won't be happening for quite a while. =P Not until babies come...and no Misty, you're still gonna have to wait two or three years, so don't go looking at maternity clothes to dress a pregnant Barbie. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of stuff to do when I get there tomorrow, but most of my work was being covered while I was gone, so it won't be almost two weeks of stuff piled up, which is okay. Believe it or not, I hate it when I have nothing to do. I prefer it when I'm crazy busy, since it keeps me, well, busy and because it makes the day go by faster. =P

The Wedding!

2008-10-16T16:25:00.006-04:00

Me on my way to the church after hair and makeup.
My dad and I right before the ceremony.

My flower girl on the left. Me dancing and making weird faces on the right.
My MOH and her husband, a groomsman.

Myles and Dawn, one of my BFFs and bridesmaid.

Okay, well, it's all over with. =( That's the sad part. But the good part is that Myles and I had an absolutely AWESOME wedding. And everyone else says so, too, so it's not just us. lol There were no gliches or hiccups or anything. No disasters, no problems. It was amazing. I don't have a whole bunch of the pictures in yet, but I do have some, so I'll post some of the good ones I have on here.

One Thursday, everyone started coming in, so admidst getting all of the final stuff done, I had a ton of people there. But it was all good, since I loved getting to spend time with them. Friday Mom and Misty and I all got manis and pedis, Mom's treat to her "two" daughters. =) Doug and his girlfriend came in on Friday morning and oh man was I sooooo happy to see him. Turns out, I used to hang out with his girlfriend way back in middle school. LOL That's some funny stuff right there. But she's awesome, so it's all good. The rehearsal went well on Friday as did the dinner.

And then Saturday came. The big day.

The day started at 5:30, getting up and getting showered. We made a Starbucks stop and then we were on our way to the salon so Jesse could do our hair...we had to be there at 6:30 so that he could get all of us and my makeup done by noon. We were there a long time, but it didn't feel like it. Just us girls gabbing and having fun and joking around. The girls' hair was great, all in French twists with some mini calla lillies and pearls, but each one done differently.

After Jesse finished my makeup it was time to head back to my house to get our dresses and accessories and head over to the church to get ready for the pictures we were doing before the wedding to cut down on the time spent on them after the ceremony. The dress zipped out without a hitch, which was great, and then I just sat there. And sat there some more until Ed, our photographer, was ready to do pictures with my and my maids and family.

Everyone kept asking if I was nervous, and the answer was no. I was just anxious. I was sick of sitting there and I wanted to get the show on the road, so to speak. Mom and Dad were getting a little emotional, but I remained calm. Until I was lined up to walk down the aisle with my dad. Then it hit me. I was fighting back tears when my dad lifted my veil and kissed me on the cheek, and when Myles took my arm to walk me to the minister, I was having a hard time, but he ust kept looking at me and smiling and it really helped calm me down. Hell, I don't even remember what the minister said and what we said. Myles and I were whispering to each other the whole time, and at one point Misty and I caught the giggles. Her son was the ringbearer and he was sitting on a chair behind the guys, but right in view of Misty and I and he started doing this heavy breathing/hyperventilating thing, using his whole body and stuff. Oh God it was hilarious. Luckily, one of the guys saw what was happening and moved him so we couldn't see him anymore. =P

I know I messed up a line, but I don't even remember what it was. =P And then it was done. We were married. =) Then everyone blew the bubbles at us and then Myles and I took off in Doug's Mustang, and then we came back and took pictures. And then we went to the reception site and took some more pictures. LOL

And then we finally got announced and got to start the best part of all of it...the party. =) Eating and drinking and all that good stuff. The one thing that was really hard was getting around to talk to everyone. I still feel like I missed people. After the first dance, most of the people pretty much cut out, but those that were left were our close family and friends and we all had a blast. And I mean a freaking blast. Dancing and drinking and laughing and just having fun. I walked out onto the dance floor with my champagne and Misty promptly came out, took my glass and gave me the bottle of champagne. LOL So there was Tera, walking around with a bottle of champagne. =P Eh, oh well, it was my day. =)

After the reception was over, a bunch of us headed to a bar downtown, within walkign distance. I change but kept my veil on, since there was no way I was traipsing around in that huge ass dress and letting everyone walk all over it, since one of the bustle things broke and it didn't hold it up right. The bar was a great time. At one point, Myles came up to me and told me we had to talk to some people. I was like, um okay. I followed him, and he walked to the front of the bar to the front booths, stopping at each one and saying hi and asking if they got their shot and telling them we had just gotten married. Yeah, he bought a round for the ENTIRE BAR. *shaking my head and laughing*. That's my Myles. You should have seen my brother's face when he found out what Myles did...since at the beginning of the night he told the waitress that Myles and I were on his tab. Hahahah.

After a few more drinks and being bought a couple more shots, Myles and I decided to head out, at like 1:30. Once we got back to our hotel room, Myles decided he wanted one more beer. So he calls up the best man, who has the cooler full of beer in his room and who was also still at the bar. And voila, Kevin, Dawn and or friend Fulk show up at our room with the cooler and stay there until a little after 4. lol Yeah, it was a LONG day. But it was so much fun.

Sunday was all about sleeping and only waking up for short amounts of time when we absolutely had to. LOL Here's some pictures: Okay, well, my Blogger is being a pain in the butt, so I'm leaving 'em up top. LOL

You know it's...

2008-10-01T08:09:00.002-04:00

Going to be a good day when you start it off by hearing Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" on the radio on the way to work. =) Yeah, definitely a good day.

So last night, Myles went out and got us a home gym. Rock on! I've been wanting one since forever. I hate cardio with a passion, but I have no problem sticking some music on and working out on that for 20-30 minutes when I get home from work. So, to the big black trash bag in my closet of my skinny clothes, I'm sorry you've sat there for so long, but you will be worn again. I promise. It'll be like getting a whole new wardrobe. Seriously. All of my favorite clothes are in that bag...including my favorite jeans ever. My size 5 Tommy Hilfiger jeans that fit like a glove. lol And they're soooo comfy. And all my favorite sweaters and shirts, too. I can't wait. For serious.

And have I mentioned lately how wonderful Myles is? He knows I've been wanting to exercise and stuff, so he surprised me with an MP3 player to motivate me. =) Because taking walks by yourself in absolute silence is freaking boring.

On the wedding front, man, it's coming up. I keep getting busier and busier. Tonight I have nothing to do but work out and work on cleaning the house, though, so that's nice. Tomorrow we're going to see Robin Williams, so that evening is gone, and Friday Dawn will be in town and her, Misty and I are going to spend the day together and the evening before my bachelorette party on Saturday. And on Wednesday, everyone starts converging in Lafayette and most likely my house from all over the country. Literally. =) Dawn and Kevin and the kids are out here from Washington state, Stephanie is in from Hawaii, and all Myles's family from out east will start filtering in on Thursday. So yeah, business business. Not to mention getting the favors ready next week, which is gonna take FOREVER. =P But it's all good. I'm excited.

So if no one hears from me, that's why. I'll try and post blogs when I have downtown, but we'll see how much downtime there is. =P

The Presidential Debate

2008-09-28T10:41:00.002-04:00

Myles and I couldn't watch them on Friday so we set them to tape on the DVR and watched them last night. David and Misty were over last night for Myles birthday, so we watched it with them, and we all came to the same conclusion: it was one bug cluster you-know-what. We didn't really see that either of them really answer the questions, and the moderator even picked up on that and made some comments regarding it, too. They both kept saying what needed to be done, but neither ever said HOW they were going to do it, which is the most important part.

I'm not going to tell you who I'm going to vote for, because, well, I don't know who I'm going to vote for. I really don't like either one. I will admit, Obama did better in the debates by far. That still doesn't make me like him any better, though.

I mean, McCain...he's old, he's been pro-Bush's ideas (which I hate), he wants to keep us in the war...the list goes on.

And Obama. Ugh. He has absolutely zero patriotism, which I hate. He won't even put his hand over his heart when the National Anthem is playing or the Pledge of Allegiance is being said. And, straight from my brother who's in Iraq, was there when Obama went to visit Iraq. Obama refused to go into the hospitals and visit wounded soldiers because the cameras couldn't follow him in there. I do like how he wants to get us out of this stupid war and put or soldiers where they really should be, in Afghanistan searching Bin Laden out.

Like I said, I'm not big on either one, so I guess I'm just going to have to keep watching and decide who the lesser of the two evils is. Either way, I think this country is pretty much screwed.

Oh, and what's all this crap they were talking about that we're winning the war in a Iraq and we'll be the victors, blah blah blah. Can someone please tell me what the hell we're winning? Seriously. McCain kept talking about how the Iraqis look at us as liberators...um, no they don't. My brother said they hate us and want us to get the hell out of their country.

And here's a way to save money, stop giving it away to people like Georgia and Africa. I think it's time our governemt stopped trying to be everyone's big brother and aiding all these other countries and start paying attention to their own country for once. Start letting other countries deal with their own problems.

Can anyone tell I'm really annoyed by the whole entire election? Sigh.

I've been...

2008-09-24T08:49:00.002-04:00

A bad, bad blogger lately. And the sad thing is, I haven't been all that crazy busy, so I really have no excuse. =P I'm just a crappy blogger lately.

I'll probably start to get busier in the next few days, since as of right now, the wedding is only16 days away. This weekend is the trip up to my parents' to pick up my dress from the alterations, next week is my two-day bachelorette party extravaganza, and then on Weds 10-8, family and friends start arriving from all over the country, including Hawaii. So yeah, I'm thinking I will continue to be a crappy blooger for a little while, though I will do my absolute bestest to remember. =) I just can't make any promises since I'm not sure I can keep them. lol

In the category of "Tera's Latest Obsessions" today, we have the Vampires Game on MySpace. Don't ask, because I have no freaking clue how I got into it. I think Misty sent me the invite and it's been downhill ever since. I sat in front of the TV last night, clicking over to my MySpace page every few minutes to refresh and see how much Energy and Rage I had. Yes, I know. It's sick. Completed depraved, but it's got me hooked. And with my OCD, once I'm hooked on something, it becomes a crazy obsession. Sigh. So if you need me, that's where I'll probably be, with my nose pressed into my laptop and my fingers frozen in place over the keyboard, playing Vampires. Yes, it's that bad. But hey, the more distracted I get, the less I think about things like food, so maybe it'll be a valuable weight-loss tool. (Shhh. Let me try and spin this into something positive.)

Things you need to know

2008-09-18T08:33:00.003-04:00

Which myths about alcohol are actually true? Well, today I'm going to address five of them, thanks to the Exponent, Purdue University's newspaper. =)

Myth 1: Beer gives you a beer belly.

And the answer is........FALSE! (Oh thank you, lord). There has been any substantial research to confirm the fact the beer causes consumers to gain excessive amounts of weight. There are alternative explanations to the correlation between beer drinks and excess weight. Beer drinkers tend to eat food when they are intoxicated, so their weight gain can be attributed to excess calorie intake. Another reason beer drinkers may gain weight is because of the amount of alchohol they drink. Heavy drinkers who are putting down a six pack or more a night are going to gain weight...so basically, to sum it up, beer drinkers who aren't alkies are okay. Ya hoo!

Myth 2: Beer before liquor, you've never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear.

FALSE! Sweet. I've always made an attempt to follow this one, but it never quite works out with all the shots I take while drinking beer. =P Studies show confirm that mizing alcoholic beverages with fruit beverages or carbonation makes and difference, but not with beer or liquor specifically. The one reason you may get sick is because of the congeners in alcohol, which are a by product. Basically, stick to the same drink if you can, because if you're drinking different types of drinks, you're getting different types of congeners in you, and sometimes they can have a reaction that ain't so great for you. Bottom line, alcohol is alcohol and if you drink enough, it doesn't matter what you had in what order, if you drink too much, you'll make yourself sick.

Myth 3: Sucking on a penny helps you pass a breathalyzer test.

Yeah, so not true. Just watch Mythbusters. They already covered this and said there is pretty much no way possible to beat a breathalyzer test, so don't even try.

Myth 4: Hair of the dog as a cure for a hangover.

This one is actually false, which surprises me. When I was in my big time party days when I was a bit younger we always did this. Maybe it was just psychological that we felt better. Actually, the metabolites in alcohol will actually make your hangover first. The researchers go on to say that the best way to cure a hangover is to moderate your drinking so you don't get what. Um, yeah. I take it they don't get out much. =P

Myth 5: Alcohol kills brain cells.

This one is actually sort of true. Sigh. It certainly explains all my blonde moments. It's something about alcohol being a neurotoxin, and if you have the right genes, or the wrong ones haha, if you drink a lot over the course of your lifetime, you can develop something called Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome, which deteriorates the brain tissue. Well, that sucks.

And now that you have been enlightened, go out and have some beers and have some beer before you get to your shots. =)

Love Me by Kelly Jamieson

2008-09-16T06:00:00.001-04:00

How far does she have to go to get his attention? Another girl’s arms?

Melina Wenham is worried and frustrated. Lately, her boyfriend of six months seems to have lost interest in her. Yes, she knows he’s stressed about his big project at work, but jeez, it seems like he’d rather go solo than have sex with her. Sexy lingerie, a Brazilian…nothing seems to get his attention.

Gavin’s frustrated too. He’s under enough pressure at work, without feeling more from Melina every time he gets home.

Another night, another party, and Gavin is off talking to the boys. Feeling ignored yet again, Melina confides her troubles to an acquaintance, Abby, who suggests shaking him up by flirting with another guy. Hmm. Not a bad idea, except there are no flirt-worthy guys at this party.

Then Abby suggests a different tack—flirt with her.

Could a little girl-on-girl tango be the match that reignites romance with Gavin? There’s only one way to find out…

Warning: Hot girl on girl scene!

A day late and a dollar short

2008-09-12T13:09:00.003-04:00

But there's a reason for it. I couldn't really post this before I had watched the show.

Last night, Myles and I sat down and watched the 102 Minutes show on the History Channel. I thought it would be interesting to watch and see footage from a non-news aspect. Wow, it gave me a whole new perspective on things.

I know a lot of people compare the attacks of 9/11 to that of Pearl Harbor. I wholeheartedly do NOT agree. The 9/11 attacks were MUCH worse. When Pearl Harbor happened, they attacked a military post with military people, people who signed up for a job, knowing there was risk such as that attached to said job. It was also a time of war (Yes, I know, we weren't in the war yet, but it was inevitable and everyone pretty much knew it at the time). 9/11 was none of those things. It was during peacetime and it was to everyday, innocent people. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that the people at Pearl Harbor weren't innocent, but I think you know what I mean. The people who lost their lives during 9/11 were non-military people.

Watching that show last night really made me think more about 9/11 and what the people were going through, and I don't think the news has ever really shown that aspect of it. These were people on the streets as it happened, regular people, who were there as it all went down. You are seeing peoples' reactions as the events happened, in real time. You are feeling their panic and terror, and I had a hard time keeping myself from tearing up as I watched part of it.

In one part there are two college girls taping it from their apartment window, before the second plane struck, and one of them notices "things" that are falling faster than the other debris, and she is hit with the epiphany that those are people. In this footage, you can see the people jumping and freefalling, you can see the people on the top floors, above the impact area and fire, hanging flags out the window, leaning out of their broken windows and yelling for help. And you know, these people you are watching, they're all dead now. None of them lived through the collapse.

I think what got to me the most was the reactions and the expressions on the firemens' faces. Many of them are walking toward the building resolutely, scared shitless, some with tears in their eyes, but they are still going willingly. That is such bravery and courage, and I have even more respect for them than I had before, and my respect for them has always been very high up there. You can see the reactions of the firemen as people who have jumped or fallen land on the ground in front of them. And you can see how dazed, confused and utterly helpless they are after the collapses. You can see that they simply didn't know what to do at that point.

I know a lot of people don't like to hear things like what I've said, and they choose not to pay attention to that, but it's important we never forget. This was one of the worst days in the history of our country. Hell, it should be a national holiday like Labor Day and Memorial Day.

And people need to think of the many other American lives that have been lost since then, of our men and women fighting in the middle east, who were dragged into this mess. And yes, it's a mess. I may support our troops, especially since my brother is over there fighting in the Army right now, but the reason we got into this war in the first place has not been dealt with. We should be looking for Bin Laden, he should be dead already. Instead, we went over there because the president wanted to settle Daddy's old score. Saddam is NOT who commited the atrocious acts of 9/11, and the people who did are still out there, still hating America, still planning other ways to "get" us.

I know a lot of people don't agree with what I may have said, and that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and this is mine. It's something I feel strongly about. Like I said, it's okay if you don't agree with me. And no, I don't believe 9/11 was a conspiracy...that is just an absolutely ridiculous notion and has been disproven time and time and time again.

Ooooh, pretty

2008-09-10T21:12:00.004-04:00

So, we went and got our wedding bands tonight. And after three hours of looking and comparing prices, we finally bought some. Our intent was just to get plain gold wedding bands, since we didn't want to spend a lot of money, but, well, that just didn't happen. At all. And since I had requests from people to post pics, I had Myles take one of mine before it gotten taken away from me to be sized, since I have mini hands and my ring finger is only a size 5.

And you know what the worst part about this whole thing is? Myles just bought me a beautiful ring with certified diamonds in it, and I can't even wear it for another month. Blech!

My Bridal Shower...

2008-09-07T19:03:00.012-04:00

Was absolutely phenomenal. Misty and my mom are awesome! =) The first thing I saw was the cake when Misty came over with everything early yesterday morning. Oh. My. God. And as you can see, not just one cake, but two. =) A pink elephant in a wedding dress, complete with tiara and veil, and a wedding shoe cake. =) And she even tried to make the dress look like my wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses with the ruffles on them. She's so awesome. =) She always outdoes herself with the cakes she makes, so I was super curious as to what she was going to do for this, and she, once again, outdid herself and made a cake that was absolutely perfect for me. =) And actually, she told me she can't even take the credit for the cake design, it was her husband (one of our best friends, David) and her daughter, Grace's idea. They know me well, too. It's really great and such a blessing to have such close friends who know you that well.

As most of you probably read in my blog yesterday, right before my mom and dad and Matthew got there, I was banished to the upstairs to sit in my office while everything was being done downstairs. (Hey, I actually got quite a bit of editing done in that two hours. lol) After my parents and Matt got there, my dad and Matt and Grace were going to run out to Meijer to pick up some forgotten supplies. I actually got out of my office for a bit to have something more to do...and let me tell you, going downstairs with your eyes closed with your ten-year-old brother leading you isn't the most fun...especially in a pair of my signature three-inch heels. Hahah. I cheated and peeked, but I shielded my eyes and only looked at the steps. I didn't want to ruin the surprise that my mom and Misty were working on so hard for me. But then, I was finally able to come down and look at like 12:45, fifteen minutes before people were to start arriving. =P And that was partially because I sat on the top step, where I couldn't see anything and kept asking if they were done yet. LOL They wouldn't let me come down until they were ready with cameras, since they wanted to get my reaction. =)

This is me abolsutely loving the little high heels and purses they put on the table to hold candies. =) And the kicker of the candies in the high heels is that they were white chocolate high heels that Misty made. Perfect! They basically took all of my favorite things and that was the theme of the shower: black, white, pink, calla lillies, high heels, purses, elephants, ice cream, lip gloss and a few others things. Everything in the favor/gift bags was something that is one of my favorite things. Little wooden elephants, little ice cream cone-shaped bubbles, little lip sticks and high heels with bath gel in them, little blocks of Post-Its (I'm a Post It FREAK), blank note/Thank-you cards with elephants on them, my favorite candy bars (Rolos and Hershey Cookies N Cream bars. No Mr. Goodbars since Misty is allergic to peanuts), little candles in the shape of ice cream sundaes, glass coasters with calla lillies etched on them....it was perfect. And my favorite types of food, too. Mexican, Italian, and hick. LOL The hick part is the little mini pigs in a blanket. Hahaha. Taco dip, bruschetta made with yummy frency bread, homemade cinnamon tortilla chips with fruit salsa, and a BIG bowl of homemade sangria. Everything was perfect. I had a really great time. And afterward, my mom, dad, Myles, David, Misty and I went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (bloody steak, my fave!) and then to our favorite bar...well, everyone except My's. He's not so big on it, but he is wonderful enough to put up with it sometimes for me. =) And no, dinner and the bar weren't for me. It was to celebrate Mom's b-day on Sept 5 and Dad getting his MBA a few weeks ago. =)

Here's a couple of extra pics from the shower. I don't have everyone's pics yet, but I'm sure I will in the next couple of weeks and I'll post some good ones as I get them.

This one has me eating and making some sort of funny Tera face, but it has a really good view of the table stuffs. =)

By the way, the awesome picture of my cats...my dad drew that. =) He's a phenomenal artist. And I'm sitting in my throne, cheesin' at something or someone.

The three littlest ones who weren't participating, but sitting in the living room playing and watching cartoons, saw a few people come out to do the toilet paper wedding dress game and were so fascinated they wanted to do it do. All under the age of six. =)

And this one is of me and my practice bouquet....something I never even knew about until yesterday. I'm telling you, I'm pretty green regarding this whole wedding thing. =-P

So today....

2008-09-06T10:19:00.002-04:00

Is my bridal shower. Right now I'm sitting upstairs in my office with my neice Grace while her mom, Misty, is downstairs cooking and getting everything ready for when people start to arrive in a couple of hours.

She brought a bunch of the stuff over last night and helped me rearrange the house and get it back together after having the carpets cleaned and was showing me the stuff she put in the gift bags. =) Everyone is going to be getting things I like... all of my favorite things. =) Bubbles in the shape of high heels and lip sticks (since lip gloss stuff is hard to find, lol), little wooden elephants, some Ariel from the Little Mermaid stuff (since there will be kids here and the Little Mermaid is my FAVE Disney movie), my favorite candy bars, glass coasters with calla lillies on them...and the list goes on. It's so neat and it's so perfect. There is no theme other than "Tera". LOL She even has done everything in my favorite colors, black, white and pink.

This morning, she showed me the special surprise that she had set up...a scrapbook recipe book. She get recipes from all the family members on Myles's side and my family and friends will be contributing theirs today. Each family member has a page with their name on it and my favorite recipes. When I looked through it, I cried. It was really touching. Even though Myles's grandmothers have both passed, they even have pages in there. Wow.

This all feels so surreal. Myles and I have been together for four and a half years now, and we've been engaged for over two of them. It's like the wedding and all this has been such a long time coming that now that it's finally here, it still isn't quite real yet. It's amazing and wonderful. I'm so excited about everything and I can't wait to see what else Misty has in store for today.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the cake. Er, cakes. She made two. One is a wedding shoe, since, well, duh. LOL And the other is a pink elephant in a wedding dress with a tiara and a veil!! Oh my God, it's awesome. I'll be sure to post pics of everything. =)

Ah, having an office

2008-09-01T19:50:00.002-04:00

I moved into my office today, even though it isn't 100% complete. We still have to paint some chair rail and put that up one night this week. Myles is currently putting up the chair rail in his office right now. The room I'm in has been painted and unused for two years now. Yes, we've had an entire room in our house that has been unused. It's slated to be the nursery when we have kids in a couple of years, but until then, it's my office. And I have NO CLUE what I'm going to do for an office when the first rugrat comes and I have to give my space up, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. Gar. But, for right now, it's nice to have my own space for editing and such. I have all of my reference books and notepads and highlighters and pens and such in one place, and now the living room isn't cluttered with all my crap. =) I've been needed to seperate work and relax time for a while now, and I'm happy it's finally done. I'm sure I'll work just as much, but I'll work more efficiently. LOL Plus, when I'm not in front of the TV, it enables me to place all my concentration on the submission I am reading or the story I am editing. I think it will work much better this way. And did I mention that it's nice to have a room that's JUST MINE? =) I think that's my favorite part. None of the bookshelves match, the desk isn't the greatest, I still need to hang some pictures on the bare walls and I don't have any curtains for the window yet, but dammit, it's mine. =)

The wonderful world of info dumps

2008-08-28T18:08:00.002-04:00

This is something that always pops up in writing, especially with new writers, even even with experienced ones as well.

Please don't drop big info dumps in the beginning of the story. We don't need to know exactly what the hero and heroine look like right down to their shoe size by the time we get to page number two. We also don't need to know where they went to school, if Daddy loved them enough, if Mommy was never home, what elementary school they went to and what their favorite food is by the time we get to page number four. =) We don't need all those details right away. Trust me, that's not a hook for your reader. It's more like a yawn. There's nothing about that that's intriguing. Instead, start us off with some action. Lots of action.

And don't take leaving the info dumps out as to give us ANY information. Info is good, but we don't need five paragraphs detailing the heroine's life. Keep the story moving. Let things about your characters come out gradually. Let the reader learn the character, don't just tell them everything about the character. Show the reader the character.

Yes, those bad words, showing vs telling. But as long as people still do it, we editors will still continue to talk about it. =) Don't spend a paragraph giving us an info dump about how the villain is evil because he killed a litter of puppies. Show us something relevant, like the way he treats a family member in the presents, or dastardly actions he takes against a coworker.

I know I've kind of swayed off topic, into showing vs telling, but, I'm the queen of starting on one tangent and ending up on another. If I keep typing, I'll probably end up on the issue of filter words, the correct usage of the past participle, or the proper usage of lie vs lay.

Trust me, we don't want to go there. =)

Another busy weekend

2008-08-24T14:03:00.002-04:00

Firday night was fun. I went to El Rodeo with David and Misty and her family. Myles stayed home and slept. He was out like a light when I got home from work, so I left him alone. After El Rodeo David and Misty and I came back to our place and we sat outside and just chilled. Myles told David and Misty some of his famous car stories that they hadn't heard before. lol Misty was cracking up at them. Plus, we regalled them with the Jerry Springer ballad of his sister, and Misty was cracking up even more. LOLOL Yeah, it's a pretty good story.

Saturday morning we got up early and headed down to Indy for the airshow. The airshow itself was awesome, and the F22 Raptor was absolute kickass. The only thing that absolutely SUCKED was how sunny and hot and humid it was. Oh man. The temp was about 97, so I'm figuring with the heat index it was a bit over 100. There was no shade in the reserved seating area, so we were just out in the blistering sun. I put sunscreen on twice and still managed to get fried. I even ended up sitting under the table for a little bit. LOL Myles took a picture of me doing that. =P All that sun and my Irish skin is no good.

Today we slept in a bit and then headed over to Blakely where I taped off the kitchen and hallway and removed all the switchplates in those rooms so Myles could paint them today. After a quick trip to the grocery store, I'm home. As soon as I'm done with this, it's off to start some of the stuff on my list of things to get done to the house before the bridal shower. =P So it'll be a busy afternoon.

And I know I've been slacking on posting about editing stuffs, but I promise I'll do some of that this week.

And crap...the cat just knocked over the bag of trash. Sigh. So now I have to go pick all of that up. Dammit.

Thankful

2008-08-22T07:44:00.002-04:00

I was doing some pondering on my drive to work this morning. I've noticed that a lot of times many of us think about what we wish we could have instead of being thankfful what we already have and taking it for granted. I've got so many things in my life to be thankful for, so many people I've been blessed with having in my life.

Myles - He is my everything. He's the greatest guy anyone could ever ask for. He may not be the most romantic, lol, but he shows his love in so many other ways. He concentrates a lot on our future and things like saving money for things like college for our future children. He works really hard for us, with his job and the rental properties, and I hope he knows how much I appreciate that. He supports me in everything I do...my editing, my writing, and anything else I decide I want to do. =) Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today, no doubt about it. He's so smart (even though he doesn't give himself enough credit for it) and he's just awesome. On top of being my almost-husband, he's my best friend, hands down.

My family - A girl couldn't ask for a better family. No way, no how. I have THE best mom and dad ever. Hands down. My parents aren't just my parents, they're two of my best friends. I love spending time with them and they mean the world to me. I have the best little brother anyone could ask for, too. Matt is THE greatest kid ever. He's so smart and funny, and I love seeing how much like me he is at times. It's really night. And my other brother, Doug. He can be the hugest pain in the ass at times, but when he tries and when he wants to be, he's a really good person. If only we could get him to grow up a little bit...

Misty - What can I say about her? She's phenomenal. Last night I got to thinking about everything has done and is doing for the wedding and my bridal shower and the scheming we have done for my bachelorette party, and I teared up. She seriously knows me so well, it's creepy. She's shown me and told me about a lot of the stuff she is doing for the bridal shower, and it's amazing. The whole thing is revolved around me. Completely and totally. From my favorite colors, to my favorite types of food, down to all of my favorite things. She's ALWAYS there for me and has been from day one. I can honestly say that she will be my bestest friend until the day I die. She is absolutely amazing and anyone with her in their life is blessed. I only wish I was resourceful and "smart" enough to be able to do for her all that she has done for me, but dammit, I'm just not as good as her. lol

My house - It sounds stupid, but a lot of people barely have a roof over their heads, and Myles found us a beautiful home to live in that we never have to leave if we decide we don't want to. I know Myles and I have dreams of a place a little out in the country on some land, but if we never moved, I would be more than happy. The house is big enough for us and the kids we'd like to have, and it has a great backyard with awesome neighbors. What more could anyone ask for?

All the "stuff" I have = It's another thing that sounds stupid, but there are so many people who don't have their own library at home, or a closetful of clothes. Yes, a lot of what I have is necessities, but there are so many people who don't have that.

I think one of the main things I've been doing this morning is thinking about all of the things and people I am fortunate enough to have in my life that other people may never have. I really am a blessed person, and I don't stop and say "thank you" enough to the powers that be for giving me all that I have.

Work work play work

2008-08-21T09:47:00.002-04:00

I've been getting a lot done recently, but we're making some time to play, as well. I'm way ahead of the mark with my authors and getting their edits done, so that's lending me some extra free time. I've also got a couple of submissions to read, but not many at all. It feels like it's been kinda of dry on that end lately. =( But I'm sure it'll pick up. It always does.

This Saturday we're heading to Indianapolis to the Mt. Comfort airport for their airshow. It should be a lot of fun. We'll have a big cooler of beer tagging along behind us and we paid a little extra to have seats right on the runway, so no General Admission. Whew. I HATE General Admission anything. So that's what on the agenda for this weekend.

Next weekend is my final dress fitting in South Bend, but I'm fitting some fun in, too. I'll be getting a tattoo with my mom, our shamrocks for mom-and-daughter wedding presents. =) And I'm sure will hit my favorite mexican restaurant and suck down some of my favorite margaritas.

The weekend after is my bridal shower. Mom and Dad are gonna stay the night and we're gonna head out to dinner and Misty and I'd favorite bar to celebrate my Mom's birthday on Sept 5 and my dad getting his MBA. Woo hoo!

The best thing we're doing to have some fun is going to see Robin Williams on October 2. He'll be here at Purdue, and since I work here, I can get tickets tomorrow, and they don't open to the general public until Saturday.

Then there's wedding stuff galore and my bachelorette party, so everything until October 17 is gonna be REALLY busy for me. But that's the way I like it and I wouldn't have it any other way. =)

As a side note, my current obsession is Melinda Lambert's song "Gunpowder and Lead". I freaking LOVE it.

Ah a Monday

2008-08-18T08:24:00.002-04:00

And as with every Monday, it means I'm one week closer to the bridal shower (which is on Sept 6) and the wedding. I'm really excited for all of it though, so I'm glad another week has passed. =)

I'm all caught up on editing, waiting for a couple of things to come back, starting edits on one, and I'm gonna read some submissions today. =) Woo hoo! I've only got a few in my inbox, so I should be able to get through them in the next couple of days. I need some really good ones, though. I feel as if I've hit a slump. *sigh* It's always frustrating when that happens, but normally when I pull out of it, I pull out of it in a really good way. I'm worried that pretty quickly, I'll have nothing to work on, and that's no good at all. Eeek.

Wow, I went to see a movie

2008-08-17T13:59:00.003-04:00

Going to see a movie in the theater is something Myles and I never do. It's just too damn expensive.

But yesterday, one of my best friends, Ann, called me in the late morning and asked what I was up to. Her hubby had taken the kids camping for a family reunion that she couldn't go to due to a softball game (she has a national recruiter looking at her because she's such an awesome pitcher) and she had the weekend to herself. She knows that I never get to go see scary movies because Myles hates them, so she called and asked me to go with her. She picked me up at about 7 and thenw e headed back toher house for a bit. After she showered and her mom got into town we headed to Nine Irish Brothers which is one of my absolute fave places around here, and then we headed to the midnight showing of Mirrors.

I wasn't into it as much as I used to be into horror movies, but that's okay. =) I still got a chance to spend some time with her and we both agreed that the end of the movie got really gay. There were some parts they REALLY should have done away with and then skipped to the last scene, but oh well. I still had fine.

Other interesting stuff also happened yesterday, too. We were sitting on the couch and Myles stood up, grabbed his keys and said "I feel like doing something different today. Come on." Of course, I had no clue where we were going until we got there, so it got me a little nervous at first, because, well, with Myles you never know. We ended up at the Purdue University Airport. First he just wanted to watch the planes, because he hasn't flown in a while since we've had to spend so much money lately, and flying isn't cheap. =) You gotta rent the plane and then pay for the Avgas (aviation fuel) on top of that. So, yeah, after watching a Mooney fly in and then a Malibu (250K and 400K respectively) he decided to walk into the building. And he ended up reserving a plane to fly. =P We went home so he could get his log book and I could get my Xanax (I've NEVER been on a small craft before). And um, when we got back, it sucked for me. Since Myles wasn't current on his FAA medical, he had to have a Certified Flight Instructor go with him, and their policy is no third party passengers. Sigh. So Myles went flying and I went to go put gas and the Jeep and go to Borders...where I bought a couple of Jonathon Kellerman books. Hey, since he got to fly and I had to stay on the ground, I figured I should get something out of the deal. =P And trust me, the twenty books I spent on books was NOTHING compared to what he spent on flying yesterday. LOL

So now we just have to get him a medical and get his hours current and then he and I will be able to take off. =) The only problem to this is now he has the plane bug again. Bad. Picture a woman that's been bit by the baby bug...except it's a guy who wants to buy a plane. Yeah, that's my Myles. =)

And on a side note, I saw quite a few Samhain titles at Borders. Some Lora Leigh, Biance D'Arc...and and few more, but I didn't have my camera on me, which is a rarity, so I could take pics or anything. But they were there!!

Something happened this afternoon...

2008-08-15T15:12:00.002-04:00

That really bothered me.

Myles called me a little while ago and said "I just got the strangest phone call." Mind you, one of our houses is up for rent, so he's been handling a lot of phone calls about it since it went into the the paper on Wednesday. A woman called him about it, and he said that she had made the best impression so far, was very eloquent and well-spoken, but then she asked him a question that made him completely stop in his tracks. She said "Now I have to tell youask you something before deciding if I come to look at the house. We're an African American family. Would this neighborhood be accepting of us?" WTF? They're new to Indiana from California, so when Myles told me this, my first thought was that coming to such a bass-akwards racist state such as this one, they might have heard things and are somewhat apprehensive. That was the only thing I could think up for her asking that question.

So Myles tells me that he felt really bad for her that she felt she even needed to ask that in the first place. After he tells me this, I just sit here, totally shocked, and then Myles calls me again. It was bothering him so much that he had to call her back and apologize for the fact that she had to ask that. (My Myles is a damn good guy. =P )Turns out when she has spoken to other "landlords" in the Lafayette area, when they find out she is black, they've been asking "Well how black are you?" What?!? And, because she is so well-spoken, some automatically assume that she's a white woman, and when she inquires about the property, they've said "Oh, you wouldn't want to live there. It's in a black neighborhood."

Dude, all of that is so wrong on so many levels. Way wrong. So now, I'm sitting here, extremely bothered and agitated by it. I want her to come and look at the Blakely house so I can ask her who she called so I can find out exactly who thaey are, which wouldn't be hard, and turn them in, because asking a potential tenant anything about their race, or sexuality for that matter, is illegal. And it's just plain WRONG.

i'm just amazed that this is going on in the town where I live. I mean, yes, I live in Indiana. Yes, I know Indiana has one of the highest numbers of KKK membership in the US. Yes, I know this is a redneck racist state, but I guess I never really thought about it until now. I mean, I grew up in South Bend, which feels like worlds apart from Lafayette, which is only 100 miles away. It just wasn't like that in South Bend. I mean, sure, we knew it was like that in Osceola, but, wow.

I'm still just really irked about the whole thing. The color of your skin doesn't matter, it's your actions and how you carry yourself and all that. And that goes for ANY race. I'm just....yeah.

I am succumbing to the madness of...

2008-08-15T07:46:00.003-04:00

Harry Potter. Yes, I am. I've always steered away from it, and I have no clue why. Maybe it's because I always associated it with little kids, but I know SO many adults who have read the series and loved it, that I've decided to read it. And Misty has all of them and brought them to me to read, so I'm going to start reading the first one today. And she has all the big, bad, hardback ones. LOL The last two are huge and heavy. I'm gonna get my arms workout for the wedding just by reading. LOL

So yeah, I'll be doing my normal thing and posting reviews of them as I read them. I'm gonna start teh first one on my lunch, and I'm able to get through quite a lot of a book in an hour. Mad reading skillz is kinda something you have to have when you're an editor. LOL

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

2008-08-14T11:59:00.004-04:00

A song that kills. Can you imagine that? That would be really deadly in the hands of someone like me, pun intended. Oh man, Myles. Think of the wondrous things we could do? *wink wink*

Anyways, back during Christmas time, Misty and I were roaming through Barnes and Noble for books for my mom and Myles, and of course, I end up looking at books for myself. So I picked up some Chuck P. books and Misty scans the back and says, "That looks really good" and takes it up to buy it. A few days later, she walks into my work with a box of homemade cookies and that book on top. =P Needless to say, life has been hugely busy for me since then and I haven't had a chance to read for pleasure until recently. And first I wanted to finish all the books I had started but not finished, which I'm pretty sure I got done. =) So after Misty stole it from me and read it, I just finished reading it. And it was awesome, if you like that sort of thing, that is.

Now, for those of you who don't like to know anything about a book before you read it, don't continue to read further. Knowing me, there's bound to be some spoilers in here. =)

I was hooked by the Prologue that Misty actually read aloud to me while I was putting away my laundry. =P It basically talks about Helen Boyle, "the hero", who is a real estate agent. But no, she's not just any type of real estate agent. That would be way to ordinary and simple for Chuck P. She's a real estate agent who acquires haunted properties and then continues to sell them over and over and over. After the Prologue describes her, we learn about Carl Streator being a reporter/journalist and how much he pays attention to details. And here is when I started to go "Huh? What does this have to do with anything?" Then, it begins to come together.

His boss ends up having him do a peice on SIDS, interviewing families and so on and so forth. Since Mr. Streator is so freaking wonderful at paying attention to details, he happens to notice that the same book is at all of the scenes, and that page 27 is where they were are left at. So our wonderful reporter makes the connection and the deduction and fingers it all out. =) He assures that he's right by reciting the culling poem/song to his boss...and his boss dies. =P So there we have it. He connects up with "the hero", Helen/realtor, and together, along with a couple of tagalongs, they go on the road to destroy all the copies. This is how good old Mr. Streator finds out what Helen is doing with her knowledge of the poem. They're also searching for the grimoire to be able to reverse the culling song and blah blah blah.

Good story. I liked it. Of course, the editor I am found a couple of things that annoyed me or bothered me. The first was the way the main character described everything. "The details of the man are..." I understand this is because the guy was a reporter and we had this whole long diatribe about him paying attention to detail. But it felt very intrusive when every single character and location in the book was described that way. There was something off about it to me. Then again, good old Chuck might have done that on purpose for all I know. The other thing that bothered me was that I was confused about how Carl's wife and daughter died. Maybe it was me not paying attention, maybe it wasn't really said, but I was left wondering why. Or did Carl read the culling song to them from a book before he knew what it was a what it did.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. A lot. I'll definitely be keeping it in my library. =) And I'll also be picking up some more of his works, too.

Just my freaking luck

2008-08-12T18:18:00.004-04:00

I'm not a happy camper after going to see the doctor today. Yes, I know, most people would be really happy that they didn't have to have some sort of procedure or surgery done, but not I.

First off, Myles and I got there a few minutes early...the appointment was at 2:00. Then we proceded to sit in the waiting room until 2:35 until someone finally came to get us to go into the exam room. Once we got in there, tec guy/nurse whatever asks me a bunch of questions and then leaves. Then the doctor comes in about ten minutes later, and asks me all the SAME questions. Dude, the other dude just put them in the computer and they're on the paperwork in front of you. Not sure if I want you diagnosing me if you can't even READ. For serious.

So he brings up my MRI on the computer and Myles and I look at it. Yes, we see the big white abnormal thing. Only problem is, it's not on my knee. It's above my knee on the lower part of my thigh bone. Oh, and guess what? It's in the bone marrow and has very sharp, difinitive edges. I forgot what he called it, but basically when I was a fetus and everything was forming, a piece of cartilage got mixed in with the bone and stayed there. It's actually not anything at all, doesn't show up on an x-ray and has absolutely no effect on anything. So, there is no benign, abnormal growth.

Matter of fact, there is nothing. Nothing at all.

He said my knee looks excatly as it should look. No procedure to be done, no surgery needed, nothing. When he told me that, my eyes teared up and I about started crying in the exam room. I know it sounds funny that I wanted to cry because nothing was wrong, but anyone who knows me knows that I've been through physical therapy for this about four or five times, and it's never helped at all. I've been going through this for about ten years now, and I'm just plain tired. I've been to sports doctors, specialists, orthopedic surgeons...everything. And none of them have an answer.

This time, I thought it would be different. About a month ago, my knee started clicking. Every time I squat or go up stairs. And this is a problem, seeing as how I live in a two-story house. *sigh* I thought they would find something they can fix so i can finally be done with the pain and the annoyance and the frustration.

At one point, I looked at him and said "So you're telling me there is medically nothing you can do for me and I just have to deal with this for the rest of my life? (the clicking)". And he actually just looked at me and shrugged. Shrugged. Poor Myles was trying to ask questions, was trying to get somewhere with him, but the doctor basically said any other option we might try to do would be pointless. God love him, my Myles really tried though. I was glad he was there, because I was so upset, I couldn't even think of any questions to ask, but Myles covered all that for me, thank God.

When I got out to my car and Myles pulled away, since he was going back to work, I just sat there and cried. I'm so frustrated with this, and the only solution he gave me was a measly leg extension exercise and to wear a knee brace. *sigh*

D-Day

2008-08-12T09:16:00.002-04:00

Yeah, this is my D-Day. I'm leaving work at 1:45 to head to the doctor to get the verdict on my knee. I'd love to know what whatever this growth is in my knee. lol Ann thinks it's my twin sister. LOL Only she would say that. But that's one of the reasons I love her.

Myles is meeting me over there, since I'm pretty nervous/anxious/apprehensive about it. So, we'll just have to wait and see what they say. I'll post later this aftenoon/early evening and share the verdict.

Can't I just go to bed now?

2008-08-11T10:02:00.002-04:00

I'm really wore out from this weekend, and I will be after this evening, too. Friday we met with our banker and our realtor for drinks, Saturday we woke up late then went to dinner and out to the bar with David and Misty, and yesterday we got tons of "chores" done and then dealt with fleas until about midnight. Tonight will be the aftermath of dealing with the fleas.

Friday Myles and I met Mark and Jay at Hooters, and a little later on, our new tenant for the Blakely house met us over there, had a beer, gave us money and signed his lease. He ended up staying and chatting with us, since he's actually a nice guy and pretty easy to get a long with. So After we got bored at Hooters and I drank way too much sangria, we headed to BW3s (with the exception of mark who was headed to Kokomo. For those of you from Kokomo or who are from around here, will know exactly where said single man would be going.) had a few more drinks at BDubs, where Myles received more reassurance from an enthusiasic Jay that he has a job waiting for him if he decides to quit Steiner. So, we'll see.

Saturday I went and got my hair did, picked up a couple of things (including a new modem, gar) and then David and Misty met up with us at our house. Myles hadn't showered yet, so I made the mistake of flipping on a episode of House from the DVR for David and Misty and I to watch, since Misty loves that show but never watches it at home. Have any of you ever tried to watch House with her? It's an experience, let me tell you. First, she tries to figure out what is wrong...something NO ONE can do, since it's always some obscure, never-heard-of-before condition or disease. Then, since she knows these are reruns that I have seen, she bugs me to tell her what happens. And I truly rarely remember what the diagnosis is. And sometimes she laughs really loud and repeats stuff...especially if she is on a narcotic hangover from taking some pain meds. LOL but, she's my Misty and it's cute and I love her.

After we finished the episode of house, because we couldn't dare leave before she saw the end, we headed to parkside...which is this really crappy hole-in-the-wall local restaurant. But oh man do they have probably the BEST prime rib that I've ever had. The atmosphere sucks and the service isn't the greatest, since they only have one cook, one waitress, and one server, but it is sooooo worth it once you taste the food. We'd never been there before until David and Misty decided that was where they wanted to eat, and I'm glad we ate there. =) Then we headed to our favorite bar, where Misty's cousin is the DJ and we know everyone that works there and a lot of the people who hang out there. We had a lot of laughs and a really good time. I tried to drink "skinny" drinks, but ended up giving up and switching to draft beer. lol I just can't do the mixed drinks when I have good beer available. =P

And then came Sunday. At about 8:00, Myles decided we should check the cats to make sure they didn't have fleas. (The evil rental house had fleas in it, and Myles just then had thought about us bringing them home on our clothes. Something I never even thought about since my mind has been consumed with other stuffs.) We grabbed Piper and took a look at him, since he's white underneatch and it's easier to see them, and sure enough, I found one. So at 8 on a Sunday evening, here go Myles and I, going out to buy flea bombs and flea shampoo, then giving the cats a bath (oh, what fun, to give the world's most skittish cat and the world's bitchiest cat baths) then bombing the house. We had to put the wet cats in my car, put that car in the driveway so they weren't in the house, and then Myles and I had to leave the house last night for two hours. Luckily Brian and Ann let us come hang out with them. lol Needless to say, it was a REALLY long night last night.

And tonight we get to wash all the bedding (since we're bad people and let the cats sleep in bed with us and on it whenever they want), vacuum everything, mop the ceramic floors, get every bit of clothes washed....yeah, fun fun.

Wish me luck!

I LOVE the show...

2008-08-08T07:58:00.002-04:00

Paranormal State. I tried to get into Ghost Hunters, but well, it sucked. They never show anything and it gets stupid. So I quit bothering with it. And then Paranormal State came on, and I'm hooked on it. =) Then again, I've always gotten into the darker side of things, and I truly believe all that stuff. I've seen some crazy stuff that just can't be explained by anything else. Myles has always been a skeptic of all of it until recently. One of the guys at his work is on a local paranormal investigation team and he brought in some EVPs the other day for them to listen to. He said they were pretty "crazy". =P He also said that it was hard to ignore the fact that it might be real when it was this certain guy that brought the tapes in and is on the investigative group when said guy is a really smart Purdue grad student. Or maybe he's undergrad. Hell, I don't know. I don't even know the guy's name. LOL I just know Myles thinks he's a smart guy and a good guy and he said it's kind hard not to believe in the paranorma, stuff now. Which makes me happy, because now he turns on Paranormal State without me asking. =)

And this season is WAY better than the first season. The cases are better and the facts and proof of the "haunting" are much better. There have been a couple where you the viewer actually see what they are seeing, because Sergei is taping the rooms they are in and it's replayed. The viewer gets to see the chair move on its own, you get to see the shadow they are seeing, and the crazy lights floating around in the kitchen. And I'm sure there are skeptics out there who will explain away everything, but maybe some things just can't be explained away.

Trading Faces by Denise Belinda McDonald

2008-08-05T06:00:00.001-04:00

I've got Trading Faces by Denise Belinda McDonald releasing today. I loved this one when I read it as a submission. It just got better every time I read it! Click here to go buy it now.

There are worse things than winding up dead…

With her ex-husband’s death, Elyse Cabot thinks she’s permanently off the emotional roller coaster…until he turns up posing as his twin brother—the real victim of foul play—at his funeral. Before she can get any answers out of him, he’s gone, leaving her with more questions than closure.

And a fortune in loose diamonds.

Seeing Elyse again brings back a lot of hot, sweaty teenage memories for Jack. Then she opens her mouth and out comes some cockamamie story about her ex, diamonds and double crossing. So much for rekindling an old flame. Still, he just can’t seem to resist the lure of this dame in distress.

He just hopes he can solve the case before he does something stupid—like fall in love.

Warning, this title contains the following: Twins, explicit sex, graphic language, some rock ’em sock ’em violence, and did we mention diamonds?

Ah the joys of painting

2008-08-03T18:02:00.003-04:00

Yes, I hate painting...except when it's my house. And then I don't mind it as much. It's still not one of my favorite things to do, but at least I'm benefiting from it directly. =) My BFF Misty has decided that it is her mission to irradicate the world of the color purple. Her husband's ex had painted his house in many shades of purple, and now that the house is Misty's, all purple is GONE. Well, there was a lilac-colored bathroom in my house. And I say was because Misty irradicated it yesterday. LOL Even though Myles and I have lived in this house for almost two years now, we still haven't gotten around to painting everything and getting it the way we like it. We got the worst of it taken care of right when we moved in, right before our HUGE housewarming party, but then we lost momentum. And let's just say that the people who owned this house before us had NO taste whatsoever. So, yesterday, Misty decided to paint the upstairs bathroom and I worked on my office/what will become the nursery in a couple of years. And it was, well, an interesting day to say the least.

First, Misty decided to use her five gallon bucket o' paint as a step stool. It worked great to get the top of the walls...until her fell through the top. Yeah, not so good. She had cocoa-colored black tennis shoes. =) So after we got that cleaned up, it was my turn to have an accident, and mine was way worse. *sigh*

I guess with mine I have to start with a bit of backstory. We started by painting the room blue, the shade I choose. The only problem was that once all four walls were painting, it was WAY too bright. So, to make a long story short, we decided to paint it a cream color one third of the way up and put chair rail up. So yesterday I was finishing trim work and painting one third of the way up. As I was just about done with the walls, a big mirror fell onto a bookshelf and the bookshelf fell. And I had a gallon of paint and my paint pan sitting on top of said shelf. Yeah.No good. I spent the next two hours plus some getting the paint out of the carpet. It sucked. Bad.

I guess I probably shouldn't have laughed at Misty. I'll post pics of the room when it's done and of the bathroom. I love the bathroom. Lots. =) Now I just want to go sit in there and look at it. LOL I'll be stoked when my office is done and I can work in there...since I have yet to use it as an office yet. =P

And the verdict is...

2008-08-01T08:07:00.002-04:00

I have to go in for an MRI on Wednesday for my knee. I'm not happy about it. Only because it means I have to have an IV. I'm not afraid of the big magnet they're going to stick me in or anything like that. I'm petrified to have to have an IV. Why you ask? Dunno. When they draw my blood, I get nauseated and faint if i'm not laying down, and even then, I have a rough time with it. When I get shots, it's bad. And IVs are the absolute worst. Any time I've ever had an IV it's been BAD. When I got my wisdom teeth out, they did it in my hand and it bruised to bad down to my wrist I could barely move my hand. When I had my appendix out five years ago, they could only find a vein by my elbow...so therefore when I bent my arm, the needle was poking into my bone. For two days it was like that. Finally, on the third day when blood starting backing up into my IV, they moved it. I DO NOT do well with IVs, having blood drawn, and shots. So I'm starting to get more and more nervous about Wednesday and having an IV so they can inject crazy dye into me.

But do you want to know the kicker of all this? I love tattoos. I have three and I'm getting one more right before my wedding. My last one since Myles really doesn't like them. And the one on my lower back is pretty big. A tattoo doesn't phaze me to get and I have no qualms about going in and getting one...in fact, I get excited. So could someone please tell me what's up with that? =P

And just in case anyone cares, the reason I have to have an MRI on my knee....Since high school I've had really bad knees, the right one being the worst. Now it clicks when I walk up stairs. So they think something is rubbing or that I have might have a loose piece of cartilage under my kneecap. The first might mean surgery, the second definately means surgery. *sigh* I'm not a happy camper.

It's finally...

2008-07-31T08:15:00.002-04:00

The last day of working on the rental house. After tonight, no more. The new tenants move in tomorrow and then Myles, Misty, David, Wayne and I can get back to our regularly scheduled programming...er, lives. =P In the midst of all my own house cleaning I need to do this weekend, since I've had to put my house off to take care of Salem Street, I need to finish a round of edits and read some submission. =) I'm really looking forward to reading a few of them, too, since they're ones that I offered revise and resubmits on. *crossing my fingers that they're now even better than the first time I read them* =)

We're on the home stretch!

2008-07-30T08:46:00.004-04:00

After tonight and tomorrow, the rental will be done, since the new tenants move in on Friday. I didn't get as much done last night as I wanted too, since a lot of Myles's tools and junk were in the way, but I'm hoping that tonight will be a lot more productive for me. I spent much of the evening last night walking around the house trying to find random stuff to clean. =P Not that that's bad or anything, but it's NOT what was on my list of things to do last night.

I'm actually surprised that I'm as awake and coherent as I am this morning, considering the fact that I left for work at 7:00, since I had to make a couple of stops on the way, then went straight from work to the rental, and we didn't leave the rental until almost ten. And then I got home and crawled into bed to read for about an hour. Today and tomorrow look to be about the same. But on the up side, after tomorrow evening it will be done, and that's all that matters right now.

We

2008-07-30T08:46:00.001-04:00

Phantom Waltz by Catherine Anderson

2008-07-27T20:57:00.003-04:00

I read this book years ago...it was one I took from my mom's shelf...and when she recently gave me all of her books since she was "cleaning house", I remember this one and just had to reread it. Most hero and heroines are perfect specimans of human beings that each one of us who about them would love to be them or look like them, or something. But in this book, the heroine, Bethany, isn't so perfect. Due to a barrel-racing accident she's left in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Bethany was warm, witty, and really believable. The author did a perfect job at bringing us into Bethany's world and enabling the reader to completely understand how she feels and where she is coming from. And Ryan? Oh, man. Why hasn't God created more men like him. For serious. He is EVERYTHING a girl could dream of. Gorgeous, extremely thoughtful, rich, a cowboy...the whole nine yards.

It was really different to read a story with this element, but the author really did a great job with this one. I don't normally believe in the "love right from the beginning" stories, but this one had me. It REALLY had me. =) Put this one on your to-be-read list.

What I've been up to

2008-07-27T20:22:00.012-04:00

So, I know that y'all are aware of the rental drama and that we've been crazy working on it. You've seen the pictures...and if you haven't, they're on my blog and scroll back and look. That's all I've been doing. ALL I HAVE BEEN DOING. We've made mucho progress and I figured y'all might be curious as to how different it looks. We're about three-fourths of the way through. We have to be done by this Thursday evening, since the new tenants move in on Friday, August 1. I'm seeing some late worknights in my future this week. =P A little more painting, some touch ups, and a lot of cleaning. But, we've made A LOT of progress. And the new carpet goes in tomorrow.

Yeah, this is the old-style plaster and lath wall construction that we tore down. The reason behind tearing the wall out was because the windows you see there are new windows that Myles, Wayne, and David put in last weekend. You can see Myles (left) and Wayne (right) through the window...they're working on the new siding that was put up on the back of the house. It was a pain in the butt to tear that wall down, too. I was SORE.

This is paint that I had to scrape off the trimwork. And there is LOTS of this trimwork in the house. I counted the coats of paint. It was nine or ten at my best count. Yeah, not so much fun. I spent about five hours doing that last weekend.

This is the room that was blue, an absolute filthy mess and had the pool table in it. All painted and ready to get carpet in it tomorrow. Then it'll just be sometouch up paint and cleaning the windows and this room will be DONE.

This is some of my odd sense of humor. There is an old well in the backyard and on a night we're they were partying pretty heavily, they broke the concrete and rebar cover on it because they were curious what was down there. Dude, it's a well. It's a hole with water in it. (I actually think this is a water cistern and not a well, but I'm only a girl, so what the hell do I know? Grrr) So David and Myles made a new concrete and rebar cover for it...One that can't be removed. It's pretty obvious what my contribution was. Misty drew the angel. Too bad they covered it with dirt today and it will be seeded. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when someone in the future unearths it. LOL "Oh my God! They buried their grandmother in their backyard!"

And last, but certainly not least, this is all the trash. It takes up almost an entire city block. About nine-tenths of it is what the tenants put out there this past Friday and Saturday. We're just hoping that the trash guys pick it up tomorrow morning. I have NO clue what we're going to do if they don't. There was about half of this amount last weekend and they picked it up, so yeah. We're crossing our fingers. And toes. And legs. And arms. And anything else that can possibly be crossed.

Starbucks has crack in it

2008-07-25T08:52:00.003-04:00

I'm not kidding. After a few days last week and the weeke before of having Starbucks in the morning, I crave it something fierce every morning now. Bad. This morning, it was so bad, Misty brought me some at work. But, that's what happens when you have the MOST awesomest best friend in the whole entire world. =) For serious.

I especially need it since I'm going to be going straight from work at 4:45 to the rental to work on it tonight, then going home, going to sleep, and getting up bright and early to work on it again tomorrow. And Sunday. We pretty much have to have it all done this weekend, since the carpet goes in on Monday. And did I mention that we have to tear the carpet out ourselves? The Home Depot installers won't remove it because there are animal stains on it. They consider it a biohazard. So, yeah. That's even better. Yet another thing we get to do. =P

At least tomorrow night we get to have a little bit of fun. Our next door neighbors, who rawk by the way, are having a hog roast for his 49th birthday. "Munsey's turning 49 so we are gonna roast some swine." Sweet. Yes, I live in Indiana...we LOVE hog roasts. Yum. Plus, Jeff will make me some of his to-die-for chocolate martinis, so I'll be set.

And to get back to the reason I started this in the first place, I'm telling you, Starbucks puts some sort of highly addictive drug in there, namely crack, in order to keep you buying more. No wonder there are soooo many of them everywhere and they all do good business. They're not really a coffee shop, they're drug dealers. For serious.

Perfect by Judith McNaught

2008-07-24T12:40:00.002-04:00

I just finished reading this one on my lunch hour today. I started it back in January on one of my many plane rides when on my Hawaii trip, but I found that I was having a really hard time getting into it for some reason. Which is really odd for me, considering the fact that Judith McNaught is one of my favorite authors. When I finally picked it back up again last week, I started looking at how I would change that sentence around, or if a sentence was too long, or all the filter words I came across. We got to talking about reading for pleasure on our Samhain editor loop, and Angela James said something that got me to thinking, or, as the end result was, thinking less. =) She said that you have to learn to seperate, to take your editor hat off and just read.

And that's exactly what I did.

I just read. And read. And then I read some more. I got home from work last night and spent about a total of four hours just sitting on the couch reading. And yes, I'm a fast reader, but Judith McNaught's books are pretty long. =) And you know what happened? I found myself loving the book, just as I love the rest of the Judith McNaught books I've read. I love her characters and I really loved Julie in this book. She's a strong, caring, compassionate woman, and I think she's a great example for many of us. She's an extremely giving person, and that's something that, well, to be honest, you just don't really see anymore.

I enjoyed the struggles and the conflict, too, which is something Judith is GREAT at. Especially in Whitney, My Love. When you read one of Judith's books, you think the happy ending is just around the corner, and then BAM! Something happens that's totally unexpected. But it's not some unbelievable "oh come on" happening. It's something very real. And Judith doesn't disappoint with this one.

And have I mentioned the hero yet? Zack Benedict? Hot damn! I absolutely adore my Myles, but if was just a teeny bit like Zack you can bet I wouldn't be complaining. =)

To sum it up, Perfect was a damn good book. =)

It is...

2008-07-24T09:08:00.003-04:00

A decent day so far, even though I really didn't want to get out of bed this morning. That was pretty much hell on earth. =( Myles asked me to drive by the rental to see if they had done anything to it, since they were planning on having the majority of their stuff out yesterday, even though they have until Friday. They still have their non-working cars out on the curb though, and I suspect they still have the two in the garage. *sigh* Oh well, though. When Myles and I get their with our "crew" on Saturday morning, anything left in the house is going out the curb for the garbage, and any cars that are there are gone. I will be calling the police department and having them towed, because they are "abandoned vehicles. =)

After I checked out the Salem Street property I headed to Speedway to pick up a cheap cappucino. I'm used to it being a certain price, so I walked in there with my $1.17, and it turns out, it's gone up to $1.27. And I had no more money on me. So, as I left my coffee on the counter to go and get my credit card from my car, but the manager who I think may have a tad bit of a crush on me told me he'd take care of it and not to worry about it. =) How sweet of him.

Now I'm at work, and have been for an hour and a half, and I have managed to talk to my best friend on Gtalk, post some blogs, change up some stuff on my MySpace and look at some other random stuff. But, no "work" work has been done. =) Sweetness. Now I need to go through all the blogs I look at, which will take about an hour.

And last night was really nice. I actually didn't do ANY work (other than mopping the kitchen floor) and I sat around and read a book for pleasure. =) It was pretty nice. Then I went outside to play with the next door neighbor's puppy...a ten-week-old red and white border collie puppy named Dixie. Oh man, she is sooo cute! They're going to breed her in a couple of years, and it's looking like Myles and I are gonna take one of the puppies. =)

How's your day doing?

Something different

2008-07-23T08:09:00.003-04:00

I know it's sometimes fun and interesting to learn random, meaningless stuff about people, so here y'all go. =) For your reading pleasure.

1) What is your full name?
Tera Ann Cuskaden (It won't technically be Kleinfelter until October, I just thought it was easier for my authors than going through another name change.)

2) Any siblings?
Two brothers. Doug = 24 (on Aug 8 at least) and Matt = 10

3) Where were you born?
Mishawaka, IN, but you may as well say South Bend, IN

4) What is your favorite hobby?
Well, other than reading and editing, which everyone already knows....I love to work on cars. Right now we have two "project" cars, a 1990 Camaro IROC and a 1984 Ferrari 308 (think Magnum PI). The Camaro is mine and the Ferrari is My's....I HATE driving the Ferrari. No power streering. But no one is driving it right now, since it jumped a tooth on the timing belt. Yeah, no good. We're thinking it's a seized water pump, but regardless, it doesn't matter, considering we rebuilt it from the block up two years ago. Gar!

5) Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Nope.

6) What's your favorite alcoholic drink?
That all depends on my mood and where I am at. If I'm at Fridays, I have to drink a big mudslide. If I'm at the bar, I'm usually drinking Miller Lite with a lemon in it. And I ALWAYS love margaritas on the rocks and pina coladas.

7) Name three things you bought yesterday.
Starbucks, bananas, yogurt.

8) Name three things you are thinking at this exact moment.
-I can't wait for the tenants at Salem street to get served...because it will amuse me.
-I really want Starbucks right now, but it's one of the things I have to give up to fit in my wedding dress.
-I want to go home.

9) How did you bring in the New Year?
At my house with our friends there. Drinking games and lots of alcohol.

10) Where would you like to be right now?
It's a tie between Hawaii and Disneyworld. But at this point, I'll settle for not at work. =)

11) What are you wearing?
Knee-length black pin-striped trousers/dress pants, a "dressy" maroon short-sleeved shirt, black heels with pearl and ribbon "decorations" on them

12) What is the last thing that made you laugh?
A text message from my best friend Misty last night, and something her eight-year-old daughter said. "It's fun until you get to the screwing them part." They were rebuilding her little brother's wagon and she was the one screwing the stuff in. LOL

13) Worst injury?
The list goes on and on. Broken arm, concussion from dirt biking, I've busted my knee cap, I have practically no cartilage in my right knee right now so it pretty much always hurts, having to have the blue jean fiber scraped out of my knee after rollerblading down a stair rail and falling because someone yelled and scared me. Um....there's more, I have all the scars to prove it, I just can't remember them all right now. Have I mentioned what I huge tomboy I am?

14) Do you love where you live?
Yes and no. I LOVE my house, but I'm not as crazy about Lafayette. I'd like to take all my friends and my house and move it all to South Bend. I really miss not being close to my family. Even though they're only two hours away, it's not the same. I can't just go over there and have dinner and stuff and hang out with them. I'm really close to my mom and dad.

15) Who is your loudest friend?
Me, hands down. LOL

16) What song do you want played at your funeral?
Highway to Hell by ACDC...which coincidentally is the song Myles and I are gonna walk into the reception to. LOL

17) Would you chew gum after someone else has?
Only if it was Myles. We kiss...it's the same thing. lol And we've shared a toothbrush before.

18) What's your dream car?
Don't get me started on cars...they're like books for me. Myles and I sat down one night a few years ago when were drinking and bored and made a list of the cars we want...there was about fifty of them. Literally.

19) Are you a bad influence?
Yes, I tend to be. LOL

20) What is your favorite color?
Pink, black, white, cerulean blue, emerald green, kelly green

21) What is your nationality?
Um, American. LOL Actually, I'm mostly Irish, but I have enough Cherokee Indian in me to qualify for all the tax benefits if my great grandmother had registered. *sigh* I'd be sitting on easy street if she had.

22) What is your favorite song at the moment?
Um, Distrubia by Rihanna. Actually, I've been listening to that CD for about a week now nonstop in my car.

23) Whats your favorite TV show?
I have more than one. House, Criminal Minds, CSI:Las Vegas, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives

24) Do you read trashy romance novels?
Me? Read a trashy romance novel? Ew, never.
LOL

25) Do you like to sing?
I LOVE to sing. Karaoke is one of my favorite things. Hell, when I was in kindergarten and they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, my answer was to be a rockstar. =) And I still wish for that. And if I do say so myself, with the opinions of everyone I know to back me up, when I let go of my inhibitions I kick ass. =) My "signature" songs are Black Horse and a Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall and Foolish Games by Jewel.

Only...

2008-07-22T08:19:00.002-04:00

Two and a half months left until the wedding. Man, time has flown by. I can't believe we're pretty much at the end of July right now. Where is the world has all the time gone? It feels like just yesterday I had all the time in the world to get stuff done....nope, not anymore. Not hardly. But even with all I have to do, I'm really excited. Crazy excited. Except for the losing ten more pounds so I can fit into my wedding dress part. *looking at my Starbucks latte* Yeah, today is the last day for those. Tons of calories and fat and crap in those. *sigh* It looks like it's water only from now until the wedding. LOL And yogurt, lots of yogurt. And more tuna salad. And going on walks. Lots of walks. Yeah, that's the only part of this that really sucks. =P

I'm exhausted

2008-07-21T08:39:00.002-04:00

I spent an utterly and completely exhausting weekend at our rental this weekend. Thirty hours to be exact. Now it's Monday morning and I'm sitting at my desk at work, struggling to keep my eyes open even though I went to bed at 9:30 last night and woke up at 7:15 this morning...and I never woke up once last night. Not once. And the worst part of it is that I still have as much time to spend over there next weekend as I did this weekend, and I have to go over there probably three evenings this week and work on it. The new tenants take possession on August first, so EVERYTHING has to be done by then. It's a lot of work, but Myles and I will get it done with the help of a few of our friends who spent just as much time over there this weekend as Myles and I did. Those are good friends right there. =) Everyone should be so lucky to have friends like Myles and I have.

I'll be working feverishly to get the editing and housework that I have to get done on my few nights at home. Man, I can't wait until this week and next week are over. I just want to get this mess done and over with. Though I am looking forward to tomorrow...our current tenants are getting served tomorrow. Since Myles went down on Friday and filed a lawsuit against them for the damages done to the house. =) I'll be anxious to hear just what they have to say about that. But, I'm just an ass about that stuff anyway--I get pleasure out of it. LOL

Angie sucked me in

2008-07-18T20:10:00.000-04:00

Now I have Twitter, too. =) Check me out on there.

Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

2008-07-16T18:35:00.003-04:00

I've been reading this one for the past few months, literally, and finally got around to finishing it. I'm caught up on my editing, and even ahead of the game so I've had some time to actual read for pleasure. Not that I don't enjoy the stories I edit, but it's different. =)

I've heard of Lisa Jackson, but I must admit, I'm so out of the loop lately that I'd never read one of her books. Glad I did. I really liked it and was actually emotionally involved, which is something that's hard to do with me. I liked Cissy and I could relate to all of her actions, she's the opposite of her name, which is nice in a heroine. I also had very strong feelings toward the hero, but if I try to explain them at all, it will spoil part of the book, which is just no good. Lots of action and it kept me engaged all the way through out. I must say, the last fifth of the book was phenomenal and completely surprised me. I LOVE a book where the ending does that to me. That's really rare to find for me, too.

This one definitely gets an A from me. =) Pick a copy of it up here.

I've been busy...

2008-07-16T15:19:00.009-04:00

And will continue to be busy. And no, it has absolutely nothing to do with wedding stuff. At all. The lease on one of our rental properties is up in two weeks and we're starting to get stuff ready for the next tenants to come in. One of the things we had to do was get new carpet for the place, since we knew that the guys in there had trashed the new carpet we put in there two years ago to get it ready for them. Well, when Myles went over there yesterday to meet the guy that was going out there to measure the areas, he walked into one heck of a surprise. I called him at the tail end to tell him about a dentist appointment I had, and he didn't even want to speak at all, he was so mad and frustrated. He said that the place was "destroyed". Yup, no good when Myles uses a word that strong to describe something.

So I met him after work with a notepad and pen and we went through the house, making a list of what needs to be done. Keep in mind, the tenants are still living there. Yes, we know this for sure. But how they can be living there is beyond me. So, Saturday when we go over there to start working, the only work I'll be doing is standing over the tenants shoulders (three guys in their early twenties) and making sure they are cleaning everything spotless. Dictator Tera will be in the house. =) After you look at these pictures, go ahead and say a prayer for me, too.

Changes

2008-07-10T09:13:00.002-04:00

I've been making some major changes in my house. There's a lot of stuff I've been meaning to do, but just haven't gotten around to yet...for the two years since we've moved in. I actually unpacked the majority of my elephant collection and put them on some shelves in the living room. I'll take a pic of it. =P I actually arranged and put some furniture in the living room (A couch my BFF was getting rid of in a garage sale) and now I'm going to clean the stuff out of the corner of the living room. When Myles went to New Hampshire to pick up my Jeep, his mother loaded up the back with, well, crap. So now we have to go through it and probably throw most of it away, but it's always difficult to get Myles to help me with it, since he's the one who really will have to decide what to keep and what to throw out. I've also got about a million other organizational and picking up things I want to get done. And now, I've reached a point where I don't have a choice but to get them done. Especially since people who have never even been on my road, let alone in my house, will be in it for my bridal shower. And all the family and friends that will be in town for the wedding. Y'all know how that goes. Everyone knows that Myles and I bought a nice house, so they want to see it. And for the record, we only have the nice ass house because of our real estate savvy. Took us two years to find a great foreclosure. =) That's how you get nice houses for WAY under their value.

Synopsis

2008-07-09T07:54:00.002-04:00

I know I've went over this before, but I'm going to say it again, over and over like a broken record. When you submit a manuscript, do NOT leaving us hanging with the synopsis. We want to know the whole plot, including the end. Heck, most importantly the end. At the "end" of your synopsis, if you put something like "will the hero and heroine find love?" Does not make us want to read the story. It annoys us. =P

Utter Cupidity by Toni Meilluer

2008-07-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

Cupid: The ultimate god of love? Or the ultimate cad?

Cupid’s philandering and partying has finally caught up with him, giving the Olympian Council the opening they’ve been waiting for to make the irresponsible god prove he’s still competent in his job. For his punishment, the Council gives Cupid one straightforward assignment—to get a mortal to marry him. In one month.

There are only three rules to this deceptively simple task. Rule #1: The Council chooses the woman. Rule #2: He cannot use any of his natural abilities as a god to seduce her. And the hardest one of them all, Rule #3: He cannot lie to her.

When Brea Saunders is forced to work with a cocky-but-gorgeous art dealer, she can’t get away from the silver-tongued charmer fast enough. No matter how hard he tries, she’s determined never to give her heart to any man, ever again.

It will take all Cupid’s cunning and natural seduction to get the quick-tempered, man-hating, celibate beauty to fall for his charms in so short a time.

If he fails? He will be stripped of his powers—and his immortality.

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language.

100 Days of Wedding

2008-07-02T18:28:00.003-04:00

So, for anyone who is interested, I started a new blog to document the 100 days up to my wedding. An idea my dad had for me to do for a non-fiction book idea. Pretty good idea, too. =)

So here's the link: http://100daysofwedding.blogspot.com

99 Days!

2008-07-02T16:14:00.007-04:00

Yes, today is 99 days until the wedding. Wow. I remember when we first got engaged and it was damn near 1000 (Yes, we've been engaged for a long time, been together even longer). I've been working on getting stuff done and Myles has actually helped with some stuff. We chose our wedding vows this week, chose our unity candle, chose the cake topper... I also called the florist to set up a time to meet next week to go over my very simple but very explicit floral wants and needs. I REALLY want to have dark red calla lilies if they can be found. Sometimes they can be realyl hard and/or too expensive to get. We'll just have to see how it goes. *sigh* Also talked to the minister yesterday and we'll be setting up our premarital counseling stuff, which won't be a big deal at all. And next week, I go to buy my shoes for the big day and to go for my second dress fitting. They told me I need to have about three of them, so that we know if I'm maintaining my weight or if I need to lose a tad. Lord, I've been living off of cigarettes, water, tuna salad and tad bit of decaf coffee a couple of times a week, so I had better fit in the damn thing perfectly! LOL

And now there's other wedding stuff I'm excited for that my friends are doing...very secretive. =) September 6 is my bridal shower (at my house, because well, mine is in the best location for my out-of-town family, and because it's the biggest), but that's it. That's all I know! And my bachelorette party that I was planning on keeping really simple and low key has now turned into a two-day extravaganza, including a trip out of town all day Saturday, Saturday night, and all day Sunday. And, guess what? I'm not allowed to know anything about this, either. =P

And yes, you'll hear a lot of wedding stuff from me for the next three months, because, well, I'm really happy and excited and enjoying every minute of it. I started planning early, so I have the majority done, so I'm not having to rush to get anything done--very non-stressful. =)

And above is a picture of my wedding dress. =) I adore it. And it's gold. I'm really into this "no white at my wedding" thing. I think the gold dress is what started it. =P And the angle is kind of weird in the one because the lady told me "squat" because it's so poofy it makes me look like a cupcake when I do that. LOL I don't really like the other one, but it shows the dress well. And keep in mind that I've lost 15 pounds since I got it. LOL

Devil Take Me by Anna J. Evans

2008-07-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Yay! I've got another release today. It's a really good one, too. I love Anna's work. Click on the title to buy it now.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or is that wicked seductions?

Annie Theophilus is used to life not going her way, but now the future is looking bright. She’s engaged and finally getting her happily-ever-after—until she catches her fiancé cheating. The garage seems to be the safest place for a well-deserved crying jag. Instead, it proves to be a portal from hell, out of which a sexy denizen of the underworld has just emerged.

Namtar, one-time death-bringer to mortals, has come through an Earth portal for one thing—power. If he can convince a human to willingly sacrifice mortality for eternity in the Underworld, he will gain the power he needs to get the queen off her throne and secure a future for his people.

But Annie’s seduction doesn’t go as smoothly as planned. Somehow she steals a piece of his heart, and he finds himself struggling with a depth of feeling he’s never known. Now, thanks to his own hesitation, they’re on the run from a murderous ex-fiancé and a few enraged demons.
How can he ask her to give him her soul—when all he can offer her is pain?

Warning: This book contains sex in a garage, sex on the run, and shades of BDSM experimentation between willing partners as well as graphic depictions of an insane demon queen punishing her male and female lovers with stuff that put the ick in icky…I mean kinky.

Who should I kick first?

2008-06-28T20:56:00.002-04:00

I'm sitting here watching The Salton Sea (which I love, by the way), and our friend Alex is over here to watch it with us. Myles fell asleep on the couch beside me, and Alex is stretched out on the floor on the other side of me, asleep as well. And they're both snoring! It's driving me nuts. So, which one should I kick first? Alex is a cage fighter, and I have to live with Myles...so I'm weighing my options here. LOL

On another note, I was standing up in our bedroom last night cleaning up all my jewelry on the bureau (I have a bad habit of taking it off and just tossing it on there and it all gets into a jumbled mess and I hate the look of the clutter), and the tornado sirens started going off. Sweet. But then again, what's an Indiana spring, summer, or early fall if there's no imminent threat of a tornado. =P It missed us, though. So that's a positive thing. I've already been through enough of them. Hahaha. =)

Yes, I'm making changes

2008-06-28T12:28:00.003-04:00

I get bored with the same thing day after day, so I decided to mix it up. I'm sure it won't be the last time I do this. I was messing around with it when I was bored and tried to find some templates online, but alas, none of them worked and they deleted all my links. So I was back to square one, plus having to find all of my links and re-add them (plus a few).

I wish I new how to give myself a cool blog, but I don't I suck at techie stuff like that and I think I always will. I know enough to get the job done, but when it comes to putting my pictures where I want them in my blog (instead of ALWAYS at the top the way Blogger automatically does it), instead of having a much better background/layout, and instead of being able to link to stuff within my post's text...I have to do it this way. Yes, I know this way sucks, but I don't exactly have anyone chomping at the bit to teach me to do some of it or do it for free. =P

I mean, come on. I know one of you wants to drop everything to do this for me, right? Right?

Things I've noticed lately

2008-06-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

Just random, in general stuffs.

1. If you cannot walk properly--heel, toe--in heels, you should not wear them. You look really stupid when you clomp around in them, putting your whole foot down at once. Practic or something, would ya? Or just don't wear them. Then it again, it just makes us women who wear heels all the time, and who can run in them, look that much better. LOL

2. Going to McDonalds and ordering a large fry and a Big Mac, but getting a DIET Coke, doesn't qualify as being on a diet. That diet pop ain't gonna do nothing to make up for the thousands of calories you're ingesting in the Big Man and fries. Sorry, man.

3. If you're morbidly obese (This is a huge problem in Indiana, no pun intended), why do you get a handicap sticker? Shouldn't you be parking at teh very BACK of the parking lot and walking to the store? Just a thought.

4. If a guy (*cough* Myles *cough*) is in the middle of a meeting and answers your phone call and actually engages in the conversation later, he does not have the right to bitch about you calling him during a meeting later on in the day. It's his fault for not using his brain...duh, don't answer the phone, or pick it up and tell me you're in a meeting. It doesn't exactly take rocket science, dude (This goes back to me whole, guys-lack-common-sense thing).

When submitting your manuscript

2008-06-26T18:07:00.002-04:00

It's usually not a good idea to have typos in your query letter. Sure, it'll make you stand out to the editor, but not in the way you want to stand out. Trust me on that one. I've received a couple lately that just have me boggled. Did they even bother to use Spell Check? Do they even know what Spell Check is? One that particularly had me was having the word "beleive" in their letter. That's not even a word, because, well, it's spelled wrong.

This isn't a long post, since there's not much to say on that. It's pretty much common sense.

It's one of those days

2008-06-26T10:52:00.003-04:00

I'm reading through subs while at work. I've gotten caught up with all of my "work" work, so I've decided that I'll just get through all my subs today and tomorrow. I'm saving a couple of them because with what I usually see with those authors, I'll be wanting to offer a contract on them. =)

But the other ones I'm reading... They're not bad, they're just not good enough. There's something that's missing, something that's not drawing me in enough. The written is good, but the stories are just falling a little flat for me. I hate it when that happens. It's really hard to tell an author, "Hey, it's good, it's just not good enough, dude. Maybe someone else will like it." And don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like them, it's just that they don't grab me. If I'm going to have to read through a book ten times, literally sometimes, I have to be able to enjoy reading it every single time, even though I'll always know what is coming in every scene. With a good book, it doesn't matter how many times you read it, because it's good every time. =)

When you're done writing your manuscript and you hand it over to your crit partner (if you have one), be sure you're handing it over to someone who will be brutally honest with you. I know it sucks to have your baby critiqued and have negative things said about it, but if you want to get published (by a good publisher) you need that feedback. Even if you don't have a crit partner, you need someone else to read it for you. Again, someone brutally honest. They don't have to be another writer or know the ins and outs of grammar, dialogue tags, showing versus telling, etc.

You just need someone who is going to tell you if it's a good read. If it's something they would by. You need to know if they were compelled to turn the page, to keep reading way beyond the length of time they intended to read for. I cannot stress how important that is. If I can get distracted easily while reading your book, and I'm not drawn into it, and I need to take a bunch of breaks before continuing on, chances are, I'm not going to be offering you a contract. But if I'm so into it that I HAVE to read on so I know what happens next and how it ends, then you stand a pretty good chance. Sometimes the grammar and various stuff isn't the most important thing. I can offer a revise and resubmit to fix that...but I can't tell you how to fix it if it's not an engaging story.

Things I should be doing

2008-06-22T12:52:00.003-04:00

I should be getting Myles to clean out the gutters and help him with that. I should be grabbing some laundry from upstairs and getting it done (even though I only have one more load to do, so it's not much). I should be cleaning up our bedroom: dusting, cleaning up my jewelry scattered on the bureau, the change Myles has piled on the bureau, my nightstand with various crap on it. I should be doing my spring cleaning (we're not even going to begin to list all of that). I should be picking up the living room (I have a tendency to pile everything I need around me so I don't have to get off the couch to get it. =P) I should be exercising to make sure my wedding dress still fits me on my wedding day--I have so slacked on this. It's going to be a nail-biter all the way up until October 11. LOL But, what can I say, I've managed to fit into the size ten and I only have about seven more pounds to lose and some toning up to do so that the dress fits poifectly.

But, instead of doing all the things I should be doing, I'm sitting on the couch in my pajamas, watching TV and editing. =) Because that's what I want to do.

I love...

2008-06-21T20:10:00.004-04:00

Editing. Yes, I adore it. I enjoy writing, too, but lately I've stopped writing and have just been concentrating on editing. Heck, I edit in my free time because I enjoy it so much. I even do it on my lunch hours at work. =P

I'm still working on turning editing into my one and only job. Considering the fact that I love it so much, that's probably a really good idea. =) Once Myles and I have kids, I pretty much refuse to work outside of the home. Hell, for the money I make at my day job right now, I'd be working to pay for a babysitter. And that's all my job would pay for. No exagerration.

I can't say it enough. I love editing and I love my authors. =) And Samhain is great to work for, too.

Honeymoon

2008-06-20T22:03:00.002-04:00

Well, Myles and I finally decided to go on a honeymoon. Thanks to my best friend Misty, we've got someplace fantastic and affordable to go to. =) It's an adult resort on a lake. You stay in your own cabin. There's a butler service, but you never see them. It's all via a butler door. So, yes, we'll never even have to see anyone. Three days and three nights of peace and isolation. God, it sounds fantastic. Oooh, and did I mention the in-room couples massages?

And we're doing it odd, too. We're leaving on Monday instead of the day after the wedding. We figured it'd give us a little more time with our out-of-town family and friends and some time to rest up after our big day on Saturday. =)

I'm just really happy that we decided to go on a honeymoon. Even though it's a short one and it's not something elaborate, I don't have any doubts that it'll be absolutely perfect. =)

Gotta love...

2008-06-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Those crazy Indiana storms. We had one this past Sunday evening. It got CRAZY outside. I know people who've lived all over the country, the world even, and the one thing they all say is that there is nothing like an Indiana storm. Myles and I were having a relaxing evening watching The Bucket List (GREAT movie by the way), and when we got halfway through, the electricity went out. When we looked outside, the trees were literally bending in half, the wind was so strong. Yeah, it was pretty scary. Needless to say, we hurried up and got "real" clothes on and called my mom and dad to get online for us and see if we had any tornado warnings. Just thunderstorm warnings, so we stood on the front porch and waited for it to pass.

Afterward, we walked around our yard. Not so good. A BIG tree down in the backyard that we still have to cut up and move to the firewood pile (We've been super busy this week and haven't had a chance to do it yet) and TONS of branches and sticks all over the place. Not to mention, 70 mile an hour straight line winds tend to blow all of the leaves off the trees. I got out in the yard the other day and managed to get most of the branches, but there are still a lot more. I swear, every time I turned around from throwing a bunch of them down the ravine, there were twice as many back in the yard.

One of our rental properties, which is actually our first house that we lived in together, is right down the road from us, so it got some damage, too. Rental properties have to take precedence over our house, so we've already gotten that one done. Fascia was torn off, some soffet had come loose, so I had to help Myles fix it. NOT FUN FOR TERA. Have I mentioned that I am extrememly afraid of heights? Myles made me get up the twenty foot ladder (only halfway), to hold the fascia at the peak of the roof in front of the garage. Not fun. I had to really work to keep myself from having a panic attack. *shudders*

But, all is well now, just a tree to cut up. And I'm sure it won't be the last of the storms. =P After all, this is Indiana.

Spring Cleaning

2008-06-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Anyone else getting ready/already do their spring cleaning? I've been so busy, mine is gonna be late spring/early summer cleaning. We've had something going on every weekend since, well, it's been a long time!

I made up my list the other day and damn! I've got a lot to do. It's so easy to let some stuff slide in the summer. It's not like you can clean window sills between the glass and the screen when it's ten below outside. =P Plus, with my bridal shower being at my house on August 23 ( I know, it's odd, but it's easiest for my maid of honor), I want to make sure everything's perfect. Spotless. Then, in October, we'll have a lot of out-of-town family stopping by the house, my family and Myles's. So, yeah, it REALLY needs to be clean. I plan on taking the next couple of weekends and going through everything top to bottom with a fine tooth comb. Organizing, cleaning, getting rid of stuff, all of it.

Plus, don't you just feel better when you get it done? I know I do. I feel so accomplished.

The wedding madness has begun

2008-06-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

I just looked at my countdown, and it says 115 days. Wow. When it started it was in the 900s. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by and how much there is to do.

I've been asked numerous times if I'm stressed and just want it to be over. My answer is no to both. I only get to do this once, so I figure I may as well enjoy every bit of it. I'm enjoying addressing all the invitations, enjoying tying ribbons on bubble wands with my mom, enjoying searching for bridesmaid gift, flower girl baskets, and other gifts online and finding the best deal. =)

I know that so many people say "I wish we'd eloped" and "I can't wait until it's over". Not me. This is one of the greatest times in my life and I'm going to savor every moment of it. It'll be over too soon, and then it will all be just a distant memory as Myles and I have kids and keep growing together and being busy with life in general.

I'm loving every moment of this!

Release Day! Living Lies by Dawn Brown

2008-06-17T06:00:00.003-04:00

Doing whatever it takes could get them both killed.

Twelve years after her sister’s disappearance, Haley Carling spends her days trying to hold what’s left of her family together, running her late father’s shop and caring for her alcoholic mother. Then her sister’s remains are uncovered in the basement of their old home, and fingers start pointing. At the Carlings.

Dean Lawson, long the prime suspect in the Carling girl’s disappearance, is sure he’s got evidence proving who the killer is. He’s determined to clear his name, and he won’t let anything stand in his way. Not even his lingering attraction to Haley.

Haley is just as determined to protect her family from the former town bad boy’s accusations. But now someone is stalking her, and Haley realizes Dean’s the only one she can trust.

With a killer closing in, Dean wonders if he’s made the biggest mistake of his life…a mistake that could cost Haley her life.

Warning: This title contains a mystery to keep you turning the pages late into the night.

***

I absolutely adore this book, nevermind the fact that I contracted and edited it. =) As editors, we read a book about eight times, and never once did I skim through. Everytime I read it, even when I knew just what was going to happen, I LOVED IT! Everything about this book is wonderful.

You can buy it here: http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/living-lies

Out of my slump

2008-06-11T13:36:00.003-04:00

I think I'm finally getting out of my blah slump. I've been there for a while, too. No real reason for it, just there. =) My mood has been fantastic for the past two days and I've actually stayed up later than 9:00. LOL Whatever it is, I'm happy with it.

I'm working on getting way ahead in editing everything, because I don't want to have to worry about it come time for the wedding. I'm doing good with all of it, though. No stresses, no worries. It's all gravy, baby. =)

I just contracted a new book for Samhain that I love (of course I love it, I contracted it), but I know everyone else will, too. Bound by Love by TA Chase. Cowboys and sex and cowboys. Yummy! I can't wait to get started editing on it, so I can read it again!

The Notorious Bettie Page

2008-06-08T21:04:00.002-04:00

There for a while, our receiver was broken, so I wasn't watching any movies...too much of a pain to pull the TV out everytime I wanted to watch a movie. Well, we got the receiver fixed and everything, so I've started trying to catch up on everything I have in my Netflix queue. One of them was The Notorious Bettie Page. It left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. I know that she ended up being a born-again Christian, but I was really disappointed with the movie and the way they did it. I know things were different back then, that what Bettie was doing was considered extremely distasteful and wrong and all that. It just didn't do justice to what Bettie did for being a "pioneer", so to speak. I was left with the feeling that it was wrong and that you need to find God. Now, I believe in God, but I'm a much more liberal believer. =) I just, words can't describe how disappointed I was by the movie. I was expected so much more.

My best friend's wedding

2008-06-08T17:32:00.007-04:00

Unlike Julia Robert's, my best friend's wedding was awesome for me. =)

I left work a couple a of hours early on Friday so that Misty, her daughter Grace, and I could go out and get our nails and toes done, eat some dinner, do some shopping, and get David's wedding present.

We got back to my house around 9:30 and went to bed shortly afterward. Got up in the morning, left to grab some Starbucks, and sat in Jesse's hair salon for about three hours. We had a good laugh at Grace telling Jesse to stop poking her skull with needles (bobby pins), that she wasn't a pin cushion, and that she could feel them in her brains. We were a tad late getting out of there since the bridal part before us were inconsiderate butt heads, so we raced down to Indy in the pouring rain, Misty driving 70 the whole way. Doing my makeup in the car wasn't so much fun, either, but hey, it got done and that's all that mattered. On the way, I had to hold Misty's veil to the side, which earned me a blister on my elbow from leaning on the center console, and I had to talk her down from bursting into tears when she got a call that her family from Kentucky was stuck outside of Indy because of flooding. Bad stuffs. I guess southern Indiana is in a state of emergency because of all the flooding. It's bad. We've gotten so much rain this year.

So, we got there, I had to go in first to make sure David was away from the door, in my jeans and T-shirt with my hair and makeup done, and Myles didn't even recognize me! Huh?

After we got changed into out dresses and were about the get the show on the road, Kevin (Misty and David's son, the ring bearer) had a fit and wouldn't take the pillow. Misty didn't even care, she just wanted to get married. =) So Kevin ended up hiding under the cake table for half of the ceremony. When he finally came out, Uncle Myles picked him up. Kev then saw the blue-iced cake on the table and started talking about how he didn't want to eat it 'cause he didn't want to turn into a blueberry like "Chocolate Factory". Someone's been watching too much Willy Wonka. Hahaha.

After dinner, we all headed back to Lafayette and went to our favorite bar (well, except for Myles), Cox's. We had a blast. Shots for all and lots of beer and dancing and karoake. It was sooo much fun. And, our hairstlyist/friend, Jesse, was even able to meet us there. Man, we had so much fun. =) Here's a couple of pics. And for the record, the blond guy in the pic with me is Brian, my other best friend Ann's husband and one of Myles's best friends. He also happens to be a really good friend of mine, too. =)

Seven

2008-06-05T12:30:00.002-04:00

Seven places I'd rather be right now (that I've actually been to):
Maui
my bed
Disney World
Chicago
Honolulu and the Royal Hawaiian's bar on the beach
Washington state to visit Kevin and Dawn
Cox's Pub

Seven things I'm craving right now:
to get started on my spring cleaning (we've been too busy)
a caramel Moolatte from DQ
a cigarette
a Leinenkugel Berry Weis beer
a vacation
a manicure
to go shopping for some new duds

Seven of my favorite movies:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Little Mermaid
Rosemary's Baby
Smokey and the Bandit
Backdraft
Days of Thunder
Roadhouse

Seven of my all-time favorite songs:
Asshole by Denis Leary
You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive
Foolish Games by Jewel
I Melt by Rascal Flatts
Pussy Control by Prince
Pussy by Lords of Acid
I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred

Homophobia

2008-06-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

Why is it that most straight men are "afraid" of all things even remotely "gay"? Or, they're afraid to do anything that might be construed as gay. It's absolutely ridiculous. Here's a couple of examples for you:

Myles has had a bad patch with his hair lately. And by saying that, I mean that the woman who used to cut his hair exactly the way he wanted it done and did a really good job, quit working at the salon. Since then, he's just been going in and having whoever do it, hoping to find someone who does as good of a job as what's-her-name used to. (She really did do a good job.) I found someone that would do a realyl good job with his hair. There's only one catch...well, three as a matter of fact. 1) It's a guy, 2) Not only is it a guy, but a gay guy, and 3) Not only is he a gay guy, but he's a drag queen. Yeah, it's the triple threat right there. LOL Said guy happens to be doing all the hair and makeup for my wedding and doing my hair, my best friend's and her daughter's hair for her wedding this Saturday.

A few weeks ago, Grey's Anatomy had a scene with a soldier who was dying. His lover came to see him, who just so happened to be another male soldier. =) It was actually a really touching thing. (By the way, I have absolutely no issue with the "gay issue"). Well, they had a hot kiss and Myles hid behind his magazine. But a couple of weeks later, Grey's Anatomy had two females kiss, and he had NO problem with that. lol *sigh*

Anyone else have any insight? 'Cause I just don't get it.

Oooh, wedding!

2008-06-03T20:09:00.003-04:00

And it's not mine!! =) My best friend is getting married on Saturday (She used to be in my profile pic with me until I changed it). And I'm her maid of honor. Go figure.

So Friday I get to go get a mani and pedi with her and then we're heading to El Rodeo for some fajitas and kick ass margaritas. Woo hoo! Then we're up bright and early on Saturday to head to get our hair and makeup done, head down to Indianapolis for her wedding and dinner, then head back up here for a night out at our favorite bar. In our pretty dresses (I'm not much of a dress person. It's rare when I wear one) It's gonna be a blast.

And to top it off, Myles (who is the best man) and I get to make a pit stop for drinks after the wedding and see some of our friends who live in Indy. Eric and Nicole and their one year old. Eric's in the wedding and Nicole is currently pregnant with twin boys...she's due two days after our wedding. Could be a conflict of interest there. =P

But anyways, I'm blabbering. I'm excited for Friday and Saturday to be here. =)

Descriptions

2008-06-03T19:44:00.003-04:00

Yes, descriptions are good. But don't go overboard with them. The reader doesn't need to have everything little thing described to them. The reader might not want to "see" something exactly the same way you, the author, see it. Yes, tell us there is a field of colorful calla lilies, and, only if important to the story, tell us some colors. Don't tell us that there are twenty-four yellow ones and thirty-seven pink ones and that eight of those pink ones have two leaves instead of one. Or whatever. Ya following me? =)

I just want to be...

2008-06-03T09:56:00.002-04:00

Curled up at home in bed. Or on the couch. It's dark and dreary and storming today, which is actually one of my favorite types of days. Yes, I know--I'm weird. I've been told this on numerous occasions. =)

Instead, I'm here at work, at a desk piled with work (in neat piles, of course), counting the minutes until I can go home. So far, it's 10:10 and I don't get to leave here until 4:45 this evening. Yeah, not so good. I've got a pretty long way to go.

And that day is going to get even longer, because for some reason, my computer won't let me on the Mensa website to play all their nifty little words games and puzzles. *sigh*

No more Ferguson!!

2008-06-02T15:14:00.002-04:00

And for those of you who are unaware, Ferguson is my car...a 2001 Chevy Cavalier. So not my style, but it was what I got in a hurry about 5 years ago. Had I been with Myles at the time, he would have put the kabosh on it. =P

Myles and his buddy flew out to New Hampshire and picked up my new car for me this past weekend. A blue 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Myles has an '01 and when his mom decided to get rid of hers, we gladly accepted the discounted price she offered us. LOL Yeah, free is acceptable. A car for a wedding present is okay with me. =) I'm soooo glad to be rid (well, we're putting it on eBay this week after it's detailed) of my two-door car. It's a pain. Never again.

I'm sure I'll post a picture of Ferguson the Second soon. =)

I've been a bad blogger...again

2008-06-02T15:03:00.002-04:00

But, a lot of it was because I was sick for much of last week and then I was out of town all weekend. And I left all work at home. =) Now I'm back in the saddle and back in the swing of things, so I'll be much better.

I'm in a super good mood (right now) because I just offered a contract on a book. Cowboys and sex...yummy. I'm really excited to get started on it. I'll let y'all know more about it once I have the contract signed and in my hot little hands--figuratively speaking, of course. =)

All of my editing work is ahead of schedule and you know what that means? I might get some evenings to rest! Woo hoo! I'm going to start working on not working at all on the weekends, other than house stuff. I need to differentiate between work weeks and weekends more. I fall into the trap of sitting on the couch and editing all weekend, and that's no good. I need to be outside doing yardwork, going camping, getting stuff done...and not "working".

This weekend I'll be the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding on Saturday, hence the reason I will not be attending Lori Foster's event. *pout* And I so wanted to, since it's within driving distance from me. But, alas, the maid of honor duties have to take precedence. =P There's always another time to go to a gathering, but there's only one time I get to be in my best friend's wedding. Yes, this is me, trying not to be disappointed. LOL It's all good though.

Now, with four months to go, I'm going to have to get my butt in gear and get my own wedding stuff done. I've been a very, very bad bride.

It's a really good thing I'm not working today

2008-05-29T09:15:00.002-04:00

Because I sooooo didn't mean to stay out until 2:15 last night. Yeah...not so good. Especially since I'm sick. I left work early yesterda afternoon, came home and crashed for about four hours. I got up when Myles got home from work and tried to force-feed myself, since I hadn't eaten a thing all day. I sat on the couch watching TV and going through some emails, started to feel a little better. But I'm one of those people that sleeps and then feels great, but the long I'm awake, the worse I feel. Around 8:30 Myles came into the living room and asked if I was feeling any better. I told him yeah, I was. Turns out, our buddy Alex, one of the ushers in the wedding, just got accepted into a surgical tech internship and wanted to celebrate. He was out drinking at my FAVE bar, Nine Irish Brothers Pub, so we met him over there for what was supposed to be a beer so that I could be home by 10 to be back in bed. Didn't happen. Alex bought about three rounds of shots, and Myles and I kept ordering one Irish brew after another, ended up hanging out with one of the owners, and before we knew it, it was 12:30. Then we headed over to BW3s for just one more, which turned into food and two more. =P And before I knew it, I wasn't getting home until after 2. Yeah, not so good. So, I woke up at about 7:30 and I've been up ever since...coughing like an eighty-year-old lady who's smoked all her life. It doesn't sound pretty AT ALL. Hopefully I feel better before tomorrow so when I go up to my mom and dad's I'm not miserably sick on my supposed-to-be great weekend. Especially since I'm pretty sure what I had planned tonight isn't going to work. I don't particularly want to be around my two-year-old neice and get her sick. That's no good. =(

Oops

2008-05-28T10:09:00.002-04:00

I know, I've been a horrible, neglectful blogger.

I was all caught up with everything this past weekend, so I spent the whole weekend working on the yard with Myles. I didn't get any of the Spring cleaning done that I wanted to, but the yard looks really good. =) I'll post pictures of it later. I'm a proud mama. Or something like that.

I'm also taking Friday through Sunday afternoon/evening off and heading to my parents' house for the weekend. I'm looking forward to not even having the option of cracking open my laptop. Myles and just about every single one of my friends tell me I work to much. And to be honest, I was feeling a little burnt out a few weeks ago. But I'm feeling good now.

Just offered a contract on a really good book by Rita Oberlies that I'm excited to start working on. Plus, it's got baseball in it. Woo hoo! I come from a MAJOR baseball family. There's nothing better than taking the South Shore from South Bend to Chicago and catching a Cubs game. I used to do that a lot back in the day. It was a great excuse to skip school. =)

Hope everyone else is doing just peachyfied (my new word.)

Looking forward to a long weekend

2008-05-23T09:14:00.002-04:00

I haven't been around much this week. I've been spending a lot of time at my friend's house with her and my neice, and I've been working to get everything at working and with editing ahead of the game, since I'm taking next Thursday-Sunday off of EVERYTHING. Myles and his buddy are headed out east to my's mom's and Friday morning I'm heading to my parents'. I'm really looking forward to four days of no work. =)

And that's really all I have to say. =P

Our engagement pictures

2008-05-19T17:48:00.011-04:00

A few weeks ago we had our "engagement pictures" taken. Here are some of the ones I like the most. =)

Someone please explain to me...

2008-05-18T20:07:00.000-04:00

Why a commercial for osteoperosis and breast cancer prevention medicine for post-menopausal women states a warning that woman who are breast-feeding, pregnant, or may become pregnant shouldn't take it.

Huh? I mean, seriously. If you're POST-MENOPAUSAL chances are, you don't need to worry about becoming pregnant or breast-feeding.

Just a thought.

It NEVER fails

2008-05-17T15:13:00.002-04:00

Everytime you make a stupid decision, a whole bunch of things come up and bite you in the ass. Yeah, and it's happening today.

This morning, Myles and I went grocery shopping. We left shortly after we woke up at 8:30 because the kitties were out of food and were NOT about to let us forget about it. Plus, it's not like they can forage for themselves in the house and find some. But, I digress...as I always do.

As we were walking from one side of the other (Why can't they just keep the cat food and shampoo on the same side as the food?), we happened across the TVs. Anyone who knows Myles knows that once he gets an idea in his head, IT'S THERE. Until it comes to fruition, it's there. He decided to wander through the TVs and compare plasma versus LCD to see if there was a real difference in the picture quality. (For those of you reading this who know Myles, you know how is he and this makes sense to you) And what did we find but a 50' plasma TV on sale for...well, it was $400 off. That's all you need to know. =)

What happened? You guessed it--we bought it. So yeah, I love it, I love TV...I'm obsessed with TV. It's ALWAYS on in our house. I can't really work without it on, so even when I'm editing, I have the TV on, just on a lower volume. But, I digress again.

We got home and got it together and Myles wanted to watch the movie Signs. This was actually really sweet, because that was the first movie we ever watched together. After we watched it, I figured I'd better clean. First, I cleaned the master bath, which we both hate at the moment. The seafoam green on the walls has to go. And the linoleum tile in it is shot. The previous owners had somehow let water get on the floor over and over, so the tile is really crappy around the toilet and between the toilet and the shower. We haven't done anything with it because we want to do it in travertine, which isn't cheap. As I was cleaning, I thought "Shit, for what we just spent on that TV, we could have redone the flooring in here."

Then I checked the mail. Myles had to have a procedure done last month...after insurance, we have to pay more than a few hundred dollars. Ugh.

Plus, then I started thinking, for the money we spent today, we could have flown out to Washington for Dawn's big birthday bash this weekend. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Now I'm wondering what's gonna happen now.

Seven Things I Hate (right now)

2008-05-14T10:09:00.004-04:00

1. The price of gas. Duh. It's disgusting to me how we are suffering and having to choose between food to eat and gas to put in are cars, two essential things, while Haliburton and all the other oil companies are seeing their biggest profits of all times. How in the hell does that work? And why is NO ONE doing anything about it?

2. Illegal immigrants. They come and suck off our system, don't speak our language...Grrr. I mean, I have NO problem with people coming here. Not at all, but dammit, if you're going to do it, do it legally. And learn the language we speak here. I wouldn't move to China and expect everyone there to learn to speak English to accomodate me.

3. The gravel lot at work I have to walk through to get to the building after I park. It really sucks to walk through gravel in heels, sometimes stilettos. Sure, I could park in the pavement one, if I wanted to pay an extra $150 a year for the privelege of doing so. Actually, I work here, why should I have to PAY from my check to park in the first place?

4. My job. I have to do way too much for way too little. They just keep piling the work on and expecting me to hop right to it. If I was getting paid to do a $50K a year job, I'd do $50K work. If you don't even pay me HALF of that, then don't expect that I'll be all eager for more work. And my raise in July will probably be a whopping 15 cents an hour. Please. You may as well spit on me. That doesn't even cover the cost of the gas I use to get to this shithole.

5. The fact that my brother is risking his life in Iraq and I really don't even know why. Does anyone else know why we're there or have a valid reason for it? Cuz I sure don't.

6. The fact that we got all of our TV shows back (Finally) but only for three or four measly episodes. What's up with that? Then we'll get back the wonderful world of crappy reality TV.

7. And last, but not least, David A. from American Idol. Dude, I mean come on. Do people seriously like him? Someone should just give him a puppy and send him on his way. For real.

Four bucks for a gallon of gas?

2008-05-14T10:09:00.001-04:00

Can you believe that? I'm absolutely disgusted right now. Hell, I gave up smoking and now I'm wondering if I should start smoking again and not drive. It'd probably be cheaper. Someone has GOT to do something about this. Our country is so screwed up right now. Between gas prices, food prices, illegal aliens and the war in Iraq, we're just about screwed. Have you heard the latest? They're going to be giving Social Security to illegal Mexican immigrants. How the hell does that work? I just don't get it. I'm actually a citizen, and the illegals get more crap than I do. I'm thinking that Bush can take his measly $600 bucks and shove it, if ya know what I mean.

Can you tell I'm just a little peeved today?

The good thing about guys hitting on you...

2008-05-10T20:43:00.002-04:00

Is that even when they see a ring on your finger, they're still stupid enough to buy you a drink. Myles encourages it...it's less money I spend when I go out. He was off at a Cubs game yesterday and bumming around Chicago (my absolute favorite city) and I headed to my best friend's house after work. She was having a Pampered Chef party and afterward a few us went out to our favorite bar. It was a decent time, but by the time we get there at 10:30, I was losing momentum. I'm odd like that. If I get to the bar by 8:30 or so, I can close it down. But if I get there late, it's no good.

But for the first time ever, I bought a GUY a shot last night. A guy I've never met before and wouldn't know from Adam. And no, I wasn't trying to hit on him. He was there with his wife. lol Jason, my best friend Misty's cousin, is the DJ at Cox's, and when this other guy went up there to sing a song, Jason announced that the guy had just gotten back from Iraq on Thursday. So, my friend Tara and I each bought him a shot since my bro is in Iraq and her husband is. I think he was surprised that a couple of girls bought him shots, but he understood once we told him that we have loved ones there right now.

Tomorrow we're heading up to South Bend to see my mom for Mother's Day and go out for a family dinner. =) I'm looking forward to it. But I'm REALLY looking forward the last weekend in May when I take Friday through Sunday off from EVERYTHING. NO computer, NO Purdue job, NO housecleaning, NO cooking. Going to South Bend and chillaxin' with the parents and brother while Myles and his buddy head out to My's mom's in New Hampshire.

Being realistic

2008-05-09T11:47:00.002-04:00

I recently read something on a loop (God, don't even ask me where or whom. I couldn't remember that if you tortured me), and it really stuck out to me. The author had had a manuscript rejected and was talking about how the letter said that the story wasn't realistic enough. This led to a discussion of "stories aren't supposed to be real."

Well, sorry to tell ya, but, yeah, we editors like to see come realism in the story. A lot of it, actually. And yes, in fantasy and sci-fi, too. What we mean by realism is, would that reaction take place, would he/she really say that, etc.

For instance, if you have a story where a woman is actually a demon and her lover is a minister and she finally gets around to telling him what she is and he's like "Okay, cool, I love you anyways", *big breath* that is NOT realistic. I mean, think about it. If a character finds out someone cheated on them and automatically forgives them, no argument, no questions, that's not realistic either. I'm not saying people don't forgive, but if your spouse ran around on you and you found out, wouldn't you be just a leetle bit pissed off?

I'm not going to go into this anymore, but this is what "realism" is. Not whether or not the story really happened or "werewolves don't really exist" or anything like that. Of course that stuff is fake. Duh. =)

I am sooo happy

2008-05-09T07:48:00.003-04:00

I got to talk to my brother yesterday. =) He called me while I was at work and I pretty much said screw work...my brother calling me from Iraq is WAY more important than anything I'm doing here. =) I got to talk to him for about a half hour, and believe it or not, all he really wanted to talk about was my wedding. He's really excited for it, but I think a lot of that is simply because he'll be on leave from the war and he'll get to come home and see his family and his girlfriend. I adore his girlfriend. So, yeah, I was elated yesterday. We talked for about a half hour. Basically, until his phone card ran out and cut him off in the middle of a sentence. It was so great to hear his voice.

I'm a little irked at Myles right now

2008-05-08T09:36:00.002-04:00

Well, not so much Myles as it's his boss.

Tomorrow, Myles gets to go to Chicago for a Cubs game and dinner at one of my fave Chicago pizza places downtown. I'm sooooo jealous!

The kicker of it is...Myles doesn't even like baseball. I don't even think he knows the first thing about it other than that a guy throws a ball and another guy tries to hit it with a bat. Yeah. While I grew up in a HUGE baseball family. My cousin was the top pitcher in northern Indiana, and we all played softball. Plus, Chicago is my fave city and the Cubbies are my fave team. Hell, when I was in high school, my friends and I used to skip school and take the South Shore from South Bend to Chicago to go to Cubs games. You could go there the day of the show and get box seats for like $8. It was great. We'd wander around Clark street for a while and head downtown and then take the last train back to the Bend.

But Myles is just happy because he gets to get a days' pay for going and drinking beer and not being at work.

Life is SO not fair.

Finally!

2008-05-08T09:33:00.002-04:00

Jar Jar Binks (Jason Castro...don't you think he looks like Jar Jar with his hair?) went home last night. It's about damn time. I've been waiting and waiting for him to go. I kinda liked him in the beginning, and then not so much. And David A., too. I liked him in the beginning, but now I'm over him. Completely over him. He's too sappy and, grrr, he just annoys me. I'm all about David Cook. He's my man.

Yay!

2008-05-07T08:23:00.000-04:00

The pussy-catticus has returned! I was elated when Myles woke me up yesterday morning at 1:30 in the morning. He was all vigilant and didn't come to bed until Piper was found. It was sooo cute. :) So he watched for Piper and finally saw him outside and got him.

So yesterday we went and got them new collars and tags. The collars and tags we had sucked. The cats could always get them off, and the tags had our old phone number and address, so they were no good. So now, they have new blingin' collars and new tags. Now if anyone sees Nikon or Piper manages to get out again, they'll never be mistaken for strays.

In other news, we went and voted yesterday. First time I've ever voted in the primaries. I've always waited until the "regular" election. But I've decided it's important to take a more active role in this kind of thing. I mean, you can't realyl bitch about the president or the state of affairs in this country if you don't even vote. That's my opinion at least.

And in even more news, I feel super good about all my editing stuff right now. I'm completely on track with everything. I have no edits to do right now other than a final to go over (which I'll be getting done in advance) and edits that I'm waiting on to come back from authors. So yeah, it's really good right now. I've got nothing out with Loose Id and I've got one thing I've got to do this weekend for MLR Press. So for once, I'm not all stressed out about having to get stuff done. Life is good!

What I thought was going to be a nice evening...

2008-05-05T21:02:00.004-04:00

Turned out to be a total piece of crap. :( I got home and got caught up on all my emails, went through FLEs, sent out some rounds of edits...so I was feeling really good and about to make dinner. When IT happened.

My cat Piper, who's always attached to Myles and I when we get home, wasn't around. I realized it had been a little over an hour since I got home, and I still hadn't seen him. So My and I looked around the house like three times. No Piper. We even checked places he couldn't possibly be, and he was no where to be found. So then we went outside looking for him (He is NOT an outdoor cat) thinking that maybe he managed to get out. Still no Piper. We drove around the neighborhood. We walked around the neighborhood. We talked to every person we saw outside and on the street. No one else had seen him either. :(

So then we went to print off some pics of him and buy some signs. We made them up and now Myles is out putting them in the neighborhood. I am so bummed right now. Myles got him for me for our six-month anniversary. We've had him for almost four years now. We picked him out together when he was a kitten. :( I've been off and on crying all night, and well, I don't really cry. So this is a BIG deal. I just hope he turns up.