It's finally...

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!

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

Phantom Waltz by Catherine Anderson

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

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

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

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.