tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71342523453505566682024-03-14T01:41:11.558-07:00Liberty's SpellsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-2729794728949220212019-02-13T21:31:00.002-08:002019-02-13T21:31:46.753-08:00Valentine's Day or Galentine's Day<span style="font-size: large;">Once upon a time I was a cocktail waitress in a blue collar, country music bar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It wasn't really a date night type of place, although Saturdays were when you found established couples, not the regulars who tended to take their dates somewhere else because Mr. G's was the place they went to hook up on Fridays. (They also loved Tuesdays, which was "ladies' night.")</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Valentine's Day is a happy place in upscale bars, but it's very sad in a hook-up establishment. If you were in Mr. G's on Valentine's Day it was because no one cared enough to want to spend time with you, if you were a woman. And a place for desperate men who thought they were finally going to score.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is nothing worse than a holiday that causes good women to feel the devastation they feel when they are alone on Valentine's Day, although the next day at work might be even worse if the woman at the next desk received a diamond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is much better since <i>Parks and Rec </i>created Galentine's Day. I'd rather see people celebrating friendship than watch the despair and desperation of people who are made to feel like failures because they aren't being wined and dined on a day the ancient Roman's chose as their start of spring.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cv6HbqUE0V0/XGT8xBlmm7I/AAAAAAAAH6Y/qSTqksT_GtUSuvsjQ0IUFePiNGrPxQNqQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Happy%2BGalentine%2527s%2BDay%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cv6HbqUE0V0/XGT8xBlmm7I/AAAAAAAAH6Y/qSTqksT_GtUSuvsjQ0IUFePiNGrPxQNqQCEwYBhgL/s320/Happy%2BGalentine%2527s%2BDay%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It doesn't matter if you are celebrating with a lover or with friends. The most important person you need to love is yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-39291536774814859742019-02-07T09:31:00.000-08:002019-02-07T09:31:38.557-08:00What a Year!<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Please forgive me while I whine for a few lines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the past year I had a major household move, a concussion which is still affecting me eight months later, a hospitalization for a heart issue, and I lost a brother.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have never left you, but I have had to take time off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While I was grounded due to the concussion my librarian turned me onto "Playaway". A small devise which has an entire book loaded onto it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zxbwb2RMC9Y/XFxklu-bekI/AAAAAAAAH4Q/NkYwkTt7XDc2iaQtljJXg_im4VNwglf7ACLcBGAs/s1600/playaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zxbwb2RMC9Y/XFxklu-bekI/AAAAAAAAH4Q/NkYwkTt7XDc2iaQtljJXg_im4VNwglf7ACLcBGAs/s1600/playaway.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you haven't tried one yet, ask your librarian if they can get you a few. They're great in the car, at the beach, or if your doctor says "No reading."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have found listening to books not only entertaining, but better for my knitting than television, which occasionally makes me look at it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To paraphrase a slogan from Timex--I can take a licking and keep on ticking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am easing back into writing and blogging. I hope you will stay with me while I do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Until next time--Keep on Reading!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-23443265030499235842018-01-18T20:24:00.000-08:002018-01-18T20:24:47.847-08:00A New Year (Belated)<span style="font-size: x-large;">It's still January, so this isn't as belated as it could be--after all, I am getting it done before July. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">The first month of the year has passed the two-thirds mark and I have not met my goals for the last half of 2017. There is good news, my characters have not forsaken me. They and I shall come back stronger than ever in February.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">In the meantime, if you too have felt as if life has been keeping you from achieving your goals, sometimes you have to just go with the ebb tide and see where it takes you.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxlP_lVlzZ8/WmFvayhtjSI/AAAAAAAAFX0/JFThiiejejMfwCxyx0eCwQIWBsrp6IduwCKgBGAs/s1600/20171004_142416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxlP_lVlzZ8/WmFvayhtjSI/AAAAAAAAFX0/JFThiiejejMfwCxyx0eCwQIWBsrp6IduwCKgBGAs/s640/20171004_142416.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ebb Tide at the Atlantic Beach, Newport, Rhode Island</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Tomorrow is another day when you can set new goals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">(A special thanks to all of you who have been hanging in there with me.)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-15020892848030890622017-06-30T05:38:00.000-07:002017-06-30T05:38:27.929-07:00My New Name<span style="font-size: large;">Last July, right be before I headed out to Nationals I did the thing I had wanted to do for decades--I dyed my hair purple. Not all of it, just underneath the back. Where it could be hidden if I didn't like it. (Small chance of that, but I listened to my adviser.) Since my hair is waist length, that is still quite a bit of purple hair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The purple was still in my hair (the color stayed nicely) a few weeks ago when I decided to refresh the color. Now it is so bright it glows in the sun!</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NQL6pA2QGkc/WVXRB4IssZI/AAAAAAAACpU/bCMQOgEaMOslnh_NectQ8gurYQpNiTGgQCLcBGAs/s1600/Nannylicious%2Bhair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1591" data-original-width="896" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NQL6pA2QGkc/WVXRB4IssZI/AAAAAAAACpU/bCMQOgEaMOslnh_NectQ8gurYQpNiTGgQCLcBGAs/s640/Nannylicious%2Bhair.jpg" width="360" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yes, that is my real hair, the day after it was colored and trimmed.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday I had a business meeting I drove to in an unairconditioned car. I had pulled my hair into a high pony to avoid knotting and being blinded by it when it blew in my face because I had to drive with all the windows open, listening to NPR.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The traffic on 95 was a tad unpleasant until a car with three men rushed up beside me, and one of the guys yelled out his window, "I love your hair!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have reached the age where an unsolicited compliment can make my day, even if it could be classified as a cat call. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I switched the radio to an "oldies" channel and the first song I heard was Mellencamp singing "Hurts So Good." Needless to say I started rocking out in the car and played drum on the roof while drivers played cat and mouse with openings in the road.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am not a sedate woman, as any of my children will tell you. In fact, I can sometimes be downright embarrassing. (Think Auntie Mame!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Last week my daughter Amanda Torrey dubbed me Nannylicious, much to the distress of my teenage grandsons. But you know what? I like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And so I enter the next stage of my life as Nannylicious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who do you plan to be?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-2099352664299704782017-06-21T06:57:00.003-07:002017-06-21T06:57:49.099-07:00Cover Reveal<span style="font-size: x-large;">I am pleased to announce The Designer Bride, book five in the Boundless Billionaire series, will be released in July!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-78960380102535104332017-05-31T23:07:00.000-07:002017-05-31T23:07:47.798-07:00Busy Times!<span style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">May was a busy month! Two daughters in less than two weeks had to have major surgery. Both are fine, but it is very nerve racking for Mama.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Tomorrow a good friend is going into surgery. </span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don't write medical romance, nor do I watch medical shows on television, even though back in my club hopping days all my friends were in nursing school. (I refused to be in the lab when my biology partner dissected the earth worm and the frog, I just transcribed his notes into passable reading material. Which is why I didn't even consider being a nurse.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even though I do not write medical romance, I do enjoy reading a good one, thanks to years of reading Betty Neels.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Last week at the Maine Romance Writers Retreat I met the lovely Susan Carlisle. I highly recommend her newest book, THE SURGEON'S CINDERELLA.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2qCFuMh">http://amzn.to/2qCFuMh</a></span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-40072241756889934942017-05-23T21:19:00.000-07:002017-05-23T21:19:31.431-07:00Maine Retreat Intro<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love Maine!!! Especially when it allows me to enjoy a second spring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My lilacs had just passed from blooms to none, but the ones in Maine opened to full glory while I was there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope you are enjoying spring where you are.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-88447927920927474142017-04-13T08:07:00.000-07:002017-04-13T08:07:05.511-07:00Home Schooling Nanny<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sounds like an excellent title for an erotica, doesn't it? (I'll have to remember it just in case I decide to write one.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, this blog is not about that, it is about how I, in my dotage, have become a grandmother who is homeschooling three grands.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is fun and invigorating, but it also eats up a great deal of energy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We visit the library an average of three times a week. That's three times a week for the children, my own personal trips add another three visits a week. My library is only open five days, one of them is Saturday, and I don't go on Saturday and usually not on Fridays, so yes, I spend a lot of time there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We also travel into Boston to attend art classes at the Museum of Fine Arts, we have skating every other week, and weekly park days, which are about to become twice a week. </span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EBatpX44tQY/WO-Sc365ybI/AAAAAAAAAzE/M4Qah2RiWM4pdQv6l_f8Hpdfe3Njl2eUACEw/s1600/3444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EBatpX44tQY/WO-Sc365ybI/AAAAAAAAAzE/M4Qah2RiWM4pdQv6l_f8Hpdfe3Njl2eUACEw/s320/3444.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We do not lack socializing opportunities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We have organic classes in the car, at Starbucks, or walking on the beach.</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yYu0ynqPB8g/WO-SWcUEUNI/AAAAAAAAAzA/KQvn7O64Ig0VrcGBYV4sYAjr5sRCSSPuwCEw/s1600/2191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yYu0ynqPB8g/WO-SWcUEUNI/AAAAAAAAAzA/KQvn7O64Ig0VrcGBYV4sYAjr5sRCSSPuwCEw/s320/2191.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The children are happier and learning things they would never get in school.</span><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mj1_fp4XKCQ/WO-Sgwix87I/AAAAAAAAAzI/kcBzhJ3k0H85t0vr-lyUl3OpSAMamDdpACEw/s1600/3378.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mj1_fp4XKCQ/WO-Sgwix87I/AAAAAAAAAzI/kcBzhJ3k0H85t0vr-lyUl3OpSAMamDdpACEw/s320/3378.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And best of all, I get to spend a lot of time with three wonderful children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And occasionally I get to write.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do you, or have you ever considered, home schooling?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-35493934301655031672017-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:002017-02-05T12:12:15.572-08:00RIRW Retreat<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Hello friends. Welcome back to Liberty's Spell Room.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">I just arrived home from the Rhode Island Romance Writers Retreat. I would like to say it was the best retreat EVER, but that would be immodest since I organized it with the assistance of Christine Donovan.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a.co/aG4dbaC"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">http://a.co/aG4dbaC</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">The retreat began in the 90s and was organized by Blanche Marriott, author of April's Fool.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuX32TapHJ0/WJeCPOJEs8I/AAAAAAAAAx0/EIl0ncJeS9cw1ixSmXgtaxsUCisgkajpACLcB/s1600/April%2527s%2BFool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QuX32TapHJ0/WJeCPOJEs8I/AAAAAAAAAx0/EIl0ncJeS9cw1ixSmXgtaxsUCisgkajpACLcB/s320/April%2527s%2BFool.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><a href="http://a.co/1JcnVkh"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">http://a.co/1JcnVkh</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">We used to go to our regular February meeting and then retire to a local hotel or bed and breakfast and do writerly stuff. </span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">After some time had passed other people took over the running of our "unofficial" retreat.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Eight years ago the baton was passed to me. I continued the Saturday night party for a few years, but I always dreamed of a retreat that lasted a weekend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">I approached the group and gently suggested the change. We now have a retreat that starts Friday evening and ends on Sunday. We have great food, wonderful speakers, and lots of writerly stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Saturday night we had a Murder Mystery Bash written by our very own Jennilee Brown. She set it up perfectly, we all participated, and it was a great deal of fun. (If you would like Jennilee to write a Murder Mystery Bash for you, let me know and I will hook you up.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">So it is with a great deal of sadness, relief, and joy that I put Retreat 2017, The Magical Mystery Bash to bed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">Time to start planning for 2018.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-18843482364151290132016-12-06T07:45:00.000-08:002016-12-06T07:45:55.945-08:00The Journal of Leah MacKinnon Walker<span style="font-size: large;">Today is release day for The Journal of Leah MacKinnon Walker. Leah came to me when I was in a class with Dr. Grace Fraser as my mentor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The class was amazing it was called Women's Stories of the Westward Movement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's a shortie and a western, but I think you will like it. (At least I hope so.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mB-f68gv1Wc/WEbbiOYXmdI/AAAAAAAAAxM/DMbarrh7COoq_zrkET6zsQD4b1hQ-bIGgCLcB/s1600/the%2BJournal%2Bof%2BLeah%2BMcKinnon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mB-f68gv1Wc/WEbbiOYXmdI/AAAAAAAAAxM/DMbarrh7COoq_zrkET6zsQD4b1hQ-bIGgCLcB/s400/the%2BJournal%2Bof%2BLeah%2BMcKinnon.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Journal of Leah MacKinnon Walker<br />a short story by Liberty Blake<br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; text-align: start;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-19404092747043767552016-12-05T08:11:00.000-08:002016-12-05T08:24:49.283-08:00The Giving Season<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once again it is the season where every charity is looking to you for a donation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's easy to toss some money into a bucket next to a bell ringer or to click a button to send money to another organization.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's a little more difficult to pick out toys for the Toys for Tots boxes because you walk through the toy aisles searching for the right toys, and having to decide for what age group you are buying the toy for. (May I suggest something for a tween or teen, they are the forgotten children.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I knit and crochet garments for the knitting box at AC Moore, and hats for the homeless and working poor which I give to a local church that ministers to the physical needs of the needy.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Soup kitchens are always glad to welcome volunteers and it is something you can do all year long. (It's a good experience to take your teens to help out. It's a great time to bond.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Donating to a food pantry isn't as much fun as picking out toys for tots, but the items handed out there are desperately needed and might ensure one family doesn't have to go to bed hungry for one night. Think beyond</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> the usual jars of peanut butter, boxes of mac and cheese, and cans of tuna fish. They are welcome, but there is so much more that is needed such as feminine hygiene products, toilet paper, diapers, shampoo, soap, tooth paste, tooth brushes, laundry detergent, dish soap, socks, underwear, baby food.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My inbox is filled with every organization under the sun looking for money. "Give now and your donation will be matched by an anonymous donor." Great plan, but how much of that money trickles down to the needy in your community?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The holiday season isn't defined by what you call a decorated tree or if a store clerk wishes you a "Merry Christmas" or a "Happy Holiday". The season is defined by what is in your heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Give from the heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Give local! </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-79323336633636549652016-11-12T06:09:00.000-08:002016-11-12T06:09:22.772-08:00Yesterday Was Veterans Day<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>In the United States we celebrate military veterans on November 11th.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>Some towns hold small parades and have a bugler play taps at the town's war memorial. </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>Old men sell paper poppies outside of box stores. Once upon a time people proudly wore them on their lapels, but lapels are no longer common wear on Veterans Day, because Veterans Day is a day off from work for many, with the exception of food service workers, retailers, and car salesmen, and lapels are no longer in fashion on non-work days.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>On FaceBook people proudly display pictures of their veterans in uniform and we all thank them for their service.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>We all acknowledge they are heroes.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>However, in America we have many forgotten heroes. The ones we walk around in the parks, step over in the early morning hours when they are still sleeping in doorways or under store awnings in large cities, or avoid their encampments when they are camping out in a local park or copse of woods.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>They are the lost.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>They are the forgotten.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>They are the homeless.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><b>Not all homeless people are veterans, but many of the homeless are.</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: lime;">Years ago when I used to go into Boston I brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my bag, and anyone who approached me looking for a handout received a sandwich, and if they were lucky a juice box. </span></b><br />
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: lime;">But I don't go into Boston often anymore and when I do carrying a large bag filled with sandwiches and juice boxes doesn't work well with my walking staff.</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_vLrPIF1Ov4/WCcb5fU4L0I/AAAAAAAAAw0/AfMRDtpKqYcZy5ouhRK7sudm6Wl8t76MwCLcB/s1600/Me%2Band%2BVash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: lime;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_vLrPIF1Ov4/WCcb5fU4L0I/AAAAAAAAAw0/AfMRDtpKqYcZy5ouhRK7sudm6Wl8t76MwCLcB/s400/Me%2Band%2BVash.jpg" width="225" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: lime; font-size: small;"><b>Me and my stick with cover model and friend Vikkas Bhardwaj.</b></span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: lime;"><br /></span></b>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>I spent yesterday making hats for the homeless. On Tuesday, November 22nd I am going out with a group called Project Do Something Boston (a grassroots action group). It is a group of people who have gathered together to feed the people living on the streets of Boston, many of whom are veterans.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>I am making dozens and dozens of hard boiled eggs to add to the food to be handed out, plus I am bringing the hats that I made yesterday and in the past few weeks.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>My hats are simple and similar, with nothing to fancy them up. Pompoms or tassels are a waste of yarn that can be used in another hat. No yarn is wasted. When a ball gets too small to make a hat, I use it to make stripes in another hat. No yarn goes to waste.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>Two weeks ago I mailed out fifty (50) hats to agencies that will distribute them in one of the poorest communities in the United States. I wish I could have sent more, but I ran out of postage money.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>Since then I have been dedicating the hats I am making to the local homeless.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>I am almost out of yarn and I am out of money for more yarn.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>Please keep your fingers crossed that I have enough hats for all the people I meet on the 22nd. In the meantime, my fingers are working away on more hats.</b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zwLxwk0bpG8/WCcVpvUswmI/AAAAAAAAAwc/vZuOCQYUqbc3EOROOJUHSWqc2Z7Jh7M3ACLcB/s1600/hats%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Bhomeless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="color: lime;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zwLxwk0bpG8/WCcVpvUswmI/AAAAAAAAAwc/vZuOCQYUqbc3EOROOJUHSWqc2Z7Jh7M3ACLcB/s400/hats%2Bfor%2Bthe%2Bhomeless.jpg" width="225" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: lime; font-size: small;"><b>I used Stitch Studio by Nicole Chateau yarn.<br />Super bulky (6) </b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: lime;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>If you would like to help Project Do Something Boston here is the link to their wish list.</b></span></span><div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://dosomethingboston.blogspot.com/p/project-do-something-wishlist.html">http://dosomethingboston.blogspot.com/p/project-do-something-wishlist.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><b>I know with the holiday season quickly approaching there are dozens of charities begging for your donation, but there are none as needy as the homeless and considering that so many of them that are homeless are veterans, they have earned our help.</b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-73113413317016371192016-02-14T09:43:00.001-08:002016-02-14T09:43:51.063-08:00A Personal Truth<span style="font-size: large;">For weeks on end I stayed on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching IDTV.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In case you have never heard of IDTV it has shows such as "Wives With Knives", "Unusual Suspects", and my personal favorite "Homicide Hunter". (I love Lt. Joe Kendra!)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Why would I, a romance writer, spend so much time watching the antithesis of what I write?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">DEPRESSION!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">That's right, I spelled it in all caps. We're not talking about a boo hoo, my boyfriend didn't call me all day, or I broke a nail, or I just watched "Old Yeller" type of drama depression. No adolescent doldrums for me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I get full blown depression. Sometimes it might be triggered by something, but most of the time it is something that just jumps out of the mists of my mind and knocks me for a loop.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Despite all the lovely drug commercials on television, antidepressants have the opposite reaction on me, so I don't use medication. Fortunately, I am not suicidal, so that is not an issue, I'm just not someone you want to spend a lot of time around.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The last time I was in a depression I was beginning month three when I realized I had missed a deadline for an article three days earlier. I had mentioned it to my daughter the day it was due that I had to write it and send it out. However, once I returned home, I never thought of it again, until that night three days later. I then tossed around in bed mentally composing a letter to the editor to explain what had happened. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But nothing had happened other than I had forgotten. For three days!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As the sun peeked over the horizon it dawned on me . . . I was in a depression.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, it is that insidious. I had thought I was just tired. Maybe lazy. It was a great revelation to me to realize my old friend had decided to visit. But not to my children. When I told daughter #3 later that day that I had realized I was in a depression, she laughed at me!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, she heartlessly laughed at me as she told me she had known that for months.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But the realization of that fact got me into a cold shower, I started watching "Bewitched" at noontime instead of "See No Evil", I picked up my knitting, turned on my computer, and got back to work.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have lived with depression my entire life. I have learned coping skills, but I am not "over" it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The worse thing you can say to someone in a depression is "get over it" or "snap out of it".</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Many people who suffer from depression are suicidal. If you know someone you think is depressed get them to a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Medication works for many, but not all. A GP (general practitioner) can prescribe antidepressants, but they shouldn't. The side effects, many of which are not even listed, can be devastating. A person on antidepressants should be monitored by someone who knows and understands this and know what to watch for.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I am not going to drop any famous names, their personal truths belong to them and I'm sure you can think of a few on your own. This is about me, an average woman, and my own personal dilemma.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have never publicly spoken about this before. In fact, I haven't even told my friends. It's a matter or pride, I didn't want anyone to view me as weak. No matter how bad I feel, I greet everyone with a smile. But a chemical imbalance doesn't make you weak or vulnerable, it just makes you human.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<h3 style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238); border: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 3px 4px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
Signs and symptoms of depression include:</h3>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #2d2d2d; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; padding-left: 20px;">
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.</strong> A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Loss of interest in daily activities.</strong> No interest in former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Appetite or weight changes.</strong> Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sleep changes.</strong> Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anger or irritability.</strong> Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent. Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Loss of energy.</strong> Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained. Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Self-loathing.</strong> Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt. You harshly criticize yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reckless behavior.</strong> You engage in escapist behavior such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Concentration problems.</strong> Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.</li>
<li><strong style="background: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Unexplained aches and pains.</strong> An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain. </li>
<li><h3 style="background: rgb(238, 238, 238); border: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 17px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 3px 3px 4px; text-shadow: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
Warning signs of suicide include:</h3>
<ul style="padding-left: 20px;">
<li>Talking about killing or harming one’s self</li>
<li>Expressing strong feelings of hopelessness or being trapped</li>
<li>An unusual preoccupation with death or dying</li>
<li>Acting recklessly, as if they have a death wish (e.g. speeding through red lights)</li>
<li>Calling or visiting people to say goodbye</li>
<li>Getting affairs in order (giving away prized possessions, tying up loose ends)</li>
<li>Saying things like “Everyone would be better off without me” or “I want out”</li>
<li>A sudden switch from being extremely depressed to acting calm and happy</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm">http://www.helpguide.org/articles/depression/depression-signs-and-symptoms.htm</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; line-height: 18px;">I did not come out of my latest depression just with the realization that I was depressed, but being aware helped me to mentally gear myself up to work against it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; line-height: 18px;">It didn't disappear overnight, it is still hanging on at the edge and "Evil Lives Here" is coming on IDTV in ten minutes. So I am going to say toddles for now.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #2d2d2d; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="color: magenta; line-height: 18px;">If you want to talk about this more, I am only a keystroke away. </span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-70539346748596143862016-02-10T12:57:00.000-08:002016-02-10T12:57:22.386-08:00Snow Days<span style="font-size: large;">As a child I loved snow days, especially if I had a test or I hadn't completed my homework. I would go to bed and pray intensely for half the night hoping for a major blizzard. I was overjoyed on the few times my prayers were answered, and devastated the multitude of times they were not.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When I was a working, single mother with three young children and a grandmother to support, I worked nights, which didn't leave me as much time with the children as I would have liked. I loved snow days. I could let the children sleep late, we would go out and build snowmen and have snowball fights, go back in and have hot chocolate with marshmallow thick and goopy melting over the edge of the mug.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">There was also the time when we lived on a mountain and the school bus had to travel on a ledge along the deep side of the lake and up a mountain road that had cliffs. The road was not a priority road with the Road Department, the Superintendent of Schools hadn't canceled school in spite of the three inches of snow that had already fallen. I made the decision to keep the children home that day. Even though I kept them home for weather reasons and it wasn't supposed to count as an absence, it kept daughter #3 from getting an award for perfect attendance. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;">Why am I bringing up past history?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In the past two years the schools in Massachusetts have canceled schools before a single flake of snow has fallen. They have based the closures on weather reports, most of which have been accurate. However, this has not gone over well with some parents and their employers.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We have to find a way to help working parents when schools are closed. The schools have been right to close, because they are looking out for the safety of the students, teachers, bus drivers, etc.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Parents should be able to enjoy snow days too, but for the ones who have to work anyway, we need to find a way to keep their children safe.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Everyone should be able to enjoy snow days.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span id="goog_1376860780"></span><span id="goog_1376860781"></span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-39158022940817410702016-01-31T03:00:00.000-08:002016-01-31T07:29:41.172-08:00National Jigsaw Puzzle Month<span style="font-size: large;">January is National Jigsaw Puzzle Month. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Why January you ask?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Because in the northern part of the northern hemisphere, it is the month we spend more time at home, in the house.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">According to Barnes & Noble January is the biggest month for sales of jigsaw puzzles, although I would have thought it would be December since so many grannies like to give them for Christmas presents.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We have bad weather, school closings, and power outages. (Because of this, I tend to keep my electronics fully charged when I hear we are going to have high winds or active weather. I don't run out for milk, bread, or batteries because we already have whatever we need, and I have a deep supply of candles.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However, jigsaw puzzles are fun and relaxing. Unlike reading, you can be in a room with other people and carry on conversations at the same time as you are trying to find that last water piece. Jigsaw puzzles can be a group activity or a solitary pursuit.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a major milestone in a toddlers development when he or she learns how to do puzzles.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When is the last time you sat down to put together a jigsaw puzzle.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-64220975947902707452016-01-30T08:19:00.001-08:002016-01-30T09:03:01.090-08:00Mea Culpa<span style="font-size: large;">Once again I have come to visit the Spellroom and find I have been AWOL for nine months!!! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">But I shouldn't be surprised, I went to see one of my specialists yesterday. I thought I was a year and a half late for my six month follow-up visit. When I arrived I was surprised to see that the office had moved to another floor. I commented on the nice new digs to the nurse who gave me a strange look and said they've been in them for over five years.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Five Years!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">So now I have to see him next month and the month after. (Good thing he is a silver fox.)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">But I have digressed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the Spellroom . . . over the months I have thought of many things to write about. I have jotted notes, I have composed articles in my mind, but shame on me, I have not come here to write them.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have been busy with the two babies-turned-toddlers, putting out two new books, and knitting seven sweaters and dozens of mittens, but that doesn't excuse my neglect of the blog.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Amazon: </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1Jy9F3W"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://amzn.to/1Jy9F3W</span></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">B&N: </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1NmTe2e"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://bit.ly/1NmTe2e</span></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kobo: </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1Gw6qKk"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://bit.ly/1Gw6qKk</span></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">ibooks: </span><a href="http://apple.co/1RtMHRM"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">http://apple.co/1RtMHRM</span></a><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m0-HI4g0MeQ/VqzVxWkh_oI/AAAAAAAAAuc/Av5AKKu7OUo/s1600/LBBBMaskedCS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m0-HI4g0MeQ/VqzVxWkh_oI/AAAAAAAAAuc/Av5AKKu7OUo/s320/LBBBMaskedCS.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amazon: </span><a href="http://amzn.to/1PqIETj"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://amzn.to/1PqIETj</span></a><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Barnes &
Noble: <a href="http://bit.ly/1P3Pj6B">http://bit.ly/1P3Pj6B</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kobo: </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1UdKdrY"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://bit.ly/1UdKdrY</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So here I am, begging anyone kind enough to read my ramblings to forgive me and hang in there. I will try to hang onto time's tail feathers while I write my books, knit, and write blog posts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wish me luck, my friends.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkb8OingR0A/VqzVoRPA6mI/AAAAAAAAAuU/sn7JjxdC__k/s1600/The%2BInfamous%2BBride%2B-%2BPromo%2Bone.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gkb8OingR0A/VqzVoRPA6mI/AAAAAAAAAuU/sn7JjxdC__k/s320/The%2BInfamous%2BBride%2B-%2BPromo%2Bone.png" width="273" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-64366790646739098562015-05-10T11:22:00.001-07:002015-05-10T11:22:37.049-07:00The Soaps<span style="color: #ea9999; font-size: large;">All my life I've had a love/hate relationship with the soaps. </span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When I was in elementary school every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we were sent home at noontime for lunch. Then we were expected to return to school at one. (In those days we all walked, and parents did not accompany us. We were expected to walk both ways on our own, even in Kindergarten and First Grade. A scary prospect to parents now. Sorry to digress.) </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">All the other kids would go home and watch a children's show that was broadcast during that time, and they would talk and laugh about it when we returned to class. I, however, went home to my grandmother watching As the World Turns, Love of Life, or A Guiding Light. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">No matter how much I begged and pleaded my mother and grandmother would not change the station.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I hated those shows.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then came Dark Shadows. I had to go to work everyday directly from school. And every morning everyone in school would be talking about Dark Shadows. (There were no DVRs back in the Dark Ages.)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then I had babies and I worked nights so that I could raise the babies during the day. My stay-at-home friends introduced me to Erica Kane and the delights of Pine Valley. Soon I began watching One Life to Live and General Hospital too. They gave a nursing mom a voyeuristic view of the "world". Ryan's Hope! I loved all the Ryans and I used to be able to rattle off all of Delia Reid's married names. I am still in mourning for Ryan's Hope and ABC took that off the air 26 years ago!!! (They are not my favorite network and if they didn't have Castle and Once Upon A Time I would never watch them.)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ea9999;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Several years ago I went cold turkey and stopped watching all my daytime soaps. Even though I no longer watched them, it was comforting to know I could turn them on anytime I needed to see my friends. Because when you watch these shows they become people you care for. (There is nothing worse then when a show brings a new writing team in and they change how the characters respond.)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Since ABC took All My Children and One Life to Live off the air I have never watched another daytime show on ABC. (I know how to hold a grudge.) There is one exception. I return every year for the revival of the Nurse's Ball on General Hospital. I love to watch the actors sing and dance.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Did you or do you watch a soap? (Be careful with your answer, shows like Scandal and Revenge are soaps.)</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-64063249163541714352015-04-29T08:11:00.000-07:002016-01-30T06:50:29.117-08:00Are They For Real<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I have become a catalog shopper. Most stores don't cater to my style or size. I would make my own clothes, but I am too lazy. Plus I would probably end up with all Renaissance gowns and velvet cloaks.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Yesterday I received a shoe catalog. To be honest, even though I am probably destroying my image of being a girly girl, I'm not that into shoes. I'm a barefoot hippy from way back.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Although I prefer to be barefoot, I am in need of shoes, so I thumbed through the catalog while I enjoyed a nice cup of tea.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">It's a good thing I was drinking a calming cup of Chamomile tea, because it is probably the tea that kept me from going into shock. For a simple pair of flip-flops they wanted $79.99! Sandals started at $149.99.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Has the whole world gone mad, or is it just me?</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I guess I will stick with my four year old, clearance sale L.L. Bean sandals. (Still comfy after all these years.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-78003475528414857002015-04-26T04:53:00.000-07:002015-04-26T05:42:18.848-07:00The Importance of Conferences<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">I am currently riding the high I get from attending a great Conference. I am fortunate to be able to do so.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">This year I attended with my beautiful daughter author Amanda Torrey. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LQ6A9fdPI20/VTzKyYmVTzI/AAAAAAAAAsY/G4rPlZ42a6s/s1600/223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: lime;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LQ6A9fdPI20/VTzKyYmVTzI/AAAAAAAAAsY/G4rPlZ42a6s/s1600/223.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Amanda and I carefully decided on the workshops we both wanted to attend. When there were two workshops scheduled for the same time period that we both wanted we split up and went to different ones and shared our notes later. (There is so much to share we will have a lot to talk about on the ride home and for the next few weeks!)</span><br />
<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">We even dragged a friend or two into the workshop split/share program. (Amber Skyze was one of them!)</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Yes, it is fun to sit with a friend in a workshop, but one of the great things about a Conference like this, is that you are never alone in a workshop. You may not know the other people there, but you all have a common interest and it is a wonderful opportunity to connect with new people.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">The reason writers conferences are important are multiple and multifaceted. Every author has her own (or his) reasons for attending. One of the foremost reasons is the sense of community we, as social animals, so badly need. Writers work alone. Writing is not something you can do as a corporation, unless you are a comedy writer on the Dick Van Dyke show. Even the most introverted writer needs to feel she belongs to a bigger community. She needs to be among her peers occasionally. She needs to be reminded that she may dwell in a dark cave most of the time, but there are special occasions when she can join others in a communal dance around the bonfire. </span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Then there are the workshops! It gives the writer (established and newbie) a chance to learn something new or to hone old skills. </span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Many a good and lifelong friendship has been formed at Writers Conferences.</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">And writers, especially romance writers, are great at sharing information with each other, and helping our sisters and brothers in the trade out. We are not in competition with each other, we complement each other. (For example, if someone loves Recency Romance and they love Georgette Heyer books, it is natural that she will also love Jane Austen. There is no competition, their books make excellent reading, even back to back.)</span><br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">If you are a writer, I highly recommend you attend a writing conference. If you are not a writer, you should visit the book fair that every writing conference holds. It is a wonderful chance to meet the authors and to find new books.</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">The first book in Amanda Torrey's Healing Springs Series is FREE. If you haven't read it, you should get it today. The entire series is</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;"> a not to be missed read. (I lifted the following covers from Amazon, the Look Inside feature will not work here, but if you click on the link it will take you to Amazon and give you a peek inside.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1E8aOjs">http://amzn.to/1E8aOjs</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">Amber Skyze pen is scorching hot! Don't you love this cover? Check out this and all of Amber's books. </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">This is one of my favorite Georgette Heyer books!</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">And this is my favorite film version. If you haven't seen it, Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is to die for! (If you have seen it, watch it again, the swimming scene is well worth it.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Enjoy!</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">See you again soon, here in the Spell Room.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-32072690173223334552015-04-19T13:40:00.002-07:002015-04-19T13:49:07.103-07:00Spring Ramblings<span style="font-size: large;">Spring is here and I think it may be safe to say it has taken hold. Although, I do live in New England and this year winter hasn't wanted to leave, so it may still have a surprise of two in store for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I live in a neighborhood that has sidewalks. True we hadn't seen them since last December, but as soon as the time change went into effect, I started walking to knitting club. (I didn't want to walk in the dark because around here, people get hit by cars and the perps never get caught.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first week I had to walk in the street because the snow had not receded enough for me to be able to find the sidewalks, but the following week I was able to find half of the sidewalk, and now there is only snow left under some trees and in pockets in people's yards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I do have to say, when you are walking without a dog on a leash people look at you strangely. I'm afraid walking to do errands, or just for the joy of it, has gone out of style.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Random thoughts on Spring!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have noticed a lot of porches on my travels, but I never see anyone sitting on them. They might have a rocker or a porch swing on them, but they seem to be there only for decoration.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Whatever happened to people sitting on their porches, entertaining their friends, talking to their neighbors, or just plain knitting. I have always wanted a nice porch with a rocker so that I could sit and knit and watch the children play and the people zooming down the road.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qXr2Ew2wb_8/VTQT5qvA6mI/AAAAAAAAAr4/iq0IoWNypN8/s1600/081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qXr2Ew2wb_8/VTQT5qvA6mI/AAAAAAAAAr4/iq0IoWNypN8/s1600/081.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is not the house, just one I like. Notice the porch is hidden behind the blooming bushes.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did see an oddity in my rambles last week. A man was out in his front yard playing catch with his son. Most of the houses around here are cookie cutter houses, with unused porches and small patches of yard in which you never see anyone playing, especially not the children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The ball playing was taking place in the yard of one of the oldest houses in town. It apparently had been the "big" house back in the day. It has Corinthian columns holding up the porch roof. A wrap-around porch, the kind with a circular area on the corner where you could place an entire suite of wicker furniture. It also has a sweeping front lawn. Dad and son were playing ball in the front yard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It brought tears to my eyes, and reminded me of the things so many people are missing in their rush to gain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do you think they realize what they are losing and is it worth the gain?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lpErDmMX-eA/VTQUBUzpvDI/AAAAAAAAAsA/x5aIUkJp61Q/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lpErDmMX-eA/VTQUBUzpvDI/AAAAAAAAAsA/x5aIUkJp61Q/s1600/011.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summer is right around the corner and will bring brilliant green.</td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-27504161715188699682015-04-10T13:39:00.000-07:002015-04-10T13:39:00.143-07:00Frustrated Writer<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I would like to say that being a writer is all sunshine and roses, but that would be a lie.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">The only career I have ever wanted since I was a child, in fact since I first learned how to read, was to be a writer.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I had dreamed of living in a cabin in the woods where I would write my books, which would be instant hits, and I would occasionally go to a party or two that my publisher threw in my honor. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">In between books I would be a world traveler. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">The words would flow from my fingers onto the page.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I read The Writer and Writer's Digest every month and began learning parts of my trade there weren't taught in English class. I took typing in high school so I could work the mechanics better.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">From articles that I had read I learned that writers worked from home and lived in sweats.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I couldn't think of a better plan. One day that would be my life.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">However, my plans were delayed due to motherhood and taking care of my grandmother. The sandwich generation skipped my mother and landed straight on me. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Now the issue with supporting and caring for others who are dependent on you, is that they like to have a secure roof over their heads, food on the table, and clothes on their backs. Those are things most newbie writers (especially back in the days of all books being published in paper) cannot afford to do without a day job. Well, I had a day job and a night job, and the writing I did was not enough.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Years later, the tools of my trade have switched from manual typewriters to word processors to computers. Long gone are the days when you had to retype each page until you had a relatively clean copy. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">But the trade-off is having various companies hi-jack your computer for updates that you neither want nor need. </span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">That happened to me last night. I had finally gotten into the rhythm where the words were flowing from my fingers. Then the screen went black!</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">The laptop would not turn back on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Nothing!</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I had to unplug and remove the battery before the stupid thing would come back on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">When I finally got back into my document and gone were hundreds of words. Hundreds!!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">I was so discouraged I shut the damn thing off and watched John Stewart and Perry Mason.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan; font-size: large;">Here's to hoping the words come back today. Otherwise Microsoft is in the doghouse. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-46205142381886030632015-04-08T05:24:00.000-07:002015-04-08T05:24:01.143-07:00What the . . .<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">On Saturday I attended a memorial service for a dear friend's brother. I dressed in what I considered an appropriate manner for a visit to a church. (My dear old sainted Granny would have approved.)</span><div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">On my way home I had to pass a certain chain store. On moral principles I don't like to go to that store, but as a matter of practicality, I must. I needed some storage boxes. (It's time to start putting away the winter stuff!) So I pulled into the parking lot.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">I had to park at the far end of the lot, but even the high winds didn't cause me any dismay, since I like the wind. It just meant I had to hold my long skirt down, and I left my cloche in the car. </span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">Yes, Saturday was the day before Easter, but even that doesn't explain the chaos in the store. The shelves were in disarray, the aisles were impassable, the people were rude. The store was understaffed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">Plus they didn't have the size boxes I needed!!!</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">However, none of that deterred me. I managed to find several unplanned items to buy. I arrived at the check-out registers and as I pushed my cart into line a nasty empty-handed woman ran in front of me and her much slower husband followed a few moments later with a filled shopping cart which he shoved between me and the woman. He couldn't fit and he stuck out in the aisle like a bully shoving his way into the lunch line in middle school. (It was an express line.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">They were ruining my good mood. (In spite of the solemn occasion I had attended, it had been a pleasant day to spend remembering the past with friends. The sun was shining. I was out of the house alone!!!) In order to curb my impulse to be rude to the nasty line cutters, I moved over to another line.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">I was friendly and smiling at my cashier. To my amazement and what is probably a once in a lifetime thing, (for that store) all my items rang up at the correct prices, and I was leaving the store still happy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">As I approached the doors a worker in a blue shirt stepped forward. I was surprised because usually they greet you on your way into the store, not out of it. I smiled at the woman and would have kept walking, but the woman approached me and </span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">apologetically </span><span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">asked to see my receipt.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">I smiled at her and though mystified, I complied.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">I didn't have any electronics that would set off the buzzers. I didn't have any big ticket items. (The most expensive thing I had bought was a fairy tutu and wings for my Little Princess.) And my purse was so small I could barely fit my NOOK into it. But I pulled the receipt out of a bag and showed it to her.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">In the meantime, all the people who were shopping in their pajama pants or holey sweats walked by unmolested by the greeter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">Had I been picked to be inspected because my silky skirt and combed hair weren't normal wear for the store?</span></div>
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: large;">Was this reverse profiling?</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-34717561649460960792015-04-04T08:37:00.000-07:002015-04-04T08:45:14.191-07:00Crisis of Confidence<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Wow! I knew it had been a long time since I last visited the Spell Room, but I was shocked to see how long it's been. </span><div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Last night I spent a couple of hours on the phone with a friend of mine. She is a good writer, but she has a busy work schedule, a lot of family stuff, and a crisis of confidence.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, it is a subject I know only too well.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Crisis of Confidence!</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">We all suffer from it from time to time. No matter what it is we do, at some point in our lives we all must face our fears.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">And that is what a lack of confidence boils down to.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">You may ask, what do writers fear? Here is the short list.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">Will my readers like my story? My Characters? Will my book be any good? Will it be as good or better than the last book? Can I finish this book? Will anyone want to read my book? Will it sell?</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">These are not questions we can easily answer, and in fact, they can't be answered until we write the damn book.</span></div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: large;">As they say, the proof is in the pudding.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-66781735443063176272014-10-05T07:20:00.000-07:002016-01-30T06:53:27.121-08:00On the Road Again . . .<span style="font-size: large;">I love to travel. I keep my passport close in case a handsome billionaire sweeps me onto his private jet for a romantic rendezvous. (It happens often in my dreams, perhaps they are prophetic! At least one can hope.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a result of this nomadic love I have for new scenery I am ever ready to be a traveling companion for my friends and family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tomorrow I leave for a few days in beautiful Canada with two of my favorite authors (and friends). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hannah Howell the creator of luscious Highlanders. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Howell/e/B001HN35I8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1">http://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Howell/e/B001HN35I8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And J.M. Griffin author of cozy mysteries. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/J.M.-Griffin/e/B0074JH1HU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">http://www.amazon.com/J.M.-Griffin/e/B0074JH1HU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I may be out of touch for a few days, longer if I run into an exciting man. He doesn't have to be a billionaire, but he does have to have a functioning . . . brain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">See you later, alligators . . .</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7134252345350556668.post-58725448782345777932014-10-02T08:41:00.000-07:002014-10-02T08:41:01.299-07:00Congratulations, Ginny<span style="color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">Congratulations, Ginny LaMere, you just won!!!</span><br />
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<span style="color: yellow; font-size: x-large;">Which scarf would you like?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0