Ready for the New Year?

Hey Everyone! I thought I'd be prepared for this post. I thought I'd have a topic picked out. But as today dawned, the only thing I had was a stiff neck from sleeping wrong, a computer on the fritz, a foot of snow in the driveway, a Christmas tree that won't stand up, and no food in refrigerator to feed anyone. So, I scanned my iBooks list for inspiration. Something I read must have been worthy enough to post an article about. And then I saw it. Not something I read, but rather didn't read. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I remember downloading it on my queue. There had been so much praise about it. Could this help me? Give me some organization or other intriguing insights to help persue my HEA? Well, I'm gearing up. I might not be ready for Christmas or looming deadlines, but I will be ready for my 2017 New Year's resolution. Hopefully. We'll see. Next month I'll give a recap to see if The Miracle Morning is truly a miracle.

Want to see what all the hype is about? Check out Miracle Morning:

What if you could miraculously wake up tomorrow and any—or every area of your life was transformed? What would be different? Would you be happier? Healthier? More successful? In better shape? Would you have more energy? Less Stress? More Money? Better relationships? Which of your problems would be solved? 

What if I told you that there is a "not-so-obvious" secret that is guaranteed to transform any—or literally every area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible? What if I told you it would only take 6 minutes a day?

Enter The Miracle Morning. What’s now being practiced by thousands of people around the world could perhaps be the simplest approach to creating the life you’ve always wanted. It’s been right there in front of us, but this book has finally brought it to life.

Are you ready? The next chapter of your life—the most extraordinary life you've ever imagined—is about to begin.

YOU DESERVE AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE. IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP TO YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

Here's the link if you're interested: Amazon.

I'll be back next week with a report on how well I did or didn't do.

Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!!!

Nicolette Pierce

Have a Very RED Christmas!

Hey, ya'all.  How is everyone today?  I'm doing great.  Got my tree in the stand this morning and the outside lights up this evening.  So I'm almost ready to go...as soon as I can find those stupid extension cords that keep hiding from me.  I will never understand how the hell a 100' bright orange extension cord can get lost, but it manages to elude me every stinking time I need it.  And I have at least three other cords that are 25' and 50' long...can't find those damn things either.  It's starting to become a Christmas tradition at my house...get the boxes out of the barn, test the lights, hang the lights, spend a week looking for the damn extension cords.  ARGH!

Okay, so I got to thinking about Christmas, and gifts, and Christmas lists.  So...what's on your Christmas list?  I don't usually make a list, but I try to always have an inexpensive gift idea or two at the ready, just in case some random stranger wants to put a little something under my tree.  I think it's important to be prepared.  LOL

So, I was a single parent from the time my son, Dustin, was four months old, and when he was young, he would draw me pictures or make me macaroni art for Christmas.  Then as he got a little older, his father would sometimes help him make things for me out of wood or whatever was at hand.  The idea was to keep the cost low, but still show his love by giving something he made himself.  I loved it! In fact, one of my favorite gifts ever was a gas funnel made by punching a hole in a metal coffee can and welding a metal pipe onto it.  That was truly a one-of-a-kind gift, and I am still bummed to this very day that it somehow disappeared.  I'm pretty sure it's because it was such a thoughtful and clever gift that someone had gas funnel envy.

Then, as Dustin got a little older, he started wanting to buy me Christmas gifts.  Oh, I'd still get the wonderful homemade Christmas cards, but he would hit me up for a ten-spot to buy me what he considered a "real" gift.  So I'd usually give him a ten and turn him loose in the store, and every year my request was an electric can opener.  Yes, you read that right...every year.  You see, electric can openers were very inexpensive at the time and it was a gift you could get for under $10...and I really wanted one.  So the first year I thought of the can opener, I was excited...that would be something perfect, something I wanted, and the price was right.  So Christmas morning came, and there was no can opener under the Christmas tree.  No matter, I decided I could live without the can opener a little longer.

So, the next year, the can opener was my request again.  And, again, no opener on Christmas morning.  You see, Dustin had decided that an electric can opener was a stupid gift, so he was bound and determined that he would get his mother something nice...something she really wanted.  LOL Well, this went on for years.  In fact, it became a standing joke by the time my son reached adulthood...and still, I did not have an electric can opener.  By now, it seemed like a cop-out to just go buy one.  So every year, I asked for the electric can opener, and every year I got a very nice gift, but it was not an opener.

Finally, the Christmas morning came when I got my electric can opener...a pristine white opener.  I was so E-X-C-I-T-E-D!!!  I had waited years for that can opener, and it was a beauty.  Dustin still could not believe I had been serious about that damn can opener.  But I think he was sad that the can opener joke was gone, now that I had finally received one...and my son does love tradition.  So I guess he decided to start a new tradition.  Because the next Christmas, I got a lovely silver electric can opener.  Yep, you read that right...my second can opener in two years.  I now had a backup can opener.  (Smile.)  Then my son decided he'd enjoyed the joke of the 2nd can opener so much that the next year, I got a lovely red electric can opener.

Now I know you are laughing...and you're probably wondering what I did with three electric can openers. Well, I'll tell you.  I gave the silver one to my niece (who didn't have one), slid the white one into the back of the pantry as a back-up, and proudly put the brand spanking new RED electric can opener on my counter...which is where it still sits today...and I LOVE it!

It was at this point that I finally told Dustin to knock it off with the can openers because I was running out of storage space.  He laughed and I thought all was well at this point.  But, yes, I did forget that my son loves tradition, and he loves a good joke...and this joke was just too much for him to live without.  So last year on Christmas morning, I opened my gift and inside was a gorgeous RED coffeemaker...exactly like the gorgeous RED coffeemaker that I'd purchased for myself about a year before and still sat on my counter, making delicious live-saving coffee every morning.  YEP...he got me again!

So now Christmas is upon us.  He did ask me this year if I wanted to stay with RED for my new coffeemaker, or did I want to switch things up.  I told him to knock it off with the coffeemakers.  I now have two identical coffeemakers sitting side-by-side on my kitchen counter, and no room for a third!  He chuckled, but it was sort of an evil chuckle.  So I figure I will either get a third RED coffeemaker, or he will find some other kitchen appliance to continue the joke.

Truth be known...I keep both coffeemakers on the counter so people will ask why I have two...then I get to tell the story, which is one I truly love...because I also love tradition, and I love a good joke.

May your Christmas be as fun and as loving, and full of family, food, jokes, and duplicate kitchen appliances as mine!  Stay safe, and have a ball!!!

That's my story, red and ridiculous, and I'm stickin' to it.  Hang on tight now, 'cuz we're gonna go real, real fast!

Christmas Memories

         My DH and I put up our Christmas tree this past weekend and hanging the ornaments on the tree brought back so many memories of Christmas’s past for me. I do get a little sentimental and that’s okay.

Now, you all know that I have my routines in how I do things (all right, I admit it. I am persnickety…just can’t seem to help myself). Decorating the Christmas tree is no different. There is an order to how it’s done. First, and the most important, are the lights then come all the ornaments my son made for me when he was young. I treasure each and every one of those hand-made precious jewels. After those, I have all the ornaments that were given to me by the special people in my life. I don’t do tinsel….I learned a long time ago that it can get a little messy when you have a dog (she would catch the tinsel on her tail and I’d find it all over the house). The last things to go on the tree are the candy canes (yes, we must have candy canes. It’s a rule.)

When my son was young, my DH would pick up a live tree on his way home from work on Christmas Eve. Once the kid was asleep, he and I would decorate it so my son was doubly surprised on Christmas morning. We did this for quite a few years…and then, we got caught. After that, it became a family thing and we’d all pick out the tree and decorate it together.

My son is grown with a family of his own now (and lives in another state) so there isn’t much opportunity to decorate the tree together, but every time I hang an ornament, especially one that he made, my heart just fills with so much love!

Happy holidays to everyone! Wishing you peace and joy (and lots of good books to read).

As always, happy reading!

Marie

Kindle Fire Giveaway, books and more for the release of the CELEBRATE Anthology!

The authors of the CELEBRATE Anthology set in the Love Brothers world of Liz Crowe are "celebrating" its release on December 15th with a big Rafflecopter!

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Her Highness the Traitor by Susan Higginbotham

Romances were a little different in the 1500’s, affiliation over love. 

This story involves the “Jane’s” of the Tudor succession, Jane Grey, Jane Dudley, and Jane Seymour.

Frances Grey, Jane’s mom, tells a good part of the story, always with the hope of her daughter marrying nobility.  Henry VIII is available once again and what parent wouldn’t want her daughter to have such security?  Yet, the pitfalls, danger, and instability of the nobility, especially wives of Henry VIII, give her pause.

The relations to the court, whether they work for the king or are family, constantly have to prove their faith and allegiance.  The Tower is filled, heads are lopped off, people disappear, and yet the parents and young ladies continue to vie for ultimate closeness to the crown.

The emotions and sentiments expressed take the reader to a fragile existence, always on the edge and under scrutiny of the society.

Happy reading,

Dawn                                                      

Free books by Lexi Post, Roz Marshall and Anthea Lawson!

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Always, Lexi

While I Was Sleeping.......

Hey, ya’all.  How is everyone?  Ready for the holidays?  Yeah, me neither.  But they’re coming whether we’re ready or not, so like I always say…hang on tight!

Okay, so this week I’m on a rant again about thing that make you go HUH?  I had   some elbow surgery earlier this week and it brought with it a real head-scratching moment.  First, let me say that I have the utmost respect for doctors, nurses, and anyone who works in the health care industry.  You guys are rock stars!  But I always say that I’m a very intelligent woman with moments of incredible stupidity…well, I guess I’m not the only one.

So here’s what happened.  When the doc and I talked about the surgery, I made it clear I had some book deadlines and that I couldn’t afford to be laid up.  He assured me that whether they did this surgery laparoscopically or they had to cut open the elbow, either way I would probably be typing again by that night or the next day.  Ohkay…I’m trusting my doc ‘cuz he’s a real smart guy.

Surgery day comes on Monday and I am real nice to everyone.  They are thrilled to have me there.  We are cutting up and having a great time.  (I believe in being nice to people who hold your life in their hands.  Just sayin…)  Anyway, we are all besties and everything is going great.  So I go to sleep like a good girl and the doc works his magic.  All is well.

Time comes to wake up and I open my eyes and the nice nurse is there telling me I did great, but they had to cut into the elbow, so it’s a bigger incision than expected.  No problem…the doc assured me either way was no big deal.  So I lift my arm and it won’t move.  HUH?  I squint and stare at my arm, which is in a half cast from above my elbow all the way to my fingers.  WTF?  Is this what you call a workable solution?  Who did this?  I never should have gone to sleep.  It was like those pictures where you fall asleep at a Frat party and wake up with a penis drawn on your face!

I am freaking out inside.  I say nothing to my caretakers because I can see they are trying to take really good care of me.  I know I have a follow-up appointment the next day, so I’ll have a chat with the doc then and get him to cut about 12 inches off this freaking cast!  So I talk myself off the ledge and later that night I confirm that I cannot type…can’t even reach the keyboard unless I stick my elbow in the air and dangle my fingers over the top of the keyboard.  In fact, I soon realize I can’t brush my teeth, can’t get a spoon to my mouth, nor can I wipe my butt!  This is my right arm, and I am right-handed.  We have a crisis of MAJOR proportions.  I text my friend Patti and tell her if the doc won’t take the stupid cast off tomorrow, I’m coming over and she’s going to help me take this sucker off and saw it down to a more workable size.  I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why I have this stupid cast on my arm—that was NOT the deal I made with the doctor!!!

Next day I show up at the doc’s office and they’re really surprised.  Turns out the appointment I have is left over from the first surgery date that they rescheduled…but they forgot to reschedule the follow-up.  So they tell me to come back in two weeks.  I say, “Oh no, you have to take this cast off today.  I’m here and I need it off.  No one ever mentioned it, I have to work, it has to come off.”

Uh….we’ll check with the doctor.

I’m about to hyperventilate when they come back and say I can talk to his PA.  Okay, now I’m ready to do battle.  No more Ms. Nice Guy. I go back and without any questions, they just start cutting the darn thing off.  Oh-kay.  I can work with this.  So off comes the cast.  I ask the PA what the purpose was for that stupid cast anyway, and I swear to God, my hand over my heart, her answer is that it was the only way they could think to keep the wrapping on the elbow.  Apparently, it’s hard to keep a wrap on an elbow…and apparently they don’t think I’m capable of rewrapping it.  So the solution is to freeze my arm at a 90 degree angle with a half-cast so I can’t type, can’t eat with a spoon, can’t brush my teeth, can’t wipe?  She looks at me and serious as a heart attack, this PA who is one-third my age asks, “Do you think you can rewrap it if it comes off?”

Seriously?

I stare at her for a moment and say, “Uh, yeah.  I can rewrap it.”  While inside my mind is shrieking, “I’m a grown-ass woman!  What kind of idiots are you used to working with?”  She gives me a look that says she is doubtful I can manage to do it, but she shrugs and is going to let the stupid girl go home with an arm that is only wrapped…and which, apparently, won’t stay wrapped.

It was like being in the twilight zone, so as soon as the door opened, I got the hell outta there like my ass was on fire!  I texted my friend Patti and told her the cast was off, so she could pack away the saw.  She responded asking why they had put it on in the first place if they were willing to just take it off 24 hours later.  I explained the reasoning, and her response was, “Do they think you’re a kid?”

Apparently.

So today is a much better day.  I was able to type up this blog, I have rewrapped my arm twice with no problem, I brushed my teeth this morning without getting toothpaste from my nose to my chest, and I am delighted to report that I can now wipe my own butt!  Life is Good!

And while I’m at it, I want to send out a special I Love You and a HUGE Thank You to my buddy Bev Petrone.  She stepped in at the last minute to drive me, pick up my meds (and a box of donuts and a bag of Fritos), and even stayed the night with me to make sure I didn’t commit hara-kiri over the cast they sneakily put on my arm while I was sleeping.  Friends don’t come any better than that!

That’s my story, weird and wacky, and I’m stickin’ to it. So, hang on tight now, ‘cuz we’re gonna go real, real fast!

Love ya,

Kayce