Being a Fan

I'm a fan of a good many authors. Almost all of them you're heard me mention on my blog. Just for the heck of it, I'll see if I can list those who are automatic buys for me without missing too many: Anne Stuart (Love her bad men heroes. She teeters on that dark edge so well.), Susan Elizabeth Phillips (New author to me I've been going on and on about. I never loved football before, but she's making me reconsider.), Victoria Dahl (My goodness I love her sense of humor and her books are hot! The latest hero has tattoos that just make you melt.), Jenna Black (I don't usually like demons as good guys, but hers are hard to resist.), Kresley Cole (Ditto what I said about Jenna's, plus her books are so fast pace, I have to remember to put the book down to breathe), Shannon McKenna (Hers is like crack sex and her men are so alpha male.), Debra Webb (Her single title books are my favorite. She gets on the gritty side with those and I love that.), and Christy Reece (I love spy/undercover books and she does them right).

There are others but I don't read everything they write, mainly because they write such diverse books, the stories don't alway hit the spot with me. Some of these authors I've read for more than twenty years. Maybe they've changed and I've changed and we've kind of gone our separate ways. I do still keep an eye out for their books but costs of books being what they are, I've learned to look at the story first.

Snow In The South

We rarely get snow in the South. But we did Friday. Thankfully, the ground was warm enough for it not to cover the street. It was pretty. The stuff fell all day Friday. The pictures below start from my job (top of my car) and continue through downtown on the interstate, down a highway and then the street I live on. I live 20 miles from work. In the picture of downtown Birmingham, the foggy looking picture, there was so much snow falling it appeared to be smokey.

Cutting Up

Nearly every second Thursday is my time for a trim and touch up of my gray roots. Yes. Gray. I use to look in the mirror and see dark roots but no longer.

I love the lady who fixes my hair. (In the South, we use the word fix a lot. E.g., I'm fixing to go to the store. I'm fixing supper now. I'm fixing to shoot you if you don't get out of my yard.) Anyway, not only do I love this woman because she's so talented, but because she jokes with me and never acts surprised or embarrassed when I say something risqué. She's so much fun and I'm lucky my friend, Sande, introduced me to her.

Side note about the blog: I guess you noticed I'm not blogging every day. I still have a lot to say, but I decided to not push myself in blogging that often. If I have something to say, good. If I don't, I'm not beating up myself. I'll probably still blog most days than not. I just figured I place enough pressures on myself and this one isn't as important.

Duh!

I've mentioned before I play Scrabble during lunch. It's been almost three years now and I believe my lunch/Scrabble buddies was getting tired of it. I know I was mainly because I got frustrated with not winning often. No. I'm not being a poor loser, but I'm a writer. Words will one day be the way I make a living. Even if it is just for a supplement to my retirement check. I probably only win maybe 15% of the time. My daughter wins 4o%. My friend wins 10% and our only male lunch buddy 35%. Drives me nuts.

So we started playing Boggle. I thought for sure I could do better wth this one. Nope!

Geez, Louise! I'm beginning to worry about my brain. But I keep telling myself knowing a lot of obscure and three and four letter words aren't important. Hey! It works for me. Makes me feel better.

An Oldie But Goldie

I don't know what jarred my memory on this, but out of the blue I remembered the magazines I use to sit for hours and read of my grandmother's. She subscribed to TRUE LOVE and TRUE CONFESSIONS along with a couple movie magazines I can't remember the names. OH, MY GOODNESS! I had so forgotten about them. I remember reading them and getting a little warm (you could say). They were my truly first romance stories I ever read. I remember how my grandmother would say something about them not being age appropriate, but she never stopped me. LOL! I guess she was just happy to see me reading, unlike my other cousins.

Anyway, here's a link to check them out.

Another Day In Paradise

One of the guys in my section has gotten a new job in another department. He will be moving to another building and his office will have a large picture window. From what I understand, it’s not a promotion, but a lateral move. It’s just that this department has a section of the building with several offices and each office has a window or two in it. Last time I was in the department, meeting with a couple of people, I noticed something that disturbed me. The men are in the offices with the windows and the women in cubicles against a blind wall, no windows. Only one of the men is in a position to be considered to be management. And if you’re thinking the women are secretaries, no. Only one of them would be considered in that type of position. From what I know the women’s jobs are as important as the men and in some cases, not much different.

Though I’m not in the same office, I know I would love to have a office. One where I could close the door and have some quiet time to finish working on a job or finish a call without interruption or being over heard. But especially to have a window. I sit in a cube in the center of a building with no windows with five cubicles around me and the complete room has around fifty people in it. It gets plenty noisy in there.

I’m thankful for my job, but it still disturbs me with the unequal treatment I continue to see in the workplace between men and women.

Now That Looks Good

Overall I have a hard time turning down food. Thus the reason I have weight issues. Or like the new PC way of saying it, I’m weight challenged. To me that sounds like what my mother and sister’s problem when they were younger. They were underweight. That’s not the case for me. Remember I said I have a hard time TURNING down food. Why The Lord decided I would be only one of my siblings to have the problem, I have no idea, but even my brother is tall and skinny as a rail. I’m not only the tallest one sideways, but the shortest lengthwise. I get my weight challenges from my dad’s side of the family. He had two sisters who were well-rounded individuals - yes, a play on words.

I was standing at the candy vending machine, slipping in coin after hard earned coin into the slot, anticipating the taste of one of my favorite candy bars, Milky Ways. The creamy caramel and nougat all covered in milk chocolate…awww…cho…co…late. It was wonderful.

Sorry. I’ve got my eyes uncrossed now. While standing there I was thinking of my favorite foods that I cannot turn down unless I have the stomach flu and even then I’ve learned where’s there a will, there’s a way, and decided to list them on the blog. Yes. Another list. You know me. I love lists.

10. Cotton candy and caramel popcorn.
Though two junk foods, I feel they belong together on the list.

9. Anything with cinnamon in it.
Especially “cinnamon toast.”

8. Cheese
Especially gouda.

7. French fries

6. Chicken and dressing
My mom’s in particular.

5. Apple strudel or baked apples.
Remember the cinnamon above?

4. Coconut Bon-bons
Coconut centers with a thin layer of flavored fondant.

3. German Chocolate cake
The coconut and pecan icing is to die for.

2. Pie
Pecan, lemon, apple, etc., but preferably chocolate. Not surprised, heh?

1. Donuts
Krispy Kreme or a little bakery near where I work called Fultondale Bakery. They could give Krispy Kreme a run for their money.

And I wonder why I’m so…plump?

Let The Sunshine In

I’ve learned when I get stumped in my writing to move my laptop to another area in the house. The room upstairs I normally write in has one small window while the rooms downstairs have large floor to ceiling ones. Daylight helps me write. I’m like a bug. More sunshine, the more active I am.

And They Lived Happily Ever After

My favorite part of romances.

Remembering Why I Write

I took a few days away from the blog to get a little more writing done and even finished reading another book. I'm still enjoying Susan Elizabeth Philllips's backlist. Between hers and Victoria Dahl's newest one, I've been laughing so hard. Great romances, good laughs, heated moments and tear-jerker emotions.

My goodness, I haven't had so many wonderful books to read in years. There is a benefit in finding a new author who has been writing for several years.