Best of 2010!

Check it out!!

Odd Stuff got listed as one of the most recommended books of 2010 on Happily Ever After Reviews!!

So exciting and soooo flattered!! Check it out here.

Yes, Virginia

Since I am a Virginia, and in honor of my long ago namesake, I am reprinting the original Virginia letter.

I love the line where Santa says, "It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginia's."

Without further preface... Virginia.




















Thanks to http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/clipping.htm for this image.

New Years Resolutions...

The kids were asked about their New Year's Resolutions... it ended up being more of an 'I want list'
See conversation transcript below.

Jordan shouts, "The yearly Blooooog!"
Ash- Why do we have to do this every year?
Can't you just write a blog about a blog?

Me- What are your new years resolutions?

Jordan- Not to be a whiny 'b.'

Me- Don't swear or hint at swearing...

Jordan- Yeees, Virg. Not to hit children, to be nice to my mom and you and my last resolution is to eat steak!! Ha, David!

David- I want to build the biggest lego set ever built and earn myself a Kindle from Santa and beat Sirius Sam. Oh, and to not beat up Ash.

Ash- What is with everyone wanting to beat me up?

Jordan- You are just beatable.

Ash- I want to stay out of sites I am not supposed to and collect as many comics as David does. Especially rares like Morbius. And to get a Kindle from Santa... and to not hit my sister. I also want to learn how to pick my nose with my toes.

(Jordan sits picking her nose with her toe.)

Justice- Mine are to get good grades, try hard and NOT FAIL and plus get Bakugon. I don't care which Bakugon..

Ash- No you don't! You just want to be like us.

Jordan- points her finger at the sky proudly then complains because Ash ate a booger... apparently she has already forgotten her toe was just up her nose....

Kids all surround computer and giggle.

Jordan- I say the next thing we talk about is the MEANING OF CHRISTMAS! (then falls on chair, squashes her dog and laughs hysterically)

Me- okay... what is the meaning, Jordan?

Jordan- The meaning of Christmas is Jesus's birth and it is all Saint Nicholas being a symbol for joy for Children!! And that is all I have to say!

Then me and Shell threaten violence...

Jordan- So what is martyred? Stuck to a pole, right?

David- Jesus went to heaven for our sins. That is really the important part.

Then the kids begin discussing calling David Dave...

023
+
1

Jack typed the above when I didn't pet him...

Kids all back to reading my screen and laughing and poking me with their little jabby chins...

Me- Quit it!

Michelle- Silence!

Enough bloggie for one day...

Snow day

You might live in the snow belt if...

• You don't measure snow by the inch, you measure by the foot.
• 
  
• You know what the phrase 'white out' means.
• 
  
• You have ever gotten stuck... not in a ditch... on a road.
• 
  
• Your school doesn't call off for roads buried in snow but instead has drivers that grin back at the kids and say, "Hang on. Things are about to get interesting!"
• 
  
• You have ever compared your drive to work to a video game... "So it was a level three snow... Drifts blowing... So I tugged on the ebrake to make the turn..."
• 
  
• You have ever stood across the road from someone... and not been able to see them.
• 
  
• Your dog goes outside... and you have to get a shovel out to find him... and he is a grand mastiff.
• 
  
• You have thought to yourself... I just want to follow the plow.
• 
  
• Your neighbor plows their front yard.
• 
  
• Walking out to get the mail is a major event that requires snowsuit, cross country ski apparel and perhaps a rope between you and the box.
• 
  
• You set a bottle of water on the porch and wait for it to pop... because you are snowed in and have nothing better to do for the next ten minutes.
• 
  
• When you let the dog out he was black. When you let him back in, he has transformed into the abominable snowdog.
• 
  
• You know why there is a flare, a candle and kitty litter in your trunk and blink in surprise if someone you know doesn't do this. Also, in the back of the truck, you have bags of sand but no sand box...
• 
  
• You have ever shrink wrapped your house...
  
  
  

You can ride a snowmobile down Main Street and not shoot off any sparks because the road is a foot deep in snow.

Christmas Letter

Ash- Mom, have you written the Christmas letter yet?

Me- No.

Ash- Do you have the picture you are using to send out.

Me(annoyed)- No.

Ash- Don't you have to mail that stuff out?

Me(Glaring now)- Yes!

Ash- So you are a writer and you haven't even done the Christmas letter yet?

Me- I have written many books this year. And edited them. Four got published. Four. In one year. That is four more than I have ever published before. Plus I work full time. And you haaaad to homeschool. And there are THREE of you guys. I am lucky I remember to wash my hair.

Ash- So is that some lame excuse why you haven't done it yet? Because you told me we don't make excuses when we haven't done what we are supposed to.

Me- *glare*

Ash- I will shut up now.

Terrific Tuesday!!

Snowed in, I have one little boy running around with ants-in-the-pants underwear and a teeshirt and a little girl in her Nightmare before Christmas tee and shorts. And I feel it is that time of year again...

To discuss the true meaning of Christmas!!

Me- Ash, why do we celebrate Christmas?

Ash-Pretty much it is for Jesus's birthday and it is a time for sharing.

Me- Why don't we share everyday?

Ash- I don't know! We should. Then everybody would get presents everyday.
Me- What about Santa?

Ash- He gives us presents.

Me- Why?

Ash- I don't know! Are you writing another blog?

Justice- Santa comes to give us presents like love joy and hope.

Me- How do you wrap love joy and hope?

Justice- The love joy and hope is watching others enjoy their gifts.

Me- Does that mean if he doesn't bring you anything, you would still feel love, joy and hope?

Justice- Happiness would be in your heart. I would rather have family.

Me- So do I have to get you a present? Or just show up?

Justice... You don't have to but it would make me happy.
Me- But you said you would be happy without presents.

Justice- I would be happier with presents. Maybe without presents I would be as happy as a gnat.

Me- A gnat?

Justice- Or a fat lazy cat.

Me- A gnat? (ponders what story included the Christmas Gnat...)

Justice- No. A cat. But a gnat because they are small.

Me- So... you want a bug for Christmas?

Justice-No. Aughh.

Ash- Someone hides a pickle in our tree and you get a free present. Like an extra life in a game. But a pickle. I know that about Christmas.

Me- Why a pickle?

Ash- It's a German thing. German's like pickles.

Me- Is there any meaning to the pickle?

Ash- Yes. It means it's glass. If we used a real pickle it would stink. I like nutcrackers.

Me- What do nutcrackers have to do with Christmas?

Ash- They don't do anything. They are decorations. They talk.

Me- What do they say? (there are medications for talking decorations...)

Ash- "Hello. My name is nutcracker."

Me- So decorations talk to you? What does the pickle say?

Ash- "My name is pickle. If you find me on Christmas, you get an extra pickle." All the decorations talk. If you have the magic of Christmas.
Me- What is the magic of Christmas?

Ash- Joy and Happiness. I want presents. *dances around the room... wiggling his butt*
Me- Why?

Ash- Presents make me happy. I want Draganoid Collosus and DSI. That's all.

Me- But that's expensive.

Ash- Santa gets the presents from the elves who make them in the North Pole.
Me- What do the elves get paid?

Ash- They don't. It said so on Rugrats. They do it for joy. Just like the Easter Bunny.

Me- So the Easter Bunny doesn't get paid?

Ash- No. Just joy. That is all they get.

Justice- They work for joy for making kids happy and for Christmas-sake. It is joyful for them to make stuff because it is what they are good at and what they love. I think the pickle is there because you hide it.

Me- So how does Santa get in since we don't have a chimney?

Justice- He makes one with his magical nose.

Ash- If you don't have a chimney he touches his nose and walks through the door with his big red sack. And quiet as a mouse he sticks presents under their tree. And then the children wake up and find the pickle and Santa eats cookies because they are his favorite. Sometimes Santa goes through heaters because he is waterproof and can climb like Spiderman.

Me- So Santa is like a holiday superhero?

Ash- Pretty much. He and Spiderman are probably friends. Maybe he has things on his hand like Spiderman to climb walls. And then eats cookies and milk. Spiderman and Santa probably plan Christmas.

Justice-Santa is a superhero in a way. He makes children happy and helps them believe.

Me- So Spiderman makes children and happy.

Justice- Duh. With comic books.

Me- Aaaah.

Clothing Optional Released!!!

Clothing Optional is available now on Sapphire Blue Publishing!!!!

On the rebound, Brie is thrilled at the idea of a vacation on the beaches of Florida. It will be especially great since it is with two men who are absolutely irresistible…and equally unattainable.

Murphy and his boyfriend are offering the escape and maybe, if she spends enough time with them, maybe she will be able to resist wanting to strip them every time she sees them.

Murphy has always been oddly attracted to his best pal, Brie. But he has never touched a woman in that way. When his lover and boyfriend Andy suggests they make love to her, that she is perfect for them to experience a ménage, Murphy wonders if he is not enough somehow.

But the temptation of having them both…

When they get to the resort and find out that “Clothing Optional” should have been in bold print on the brochure, the three of them are in for the weekend of their lives.

Read an excerpt here.
Or pick up a copy here!

Warning: This one is an erotic. So be prepared; naughty fun abounds!

Winter Holiday Party!!

Mark December 6 on your calendar! That's the date for the Book Brew With The Coffee Crew Winter Holiday party! It will run basically all day from about noon EST to at least 8:00 pm EST and you can stop by anytime. We have over twenty authors to share excerpts and holiday stories with you to include Opal Carew, Amber Kallyn, Berengaria Brown and many others! Various Coffee Time staff members will be there too.

It's at www.coffeetimeromance.com/coffeethoughts/ which is our private blog site. We will have a special drawing for a great holiday gift basket which contains a hand made reversible lap robe with a western theme featuring hunky cowboys, a canister of Godiva cocoa mix, some mugs, a CD holding several ebooks and some small surprises! One lucky reader who posts comments will win this very neat gift. There will be a few individual author giveaways also. It's a fun time you do not want to miss. Be sure to post at least a comment or two to get in on the drawing! We hope to see you there!! Feel free to repost.