I had a piece of chocolate the other day (we won’t discuss how many), and found a note inside that really hit me.

I pinned it on my wall so I wouldn’t forget.

Live Your Dream!

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time, and I wasted years thinking it was silly.

No dream is silly if it’s what you want.

Don’t be like me and wait years. Find out what makes you happy and live your dream!

After a few days of some nice weather (and rain), the last of the snowpiles in the yard are officially gone. Yay!

I went shopping the other day and look at what I found in the store:

Aren’t they adorable?! I would have brought one home if I didn’t think my husband would kill me and the dogs/cats would kill the bird.

Writing update: Deep into edits of Electric Moon. Must get back to work…

The ice maker went on the fritz. Instead of cubes, the ice would chop up. After a few tries, I finally figured out that the ice machine was too full. So I emptied it. An hour or two later, I wanted to make sure it worked and grabbed the nearest empty container. The dog’s water dish.

It worked! And since the water dish was empty, I decided to fill it. The younger dog saw something bobbing in the water, but remembered the last time when the rubber racket ball fell into the water. He submerged half his face into the water. Lesson learned…after three times and a five minute sneezing fit when water wet up his nose.

So when he saw the ice cubes, he looked interested. I told him to get one, and he went bobbing! And won! He got two ice cubes the first try. He quickly chewed them up then went back for more, nervous that the other dog was eyeing the dish. He ended up going back five times…then all the cubes melted.

It was hillarious. The only drawback was the small river of water runing through the kitchen afterward.

Yeah, ignore the classy dish we use for dog bowls. The cat got curious. Though he took a few sips, he has no fangs, so no bobbing for him.

The last piece for the kitchen finally came. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow. Well, all except for the curtains. Neither Hubby or I can find anything that fits, so Hubby volunteered me to sew curtains. That should be amusing since I don’t have a sewing machine. lol 

A young couple woke up to carnage this morning when they walked into their hallway. All the toys in their house were viciously destroyed.

The suspect was caught on camera. He is white with salt and pepper hair. One blue and one brown eye. Stands about 26 or so inches, 55 pounds. He has several distinguishing marks on his face including a number of freckles. If you see him, don’t try to apprehend. Call the number on the tags.

His known associate has black hair and brown eyes. He’s stands about 26 inches and weighs 110 pounds. It appears he tries to rescue the toys, but the ensuring tug-of-war only ends in death.

Again, don’t approach them. Call the number on their tags for help. They will worm their way into your house with innocent eyes and bashful looks. Their antics are adorable. If you are taken in, they will wait until you are asleep and murder all your toys. The next day, they walk around the remains all innocent like as if oblivious to the mess. Like they didn’t create any chaos. If you think you are safe because you don’t own any toys, fluffy socks, slippers, drier sheets and any type of stuff animals are fair game for them. They are not picky.

Beware! You were warned.

STARTS:
Friday, October 26, 2012

ENDS:
Monday, October 29, 2012 @ midnight.

I love Halloween. The atmosphere. The haunted castles. Scary movies. Ghosts and the paranormal. The sheer fun of scaring yourself silly. Let’s not forget the candy. On this magical night, the veil between the living and the dead thins and anything seems possible.

Do you know the story behind the popular custom of Jack-O’-Lanterns? A light is inserted in a pumpkin to create a lantern then placed outside to guide lost spirits home when they wander free on Halloween. Is that both sweet and creepy to anyone else?

Now onto the contest: To be entered to win a $5 Amazon Gift Certificate, leave a comment and either tell me what kind of paranormal creature you would like to be if you had a choice or your favorite scary movie. Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can let you know if you won!

I love zombies, so my favorite zombie movies are Serenity (Hey, it counts, lol), Resident Evil and the TV series The Walking Dead. I could rattle off a few dozen more, but I’ll spare you. I can’t seem to get enough of them. As for for my choice of paranormal creature, I think it would be fun to have magic. In fact, a lot of my books include some sort of magic…along with vampires, shifters, witches, demons, angels and yes, even zombies. I’ve included a short excerpt below of The Demon Within if you’re curious.

Now post. I can’t wait to see what you’ve decided!

Don’t forget to visit other authors who are participating and giving away their own prizes: http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page/

The Demon Within Excerpt:

(First meeting with the hero)

Caly met the open-eyed stare of the stone man, forever captured in time. Caly’s lips parted, and her breath stuttered out of her mouth.

There was a God.

The man — and from her view kneeling on the moss covered ground, he was most definitely a man — was absolutely gorgeous. Not in the normal sense, not by Hollywood standards. Prominent cheekbones, a full, sharp nose and a strong jaw kept his face from being too feminine.

Desire twisted through her. A deep yearning tightened her chest, and a bubble of hope swelled. This was a man she could depend on to not let her down. When she looked at him, the chaos inside that defined most of her life settled.

She felt normal.

Then reality crashed over her.

Desire for a damn statue.

How ironic she could be attracted to stone when living men left her cold. But here, in the middle of nowhere, she found a man who turned her on like nobody else, and he wasn’t real. It was enough to make a grown girl cry.

Little details filtered into her brain, and a thrill of excitement thrummed under her skin. The answers she sought about her condition were stuck in the past; she only had to uncover the clues. Since they’ve landed, he was the first concrete hint something was off.

This was why she came here. What quieted her protests against the mission. All for the chance to learn if there was a possibility for her to be fully human again and finally destroy the demon infection that had taken root and flourished in her body. Every day, it ate away her humanity. Relished the fighting a bit too much. Each time the darkness opened up in her, the more she wondered why she fought it at all.

The mission forgotten, Caly took her time to catalog the odd details. The statue wasn’t what she’d come to expect from this region. Instead of native garb, the grey stone man had chiseled, close fitted pants.

Two inch carved straps crisscrossed his chest, appearing to almost dig into the stone. His long hair, wild with waves, was tied back from his face. Her fingers twitched to run her hands over him. Though his complexion was tinged green with age, the fierce expression drew her gaze instead of repelling her.

The turn of his lips was anything but sensual, yet their fullness made her think of sex and what a man could do with a mouth like his.

Strong shoulders led down to a lean, sculptured chest. His open shirt did little to disguise his physique. The statue shouldn’t have impressed her, but it was as if the stone called to her. A streak of light filtered through the canopy, wavered a moment then illuminated him like an offering.

Something just for her. She had to curl her fingers into a fist to resist touching him.

As she watched, she swore his chest moved to breathe.

I’m a purse girl, meaning everywhere I go, I bring one. I’m one of those Moms when you need something, I have it in my purse. I have one purse, a big one, and I only purchase a new one ever ten years or so.

So this morning, I’m a few minutes late out the door. I wake up my husband and say goodbye. I grab my phone and pick up my purse. I have a slot for everything. Just when I was ready to shove my phone into my purse, guess what I found?

A spider.

A huge, harry, long-legged freaky thing.

AND IT CRAWLED IN MY PURSE!!

I might have screamed.

My husband most assuredly laughed. At least he asked me why first.

So what’s a girl to do? I grabbed my wallet out of my purse and went to work. Yes, the purse stayed home. And yes, my husband laughed some more. But let me ask you this: What if I brought it and the spider crawled into the car while I was driving? I would be watching the purse more than the road!

I know that critter is in there either curled up dead so I’m going to have to dig that thing out or it’s making babies. I’ll have thousand of spiders crawling out of my purse. Ugh!

I’m not afraid of spiders per se, but I don’t like to know about one and not see it. You never know when one of those suckers will pop out at you.

Now I’m wondering if maybe I didn’t see one this morning. I only saw it at the corner of my eye, so it might not have really been there, right? RIGHT?

Hubby, you might as well laugh it up now, because guess who’s cleaning the damned purse out tonight.

*Note: I was going to post a picture of a dead spider for you all, but after the first few searches on spiders, I couldn’t do it anymore. Way too creeped out. I know there is one lurking over my shoulder somewhere. I can feel its beady little eyes on me. *shiver*

On my ride home today.

You don’t even want to know how many I passed on the road this week.

I’m at Melissa Limoges’ blog today talking about my latest release The Demon Within. (Click on her name to follow the link.)

Not only did she do a wonderful interview, she gave a glowing review of my book! If you love books, this is a great blog to follow. She writes wonderful reviews that always make me want to run out and buy the book. Bad for the checkbook, but good for the little book worm in me.

I’d love for you to stop by and check it out. You never know, you might find something new about me. If you leave a comment (with your email address), you will be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card.

I look forward to seeing you there!

I came home from work late on Monday. Hubby was already home and had the dog in the garage with him, doing man things. I went in the house, did chores, ate some food, then went out to visit with them. I usually jog or run to the garage, that night was no different.

Then I noticed something odd.

Something was in my yard, no more than ten feet from me.

We both stopped still. It would be a toss-up to see which one of us was more surprised.

Then the poor thing took off running.

Are you curious? Here is who I found:

Yes, you see that right. A peacock. In Minnesota. How cool is that.

My next thought was the poor thing. Nights are already getting colder. I’m guessing it’s not a wild bird, but someone’s pet as they do need care during the cold.

My hubby saw it crossing the road last night again. I hope it makes it home. We’re trying to keep dog in the house as much as possible, so he won’t eat the bird.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever found in your yard? We’ve had cats, dogs, mice, snakes, frogs, deer, geese and an assortment of all type of birds, not to mention squirrels and chipmunks up the wazoo. Oh, did I forget to mention a snapping turtle that our dog tried to eat? And now a peacock to finish it off.

Writers do a lot of research, and it can take us down some unconventional, twisted and tangled roads.

Do you know how a wake came into existence?

They family would put the body on display for three days to make sure the person was really dead. Apparently, they’ve had times where the person they buried was still alive. Remember, this was before embalming. Some illnesses and poisons can present like death. One reason I love technology.

Anyway, a scary thought is that it happened so many times, people were buried with a string tied to ones wrist. That string was connected to a bell topside. If you woke, apparently, you were supposed to have enough peace of mind to ring the bell and know help would arrive soon. Why would we even think to add a bell to a coffin? Well, people have found scratch marks on coffin lids where the not-so-dead have tried to escape.

The graveyard shift came from the men who would stay in the graveyard at night, shovels at their side, waiting for the bell to ring and dig up anyone mistakenly buried. Talk about yikes!

I’m not sure the bell would be comforting or just plain creepy. The good news is that most people believe this myth is a hoax, including the origins of the name graveyard shift. My thought is that this myth is so wide-spread, there could be some truth to the superstition. What we do know was that this system was invented and used. We also know that it wasn’t in practice for very long either. I’ll leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions.

I’d love for you to come back Sunday and help kick off superstition week.