Romance Reading

Have you ever wanted to just read a good romance? Something with a story that just flows & doesn't take much thought on your part? Lots of people look down on romances. Okay, I'll admit it... sometimes the juicy covers make it embarrassing to read romances out in public. Other than that, it's all good, right?

Well, guess what? Right now Harlequin is running a great promotion. In honor of its 60th anniversary, Harlequin is offering 16 of their books free of charge (in ebook format). To download some juicy reading, click here.

The Harlequin site takes a second to show the back page description of each individual book, so for your reading convenience the Amazon descriptions are below. :)

Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch (Harlequin Intrigue) by B.J. Daniels
Hide in Plain Sight (Love Inspired Suspense) by Marta Perry
Stranded with a Spy (Suspense) by Merline Lovelace
Kiss Me Deadly (Silhouette Nocturne) by Michele Hauf
Slow Hands (Harlequin Blaze) by Leslie Kelly
Price of Passion (Harlequin Presents) by Susan Napier
Baby Bonanza (Silhouette Desire) by Maureen Child
Irresistible Forces (Kimani Romance) by Brenda Jackson
Dancing in the Moonlight (Silhouette Special Edition) by RaeAnne Thayne
Snowbound (Harlequin Super Romance)by Janice Kay Johnson
Once a Cowboy (Harlequin American Romance) by Linda Warren
The Bride's Baby (Harlequin Romance) by Liz Fielding
A Very Special Delivery (Love Inspired) by Linda Goodnight
Speed Dating (Harlequin Nascar) by Nancy Warren
His Lady Mistress (Harlequin Historical Series) by Elizabeth Rolls
Homespun Bride (Love Inspired Historical) by Jillian Hart

Oh, and for those of you who love vampire romances, check out Kiss Me Deadly. I doubt it's as angsty as Twilight, but you might still get a kick out of it. :)

Happy reading, folks!

Coloring Twilight

I just found a great little site. It's supposedly only for girls, but I'm sure boys could go there too if they really wanted. I've been trying to find Twilight coloring sheets online for A... despite the fact that she says that she's not one of those girls that goes all mushy over Edward, I suppose.

Anyhow, while looking I found this. It's a great online Twilight coloring sheet. It's kind of like one of those paint applications. You just click on the color and then click on what you'd like to fill in. You can click on the down arrow and get access to more colors, too. Which is a good thing. Because without that, my picture was becoming too brightly-colored to be at all Twilight-ish. I hope you enjoy!

Video of the Day: Lamento Boliviano

I heard several this song several times this morning while stuck in traffic for 45 minutes. Different versions of the song, that is. Versions in rock en espanol, merengue, and cumbia vallenata. Can you tell I like the song? :O) I hope you will, too.

Me quieren agitar
Me incitan a gritar.
Soy como una roca,
Palabras no me tocan
Adentro hay un volcán
Que pronto va a estallar.
Yo quiero estar tranquilo.

Es mi situación
Una desolación,
Soy como un lamento,
Lamento boliviano.

Que un día empezó
Y no va a terminar
Y a nadie hace daño.

Y yo estoy aquí
Borracho y loco
Y mi corazón idiota
Siempre brillará...

Spaghetti & Diner Food

You know food's good when you eat it with your fingers. Come on. It's not like you've never done it before.

Sigh. What a lovely weekend. A. & I went out to eat with friends on Saturday night. Total goofiness, lots of laughter and tasty food- including spaghetti. Yup, so good you could eat it with your fingers. We'll have to do a spaghetti night at the house sometime. :)

Then A. & I carried out a successful dadnapping for Sunday morning brunch. Yes, brunch. 'Cause we're sophisticated like that. Actually, A. and I had breakfast and my dad had lunch. That's like brunch, right? :)

Brunch was yummy and artery-clogging. Diner food rocks. And the waitress was spunky and enjoyed putting (or trying to put) my dad in his place! You go, girl!

Anyhow, here's the video of the day, Celofan by La Gusana Ciega. I love the music and the words. That was even before I saw the video. Enjoy!

Comprar azul acero
es todo lo que quiero,
plantar un par de sueños
y despegar del suelo.

Soñar envuelto en pliegos,
dejar atrás el miedo.
Quebrar las formas viejas
y despertar de nuevo.

Es papel de celofán,
lo que cambia de color,
lo que pierdes con el tiempo
y lo que vuelves a encontrar.

No estoy volando lejos,
no estoy volando cerca,
eso que quieres ver en mi
es lo que se refleja.

Es papel de celofán,
lo que cambia de color,
lo que pierdes con el tiempo
y lo que vuelves a encontrar.

Comprar azul acero
es todo lo que quiero,
plantar un par de sueños
y despegar del suelo.

A Day with the Family

A. has been wanting to go to the lake for the longest time now. Finally, this weekend she got her wish. It was a gorgeous day. Nice and hot with a pretty regular wind. Loading up and getting out was a bit of a pain. It was almost as bad as preparing to travel out of the country. Once at the lake, though, we just sat back and relaxed while my dad grilled. Ah. So nice.

See these dirty little feet? That's my nephew. All he wanted was for someone to take him to go play in the water. While he was waiting the forever it took for the big people to get around to finally taking him, he had to content himself with a tiny spot of formerly puddly dirt. :) Boys and mud...

Yeah, the day wasn't bad. Hope your weekend was fun, too!

Los Nubes No Se Van

What a fun-filled night! (Not really.) A pretty bad storm hit Dallas. Actually, it's still hitting it! The lights went out right when we got home. While I was taking care of things in the garage, A. was taking care of Lucky. While A. was in the feed shed, a tree fell on it! Fortunately, it was one of the trees we'd been meaning to cut down. Mother Nature just got to it before I did. Now we'll only need to do a bit of tidying up, picking up pieces of tree and such.

Since it was raining so hard, I was reluctant to open any of the windows so it was warm all night long. However, that didn't stop us from having a movie night hour before the laptop's battery died. Twilight. Although I heard that it wasn't all that, I actually liked the movie pretty well. At least what we saw of it. Great. Now I'm going to have to read the books! :)

After that, I washed dishes by candlelight. It was very relaxing. Then on to studying by candlelight. Maybe Laura Ingalls was used to this sort of thing, but I'm not. It's hard to nod off when you have a candle on the book that can easily set your head afire. Well, it's not hard to nod off, but it's dangerous! Thank God, the lights were on again by morning. Hopefully the rain will ease up a bit by this afternoon. We have fence to mend and tree limbs to move. In addition to the long list of other things that need to be done around the house.

To see the video of the day, click here. It's El Sol No Regresa, by La 5ta Estacion. We're hoping the sun will return soon.

Hygiene Kits for Kids

Sorry for the not-too-good pictures. I took them about 1 a.m. when I really should have been sleeping. Hmm. Maybe I was sleeping when I took them. That explains a bit. Anyhow, this is the special project I mentioned before. A. and I have been working on these bags for about 1 ½ months. The bags are actually hygiene kits for homeless kids and teens helped by SUFK (Stand Up For Kids).

Kids and teens are a cause that’s dear to my heart, whether it's the kids at the neighborhood school or the kids living on the street who are unable to attend school. SUFK goes out and hits the streets, looking for homeless kids, street kids, kids who are at risk. They provide them with food, hygiene kits, and an ear to listen.


What you see in the pic are some of the hygiene kits that my family finished assembling on Memorial Day. They have all the basics that a street kid can use to maintain personal hygiene. Each kit includes a brush, comb, toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, etc. As a little extra something, the bags also include comic books that we stumbled across in a local thrift store. All the comics are rated T for teen. (It’s a good thing, too. Some of those books can get a bit racy/violent/bloody!)


What’s the point of this post? My point is… these kids are not on the street because they want to be. They’re out there because they feel they have to. Perhaps they come from abusive homes. Maybe they were kicked out. Maybe they’re second-generation homeless. Can you imagine how hard it must be for them to get from day to day? Every child needs a home. All these children need to be helped so that they can rise above their adversities and break the cycle. They should get to sleep under a safe roof in a warm bed just like the rest of us. They need love and understanding. If I can’t get out there and give them that, at least I can contribute toothbrushes and such.

If you can help in some way, please do so. It doesn’t have to be through Stand Up For Kids. It can be another organization in your area. It doesn’t have to be a monetary donation or a donation of goods. Maybe you can go and serve dinner at a homeless shelter or go and volunteer at a children’s shelter or organization. There are so many young people that need help. There are so many of us who can give it. Why don’t we, however we can? :)

Video of the Day: You Were Meant for Me

Listening to the radio this morning, A. & I heard this song came on. I told her about something that happened forever ago, back in the dark ages, when I was recording this song as the music for friends to hear when they paged me. Yes, paged. On a pager (aka beeper). Those cool little gadget thingys that nobody could live without back in the days before cellphones were affordable for regular people.

This cool pager pic was borrowed from here.

Anyhow, a very dear friend called me while I was recording the song, so I told him to call the beeper & tell me what he thought of it. After calling it, he called me back and asked me if the song was for him. Um, no... Yup, I was a heartbreaker! Anyhow, it was just a good song & I totally adored Jewel. So, here's the song. I hope you enjoy it. And no- it's not dedicated to you.