Wednesday, August 28, 2013

THE BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER...PART I

 This past weekend, my family and I took a trip to +James Pierce (ok, I know there is a name there, but Powhatan Resorts is where we went and hopefully James works there)

Anyway, we took a trip there with +Austin Camacho and Denise and their family and my two children along with their children and also a couple of friends, and also a cat (which will be a different blog on a different day)

We arrived on Friday night and we were all to tired to do anything but this was a family vacation and after all of the sleeping arrangements had been made, re-made and floor space claimed, we settled in for a peaceful night.

Then came Saturday and the madness began. Have you ever cooked breakfast for 13 hungry people, 7 men, (2 of which play semi-pro football) and 6 females and one finicky 1 year old and a 2 month old baby. Well the task of what to feed them was easily solved with a bag (Costco is your friend on family outings) of pancake mix, a gallon of syrup, 3 dozen eggs, four pounds of bacon and enough coffee to wake up an entire teaching staff of college professors.  See that looks like a lot of food and after cooking for what seemed like an hour we were ready to call everyone in for breakfast except...

Half of them were still asleep, one decided they needed to take a leisurely bubble bath and the men, well they were about to gnaw off an arm if they weren't fed immediately.

We (that would be Denise and I) sat down the platter of pancakes and two bowls of bacon and by the time 6 of them ate...we needed more food.

Wait, what....my initial statement of "wow; do you think we will need all of that bacon" was met with the very light laugh and yes" from Denise)

Turns out we needed all four pounds of bacon, half of a bag (5 pounds) of pancake mix and 1 dozen of eggs. We ushered in shifts of food, took turns at the table that sat 6 and made quick time using two different coffee pots. Whew, breakfast was over and the dishes, well; the dishwashing hands of Denise and myself had all of the dishes, pots, pans and glasses and mugs out away in a little over an hour but you know what,

the memories that were made just over breakfast will stay embedded in my mind forever and off to the beach we went. But getting everyone corralled into three cars...

to be continued.......

Thursday, August 22, 2013

THE FLINTSTONES VS THE HONEYMOONERS

Yes, today I am talking about two shows that I thought were completely opposite of each other.

One is a based out of Bedrock, USA and the other is based out of New York, USA. The one has a colorful cast of characters who threatens some sort of bodily harm to each other and the other stops cars with their feet.

I was talking about this with a really special guy friend and he told me, "Well you know that The Flintstone's are based on +The Honeymooner's."

Yes, that moment of silence that you just heard was me when he said it, and then I said the most intelligent thing I could,

'No way!" (see I told you it was intelligent)

But there was no way that could be true. after all, Fred never told Wilma he was going to send her to the moon, like Ralph Cramdon told his wife Alice.

However my friend told me, "well, he never told her that, but he talked to Wilma just like Ralph talked to Alice. Hey, if you don't believe me, +Google  it and I came back with..."well ok, I will." (yes another great comeback, wouldn't you say)

So I Google'd it and guess what I found on Wikipedia. It says, "The show imitated and spoofed The Honeymooners.[8] William Hanna admitted that "At that time, The Honeymooners was the most popular show on the air, and for my bill, it was the funniest show on the air. The characters, I thought, were terrific. Now, that influenced greatly what we did with The Flintstones ... The Honeymooners was there, and we used that as a kind of basis for the concept."[citation needed] However, Joseph Barbera disavowed these claims in a separate interview, stating that, "I don't remember mentioning The Honeymooners when I sold the show. But if people want to compare The Flintstones to The Honeymooners, then great. "

Get the flip out of here!. Who knew...or did you know...because I didn't know that.

Now it makes me wonder what other shows are being done in cartoon form.

I guess that is why I loved The Honeymooner's so much and why I still watch The Flintstones today.

Fly me to the moon and stop my car with my feet!. Tell me what 'throwback' shows you like.

Monday, August 19, 2013

TEACHING AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS

People say you can't teach an old dog new tricks and I don't believe it.

Well, I wouldn't say it about dogs because I had dogs and I would teach them new tricks almost every day. I would tell them to go fetch and after showing them a few times what I wanted them to do, they would...oh wait...they didn't go fetch, it was just me bringing back the branch or paper or the occasional stray dog.

My point is, you can't teach this old girl new tricks. I had to buy a new laptop....well I didn't have to buy a new one, I could have continued to use the one that would need to be angled on it's side in such a way to keep the plug firmly in place to charge it or risk losing all of my important data at the three hour mark. Instead I have a new Windows 8 laptop by +HP

Now, the huge screen, 17.5 inches; I fell in love with. The raised keyboard is another plus but the whole Windows8 application.....lets just say I have been close to tears, close to hysterics and now, close to a mental breakdown.

This moving screen is not good for someone like me, who is like a cat with shiny objects. Every time a new image appears, I fall into a trance like state; that is until another window comes 'alive'.

Then its the whole 'charms' that appear randomly on the side of the screen. They are suppose to help me find my way but all it succeeded in doing was confusing me.

Let's not even talk about how it took me over an hour to 'find' the desktop and then the 'find' my way back to all of the 'live' windows.

Who out there knew that computers no longer come with an owner's manual, well I sure as hell didn't and that was another two hour ordeal to figure out how to OPEN the manual online. Yes. I love my new laptop but can someone, anyone please show me how to navigate between the 'start' screen and the desktop without it taking me over an hour to do to so.

What's that...ohhhh, pretty pictures....ah, there's a new one scrolling right now....wait..there's another one.

See, I'll be here all day.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Q and A with author C.A. Verstraete:

Today I welcome to my blog, a new author hitting the scene with a great YA zombie novel. I read it and it is amazing! I wanted to sit down with her and find out some of things she has learned and some of the things she is doing for her first novel. Make sure you leave her a comment.

Thank you for joining me today and I am going to jump right into it...

 Hi, B...thanks for hosting me as part of my Book Launch Blog Tour for Girl Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie, which just released!

What piece of advice would you give to new authors trying to get their novels published?

Verstraete: Be patient. (What is that?) Be persistent. And don't start sending it out too early. (Yes, I did. See reverse of first answer. ha!)

What is the thing the one thing that you have learned about publishing that you didn't know?

Verstraete: That there really, truly, is such a thing as a marketing/publicity person other than myself, though I've heard they're near as rare as unicorns. J

What made you write about Zombies? And do you think that Zombies are the new 'fad'?

Verstraete: I actually got into zombies with a short story I wrote a year ago (The Killer Valentine Ball) that I called "zombie light." I've always been a Night of the Living Dead fan, but The Walking Dead really hooked me.

Monsters seem to be the bearers of society's ills, and with all that's going on in our society, I think it's a theme that'll continue to be around for a while. People need a "boogeyman" and for now, zombies seem to be it.

Tell us what you like about being an author?

Verstraete: It's a good way to get the words out of my head or I'd be talking to myself. (Not a good thing. ha!) I just enjoy writing - at least when it's going well.

Why did you decide to go with Intrigue Publishing?

Verstraete: I liked the idea of a royalty-paying publisher and I liked Austin Camacho's long experience in publishing.

Your characters are Hispanic? Do you think it is harder to find a market for an ethnic novel than a novel with the characters being African American or White?

Verstraete: I actually don't think of my character, Becca, being any different than anyone else. She is part-Spanish, but that is only part of who she is. I think readers will find that Becca is multi-dimensional, with being a part-zombie and coping with "full" zombies more noticeable than her ethnicity. After all, not everyone has a "twirly" eye and a female, "Wolfman" gait...

This blog is about writing, shoes and books. What are your favorite shoes, your least favorite book, and why?

Verstraete:  Shoes? Well, who doesn't like shoes! I love platforms and wedges, and as someone barely reaching 5-feet-tall, I'm soo glad they're still in fashion. But I may still wear them anyway even if they weren't! And I absolutely adore miniature shoes (and purses!) They're dollhouse-sized, but look like the real thing. (For fun, check these out and tell me you're not in love!)

Books: One immediately comes to mind: Moby Dick. I hated reading (or trying to read) that book in school. Bo-ring! That doesn't mean I didn't like other classics, which I did. To this day, I still like to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Tell us about what is next for you.

Verstraete:  Next? More zombies, of course. I'm not done. Be sure to enter here to win a great prize


Blog: GirlZombieAuthors, http://girlzombieauthors.blogspot.com

BUY:
Amazon:  *Canada - China - France - Germany - India - Italy - Japan -Spain - US - UK

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

WANTS VS NEEDS

Has there every been a time that you wanted something so bad, that you couldn't really do anything else but think about it.

Well I know that feeling and it can be good or bad. It's good because you get to feel the excitement of going after something that you really want. It's bad because if you don't get it; the let down is horrible.

In my life I have wanted things and gone after them and most of the time I have been very pleased with the outcome.

Until recently, I was very happy with the direction my life had taken and was very pleased with the way that I 'went after what I wanted."

Recently when I realized that I would not be able to have the one thing that I wanted, that is when  I knew what it felt like to be dejected and feel lost.

Had I lived in a fantasy world my entire life or had this one thing become more important to me than anything else?

I'm not sure what the answer to that question is because right now; I'm still feeling very overwhelmed by the sheer thought of not getting what I want.

The only solice that I have is that there will always be another day and I get a do-over. That and I can always make myself feel better with new shoes.