Happy Tuesday From Gidget.

I hijacked Mommy's blog again. You didn't weally wanna see nuttin but me, wight? U alweady look at tu manee pikchurs of maow-maows. - Luv, Gidget.

Happy Sunday, Gidget Style

I hijacked Mommy's blog. What iz you doin' today? -- Luv, Gidget.

I need a human-sized hamster ball...

...No, seriously, I do. This describes me. LOL

Source: deviantART

Stranger than fiction? (Stupid Sex Laws Edition)

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all. :) Whether you have a partner(s) or are single, I hope you have a great day today. Here is a various selection of items stolen pulled from my Facebook feed for your enjoyment.

Have a great one!

Two blogs today.

Happy(?) Monday. I've got two blog posts today to pimp out.

The first is over at the "When One is Not Enough" menage blog and gives you a glimpse inside my...colorful brain. Yeah, colorful. That's the word I'll go with!

Hearing in Technicolor

The second blog post is over at the BDSM Authors' Playroom, where I've started a series of topics on commonly used/misused BDSM tropes, to examine the fact versus the fallacy.

BDSM Facts & Fallacies: Free-ranging subbies.

Also, I still haven't picked a winner on my last contest, but will sometime today. So make sure if you haven't commented yet, get your patookie over there and do so, please?

Another random contest: Oddest holiday dinner?

And "Out of Bight, Out of Mind" has reached (as of this morning) #5 on Siren's menage bestseller list! Woot, and thank you!! :)

"Out of Bight, Out of Mind"

"Love Slave for Two: Reunions (Bk 3)" Available for Pre-Order!

Guess what's available for pre-order? "Love Slave for Two: Reunions (Bk 3)" is now up on the Siren-BookStrand website:

http://www.bookstrand.com/love-slave-for-two-reunions

Blurb:

[Siren Ménage Everlasting: Erotic Ménage a Trois Romance, M/M/F, HEA]

Nevvie and Thomas think Tyler is nuts for coming home with an RV and an even crazier plan to travel from Florida to Seattle. What could be better than a family vacation with two kids and Tyler’s father?

Perhaps finally putting the ghosts of Nevvie’s past to bed for good as she seeks answers to who she is.

She begins to seriously doubt the wisdom of their journey as mishaps seemingly pile up by the mile. And when a tropical storm and medical emergency add to the mix, she considers pulling the plug. By the time they reach Seattle, she endures almost more than her sanity can take, including a ride in a patrol car, a stowaway, and nonconsensual use of handcuffs.

And that’s before she’s given her mother a piece of her mind.

Through it all she’ll discover that sometimes the longest journeys, no matter how trying, are the ones that bring you closest to family—and home.

A Siren Erotic Romance

You can find all my Siren releases as Tymber Dalton, Lesli Richardson, Macy Largo, and Tessa Monroe on my Siren page at:

http://www.bookstrand.com/tymber-dalton

A different breed...

This is soooo the truth. We are, by the very nature of what we do, just a wee bit "tetched" in the head, so to speak.

Also true. We never get a "day off" either. A writer friend of mine asked me, "Is that why I couldn't relax and turn my brain off during my massage?" I said, yeppers. Exactly.

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

Hubby and I were talking the other night. He asked me if I wanted to stay here in this house (the house I inherited from my grandparents) permanently. After thinking about it, I had to say yes, I did.

Don't get me wrong, I love our house. I love where it is. I live in paradise, just minutes from the Gulf beaches.

But...I was pretty much raised in this house. This house has always felt like home. And it is just five minutes from my parents. My cousin and his mom live, literally, next door. (Our grandmothers were sisters and lived next door to each other.) I have friends and family up here.

So it looks like we'll be transitioning to living here full time instead of just through the holidays. That means trying to decide what to do with our house. Selling it right now is out of the question. We're not underwater on it, but it's not exactly a selling market. We might rent it, but not sure what we want to do with it yet.

Did I mention I have the world's greatest husband to suggest this?

So once we get through the holidays, we'll look at what our next steps will be. Fortunately, this house doesn't have a mortgage on it, so it's not like we're paying double in that way. And we can add onto this house, which was our plan anyway, and make it bigger. (Although it's not really much smaller than our other house, although the one bathroom situation is a little irritating at times. LOL)

My animals are happy here, especially the cat, BW, and the bird, Pickles, who were Granny and Grandaddy's pets. My other animals could care less which house we're at.

So another stage of my life begins. This should be interesting. In a good way.

Shoot. Me. Now. Please.

Well, I got the bright idea that we should try to waterproof the shower here. You know, to, oh, say, make it actually easy to bathe. (Keep in mind this is a sixty year-old house I inherited from my grandparents.) All my life I've taken sit-down showers or tub baths in this bathroom, ever since I was a kid, because the wallboard wasn't really waterproof. I decided to rectify that, since while Hubby and I do like to shower together, it's a pain in the ass to stand there and hold the shower head for each other.

So last weekend, Sir busted His ass helping us, got the shower done, replaced the cartridges in the shower tree (the old ones were shot, but we didn't want to have to pull the piping out of the wall and redo it), and I said I'd take it from there. I decided to replace the sink and put new beaded board paneling up, paint it, etc.

Ha. Hahahahahaha. I'm a really fuuuuunny woman, yes I am.

After screaming bloody murder at sixty year-old steel pipe fittings that didn't want to break loose (this was after I had to tear half the wall paneling out to get to them) and converting them over to CPVC lines and fittings (the old ones would require cutting into the cabinet because they came in too high), and fighting with the NEW valves that didn't want to stop leaking (pipe dope is now my friend), and replacing the old toilet valve and supply line (figured if the damn wall was out, might as well while I was there) I got the new sink and new vanity in. (The old sink was wall-hung with two legs in the front.)

Here's where the fun begins.

The damn cold water supply line was too short, because once I got the valve to stop leaking, it was at an odd angle and I didn't want to risk loosening it just to get it in the right place. So I needed a longer supply line. And the drain pipe entered the wall at a funky angle (steel pipe) so I had to play Frankenstein with the P-trap and a flexi-pipe to get THAT to fit. I got the WRONG fucking size. Turns out our sink is 1-1/4" from drain to wall, whereas many are 1-1/4 at the drain and 1-1/2 at the wall.


Oh, what's this puddle of water? It's...

The fucking TOILET TANK leaking from a hairline crack on the side.

GRRRRRR.

BACK to the home improvement store I go Thursday night, it was past 8 o'clock and no. Fucking. Way was I even going to attempt a toilet replacement at that time of night.

Did I mention I am in severe pain due to I'm in a fibro flare?


At this point, we'd been three days without a bathroom sink. Finally got THAT working last night after finding the right parts to make it work in ways that would probably make a licensed plumber's eye twitch. I. Don't. Care. It works, it drains, and it doesn't fucking leak. Ask me if I give a shit what it looks like.

I don't.

Mind you, this project started last weekend.

So today I finished getting the rest of the bathroom paneling in, get the backsplash up, get a coat of paint slapped up, get most of the new flooring in. Run back to the home improvement store for moulding. Parents come over for dinner at 6. I wanted to get another coat of paint up tonight before collapsing in a Percocet-induced lack of pain, but...

Oh, wait. What's this?

The light switch no longer works.

Fuck.

Me.

Yes, I tried changing the bulb. The switch, the original sixty year-old switch, has died.

I fucking give up.

And yes, the toilet is still leaking. Only now it's not leaking as much and looks like it has white warts all over the outside of it from the epoxy putty. Eventually it'll be some New Age artsy looking thing, with more epoxy than tank visible. (The toilet is a four-bolt, they don't make that kind anymore. That's why I don't want to try to mess with replacing it right now.)

Percocet, here I come. I'd be willing to bet my grandfather is looking down on me and laughing his ass off.

Yes, soup for you...

I've been in a soupy mood. It's been chilly (now COLD) and with my current fibro flare, cooking is down at the bottom of my priority list. Late last week I threw together a "Thanksgiving Use Up the Leftovers" soup in my slow cooker, with lentils, turkey, and sweet potatoes and served it over leftover stuffing. Winner!

Hubby made me his delicious potato soup on Sunday.

Today was lentils and ham (leftover ham).

I could grow to like this. To be fair, when I feel like this, the options are pretty much anything I can toss in the slow cooker, or one of the frozen pizzas I now keep on hand for just such a circumstance. Or take out, which I'm pretty much burned out on.

I've taken up crochet again and made myself some spiffy fingerless gloves in a couple of colors, as well as another beret and a scarf. Keeping warm, for me, even though yes I live here in Florida, is a priority. I can easily get cold in air conditioning in the summer and my fingers and toes turn into blocks of ice, so cold weather like we're having now (we had frost last night) is a killer for me.

So I'm sitting here with a full tummy, just finished off the last of the pumpkin pie, watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," and watching hubby starting to put lights on our Christmas tree.

I'm just hoping our Christmas tree decorating goes a little more smoothly than the Griswolds'.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know everyone posts melancholy "what I'm thankful for" posts today.

But...well, you know me. *LOL*

Actually I am pretty darn tootin' thankful overall. This was a suck year in many ways (we lost two of our dogs, my health issues, full roof replacement) but honestly? I'm not going to kvetch over that. We have a house we are not in danger of losing, I have a job I love, my hubby has a job he enjoys (and comes with health bennies), and there are a lot of people out there a lot worse off than I am.

I'm thankful for the world's best hubby, my son, and great friends and family. I've made new friends who have become as close (or closer) than family. I'm thankful for my readers who buy my scribbles. I'm thankful I have the ability to do what I love for a living.

I've also learned the valuable lesson of stepping back, slowing down, and taking stock. (Only took me the better part of forty years to learn that. *LOL*)

No, I don't do Black Friday shopping. That's...the bad kind of crazy. *LOL* I prefer to take it easy and give gift cards. Call me lazy, but I'd rather give people something I know they can and will use how they best need it rather than giving them clutter they might or might not like. And in today's age, sometimes the people don't want to admit they'd rather have the cash equivalent gift card than a present they don't need (or want or like).

And really, isn't this time of year supposed to be about family and friends and not about how we can push retailers over the hump out of the red and into the black? Not to sound anti-consumerism or anything, but frankly, the stress of trying to shop for the "perfect" gift for someone (which usually isn't) isn't worth the drain on my energy with my fibro. It's far better for me to give a gift card and spend TIME with that person.

So before you go nuts over specials and risk getting trampled in long lines, take a moment to think about what's really important to you. If Black Friday is a sporting event to you that you enjoy, fine. If you don't really enjoy it but think you "have" to do it, no, you don't.

Have a safe, happy, and sane holiday. Keep it sober, and keep it salmonella-free. :)

iPad notes and comparisons (part 4)

Are you sick of me and my iPad yet? LOL

Well, I have the plug-in keyboard dock for my iPad, but one serious limitation of that is you're stuck in portrait mode, limiting your screen space. I don't like that. So I ended up buying a Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard 6000 yesterday that works great. That was an interesting story. Let me tell it, literally as verbatim as I can remember.

Me: *walking into national office supply store chain, to woman who works there who'd just asked if she could help me* Looking for a bluetooth keyboard.

*Note, I didn't have my glasses on, so I had to squint to read.*

Her: Oh, let me get Bob (or whatever his name was) to help us. *She flags kid over.*

Him: Yes?

Me: I need a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad. *By this time I'd squinted enough to spot a sign over his shoulder that said "bluetooth" on one of the keyboards on display.*

Him: We don't have any bluetooth keyboards.

Me: None?

Him: Nope. Sorry, we don't sell them.

Me: *pointing* What's that?

Her: *laughing* Looks like it says bluetooth. *Mind you, she works with him and is enjoying his fucktardary at his expense.*

Him: *frowning* It won't work with a Mac. It's for PC only.

Me: *grabbing box from other woman who obligingly handed it to me* It says here it'll work on Macs or PCs.

Him: It won't work on your iPad.

Me: *arching eyebrow* Why not?

Him: It just won't. But you have fourteen days to return it. *slouches off*

Needless to say, I bought it, it works fine. Ironic it's a Microsoft keyboard and works on an iPad. I like that. It suits me.

Shhh...

This is how I feel right now for the next couple of minutes. I just turned in a manuscript to one of my publishers that I've been fighting to get done for a couple of weeks, and now, it's done. So... iz basking And now, for the next project.

see more dog and puppy pictures

Hysterical video about BDSM Dominants

Okay, now, there's nothing graphically explicit in this video, but it IS hysterically funny, and it does contain one bad word. Keep watching past the end to the "outtake." LOL!

Do not drink anything while watching this video! LOL

"...but I'd need to get another extension cord to do it."

And just like that, my husband unwittingly gave me the title for this blog post. Now, I've blogged about my husband's holiday decorations before. This year we've added more wire animals, another couple of blow-ups (including my favorite, the huge chubby penguin), and have swapped out more of the lights for LEDs. One thing that was really neat to find out is that the white LEDs are now coming in a "warm" flavor, meaning they really DO look just like "real" white lights instead of having that bluish tint the "cool" flavor of white lights do. We added a few of those too.

(The picture is from my BlackBerry, because I was too lazy to find the regular digital camera and find batteries for it and...etc. If you click on it, it should give you a larger version.)

We've also added a music sync box which plays, at a neighbor-flinching volume, a wonderful collection of Christmas music, and it flashes the lights in time with the music. (Keep reading.)

When I noted to hubby that the very front row of light-up walker markers down by the street should stay lit all the time and not on the blinker, he said... "I can do that, but I'd need to get another extension cord to do it."

And the humor behind that statement is that already, we have cornered the market in extension cords.

But he's worked damn hard on it, and I'm really proud of him, all ball-busting aside, because it does look great. I keep informing him it's not a competition, but he keeps grinning that he "won" because he's got his outdoor decorations up before anyone else on our street, excluding the guy at the end who puts out his balls every year.

Um, light-up plastic balls. (Get yer minds outta da gutter.)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a relatively crappy cell phone video that doesn't do the set-up justice. If you turn your volume up, you can barely hear the box. (I turned the volume on the box DOWN to a less ear-splitting volume so we don't have the home owner's association crawling up our asses.) Sorry for the quality of the video, I'll try to get a better one shot...if I find our video camera and figure out how to get the video to my laptop.

Random Humor: Muppets Singing "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Because it's my blog, that's why. And I love the Muppets and I love Queen. And this is one of my favorite songs!

Gidget's world domination continues.

Gidget was a pirate for Howl-oween.

Obviously, her plan for world domination includes cuteness to take everyone by surprise.

Call off the search dogs, I'm back.

Sorry for the delay, I'm stuck in home improvement hell. *LOL*

First of all, the winner of my contest was lisaguertin, so please drop me an email with your email and I'll...um...email you your copy of Cross Country Chaos. *LOL*

Home improvement hell. Well, I'm stuck slap dab in the middle of it right now. I still have one room to finish laying down the allure flooring, I just finished painting our bedroom (well, almost finished, still have to finish the trim work, ugh, dark chocolate brown over white trim, not fun), I have to paint the hallway (long) and great room/kitchen. I also have to replace the window treatments in those rooms (except for our bedroom, which is already done).

Admittedly, our bedroom, with the new flooring, new blinds, and new paint, looks really neat. I need to go through and declutter it and tidy it up, but it's like having a whole new room. Especially since we reversed the layout, moving the bed and TV 180 degrees from where they were.

Can you tell I received a quarterly royalty check? *LOL* I also paid our property taxes, which came in the day before my check. I asked my husband if we could frame the receipt since it was the first time EVER we didn't wait until the absolute very last day in March to pay them. He sort of laughed but I think he thought I was kidding. (I wasn't. *LOL*)

Yeah, who says the Universe doesn't have a sense of humor? Literally the day before my royalty check hits my bank, I get my property tax statement and my flood insurance renewal notice. *hanging and shaking head* At least I got hubby's car fixed ($600+ later), which I'd been promising him we'd do after I got paid. Nearly a grand dropped at Home Depot. Oooh, and another exciting expenditure...I set up our mortgage to pay automatically, had to pay a month in advance for the overlap on that.

Oooh. Yeah, I know, the glamorous life of a writer, right? *LOL*

So what sort of "fun" stuff did I buy? I did get a new wireless keyboard. Does that count? *LOL*

I know. I'm so friggin' boring. Hey, I'm just happy to be getting my house painted, seriously. In the almost thirteen years we've lived here, the only rooms that have ever been painted are my son's room, and both bathrooms. That's it. It's a slow and ongoing process now to get everything done. I want to upgrade our decrepit A/C system, but that needs to wait until next quarter. I also want to get our roof done, but I need to get estimates on that and find out how much it will be and then make sure I have that done when it's not rainy season. *LOL*

Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of edits for "Safe Harbor," which will be my next Siren-BookStrand release. I've decided I just don't have time to do Nano this year. *sigh* Ironically, I'm too busy writing (among other things) to do it. I've got four projects I need to get turned in that were special invites (one's almost done) and there just isn't enough time in the day for it all. Not that I'm complaining, believe me.

And hubby is already ramping up for his Christmas light extravaganza.

No, I'm not exaggerating. He really does go all out. We're upgrading our exterior lights to the LEDs, so hopefully my light bill won't be so horrendous this year. Ugh.

Evil personified.

You wouldn't think a little thirteen-pound dog could be evil, would you?

This is Gidget. She was a rescue dog. We got her in August of 2007, and she was about 1-2 years old. As best we can tell, she's part chihuahua, part terrier of some sort, part cat, part mountain goat, part kangaroo, part force of nature, and thinks she's a ninja Yellowstone wolf living in exile amongst humans.

She is psychotic has issues.

One of her many issues is she unmakes our bed.

Normally, this would not be a problem, because I am hit and miss on making our bed. However, since redoing the floors in our bedroom and rearranging the room and actually having it look halfway decent, I've been making the effort.

Apparently, Gidgey (one of her many nicknames) doesn't appreciate it. I can pull the quilts and sheet up and go in there a few hours later, and the pillows will even be at the foot of the bed, the covers ON THE FLOOR. Or partially on the floor with a Gidget-sized lump under what's left on the bed.

She claims she's being framed by the bulldog or one of the Labs.

That's not the extent of her evil, of course. In her time she has destroyed many things, has to be crated when we're not home because of severe separation anxiety (but she loves her crate), and she tries to play *cough* "ride the pony" with our 80+ pound female black Lab, Holly. Which is hysterical to watch, because Gidget gets to going like the Energizer bunny on speed with the fast-forward button hit.

We have informed Gidgey that she is neither the right gender nor the right size to play that game.

Holly just lays there and waits for it to be over, she's ten and is beyond caring whether something is dignified or not.

The first Christmas we had Gidget, my husband forgot to clip her crate door when he left her at home to run an errand. He had been in the process of decorating the Christmas tree. He found when he returned (I cannot make this stuff up) in her crate she had dragged a box of glass ball ornaments and a bag of ornament hangers. She also chewed through two strands of lights laying on the floor. Fortunately she had not broken any of the ornaments.

I told him well, she watched you decorating the tree, she wanted to decorate her crate. *LOL*

She is a 130-pound dog in a 13-pound body. My mother knits her little doggy sweaters. (Which, actually, she used one this morning because it was bloody cold here in SW Florida.) She actually did make a cameo appearance in one of my books. In "Love Slave for Two," the little dog Peggy Kinsey refers to when she's having her private chat with Tyler is based on Gidget.

We are pretty sure Gidget is intent on world domination, but we haven't yet discovered her evil plans. Once we do, we'll let you know.