The Wildly Eclectic Me

And belated Merry Christmas! I've been out of town and since I got back I've been so tired that I have been napping most of the time. Ah, the joys of pregnancy. We had a delightful Christmas. Nicky was really into the present opening this year. He loves all his toys. He even did a little dance when he opened his Puppy Computer (A Leap Frog Click Start) It's a lot of fun. Not that it keeps him from trying to steal my laptop but oh well. ;) Well I just wanted to make a quick message so everyone didn't think I'd disappeared off the face of the earth forever. :-D So Happy New Year!!!

Oy, it's been a looooooooong week. I've been working my booty off at work, and I'm just draggingly tired! If only this little munchkin would go to sleep, so could I! I've been so uninspired with my lists lately! I'm going with a Christmas theme this week in honor of the upcoming festivities. 13 of my favorite Christmas Treats (Most of which sound horribly disgusting to me at the moment because of my morning sickness!) Truffles: It's like chocolate in one of it's most delightful forms! Nice hard slightly bitter outside filled with a creamy center. Raspberry Truffle Fudge: Found this one on allrecipes.com . It's delightful! Divinity: If you haven't had it, you're missing out! It's ridiculously hard to make! The conditions have to be perfect. Don't make it when it's raining, whatever you do. Then there's the beating! Oy, the beating! It's much easier since I got my Kitchenaid mixer though. Eggnog: Mmm this stuff is g...

I still haven't even found a decent picture of Nicky to put in mine! I think I'm going to try to get one this afternoon. I've been SO busy at work! I worked all morning on Sunday trying to get caught up and then all morning today trying to get caught up (I'm usually off today) but fortunatly I think I've almost got everything done. The stuff I've been working on is pretty fun though so at least there is that! So here is the question...do you do Christmas letters? I've never done one before, and probably won't this year because well I'm just too dang tired to be creative. :-D I think they are pretty cool though. I love to hear what everyone has been up to all year. Well, anyway, if you are expecting a Christmas card from me I WILL get them out the door eventually!

So I finally got the results back from my progesterone test that I should have gotten on Tuesday! And my progesterone was a "little low." I forgot to ask how low. Anyway they are calling in supplements, but the thing is that if the STUPID FREAKING Lab Corp had done their jobs and read the big letters highlighted on the form with my blood then I could have been on the supplement since Tuesday. I asked the nurse if I need to worry that this has already caused a problem with the baby, and she said it shouldn't have, but of course I'm still worried sick now. I can't help it. I'm a worrier. We lost our first baby at 7 and a half weeks so now I'm doomed to never have a pregnancy where I don't worry all the time. Which I know isn't good for me or the baby, but I just can't help it. I AM SO MAD!!!!!!!!!! If anything happens to this baby because that lab didn't do their jobs, there is going to be hell to pay!

First and foremost, if you're remotely interested in things of the two wheeled and motorized variety go check out my post today on Girlbike.com. On to my 13! You know what…I have nothing! I'm blank! Absolutely blank…so… 13 Completely Random Things About this Week I had my first doctor visit for the little munchkin this Monday. The lovely lady who took my blood is a very talented finder of veins, but I seem to have no veins so I got stuck three times and still didn't get enough blood for all the tests they run. Actually we might have established that I'm actually a zombie, because aside from having no veins and therefore no blood, I also have no pulse in my wrists. Which was good, because we finally managed to get some blood from one of those. I'll bet I'd be a vampire's worst nightmare. LOL The lab that my insurance has an agreement with just forgot to run the most important test. Despite the fact that the lovely lady I mentioned before wrote in BIG...

I found this ! "Lesley Speller of Kaos Kreations said, 'The percentage of people from 15 to 25 years old in Denmark who play roleplaying games is estimated at 23% according to a Danish roleplaying magazine called Alter Ego, so we will have a rather large audience.' Features of the website . . ." Now I have no memory whatsoever of saying that, but we did own that domain so I guess at some point I must have. LOL On a somewhat unrelated note, but also about google. There is a woman in England who works in Education who is also named Lesley Speller. I know this because of the random googling of my name of course. I wonder if she ever googles herself and finds all these strange things posted by and about a weird wannabe romance writer in the US. hehehe

*To the tune of "I Feel Pretty"* I feel crappy Oh so crappy I feel crappy And poopy And blahhhh Obviously I'm not a poet. That is all. I really just wanted to whine a little! I want to write, but I'm so exhausted! I ate my favorite Mexican food tonight, and I didn't even enjoy it! It's so wrong! Everything makes me feel crappy! Except for skittles...and cheddar peppers from sonic... Oh well, I will survive! :-D

I'm going with a ready made list I have of my favorite quotes from Blood and Violets, but I seem to have stopped keeping track at some point in my list so it only numbers eleven. Therefore my First two are simply observations. 2 Observations Followed by 11 Favorite quotes from Blood and Violets It's sooo cold in here!!! NEVER check to see if your milk might have gone bad, when you have morning sickness! Never!!! Just don't do it! It's a bad plan! "He was obviously enjoying her fear. It made her want to hurt him. Badly." Bruno: "I’m not sure where you got the impression that you’re in charge here, but I think you’ve misinterpreted the situation." "It was a shame she didn’t have some code she could give Ricky that they’d worked out in advance. Something that meant, I’ve been kidnapped by a vampire. Please send a swat team. If only she’d had more forethought, but planning for such things as kidnappings by mythical creatures had never cros...

Hey! My munchkin totally published this before I was ready! I've been tagged by Jennifer Shirk. 1. Eggnog or hot chocolate - I'm pregnant so I think I deserve both! Sans rum of course. ;) 2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? He wraps. Most things! But if he has something really big and cool he puts it together for us. Isn't that nice of him! 3. Colored or white lights on tree/house? Colored lights everywhere! The gaudier the better!!! 4. Do you hang mistletoe? I would if it weren't poisonous! Too many pets and babies in the house for that. 5. When do you put your decorations up? Right after we get back from thanksgiving. 6. What is your holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Chicken in wine sauce. I know its weird but that's what we always had at my grandmothers on Christmas day. 7. Favorite holiday memory as a child. Everyone hanging out in my parents bed until six o'clock when it was deemed a reasonable hour to get up. LOL 8. When ...

Following a comment I received on Dana of the Whispering Wood, I would like to know you're opinions on the "historical romance dialect," specifically the medieval version. You know the one I'm talking about. We've all read it. When it's done well, I even enjoy it. The comment I got was basically that I wasn't using historically accurate words. Well the book is set in 12th century Ireland so they weren't speaking English at all. I suppose I could have written it in Gaelic, but goodness gracious, who would have understood it then? I did, in fact, contemplate using this standard "medieval" dialect that I've so often read. In the first version of Dana I even used it. I came to the conclusion, however, that it seems for the most part too forced. I'd much rather have my characters seem more modern and human. I think often this dialect strips their humanity away by making them seem more like caricatures of a medieval historical heroi...

If you're a writer, go check out this group I just joined. :-D Those of you who write romance, or books with romantic elements, may be interested in this new networking association for writers. United Romance Writers Association (URWA) The United Romance Writers Association is a forum for authors to critique, workshop, discuss and share info about the Romance industry. This forum is a private member group FREE to all Romance authors published and unpublished. Authors of all genres are welcome, too – we don’t exclude anyone. We can learn from each other. We make no distinction between published and unpublished authors. No levels of membership will exist. URWA came about because of the limiting barriers thrown up from other professional writing organizations. We don’t want barriers. We want creativity and honesty, candid discussion and contribution, to the field of romance fiction. We are small and growing and may evolve as we do. We need your input, expertise and ideas. Note: This ...

Here is his vampire score! What vampire clan do you belong to? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Tremere You belong to the Tremere bloodline, the sorcerors of the vampire underworld. The Tremere command a terrible power over the blood of others. Many Tremere could pop a human being like a pimple with a wave of their hand. For this reason, many other vampires are wary around these cold, remorseless kin. All their time spent studying, however, has left them severely lacking in the physical department Tremere 71% Toreador 67% Gangrel 58% Ventrue 54% Nosferatu 42% Brujah 38% Malkavian 38%

What vampire clan do you belong to? created with QuizFarm.com You scored as Gangrel You belong to the Gangrel bloodline. Gangrel are very in touch with nature and for this reason are often loners and hermits. They have a very keen sense of the beast inside them and can let it out with devastating results. They do, however, have a bit less control over their impulsive, animalistic nature and are easy to drive into an uncontrollable frenzy. Gangrel 75% Brujah 71% Malkavian 67% Nosferatu 63% Toreador 50% Tremere 50% Ventrue 25%

Okay, we have probably watched this video 20 times today and Nicky has not failed to announce the entrance of the wolf or crack up when he spits the bird out yet. I'd say it's a winner. :D

Okay, I don't know if any of you catch Nick Jr...but there is this new show called Yo Gabba Gabba...which I hate six ways to Tuesday! But my little boy is more than amused by it. This is from that show. I've never been more creeped out by a hobbit. LMAO This video really doesn't do it justice cause good old Elija has a crazed look in his eye that you just can't make out in this video...but here it is.

13 Reasons I'm Telling my Secret Before I Intended to... Because my mother and father are drug pushers! I was home for Thanksgiving and had a sinus infection, and they wouldn't stop trying to get me to take some Mucinex. LOL So I had to tell them why I couldn't. Love you guys! Because once you tell one set of parents you have to tell the other... So we told Bryon's Mom and Dad this weekend. Because if something does go wrong I'll need somewhere to whine about how sad I am. Because in the meantime I need somewhere to whine about how crappy I feel. Because doesn't Nicky look adorable in his new shirt!? Don't worry...He's not mad because he doesn't want to share his trucks. He was furious because I took him away from the Wii to take his picture! Because have I mentioned I need somewhere to whine about how crappy I feel? Yeah, cause I do! Because I need a good excuse as to why I've gotten NO writing done in the last two weeks other than the fact tha...

How long should one wait after the submission of a full, before you start worrying that perhaps it got lost in the shuffle somehow? The company website does not give an indication on fulls but says 12 weeks for queries. I worry that my email, which was being rather tumultuous recently, might have lost it. I'm sure it is just that they are very busy, but I'm a worrier. I certainly don't want to get labeled one of THOSE writers. So what do y'all think? How long should I wait before sending a polite inquiry? Thanks for your opinions!!!

hehehe My hubby went hunting with my dad over Thanksgiving and killed a 9 point buck. There is a picture. Don't worry, I won't share it. It squicks me out! But Bryon was very proud and Daddy was very proud of him. I'm proud too. I just don't particularly want to see the pictures. ;D I choose to think of my meat in no other way than coming out of butcher paper prepared for me to cook. Daddy is getting the horns mounted for him. As Lishy pointed out...I just don't think it's going to go with the pink in my living room. hehehe I guess we'll see where to put it. Maybe over his computer. :-D So anyway... Congrats on your deer, babe! I'm very proud of you, big strong hunter man. hehe

So I was playing around in Google Analytics the other day and found some "interesting" searches that led people to my blog. Of course there were the usuals: my name, misspellings of my name, my blogs name, but then there were others... resplendence publishing will write, resplendence publishing I wrote one blog asking if anyone knew anything about this company from dealings with them, and I get a lot of hits just from people searching for it. There was even a day when it was like third on the google search for Resplendence Publishing. onemonepia All I said was it was one of my favorite words. LOL unknown laws I have no idea... what games did the vikings play Research for Arianna Penndragon. arkansas razorbacks its so hard to be humble Yes, Yes it is! Sorry we just beat NUMBER ONE RANKED LSU. :-D Not that I'm pleased or anything... muhaha dyeing a purse, how to dye purses, wine purse hehe Yes, I dyed my purse. freezer bread dough, freezer compressor doesn't kick on...

O Lord! It's hard to be humble. When you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror. I get better lookin' each day. To know me is to love me. I must be one heck of a fan. Oh, lord! It's hard to be humble. When you're an Arkansas Razorback Fan! GO HOGS!!! That is all!

Okay, so I've never read these Left Behind books, but I hear they're good. They are at least pretty darn popular. Now since I'd never read any of them, I was in the dark when someone at a party before Nicholai was born asked me what I was going to name him. Me: Nicholai Alexander. Lady: Are you naming him after the Nicholai in the Left Behind books? Me: Oh, there is a Nicholai in those books. I didn't realize that. That's cool. Lady's husband: Um, yeah, but isn't he the Antichrist? *stunned silence for a count of ten* Me: Uh...no...I did NOT name my child after the Antichrist. Now no one has since asked me this, until today when I was at the doctor. I have a terrible sinus infection. *whines* So I went to the Urgent Care Clinic. It's so much nicer than trying to get in to our real doctor. Nicky was being particularly difficult, so much so that Bryon ended up having to take him out of the room so I could actually hear what the doc was saying. The...

Okay, so we've been working on the field next to our house. It's been nothing but a grown up mess since we moved it. When we bought the place there was absolutely nothing growing in the field. They'd had too many horses in it, and they'd eaten everything! Even the bark off the trees! Which of course killed many of them...but I digress. So as I mentioned in a previous blog a couple of weeks ago, we borrowed our friends weed and brush trimmer and have been slowly hacking away at it. Well Bryon finally finished it today! Yay! So we were just chatting, and it went something like this... Him: Oh, that was so much work! Me: Yeah, and just think how much more work it's going to be when you have to schlep all those stones out of there. (We have...umm...let's call them stones, but some of them actually weigh more than a grown man...littering the entire field. We're going to have to get them out of there over the course of the winter so that come spring we ca...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7096405.stm Dude! That is just cool! And not only because it's been frozen for the past 400 years.

I've always wanted to learn to knit as my attempts at crocheting have all failed mesirably, which makes me sad cause my Granny was an amazing crotcheter (is that a word) and I would really love to be able to make those adorable Granny square quilts. I thought they were so silly looking when I was a kid but now that I'm grown I think they are just beautiful! Well anyway, I bought the Knitting Made Easy CD-ROM from Hobby Lobby and have already perfected...err...attempted the knitting stitch. Actually I keep ending up with these strange extra stitches and I have no idea where the heck they come from, but I guess I'll figure that out with time. I decided to wait until tomorrow to attempt the purl stitch. Wouldn't want to over work my poor little preoccupied brain. This CD is fabulous! I lurv it! It's funny, because I have the same one they make for crocheting and have tried to prefect my techniques through that with absolutely know luck! Obviously I just wasn...

Being a loud mouthed Southern Girl myself, I've always loved Julia Sugerbaker on Designing Women, and this is quite possibly one of my favorite scenes from the entire series. This scene takes place right after the current Miss. Georgia World and another girl were just badmouthing Susanne and she overheard it and got very sad. Poor Susanne! And Julia comes in to put her in her place. What a wonderful sister!

I have been putting off getting my spark plugs changed but my car has been hesitating a little bit in the past week or so since it got cold so I brought it to Precision Tune Auto Care to get it looked at. Good thing I did too. He just brought me my serpentine belt and showed it to me and it was...well lets say it was BAD! It looked like it was about to fall apart in his hands. I'm absolutely sure it would have died on the way to my parents this weekend. Cause that's the way things go. But now it's all fixed and my car should be happy again. Yay! So it got spark plugs, a chassis lube, new oil, a fuel filter, and a new serpentine belt. But at least I had a coupon! If you need any work done that website has one for 10% off.

What holiday food am I? This one cracked me up way too much to not post! You Are a Yule Log While you do have holiday spirit, you have a secret, heathen past. What Holiday Food Are You? What Christmas Tree are You? Obviously I'm in the holiday spirit. :-D You Are a Bright Christmas Tree For you, the holidays are all about fun and seasonal favorites. You are into all things Christmas, even if they're a little tacky. What Christmas Tree Are You?

What Lesley Means L is for Likeable E is for Extreme S is for Sultry L is for Legendary E is for Energetic Y is for Young What Does Your Name Mean? Awwww...They know me so well!

13 Reasons I'm too Impatient to be a Writer I check my email every ten seconds to see if I've gotten a response to my full yet...*checking*...Nope, not yet. I contemplate all the different possibilities... Is it taking so long because they hate it and can't think of anything nice to say? Is it taking so long because they love it and are debating exactly how much money they want to give me? (What? I can dream!) Has my email somehow been capturing the responses and hiding them from me in an effort to push me slowly over the edge? What's with this no simultaneous submissions thing? So many publishers demand that you not send a work to anyone but them, and then wait six months to respond to you with a form letter! Not that that's happened to me? Nope! And I'm not bitter! Not at all! I didn't just check my email again! No, I didn't! Okay, yes, I did. I'm almost too impatient to even online shop! How can I possibly wait months to know if my dream's g...

I've been tagged by Lesley ! Here are the rules: Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog This is much too hard! I have so many weird things I couldn't keep count! So I guess I'll do random! I am done with all my Christmas shopping except for the stuff for my husband - who is getting coal unless he is very nice ;) - and my little boy. I do think I know what I'm getting both of them though. I just have to find time when they aren't with me. I have a secret that I'm not tellllllllllllllllling. :-D I don't understand the people who pounce on their lawns with rakes in hand the moment the leaves start to fall! How can you not just enjoy walking around in piles of lovely colorful leaves! I'm an obsessive compulsive list...

I hate writing synopses so I am going to contemplate my next course of action instead of doing it. Muhahaha I think I'm going to write the two books that have most to do with Blood and Violets next. The question is which one. One of the books is tentatively titled Blood in the Water, and it's about Alexander's brother, Tristan, and a lovely lady from the coast of South Carolina, Caroline. Yes, her Daddy did name her after the state. It was a terribly patriotic time. (Can you be patriotic in regard to your state? Well, at any rate...) The other isn't yet named, but it has to do with Alexander's father, Finn, and quite possibly the spunkiest little horse trainer this side of the Mississippi named Harley. Yes, the name Harley can be either masculine or feminine. Finn had no idea she was a woman when he hired her until she showed up at the airport though... oops! Lucky for him. ;) hehe I have contemplated both books coming first... I really think I should do B...

Meet Tristan and Caroline the stars of my next WIP, Blood in the Water. I'm working on their outline right now. Tristan is actually the brother of Alexander from Blood and Violets. I guess I should really be working on the rewrites for that instead of playing with my 3d program... Neah! It's much too amusing.

I found this extension of the "Lesley needs..." game on Daisy Dexter Dobbs blog the other day and simply had to try it out. Dreams Lesley dreams she’s trapped on a ferry to nowhere, but she doesn’t listen to the dream’s message till forced to by a brain injury. A brain injury, eh? I was dropped on my head as a child... Explains a lot, doesn't it? hehehe Hates To say Lesley hates men is like saying Lesley hates chocolate, it is something that could never happen in this universe. I concur! I do think men are kinda....difficult at times though. :-D Loves Lesley loves to dance and in 1985 she won the Scottish Disco Dancing Championships. Wow at the tender age of five I was winning Disco Contests??? How cool am I? Travels Lesley travels the world presenting workshops that help release past life blocks, and. awaken natural clairvoyant abilities. I think I need to take some of my own courses! Searches Lesley searches for understanding in his life as a son and a father. If I ...

Now see! I knew I loved my Hogs for many reasons! One of the many reasons I bought my scooter a whopping four years ago, (I can't believe how time flies) was that you can park it at any bike rack on campus! And the permit for it? 5 bucks! Well it seems that our football players liked the idea too. I've seen the number of scooters growing all the time outside the stadium during football practices, but I was never really sure exactly how many there were. Until someone sent me this article... "Roughly 20 Arkansas football players own scooters that can go around 50 mph on straight-aways and 65-70 mph if they're heading downhill. Of course, their coaches are constantly telling them to slow down." Yes please, slow down! We don't want our star players wrecking. That wouldn't be good for the image of the scooter in Arkansas! They've even formed their own "Scooter Gang" called the Rydaz for which they have a hand signal that they often flash to...

Now you'd think I'd be smarter than this at the age of twenty-eight, but I guess I'm not. I've been feeling crappy for like three-ish days. Sinus issues mostly. However, I still thought it was a good idea to spend the entire day working on the pasture next to the house. Hubby and I took turns running the Weed and Brush Trimmer thing that we borrowed from our dear friends (THANKS GUYS!) to try to make some progress in clearing the field. It's full of waist high brush right now and below that...rocks and no I don't mean like gravel. I'm talking mega monster rocks! Well we did a great job! We got almost all the way around the perimeter of the field in about a fifteen foot depth. That's saying it a lot considering the size of that sucker! While I was working on it, I felt decent...better even! But as soon as I sat down I felt so much worse than I have in days! *whines and moans and complains* I'm a very bad sick person as I simply don't ...

It's 18.5 k instead of the 15k that I'd first intended, but I'm okay with that!

13 Kinds of Candy I Shouldn't Have Eaten so Much Of Over Halloween York Peppermint Batties They were soooo cute! Peppermint Patties shaped like bats. Nicky kept asking for them by shouting "BAT" and then doing his impression of the Count from Sesame Street. Reeses' Pumpkins Peanut Butter Cups shaped like pumpkins. Hershey's Ghosts What can I say they were in the bag with the Batties and Pumpkins Mounds Almond Joys I had mad cravings for these when I was pregnant with the munchkin. Almost as mad as for mashed potatoes. Tootsie Rolls At least these are fat free. We won't talk about carbs, but they are fat free! Tootsie Pops Okay I only had two, and both of them had the little boy dressed as a Native American shooting his arrow at the star! Did y'all always say those wrappers were good luck or were we just wierd? Double Bubble Gum I love this stuff. The flavor lasts all of ten seconds but while it's there...man oh man! Cadbury Roasted Almond Bars Okay...

Happy New Year to all the Pagan's out there! Okay, now everyone repeat after me...TRICK OR TREAT!!! Good job! Okay, here is your treat! It's a short story with a spooky theme. Be aware though, it is a F/F romance so if that kind of thing offends you then read no further. Also there is a bit of strong language. *gasps* Bad Lesley! The Shadow in the Glass by Lesley Speller Megan Smith had just gotten down from her stair climber and was checking out her butt in the big mahogany mirror behind her desk when someone came knocking at the door of her shop, Through the Looking Glass. The shop had been closed for about thirty minutes, and her new assistant never forgot to turn the sign around. “Who on earth could that be?” She dabbed a tissue at the sweat on her forehead and headed out into the store, despite the fact that she was wearing her workout sweats, and she usually never let customers see her dressed like that. Outside there was an old woman in a wheelchair. S...