Bookmark Giveaway! Heidi Betts, Marie Treanor, Shiloh Walker and Erin McCarthy Bookmarks

I know I have told you all how much I love collecting Bookmarks, well I have decided to start someone else off on the same path, or help them along with their already bulging collection of Bookmarks.

Giveaway Rules:

Post one comment and tell me who your favorite author is. Leave your email address so I can contact you.

I will pick a winner on Feb 2nd.

Review: Love In The Time Of Dragons by Katie MacAlister

Katie MacAlister's Paranormal Romance novel, Love in The Time of Dragons: A Novel of the Light Dragons is the first book in this series. Book 2 in this series is: The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons, which will be out May 3, 2011 and I plan on getting it, so you already know how much I liked this book.

MacAlister's Dragons are richly imagined and come alive right from the very beginning. The two main characters Baltic and Tully are so well thought out, you truly feel their pain and pleasureas they experience it.

Tully finds herself in a world of dragons, where they keep telling her she is one also. She has dreams of her past where she tells her story as well as Baltic's and it was a great way to share the stories with the readers.

MacAlister is a great writer, she makes you laugh and cry all on the same page. Love in the Time of Dragons is full os other characters we get to know, including Demons, Silver Dragons, Black Dragons and family. My favorite by far are the demons you think are going to be bad...but have a heart of gold and make you laugh.

This book can be read as a stand alone but if you want to understand all of the characters I would suggest reading the previous Dragon books in the Silver Dragon series. You'll better understand the link between characters and the all of their connections.

It's Been a Strange Week

I kinda feel like that poor guy pictured above. My eyes are pryed open only by the amount of caffeine I have been consuming because I'm not getting enough sleep for a gnat.

25 questions about me

I got this questionare from Strange Candy Reviews, and thought it would be fun to do it too..


1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
Closed...the boogeyman might come through if it's open..

2. Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotels?
Yep, sure do.

3. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
I'm a tucker, I tuck myself in all the way around, whcih is why I have my own blanket. lol

4. Would you rather be attacked by a bear or a swarm of bees?
I would pick neither one, but the bear would be my pick if I had to pick one. Bee's give me nightmares. *shudder*

5. Do you have freckles?
I have a few, not as many as my hubby.

6. What is your biggest pet peeve?
Liars, cannot tolerate a liar.

7. Have you ever peed in the woods?
Yes, but I wouldn't want to do it again.

8. Do you ever dance if there’s no music playing?
I don't dance...period...ever...

9. Do you chew your pens and pencils?
No, there are germs on them..ewww

10. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?
Sure as long as it isn't a pink tutu or something.

11. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?
Nothing, I like them naked...lol

12. What is your favorite food?
Mexican, I love burritos.

13. What movies could you watch over and over and still love?
Hancock, Fright Night, Queen of the Damned, Ever After, Willard, Nightmare of Elm Street...there are a lot of movies I can watch more than once.

14. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?
no

15. Would you ever strip or pose nude in a magazine?
Seriously? No one needs to see that... lol

16. Can you change the oil on a car?
No, but I can take the car to Auto Zone and have them do it...;lol

17. Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
No. But I probably should have several times.

18. Ever ran out of gas?
No, I worry way to much to let something like that happen.

19. Are you lazy?
I can be when I am not feeling good.

20. When you were a kid, what did you dress up as for Halloween?
A witch.

21. How many languages can you speak?
Besides English, 2...if you count Sarcasm...lol

23. Do you sing in the car?
Yes, I love singing when no one can hear me..lol

24. Ever eat a pierogi?
Yes and I don't care for them at all.

25. First concert?
Never been to one.

Music Players Have Changed

I remember when I was a kid I wanted a radio so bad, so my parents got me one. It was one of those old radio alarm clocks that the sound was really bad on, but I loved it. I had my own radio and an alarm clock.

When I got a little older I got a small boom box from my grandpa and I was able to record all my favorite songs onto the tapes from the tape deck. It was so cool, I had about 50 homemade tapes. lol

A few years ago my husband and daughter bought me a CD walkman shown right below here. I still use it to play my CD's on. I also have an MP3 player that my husband bought me a few years ago, but I don't use it often because I don't like to buy music when I listen for free on Youtube.







So yesterday Ken was cleaning out a box from the closet and found this...

This is so old, omg. It's a Sony Walkman, Tape Player with Am/FM stereo. I must have used this thing so many times that I thought the tape player would stop working. I think we bought this about 15 years ago. It's old. But it still works. I still ahve a few tapes left but for the most part I gave a huge box of tapes away to the VA, when I sent them to a friend who said she would give them to her local VA hospital. There was a gnarly mix of tapes too. lol

It's funny now, I hardly ever listen to my Cd's and my tapes are all but gone, and while I have an MP3 player I mostly listen to free music from Youtube. I made a playlist of about 23 songs and add and delete songs from it all the time, for free. I have looked through some of my CD's and added a few songs from my favorite Cd's to listen to as well.

I have my headphones on whenever I am online, which is all the time it seems. lol

A little video I took of my Rats

Here are my rats in my first ever YouTube video.

What I've Learned by Watching Horror Movies

I've been watching Horror movies since I was a little kid and my mom let me watch dracula with her. She used to let me stay up late with her so she wouldn't be out in the living room all alone while watching a scary movie. *And I wondered why I had nightmares*

Since I've been watching Horror movies for what seems like my whole life, I thought I would share what Horror Movies have taught me.


When walking into the bathroom, never ever look behind the shower curtain if you hear a noise. A serial killer is likely waiting to rip you to shreds if you do.

Never uncover your feet while sleeping. All body parts should be covered at all times and don't dangle your hands off the side of the bed, the monster hiding underneath your bed will take that as an invitation to pull you down there with him.

Do you like to Swim in the ocean? Well stop right now or else you could be the only one who ever gets an up close look at the prehistoric fish....right before he eats you. Never swim in a pool when it's dark outside, Saunas are the same...just make sure there are others in the sauna or hot tub with you if you are in the water after dark. Never fall asleep in the bathtub or use bubble bath so you can't see what's in the tub with you.

Never open the curtains to look outside after dark just because you hear a little noise, you never know what might be looking back at you from the other side of the window,, and then they'll know you are home...

Never ever go in the basement, or the Attic...best thing to do is just board those places up and pretend they don't exhist.

If you are the jokester, always crackin' jokes in your group of friends....you'll be the first to die...sorry buddy.

Never, ever, ever trust a clown. Don't go to the circus, invite them to your kids party, or take any ballooons from them at amusement parks. Trust me on this...

If you start hearing voices...you're probably just posessed by a demon or ghost...don't worry, you won't be alive much longer...

If you turn your tv off and it comes back on even when unplugged, give it away as fast as you can. Don't just throw it away, it has to have a new owner because...Sometimes They Come Back!

Don't trust that just because you hit the big monster-looking guy in the head and he falls down that he won't get back up when your back is turned. Make sure to cut his head, arms and legs off before you sit down.

If your child has a weird fascination with knives and cleavers and has tried to cut you on more than one occassion, you might want to stop this serial killer before he grows up...call an exorcist right away.

If you suddenly find youself pregnant without having had sex.....have an abortion right away, or the little moster may eat its way out of you.

If your child tries to skin the family dog to make a fur coat, you may want to get him some mental help or you'll end up with a Buffalo Bill.

There are some places you just should never go and I know this from experience...Never go to West virginia, I lived there for a year so I know wheat goes on in those back woods out of the way places... Some of those inbred hillbillies might see your girlfriend and want her as breeding stock, which would make you tonight's dinner.

Also living in the Nevada Desert has brought a few things to my attention...like never go into the desert by yourself, you are just asking for some nuclear bomb-mutant to clock you over the head, take you back to his underground camp and serve you with 10 year old canned beans for dinner.

And for the love of all that is holy, stay away from the Rest Stops! No good can ever come from getting out and using the restoom here, trust me....you're already dead if you do.

Stay away from old burial grounds and never ever use the creepy burial grounds to put poor fluffy to rest....you'll just find him back at the door the next day and he won't be the same.

If you can't find the light switch in the kitchen, just go open the refrigerator door, then use that light to find the switch instead of flailing along the wall for an hour in search of the mysterious light switch.

Never under any circumstances ever pick up a hitch hiker. If you do, you are already dead, sorry buddy.

To My Readers

I recently added a counter to the bottom of my blog because I was interested to see how many people visit my blog....well you could have just bowled me over when I looked a few days later and the counter was at 3800....wow, just wow. I had no idea so many people were visiting my blog.

So even though a lot of you don't leave comments...lol...I wanted to give a big thank you out to all of you readers :)

Work on Your Website or Lose Subscribers

As most of you know I do a lot of hopping from this free sample blog to another one and also am a frequent flyer at romance blogs and horror forums. But more and more I'm seeing these websites, forums and blogs go the wayside ebcause the people who manage them, the owners and moderators of the sites just stop putting any effort at all into it then get all indignant and pissy when people leave and stop commenting and posting things on the website or forum.

I frequent a few forums that used to be hopping with new posts, people in the chat room, there was always something new to read, but then the owner and moderators decided to put their efforts into other things. Bigger MySpace pages, having everyone on their FB page, other websites associated with the original website that they want you to frequent also and when readership or the comments stop coming in because the people running the place are so busy with all these other things they want to do, they get pissy because they don't feel appreciated.

Well Boo Hoo, we don't want all that other crap, we want you to put a little effort into the original site/forum that we all came to in the first place. That's the one we like, that's the one that had all the people signing up for it and that's the one that is suffering because you guys are flitting hre and there and everywhere trying to make the site bigger and badder than all the other sites that are like yours.

When there's nothing going on at a website, forum or blog....they eventually just shut down and I've already experienced that several times. Several of the blogs I used to go to, just up and quit because the readership went down...while others wanted to stay in touch using Fb or some other reason. Whatever....if you want to keep people coming to your site, make an effort to get us there....or I'm leaving as will everyone else.

New Kodak Mini Video Camera

Brodie peeking out from the Space Pod.

Brodie and jasper.

Ken got this Kodak Mini Video Camera from his sister for Christmas and after reading the ridiculous instruction pamphlet that doesn't tell you much of anything...seriously....we finally figured out how to take a picture and download it.

The directions don't even tell you what the symbols on the menu page mean, I had to go through each symbol and figure it out. It doesn't tell you how to delete the images or that you can delete them while the camera is plugged into the computer.

What's with the instruction pamphlet not giving you all the instructions...

My rats

Hades

Brodie

Hades, jasper and Brodie

Jasper and Hades

Ares

Sometimes...I just need to vent

There seems to be too much on my mind these days, but I don't talk about it because I don't know where to start. It seems so pointless to even try talking anymore. I feel like no one else will understand the situation I am in or the depth of my pain.

Everything in my life feels so over with and wrong. I've been getting upset more and more lately, over the smallest of things. I guess I am making up for all the times I that I just didn't care enough to even lift my head. I'm just so darn depressed.

My birthday is next month.

When I was a little girl I used to imagine how my life would be when I was an adult, all grown and on my own. It seemed like I had years ahead of me back then and I looked forward to getting out of my life back then and making things better for myself. I looked forward to being happy, having a husband and a good job. Something more than what I had as a child, at least that. I believed that I had control over my future and was going to make things work.

But now that I am 40 years old, my life is nothing like I thought it would be. Time seems to have stopped for me, I'm totally out of touch with the rest of the world, with human kind. I'm trapped in hell, and can't wake from this nightmare that has become my life.

I feel like my time here is over, it's so done and over with. I feel like whatever I was meant to do with my life, I've done it and it's time to move on now.

I'm exhausted body and mind. My spirit is broken, the pieces are missing and can't be put back together again. I'm so tired of struggling with the pain, the stress. It's a losing battle and I'm tired of trying.

All the dreams I had as a child are no more, dreams are now nightmares. I've tried to kill myself and my family called me a coward, that I was taking the cowards way out, well no one wants to be known as a coward, but I'm no survivor and staying alive is like living in a prison of my own making where everyday I die a little more inside.

Yes I'm alive on the outside, but on the inside, I'm already dead. I go through the motions each and every day and some days are harder than others.

I need to vent but it does no good, words do nothing to cure the darkness inside me, the shadows that have taken over my soul that fade away a little more each day. I'm slowly fading away and soon there will be nothing left but an empty shell.

I don't want to start over, I don't want things to change anymore because I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I'm not really here anymore.

And I don't want another Birthday.

Book Review: Beast behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston

Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston







Blurb

Ten years after Blayne Thorpe first encountered Bo Novikov, she still can't get the smoothtalking shifter out of her head. Now he's shadowing her in New York - all seven-plus feet of him - determined to protect her from stalkers who want to use her in shifter dogfights. Even if he has to drag her off to an isolated Maine town where the only neighbours are other bears almost as crazy as he is. Let sleeping dogs lie. Bo knows it's good advice, but he can't leave Blayne be. She may insist Bo's nothing but a pain in her delectable behind, but polar bears have patience in spades. Soon she'll realize how good they can be together. And when she does, animal instinct tells him it'll be worth the wait.



My Review...

Bo Novikov is a Bear-Cat hybrid shifter and Intimidating hockey player. Blayne Thorpe is a Wolf-Dog hybrid shifter and a plumber who is on a roller derby team.

Blayne first see's Bo ten years earlier while he was playing a game and she bolted after she see's him staring at her. She runs away only to turn around and find him right behind her, so what does she do....she screams and run away.

Now she's at one of his games again, she doesn't think he'll remember her...but he does. Oh boy does he. Blayne is conviced Bo is a serial killer and she slowly makes her getaway when he stops and stares at her again. She see's he has his sites set on her so she makes another getaway, or so she thinks.

He's not about to let her get away this time and when she locks herself in the bathroom he tears the door of its hinges. Blayne confronts him, even asking him if he's going to kill her. He is so surprised by her intimidation and fear because most women throw themselves at him, he finally convices her he's not a serial killer, but when he asks her out for coffee, she flat out refuses and he doesn't know what to make of her.

They are complete opposites, he's got this hang up with schedules, being on time and wanting everyone else to be on time and he's introverted.

While she is what her father calls, weird. Blayne is funny, flirty, makes friends with everyone but has a side to her that most people don't see and really surprised me.

This book was so hilariously funny and romantic with a bit of slice em up action thrown in for good measure. There's a kidnapping, a roll over accident, tearing body parts limb from limb, as well as a hockey and roller derby game.

I laughed so many times while reading this book because blayne is so funny, her personality is just great..I loved her and so does just about everyone she comes in contact with.

This is the first book in this series that I have read and after reading it I found out it's actually the fifth book in the series. While I usually like to start at the beginning, I don't think it will matter to me this time because I liked this book so much. I will go back and read this series from the beginning now though.

I am Boycotting the Makers of Lipton Tea

Recently a friend of mine posted on her blog about how the Makers of Lipton tea have been testers their products on animals for no good reason. I have to tell you after reading this article I am totally disgusted with this company and will not being buying anything from them again.

If you feel as I do and think that animal testing is largely not needed for such things, then let them know it buy boycotting their products. I will be switching to Luzianne tea from now on or until Unilever stops this disgusting practice.

You can help by reading the article and sending the company an email.

Ten Fun facts About Me

Ten Fun Facts About Me

while there are a lot of things most people don't know I thought it would be fun to make a list of fun facts. So here goes.

1. I love looking at scary pictures, which is probably why I enjoy Halloween so much.

2. I love Watching Horror Movies. Movies that can actually scare me get brownie points.

3. I read Romance books like they are going out of style. I'm not kidding, I enter blog contests to win them and do surveys so I can get amazon gift cards to buy more romance books. Right now my favorite genre is paranormal which includes all sorts of things like, Vampires, Witches, Werewolves, Dragons..ect.

4. I'm very strange when reading a book. I use a bookmark and try not to open the book so much it creases the spine. lol It makes for an interesting time reading when you are only openeing the book just far enough. I hate dog eared pages and I always take the dust jacket off a hard back book ebfore reading it.

5. I own about 1100 books at this time, but that number is growing by the day. I've run out of space on my bookshelves and have started putting them in my desk drawers until I find another big bookshelf. Oh and I don't own a Nook, ereader of kindle, all my books are paperback or hardback real books. I just can't get into the whole Ebook business. I do have a few on my computer but it's just a handful.

6. I scream when startled. I don't know why, but I scream and not one of those little squeaks either. Ken told me it sounds more like a Horror Movie Scream where it would scare the person scaring you. LOL Ken gets a kick out of scaring me and making me scream but every once in a while I'll scream so loud it scares him, which is really funny.

7. I've been know to hold a grudge for years, although now I try not to.

8. I can really relate to charcters on shows like, House, Becker, Roseanne and Lie To Me...because they are all so sarcastic and so am I. I don't know why but I really like sarcastic people. Maybe because they can be so funny.

9. I wear foam ear plugs to bed because any little noise will wake me up.

10. My favorite jewelry is pretty much anything sterling silver and Black Onyx.

Camping

When did camping become so expensive to do? I remember when I was a kid we would pack the family up in the van with some food for a fire and go camping. We would sleep in the van because back then the vans had beds and tables in them. lol

But now when someone says they are going to go camping or fishing it costs all kinds of money to do so.

They have to buy a large tent and camping gear. Well, camping gear back in the day consisted of a van with a bed in it and some food to roast on the fire...maybe a roll of toilet paper to use behind a bush if you were lucky.

But now they need a tent, sleeping bags, pots and pans for cooking, steaks, cooking utensils -what happened to cooking chicken on a stick you picked from a tree? It was a rotisserie.

Now people want to have a log cabin with running water and heat or air conditioning, a lake to rent a boat and go fishing, need to buy a fishing license and 'good' bait. Can't just go out in the yard and pick out some worms from the garden anymore, no that's not the way to do it now.

The best case scenario is setting up the tent, eat some steaks, try to get some sleep in said tent...not getting any sleep because the ants have invaded the tent so they walk around making crunching noises in the camping area keeping everyone else from sleeping. get up in the morning and make more food, rent a boat to go fishing and catch nothing, then pack up and go home.

I think I'll save my money and stay home in the first place.

The freebies I won or received in 2010

For those of you that don't know I am a freebie, blog contest winning junkie! So I thought it would be fun to post all the freebies and contests that I won this past year. I hope I can remember them all..lol

Full Size Freebies- Those freebies that came as full sized bottles, packages, boxes..ect...This list does not include any trial sized samples that I received.

1.Bar of Dove soap
2.2 Package of Oreos
3.2 bottles of Excedrin
4.Bottle of Louisiana hot sauce
5.Package of Heluva Good Dip
6.Package of Borden cheese
7.Bag of Reese’s Pieces
8.Pantene Nature Fusion shampoo
9.2 bags of Planters Trail Mix
10.Pack of 5 React gum
11.Pack of Stride gum
12.Jar of Enfamil baby formula
13.Bottle of Renu Multi-Purpose contact solution
14.Package of Oscar Mayer turkey bacon
15.Box of Kraft macaroni
16.Package of Oscar Mayer deli meat
17.Package of Uncle Ben’s rice
18.Package of Kraft Cheesy macaroni
19.Jug of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice
20.Box of Kool-Aid
21.Box of Mac & Cheese
22.One DiGiorno’s pizza
23.Box of 100 calorie cheese bites
24.Package of Oscar Mayer deli meat
25.Box of Ritz Crackerfuls
26.2 Packages of Pilot pens
27.2 Bottles of Suave Professionals shampoo
28.DiGiorno deep dish pizza
29.Bottle of Pure Scent~sation hair remover
30.Bottle of V8 V-fusion green tea
31.Glade candle
32.EasyGlide Bic pen
33.Bag of Nutrish Dog Food
34.2-liter of refreshe soda
35.Package of Cottonelle flushable moist wipes
36.Two Proforce cleaning kits
37.Bag of Natura Advantage dog food
38.Pack of Extra Dessert Delights gum
39.Can of Pringles Xtreme chips
40.Box of Barilla pasta
41.6 bags of summer sausage bites
42.Bottle of free Dream Water
43.Bag of guinea pig food
44.Bag of Rat Bedding
45.Nettie Pot
46.Nasal Rinse
47.Box of hair dye
48.5 boxes of tampons
49.10 boxes of pads
50.9 free magazine subscriptions
51.Saw Blade
52.Scotch Painters tape
53.Exacto Knife Blades
54.4 pairs of earrings
55.1 Necklace
56.3 packets of flower seeds


List of trial sized freebies.

1.20 samples of various lotions
2.27 samples of various shampoo
3.30 samples of various conditioner
4.15 trial sized boxes of cereal
5.3 samples of cleaning cloths
6.50 child toothbrushes
7.122 samples of toothpaste
8.54 various make up samples
9.18 various skin cleaning samples
10.68 various perfume samples
11.24 various tea samples
12.326 various coffee samples
13.8 cat food samples
14.5 dog food samples
15.22 tampon and pad samples
16.9 spice samples
17.12 sugar substitute samples
18.32 drink flavoring samples
19.7 diapers, bibs and various baby samples
20.1 paint sample
21.4 cookie samples
22.9 granola bar samples
23.3 diet bar, food, drink samples
24.1 nail polish sample
25.3 Scrapbooking samples
26.12 Various candy samples

Now for the Swag Bags, free books and eBook downloads I received last year.
1.76 free books-most of them autographed!
2.8 eBooks
3.7 Swag bags filled with pens, paper, books, pen lights, candy, and various other goodies.

Gift Cards
18 various gift cards including Amazon.com gift cards
I think I did pretty good...Now I'm off to enter more contests...lol