Twenty four hours

Twenty four hours.  One day.

Some days pass uneventfully and we hardly notice them.  Others bring surprises – sometimes good and sometimes bad – that leave a lasting impression.

The twenty four hour period between this past Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon was full of unpleasant surprises for me.

First, my cat was involved in a totally freakish accident.  I won’t go into the gruesome details, but let’s just say she managed to get herself into a predicament that was a first for our veterinarian’s office.  And she had emergency surgery that very night.

Next, as I arrived at the office Friday morning, I found out a co-worker had unexpectedly died that morning at around 5:00.  Only a month ago he’d been told his cancer was in remission.  Cancer that had been first diagnosed less than a year ago.  Now, suddenly, he was gone.

To round things out, I visited my dad in the hospital that afternoon.  He told me that the doctor had spent a lot of time with him shortly before I got there.  It seems it is now very unlikely that Dad will make it to his birthday at the end of this month.  He had been soldiering on in his own war with cancer for a little over a year now, and looks like it’s almost time to raise the white flag.

It was a very emotional and “heavy” twenty-four hours for me.  Life is like that…it can throw you curve balls in a split second.  If you’re not careful, they can knock you down.

I will choose to look on the bright side of things.  My kitty’s appearance is now forever altered.  But she survived, and she’ll always be adorable in my eyes anyway.

My co-worker was a Vietnam veteran, and lived his life fully.  I mean VERY fully!  Despite his “hell’s angels” appearance, he was surprisingly very cultured and into the arts.  He also had an incredible talent for finding steals while antiquing with his wife.  He’d bring these diamonds in the rough (that he’d bought for pennies on the dollar) home and then refinish them to their original beauty.  Having once experienced the horrors of war firsthand (he’d been a sniper!), this handyman’s hobby gave him years of therapeutic tranquility and a peaceful end to a remarkable life.  He will be missed.

Finally, just over a year ago, I was told my dad only had a matter of months to live.  He more than doubled what we had anticipated.   And cancer can be a very cruel way to go.  But Dad has enjoyed what time he’s had, and has been miraculously pain free with it.  Sure, it hasn’t been a cake walk. Weakness set in pretty fast and he’s been more or less housebound except for doctors’ visits and trips to the hospital.  And he’s had a lot of discomfort in his body for various reasons.  But it hasn’t been overwhelming or unmanageable.  And his mind is sharp as ever and he hasn’t taken the first pain pill in over a year.  I am thankful for these blessings.  And when the end does come soon, there will hopefully be a peace about his passing, even as it leaves a huge hole in the hearts of all of us who love him so dearly.

So when you wake up each morning, take a moment to appreciate the gift of life and good health.  Don’t aimlessly wander through the day, using up precious moments that you’ll never get back.  Make the most out of each day, and hope that everyone has a good surprise in store for you.  If you make the effort to notice all the great things that life has to offer, then maybe it will help us handle the unpleasant things a little better when they come our way.

 

 

 

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An ah-ha moment…

Today is Mother’s Day.  It’s a day to celebrate motherhood, whether you have one, are one, hope to be one some day, or maybe you’re just an awesome friend to someone else who is a mother.  Having a great support group is one of the ways we moms cope with life and its challenges and rewards.  So no matter what role you play, celebrate the day and I hope it’s terrific for you!

Growing up in the deep South, there are a lot of customs that are perhaps unique to living in the “Bible Belt”.  One of the ones that I always found humorous as a kid was the way my church honored mothers on Mother’s Day.  Of course, the service was centered around what it meant to be a mother.  Usually there was a gift for every single mother in attendance.  Some years it might be a flower (a carnation or a rose).  Some years it was a bookmark (usually imprinted with some scripture on it).  And then the fun part started…they would query the crowd and ask for a show of hands for three categories:  youngest mom, Mom with the most children, and oldest mom.  To help speed the process (and I can hear my own uncle’s voice in my head as I write this, since he often was in charge of this part at my grandparents’ church), he would say “Do we have any mothers here younger than 25?.  A flurry of activity followed, as there were usually several ladies who fit the bill.  Then he’d narrow it down, “Okay, how about any mothers younger than 24?” and so on and so on until only one hand was still raised.  Then she received a special gift to honor her.

Then they moved on to the number of children.  “Anyone here today with more than 4 children?”  and so forth.  You get the idea.

Finally, the last category was oldest mother.  Usually he’d start with 80, and go from there.  My own grandmother won this prize several times, as she lived to be almost 98 years old.  My sister and I were always so excited the years she won, and we wanted to see what her prize was!  Was it a box of candy?  Or maybe some perfume?  In truth, it was usually some sort of Christian literature, such as a daily devotional book or a book about being a Godly mother.  At the time, my sis and I felt like it was a little bit of a gyp, and we’d have preferred the candy!    But Granny always admired whatever it was and was thankful.

Let’s move forward to the present day.  Yesterday my sister and I shocked our mother by going to a church sponsored Mother/Daughter Tea.   She was excited beyond words when we said we’d go.  OF course, she is very smart, and used reverse psychology when she proposed the idea.  Rather than just ask if we would go with her, she said late Thursday night, “By the way, the church is having a mother-daughter tea on Saturday, but I know none of you is interested in going.  But Sister Brenda (as I said, I live in the South, so everyone in church is known as Brother this and Sister that!) said it was all right if I had to come alone.”

Well, how much of an immediate guilt trip is that???  I couldn’t possibly have said, “GLad you understand how to live with disappointment, because you’re right.  I don’t want to go.”  No, instead I said I could probably make it.  After I told my sister, she was more than willing to go too, just to make Mom happy.

Well, the surprise was on us, because it was an absolutely lovely experience!  The room was decorated beautifully, with gorgeous bouquets on every table.  The table linens were all in soft shades of pink and green.  The spread of food rivaled some of the nicest wedding receptions I’ve been to.  And all of mother’s friends acted like we were celebrities when they met us!  It is obvious that my mother does love to talk about her family all the time.    And one of the neatest ideas I thought was that each mother had been asked to bring her own personal favorite teacup from home to use for her hot tea.  I loved that idea!  It was fun to see what each lady brought, and some of them even shared the story behind where the cup came from, if it was special.

The ah-ha moment, however, was when we came to the end of the tea hour, and the wife of the senior pastor stood up and announced, “We have some prizes we want to give out today.”  Bam!  Instant memory blast, taking me right back to those church services of my childhood.  Yep, you guessed it, they were going to honor the oldest and youngest mothers.  There was a little competition on youngest mother, with it coming down to two ladies.  Diplomatically, the pastor’s wife didn’t choose between them – she gave them each a gift.

Then she said, “And now it is time for the oldest mother.  And I think I know who it is without even asking.”  My sister and I had already started scanning the room, and settled on one table across from us  that appeared to have two obvious candidates.  Imagine our surprise when the woman made a bee line straight to our table and handed a beautiful gift bag to our mother!!!  How could that be?  We don’t feel old.  How can our mom be?  And I have to say she certainly LOOKS much younger than either of those other two ladies.  But just to be sure, she was asked to reveal her age.  Mom stood up proudly and said “I’m 79 and next month I will turn 80 years old.”  There was an audible gasp from some of the ladies.  As I said, my mom looks so young for her age (and with no plastic surgery or botox, I might add).  But she won the award fair and square.  We were proud of her, and know we are so blessed to have grown up under her guidance and with her loving voice always there to teach or reassure us.  I will soon be 50, and I still depend on it at times!  Some days only your mama’s love can make things better!

I’m glad she won her first award as oldest mother, and I hope it’s just the first of many, many more, because that means I’ll have her with me for many more years.  And guess what – the gift she received was even awesome!  It was a pair of salt-and-pepper shakers, each in the shape of a small bird.  How great is that?

Happy Mother’s Day to all.

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Time…

A lot can be said about time.

For very young children, it goes by at a snail’s pace – especially when they are looking forward to Christmas or their birthday party.  For those more my age, we never seem to have enough of it.  Our lives are so busy and we’re so focused on moving from one task to the other that we don’t even take the opportunity to appreciate what is going on all around us.  And for the older generation, time moves by at lightning speed, and in the blink of an eye another year has passed.

Today marked the 85th birthday of one of my dear aunts.  I sent her a very early morning email to express my hope that she had a great day, and that I knew my cousins would be surrounding her with love today. I told her she didn’t look a day over 60, but she responded with good humor and informed me that she did indeed feel very much her age today.    I think we’ll just blame that on the weather (which has been rainy for a couple of days now), because she certainly would fool anyone who looked at her and tried to guess how old she is.

I have also been thinking about my dad, who found out he had cancer on May 1st of last year.  At the time, I was told he had months to live.  Months…what does that mean?  No one could really say.  So I was left to wonder, does that mean three?  Maybe six?  Would he make it to Christmas?   Could I dare hope it meant eighteen or twenty-four?  Could he beat the odds and make it another five years?  That’s only 60 months, not that much when you compare it to a lifetime, really.

I’m no closer to finding out the answer to that riddle, but I don’t really question it any more.  I have been blessed to have him for another year, and he hasn’t given up yet.  Every day has been a gift, and it’s only sweeter because he isn’t in a lot of pain and is still very much himself mentally.  If I ignore the fact that he is much bonier when I hug him, or that his so-beautiful mane of thick silver hair has now noticeably thinned, I can fool myself for a brief while that nothing has changed.

But one thing that has definitely changed is that I realize the value of a day now, more than ever.  And I am trying to not get so bogged down with life’s problems that I fail to enjoy the moments I’m given each day.  Time is the one thing that once spent, you can never get a refund.  So we should all choose wisely how we spend each day.

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Get ready for Bama Bride…

What if you grew up with an older sister who was obsessed with weddings?  Always sketching out gown designs on scraps of paper.  Constantly doodling elaborately decorated wedding cakes on napkins.  How would that shape your ideas about love and romance?  In my soon to be released Bama Bride, Neal Sinclair has had just such a childhood.  By the time she’s grown, she’s ready for her own Cinderella story.  All she needs is the right Prince Charming.

She sees him by chance when she fills in at the last minute for her sister, whose bakery – Bama Brides Bake Shoppe - is double booked with two weddings at the same time and  one too few available drivers.  Alas, introductions aren’t an option as he’s tied up taking wedding photos with the other groomsmen, and she has to hurry back to the bakery.

As fate would have it, they wind up at the same Tuscaloosa bar later on, and this time she takes charge of her own destiny by asking him to dance.  But their’s isn’t exactly the stuff of fairy tales, and she discovers that he lives in Boston, and only has one night in town before he returns home.

But the chemistry they share isn’t easily extinguished, and they both find that distance doesn’t have to be a deal breaker.  What begins as a more “old fashioned” romance, with long phone calls and frequent texts and emails, grows into something that begins to feel like it might actually stand the test of time if given the chance.

Circumstances contrive to keep them apart, but it might just take a force of nature to finally bring them together for good!

Bama Bride is set for an April 17 release, through Bookstrand Publishing.

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Book Tour stop for Dylan’s Song, by p.m. terrell

Today I’m hosting p.m. terrell as one of the blog stops for the Suspense/Thriller, Dylan’s Song.  It’s a pleasure to be featuring such an accomplished writer, and my mother would be quite proud that I’m showcasing something from this particular genre.  She LOVES suspense and mystery, so this is right up her alley.  THere is even a terrific giveaway involved!  p.m. will be awarding a Celtic Key Necklace identical to the one Dylan gives to Vicki in Dylan’s Song to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.  So be sure to follow all the stops as the author takes your questions and tells us more about this book.

The tour dates can be found here:  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/super-book-blast-dylans-song-by-pm.html

Suspense Magazine says,“p.m.terrell’s writing is powerfully written and masterfully suspenseful; you have to hang on for the ride of your life.”

Midwest Book Review says the Black Swamp Mysteries series is “page-turning action, unforgettable characters, breathtaking descriptions and unexpected plot twists.” And syndicated reviewer Marcia Freespirit says the series is “riveting, spell-binding, sexy and intense!”

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Blurb:

Dylan Maguire returns to his native Ireland with psychic spy Vicki Boyd. Their mission: to locate and extract a CIA Agent who disappeared in Dublin while on the trail of a known terrorist. But when Dylan receives word that his grandmother is dying, he is plunged into a past he thought he’d left behind forever. His mission and the dark secrets he’d sought to keep hidden begin to merge into an underworld that could cost him his life. He must now confront his past demons and the real reason he left Ireland—while Vicki harbors a secret of her own.

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EXCERPT:

The bogs were no place to be during the witching hour.

Dylan had grown up with stories of the bogs at night. The ground percolated; it lived and it breathed. There had been many a time when he was harvesting peat in broad daylight that he’d heard a whisper at his ear or felt hot breath on his neck, only to find there was no one near. Now as he rode his horse in silence, he felt that presence tenfold; there were eyes watching them. The intermittent tuffs of heather swayed in the growing storm and he found himself watching them with narrowed eyes, waiting for the plants to morph into sinister creatures that claimed this land after the sun went down.

He knew there was a simple reason why animals were required in lieu of an all-terrain vehicle and he was glad Sam had taken this unique land into consideration when planning the mission. He could feel the hooves beneath him sinking into the spongy earth; a wheeled vehicle wouldn’t have stood a chance, especially as they ventured from the area farmed for its peat to one far less stable.

A mist began; a slow, fine spray that he knew well. One moment the air was still and dry and the next, as though they’d passed through a curtain, the air swirled around them, the moist haze further inhibiting their ability to see. It was said many a man lost his internal compass in the Irish mist; it taunted as it grew into monstrous shapes, turning the landscape into something foreign and active.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION:

 

p.m.terrell is the award-winning, internationally acclaimed author of more than 16 books. Vicki’s Key, one of the first books in the Black Swamp Mysteries series, was one of five finalists in the 2012 International Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense) and 2012 USA Best Book Awards (Mystery/Suspense.) River Passage, an historical work based on her ancestor’s migration to Fort Nashborough in 1779-1780, won the 2010 Best Fiction & Drama Award. The Nashville (TN) Metropolitan Government Archives determined it to be so historically accurate that they entered the original manuscript into their Archives for future researchers and historians.

Prior to becoming a full-time author in 2002, terrell founded and operated two computer companies in the Washington, DC area. Her clients included the United States Secret Service, CIA, Department of Defense and federal and local law enforcement. Her specialty is in the areas of computer crime and computer intelligence. Her experience in these areas have greatly influenced her books’ plots.

She is the co-founder of The Book ‘Em Foundation, whose slogan is “Buy a Book and Stop a Crook” and whose mission is to raise awareness of the link between high crime rates and high illiteracy rates. She founded Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, an annual event to raise money to increase literacy and reduce crime.

For more information on Book ‘Em North Carolina, visit www.bookemnc.org and www.bookemnc.blogspot.com.

p.m.terrell’s website is www.pmterrell.com and her blog is www.pmterrell.blogspot.com.

She can be found on Twitter @pmterrell

On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/author.p.m.terrell and https://www.facebook.com/pages/pmterrell/129318810431554.

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Love in Provence…by William Auch

 

Please take a few minutes to welcome my guest, William Auch, as he shares a little with us about his book, Love in Provence.  This is a contemporary romance, set in the south of France, so that alone is enough to hook me!

Furthermore, William is graciously offering a $25 gift card to Amazon to one lucky commenter during his book tour, drawn at random.  So take a few minutes to discover more about this delightful story, and follow his tour for more chances to win.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/01/super-book-blast-love-in-provence-by.html

 

BLURB:

When John Martin is forced to sell his tech company, he decides to take a six-month vacation to the south of France.

 

When he meets Madame Garcin, her daughter Sophie, and her granddaughter Isabelle, his life is changed forever.   What began as a long vacation becomes a journey of self-discovery marked by love, loss, and tragedy.

 

He is molded by this family of three generations of women, tempered by tragedy themselves, in ways that he could never have imagined.

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EXCERPT:

It seemed to John that the next three weeks could not go by fast enough. He was energized and quickly got back into the routine of jogging along the Embarcadero. It was a Sunday morning and John had made it all the way to the Marina Green, which was farther than the length of his usual run.

The green was filled with joggers, mothers pushing strollers, and the sailors heading for the yacht harbor. The sky was bright blue and cloudless, and a stiff breeze blew into the harbor from the other side of the Golden Gate. John stopped in the middle of the green to catch his breath and looked up to see a sky full of kites. There were large ones, small ones, one that looked like a dragon, and another which resembled a bird, all in a kaleidoscope of colors that were enhanced by the sun from above. They all danced in the wind, some darting side to side, and others diving toward each other as if to demonstrate who owned the skies. Some would descend to the ground then dart back up into the sky again.

 

Off to one side was a small girl with a pony tail, who ran across the grass as though she were about to lift off like a bird. Behind her she towed a small red kite, which stubbornly refused to become airborne despite her best attempts to launch it. Each time the kite plunged to the grass she would tighten the string again and make another run at it, only to have the kite rise about ten feet, then plummet to the grass. She tried over and over again with such determination, John wondered how long she had been at it. After each failed attempt she would look over at her mother who was keeping an eye on her from a distance, then the girl would continue with more determination than the previous attempt. John thought about Isabelle and how much he missed her. He could not wait to see her. He could imagine Isabelle when she was young, pulling on the kite string with the same determination as the little girl.

John walked over to her mother sitting on the grass and asked with a smile, “Do you mind if I give her a hand?”

 

Her mother raised her eyebrows at first and studied John from top to bottom, but then a smile slowly crept onto her face. “Sure, why not?”

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AUTHOR INFORMATION:

William Auch is a physician residing in Sacramento, California. When not seeing patients, he writes, studies French, and travels the world.

          

LINKS:

BUY LINK:  http://www.amazon.com/Love-in-Provence-ebook/dp/B00ALZFM16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358005740&sr=8-1&keywords=love+in+provence

 

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Untangling the Knot…by Deanne Wilsted

I am so pleased to be hosting author Deanne Wilsted today, as she stops by on her book tour for Untangling the Knot.  This is a sweet contemporary romance distributed by Soul Mate Publishing, and I know you will enjoy hearing more about it.  So welcome, Deanne!

Deanne will be awarding a $10 Amazon or BN.com GC (winner’s choice) to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, so you’ll want to follow all the stops to increase your chances of winning.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/01/super-book-blast-untangling-knot-by.html

<a id=”rc-d6b9e80″ href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/d6b9e80/” rel=”nofollow”>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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BLURB:  

“I did what?”

 Twenty-eight year old Gabriella Bessu is St. Therese’s meticulous wedding ceremony coordinator. So the fact that she has mistakenly signed her newest couple up for an annulment, rather than a wedding, sends her Catholic guilt into overdrive.

But who can blame her? The groom is gorgeous and his two kids tug at Gabriella’s heart in a way that overcomes all her best intentions. Before long she’s in over her head, fixing her mixed-up plans and helping the children and dad come to terms with their haunting grief for the mother and wife they lost years earlier.

Can Gabriella untangle her own fears and accept the messy life that God has handed them?

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EXCERPT:

 “Umm, Gabriella,” Chloe said, “I don’t think that’s the plumber. It sounds like . . .”

The last thing Ryan had expected to see when he’d entered the cottage was Gabriella flat on her back in a puddle of water, inspecting the rear of the toilet. Chloe was holding a bucket and a sopping wet towel, and Peter was nowhere to be seen.

“Hi, Chloe,” he said quickly. “Where’s Peter?”

“Dad!” Peter came flying from another room and flung himself into Ryan’s arms.

“RYAN?” Gabriella yelled and quickly sat up. The thump of her head smacking the toilet bowl echoed around the tiny room.

“Ow,” she cried. “Damn it! Ow, ow, ow.”

Ryan grimaced. Gabriella sat on the wet floor, near tears, rubbing at the welt already forming on her forehead.

“I’m sorry,” she said, clearly at the end of her rope. “I can’t believe I said that in front of the kids. It’s just, everything has gone wrong today.”

She hung her head in her lap and began to cry for real.

Ryan had to hold back a smile. She looked so much like a wet cat. And, to top it off, she had yet to hear how wrong things had really gone with the day.

“Come on, now. It’s not that bad,” he finally said. “We’ll get it all fixed. Don’t worry.”

Chloe’s face lit up with an expression he hadn’t seen in years. For a few moments at least he was back to being her superhero dad.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION:

 

With an English teacher for a mom, DEANNE WILSTED, grew up reciting conjugation instead of nursery rhymes. Now, forty years later, she’s sharing that special skill through her writing and her mothering. Her first book, a contemporary romance called BETTING JESSICA, was released October 2011. Her second Novel, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, is due out in February 2013 from Soul Mate Publishing. She is currently marketing her third book for publication and writing her fourth, fifth and sixth while blogging about the crazy stuff she overhears while writing.

                   

LINKS:

Untangling the Knot – http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/untangling-the-knot/

Author Follow Links –

www.deannewilsted.com

http://www.facebook.com/DeanneWilstedAuthor

@dwilsted – https://twitter.com/dwilsted

Goodreads  author page- http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5294824.Deanne_Wilsted

Amazon author page – http://amzn.com/e/B005YHFBQ2

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New book on the way…Bama Bride

What if you grew up with an older sister who was obsessed with weddings?  One who was always sketching out designs on scraps of paper, then made you stand perfectly still as she draped bed linens around you and straight pinned them until they resembled bridal gowns.  One who was constantly doodling elaborately decorated wedding cakes on napkins, then practiced in the family kitchen with Betty Crocker mixes and let you sample them.  How would that shape your ideas about love and romance?

In my soon to be released Bama Bride, Neal Sinclair has had just such a childhood.  By the time she’s grown, she’s ready for her own fairy tale, Cinderella story.  All she needs is the right Prince Charming.

I am pleased to announce that BookStrand Publishing has set the release date for my newest book for April 2013.  Only two more months to wait!  I am very excited about this sweet contemporary romance, and will be sharing more information in the coming weeks.

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When your back’s against the wall…

The serenity prayer…most of us are familiar with it (even if we can’t quote it verbatum).  I fall into that category myself, so I googled it (sorry Mom – I know you’re disappointed I had to look it up!  )

This week, I put that prayer to the test.  Some of you already know that my job is extremely challenging. This week it was worse than ever.  It was month-end, with the new abbreviated closing schedule Corporate has given us.  And after Day 1, my assistant came down with a type of viral stomach flu.  She missed the rest of this week.

When I get frustrated or stressed out, I am a cryer under normal circumstances.  I’m not particularly happy that I react that way, but it’s how I’m wired nonetheless.  So it caught even me by surprise that I didn’t have a meltdown when I received word that my 2nd-in-charge was going to be MIA for a couple of days.  Normally, I would panic as I received the call that my helper wasn’t going to be there to shoulder some of the work.  But somehow I accepted it for what it was – an unwelcome hiccup in the road that I had no control over.  I still had the same deadlines in place, and that was also something I couldn’t change.  If at the time I had realized she would miss four days, I might not have coped as well as I did! 

But at the time, I took a calming breath, said a mental prayer that God would help me get through it somehow, and then began to tackle one task at the time.  On Tuesday, I got up at 3:00 in the morning, hooked up the laptop, and began to work.  I didn’t go to sleep again until 10:30 pm THE NEXT DAY!  Yeah, I was awake for about 44 hours.  It wasn’t pleasant, but it had to be done.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have had our company’s month-end results completed on time so that they could be rolled up with everyone else’s at Corporate.  Corporate didn’t care what I had to do to make my deadline, they only expected me to make it.  No questions asked.

Last night I went to bed at 11:00 pm and slept until 7:00 this morning.  I rarely get 8 hours of sleep in one night, but let me tell you, it was some mighty good rest!!!  I feel like I can actually get some housework done today, which will make my husband happy too. 

We’ve all found ourselves at some point in our lives, where our backs were against the wall.  Fight or flight isn’t even a question…we don’t have the option to flee.  We have to dig our heels in deep and fight to meet the challenge head-on.

Thankfully, most of us don’t face unusual challenges every day.  But the next time life throws a curveball at you, stop and catch your breath.  Don’t worry about the things you can’t control, but rather put your efforts into what is in your control.  Focus on one task at a time rather than the big picture.  It might not be a particularly pleasant trip, but you will eventually come to the end of that journey and you will have come through a SURVIVOR!

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Book Tour stop for Saffron Nights, by Liz Everly

Mmm…food.  Exotic foods, to be exact.  It makes your mouth water to think about.  Today, I’m hosting Liz Everly as she shares her book, Saffron Nights, with us.  And after reading it, you may never think of exotic foods in the same way again.

Liz will be awarding organic saffron and cedar bath gel and handmade soap to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY).

You can follow all her stops today by clicking on the link below.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/super-book-blast-saffron-nights-by-liz.html

BLURB:

Wherever they travel, there’s an aphrodisiac waiting to whet their appetites…

Brazil…Hawaii…India….As a food writer, Maeve has just been handed the hottest opportunity of her career. She’s being sent on an international research tour for an aphrodisiac cookbook. The downside is that she has to travel with rock star photographer and womanizer Jackson Dodds. And the upside is that she has to travel with Jackson Dodds. Because once they meet, Maeve understands why he’s been named “America’s Most Eligible Bachelor”—and despite her best intentions, all she can think about is putting their arousing recipes to the test…

Sexy and talented, Jackson can have any woman he desires. But lately, the thrill is gone—until he lays eyes on Maeve, who exudes sensuality like no one else. She’s determined to keep things professional, but he knows the attraction is mutual. And as they travel the world, sampling warming saffron, juicy papaya, silky avocado, rare herbs and teas—and a mushroom whose very aroma sends women to heights of ecstasy—both discover a hunger they’ve never known, and don’t want to resist, even amid unexpected danger…

EXCERPT:  (warning:  Adult Rated)

“Here’s something interesting.  In late Hellenistic Egypt, Cleopatra used saffron in her baths so lovemaking would be more pleasurable,” Maeve interrupted the quiet.

The word lovemaking caught his attention, swirled around in his mind for a moment. They had called a truce of a sort. But he couldn’t help but remember—it was just a few nights ago and she was sitting right next to him. Her lips parted, her head tilted, deep in thought. What was she thinking?

“Hmmm,” he said, though lovemaking was really the only word his ears picked up on.

She opened Chef’s book and leafed through its now even more ragged pages. “Part of saffron’s magical property is the enhancement of “lust.” Given that the medical findings show saffron as a substance capable of affecting the neurotransmitters, perhaps saffron may in fact be an aphrodisiac. Its ingestion is found to be a soothing relaxant capable of lowering blood pressure and stimulating the respiration. Perhaps, it could also contain properties that stimulate the libido and the erogenous zones. Some attest to its sexual properties that they believe is most effective when used by women. SB’s favorite. I assume SB was a woman.”

“I’m seeing a theme here, are you?” Jackson said.

“Yes, Chef was mostly interested in what the substances do to women,” she said and smiled.

“It does seem that way,” he managed to say, then went back to his computer screen. “Whoa,” he said. “Now this is interesting. The most a man paid to have Sasha for evening? Two and a half million dollars.”

“You are kidding!”

Jackson whistled. “I wonder what makes her worth that.”

“She is beautiful,” Maeve said.

“Not as beautiful as y—”

“Maybe she has a special trick,” she said, placing finger quote in the air around “special trick.”

“More likely she fulfills a strange fetish or fantasy,” he said.

Maeve’s eyes caught his; she lifted her eyebrows. “What could that be? S & M? The world’s best blow job? What?”

Did she just say blow job? He had to concentrate not to cough up the water he just drank. He felt the heat rise to his face—and other parts of him.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

“I, ah, don’t want to talk about um, you know, blow jobs with you.”

She laughed. “Should I be insulted?”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Liz Everly is a passionate cook, writer, and traveler. Exploring food and romance in Saffron Nights, Liz combines her lifelong love of action-packed romance with her culinary expertise. She loves to interact with readers. Please follow her on Twitter @Lizeverly1, check out her website http://www.lizeverly.worpress.com. You can also find her on Facebook and blogging at http://www.ladysmut.com.

Link to Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Saffron-Nights-ebook/dp/B009T9SCDU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354634050&sr=8-1&keywords=Saffron+Nights

Link to eKensington: http://ekensingtonbooks.com/

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