Mention Monday - Catching Up

First things first, I realized in all of my busy-ness, I forgot something on Friday...I signed up for a blogfest that I should've posted about on Friday, June 29. EEEP! I can't believe I forgot, omg. Oh well, it has gone and I can't do anything about forgetting it. I can however, tell you about it...

I was on a blog that mentioned a blogfest hosted by author Christine Fonseca. On Friday, Christine revealed the cover of her upcoming book, Transcend. I was supposed to write a post revealing something 'secret' about myself. Want to know a secret?

Somewhere in the last few weeks, I've become unfocused. I can't seem to accomplish much of anything. I'm running around crazy trying to get things done-caught up-yet I can't keep focused on my tasks. I'm usually great with my to do lists. These past few weeks though, I haven' been. I'm not sure what it is. I have been struggling to get to sleep at night, so that's probably part of the problem. I'm getting better, but it's still not quite there. Hopefully this week I'll get it together though.

I know that wasn't some huge secret, but oh well. I missed the fest anyway, so...

Anyway, Christine Fonseca revealed her awesome cover last Friday. Go HERE to check it out. And follow her blog and check her out elsewhere as well.

Another thing I haven't gotten to is a couple blog awards.

I'm cheating because I'm not going to follow all the rules. I got the Versatile Blogger Award from Sarah over at The Writer's Experiment. Thank's Sarah! I also got the Stylish Blogger Award from the awesome Cherie (AKA Precy Larkins) over at Ready, Write, Go. Thanks Cherie! Since I'm still really behind, I'm nominating ANYONE who reads this. I had a list in mind, but I just don't have time to link everyone. (Kendra, SC, Utsav, Brighton, Krysten, and Caterina-if y'all are reading this, you've been nominated for both. Need the details? Just ask. :)  ) (And I was thinking of Alex, DL Hammons, and Donna B McNicol for the Stylish Blogger Award-SO if y'all are reading this post, you're nominated. I'm so sorry for not linking to you. I will try to make it over to your blogs and comment to let you know about the award. Which sounds silly since I'm saying 'your blog' to let 'you know', but if you're reading this then you already know...Ah well.)

Now that I feel like I cheated on those awards...

Last, but definitely NOT least, I want to talk about one of the AWESOMEST people I know...

ALI CROSS! Yes, she's awesome. She's so full of awesome that I sometimes wonder if awesome is even a good enough word to refer to all of her awesomeness. She's so wonderful-GO CHECK HER OUT IF YOU HAVEN'T YET! Not yelling btw, just enthusiastic. :D Anyway, she revealed her FANTASTICALLY AWESOME cover of DESOLATE. If you missed it, go HERE. It's fabulous. I love it. And I CAN'T WAIT for the book to come out. If you've never read her first book, BECOME, you need to check it out. And if you don't know who she is, check her out. She's awesome, if you haven't realized yet. :p

So, that's it for now. I'm getting back on track and hopefully I'll be back to my posting schedule and will have some time to visit people. Thanks for stopping by, please check out those that I've mentioned. :)

Happy Monday, Everyone! :D

Another Fairly Awesome Week

Well, there were some ups and downs to this week, but I prevailed enough that I'm going to call it an awesome week.

The downer to this week was when I got a call from my daughter's (the one who's five) school asking me to come in for a conference....

Just the day before that phone call, she'd come home with a red day (they either get a green, yellow, or red-in order of good, warning, bad). She got the red for throwing dirt in another little girl's face....

The Friday before that, she'd come home with a red day because she drew an A on the smart board in her classroom....

So, you can imagine how I was feeling when I got that call. I went in and she was sitting in the counselors 'waiting room' outside of her actual office. The counselor told me it'd be just a minute so I sat down and asked my daughter why she though I was there. My little angel proceeded to tell me it was because she told someone she was going to slap them (though I learned later-from her- that I'd heard her wrong and she didn't say slap, she said stab). Yep, my sweet angel. Riiight.

The conference was 'called to order' and they took me into a room with the counselor, my daughter's teacher, and another teacher. They each had a page-long list of everything she's been doing wrong. And apparently she's been a mouthy little angel everyday for the last two months (on top of the destructive, hurtful, mean, and defiant behavior). Then they went on to ask me if I have any suggestions *insert accuse me I'm one of those moms that let their kid act horrible and just get away with it* for why she's doing this. Of course, I have theories, but in reality I didn't realize she'd been being 'so bad' for all these months. They said I need to do something to fix it before next school year. *Insert 'Imagine that' or possibly a 'No shit?'* I mean, obviously she can't act up like that, I don't need someone to tell me. But I do need someone to let me know she's acting crazy so I can talk to her about it.

Now, I'll move on to my ups because from my downs it doesn't seem like I had such an awesome week, but I did.

I finished the latest pass in my revisions, and will be starting another go round sometime this weekend. I also worked on my WIP and have been making a bit of progress there. I critiqued and received crits. I also tweeted with some awesome people, had some of my tweets retweeted and favorited, and I...well, I don't know, but it was a good week.

I even got another award! :D

I received the Napping Blogger Award from Donna B McNicol (who also created this award). Make sure you stop by her blog and check her out because she's a whole lot of awesome.

1. Link back to the person who gave the award (in this case Donna, which I already did)
2. Name something you do to take time for YOU.
3. Nominate five other bloggers-especially someone you think needs a break from their routine.

So, something I do for me. I've been working on doing more for just me. Lately it's been allowing myself to take a nap (isn't that fitting :p ) and not being mad at myself when I wake up. It's a difficult thing for me to nap when I have things I could be doing instead. I also like to write - stories and poems. Sometimes I turn on some music and dance around really silly just for fun.

Now, I nominate:

1. Alex J Cavanaugh because he's full of awesomeness and I think he deserves a good nap. (Yes, it's possible he's already got the award because of his awesomeness, but I nominate him anyway.)
2. Jean Oram because she's full of awesomeness and does so much that I'm sure she could use one too. (I know she may not post awards, but I'm giving it to her anyway :p )
3. Caterina Torres because she needs an award and a good nap.
4. Eden Baylee who has been running the campaign for Joshua (Indies Unite for Joshua, I talked about it here. And if you look to the right side (and a little up) of my blog, you'll see the campaign was a great success!) and she definitely deserves a nap for her awesomeness.
5. Cherie (who's recently landed herself an agent!) which also means she deserves a good nap too.

Thanks again Donna and thanks everyone for stopping by.

Happy Napping :D

Thank Yous, The End, & An Award

This past week has been crazy busy, which is part of the reason I'm late with my week wrap up. Blog and critique catch up, revisions, writing, and everything else.

Thank YOU

To so many people. All the awesome people who visit my blog regularly, everyone who is new to my blog, for EVERYONE who commented on my First Loves post-I got more comments on that than any other post (THANKS AGAIN for the blogfest, Alex! :D  ), another thanks to Alex for being such an AWESOME guy, to everyone who entered my giveaway &/or spread the word about it, and to Karen Hooper for offering such an awesome prize. YOU are ALL AWESOME!!! :D

The End

My first giveaway has ended and I'll be announcing the winners on Monday, along with a special surprise for a few people who entered. Stay tuned :)

An Award

I won my second blog award. :) On Thursday, Gossip_Girl over at Just You Wait!! One Day I Will... gave me the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you GG, and if anyone hasn't yet, make sure you check her out.

Here's the deal:

1. Thank and link back to who gave you the award

2. Answer 10 questions

3. Give 10 random facts about yourself

4. Pass it on to 7 other people

1. Fave song?
Well, at the moment I don't have a absolute favorite song, but I've been listening to a lot of Florence + the Machine & a song by Sleeping At Last called Turning Page

2. Favorite desert?
This is a tie between Cherry Cheesecake (Not NY style, but a no-bake recipe that my mom has always used) & Dump Cake (If you don't know what this is, don't judge by the name, it's really yummy and so easy to make).

3. What ticks you off?
Rude/hateful/bullying/mean/etc kind of people.

4. When you're upset, what do you do?
This is a hard one, lol, not really...I cry.

5. Favorite pet?
From the time I was born, I had a miniature dachsund whom I loved dearly. When she got ran over (when I was 2), my parents got me a toy poodle to ease the pain. It worked, I loved him so much. He had to be put to sleep from old age when I was in middle school and it wasn't until I became an adult that I found another pet that I loved as much as those two. He was a pomeranian and I loved him more than anything (this was before I had my kids). He died because his intestines became tied in a knot (apparently this is something that tends to happen to poms) and although I got my kids a mini dachsund (whom I love)...it's not the same and when I seek out a dog of my own it will be a Pom.

6. Black or White?
Well, I like black, it has so many different uses. Plus, most of my shirts are either black or blue. White is too clean for me.

7. Biggest fear?
I've had this question before (I think) and my biggest fear is losing my kids in any way. I'd be lost without them.

8. What is your attitude?
Take life for what it is and find the enjoyment in it. Like my blog says: Live, laugh, love and don't be afraid to cry sometimes :) (Perhaps not exactly what this question means, but ah well.)

9. What is perfection?
The sun as it's just beginning to come over the horizon. My kids, even with all their madness. Love, not bs 'oh yeah, I love you' but real love (of any sort as long as it's real). Things in life that taken for granted. The imperfections that make a person who they are. I could keep going. And I know many people say 'perfection' doesn't exist (and it doesn't in the way most people define it), but really, it can, depending on how you look at life.

10. What is your guilty pleasure?
I have no answer for this. I try not to feel guilty over anything I enjoy. If I enjoy it, who cares? I don't do much that's 'bad' for me, and even if someone may think it is, oh well. So, I really don't have anything to put here.

Random Facts:

Okay, sorry, but I'm not doing the random facts thing because I really don't have time and also this post is already long enough.

Nominations:

(BTW-if anyone is listed and you either don't do awards, or you already have this one then it's fine if you pass it up :)  )


E.M. LaBonte
Jemi Fraser
Donna B McNicol
Rachel Morgan
Sweety
Jen
And my seventh is a cop out-if you're reading this, then I'm giving you the award too :D

Happy Sunday! :)

The Versatile Blogger Award

I have to post twice today, but it's worth it...I got my first blog award, YAY!

I was just hanging out, working on revisions when all of the sudden I get a message on Twitter from @geekytendency. It said there was something for me on his blog. So, I go to it and what was there?

So, thanks Jeremy :) Everyone, go check out his blog. He talks about some pretty fun stuff over there.

I have a few instructions, they go like so:

1. Create a post for the Versatile Blogger Award.


2. In the same post, thank the blogger who gave you the award and put a link back to their blog.


3. Nominate 15 other people for this award and let them know.

4. Post seven random things about yourself.

5. Include these rules in your post.

So, here are my Seven Random Things:


1. I am a very, very loyal person. And I mean, LOYAL. If I care about someone or something in any kind of way, it takes a string of major things to break my loyalty to that person or thing.

2. I sing. I even had a group in middle and high school, but we never went anywhere. I rap a little too. And I can for real sing, not just that-I think I can, but I really sound like a sick howling dog. My passion is writing though, which is why I don't try to make anything of my singing.

3. In middle school, I pierced my own belly button (with a safety pin) it hurt. What hurt even worse though was when a 'friend' of mine ripped it out. Ouch.

4. When I was three, my next door neighbor's dog bit me on my nose and I had to go to the ER. When I was 5, a kid pushed me off the merry-go-round at school, busted my head open and I had to get 5 stitches. On my sixth birthday, I was riding my bike and crashed it. I knocked my front tooth out and had to have a false tooth for a year or so. When I was around 7 years old, my sister shut my finger in the sliding door on my moms' van. I broke my wrist when I was 9. I cracked my collar bone when I was 13. My neighbor gave me a black eye from a snowball when I was around 14...I'm just a tad bit accident prone.

5. From September to April/May I consume a total of about 3-4 pots of coffee. Strong coffee. In the other months I consume about 11/2-2 pots. But that's because I switch to tea and can't even count how much of that I drink-it's a lot though. And I still find room to fit at least 1/2 gallon of water a day.

6. I have long hair-like down to my butt long. And I am so attached to it that I cannot cut it. Even in the summer months when it gets so hot and sticky here in Oklahoma, I will not cut my hair. Not even a trim, though I know it needs it. When I do convince myself to trim it, I cry-yep, I cry for the loss of my hair.

7. I used to hate You Tube and still don't care much for it. BUT I am obsessed with Goopery. It's a vlog by a guy named Luke, and it's funny. I love it. He even has a side channel now-Gooperdom, and I love that one too.

I went through my reader and picked at random. I love all the blogs I follow, so I wasn't sure who to pick. Some of you may already have this award, sorry to repeat, but hey-nothing wrong with having the same award more than once, right? Anyway, here's my fifteen:

Joey F
E.M. Labonte
Dean C. Rich
Jacqueline Gardner
Jean Oram
Jemi Fraser
Alex Cavanaugh
C.K. Bryant
Michael Offutt
Cherie
DL Hammons
Tiffany M.
Riley Redgate
Jayne D
Bloggit Write


Happy Awarding! :)