M.J. Fredrick's Blog, page 59

Day Two of Season Premiere Week

I wasn't at all impressed with Two and a Half Men last night. I'm not a huge Ashton Kutcher fan, but I do enjoy some of his movies. The cameos were fun, but I hated the bickering between one of my favorite TV couples. I removed that Season Pass from the Tivo right away.

We also watched Castle and How I Met Your Mother.

Tonight, GLEE! And Ringer. I also added New Girl and Raising Hope to the season passes. My husband has band practice, so I'll wait on Ringer, and watch Glee and the comedies. I also have a few episodes of All My Children. I've been Tivoing it since August, to see who else will show up.

I have a new blender so I'm hoping the boy will make us smoothies!

Going to the dentist in a couple of hours. Then I hope to come home and sew and clean. Trying to get some writing done now.

My First Book on Sale, and Day One of Season Premiere Week

 

 

Where There's Smoke is on sale at Amazon and Fictionwise for 99 cents! Very cool. I would love to make a list with this one, maybe boost my other titles.

Tonight is the first night of season premiere week. On the docket: How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men (got to try it with Ashton), and then a toss-up which to watch–Castle or Hawaii 5-0. I'm Tivoing Alphas at midnight, but I would like to see The Playboy Club. I like retro stuff like that.

To celebrate, I made this jalapeno popper spread. I've already had too much with a beer, but mmm-mmm!

INGREDIENTS:




1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies,


drained
1 ounce canned diced jalapeno peppers,
drained
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese




DIRECTIONS:



1.
Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into a microwave safe serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


2.
Microwave on High until hot, about 3 minutes.

I'm so far behind on EVERYTHING. I can't keep up on Twitter, my Google Reader is exploding, it took me almost a month to read the last book I was reading, I'm a week behind on revisions on Bluestone 2 and we won't even talk about my house, and my Tivo and my new story. I'm taking tomorrow off to go to the dentist and hope to get caught up some then.

Goals for SEASON PREMIERE Week

 

One of my favorite weeks of the year! Monday is going to be my big TV night, which'll keep me busy the rest of the week. I wanted to get some more stuff off my Tivo before then, but my son had his heart broken this weekend, and he and my husband spent Saturday watching half a season of Life on Mars.

We finally got rain this week—Friday morning, then Saturday afternoon. It's been lovely. My trees are so happy.

I, on the other hand, am behind on EVERYTHING.

This week:

1)      Finish galleys—due Tuesday

2)      Work on Bluestone 2. I've got a neat new layer, but haven't had time to work on it.

3)      Work on new short story

4)      Write 2-3 blog posts for next month.

5)      Faculty meeting

6)      Sew—I have a dress and four crafts cut out.

7)      Exercise again.

8)      Keep house/cook. I really fell down on these this last week with the hubby on vacation.

You Made That Up! Unusual Names in my Class

 

Since I'm music teacher this year, I get every student in the school through my classroom. The biggest challenge hasn't been keeping Pre-K entertained or keeping 5th grade in line.

It's been the names. There are some doozies.

I already knew Xiomara and Abcde. But Joshuel is a challenge, as is Navaeh (and there are TWO of those). Then there's Zierlen, Areious (all the vowels in that one), Xenia (EX-enia) and Ezayliah. And Naydely, Siah and Anyssa.

Some that are easier to pronounce but still unusual are Jazzcity, Skylynn (two of those), Geronimo, Maximus, Paradise, Debany, Leilani (two of those), Judas, Glennda, Demetrius, Nehemiah, Esai, Placido, Zellimar, Yahir, Zerriyah, Aaliyah (those four are in the same class!), Jomara, Precious, Jaelynn, Mireya, Romulus, Aticus (he does know who he's named for), Cosmo and Isamir.

 

Then there are the weird spellings: Iziah, Jaidyn, Kaytlin, Isac, Roselyn (but pronounced Roslyn), Nataly, Agustin, Haile, Aeryk, Heron, Dahliah, Jazlynne, Macaylah, Nykolas, Emileigh, Audrie, Natalee, Hunny, Abbygail, Gidyeon, Nicholaas, Dayna, Daina, Tearsa and Jaida.

There are some neat ones, like Amberly and Damari and Isela (two of those, too), Esperanza, Charisma, Anarosa, Serenity, Idelia, Acelynn and Itzia.

By far the most popular boy's name is Michael. There's almost one in every class. The most popular girl's name is not so obvious. I don't have ONE Jennifer or Jessica. I should have the kids graph out their names like I did one year, but there would be so many that insist their names are different because of the spelling instead of the pronunciation.

What do you think of these names? Any you would use?

Goals for the Week of Hubby's Vacation

Yes, he waits to go on vacation when I go back to work. Can't really blame him. If I was home I'd make him do all this running around.

I cannot deal with thinking about 9-11. It makes me horribly sad and this weekend's already been sad enough—my son's English teacher died from cancer and he attended her funeral yesterday. She had three little kids, y'all. I'm crying just writing this.

My husband is on vacation this week and I'm hoping he'll cook so I can beat my deadlines and find some time to write.

1)      Finish edits on February book

2)      Finish galleys for December book

3)      Work on revisions on Bluestone 2 (at this rate, I won't be done with revisions on Bluestone 3 by NaNoWriMo)

4)      Work on new short story

5)      Work on guest blog posts—2 for October and 2 for this week

6)      Faculty meeting

7)      Sew

8)      Keep house/exercise

Lost: One Mind

Sooo, I've not been around much. I got a new sewing machine the week school started and I've been sewing like a crazy lady. I have been to JoAnn Fabric about two millon times. I love all the seasonal fabric but never know what to do with it. My brother, mother and I are thinking about opening an Etsy shop. To that end, I've bought some patterns of some things like laptop sleeves, ebook covers and some other cool stuff.

So in my stack-o-projects:

fabric for 3 skirts

fabric for 2 dresses

fabric (okay, these are scraps, but I had to buy lining and stuff) for 3 ereader covers

fabric for three laptop sleeves (one is new, but was half price and two are scraps)

fabric for three fabric totes (I had the fabric for all but didn't know what to do with it)

fabric for a fabric wine holder

fleece for a blanket for my dad

And a dozen skeins of yarn

So I'm reading slower, and working on revisions (with deadlines)  instead of writing something new. And I haven't actually broken out the yarn yet.

Why am I doing this? I wish I knew. I think I've lost my mind. Because why did I wait until school started???

Lyrical's Back to School Blowout!

With the wee ones trotting off to start a new school year, here at Lyrical Press we know this means reading time for the adults! As a reward for surviving summer, Lyrical Press is reducing the price of our entire catalog by 50% for the weekend.
Beginning Friday September 2nd and lasting throughout the weekend, all Lyrical tiles will be 50% off list price. 
Don't miss out on this incredible sale. It's the perfect way to discover your new favorite author.

Something to Talk About

Goals for the Last Week of August (FINALLY)

Thank GOD it's the last week of August. Maybe we'll get out of three-digit temps soon. This is the second hottest summer on record. First hottest? 2009. Yuck yuck yuck. Today? Going to be 108. I can't even sit in my back room because it's too hot.

1) Open House

2) Start revisions on Bluestone 2

3) Finish hem on purple skirt and work on striped skirt. The back looks pretty good. I need to do the front, the sides and the hem.

4) Contact Amazon. I never got my royalties from May, and they told me I had to wait until the end of this month before they'll cancel the check and send another 

5) Keep up cleaning/cooking/exercising. I cooked 4 nights last week, including the first day of school. Of course, my son blames that for him being sick the next 2 days, but….

Sower of Dreams by Debra Holland

Sower of Dreams by Debra Holland

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever looked at a painting and wondered what the world inside it was like? Sower of Dreams is what I'd imagine one of those worlds would be like. The world of Seagem is richly described, gorgeously layered, and troubled when their sea god no longer speaks to them in their dreams.
Princess Daria is both warrior and seer, a woman who knows her own mind. She dreams of a man so different from any she knows. Khan is a man from our world who is on the run for his life. He takes refuge from a sandstorm and is transported to another world, one where the sky is purple and a beautiful princess needs his help.
This fantasy world is beautifully written, every sense described so that you feel transported into the world and its many adventures.

View all my reviews

Cover Reveal for my December Release

Out December 6:

What does she fear more, surrendering her privacy or her heart?

Texas Congresswoman McKenna Jones's life is in danger when her father's old enemy surfaces. She's the target of revenge and narrowly escapes a kidnapping attempt. She's advised to go into hiding until the threat has passed, but her fight to get an important bill passed forces her to stay right where she is. Her father assigns Ethan Riggins to protect her--a sacrifice of her privacy, but it's no real hardship since he's sinfully sexy and easy to work with.

For Ethan Riggins, it's a struggle to keep his distance from the congresswoman. McKenna is his assignment, and his friend's daughter. She also happens to be smart, driven and beautiful. Being around her makes him want to loosen the reins on his emotions, which he's kept in check for far too long.

When the threat escalates, Ethan and McKenna have to take charge of the investigation so they can discover if a happily-ever-after is in store for them.