Vicki Batman's Blog, page 98

Handbag, Books...Whatever awarded the...

Thank you, Cher Green, for nominating me! And here's my answers to the questions:

Five Fabulous Moments:

The way Handsome looked at me on my wedding day. :)
The day #1 Son was born.
The day #2 Son was born.
The days my sissies were married.
The day my first story was published.


Five Things I Love:

Girlfriend weekends.
The twinkle in Handsome's eye.
Scootsie
Champ & Jones
My men!


Five Things I Hate:

Bad drivers.
Brussel sprouts.
Beans (except for most excellent sauteed in olive oil & garlic green beans).
Big roaches. Sigh.
Writing rejections. Another sigh.

Dress BusterThe unimaginable happened recently--I forgot ...

Dress Buster
The unimaginable happened recently--I forgot the little black dress.


Yikes. Handsome had asked me to attend an event with him which required the all-purpose little black dress. I'd been traveling with him for five days and returned home overnight to repack and take off again the next morning.
We arrived at the hotel and I went to hang up my dress when a big fat UH OH hit me. No dress. I scrambled through the bag again. Nothing. Handsome observed me going through the black bag for the third time and asked what was wrong.
Nothing else to do, but confess the truth, "My little black dress is missing."
"Didn't you pack it?"
"I thought I had."
"What are you going to do?" He said this with hands on hips and a horrid thundercloud crossing his face.
"Guess I won't go to the dinner."
"That's unacceptable." He tossed me the car keys. "Go find a dress."
Honestly, I embrace shopping as an Olympic sport; however, I've always had terrible, horrible, bad-ass luck when I had to find anything in a specific time-frame, like for Easter. I'd learned to buy something whenever and save it for whenever.
The look on Handsome's face was still not pleasant. I had to try.
So the front desk lady nicely told me where to go. I stuck the address in the GPS (Praise the Lord! for that invention) and took off. The first store had a sign saying Apparel. Yeah, that didn't work--baby apparel. However, the nice owner pointed out two stores which would work for normal people.
The second store was geared more for college students. I looked and the sales associates attended me very helpfully. But no, nothing.
The third choice was a small department store. I found a sign which indicated the ladies' department was up the stairs. At the top, I looked around frantically. A young associate noticed and asked if "she could help."
I shared with her my dilemma and off we went. In five minutes, I had at least eight choices in several sizes.
When all was said and done, I'd found a dress in one hour. A miracle! I selected a chiffony thing. The sleeves skimmed my shoulders and had rosettes along my shoulder blade on the left side. Unfortunately, I had to buy some SPANX too.
I'd passed go, but I never, ever, ever want to do that again.
Funny thing: the woman travelling with us forgot her dress too. LOL.

Surely, I'm not alone out there in the I forgot this ___________ when traveling nightmare. What's your story?

Vicki is currently in shopping recovery by perusing ETSY and eBAY for vintage handbags. Find her at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com OR at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com . Her hilarious new story, "Store Wars," will be available thru MuseItUp Publishing in August.

Vicki on being a guilty girl

A Gift for Me! A Gift for You!

I love-love-love to read. With a book, I can go anywhere and have a best friend. It's the most excellent gift ever.


For a long time, I'd share books I'd read with girlfriends. They did the same with me. When one recommended Janet Evanovich and Diana Gabaldon, I rediscovered romance!


But I wanted more.


Ten years ago, I asked a couple of good friends if they would be interested in starting a book club. They eagerly agreed. Each of us invited one other person to join, in total, six of us. We had no idea what our future would bring. But we had hope and heart and our love of reading.


We have a wonderful bond. It's rare anyone misses a meeting.


As of April 2012, we've read 94!! books.


I've read books I normally would never have discovered or touched. We began our journey with The Red Tent. Some we laughed ourselves silly over (Janet Evanovich), despaired (The Glass Castle), disliked (The Corrections , The Emperor of Ocean Park, The Golden Compass), thought very odd (The Weird World of Wes Beattie), didn't live up to its reputation (The Woman in White), an odd soap opera (Brideshead Revisited), most confusing (Atonement), not what we thought (Lady Chatterly's Lover), a good classic (Red Sky in the Morning), and awarded five stars (Out of the Dust & To Kill a Mockingbird). At Christmas, we gifted each other a favorite to sample.

Thank you, Nancy, Sharon, Pam, Della, and Rebecca. Here's to ten more years of love, laughter, friendship, and reading!






To celebrate, I have a gift for you--gather two friends and start a club. You won't regret it.


Vicki is sitting back with her diet Coke, Chris Botti playing in the background, and sobbing over this post. Find her at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com Or at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com

Happy Mother's Day blog at Tabby's Nocturnal Nights

It's a hop over at Tabby's Nocturnal Nights. EIGHTY (80!!!) e-books to be given away to one lucky commentor. Mine is the ever popular Man Theory & Other Stories.

Check out the rules and participate at: http://tabithablake.blogspot.com/2012/05mothers-day-blowout.html



And Happy Mother's day, Mom!

Check Her Out, a Free Read by Vicki

I'm happy to announce that longandshortreviews.com haspublished my fun short story, "Check Her Out."


Go to: http://longandshortarchives.blogspot.com/search/label/FreeShortStory

And have a Happy Friday!


Vicki is hanging with her cat and diet Coke while finishing a story and eagerly waiting for her hair appointment. Find Vicki at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com Or at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com

Behind the Scenes: Cocktails Fiction and Gossip Magazine

I wrote a fun article entitled "Behind the Scenes"--how I developed ideas for the stories for Man Theory and Other Stories --for this magazine.


Go to: http://www.wix.com/cocktailsmagazine/fictionandgossip#!issue-11
And let me know what you think!

St. Pat's Day Blog Hop

 
The Green Thing



I have a confession: I have NO green clothing. I'm not even sure I'm Irish. Don't be alarmed. I know there are others of you out there. 


Second confession: since I have no green clothes, I won't be wearing green. Hey, get those pinchers retracted. I'll probably be carrying a green handbag--does that count?


Here's what I can choose from:




LOL. If someone had said today was Pink Day, I'm all set. I love pink. I wear lots of black, too. A tad of brown and blue. But, nope, no green.


I know my mom's family came from England, Switzerland, Germany. Dad's probably Scotland. That's pretty close to Ireland--right?


So to make sure I'm not nipped black and blue (we all know some people get a little carried away), I'll print off a shamrock and pin it to my shirt.

Here's a blurb from my short story collection, "Man Theory":

"I have a theory about love.”




Ethan's statement knocked me from the proverbial mountain top. Eyeing him, I clapped my hand across my mouth to stifle a giggle.


From Day One at our new jobs at Prime Designs, Ethan and I had forged a friendship. I was the artsy-heartsy, emotional gal. Him--the technical, by-the-book pal. We ate an occasional dinner, watched a movie, whatever. Traded small gifts like coffee, a magazine, music. However, Ethan had never made an overture toward me.


Translated: Nothing intimate.


I'd said to myself, "Rats."


For work, we'd traveled to Colorado Springs to attend a workshop on web design innovations. After check-in, I'd joined him at the bridge crossing the lake to decide about lunch before the meetings commenced.


My six-one geek wearing rimless glasses, leaned against the railing, and stared into the sparkling blue waters of the high mountain lake, and the feathered fowl paddling by.


Have his feelings changed?


I asked in disbelief, "R-really? A theory...about love?"


Thanks for stopping by and may the pink, I mean, the green thing be with you! Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!



Vicki Batman likes to indulge in a diet Coke and imagine hilarious dialogue while plotting a story. Find her at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com Or at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com. Man Theory and Other Stories is available at: Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

A gift for you

The World Outside



I am fortunate to have a big window that overlooks my front yard and the street beyond. I've seen all kinds of things out there. Interesting people walk by. A variety of cars and trucks--some speeders. Car crashes. Cops stopping speeders. The greening of my yard. The yard men mowing. The live oak trees leafing. Flitting cardinals. Scavenging squirrels.


My flowering quince blooming in February:

 So what exactly is this stunning plant? Here's some information from eHow:


In the deep South, quince may bloom as early as January. It is a member of the rose family, and the odd fruit bears a sweet, apple-rose flavor. Flowers emerge before the leaves and hold their bloom until the leaves are completely expanded.


Most of the year, this shrub is a mass of tangled, thorny branches with mundane foliage. But in spring, the beast becomes a beauty with showy single or double blossoms. In October we are rewarded with apple-like fruit that makes a great marmalade or jelly.


As I drove around my neighborhood, I found the trees and flowers emerging everywhere I went. So I created this for you:






Anything special outside your window?




Vicki Batman adores watching the transformation from winter to spring. Find her at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com Or at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com. Man Theory and Other Stories is available thru Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.

March 12--MY DAY!!--The Romance Review Anniversary

Welcome to the Romance Review first anniversary party!

Part of the hop is a Q&A. My question is from "Man Theory," a story in my collection, Man Theory and Other Stories: In "Man Theory," how tall is the hero, Ethan?

Here's the excerpt:

"I have a theory about love.”

Ethan's statement knocked me from the proverbial mountain top. Eyeing him, I clapped my hand across my mouth to stifle a giggle.


From Day One at our new jobs at Prime Designs, Ethan and I had forged a friendship. I was the artsy-heartsy, emotional gal. Him--the technical, by-the-book pal. We ate an occasional dinner, watched a movie, whatever. Traded small gifts like coffee, a magazine, music. However, Ethan had never made an overture toward me.


Translated: Nothing intimate.


I'd said to myself, "Rats."


For work, we'd traveled to Colorado Springs to attend a workshop on web design innovations. After check-in, I'd joined him at the bridge crossing the lake to decide about lunch before the meetings commenced.


My six-one geek wearing rimless glasses, leaned against the railing, and stared into the sparkling blue waters of the high mountain lake, and the feathered fowl paddling by.


Have his feelings changed? I asked in disbelief, "R-really? A theory...about love?"

Is Ethan:

A. 6'4"


B. 5'2"


C. 6'1"


D. 5'10"


Be sure to post your answer in the comment section with your EMAIL address. I'll draw from the correct ones and notify the winner.

Thank you for visiting me at Handbags, Books...Whatever and continue on to visit other blogs in the TRR Anniversary event. Good luck!

Obsession Confession

My obsession is...handbags. I really, really love 'em. Clutch, tote, shoulder bag, carry-all, backpack. And it isn't the very expensive ones either. I have bought one for as little as three dollars. I like distinctive. Here's a photo:


about 2/3 of what's on the shelves-hehehe

The word handbag works better for me. The old-fashioned term purses, a drawstring bag men and women used to keep their valuables in, never appealed to me.


But why bags? Some people collect shoes. My feet are small--really. Size seven, narrow. And, that's a hard size to find.


Handbags don't really have the same kind of size issues.



Why don't I get rid of some? Actually, I do. I toss the ones with scuffed corners. Torn fabric. Damaged handles. Just bought and then regretted. (Hey, we've all been there!)


What kinds do I have? A couple of cool ones from Italy. Mary Frances, Margaret Smith of Maine, Hobo, Enid Collins (yep, the spangled ones from the sixties), handmade felted, Coach, vintage ($3.00!!), gifts (decoupaged from the sixties), ones saved from high school.


How can one person use that many? I have a fav I'll carry for about a month, then switch. If I go out for a special evening, I swap for an appropriate one. I change for church because I want to match my outfit. Sometimes, I choose because of my needs for the day, like a backpack, or large carry-all for the mini-laptop and a drink.


Here's my confession: Usually the heroine in my story carries a note-worthy bag. *vbg*


And here's my latest with the cover from my short story collection, Man Theory and Other Stories:



So, share with me. Which are you? A shoe or bag lady?





Vicki Batman is kicking back with her diet Coke and "researching" handbags on eBay. Find her at: http://vickibatman.blogspot.com OR at: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com
Man Theory and Other Stories will be available on February 1 at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.