Pioneer Woman

Facebook reminded me today about the Pioneer Woman's upcoming book-signing tour in honor of her new book, "Black Heels and Tractor Wheels."

It's next week! In Tulsa!
I'm going. I have her cookbook. The new book comes out Tuesday, February 1, two days before the book-signing party. I want to be just like her when I grow up. Well, minus the four or five kids. And the cows.

Book 'em, Danno

I'm hooked on the (new) Hawaii 5-0 show -- and it's on tonight. Going to watch House from the elliptical, do some writing and then drool over my new celebrity crush!


Today, I went to the library in Cassville for the first time in a very long time. I'm ashamed to even admit how long it's been. Let's just say I had to re-verify my library card.

Since I got my Nook e-reader and joined GoodReads last year, I've had no problem keeping books "in stock" to read. But the past few weeks, it's dwindled and when I calculated how much I was spending on e-books and GoodReads shipping charges, I decided it was maybe time to head to the library. Free books -- what more can you ask for? Especially for someone who reads as fast as I do. I've been known to devour a book in a day or less. That gets expensive! This was also the first time I'd been to the library since I got my new cochlear implant speech processor. I was truly surprised at how un-quiet the library really is! Here, I thought it was a hush-hush place and always worried I was making more noise than necessary. Turns out, there's a lot going on! People shuffle around, talk loudly, the computer at the checkout counter beeps.... It was nowhere near as noisy and annoying as Walmart (where I have to turn down the processor to Program 2, which I call the Walmart setting!!), though. I was just surprised -- all this time I've spent feeling self-conscious and "worrying" that I was noisy was time wasted!
I now have four books just waiting to be cracked open. Two were on my GoodReads "to read" list and the other two were just bonuses I found while browsing. For a rural area, our library usually has a pretty good selection. I have two weeks to read these -- but I'll probably finish them before that deadline rolls around.

Something to Howl About

Just one more full week left in January! Can you tell it's my least-favorite month of the year? I shouldn't complain about the cold, since our temperature--although cold--is still a good 30-40 degrees than Minnesota's. But it's still cold. The outlet drain for my water softener is frozen solid and I had to bail the water out this morning--but I'll take that over frozen water pipes any day. I'm still "stuck" at home -- now out of milk and hoarding the last precious can of Diet Coke. It's supposed to warm up enough on Saturday to melt most of the ice and snow, which will be cause for celebration!


Another cause for celebration: the February issue of Connection magazine is out! I can't wait to get my hands on it. I'm proud of the cover story I wrote about a McDonald County native's Yellowstone outfitter company, as well as the restaurant article about a local BBQ joint. And no, I still haven't set up an online portfolio of my work. I need a kick in the pants....

Have a fabulous weekend--and stay warm out there!

Another Snow Day!

Another snow day! I have about one cup of milk and one can of Diet Coke left, so this could reach emergency proportions if the roads are still bad Friday. Around here, there's only one or two snowplows for the whole county (I'm probably exaggerating, but whatever) and everything shuts down when we get snow. Church services, schools, day care, senior centers, bingo night, even some offices; you name it, it's probably closed.

I had plans to head out to Shell Knob today to work on a story for the March issue of Connection. But -- you guessed it -- the place I was going shut down due to the weather. Instead, Baxter and I alternated between being extremely lazy and venturing out to admire the snow. Well, I admired it; Baxter just played in it. He even waded into the creek! Brrrr.

That's another difference between Missouri and Minnesota: open water! Here, there's really no such thing as ice fishing.

I didn't plan our first walk out in the snow very well and only brought the camera with its basic lens. I WISH I'd thought of tucking away the zoom lens, because there were bluebirds and cardinals galore during our late morning walk. Below is the same picture, zoomed in quite a bit so you can see the brilliant color of the bluebird. We went out again this afternoon, this time with the zoom lens, but only saw some juncos. Better luck next time!

Blog No. 201

This is blog #201! Wow. Who knew I had so much to write about. It's interesting to look back through my posts and see what I've done and where I've been over the past few years. I may have to have the blog-o printed out in a book format...just as a keepsake/scrapbook.


Part of being a writer means continuous writing to keep the mind fresh, which was the original reason behind creating this blog. Sometimes I have good ideas for blogs; other times I just get too busy with paying writing jobs to spend time with recreational writing. This week, I actually have a list of topics I want to write about.

I finished the epic "Fall of Giants" earlier this month. This book is a long-awaited one -- nearly three years elapsed between "World Without End" and this one. Apparently, I wasn't the only one waiting; "Fall of Giants" debuted at #1 on The New York Times bestseller list.

The first book in a planned Century Trilogy, this Giant book spans from the early 1900s to about 1920 -- the years of World War I, womens suffrage and the Russian Revolution. It introduces you to people from five countries: Wales, Britain, Germany, Russia and the United States. These rich characters are from many different walks of life, yet their stories are intertwined in the fabric of history. Each person (or family, in some cases) is affected by events around the world. You'll be captivated and feel as if each character is a real person who lived through the era.

It's amazing how intricate the book is. There's feminism (in both Britain and America), Russian Bolsheviks during the revolution, the Labour, Liberal and Conservative parties in Britain, and more. You'll meet Welsh miners, English aristocracy, a German spy, Russian royalty and revolutionaries, and American politicians and bootleggers.

Follett takes the reader over political landscapes around the world and into the battlefields of World War One as never before. It's a history lesson that will teach you more than you learned in high school about names like Woodrow Wilson, Winston Churchill, Lenin and Tolstoy. Follett dramatizes events so well that you feel like they "could have" happened.

This book is a must-read. At 985 pages, it's pretty hefty. I'm a fast reader and it took me nearly two weeks to finish, which has to be a record.

The Grrrls with the Pearl Earrings

Today was a pearl earring day! See, there's four of us girls who own the same pair of pearl earrings, and when one of our group needs some extra long-distance support, good luck, karma, well-wishes or what-have-you, we all wear our earrings.

These gorgeous earrings came all the way from Manila, Philippines. One of our grrls fought and survived a brain aneurysm in September 2009 and was on her first trip overseas since the aneurysm when she found the earrings in a Manila market. She picked up an extra three pairs as gifts for her sister, who passed a pair to me and another girlfriend. Even though we're spread over three different states and only get to see each other a few times per year, the earrings keep us close.

They have superpowers. Really. Today, the girl we wore them for got a new job! I may have to start wearing mine every day because of the good things they do. It's just a great example of how important our girlfriends are.

A Nation's Grief

I planned to do another blog about a specific "Baptist Church" today, but after giving it some thought and finding out they did not picket a child's funeral today, I decided to scrap that. I wrote about this organization last February (Here's Your Sign), and they've been back in the news lately in relation to the violence in Tucson.

I hesitate to call them a church because they go against every fiber of Christian beliefs. Their website is pretty offensive, right down to the upside-down American flag, and the judgments they cast on others. While they take glee in quoting out-of-context Bible verses they feel justify their beliefs, they've skipped over several thousand other verses in the Bible. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" -- sound familiar?

And so instead of finger-pointing--and opening up the whole First Amendment and right to bear arms debat--I just want to say how very sorry I am for all the people affected by the shooting. I've spent a little time in Tucson, and it's a neat city. I can't imagine the grief, fear and pain going through the hearts of those affected.