Perfect is the only word that comes to mind here.

Have fun with him!

You know, there are some things that you just never think of. 

Like Mt. Rushmore from the Canadian side.

Or a shot of the beach taken from this particular viewpoint…

Enjoy your Friday!

Well, gang, Bugsy is officially on the books at the vet’s office as my dog. I took him and Peaches for their shots on Monday. Unfortunately, he almost missed his appointment.

I had gone out that morning to see how well the two of them would walk together on a leash. Peaches did beautifully, walking right beside me and sitting down whenever I stopped. Bugsy had obviously never been trained to do that, but he kept pace with Peaches well enough, so I figured we’d be okay. I gave them both a treat and turned them loose while I got the car ready. After spreading some old towels on the back seat, I went back in the house to get my purse. When I went back outside, guess what? No dogs.

I called several times, and finally Peaches came loping up the hill. It took another five minutes of calling (aided by Sam, who was on his way to work) before Bugsy finally showed up. Peaches didn’t want to get in the car, and after she slipped her collar, I thought she was gone. Fortunately, she didn’t run off, but I had to pick her up and put her in the car–all 56 pounds of her, a detail I learned about her after we got to the vet’s office. Bugsy had obviously ridden in a car more than she had, settling down on the seat while she had to stand on the armrest and drool all over the place.

Once inside the office, Bugsy was much better behaved that Peaches, who wanted to sit beside me on the bench. His weight is up to 22 pounds, and he looked pretty good except his eyes were kinda goopy. He got lots of shots, a heartworm test, and some antibiotic eye drops that I have to put in twice a day for a while. Peaches just got shots.

When we got home, I put on their new rabies tags, gave Bugsy his heartworm pill and his eye drops, which he took like a trooper. Then I got them some treats and took their picture. I’ve taught them to sit before I give them a treat. LOL! Can you tell I’m holding treats in my hand?

Here’s someone else who’s holding a treat in his hand.
Ready, Alicia???

Ooo! He’s even got his own chain and a bandana to use as a blindfold. Kinda makes me want to write another bondage story for the Sextet…

Speaking of which, Entanglements will be released next Monday on Siren! Click on the cover for the link to preorder!

Here’s another recipe I found on Allrecipes.com. I modified it a bit, adding more vegetables than the original version. I happened to have a few green tomatoes on hand, so I added one, but it would be just as good without it.

Pasta with Italian Sausage and Sweet Peppers

Ingredients

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 bell peppers, chopped (using red and yellow peppers adds a bit more color)
1 medium green tomato, chopped (optional)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 oz pasta of choice (I used rotini)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.
2. Brown the sausage in a large skillet with onions, garlic, tomato, mushrooms, and peppers until the onions are transparent  and sausage is done.
3. Add the black pepper and beef broth and bring to a boil.
4. Add cooked, drained pasta to skillet and mix well.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed. 
6. Serve to the hungry hunk of your choice!    

This fellow appears to have worked up an appetite.
Guess I’d better feed him….

The best Sexy Japanese Girl

These moons look just about as hard and shiny as the bathtub, don’t they? Bet you could crack an egg on them!

We had such a great time at the retreat! Not a huge crowd at all–just sixteen of us–but that was okay. If you wanted a room to yourself, you could get one, though we did have a lot of food left over. 

It is currently 9:05 AM on Sunday morning, and Sextet sister Mellanie Szereto is looking over my shoulder as I write this. She thinks the hip-out pose in this pic is a little girly, but has enthusiastically volunteered to wash his back.

That’s the kind of input I simply don’t get at home from my guys. Go figure. There’s nothing quite like a gang of romance writers sitting around talking about everything from ghosts and the weapons that killed them, to every possible aspect of male anatomy and what to do with it.

Elizabeth Raines just sat down beside me and started writing again, but not before commenting that she likes the old-fashioned tub and thinks this is a very nice set of buns–yet another example of how different this is from writing at home. You see, while Budley might admire the tub, he would NEVER comment on the buns.

*sigh* Wish we could have retreats at least once a month. ;)

I’m blogging today on Casablanca Authors, talking about what I’m thankful for. You can bet my RWA chapter will get a mention!

Are we having fun yet?

Willy is. He’s got an entourage now!

This is the view out the window at Bradford Woods where I’ve had my computer parked all weekend. *sigh* It’s a wonder I got anything done at all, but I did get the final edits to A Delicate Procedure finished, critiqued a chapter for Elizabeth, and wrote a bit on Wildcat. We managed to freak out the guy who was making our lunch. He was cleaning up afterward and walked in just as we were discussing the composition of semen. Sandy waved him off. In his haste to get out of earshot, he left the back door open. ;)

He did come back and fix us dinner, though, so I guess he wasn’t too scared. We had a fun evening, playing a few games, the first of which was telling our most romantic moment, then we were given a sentence to complete in the most creative way. Later on, I read scenes from Wildcat and The Boys in the Band and we had to take a drink every time “certain words” were used. Needless to say, we got kinda wild….

In honor of the Sextet’s upcoming release, Entanglements. 

Because not knowing what’s coming next can be very exciting….

And then there’s the retreat. This was the food (the table looked much the same even after we ate…. (actually more food was added after I took these pictures)

And then there was the liquor table…..

Which looked pretty much the same, too, except that I was quite, quite drunk….

Case in point, our eyes are bigger than our bellies.
But we’re still having fun. ;)

Believe it or not, my DH found this pic and emailed it to me.

What will they think of next?

We had a great time at The Melting Pot fondue restaurant last night. I just wish Lindsay wasn’t leaving us. The food was great, and though our waiter, Chad, didn’t get into the whole Willy thing quite as well as our waiter at Bubba Gump’s in Gatlinburg, the manager thought he was a hoot and was more than willing to pose for a picture!
 

 This was as close as Chad was willing to get to our man Willy, who was hiding behind my tea.
  

 Let’s see now… Left to right, that’s Christina, Amanda, Natalie, Lindsay, Shirley, and me as we were getting ready to leave, stuffed to the gills with fondue. It was all good, but the chocolate fondue at the end was to die for.

I’m heading out to the Indiana Romance Writers annual retreat this afternoon. I’ll be posting some pictures from there this weekend. Cannot wait! We’re gonna have a blast!

I’m heading out tonight to a going away party for one of my buddies at the hospital who is moving on to bigger and better things. Someone asked me a few nights ago when my last night was, and it got me to wondering just what that would feel like. I’m not quitting (yet), but these are people I’ve been working with for 21 years. They’re more than coworkers; they’re family. Granted, the friend who is leaving hasn’t been working there that long, but she was already one of the gang.

I know there are a lot of places where the nurses don’t get to know each other very well. It’s a job and that’s all it is. I don’t really see how that can be when you spend 12 hours with them three nights (or days) a week. That’s more time than some people spend with their own family, and we’ve gone on vacations together, celebrated birthdays and holidays, and watched our children grow up, get married, and have children of their own.

That’s why I won’t be having a going away party, because I’m really not going away, and I hope I never have to. They’re my friends, my family, and I love them all dearly.

Which is something to think about.

You’ll have to use your imagination on this one, but if it’s that big when he’s just hanging around, it’s really gonna be a whopper once the Yah Yahs get hold of him!

I made this on Saturday and didn’t take a picture of it, but it was pretty tasty! I modified a recipe on Allrecipes.com to suit what I had on hand.

Pesto Cream Chicken

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded thin
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup buttermilk (or regular milk)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese 
1 cup cream (may substitute Half & Half)
1 tbsp pesto
4oz jar of pimentoes
1/8 tsp pepper
Pasta of choice (enough for 2-3 servings)

Directions
Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.
Season the chicken with a mixture of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Place bread crumbs in two separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in buttermilk, and then in the bread crumbs. Fry chicken in olive oil and butter over medium heat until done. Remove from pan and keep warm.
Add chicken broth to skillet and then the pimentos. Bring to a boil and add the pesto, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and cream. Reduce heat and cook until slightly thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed. Top the chicken with about half of the sauce and then add the cooked pasta to the remaining sauce, toss until coated and enjoy with the hunk of your choice!

Doncha just love furry buns? Makes me want to pat them until he purrs.

Or bite them…

Or smack them….

I’m in the homestretch of writing Wildcat, but I don’t want to finish it! I really hate the thought of not writing about Zetithians anymore. They’ve been my constant companions since I first wrote Slave back in 2006. I’m supposed to do something new now, but the ideas haven’t exactly been popping into my head. Once I cut back on my work schedule to 1 night a week, I’ll start on the manuscripts I want to self-publish, but I’ll be putting a new spin on stuff I’ve already written. There’s nothing quite like the discovery process while I’m writing something new and different.
Anyway, the reason I mention this is to ask all you Yah Yahs and lurkers what you’d like me to write about next. So, throw those ideas out there, no matter how wild or how tame. Who knows what synapses you might trigger in my brain!

Purrfect! With a little more hair, he’d make a terrific Zetithian!

Wanna play ball?

TGIF!!!!

Cappuccino, anyone?

Or perhaps you’d prefer sushi?

And here’s the latest Sextet cover. I think it’s the best yet!

Enjoy your Friday!

Well, Yah Yahs, I got my royalty statement from Sourcebooks. I made a little money, but when the books are sold at a 55% discount and I only get 3 or 6%, well… you do the math. It’s no wonder so many authors are leaning toward self-pubbing on Amazon. It’s the only way many of us will ever make enough money to give up the day job, or in my case, the night job.

However, that’s exactly what I’m about to do. I plan to work only 4 nights a month and see what kind of a splash I can make in the self-pubbing world. I have at least a dozen manuscripts to work with that Sourcebooks has passed on because they didn’t show series potential. So, we shall see! In the meantime, I’ll still be here on the CBEB every day. Just ’cause I love my Yah Yahs and appreciate your support more than you will ever know.

And for your Thursday enjoyment, a couple of Benji buns!

This is my favorite kind of whopper. One that isn’t scary and is attached to a hunk who looks as sweet as he is hot.
*sigh* Makes me want to take the rest of the day off and snuggle.