A Christmas present to me: A great Review

For awhile now, I haven't really gone out of my way to promote my books, Hostage to Her Heart, or it's sequel, Falling For Her Heart.

The first book never took off.
The 2nd got a bad review.
It totally disheartened me.




This past summer, an author friend heard my story of disenchantment and took it to heart. She knew of a few book reviewers and told me how to contact them. So I did and sent off copies of my books. One kept in touch over the latter part of the year. She was a busy woman, who read books for a blogsite. There were things going on in her life to postpone her reading. I had sent her the 2nd book first, because I wanted to know if it would read well by itself; without the knowledge obtained from the plot of the 1st book.

And she came back with a great review. She gets my characters. She understands the overall concept of my story. For this I feel vindicated.

I feel free to further persue working on the 3rd installment of the Cross Passage Series.


I so needed this encouragement. To me, a great review is a terrific Christmas present. I will post the review site on my side bar as well. Or copy this link and post to your web browser:
http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-falling-for-her-heart-by-chriss.html







Christmas is just two weeks away. My home is decorated. The presents are under the tree now and piling up. I have plans to go visit my 2nd daughter's home (Tracy) when we open them all up and have our holiday dinner with all the family. It will be a joyous time. My youngest daughter's (Kayla) beau will be home for Christmas from the Army reserves training in Georgia. Her pen pal from Germany, Katrin, will be visiting as well. It should make for great pics, which I will share.

It's hard to believe 2009 is almost over. It's been a rocky year for a lot of people and I'm no exception. However, with good friends and faith, we have managed to pull through this together. For my friends who continue to visit my blog here, I hope your Christmas time is blessed with all good things. I appreciate your support and wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Flying out of October and November

This month has snuck on me and is almost gone. I can't ever seem to catch up with myself lately and for those of you who do peek in on my blog, from time to time, I apologize for lack of postings.

So much is going on. First of all, during the last part of October I prompted a "Spooky Story Contest" in my writing/reading group on Cafemom, The Written Voice. Congrats to Ginny for winning the box of goodies I collected weeks before. It took a while for the members there to decide upon a winner. Three people gave great stories, so it was difficult to decide upon one. I did hear from Ginny that she really liked the assortment of goodies placed in the box. Here are some pics I took:





It was fun. Oh speaking of spooky, on Halloween, here are the girls photos I got from them in Colorado. Oh My! Gorgeous!!





They had fun and the evening was not spoiled by snow. They got some about two weeks before Halloween. Lori ran out to her backyard to show how much fell overnight. Wow!




February is a busy month for birthdays already in my family. And now it's the due date for my newest grandbaby! Which Lori is having with the due date around the
10th. The baby will be a girl and I can't wait to hold her. Babies always feel so warm and smooth and they smell like baby powder. Just makes you want one around all the time, but I do not want the diaper changing duty. LOL..No matter, there's always joy when a baby is born to the family. So I must save my vacation time and my pennies to make that trip to Colorado next year. I hear from my daughter Lori that she is doing well and the baby kicks a lot! :)

My youngest daughter Kayla just returned on Friday from a two day visit to Georgia. She went up with her beau's family to see him graduate Army Reserve basic training. Next stop after this will be training in his chosen profession with the Army reserves. He'll be gone for six more months. Kayla had fun visiting him, but was sad to return. She's patient though and knows this is all good for his future. Here is a snapshot of him in uniform. Looks good, don't he??



To make her feel better, I surprised her with a short trip to a nearby town to pick up a new dog. Another chihuahua. Like I need another one, right?? However this dog was abandoned in a backyard of a freind of a freind; and I love these tiny dogs. So I wanted to give it a home. So far, he's very friendly and seems trained to go out. He runs behind my other dogs with no problem and he gets along- a plus! My daughter wanted to name him the French name used by the Candlestick, in Beauty and the Beast. It's Lumière, but I have difficulty pronouncing it! LOL. Maybe I'll just call him Lumi for short. Ha.ha...

Thanksgiving is narrowing down to just four days away. In between, on Tuesday, is my oldest grandson's birthday. Ethan will turn six!! Hard to believe! He's such a darling little boy and smart! Here's a pic of him.



I think he looks so cute. His mom is constantly taking their pics with the cell phone and downloading it. Then she does something to the pics and send them my way. I'm always surprised when she does something she thinks is clever. They are cute, but I like natural pictures in the end. Here's an example of something she has done:



I guess to each their own sense of humor. Here is one of my youngest grandson, AJ, who is Ethan's youngest half brother. I think he looks adorable in the hat. (I couldn't leave him out of this blog- lol)




Anyways, you can tell I'm a grandmother. I love to share their pictures. And spending time with family during Thanksgiving makes on an older girl like me appreciate the children springing forth; this new generation. They are pieces of us, our bloodline continuing on to an unknown future. For now, with the time we can share with them, on holidays or any other normal day, we must take the time to show them our love; give them our bits of wisdom; give them a sense of their roots. After all, it's who they are and it's they who brings so much pride in our hearts.

To all my friends who read this, I wish you a day full of love, pride, and great memories on Thanksgiving. You all deserve the best and one thing I give thanks to always, is having friends who truly care. God bless.

Fall Chili Cookoff 10/30/09

Every year Scott and White puts on a chili cookoff contest where employees can show off their best chili, dress up, and have some fun. Usually we hold it right before Halloween. This year, my department at work, Trauma Services, decided to enter it. Kelly is a wonderful cook so we asked her to prepare the chili. We all threw in ideas on a theme and decided upon Hillbillies. It was a natural fit for the people who make up our department for sure. I had my daughter go around taking pictures of all participants this morning before the festivities got underway. I will come back to post more once I get them from my other co-workers and from the S&W webpage.

I'm sure there will be more posted as Jerry, who dressed up as Pa, came in first place for the costume contest. I, dressed up as Grandma/ or Ma, came in 2nd. I have never won a costume contest, so this was quite an honor. Our chili, although very delicious, did not come in top dog, but there's always next year. And we are already thinking up ideas to improve our Hillabilly theme.

Someone's Cute Dog Mascot





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Under Construction- So what was inside their building? MMMMM...








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Take A chill Pill- cute costuming








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Hmmm, Something very Fallish- Very creative I think:





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Prehistoric Theme- Look! Those prehistoric women have clubs!!






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Hey! They have a clothes hanging.. And hay! Are they copying us???





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Aha! The Wizard of Oz theme.... Cool!








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They are building a Saloon!!






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Tailgaters- They are setting up terrific chili!!






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Chili University- You all can learn how chili is done here! :)




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And now my team's booth set up- The Hillbillies!!


Here's me, caring for those grandbabies. Even got one on my leg!









There's Pa:












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All in All, we had terrific fun getting ready for the cookoff. I'll post more as I get em', ya hear? :)