It’s a mess.

Posted on January 31, 2012 by authorshawnathomas

At one time in my life, I was known for my organizational skills. I took pride in them. Maybe it’s because I’m a Virgo, or just anal, ; ) but nothing soothes me like putting everything in it’s place and having a place for everything.

And then came children. I organized the first one’s toy box. Yup. This toy here, this toy here. Everything in its place and I taught her to do the same. Once she was a little older, I relaxed a bit, and the toys changed. But still. Blocks: in a box. Dolls: in the doll box. Stuffed Animals: Well, you get the idea.

And then came the second and third with very little change. My paperwork was not piled on any desk but filed in appropriate folders in appropriate cabinets. My spice cupboard was alphabetized as was the canned food-so much easier to see what you have and what you don’t.

Hate me yet?

Wait.

Here is my desk today.

That’s the bank statement on the right that I’ve been wanting to go through for a week. My coffee, bills I need to call about…notice the tums? ; ) I won’t show you my closet. Color coded? Heck no, I’m glad most of the clothes are on hangers. The pantry? I know I have onions in there somewhere. I’m afraid I just might find them by the scent in a few weeks. And the kids’ toys? LOL I still have boxes. The smaller ones make nice hats.

So what happened?

Priorities. And maybe some perspective.

I still love to meander down the closet organizer aisle in Home Depot with happy sighs, but I know it’s not for me. Not now.

You see, to have that level of organization you have to do everything yourself. I don’t have time to do that. I have a career I love, which also takes a lot of time. I also have a husband I love spending time with. The house is bigger to hold all the kids and my kids need to learn their own way of organizing. To do that, they need space. IE: Not so much interference from me. If that means I have to yell down the hall, asking where my measuring cups are (and someone better know) then that’s the price I’ll pay. If they don’t want me asking, they will put them back in the cupboard above the microwave, right?

Think I’m too lax?

Remember the child who I taught to be organized like me? The first one? For the first 12 years of that girl’s life her bedroom was clean. Really clean. She could clean the kitchen as well as I could when she was 13. She’s on her own now. She keeps her living room pretty clean…now, but her bedroom…well, let’s just say the closet exploded all over her room.

I don’t mind. I step over the cute shoes and ask to borrow the blue shirt on the bed. She has a system and I’ve learned to let go.

Are there any changes you’ve made in your life recently or in the past?

Filed under: Shawna Thomas | Tagged: , , , | 8 Comments »

Books to Movies – Finally One that Works!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Melissa Ohnoutka

Friday night was girl’s night here at the Ohnoutka house. My two teenage daughters and I have been looking forward to this night ever since we heard about the new Stephanie Plum movie due out in 2012. It seemed like the release day would never get here. I have to admit, I was a bit worried they might not be able to pull it off. I mean, the books are just so darn funny. But all the suspense was well worth the wait.

Not one of us was disappointed. The characters fit perfectly for the most part and the storyline was spot on. The only change I would have made might have been the grandma. I’ve pictured Betty White in that role from the first day I picked up one of the books. I just couldn’t see Debbie Reynolds fitting the part. She was just not funny enough. LOL Although, I laughed till I cried when she shot the turkey to pieces in the middle of the dining room table with Stephanie’s new gun.

And then there was the chemistry between Morelli and Stephanie. Loved it! I’m hoping this won’t be the last one they make into a movie. So many times I’ve left the theater feeling cheated because a movie just didn’t measure up to the book. But for me, I enjoyed this one way too much. Shoot, I might even see it again.  :)

Only one downside. Now, both my girls think it would be so cool to be a bounty hunter, carry a gun and hunt down the bad guys who skip bail!! Ack!! What have I done? LOL

Anyone else see it yet?  What was your favorite part?

Filed under: Melissa Ohnoutka | Tagged: , , , | 20 Comments »

Words Spoken True by Ann H. Gabhart

Posted on January 29, 2012 by juliemccrae

Book Description:

As the daughter of Louisville’s number one newspaper owner in 1855, Adriane Darcy is dedicated to the success of the Tribune.  Then brash young editor Blake Garrett takes over the competitor paper.  With his Yankee ways and controversial new reporting style, he launches a battle for readers.

The undeniable attraction between Adriane and Blake is hard to ignore.  But Blake is the enemy, and Adriane is engaged to the son of a powerful businessman who holds the keys to the Tribune’s future.  Blake will stop at almost nothing to get the story – and the girl.  Can he do both before it’s too late?

My Review:

If you have read any of my previous reviews then you are probably aware that I usually don’t read from the romance genre.  I am usually game for just about anything though, at least once, and I am so glad that I chose to read this book.

Words Spoken True practically engulfed every ounce of my interest, possibly because the main character, Adriane Darcy reminded me of myself in some ways.  She wasn’t your typical lady of the mid 1800s; she was unmarried at the age of twenty-two, and she wanted to work.

Every book that I read plays on a movie reel in my mind, and I could see this this one play out almost perfectly.  I won’t spoil anything for you, but if it were a movie (and I know it isn’t), there would have to be a different ending.  It isn’t a bad ending, don’t get me wrong, it just wasn’t the ending I was expecting.

Mrs. Gabhart certainly checked her facts before writing this story set in 1855.  She was able to write a very intriguing tale of life in our country’s history when the freedom to vote was limited.  She was also able to twist and tangle the characters in a way that her readers can relate to many of them throughout the story. I loved the way she brought the Christian feature to particular characters, and tell how their Christian faith had gotten them through some troubling times.  Yet again, she is able to have us, her much more modern readers, relating to her characters set in the middle of the 1800s.

I do hope you plan to read this book.  There are many things to take away from it, and that was kind of a surprise to me.

Words Spoken True published by Revell Books in the Historical, and Inspirational genres will be available for purchase February 1, 2012.  It is quite the page-turner, and hardly seemed possible that there are 353 pages.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Books in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Filed under: 4 Hearts, Book Reviews, Julie McCrae | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Teaser: Upcoming cover reveal for Acceptable Risks

Posted on January 28, 2012 by NJDamschroder

Hey, everybody!

My next romantic adventure release, Acceptable Risks, is just a few months away on April 16, 2012. I just got the cover, and it might be my favorite Carina cover yet. You know how so often the characters on the cover don’t match the description? They nailed my heroine, Lark Madrassa! And they gave me the kind of cover that tells you more the longer you look at it.

So I’ve decided to make a big deal out of this cover reveal. I’ll be doing it here on February 7, and following up with a “Cover Elements Poll” on my own blog so people can guess what the different features mean. And then I’ll be giving away prizes through my newsletter, so people should sign up for that if you haven’t already (I don’t send out a lot of e-mail, not even monthly!).

BUT.

When Cyndi collected information for the ENALR newsletter, I sent her the cover and blurb for Acceptable Risks. That newsletter will be coming out before February 7th. So if you sign up now (see the link in the upper right hand corner? Yeah, right there.) you can see it all before *everyone else*.

Go ahead. You know you want to. Then you can be all “so fifteen seconds ago” when everyone asks if you’ve seen famous author Natalie J. Damschroder’s new cover yet. :)

(And if you came here today just to see Heather’s review, please scroll down. Thank you!)

Filed under: Natalie J. Damschroder | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Priestess of the Nile by Veronica Scott

Posted on January 28, 2012 by habrewer
Priestess of the Nile by Veronica Scott
* I received this ARC free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Egypt, 1500 BC

Drawn to his abandoned temple on the banks of the Nile by an enchanting song, Sobek the Crocodile God is even more captivated by the sight of the singer herself. Appearing to her as a man, he learns she is Merys, a descendant of his last priestess. Though filled with lust, Sobek believes Merys deserves to be more than just his mistress. But the rules that govern the Egyptian pantheon forbid anything beyond a physical joining of a Great One and a human.

Merys is attracted to the handsome stranger, who arouses passions in her that no man ever has. But with no dowry and no hope of ever leaving her village, she dares not dream of the future—or love.

Sobek takes every opportunity to visit Merys, taxing his resolve to leave her pure. When he saves her life, their mutual desire must be sated. But can a love between a human and an immortal survive the ultimate test of the gods?

The only time Merys has any peace is when she is on the beach near Sobek’s temple.  Her grandmother was his last priestess and has handed down the stories and songs to Merys so she could continue to worship him even though their town had turned to another God.

She is treated like a servant in her own home where she is expected to care for her younger sisters and prepare the meals.  She desperately wants a family of her own but she doesn’t have a dowry, that money is reserved for her younger step-sisters.  The closest thing she will ever have to a child is her youngest step-sister, Tyema.  She has a deformed leg, which makes her deformed in her own mother’s eyes; it’s the love of Merys that propels her forward.

Bek continues to visit his temple even though his people are no longer worshiping him.  He is drawn to the beach by a heavenly voice singing a familiar tune.  He and Merys spend stolen moments on the beach where Bek falls in love with her, even though he knows they have no future together.  Events out of his control lead to new beginnings for him, Merys and his people.

Merys is a strong female that has the best out of the life she was given.  She loves her little sister, despite her handicap and wants to pass the legacy down to her.  My heart was breaking for her though because all she wanted was to be a wife and mother.  She had lost hope of ever achieving those goals until she met Bek.  She fell in love with him and believed he could be “the one”, even after he revealed his true self to her.  I love the twist at the end where everything comes together.

Bek may be a God but he is lonely.  When he hears Merys he is mesmerized by her voice.   He enjoys her company and the talks that they have on the beach.  She has shown him that not all people have forgotten about him and that true beauty is found within the person, not on the outside.  He loves her to distraction and has to be extremely careful so Isis doesn’t find about her.  In the end Isis turns out to be their savior.

Bek tries so hard to keep his hands off of her but after the incident with the crocodile he can no longer deny his feelings for her.  He wants to give her a better life but she is loyal to her family and doesn’t want to leave Tyema alone.  Because of Merys love, Bek took care of the people of the village and appointed a new Priestess for his temple.

I love that the story focuses primarily on Bek and Merys, while highlighting a couple of secondary characters.  The author did an excellent job of describing the temple ruins, the beaches and other scenery; I had no problem imagining them there.  I also love that it is set in ancient Egypt and included the Gods and Goddesses of the period.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it to others.  I give Priestess of the Nile 4½ Flaming Hearts. 

Filed under: 4 1/2 Hearts, Book Reviews, Heather Brewer | Leave a Comment »

Boxer/Briefs/Grannie/Thongs – Caleb and Tess Tell All!

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Cynthia D'Alba

I am so thrilled to welcome Caleb Cantrell  and Tess LaSalle to our blog today. Barbara White Daille had the pleasure of telling their story in THE RODEO MAN’S DAUGHTER. Caleb and Tess are such wonderful people I wanted to know a little more about them. I know you’ll enjoy hearing what they have to say.

Before I get to the interview, I wanted to note that it was great that Caleb and Tess and Nate were available for the cover photo shoot. Great picture gang!

I really loved getting to know you both when Barbara wrote your story but I think your fans would like to know more intimate/personal facts about you both. Okay? Feel free to expand or explain why you answered a certain way.

Tess

  1. Granny panties or thong? -  Neither one, thank you. 
  1. Shower orBath? – A long, leisurely bath.  Except when Caleb’s around. 
  1. Toast or biscuits for breakfast? – Neither—I go for my mother’s sweet rolls!  They’re the highlight of breakfast at the Whistlestop Inn.  Aunt El and the rest of us can’t get enough of them 
  1. Coffee or tea or neither? – Tea
  1. Steak or hamburger? – See number six. 
  1. Beef or chicken? – Chicken, when I can convince Caleb that steak, twice a day, seven days a week is a bit much. 
  1. Oranges or apples – Apples, apple pancakes, apple pie, apple crisp… 
  1. Favorite romance author, other than Barbara White Daille  – Are there are any others? 
  1. Favorite dessert? – Anything Mom makes at the Whistlestop or Dori makes at the Double S.  As you can see, I’m partial to homemade sweets. 
  1. Where’s your favorite place in the whole world? – Anywhere with Caleb. 
  1. Your daughter, Nate, must be getting close to driving age. Does that worry you? – Oh, yes, it worries me!  Cars, tractors, Caleb’s ancient pickup truck…  Horses, donkeys, the mechanical bull at the county rodeo…  She wants to ride anything that moves.  She’s got that wild streak in her from her daddy. 
  1. What do you miss about being single? – Not a thing. 
  1. When was your last Mani/Pedi? Did you get color? What was it? – Both, on the day before my wedding.  French White.  I like the clean look…and so does Caleb.   
  1. Would you rather skydive or scuba dive and why? – Sorry, Caleb and Nate are the daredevils in this family! 
  1. If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? – A willow.  They seem so delicate, so fragile, yet they hold up under the strongest winds.

 Caleb

  1. Boxers or Briefs?  – No offense, ma’am, but that’s my business.
  2. Undershirt or no?  – See above.
  3. Cowboy Boots or barefoot? – Boots.  They’ve saved my life more than once when a horse or bull went wild.
  4. Shower or bath? – All those years on the rodeo circuit trained me for this one.  Shower.
  5. Fried eggs or scrambled? – Fried
  6. Coffee, Tea or neither – Coffee, hands down.
  7. Beef or chicken? - Beef
  8. Coke or Pepsi – Back to number six again.
  9. Do you have a hobby? What is it? – With the life I led, I had no time for hobbies.  That’s changed now.  My hobby is learning to be a good husband and daddy.
  10. Favorite Country Singer? – Don Williams.  The songs are smooth, low-key, but really pack a punch.  Like someone else I could name.  (grin)
  11. Do you still follow the PBR? – We’ll pass on this one.  Since you read the story Barbara wrote, I reckon you understand that’s a touchy subject right now.  
  12. Do you wish you were still on the tour or are you happy to be settled down? – Enough said in the previous answer, but I’ll add one thing here.  There’s nothing better than being a family man.
  13. If Tess were to cook your favorite meal, what would she be cooking? – Steak and potatoes.
  14. I know you drive a truck. What kind and what year? – Wouldn’t know where to start.  Between my ranches inNew MexicoandMontana, I’ve got a few of them.  There’s a Bronco, too, from my days in rodeo, but Nate’s got her eye on that one….
  15. How old is your favorite pair of jeans and how many holes do they have? – Older than dirt.  Forget holes—you oughta be asking how much material’s left in ‘em.  (grin)  I only wear them when Tess is around.  Seeing me in ‘em turns her on.  Don’t tell her I said so, though. (Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with us!)

Caleb:  You know what, Tess? The gang here at Everybody Needs a Little Romance wants us to answer the question, what’s your idea of romance?  Ladies first.

 Tess:  A date with you.  A candlelit dinner in a nice restaurant, a luscious dessert, and when we’re done, a walk hand-in-hand.

 Caleb:  Sounds to me like we’d just be getting started.  (grin)  As for my answer?  Well, if I can get serious for a minute…  Romance is loving someone so much, you’ll wait till they finally have the sense to love you back, even if it takes years.

 Tess:  It was worth the wait.

~ ~ ~

Barbara here, finally.  Whew!  I didn’t know Tess and Caleb could talk so much—except to each other.  And, once in a while, to me.  (smile)  I hope you enjoyed getting to know them and will look for their story, THE RODEO MAN’S DAUGHTER (February 2012).

I’m currently on a blog tour to celebrate the release of THE RODEO MAN’S DAUGHTER.  You can find full details at my website (link below).  Meanwhile, please leave a comment or question for me here—or for Tess or Caleb, for that matter—and your name will be entered in a drawing for an autographed copy of A RANCHER’S PRIDE, the first book set in Flagman’s Folly.

And please look for me out there in cyberspace!  Here’s where you’ll find me:

Website:  www.barbarawhitedaille.com
Blog:  www.barbarawhitedaille.com/blog
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/barbarawhitedaille
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BarbaraWDaille

~ ~ ~

Originally from the East Coast, award-winning author Barbara White Daille now lives with her husband in the warm, sunny Southwest, where they love the lizards in the front yard but could do without the scorpions in the bathroom.

From the time she was a toddler, Barbara found herself fascinated by those things her mom called “books.”  Once she learned the words between the covers held the magic of storytelling, she wanted to see her words in print so she could weave that spell for others.

Barbara hopes you will enjoy reading her stories and will find your own storytelling magic in them!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s Cynthia again. Barbara sent me an ARC of The Rodeo Man’s Daughter. I loved it and I know you will too. I’ve posted a review over HERE. Comment here and at the review for 2 chances to win A Rancher’s Pride.

To order THE RODEO MAN’S DAUGHTER, follow one of the links below

Harlequin | Indiebound | Borders | Powell’s | Amazon | B & N

Filed under: Author Interview, Cynthia D'Alba, Guest Blogger | Tagged: , , | 23 Comments »

Blow Me Away

Posted on January 26, 2012 by kidell

We took a vacation over New Year’s weekend. A real one. The kind where we didn’t even drag horses along, not the sort of vacation that happened to include a couple of rodeos. Instead, the Jeep was packed to the roof with sports equipment: ski pants and coats, ice skates, hockey sticks and pucks, a life jacket for the kid to use at Bozeman Hot Springs (recreation with my family is not for wimps). Seat belts were pretty much moot during the trip. If we’d rolled the car we would have been pummeled to death by our own toys.

The trouble is, my car is a black hole. Things go in and they never come out unless we need to use them again or we have to create space for a new pile of stuff, which is why this time last year I was still hauling a pair of kayak paddles around from our trip to lake in August and a rope from the rodeo I went to in July.

So of course when I went to the store the part of my car where I usually haul groceries was still packed full of gear. And of course the wind was blowing, as it has every day since approximately 2008, only harder. Since there was no snow to speak of and the temperatures had hit the forties at midday, I was dressed up, wearing my favorite new pair of high-heeled boots and white dress pants.

I braced the grocery cart with my butt to keep it from being blown into the side of the car while I wrestled the back hatch of the Jeep open. Just as it occurred to me that I really should have parked facing into the wind, the life jacket blew out and took off across the parking lot. I jumped after it, hearing the cart slam into my bumper as I attempted to sprint in my fancy boots. Luckily the life jacket hung up on the cart rack just long enough for me to spear it with one four inch heel.

I staggered back to the Jeep, pried the cart off the trailer hitch, shoved the life jacket clear past the back of the rear seat, then realized I had leaned on the bumper in the process, smearing dirt across the front of my white pants. I said some bad words, grabbed the milk and plunked it into the car. It landed on a pair of ice skates and rolled right back out again, hitting the pavement with a smack and bursting a seam. More bad words. Milk is expensive, you know.

But wait! Thanks to recent concerns about the city water supply I’ve been hauling my own well water for coffee at the office, which meant I had an empty milk jug in the back seat. I tottered around to the side door and yanked it open. The wind tore through the Jeep from the open rear hatch, snatched up the minutes from the last Montana Storytelling Roundup committee meeting and flung them at the new overpass.

More bad words. More scrambling around in the high heels. Finally I got the remainder of the milk transferred to the new jug and chased down what I could find of my paperwork. I managed to stuff the rest of the groceries in without incident, wrestle the cart into the rack before the Jeep required body work and get myself into the car before my hands were completely numb, because of course the temperature had dropped twenty degrees in the hour before I got off work.

My calves had cramped up by the time I got home, not being accustomed to running windsprints in dress shoes. When I limped in the door my husband took one look at my snarled hair and muddy pants and went straight out to not only lug in the groceries but haul all the various sporting equipment down to the storage granary, which made the whole kerfluffle almost worth it—especially for that guy sitting in his pickup in the next row in the store parking lot. I guarantee this was the one time he didn’t get bored waiting for his wife to finish the grocery shopping.

Kari Lynn Dell – Montana for Real

Filed under: Kari Lynn Dell | Tagged: , | 10 Comments »

Mid-Week Update with Liz Talley

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Liz Talley

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite segments on Saturday Night Live is Weekend Update, where they take actual news happenings and do a funny spin on them. Yes, they are inappropriate and sometimes insulting, but they never miss on being funny. Here lately I fall asleep because by Saturday night, I’m usually wiped out. So, anywho, I was trying to come up with a topic for today’s blog and I couldn’t decide because so much seems to be happening. So here it is, a Mid-Week Update by Liz Talley

First, I got great news the Thursday after I last blogged. Seems my agent nabbed an 8 book deal with my publisher that will keep me busy well into 2014. Honestly, I was confused when she first told me. I had only subbed a four book proposal, and had even done that somewhat reluctantly because I wanted time to work on an idea I have for a women’s fiction book that would be a cross between Stephanie Plum and any of Mary Kay Andrew’s characters – kind of a grown up Southern Nancy Drew.  I knew I wanted to stick with Superromance because I love writing for them. I fit with my editor like peas and carrots. But I was surprised (and somewhat not) that she wanted to keep me happily plugging away for my line. So score one for job security.

Next up, the reason while I’ll be in and out today – I’m an extra on a movie! I have a writing buddy who often goes and does extra work for the heck of it, and thinking about those four books I don’t even have an idea for, I thought “Why not be an extra and observe firsthand what goes on on set?” so my friend sent my name in and Viola! I’m going to be an extrra on a movie today. What makes it doubly fun is I get to do hair and makeup because it’s a mob movie set in 1974. I went to wardrobe last week at the studios and the costume designer hooked me up with a lovely shapeless cream polyester dress. I will look like a white blob, but I’ll have a seventies’ up do and probably some blue eyeshadow. LOL. I had this grovy leather and silver fox coat that an elderly neighbor gave me when she was cleaning out her closet, and if that sucker isn’t 70s then I’m lyin’. I brought it in for the costume designer and she nearly wet her pants it was so perfect. Anyway, the movie is called The Iceman and stars James Franco, Ray Liotta, Maggie Gyllenhall, and David Schwimmer. I say hey from y’all. LOL.

Next up, is my committment to Weight Watchers. Yes, I joined and have been doing it for three whole days. Last night I had a starvation dream. I was holed up with some random people in a train in some kind of post-apocolyptic world, and we’d just fed the last of the acorns to the kids. We were weak and knew we were about to die, and then, miraculously a soldier appeared outside the train with a sack of bread. Then I woke up with my stomach growling. I know that when you start a “healthy lifestyle” aka DIET (but you can’t call it that cause that’s a bad word these days!) that you’re hungry, but I’ve never dreamed I was starving before. Needless to say, though I’m hungry, I’m committed. I will lose some weight, and just like my writing career, slow and steady wins the race.

As for writing, I have one chapter left in the last book of The Boys of Bayou Bridge series. I posted the cover for the first one – Waters Run Deep – above. I’m super excited about writing a series set in my home state of Louisiana. This series is modeled on the small town of Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capitol of the world, and involves three brothers and one sister who comes back from the dead. Not literally of course, because that would be a whole ‘nother kind of book. LOL. But it’s a great series with a kooky matriarch, a rambling old plantation house, and lots of misunderstandings, you know, like a real family. Anyway, I’m on the last chapter (YES!) and I’ll move on to a new book :)

Lastly, I registered for RWA Nationals day before yesterday. I wasn’t going to do it, but the more I thought about it, the more important it seemed to make this professional conference a yearly trip. Afterall, I’m finally making money with writing – not a great deal, mind you – but enough to put toward that trip. I’ve told myself that I have to spend money to make money. I use that a lot when I’m shopping, too, but I’m not sure how valid that is. But anyway, I hope I will see you in California, the original land of Mickey, healthfood and lots of starlets in rehab.

What about you? Have a newsflash for me? Something going on you need to share? The board is yours.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 11 Comments »

Some Change Can’t Be Imagined

Posted on January 24, 2012 by NJDamschroder

One of the “cool” things about Twitter is that someone can tweet a link to something like this and launch a whole blog topic or even, if you guys are on board, a discussion.

The gist of the article is that a couple of guys have created a new calendar for the whole world. It keeps the 7-day structure, but sets up the months so that every date falls on the same day each year. They say it would make everything more efficient and cut the costs of making new calendars every year by a huge amount. Planning would be easy, because we’d always know what day a date falls on, or what days of the week an annual event will take place (i.e. keep it on the same dates each year).

These guys also advocate doing away with time zones and making the world all work on the same schedule, because it would make international business easier. That one is just ridiculous. Changing the clock doesn’t change the sun. If you live in Columbus, Ohio, and you want to talk to someone in Asia, one of you us setting up the meeting when it’s dark. If we did this, who would get to have their work day during daylight hours? Whose physical systems would be royally screwed, not just on the occasions when they need to be, but every day? What about the people who don’t do international business? Are we going to make kids walk to school in the dark just to put everyone on the same schedule?

“Don’t be silly,” some might say. “The kids could still go to school in the daylight. It would just be nighttime on the clock.” Then why force almost the entire world to change to something unnatural? I can’t see any logic in this one at all.

Okay, back to the calendar. This at least does have some logic to it. The schedule they propose creates a 365-day year, but instead of leap year, they’d just add an extra week to December every 6 or 7 years. Besides that factor, it would make planning easier, I suppose. Kind of. I mean, how hard is it to look to see if my May retreat starts on the 17th or 16th next year? Or which day my birthday falls on?

If your birthday is a weekend, maybe you’d be happy if it never changed. But that wouldn’t be the case for most of us, and that would kind of suck. I also like the variety of having holidays fall on different days. The rare Wednesday Fourth of July, for example, breaks up the week quite nicely.

Even if the new calendar means there’s some stuff we’d always know, like what day New Year’s Eve falls on, we won’t memorize all 365 days and instantly know that October 3rd is a Friday. Relatively few things in our day-to-day lives rely on a static date like that.

People would still need to make calendars. I guess those people who do the calculating to make sure they list everything properly would be out of a job. And wouldn’t that be helpful to the economy? More people unemployed.

The biggest obstacle I see, though, is getting everyone to agree to do it, then instituting it. There would have to be a really long lead time. The organizers of the Fiftieth Annual Possum Festival would be royally pissed if they had to change the date of something already in planning. So we’re talking at least a year of preparation and education.

Assuming everyone would be on board. I mean, look at the European Union. How many years did it take them to implement the euro? And there were still holdouts. You should (and probably do) hear the whining whenever Congress in the U.S. passes a new law that requires companies to do something. New Medicare regulations got postponed to give practices and insurance companies more time to comply. That’s a small portion of the population that’s affected. What happens when we try to get the U.S. government and, say, Saudi Arabia to cooperate? Never mind Pakistan, Libya, or, God forbid, North Korea.

Anyway, it seems to me a purely intellectual exercise that has absolutely no chance of seeing practice. Not pre-apocalypse. Because yes, the global calendar underwent many changes before we settled on the one we all use today (and not everyone uses it exclusively). But change three centuries ago was easier when there were only a few million people to convert. We’ll never get 7 billion people to change something that monumental.

Who disagrees? Am I missing any benefits that would make this worth forcing? What other issues can you see arising from such a change? Are you in favor or opposed? Sound out in the comments!

Filed under: Natalie J. Damschroder | Tagged: , , , | 10 Comments »

The Funny Side of Mayhem

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Melissa Ohnoutka

Since my Texans aren’t in the running for the Super Bowl anymore, you might say I’m feeling a bit down where football is concerned. Hohumm…heavy sigh.  But never fear! There is always next year! And I still get to enjoy those funny commercials, right?  Shoot I’m even kind of looking forward to them. LOL

I have a few favorites airing right now. There’s the phone commercial where everyone thinks they’re rich because they have the phone. Like the lady who tries to unlock the fancy car while talking on the phone and her husband has to tell her they drive a station wagon.

And then all those Mayhem commercials. Love these! Especially the teenage driver with the pink truck and sunglasses who sideswipes the parked car and keeps on going.   

“I’m a teenage girl. My BFF, Becky, just texted me and says she kissed Johnny…..that’s a problem cause. (dramatic pause, tosses phone) I like Johnny. Now, I’m emotionally compromised. I’m all… OMG! Becky’s not even hot. So, get Allstate. You can save money and be better protected from mayhem like me!” 

I have to say, the guy in the commercial’s not bad to look at either. LOL

Had to include this one!  :) It just sounded so darn familiar for some reason.

I bet you can tell it doesn’t take much to humor me.  :)

Do you have a favorite? Or how about one that bugs the tar out of you?

Filed under: Melissa Ohnoutka | Tagged: , , , | 27 Comments »

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