Friday, May 30, 2008

I love my Quiz Results


Your Score: King


You scored 28% leadership, 13% spirituality, 22% violence and 37% intelligence!



LEADER - IMPIOUS - VIOLENT - EDUCATED Hail to the king (or queen, I suppose)! You rule in splendour over whatever country you're from, and have hordes of ferocious viking warriors to command, skalds lining up to sing your praises, and countless slaves to do your dirty work. You're living the good life, when you're not working tirelessly to defend your borders from your brothers who feel like dear old dad should have left THEM the throne instead of YOU. And then there are those damn missionaries who keep telling you that Odin and Thor are just Satan in disguise. No matter how convincing they may be, your people will turn on you if you become Christian. It is not advisable, politically.

Link: The Viking Age Persona Test written by fenrirgagootsi on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test
View My Profile(fenrirgagootsi)

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Mystic Fish




My most favorite part about this part of our trip?
The little girl screaming at the clown fish exhibit,
"Nemo! Look Momma, Look! I found Nemo!!!" Isn't that the cutest thing ever? :-)














We also took the kids to Mystic Sea Aquarium. See the pretty Fish?




Which thing is not like the others?




LOL


































Enjoy the grace of this almost moving fish....
ds to

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Fort Griswold


The day before Memorial Day, we discovered Fort Griswold in Connecticut.
To say we were shocked is an understatement. The internet site under Fort Griswold showed a different fort structure so we were driving around and around looking for this huge stone building and we only found the earthen remains of one.
Turns out, there are two forts and both share a tragic and important part of history.
Fort Griswold is the scene of a massacre.
Turns out, the British annihilated nearly every last person in this fort. Some that survived were treated brutally.
Seems the commanding officer surrendered and told his men to lay down arms, after fighting long and hard. Unfortunately, the succeeding British officer, a lesser man promoted because the original leaders were killed, didn't care about honoring the terms of surrender and proceeded to cut down unarmed men.
The jerk.




This is the monument erected to honor the men who died. It has 170 steps no bigger than 20 inches across. If someone is coming up, no one is coming down. There is NO room to pass, no room to comfortably place two feet side by side. If you're claustrophobic in any way, don't attempt this.
Me? Um... I was winded by the time I got to the top, sure. But what I didn't expect was a panic attack. I posed for a picture on the top just to show that I wouldn't let it beat me. My DH was more than willing to let me go back down, to not force me to continue. But I'm stubborn. I was not going to let the feelings overtake me. Oh sure, I had to put my head between my knees at the top but who cares? I did it. HA!
















The City of Groton has this nice memorial honoring the fallen..



















This is another memento honoring this place of courage and death.

















Sorry about all the shadows hiding some of the letters. I couldn't get an angle where my body shadow didn't obliterate the words. There was a lot of history to share from this one place.












Like I said above, I refused to let my panic/anxiety attack defeat me. I stood p and looked out the tiny window for a spectacular view. See?













Not much left of this fort. Heck, the town of New London across the river was burnt to the ground by none other than troops under Benedict Arnold. You must remember HIS name from our history. The British troops who massacred the soldiers and people at Fort Griswold were a part of Arnold's contingent... they think 800 men all told were involved in the whole mess. They split up and attacked Fort Griswold, Fort Trumbell and New London. I have pics of Fort Trumbell but that will be for another day.








See the ferry? What a view!







All that's left is the earthen structures.









I took a very shaky (sorry) video clip of one of the trenches of Fort Griswold.

So that was the first day of our mini vacation. It was beautiful, it was informative and it was memorable.
Hope your Memorial Day was memorable too.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Happy Memorial Day!

Just a quick note to say Happy Memorial Day!

No other post than that.

I hope you have great weather, fun plans and may anything you do be successful.

Remember to remember those who came before us for without their sacrifice, we wouldn't be blogging, journalling or really even being able to say what we want when we want.
It's a gift, from them to us.
Give thanks.

TTFN!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Udderly Silly Humor

Texas A&M Vet School



First-year students at Texas A&M's Vet school were receiving their first

anatomy class, with a real dead cow.
They all gathered

around the surgery table with the body covered with a white sheet. The professor

started the class by telling them, 'In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to

have two important qualities as a doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted

by anything involving the animal body'. For an example, the Professor pulled

back the sheet, stuck his finger in the butt of the dead cow, withdrew it and

stuck it in his mouth. 'Go ahead and do the same thing,' he told his students.



The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes. But eventually took

turns sticking a finger in the anal opening of the dead cow and sucking on it.

When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, 'The second most

important quality is observation. I stuck in my middle finger and sucked on my

index finger.








Now learn to pay attention. Life's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

I snagged this from Marianne. LOL

WHy did I snag this from Marianne??
Because my results were so off base, they made me laugh! A lot.
I simply had to share.
After you laugh, check out her NEWS...she has a new book coming out~!





What Your Fridge Says About You



You tend to be a very hedonistic, greedy person. You have trouble saying no to what you want.



You are not careful with your money. In fact, you rarely think about how much you are spending.



You don't tend to be a very adventurous person, but you do surprise everyone now and then. You have a bit of a wild side.



You are responsible, together, and mature. You act like an adult, even when you don't feel like it.



You are likely single - and spending many nights alone at home.

While I was driving

While I was driving... I saw a cute window decal.

Be Safe,
Sleep with a Firefighter.

Nice sentiment.

Did you buy your poppy yet to support American Vets? I did. I got red ones, what color did you get? DH got blue.

Did anyone read Catherine Coulter's Wizard's Daughter?
I think her writing style this time is reminiscent of Diana Gabaldon.

Did I tell you I planted flowers for the first time in three years?
I did.
I am going to wait to post pictures until they've...flourished a bit more and look like flowers and not little dots of color.

Do Peonies over-winter well?
Or should you dig them up before winter sets in?

Have you ever been in a pinch for supper and didn't know what to do because the planned meal is dissed by all the family and you have 30 minutes to work a miracle?

Try:

Two cans of Cream of potato soup w/ milk as directed
Two links of polish sausage, sliced into coins (the little package of 5- NOT those huge things! ROTFL)
1 cup frozen corn or however much you like
1 slice of American cheese (Or more if you like cheesy)

Heat and serve.
If you have any bread: Italian, Vienna or Corn Bread ( I made corn bread) it rounds out the meal nicely.

While the corn bread was cooking, I put the ingredients together and voila! The whole family was eating in 30 minutes.

WHEW!

Another Slice of life

This is the Crab that my family brought to the door. It was still alive; the seagulls hadn't gotten to it yet.




This was that Aura, or Halo around the sun a few weeks ago. It had a perfect rainbow circle around it.
Many people wonder if it was the result of the ash in the air from the volcanoes that errupted around the world?
Does anyone know about this phenomena? Has anyone ever seen it before??

Monday, May 12, 2008

Are you a Budding Author?

If you are, you might be interested in this annoucement.

LASR Short Story Contest

~~~permission to forward granted~~~

The Long and the Short of It First Annual Short Story Contest

It's said everyone has at least one story inside them. This is your chance to let yours out. The Long and the Short of It is seeking the best new short story 1,000 words or less. So... put on your thinking cap, dial up your muse, and give it a shot.

The story must be a romance and must end with a HEA. PG-13 or less, please. The Grand Prize Winner will receive, in addition to publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, one year free book cover/banner advertising, six months author pages, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

First prize will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, six month author page + three month free book cover/ banner advertising, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

Second prize will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner for their blog or website, three months book cover/banner advertising, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.

Five honorable mentions will receive publication on The Long and the Short of It website, a banner, plus an award certificate suitable for framing.TWELVE DOOR PRIZES (randomly drawn from all participants) :One copy of Beginnings, Middles & Ends by Nancy Kress
Six autographed books
Six goodie bags

Please send your entry via email with the subject line:

Short Story Contest: NAME OF STORY

Send it to : lasrcontests@gmail.com

Your entry will be provided to our judges with all identifying names removed and will be scored by a rating system.

Deadline for this contest is June 14, 2008.

The winners and runners up will be posted July 1, 2008. By entering the contest, you agree to allow The Long and the Short of It to publish your entry on the LASR website. All stories chosen to be published will be archived for a period of six months following publication. All rights revert back to the author at that time and, at the author's written request, the story will be pulled from our archives.

So what do you think? I can tell you that it's real. I had one of mine accepted so I know the personal thrill of seeing my own words up there for the world to see.
What about you?

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Whether or Not


Absolutely.

Whether or Not I win an ARC of Nina Bang's new book coming out in July,

Eternal Pleasure, I am still going to shout out about it.


Dorchester has published a sneak peek, an excerpt, which is making me really anxious to read the whole book. What an amazing snippet and a truly powerful one.


READ THE EXCERPT OF ETERNAL PLEASURE!


I swear, Nina is getting better and better with every series she writes. She's a must-buy for me. Now you can see why.

Woot!

Monday, May 05, 2008

The Hudson Brothers!



Oh WOW! Oh WoW! OH Wow!


Me and my best friend Tammy used to watch The Hudson Brother's Razzle Dazzle Show. We were AVID fans! We had all their albums and loved to re-inact the Chucky Margolis skits. And to think I found these on YouTube. I know you must be sick of me posting links to the place but this is SUCH a blast from my past. Some of my most favoritest memories with Tammy revolved around our silliness over the Hudson Brothers. On top of that, I have two cousins. We are each a year a part and ironically, there was a Hudson Brother for each of us. Brett was MINE, Mark was Joyce's and Bill was Linda's.
I being the youngest and Brett was the youngest, he was mine and Bill for the oldest because he was the oldest. It was perfect.
If you can, check out these links that acted like a time tunnel for me.
OH my Gosh! Oh my GOSH! Can you believe it? SQUEEE!
When I was going to find another link for you for the Hudson Brothers?
I loved DOC! He was the one who made my young heart go Pitty Pat Too!
I guess I lean towards men in charge, even now when I read my romance books. I like those Alpha guys.
But Listen to Doc sing! Guess I wasn't the only one enamored of him! ROTFL!
Back the Hudson Brothers and CHucky Margolis !! HAHAHAHAHAH
LOVED poor CHucky! I never realized what they were talking about with the Green Water..and those pipes. And that was on at night. I just watched an interview with Brett and he said they were the replacement for the cancelled Sonny and Cher show! I never knew! So cool!
I'm having FUN FUN FUN!
Hope you are too!!!!!!

YouTube Addiction & Females Rock N' Rolled the 80's!

I like Depeche Mode

I think the message in this song is timeless. As relavant today, 200 years ago or in the future.

This is my favorite political protest song. The driving beat, the message and the lyrics always got to me. Makes me want the ending promise to be kept.

This is a band called Finger 11 Every time I was able to hear a radio station play it, I never got to hear the band's name. It was a mystery that was driving me nuts! Then I got high speed and on a lark, I put in the word I hear frequently mentioned during the song. Eureka! I will say, the video is ... well the dancing is rather strange. I have NO idea what they are trying to convey. But the music is good whether I watch the moves or not.

OK, I'm dating myself, but the one of the funniest songs on the radio growing up was THE STREAK!
You mean you've never heard the song? ROTFL! Well take a look, listen and be prepared to smile. THE STREAK "he was a dribbler"? ROTFL.. love it!

OH my Gosh! I just found this on YouTube!
MR JAWS
I remember this song! Or Mock-Interview.
I remember the boat show at the marina near my old home. That song came on over the loud speakers and the whole crowd went silent! Those that had seen the movie were bent over double laughing once it was done.
I also remember my old boss who said he'd gone to Hawaii the year JAWS came out. He said he had the water almost to himself. Seemed that movie touched upon the inner shark paranoia that up until that movie, society had no clue it had in abundance. Amazing!

And the Go-Go's provided the best advice for High School Angst. How nice to know that my Mom's advice was seconded by the best female rock band for the time. Of course, there will be those that will argue that point with me with a vote for the Bangles . The real hard rockers might even go further and say they were fluff and I should respect Pat Benetar. Well sure, I liked Ms. Benetar's music, I still do. Let's face it, these women are timeless.
But for the paranormal romance lover in me, I have to vote for Patty Smyth.
It has Such a sensual look to it.

What do you think?
What are your Favorite 80's Music videos? And do you think female rockers made it better than it otherwise would have been?
I'd say YES!

I Tried a Book Out of My Comfort Zone

Sometimes, reading out of my comfort zone is ... well, uncomfortable. The blurb of the book sounded rather interesting. The Fate of Mercy ...