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It seems that in the next few days we are celebrating EVERYTHING! It’s midwinter, so every culture and religion seems to be having some sort of festival to commemorate it. For me, the karate mom, writer, and mom to one Valentine’s Day birthday child-the pressure is absolutely on.
My latest book is in the hands of the publishing gods and hopefully we’ll see that before the weekend is up, fingers crossed. Otherwise, you can unwrap your Valentine a little later. I’ll post the links as soon as they are available.
I had my beignets last week, and I’m making cake pops and home made chocolates for the imps endeavors. The not so chubby hubby has invited me out for a wine tasting this weekend, and I may just have to take him up on it.
There is something altogether insane about this weekend. I love my slasher movies on Friday the 13th, but they’ll be playing in the background while I get some work done this weekend. At least I’ll have some bloodcurdling screams to comfort me.
The news from my endocrinologist is not good, and she says the medication I’m on to fight my autoimmune disease has probably caused the diabetes (not news). I’m watching my sugar and diet and everything is in normal range for now. I’m working very hard to keep it that way. I’ve been on insulin before and the thought of replacing a treatment I know that works (insulin) with a pill that hasn’t been effective for anyone I know on it, has made me a very good girl with watching what I eat and when. (Must be one of those things, since the insurance has to make insulin affordable they offer alternatives rather than pay for it. I’ve watched people have bouts of hypoglycemia and lose digits on the alternatives, so I’m just going to agree to disagree and we’ll see where we are on the next A1C. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers)
Back to all things fun and parties. This week is so filled with celebrations, I want to take a moment and wish everyone Happy Mardi Gras, Happy Lunar New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day, and unless you’re skiing- hopefully no more snow. There is also a special birthday on Valentine’s Day, so happy 30th birthday Claire- may all your wishes come true!
If you’re a February baby like Claire, I hope you have a fun birthday, too. Since the Lenten time will soon be on us, I’m going to take a couple hours to plan out my menu during this critical time of the year. I have some in the family that adhere to traditions of fasting, some that eat meat, some with food preferences… so the meals they do eat need to be extra nutritious, while still being carb friendly (the hubby loves curried chicken, and it’s within his diet plan, so yea!).
During lent I look for organizations to work with either through sponsorship or stewardship to help out those in need, local and abroad. Since the happy hubby and I wear many hats that can mean entertaining for charitable walks, school events, fundraisers… or donating to some local charities or people in need. We already have some of those events lined up, and I’m happy to be able to bring a smile to children of all ages.
If you have read some books from the All Tied Up In Knots series, you understand the kind of crazy that goes with being a professional entertainer. I’ve drawn from my own experiences and that of other entertainers I work with to flesh out the characters. You have to have nerves of steel, a strong back, and a permanent smile. The excitement and joy children and adults get when they see the balloon decor, henna artistry, balloon twisting, glitter tattoos, or face painting makes it well worth the effort.
For this weekend, I’ll focus on entertaining locally and getting those taxes started, lol. I’m having some friends over for hurricanes (see my 2023 blogs for the recipe and make them at home or somewhere you don’t need to drive to, just to be as safe as possible) and some fried okra to go with hubby’s spicy curried chicken. The children have asked for eggrolls, but I have eggroll wrappers and ingredients, so we’re all set for that, too.
Regardless of what the Groundhog has foretold, Spring is on the way and I know the doggies can’t wait for their time on the cool green grass. I’m awaiting those long walks in the park, not mad dashes for the shelter of the car or the house.
Wishing you a week(end) of celebrating with family & friends.
***King of the Mardi Gras is a FREE download for 3 days only February 15th, 16th, & 17th on AMAZON***
King of the Mardi Gras: A Short Story From Eden’s Garden https://a.co/d/3AbiBmK
Free download February 15th, 16th, and 17th!
Thanks for visiting. See you next week.
to serve revenge up cold. She wants to serve it up now, and she wants to serve it up HOT. And then Kian enters her life and she knows, she just knows she is in trouble because it isn’t wise to let yourself look too long at a hunk that takes your breath away when you think his heart might belong to someone else. But what can you do, when he is in your face every single time you turn around and dark magic, and werewolves keep getting you into trouble?
And when Cain Crowton, a powerful alpha werewolf surrounded with an aura of dark magic, moves into the peaceful town of Golden, nestled in the Canadian Rockies, Wendy, Bray, and Stevie will have to use all the powers they’ve developed. For Cain is not simply a werewolf. His body and mind have been taken over by Valmod, a demon from another realm.
She was bitten by the alpha wolf, Cain, and because she was already a supernatural, the werewolf venom has a strange and devastating effect on her.
All he wants is to get to his pack and tell them he is alive, but when he finds out that Beckett Rheams has taken over his wolves, he becomes obsessed with saving them and Maven. Maven had shared his bed, but, did he love her? Was she the one destined to be his mate? 
anything I love a Brandy Alexander. Yeah, these days it’s hard to find a bartender that can mix them, but they are an absolute dream, a chocolate soda that gives you angel wings! (It goes down real easy, so be careful you won’t realize how powerful it is) The recipe on line says a Brandy Alexander, (served straight up without ice!), grated nutmeg, 3 cl (1 part) Cognac and 3 cl (1 part) brown Creme de cacao, 3 cl (1 part) Fresh cream. (If you are making it at home around Yule, try substituting eggnog for the cream). Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.(The recipe I found didn’t say it, but I think there should be crushed ice in the mixing cup, that’s what you strain out). Sprinkle with fresh ground nutmeg. And the place to drink it is Cobbs Mill Restaurant, it was originally a prerevolutionary grain mill in Weston, Connecticut. It is my favorite restaurant in all the world and shows up in my novels occasionally. Upstairs you sit and look out over the mill pond, but go down to the downstairs dining, to the small bar tables right alongside the waterfall. Sit at the little table, if you aren’t love, you will be soon. (Cobbs Mill closed, reopened–I was there with my husband and sons for my birthday this year–then closed again. Watch the website, they say its getting ready to reopen! Go, and you may see me there, holding a cream colored cocktail glass up high in celebration of all that is warming and sweet in life!
has been lost since the Revolutionary War, and a present day murder of a billionaire patron at Oyster River Research. Although Grace Farrington only wants to continue her pioneering research, one of her on again off again lovers is accused of murder, but in this book she had three intriguing men pursuing her. However, she also is the being persued by a cold blooded murderer. Finally the puzzles–two sets–are ultimately solved with some clever DNA sleuthing, psychic adventures, her cast of New England eccentrics.
must’ve hurt it when the sail shifted, now it was numb and that added misery to the cold that sat on his chest, making breathing painful. Getting old, when all a man wanted was to be home soaking up warmth before his hearth fire. But there was Eli– his youngest boy and Mae’s last living child. Now Eli suffered with the rest in that hell hole of prison ship under the decks, in stinking July heat: Eli, Samuel, Willy, and Jacob. If Christopher would sail to Wallabout this day, and he would for enough coin, then Elijah must crew no matter how badly he felt. Did they have enough to ransom Eli and the others? Elijah turned his eyes from the surf. Now in these times, he had to watch for dangers from the land too as his own former friends and neighbors might turn him over to the British as a traitor. Movement. He squinted, now he could see two figures coming out of the trees, down to the beach, two women in blowing capes. One unnaturally tall, Long Liz, his sister, her blonde hair streamingwith gray, and beside her trudging in the sand, that brown faced servant, Posey. Liz was his sister, but her husband Seth was a wealthy Loyalist, siding with King George, who would have them all hanged. Elijah sneaked a look to the whitening sea and curse softly. Over the dark, rolling water he could see the top of a sloop’s gray canvas sail. Better get Loyalist Liz out of here, before Christopher makes land. Elijah turned suddenly and felt dizzy, he had to stop and catch a painful breath, before he trod forward in the deep sand. Rebecca was hanging back as cold Liz’s imperial manner always cowed her. His sister waited above the black-green sodden mounds of seaweed at the high water line not wanting her fine linen cloak to get stained. As he approached, she looked directly in his eyes. Most women he always had to look down to, but Liz was his equal in ungainly height.
“Eli listened to his fine friends. They joined a militia to battle the injustices of freeborn Englishmen not allowed to speak on their destiny, but a Connecticut Colony man should not have been fighting in New Jersey! Now Eli pays for his folly, rotting in a prison ship.”
books. She lives in the woods… often avoids writing by talking to friends. She talks to chipmunks, the squirrels, robins (spring), raccoons (night), frogs (summer), fish (fast), deer (seldom), tulip trees and occasionally large, intelligent rocks.
edenfreed.com 