Hello, My Sweetings!

Forgive the blanket endearment, but I’m positively giddy over our 3rd anniversary celebration taking place this Valentine’s week at The Goddess Blogs. So let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a delightful, romantic, love-filled Valentine’s Day. (Hint: If you want love, you’ll get lots of it right here all week!)

You might find my “sweeting” greeting a bit odd for a blog, but it’s one of my favorite terms of endearment in Regency-set stories. I’m a sucker for a great romance—historical, contemporary, paranormal, any kind!—especially when I get a thrill from the chemistry igniting between the hero and heroine. And part of that delicious chemistry can be sparked by what they call each other when their hearts (and their libidos) spring into action. Brings back fond memories, you know?

Of course, endearments uttered by my 19th century lovers (whether strolling in a garden or sparring behind closed bedchamber doors) differ greatly from those used in stories by my contemporary writer colleagues. Imagine if my latest dashing nobleman voiced his compliments to his new bride for her seductive prowess by proclaiming, “Wow, babe! You rock my world!” On the other hand, I wince at having my heroes and heroines running around calling each other “Miss Surname” and “my lord” every time they speak to each other. That’s too stilted for my tastes, not to mention that it could come off sounding like a “Saturday Night Live” skit.

So during this month of sweethearts, I’d like us to share our favorite terms of endearment, as well as our not-so-favorites. Here are my faves:

From a Lord’s Lips to a Lady’s Ears:

When the Misses Speak, the Gents Shall Listen:

Some of my favorite contemporary endearments:

Feel free to weigh in on the examples from my list, but what I really want to know is: What are your favorite endearments for historical, contemporary, and paranormal lovers? Which endearments do you hate to see in romance novels? (Even if you don’t like “sweeting” I want to know!) And if you’re feeling adventurous, what creative endearments would you suggest we romance authors use to spice up our novels? We’ll choose three lucky posters at random to win a fabulous pair of vintage-style earrings or a Victorian-inspired locket!

So get creative, My Sweet Goddesses! For romance novel heroes and heroines, list your:

1. FAVORITE Endearment(s)
2. LEAST Favorite Endearment(s)
3. FUN/CREATIVE Endearment Suggestion(s)

379 Comments »

I’m an enthusiastic but permanently amateur techie. That means I love all of the new gadgets, but can’t figure out how to program my TiVo. But once I figure it out, step back! This chick can make a gadget SING!

Yesterday, Apple Computers announced their newest device, the iPad, a hi-def, high memory, long-battery-life touch screen micro-computer.

Some tech reviewers loved it while some seemed disappointed it wasn’t more … startling. In the past, Apple has dazzled the real techies with brand new technologies and this one, while cool, seemed almost familiar. Some tech reviewers felt the iPad was just a very large iPod.

But I disagree. From an amateur techie point of view, I think the iPad is beyond the iPod. In fact, I think it’s the shape of laptops to come.

Why? Because it can do about anything a laptop can do. Hook up to the ‘net? Got it. Word processing? Got it. Hi def for watching movies and video? Got it. Touch screen for easy composition of emails and documents? Got it. Excellent speakers and microphone for Skype? Got it.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

The best part? All of this for $499.

That’s right … $499.

Here are the basic specs:

Size: 1/2 inch thick with 9.7 inch display

Weight: 1.5 lbs

Cost and memory: $500 – $700 depending on memory –16 gig, 32 gig, 64 gig)

Battery: 10-hour life, a month on standby (standby means that if you set it down, it will go to ’sleep’ up to a month and still have battery power)

Other amenities: bluetooth, wi-fi, speakers, built-in micophone, ipod/iphone connector and more.

But what about ebooks, you may ask? Just read what the Telegraph has to say about this:

“Zooming, scrolling and flicking through photos feels just like rifling through a real picture album, while the huge virtual keyboard, with its big, responsive buttons, is a pleasure to type on. The iPad excels too, as a gaming device, with stunning graphics and simple controls. But the best feature is iBooks, the e-book reading software that knocks Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader into a cocked hat.

Novels are beautifully presented, lined up on a virtual bookshelf, complete with sleeve art.

The pages of the books resemble proper printed pages, with a sense of texture and authenticity to them. Turning pages is achieved with a swiping gesture, or a single tap in the right-hand margins.

Downloading books is incredibly easy too, with the iBookstore built straight in to iTunes, and a wide selection of books from five major publishers already available at launch.”

Nice, eh? I’m excited. Nay, THRILLED.

So, what do you think? Would you use an iPad? Do you think this is just a big iPod? Or do you agree that perhaps it’s the face of future laptops-to-come? And would you read an ebook on this product?

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 Since we need to start the new year off right, I’m throwing a party here on Mt. Oly and you’re all invited!

As for me, I’ve never been much of a party girl. Although I like to dance, even in my younger days I used to watch the clock, wondering when I could politely leave. Dh on the other hand would stay till dawn if I let him. But our partying has grown much more mellow as the years go by.

This year we celebrated the New Year when the Times Square ball dropped at midnight New York City time. Now, you may know that I live in the Mountain Standard time zone, which put our celebration at 10 p.m. my time. Is that sad? Or just a sign of wisdom?

We don’t feel shortchanged, though, since we had three dozen people over to celebrate with us. These folks have become like adopted family to us, so we had a wonderful time. We didn’t do any dancing, just great socializing.

I realized that over the years I’ve refined my rules for a good party:

= Only invite people you really like.

= Make your guests bring their own food (actually I just asked for appetizers or side dishes while we supplied the ham and grilled salmon, wine, and desserts).

= Only invite good cooks (or at least folks with good taste who know how to shop in the grocery stores for good pre-made stuff).

= Keep the libations flowing (and provide plenty of water for designated drivers).

= Make sure the desserts are sinful (even weight conscious health nuts deserve to splurge once in a while).

All of our goddesses here fit my criteria for a good party, so you’re all welcome as long as you bring a virtual gift for your fellow goddesses and tell us what kind of parties you like best. (I’m bringing a real, Not-Virtual Advance Reading Copy of TO TAME A DANGEROUS LORD, which I’ll give to a random poster, so post as many times as you like!)

Your gift(s) doesn’t have be for me. In fact, it should not be for me (although I’m amenable to bribes.)

What’s your fave kind of party? Did you get to celebrate the start of 2010 in your favorite way? What virtual offering(s) will you bring to our Mt. Oly party for your fellow goddesses?

59 Comments »

Do you hear the guy from Fiddler on the Roof singing?  Can you see him dancing?

I had my birthday last week and started to think about family traditions in relation to birthdays.  Some families make a huge deal out of every birthday.  (Mine!)  Some only make a huge deal out of certain birthdays.  And some families treat birthdays like they’re just another day.  (IV’s)

When we were first married I tried to make a huge deal out of IV’s birthday.  He said, “It’s just another day to me.”  I said, “That’s fine.  Just so you realize that MINE isn’t.”  :)

My birthday “tradition” is that I eat out for every meal and shop all day.  Since my birthday is so close to Christmas I do all my shopping on that day.  I like coming home with a ton of packages, even if they aren’t (all) for me.

As we had kids, I made a huge deal out of their birthdays.  I couldn’t help myself.  It became the “Birthday Week Extravaganza” with them.  Although that’s calmed down somewhat now that they’re grown.

Still, IV took oldest son to Vegas for his 21st birthday last month.  I think that’s a nice new tradition.

Does your family treat every birthday as a huge deal?  Certain milestone birthdays?  Or are birthdays just another day?  What are some of your birthday traditions?

35 Comments »

My dad is a careful man. He is careful with his responsibilities, the feelings of those he loves, and money.

We didn’t have much money when I was young. One year he bought the cheapest six foot plastic Christmas tree he could find. It not only didn’t look like a real tree, it didn’t even look like a real plastic tree. It looked more like a child’s school project of starched green tinsel glued at odd angles from a large pipe cleaner. But it was OUR tree and we loved it.

As the years passed, we took that same tree in its huge brown box out of the attic and assembled it in the living room.

When I turned eight, one of the bottom branches snapped at the base as we were assembling it. A year later, two more went. And then another. My dad decided it was better to leave the bottom row off to make room for the presents.

By the time I was eleven, the branches on the next level of the tree had begun to break. But as I’ve said, my dad is a careful man. When duct tape didn’t prove up to the job, he used fishing line. Over the next ten years as more and more branches broke, my dad meticulously tied them to the ones above. And when those broke, he tied them to the branches above that.

He took hours to do this. Hours, but no money. He was happy. We had a tree, so we were happy.

The tree stayed in our house for thirty years and when we eventually retired it, it was beyond fragile. We used to kid that when the heat kicked on, the tree would sway in the breeze.

It was old, broken, ugly . . . and loved. Oh, how we loved that tree. But most of all, we loved my dad for taking the time to string our broken tree into place, year after year.

Do you have any broken but beloved holiday items or memories?  Stories about turkeys that were overcooked, favorite ornaments that have been glued together, or tree topper stars that have been bread-twisty-tied in place? What broken holiday memories are golden in your house?

53 Comments »

Happy Thanksgiving! May you and yours enjoy a lovely, peaceful, and tasty holiday!

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Next week in the US, everyone will meet together to eat huge amounts of food and watch football.  This is called Thanksgiving.

Many will go around their table and ask their friends and/or relatives what they are thankful for.  What follows is usually the mention of big ticket items like jobs, family, health–all great things to be thankful for.

But today, I want us to be thankful for the little things.  For instance, my list of the little things in life that I am thankful for are:

1. Peanut M & Ms (or M&Ms with peanut butter, either way)

2. The sound of a loon drifting off the water

3. Flannel pajama bottoms

4. When little boy sweat smells like sunshine (haven’t smelled this in a while, but I remember it well)

5. Really good coffee (like Jamaican Blue Mountain)

6. A fan in the middle of a hot flash

Tell me, Goddesses, what little things are you thankful for?

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