Spring’s Surprise

Sara Michaels is single again. And she’s celebrating her thirtieth birthday with a complete spa makeover and a day of boutique shopping with her two best friends. After a ten-month battle for freedom, a long weekend in Nashville, Tennessee is just what she needs to erase the memories of a broken heart.

Jack Tanner is the soon-to-be new partner at Chester & Dorsey Development Firm. Jack’s love life has been on the back burner for years as he’s built a successful career. But the moment he meets Sara, he takes a hard look at his life and his priorities.

Sara steps out of her comfort zone and spends an unforgettable weekend with Jack. She’s never felt so carefree. Until she realizes too late that three days can change everything

On Sale May 15, 2013

Read an Excerpt

Winter’s Magic

Owner of La Bella Vita, a five-star day spa nestled in the affluent suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, Beth Sergeant knows her elite clientele first hand. She attended their private schools. She was even engaged, although briefly, to one of their most recognized bachelors. But she never fit in to their social-elite world.

After losing his parents to a car accident at a young age, Nick Chester was raised by his grandfather, the wealthiest man in Nashville. When he chooses to socialize, he has a never-ending list of exclusive events and beautiful women vying for his attention. Yet he never lets himself forget that everyone has an agenda.

Beth can’t resist Nick’s charm and accepts an invitation to dinner, despite her deep-seated insecurities. She proves she’s nothing like other women he’s dated and learns to trust him in return. But just as the last of their resistance crumbles and true love is within reach, challenges from Nick’s past threaten to destroy everything and force Beth to reveal her most guarded secret.

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As part of our quest for a healthier lifestyle, Art and I have been trying to eat more salads.  When he got back from his trip to Oregon, Art complained that grocery store salad bars are way more expensive in California.  We have very different tastes in veggies (Art is way more picky) so making a big tossed salad is out of the question.

After trying the salad “kits”, we realized we could put our own salads together for less money and that way we would both get exactly what we wanted.

Here’s our home salad bar.  Isn’t it beautiful?  To be perfectly honest, we normally just grab from the individual bags for each item, but I wanted to pretty it up for my readers

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By popular demand, here are some more photos of our crazy corgle, Kiff (The Unexpected Corgle, Corgle Update – He’s So Cute, Our Crazy Dogs – More Fun Facts About Katie and Kiff).

Just for reference, here’s what Kiff looked like when we first got him:

And here’s a picture of Kiff I took yesterday:

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Little Fuzzy

H. Beam Piper

ASIN: B0039UUBFC

Science Fiction

1962

118 Pages

About the Book:

from Amazon.com

One day Jack Holloway, prospector on the planet Zarathustra, finds what seems to be a small monkey with golden fur; these new introductions (for the first brings a family) are tiny hunters, and prove to be curious and capable tool users. Why is this so important to the new human settlers? – Because a planet inhabited by a sapient race cannot be monopolized by the Zarathustra Company.

My Review:

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Ratatouille is one of my favorite springtime “everything but the kitchen sink” type dishes.  And for those of you who are not familiar with this dish, it has nothing to do with rats   Ratatouille is a french vegetable dish, usually comprised of tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, onions, bell pepper and eggplant.  It is usually served as a side dish, but I serve mine as a main dish, sometimes over pasta.

For me, the best thing about ratatouille is that as long as I have tomatoes, onions and zucchini I can wing it on the other ingredients.  The other day I came upon some lovely early eggplants, so I knew what I had to make!!  Here is the recipe for this month’s easy sauteed ratatouille, but keep in mind you can substitute or add your favorite vegetables along the way.

Ingredients:

Directions:

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With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I thought it would be nice to share the following infographic of Amazing Things Only Mothers Do.

But first, I’d like to thank:

• My mom – for her steadfast love and support
• My mother-in-law for her immense patience
• Grandma Hamilton – for her sense of humor
• Grandma Pence – for always being there for me
• My Nana – for my love of lavender and lilac
• My Gram – for my love of baking

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Have you ever asked your mom what she wanted for her birthday, or Christmas or Mother’s Day?  If she’s anything like my mom she probably said something like, “Knowing you love me is all the present I need.”  Now while that’s a very sweet sentiment and I very much appreciate that my mom doesn’t expect a gift (and really, she can afford to buy herself whatever she needs), I would still like to show her just a small token of how much I love and admire her.  What to do?

I have found that my mom is very moved by a donation to a charity on her behalf.  I bet your mom would like that too!!  Following is a list of just a few of the charities I’ve highlighted recently and how they are helping celebrate mom this Mother’s Day!!

• WaterAid America – for a donation as low as $25, you can pay for one person in one of the world’s poorest countries to gain access to safe, clean water and sanitation for life. In addition, you can print a Mother’s Day card that includes the details of your gift.
• Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation – in honor of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation’s 25th anniversary this year and Mother’s Day, they want to challenge everyone to help them raise the funds that would allow 2,500 women to get tested for HIV. Your $19 donation in honor of your loved one enables one new mother to get tested, and you can send your loved one an e-card!
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Leave of Absence

Tanya J. Peterson

ISBN-13: 978-1592998838

Contemporary Fiction

April 2013

332 Pages

About the Book:

From Amazon.com:

In this insightful and evocative novel, Tanya J. Peterson delves deeply into the world of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. When Oliver Graham’s suicide attempt fails, he is admitted to Airhaven Behavioral Health Center. Unable to cope with the traumatic loss of his beloved wife and son, he finds a single thread of attachment to life in Penelope, a fellow patient wrestling with schizophrenia and its devastating impact on her once happy and successful life. They both struggle to discover a reason to live while Penelope’s fiancé William strives to convince her that she is worth loving. As Oliver and Penelope try to achieve emotional stability, face others who have been part of their lives, and function in the “real world,” they discover that human connection may be reason enough to go on. Written with extraordinary perception into the thought processes of those grappling with mental illness, Leave of Absence is perfect for readers seeking an empathic depiction of grief, loss, and schizophrenia, as well as anyone who has ever experienced human suffering and healing.

My Review:

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The other night Art came home with some cube steak from the “grey meat” section of the grocery store.  “Grey meat” is the clearance section of the meat department – meat which is about to expire and is marked down anywhere from 30-50% or more off the original price.  We call it grey meat because often the edges of the meat have started to oxidize, taking on a greyish tinge.  You can get some really great deals. The only drawback is you either have to use it that day or freeze it that day.

We hadn’t had chicken fried steak in a long time, so we decided not to freeze the meat.  It turned out so well, we reheated the extra pieces the next day and had them with eggs, biscuits and gravy.

Yummy!!

Ingredients:

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I started blogging in October of 2011.  A few of you have been with me for the whole wild ride, and thank you so much!!!  One question I get asked a lot is why do you blog?

I’m sure my family would like the answer to that question some days, as well, since between blogging and my “regular” job I am working well over 40 hours a week (heck, I even blog at work sometimes, but shhhhh, don’t tell my boss).

Well, to give you my motivation, I first need to remind you where I was at in October 2011.  Art and I were in the process of losing our house, our water heater and dishwasher had gone out in a 48 hour period, and Art had been unemployed for 2 1/2 years.  In addition we were dealing with one child with anxiety disorder and chronic insomnia and the myriad of medication changes that entailed (not to mention “alternative” treatment which I may or may not ever disclose here) and a child in therapy with a gender specialist.

I had only told a handful of people about our situation, because honestly, who would believe me?

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