Celebrate the Small Things-May 30, 2014

If you're here for May Monster Madness, you can find my post HERE.

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with VikLit!

In addition to myself, the other co-hosts are:

Diana Wilder
Cyborg Mom (Katie)
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

I just dropped my son Jude off for his last day of school.  Now it really feels like summer is here!

The submission period for Write Club is almost up, so I'm happily polishing up my entry. For anyone who hasn't yet entered, tomorrow (May 31st) is the last day to submit!  I would have finished it up sooner, but I got distracted by books. Don't worry, I don't consider that a bad thing by any means.  I did a lot of reading while relaxing outside with my kids. That's always a good time!

We successfully purchased a used lawnmower for $40 this week, and it's in  great shape!  I looks good and works wonderfully, and my husband is excited about his new toy.

What would you like to celebrate?

May Monster Madness

It's time for May Monster Madness!  This bloghop is hosted by Annie Walls, Little Gothic Horrors, and Something wicKED This Way Comes.

The goal is simple.  Write a post about monsters.  It can be anything, like writing a story about monsters, ideas for monster related crafts, famous monsters, monster movies.  Anything goes.

I decided to write and share two drabbles that have to do with monsters.  I hope you enjoy them!

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Monster Under the Bed

“Do all beds have monsters under them?”  At six years old, T.J. hung on his older brother Kyle’s every word.  When Kyle confirmed that there were really monsters living under T.J.’s bed, he never thought to doubt him.

Kyle sat beside him on the bed.  “Not all.  Not yet anyway.  Monsters take little girls and boys and turn them into monsters.  If the monster gets you, it’ll turn you into one too.  Then maybe you’ll go after me, or maybe Mom and Dad.  That’s why you can’t let it get you.”

T.J.’s face blanched as he clutched his teddy bear.

Face of a Monster 

“Not all monsters look ugly,” Patricia said as she wound spaghetti noodles around her fork.  “The most frightening monsters are the ones you can’t see until it’s too late.”

This first date started out with light conversation about horror movies, but now Nadia feared it was taking a turn into darker realms.  That was the last thing she wanted.  “I know the world is filled with killers and rapists, but do we need to talk about that now?”

Patricia smiled sweetly.  “Honey, you misunderstand me.”  She dropped her fork, and with a sickening sound, talons burst forth from her fingertips.

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I hope you enjoyed my drabbles!  Be sure to check out some of the other participants!

An InLinkz Link-up

Express Yourself: A to Z Favorites

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The question for this week is: What A to Z post and/or blogger did you really enjoy this year?

That's a tough one, since I visited so many wonderful blogs over the course of April. However, I'll share with you a couple of the bloggers that I visited on a daily basis.

There's Alex J. Cavanuagh, of course, who highlighted some spectacular blogging friends in each of his posts.  There's also Laura at My Baffling Brain.  She wrote about Ancient Egypt for her A to Z posts, and I learned a lot from them.  I also visited Kyra Lennon at Write Here, Write Now on a daily basis so I could keep up with the story she wrote, which featured the main characters from Game On.

Which bloggers did you most enjoy during the A to Z Challenge?

Celebrate the Small Things-May 23, 2014

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with VikLit!

I am co-hosting, along with these other lovely bloggers:

Diana Wilder
Cyborg Mom (Katie)
CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

The weather here has been wonderful, so we've had the opportunity to spend some time outside as a family.

Our lawnmower is officially in need of replacement.  That's not really good news, but my husband is excited about the prospect of shopping for a new one, so I'm celebrating here on his behalf.  He's as excited about this as I am about buying books.  Believe me, that's saying something!

We also have to replace a cracked windshield in our car within the next week. Instead of focusing on the negative here, I'm choosing to celebrate that it will soon be fixed and look as good as new.

My nephew turns two this weekend, so we'll be celebrating that as well.

What would you like to celebrate?

Express Yourself: Celebrity Look-Alikes

The Express Yourself Weekly Meme is hosted by Jackie @ Bouquet of Books and Dani @ Entertaining Interests.

The question for this week is: Have you ever known someone or dated someone who could be a celebrity twin?

Does Jesus count as a celebrity?  Because I went to college with a guy that looked almost exactly like him.  At least, he looked like the long-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned portrayal of Jesus that you see in most Christian churches in America.  He had the hair, the beard, and it all looked spot on.  It also helped that he wore sandals a lot.  He also played acoustic guitar, and while I've never seen a picture of Jesus playing acoustic guitar, it added to the dude's serene vibe.  His name was Josh, but everyone called him Jesus.  You'd pass him in the hall, and someone would always say "Jesus, what's up?"

Maybe that contributed to his decision to shave his beard and cut his hair.  I remember feeling shocked when I saw him for the first time after he did that. People did start using his real name more frequently after that.

Do you know anyone who looks like a celebrity?

Celebrate the Small Things-May 16, 2014

It's Friday!  Let's Celebrate the Small Things with VikLit!

I'm co-hosting now!  Diana Wilder, The Cyborg Mom, and CafeMaggieato are also serving as co-hosts.

My son Lyle had a great 3rd birthday on Sunday!  We were so busy with that we didn't even have time to notice that it was also Mother's Day, but that's okay!

I also have a cup of coffee in hand as I write this post, so that's a good thing.  I also finished the rough draft of a WIP that's been giving me trouble.  Sure, there's a lot to fix, so revisions will be a challenge, but I'm ready for it!

Oh yeah, and I have chocolate in my cupboard.  No matter what goes wrong, I can tackle the problem as long as I have access to chocolate.

What would you like to celebrate?

FSF: Innocence Lost

It's time once again for Five Sentence Fiction!  The word for this week is INNOCENCE.

My ongoing story "A Life For Sale" features Aurora and her struggle to survive in a world that treats her as a commodity.  To read this story from the beginning, go to this PAGE.

Chapter 5

Innocence Lost

Source

The house before Aurora was in pristine condition, and it was far larger than the apartment building that she inhabited eleven months out of the year.  Though she knew it wasn’t the same, the look of this home put her in mind of the place where her innocence was first lost, and she learned once and for all that the world simply didn’t care about people like her.

Her daughter’s face flashed through her mind, and a deep sadness tugged at her heart as she acknowledged the fact that her daughter would grow up to face the same sad life as her, as would any grandchildren that might also come into the world.

The woman in the green dress, who had introduced herself as Drucilla on the ride over, studied Aurora’s face for a long moment, as if trying to discern her innermost thoughts, before going on to say something entirely unexpected.  “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’ve had to go through in the other homes where you served, but I can promise that you won’t be made to suffer here.”