Have you looked at the recipes lately?

Just wondering.

I Feel Good About Me

Is this the 007 we remember?
He could be the Jack Nicholson stand in!



Terminate this!


You can look at these picture two ways, and the first way would be to think, "I remember when I thought this guy was totally HOT -- and he was -- back then. I must be getting old if all the hot guys from my time look like this."

OR --
We can think, "I have certainly aged better than many of the stars.
I don't have Madonna's hands -- and hey, I didn't marry Arnold Schwarzenegger!
I'm doing pretty well."

I feel good about myself today because I've put in a healthy work week so far, and my kitchen is being worked on as I write this. Pictures to follow.

February 14th is just around the corner!

It's nearly time to turn the calendar page! Low and below Valentine's Day is just around the corner. You know how I LUV
LUV
LUV Valentine's Day!

I'm planning a special February event to celebrate, and you won't want to miss it!
I will start collecting names from the comments for the drawings TOMORROW, so check back and post often!

SMOOCHES!

Your mother warned you!

You know how your mother always told you not to swallow your gum?

Now you know why, and these girls didn't listen!

I couldn't resist, this just cracked me up.

just to be on the safe side...

Checklist

I have a task ahead of me, so picture me working like crazy today. The book I'm working on is due the end of February, so it's time to buckle down.

CHOOSE TWO:
1 ____ I always wear a read boa while I write - it gets me in the mood.

2 ____ I always drink sweetened hot tea while I work.

3 ____ I never answer the phone or check email during working hours.

4 ____ The snow coming down in crazy flurries really has me longing for Spring!

5 ____ I nibble on carrot sticks all day long.

6 ____ I won the national multiplication championship in sixth grade.

7 ____ Lost is my favorite television series.

8 ____ My birthday is this month.

Announcing Marilyn Puett's Drawing Winner!

Can anyone name the character in this picture?
Yesterday's blog is your hint.

The winner of Marilyn's drawing for the journal and Writing Playgound pen is...

*lizzie!

Congrats, *lizzie!
Please send your address to Marilyn at: mpuett@bellsouth.net

She'll get your gift out to you right away!

Thanks to all for participating, and thank you, Marilyn for letting me post this great article!

Smooches!
Cher :-)

Marilyn Puett: Broadway and Disney - The Secret to Achieving Your Goals

When I read this article, I loved it and shared it with my critique group. I also asked Marilyn Puett if I could post it here to share with even more of you, because it's inspirational, and we can all use inspiration. My critique group is big on motivational quotes, in fact we all made gifts for each other at Christmas, using each other's favorite quotes. Enjoy!

You got to have a dream. If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true? ~ Bloody Mary in South Pacific (1)

When you wish upon a star your dreams come true. ~ Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (2)

January is the month when everyone begins to utter the question, “What are your goals for the new year?” Last January you may have said, “This is the year I’m going to [insert favorite goal.]” Yet here it is a year later and you didn’t do it. Why not?
It’s something you’ve dreamed about for ages.
Broadway musicals and Disney movies are full of lyrics expounding on the power of dreams. Dreams are the passions that guide us through life. They are what get us out of bed in the morning and make us put one foot in front of the other, or in the case of a writer, put the butt in the chair and the hands on the keyboard.

Dreams
How many of you have had dreams so lofty you’ve been shot down for them? Who has had a relative or friend tell you to get your head out of the clouds and come back to earth? History is filled with stories of dreamers who gave up too soon. Heed the cautionary tale of an only child of a man who was an auto mechanic and car salesman and a woman who was domineering and narcissistic. He was raised in New Orleans and after earning undergraduate and graduate degrees, his teaching career and doctoral studies were interrupted by the draft and a two-year stint in the Army.

After his discharge he returned to New Orleans, lived with his parents and taught college. He also wrote a novel, drawing on some of his life experiences. Simon and Schuster expressed initial excitement in the book, but eventually rejected it, saying the book “isn’t really about anything.” Hello? Seinfeld.

But this was a different century, a different time. The author began drinking heavily and believed the book would never see publication. He also quit teaching, dropped out of his doctoral studies and sank into a deep depression. In 1969 at age 32 he hooked a garden hose to his car’s exhaust pipe and ended his life. Seven years later his mother insisted a Loyola professor read the manuscript. The professor hesitated, but relented and fell in love with the book. In 1980 A Confederacy of Dunces was published, and a year later John Kennedy Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

History is also filled with stories of those who didn’t listen to the naysayers. Walt Disney refused to listen to the people who told him to get a “real” job. Without his dreams we’d be living in a world without Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.

And without the determination of Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Mattel, the Barbie doll would never have come into being.

Goals
But having a dream alone isn’t enough. You must take that passion and channel it effectively to make it become a reality. That is where goals come in. Motivational speakers Zig Ziglar and Anthony Robbins tell about a study of the 1953 graduating class of Yale University. Researchers asked the seniors if they had specific written goals for their lives. Only 3% of them did. Twenty years later they were studied again and that 3% of the graduating class had accumulated more personal wealth than the other 97% of the class of 1953 combined. That’s a tremendous vote of confidence for the importance of writing down your goals. Or it would be if it was true. Fastcompany. com as well as the secretary of the Yale class of 1953 debunked this story that has been told from stages around the world.

That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t write down your goals. Putting them on paper keeps them in front of you and gives you an easier way to visualize them. It also creates a level of commitment on your part to meet the goals, especially if you’ve shared them with an accountability partner.

Another story often told from stage by motivational speakers is the true story of Napoleon Hill. He was an American author and one of the pioneers of the genre of personal success literature. Hill was a newspaper reporter who was assigned to interview steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie was so impressed with Hill that he commissioned him, without pay, to interview 500 successful men and women including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Eastman, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and Theodore Roosevelt.

Hill was already a believer in success principles and was more than willing to work without pay in order to have access to these great people. His job was to discover and publish their stories of success, which Carnegie believed could be distilled to a simple formula that could be duplicated by the average person. That distillation was eventually published as the book Think and Grow Rich, which has sold more than thirty million copies worldwide.

What Hill discovered was that these successful people all had a “Definite Major Purpose.” In simple terms: They had dreams, goals and a plan to achieve them.

A plan of action
What’s the plan for turning a dream into a goal?

1. You must want your goal badly. You must be willing to sacrifice to achieve it. Olympic athletes devote years of their lives to train for one moment of performance, which--if perfect or near perfect--will win them a gold medal. Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen was favored to win medals in the 1988 Olympics. He competed only hours after his sister’s death from leukemia and fell. Despite dominating the sport for a decade, he went home with no medals. Yet he continued to train and returned to the Olympic arena in 1994 for another try. After a fall in his specialty event, he had one more chance for the elusive gold. He not only won that medal, but set a new personal and world record.

How badly do you want to write that novel?
2. You must visualize achieving your goal. The human brain can’t tell the difference between something imagined and the real thing provided you are able to visualize your goal with clarity. A study at Manchester University showed athletes were able to achieve muscle growth purely by visualizing larger muscles during hypnosis sessions.

Picture writing the last scene of your novel and typing “The End.”

3. Plan the path to your goal. Every athlete has a training schedule. Every teacher has a lesson plan. Every project has a schedule and budget.

How many pages will you write each day to finish your book?

4. Put a date on your goal. Napoleon Hill wrote: “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” Many have dreamed for years, yet never achieved the dream. Olympic athletes know that every four years the world’s best will gather to compete. A student knows when his term paper is due. An author under contract has a deadline date.

When do you want to finish your book?
5. Mark your calendar at set intervals and chart your progress. Runners time trials at intervals to clock their improvement. Manufacturing companies develop schedules for each phase of production to help them stay on task. Get yourself an accountability partner and check in with each other on a regular basis to report your progress.

Put a calendar on your desk and use it for more than a paperweight.

6. Evaluate regularly. If you aren’t making progress, perhaps you need to make changes. The goal will stay the same, but perhaps you need to change the date or the path you’re using to get there. Characters go off on tangents; life sideswipes you and lands you in bed with the flu; hard drives crash. But your story stays the same.

Affirmations
Most success coaches also emphasize the importance of daily affirmations. Jack Canfield, co-creator of the billion dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul series, teaches that you can increase your results by taking your goals and turning them into affirmations, and he's created a formula for doing so. Take the goal and turn it into an affirmation by beginning with “I am” and adding an emotion adverb. State it in the present tense and say it aloud at least twice every day.

For example your goal of writing five pages a day becomes: “I am cheerfully and effortlessly writing five pages or more every day.”

“I am” goes back to that deal about the brain not knowing the difference between the truth and a lie. The adverbs tell your subconscious that the goal won’t be difficult to achieve. Stating the goal in the present tense creates conflict between what you are saying and what is true. Your subconscious then acts to eliminate the conflict. Adding the words “or more” to the statement nudges your subconscious into realizing that it’s possible to do more than just the five pages. By saying the affirmation first thing in the morning, you start your day on a positive note. By repeating it right before bedtime, you command your brain to work on it while you sleep.

Write down your affirmations, not only as a writer but as a spouse, parent, employee or any other roles you have and tape them around your house. It takes twenty-one days to make a new habit. Repeating affirmations is a habit worth developing.

Quotes
Quotes from successful people can serve to motivate and inspire. Like affirmations, they help choke out the negative thoughts that frequently invade our minds. Here are some of my favorites. Feel free to paste them around your writing area.

Plan your work for today and every day, and then work your plan. ~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. ~ Henry Ford

There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going. ~ Beverly Sills, American opera singer and chairman of the Metropolitan Opera

What would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail? ~Dr. Robert Schuller, minister and author of Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. ~ author unknown

If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else. ~ Yogi Berra, New York Yankees player and manager also famous for his “Yogi-isms”

Belief
One last and very important element in this equation is belief. W. Clement Stone, whose life reads like a Horatio Alger story, said: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

There’s a story about a young girl whose father died and left her in the care of his second wife. The wife wasn’t thrilled at being responsible for this child and relegated her to a life of misery. Yet despite her abysmal lot in life, the girl kept a positive attitude and believed that one day she’d find a way out. Then an opportunity presented itself. She had held fast to her dream and now had a deadline to aim for. With a little help from her friends, she acquired the tools to achieve her goal and despite a lost glass slipper, a coach that turned back into a pumpkin, a nasty stepmother and two ugly stepsisters, Cinderella found her Prince Charming and lived happily ever after.

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbows will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true.
~ Cinderella in Cinderella (3)

I will be drawing a name from your comments on this blog, and Marilyn will send a journal and a Writing Playground pen for writing down and tracking goals to some lucky person!
Thanks, Marilyn!


1 Music and lyrics by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II
2 Music and lyrics by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline
3 Music and lyrics by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston


Marilyn Puett is an Alabama wife, mother, grandmother and writer. She has sold a dozen and a half stories to confessions and romance magazines and is the featured author for week one of the 2008 Bylines Writer’s Desk Calendar. She is a member of RWA and serves as secretary of her home chapter, Heart of Dixie RWA (www.heartofdixie.org). Two years ago she was invited by four friends and chapter-mates to join in the formation of a group website. The result was The Writing Playground (www.writingplayground.com). It features monthly interviews of authors and other industry professionals, articles, book recommendations, and photos of hunky men among other things. Their blog (www.writingplayground.blogspot.com) is a assortment of posts about writing, family, life and hunky men, with guest bloggers sprinkled in for good measure. Her goal for 2008 is to dust off that old manuscript that’s been under the bed too long and finish it.

BONES

Did I mention there are FOUR new episodes left for sweeps month in February?

Charlene Sands: HUNKY HEROES X FIVE

I'm excited to feature my friend Charlene Sands today! Many of you already know her - she's been here before and visits often. But now you have a chance to hear about her stories. And she brought HUNKY HEROES! That's almost as good as chocolate. Welcome, Charlene:

When we write our heroes, we give them traits that are memorable and they are often a melding of perfections and flaws, strengths and vulnerabilities, passions and aversions. Whether an alpha or beta male, the heroes we love stand out in classic ways.

My 2008 stories include five hunky heroes, all male, of course handsome in their own right, but each one of them are different and I thought it might be fun to see just how they differ and what ONE essential trait makes them stand out from the rest. Since I have 2 of the 5 romance covers, I’ll post them here, but then I let my imagination take flight and posted my idea of what my next three heroes should look like.

DETERMINED – Evan Tyler is nothing but determined to seek revenge on his rival by seducing his daughter and extracting information from her. He goes to great lengths in his deception to keep her from finding out his true identity. He’s resolute in making his hotel thrive by crushing his opponent. All is fair in love and war. Often time, when the hero is real clear in his objectives, the story unfolds naturally.

INDIGNANT - While I admit resentment isn’t a very “hero-like” trait, it works well in the story. Clint Hayworth is angry as hell and as bitter as they come. He returns home to his deceased father’s wealthy ranch after a ten-year estrangement (don’t go by the shack on the cover-the Double H is enormous and prosperous) to find his father’s widow. The woman is younger than him, gorgeous and refuses to sell him her half of the ranch. Clint’s bitterness drives this story and keeps the tension high. He trusts no one and believes the worst about the heroine. This trait defines Clint’s character and the underlying hurt he feels toward his father, which is revealed later on. I’m a pretty optimistic happy person, so I really had to reign in my own emotions and make sure I didn’t soften Clint until the end.

QUICK-WITTED – Okay, so this isn’t exactly how I’d pictured Caleb Matlock, the rancher raising his young niece in Springville Wife from the Western Weddings Anthology, but I bet I got your attention! Put a shirt on this guy (what a shame) holster a gun, toss on a Stetson, and you have our hero. He’s a rascal, the boy who teased and tormented our heroine in school before she moved away. Now she’s back with a sorrowful heart and Caleb can’t help but keep up his cunning ways to charm her back into his life. Caleb is the closest I’ve written a Beta hero this year. He’s half and half, a good blending of heart in the scenes with his niece and a touch of sensual mischief in the scenes with the heroine. But make no mistake, Caleb is sharp-tongued, clever and charming and extremely appealing. What woman doesn’t love a man who can make her laugh?

AMBITIOUS – This is a great picture of what Trent Tyler might look like from my first book in the Suite Secrets series, Five Star Cowboy. It’s a contemporary set on an exclusive ranch-style hotel in Arizona. Trent is as bold a cowboy as they come. He’s daring enough to make the heroine’s heart flutter, yet he pays a price for his driving ambition by losing her trust. His ambition is the villain in this story actually and his highly competitive nature nearly makes him lose the one thing that’s more important to him than his hotel.

VENGEFUL – Don’t you just love Tim Daly? He’s about as sexy as they come, IMO. Put a pair of shades on him, give him a bit more attitude and he’d make a great, Cody “Code” Landon, owner of Landon Security Company. Code has orchestrated himself into a flashy country singer’s life, in Book #2 of the Suite Secrets series. Code is an expert in the field of security and protection, but this time, he’s got revenge on his mind. He wants to give the beautiful country singer a taste of her own medicine. No longer believing she’s the innocent sweet girl he’d loved and lost in their youth to her career, Code wants her to pay for his heartache.

As you can see these revealing traits aren’t the most flattering, but when tempered with the right amount of sincerity, vulnerability and passion these heroes can make a story memorable. Do you have any stories that stand out in your mind because of the hero, whether in book form or TV or movie? What trait is most appealing in a hero and what traits do you think have been overdone?

Charlene Sands
www.charlenesands.com

Thursday in Wildflower Junction

CLICK HERE: I'm blogging at Petticoats and Pistols today! Mosey on over and have a look-see. I'm jawin' about one of my all-time favorite authors.

Can you guess who?
HINT------------------------------>







While you're there, don't forget to enter the Spring Drawing for this basket of fabulous prizes!

Nahui Ollin” (Pronounced: Now-we-oh-lean) gum wrapper purses

I just loved this idea!
Nahui Ollin is a collection of unique and fashionable handbags and accessories made from recycled materials. All merchandise is entirely hand-made by specially folding and weaving individual candy wrappers, gum wrappers and soda bottle labels--together to create the various beautiful shapes and sizes of the Nahui Ollin Handbag and accessory Collection.
All materialls--candy wrappers, gum wrappers and soda bottle labels--are factory rejects from independent manufactures and have never been used. These same materials were certain to be sent to a land fill or garbage dump only to pollute the earth. Not only does the process sustain the environmentally-friendly practice of recycling, it also yields creatively-fresh, long lasting and innovative products.
Made from up to 4000 individual candy wrappers, each piece is passionately and patiently hand made by craftsmen and follows the same process of folding, weaving, and sewing, which can take up to 4 days to complete. And while the bags are indeed made from candy wrappers, gum wrappers and soda bottle labels, they stand the test of time and weather for tear-free, long term durability.

Most are priced around $150, some $199. You can check out the fun website here.

check out slow cooker recipes

It's slow cooker day at the recipe archive blog!

10 thoughts on why everything counts

1.Every Choice Counts!

Every choice must have a purpose. Every choice counts. There are no insignificant choices, no neutral actions. Even the smallest gesture has a consequence, leading you toward or away from your goals.


2.Reality Counts!

Reality is the foundation of success because reality is truth. Reality is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Get this and you‚ve got it: Reality moves you towards your goals; denial leads you away. There is only one reality!


3.Character Counts!

From the minute you open your eyes in the morning until they close again for sleep each night, everything in between complements or compromises your character. Every day˜for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health˜character counts. It is more important to have character than to be a character.


4.Self-Discipline Counts!

Self-discipline is a habit. It is not situational, but it is applied situation by situation. Anyone can be self-disciplined on occasion, but to get consistently positive results takes consistency. It is the day-in, day-out practice of self-discipline that determines where you'll end up. Every act of self-discipline moves you toward your goals and every exception takes you off course.


5.Personal Development Counts!

Growth and development is a lifelong pursuit: there's always some polishing to do, knowledge to gain, and love to be deepened. Self-development ends only when we run out of time. Life is a work in progress, improvement never ends, and you never totally arrive. You are, and will be for as long as you live, a self in evolution.


6.Excellence Counts!

The pursuit of excellence is not only politically correct, it is also highly profitable. A commitment to excellence can help you to capture true wealth and realize the inherent value of your potential. You will never outlive its importance, usefulness, and necessity. Its absence devalues potential, credibility, and reputation.


7.Failure Counts!

Failure serves an indispensable function in the production of your success. It provides information and motivation for you to learn from and apply. Failure is not only the output of an unsuccessful activity; it is also the input for a successful one. The bright side of failure is that it inspires improvement, creativity, change, and most importantly, purposeful activity.


8.Health & Energy Counts!

Widen your moral purpose — vow not just to live longer, but to live better, to have more energy, self-worth, and clarity. The preservation of health is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical morality. You must take care of your body because the day will come a time when it will no longer tolerate your indifference.


9.Fun Counts!

An essential part of your journey is the pursuit of happiness. Yet, the only way to maintain a sense of fun and play is to consciously choose to make it a priority. Unfortunately, fun seems to wind up on the bottom of the "To Do" list. You are the conductor of mirth in your life, your own personal Clown Prince of Mirth and Merriment.


10.Your Legacy Counts!

It's non-negotiable: You will leave a legacy. The question is not whether you'll leave a legacy but what legacy you will leave! To arrive at the point that you think seriously about your legacy, you must reach a level of reality and commitment that represents an eternity to follow. When you take the final bow, who will you be? How will you enter eternity? Will you just be a footnote in history?

Anti-theft Cup

Tired of people using your coffee mug?

With this little handy dandy invention, you can pull the plug on mug theft. Take the plug with you and it becomes useless to others!

Val Kilmer

I was rather appalled when I ran across this picture of Val Kilmer, but now I'm telling myself he gained weight for his role in Comanche Moon.

FRONTIER COURTSHIP by Valerie Hansen

March 2008
Love Inspired Historical
ISBN 978-0-373-82784-8

She had made a solemn promise to see her younger sister to safety in California. But the endless journey across the frontier was proving a heartbreaking test of courage and endurance for Faith Beal. All she had to sustain her was her steadfast belief in God - and the guiding hand of a stranger who truly seemed heaven-sent.
Connell McClain was her selfless guardian as their wagon train slowly made its way west. And as they shared the dangers of the trail and the closeness of the wagon camp, Faith felt the first tender stirrings of love for this roughhewn yet caring man. But would the secrets that seemed to haunt him threaten their feelings for one another?
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY FROM AMAZON:
Frontier Courtship (Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical #4)

happy anniversary - The Frisbee

Jan. 13, 1957: Using a design inspired by a popcorn tin lid and borrowing a name from a pie manufacturer, Wham-O began production of the Frisbee.

Comanche Moon

So, did you watch it?

Don't Want to Work Today? Creative Excuses

Did you hear the one about the woman who couldn't go to work because her chickens' feet were frozen to the driveway? It's not a joke -- it's an actual excuse given to a boss.

Gone are the days when an employee called in sick and coughed a little to make the story believable. Today, workers give a variety of excuses when they stay home from the office. And they're doing it a lot.

Almost one-third of employees admitted to calling in sick to work last year even though they weren't ill, according to CareerBuilder.com's annual survey. Fortunately for them, 75 percent of employers believe their employees are sick when they say they are.

But some bosses aren't falling for it.

Thirty-five percent of employers checked up on their supposedly sick employees. The majority (67 percent) of those suspicious bosses demanded a note from the doctor. A determined 14 percent actually drove by the employee's home.

So what should you tell your boss if you need a rest but there's not a holiday in sight? Honesty is the best policy, says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com. "If you're a strong employee and you're truthful about the time you need off, your employer is likely to give it to you." But if you get caught in a lie, you risk your reputation and possibly even your job.


Luckily, many employers are beginning to understand that an employee doesn't have to be suffering from the flu to need a day off. Mental health days, which allow employees to stay home from work to escape the stress and chaos of the office, are gaining acceptance in the workplace. Sixty-nine percent of surveyed employers consider mental health days acceptable uses of sick leave.

"Employers are placing a greater emphasis on work/life balance, offering more opportunities for employees to recharge and return to the office more productive," Haefner says.

So the next time you call in sick ' whether you have the flu or a desire to stay in your pajamas until noon ' you can decide if you want to tell the truth or a little white lie. If you choose the latter, here are some of the most unusual excuses bosses revealed.

1. At her sister's wedding, an employee chipped her tooth on a Mint Julep, bent over to spit it out, hit her head on a keg and was knocked unconscious.

2. While at a circus, a tiger urinated on the employee's ear, causing an ear infection.

3. An employee's dog wasn't feeling well, so the employee tasted the dog's food and then got sick.

4. "Someone put LSD in my salad."
5. An employee's roommate locked all his clothes in a shed for spite.

6. "Stuck on an island - canoe floated away."

7. An employee was upset because his favorite American Idol contestant was voted off.

8. "I didn't think I had to come in if I had time in my vacation bank. I thought I could take it whenever I wanted."

9. An employee said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest up for the company's holiday party that night.

10. A groundhog bit the employee's car tire, causing it to go flat.

Dog-Tired

An old, tired-looking dog wandered into the yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home. He followed me into the house, down the hall, and fell asleep in a corner. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.

The next day he was back, resumed his position in the hall, and slept for an hour. This continued for several weeks. Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: "Every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap."

The next day he arrived with a different note pinned to his collar: "He lives in a home with ten children -- he's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?"

McDreamy named the face of Versace’s new line

Oh, yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about....
“I was thrilled to be asked to be the face of the Versace Men’s campaign,” Dempsey said. “It was so lovely to work with Donatella Versace, she is an iconic and inspirational woman and a wonderful person, not to mention what a pleasure it was to work with Mario Testino too, one of the world’s finest photographers.”

For Donatella Versace, Dr. McDreamy was the perfect choice to represent the popular fashion line on a global scale.

LOS ANGELES - Now you can just call him ... McFashionista.
Patrick Dempsey has been announced as the new face of Versace’s upcoming men’s spring/summer line, Access Hollywood has learned.

The “Grey’s Anatomy” heartthrob was photographed for the ad campaign in November by renowned fashion photographer Mario Testino.

“Patrick represents everything that is great about this collection — he has that confidence, he is completely comfortable in his own skin, which is so attractive. He is the modern man of today and of course looks fantastic in the clothes,” she said.
And of course, his impressive Hollywood resume didn’t hurt either.
“I’m a big fan,” Donatella added. “So it was a great experience working with him because he is such a talented actor.”
Dempsey currently stars in the Disney film “Enchanted,” which has held on to the top spot at the box office since its November 21 debut.

The Versace print ads featuring Dempsey will begin circulating in magazines in February 2008.

always amazed at the new high tech stuff

Everything about MacBook Air has been streamlined. And then streamlined again. Except for the things that shouldn't be, starting with the full-size, backlit keyboard and 13.3-inch widescreen display. On the inside (yes, there's an inside), it boasts an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, and amazing wireless capabilities. Mobile computing suddenly has a new standard. MacBook Air.

Show them the money!

Wouldn't it be ironic if while the television moguls are holding out on giving the writers their due slice of the pie that America realized it got along just fine without those programs! So, if you watched the video (if you didn't, scroll down and watch it) you know what the strike is all about: New media. Authors have had their contracts changed over the past few years, too, to include ebooks and internet sales.

Anyway, which shows do you miss the most? For me, of course, it's BONES! But, good for us--I think-- they've dug up another lost episode. Well, it wasn't really lost. This is the show they shelved last April when the Virginia Tech slayimgs too closely resembled college students in the program. That was sensitive of them, I thought. But now they're pulling this episode out -- I guess America is supposed to be desensitised by now, right? and get this: They haven't changed the murder plot; they've changed removed interaction between Angela and Hodgins because they are now engaged and weren't then, and supposedly that would have been weird to viewers.

Well, it's been so long since we've seen a new show, anything is going to be weird at this point. But don't think we get to see it this week -- they're holding it for sweeps in May. Fox put the last three pre-strike episodes on hold for sweeps, too. Don't ya love it? They'll put all the good new shows on opposite each other. Ah, well, just so I get my Brennan and Booth fix.

What's the Writer's Strike All About?

or WHY IS THERE NOTHING BUT RERUNS ON TV?

New recipe posted today: Robyn's Sassy Corn Chowder

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

After the disappointment of The Bionic Woman last season, I know I shouldn't have had my hopes set too high for the Sarah Connor Chronicles, but holy cow! The Monday night premiere, which E Entertainment said got 18 million viewers, was awesome, with the surprise element of the highest tech robot of all disguised as John's classmate who is really the one John of the future sent to protect him in that year. Yeah, the time travel takes some concentration on my part, so ...at the end of episode one, all three were so very cooly shot from the bank vault through time to the present, and when episode two opens we learn Sarah would have died of cancer had she stayed. It's always something, eh, Sarah? Pretty ironic, since she took on Terminators I, II and III and kicked their butts. So my brain is figuring out how she time traveled to 2007 without being dead now - because she won't have to run into herself - but won't John run into himself?

STORY PREMISE:
At the end of "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," Sarah vanquished the Terminator sent from the future to kill her teenage son, John. Sarah and John now find themselves alone in a very dangerous, complicated world. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future, and the present, could attack at any moment.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES reveals what happens when SARAH (Lena Headey) stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 15-year-old JOHN CONNOR (Thomas Dekker), knows that he may be the future savior of mankind, but is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he's told is his destiny. John finds himself inextricably drawn to CAMERON (Summer Glau), an enigmatic and otherworldly student at his high school, who soon proves to be much more than his confidante - she assumes the role of Sarah and John's fearless protector. On their trail are not only threats from the future, but an intelligent and tough FBI agent, JAMES ELLISON (Richard T.Jones), who soon becomes a powerful ally.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES represents an exciting reinvention of the "Terminator" franchise, in which the strong and intrepid Sarah discovers that protecting her son and stopping the rise of the machines is more difficult than she had ever imagined.

If you want more story and backstory read this obsessive guy's blog. He explains the years, Skynet, all that.

Lena Headey is not Linda Hamilton, which we knew going in, and knew there would be mental adjustments to make, so okay. It didn't take long to like this Sarah Mom. If we compare, she's not as pumped up - or as haggard-looking as Linda was by III - poor gal had been through a LOT -- but she's just as steely-eyed and determined. There aren't many moms who tell their sons to pack the guns right before she's about to whip up some pancakes for breakfast.

So I'm giving this both thumbs up for Mon and Tues and plan to catch the rest. There will always be the lure of seeing the grown up John dangled in front of us.
What? You're not a Terminator fan? NETFLIX, people, Netflix!
And who knows, Arnold may make a cameo one of these days...after all...he said he be back. But he'll need start a workout program. Found this pic during I FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF week and didn't have time to post it. DON'T LOOK if you can't handle supreme disappointment.

So...did you watch?

I'm sure you can catch episodes on Fox if you missed them. And hey the site is just cool, so check it out.

Big Spring Roundup Contest Underway Now

Enter the Big Spring Roundup Contest at Petticoats and Pistols

New meaning to bring your child to work day

In the Minneaapolis Star Tribune:
A suburban mom is accused of bringing her 20-month-old son along to two armed robberies, and she and a man were jailed on serious charges. According to the criminal complaints against Jessica L. Reich, 21, of Brooklyn Park, and Patrick L. Mobley, 21, of south Minneapolis:

About 10:30 p.m. Monday, a man was taking out the trash behind a home in the 3000 block of Pleasant Avenue S. when a man emerged from a car, pulled a handgun, ordered the victim to the ground and took his driver's license, check card and cell phone. The gunman fled in the car.
Nearby on Lake Street soon after, a woman was approaching the door to her home when a man walked up and pointed a handgun at her face. The man grabbed the woman's purse and shopping bag. The man ran to a car. Inside, the victim said, she saw a woman in the front passenger seat and a small child in the backseat. The victim reported the car's license plate to police, who traced it to a Brooklyn Park apartment building in the 5800 block of 73rd Avenue N., where Reich lives.

A car with that license plate was stopped, and police arrested Mobley and Reich. In the backseat was a small child, who was taken into protective custody. A search of the car found items from both victims and a .32-caliber revolver. Reich is charged with endangerment of a child, a gross misdemeanor.

Suppose this was how Ma Barker started out?

Speaking of guns, anyone watch the Sara Conner Chronicles last night???

Cookies with your coffee? Things To Make Your Life Easier

I don't even have to look for all this weird stuff anymore, because you all know me so well that you send it to me! LOL Michelle Styles sent me some GREAT pictures to share with you. so watch for more of these this week.
This is a hoot! The bottom of this cup has a little storage spot for your cookies. It comes left- or right-handed. I have one little question. Doesn't the HOT coffee melt the chocolate chips?