(in the prize dept)

(and hell, in other depts too – we are talking romance after all!)

The Smart Bitches and the Dear Author girlz are at it again with a sweet little contest to help spread the word about the awesomeness of contemporary romance in general and author Julie James’ latest release in particular.

I’ve said it before, I wasn’t much of a fan of the contemporary – but I agreed with so many of SB Sarah’s favs that when she oozed happiness and rainbows for a book that was outside my novel comfort zone – I figured why not.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that.

So reach out – be brave – try something new!

Save the ta-tas, yes, but save a contemporary too.

And I am in no way comparing the two causes, or making light of a serious issue – but so many campaigns have their ribbon – pink, red, yellow – what would the Save the Contemporary support ribbon look like? Flesh colored?

I kid!

Maybe if we found a couple hundred yards of man-titty fabric…

I am never ever “not busy,” but lately I have been even more “not busy” than ever (did that makes sense?). So my blog isn’t even on the back burner – it’s stuck somewhere in the back of the Tupperware cabinet.

I know it’s important to make time for things you love…so I need to find a way t0o balance it all and get back to posting. I have a pile of awesome Monday Muses I want to start showcasing, my Disney reviews have been at a standstill (oh how I wish I was planning another trip right now!), and I have lots of neat little crafts and projects I can’t wait to share with the world (or at least the 20 or so people who read this).

I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day, and I hope you get to spend time doing stuff you love, eating things you love, and being with people you love.

And now…some of my favorite Valentine photos:

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Go check it out…but if you win I am not liable for any injuries!

Personally, I think he enjoys making her flip out.

Do all fathers share that? Do they all get a secret thrill out completely ticking their kids off just by repeating an oft-used and much hated turn of phrase?

I know my Dad did. Ugh. Even now I can hear him telling me “I can’t never did do anything.” You’d think, as much as that phrase annoyed me, I’d stop saying “I can’t!”

But guess what, I was a kid…”I can’t” is pretty much par for the course.

I get what he was saying, I get the message he was trying to teach me about not giving up. As an adult I can even appreciate the witty wording…but still…to this day that phrase raises my hackles.

Miss A says “I can’t” all the time. It is incredibly frustrating and I want her to cut it out and at least try her best…but I’ll tell you what…

I am VERY proud to say that I have never, not ever, responded by telling her “I can’t never did do anything.”

I just can’t do it.

So, this is it, the start of a new decade, and one in which I don’t want to waste anymore time wishing I’d look better in a swimsuit or running in terror from the thought of trying  to find a pair of jeans I look good in.

I have always been active and enjoyed exercise, I have never been a “bad”  eater, I think I have more bad habits than anything else – mainly not eating all day and then, since I’m starving by dinnertime, eating too much.  I won’t even get started on genetics and all that – I know that my inherited DNA makes losing weight an extra hard uphill battle, but I refuse to let that be an excuse for me not to go for it.

Yep, that's me on the scale before I'm even a year old.

Besides, there’s a lot of cash on the line!

And I really love to win.

As a homechool kid, it took some effort to get her involved in a troop – last year I was lucky enough to know another homeschool mom who was a troop leader and invited Aishtyn into the troop. This year that wasn’t an option, so I begged our way into another friend’s troop. It’s a good thing, because the charter school Miss A was just accepted into doesn’t have a Girl Scout troop either.

I love Girl Scouts, Miss A makes new friends, learns how to be a good citizen, and has fun doing all sorts of activities and crafts. (Like Christmas Caroling with these really cool home-made flame-less “candles” I have to show you how they made these sometime, they are really neat!)

This year, Miss A will take part in that classic Girl Scout tradition – COOKIE SELLING.

My idea of selling Girl Scout cookies involved setting up shop in front of a bookstore or StarBucks and letting the incredibly charming Miss A sell away.

Apparently, you can’t do that. To sell in commercial locations, the whole troop needs to be involved.

Plan B: the plan I think many girls implement – is to give the list to their parents to take to work. Um…no…there is no way the husband is pimping cookies at work. I know him, and he just won’t do it. (Thanks Dad, for helping me sell enough cookies when I was a kid to stack boxes higher than my head!)

So I guess it will have to be the “classic” method. Door to door solicitation. Which would be fine except for the fact that we live in the MidWest and it’s the start of January.

And therein lies my gripe with Girl Scout Cookie time.

Aside from asking girls to trek through snow and subzero temps to peddle Peanut Butter Patties, I question the wisdom of this choice for other reasons.

January? Really?

What makes you think that trying to sell people cookies the same week they are all making resolutions to lose weight and eat healthy is a good idea? Everyone just dropped all their extra cash on a gym membership or fancy piece of exercise equipment…they will have no dough left for a $4 box of Tag-a-whatevers!

And if they didn’t spend money on the above, they are probably still broke from the holidays. Not to mention completely cookied out from all the seasonal goodies and treats.

This is Miss A’s first year, so maybe I am unaware – do they sell cookies again at other times of the year?

And just to clarify, I love Girl Scouts, this is not a negative comment on them – it’s just one mom’s gripe.

Now, who wants to buy some cookies?

I loved Pandora, I loved how it introduced me to new artists based on stuff I already liked (hello Frou Frou and Jem (no, not with the Holograms). I loved the cute little widget I can add to my website and share what I’m listening to (I always find it interesting to see what kind of music people like). I loved that I could build different “radio stations” based on my mood or what I was doing.

But all was not perfect  in the Pandora world…my biggest beef is the limit they place on how much you can listen for free…well then, that’s not really “free” anymore.

Then along came Last.fm…oh sweetness and light, I am saved! This site is really neat – totally free, listen as long as I like, and a big list of free mp3s available to download to boot. They also allow you to select artists you like and build playlists based upon your taste, and they include videos (cool, huh?)!

Sorry Pandora, I just found something a little better.

I hope we can still be friends.

This was how I discovered that:

A – I totally missed an awesome series of book giveaways for the 12 days of Christmas at Book Binge

and B – they are featuring Karen Marie Moning in their author spotlight this month.

I love Karen’s books. The Highlander time travel series and the Fever series, she writes fun heroines, sexy sexy heroes and great dialogue. So yay for Karen!

Right now they are hosting a tournament of KMM heroes, so go and place your vote. Oh, and you can vote for more than one (kinda like having your cake and eating it too…but if I think about that too long in reference to KMM’s heroes I’ll need a cold shower).

Her post got me thinking about the movies that have made me cry the most – and the ones that are sure to make me cry every time I see them (which is why I avoid some of them – they pack an emotional punch I only need to get hit with once, kwim?)

One such movie for me is What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. I cry during so many parts of that film, but it’s the moment after the mother passes away and there is the issue with the stairs that I just lose it completely. If you know my family, you’ll understand why, I think.

I cry, of course, during Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett calls for Rhett and he doesn’t know, when Bonnie dies, and of course, when she finally realizes she loves him just a little too late.

I admit it, I cried during Titanic.

I cried during Somewhere in Time, sigh, I love that movie.

I cried during Shakespeare in Love, SIGH, I love that movie even more.

Miz Booshay talks about having the good movie cry  – you know, the joyful cry – tears of happiness – and I’m trying to think of movies that spark that in me, I know it has happened, I just can’t recall any right at this moment…

I’ll think about it and get back to you…

after all, sometimes a solid happy cry is good for the soul.

Especially after watching Gilbert Grape.

Or maybe we know a song is really bad: the lyrics are beyond awful, the singer had enough electronic assistance and back-up singers to start a dozen bands, the tune is obviously trying too hard to be catchy and you MUST resist…but somehow you…can’t…(imagine that last part in the voice of Cpt. Kirk).

Case in point: I just bought a song from itunes from a singer I really can’t stand…really. Lady GaGa is more Lady GagGag to me, and when that new Bad Romance song of hers comes on the radio I shriek like I’ve been bitten by a hyena and clutch at the stereo dial, praying I can get the damn song off before my head explodes from the awfulness. Yet, somehow, I find myself really liking another of her songs. Everytime Paparazzi comes on the radio, I find it still playing in my head hours later – and I like it. So I caved, and for just under $3, bought a series of 4 remixes of the song.  There, I admitted it.

Which made me think of other songs I liked, but if anyone caught me singing it (or rocking out to it in the car, yikes), I wouldn’t deny it, but would feel I had to justify it somehow…or at least acknowledge that I should be embarrassed by my poor taste in music.

So here we go – my list of Top 10 Songs I Should Probably Be Ashamed To Admit I Like

10. As discussed above, Paparazzi by Lady GaGa

9. I am a mom to a 6 year old, which means I have accepted that Hannah Montana is going to be a part of my life. But I admit I really like some of her songs, especially Hoedown Throwdown

Somehow it goes against my principles to like songs from an American Idol winner, but sometimes they are just so darn catchy!  So that reason alone, covers the following 3:

8. That Jordin Sparks song…One Step At a Time

7. Before He Cheats Double Whammy: an American Idol winner AND a country song!

6. Battlefield again by Jordin Sparks – I was kind of irritated by this song when I first heard it, (steal from Pat Benatar much?) but the more I hear it (and it’s rather hard to escape it) the more it grows on me…like a fungus.

5.  1,2,3,4 by Plain White Tees  – Lil’ G really likes this song, and in a year or two, probably could have written the lyrics for it…but I have to say, I like it too.

4. Here I Go Again by Whitesnake Crazy women who go to court for beating their husbands doing  naughty things to the hood of a car aside, there’s something about this song that just makes you want to belt it out at the top of your lungs.

3. Fallout Boy – I Don’t Care Really? Fallout Boy? I know, but I love to run to this song.

2. Taylor Swift – Love Story I suppose I shouldn’t be embarrassed, based on the number of awards this girl has won even Jesus buys her music, which kind of makes me wish I didn’t like it (the whole not wanting to like what everybody else likes).

1. Nickelback….So Far Away Ok, this one I am truly ashamed of…of all the bands out there, Nickelback is one of the biggest jokes – poser rock to the extreme, Google Dolls squared. But this one song, I like it… alot.

I am sure there are more…oh so many more…but those are the ones I could think of right away.

So embrace your bad taste and be proud: what songs do you love when you rather wish you didn’t?