Resolutions Schmesolutions

or something like that.

I am not a resolutions kind of girl. I always say I will make them, and then I list them, but when the first rolls around I have never actually made a commitment to said list.

However, this year I think I have decided to make some. And commit to them. And even try to achieve them. This year...

I resolve to write more regularly. That's right. I won't put a page number or a word count on it. But I will make an active effort to become more consistent in my writing. I won't go so far as to say I will write every day. But I can say, pretty confidently, that at least once a week I will sit down and make actual progress on actual books. There are too many that are begging for attention. I have new books, I have sequels, and I have a series that all need to be written. So this year I will write them. Or I will at least work on them.

Not very exciting I know. And after so many weeks in a row of staying on topic, writing entertaining posts for you. I think I'm just scared of what the new year holds. 2009 was not a great writing year for me. Sure, my best books came out this year, but I actually wrote them in 2007. Scary huh?

My second resolution is a spending resolution. I resolve to stop doing it. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have a problem with shopping. Like a serious problem. I probably need an actual 12 step group. (Not making light, I have that bad of an addiction.) I have bags in my closet full of things that I have never used, never even looked at after bringing home. I buy just to buy. When I am happy, when I am sad, when I am bored. I shop. A lot.

This year I need to curb that addiction. It will be a struggle, but I will be so much better off for it. No wondering if I will be able to pay bills but look how cute my shoes are. No sir, this year I will try for some responsibility. Wish me luck, this is going to be a hard one.

Well, Happy New Years everyone. I hope you all have fun and yet safe evenings. Love and hug your family and friends and take lots of pictures. You need to keep your memories close.

In fact, I will make a third resolution. I vow to take more pictures this year. To savor more moments with my family. To sit back and watch them and appreciate the life that I have. I resolve to love more, love stronger, and make fabulous memories.

Happy New Year!
Dakota Rebel

Distracted

Okay, I'm supposed to post today. Instead I'm sending you to Brynn's blog. Go. Now.

If It's New Year's, There Must Be A Resolution!!!

Or is it revolution? Hmm... either way.... this year marks a year of changes, primarily because I am no longer working on my bachelor's degree - bachelor of science - not unfortunately a bachelor's in hot men - hmmmm --- any way - so I have a few life changing things I want to do that coincide with that... and since I'm sure that list will change before New Year's Day gets here - I don't firm anything up until the Chinese New Year. Bad year one year -- ick... back to resolutions...

My Writerly New Years Resolution -

1. Write 500 NEW words a day on a book (letters, emails, articles, and papers don't count)
2. Finish 6 - 9 new books
3. Finish the first two and expand as needed.....

SHort, sweet and to the point....

Now, what goals do you have for the new year?


Happy Reading,
Simone

Holiday Wishes

Love, laughter, joy, wonder and peace - my wishes for you - now and always.

Happy Holidays from the Vamp Smutter

My own Irish blessing for the holidays

May you have a warm and toasty holiday.
May your ass never catch a cold.
May you sneeze away from those you love.
May your stocking be filled with jewels.
May the man in your life trim your tree and deck your halls.
May your stairs be pre-salted beneath your feet.
May you discover a box of hot chocolate on your shelves.
May your mother forget to nag you.
May your siblings writhe in jealousy over you.
May your animals clean their own litter box.
May sugarplums be replaced with naked, river dancing men (now there's a visual).

May your reasons to celebrate out number excuses to mope. Here's to a Holi-dazzle you will never forget.

Love,
Mia

Happy Holidays!!!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Solstice, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or some other holiday, I wish you happy holidays and the best wishes for a wonderful new year!


Happy Holidays,

Simone

Christmas Yumminess

There are so many things I love that I only ever get at Christmas time - like my mom's amazing fudge, my sister-in-law's mom's pecan pie, my aunt's trifle, my mom's bread pudding, my other sister-in-law's snowball cookies.

There seems to be a theme here...a whole lotta sugar.

I'd like to add my favorite recipes full of sugary goodness.

The. Best. Sugar. Cookies. Ever.

1 1/2 cup of butter (yes, butter)
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together. Add beaten egg. Mix well. And vanilla and baking powder. Mix well. Add one cup of flour at a time, mixing between each cup. Divide dough in half. Place on a floured surface. Roll with rolling pin until dough is around 1/4 inch thick. Using floured cookie cutters, cut out shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Repeat process with remaining dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. (Do not over bake.) Let cool and frost with icing of your choice. Yield 24+.

Crescents

Dough:

1 package dry yeast
3 cups flour
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
8 ounces of sour cream

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Glaze:

2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoon vanilla
splash of milk (enough to create a drizzling consistency)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine yeast and flour. Add butter. Mix well. Stir in egg yolks and sour cream. Shape dough into four balls, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for at least one hour (no longer than overnight, however.)

Combine sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. Set aside. Work one portion of the at a time. Place on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 1/4 inch thick circle. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar mixture evenly over each circle and cut into 16 equal wedges. Roll up each wedge beginning at the wide edge and rolling to a point. Seal points firmly. Place on greased cookie sheet; point side down. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until slightly browned. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. Drizzle glaze over crescents when cool. Yield 64.

OMG OMG OMG FOOD!!!!!!!!!!

I love food. I mean, I really love food. And the holidays offer up some of my all time favorite foods on which I am allowed to feast upon like a glutton on her birthday. OMG, FOOOOOOOOOD.

So my all time favorite food is stuffing. I love stuffing. And I don't want anything in my stuffing. I am plain bread crumbs, sage and onion girl. Sometimes I will allow you to top my stuffing with gravy, but only if the gravy is awesome. (My favorite is Heinz Turkey gravy. I know, there are people out there cringing at the thought of gravy from a jar. But I don't care, this stuff is amazing.) I rarely wait for November to break out the stuffing. I like to make it with all kinds of stuff. Pork chops and stuffing is one of my favorite meals. It is just yummy!!


Sweet Potatoes, or yams, are another thing that for some unknown reason people tend to only serve during the holidays. And they are another thing that I make as often as possible. Now, I don't mess with fresh ones. Again I hear your gasps. Sorry, they take WAY too long to cook and I want them NOW. So my favorite are Bruce's Yams in a can. In a big can. In the biggest freakin' can I am able to get my hands on. And I make them as sweet as I can. Here is my very own recipe for sweet potatoes:

1 40oz can of Bruce's Yams
1 Stick of Butter (REAL BUTTER PEOPLE! With salt and all if you don't have sodium issues)
1 lb light brown sugar.

Open the can and drain the juice into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and add 1 stick of butter and 1 lb of brown sugar. Place the yams in a glass bowl and pour the sugar mixture...I mean juice mixture, over the yams and cover with tin foil. Bake for 45 minutes or until sweet potatoes are fall apart tender.

Serve in a bowl with juice mixture spooned over the yams. OMG, they are like freakin' candy. Now, at this point there is nothing left that is good for you. They say that yams are supposedly chalk full of vitamins and stuff, but once you add a stick of butter and a pound of sugar they are just candied pieces of goodness.

Geez, I'm hungy.

I also use this technique with beans. I like to take Bush's original baked beans and add tons of brown sugar then simmer on low for an hour. Again, candied goodness.

I like brown sugar. Can you tell?

Sure I like turkey, and I like jellied cranberry sauce, and I like bread of almost any kind. But I could live off of stuffing and sweet potatoes if I could. And pie. I almost forgot pie. What a bitch!

Now, I don't actually make pie. I prefer to see pie as a reward for...breathing in and out every day. So I usually buy my pies. Or have my mom make them for me. Having to mix and pour and bake and cool all that crap myself doesn't seem like much of a reward at all. Cookies are about it for me baking for myself. But below are a few of my favorite pies.








Happy Holidays every one!
XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Merry Edible Christmas

Pick up the phone. Dial 1-800-PIZZAHUT. They deliver and he's usually cute.

Actually, I do cook. I cook a lot. I prefer german food so it involves red cabbage mixed into cheesy potatoes. There's usually some schnitzel of some kind, too. The rest is up for grabs. No, I won't tell you how I make them, because it's top secret.

Ok, I'll tell you about the cabbage.
In a pan, melt a tablespoon of butter and start cooking three slices of chopped smoked bacon. Light fare this is not. Throw in 1/2 a chopped onion to cook with the bacon. You'll need to keep an eye on the heat and speed this is cooking.

When it's done, open a jar (canned is gross) of red cabbage (not fresh, that's not pickled). Reduce it and cook it at a slow bubble until the bright red is out and the liquid is minimal. Then serve it up.

Trust me.

Yummy Smells And Tastes From My Kitchen To Yours

No holiday get-together in my family or my friend-family is complete without pie. And make sure there is ice cream. Over the years, I've tweaked a basic Dutch Apple pie recipe until it's more or less how I like it. I'm still working on the crumb topping. Let me share my apple pie recipe with you..... (note: all measurements are in American weights)

Simone's Apple Pie:

Filling:
2 kinds of apples - I use Gala and either Empire or Honeycrisp ( usually 2 - 3 pound bags) - peeled, cored, sliced thinly (about 1/8 of inch - eye-ball - exactness here doesn't matter)
2 Tbls flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup white sugar
handful of caramels cut in half or quarters

Topping:
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Sugar (I use white, but brown has been suggested - can't wait to try that)
2 Cup Flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Slice enough apples (equal mixture of both) to completely fill (nice slightly over-flowing pile) - the pie crust of your choice (I've used both homemade and store bought- both work and get eaten nicely. If you don't like your apples discolored - add a tablespoon of lemon juice to them and mix it in - I don't, so I don't know how this changes the flavor.). *remember apples bake down.
3. Mix the filling ingredients only - the apples, sugars, cinnamon, flour and caramels in a large bowl until well mixed.
4. Pour apple mixture into your prepared pie crust.
5. Combine the topping ingredients - using a pastry cutter or 2 knives - the remaining flour and sugar. Cut in the butter.
6. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples. You may not use all of the topping. I sprinkle sprinkle raw sugar over before baking - it's optional.
7. Bake for an 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly.

Side notes - may try adding nutmeg to it this year, but I don't know. This recipe will continue to be modified until I feel it's a perfect blend of sweet and spicy and tastes wonderful. It tastes the best warm and served with cinnamon ice cream - but that is extremely hard to find - so a nice vanilla works really well. I have also cooked it on a cookie sheet so that anything that bubbles over hits the cookie sheet and not the bottom of my oven causing a mess and smoke.

This is a pastry blender - and is available at places like bed, bath, and beyond; meijer; and probably wal-mart. If you don't have one are getting one - get a sturdy one.


Happy Holidays!!!

Simone

Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Lean Your Ear This Way...

There are writerly things I'd like for Christmas, but unfortunately, they're difficult to wrap and even harder to find. Like Mia and Marti, I'd most like the gift of uninterrupted time. I'd also like the ability to focus.

It's no secret that I suffer from ADOS (Attention Deficit...Ohhhhh Shiny) but there's something about this time of the year that makes it even harder to stay focused on the story I need to get written. My mind is constantly flitting around to all of the Christmas presents I've yet to make or buy, parties I have to attend, snow days I'm hoping for and in between all those distractions are snippets of the stories I'm working on.

So yeah, Santa? I'd like some time, some focus and an unlimited supply of Starbucks. Heck, maybe we could just install that nice hippie boy in my kitchen along with whatever magical coffee making machines he needs to keep me heavily caffienated. That sounds like the perfect plan.

Oooh, It's like the Toys R Us Big Book for writers!!!

FYI, in case anyone is feeling generous toward one of your favorite vampire authors this season, all of the pictures are links to a site in which you can purchase the items. :D Aren't I thoughtful?

(***Authors note - I SWEAR the links were there when I posted this. But now it is being dumb. Sorry, you're going to have to google it if you want to buy some of this stuff. Grrrr....Technology BAD!)

Actually, I included the links in case you want to get yourself or someone you love one of the nifty items below. But hey, in case they are having a magic 'buy one get one free' sale I wouldn't want to miss out on the opportunity to get the free one.















Oh hell, just get me this whole page...I mean. Get the writer or avid reader in your life this whole page.



So I just found this website. And of course I have stopped looking for things to post and am just shopping. So I will leave you with the above photos for now. Everything else will just end up coming from that site. You can go there and browse for hours yourself. You don't need me to pull pics and links from the place for you.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

What I want for Christmas in a writerly way

Freakin TIME, man. Another five hours of sleep and work if that's at all possible. What I have instead, is a cat who taunts me.

All I Want For Christmas is....

This topic had the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" stuck in my head for weeks...

I wasn't quite sure what exactly I wanted for Christmas that was writerly the first four times I spotted the topic, but I figured it out. I have a computer, I love office supplies so I have enough of those. A real desk - like the really old secretary types with a hundred cubbies (like this one would be awesome, but what I really want is a floor to ceiling wall to wall (only on one wall) white board.

I am primarily a pantser, but sometimes I need to brainstorm to get passed a problem or to figure out where my characters are going or maybe just what the title is going to be. And I do that on my current white board (I really don't like lines), but it doesn't hold a lot so, I have to stop and copy everything down, erase it and then start again from where I left off. A really big white board like they have classrooms would be perfect. Of course it means I need a dedicated office in my own house, but that's okay.

The white board/dry-erase board is probably one of my favorite tools.

Dear Santa, I can explain....

Okay, this hasn't been the best year for me from a quality writing perspective, so I'm probably on Santa's naughty writer list this year. And not the kind of naughty writing that would get me publicized in the Erotic Romance genre either, darn it.

But heck, I think Santa should consider that as a good reason to put a few writerly gifties under the old Christmas tree me, don't you?

Let's see, there are a lot of things I'd like so I'll pare down the list and go right for the BIGGIE!

Can you guess what it is?

Nope, not a publishing contract (although I won't turn one down, Santa). Nor is it a new Dell desktop computer with flat screen monitor or the elf-maid service for my office and home.

What I'd like is simply a gift of time. I'd like a solid week (including both weekends) that I can call my own. No job or visits to the nursing home, no volunteer work or social obligations. I want 9 days in row to be able to sleep the hours I want, write the hours I want. Ah, pure indulgence. That's what it would be.

Is that asking for too much for the chubby little guy in red?

~ Stephanie

Holiday Traditions? Yep...I've got them.

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we put up the Christmas tree. Putting up the tree is always exciting because the cats try to help - but this year, it was more so because we have six month old kittens who think the whole set up is a jungle-gym. Both Willow and Morrighan have wrestling matches in the upper branches of the tree. Good thing it's tied to a hook in the ceiling. That's Willow in the branches.


Another favorite tradition is getting out the Christmas castle. It's the last thind my Grandma made me before she died. It always makes me smile when I see it.

Other than the tree and the castle, most of our traditions revolve around making things. Of course, there's the usual cookies and cakes, but we also make edible ornaments that we hang outside to feed the animals. We sit around the table, spread peanut butter on rice cakes, dip them in birdseed and hanging them on the trees and bushes in our yard. We love watching the bunnies and squirrels munching away.

Another holiday craft is making stockings. So far, I've made all of my family members cross stitched stockings - most without a pattern because apparently people don't design patterns with iguanas licking ornaments or dragons flying with Santa on its back. Go fig. In all, I've made fifteen and I'm working on number sixteen - hopefully, I'll have my nephew's stocking done before Christmas Eve! But here are a few - dragons, faeries, an iguana and Eyeore.

Holiday Traditions

As many of you know last year my life was flipped on end. I lost one of the most important people in my life when my dad passed away unexpectedly. This has sort of skewed my traditions.

Usually my daughter and I would spend Thanksgiving at his house. I would cook a small but somewhat traditional meal and we would all watch football together. Last year I was pretty lost as to what I was going to do with out him. Lots of families spend varying holidays together, but for us Thanksgiving was our family unit's time together.

So my life saver husband came riding to my rescue last year. We had a few friends over for brunch. Which consisted of cinnamon rolls and mimosas. Have you ever had a mimosa? They are filed under "The best thing ever." It is orange juice mixed with champagne and it is yummy, yummy, yummy. I figured out just how much I loved them two bottles of champagne later when I was still thirsty yet found myself out of alcohol. So the lovely Mr that he is, the hubby went back and bought me a few more bottles.

We discovered that if you buy PEACH champagne the mimosa turns into a bubbly fuzzy navel and becomes even more enjoyable.

At some point during my drunk Thanksgiving he left to eat real food with his parents and I was left alone for a few hours. I used this time to continue drinking my bubbly goodness and play on the internet. That is when I discovered the awesome site Funny Or Die. This site was created by Will Ferrel during the writer's strike that no one remembers anymore as a way to still be funny, but not break any SAG laws. Genius. There are a ton of funny videos on this site. But as I discovered, there is one person in particular whom I fell in love with and made me forget everything except alcohol and laughter for at least a few hours.

THIS, is Jon LaJoie. I LOVE Jon Lajoie. If you have never seen his stuff, his very adult language stuff I should caution, go to YouTube or Funny or Die and check him out. He is hilarious. And I have a little hero crush going on since he helped me get through one of the worst holidays EVER.

We had the opportunity to see him live last year and it was amazing. We took our friend Jeff K. and it was great. Jon LaJoie is freakin' hysterical. Check out his website at www.jonlajoie.com. Full of funness.

Anyway, to get back to the original topic, we did discuss making this a tradition. Getting me loaded and watching funny videos together.

Alas, instead we bought a house and got married. Not that I am complaining. I love being married and I love my house. But there will be years when I look back and wish that I had gotten a few more drunk nights watching cats in bowls and drunk boys try to share history lessons.

This year we will be asking our parents to come to our house for dinner. I am going to cook my very first turkey. And there will be sweet potatoes and sugar beans and green bean casserole (Gag, but my mother likes it). And there will be pies. Lots and lots of different kinds of pies.

Perhaps this will be our new tradition. Filling my kitchen with delightful food smells and the sound of laughter from my remaining family. It will never be better than the quiet Thanksgivings with my Dad. But different isn't necessarily bad. No matter what I will be giving my daughter memories with which to draw her own future holiday traditions. Which hopefully if she goes the drunk video route she never shares with me.

XoXoXo
Dakota Rebel

Can't seem to remember a thing...

Hot chocolate with two huge marshmallows. Curled up with a flannel blanket on the brick hearth and my cold hands wrapped around the pottery mug. Snow falling outside, my cheeks stinging as they go from iced to chilled to rosy warm. Wood cracking and flaring in the fireplace behind an iron mesh curtain that never quite closes and the missing fob on one side of it.

Mom trying to sing carols in a joking falsetto despite the vocal chord surgery that really messed up her soprano voice years before. The way she smiles and her dimple deepens, when her eyes sparkle because she knows she's being a little creepy-assed-Christmassy in a way that would make me blush in public but just makes my heart toasty now. The urge to sing the same songs with her in the same way even if I do sound like a strangled cat, but I can't resist the way the joy and words push from behind my closed lips. Suddenly we are laughing like young children because I give in every year and she wins.

Dad singing in church the two and a half notes he knows. They are all bass notes and he rarely gives the right one in key but when he does, his face lights up and he chuckles deep and rumbly then sends me a wink.

Cold wind and brown leaves swirling, skittering, dancing across the yard in mini cyclones of winter, stealing your breath, sucking the moisture off your teeth and drying your eyes yet somehow, though your nose is numb and your chin is trembling, you stay outside and lift your face to the endless winter skies only found in Minnesota. Toes so cold they curl under inside the residual warmth of your shoes. Ears so cold you no longer feel them at all.

Lights on the tree that never seemed to blink or hold the way they should or the way you expect. Always gaudy, always tangled, always, about fifteen years old though you don't remember the time they were new or a time they were replaced. Laying under the tree and staring straight up with your brother as he fills your head with stories about the times he's seen Santa and the aliens that come during the holidays when we least expect it. He tells you about the bugs that are right now boring through the tree trunk toward your head, because they like human flesh and it becomes the number one reason you never reach for your gifts, but send your cousins to fetch them and pass them out.

Memories. Nah. I don't have a one.

Holidays At My House

As time passes, and my family grows and changes, the traditions that happen at my house change. Pull up a chair, have a cookie and a cup of hot chocolate and let me share my traditions with you, because I'm interested to know what your traditions are. Sharing is almost always a good thing (hey, what can I say - germ sharing isn't always good. :))

I've been in school almost as long as I've been divorced, and in that time Bug has gone from a baby who could barely toddle all over the house to a healthy young lady who will be entering middle school next year (I'm so not looking forward to this). We learn and grow and our traditions have changed in that time, but some things do not.

Starting at the beginning of November, usually the weekend after Halloween, we pull out my village - my mom started me on this and it's become a family thing. I prefer the victorian village pieces, where as the rest of my family prefer the Original Snow Village from Department 56. Last year I started making Homemade Apple Butter, so after the village is put up, I finish making apple butter. Then Bug and I go through and decide what breads and cookies we make. There are some favorites that get made every year - banana bread and pumpkin bread are staples. Along with spritz cookies, chocolate chip cookies, no-bake cookies, Morovaian spice cookies and gum drop cookies in memory of a good friend of mine who passed away. There are sometimes gingersnaps and sugar cookies that are decorated and frosted. There is always butterscotch and chocolate haystacks and if ever forget to make the peppermint bark, I think my friends and family would disown me. :) This year, I may drizzle chocolate over some of it.

The week of Thanksgiving almost always is within two weeks of finals, which means on top of studying for exams, profs rushing through things because they're realizing how much left they have to crame into the semester and the dozens of papers and projects that are due, there is cooking to be done. This is also about the time I dig out the holiday CD's. My family is spread out throughout the western part of the state, with my brother and sister living the closest at 30 minutes apart. So, special occassions are when we get together. And while, I love Thanksgiving with Bug and my family, one of my favorites was when I had a houseful of Marines over because being alone at the holidays sucks. If I had my way, I'd still have a houseful of friends over, because being alone still sucks, but my house is a 650 sq foot apartment (tiny) and the builder put one smoke detector right next to a windowless and mostly ventless kitchen. So, Bug and I go up to my parents...the baking... like every family we have our must-haves and I always bring homemade Dutch Apple pie and Pumpkin Pie along with a side dish of some sort. I'm thinking of bring this apple-stuffing recipe I found in a cookbook - I always bring something different for my hot dish. This year we'll also have homemade bread and butter pickles and dill pickles. If we're lucky, they'll make it to New Years, but I'm not holding my breath. Bug and I will head to my mom's either really late on Wednseday and sleep there and help her cook or really early Thursday morning. While we're cooking we'll have on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

After Thanksgiving, and the food is eaten and sorted and frozen, I avoid Black Friday shopping, having worked retail during it, I'm so not going to shop in it. And eight times out of ten, there's a blizzard of some sort up here. Or at least a ton of snow. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we dig out our tree and decorate it. Lights, wooden cranberries, assorted ornaments. A new snowman ornament every year for me, a new one for Bug (that she'll take with her for her own tree), and a new family one. This year we added a snowman in camouflage to our tree. I liked to have a cookie and ornament exchange party, lately it's just been cookies, because not all of my friends participate in celebrations that have trees with ornaments, so we do cookies and share laughs and stories instead.

So, now that you know more about my holiday traditions than you could ever want to know, tell me about yours.

Take time for yourself and read during this very busy time of year!

Happy Reading,
Simone