http://tinyurl.com/kezrfpl!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Charmed is a kindle daily deal 01/27/2014
Sweet, small town romance: CHARMED is a $0.99 #Kindle Romance Daily Deal!
http://tinyurl.com/kezrfpl!
http://tinyurl.com/kezrfpl!
Sunday, January 26, 2014
On love, science, art, and bread...
A few months ago, my youngest son
was diagnosed with Celiac’s disease and he had to go completely gluten-free. At
first, I was surprised it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be. There are a
lot of options out there nowadays! But I quickly figured out it also wouldn’t
be as easy as it had seemed at first (cross-contamination issues, variety,
temptations at school…).
My son took it all in stride and has
been very good about it. I’m so proud of him! Things like quinoa and rice pastas
and brown rice tortillas are delicious and he hasn’t even noticed a difference.
But bread is another matter. It’s been impossible to find a good gluten-free
bread. We’ve always been big on bread at our house and our kids became
accustomed to going to local farmer’s markets and special bakeries to buy
artisan breads of all kinds. My son LOVES bread and not being able to eat it has
been his biggest challenge. So I decided to try and make bread myself.
I’ve always been horrible at baking. I never had it in me to
be as precise as you need to be to bake well. It’s easy to be adventurous with
cooking. It’s more of an art than a science. To me, at least, baking is more
science than art. But love goes a long way and making bread has become my most fun
and consuming kitchen adventure. My son loves to help and knowing he’s had a
hand in it just makes it taste better for all of us.My son has been really happy with every loaf, roll, and pizza crust. They’ve been far from great, but they haven’t been bad, either. And I know it’ll get better and better because the smile on his face is the best possible reward. People say that food just tastes better when it’s made with love and I’ve always agreed. Making things with love feels wonderful, too. Time disappears.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Happy Holidays...
Happy holidays everyone! Just a quick note to wish you a blissful season and a very happy 2014. I've been away because I've been working hard on something...hope to have more news in 2014.
Warm wishes,
Inés
Warm wishes,
Inés
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Cheesecake for Breakfast
My mom is fun and creative and a great conversationalist. Growing up, these things more than made up for her lack of cooking skills. She tried, but she was never able to get into anything that had to do with the kitchen (she'd be the first to tell you this, btw). She sewed dresses for me and my dolls, helped me figure out the lyrics to popular songs, and did tons of fun things to my hair. Her creativity just never extended to the kitchen. My sisters and I never complained about it, though. To us, it was a part of who she was. We'd eat the same four or five meals she was good at and we were healthy and energetic kids. Some weekend mornings my mom would turn to us and say, "How about cheesecake for breakfast? It has cheese and cheese is protein, so it must be okay." What kid would say no to that? Cheesecake for breakfast is a fond memory for me. Whenever I think about it, I feel how much I love my mom.
Today was the first day of school and I was neurotic about feeding my kids a balanced, healthy, tasty breakfast. Tonight, I'll be equally neurotic about dinner. There's so much pressure to be "the perfect mom" nowadays. A huge part of it is there's so much information out there and we have easy access to it. From the moment you conceive you're either helping, hurting, or doing nothing for your kid's cognitive development/future health/fill in the tons of blanks about all the potential damage we could do to our kids.
So this Saturday I'm giving my kids dessert for breakfast. I'm also making it a once-in-a-while thing. Because I don't want to just feed their brains and bodies. I want to feed their memories, too. And I won't make the dessert myself because I may be a good cook (according to my husband and kids), but I truly SUCK at baking (according to anyone who's ever tasted or even smelled anything I've tried to bake). I hope my kids remember my ill-attempts someday and smile over one of their mom's many imperfections. And I hope they feel love for me when they do.
Today was the first day of school and I was neurotic about feeding my kids a balanced, healthy, tasty breakfast. Tonight, I'll be equally neurotic about dinner. There's so much pressure to be "the perfect mom" nowadays. A huge part of it is there's so much information out there and we have easy access to it. From the moment you conceive you're either helping, hurting, or doing nothing for your kid's cognitive development/future health/fill in the tons of blanks about all the potential damage we could do to our kids.
So this Saturday I'm giving my kids dessert for breakfast. I'm also making it a once-in-a-while thing. Because I don't want to just feed their brains and bodies. I want to feed their memories, too. And I won't make the dessert myself because I may be a good cook (according to my husband and kids), but I truly SUCK at baking (according to anyone who's ever tasted or even smelled anything I've tried to bake). I hope my kids remember my ill-attempts someday and smile over one of their mom's many imperfections. And I hope they feel love for me when they do.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Rambling about old friends...
There was this show in the 90's called Wings. It was my favorite show way back when I had time to watch TV. My best friend and I roomed together at the time and she and I were so different... she liked to go out to clubs and dance and I liked to hang out in small groups and just talk and laugh. But we had a standing date to watch Wings together every Thursday at 8:00. We had the same sense of humor and, to this day, our silly sense of humor is key to our friendship.
Anyway, I came across old episodes a few weeks ago and just seeing the name of the show made me smile. I DVR'd the show for when I had time and last night I watched six episodes back to back. I've never been good at critiquing, mainly because I'm too "glass half full" (trust me, it warps your perception-- much better to be a "the glass has x amount of ounces" kind of person and see things exactly as they are), but the acting and story lines were definitely different back then. I just can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is I really enjoyed watching the show again because it felt like I was visiting old friends.
Watching Wings in college and swapping R.L. Stine's Fear Street books in high school are among warm memories my oldest friend and I share. There were also these super scary books by Christopher Pike that we used to read and then burn (for a very silly reason I won't share). My friend and I haven't seen each other in a few years, but we have nice, long talks twice a year and though we talk about very mature things like raising kids and the awful things that happen in this world, we still laugh over our reasons for burning those Christopher Pike books.
The writers of Wings and the authors of those books created characters that became a little part of our friendship's history. No wonder watching the show felt like I was visiting with old friends. I think I'll break out a few Fear Street books next, and then call my friend and tell her about it.
Anyway, I came across old episodes a few weeks ago and just seeing the name of the show made me smile. I DVR'd the show for when I had time and last night I watched six episodes back to back. I've never been good at critiquing, mainly because I'm too "glass half full" (trust me, it warps your perception-- much better to be a "the glass has x amount of ounces" kind of person and see things exactly as they are), but the acting and story lines were definitely different back then. I just can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. All I know is I really enjoyed watching the show again because it felt like I was visiting old friends.
Watching Wings in college and swapping R.L. Stine's Fear Street books in high school are among warm memories my oldest friend and I share. There were also these super scary books by Christopher Pike that we used to read and then burn (for a very silly reason I won't share). My friend and I haven't seen each other in a few years, but we have nice, long talks twice a year and though we talk about very mature things like raising kids and the awful things that happen in this world, we still laugh over our reasons for burning those Christopher Pike books.
The writers of Wings and the authors of those books created characters that became a little part of our friendship's history. No wonder watching the show felt like I was visiting with old friends. I think I'll break out a few Fear Street books next, and then call my friend and tell her about it.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
A Laundry Vent
I'm not normally a procrastinator, but I procrastinate when it comes to blogging because I'm not sure I have anything interesting to say. Today I'm blogging to procrastinate and to vent. It won't be interesting.
Every once in a while I become so SICK of doing something, I actually become exhausted at the thought of doing it. Lately it's folding laundry. I've done the math and the entire laundry process is taking up 2.6% of my waking hours. Today that seems like a lot because there's no light at the end of the tunnel any time soon. Laundry is one of those things you can't get out of unless you decide to join a nudist community, and after searching on Google I couldn't find one with an excellent school system, so that alternative is out. I could also let my kids do their own laundry, but they'd end up stuffing their clothes in a bag instead of properly folding and hanging it, and then it would get incredibly wrinkly, and I'd have to let them iron it themselves (because if not I wouldn't be cutting back on my work load), and THEN they'd probably burn themselves, and a trip to the hospital over getting burned with an iron would probably mean I'd be interviewed by social services...so I'm back to laundry taking up 2.6% of my life. No biggie, I'm just being a big baby about it today.
Every once in a while I become so SICK of doing something, I actually become exhausted at the thought of doing it. Lately it's folding laundry. I've done the math and the entire laundry process is taking up 2.6% of my waking hours. Today that seems like a lot because there's no light at the end of the tunnel any time soon. Laundry is one of those things you can't get out of unless you decide to join a nudist community, and after searching on Google I couldn't find one with an excellent school system, so that alternative is out. I could also let my kids do their own laundry, but they'd end up stuffing their clothes in a bag instead of properly folding and hanging it, and then it would get incredibly wrinkly, and I'd have to let them iron it themselves (because if not I wouldn't be cutting back on my work load), and THEN they'd probably burn themselves, and a trip to the hospital over getting burned with an iron would probably mean I'd be interviewed by social services...so I'm back to laundry taking up 2.6% of my life. No biggie, I'm just being a big baby about it today.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Who Would YOU Rather Kiss Part III
So...it turns out I don't know how to count! I asked
18 authors (not 21, oops!) to share their answers to a few fun questions and I will be posting
their answers, seven authors at a time, throughout the week. Questions:
1. Oh Lloyd! He
never makes these lists and he should. Thank you for including him!!
It must be this:
Diane Court: Nobody thinks it will work, do they?
Lloyd Dobler: No. You just described every great success story.
2. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon.
It's my absolute favorite and I would kill to meet Jamie Fraser in person. Oh,
heck, who am I kidding, I wouldn't mind standing and drooling at him from afar.
Lol
3. I actually wouldn’t mind sitting down with the heroine’s best friend, Lisa Caldwell, for a margarita. And being the romantic that I am, I’d want to know what her hopes are for her love life. Does she see herself settling down, that kind of thing.
1.This is a no-brainer. When I
think of Thor, I imagine Chris Hemsworth. He’s just plain glorious. As a
god of thunder, lighting and storms, I can only blush when I think of what
kissing him would feel like.
3. I would love to meet my character, Jared McNeil from my new book, In the Shadow of Evil/release date: 29 August 2013. He’s my go to fantasy guy because he’s the protector, the man that you can always count on to be there for you. And of course, he’s tall, dark and incredibly handsome. I would love to meet him over a large margarita and maybe a plate of hot, steamy nachos. As a writer, I would love to ask him what in the hell taking him so long to bed Jennie McKenzie. The girl’s crazy about him. As a woman, I think I would just like to look into his deep cobalt blue eyes and melt. Since I’m married to the most wonderful husband in the world, that’s about all I could do with him.
1. James
Bond. Why? I grew up watching James Bond (Sean Connery and Roger Moore) and
even as a kid swooned at how suave they were. I mean really. You're getting a
pimped out MacGyver. *wink*
2. James and the Giant Peach. Would be a memorable trip.
3. Scarlet O'Hara and I'd slap her while asking "what the hell is wrong with you?"
1. Who would you rather kiss: James Bond, Mr.
Darcy, Thor, or Lloyd Dobler. Why?
2. If you could live in any story ever written, which story would you choose and why?
3. If you could have one of your characters over for coffee, tea, or a margarita, which character would you choose, and what is the one question you’d ask them?
This
week I come across another John Hughes fan and one of my favorite quotes from Say Anything. And what’s this about a pimped out MacGyver? Plus, the Outlander series proves to be a popular
place to live :). 2. If you could live in any story ever written, which story would you choose and why?
3. If you could have one of your characters over for coffee, tea, or a margarita, which character would you choose, and what is the one question you’d ask them?
It must be this:
Diane Court: Nobody thinks it will work, do they?
Lloyd Dobler: No. You just described every great success story.
Although
the bit about what he does and doesn't want to do with his life is sublime.
And
seriously? I love John Hughes movies, but this one? Say Anything and the
friendships, the love story, beats them all to hell!!! Maybe I'll write
fanfiction now.
2. Gosh.
Tough. I have to go with the time travel in Gabaldon's Outlander series. Is
picking a series cheating?
3. I'd
pick Marilyn Gibson, my heroine's dead mother in Rock Her and ask her why she
kept so many secrets.
3. I actually wouldn’t mind sitting down with the heroine’s best friend, Lisa Caldwell, for a margarita. And being the romantic that I am, I’d want to know what her hopes are for her love life. Does she see herself settling down, that kind of thing.
3. I would love to meet my character, Jared McNeil from my new book, In the Shadow of Evil/release date: 29 August 2013. He’s my go to fantasy guy because he’s the protector, the man that you can always count on to be there for you. And of course, he’s tall, dark and incredibly handsome. I would love to meet him over a large margarita and maybe a plate of hot, steamy nachos. As a writer, I would love to ask him what in the hell taking him so long to bed Jennie McKenzie. The girl’s crazy about him. As a woman, I think I would just like to look into his deep cobalt blue eyes and melt. Since I’m married to the most wonderful husband in the world, that’s about all I could do with him.
2. James and the Giant Peach. Would be a memorable trip.
3. Scarlet O'Hara and I'd slap her while asking "what the hell is wrong with you?"
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