Sister Scribe

Last night I spent some time working on Christmas shopping lists and plans for this coming weekend.  Hubby and I are usually standing in the dark on line somewhere on the morning after Thanksgiving, and we always come home with some great bargains.

I had to laugh when I saw that Wal-Mart's (my second home) ad was leaked to the press on Saturday.

http://www.bvonmoney.com/2009/11/18/black-friday-walmart-ad-2009/

This year the retail giant is trying a different tactic. If you're a die-hard Black Friday shopper, you might want to read this.

http://news.holidash.com/2009/11/11/walmart-moves-black-friday-to-thursday/

My entire family is tightening its collective belt again this Christmas and keeping our gift exchange under $40 per person. But if I had my choice, this is what my ultimate Christmas list would look like:

Amazon Kindle

Leather Kindle Cover

8-GB iPod (I think 10,000 songs will be sufficient)

Wii Fit w/EA Active Games

Pink Digital Camera w/pink case

Alphasmart Neo (so I can give my old one to a writing friend)

Red HP Netbook

 What's on your dream Christmas list?

I have mentioned many times that I do my best work away from the house, and Atlanta Bread Company is one of my favorite places to write. They offer free WiFi (which I don't need for my Alphasmart), but it makes the store a hot spot for meetings and studying.

If you write, you know how important comfort is. The ergonomics of the furniture are a major consideration. Something about the design of the benches and height of the tables at the Fayetteville ABC were perfect for me, but I have also worked at the Morrow and Peachtree City locations where they did a total remodel last year. The wooden benches are gone -- replaced by padded booths with a pendant light over each table. The booths also have high backs, which cuts down on distraction, and there is a half-wall separating the seating areas.

When my friends in Fayetteville announced that they were closing on Sunday night and reopening on Tuesday morning so they could remodel, I was thrilled.

Yesterday I spent three hours at the newly redecorated ABC. They're really going to have a hard time getting rid of me now.

This is kind of what the old decor looked like:

 This is the new look.

This booth in the bottom left corner is my new home. Headed out again in about an hour ...

Which Five Fictional Characters Would You Invite to Dinner?

I got this idea from reading Julie James's entry on Friday over at Romance Novel TV and thought I'd play along. I love questions like this, because they make me really consider why I find certain characters interesting.

My choices are:

Usnavys Rivera, the full-figured, sexy Latina from The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Her Spanish-speaking mother named her after the ships she saw docked in the harbor near the Navy base in Puerto Rico. I'd invite her because that girl, with her bawdy sense of humor, would be the life of the party.

Alyssa Locke and Sam Starrett, the African-American beauty and FBI sharpshooter married to the ultimate redneck and Navy SEAL from Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooters Series.In my opinion, they are the most interesting couple in recent popular fiction. Just hearing about how they keep their odd couple marriage thriving would be enough to make the dinner conversation fascinating.

   (depending on how you envision him ...)

Rhage (nickname, "Hollywood.". He doesn't have a last name), the mind-numbingly sexy vampire warrior from J.R. Ward's Lover Eternal, because I wouldn't even have to eat. I could just be satisfied looking across the table at him. He would be the male (I can't say man) I'd ask if I could only invite one guest.

Gideon, the hitman from Eric Jerome Dickey's Waking/Sleeping/Resurrecting series because I'd need someone fearless to keep Sam from trying to take Rhage's head off (literally) when he inevitably tries to flirt with beautiful Alyssa.

The menu wouldn't be a problem for Usnavys or Rhage, since both of them tend to devour whatever is put in front of them. I tend to think that Gideon would just pick over his meal. He's too tense to take his time enjoying the food and his eyes would be glued to the door to check on who is entering/leaving the room. I'm sure Sam and Alyssa would enjoy anything home cooked, considering they've spent their lives on the road.

If anyone is up to the challenge, post your five fictional dinner guests on your blog and leave a comment here.

Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson were my all-time favorite entertainers. Now they're both gone. Luther's music always soothed me. His voice quality was unsurpassed by any other modern singer.

Like Luther, Michael's stage performance was often copied but never surpassed.  I have wonderful memories of attending many of his concerts at Madison Square Garden and Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. His music has always made me feel happy.  

Despite what some think about his troubles, he was the most electrifying entertainer to hit  the music business in the last fifty years. He will be missed . . .

For some reason YouTube has the embed codes on all his videos disabled, so I couldn't post the actual video, but this is why Fred Astaire called him the best dancer in the world:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKBLxh3u0tM

.

And here's  fabulous tribute from the 25th anniversary of the Thriller video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMBuGyfpsLQ&feature=related

Today I'm going to depart from my usual Fun Friday funnies because I'd like to talk about two things that are so sad they're funny.

The first is PETA's reaction to President Obama killing a fly during a television interview. Perhaps you slept through yesterday and missed this whole flap. You can read about it and watch the video here.

If this wasn't so twisted it would actually be funny. These people are serious, and that speaks volumes to me of where our society stands. Whenever I see something happening in the world that freaks me out, I go to my authority, the One who knows everything. Here's what He has to say about PETA and their nonsense:

"Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshipped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever." - Romans 1:25 LB

"Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." - Genesis 1:26

The dictionary definition of "dominion" is: "the power (as authority) or right (as ownership) to use or dispose of property; specifically : absolute or exclusive use, control, ownership, or possession of property dominion and control.

"And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife."  - Genesis 3:21

Besides, flies are disgusting creatures that spit on their food (our food) before they eat it. If you don't believe me, read these:

http://www.aceexterminating.com/flies/content/do_flies_vomit_on_our_food.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_true_that_house_flies_throw_up_on_everything_they_land_on

* * * * * *

On another note, I really thought using my nickname and maiden name as a pseudonym was pretty unique. I mean, how many Chicki Browns do you know?

Well, not even two months ago I discovered there's a new television show called Southland that features a female police officer named Chickie Brown. Today I received a Google Alert announcing a new clothing line called --  you guessed it --  Chickie Brown and their web site is www.chickiebrown.com . Check out their fabulous clothes.

Okay, they spell it with an "e", but when I purchase my domain name I'll have to use chicki-brown.com, authorchickibrown.com.or chickiwrites.com.  Guess I should've purchased the domain name when I set up my web site. So much for being unique ...

I sent a message to the company just to wish them well. Here's the owner's very kind response:

"hey ma, thanks for the compliment - your site is GORGEOUS COOL!! will

spread the word about your blog (loved it!) ur a really sweet sista n

I pray that all of ur dreams will spread/materialize love!  bye 4 now."

In an effort to promote my proofreading and editing services, I have created a new web site.  If you need help polishing your manuscript, please stop by www.djedits.webs.com.

Webs.com informed me that I had exceeded the web storage limit on my site, so I had to delete a year's worth of blog entries and a couple of pages from the general site in order to post more pictures.

On Monday I was so tired I couldn't put two rational thoughts together. After driving 800 miles round trip, all I wanted to do was veg out. I only left the house to drop my camera off at the drug store to get a CD. No, I still haven't bought a digital camera yet, but these came from my $3.00 disposable.

We stayed in a private home in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida. According to ameliaisland.com, "The island was originally inhabited by the Timucuans (as early as 2,500 B.C), the French rose what would be the first of eight flags over Amelia Island on May 3, 1562. This began a chapter of the island's history that has been described as "the French visited, the Spanish developed, the English named, and the Americans tamed."

The historic district has charming old Victorian homes, huge trees dripping with Spanish moss, antique shops, candy and ice cream stores. Another part is home to several of the big box stores --  Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe's --  my idea of the perfect balance.

Although I liked strolling the streets of the historic district and buying fresh bread and flowers at the Saturday morning farmer's market, my favorite part was sitting on the deck and looking at the ocean. Naturally I didn't get as much writing done as I'd hoped, but the time I spent laughing with my girls, picking up seashells along the shore and sitting and listening to the waves did wonders for my mental state.

All we knew about the house before we got there was that it had five bedrooms. When we arrived, we discovered there were three bedrooms in the main house and a two-bedroom apartment with two ocean-view decks above the garage next door. My girlfriends and I took the house and my daughter and granddaughter stayed in the apartment.

We brought our own groceries, fixed all of our meals and ate together around the big, rustic table. On Saturday night the six of us went out for dinner.

Our time away from home was short, but so needed and very much appreciated.

Thanks J! We love you!

The house

Granddaughter on the side deck of the apartment.

Living room in the house

Sunroom

Dining room

Living room in the apartment

Granddaughter frolicking in the water.

Saturday morning sunrise.

Well, I tried to post my pictures this morning, but Webs is telling me they are too large. I resized them in the Paint program, but it still won't work. The tech folks will need to explain this one to me.

Hopefully I'll have them up soon.

I'm back from the beach and completely exhausted from driving.

 After I get the disk with my pictures later this afternoon, I'll post about the trip.