From my family to yours

Katie Dancing at Dress 12/19

The 2nd Finley Anderson Tanner mystery, Knock 'em Dead, goes on sale today wherever books are sold.  Miss the 1st in the series?  Not a problem, Knock Off is now available in paperback.

A new toe.  Technically a new toe joint, but new toe just sounds better.  At 9:45 this morning, I'm getting said new toe.  Why?  Well I got this wild hair after getting new toe 1 that I would turn over a new leaf and exercise.  But what kind of exercise?  After reviewing my options, I figured a jazz class would be fun and serve the cardio improvement concept.

Paint a big 'A" for ass on my forehead.  Just 3 weeks into said jazz class, I broke the bone holding toe 1's implant in place.  So I've been hobbling and abusing Tylenol for months.  I wanted to get through the holidays without gauze dressings and crutches.  So today is the day.

And of course when you are on deadline and fully aware of the fact that for the next few weeks you'll be in bed, foot elevated, tethered to your laptop, and a tad loopy from the meds, it's a great idea to decide to put your house up for sale.  Yep, made that decision this week, too.  Maybe I was under the influence of Tylenol, but it has to be done.  Don't get me wrong, I like my house.  I don't like the middle school my daughter is slated to attend next year.  And I'm not big on the private school options.  Affordable faith based or $20k for the only other private school in the area. 

But the toe and the house decision aren't the things I'll remember from this week.  No, in a couple of months I'll look back and recall that on January 17, 2008, my daughter put on pointe shoes for the very first time.  It may sound like a small, insignificant thing but it's a big deal.  She's worked toward this for more than five years and to see the concentration on her face as she stood at that ballet barre in her shiny satin toe shoes is indelibly etched in my brain.

So what do you get a woman who has almost everything?  A treasured memory.

'Tis the season of over-commitment.  At least it is for me.  There's decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, the dreaded Christmas Letter, Christmas Cards, hosting Christmas Eve dinner for 45, my daughter's Nutcracker practices and performances, nagging my husband to do a few things that I usually end up doing when I get tired of waiting on his happy butt to get into gear (for example – did he swing by to get the stands from the caterer so I can set-up the buffet?  Nope, he painted the front walkway that no one will see on Christmas Eve because it will be dark when they arrive), parties to attend and the last minute stuff that just slipped through my normally over-organized lists.

One of said last minute things is holiday tipping.  Thank God for Holidaytipping.com, a great site to figure out how much to tip the pool guy, and the gardener, hair stylists, nail techs, and the maid, etc.  I've made several trips to the ATM in the last few days since I forgot that very few of these folks will be working next week because of the holidays.

Another opps moment – school party.  It's now called the winter party because we don't want to offend anyone.  I'm getting used to the new name just as I got used to the fact that we have to tell the children to sit crisscross applesauce instead of Indian style.  Hey – I can be retrained.  I received a note on Monday that I was responsible for sending in 2 dozen cookies on Thursday for said winter party.  And again, unlike the old days when I was in school (many, many moons ago), all baked goods must come from a store, be sealed and have an ingredient list affixed to the packaging.  This is for the nut allergy kids.  Some other parent was assigned the lactose-free milk – that's for the lactose intolerant kids.  Another parent was assigned hand sanitizer – I guess that's for all the kids.  I don't ever remember hand sanitizer being part of a holiday party but then again I don't remember kids having the plethora of allergies and dietary intolerances either. 

I also donated 2 hours of my life on the annual mall Santa photo.  That's changed too.  Gone is the quickie Polaroid.  Now you have two options – the candid shots or the posed portraits.  That means they take roughly 20 pictures of each child, then you got to a separate counter where you can purchase anything from a set of wallet-sized prints to a full CD of all the photos.  For an additional $25.00, they'll send the CD overnight to your home so you don't have to return to the mall 3 days later to pick up said CD.  What you can't do is get a single picture.  Nope – packages only.  Luckily, I went with a friend and we took turns standing in line with our daughters.  I did get a bit of last minute shopping in during the long wait.  Props to the DS people – the girls played their handheld games for almost the entire waiting period. 

On Monday, all the prep stuff that seemed so important was put into perspective when we received word that our friend John Colucco died.  John was a great, gregarious guy who'd been battling cancer for a long time.  He played Santa at our annual Christmas Eve party for the last few years.  While his death wasn't unexpected, it was a sobering reminder that all the stuff I'd been stressing over wasn't really that important.  So, as you race around trying to get everything done, don't forget to give the most important gift of all – tell the people in your life how much you love and value them.

Happy Holidays, Rhon

 'Ode' to be a Babe Contest on www.Babesinbookland.com . . .

The Babes are thrilled to announce the ODE TO BE A BABE Contest.  We're giving away an Amazon gift card ($50.00) and some cute Babes Gear from our Babes store, but hey, the stuff was a little pricey, so we wanted to make people work for it AND have some fun in the process.  Then we remembered Babe Mary Stella sharing an 'Ode to the Penis' she'd written just for fun.  It was a hoot and a half, so we decided to base the contest on the Ode.

'Ode,' but I'd love to be a Babe Contest

As the contest requests, we're looking for odes

To celebrate princes, transformed from big toads

Or pregnant fair ladies, with secrets they've hid

Those amnesiac men don't know it's their kid! 

Compose a cute poem of terms that are silly

Euphemisms and such, describing the willy.

 A ditty of heroines -- TSTL

Don't name authors names or we'll all roast in hell.

Submit your entry to our email addy

The Babes will vote on the goody and baddy

The seven best odes we'll post for the masses

Two weeks of voting by all lads and lasses

If you're in the running, invite those you know.

To vote for your ode in the comments, just so.

One vote per person, no cheats, if you please

Or we'll pull those votes with the greatest of ease.

So what do you get for creating an Ode?

A treasure trove BabesinBookland mother-lode.

An Amazon gift card -- $50 bucks in the till.

Plus autographed books and Babes goods -- What a thrill!

Get working, get writing, start on your rhyming.

Entering this contest requires good timing.

Submit your Ode by November seven

And you might win BabesinBookLand Gift Heaven.

Contest Rules . . . All entries must be sent to babesinbookland@bellsouth.net in the body of the email – no attachments.

If selected, you are encouraged to forward the link to your ode on www.Babesinbookland.com, not the actual content.

By submitting, you represent that the work is original and that you are the author – co-authored materials must clearly state all names with the submission.

You agree to hold Babesinbookland.com, all associates, contributors and affiliates harmless and further agree that you accept the terms as stated herein by submitting an ode for the contest.

So put on your creativity, the contest will run from  The top 7 Odes will be posted and people can vote for their favorite (hint – wake the neighbors, tell your friends) from 11/7/07 until voting closes on 11/14.  The winner will be announced on 11/15/07.

Good luck!  The Babes

'Ode' to be a Babe . . .

So my buds over at www.Babesinbookland.com have been mulling over contest ideas.  We knew we wanted to give away an Amazon gift card ($50.00) and some cute Babes Gear from our Babes store, but hey, the stuff was a little pricey, so we wanted to make people work for it AND have some fun in the process.  Then we remembered Babe Mary Stella sharing an 'Ode to the Penis' she'd written just for fun.  It was a hoot and a half, so we decided to base the contest on the Ode.  So . . . here's Mary's Ode:

Ode to the Throbbing, Pulsing, Bulging Manhood   

In the years of written romance

Nothing else has gained such fame

As a certain male sex organ

Which has more than just one name.

To some, it is the manhood

Always jutting, ever proud

To others, it's a member

In what club is it allowed?

Swords of iron, velvet rods

Heat-forged shafts of steel

Has anyone considered

The discomfort they might feel?

When wrapped in deep desire

As has always been the fashion

Their hand drifts down, there to find

A pulsing tool of passion?

Oft told are we of women

Who find it mesmerizing.

What holds them rapt, I sure don't know

Cause what the hell's a "sizing?"

I find it vaguely scary

At the least, it could be callous

To gaze with adoration

On a throbbing, bulbous phallus.

It's not the organ I abhor

In fact, this girl's all for it.

I just yearn for less description

When choosing what to call it

Men, we hear, arrived from Mars

We women come from Venus

Perhaps on other planets far

They still call the thing a penis.

- Mary Stella

'Ode,' but I'd love to be a Babe Contest

As the contest requests, we're looking for odes.

To celebrate princes, transformed from big toads

Or pregnant fair ladies, with secrets they've hid

Those amnesiac men don't know it's their kid! 

Compose a cute poem of terms that are silly

Euphemisms and such, describing the willy.

 A ditty of heroines -- TSTL

Don't name authors names or we'll all roast in hell.

Submit your entry to our email addy

The Babes will vote on the goody and baddy

The seven best odes we'll post for the masses

Two weeks of voting by all lads and lasses

If you're in the running, invite those you know.

To vote for your ode in the comments, just so.

One vote per person, no cheats, if you please

Or we'll pull those votes with the greatest of ease.

So what do you get for creating an Ode?

A treasure trove BabesinBookland mother-lode.

An Amazon gift card -- $50 bucks in the till.

Plus autographed books and Babes goods -- What a thrill!

Get working, get writing, start on your rhyming.

Entering this contest requires good timing.

Submit your Ode by November seven

And you might win BabesinBookLand Gift Heaven.

Contest Rules . . . All entries must be sent to babesinbookland@bellsouth.net in the body of the email – no attachments.

If selected, you are encouraged to forward the link to your ode on www.Babesinbookland.com, not the actual content.

By submitting, you represent that the work is original and that you are the author – co-authored materials must clearly state all names with the submission.

You agree to hold Babesinbookland.com, all associates, contributors and affiliates harmless and further agree that you accept the terms as stated herein by submitting an ode for the contest.

So put on your creativity, the contest will run from 10/29/07-11/3/07.  The top 7 Odes will be posted and people can vote for their favorite (hint – wake the neighbors, tell your friends) from 11/7/07 until voting closes on 11/14.  The winner will be announced on 11/15/07.

Good luck!  Rhonda and The Babes

A GREAT thing happened yesterday!

A dear, dear friend sold a three book mystery series to NAL.  Kathleen is one of those people who have truly paid her dues.  Go to her website http://www.katecarlisle.com (read the bio!!!!) and yes, she's actually that funny and then some.  That alone is enough but it was her perseverance that awed me from the get-go.  While juggling a fulltime job, she managed to be one of the most prolific writers I've ever known.  In 2006, she won the RWA Golden Heart and I sat there crying as she was presented with her award.  She was an American Title Finalist this year and again, I waited anxiously as she progressed round through round toward the final prize, a publishing contract, she almost made it too.  This year she won the Stiletto Contest.  This woman has talent out the ying!

So yesterday, when I got the news I felt like a proud auntie hearing the news that a treasured niece had just given birth to triplets.  I say auntie because I in no way contributed anything more than moral support to Kate even after the sweetie acknowledged me at the RITA Awards when she was accepting her Golden Heart. 

Kate – congrats and YOU GO GIRLFRIEND!

I'm a Jersey Girl Now!

What a terrific conference.  I'm a tad tired – could be the Grey Goose effect.  The speakers have been excellent and I've had an opportunity to see old friends and make new ones.  However . . .

Am I the only person who didn't know about the Newark Airport gate thing?  Apparently so, since whenever I mention this, everyone offers a patient smile and I'm sensing they are biting back the urge to pat me on my blonde head.  The good news is your flight lands on time in Newark.  The bad news is you have to wait for a gate.  Apparently they have more flights than gates, so you can spend anywhere from ten minutes to an hour waiting to reach the terminal. It's like a parking lot at the height of the holiday shopping season.  Who knew?  Everyone here but me and Karen Robards, I think.

Oh, and I'm at a Sheraton.  I don't love Sheraton hotels.  I particularly don't like Sheraton hotels when they are remodeling the room adjacent to mine.  And the concierge quit.  And my desperate plea for a Band-Aid went unheard – apparently the gift shop's posted opening time of 7AM is, er, flexible.  Oh, and I love the scroll on the TV warning all guests that by recommendation of the local police, no valuables be left in cars or unattended in public areas.

It's enough to make a girl want to shred her Starwood Preferred Customer card into itty-bitty pieces.

Thank God the conference rocks!

Please don't forget . . . I'm the guest blogger on The Lipstick Chronicles (http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com) tomorrow, and . . .

All next week super agent Donna Bagdasarian will be taking your questions on www.BabesinBookland.com

Regards,

Rhonda

Do drop at my other blog, Donna Bagdasarian of The Maria Carvainis Agency is an agent actively seeking new clients (she handles Sandra Brown & Cindy Gerard among others).  She'll be answering questions all week on www.BabesinBookland.com  Feel free to pass that along to anyone in the world.

I'll be guest blogging on The Lipstick Chronicles this weekend - come on over! http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/

Regards,
Rhonda