,I'm not into football. I just don't care for it. Sure, I'll watch a little with the hubby, but once he starts yelling at the TV, I'm outta there. I don't like football movies. I mean, they aren't bad but, it's football. And I just don't really want to watch it...

That said, there are two exceptions to the no football movie thing.  And I've watched them numerous times and will watch them again. In fact, the other night, one of them was on TV back to back and I watched most of it the first time and all the second. Of course, I was doing other stuff, but it was still on and I did watch some of the good parts.

What movie, you ask?  The Replacements with Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman.  Yep, there's football, and some comedy, but it's also about getting and taking second chances, about overcoming, about discovering who you are and accepting yourself. 

The  scene below is one of my favorites.

Anyone ever felt like this? I know I have. Not often and I try to see the quicksand before I step in, or at least realize I'm in it before I get knee-deep. But sometimes it does happen. Those are the times I have to step back, take a deep breath or three, and try to distance myself from whatever is happening.

Where am I going with this? Probably nowhere. It's just something I like and wanted to share.

Got a favorite football movie I should checkout? Tell me and let me know what's so special about it. :-)

I've got 9 minutes to get this posted for today. :-) I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Today, we were without power for about 4 hours. It's amazing how many things in our daily lives revolve around electricity. Lights, fridge, stove, internet, computer, air conditioning, and so much more.

I was also reminded just how much I have to be thankful for. Many people have so much less than I.

And it reminded me of some special people in my life. People who have stuck with me through thick and thin, the good and bad. Friends who I know will be there if I call.

I was reminded of some people who are fairly new to my life that are becoming more special each day.

Here's the thing. We are so blessed, but there are so many things and people we take for granted. We need to let those folks know how special they are. Don't let them wonder if you care. 

It only takes a moment to sent an email, text, or even make a call. It will make you feel better, and I bet they will appreciate it too.

*hits "post" button and raises hands in the air*

Happy Sunday! 

Did you know that there have been studies that show we need a day of rest? I don't remember where I read it, and it's been ages ago, but I one read a study that showed even work animals need a day of rest on a regular basis. Just like people, they get cranky, sickly, and just unpleasant to be around if they don't have that down time.

There are so many benefits to taking a day of rest. Better health, less stress, more creativity, better moods, less depression, even increased memory and productivity. 

One thing I like to do on my day of rest is plan for the coming week. It gives me a chance to look back and see where I can improve, what I did well, and what progress I made toward my goals. It's also a chance to make note of things to get done, what I need to do to move forward.

At our house, we take the day of rest serious. It's the one day that most of us take a nap. Even the dogs sack out with us. 

So, do you take a day of rest? What do you like to do in your down time? Are you a napper or a reader or TV watcher?

Whatever you do, rest well. You'll be glad you did.

And speaking of being glad...sign up for my free mailing list/newletter/email update and you'll get a free short Halloween mystery story. I promise not to spam you with constant email and I'll never share your info with anyone...not even if bribed with chocolate. :-)

I don't know why, but often when I sit to write a blog post, my ideas vanish.  I seem to have some great ones when I don't need them. Which tends to be annoying. I figure I can't be the only one with that problem so, here are some ideas.

                                             Jean's Top Ten Blog Post Ideas

1.  Create a list. :-) Which is what I'm doing today. You can list pretty much anything. Favorite authors, healthiest veggies, worst travel experiences. It's up to you.

2.  Post some strange , unusual, or little known facts.  Most people like learning cool stuff...like a snail can sleep for 3 years, slugs have 4 noses, and the elephant is the only animal that can't jump.

3.  Share one of your secrets. We all love secrets. I'll start off by sharing...I'm a chocoholic. Oh wait...that's not a secret. Nevermind.

4.  Come up with a theme idea of some sort.  For one blog, I did a "Mug Monday" with pictures and the stories behind my favorite mugs. 

5.  Do a "This Day in History" type post. 

6.  Share your bucket list and let's compare. Going to Spain and getting my pilot's license is on my list. What's on your's?

7.  Have a guest post.  Yep, have someone else blog for you.  Anyone want to guest post for me? If so, let me know and we'll work something out.

8.  Feature a small business, artist, or author you love. You can showcase their work, interview them, and share them with the world. 

9.  Do a Q&A.  Have your readers send you questions and answer them on the blog. And if no one sends questions, make some up. I'll never tell.

10.  Do a "top ten" list. Like this one. :-) Make it your top ten places you want to travel to, top ten books you love, or top ten foods you hate. There are so many ways to go with this.

And here's a bonus...

11.  Imagine you were Oprah and tell us what "favorite things" you'd give away on your show. 

Yesterday, I forgot this. I'll admit, I had several things going on that contributed to my not so great attitude. First, the car was in the shop and cost more than I really wanted to pay. Then, when he got my issue fixed, he found another that had to be fixed. And that cost another $100+. Again, not what I wanted to be spending my money on.

I got down, let my attitude slip, and almost called some friends over for a pity party.  I didn't even blog yesterday. Wasn't in the mood.

But, today I was reminded that things aren't so bad. It's all a matter of how you look at them. It could be so much worse. I mean, how many people don't have a car? How many people must take a bus or rely on friends and family for their transportation needs? 

Here's the thing. We can look at the things that happen to us either as the most horrible thing ever. Or we can look for the good. My husband is always telling me not to let others dictate my spirituality. And he's right. I can't let others decide how I look at things, how I deal with life.

Sure, I could be bitter about having to spend money on the car. But, I can be grateful I have a car, that I have the money to fix it, and that because it's been fixed, it's less likely to break down an leave me on the side of the road. 

I chose to look for the good. To see the positive. I don't like myself when I get in the mood to throw a pity party. I'm not fun to be around.

I encourage you to make an effort to be positive too. :-)

Happy fall, y'all!  I don't know about you, but I love this time of year. Here, it's not so hot and humid, the leaves are changing color, and it's festival time. It's even cool enough to do outside stuff with the dog and not wonder if you are going to melt. 

It's also that time of year when I start looking back at the things I planned to get done and haven't. And at the things I really want to get done before the year is over. So, with that in mind, some of us have formed the Ponytail Posse.

Here's the backstory. Not long ago, a friend told the story about how when her husband knew it was going to be a "get-stuff-done" kind of day by the fact her hair was in a ponytail. My daughter told me, and I realized when I get serious about some things...exercise for example, I put my hair up in a ponytail.  After some pondering, we decided to form a group to keep each other accountable so that we can get some things accomplished.  Like blogging on a regular basis, exercising, eating better, and that sort of stuff.

The posse in the name came from the fact that a posse goes out and chases. They don't sit and wait for the bad guy to come to them.

We even have a couple cool apps for our phones. I'm really liking HabitBull.  The free version lets you track 5 habits you want to instill. I bought the premium version cause I have more than 5. Plus, I get reminders when I need to do things.  Do It Tomorrow is another one I like. It's a list for the day and if you don't get it done today, it moves to tomorrow. I use it for a "to-do" list. It's nice to see things get scratched off.  And, for eating better, I'm using CarbManager. I also went with the premium version of this one for the better tracking of blood sugar. It's a low-carb type app but I really like the way it tracks macros.

So...the point of all this.  DO you need to get some stuff done before the end of the year? Want some accountability? If so, let me know and I'll send you an invite to the Ponytail Posse. It's a totally positive, no guilt, place for a bit of encouragement, motivation, and accountability.
​

PS - Sign up for my very infrequent newsletter, and I'll send you a free Halloween short story. I promise not to spam you all the time, give your info to anyone, or play the harlot with your email address. :-) 

First, let me apoligize for not keeping up with the blog challenge. No excuse other than I've been doing other things and really haven't had anything interesting to say.

Next, let me apologize for any toes I might step on or feelings I might hurt. First, this is just my opinion, and second...it's my blog. If you don't like it, don't read it. Sorry if that hurts but that's the way it is.

Now on to my post for today. 

Remember back years ago when John Locke got caught paying for book reviews? The whole publishing world went bezerk. And so did all the readers. They were totally crazed. It was the worst thing that had ever happened in the book world.  I don't know all the details, I try to avoid drama most of the time, but apparently he paid for "fake" reviews and even paid some people to buy his book and review it.  Shame on him.

Now, however, it's okay. An author can pay Kirkus  $425 for a 250 word review or $575 for a 500 word review.

Or, pay $225 to IndieReview for a 300 word review. 

BlueInk Review charges $395 - $695 for their review depending on how soon you want it. 

Self-Publishing Review is a bargain at $149 for a 500 word review. And you can pay $299 and get your review posted as a "Lead Story" on their site.

Now, all these say they can't guarantee a positive but here's the thing. If I'm paying for a review, especially several hundred dollars, I want one I can use. I want a review that will help me sell my book. If I know I'm going to get a negative review, or a not so great one, then I'm not gonna pay.  I think as shoppers you'd have to agree. Why buy something you might not be able to use. These reviewers know this too. Too many negative reviews will hurt their income. And that's not a good thing for them. Especially when most of their income is made from the selling of reviews.

So, what's the difference in paying for one of these reviews and what John Locke did? Well, obviously, his reviews were fakes. But...if  you get a glowing review from Kirkus, for example, and your book sucks - is that not a fake review also?  

And yes, it does happen. I personally know someone who received a wonderful review from Kirkus and his book is full of typos, errors, grammar issues, and just plain unreadable.  Which makes me seriously question any review from a paid site. I'm not sure what the answer is though.

I mean, Amazon won't let anyone I'm connected with on social media review my books because it might not be an honest review.  But is a review that's been paid for honest? 

I understand it takes time to read a book and review it. I totally get the time involved. And I get that reviewers should be compensated in some form or fashion for that time.  Again, I don't have any answers. I'm just tossing this out for discussion.

So, when is it okay to pay for a book review? How do you feel about the subject? 

And, just why is it so hard to get readers to review a book? I mean, Amazon makes it real simple when you finish a book on Kindle. How long does it take to comment that "I loved this book." or "Couldn't put it down, had to read all night until I finished it."?  And yeah, that punctuation is probably wrong. 

Do you review books you've read? All of them or just the ones you love?  Honestly, I don't review every book. I'm trying to be more diligent about it though. 

Let me know what you think...I really do want to know. :-)

Yep, that's right. There is no "day 3" post. And I'm cool with that. I might make it up later, I might not. We'll see.

So, today is the 4th of July. Later, Mom will come over, we'll do burgers on the grill, and maybe play some mahjong.

Speaking of mahjong...I can't figure out how to pick which pattern to go for. I always manage to pick the wrong one. My daughter says just to see what tiles you have in your hand and pick the pattern that you have the most of. HA! Like that really works.  Maybe one of these days I'll figure it out. I'm not holding my breath though.

Now, Spoons...I excell at Spoons. I'm a master of sneaky spoon aquisition.  I just slip that spoon from the center of the table while passing cards like crazy. I love it when someone happens to notice a spoon is missing and freaks.

I'm pretty good at Dominoes too.  In fact, hubby won't play Dominoes with me.  He did teach me to play Backgammon when we were first married. I got pretty good at that too.  Thing is, when you teach someone how to play a game, especially one of strategy, you teach them your strategy most times. It's been a long time since we played Backgammon...maybe I'll challenge him to a game. :-)

So, what's your "game" plan for the day? Whatever you do, enjoy your day with family and friends. 

Welcome to another "ultimate blog challenge. I'm off to a not so stellar start since there are only 2 1/2 hours left of the first day and I'm just now getting a post up. 

Things have been super busy the last couple months.  Bodhi is growning like crazy. He's still very much a heathen, but I totally love him. We've officially started training, and he's doing well.  In fact, my youngest daughter has taught him to bring the mail from the front door to me. Naturally, I've helped with the process by having treats ready to reward him for his work. :-) He's very pleased with himself.  He's a recent picture taken while working at Petco. 

Isn't he just the cutest thing! Today, he turned 7 months old.  Hubby originally wasn't thrilled about another dog, especially a Malinois, but yesterday he told me in a couple years he wants to get a female...and she is to be his dog. :-) 

I'm really excited about our training. It's going well. I'll share more pictures later.


My oldest daughter and I are getting serious about learning Spanish. I had two years of Spanish in high school and loved it but that was a LONG time ago. We are using a couple apps so if you want to join us, that would be awesome. Right now, we are using Drops, Memrise, and Duolingo.  We'd love to have some folks to chat with so join us. 

Summer is in full swing in Texas. Yesterday it make it up to 100 for the first time. It's gotten close a couple times though. Mom lives at an apartment that has a pool so we've been making use of it. I really enjoy "exercising" in the water.

Oh, and I've recently started eating Keto. I'm sure I'll be posting about that this month too. It's made a big difference already.

And, since Bodhi can tell time and is ready for his evening walk, I've got to get this posted and do the walk thing.

Hasta mañana.

Today I'm thinking about my comfort zone. Mostly because I've had to step out of it several times lately. I don't know about you, but I like my comfort zone...it's comfy. It's safe, secure, smooth sailing,...comfortable. But that's also the problem...

Yep. For there to be growth, there has to be change and change doesn't happen in a comfort zone. Change isn't comfortable. Change is scary, change is hard, and change is often painful. But...

The magic happens outside the comfort zone. In fact, a lot of great things happen outside the comfort zone.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in my comfort zone. It's not really even a nice place to visit when you think about it. I want all those things that happen outside the zone. Sure, it's going to be scary, and hard, and it might hurt. But I'm tired of settling for just surviving and mediocrity.

What about you? Are you stuck in your comfort zone, stuck in a rut, running in place?

How about stepping out for a bit...I know you'll love it.