A must read...

Getting tired of the same stories repeated times and time a again, well have I got a suggestion for you.

Dinah has two hunky best friends, Ian and Taylor. They are there for her during any trauma that comes her way, especially when her boyfriend abuses her. But when they decide they want her between them forever and all ways possible, what will she decide about their relationship?

Being with them is the sexiest thing she's ever done. They arouse her beyond anything she'd ever dreamed possible. And they give her a sense of completion, though she never imagined the American dream with Dick, Jane, and Robert. But when odd things start happening. Ugly things that make her doubt who she's becoming, she resists her desires, ignoring her gut feelings.

Will she give in to her family's and society's pressures? Or will she find a way to give in to her darkest desire, to be the woman in the middle?

(Michele I hope you don't mind I swiped your cover blurb from your site)

This is Michele Armstrong's newest release titled Dinah's Dark Desire. It was a great story with a group of believeable characters. Michele tackled not just the emotions of the main characters but some of the views that surround this type of relationship. There is a nice little twist in there too *G* I really enjoyed it and was sorry that it ended. That said I certainly wouldn't mind if the three of them ever made a cameo appearance in one of her future books. *coughmichelecoughhinthintwnikwinknudgenudge*

psst...It moved

Wow I have managed to make the graph move. Not dramatically but still every little step is a step closer right?

I survived

Yes I ended my first full week at work in, In don't know how long. The past month I was on vacation for 2 weeks and the other couple weeks were broken up by stat. holidays and tasting days. I really need to find a job where I'm paid to sit on my ass at home. This going to work everday really sucks LOL.

Ok I think I am done moaning and groaning, for now.

Had a really bazarre dream again last night. It was like watching 3/4 of a book being played out in front of me. I even thought during the dream that I had to remember to write all this down when I woke up. It was cool...until I woke up and grabbed my notebook and pen. It was then that I realized that I have really bad taste in stories when I am sleeping. Most of it didn't make a bit of sense although there were parts that might be of use later one. I just tucked them onto the backburner. For now I have a mountain of laundry, and a house to clean before I can get some writing done.

You know working full time is a really good excuse for not getting the house work done *G*

Yet another shorty...

Really nothing overly interesting going on. Other then I am writing...really really writing not just talking about it, playing around with an idea or plugging away at some dead, lifeless, creative black hole... nah just kidding I do like my job. I just wish I was still on vacation.

A thought hit me today. There is only 2 months and 8 days till NaNoWriMo starts again. Wow where did the last year go?

Ok *pushing up sleeves* Have to get back to makeing those bar graphs move.

So end's my Vacation *sigh*

"Ugh! That is just sick and wrong!" ~Comment from my oldest during 'the talk'

So I have a new word meter up. I'm not fighting the muse any more; if he wants to work on the new one then so be it. As long as I finish something! The word count isn't as high as I had hoped but it's a good count. I cut out all the crap and nonsence and other NanoWriMo tricks I was using to bump up the number to my goal. Not that I think it is a bad idea to write from the hip, but I'm going to try to keep the meters accurate and not include my brainstorming.

It's back to work this afternoon. No more lounging around in my jammas. That sucks and my first day bad had to be a Monday too. Blech!!

Just a shorty.....

After a talk with hubby my youngest had the strangest idea that if you had a bad dream it lasted for 3-5 months....

Me: Honey, I think you might have misunderstood what he was trying to tell you.

Daughter: I think daddy needs to use smaller words.

LOL That cracked me up.
Tomorrow is the last day of my holidays and I plan on spending it in my pajamas writing or in a bathing suit lying in the sun writing. Since everyone is gracious enough to allow me my mulligan I don't want to blow it!

I am amateur plumber, hear me roar!

Have you ever heard of a ballcock assembly? Yea, me too but did you know that the doohickey that shoots water into the back of a toilet is call that as well?

Now imagine going into a Canadian Tire and asking if they could point you to the ballcocks. Could you do it with a straight face? I couldn't. I am rarely accused of being mature and this was way beyond me. So I saved my dignity and wandered around until I found what I was looking for.

Good news the downstairs bathroom is back in normal working order and I am now the self appointed Queen of Ballcocks!

Can I have a Mulligan?

I'm calling a do over! (again) My memory failed me, either that or I am suffering from self-sabotage...which is always possibility. The subconscious has a mind of it's own sometimes.

When I arrogantly announced that I was setting a modest goal of 3G's for last week I forgot that I had family coming for visit. DOH! *smacking forhead* Not that I minded the visit. I adore my nieces and my brother and sister-in-law and had a great visit but this is the first time I have had a quiet moment on the computer in many days.

I did get started on my goal but I am bumping my date to this Monday. Thankfully the same character is still hollering in the back of my mind or this could have turned out disasterous. Although the extra time has allowed me to mentally ceate some secondary characters and flesh out a bit of the world they live in. Which bears a striking resemblance to British Columbia LOL. This should be a challenge to write about a place I have never been. If this goes as well as I hope; I imagine I'll have a couple maps of the province including Victoria Island hanging by my computer for reference.

Tonight was the girls second last soccer game for the season. We have one more "playoff" game for each of them on Saturday, when they get trophies.Then I can retire from 'soccer mom' status for another year.

Damn I'm tell'n you; When I was a teenager with massive backcombed hair, highcuts, bandanas, and a leather jacket, looking forward to getting my first tattoo; I never would have though the term 'soccer mom' would ever be used to describe me. That term always invoked a preppy, sandra deeish image. (Two adjectives that still cannot be applied to me LOL)

I am hereby heralding the term "Naughty Soccer Mom"...oh wait that sounds more like a title for a porno. There has to be something better. Any suggestions?

I'm an adjective?

I've been called many things but this is a first....

FeyRhi -- [adjective]: Pretentiously academian 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Ok so you have heard me moan, bitch, whine and repeat many times but here is one more. I have to get back into writing mode. Duct tape my ass to the chair and my muse to my back and get some work done.

So in hopes that it will help I am publicly announcing my intent to have 3 thousand words written in the next week. A very modest goal, and this way if I surpass it I get to feel warm and fuzzy.

There are stipulations though. The 3G's have to be written on one subject, not 500 on 6 different stories. Although at this point I don't care which story. Therefore which ever character(s) shouts the loudest gets my attention. Oh and bloggin doesn't count.

Scott Oden recently posted about his missing discipline. I'm starting to think that there is a Headonism Retreat out there 'For Muses Only'. They're partying it up while we procrastonate and feel guilty.


These are purely for inspiration. We took the kids to Niagara on the weekend and went on the Maid of the Mist. It is a 'must' experience if you ever go there. I had to put the camera away after taking these two one because the mist is so dense it's like being in the middle of a rainstorm.

You can feel the falls vibrate in your chest the boat gets so close. Epecially in the horseshoe falls because you feel surrounded. The noise is deafening, but it is the energy swirling around you, even if you don't believe in that sort of thing, you still feel it. Every person on that boat was laughing and hollering despite the fact they were getting soaked.

If the river wants it, LET HER KEEP IT!

Remember from my previous post, when the river tried to take my daughter it swiped one of her favourite shoes. A teal 'Croc' (Seen in this picture, This was taken earlier that day, she was writing in her "journal")

Anyhoo the next day I was driving into town with the kids and my girlfriend and we stopped at the side of the road to see if the shoe might have gotten caught down river a bit. You can't get down to the river from there but we can just see through all the brush. There's a grouping of fallen trees and wouldn't you know it but there is the shoe bobbing away as if to say "come get me". I knew if I was careful I could make my way down river to it.

I don't know what possessed me but I backed up to the path, parked the car and we all climbed down to the river's edge again. I kicked off my flipflops and decided to go it barefoot. It wasn't that bad, but after 5 minutes of careful navigating I figured I had better wait till I had on my watershoes and a bathing suit. It was slow going as I balanced on rocks and boulders just under the surface of the water. I was literally one rock away from getting out when I lost my balance and went ass first into a deeper spot. I was laughing as I went down, so was Lissa and the kids.

A second later I realized that being closer to the waterfall then we were the day before meant that the current was stronger and I landed in a really bad spot. It's bazarre because the water really wasn't that deep, but I was off balance enough and there wasn't a large enough rock for me to brace against. I also realized quickly as I found my self swept along, that if I got pulled out a little farther then it was going to be much harder for me.

When I stopped laughing my youngest started panicking, my oldest just held on to my nephew and didn't say anything. Lissa was trying to make light of it all as if I was playing around, and look at silly mummy/aunti who got all her clothes soaked.

Me I had two thoughts going through my brain:
1- I refuse to drown in front of my children
2- Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck,Ohf@ck

I managed to thow my weight against another rock. To be spacific my knee impacted, with all 158lbs of me holding it in place, then I wedged my foot somewhere and got my balance back, pulling my self out of the water.

Obviously I escaped (yes escaped 'cause the bitch didn't make it easy) with a scraped foot and a puncture right on my knee cap. It was a deep dent when I first looked at it and didn't hurt...for the first couple minutes then.... muddafuddaouch! The cut sealed better then I thought it would, the bone hurt like a bitch and has a lovely bruise bloching it a bit but aside from some stiffness I'm fine.

The moral of the story. Man, never underestimate the power behind a simple river and if you feel the need to lecture your children then be sure to pay attention yourself.

I mentioned in the comments that we came home a day early. It had nothing to do with these two events. Wednesday evening (the day I fell in) There was a massive storm that hit the area and knocked out all the power in the entire Muskoka area and Algonquin. Where we were they didn't expect to have it fixed for 3-5 days. That is why we ended up coming home Thursday. 12 hours of no power and carrying buckets of lake water up to the bathroom so we could flush was enough for me. Don't get me wrong I don't mind roughing it, but after what had happened over the previous couple days I wasn't in the mood.

It made me wonder though, which god(ess) was pissed off to throw that kind of temper- tantrum. Could it be because they only got one croc?

Us vs The Current

Yes this years Muskoka scare wasn't caused by any sort of wildlife. It was with something much more dangerous as far as I am concerned. With an animal you can fight back, ever try to fight water?



The picture on the left is the waterfall last year. It was strong in the corner but we were careful and 10 feet away it calmed down. The picture on the right is what it was like this year. The water level is much higher and, the current is so strong we couldn't get anywhere as close to it as we did last year. You can see the rock we were leaning against is completely covered this year. So we stayed down river a bit. The ironic thing is I gave both the girls a strong talking to /lecture, about how they have to respect the river and how it looks like fun but is very dangerous, and to never underestimate it. Too bad I didn't heed my own advice.

Hubby is a bit of a daredevil and waded out farther into the rapids. He has the weight and strength to take care of himself, and was having a blast. He is just a big kid sometimes and loves waves of anykind. In this picture he has his body braced against a underwater rock and is letting the current flow over him. It's an incredible feeling but I wouldn't go in that deep this time. After a while he took our oldest a bit farther into the current then I was. He used his own body as a shield to block the current and keep her safe. She was having a blast and I stayed close to the edge with our youngest.

I'm sure you have guessed where I am going with this. I heard a panicked yelp and looked up in enough time to see her slip to the side and swept over the rock she had been leaning against. I can tell you that was the single most terrifying moment of my life. Hubby lunged/dove/scrambled over two large underwater boulders and managed to grab her by the ankle. In 3 seconds the current had whipped her around and was about to send her heard first down the rapids. It was a matter of inches that saved her life. If he had missed her foot...

The curse of an overactive imagination is that I can envision every possible outcome of that moment, although I try not to think about it too much. Hubby has to hug her every time it crosses his mind. She escaped with nothing but a good scare and lost one of her favourite shoes. A teal coloured "croc".

Hubby had a brutal gash in his shin, lost a toe nail, and banged up his arm. I wanted him to have his leg looked at but of course he declared it "fine". He did promise that if it bruised black and became swollen he would let me drive him to emergency. I was sure he must have gotten a hairline fracture or something but it's ok and healing nicely.

Why am I tell you all this? I'm purging. This event has occupied most of my thoughts since it happened. Life is made up of experiences but really I could have done with out this one. I have tried to think of the positive, no one was hurt, I might even be ale to use those emotion when writing one day....but it's too soon. Trying not to dwell on 'what ifs' is the biggest challenge at the moment.

Think this is the end of my tale? Hell no, but the rest can wait till tomorrow

It's official....

Yes, as of 10:31 pm EST I am officially on vacation!

There is a bit more packing and organizing to do, (which is why I am on the computer of course)but tomorrow we are off to the piece and quiet of the Muskoka's. Not sure who is more excited me or the girls. A friend from work lent me her portable DVD player. That should make the drive up there a bit more painless.
Yes, I am not above plugging my girls brain's into a movie for an hour or so. The drive take 3.5 so there will be lots of time to stare out the window at the scenery. The first couple hours is all boring supa-highway driving nothing to see but transport trucks and concrete. After that we get out into the pretty.

May all of you have a wonderful week. I'll check in with pictures when I get back.

Take Care!!!

FeyRhi Estates is growing!

My vineyard is doing well as you can see. Much better then I ever expected. I even have Grapes!!!! Looks like just one cluster though, don't think I'll be getting much out of it LOL It has grown higher since I took the picture a week ago. I have to remember to plant some supports for it before we go away. I don't want it to fall over and damage the stalk. I'll have to post a picture when we get back so you can see how much it's grown.

Speaking of leaving.... I hate packing. Really really really hate it. If fact I should be doing it now but I am surfing and blogging trying to avoid it. There is already a large pile on the kitchen floor of things to go and I have no idea how we are going to get all this, the four of us and a dog into the car. It's going to be a LONG 3 hour drive *G*

On a happy note, only two more sleeps till me make said drive and I am officially on vacation. I can't wait!!!

I wish there was a packing fairy that would poof in and do all this for me.

5 days left...

And I am on vacation! I cannot wait. It's not that I dislike my job, I just really need to get away. We are going on our annual trip UP-UP North to our friend's dad's cottage.

Sunday to Friday we will be up in the Muskoka's. Home to bears and wildlife, where the night sky is as black as pitch and you never realized exactly how many stars you don't see in the city.

Considering the adventures past years have offered, (the baby bear scare, and last year the chickenpox and leech insident) I think I had better pack more wine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writing is a humbling experience.

Once again I will be delaying my personal goal. I really suck at keeping scheduels, especially when I am the one setting the pace. I'm having a hell of a time with this story. It's just growing stagnant and I don't know what is wrong with it. Everytime I think I have it figured out... it goes well for a while and then fizzles.

I'm not sure if I have too much going on in the story or not enough. OR perhaps if I could get more then a few minutes at a time to work on it, it would go better.

I'm at a loss at the moment what to do. At the moment I think the entire thing sucks and I should just toss it out the proverbial window and start over. Of course then I worry that I am going to spend my incredibly short career as a writer starting projects and then tossing them to start another.... I could always stack the half finished manuscripts in the downstairs closet, next to the hundreds of half finished knitting and crosstitch projects.

It's been so long!

I found the link to this one on Michele's blog. I have a hard enough time passing on quizes, but a shapeshifting one? I couldn't resist.

Who is your inner Shapeshifter?

From witches who could change into cats with magic spells, to tribes of anthropomorphic tigers living in the jungles of Malaysia, to bloodthirsty werecats of Japan who would prey on humans for sustenance, tales of werecats rival their more well-known werewolf cousins in number.As a werecat, you are aggressive, fiercely independant, short-tempered and prone to violent outbursts. You can also be very kind though, by protecting those you care for from those who wish to do them harm. Those who befriend you are very lucky (as long as they stay on your good side!)
Take this quiz!








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It's about time!

Everyone bitches about the media and how they make us feel bad about ourselves. How pencil thin models, and airbrushing has put impossible expectations on our girls. Problem is everyone complained but no one did anything about it. Until now.

I gotta tell ya I spent over an hour in the website for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. There is a ton of information there about how this company is trying to change everyone’s view of themselves. They are concentrating on mothers and daughters but really I think that the same could be said for many men. I'm sure the insecurities with body image are not gender exclusive.

I love this picture. Real women with real curves. Maybe it's just because I am a chick as well, but I would prefer to look at bodies like this then the emaciated stick models that are usually featured in fashion magazines, or the ones with HUGE implants in the porn mags.

According to one of their surveys only 2% of women would describe themselves as pretty. I guess I wasn't surprised over that, even though I feel I should be.

Many romance novels are featuring more realistic female leads. Sherrylyn Kenyon's 'Dark Hunter' series is an example of that. Her heroines range from plus sized women to scarred~multi coloured hair, vampire slayers. Each has their flaws and find men who can see past the surface, to what is important. *sigh* Some good romance

Now there is a part of me that wonders if all this is all an elaborate marketing ploy we are all falling for.....but then then I decided I don't care. It's a good message Dove is trying to send out and if that means they get to sell a few more bars of soap and such, then I'm not about to begrudge them.

Oh and yes I have one of their t-shirts. It says "EveryBODY has a best feature."

I LOVE this weather

It was a busy day for everyone. The munchkin managed to hold off till 8am before coming in and asking what time we were going to the mall. She been jonesin' for this day ever since her sister got her ears pierced. Finally after all the waiting she is sporting a pair of pink studs. Little fashion diva insisted on wearing her sunglasses before I took the picture. LOL

Pressure is on to meet my 4,000 word goal for this weekend. Stay tuned for update but be warned I may extend it to Monday night LOL.

I have a bit of a poll for those of you who read this. I am contemplating getting the small tattoo on my ankle repaired. (long story, another time) After much contemplation and a comment from hubby that sparked an idea I was thinking of getting the girls birth flowers added and extend it up the side of my calf a bit. Trouble is from my research each of their months is represented by 2 flowers (couldn't make it easy could they?)


May is represented by both the Lily of the Valley and the Hawthorn. I think both of them are pretty. But with all that white I wonder if the Lily will look better on skin? Since there is so much green to highlight the flowers, but I like the spottiness of the hawthorn



Now for June we have the Water Lily and Larkspur.




They are all pretty flowers, I can't decide. I wanted to use one to represent each of the girls and then one for myself but the March flower is a Jonquil. They look like daffodils to meand I am just not a daffodilly person. So instead I opted for the Trillium which I think is much prettier and is the Ontario Provincial Flower. The province in which we were all born. So I am sticking with the symbolism here.

My question to you is what do you think? Any preferences/suggestions? Just pop them into the comments, I'd love to hear some input. I promise to post a picture once I decide and actually have it done.

The eve of my weekend....

I tell ya this working for a living sucks. The sooner my numbers show up the better.....of course if I played the numbers I might have a better chance. *G*

Tomorrow is my youngest's birthday. Wow I can't believe she is 7 already. Every morning this week, the first thing she has said is how many days till she is getting her ears pierced. LOL I've already told her that she is NOT to wake me up at 7 am tomorrow. We will go out after lunch and get her's done. She's so damn excited.

Amazingly enough the weather is forcasted to be spectacular, and in fact, it's a gorgeous evening. Why you may ask am I insde on such a wonderful night? Well, I figure I won't be posting much unless something funny happens so why not now. I am just enjoying the feeling that I have a full 48 hours before I have to go back to work. Time to relax, and enjoy a 'wobbley pop' or two. (For those who do not speak Canadian....wobbley pop = beer)

I also want to get at least 4 thousand words done on my WIP by Monday. Not an unattainable goal but not a cake walk. Cranking out 2 G's of story line was much easier when I was playing around, and just seeing what would come out. Now that I have a solid story, characters and *gasp* a plot...well it's not so easy any more. I find that while I write, I tweek, and that means there is more rewriting going on. Not to mention character establishment and development as well as hooks, arcs and mysterious assassins.

But as long as I meet my personal Aug deadline, I'll be happy. For now I'm going to go outside with my beverage in one hand and a notebook in the other and listen to the crickets.

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

Damn I swear we had rain of biblical proportions today.
I thought it would never stop! Now we aren't talking a drizzle, or spitting a bit; Nope there was a constant downpour for the entire day, Got soaked getting into my car to go to work and when I got in my car to drive home. BLECK!

Hopefully Mother Nature will have gotten it out of her system. The weekend is forecasted to be very hot and sunny and I have it off!!! WooHoo. My youngest's birthday is on Saturday and I am hoping to see my girlfriend and her family come for a visit on Sunday (yes I am talking about you Mucka!)

I recently got transferred to a new store, closer to home (yeahoo!) Which means that I will not have to deal with my nemeses, the evil wacko Asst. Manager. Now every store has their great and not so great staff. That is true in any job but after what I have had to deal with for the last couple years....well I think I can deal with just about anything. Gotta be careful how loud I type that it's never a good idea to tempt the Fates.

Times ticking and my word counts have not moved as far a head as I would like. Part of that is my continual battle with procrastination; also my ancient laptop has crapped out. It still works but it won’t save anything. Considering it my mum’s, I am procrastinating over telling her too. Now I have to battle hubby for computer time. Hmmm sounds like another good excuse doesn’t it?

I am still determined to get this done by the end of Aug. That is my goal, one I really want to make it.

Dreaming the Future

So last night I had a very strange dream. It actualy was a romance story...sort of, you know how dream are. Of course now I can't really remember much about it, but it had something to do with a woman who was terrifed of heights and a man who was a trapise artist.

Strange thing is I remember thinking to myself, during the dream, that this would make a great story and I can't wait to write it and that I absolutly love the characters....HUH?? Now realizing I am dreaming isn't anything new to me, many times I realize that I am dreaming and often can change what is happeneing if I don't like it. This is the first time I decided was dreaming a possible manuscript. Too bad my memory was already full of holes by the time I finally woke up.

Long ago I use to keep a note book next to my bed to record my dreams. I think I might start doing that again just in case these two decide to let me know a bit more about them.