Maniac Monday

Today I want to devote my blog to helping out a stranger. Someone who's heart you can touch without much effort, just good will and friendship.

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html

xerox will send a card to a soldier over seas.

You don't get to pick who it goes to, but you will make somebody's day!

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Links.
I don't get it.
I write erotic romance. Why would I want to link with a game company? Or any of those other people who email me to ask me to link to them. Erotic stuffies and games. Unless they are sexual games, I just don't think we're compatible, hon.
I've turned down a couple that might have been good, but it was one of those things where I couldn't decide if I wanted to 'endorse' their products.

Guess I'll just keep an eye on my email and look for more offers of linkage.

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Well it certainly has been a maniac weekend. I wrote about 9k this weekend and am feeling really happy that I finished Leandros 3. Now I just need to edit it, and start working on my Jewelry series :) YAY.

Many people participate in NANO. I do as well. Every year I sign up, and every year I fail. I think it is just the knowledge that I have to write 50k or everyone will know I can't, that makes it so I can't. LOL Did I make sense? Well, I'm signed up again even though I know I won't write 50k this month. I can. I could. But because it is Nano I won't even come close.

Rules. For some reason they hinder my ability to write. If you are sitting there thinking that you aren't going to sign up for Nano because you can't possibly write 50k in a month, you should sign up. There is bonding, and speedwriting sessions, there are others you can talk to about writing and your short comings or successes.
Even if I don't win, I'll still be signing up for Nano next year. Winner or not, I enjoy the time I spend speedwriting and chatting with my writer friends.

Michelle

Maniac Monday: Obtainable Affirmations

I know this is one of those SPAM emails that you get from everyone you know twice, but it made me laugh so hard I wanted to share it with people who may not have seen this.

Obtainable Affirmations

1. As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with
my inner sociopath.

2. I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-
soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.

3. I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.

4. I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise
myself, unless I want to stay employed.

5. In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.

6. Having control over myself is almost as good as having
control over others.

7. My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of self-
judgment.

8. I honor my personality flaws for without them I would
have no personality at all.

9. I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
censorious, self-righteous people around me.

10. I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is
willing to learn from them.

Michelle

Maniac Monday

The fact I had to retype the title of this blog post three times tells you how wonderful my day has been. Have you ever wished for a do over day? I needed one last friday, and I need one today.

Seems like I'm making silly mistakes and sitting here half asleep. I even went home at lunch time and surprised the monsters with fast food for lunch. It'll prolly be spagetti for dinner LOL

soooo
it looks like I'll have to wait for tomorrow to start over again.

Wish me luck :)

Michelle

Maniac Monday

We were walking to the local playground. My son had on a red baseball cap. We ran into a friend who said, "Awww, T's so cute." He said "ME MARIO" and ran off. LOL

Too much Princess Peach? Maybe :)

So the kids are readdicted to Animal Crossing. I'm trying real hard to ignore it.

What are kids reading these days? Here's a look at my daughters latest mandatory reading: The Misfits

From Publishers Weekly
What do a 12-year-old student who moonlights as a tie salesman, a tall, outspoken girl, a gay middle schooler and a kid branded as a hooligan have in common? Best friends for years, they've all been the target of cruel name-calling and now that they're in seventh grade, they're not about to take it any more. In this hilarious and poignant novel, Howe (Bunnicula; The Watcher) focuses on the quietest of the bunch, overweight Bobby Goodspeed (the tie salesman), showing how he evolves from nerd to hero when he starts speaking his mind. Addie (the outspoken girl) decides that the four of them should run against more popular peers in the upcoming student council election. But her lofty ideals and rabble-rousing speeches make the wrong kind of waves, offending fellow classmates, teachers and the principal. It is not until softer-spoken Bobby says what's in his heart about nicknames and taunts that people begin to listen and take notice, granting their respect for the boy they used to call "Lardo" and "Fluff." The four "misfits" are slightly larger than life wiser than their years, worldlier than the smalltown setting would suggest, and remarkably well-adjusted but there remains much authenticity in the story's message about preadolescent stereotyping and the devastating effects of degrading labels. An upbeat, reassuring novel that encourages preteens and teens to celebrate their individuality. Ages 10-14.

This is a lot different from what I remember reading in her grade. Okay, maybe Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie aren't her style. *snickers*

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Some days we seem to be surrounded by morons. Today is one of those days for me. At least the day is almost over and I can go to bed soon.

My son had dance practice tonight. He went up on the stage like a good boy. Then he saw me and forget it. Mommy's boy!! When I told him he had to stay there, he dropped on the floor and began to make snow angels. (dust angels?)

So the teacher told him to get in line. He listened. Til the music started. He flopped back onto the ground and stayed there. Once the parents clapped, he got up and ran back and forth across front stage.

*shakes head.

Yes we're definitely filming recital night LOL

Michelle

Maniac Monday

WHOOOT
Peeps are back from RT!
I can't wait to play with Selena more :) That chipmunk is FUN!

Aline got me a cool T-shirt from Caridad Pineiro - whoooooot - gonna have to wait for her to mail it to me, then I totally plan to wear it the first chance I get LOL.

I went for a walk today and we saw ducks. Tony tried to make a sandcastle, but it was not sandy dirt and he was unsuccessful. The Ducks were all paired off. Male with a female, and in groups of 2 and 4. Is it mating time? I think so. I remember seeing ducklings in June last year.

I blogged at Daughters of Circe on voting and emailing authors and illegal file sharing - I rambled, but it is okay, I enjoyed myself :)

Happy Monday!

Michelle

Maniac Monday

I'm having a good day!

Thank you everyone who voted for my story.
Irish Dreams was picked for the 5 Heart Sweetheart

http://theromancestudio.com/

YAY
Michelle
www.michellehasker.com

Maniac Monday

Well it was a Maniac day! My charger went and I had to use the back up. That one decided to stop working today. I am laptopless *bawls

fun stuff?
My 3 year old is running around yelling "Fire in the hole!" I think he's saying hole not hold not sure it's cute. He follows it up by throwing something. *sighs. too much poptropica my oldest daughter says. That is some place they play online at.

So Michelle's online time will be limited as we're down to one puter with online capabilities. ARGH.

I rearranged my husband's desktop, changed his background and screen saver and settings in folders. I reconfigured his task panel at the bottom of the screen and I plan on doing more damage. I hope he gets me a new charger soon (as I'd bought the last one and obviously did a poor job of it.)

Michelle

Maniac Monday

I received my edits for Sorin today and I'm excited!

Can you believe it? Excited about edits?

LOL - Well I am excited. I really loved writing Sorin's story. To be honest, I loved writing Nic's and Nash's at the times I was writing them. It was hard to say goodbye to my Bodyguards and I asked TPTB at Loose Id if perhaps I can revisit that word with different characters. Their response was basically, show me what you got. That's not a no I can delve more into that world and come up with something good, I'm sure. My mind is a scary place to be and if I don't write my stories I would day dream the day away.

Another good reason to be excited is that my editor said they weren't too bad, and this puts me CLOSER to release day - YAY

May is when I should release, and that won't change unless something happens that I can't forsee, but with edits out of the way I can focus on Fondest Desire next and Spies and Lies- which I'm going to sub to them next :)

YAY
Have a great day!
PS Come to the Realms of Love chat tonight. Details are in the post from Sunday :)

Michelle

Maniac Monday

I have to thank my son for inspiring today's Maniac post. He wanted to watch Mario, so I put on You Tube. Lo and behold they had Mario dancing to soldier boy. And he would find not only one but a zillion of them - gotta love you tube.

So I said, hey I wanna see the video. I go to You Tube and in my search I find this fun video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6nVcDkXNY8

They even have a version with changed lyrics sung by I don't know who to mario LOL

Wanna learn how to crank dat? Watch the instructional video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLGLum5SyKQ

Video from The Wire - BET http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMycfdNdlKA

***EDIT - adding this link hehehe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZUCBO5aJDo

I called my husband and said he needs to get this song for us ( I make him get the music cause I would um.... Prolly buy fifty million songs. He has better self restraint.) He goes. oh. that one. I said um yeah heheh. I explained that my son kept yelling at me when I tried to turn it down.

The worst part? I'm watching everyone dance to this and all I can think is, "That looks like GREAT exercise"

LOL

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I found this last night :)

I-rish you a very nice place to live,
I-rish God's greatest gifts he'll give.
I-rish you health, and wealth, and more--
I-rish your smilin' face were at my door!

Check out Love Romances Cafe tonight. I'll be chatting there with Aline de Chevigny tonight. We both have Irish stories. Hers is a St. Patty's tale and mine just takes place in Ireland :)

The leprechauns ran amok in my house last night. They turned our milk green and left Irish potatoes in my potato drawer. They also left Irish poems and pictures everywhere instead of the usual candy they scatter. Oh well :)

Hope you have a green beer and think of me.

Oh and lookie what I got:

Plastic on the left and glass on the right. Woo hoo can't wait to start giving some out to my loyal readers :)

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Oh boy was today a doozy.

My daughter came home with two boxes of candy for us to sell to pay for her school trip. It's going to cost close to two hundred dollars, and the only fundraiser for it is this candy. And if I sell 54 candy bars I get a 27 dollar credit. Soooo Can we say Michelle is pushing candy bars on the street corner ;)

The highlight of my night was when my Brother won the booze basket at the Irish Parade in Philly. He gave me the huge bottle of Peach Schnapps because my husband went with him to pick it up. Good thing my husband did, everyone was asking my brother to give them bottles of booze. LOL AND TO top it all off!!! Mr. Michelle stopped for OJ so I am sipping fuzzy navels and trying to relax :)

Happy, happy Monday ;)

Michelle

Maniac Monday

I'm late posting because I spent yesterday goofing off on the Changeling Press yahoo group.

My Sven count for yesterday was 836. Not bad since I had to play outside with the boy and then spent 2 hours at the girls scout meeting. They made first aid kits. Um two of my kids want to quit girl scouts. I'm torn. I think they could really benefit from it, but how can I put that before dance or softball? Exercise is good too!

AND the maniac part of the day was that I had bent over to pick up something and stood up to smack my head on the bottom of the freezer door. Apparently my 3 year old is tall enough to reach it and WING it open and well, when you bend over in the kitchen how many of us look up before we stand back up. I was joking that he tried to make himself motherless because it hurt that bad. In fact I started to cry then he started to cry and asked for an ice pack for his boo boo.

*sighs
and so of course I keep bumping the top of my head. Who knew a pillow could hurt so much LOL

Michelle

Maniac Monday

Thank you Dad! For enabling my procastination and enteraining me LOL
(no he doesn't read this but I had to thank him anyway!)

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The flight attendant looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."


2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"


3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly, it immediately sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.


4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."



5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.



6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?", they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said," I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."



7. A woman has identical twins and is forced to give them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're identical twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."



8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.



9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

And finally,


10. There was the person who sent ten different puns to friends with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.


Michelle

Maniac Monday

So for my next installment of Maniac Monday.

Last night we're just being goofs. My husband was chasing the munchkins and one got hurt. As usual. Okay when you chase 4 kids through a kitchen, dining room, foyer and living room someone is bound to get hurt. At least nothing was broken.

My 5 year old comes to me crying because her finger is bleeding. She's scratched it between the sofa and floor. (You'd think hardwood floors would keep them from diving on the floor - no.)

I tried to cheer her up as I cleaned and bandaged her finger. "At least you didn't lose it."

She sniffled. Then says, "I know. I need my pointer finger to read."

I burst into hysterics. She's in kindergarten and points as she reads. Plus her first thought was that she needs to read, not that she needs the finger to play or write or whatever.

My husband - smart ass that he is - says "You also need your finger to pick your nose." She giggled and jumped off me and ran to play again.

Men.

Kids.

As Marge Simpson says "It's aged me horribly."

Michelle

Maniac Monday

I decided to make today Maniac Monday because my son is driving me insane. And why shouldn't he? The others are all in school and mommy is supposed to spend the day playing (let's forget she has deadlines-and you can't explain them to a 3 year old anyway!)

So what am I doing on this Maniac day? Spending the day playing Diner Dash Flo on the Go (the vacation one) and I would rather have more options for decorating the room than changing her clothes. Because of the way it is set up, you don't get to win all the decorations for each level. My cruise ship, train and submarine are sadly lacking. (I haven't won the game yet, but I have all experts LOL)

Yes - I am THAT ANAL. I missed expert on one level I became obsessed. I played it until I beat it. Fortunately, some levels I get expert on the first try, but if I don't, LOOK OUT FLO!!! LMAO

My husband has walked in to hear me saying "Just order already damn it!" or "What the hell are you waiting for?" "Come on come on idiots!"

Of course this cracks me up. I remember my mom came to visit once. We had the Playstation. I forget which one it was. She died in 2000 so it might have been PS or PS2. We opted not to get the PS3 since we went through TWO PS2's and have nothing to show for it but two dead PS2's. I sent one back to them to fix and they sent it back saying to keep dust off the unit. (LMAO) I have cans of dust off and electronic wipes. My husband works in computers and I spend all my free time on computers and used to work on them all day when I did. I really don't think it is dust that killed both my PS2 units. Honestly. Do I need to clean it every night? So we've given up on playstation BUT I lost my thread. LOL

Sooo my mom was a character she would move the controller the direction she wanted it to go and would yank it up to make it jump. (She was fun on the Nintendo playing Mario, let me tell you. Watching her was too much fun.)

Guess some silliness is hereditary ;)

Michelle