Snow Day Book Giveaway!!

Kissing Cowboy, Available 2/9/2010

A foot of snow was dumped on us in Central Ohio and I spent many hours yesterday helping some of my neighbors get dug out. I live in an older neighborhood and most of my neighbors are over fifty so I figured I could use the exercise. But the ultimate indignity? Having to shovel little puppy paths for my dachshund, Bella, a.k.a. Satan. When she runs out into the snow all I could see is her tail sticking up.Yes, I need to get photos and share the hilarity.So here’s the plan! Comment to this post (or email to wilder @ jcwilder.com) with your favorite stuck-in-the-house activity and be entered to win either a free copy of Tactical Pleasure or Tactical Maneuver from my Men of S.W.A.T. collection. I will be giving away a slew of ebooks over the next two days so keep checking back.

My Latest Obsession

Have you checked out Buck Hollywood? I’m in complete adoration and I want him to be my new BFF!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8DOI06aadE&hl=en&fs=1]

Sleepy Sunday

Maddie is ready to snooze. She has the remote and a mountain of pillows to get comfy on. See Bella in the corner? She burrows into the pillows all the time.

Taking the High Road

One trick my father taught me was when I wake up in the morning, to automatically say, ‘this is the first day of the rest of your life.’ Okay, it is a little schmaltzy but it does serve as an important reminder – no matter what you do in life, that deed can be redeemed. You cannot change your history but you can change the path you’re walking.

I grew up in a negative household. It was always about what bad thing was going to happen next. Both of my parents were ill and I was the major caretaker, I was the one that held it together and it was hard, harder than even I can imagine or remember.

In my late thirties I decided I’d had enough of that constant negativity and I decided to turn it around. Rather than the ‘why me’ mentality I’d picked up in childhood, I turned it around to ‘if I have enough breath to bitch about it, then I’m doing better than many.’ How true that is.

In the past few years I turned myself from a glass half empty to a glass half full personality and that is something I love about myself. A sense of humor and the ability to see through all the bull is what will get you through life with a lot less bumps than someone who is constantly negative. There is nothing that I can’t handle – I can roll with the punches and come up smiling.

I lost sight of that for a few minutes.

There has been a lot of negativity swirling around me lately and I allowed myself to get sucked into it. I forgot one of my life ‘rules’, just because someone says something, that doesn’t make it true.

Several people have been making erroneous negative statements about me and my person and after two weeks of nonstop negativity, I allowed myself to get sucked in yesterday. I was angry, depressed and feeling negative about everything until I remembered something important – they weren’t talking about me.

One of my favorite ANTM moments is when some of the girls are gossiping about another girl and they were being very bitchy about it. ‘Mama’ stepped in and told them, ‘when someone is hating on someone else, it isn’t about that person. It’s because the haters are feeling insecure or threatened by the person they are hating on.’

How true it is. I don’t know why certain people have decided I’m their target of the moment but it really doesn’t matter as sooner or later it will be someone else. Rather than poking at me they should be looking at themselves and their lives to try and determine why they are acting out in such a hateful fashion. It’s their issue, not mine.

So repeat after me – Just because someone says something, it doesn’t make it true.

So for those who continue to take shots at me, just imagine what you could accomplish if you used your talents for good rather than bad?

My latest obsessions

I’ve always had the attention span of a gnat. I don’t even consider myself the MTV generation – a generation of people who have been tested and determined to have shorter attention spans than average thanks for four minute videos – I’m just interested in everything and I’m easily distracted by shiny objects.

Some of my latest obsessions are:

America’s Next Top Model – I’ve always loved this show. Early in my working career I was a stylist and I actually dressed people for a living. I love the clothes, the makeup – the process I guess.

Project Runway – Same as above. I love this show so much that I’ve actually purchased a new sewing machine and I plan on designing my own clothing for conferences. So watch out! Who knows what I will end up wearing.

Hershey’s Dark Chocolate – Hey, it’s chocolate – need I say more? I have finally made the switch from milk to dark, but it took a while. Now I truly enjoy the bite of dark chocolate.

Reading – some of you will laugh. I haven’t had time to read the past few years and its really been breaking my heart. There are SO many good books out there and I just couldn’t get into them or find the time to devote to reading. Now I actually make time to read and I’ve fallen in love all over again.

Eating Well – Yes, I am now obsessed with eating well. Scary isn’t it? I’ve lost 22 pounds since early September and for the first time ever, I’m obsessed but in a good way. Before I’d beat myself up over eating a mouthful of anything ‘bad’. Now, I realize there isn’t any food that is bad, its all about how you look at it. I no longer live to eat, I eat to live. Will I keep this up? I hope so as I’m feeling better than I have in years.

So what’s your latest obsession?

Sunny Sunday

On a day when one should take time to reflect upon their life, their week and how they’re making a difference in the world around them, I bring you…sexy Mormons.

http://mormonsexposed.com/

I don’t think anything else needs to be said.

Sleepy Sunday

My dogs are SO spoiled it isn’t funny. They spend their ‘off’ time (when their not barking at neighbors, eating or napping on the couch) in my bed. Lazy brats!

This is two of my three dogs, Bella on the right and Maddie. Maddie is the dog that travels with me all the time and she stuck with me through my Hurricane Katrina work.