Startin' off August with a Paranormal BANG!

You came back! Thank you! But why, praytell, didja bring the wretched dewpoint with you? Never mind all the global-warming boo-hooing over here, I Have News!

You hardy souls, longtime readers since, er, November, and all my recent lovely guests-who-drop-by have no doubt picked up that writing is quite important at the Orchid House. So important, that I've even gone out of my way to achieve one dream and befriend a few writers. One new friend is a talented writer in various genre, quite capably selling stories that are, er, straight-up Romance, naughty paranormal, erotica with a twist, and, lately, she's turning her skills to horror. Even more impressively, she's a dedicated mom of three. And volunteers for her church. If she wasn't so damned nice, my inferiority complex would have done me in by now.

How nice is she? Well, for one, she publishes FREE short stories - paranormal with a side of naughty - at her website AND Facebook page. Yes indeed, these are the Freak Sorority stories, bandied about during "Freak Week", at http://www.stephaniebeck.net.  And her name is, in fact, Stephanie Beck. And, to celebrate her Third Annual Freak Week, she is doing bloggy scavenger hunts, posting her stories, having contests and fun, and posting excerpts from her Freak Sorority offshoot novels as well. All the joy starts Monday, August 1, and ends August 6. And if you do enjoy reading about werewolves, succubi, angels, or demon hunters, this might be the place for you.

Happy reading!!

(ps, get a load of the cool banner I got to post! Having a  Blog is Fun!)

much mayhem, no writing

ack. seriously. I need to get past my son's birthday party and everything will be better.

The heat does not help. presses against you like an unwanted lover and it's just as hard to shake off.

watching 3 neighborhood kids so their mom can work a pt. job - she's sending the money to her diabetic mom in mexico, so I can feel like today is useful for a few things anyway. The Wip's taking it's turn on vacation, i guess :-)

Off to it -  it's a busy day. really need to hop around for inspiration so I hope I can check in a bit later from the ROW-ers :-)

Have a great day!

S.

I'm a bit low on my daily irony, but the Democrats have stepped up to the plate!

Alrighty. The state of MN managed to get it's act together by cobbling together a plan for the budget that both sides hate. This is the textbook definition of 'compromise' (at least, in my snark-ass textbooks.)

As a quasi-diligent member of the Democratic party, I went online, bitched them out, offered them a pair of big-boy pants to help solve the impasse (only after they started spending big $ on pre-emptive name-calling), and fool that I am, left them with my email address.

Now, they are shilling me. They can't get the budget balanced - they are the LAST people who should be hitting me up for cash. Oh, hell, look for yourself.

Shari --

Did you get a chance to see this?

As the finance director for the DFL, it's my job to make sure we are on target to meet our fundraising goal by Wednesday’s deadline. We are counting on Minnesota DFLers like you to provide the resources we need to throw these extreme Republicans out of office.

Ken was just asking whether we were going to make our goal – can I tell him you're helping us reach our goal of 500 online donors?

Click here to contribute $5 or more today and help us reach our goal of 500 online donors by Wednesday, July 27.

Like Ken said, the shutdown was just the beginning. From insisting on putting millionaires and corporations before our children and hardworking families, to holding our country hostage with the debt ceiling – we've seen that Republicans in Minnesota and nationally are going to the extreme.

We only need six seats in the House and four seats in the Senate to take back our State Legislature, and we need to start right now if we are going to do it.

There are just hours to the deadline. Become one of our 500 online donors and help us beat these extreme Republicans at the ballot box.

Thanks for your support.

Berrett Gall
Finance Director

My response:

Hello Mr. Gall -

(By the Way, do you realize the irony inherent in your last name?)

I am not sure you are all getting the point.  The Republican party and the Democratic party both seem to have the same bad idea - not spending within our means. You seem to have two different bad ideas about how to spend outside of our means. MN taxpayers pay some of the highest taxes in the country, and after blowing money on anti-republican adds - which, I should point out, does Not Smack of Bipartisan Effort - the Democratic party is asking me for money?

In a recession?

Please tell me you aren't in charge of Public Relations too.

Sincerely,

etc.

I shouldn't do this much head-slapping while drinking. Spillin' the wine Any Second Now.

g'night.