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Good News Monday

Do you think I can fool myself into not dreading Monday if I start thinking positively Sunday night?  Well, that’s my plan.

Last week was…rough.  Probably the roughest I’ve had in 16 years.  I was hoping to get away to my Dad’s for a nice bonfire this weekend to celebrate making it one more week, but he wasn’t able to be home Sat. night, which makes it a little hard to congregate at his place!  We’re hoping to reschedule in the next couple of weeks. 

My good news…

  • I still have an Evil Day Job despite all the stress and drama last week.  I had to wave the white flag, but now I’ll have help, so this week will be better.  *thinking positively!*
  • Ritual Ink made the cut for the Just One Bite ARe contest.  Voting starts 10/1!
  • My fantasy football team did really well this week.  About time – I’m last in our family league.
  • I ordered some gorgeous notecards that Dawn of Book Graphics designed for me.  They’ll be going out with all the promo packages I ship for quite awhile (I ordered 500!).

What’s your good news this week?

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Review: Golden, a Top Forbidden Favorite

What a wonderful review from Tanya at The Forbidden Bookshelf, who makes Golden a Top Forbidden Favorite!

Seduction, passion, pain/pleasure, and machinations bring Golden to life! The uniqueness of characters and setting bring an air of freshness and unconventionality to the story of one woman who will give her entire being to the one man who can painfully fulfill her sexual desires and aspiration for her future. The Emperor alone can make Jin soar, and Jin alone can free the repressed desires of an Emperor who craves to be the man he is with the one person who can accept for who he is: Jin.

 

For anyone who has not read a Joely Sue Burkhart book, I highly recommend that you do! She knows how to create sensual and heartfelt moments that truly captivate.

Golden is a Top Forbidden Favorite for me! Thank you Joely, for creating stories that are unforgettable!

Thank you so much, Tanya!

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RBW Week 12

As I feared in yesterday’s post, the scale is still up today, exactly the same weight I was last week.  However, I refuse to despair.  I’ve eaten on plan all week, making healthy choices despite my work stress.  I haven’t gobbled pizza OR chips.  I call that a win!

I haven’t been sleeping the greatest either, which contributes to a slowdown in weight loss.  All I can do is stay the course.  I know I’m doing the right things, and I should eventually be rewarded in the number category.  I should be exercising more — it’ll help with the stress and the weight factor.  I just haven’t taken the time, and I missed our weekend trek to the track thanks to much-needed rain.

New food this week:  at our favorite coffee house, they have a killer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  That Man likes to order it, and it’s all I can do to eat one or two bites because it’s so good, but also sooooo high in fat and calories.  Luckily Middle Monster likes it too, so one piece with three forks hitting it doesn’t last long.

Anyway, I decided to make a healthy version, very similar to Skinny Taste’s Pumpkin Cupcakes.  I used a carrot cake mix for the base with canned pumpkin, and then mixed more pumpkin with the cream cheese in the frosting.  Unfortunately I didn’t have reduced fat cream cheese, so mine were a little higher points but still much more diet friendly.

The kids loved the cupcakes, although not all of them liked the frosting.  Not a problem — I kept the frosting separate in the fridge, so I didn’t have to keep the whole cupcake in the fridge too.   I’d like to make a homemade cake base eventually that I can control even more, but this was a good start!

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Good News Monday

The best news….  MONDAY IS ALMOST OVER.

Yes, it was one of those days.  It’s going to be one of those weeks.  It’s become very clear to me that I don’t always respond well under pressure, contrary to my exuberant claims otherwise all these years.  There are certain stressors that I *do* respond well to.  Big projects don’t scare me, nor do tight deadlines.  Long hours, impossible timelines, not a problem.

WHEN…  I know what the @#&%* I’m doing. 

I’m very uncomfortable with the programming language I’m working in right now, so I have this nagging, constant terror.  I don’t have the absolute confidence that I can and will get it done, no matter what it takes…because I just don’t know what I’m doing.  Or why.  UGH.  I hate it.  I’m constantly asking (bugging!) people for help and my deadline looms terrifyingly close, while I’m dinking around with stuff that should be basic.

Anyway, that’s why my posts have been less lately.  Through the end of this month, I’m going to be a stressed out wreck with no finger nails, constant headaches, and churning stomach from all the coffee.  Plus the scale will probably be up too.  Le sigh.

So I need LOTS of good news!!

  • My awesome pens from Earthly Charms arrived.  I’ll be sending them out with promo packages going forward.  If you’re dying to have one, email me your snail mail addy!
  • For the HMSG print giveaway (here), I decided to give everyone a copy!  That’s really not so big when I look at how many of you were already going to get a copy. ;-)  If you want Victor, please drop me an email with your current address (even if I’ve shipped something to you before), just so I don’t have to go looking and digging around for it.  I can’t promise to get to the post office tomorrow or anything — but I’ll get there as soon as I can.

That’s all I’ve got.  What about you?

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The Mad Stitcher

I’ve had a bit of ADHD lately with my projects.  I’ve been working on four at a time.  :oops:

Here’s the next part of the mystery sal completed:

I also started two projects.  First, Northern Expressions Needlework’s Antique Lace band sampler:

This is stitched on ruby wine linen with HDF’s examplar white chocolate silk.  Since I had to order quite a large piece of linen to get the right length, I had plenty (after I cut it in half) to use the other piece for the Coat of Arms SAL.

This one is using “Obsidian” silk from The Silk Mill.  It’s gorgeous, shiny filament silk — but as slippery as snot.  I quickly learned to use much shorter lengths than usual (for this linen count, I have to use two strands to get the coverage I like).  I feel more worn out after wrestling with the slippery silks, so I might regret my decision to use it on such a large project.  But it’s absolutely gorgeous…

I’m not sure what other colors I’ll be using in the CoA yet.  I want blacks or dark grays that look good on the deep red.  I’ve placed another order from Carrie’s Threads, and as soon as The Silk Mill is shipping again (they’re moving and won’t ship until after 10/1), I’ll order more shades of black.  I’m tentatively thinking that I’ll do each row of the sampler in a different shade of black.  That’ll allow me to explore a bit.

My other project is a small kit with lots of beads that That Man talked me into the other day.  I don’t have pictures of it yet but I’ll snag one the next time I work on it.

 

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RBW Week 11

If I were only looking at the scale, this would be a disappointing week because it’s showing a gain.

However, I know that I worked the plan all week.  I’ve been eating as healthy as usual.  But the biggest victory came this past weekend when I jogged with Princess Monster.  Again!  Not only did I not die — but I also jogged for quarter of a mile – straight!  Then I jogged another half a lap after that.

I wasn’t as sore, either.  Now, I just need to work on more REGULAR exercise.

My “new” food this week has been large salads for lunch.  I’ve always loved salad, but more as a side than the main dish.  Now I’m measuring out 2-3 oz of roast beef or ham, adding a BabyBell mini cheese, or even a hardboiled egg, for lots of protein, topped with my homemade honey dijon dressing made with olive oil and basalmic.  I have a nice huge plate of greens mixed with cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes.  Yum!

Plus it always makes me giggle because I call it a “Hugh Jass” salad.  On the WW forums, they censor certain words, so people call it that instead of huge ASS.  Then my brain leaps on to Hugh Jackman…

And I’m very happy to eat my salad. :mrgreen:  Hoping for a better weigh in next week!

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Good News Monday

Remember that short story I was working on, Ritual Ink?  I’m so pleased to announce that it was selected as one of the 32 finalists for All Romance E-books’ Just One Bite paranormal contest!  Details will be coming soon.

I posted more reviews for Golden last week.  Thank you to everyone who takes the time to rate or post reviews on GoodReads, Amazon, etc. 

I have print copies of Hurt Me So Good getting ready to go out in the mail, along with some cool pens from Earthly Charms.  While I have ARCs on hand — if you’re a reviewer and you’d like a signed copy, please drop me an email (joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com) and I’ll send a promo package to you.

My friend Diana Castle has released her first self-pubbed title, Under His Hands, a steamy western erotic romance.  I’m reading my copy now and wheeew boy, she writes smoking hot, delicious stories as usual!

What’s your good news today?

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Golden Winner and Review

I used the pick giveaway plugin to select the winner for the HautTote giveaway:  Stephanie Christine!  Thank you to everyone for entering!  Stephanie, I’ll email details to you (the tote hasn’t shipped to me yet).

There’s also another great review for Golden by Night Owl Romances by Elf. 4.5 stars and a Top Pick!

An evocative and well-written story that vividly conjures up the intricacies of court intrigue and machinations even as it relays the tale of two people tied together in their desire for the sexual stimulation achieved through the delivery and reception of pain.  Looking forward to more works from this author, a wonderfully adept word-artist.

Thank you so much!

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Reviews: Golden

I have two reviews to share today for Golden!

First, from MinnChica at The Book Pushers:

The sexy moments were – in true Burkhart fashion – very sexy and firmly set in the BDSM world. … I was also intrigued by the backstabbing and side plots in the book with the Empress and son. The assassination plots and attempts, Jin’s need to stay one-step ahead of everyone and the secrets were another aspect of the historical time frame I found really interesting. Ms. Burkhart if you read this, please write more stories like this! Loved that, very unique and something I’ve never read before!

And from Rose at Two Lips Reviews:

The pace is fast, the dialogue is sharp, and there are twists and turns in the plot that I didn’t see coming. … I really liked what Ms. Burkhart did with Jin; she’s ambitious, determined. and stealthy, but at no time comes off as being wrong or selfish – she really wants to please the Emperor and give this man, who can have anything he desires, the one thing he doesn’t have, unconditional love and acceptance.

Thank you so much!