Category: The Blog

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Weight Watcher Update

It’s taken weeks and weeks and weeks, but I *finally* hit 80 (actually 81) pounds gone since Jan. 2011!

This past stretch was frustrating but I hung in there.  It wasn’t all the scale’s fault.  We’ve had so many “special” event dinners, both at restaurants and home.  Sometimes I’m not tempted, but other times I can’t help but order a burger instead of yet another salad.  I’ve been up as much as 4+ pounds from my last low weight, and it would take weeks to get that extra weight off.

I admit my tracking hasn’t been as faithful either, but I am working at it.  I definitely do better if I track every single day, even if I don’t eat the best.  It’s easier to get right on track again the next meal.

Power 90 has been a bust.  Sigh.  With our summer schedule, it’s just been impossible to get into a regular routine.  Kids are sleeping in late and staying up horribly late at night, making it difficult for us to sleep well.  They’re in and out to their various activities at all hours of the day and it never fails that I need to run someone to a friend’s house for a trip on my lunch… instead of working out.

So I’m going to forgive myself for failing to get Power 90 going right now.  I’ll try again once the kids are back to school this fall.  In the meantime, I’m going to continue doing my pushups as often as I can, and I’ll fit in whatever activities I can with the kids.  Princess wants to start doing Tae Bo, and since I have some Billy Blanks tapes, I’ll do them with her.  It’ll be a nice change of pace, and she needs the exercise as much as I do.

With today’s weigh in, I lost another point, which is making me nervous!  It’s harder and harder to stay within my daily range, especially if I don’t have exercise points to fill in the gaps.  That’s another reason my already slow weight losses have fallen to a molasses creep.  I really think the only reason I finally lost to a new low this past week is that I underate several days just because we were busy.  I can’t do that every day, nor should I.  So I’ve definitely got to get regular exercise built back into my routine, somehow, even if I don’t have a routine!

New foods or techniques:  we’ve been hitting the farmer’s market at least every other weekend and stocking up on things like cabbage, peppers, and zucchini.  Then instead of eating pasta, That Man and I use the sauteed veggies as the base.  Sometimes I’ll use a half of cup of pasta (2 pts) mixed with the veggies so I still get that mouth feel of pasta without as many points.  This even worked well with my “fancy spaghetti” that Littlest Monster requested for her birthday.  (Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but I used turkey italian sausage and 93% lean ground beef to help cut some of the fat.)

So now just about every single night, I take my smaller iron skillet (10″) and cook just veggies in a little olive oil in addition to the main dish.  Sometimes I season it with just salt — other times I use curry and turmeric (makes it a nice bright yellow).  Princess will sometimes eat it, but usually it’s just That Man and me.  Although I sneaked green peppers into everyone’s main dish last night — a weekly favorite this summer that we call “noodle bowls” with soba noodles (only 3 pts per cup), lean beef stirfry with broccoli and whatever other veggies I can trick the kids into eating — and no one complained!

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Review Roundup

Wow, I hadn’t realized it’d been so long since I’d posted here.  I can’t believe June is already half gone!  Let me catch up with some awesome reviews for Yours to Take.

First up is an incredible review by Whitney at RTBookReviews:  4.5 stars and a Top Pick!

Book three in the Connaghers series will delight readers whether or not they have read the first two stories. With concrete world building, multi-layered characters and a dynamic plot, this story is an excellent portrayal of a woman taking her first steps into the world of BDSM and struggling to hold onto the two men who have stolen her heart. Readers will be swept up in this emotional, extremely passionate tale and root for this threesome every step of the way.

She writes more in an extended review here:

Ultimately, Burkhart does a fantastic job of illustrating this new BDSM ménage relationship as it cracks out of its vanilla shell like a baby bird and then takes its first few steps. The story moves beyond interesting to downright fascinating, and is one that readers will feel comfortable with even if they tend to take their erotic romance sans ménage or BDSM elements.

Nancy’s review is also up at Queen of the Night Reviews:

Joely sue Burkhart has a talent for creating worlds that suck you in and make you feel like part of the story. This story is no different, and I felt like I was seeing and feeling everything Vicki was at times. The characters in this are strong and well written and the interaction is fully believable throughout the story.

Thank you so much! If I’ve missed posting a review, feel free to comment or drop me a note (joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com). I’ve been discombobulated this summer!

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Power 90 Round 2

I decided I’d better post this and make it public before I wimp out.

I’m going to do another round of Power 90, this time all at level 3/4.  Today was day 4 for me.  I only managed a handful of exercise days in May, so I decided I’d better get my fanny in gear and make a commitment.  This gives me a deadline of about the time the monsters head back to school this fall.

I’m a little behind where I was before RT but not bad at all.  I can still get through the cardio portion without having to stop, but I can’t quite do as many pushups.  Hopefully that’ll come back after a week or two.  I’ll probably need to move up in weights sometime in the first 30 days, but I’m not sure when.  I guess I’ll play it by ear.

I’m not traditionally very prolific in the dog days of summer, so I’m hoping the exercise commitment won’t interfere with heavy-duty writing.  I’m nearly finished with the first draft of Lady Blackmyre – just one more scene.  I could have finished it this evening after work, but we had two neighbor kids over and it was raining.  Five kids in the house.  Yeah, wasn’t happening.

Then I’ll have some edits I want to do on another story so I can decide what to do with it, and then I’ll grind through a second draft of Blackmyre so I can get it submitted in the next month or so.  I need to finish plotting Lord Regret’s story too.  Hopefully I can continue exercise while managing all my To-Dos.

I only need to lose a little over 16 pounds to hit my next major milestone.  Maybe this round of Power 90 will get me there!

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Practicing Maintenance

I have good news and bad news on the Weight Watcher front.  Since RT in April, I’ve pretty much been hovering up and down 2 pounds.

The bad news:  I’ve been gaining and losing the same 2 pounds.  Only this past week did I edge slightly deeper into VFT (virgin fat territory).  I’ve been *this close* to losing 80 pounds for weeks now.

The good news:  that’s well over a month of maintenance.

See, one of the huge reasons I’ve bailed on diets before is this exact phase.  I get tired of the ups and downs without a steady downward trend.  I start feeling sorry for myself.  “Gee, I’m working so hard.  It’s not fair.  Whines.  I didn’t eat this or that and the scale is stilllllll up, so I should definitely polish off that bag of chips in the pantry.”

I get in a rut.  I’m tired of tracking.  For seemingly “valid” reasons (RT travel, Lady Blackmyre’s whip), I can’t get my normal exercise routine in.  I’m stressed out (That Man’s job situation).  Maybe we eat out a little more because of traveling (Mother’s Day trips).  I might overeat a little at birthday celebrations (mine in May, Littlest in June, That Man’s in July).

I’m sick.  I’m tired.  I’m sick AND tired.  I’ve got a release out.  The kids are out of school.  That Man’s out of a job.  Ahhhhhh!  *runs away tearing out my hair*

Once you’re derailed, it’s really really hard to get back on track.  Danger, Will Robinson!  Here be Dragons!

The good news this time around is that I’ve basically been practicing maintnenance.  I haven’t gained more than 2 pounds, which I immediately lost over the next two weeks.  I’ve not blackslid into poor eating.  While I did indulge at Mythos for my birthday and a patty melt and fries (my all-time favorite) once at Smith’s, I’ve always gotten back on track the very next meal.

My usual breakfast.  My normal veggie side dishes and homemade dressings.  My faithful snacks of fruit and protein and healthy oils.

My smallest jeans still fit.  My favorite jeans are still too big.  I keep putting them in the sell pile and then pulling them on “one last time” even though I know they’ll stretch out and drive me nuts because I’ll be hauling them up all day.

Maybe it’s wisdom in my old age :mrgreen: but I’ve come to realize these periods are not failures.  In some ways, they’re necessities.  This is time for my body to adjust to a new weight.  Maybe it’s all in my head, but I really think it gives my skin time to shrink in and adjust to my smaller body.  I feel tighter and smaller, even if the scale doesn’t budge…ESPECIALLY if I get my Power 90 routine in.  (I’m working on it – I’m hoping to log a steady 5 weeks while That Man is training for his new job.)

If I’m bored with food, then that gives me a reason to research new menu options.  I pulled out my old WW cookbooks.

If I’m bored with my clothes, then I try on my drawer things for new inspiration.  By the way, I wore my first pair of shorts in at least ten years last weekend on a family trip to Silver Dollar City.  Small children did not run in horror at my deathly white cellulite that still lingers.

It’s just like writing (or any other Hero’s Journey).  Some days the traveling is joyous and easy and exhilarating.  I can’t wait to get up in the morning to see what new low the scale has given me.

Other days it’s a struggle to even get out of bed and trudge in there to see what that lying cheating box of metal is going to shovel on me today.  I don’t wanna exercise.  I can’t gag down one more bowl of yogurt for breakfast.  I want chips, damn it.  Or homemade bread!

But if I stick to the path, eventually these periods of Inner Cave and Dark Moments will pass.  I will only contine my journey by passing through these moments of boredom and fear and laziness.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  If I do the right things and eat the right foods, the hateful lying scale will eventually be forced to cooperate.

I can’t use the cave as an excuse to leave the journey entirely.  In some ways, this phase is more MENTAL than physical.  I have to let my mind adjust as much as my thinner body.

So the journey continues.

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My Apologies

For the silence!  I’ve been so busy this month that my own blog has suffered.  I forget how stressful release month is.  Not just anxiously waiting on reviews to see how the book is getting accepted, but also the social media aspect.  I honestly don’t know that it helps sales, but I’ve done my best to keep my name and my books scattered about the blogosphere all month, hitting several new sites and hopefully making new friends.

Of course my old blog friends have been wonderfully intstrumental too, in reviewing and hosting guest posts and even sponsoring their own contests.  My huge thanks to every single one of you!

Life on the home front has been in turmoil as well.  That Man is starting a new career tomorrow, beginning with a five-week training course.  Until the training is done, we’re not sure where he’ll actually end up working, so it’s hard to prepare mentally.  We’re looking at the possibility of travel time, though, which will be a significant adjustment.  Lots of changes, some good and some difficult.  We’ll just have to see how it goes.

Meanwhile, Lady Blackmyre politely gave me a little time to get through Vicki’s release, but now she’s back and demanding resolution to her story.  I got up early this morning and worked through stage 1 of the big happy-ending smex scene.  Still have stage 2 and the finale to get through, but I’m closer!

Oh and I got a cool new idea that I’m building in Scrivener.  I’m stuck on names.  Names.  Names.  Gah, all the good ones are taken.  But I’m trying to get the mad rush of ideas down so I can start building it later this year.

After Lord Regret, of course.

Happy Memorial Day.  My thoughts and prayers are with all military families today.

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The Happy Birthday Edition

Don’t forget – today’s the last day to enter the Yours to Take Giveaway.

Yep, another year has come and gone and I’m another year older.  We celebrated at Mythos this weekend like we always do, but it was touched with sadness since the Joplin tornado last year.  Some areas are still unrecognizable, even though we lived there for over two years while attending Missouri Southern.  Our first apartment complex as a married couple is gone and I wouldn’t even stop for a second glance if I didn’t know the intersection where we used to live.  They’ve rebuilt a lot, but there are still mangled trees and empy lots that break my heart every time we go.

This will be an interesting year.  There’s several changes in the works on the home front that I can’t talk about yet that may or may not happen.  I’m also working on a secret project (that doesn’t involve a particular book, so don’t get your hopes up that I’m finally getting around to xyz!).  I’ll share more as I can.

In the meantime, I really haven’t been writing much.  As a result, Lady Blackmyre is about ready to take the whip to me.  I’ve got another two weeks of guest posts to finish and then I’ll return to her story as soon as I can.  I’m well into Act 3 so I’m very close to finishing the first draft.  It’s just a matter of working through some issues and finding “the end.”

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A Busy Mother’s Day

I meant to at least post here over the weekend to wish all the moms who might stop by Happy Mother’s Day, but I was too busy celebrating our Moms’ days to make it!

Saturday we celebrated with That Man’s parents at my BIL’s house.  The last time we were over at the lake, MIL took me in to show me the sad state of her closet.  So I was determined to buy her some clothes.  However, what I’d picked out from Catherine’s didn’t suit, so BB and I convinced her to jump in the car while we were waiting on the chickens to smoke (for dinner) and took her back to the store so she could pick out something she really did like.

She found a blouse and another shirt she plans to wear as a jacket, so that was a success!  Even if she complained about how picked over the store was and how they don’t sell the kinds of things she prefers any longer.  (I’ve had these pants for thirty years and I can’t find anything like them now!)

I made settler’s beans for that dinner, adding fresh garlic and using dijon honey mustard instead of regular (since I was out).  They definitely tasted a little different as a result, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

We got home around 7 PM Saturday night and decided to go see the last showing of The Avengers on the grand screen in 3D.  It cost an extra $4 per ticket (with a family of 5, that definitely took a bite out of the wallet) but wow, it was so awesome, it was worth it.  We didn’t get home until midnight, though.

Sunday we were up to get ready and drive to my mom’s (Granny’s).  Unfortunately, the day started with Littlest spilling Fruit Loops and milk all over my micro-suede sofa.  *cries*  We stopped at Sam’s Club on the way to get the traditional turtle cheesecake I always take.  However, they didn’t have any.  :twisted:  I finally settled on an assortment but it just wasn’t the same as that sinful turtle cheesecake.

Granny made spaghetti and toasted bread that was a huge hit.  I promised to wash up all her dishes since she wasn’t supposed to cook on her special day.  We made about half a dozen pots of Caribou Coffee and visited all afternoon with my beloved sister.  Oh, and we celebrated early birthdays too (mine is next week and Littlest Monster’s is in June), and Molly brought a bottle of bubbly to help celebrate Vicki’s release.  That’s the first time we’ve celebrated with my mom, so that was cool.

On the way out the door, Middle found a turtle and begged to keep it.  She’s been driving me nuts about wanting a pet turtle.  Unbeknownst to her, Papa (my dad) had also captured two turtles for her, which we picked up on the way home.  We also found another turtle in the gravel road on the way over.

So now we have 4 turtles.  *headdesk*

We visited with Papa for awhile, said hello to his horses, and looked at some land.  It needs a lot of work but the price is within the realm of possibility.  Some magic would still need to happen but we do have options to make my country dream a reality in the next year or so.  Of course Princess objects wholeheartedly.  Sigh.  She doesn’t want to move anywhere and lose her friends, least of all to the country.  She might start talking like a hick and wearing big sparkly belt buckles.  *headdesk again*

We made it home about 8 PM last night to frantically get baths done and everyone to bed.  I haven’t done laundry.  I haven’t gone grocery shopping.  The house is a mess.  The monsters are in the last week of school and still have reading assignments to do.  Lord help me, one last week of school.  Then I’ll be herding monsters out to all their various summer activities to keep them out of the house so we can work.

I’ll come back later with a roundup list of links where I’m giving away copies of Yours to Take and some new reviews.

Wishing you a belated Happy Mother’s Day – and a non-grumpy Monday!

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Yours to Take Giveaway

In honor of Vicki’s book, YOURS TO TAKE, I’m offering a $100 gift certificate to any online book retailer of the winner’s choice.  You can tell me to split it up among stores too, so if you’d like $50 at Samhain and $50 at Amazon, or $100 at B&N — whatever you want!

To enter, comment on this post ONLY before midnight CST, May 21st.  I’ll be using “Pick Giveaway Winner” to randomly select the winner from this post.  Anyone on the planet can enter, even if you’ve won something from me before.  Multiple comments are encouraged!

Ways to enter:

  • Just throw your name in the hat with a generic comment.
  • If you’ve read any of the Connagher books, I’m considering writing Mama Connagher and Ty’s book.  How do you think they met?  Anything outlandishly funny or crazy you think of about them?  The wilder the better!  Let’s have fun with this!  If I use any of your ideas, I’ll include you in the dedication and acknowledgements.
  • Rate or review any Connagher book anywhere online and post a comment containing the link to your review (one link per comment if you want to maximize your chances to win).  Pre-existing reviews are fine – but you have to go get the link and comment here.  Good or bad reviews, I don’t care.

If Hurt Me So Good breaks 20 Amazon reviews, I’ll also add another $50 gift certificate!

If Yours to Take breaks 20 Amazon reviews, I’ll add another $50 gift certificate as well!

Thank you for helping me celebrate Vicki’s release!

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Happy Book Birthday to Vicki!

I told @s_muha on Twitter the other day that it seemed like *forever* since I’d finished Vicki.  But it’s finally her day – Yours to Take releases today!

Vicki’s the youngest Connagher yet she’s just as headstrong as her brothers, Conn and Victor.  I hope you enjoy her story as she finally faces her Domme side.

To celebrate, I’ll be giving away a $100 gift certificate to any online book retailer(s) of the winner’s choice.  More details to come in a separate post.

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