Worldwide Cover and Blurb Reveal - Fertile Ground (S.C.I.U. #2)

No consent required.

Adam Wyte has been nothing special his entire life, but everyone will remember him once his mission is complete. His diabolical plan to sow his seed and reap sons is so far along, no one can stop him now. And his carefully chosen list of women will help him—whether they want to or not.  

Justice is essential.

With the shadow of Jace Douglas’ success hanging over her, Agent Teri Buchanan transferred away from the S.C.I.U. headquarters intent on proving she’s as good as the next woman. And if moving to the Detroit branch also lets her bury the memories of her own attack, even better. When her first assignment means hunting down a serial rapist turned killer, she can’t let her fears interfere with her job. Even if she ends up confronting a need to carry out more justice than she ever received.

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This is not available for pre-order yet.  I plan to have it loaded to Amazon on the 16th.  Meanwhile, head on over to Goodreads and Want to Read it.  

Thursday This n That

The only visible difference between a male pileated woodpecker and a female pileated woodpecker is a small red swipe on either side of the beak.  I only learned that last month, so we're having fun seeing who's who.

I have two peony plants in the front bed of the 'Sarah Bernhardt' variety. This year, they decided they don't want to be the exact same color.  One is white, the other is pale pink like it's supposed to be.  In similarly weird plant news, my yellow rose has decided it wants to be dark pink now.  (It went feral, I think.)

Yesterday, we were on a walk when I saw something on the road... "Would you look at the size of that nightcrawler! :bends down to pick it up:  That's not a nightcrawler.  It's an earthworm snake.  :gently encourages snake out of the road with toe of shoe: " It was huge even for an earthworm snake - like 8-10 inches. I could've picked it up - earthworm snakes don't bite unless you really piss them off - but Hubs would've been horrified.  Then Hubs contemplated using earthworm snakes as bait and whether they'd catch really big fish. LOL

I need to give the cat a bath today.  She's okay about it. She just uses her most pitiful meow the whole time.  Max, on the other hand, was horrible about baths.  He was just getting non-violent in the bathtub when...

I miss Max.  :sniffle:

In other news, I'm almost done getting ready for the Kid to arrive.  Whatever gets done, gets done.  Whatever doesn't, she won't notice anyway.  Except bathing the cat.  And vacuuming. Somehow since she left, she developed a cat allergy.  So, having a clean cat and a well-vacuumed house will help cut down on the amount of antihistamines she'll need to take while she's here.  Funny thing is, Kira is actually her cat.  I gave her Kira as a birthday present back in 2003.  Well, she was the Kid's cat.  I think it's more like we're her humans now.

Kira's birthday is Sunday.  She'll be 13.  We won't be having a cake.  Not for her, anyway.  It's also Mother's Day and the Kid will be here, so there may be some kind of cake consumed.  She'll get a can of her favorite Fancy Feast Cod, Shrimp and Sole pate.

That's it for me today. What have you got for me?

Super Fudgy Chocolate Frosting

Okay, so I had a box of yellow cake in the cupboard - a leftover from Easter when I planned to make pineapple upside-down cake and didn't.  Sunday, I got a wild hair and decided to make the cake.  But I had no frosting in the house.  The last time I made chocolate frosting, it didn't turn out so well.  This lead me to the internet where I located a yummy looking recipe for chocolate frosting.

baking cocoa
powdered sugar
butter
milk
vanilla

Easy peasy.  Right?

I knew I had all the ingredients. Would've been nice if I'd checked the amount of the ingredients before I started making the frosting.  The recipe called for 3 cups of powdered sugar.  I didn't have quite that much.  :shrug:  Powdered sugar... powdered cocoa... dry ingredient = dry ingredient in the whole scheme of things, right?

So, there I am, melting the butter in a saucepan.  I put the powdered sugar into a big bowl and began to add the cocoa powder.  Then I got the wild idea to mix the last 1/3 cup of cocoa in with the melt butter.  Cool.  I sifted together the 2 2/3 cups of powdered sugar with the 2/3 cup of cocoa powder while I waited for the butter to melt.  Then I added the 1/3 cup to the melted butter.  Then I looked at the recipe again.  Whoops.  I was supposed to add ALL the cocoa powder to the butter and THEN stir it into the powdered sugar.  :shrug:  Too late now.  I beat the melted mixture into the dry mixture until it was smooth, then I put in the vanilla and mixed that together.  Then I went to the fridge for the milk.  Whoops.  Not much milk left and Hubs does like his cereal in the morning.  But wait!  I have heavy whipping cream leftover from when I made potato soup the other day.  That'll work.

I dribbled some into the bowl and beat it in.  Added a little more, beat that in.  Added and beat until I had the consistency I thought would work for frosting a cake.  Damn and whoa, there was way more frosting than usual for a standard frosting recipe.  No matter.  I slapped it all on the 9x13" cake. 

OMG.  It was awesome.  Never have my mistakes worked out so well.

Okay, so now that you know how I put it all together, here are the measurements:

2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup baking cocoa (divided 1/3 & 2/3)
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
approx. 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Have fun!  And enjoy! 

Sunday Update - Week 16

I wish I could say it was a productive week.  Ummm... errr.... no.

I read a lot.

I got my refurbished computer and set that up.  Not quite as big a pain as a new-new computer, but setting up any computer has some PITA elements.

Finished my bathroom.

Got the guest room ready for our first guest.  The Kid is coming to visit in two weeks. YAY!

Spent a large chunk of yesterday looking for my MS Image Composer installation CD.  I haven't seen it since I got my last new computer in 2010, but, since I never throw anything out, it has to be around here somewhere.  Soooo, I sat down in the storage closest and began sorting through boxes.  I found all sorts of neat stuff.  I also found my tax paperwork from 1998-2000.  Umm, yah.  After a few hours of that, I gave up and ordered a new-to-me CD off ebay.  The seller has 100% satisfaction over almost 500 customers, so I hope I don't get screwed.  I also hope I don't have to finally break down and learn a new image manipulation program because that would truly suck.

I took a lot of walks last week.  I think I only missed one day.  Which reminds me...

I haven't done a 'do something active every day' update in a while.  I missed 7 days in the last month and a lot of the days I hit were either cleaning or painting.  Still, I stepped on the scale Friday.  189.  Down 6 pounds since the beginning of the year.  I ain't shedding pounds Biggest Loser style, but that wasn't the point of this anyway.  I'm more active.  That was the point.  The decrease in poundage is just icing on the cake... mmm, cake... I want cake. 

Looking ahead at the week, I need to get my newsletter set up and ready to go out next weekend.  I also need to get a blurb written so I have something to say in my newsletter.  I will be unveiling the cover for FG.  (Thank goodness it's done or I'd be so screwed without my image program.  Ugh.)  And other fun stuff... or I hope it's fun stuff... I never know.  Thanks bunches to those of you who actually read it.  :hugs:

How were things for you last week?

Thursday This n That

I feel like someone beat me all night long.  I asked Hubs if he was beating me while I slept.  "Only part of the night."  ;o)

After three years of living here, we finally have a bed in the spare room.  It's weird having one in there.  And right now, it kinda looks like a room in an old folks' home.  I'm gonna need to do something to make it less so.  I'm thinking funky pillows or something.  We'll see what kinds of kitsch the thrift store has.

We went for a walk at dusk the other day.  It was kinda cool.  And we heard coyotes off in the distance.

Things are blooming all over the yard.  My bugle weed plants are taking over the shade bed, but they're so pretty right now, I can't bear pinching them back.  My iris beds are coming up purple and white.  No blues yet.  My azaleas are awash with white and red blooms.  Some of my wildflowers are blooming.  The peonies are covered in ants and the buds are looking like they'll burst open any day.  The columbine is sending up stalks with dark purple flowers. The grass is a sea of wild violets. I love Spring so much.  Oh, and my hydrangea has two buds!  So happy.

One of the cows in the pasture we walk past regularly had a 'fresh off the assembly line' calf with her a couple days ago.  So cute.  So tiny compared to the other calves.  Around here, they don't bother timing the breeding so all the calves come at the same time.  Which means we have new calves showing up whenever.  It was weird to me because in Michigan, they'd better all be born in the Spring or they won't survive the winter.  Here, it's all higgledy-piggledy. 

That's it for me for now.  Whatdya have for me this morning?

Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

Just 'cuz.

1) I collect unusual coins. That's like anything from another country. I have coins from China, Australia, Mexico, etc. I also have old coins from parts of Europe before they went to the Euro. Also, I hoard odd coins from the U.S. - like those gold dollars everyone hates.  None of them are worth very much, but they amuse me.  I've been doing this since HS and started with an old coin I found in the dirt while I was looking for fossils out behind the house. Most of the identifying marks are worn off, but I think it's from Brazil.  How it ended up where it ended up has always been a source of mystery to me.

1a) I also collect fossils and other interesting rocks.

2) I don't like George Clooney.  I never thought he was attractive. I don't think he's funny or talented or witty.  I do think he's kind of a pompous ass and I wonder sometimes if Rosemary is turning in her grave over some of his antics.

3) I do this unconscious thing where I adopt the accent of the person I'm talking to.  It's a family trait.  Dad did it, too.  Since I can do this, it makes it really easy for me to mimic those accents for my own amusement and the amusement of others.  I used to be able to send the Kid into gales of laughter with my 'little old Jewish woman' shtick. On the other hand, it makes it really inconvenient - especially around here where loads of people have an Ozarks accent - when I start out talking like myself and then end up sounding like I'm making fun of the other person.  I'm not.  I just can't help myself. 

4) I have always loved Jimmy Durante.  Just thinking about him makes me smile.  If you don't know who that is, I feel sad for you.

5) My favorite gem is Emerald, my favorite color is green, and my favorite season is Spring.  Sensing a theme there?

That's about it for now.  What don't I know about you?

Sunday Update - Week 15

Okay, this is apparently the post for the right Week 15.  Somewhere along the way, I must've gotten my numbers screwed up.  Big surprise there, eh?

So, the big update is that I painted my bathroom.  Pictures will not be forthcoming.  I didn't take 'befores' so 'afters' would be pointless.  Besides, I haven't put everything back together yet and I still need to paint the cabinet fronts and the drawers.  (Thank you to Hubs for his infinite patience as the drawers take up space in the garage on the lovely painting area he created for me to do this.)  It does look very nice.  Clean.  All the smudges from previous owners are gone.  All the smushed bugs - which were impossible to clean off of whatever paint the previous owners had used - gone.  And that little, weird stain near the bottom of the door which looked suspiciously like a part of the male anatomy is obliterated.  Today, I will do the clean up work, put the doorknob back on the closet, and wash the floor. I also may rehang the hardware for the towel holders, and put the art back up. Then, maybe, I'll paint the cabinet fronts and drawers.  We'll see how I feel.  I'm pretty sore and my fingers look like sausages.

I read some stuff this week.  Moonstruck: Secrets by Silver James - not sure how I missed reading this when it came out.  Totally derp there.  It was awesome.  Then I read a weird little dystopian.  Then I read Kerry Anne King's Closer Home. (Kerry Schafer's alter ego)  It was a break from her usual supernatural fare and I loved it.  Now I'm reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - because I've never read it or any other Mark Twain, and I'm still trying to read classics I somehow missed over the years. 

And we just had a power burp* that shut me down and reminded me that I will be getting a new computer soon.  This poor old workhorse was making so much noise rebooting I thought it might explode.  It calmed down once it got to Windows, but it's definitely time to put the old girl out to pasture.  I'm thinking of going with a refurbished 'puter this time.  They're less expensive and I can get one with Windows 7, so there's no learning curve.  I hate HATE hate learning new software.  I spent too much time doing that in my old incarnation as a software trainer/tech support.

Let's see... where was I?  Oh, yes, updates...

Both books in the Once Upon a Djinn series are now available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.  The expanded distribution experiment was a bust.  But the KU pages haven't really been bonza either.  We'll see how it goes.  And if nothing else, I can play with free days or countdown deals now.

And that's it for me.  Got any updates to share?

*probably fried squirrel on the line

Update: I ordered the refurbished computer.  It'll be here Wednesday.  Until then, I'll be sporadic on the internet while I baby this thing long enough for the other one to arrive.  Curiously enough, this computer is playing nice this afternoon.  Silly thing.