MIA...

Sorry I was MIA yesterday on Scribble Chicks! I never wrote my post because I spent the entire day literally sick in bed, I woke up long enough to watch Price is Right and make soup then crashed for another 3 hours. There's apparently a virus going around, I thought it was Fall allergies but not sure.

I'm finally on the mend, I think - but now in the coughing stage, which is just painful. Hope you all are surviving the changing of Seasons a little easier than us around here! Now Little Miss is coughing and I'm waiting for the clock to hit 8:31 to call her pediatrician and get them to give us a cough syrup.

Sigh.

I think we need more candy corn.

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www.scribblechicks.blogspot.com

Sin stinks...literally

I don't often go super-spiritual on my blog, because I don't believe in shoving my faith down anyone's throat, and I respect that my readers represent a wide variety of religious denominations. But I think you all know who I am and what I stand for by now, so I'm going to pose an interesting question and would LOVE your feedback! :)

Do you think sin stinks? As in, literally? As in, it has an aroma?

I'm starting to wonder.

Years ago, I realized that when I walked past certain stores in the mall that sold mostly crude or "bad" stuff, they all smelled the same. Spencer's Gifts. Hot Topic, etc. I've been in them before, mostly because while they carried nasty stuff they also carried cute stuff like Hello Kitty notebooks, etc. But I've since learned to stay away and you can only avert your eyes in there for so long.

Well, the other day in Barnes & Noble, when I walked past the secular YA racks, where nearly every cover promoted teen sex or vampires or magic or cult-like themes...there it was. Same aroma. Completely different store.

I know this is sort of odd, but I don't think its a coincidence. After all, the Bible is clear there are unseen battles raging around us every day, everywhere - the battle between angels and demons, good and evil. I believe the Bible. I believe that battle is real and daily. What if it has an aroma?

I'm not one to speculate wild myths or theories, or promote sensationalism. I don't believe Christians should investigate the depths of spiritual warfare, or research too heavily into demonic or cult-ridden religions in an effort to understand them or fight them. I have strong feelings about that, and they're backed up by my trusted church pastor. So please don't think I'm going there. Just curious if I'm the only one whose ever smelled this?

What do you think?

HEIRESS by Susan May Warren

Heiress

They can buy anything they want—fame, power, beauty, even loyalty.
But they can’t buy love.

The beautiful and wealthy heiress daughters of August Price can buy everything their hearts desire. But what if their desire is to be loved, without an enormous price tag attached? When one sister betrays another for the sake of love, will she find happiness? And what happens when the other sets out across the still untamed frontier to find it—will she discover she’s left it behind in the glamorous world of the New York gilded society? What price will each woman pay for being an heiress?

Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, two women discover that being an heiress just might cost them everything they love.

Read an excerpt HERE!

*** Betsy here *** I LOVE this story. I haven't finished reading it yet but I'm a big fan of Susie's, and while I love everything she writes, I'm especially drawn to this story and the character's hearts and relatablity. Who'd have thought you'd end up feeling sorry for such princesses?? I'm about halfway through and mourned the end of my lunch break at work. Hmmm. Maybe it's worth getting fired over... ? ;) Regardless, don't miss this fantastic first in her new series. Susie rocks!!!

About Susan: Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia , Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota ’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.

Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder ofwww.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.

Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota , where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)

A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at:www.susanmaywarren.com.

Link to buy the book: HERE!

Find out what the reviewers are saying here!

Heiress, a richly complex historical romance, is the first in Susan's three book Daughters of Fortune series. In honor of Heiress’ debut, Susan is hosting a FABULOUS Gilded Age Giveaway and giving away an opulent prize pack fit for an heiress!

One grand prize winner will receive:
•A $100 gift certificate to ModCloth.com
•A sleek silver iPod™ Shuffle
•A beautiful strand of Pearls
•Titanic DVD
•Speakeasy Compilation Music CD from Starbucks™
•Heiress by Susan May Warren

Click one of the icons below to enter. But do so soon - this giveaway ends 10/5/11. The winner will be announced Thursday, October 6 on Susan’s blog.

Here's the rest of the tour! http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/text/13429072

(I received this book free from the publisher for review)

Never for lack of material...

One thing is certain - between my husband and Little Miss, I am never without lack of blog material. Ha.

This theory was proven again last night.

I've been feeling kinda blah lately from allergies, so I've been dealing with a sore throat, stuffy head, ear pressure, swollen glands, all that fun stuff. I've also been super busy with Little Miss's activities and church and deadlines and parties/showers, so I've had no down time to catch up and rest. Hubby has also been working a lot and spend the entire day in the woods Saturday for opening season of bow hunting, so last night, I was ready for some much needed "mommy is sick, everyone leave me alone" time.

I should have known better!

Hubby got off work mid-afternoon while I was trying unsuccessfully to nap (Little Miss for some reason kept interrupting me for various reasons, the little staller) and said he wanted to go work out (aka, ride his mountain bike on a nearby 12 mile trail in a chimp refuge park in our local area. Yes, he does this on purpose AND finds it fun. Me? I don't particularly enjoy monkeys, and while they're not on the trails, you can hear them, and well. That's a suspense/horror novel waiting to be written)

He said he'd be back around 6:15 to cook dinner for me. I was so ready to just be DONE. I was looking forward to being taken care of for the first time in a WHILE, and be allowed to veg while he helped do Little Miss's nighttime routine, etc.

Well I couldn't nap, so I ended up making dinner because I just knew he would be later than he predicted. (he always is) and I didn't want to be eating at 8:00 p.m.

Sure enough, at 6:15 when he was supposed be home and starting to cook, he called and said he'd done 6 miles of the trail and headed back to his truck when he realized his bike pouch was open. The pouch that held his keys.

Yeah, I know. DUM DUMMM DUMMMMMM right? I heard it too.

I'm already bitter because I HATE this trail. I don't believe in curses, but seriously, something dramatic happens every time he goes out there. A flat bike tire. A wreck in a ditch. Lost keys. Another flat tire. SOMETHING.

Sigh.

So he says no worries, he will go back in and start looking and worst case, he'd send his cousin out to the house to grab his extra truck key and come help him. Frustrating, but fine. See, I KNEW I cooked for a reason. Little Miss and I ate alone and about an hour and a half later, he calls again. With a strained voice. Says he forgot his cousin is at work and can't come. And asks for me to find his holster, 9 mm, and pack a baggie full of ice.

Um, yeah. I freak out. Turns out it wasn't as sinister as it sounded. He wanted the gun for protection since it was getting dark, and a baggie of ice water to drink since he'd been out there awhile. Also an apple, hoodie, flashlight, and head lamp.

Sure. I'm not, you know, sick or anything.

I not-so-jokingly asked if he needed a first aid kit too. He said "Why? I'm not hurt." And I said "Not yet. But with your luck, you'll step on a snake or be attacked by a cougar. And I bet that will require atleast a band-aid."

I'm not pleasant when I'm sick.

He just said "That's why I have you bringing the gun."

Right.

So I load Little Miss up, find all the supplies he requested, and grudgingly, get in the car. I know losing his keys was an accident, but I'm sick, swollen, exhausted, and just flat out grumpy. Not a shining moment. Little Miss, however, though the entire thing was a grand adventure. So, in the pitch black, I try to follow his directions to find him, and as I'm driving these back country roads, I realize the chimp refuge is actually near a correction facility. So I'm passing all these city signs that read DO NOT PICK UP HITCHHIKERS.

Great. So now I'm worried about wild chimps AND crazy people escaping from jail. Not sure at the moment which I'd rather come across first.

I find my husband in the parking area, and give him the extra truck key. It wouldn't unlock his door. We try the clicker I'd also thought to bring. It doesn't work. HA! Yes, Murphy's Law is alive and well in north Louisiana. So I beg him to just come home, and try again in the morning, but he already had all this stuff I brought, and said he'd give it a try for a little while longer. And if he couldn't find them, he'd ride his bike back.

Um, no way. That many miles, in the pitch black, in dark clothes? Not genius. He relented and said he'd call his coworkers at the fire station to come get him if it came to that.

I agreed to that, and drove away. I knew we should pray for him to find the keys, but I figured with all my immature, I'm-sick-and-grumpy emotions roiling around, I probably had a sin block at the moment. So I got Little Miss to pray. hehe. She did, quite eloquently, and at the end, she added a prayer for Mommy to feel better and not be grumpy. Oops. Okay God, I hear ya... ;)

We go home and finish our bedtime routine and at about 9:15, get the much awaited text. "JUST FOUND THEM". Thank you, Jesus. Little Miss was ecstatic her prayer was answered, so maybe that was worth the entire drama right there. He found them about 2 1/2 miles in, which is why it took so long, but thankfully a fireman had come out and helped him look toward the end and gave him company.

So, the moral of the story? I figure its pretty much two-fold. Don't let your attitude get to the point where your 3 year old calls you out in prayer, and never ride your bicycle around criminals and wild monkeys.