Tag: Stuff

  • The Power of the Mind: Today’s Woo-Woo Moment

    True story. Last Friday, my dog and I got tangled up at the beginning of a walk and I did “something” to my back. Of course, I went walking anyway, and then on Saturday, I sat through an all-day workshop. By Sunday, “something” had become incredibly painful, to the point where I was walking like…

  • Beware the Gods of Technological Chaos

    So I’ve been absent from the blog for a few days, but I have a good excuse. Several, actually. First, my laptop flashed me the Blue Screen of Death…not once, but twice. The first time, it corrupted the Scrivener project file for book 3, Sins of the Righteous. Fortunately, I had backed up the file…

  • Juggling Summer

    You’ve heard the Nat King Cole song, The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer? Well, in my case, he had two out of three right: hazy and oh, so crazy! While our weather has become a little more reasonable temperature-wise, we’ve sweltered through a couple of impressive heat waves, whether they ranked so officially or…

  • What’s New in the Grigori World

    So I have a few things to report, and rather than create a deluge of posts for my Facebook and Twitter followers, I thought a quick blog post was the better route. First up, I have picked up the DVD for my first-ever television interview on a local cable show here in Ottawa (Roger’s Daytime)…

  • Ten Sure Signs of Spring

    Despite the somewhat frosty temperature outside this morning (it was -10 Celcius/14 Fahrenheit), I am convinced that spring — glorious spring! — is nearly upon us. And what brings on this sudden bout of optimism, you may ask? Ten absolutely indisputable signs, of course! Counting down: It’s now light out when I take puppy out…

  • Valentine’s Day: Crass commercialism or special day?

    My family has waffled back and forth for years regarding the importance of Valentine’s Day. My husband actually forgot our first Valentine’s together and we ended up going to McDonald’s for dinner that night. He called it ‘Chez Ron’ but I wasn’t fooled. I still married him, but to this day I’ve never let him…

  • Goal-setting revisited — and revised

    The fact that I should have posted this yesterday probably gives you a hint about how well I managed to stick to last week’s goals, right? Even with my pared-down expectations, I fell short of what I thought I could achieve. I suppose I could feel disappointed with myself, but the truth is, my ‘failure’…

  • New Year’s Resolutions

    Happy New Year, everyone! There was a time when I made the standard resolution on the first of every January. I was younger then, and while I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as more foolish, I was certainly less wise than I am now. Resolutions (other than being something that everyone made) seemed so easy to…

  • Christmas Shopping: My Neverending Story

    A few days ago, I finished my Christmas shopping. I must admit that I was very pleased with myself. I was ahead of schedule, out of the malls before the real chaos set in, pretty much stress-free, and on budget. In fact, I’d met every goal I’d set for myself this year. What more could…

  • Why the Crock Pot is a Writer’s Best Friend

    As a stay-at-home mom, the stocking of the kitchen and making of meals has generally fallen to me. (Translation: my husband can’t cook…and our daughters have a few horror stories to prove it.) I’ve always made an effort to provide healthy meals and snacks and, for the most part, those have been made from scratch.…