How Do You Pick Your Christmas Presents?

How do you choose who gets what present for Christmas?
I hate asking, What would you like for Christmas? It takes the surprise out of it.

Here's what my children Diane and Molly used to do to me.

Kids: Mom, we never know what to get you for Christmas. This year, make a list of everything you would like to have and put the one thing you want at the top of your list.

 Me: It will take all of the surprises out of Christmas morning.

Kids: If you don't cooperate you'll end up with socks, glove, and a scarf again this year. Oh, yeah, and we never forget the chocolate covered cherries. You don't have to put those on the list.

Me: When do you want this list?

Kids: Two weeks. In two weeks we'll give you and Dad our lists and you guys can give us yours.

Two weeks past and we are all at the kitchen table having dinner.

Kids: We have our lists do you have yours? (They look from me to their Dad and give us huge smiles)

Jump forward to Christmas morning. Five-thirty a.m. actually. Molly could never wait. ( Sometime

 I'll tell you how excited she was to go swimming on vacation and jumped into the deep end of the swimming pool before she could swim.)

The kids could never remember who helped clean the kitchen last or took out the trash, but they took turns giving out presents each year. They never forgot whose turn it was.

Everyone gets their first present and we wait our turn to open them so we could ooh and aww at the gifts we each received.

The first present wasn't on my list.
The second wasn't on my list, nor was the third, or the fourth.
As a matter of fact, I did not get one of the presents I put on my list.

I didn't want to act ungrateful or embarrass them so I let it go.
Next year-repeat of the year before.
So I asked, "why do you ask for a list when you never by anything I write down
Answer: If we bought you the gifts on your wish list you wouldn't be surprised.

https://tinyurl.com/ycu3msry     99 cents until Christmas Eve

Get Rid of Spiders In Your Home This Winter

My favorite time of year is fall. I love apples, pears, fall festivals, Halloween, and cooler weather. I detest spiders. When you live on a hundred acres in the middle of nowhere, bugs are a huge concern. 
I came up with an organic spray for spiders. It doesn't kill them. They hate the smell and run away. They would rather live at the neighbors than to smell this concoction.  You must spray it every ten days, and don't spray around the animals. I sleep with my best friend Chili, I close her out of the room, spray around the baseboards, heat vents and windows. Leave the door closed for several hours and then allow her back into the room.

When I spray the rest of the house, I do it while they are outside on a potty break. An entire house has enough circulating air to keep pets from inhaling it. When I spray their beds, I keep them out of the house for an hour or so.


Recipe

Get a plastic spray bottle. You can buy a 16 oz. one in the laundry section at Walmart for around a dollar.
You will have to buy an essential oil. The ones that work the best are peppermint, lemon, and lavender. It is around $6.00 and it lasts a long time. I use peppermint. Put 10 drops in the bottom of your plastic container. Add one tablespoon of white vinegar. Fill the bottle nearly to the top with water, and then add four or five drops of liquid dish detergent. Put the sprayer on it, shake it and you are all set.

All those times you had to scream for someone to come save you from a house spider are over. But don't get overconfident. They won't stay away forever because the smell will fade and they are tenacious fellow critters. Mark it on your calendar so you can keep your space spider free.
Drop by next time and we'll talk about apples. I raise five varieties, three different kinds of pears and two of peaches. 
If you have any questions about my spider remover, leave your question below or at my e-mail, susankeenebooks@gmail.com

Where do you have your morning coffee?

Where do you have your morning coffee or tea? I see all of the beautiful patios and decks in magazines, but I have neither. My little corner of the world is behind the backyard tool shed and across from the greenhouse.
If you look closely you will see the swing  I sit each morning after the last frost of the spring and before the first frost of winter. 
The plants come out of the greenhouse and take their summer homes in the sunshine. It doesn't start out 

this way. They come out a few at a time depending on how fragile they are. I'm not the one with the green thumb. Thank goodness someone here can grow things.

I was always taught, or maybe it is folklore, that before we all wore shoes we were healthier. In ancient times people didn't wear shoes and contact with the earth helped with common medical problems.
Is it true? I haven't a clue. I do, however, sit in the swing and let my bare toes rest in the grass beneath me, and wiggle them like a child.
If you look closely you will notice there are veggies mixed in with the flowers and plants. There are peppers, tomatoes, and even a pineapple.

The farm is quiet in the morning. The sheep are still sleeping in the barn and the cows have not yet started bellowing to see if it might get them some grain. I guess hay gets boring. 
It would be nice to know where you spend your coffee time.

Something that is fun is to get a pineapple from the grocery store and save the top. Set it in water until it roots and then plant it. 
Hint: It takes awhile.

Take a moment and leave a comment about your morning ritual. I will sign off now with a few more pictures. 

Have a marvelous week. 

Follow a Butterfly

Follow a butterfly. Did you know every culture beginning with the ancients believed the butterfly to be the sign of a human soul?

Aristotle named them psyche which means soul.

I believe children, if left to think their own thoughts, know the truth about many things.  Last summer we went on vacation with the Grandkids.  Everywhere we went, a swallowtail butterfly tagged along. 

When we swam in the lake, the swallowtail fluttered about the deck. As we took a boat ride, it sat on the bow. Later we spied it on our walk. It flew in front of us four or five times and rested on a nearby bush and watched us have a picnic. Was it the same winged angel who covered great distances to follow my granddaughter? Maybe it was two or three or even ten who covered the activities of the day.

She said she didn't know where it stayed while she was in school, but it greeted her daily at her home, the soccer field, or her girl scout meeting in the evenings.

I listened but didn't say much. Who am I, I thought, to say what is real and what is imagined in his magnificent mystery we call life?

It didn't matter how many places we explored or miles we covered, Sydney's winged companion followed her.

"That butterfly is my mommy watching over me." She told us more than once. 

Being a realist, I asked her  "...in the fall who will look after you in the winter when the butterfly has gone away?"

Her answer-- "A cardinal Grandma. They are visitors from heaven."

I never see a butterfly that I don't remember my Molly who left us last year or the love I feel for both of them.

What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. 

a quote from Richard Bach.

The Inside Story -- Audiobooks

Do you like audiobooks? It seems they are the most popular thing in publishing at this time.

Some authors and publishers are bypassing ebooks and paperbacks in order to go straight to the Audiobook.

Audible and Itunes are the two best selling applications for Audios. 

Audiobooks are convenient. The reader can listen while as he drives, does chores or gardens. It is a great tool for the multitasker.

So who reads your book? My first audiobook is for sale. Audible lets you pick the producer. For my novel Tattered Wings, I chose William Reese. 

Bill has been in radio for years and knows how to make a character come to life.

His voice is rich and inviting. I closed my eyes and listened to him read. 

To hold the attention of the author is no easy task. We have already read our work many times.There is when we write it, rewrites, (at least two, but more likely three), then it reaches the editor to go through first, second, third edits as well as line edits, and last but not least, it must be proofread.

Such is the way it was with Tattered Wings. I put my headphones on and prayed I could keep my mind on this story I knew so well.

By the end of the first chapter, I was drawn into my own novel.

Thanks to William Reese, it was easy. Bill has done five books for Audible this year, and I look for him to do many more including any adventure I have that calls for a male reader.

Did I mention I feel like I've made a new friend?

Anyone can download a book from Audible free. I did, and I can see how it could be addicting.

. To learn more about the talented Mr. Reese, drop by his website http://reesevoices.com 

Watch for the rest of my list to reach Audible in the near future.

The Inside Story , two

Tomorrow is the big day. My second book in the Kate Nash Mystery Series is to be released.
I wrote the books so they will stand alone. In other words, if you didn't read Finding Lizzy Smith,
you will still be able to follow the second one, Who's Roxy Watkins? without feeling lost or that we all have a secret you don't know.

Of course, with each  book, you learn a little more about the characters, their likes and dislikes,  favorite foods, clothes, and who thinks what about who.

Readers are asking when book three will be done. Honestly, I'm not sure. I have a title, The Untimely Death of Ivy Tucker (I've been known to change my mind).

My brain is still swirling around Murder in Madison Woods, so for the first time I am writing two books at once.

Since I can't buy groceries without a list, remember where I put my glasses, car keys, or the TV remote, this will be a serious challenge.

How many of you read my crime book, The Twisted Mind of Cletus Compton?  I guess that was a silly question since I can't see a show of hands. Anyway, the two most popular characters in that book will make another appearance in Murder in Madison Woods. Can you believe no one wanted to run into Cletus Compton or his brother Warren again?

Okay, two of the characters everyone seemed to like, or from the comments, loved, are Tony Massey, the six- feet -six dark haired shy and single sherrif of Ash County and Dr. Boo Jordan, retired FBI profiler and phychiatrist. Yes, her name is Boo. Want to know why?

When my daughters were in high school the quarterback of one of the local teams was named Boo Champange. I decided if I ever had the opportunity to use the name Boo, I would.

Until we meet again, turn off the TV and read a book. It's impossible to think about all of your problems, politics, the laundry and most everything else if your mind is in Africa, chasing a bad guy, trying to figure out who the killers, finding out the neighbor next door is a spy, or spending the night at the Scary Inn.

The Inside Story Part One

I began writing a new book. I'm about 17,000 words into it. It's about an eighteen-year-old who has been living alone in the National Forest.

The working title is Murder in Madison Woods. I might change it.

I don't know anyone else's writing process, but mine starts with a small idea. Sometimes I can write the idea down in one sentence or a couple of words.Then it festers and grows. People walk through my mind. Some I keep and some I tuck away for another novel.

I go to my writing space and write until what has brewed and materializes is gone, then I do other tasks writers must do.

Believe me, If writers only had to write, I would be prolific. The problem is, they want you to have a Twitter account, an Instagram page, and a blog. Did I forget the newsletter and the Author pages on Amazon, Audible, and maybe iTunes; I'm not there yet?

I forgot my Website.

During the afternoon and evening, more of the story presents itself to me and I write it down the next day.

Meanwhile, other stories fill my head and I have a dozen or so notebooks I make notes in to keep it all straight.
We will talk more about this in the days and weeks to come. If you are a writer, tell me your writing process. If you are a reader, what draws you to the book? Is it the cover or the blurb on the back? Something else maybe?

Let me know. It is very easy to leave a comment here. If you are shy and don't want anyone else to read what you have to say, send it to my email

susankeeenebooks@gmail.com

Have a wonderful day.

Some facts about Kate Nash

ALL LEMONS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

 ALL LEMONS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

It's Meyer Lemon season. The season runs from November to March. The lemons you see in the grocery store are called Real lemons. A Meyer lemon is the marriage of a Real lemon and a Mandarin orange. They are smaller, rounder, and more orange in color.

You probably won't want to eat them plain. They are still a lemon, but they don't have the pucker power of a 

Real lemon.

To take advantage of their diversity, squeeze the juice in salad dressing, make lemonade or add some punch to a cocktail or tomato juice.

Here are a couple of  places to get wonderful Meyer Lemon recipes. 

Foodie Crush

100 Things to do with Meyer Lemons- LA Times

DO YOU HAVE A GREEN THUMB?

These lemons are extremely easy to grow. 

Keep the biggest seeds out of the lemons and put them in a small pots with potting soil. Set them in a sunny window. Keep them moist. If you grow more than one, you could give them to your friends. A lemon tree is not actually a tree, it is more the size of a Peace Lilly or a Schafferla.

When your newly planted tree reaches about 6 inches tall re-pot it.

 Our tree is in a ten inch pot.

Put it outside after the last frost and bring it in before the first frost.

Our tree bares 8 to 10 pieces of fruit at a time.

It is my goal on this segment of my blog to teach you to broaden your eating horizons and how to grow most of the food I write about.

Please leave a comment below. 

I'd love to hear what foods you are most interested in. 

We won't be able to grow all the foods .

Free To Good Home

An interview with author Lois Curran

http://www.amz

I met Lois Curran at the Ozarks Romance Authors last year and we met again when she joined Sleuths-Ink Mystery writers.  We hit it off right away. Lois’ debut novel, Destined to Love Again came out last month on Amazon.  I read it and recommend it highly.

Lois writes Christian fiction. Let’s take a look at what she has to say about her genre, writing and life in general.

Tell us about your novel, Destined to Love again.

Lois: It is a cozy Christian romance novel. It is much the same as any cozy romance only it is faith based.

What is the setting for Destined… and what inspired you to write it?

Lois: It takes place in Tampa. The idea grew from my nursing background. I developed the main character, Abby as an RN who leaves home to get away from painful memories and takes a position as a school nurse in a prestigious boarding school.

I love the cover. Did you design it yourself?

Lois: No, it was designed by Jaycee Delorenzo at Sweet ’N spicy Designs. I highly recommend her.

Do you write full time?

 Lois: In January, I gave up my fulltime job as Director of Nursing at my county’s Health Department.  I cut down to two days a week which gives me more time to write and do all the other things I love.

Speaking of things you love, tell us some of your favorite pastimes?

Lois: Scrapbooking, traveling, crossword puzzles and of course reading are at the top of my list.

Tell me five things you would like your readers to know about you.

Lois :  They should know that I also write suspense. My new book is about ready and I hope it will be published soon. I took violin lessons for five years and I’m a chronic dieter. I have dieted off and on my entire life. If I hadn’t dieted I’d weigh five hundred pounds by now. The beach Is my favorite travel destination. I live in Missouri but I grew up in Salem, Oregon.  My favorite romance writer is Terri Blackstock but I have many more.

Thanks Lois. If you would like to see Lois’ book just follow this link

http://amzn.to/2hdSVNs    

Blub from Destined to Love Again 

On the heels of a breakup from her long-time boyfriend, whom she now questions she ever really loved him, Abby Dennison leaves Orlando for Tampa. She walks away from the painful memories and a situation she knows displeases God.

In Tampa she takes a position as a school nurse in a prestigious boarding academy. She needs a second chance at life but doesn’t want a second chance at love. Then the school handy-man Sam shows gentle persistence and steady goodness as he tries to persuade her to go out with him.

She can’t deny the attraction, but she’s not ready to take the risk of dating someone new. Her heart needs to heal. She wonders if God might be preparing a future for her with the handsome Sam Ford.…However, is she willing to let go of the past to allow herself to love again?

A Visit With Tierney James and The Dark Side of Morning.

Today I am honored to have Tierney James as my guest. Tierney writes those books you stay up late to read. Take a few minutes and learn about the lady behind Lipstick and Danger.

I love museums, especially those dedicated natural history. One of my favorite subjects concerns Native Americans. That’s probably because my parents and grandparents took me to the Smokey Mountains when I was thirteen. Having grown up in Illinois I’d never seen the mountains and certainly never any Native Americans. Once on the Qualla Reservation of the Cherokee People, among the beautiful mountains and streams, I felt I had been transported to Nirvana. It was then that my grandfather led me to speak to an elderly Cherokee man that spoke little English. I was introduced to him and I swear his warm smile touched me all the way to my bones. He spoke in their native tongue as he laid a hand on my shoulder. Something magical happened inside me. My whole being changed in a flash. 

Years later I student taught on that same reservation in a fourth grade classroom. I lived in a Cherokee Children’s Home and had nine little sisters, that to this day, I love very much. Some I’ve managed to stay in touch with over the years. My life turned yet another corner. I didn’t have a car so I rode the bus with the students each day. There are a lot of funny stories about a mid-western white girl plunged into an amazing culture that enriched my life.

Which brings me to writing. Dark Side of Morning involves a Pawnee culture from 200 years ago. The twist is that it comes knocking on 2017 with some disastrous results. Can you imagine stepping through a portal into another universe? What would be different? Here is a snippet of what to expect.

Dark Side of Morning by Tierney James http://amzn.to/2ieQx6x

Dr. Cleopatra Sommers never came to terms with her father’s disappearance at the Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He had been a Native American scholar that explored avenues of unexplained spiritual paths in their cultures.  The museum had been her home and playground growing up where her father spent long hours working. She was always drawn to one display case holding a mannequin of a Pawnee Indian. There was no way she could know he watched her all those years until the night he crossed over to find her.

Detective Jacque Marquette suspected the beautiful doctor of stealing priceless artifacts from a Native American exhibit. He realized after meeting his identical twin from another time and place, Dr. Sommers might not be as crazy as he initially thought. The layers of concern for his city begin to stack up as he is caught between culture and the Pentagon. Only with the help of a Pawnee warrior from two hundred years ago, can save his city from a deadly disease brought in from a parallel universe.

Wind Dancer had loved the little girl who grew up before him for years. When he decided to cross over to prevent his enemy from finding Dr. Sommers, the bombardment of changes forced him to rely on the ways of the past to survive. Navigating the future proves to be complicated as he teams up with a grumpy detective to hunt down a common enemy. No one expected the price to be sacrificing Dr. Sommers to the Morning Star in order to avert disaster.

You can find out more!

http://www.tierneyjames.com

http://www.facebook.com/TierneyJamesAction

Twitter: @TierneyJames1

Let"s Create

Since I was a small child, I was told we are put on this world to create, or to love one another , or to take care of things and people who cannot take care of themselves.

It depends on what you believe as to which of these things is the most important. In a perfect world, it would all be relevant.

Today I want to talk about creating. Everyday someone says to me, "I could never write a book," how do you do it? Then they look at me in disbelief when I tell them, "I'm not quite sure."

It's true. Most of my ideas come from a snippet of a recurring dream, a piece of a conversation, or a thought I can't get out of my head. Usually, for sanity's sake, I write it down.

The funny thing is, once I write it down, it goes away. I don't have the dream anymore. I can think about other things and I can't always remember the way the conversation, I obsessed about only moments before, actually went.

Now here is the odd part, (if that isn't odd enough). I have absolutely no idea who will be in the book, what the plot is or how it will end. I sit down at my computer with a cup of coffee (decaf, I am hyper enough) and begin to type. To get started, I read the last paragraph I wrote the day before. Then my mind is off  and running. People pop into my imagination and I see them with great detail, even down to the mole on their cheek.

If I stick to it, no one gets sick, the dogs don't have to go outside, the room isn't too hot or cold or a dozen other things to interrupt my train of thought, I spew out a story. Sometimes stories take weeks, others take months and one even took a year.

Enter, my friends and family and even my families friends. I need readers. At this point, I am convinced the reader thinks I am illiterate. My work needs comma's, periods, quotation marks, different paragraph breaks and on and on. I only want to know about the content. Is this a story line you could get into.

I mostly get, "Wow,you're weird!"  "Whose brain  comes up with this stuff.?" 

The Springfield area has several writers groups, Sleuth's, Ink Mystery Writers, Ozark Romance Authors,and The Writer's Guild to name a few. Believe me, these people are as weird as I am. Maybe they are a little more mainstream weird ( yes, it is possible).
Wanda Fittro wrote about an abusive relationship and I swear, you would think you were in the room.
Tierney James writes  (among other things) a series about a housewife turned spy. It is so believable, you wonder what the lady next door did last night. Lisa Medley writes of Space Cowboys, Alien love, and Reapers, (the grim kind). Beth Carter writes romance novels that are raising in the ranks.
VJ Shultz will surprise you every time with her short stories, password journals and coloring books. Shirley McCann will scare the beegeebees out of you. Before you know it you are sitting with your back to the wall so no one can walk up behind you. (I wanted to say McCann can, but thought better of it.)

If you paint, draw, care for the sick or elderly, cook, garden, or a thousand other things , you are a creator.

Stop by and tell me about your passion.

http://susankeeneauthor.com                    https://www.facebook.com/susanskeene1/

Some key words and hints from my new crime novel: The Twisted Mind of Cletus Compton.

Psychopath
Sociopath
Murder
Kidnapper
Brother

Mama
knife
Sheriff
FBI
Psychiatrist
Children
Chains
Fire

The on line launch is Tuesday August 16th from 7 to 8:30 P.M.
Lots of swag to give away.
E book edition is on pre-order now.
Link to launch party: Facebook,com/events/151163698647171

   Hope to see you at the party.


http://tinyurl.com/j55ae2s

LET''S TALK NUMBERS

 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

467,000 children missing per year.

86% Are Runaways
10 % Are family abductions
2% Are lost/ injured or otherwise missing.
1% non Family abduction
1% critical missing young adults

 Most cases solved within 2 hours.

VIOLENT CRIME IS DOWN -33%

rape down 43%

There is only 1 child abduction in every 10,000 missing children reports.

THE WORLD IS NOT FALLING APART!