Arianna Answers All

Archive for August, 2009

Well… this will be the day that I tell all my dirty secrets… Oh… well it would be if there were any secrets to tell. Truth be told, I’m not that good at keeping secrets. Surprise parties? I’m usually more surprised than the guest of honor. I’ve designated Tuesday as my day to just blab and blog about whatever tickles my fancy. Today I’ve decided to tell you all about the strange Sunday I had.

So, Sunday started out as uneventful as it always does. Check email… check tweets… send email… receive email… find out Wings of Desire is a finalist in the Molly contest (Sorry, I’m a crazy shameless self-promoter)… do some laundry for my incapacitated mom… Take mom to my late Grandmother’s house to sort stuff and price things on eBay for her… fight with the wireless phone to get it to connect to my computer. Here’s some Murphy’s law for you: I got the connection to work *AFTER* my mom decided it was time to go. At least I’m ready for next week.

Then Mom and I decide we’re hungry, so we take a little jaunt to the local IHOP, where I run into a couple of my local romace writer buddies. I ran into another one earlier in the week at the grocery store. I’m sure they think I’m stalking them. LOL. Then again, these gals totally rock, so maybe I just am? I’m not a psycho stalker type. I promise.

After that, I decide I need some printer paper. I have a couple submissions I need to get out, and I don’t think the editor is going to want to see my manuscript on the back of my old manuscript. I had a friendly Walmart employee help me load the paper into my cart, and the poor guy hurt his back. I really feel badly for him, because I’m pretty sure his employer isn’t going to help him. So with paper, notebooks, pens and paper all paid for, I go home.

Did I forget to mention there’s also cat litter in the trunk from a previous trip to the store? So, ontop of a box of 10 reams of paper, I have 40 lbs of cat litter to bring in. How the heck am I going to do this? I wasn’t about to have my mom with her busted foot help me. So I remembered we had a dolly in the garage. What an awesome idea, I muse. With sure, confident strides I push the dolly to the car. Pop goes the trunk and i haul the paper out. This is where the fun begins. I go to set the box on the dolly and accidentally drop it. The dolly then bumps upward and conks me right on the head. OMG! It hurt so bad. I had a huge lump. But me and my determined self needed to get this stuff in the house, so I managed to lug it up the walkway and into the house. Then I remember I left my bag of pens and notebooks in the trunk.

I’ve decided that dollies and trunks don’t like me.

I popped the trunk again and leaned inside. The trunk, in return, slams down on my head… The same side of my head that the dolly christened earlier. Double ouch. But one thing that may have happened is that this simple conk on the head may have given me psychic powers. I kid you not. My mom decides she wants to catch the end of the Miss Universe pageant. Apparently she has a soft spot for women who want world peace. They were at a commercial, just getting ready to come back from the break and announce the winner. I decided to be a smarty pants and said, “Umm… Venezuela wins.” At this point, I didn’t even know that Venezuela was even left in the competition. But there she was, standing with the other finalists. Then they start announcing the runners up… 4th… 3rd…2nd… Venezuela’s still there. Yep. Venezuela won.

Great, I now have a psychic gift and it’s predicting beauty pageant winners. Go figure.

Anyhow, you all don’t need to worry about the head. I kept ice on it and the swelling went down. All that remains is a dull ache, and maybe a glimpse of next year’s Miss America winner.

Take care everyone!
Arianna

Okay, with Tessa Dare’s newest release due out next Tuesday, Twitter has been abuzz with mention of goats and boats. We can only speculate exactly as to what part these goats play in the book. I’m thoroughly curious, though. Although, I am more curious about Sophia and Gray, of course! I just hope the goats aren’t  doing something like this:

Feel free to leave a caption in the comments for a chance to win both Goddess of the Hunt and Surrender of a Siren when it is released next Tuesday! (PS: Yes, you still have to click the refresh button to the right of the captcha code to get the text box to show up)

PS: Here’s a hilarious video I discovered when searching YouTube. I decided to post it as a link instead, because of strong language and a gratuitous butt cheek scene. So if that isn’t your sort of thing, you may not want to click the link. Still funny as all get out though: GOATS ON A BOAT (Not starring Samuel L. Jackson, Unfortunately)

Happy Wednesday and good luck to all!

Arianna

Well, guess what guys and gals? Yep. It’s already Wednesday, can you believe it? I’ve got another weird cover for you. I came across this while searching for an avatar for my twitter profile during last week’s installment of #romfail. For those of you who are scratching your chins in bemusement, #romfail is the hashtag used on twitter where @jane_l tweets a poorly written romance novel and everyone else tweets their thoughts. The best description I’ve seen is that it’s Mystery Science Theatre 3000 for romance novels. Last week’s book involved a hero that was a shapeshifting octopus. I kid you not!

This cover comes from the Super Magician comic, circa 1947. Is it just me, or is this reminiscent of those crazy Japanese adult cartoons? The ones that involve tentacles boldly going where no tentacle has gone before.

Have at it, my friends. Leave your captions in the comments (As usual, you may need to click the little refresh button to the right of the code to get the text box to appear). I’ll pick which ever comment I like the best. That person will get the opportunity to choose next week’s photo or weird object.  So get cracking, so we all can crack up.

Cheers!
Arianna

I usually post Wednesday Weirdness on Wednesday (Hence the name), but I didn’t think it would be appropriate. You see, 14 years ago today, I lost one of the most important men in my life–My grandfather. And since it’s been only three months since my grandmother’s passing, I think it only fitting. So if you were visiting here expecting to find a weird or bizarre picture to comment on, I apologize. I’ll return next week, same time same place, yadda yadda yadda.

Frederick Mathias Homrich and Katherine Mary Nickels were simple people, raised on the farm. My grandpa has regalled me with stories of milking cows and chasing chickens. I distinctly remember a story about a young boy (grandpa) going out and “helping” by chopping the head off the male rooster. OOPS!

Living during the depression, they learned the art of frugality. I remember when we would help grandma make cookies or cake, fully expecting to lick a spoon or bowl. My grandma was definitely a waste not want not kind of lady. By the time it came to lick the bowl, there was nothing left to lick. Trust me, I’m not complaining.  I’m proud of my grandparents. Their frugality helped them survive tough times, including a devistating tornado that destroyed their home back in 1965.

So I hope you can forgive me for the absence of Wednesday Weirdness. I just want to thank my grandpa and my grandma for all the wonderful things they did for their grandkids. I couldn’t imagine life as a kid without them.

Love you Grandpa and Grandma! You will alawys be remembered.

*Hugs*

Cindy