Gender: Female
Status: Married
Age: 101
Sign: Aries
City: SOUTHEASTERN
State: PENNSYLVANIA
Country: US
Signup Date:
05/28/06
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Friday, September 21, 2007
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Guest Blogger: Adele DuBois
Current mood:  accomplished
Love Beneath the Harvest Moon by Adele Dubois September is the traditional month of change and reorganization. It's the time we clean up our physical, emotional, and spiritual clutter as we prepare for a new season. For many people September marks the true beginning of the New Year. Children return to school after a long summer break, vacations are over, and our households resume their normal rhythms. This is also a time when we welcome the fall harvest before the dark nights of winter arrive.
The Autumnal Equinox is still celebrated by many cultures worldwide and signals the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Derived from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night), the equinox typically enters between September 22-24 when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south. This year, September 23, 2007, at 5:51 a.m. EDT marks the exact moment when fall arrives and the astrological calendar enters the sign of Libra. The days and nights will become nearly equal in length, creating balance, as daytime and night both have durations of approximately twelve hours.
The Harvest Moon is the name of the full moon arriving closest to the Autumnal Equinox. In two years out of every three the Harvest Moon rises in September instead of October. The Harvest Moon shines this year on September 26, 2007. No matter where you live in the Northern Hemisphere, the moon will look round and full as it rises in the east around sunset. Farmers will work well into the night to gather their crops as the bright light of the Harvest Moon fills the sky and shines down on the earth.
September also marks the lunar cycle when grapes are traditionally harvested, pressed, and stored to become wine. When the light of the full Harvest Moon, also called the Wine Moon or Fruit Moon, shines bright across half the world on September 26, snuggle close to the one you love and toast the new season with full-bodied glasses of wine or cups of cider. Who could ask for a more romantic setting than love, a good vintage, and a warm blanket spread beneath the glow of a full Harvest Moon?
This article is the original work of Adele Dubois and may not be copied and reposted or reproduced without the courtesy of permission and full credit given to the author. Please visit Adele's website
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Currently
listening
:
5th Gear
By
Brad Paisley
Release date: 19 June, 2007
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8:10 PM
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Wednesday, July 25, 2007
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For the love of Mike
Current mood:  chipper
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
I admitted already that I'm addicted to those housecleaning and decluttering shows. I also recently acquired a new passion and am willing to 'fess up to a longer-term additional passion.
The Mikes have me hooked.
That would be Mike Rowe ('Dirty Jobs') and Mike Holmes ('Holmes on Homes').
Are you looking for entertainment? How about watching a man who'll try any job, anything at all, no matter how dirty? And does it all with a smile and a wisecrack. For women, the highest rated quality in a man is a sense of humor. As if that isn't enough, the guy's in shape! He has to be, to wrangle crocodiles (or was it alligators - forgive me, I was watching Mike) and help pull multi-ton blocks of marble out of a mountain.
Now that's sexy. Not only is he good-looking in a very all-American, outdoorsy way, he's a keeper. You know you'll never have to nag him about taking out the trash. After what he does for a living, that's literally a walk in the park! Sure beats crawling through vintage San Francisco sewers or ripping rotting vegetation off old parade floats. The dirtier he gets, the better he looks. It's not just me, either. A number of my sister authors in the Cave (as in Ellora's Cave, my publisher) are also smitten with Mike Rowe. And he's everywhere! He's the narrator for 'Deadliest Catch' and I swear I've heard his voice on a few commercials. Obviously, a man in demand.
Now how about a guy - no, a man, because Mike Holmes has a presence that screams, "Don't mess with me!" - who can tackle any construction-project-gone-wrong with experience, knowledge, and an eye for design? He can come fix my house any time. Just watching him shake his head over some shmuck's pitiful efforts at code compliance before he rips something apart makes my little heart go pit-a-pat. As for his physique, whew! Serious manly muscles there. Swinging a sledge and moving joists and other substantial building materials around tends to do that to a fellow.
This is one reason I call Mistah Midnight "my little joist monkey".  He looked so cute balancing on floor joists, replacing our bathroom plumbing. Of course, let me point out that Mistah Midnight doesn't screw up our home improvement projects. That's because of my role, which is keeping Murphy at bay. When I'm involved with a project, things go smoothly. Of course, this means I get nothing done for myself while Mistah Midnight is in construction mode. I'm no girly-girl, either, being a mean hand with a pipe cutter and a propane torch.
During what I jokingly call our "20-year flip" I've learned to cut and solder pipe (plus I learned to torch-cut and arc weld for our infamous audition video for Junkyard Wars!), wire a 3-way switch, and mix concrete. I also do all the painting. I'm now dying to try the suede paint that Mike H. chose for the basement pub show that aired this week. ::pout:: We need a bigger house. ::brightening:: Oh, wait, we're working on that. ::rubbing hands in anticipation:: That show is inspiring.
If you're looking for some fine entertainment, tune in to either Mike or Mike and watch as they dig, clean, demolish or wrestle their various projects of the week. Ever wonder where ostrich eggs come from, the ones that hotel chefs to turn into HUGE (and expensive) omelets? Want to see how your contractor was supposed to do that brick work?
Great eye candy and you'll learn a few things.
Now that's entertainment.
Hugs,
Liddy
6:41 AM
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Friday, January 12, 2007
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Happy New Year!
Current mood:  giddy
Our kitchen is finally DONE! I love it. The big difference I notice, other than the gas cooktop being much better than electric, is that I walk a lot more. Much more space, much more counter surface, much more storage but much more to keep picked up and clean! Last week, on Monday I made spaghetti sauce, on Tuesday I made cream of broccoli soup, and on Wednesday I baked not one but two batches of bread. Cinnamon raisin bran bread and anadama bread. The latter is a Colonial bread, made with yellow corn meal and molasses. Yummers! It makes terrific grilled cheese sandwiches, which is what I had today for lunch.
What have you all been up to? Did you get together with family for the holidays?
We hosted Christmas for my (small) family and Mistah Midnight's (huge) family. Yes, the very first time we prepared a meal for guests in the new kitchen, we hosted fourteen people! The garbage disposal exploded both Christmas Eve and during dinner prep on Christmas Day, clogging the pipe (a truly stoopid design guaranteed to clog and back up!) and blowing the compression fittings off the drain. Spewed water with bits of ground-up food all over the inside of the cabinet and over the laminate flooring, which is not supposed to get wet. However, due to the superior caulking job of yours truly, there was no harm done. The current pipe configuration is better, but a few onion skins still fetched up at one juncture. The third time should be the charm. (If you're putting in an Insinkerator Badger model in a double sink, IGNORE the instructions that say to put two traps in, one for each drain. Join the two outflows above a single trap. Gee, I've learned a lot about construction stuff since we started working on this house. Fortunately, most of it's pretty useful.)
 My holidays were so busy I didn't even have time to promote FINDING THE LIGHT, which came out on the 27th. Now that I'm back, I'll have to do that.
The first review is in! "Liddy Midnight brings companionship to two lonely hearts on the night of Yule as well as all readers of this heartwarming story. When all else seems lost and there is nowhere else to go, FINDING THE LIGHT gives hope to all those who are living alone out there during this time of family and cheer." — JT for Romance Junkies (Read the rest)
My only concern is that it's a Yule tale, and that's long over. Do you read holiday stories out of season? Or do you read them only while they're relevant to the holiday at hand?
Hugs,
Liddy
1:37 PM
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Sunday, November 05, 2006
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Women will appreciate these...
Current mood:  productive
Wanda's dishwasher quit working so she called a repairman. Since she had to go to work the next day, she told the repairman, "I'll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, put the key back, and I'll mail you a check."
"Oh, by the way don't worry about my bulldog Spike. He won't bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot!" "I REPEAT, DO NOT SAY A WORD TO MY PARROT!"
When the repairman arrived at Wanda's apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest looking bulldog he had ever seen. But just as she had said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching him go about his work.
The parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with his incessant yelling, cursing and name-calling. Finally the repairman couldn't contain himself any longer and yelled, "Shut up, you stupid, ugly bird!"
To which the parrot replied, "Get him, Spike!"
Men just don't listen!
* * * * * * * * * *
Dear Tech Support:
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and almost immediately noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance - particularly in the Flower and Jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, MLB 3.0, NBA 4.0, NASCAR 4.2 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.
I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
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Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.
Please enter the command: "http//www.I-Thought-You-Loved-Me.com" and download Tears 6.2. Oh, and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above applications can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0, or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is malware that will automatically download Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources).
Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. This is an unsupported application in your present environment and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7.
Signed,
Support Tech
* * * * * * * * * *
Mrs. Johnson decided to have her own portrait painted by a well-known artist. She told the artist, "Paint me with one-carat diamond earrings, a large 2 carat diamond ring with baguettes, glimmering emerald bracelets, and a beautiful, deep blue sapphire pendant."
"But ma'am, you are not wearing any of those things,"protested the artist.
"I know," said Mrs. Johnson. "My health is not good and my husband is having an affair with his secretary. When I die I'm sure he will marry her, and I want the bitch to go nuts looking for the jewelry."
* * * * * * * * * *
I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.
I got my wallet, took out ten dollars, and asked, "If I give you this money, are you going to buy some wine with it instead of dinner?"
"No, I had to stop drinking years ago", the homeless woman told me.
"Will you go shopping with it instead of buying food?" I asked.
"No, I don't waste time shopping," the homeless woman said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."
"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" I asked.
"Are you NUTS!" replied the homeless woman. "I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!"
"Well," I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight."
The homeless woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be furious with you? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting."
I said, "That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she's given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine."
3:06 PM
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Friday, October 27, 2006
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Ghost stories - for real!
Current mood: chipper
Yes, I believe in ghosts. Have I ever seen one? No, but I've sensed them. ("I sense dead people." Yeah, that gets a lot of attention. Or not.) I've also heard them.
My best guess is that we're either seeing/hearing/sensing souls who haven't passed on, whatever their reasons for hanging around, or else there are wrinkles in the fabric of time that permit glimpses of past/future events.
Moogie (yes, she is named after Quark's mom on DS9, by her request) still lives in the house I grew up in. It's a big Victorian twin - built in 1870 - with no hallway running through the first floor - the rooms open up into one another, like railroad cars. Once she was in the kitchen at the back of the house when she heard my brother come in the front door and run up the stairs. This was about twenty minutes after school started (the junior high is a block away, the high school four blocks away). When the footsteps started back down, she opened her mouth to call out but realized that what she was hearing was the sound of hard shoes on bare wooden steps. My brother not only always wore sneakers, the steps have been carpeted as long as we lived there. She remained silent and when the door closed, she heard a lift-latch, not a Yale lock.
That only happened once, but we regularly heard slow treads coming up the steps and down the upstairs hallway. There was never any animosity associated with those sounds, but there is something in the basement. One of our cats absolutely refused to go into the front room of the cellar and I still believe there's something malicious under the cellar steps. Thank goodness it never moves about!
She also heard a train regularly, until she discussed it with someone who lives about a mile away. Those train tracks haven't been used in decades. He said, "Oh, yeah, that's the ghost train." She's been listening for it and hasn't heard it since. LOL
A friend of mine lived in a much older house in Chester County. She said many people have stood in one of their doorways and heard sounds of a party. No music, but lively voices and the sound of pouring drinks. She's moved, so I can't go try it. I definitely would!
One of Moogie's friends lives in a very old house in southern New Jersey where they used to see a man in the living room wearing a Colonial uniform. (Yes, the house is that old!) Her father was in the house by himself one day when the man appeared to him for the first time. The father asked him what he wanted, and the soldier said that there was a cavity behind a brick in the fireplace where there were letters that he wanted destroyed and not read. The friend's father found the brick, removed the obviously old letters, burned them immediately and the Colonial soldier hasn't been seen since. Of course, everyone who hears this story is consumed with curiosity about what was in the letters, but if her father read them, he isn't talking. :grin:
Ghost stories are fun, aren't they?
Hugs,
Liddy
8:13 PM
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Thursday, October 05, 2006
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More Great Reviews!
Current mood:  sleepy
While I was busy watching butterflies - hmm, is that anything like stopping to smell the roses? - and pounding my keyboard, finishing two stories, several new reviews piled up in my Inbox. (For more on the monarch butterflies that grew in my garden, visit www.liddymidnight.blogspot.com )
REVIEWS for ROGUES (a collaboration by Liddy Midnight and Cricket Starr)
"ROGUES is a superbly crafted erotic tale. I wasn't sure initially that I'd be able to get into the story when the opening scene is such an eye opener with Thomas and Rick having sex. However, within a few chapters I realized that while ROGUES definitely has its share of outstanding and extreme heat inducing sex scenes, there is a lot more going on in this little gem. The characters are well developed, and the twists and surprises in the plot make for an excellent mystery and adventure. Thomas is more than one hundred years old, and yet Rick is often the calm, rational mature partner in the relationship. Thomas is sometimes like a young boy, and his exuberance often makes Rick act the heavy. Rick is a solid, dependable and ultra sexy man. He is intelligent as well as kind and thoughtful. Harriet is a tough woman on the outside, but inside she churns with uncertainty. She loves Rick and Thomas but is sure when they learn the truth about her they will walk away. Elvie, the AI on the ship, is a fun addition to this crew and adds a lot of humor to the tale.
"The plot is crafted and executed well, and even with the scorching sex scenes between all of them and each of them as a pair, the tension of the mystery the three need to solve never abates. Suspense, action, adventure and high octane sex guarantee that ROGUES will be a hit with readers. I highly recommend ROGUES for its excellent writing, fully fleshed characters, fascinating plot -- and oh yeah, some very well crafted love scenes."
Terrie Figueroa, for Romance Reviews Today
"I loved each moment of this book because it had everything, adventure, danger, excitement and mostly love, love for each other and the lengths they would go to ensure their own happiness. These two authors certainly know how to tell a tale and their characters reflect that. If you want to read about a space adventure with a whole lot of hot, sexy interludes then get this book and experience it for yourself, you'll kick yourself if you don't."
Sherryl, for eCataromance
"These rogues mix fun, intrigue, heroics, and, oh yes, sex.
"Drama is interspersed with a constant naughty sensibility so that sex is never far from the heroes' (or reader's) mind. I enjoyed this ride through a future universe with these three and the humorous computer character, Elvie. The story unfolded smoothly with always a wink toward fun. Even the evil villain has an impressive collection of sex toys. In addition to the fun, I felt a genuine affection for the characters and the way they cared for each other. Take a ride on their ship, The Sleepwalker; sleep is something you won't mind missing with this crew."
Kirra Pierce, for JERR
"I'd like a ride on the Sleepwalker please. Where do I sign up? Rogues is a sexy romp through space that's sure to leave you panting for breath from the action in and out of the bedroom. The chemistry between Thomas and Rick is scorching hot and with the addition of Harriet I wasn't sure if I'd survive to the end of the book. While Thomas is physically stronger of the trio Rick is the definitive alpha of their relationship and his ability to be both strong and tender makes the reader sigh with pleasure. The story is quick to zoom you into space with Thomas and Rick and threatens to keep you there indefinitely wishing for more. The Sleepwalker itself is an extremely amusing secondary character in the story and you find yourself caring for it just as much as the main characters, not to mention she's funny as heck! This is the first book that I've ready by this amazing duo though I'll be keeping my eye out for any of their other works from here on out. "
Larissa Hayes, for The Romance Studio
And a very nice review for DREAMS OF THE OASIS 1, also at The Romance Studio.
It's been a good month for reviews!
Now I'm off to Home Depot (again) for things we need to complete the Kitchen Renovation, Part 2: Electrical wiring!
Hugs,
Liddy
7:34 PM
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Thursday, September 21, 2006
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I've been away for a while...
Current mood:  busy
Category: Life
but not by choice. Early in July, I was the lucky Day Zero recipient of a real nasty piece of malware. I suspect it rode into my PC on an image. Gee, maybe from here? Be sure to scrub your machine after each MySpace visit - you have no idea what you can pick up out here!
The very first symptom was pop-ups, blasting right through my pop-up blocker. That's the most common sign of an infestation, BTW, because it lets the rest of the bad stuff come through. If you pop-up blocker stop functioning, pull the plug and scrub your machine!
The second thing was that my desktop wallpaper got hijacked. An obnoxious background took over, with something like the admonition, "Your PC has been compromised! We have detected umpty-ump viruses and Trojans on your machine! The brain-dead version of BraveSentry that you have is insufficient to deal with this crisis. Click here to download the full version!" And when I went to change the Display, all of the other wallpaper options were grayed out. No way to change it from the BraveSentry commercial.
Of course, I know enough to know that the very worst thing you can do at this point is click to get the full version of the offending software: at the least, you'll really open the doors wide for all the information on your machine to flow out to the world at large; at the worst, you'll be expected to pay for it. Then the bad dudes have your CC information as well as everything else.
I never download anything to my machine unless I KNOW and trust the source. This does limit some of my on-line activities, but you know, I have stories to write and a life to live, so facilitating spending more time on-line is not what I need.
Mistah Midnight is a certified computer geek, as in he earned his CISSP designation. None of the anti-virus apps found anything suspicious. He spent five hours working on my machine. He downloaded patches and updated files and really cleaned out the machine from an efficiency perspective. My wallpaper display options were back to normal. Again, none of the anti-virus or anti-spyware apps showed anything wrong. He pronounced it clean.
The next day, I was sitting here at my desk in Smut Central, balancing my checkbook. Manually. The PC was on but I hadn't touched it in a while, although the underdesk keyboard does move around when I get up or lean over to open a drawer, so the screensaver wasn't engaged. All of a sudden, IE launched itself!
Holy Hannah!
And it tried to connect to some website I hadn't heard of. I hit the power button. He has a computer forensics lab, and went through the drive. Found a new rootkit variant that no one had seen before that day. He zipped it and sent it off to the experts he knows (if I knew who they were, he'd have to kill me!) and presumably they have studied it and devised a solution to eradicate it.
I was off-line until today. The hard drive had to be rebuilt. I have been writing so frantically to catch up - there are two deadlines for me by the end of September - that until today I haven't had the time to configure my "black ops" drive. This drive has a minimal install, and no personal information. I use it to work on MySpace and frequent a couple of suspect sites (lots of flashing ad graphics, etc.) that could also have been the source of the Great July Incident.
Now I'm back, and after the kitchen renovation is finished and the deadlines have been met, I'll be around more often.
Hugs,
Liddy
11:46 AM
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