Free Book Friday - Valentine Edition

Valentine's Day is in the air on the Playground. Everywhere you go, there's cards, flowers and red foil-wrapped candies just waiting for some desperate man to come scoop them up at the last minute. Like mine. Bless his heart. :)

So, perusing my freebie shelf, I spied a title that just screamed Valentine's Day - Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl.

To win, comment with the phrase "I'm crazy for free books" and tell me about how far you've gone to avoid doing something you didn't want to do!

Crazy for Love by Victoria Dahl

Chloe Turner thought she was going to marry the perfect man--until her fiance's plane crashed. And then she got the "really" bad news: he'd tried to fake his own death to avoid marrying her. Now America's most famous bridezilla (a tag she most definitely does "not" deserve), Chloe escapes to a remote island to avoid the paparazzi. And right next door is a man who just might be the cure for Chloe's heartache....

A magnet for wild, complicated women, Max Sullivan is relieved to have finally found someone "normal." Chloe is his girl-next-door fantasy come to life, and best of all, she "gets" him. With her, he can be himself, a treasure-hunting millionaire who desperately wants out of his sexy but reckless job. But when Chloe's notoriety catches up with them, will their torrid romance make it to the mainland?

Wow. Faking your own death to avoid marrying someone. That's pretty drastic. Have you ever faked being sick or something to get out of doing something you didn't want to do? I've done that a time or two. I've also faked someone else's death. My grandmother "died" the day before Thanksgiving, so I missed my college chemistry test. Very sudden and tragic and strategically timed for me to leave campus early and go to Tucson. If you know my grandmother, you know that's just wishful thinking on my part. Fortunately, he didn't ask for a death certificate. And yes, karma bit me. I got a C in that class. Stupid chemistry.

SP

Close Call

Several weeks ago we had a very close call at our house. This is a picture of Emma, our yorkie. As you can tell, she's a little thing. She used to be my mom's dog, but we took her several years ago because my mom just didn't have enough time to spend with her and she was lonely (and acting out). Jack (our Australian Blue Heeler) took to her immediately and they became the best of friends.

We have land, our neighbors around us have land and we live on a dead end road that has absolutely no traffic. All of the neighbor dogs run around happily romping from one house to another playing all day. Emma isn't the only little dog in the bunch, there are several others as well, but the bigger dogs all look out for the little ones. And they all love it. You can just tell that they're happy when they get to see each other and play. But we have a large and active coyote population in the area so we had one hard and fast rule - Emma never, ever went outside after dark. No matter what. Even with someone standing right next to her it was too dangerous and because she enjoyed running around there was the potential she'd take off for a visit and run into trouble. We thought we'd taken precautions to protect her from the local wildlife.

Apparently not.

One day - around 10:30 in the morning - Zilla was outside with Jack and Emma. He was around the front of the house with Jack while Emma was in the carport waiting at the backdoor to go inside. Zilla heard a god awful commotion. He and Jack both tore off around the side of the house to find Emma being attacked by a bobcat. In our carport. Next to the door to our house.

Everyone jumped into the fray. Zilla got scratches all down his face and arms from the cat. But the cat snatched Emma up by the scruff of the neck and tore off into the woods beside/behind our house. Zilla thought she was gone. He spent that day and the next one in the woods trying to find her - or any sign of the cat. Nothing. We told the girls she was gone. Both of them were devastated. But the hardest part was trying not to be hopeful. My head knew there was little hope, but my heart just couldn't let it go. That first morning I woke up early after not sleeping well and opened the back door praying that she'd be curled up by the stairs waiting for us to let her in.

This happened on a Wednesday. That Friday Zilla called me at the office and said he was running some errands and was going to stop by if I wasn't going out for lunch. You have to understand that my office is in the middle of nowhere and there are no errands he could run anywhere nearby. But it had been a rough couple days for him so I just assumed he wanted to see me.

I wasn't at my desk when the door chimed. I walked out into the hallway from another office...and Emma was standing there, her entire body just quivering. I screamed. I think I yelled, "You have to be kidding me," and scooped her up into my arms. The minute I touched her Zilla jumped and I could feel two big bulges on her side. She had two broken ribs and two small puncture wounds on her side. Aside from being dehydrated, shaken up and visibly skinny, she looked wonderful. In fact, the picture above is of her under the chair in my office that day.

The best we can figure, the cat didn't get a good hold of her when he snatched her up. She must have squirmed away and dashed for the first cover she could find - our barn. When Zilla found her - by chance because he was walking to get the game camera he'd put up at the treeline behind the barn - he heard a noise and went to investigate. She was hunkered down in a hole at the back of the barn.

Four weeks later the only evidence of her traumatic experience are the slight bulges on her side from her healing ribs (although they're almost gone) and her refusal to go past the front hedge marking the end of our yard and beginning of our front pasture. She no longer goes very far, even when Jack runs off to tour the neighborhood. And she's no longer allowed outside without immediate and direct supervision. But she's running, playing and still the happy-go-lucky dog she's always been.

We're very fortunate this story has a happy ending. And we definitely think someone was watching out for Emma that day. A lot has been going on at my house over the past few months. Difficult things that I won't bore you with. But on that day, everything was good.

Instigator

Guest Blogger -- Tracy Sumner

Please make room on the swingset for today's guest blogger, Tracy Sumner!

Thanks for inviting me to the Playground!

My discussion today? Covers. What do readers expect and how have covers changed with the changes in publishing? And what do writers want? (With the explosion of e-publishing, authors actually have a say when they may not have before!)

The reason I thought I’d discuss this topic is, I had a recent comment that my covers are a bit…contemporary. I should say that, to date, I’ve only published historic romance. And, on a further note, I should add that I’m a graphic designer in the real world. Although I did not design my covers. That went to Kim Killion at HotDamn Designs!

Okay, here’s the original cover for TIDES OF PASSION.



Not bad, right? (And this was the best of my Kensington-release bunch.) But when I released TIDES OF PASSION as an e-book, I had a different idea. The setting is very much entrenched in the North Carolina coast (Outer Banks), and although it is set in 1898, it’s a bit outside the “lords and ladies” Victorian or Regency historical settings. So, I went for a little more modern feel.



With what I’ll call the expansion of the genre, I think readers have come to expect the cover to tell them something about the heat level, not only the setting or time period. TIDES OF PASSION is the most graphic book with regard to love scenes that I’ve written, however, probably still a 3.5/4 on a scale of 5. Very, very warm – but not erotica.

For the prequel, TIDES OF LOVE, my cover artist and I went with this.



I did revert to very historical “style” with a holiday novella and its prequel. TO SEDUCE A ROGUE is set to release in February. TO DESIRE A SCOUNDREL is already out. I think the ROGUE cover is my very favorite of my backlist covers to date.



Tracy’s story telling career began when she picked up a copy of LaVyrle Spencer’s Vows on a college beach trip. A journalism degree and a thousand romance novels later, she decided to try her hand at writing a southern version of the perfect love story. With a great deal of luck and more than a bit of perseverance, she sold her first novel to Kensington Publishing.

When not writing sensual stories featuring complex characters and lush settings, Tracy can be found reading romance, snowboarding, watching college football and figuring out how she can get to 100 countries before she kicks (which is a more difficult endeavor than it used to be with her four-year-old son in tow). After stops in France, Switzerland and Taiwan, she now lives in the south. However, after spending a few years in “the city”, she considers herself a New Yorker at heart.

Tracy has been awarded the National Reader’s Choice, the Write Touch and the Beacon – with finalist nominations in the HOLT Medallion, Heart of Romance, Rising Stars and Reader’s Choice. Her books have been translated into German, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. She loves hearing from readers about why she tends to pit her hero and heroine against each other and that great novel she simply must order in five seconds on her Kindle.

Ciao!

www.tracysumner.com
@SumnerTracy on Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Bad Fortune...

The Chinese place down the road from my house has excellent food. They also sell fabulous kimchi, which I'm pretty sure isn't Chinese, but is very tasty nonetheless.

But they have crappy fortune cookies.

For years, I didn't eat fortune cookies. I didn't care for the taste, but I'd crack those things open for the fortune. That was one of the best parts of the meal. You had to read them aloud to the rest of the table, everyone would add "in bed," and you'd all have a great laugh.

Good times.

But our awesome place for Chinese food has the worst fortune cookies. The fortune cookie makers obviously got hold of Poor Richard's Almanac and Hester's Book of Ridiculously Trite Platitudes to Bore Your Friends* and used that.

So now our fortunes aren't fun at all. "You should visit an historic site." "Blood is thicker than water." "Planting trees is good for the earth."

What? These aren't fortunes. Where's my promise to meet a handsome stranger? Or the prediction that I'll lose something of value? I mean, they're not even trying. They could at least re-word the fortunes, like "You will help the earth by planting trees, " or "You will visit an historic site." Sheesh. I want a fortune in my fortune cookie!

Even AC finds them sad excuses for real fortune cookies. The most fun we can have now is finding the typos in the fortune cookie. Our fortune cookies were obviously not proofread before they went to print.

And, yes, searching for typos is what passes for fun around Casa PC. We are an odd group.

If I can't have good fortune, at least give me good fortune cookies!

(Does everyone add "in bed" to the fortune in the fortune cookie?)

PC

*No, that book doesn't exist, but wouldn't it be awesome if it did.

MOANday: Tom Hardy

I chose this month's MOANday inspiration because he's currently starring in the Valentine's movie This Means War. This movie looks like some guy tried to make a Valentine's movie interesting for both the guys and the girls (although I think girls still win, because we get 2 hunky hotties to check out and not just one), just so the men wouldn't be completely bored on their Valentine's dates.

Tom Hardy is an English actor who's been around quite a while, having performed in Band of Brothers, Black Hawk Down, and as the villain in Star Trek: Nemesis. More recently he was part of the cast for Inception. Maybe he'll also be inspiration for your very own Valentine hero!

Happy Love Month!

Angel

Coming Soon!

Join us Wednesday for guest author Tracy Sumner!

Oops

I had gotten it in my head that today was Free Book Friday so I didn't plan a blog. Then I looked at the calendar (too late) and figured out that was next week. The problem? It's 5am, I have today off and I'm typing this from my computer in bed.

My company has recently started letting our program work a 9/80 schedule where you work an extra hour most days and you get a Friday off every other week. Today is my day. It's the second so far. The first week I went to the dry cleaner and the post office because I could. My local PO keeps the same work hours I do, in case you're wondering why it takes me so long to ship prizes.

Today, I think I'll check my PO box for junk mail (the only kind I get), catch up on laundry and dishes, and write a synopsis. Fun stuff, eh?

What would you do with an extra day off each week?

SP

Pin Everything!

I've got a new obsession. Yeah, I know, y'all are surprised. I've recently discovered Pinterest. And it's sooooo bad and soooo good. I'd heard about it, but had been avoiding adding one more site to visit on my daily rounds. I mean the idea of it sounded interesting - a place where you could pin pictures so you could easily access websites that you want to remember - but how much would I really use something like that?

A LOT!

And to be honest, so far I haven't done much outside pinning of my own. I tend to repin things that are already on the site. Recipes I want to try (and will probably never make since I don't cook). Crafts that I'd love to make (but will probably never do because I don't have the time). Organization ideas for our house (which I desperately need - and I have used one of these already!). Shoes I'll never buy. Clothes that would probably look terrible if I actually tried them on. Rooms and furniture I'll never own because I can't afford them. I even have an entire board dedicated to the tattoo I've been talking about getting for years.

You're probably asking yourself what Pinterest could possibly have to do with writing. I mean it isn't like I can promote my books on the site (although I did pin them). Research! It's a fantastic site for setting information. I can find pictures for hero and heroine inspiration. And clothing suggestions. And house plans and room layouts. I have to admit that I've never done an inspiration board like some of the other Playfriends...mostly because it just felt like so much work. But Pinterest is easy! Maybe a little too easy. I've only been on the site for a couple weeks and I already have 17 boards and have had to reorganize twice.

Have you discovered Pinterest? If not, you should! Are you as addicted as I am? Have you found a pin for something cool/helpful that you've used?

Instigator

P.S. I'm guest blogging over at the pink heart society today. Stop by for a chance to win a book!

Here we go again

Remember in the movie "Groundhog Day" how the day kept repeating? I don't have it quite that bad, but remember this? Foot? Short leg walking cast? Six weeks of hobbling around?

Well, folks, I don't have it quite as bad as Bill Murray, but I have a cast again. Same kind. Same color. Same foot. Remember that wreck I told you about? It seems I have a fracture after all.



The red arrow points to a red spot and that's what's cracked off my big toe bone near the arch. The doctor wanted to know how I'd been walking around on it for three and a half weeks. Well, I had to. And they kept telling me it was just bruised. But the orthopedic doctor has super-duper digital x-ray equipment and can enlarge x-rays so your foot looks a yard long. And that's how he found the fracture.

So I'm back in a cast for six weeks. But this time I have to use crutches for at least the first three weeks to keep weight off the fracture so it can heal.

~sigh~

Everything takes twice as long and twice as much effort when crutches are involved. I carry everything either in a backpack or a cross-body bag. My employer has been terrific about accomodating for my special needs. But I'm already counting the days til March 5 and this thing comes off.

Meanwhile, to put a positive spin on things, it's a new month. And it's a leap year, so all those February 29th-ers can celebrate a birthday. And what else?

* One for the Money hit theaters last week. I haven't been yet but I hope to go this weekend.

* Super Bowl Sunday is February 5th. I have no clue who is playing. But it's time for great new commercials!

* It's American Heart Month, and National Time Management Month. Watch your fats and cholesterols and get yourself a good desk calendar.

* Groundhog Day is tomorrow. Phil will let us know about the state of our winter. It's also Crepe Day, Marmot Day and Sled Dog Day. Go hug a husky.

* February 3rd is The Day the Music Died, when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

* Solo Diner's Eat Out Week is February 1 - 7.

* Jello Week is February 12 - 18.

* Random Acts of Kindness Week is February 13 - 19.

* Get a Different Name Day is February 13. I think I'll get Katherine Hepburn. Or maybe Audrey Hepburn. Or maybe Audrey Meadows. Or Jayne Meadows. Or Jayne Mansfield.

* International Sword Swallowing Day is February 25th. I think I'll skip that one.

* And here's my absolute favorite: February 20th is Northern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day. Folks, I had to look this one up. At noon local time, you are supposed to go outdoors and and yell "Hoodie-Hoo" to chase away winter and get ready for the first day of spring, which is a month later. Let's all do this, okay?????

And one last bright spot, we're a little bit closer to new episodes of Bones and The Closer. I cannot wait for Brennan to go into labor and to watch Booth's reaction. We know it's a girl. I'm thinking maybe they'll name her after Brennan's mother. Or maybe Joy, which was Brennan's name before she was Temperance. Just wild guesses.

Any bets on what they're gonna name the little tyke?

Guess what set me off today...

I try to be a friendly person. I try to be nice. I certainly can’t claim to be the nicest person on the planet and I can’t claim that I like everyone I meet, but I do try to be at least nice.

Even when it’s downright painful.

I’m not always tactful, and sometimes the filter between my brain and my mouth malfunctions, but I’m rarely rude on purpose.

Even when I really, really, want to say something ugly.

I’ve bitten my tongue until it bleeds sometimes, but I’ll keep snark and insults behind my teeth where they belong.

Most of the time. Some still slips, through. I usually feel very bad about it when it does.

My point is… I try. I try very hard.

Now, you all know that poem about “when I’m an old lady, I’m going to wear purple.” Since I fully intend to remain fashionable when I’m an old lady, I’m going to adopt something else. When I’m an old lady, I’m going to say whatever the hell I want to, whenever the hell I want to, to whomever I want to. Filters be damned. If your panties are in a wad, I’m going to call you on it. If you’re evil and bitchy, I’m going to tell you to your face that you’re an evil bitch. If I don’t like you, I’m not going to waste time talking to you. I’m not going to listen to whining, or BSing, or excuses or anything else.

I’m just not. Not. Not. Not. I’ll happily wear my label as a curmudgeonly, mean old bat.

It will be good for my blood pressure.

Once upon a time, I decided that 40 would be the cut-off date for this. My 40th birthday present to me would be freedom: freedom from other people’s crap and attitude problems.

Unfortunately, the Geek has evilly reminded me that I’m closer to 40 than 30 these days, and did I really want to declare myself an old lady at 40?

Darn him and his rational, reasonable approach to things.

It looks like I can’t be a curmudgeonly old bat just yet. I guess I’ll keep being nice, watching my mouth, biting my tongue and working on that tactful thing.

But it gives me something to look forward to, right?

~grumble, grumble~

PC

It's Monday, Alright!

And I forgot to post my blog last night. Unfortunately, if I type it out this morning, I'll be late for work!!!

You know how those weekends go, right? You've got this place and that place to go, and a list of a bunch of little things to do that add up to a whole bunch, and before you know it the weekend is gone. Sorry, guys!

Make me feel better here. What whittled away at your weekend?

Angel

P.S. Congratulatoins to BW, Sara's winner from Thursday. Email Instigator @ kira@kirasinclair.com and we'll get your prize out to you.

Bucket List Failures

No, I'm not dead. The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated and my bucket list is still alive and kicking, thank you. Unfortunately, there are a few things on the list that I'm not fully in control of. You think you have time, you pass up on opportunities you should sieze because of money or schedules or whatever. Then, you realize years later that was YOUR CHANCE and you let it go by.

That makes me absolutely crazy. I'm a list maker anyway, so having a bucket list really appealed to me. It gave me a chance to really think about and list all the things I want to do before I die. I get immense pleasure from checking off items. Knowing there are items I can never check off makes my completion-driven heart die a little bit. Swim with dolphins? Check! Take a cruise? Check! See R.E.M. in concert... hmm...

It seems that if you're going to include an item like that on your bucket list, you need to account for the fact that said group is aging like you are. And they may not want to tour with their wheelchairs and oxygen tanks. Not that R.E.M. is that old. But apparently they have a bucket list of their own that includes something other than music and they've decided to break up and focus on, instead.

Crap. Crap. Crap. R.E.M. was my first CD when I as ten. When I finally got a CD player six months later, I nearly exploded finally getting to listen to Out of Time. Since then, I've acquired about five other CDs of theirs. But never managed to see the show. When I was in high school - no money. Then I moved and they never came close enough to make it convenient. Would it really have killed me to drive over to Atlanta? But it was a Wednesday night show, I'd miss work, blah, blah. I always had time to see them later. Until I didn't.

You'd think I would've learned from the Simon & Garfunkel tour. They weren't on my bucket list because they swore they'd never tour again, but then, magically - 5 shows. One in Atlanta. Tickets were upward of $300-$500. I passed it up. Stupid. It was Simon & Garfunkel! They hate each other and will probably never ever do it again. There goes that chance.

I can only hope that in a few years, R.E.M. will get nostalgic or need money and will put together some kind of reunion tour like the Eagles or the Stones. Until then, I'll have this glaring failure on my list. Do you have a bucket list? Are there any items on there that you'll probably never be able to do through no fault of your own?
SP

Guest Blogger - Sara Ramsey

I met Sara last year when we served on the RWA awards ceremony committee together. And I knew very quickly that I liked this girl! She's smart and dedicated and I can't wait to read her book! Please give Sara a wonderful Playground welcome.

I’m really excited to visit the Playground today – the Instigator has lived up to her name by inviting me and letting me wreak havoc. I’ll try not to break anything!

I love the idea of a Writing Playground, even though I was always way more into books than monkey bars. I grew up on an eighty-acre farm in Iowa that was miles away from the nearest kids, so my play tended to be dress-up and make believe rather than basketball or soccer – it’s no wonder I still love making up stories.

Playground took on another meaning when I was twelve. My father accepted a year-long assignment with an agricultural nonprofit in Ukraine, just after the fall of the Soviety Union, and my mother, younger brother, and I moved there with him. My mom homeschooled us so that we would stay caught up with our classmates, but my dad took it upon himself to teach ‘playground’ – all the slang and bad behavior he thought we would have learned on the playground back home. Let’s just say that, between my father’s playground lessons and the Johanna Lindsey romances I started reading that year, it was pretty much inevitable that I would grow up to be a romance writer!

Nowadays, I still love to dress up, even though it’s more expensive to buy my own shoes rather than tottering around in my mom’s heels. And I still like to exchange dirty stories with my friends, although doing it over drinks is way more fun than passing notes in chemistry class. But I’ve found a couple of other kinds of play that I absolutely love, even though I couldn’t imagine liking them a few years ago.

The first is going to the gym. I’m the antithesis of an athlete, and at 5’ tall, I’m at a serious disadvantage when it comes to running, walking, reaching the machines, doing step-ups – basically, everything. But I started working out with a trainer last year, and it turns out that I love having a couple of hours a week where I think of nothing but breathing (and trying not to pass out). It’s probably the best kind of play I could recommend to other writers, since I think we all need some downtime in order to bring renewed energy back to our work.

The second is interacting with other romance readers and writers, particularly on Twitter. When I first started using Twitter, I thought it was just a stupid marketing tool. But as I’ve gotten to know people through it, it’s fun to connect to other writers when I’m struggling, excited, happy, sad, needing a distraction. Even though I work from home, I can still feel like there’s a water cooler conversation waiting for me to join in. I just have to be careful not to spend all day at the water cooler, since it’s easy to get sucked in!

Regardless of what your passions are, I think it’s really important for writers to play at something every day. If you don’t have some way to relax and blow off steam, how can you find enough quiet within yourself to let your stories and your voice come out?

What do you to do relax and play? I’ll give one lucky commenter a copy of my debut Regency romance, Heiress Without a Cause – it’s all about a proper heiress who indulges her very improper desire to play as an actress, so it seems fitting for the Playground.

Heiress Without a Cause – Muses of Mayfair, Book #1

One title to change his life...

A disgraced son with a dark reputation, William “Ferguson” Avenel is content to live in exile – until his father dies in the scandal of the Season. With rumors of insanity swirling around them, his sisters desperately need a chaperone. Ferguson thinks he’s found the most proper woman in England – and he won’t ruin her, even if he secretly desires the passionate woman trapped beneath a spinster’s cap.

One chance to break the rules...

Lady Madeleine Vaillant can’t face her blighted future without making one glorious memory for herself. In disguise, on a London stage, she finds all the adoration she never felt from the ton. But when she’s nearly recognized, she will do anything to hide her identity – even setting up her actress persona as Ferguson’s mistress. She’ll take the pleasure he offers, but Madeleine won’t lose her heart in the bargain.

One season to fall in love...

Every stolen kiss could lead to discovery, and Ferguson’s old enemies are determined to ruin them both. But as their dangerous passion ignites their hearts and threatens their futures, how can an heiress who dreams of freedom deny the duke who demands her love?

Sara’s website: http://www.sararamsey.com

Sara’s Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Sara_Ramsey

P.S. Instigator's guest blogging at Okay Listen Here today. Stop by for a chance to win a signed backlist book.

Kindness

"Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." ~ Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire

I've heard this quoted numerous times, but I've never seen the movie. That's surprising since I grew up watching old movies, and this movie is old. It was made the same year I was born. *g*

But Tennessee Williams isn't the subject today. Kind strangers (and friends) are.

It's been about 3 1/2 weeks since my unfortunate accident, and yes, I'm much better, thank you. I still have some neck and shoulder issues from whiplash and I have to build my energy levels back up. I went back to work a week ago after two weeks in the recliner with my foot propped up, and hoooooooooo boy! By quitting time I was ready to crawl under the desk and cry. But I made it through the week.

My foot is still bothering me, and today I'm seeing an orthopedic specialist about it. It's still a bit swollen. It still hurts when I walk. And I can only wear tennis shoes and Crocs. I'm not a shoe fanatic, but good gracious, I'd like to not have to wear Adidas to work. They've been very nice about it. They were just happy to have me back in one piece. One of the attorneys even gave me a big hug as she proclaimed how glad she was I wasn't hurt any more than I was.

But back to my topic: kindness. I was the beneficiary of much kindness from strangers and also from folks I know.

A very nice couple stopped at the wreck site, called 911 and waited there til the EMTs arrived. The wife scrolled through my cell phone calling names to help me think of someone to call. Let me tell you that when you've t-boned a car doing about 60 miles per hour, your brain is just a smidgeon jarred and names and phone numbers don't come to mind right away. I asked someone to get their names and contact info so I could thank them later, but I never got it. So whoever you are, thank you so much for getting involved when you could just as easily have kept on driving.

Thank you to the First Responders who got a neck collar on me and got me out of the car and onto a backboard along with the help of a couple of firefighters. Thank you to the EMTs and the ambulance driver. And special thanks to the EMT for making the call to bring me to my hometown hospital instead of one an hour away. At the time I couldn't think of a soul who could pick me up from that hospital, though now I could name a dozen. 60 mph t-bone brain, remember.

Thank you to the terrific Trauma staff at Huntsville Hospital. They were lined up and ready when I was rolled in. With precision, they took my vital signs, got an IV going and cut off an almost brand new pink sweater I'd only worn twice before. ~sniff~ They cut off everything else too except my underpants and socks. I was poked and prodded, x-rayed and scanned, then pronouced banged up and bruised and sent home with a prescription for pain pills and the words, "It'll get worse before it gets better." That was an understatement.

Thank you to the Playfriends. Smarty Pants was the first person in the cell phone scroll whose name clicked and Kind Lady called her. She sprung into action and by the time I got to the hospital, Problem Child and Angel were there. They'd also called my son who arrived in time to take me home. He stayed overnight, helped me arrange a rental car the next day and took me to the grocery store since my cupboards were bare.

Lots and lots of phone calls were made that night. Thank you for all of them. The Playfriends also brought food the next day. I missed our New Year's Eve party, so they brought the party -- or part of it -- to me. A fellow Heart of Dixie member who lives in my apartment complex brought me a container of chicken fettucine Alfredo. Yum! Thanks Kellie.

Thank you to my sister for gently breaking the news (though just how gentle can a major car crash be) to my mother. She and my mother and my mother's brother have called frequently to see how I'm doing.

Thank you to my minister (who said my mother called him) for checking on me. And many thanks to his wife for driving me 150 miles roundtrip to get my belongings out of my car.

Thank you to my neighbor for getting my mail every day. It's a small act, but when every part of your body hurts, it's nice not to have to make the trek to the mail boxes daily.

Thanks to Lynn, one of my Red Hat friends, for driving me to the doctor's office on Monday after the wreck.

And thanks to everyone who sent a card, an email or a message on Facebook. I appreciate them all. It means a lot to know so many people care.

If I've left out anyone, please forgive me. 60 mph t-bone brain, remember.

I got a new car last week cause the old one was totaled. It did its job -- front end crumpled, airbag deployed and seat belts locked down. So I bought another one just like it, just newer. I hope I never have to test its airbag. I'm still dealing with paperwork from the insurance company, getting the tag transferred, etc. I think I see an end in sight.

Random Acts of Kindness Week is February 13-19 this year. I hope you'll take time to perform at least one act of kindness, be it random or not. You never know how much it will mean to the recipient.

Tell me about some random act of kindness you've given or received. Or both.

Reality Bites

I really, really hate “reality” TV.

Reality shows dominate the airwaves, but I’m not a fan. I like fiction. I like shows that have been written by people with talent, are acted by people with talent, professionally produced… You know, television. Entertainment. I’ll admit that I watch some weird stuff – I’m a big fan of crime shows – but reality TV scares me and upsets me more than a Criminal Minds marathon ever could. (And Criminal Minds often leaves me sleeping with the lights on.)

So, shows I hate…

Hoarders: Hoarders have a sickness and this show exploits them. Aside from the car-wreck fascination or the feeling of superiority that my house isn’t that bad, I don’t see the value of the show. I have a problem with exploitation for entertainment purposes. I dislike the concept of Storage Wars for this reason as well. These storage sheds are being auctioned because the renters quit making payments. These people have fallen on hard times and now they’re losing the things they wanted to keep. Televising it is exploitation of someone’s misery and that’s wrong.

The Bachelor/Bachelorette and any of the 37 spin-off dating shows they spawned: I don’t believe for a second that the participants are looking for love. They’re looking for fame. But pitting people against each other to win the “love” of another makes me a little ill.

I reserve special hate for pretty much every reality show where people are pitted against each other and the producers encourage bad or extreme behavior for ratings. (Jersey Shore, Survivor, Big Brother, Real Housewives, etc.) I will however, watch competition shows (okay, one -- So You Think You Can Dance) where skill is prized.

Any show where celebrities are doing anything other than their jobs: (Dancing With the Stars, Celebrity Apprentice, etc.) These folks are good at their jobs; they’re not very good at other people’s jobs. It's just painful to watch.

Shows where people are doing their jobs: Shipping Wars, Swamp Loggers, Pawn Stars. Really? Why? As I’ve said before, ninety percent of everyone’s job is really boring. Why is this television? And the ones where they’re doing something dangerous – like Ice Road Truckers – make me want to scream at the TV. If it’s so freaking dangerous, why are you talking to a camera while you do it?

Toddlers and Tiaras/Dance Moms/etc.: These shows are worse than reality shows like Survivor, Big Brother, etc, because the children are being manipulated by their parents and the parents are setting the worst example. And by watching, we’re rewarding and encouraging that behavior.

I know that reality shows are popular – they wouldn’t have so many of them on the air if they weren’t -- but I just don’t get the attraction. So are you a reality TV fan? Which shows? Why?

PC