Tuesday, May 13, 2014

No Cook Tuesday and Cover Reveal!!!!

I'm laughing out loud because this past week was not a cooking week at my "O.K. Corral".  In fact it was a catch-as-catch-can week where I was busily finishing a delightful novel, planning a novella, watching cute kids and wiping my nose from a cold I shouldn't have caught because I just had one....

BUT......

Hold onto your spurs and jingle jangles because this cowgirl has a new WESTERN cover to show you that steps out of my Northeast hill mode and into the land of ...

SIGH-AND-SWOON-WORTHY COWBOYS!!!!!!!!

GRINNING!!!!!!!

The good folks at Love Inspired invited me to be part of the Big Sky Centennial continuity for this year and oh...

My cover!!!!!!!

With my cowboy and cowgirl hero and heroine!!!!!  LOVE IT!!!!!

This is Livvie Franklin and Jack McGuire riding "Little Dil" and "Roy-O".  Isn't he "Brad Paisley" adorable???? And Livvie, petite and blonde, is as tough a little wrangler as you can imagine despite those pretty girl looks....

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE!!!!! #loveit

:)

So for today, maybe we can just F-E-A-S-T our eyes on this cowboy.... :)

We can talk it up about Mother's Day... Oh my stars, great day up here with beautiful weather and that's not always the case on Mother's Day as some of my snow-bound friends in the upper Midwest know.  But ours was lovely, my oldest son Matt grilled spinach-and-feta sausages alongside Buffalo-chicken-wing sausages with a side of burgers!

Onion rings, and I should have taken pictures of those because they're so easy to make... Oops.  There were babies around, what can I say????

And I made chocolate pie (RECIPE HERE) and strawberry rhubarb pie (RECIPE HERE) with this pie crust (RECIPE HERE) and Mary Connealy called me and laughed at me for making pie crust in this day and age...

I scoffed at her!  :)

And Zach sent an edible arrangement and these darlings made the expression "pigged out" come to life right in the kitchen!  Here is the "BEFORE" picture!  :)


And here is the "AFTER!!!":


And Lukey sent flowers, and there were cards and kisses, and coffee cards and a gift card for the local nursery because I love flowers...

And it was good and I didn't cook!  :)

So tell me about your Mother's Day or your mother's Mother's Day... I'm always touched by the sweet pics of mothers on Facebook on Mother's Day. To me, that's social media at its best.

Connecting the things that are worthy of saying.

Like my "mother's helper" Casey, at her dance competitions.... Adorable, right???


Words that help us reach for the stars.... and maybe beyond?
Fresh eggs that teach a lesson about diversity and oneness at the same time:

They might look different, but they're all eggs.

I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day.... or as my friend Beth Glash said, a "Beth" day. Beth has struggled with Mother's Day for years because she's dealt with infertility and when she posted on Facebook how she celebrates "Beth" Day I was so proud of her.

Because life goes on and it's our job to grab hold and make the best of every single minute!

Hey: Coffee's on!

28 comments:

  1. I can't believe you did a cowboy book. Sqqquuueeeaaaallll!!! How fun is that? When will it release? Need to mark that on my calendar for sure!!!

    My mother's day was lowkey which was perfect. My daughter made me this great message centre out of an old window. She painted the panes with chalkboard paint. I'd shown her a pinterest picture a while ago never thinking I'd get one. Perfect upcycled gift. She found the window (six panes) on the curb and just had to buy the chalkboard paint. Love it!!!

    We made dinner together -- super yummy black bean burritos. Drool. Took my grandpuppy Bear the yorkie on a walk and then had tea and banana bread. Back to writing by evening. :-)

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    1. Kav, I'm loving the window pane message center!!! I've seen some really cute window pane ideas in shops, and if there were more hours in a day, yowza!!! I'd have me some creative fun! What a great gift!

      It sounds like a perfect day. And yes, the cowboy book is total "SQUEAL-WORTHY!!!!!". LOVE IT!!!! It's the August book for the continuity, so it will be August in Jasper Gulch, Montana... Big Sky Country!!!

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    2. KAV how cool that your daughter made that for you.

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  2. I'll take a few eggs- and pass me a book! GREAT COVER!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

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    1. Oh my stars, I could eat eggs for a month right now and I'd get skinny but I'd be sick to death of eggs at the end of it! Tina, don't you love that cover??? My first Western cover, I'm totally psyched!!!! Yee haw!

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    2. The cover is fantastic, Ruthy. Welcome to the wild west!!!! :)

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  3. KAV!!! What a wonderful gift. I love it. I want one. I have an old window I keep on a wall...like a picture..must sneak it off the wall.

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    1. I love the ones on the wall too, Tina. Filled with fun stuff. And I saw a Christmas one at a festival, all lit up and done with antique-looking vining and ornaments, very rustic... for an inside wall. I was in love!

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  4. What a wonderful day, Ruthy! I love the photos. And LOVE the cover!!

    I had a really nice day. The fam took me out to lunch after church. Then my son made me dinner! I've had the cruddy sore throat, sinus pain thing, too. So I napped a couple of hours in between those two meals. :)

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    1. I napped too. Really bad time to get sick, but couldn't sleep with the head thing going on, so once the house got quiet.... I napped for an hour and then played again. Shh... we don't have to tell! :)

      I love that you got two meals out of the day, Missy. WOW. I'm pretty impressed by that! :)

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  5. Lovely cover Ruthie! I am looking forward to this book.

    Amber Schamel
    Www.AmberSchamel. com

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    1. Amber, my beautiful young friend!!!! Thank you for coming by and checking out the cute cowboy and his soon-to-be Mrs!!!! :) Oh my stars, I'm such a sucker for a happy ending. Good to see you, kiddo!

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  6. Yay, Ruthy! A cowboy book. And no recipe. Works fine for me.

    Though I was still recuperating, this was a bang-up Mother's Day. I didn't cook, of course. People from church had brought food during the week, so Richard heated up leftovers and threw in a couple of Walmart deli pizzas for good measure. Me, I had a smoothie. But what a great time we had. All but one of the kids were in and we just enjoyed being with each other. :)

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    1. Yes, my nod toward cooking was linking to recipes.... hey, there's more to a house than a stove, and just think how much fun chickens are to raise! :) Mmmm..... smoothies..... Mindy, you trend-setter!!!! Hope you're feeling better each day and that your healing spurs the weight loss we're all working on.... Crazy way to do it, but hey? Whatever works! God bless you, my friend!

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  7. We were low-key for Mother's Day. Two of the big kids were working, but the gifts they came up with were great.

    I remember so well those Mother's Days that weren't so great. Before children, when I wanted to be a mom so desperately...between children, when we were dealing with infertility issues...in the middle of toddlers (when "rest" is just a pipe dream).... But these days, I can watch my grown up kids and wait patiently for grandchildren - somewhere around the next corner.

    And you tell that Mary Connealy that you're not the only one who still makes pie crusts! There's nothing like a crust made with love to make any pie taste better :)

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    1. I forgot to say - I can hardly wait for your cowboy story.

      And we're book buddies again! My next book comes out in August, too.

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    2. But if the crusts are extraordinarily delicious then....you just eat more of it. And I'm on a diet!

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    3. Mary, some things are worth cheating on your diet for.

      And it's also why I only make pies about once a year. :)

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    4. Let the pie wars begin!!!!! Jan, I'm a pie person, like you. And it's so hard to resist when the holiday is over..... And Mary, you're right, the deliciousness of pie crust is true temptation. Like fried chicken, only better!!!!

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    5. Jan, that's right, you and me in AUGUST!!!!!! OH HAPPY DANCING TO THE MAX!!!!!!!!!

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  8. Sorry about laughing at you, Ruthy. It was just the shock!

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    1. Piffle. I will not accept your lame attempt at apology, I will show you no regard and I will not send my regards to your mother. You deserve no such respect. (Okay that butchered line is from Pride and Prejudice kind of but I'm too stuffed up to go looking for the actual true words! I figured you'd get the gist!)

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  9. I want one of those window pane thingies!
    cool a new series! do you know who else is writing in the series?hope debra clopton, Brenda minton, and Linda Goodnight are in it too! sure wish I could pick the 6 authors for a series LOL! well I'd need maybe 10...
    can't wait to read it!
    Susanna

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    1. Suzy, hello! Okay, this series has an all-star line-up with two newbies, me and Jenna Mindel: Val Hansen, me, Carolyne Aarsen, Jenna Mindel, Brenda Minton and Arlene James. So they sandwiched us newbies in between a bunch of solid, popular established authors and we had the very best time ever! So much fun!!!! I think you'll love these books, Susanna.... Val's comes out in July, and then we're monthly for the rest of the year. "Big Sky Centennial".... Love it!!!

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    2. yeah no one I don't like LOL! Jenna's name sounded familiar so went to amazon - turns out she's the one who wrote that book about the cherry orchard that I liked! I couldn't remember who it was so didn't get the others in that series! now I know!!!Of course I know Brenda LOL and the others I've read in other series. sounds like a good lineup!
      Susanna

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  10. Yay! Ruthy's doing cowboys!! Can't wait! :)

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    1. Susan, have we congratulated you over here, yet????? If not, then HUGE, MEGA CONGRATULATIONS, MY FRIEND!!!! So happy for you!!!! Susan has been given contracts (!!!!!) from Love Inspired and Bethany House.... Happy dancing across the pond in upstate!

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