security!

While I was on a mini-vacay this weekend, my dear friend Maria was hacked. And not just the "I'm gonna send out Viagra Spam" kinda hacked. No. She was maliciously violated. And it was really uncool because if there is anyone in this world who doesn't deserve to be the target of such a spiteful act, it's Maria.

So, let me use this awful, awful event to remind you all. Change your damn passwords. Make them safe. The longer, the better (10+ in length = 10+ in strength). Include numbers, letters, symbols...and be smart about it. Don't do like I used to do and make it your puppy's name or your kid's name. Or worse yet, abc123.

And just in case you think you have a decent password but wanna verify it? Make sure it didn't make the list of 500 worst passwords of all time...

This has been a public service announcement. The more you know...

where did time fly

My oldest son will be a senior in High School this year.

I swear, it was just yesterday that he was my treefrog. His bottom was barely big enough to fit into my palm!

Now we're gonna have to do senior pics, senior prom, senior trip, worry about colleges... Ugh. So please indulge me a moment while I take a trip down memory lane. Because I'm not quite ready for my treefrog to be all growed up.

Happy Memorial Weekend!

Today Kristen is traveling home from a very fun and successful trip to BEA, therefore she's unable to blog.

So I'm stepping in to wish you guys a very happy holiday weekend here in the US and for the rest of you... I hope your weekend is just as happy :)

Stay classy, San Diego!

Jurassic adventures...

There is this place in Northwest Arkansas called Dinosaur World. It's kind of like a concrete version of Jurassic Park. Except a concrete King Kong also resides there. And cavemen.


There's no real rhyme or reason to the park. It's a paleontological nightmare in reality. I mean, KING KONG lives among the dinosaurs. As do CAVEMEN. And a giant platypus.

But it's an awesome place in the world of super cheese. And I'm a huge fan of super cheese. Here's a blog that has some pics of Dinosaur World while it was still in its glory days: http://secretfunspot.blogspot.com/2008/03/abandoned-dinosaur-world.html

I noticed a nearby gravel pull-off which seemed as though it were created solely for illegal Dinosaur World entry. In the name of blogging I stopped the car, walked down an embankment and and briefly set foot in the forbidden lost world where I took these last couple of photos.

(boy that sounds vaguely familiar...)

And here's another post that contains some really good shots of the cheesefest:

http://www.agilitynut.com/dinos/ar2.html

Now that Dinosaur World is closed, I think we are truly missing out on one of life's greatest treasures. I'm thinking I should purchase this property, and turn it into a campground. "Your site is located in the Mastadon section. If you prefer, there will be a primo Pterodactyl spot available tomorrow." And I want an awesome restaurant and bar when we offer "Jurassic Park" type tours of the compound. C'mon...you know you wanna go...

new beginnings

I started a new job yesterday. I haven't worked full-time in over 2 years, so this is very exciting for me. It's also the reason I missed blogging yesterday as well. Sorry y'all.

I'm trying to focus my life with all the crazy changes I've been experiencing, but as you know, life doesn't always let you do that. It throws you curve balls and makes you swing for the fence and when you whiff and miss, you wind up spinning around without direction.

I went to the beach last week to relax before this new chapter in my life. Me and 8 other women enjoyed the sand, sun, and surf (maybe a little too much). I did a lot of soul searching--(also known as lying on the beach) and what I came up with is this:

To be happy, I have to leave the past in the past. I have to refocus and move forward. I need to be happy, healthy, laugh, and I can't settle for anything less than the best in my life. Because even though I oftentimes don't think I deserve the best, I know in my heart I do.

Many, many thanks to my girls for helping me soul search. It just wouldn't have happened without them.

oops

My bad. I was supposed to blog yesterday. Then life happenend...

Then last night, death and destruction happened in my little state. A tornado tore through Arkansas, cut a path a half mile wide while staying on the ground for more than an hour, destroying everythin in its way.

A friend of mine's parents lost their house last night, but thankfully they're ok. Sadly, we are expecting Same Song; Second Verse tonight. But at least I won't be driving in it this time.

Do me a favor, and send some good thoughts toward the good folks of Arkansas this week. It's no fun living in tornado alley sometimes...especially in the spring...

ch-ch-ch-changes

The Fictionistas are very sad to announce that Chrissy has left the building. We all love and miss her terribly. There is no replacement for someone as awesome as Chrissy and so in hopes that she will be able to return when her schedule and life settles down, we've decided to offer guest posts every other Monday. If you're interested in doing a guest blog for us, please feel free to email me at tellmel @ melissafrancis [dot] net or leave us a comment with your email address and one of us will contact you. Chrissy, we are gonna miss you, Max, and Jeeves! Be happy, healthy, and come back to us when you can!

calling in sick

There once was a girl named Mel

And today she doesn't feel so swell

It was her turn to blog

and to avoid being flogged

She posted quickly then bailed.

Sorry gang. Will try to be better next time.

Happy Birthday to Me

Sorry. Today's post is all about me. And pie. Because it's my birthday. And I'm scheduling this to post because I will be sleeping in this morning and really have very little plans to be involved with the internet at all....

So Happy Birthday to Me. Y'all have a piece of Pie in my honor...because it is 3.14 today... Pi day!

who are you?

I'm going to be 42 years old in 15 days...(and if you're anything like my kids, you're already mumbling "Old Lady" and coughing the word "geezer" into your hand.) I'm okay with that.

1. I look damn good for a 41 year & 337 day old woman.
2. I know who I am and I'm totally okay with me.

I think I was probably in my 30s before I really started to get to know myself and to stop trying to please everyone. Friendship and love isn't about winning a competition. It's okay to have multiple friends and it's okay if one of your friends likes someone better than you. What isn't okay is if you spend a countless amount of energy trying to "win" them over. Nobody likes to be with someone who isn't being true to themselves.

And if you're true to yourself...and you realize that the people you want to be with don't seem to feel the same, then move on. It's not easy, but you should never compromise your core values for someone else. It's like Mark Darcy said to Bridget: "I like you just as you are."

That's where true friendship and love can be found. And I hope you guys can start working on that a lot younger than I did...however, it doesn't matter how old you are...it's never too late to to be true to you.

My Boyfriend's Back...

Wait, my boyfriend never left, as far as I know...

BUT our very own Fictionista, Chrissy, has a .99 bargain available from Amazon!

MY BOYFRIEND'S BACK

"I bring you tidings of... DAMMIT!"

With those few words, Jack Lynch's world would change forever. The nerdy guy
from Hammond High has returned for his twentieth reunion. He's rich, successful,
and ready to re-claim the girl who got away: Rori McLeary.

There's just one small problem... Jack is also dead. But with the help of an
angel in training, his mom, and the rockin' body of his former arch-nemesis,
Jack is still going to get the girl.

He has three days to convince Rori to love him. He's got the body he never
had, the brains he always had, and Norman the geek angel on his side.

What could possibly go wrong?

I say spread the love on Valentine's Day and buy this e-book!

baby, baby, baby

So, a couple of weeks ago I told you I was sooooo over Katy Perry.

And now I'm gonna tell you, I was never into the Bieb. I don't get this fascination with Justin Bieber and I never will. My 7 year old niece acts like this boy hung the moon. Maybe he's today's Shaun Cassidy?

Nah. The Bieb just ain't that cool.

You know what is cool, though? The Neon Tree's mash up of The Bieb's song Baby and Stand By Me. Seriously, have a listen. I'm betting you'll dig it immensly. I do.

so over her

I'm totally over Katy Perry. I liked her when she kissed a girl. But now? Ugh. The airwaves are saturated with Firework, California Gurls, & Teenage Dream...and I just wanna barf every time I hear one of those songs. (which, if you listen to the radio, is approximately every 13 seconds)

I actually really liked her at first, so I feel really badly that my finger automatically hits the seek button every time I hear a few bars of one of her songs. It's like Pavlov's dog...only with my finger and Katy Perry.

And it's not fair. It's totally not her fault that the stations are cramming her into our heads until our eardrums burst. Or at least, until my eardrums burst. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one off the Katy Perry bandwagon. I'm alone, on the side of the road, while the rest of the world rides off into the sunset with KP. But I'd rather be alone than listen to California Gurls one more time. Yeah, I know. She's so hot she'll melt my popsicle. I guess that means I'll stop eating popsicles then.

Are you over anyone right now?

another year?

Yeah. Another year. And I guess I'm supposed to make resolutions and try not to fail meeting them again.

I have a love/hate relationship with the new year. I love the idea of new beginnings, of wiping the slate clean and starting fresh, of getting a chance to right some wrongs of the previous year.

I hate the idea of setting myself up to fail with resolutions. The last two years I've described the previous year with 3 words and then assigned 3 new words for what I hope the new year will be.

This year, I'm just making one resolution.

Move Forward.

What are your plans? Are you resolving or boycotting the whole idea?

a charlie brown christmas

One of my fondest memories as a kid was watching the A Charlie Brown Christmas. Poor Charlie Brown, he never could get a good tree but he always made the best of it.

Imagine the happiness that lit up my inside parts when I found a real Charlie Brown tree at Walgreens last week. So I bought it, and took it to the boyfriend's house because he wasn't planning on decorating. And I'm sorry, but we just couldn't have a tree....

Best. Tree. Ever. I may never do another tree again.

Are y'all ready for the holidays? Try anything new this year (like a Charlie Brown tree?) or are you a stickler for old traditions?

Hope you all have a very Charlie Brown Holiday with friends, family and a pet you love. ;)

baby it's cold outside!

The holidays are upon us and the radio stations are pummeling us with Christmas carols.

I'm not ready for them yet. I know, there are only 18 days between now and Christmas Eve. I know that halls are being decked, sweet treats are being baked, and stockings are being hung...and yet, the Christmas Spirit is eluding me.

Maybe it's because I can't have a tree this year. My terrorists kittehs will destroy it, much like they have destroyed every roll of paper towels and toilet paper I've brought into the house...

Maybe it's because this holiday will be a weird one for me. It's the first post-divorce holiday. It will definitely feel strange. The good news is, I will actually get a gift this year! I guess I've finally been a good girl.

Or maybe it's because I just haven't heard the right song yet. There is one song that always makes me happy, even though it's not technically a Christmas song, it is always played around this time of the year and it works wonders for my spirit.

Today I shall listen to it over and over again until I'm no longer feeling the ba humbug.

Baby It's Cold Outside


Do you have a specific holiday song that always gets you in the spirit?

one year later...

Last year on November 22, I blogged about the 10 things I try not to take for granted. Guess what, not much has changed...including the fact that I still don't have a maid. Seriously, what is up with that?

So today, for the first time in a long time, I plotted with my writing partner, Maria Geraci (who's book THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB will hit the shelves December 7...and you should totally pre-order it NOW!) Anyway, this morning I actually worked on a book idea that I've been playing with for a year and a half but haven't written much on thanks to the foggy haze of divorce that was surrounding me.

Which means, I'm adding a couple of new things to my thankful list. Because apparently I took my creative juices for granted...and I never plan to let that happen ever again.

1. I'm thankful for my imagination
2. Thank all that's holy (and possibly all that's unholy) for Maria Geraci
3. Thanks for my 'Nistas who listened to my whiny emails and supported me even though I was acting like I was the only person who had ever been foggy and sad.
4. And for my agent Deidre and editor Kristin for their patience and understanding while I took the long road back to my creativity. :)

Now, let's all go eat some pie!

baby you can drive my car

Yesterday I gave my oldest son (he's 16) his first driving lesson.

I remember begging my mom to teach me to drive when I was 12 years old. My 13 year old son is begging me to learn. My 16 year old? Has had absolutely zero interest until now.

I'm okay with that, mostly. The older he is before he's on the road, then the safer he is...technically. But, he's still riding around with all his 16 year old friends who are driving, so I suppose really it's the same no matter what.

I tease him all the time that the only reason I allowed him to make it to 16 alive is so that he could take over Taxi duties and that his lack of drive to learn to drive is an Epic Failure.

But the truth is, it's fine if he takes his time to learn. If he feels any sense of unease then there's no reason to unleash him on the public behind the wheel of a killing machine. Ya know?

Still, I find it odd that he hasn't shown an interest until now...just 4 months shy of his 17th birthday. Have you guys noticed a trend in teens not wanting to learn to drive. Ian isn't the only one in his group of friends. It seems to be a bit of an epidemic around these parts. What about around your parts?

BTW, he did a damn fine job for his first real time behind the wheel. He even drove down a neighborhood street!

Land Ho!

No, I'm not calling a person on solid ground with a fast reputation a Land Ho (though, that would be kinda awesome...) I'm actually referring Christopher Columbus discovering America.

Today is Columbus Day here in the USA and it is a holiday for many offices. (Mine is NOT one of them... *grumble*)

In honor of Columbus Day, I thought I'd post some little known facts about El Capitan.

1. Christopher Columbus’ name is not Christopher Columbus. It is Chrisoffa Corombo. Christopher Columbus is the English translation of sorts.
2. The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria were not the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. Well, the Pinta was but the Nina was a nickname for the Santa Clara and the Santa Maria was known as the Gallega.
3. While Columbus is considered a hero in the U.S., Spain and Italy, he was not well-known during his life.
4. Christopher Columbus never actually set foot on U.S. soil. He landed on an island in the Bahamas.
5. It was not Columbus’ idea to sail across the ocean. It was his brother, Bartholomew’s idea.
6. Columbus was an opium addict, the same drug used in producing modern-day heroin.
7. There is genetic evidence that Columbus and his men brought the sexually transmitted disease Syphilis to Europe.

Syphillis? Gee Chris, sounds like you could be called a Land Ho, too!

Hope you're off work or school today and enjoying something fun!

Happy Monday

Most of us dread Monday because it symbolizes the end of our time off. The Monday morning alarm catapults us into the dredge of work, school, homework, responsiblity...blah, blah, blah.

Yesterday, I started to realize that I was already dreading the morning...and you know what that was doing to me? Making me bitchy. So instead of enjoying the beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was already cranking about Monday.

And isn't that exactly the opposite of how we should end our weekend?

So today, I'm looking at Monday as the beginning of a great week instead of the end of a fantastic weekend. Because everyone loves a good beginning...right?

Happy Monday, y'all! What do you plan to do to make today a good one?