yes, that is the elusive Navy Guy

or at least his hand and foot.  :)

 

and madly conquering my slipper . . .

And "big sis" Daisy

Who is getting used to the newcomer slowly but surely. She even offered up the sacred stuffed hedgehog to play . . .

Sleeping Peanut

fresh from her bath

So I got this new puppy on Thursday. She is FREAKING ADORABLE and a tiny, 3.5 pound ball of pure energy! She runs till she drops and is making life very interesting. Her name is Peanut, and she and Daisy are soon to be best friends, I'm sure. Anyway, a pic is worth yada yada, so:

Big contest - much prizes!!

Pop over to see us at the Literary Chicks and sign up!

OH. SWEET. MERCIFUL. HEAVEN.

Seen on a writer's loop - a new book sold to an actual publisher:

>>GET STUFFED: The Home Taxidermist's Handbook, a guide to making useful household objects out of your dead, stuffed pets, to Lindsey Moore at Crown/Three Rivers Press, for publication in 2007, by Nikki Tilbury at packager Ivy Press. <<

As heard at cocktail parties across the land in 2007: "No, just put your wineglass down on Rover. He was a good dog, but he's a coffeetable, now."

Who says publishing is dead?? Oh, the potentially vile puns runneth over . . . And I thought only my deadline was making me delirious.

Going into deadline lurk

So won't be around much, but please pop over to Literary Chicks, where there's something new going on every day!

fun interviews

with all the new (and original!) Literary Chicks! To see mine, go here.

Suffering for your art

So this artist chained his legs together to draw a picture of the image of . . . you know . . . legs in chains.

Except then he lost the key.

And where was he at the time? Camping in an ABANDONED MINESHAFT in the CALIFORNIA DESERT. (Darwin awards, anyone?)

He hopped for 12 hours through the desert until he found help. The sheriff's deputy said the drawing (which apparently came along for the hop) was: "a pretty good depiction of how a chain would look wrapped around your legs."

Seriously.

Fearless

I want to be more like my daughter, who learned to ride her bicycle without training wheels in five minutes this week. By minute six, she was doing daredevil stunts. Sure, she fell a couple of times, but even as she sat there on the pavement, tears running down her face, she asked: "Can I do it again?"

She is my hero.

Too many times, I've let fear -- fear of failure, mostly, given my perfectionist tendencies -- hold me back from even trying. But, really, what's the worst thing that can happen? I can fall on my butt? People can laugh at me? OH, NO, NOT THE HIDEOUS LAUGHTER TORTURE!!

Yeah. Seems ridiculous, looking back at it. Let's resolve to be fearless together.
hugs,
Alesia

Wonderful news!!!

The fab charity anthology BEWITCHED, BOTHERED & BEVAMPYRED I'm in with many other authors was nominated by Romantic Times BookClub as one of the best contemporary paranormal novels of 2005!! Since we all donated our stories and much of the proceeds are going to the International Red Cross, we are especially pleased and proud.

Thank goodness!!

Scanning the news today, and I was happy to hear that they rescued the prairie dogs here in Virginia.
and
One of the top songs of the year has no apparent meaning whatsoever!! (but, hey, it's bouncy and has a good beat . . .)
and
The biggest buzz of the year? Went to an apparently psychotic actor jumping on a piece of furniture.

How can 2006 top that??