A Priceless gift #NaBloPoMo #day26

Shruthi is tired asusual taking care of her 6 month old kid, feeding whom is tougher than any other task in the world.

When she received a phone call that her mom was seriously ill, she drove for 2 hrs to reach their native with her husband and kid.

Mom looked healthy and said happily, "Sorry for creating a tension dear , here is the reservation in ITC Grand for a dinner and a night stay for you both. Relax, while we take care of our grandson."

Shruthi hugged her mom with teary eyes and said, "Mom, you know the best".

Until next time,

Linking this 100 word fiction to #FridayFotoFiction hosted by Tina and Mayuri.

This is my day 26 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

My Soulmate #NaBloPoMo #day26

Oh my soulmate, I m fortunate to have you in my life.

Life's up and downs doesn't concern me much as you are there with me for my every step.

Your smile alone lights up my day and everything else blurs before that radiance.

Every minute I spend with you  is precious and make a lovely moment in my album.

I don't have any expectations from you dear, other than unconditional love and your companionship in my life.

Oh my Soulmate, I am fortunate to have found you in my life.


Until next time,

This is day 26 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’

This week's prompt: Soulmates 

Image courtesy: www.pixabay.com 

Thankful Thursdays #NaBloPoMo #day25

This week went great like the earlier week. This week being the thanksgiving week, my elder one has a week long vacation.So, it was hectic managing 2 kids at home but weather was perfect and I could engage kids efficiently ☺

Source:www.pixabay.com 

Iam thankful this thursday due to many reasons :

1. New friends and timepass
It's difficult to make new friends as we age. I am thankful to meet a few like minded people and for getting  an opportunity to know them better.

2. Teaching mother tongue to my son
Being far away from mother land, it's difficult to teach mother tongue to kids these days. Though we speak Telugu at home, I want my children to also be able to read and write our native language. I am thankful to have taken a step forward to it.

3. Settling into new house
Bought a few things related to our home and we started settling in. I am thankful to God for the new beginnings.

So, that was about this week that I am grateful for. How did this week or this month treat you?

Until next time,

Linking to #ThankfulThursdays hosted by Amrita and Tina.

This is my day 25 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge. Couldn't beleive myself that I blogged continously for 25 days so  far. one more reason to be thankful for ☺

How to handle arguments? #NaBloPoMo #day24

Arguments between a couple are very common. There is nothing wrong in not agreeing on same thing. Since we are all brought up in different environments and have our unique skills and different maturity levels, it is difficult to agree with other person. But, problem comes when the argument leads to bitter feelings and emotional break downs. So, how can we handle arguments and don't pull the rope on both sides until it breaks?

Source:www.pixabay.com

Here are some tips from my experience:

1. Always argue with logic
Most of the arguments end with bitter fights as we argue about past feelings, expectations not met and try emotional blackmailing. Often it side tracks the argument. Try to make your point with logic instead of conveying your emotions.

2. Make your point and leave argument
Sometimes, we need not come to an agreement at the end of argument. It's ok if the other person cannot understand your view point. But, it's important to convey your view point and let it go. This time, the other person might have won the argument, but next time the other person may understand and let it go. Think about it, if it makes any sense.

3. Never dig past in an argument 
This rule is pretty simple and makes a lot of sense. Most of the arguments end up bitter when we dig past and accuse other person for a past mistake. It doesn't serve any purpose.

4. Divert anger 
This is the hardest part. We will have so much anger on that person that we talk something to hurt them intentionally. Don't you think diverting our anger will help? Just leave the argument and go for a walk, talk to a friend or watch tv. One simple trick is not talking to the person for sometime and talking later as if nothing happened.

5. Thinking about other's perspective 
When we argue, we always want others to understand our perspective, but what if their opinion is right? If we just ignore our ego, things might be more clear. Just give it a try, no harm, right? It's better than losing a relationship or hurting our loved ones.

Let me know how you manage arguments with your loved ones?

Until next time,

This is day 24 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

Falling for the stars by Lisa Loving Dalton - A Guest post and Give Away

Book Description:

AMAZON #1 BESTSELLER!

This Behind-the-Scenes Tell-All About Doubling for Celebrity Superstars Also Reveals the Compelling Life Story of an Insecure Hollywood Arrival Who Rises to the Top of Her Field, But Pays a Hefty Price.

• Addiction
• Chauvinism  
• Big Egos collide with the surprising kindness of superstars.

Discover the magic and the tragic stories of many great films & TV shows through the eyes of a stuntwoman. Dalton reveals what it took to hang over cliffs, get hit by a moving car, drop from five stories up, dodge an avenue full of speeding cars--and to ignore the Universe's more gentle prompts that it was time to quit and follow her passion into acting full-time or teaching acting.

The resulting career-ending spinal injury has a story of its own, how she researched medical and alternative paths that form the heart of what she shares with the world today. "What stands out in this book is the indomitable spirit the author has, despite the extraordinary price she paid for her stellar career--including misogyny, a miscarriage, and a life-long back injury. And each juicy story she relays in her fascinating chronicle, brings home an important life lesson for the reader--one that she learned the hard way.

• Stunt Gal Lisa Dalton tattles about humorous and harrowing tales culled from over 200 films, television shows and commercials including
• Ghostbusters
• Money Pit
• Crocodile Dundee
• Married to the Mob
• FX
• Legal Eagles
• The Last Dragon
• Saturday Night Live  
• Splash
• The Highlander
• World According To Garp

Working with or doubling such superstars as Meryl Streep, Cher, Madonna, Grace Jones, Robert Redford, Katherine Hepburn, Sean Connery, Tom Hanks, Chevy Chase, Robin Williams, Ed O'Neill, Michelle Pfeiffer and more.

Author's Bio:

From a bullied, dyslexic, messy, freckle-faced, klutzy pixie, Lisa Loving Dalton grew into a statuesque and skillful stuntwoman, actor, director, teacher, author, filmmaker, leadership and life coach, and ceremonial minister. Always seeking and finding the silver lining, she has made the most of whatever life threw at her. She says, “I spill stuff, trip and drip all of the time so I made a career out of it. My advice: Embrace what is as perfect.”

​

Dalton appeared in more than 200 films, television shows and commercials in New York, Hollywood and Texas, including work in Ghostbusters, Money Pit, Crocodile Dundee, Married to the Mob, FX, Legal Eagles, and Splash on the big screen and ER, HBO’s Carnivale, Dr. Quinn and Melrose Place among her many TV credits.

Connect with the author:  

Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook  ~  Pinterest  ~  Youtube  ~  Instagram

Guest post by Lisa

                        Five Alarm Gal

 By Lisa Loving Dalton

Being a stunt gal taught me a lot about fear. Once, when I was a talk show guest on an episode called  “Dare-Devil Women” a psychologist said I was a five-alarm gal. This meant that my “threshold of stimulation” was high and I needed five alarms to wake me up and get me going.

At four years old, it was so hard to wake me up in the morning, my mom sent me to afternoon kindergarten. And while there, I was knocking the boys off the top of the jungle gym, but only when I had an audience. The teacher tried to flunk me. She told my mother I was in no way ready for first grade. With an October birthday, she felt one more year of maturing would be prudent.

Mom said “Nonsense.”

I actually got suspended from first grade. That’s pretty rare. I was such a disciplinary problem, never shut up in class, was terribly disobedient and sneaky good at it.

By the spring, Mother Saint Mel kicked me out. The principal sent me home, telling my mother not to bring me back. Mom and Dad were not happy.

When I finally agreed to behave after several days of a major “time-out”, the teacher warned my mother that she would likely fail me because I hadn’t paid attention to anything the whole year. My mom said “Nonsense.” Then I got the highest achievement test results in the 30+student class. Perhaps it is fair to say, I was, at that time, a five-alarm gal.

I needed more stimulation than what the teachers were giving me. The way I got that stimulation was by doing scary things that got my adrenaline flowing. Creeping into the marsh behind the school during recess and harboring frogs in my lunch bag were working for me. Yes, there were alligators and water moccasins in this Miami suburb but they were harmless babies, mostly.

I think I activated a lot of fear in my teachers. Had they understood I was a five-alarmer, they might have created much more stimulating teaching tools, rising to the occasion instead of trying to tame the fire in me.

Somehow, it is as if I was born in relation to fear, that I have an innate drive to find it and meet it head on. And overcoming it makes me feel alive. This is dangerous all by itself. It means that if I don’t know this about myself, I might even create my own chaos if things get dull enough. (Think: dull=peace). Eventually, my adrenals will burn out.

Plus, I might just have a tendency to put myself in completely unnecessary danger, and drag others with me. After all, if I’m a flame, who are the moths that are drawn to me and die?

Are you a natural, a double, a five or a silent-alarmer? Tell me a story about how your threshold of stimulation has created chaos or protection in your life movie.

  

Thank you for spending time with me. I love connecting with readers so please find me on social media and my website.

Lisa

Giveaway:​

Grand Prize Package: one winner will receive:

1) a paperback copy of Falling For the Stars by Lisa Loving Dalton with autographed Last Dragon Pic

2) a paperback copy of A Balancing Act by Emmanuelle Chaulet

3) an e-copy of Murder of Talent

4) a 30-min video chat with author

2nd and 3rd Prize Packages: 2 winners will each get:

1) a Kindle copy of Falling for the Stars by Lisa Loving Dalton with an autographed Last Dragon pic

2) a paperback copy of A Balancing Act by Emmanuelle Chaulet

3) an e-copy of Murder of Talent

USA only

Giveaway ends Dec 17

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Until next time,

A simple recipe for Pasta #NaBloPoMo #day23

My kids love Pasta and Spaghetti. So, I have learned this simple pasta recipe so that I can make a quick evening snack for them.

Pasta is a staple food from Italian cuisine. There are so many varieties of pasta and different flavors of pasta sauces. Though I don't love all types of pasta sauces, I love Pasta served in authentic Italian restaurants. It is as filling as rice and rich in taste.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup pasta

2. olive oil - 2 spoons

3. Minced garlic - 2 cloves

4. Onion - half onion finely chopped

5. Tomato - 2 tomatoes peeled and finely chopped

6. Tomato puree - 2 spoons

7. Tomato ketchup- 1 spoon

8. Vinegar - 1 spoon

9. Pepper - 1/2 spoon

10. Sugar - 1/4th spoon

11. Oregano - as per taste

12. Salt - as per taste

13. Cheese slices/ shredded cheese - as per taste
14. Chilli flakes - as per taste

I use Penne and Spaghetti varieties in Pasta. So, here comes the process:

1. Boil water with salt and add pasta. Let it cook for some time by stirring it so that the pasta don't stick to each other. Pasta should be 90% cooked before draining it.

Actually, while step 1 is going on, it's better to start with steps 2 to 4 simultaneously. 

2. In a fry pan, add minced garlic in 2 table spoons of olive oil, fry it very little and add finely chopped onions.

3. After they are fried slightly, add peeled and finely chopped tomato pieces. Add required salt and let it cook at medium heat with the closed lid until tomato pieces become mushy. Add tomato puree of 2 spoons if you want (optional).

4. Add 1 spoon tomato ketchup, 1 spoon vinegar, half spoon sugar by stirring the sauce so that it won't stick to the bottom. Add chilli flakes.

5.Add half spoon pepper, add boiled and drained pasta to it. 

6. Now, at low flame, add oregano leaves and cheese slices or shredded cheese on the top. Check the salt before you serve and add pepper if it's less spicy.

This recipe is taken from this video. 

Let me know if you like it :-)

You can find more great recipes and product reviews from our friends at the Village Bakery

Until next time,

This is day 23 post for #NaBloPoMo Challenge.

Cheerios on the oven #NaBloPoMo #day22

My younger kid is around 2 years old and started talking sweetly. This is the phase I love as I wonder how children try their best to express their feelings without knowing many words to pronounce and recognise objects. But, it's so lovely that they will never give  up.

My younger one loves the breakfast cereal cheerios which are in the shape of small circles. One day, he showed me the time on oven and said, "mummy, cheerios". 

I didn't understand initially what he meant as I didn't put any cheerios on oven. Later, realised that he meant the timer showing zeros. Those zeros looked familiar to him as cheerios - small circles ☺

So, he is not only learning and recognizing shapes but also doing a match in his tiny brain. That's seemed so cute to me.  

I know, we mothers face such funny #MommyMomments day in and out. Do you have any such cute moment to share. Do let me know in comments.

Until next time,

Image courtesy: www.pixabay.com 

Linking this to #MommyTalks hosted by Nabanitha.

This is my day 22 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

Linking to #MondayMommyMomments hosted by Menaka and Deepa here.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado springs- A photo walk #NaBloPoMo #day21

Garden of the Gods is a natural landmark and a public park in Colorado springs, CO in US. The place is famous for its' natural rock formations.

The rock formations are the ancient sedementary beds of white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone formed horizontally, which are later tilted to vertical formations by the uplift of rocky mountains and pikes peak massif.


Lets see some of these natural rock formations:

Garden of the Gods 

Kissing camels

A man's head? what do you think?

Overall view

Three graces

The famous balanced rock

The place was known as red rock coral. As per wiki, a surveyor Rofus was awestruck by rock formations and called it as Garden of the Gods.

Until next time,

This is day 21 post for #NaBloPoMo challenge.

Self Serve Murder by D E Haggerty - Book Spot Light

Cozy mystery

Date Published: December 5, 2016

Book 3 in the Death by Cupcake series. Can be read as a standalone.

Kristie is kind with a capital K, so it’s quite the surprise when she wakes up next to a dead man with no recollection of the previous night. Even worse? She’s naked. Kristie may be a sweetheart out to save the world, but sticking her nose into an investigation of rapes across campus makes her the target of a murderer. Before she knows it, Callie is smack dab in the middle of a murder investigation with her colleagues Callie and Anna. If that’s not enough to drive a sane person up the wall, a friend has decided he’s going to keep her safe whether she wants him to or not. And, oh yeah, he’s her man and that’s that.    

Come join us at Callie’s Cakes, where murder investigations are on the menu. You are most welcome, but you may need to serve yourself as our barista Kristie is busy trying to save the world.  

Warning: Although there are plenty of moments that will make you shake your head and laugh at the antics of the ladies of Callie’s Cakes, the subject matter – rape on college campuses – is very real and somewhat darker than your usual cozy mystery. 

About the Author

I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on from my mom's Harlequin romances to Nancy Drew to Little Women. When I wasn't flipping pages in a library book, I was penning horrendous poems, writing songs no one should ever sing, or drafting stories which have thankfully been destroyed. College and a stint in the U.S. Army came along, robbing me of free time to write and read, although I did manage, every once in a while, to sneak a book into my rucksack between rolled up socks, MRIs, t-shirts, and cold weather gear. After surviving the army experience, I went back to school and got my law degree. I jumped ship and joined the hubby in the Netherlands before the graduation ceremony could even begin. A few years into my legal career, I was exhausted, fed up, and just plain done. I quit my job and sat down to write a manuscript, which I promptly hid in the attic after returning to the law. But being a lawyer really wasn’t my thing, so I quit (again!) and went off to Germany to start a B&B. Turns out being a B&B owner wasn’t my thing either. I decided to follow the husband to Istanbul for a few years where I managed to churn out book after book. But ten years was too many to stay away from ‘home’. I packed up again and moved to The Hague where I’m currently working on my next book. I hope I’ll always be working on my next book. 

  

Contact Links

Website

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

Pinterest

Goodreads

Amazon author page

Email: dena@dehaggerty.com

Purchase Links

Amazon

Smashwords

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

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Until next time,

Hobbies are extensions of our life #NaBloPoMo #day20

What do you do when you are free ? How do you enjoy spending time? Does that work excite  you and bring happiness? Does it help you grow your imagination and creativity? That's a hobby for you.

As per wiki, a hobby is something you do for pleasure when you are at leisure. I feel hobbies reveal a lot about ourselves. They are extensions  of our lives.

In our leisure we reveal what kind of  people we are - Ovid Tweet this!

We can exist without hobbies but we cannot be content in our life without them. what do you say? 

My 5 hobbies that I love:

1. Reading:
This hobby takes most of my time after my family and my responsibilities. I enjoy reading since  I experience and understand many things which I might not have learned or experienced in my real life.

2. Photography:
I am an amateur or below that in photography but I enjoy it. This is the only way to capture and preserve our beautiful memories as time gone cannot be regained.

3. Writing
There is always a need to express for any human being. Some express by communicating, playing music or listening to music. I prefer to write when I feel either happy or sad.

4. Dancing
This hobby has taken a back seat due to my studies, job, children and many other responsibilities. But, I am not giving it up yet. I believe in dancing like no one sees us. It's not only good for health and being fit but also good for spiritual peace and inner joy.

5. Painting
This is one more hobby which I couldn't concentrate on after my high school. I went to drawing classes and I felt, this art is great to express our feelings.

So, that's about my 5 hobbies that I love. What hobbies do you have and what hobbies you really love?

Until next time,

Linking this to #FridayReflections hosted by Corinne and Sanch vee.

This is my day 20 post for #NaBloPoMo Challenge.

Snow and the Super moon #NaBloPoMo #day19

This week has been great when it comes to weather. Colorado has its' first snow of the season yesterday. We all know about the hype about the Super moon.

I always love sky watching. I love watching clouds, Sunset, sunrise, rainbow and different hues of the sky. I capture them by my phone - Samsung galaxy S6. This phone camera is good with day lighting but becomes worst in low lights. The  Super moon on Nov 14th was awesome, but I couldn't capture it with my phone due to low light. Anyways, I should learn good photography skills as well.
Here is the one I could capture which is not at all nearer to the experience I had when I saw it.

The next supermoon very nearer to the Earth will be in 2034.

Did you watch Super moon on November 14th?  Could you capture it well?

Yesterday, Nov 17th we had first snowfall of the season and as usual I was excited like a kid. I love it when snow covers the grass and roof tops with a white blanket.

White is such a natural beauty anyways :-) After the fall season, when there are no leaves on trees, it's lovely to watch the snow droplets decorating the trees.

This is my day 19 post for #NaBloPoMo Challenge.

Until next time,