Welcome back to another edition of Free Book Friday!  In honor of finishing the book, I’m giving away another copy of my August Blaze.

Ya’ll know what to do.   Good luck!

(US and Canadia residents only please!)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Now that the book is done I have sort of started thinking about what I’m going to wear to the RITA ceremony and have grandiose visions of looking like a beauty queen.  With that in mind, I thought I’d hit the sales rack at one of our local boutiques and I took my daughter with me to help me try things on.  She has a good eye and, though she’s absolute hell on my ego–and you’ll soon read why–she’s still very good company.  Also, I can’t zip things up on my own.

She pulled a beautiful black dress with purple beading all over the front in sort of a star-burst pattern off the half-off rack and brought it to me.  (She knows I love purple and knows that I tend to gravitate toward black because I like to tell myself it makes me look thinner.)  Anyway, the dress really was pretty, so I looked forward to trying it on.  I was thinking I’d look like a mature Cinderella.  It was poofy and pretty and I was thoroughly enchanted.  I’ll admit that it wasn’t as nice “on” as I’d expected.  However, I wasn’t prepared for my daughter’s assessment.

“Well?” I asked.

Daughter frowns uncertainly and it’s obvious from her expression that the dress is not a hit.  “You look like that lady from The Little Mermaid.”

Though I didn’t have red hair, I instantly brightened.  “Ariel?”

“Er…no.  The other one.”

“The other one?  What other one?”  I was having trouble remembering another Disney Princess in The Little Mermaid.

“Ursula.  You know, the Sea Witch.”

Allrighty then.  

In her defense the dress was black and purple and, upon further consideration, truly resembled one of Ursula’s outfits–not to mention a bruise–BUT, I want to look like Princess, not a big, blobby villian responsible for frightening small children.

After doing some power shopping through a few stores I came home with a little black jacket and a pair of Spanx.  No dress.  I’ve decided to recycle something from my closet.  I hate shopping for me.  It makes me miserable.  I want them to put the skinny mirrors back in the stores, because I gotta tell you, for some reason my fat looks better in my own mirror than the one at Dillard’s.

So what about you?  Who’s busted your ego lately?

In a week and a half, I will be in front of 2,000 people at RWA, and my face will be about nine feet tall on the two jumbotron screens on either side of the stage.  I haven’t written my speech yet, and you’d think I’d be worried about that.  Instead I’m worried about whether my teeth are white enough.

Is it me, or is this becoming a national obsession?  I don’t remember worrying about this a few years ago.  I think back then it was bad breath and BO that we obsessed over.  Maybe we conquered those frontiers, which means we needed a new thing to fret about.  Whatever the reason, I caught the teeth whitening bug when I realized I’d be on the jumbotron.

I considered getting them professionally whitened, but man, that seemed like a lot of money.  Plus I had visions of turning out like Ross on Friends.  Remember the episode where he got his teeth whitened so much they glowed in the dark?  Then I saw this infomercial on AOL, and if you’re on AOL, I’m sure you’ve seen it, too.  I bought a tube of Celebrity Sexy Teeth and started using it.

I wasn’t planning to tell anybody, because the whole thing seemed kind of vain and silly, but then my daughter mentioned that my teeth looked really nice.  I confessed.   Now I have to decide if I’ll keep using the stuff after the jumbotron is a distant memory.  I drink tea, coffee, and red wine, all of which will continue to stain my teeth.  I never used to care much.  But now, everywhere you look, somebody is carrying on about white teeth.  I’m not immune to the brainwashing, apparently.

Are you?  Can you laugh and go on your merry way, unconcerned about the latest obsession?  Or have you started worrying about your teeth being not white enough?  Come on, you can tell us.

I’d prefer not to be pummeled by rotten tomatoes, BUT I’m fairly…well, ornery, for want of a better word, and with everyone and their mother pretty much jumping up and down about how great this movie was I walked into the theatre with an attitude. I wasn’t going to like it. And while I thought Heath Ledger was absolutely brilliant in Brokeback Mountain and I considered his death tragic and sad, I had wondered if all the potential Oscar talk buzzing around his portrayal of The Joker held a measure of posthumous gratis.

My DH has been rabid to see this movie. I’ve been skeptical but curious. However, in exchange for his taking Girl to the mall (have I mentioned I hate the mall), I agreed to and lined up tickets for the 9:40 showing.

Fast forward to the end of the movie and the credits are rolling and I realize I’m crying in the middle of a very crowded theatre and I just don’t give a rip. Girl says to her father, “She’s crying. I hated it, too. I didn’t like it at all.”

I dash at my face with the back of my hands, lean around Girl and tell them both, “I’m crying because it was just so brilliant.”

Bloody, facking brilliant, imo. Bravo. I’m ashamed that I ever thought the laudatory comments on Ledger’s Joker were anything less than totally merited by his performance. I consider Heath Ledger’s performance incomparable.

Hey, I had to use the bathroom an hour into it but there was never a time I was willing to miss what was on the screen. I didn’t make the potty trek until after the movie’s end.

Anyone else seen The Dark Knight? Planning to see it? Any great movies you’ve seen lately? How about losers to aovid?

It’s 100 degrees here in Northern Alabama and according to the local weatherman it feels like 105.  Factor in the humidity and it’s like you’re sucking air through a wet cloth.

Oh, goody.

Because there’s nothing I like better than the A/C running non-stop, racking up a bill that’s going to be a touch less than the national debt AND still being hot.

According to a friend of mine who installs heating and A/C units the best you can expect even the top notch systems to do is cool your home 20 degrees below the outside temperature.

That’s still 80.  And 80 is hot in my world.

I’ve got the ceiling fans going and have kept my water bottle full, but it barely takes the edge off.  I would be a happy, happy woman if my house stayed a perpetual 68 degrees.  Cool enough in the summer, warm enough in the winter.

Bliss.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be another 100 degree day and the next day the temperature is supposed to drop to a chilly 97.  No rain in sight.  After the terrible drought from last year, I’m really worried for our local farmers.

So what about you?  How hot is it in your part of the world?  What’s your ideal temperature?

Eve the Wonder Cat has put her dainty little paw on one of the numbers scattered over the floor, and that number is . . . 17, Lindsey P!!!  Congrats, Lindsey! Just click the Contact Us button on the left side of the screen and send me your snail mail address.  I’ll get Debbie’s book right out to you!  Happy full moon, everyone!

The book I’ve chosen to give away today has nothing to do with the full moon and everything to do with me going to a booksigning event featuring Debbie Macomber and picking up an autographed book to give away on Free Book Friday.  As some of you might have noticed, I dedicated WILD & HEXY to Debbie, someone I’ve known for twenty-plus years.  She deserves every bit of the success she has, and I admire her greatly.  So today you have a chance to win an autographed copy of her newest hardcover, TWENTY WISHES.   The premise involves making a list of twenty wishes, which is kind of a cool concept.  I’m thinking I might do it. 

In any case, if you’d like this book, put “I wish I had Debbie’s book,” in your comment, and you’ll be entered.  Because it’s a hardcover, I’ll have to limit this to US residents, though.  Have a fantastic weekend, everyone.  And enjoy that full moon!