On a house that is… not this blog. Though, I’ve seriously thought about making the blog a thing of the past… but not quite that crazy yet. Getting there… So yes! We are closing on our new house on the 29th of April and I’m so excited. This is our first house and it’s in [...]

The time has come to award the prizes for the CAROLPACOLYPSE!

The winners are:

• Alicia Caldwell – Hunger Games
• Donna Leonard – The Name of this Book is Secret
• Jaidis – Divergent

Ladies, email me at Eisley(dot)Jacobs(at)gmail(dot)com and tell me how you’d like the book. E-Reader versions are a choice as well!

Congratulations to everyone and especially to Carol! You rock my friend!

Don’t just make lemonade, make a beautiful creme sauce and flavor it with lemon.

“But Eisley, I have a whole bowl of lemons over here… I mean really, bad stuff has been happening right and left and surely the sauce would be ruined if I used all these lemons in it! It would just be a sour, bitter mess!”

Oh… but you’re looking at it with all the wrong perspective. You have blessings in your life that manifest in as ingredients for this creme sauce. Many that you may even take for granted.

“Like what?”

Like the fact you have a computer to read this post with. The fact you know how to read at all. Add in your smartphone, or just cell phone. The house you live in (rented or bought). The car you drive. The food in your pantry. The clean water that flows freely from your tap. Friends. Children. Family. Clean air to breath. Your legs. Your arms. Your ability to travel.

And I’m only scraping the surface of the obvious ingredients for this creme sauce. If you have all these things, plus more… if you do indeed get faced with a bowl full of lemons, what’s stopping you from making creme sauce not only for your chicken, but also the widow next door? The fatherless down the street? What about the orphans?

Use the blessings you’ve been given… combine them with the trials and make yourself some creme sauce to share.

All the lemons that come in our paths are designed for a purpose. You can either use the trial (lemon) to make you stronger… or choose to let it bring you down and make you bitter.

It’s all your choice.

Next time the lemon comes into view… stare it down. I mean like really stare at it… make it scared that you know plans for this bitter, sour fruit… Show it you know what it can become. Whether it be a huge pitcher of lemonade… or a vat of creme sauce… decide what you’ll add to this trial and create something new. Something that can be shared. Something that will take this potentially bitter causing issue and shape it into something of beauty.

Make your creme sauce.

Recipes: No Fuss Chicken Cordon Bleu with a great cream sauce that uses lemon.

Christine Fonseca, author of Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students: Helping Kids Cope With Explosive Feelings has done it again!

It’s out! Its out! And ready for you to pick up on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

The Blurb: Pssst! Want to know a secret? 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids: The Ultimate Handbook is a must-read for gifted kids ages 8 to 12 who want to find success in school and life. If you know gifted kids, they will love the 101 awesome secrets, tips, and tricks included in this book!

Chock full of fun suggestions and practical strategies, 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids covers topics including bullying, school performance, perfectionism, friendships, and sibling rivalries. Fun quizzes, tip sheets, and practical Q & A sections from other gifted kids and preteens make this book fun to read and give gifted kids insight into everything they’ve ever wanted to know about being gifted. Proven strategies for dealing with stress management, parents’ and teachers’ expectations, anxiety, cyber-bullying, friendship troubles, and more make this the must-have guide for every gifted kid!

Buy it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

Check out her blog at http://christinefonseca.wordpress.com/ or catch her on twitter at @chrstinef

You won’t be sorry you did!

You know the movie Goonies? Of course you do… Well, there’s this line in the movie with Chunk says, “Dead things Mikey, Dead things!” For some reason this line, above all the other great ones, is repeated in my mind… often. And the better of it, I change the words around to suit my needs, but retain Chunk’s voice in my head.

Today… I’m thinking, “Good things, Mikey! GOOD THINGS!”

We put in a bid on a house on Saturday… if you do the math, you will realize I was in Kansas City at that time. Funny how that works… I didn’t get to see the house (whose offer had been accepted on Saturday as well) until Tuesday… No really. I left that part up to my husband.

Now, before you say, is that woman nuts?!?! I will answer, Yes. Yes, I am. Entirely beside the point.

I’m blogging from Kansas City today. I have some fabulous breakfast casserole in my tummy and a cup of Hazelnut Vanilla steaming to my left. It’s going to be a good day. The writer’s weekend concluded yesterday with sadness. Those in attendance were: @alta03 @GretchenJones @Kathy_Collins @DeniseMSwank @trishaleighKC… with a visit Friday night with @realmiket and a pop [...]

This weekend is the second annual Writer’s Weekend of Epicosity! And I have been invited… and I am going. And I am going to squeal and laugh and eat bad food and and… oh yeah, and write.

Last year the weekend was in April… this year it’s in March. Next year I am sure it will be in February, cuzz this is just how this crew works! We just can’t wait to… well do all of the above things all together!

Believe it or not, we do get a lot of writing done. Since I am just getting over this flu though, I will have to really watch myself and go to bed at normal(ISH) times. I would hate a relapse cuzz I wasn’t taking care of myself. But I’m resting up now, hoping to offset the late night oil we will be burning to get our lines down.

Previous writers weekend I began a rewrite of Rings of Time… which was then rewritten again and then shelved indefinitely. It’s just missing something and I don’t know what it is yet… but when I find out. I will yank it off the shelf and write it again.

This year, I’ll be working on my YA Fantasy called PIECES OF ME. I’m 16K words in and loving it. My characters have thrown me for a loop and who I thought was the “bad guy” isn’t anymore… In fact it’s very bizarre in a cool sorta awesome way. So I’ll be working on that. Hopefully I will come back pushing well over 30K… We can hope anyway.

Well, not as much today as yesterday. Instead, I’ve been watching TV shows on netflix for the ipad and then like a dummy, turned on Fellowship of the Rings. I thought that would be good theme music… Ha ha ha, sucked right in. I love LOTR. I am even debating watching Two Towers next… but [...]

Cripes. I haven’t had influenza in… well I dunno, forever? But there was no doubt in my mind when my body started hurting and my head throbbing that this is what I had. Now, I hope the two kids and my own four members of my family steer clear. Being that I was sick, and [...]

The flu that is. I haven’t had the real flu in… well for as long as I can remember. Tuesday night I went to bed wondering what the tickle in my throat was. Wednesday morning I woke to find myself in hades… a world were your body hurts soooooo bad and your head feels like [...]