Signed Cover Art

If you'd like to receive a signed cover art postcard, email me at isobael at gmail dot com. Include your name and mailing address and I'll get them in the mail to you.

December 17, 2009

The Roarin' 20's...

I'm going through a major 1920's kick right now. BIG draw. Especially the classic cocktails of the era.

I have a feeling something's brewing in the back of my mind in regards to a story plot that deals with the 20's, but not entirely sure yet.

In the mean time, I want to post some drink recipes to keep on hand. These are ones I really want to try as well.

Bellinis
1 ounce white peach puree
5 ounces chilled Champagne

Pour peach puree into a champagne flute, then add champagne. The peach puree can either be made from peeled fresh peaches that have been peeled or a peach puree. Serves: 1


Bees Knees

6 Tbsp Gin
1 Tsp Honey
1 Tsp Lemon Juice

Shake ingredients well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Serves: 1


Gin Gimlet
3 Tbsp Gin
3 Tsp Roses Lime or fresh lime juice

Shake with ice, strain and pour into a cocktail glass. Serves: 1


Pink Lady
2 ounces Gin
1 teaspoon Grenadine
1 egg white (optional)
1/2 ounce heavy cream

Shake the ingredients with ice and strain into glass rimmed with grenadine and sugar.


Bolo Cocktail
2 oz rum
1/2 oz lime juice
1 oz orange juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.


HighBall
2 oz whiskey
ginger ale

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour the whiskey into the glass. Top with ginger ale.



Mary Pickford
2 oz light rum
2 oz pineapple juice
1 tsp grenadine
1 tsp maraschino cherry juice

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. shake well. Strain into cocktail glass.

December 16, 2009

Catching up with Isobael...

We had some damage done to our vehicles when the last wind storm came through and knocked trees down onto them. Luckily, because we could prove there was rot and the neighbor was told about it, the insurance company did not succeed in their whole "Act of God" clause.

Personally, that clause needs to be done away with. How can they prove God WANTED those trees to come down and total my cars? Direct line of contact? Insurance companies are a racket.

Anyway, so we got the money for the vehicles and we went shopping. We did end up picking up a 1997 Explorer but the guy that sold it to us lied through his fracking teeth about it. We got it home and the transmission slips, it won't pass emissions, and we think the alternator is bad. He said he replaced the plugs, but we doubt it. He said he replaced the transmission, but we doubt it. Why can't people be honest?

We were looking into a second vehicle, a 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Had a couple of minor issues like needed the headlight bulb replaced and it had a small dent. No biggies. Needed tabs. We pulled a Carfax on it. Turned out it's been totaled three times and the state of WA won't even register it. The owners were going to sell it to us without telling us. No wonder they didn't have current tabs on the vehicle!

Want to know another racket taking place in the state of WA? Emissions testings. If your car has that OBDII or whatever it's called, chip...and it fails to work, or your check engine light is on, you are automatically failed. You don't even get your emissions checked. To me, it's not even about emissions tests anymore. It's a giant racket in which they take your money, make you spend MORE money to fix the issue.

It's a $15 test, but if you fail, you have to spend at least $150 to have it looked at or repaired by one of their certified Emissions Repair Specialists in order to get waived. However, if you live in Thurston County (where the state capitol is located), you do not have to have emission tests.

OH! And a new thing just popped up. Even if you buy a vehicle with tabs that are still good, you could be one of the lucky people in which you MUST have an emissions test done when transferring title. Plus, the cost of transferring titles now go by the value of your vehicle, not by the sale price.

It's a wonder how anyone can live in WA state when they gouge you for everything.


We decided we'll use the money for the second car on the Explorer and Spike will drive the Daewoo until it dies, although we are going to replace some seal in the engine because it's spitting oil onto the manifold and causing it to smoke. If that's the only problem with it (other than it's not pretty with the dents and has over 150,000 miles) then he can drive it. We'll get the stuff done to the Explorer and it'll be my vehicle. I'm not a soccer mom, I don't need a minivan, but I wanted something with room to haul stuff and people, with 4 wheel drive for when I go hawking.

In other news, I have a laptop. New, shiny, has lots of memory. Windows 7, which I am not entirely sure I like and can't run my RP character sheet generator, even in emulation mode, but I have Office 2007 Home and Student with OneNote! *Dances*

We had gone to Wal*Mart to pick up one of the laptops on sale. When we got there, they were out. Spike said he'll take a raincheck. They told him Wal*Mart doesn't do rainchecks. He showed them the ad where it said they did take rainchecks. Oh, they don't do rainchecks for special items they don't carry in stock regularly. He showed them on the page with the laptop ad where it says they do take rainchecks. They show him the fine print ON THE VERY BACK OF THE AD MAGAZINE...where they don't do rainchecks on non regular stocked items.  Doesn't that scream "MISLEADING!"?

Oh, and a manager told Spike they don't even price match their own stores or their online store. The reason? She told Spike that because the economy is different in every area and that they can't price match stores, even in the same state, because the minimum wage is lower in some areas.

Excuse me? WA state has a state minimum wage...how can the minimum wage be lower in some areas?

So then we headed over to Best Buy. Found a laptop for the same price. Display looked good. Price good. Asked an associate. "Oh, sorry, we're out of those."

Excuse me? Then why do you have it out for sale? Fine, look at another, little more expensive, but still within the price range.

"Sorry, we're out of stock on those, too."

I lost it. I reemed the guy a new one.

"So, you're telling me you're advertising a product for sale when it's actually not because you have no stock?"

"Yes."

"That's false advertising and very misleading."

"Sorry."

"No, you're not. You need to put a sticker or a card thingy next to the price card to let people know you're out of stock."

"We don't do that."

"Ok, how about a raincheck."

"Oh, we don't do rainchecks for those."

*Insert screaming here*

The next comparable model was more than we originally wanted to spend. Does anyone else suspect deliberate bait and switch tactics there?

So...we went with the more expensive laptop. I also had to buy a USB hub because this laptop only has two USB ports (!?!?!?!) I also got Office 2007 Home and Student.

However, my laptop now as integrated webcam, a remote for the TV/media player, 4Gb of Ram, 250Gb HD...

My old laptop went to Pixie-Brat after I finished transferring files and cleaned out the HD. It went well with her Solstice/Yule present. We gave it to her early since we don't really celebrate Xmas like other people. We gave her the choice of early or on Xmas. She chose early, of course, with the understanding that this was her ONE big present. The rest of the stuff will be the usual little stocking stuff and whatnot.We got her a Bamboo Pen ( http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_pen.php ) for her drawing. She's been trying to draw using the small touch pad on the laptop in Paint, which isn't all that bad, but with this, she has a "pencil" she can use for better control.

She is loving it!

I'm playing with Word 2007 and OneNote, which I am loving. Very much. Word 2007 is different. I'm still learning the new options and setting it up the way I like. Still trying to learn if I can change the toolbars to how *I* want them, like in the older versions.

Working with my new bird. Vicious. You can find the blog here: http://isobael-falconry.blogspot.com/

Other than that, writing has slowed due to life issues, but I'll be back in the swing of things soon. I had to back off on a few things due to personal reasons.

Spike got a B on his paper he turned in for his English 101 class. (Trying to figure out why he needs to know how to write essays using MLA standards for his LPN course...or why Machiavelli's philosophical thoughts are such a draw to this teacher. She's not teaching anything really useful. She also stated that very few of the students in her class would get anything higher than a C. She also tries to push her other English class, a beginner class. Glad I'm not in her class or we'd be having LOTS of words.) I didn't agree with two minor points the teacher dinged him on, but oh, well. The teacher did like a few of the points made in the paper, so it evens out, I guess.

Anyway, there it is.

December 4, 2009

Mmmmm...tea.

I am a tea drinker. I love tea. Tea conjures images of pretty dresses, women gathering around and sipping tea from pretty china, and little dainty foods to go with it. (Oh, yes, my Victorian era fascination!)

Now, I'm no where as snobby or particular about my tea. I have my favorite flavors and blends, either tea or tisanes (herbal steeps with no tea in it)...I'm happy to toss a tea bag into a mug and steep it in hot water to desired strength. As long as I get my morning tea to wake up with and my cup of tea as I write, and sometimes a bedtime cup, I'm human and content.

I had an Asian teapot I was given. Nothing fancy. It was rather ugly, in fact. It was definitely not one to use for serving to guests. I would toss a few tea bags into the pot, ad hot water, let steep and there's my tea.

I came across a website that sold loose leaf tea. I perused their site, knowing very little about the special blends or curing techniques, or even about the different types of tea there are.

I ordered. My review of the teas is here: http://isobael-liu.blogspot.com/2009/02/tea-review.html

Six orders later, we're loyal customers and fans of SpecialTeas.

Their shipments are always on time, their prices superb. Shipping is truly affordable and the selection is great. While we do not go for those specialized blends, we have our own favorites that we tend to order most, they have the options of sample packs, 1/2 oz packages, of many of their teas and for a $1.00 a 1/2 oz, who could pass that up? It's perfect for a 2 - 3, even four mugs worth of tea.

Our last order just arrived today and I was so excited!

If you like tea and enjoy steeping loose leaf tea, check out SpecialTeas. You can find the link on the right, under the heading, "My Stamp of Approval".

Oh, and by the way, I was not paid for this post in any way, shape or form. I'm just sharing my opinion with you.

Now, I'm going to go kick back with some tea and relax.

=)

December 3, 2009

Author taglines...what's yours?

In case you haven't already noticed (for those of you who read my blog via its mirrors), I've redone the header of my blog page. Check it out if you haven't already...

Not entirely sure if the title of my book will remain the same. Originally, I sent it in to Lyrical as "Moonlight and Magick", but I hear stories that titles usually get changed. I didn't want my blog to have the same title, but it still needed to reflect my writing. Not that my writing is magickal, but the "themes" or "elements" of my stories usually contain magick, or deal with the paranormal, hence the title of my blog.

I had to come up with a tagline as well. Trust me, this was NOT easy. For the life of me, I could NOT come up with anything that didn't sound plain stupid. I went through movie trailers, book tags, other author tags, in order to figure something out. I just could not come up with anything.

Until I redid the header banner. The mere act of switching the two words, putting Magick first, flipped on the light bulb in my head and suddenly, I had a tagline.

"Where magick dances in the moonlight and where wild things come to play."

It's suiting. It's perfect. It's a theme that fits my stories.

I love it.

Do you have a tagline and how did you come up with it?