Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas from the Herd!!


Woohoo! It's Christmas!! Hope yall are having (or had) a fabulous day!

I'm kicking mine off at the USO for an overnight shift. It's actually pretty busy tonight and decorations are up. There's yummy food everywhere and people are in good spirits. I love being here over the holidays :) We get a lot of people who are dealing with delayed or missed flights and it's nice being able to help turn that around a little. Get their bellies full, give them a place to take a nap or just rest a while and recover. 

Then when I get off in the morning it's naps with the herd and then dinner out with two bookish friends which should be a lot of fun.


But for today's post! I'm sharing some of my favoritest (and yummy ones too) Christmas images, maybe a few Christmas traditions and then a few of the questions yall sent me a while back. 
Thought it would be fun for a silly post for today. 


If a hot guy you've recently started dating says, "I'm not really into cats" what do you do?! You guys have great chemistry and you guys get along well, but he's averse to the whole Herd notion. Loves dogs not cats.


Seriously though. The right guy for me is going to love me AND my herd 
(whatever type they may be at the time)

There are totally Cat Men out there. I'd rather wait to find him.
I'm not gonna settle and anyone who doesn't love my herd doesn't really love me.
#EndOfStory


What do you do for work?

I run an animal rescue turned more sanctuary for the most part.
But I also work for a few authors as an assistant.


What made you really want to blog about books?  
I would think the time commitment would be hard to keep up with.

It was a total whim. lol Last night of the year I decided hmmmm...lets blog!
Really it was sucktastic memory for the most part. I couldn't remember previous books in a series when the next books would finally come out and wanted a way to keep track. And it just kind of went from there :)

It's a huge commitment but one I enjoy so it doesn't feel like work, ya know?
I can easily spend 4-5 hours on blog things plus reading every day. Thankfully my work allows that. So I pop in here and there all day long. I plan ahead and schedule like crazy and it helps too :) So does incorporating other parts of my life into the blog. Crafts, cooking, etc.
 
 
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Erm. I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then in college I decided I really didn't like people. And I really REALLY didn't like physics. So. Yeah. That ended. lol

What was your favorite reading genre and book in your teen years?  in your 20s? and now in your 30s?  Was there a book and/or genre that you hated before, but now you love it?

I really hated reading in my teens. And most of my 20s.
I apparently had a thing with authority and being told what to read in school. ::snort:

But mid-20s I went on a cruise and decided to take some books to deal with the long hours and wound up grabbing the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. And I. Was. Hooked. 

So. My early reading was mystery then urban fantasy and paranormal. I glutted myself on UF before the blog and by the time the blog happened and my 30s I was moving more towards general romance which is where I am now :) Once I started reading I was up for anything. Never really hated a genre (other than avoiding horror because I am a freaking wuss)



How did you get started volunteering for the USO?
Our family has always been a supporter of the troops. We've had family serve over the years.
But a few years back one of my baby cousins was serving and the family got involved heavily in different military support groups back home. I wanted to be able to do something up here in NC and found out about the USO. They had a HUGE wait list (like 6 months) but if I was up for overnight shifts I could skip the line. So...I skipped the line and started volunteering right away. :D


How and when did you start rescuing/fostering animals?

I think I was right about 21 when I officially started the rescue in 2004.
I've been a 'rescuer' since I was in pre-school and brought home my first rescue kitty. lol

But the official was in 2004 when one of my herd escaped and went missing for over 3 weeks.
I'd already decided vet school wasn't for me and I wanted to do rescue work after college. He just...expedited that a bit. I was visiting shelters constantly looking for him and decided maybe I was meant to start the rescue then so I brought home a dozen kittens and 2 mamas and then the next day after over 3 weeks missing he showed up at the back door fine as could be.

Piedmont passed away just earlier this year. He was an old boy and managed to do a lot of good with his life and helping to save hundreds of other kitties and dogs (and a few mice and fish).


Are you interested in writing a book? 

Erm. Not even a little! lol It's blessedly quiet in my head.
But if I ever do I'll be sure to let yall know. 

I could see doing a "living with cats" type book but doubtful any fiction.


What do you do other than read and blog? 

A lot of my time is reading/blogging/the reading world (events, book club, etc)

But other than that I spend a lot of time volunteering at the USO.
It's one of my favorite things I do.

I also love to craft--needle point, photography, exploring new ventures.

And cook. I do a lot of experimenting in the kitchen with both baking and cooking.

I own my home so there's a lot of household projects too which I love. I used to be heavily involved in Habitat for Humanity so I've got the skills to do it which is awesome.

Hrms. I guess that's it for now. I'm kind of random and get focused on what I'm doing until a new 'thought' pops into my head to try then that gets added to the mix.



My perfect proposal. 

So. There's no man on the horizons for the proposal thing right now.
But if there ever is and he's wondering how to get me to say yes and asks yall? 
Well Christmas trees would be it.

Filling my yard with them, that is. Not all the perfect ones.
But the ones that on Christmas Eve still haven't found their homes. 

Maybe they've got funky branches. 
Or maybe there were just too many trees in the lot.
But I want those trees. 
I hate for them to have been chopped down and never loved as a Christmas tree.

I know. I'm weird. But I come by it naturally.
Years ago my mom and I would wait until the last minute to get our tree and some years that meant we had three because there were three left at the lot and just going to be put out for trash pick up. And that just would not do! So home they would come. 

Okay. So I don't actually want him to be told this is the way. But a guy who figured this kind of thing out about me? Totally embraced my quirk and got it? He'd be the one for me. Total keeper. 
(as long as he got the cats too lol)


How many animals are actually in the herd? 
And how do you handle so many without them getting jealous of each other?

Heh. The herd is large and in multiple buildings. I'm legally responsible for 24 plus the herd pup.
This is a pretty small group, really. When the rescue was in full swing I could easily have 100-150 tied to my name. (not all in the same house but that I was responsible for providing for them and their medical).

How do they get along? Ehhhh. lol Nah. It's not too bad. My house is a mix of friendlies and semi-ferals so there's not too much fighting over mama. A couple of them really don't like each other at the moment though so that's...fun.



Calypso Christmas.

This is another family thing. When my granddad was alive (and we still do now and again) one of the big "Christmas" things was dancing around the family tree which was dead center in the formal living room. He'd put Calypso Christmas on his system and we'd dance around the tree to this song.
It was always the first one and just reminds me of family and being together.
He was a musician at heart and played all sorts of stringed instruments and classical music. I loved that he embraced all sorts of music though. This song and Silent Night sung in German by candle light at church were Christmas to me and tied so very closely with my grandfather.

I stumbled on it earlier today in a playlist and it totally made me cry.



 

Which author would you love to chat with about a book you didn't enjoy?

Hrm. I can't think of any I'd like to chat with about a book I hated.
I tend to get it all out in a review (or a Word from the Herd) then I'm over it for the most part.

I have wanted to have a good word with some publishers of military books where they don't capitalize Marines. Huge gripe of mine. If you're gonna write about something you need to get it right.



So. One of the things my family does at Christmas is...
Hide the Pickle!

And doesn't that sound delightfully pervy? lol

It's a pickle ornament though and one you put on the tree.
Whoever finds it first gets a special present.

It's a silly thing but always makes me smile.
My first year away at college my mom gave me a mini Christmas pickle for my tree :)






Aaaaand that's it for today. Lots of my favorite things and a little more about me :)
I hope yall have a wonderful Christmas whatever you choose to do today.
Thank you for spending time with me this year and making it such a fun time. :)




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