I know what you're thinking: Why is there a raisin wearing shades and sneakers? Because it's a California Raisin, of course. And since I live in a weird-ass town, the housing complex down the street showcases three of these bad boys on their patch of dirt lawn. This, plus the other two, are dancing their way far from an alligator and a slightly abused gnome. The California Raisin trio wins the award for weirdest lawn ornament hands down and they're handmade. They're similar enough for you to recognize them for what they are* but different enough so it doesn't rip off the franchise. In case you don't remember them, I've included the video. I loved this at age 8. * I totally recognize that this is only true for those who remember 1986. _____ Last.fm hit of the day : House by the Cemetery by Wednesday 13 (Psst, go out and buy Women and Children Last .)

Work is gently kicking my ass (yes, again) and I got a too full plate of deadlines both at with the 9-5 job and writing. It's hard to believe I ever was on vacation or that my whole department will be terminated by the end of the week*. I know I'm not the only one suffering this right now. It's back to school for a lot of the Lurkdom and heads are exploding with stuff like lunches to pack, last minute summer reading, blah blah et cetera, blah. You get the point. So, if you're suffering from a headful of noise and want a minute of peace, stick in some headphones and watch the video below. Because there's really nothing more calming and peaceful than an uninhabited beach. * For real. Come Labor Day, I scramble to make myself an asset at this office again. _______ Last.fm hit of the day : Bad Things by Wednesday 13

It's Friday, Lurkdom, and time to celebrate. Coffee is coursing through my blood and nervous system, so I'm in scramble mode to get stuff done. Four For Friday, Looking Forward To Edition New Murderdolls. It comes out on Tuesday, but I'm listening to it now and dancing headbanging in my chair. It's fucking awesome. I can't wait for it not to leave my ears for a very long time. Fan girl crush numero uno is totally killing it. The Plot and Paper Project. Glenna is going to plot and write an entire novel by hand and is looking for people to join in. I'm totally doing it. Well, I'll do the plotting and research by hand because by the time the actual writing happens, it will be November and NaNoWriMo. Cooler Weather. Last winter I picked up crocheting and can't wait to return. My goal this year is to learn the art of sock making. Cleaning and Organization. My working surfaces both at home and the 9-5 job are disasters and prime indicators of too ...

Zombie Thur sdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here . A few weeks ago (or maybe months?), Alicia made a suggestion in a Zombie Thursday comment to discuss how necromancy will play a part in the forthcoming zombie apocalypse. She probably thinks I ignored her suggestion, but just as she didn’t ignore my, er, her blog’s comments about initially starting Zombie Thursdays, I’m certainly not ignoring her fine idea! Since several entries, including last week’s, have been about what might possibly cause a zombie uprising, I thought this would be a good time to discuss necromancy and how it could play a role. When you think of Necromancers, what do you envision? Personally, I always pictured a magician, into dark magic, who would raise a corpse to do his bidding. Or a person similar to the character in Haeckel’s Tale (reviewed awhile back during a Zombie Sex-tacular! blog) who brings forth the dead. Seems standard, right? I know eve...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you your link in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's Question : How would you impress (or not impress) the Hunger Games judges? Confession: I haven't read The Hunger Games. This being said, I do know something about killing people off on reality TV. No, really. Image courtesy of Pyritz Design. Back when I thought I had a passion for working in theatre*, I worked on a show called REAL DEAD. It was a premiere by a guy named Marty Barrett. The premise was simple: a group of strangers live in a house - very similar to The Real World or Big Brother. The twist was while these people thought they would just be living life like all reality TV stars, they would actually get offed one by one until Mary was the only person left. The fictional TV audience loved the show and the producers clamored for a second season wher...

Thanks to everyone who played "Guess The Truth" yesterday. If you missed it, I listed seven things about myself and I asked the Lurkdom to guess which one was true for a random prize. The list I've never ridden a bicycle. LIE. Even though I've never mastered riding *without* training wheels, I have ridden a bike. Whenever I find a mushroom on my plate, I hurl it across the room. LIE. While I hate mushrooms, I'll push them off onto someone else or I stick them on the edge of my plate. I don't think I've ever thrown food in my life*. My 9-5 job should have ended three and a half years ago. TRUE. My current 9-5 job started as a part-time data entry gig to help pay for my wedding. I was only supposed to be there for three weeks six months. The Stripey One was my first pet. LIE. In 2000, I won a blue-green and red beta fish. His name was Norbert. I hate giraffes. TOTAL LIE. My imaginary friends growing up was a giraffe and as an adult I think they are s...

While I was away, I got an award from the pretty awesome Holly Dodson . I'm excited because 1) it gives me something to stick in the sidebar and 2) it gives me an automatic blog entry. Because I have this, I have to tell you 7 things about myself and you're supposed to guess which one is true. I've never ridden a bicycle. Whenever I find a mushroom on my plate, I hurl it across the room. My 9-5 job should have ended three and a half years ago. The Stripey One was my first pet. I hate giraffes. Chocolate sucks. Peanut butter chocolate sucks more. I met Hubby at a strip club. Barring those in the Lurkdom that I've known for years, I'm not sure if you'll guess the correct one. Do you think you know what number it is? The first person to guess correctly will win something random.* And speaking of contests, there's some contests I've entered. If you like free stuff you should too. Suzie Townsend is giving away Read, Remember, Recommend for Te...

First off, Happy Friday! I've never had a week that dragged as bad as this one, so I'm glad the weekend's finally here where I can read, go to the gym, and have some marathon editing sessions. But right now, I'm still locked into my desk with my brain too hopped up on caffeine to concentrate on anything. What did you think of the Beta Battle yesterday? I hope you checked out what the other ladies had to say on Sarah's piece. What was interesting to me was seeing where we all commented on and where our comments differed. I learned a lot from it and hope everyone else did too. I see I got some new lurkers this week. Welcome aboard and please comment often. Have you ever gotten so pissed at your laptop you just wanted it to meet it's fiery end? If you scroll down, you can see what happens when you pretend your laptop is a dozen cookies. The keys loosened enough to fall off during transport. Due to the melting, the cover no longer shuts properly. Her...

Zombie Thur sdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here . Many people talk about 'when' the zombie apocalypse will occur, not 'if' the zombie apocalypse will occur. And many more theorize about how it could happen, what would cause it? I've discussed a few different scenarios that films, books, and other forms of fiction have described or have given as reasons as to how the dead can reanimate. To me, the answer is inconclusive. For now... But, our friends over at Weekly World News (those people who introduced the world to Bat Boy) want you to know that not only could it happen, but it's happening RIGHT NOW! Don't believe me? Or them... check out the article that appeared a few weeks ago. For those who are too lazy to click and read, I'll briefly summarize-- the "scientific dictatorship of the United States Government" (yes, I am quoting. Oh, how I wish I weren't... but I am) has been puttin...

Monday, Kate Hart asked the Twitterverse one of the biggest questions ever*: Of course people did and Sarah Enni volunteered the first page of her YA sci fi/fantasy manuscript, Flute, for the Beta Battle. When I beta, I like to know where the victim author has concerns or questions. This isn't saying I won't crit other things as I find them, but I'd hate to read for plot holes when they're only concerned about the tone of the story. So, I asked Sarah what she wanted the focus on. I always try to read the piece first without touching anything. If something confuses me or if I really like something, I'll make note, but otherwise I leave pen or keys alone until my second read-through**. On my second go-round, I'll do line edits, write questions, sometimes tell stories. Depending on the person, project, and my attention span I use both Word or longhand. Since Sarah's piece was one page, I longhanded it. (Click for larger version.) My overa...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you your link in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's question : What book ending would you rewrite and why? Argh... We've all had the experience of reading something that keeps us up for hours only to have the big letdown, aka the world's shittiest ending. Twice since I've been with Hubby I've hurled a hefty hardcover against a wall/door combo. I've been known to curse out the book endings too. Here are my top novel beefs. [WARNING: Slight spoilers ahead.] For a Few Demons More - Kim Harrison . I fully support offing characters, but when you knock off the most interesting one in the series, we've got a problem. There's been a few books since twice-killing Rachel's love interest and I haven't read any of them. My solution: kill off the roommate instead. The Anita Blake Series - Laur...

While staying at the Real World Cottage, we had the redneck neighbors from hell. Their yard housed tetanus and their porch was loaded up with, erm, crap. They were loud. They climbed onto the roof of their cottage more than once - with one of those times in a gorilla suit. The grandmother was nice enough to let us search their yard for the badminton birdie, so I overlooked everything except the gorilla suit. (I tried to get a picture but couldn't.) Correction. I overlooked everything except the suit until I saw the 9 year old with a live crab. He stuck the crab on the side of the road and pelted it with pine cones trying to get it to move. He wanted to see it get run over by a car. The child ran off as a couple of walkers happened by. They wondered how the crab got this far from the beach. Hubby and I used this moment to rescue the crab. We stuck him in a bowl with water and brought him back to the shore where I'd like to think the gulls left it alone. If they didn't,...

While I dig out from a week away, I urge you to go over to Holly Dodson's blog where she's having a Harry Potter themed contest in honor of her birthday. The contest is super simple: just state which HP house you'd belong to. Tomorrow's blogging should happen as scheduled.

Where the injuries keep stacking up. So far there's been the badminton incident, a rubber ball to the ribs, and a water balloon to the groin. All injuries have been caused by Hubby and I'm afraid to see what's going to happen now that he, the youngest SIL, and all the boys on the trip are out deep sea fishing as I type. To say our living quarters are small would be inaccurate. When you have 10 full-sized people in a cottage that only has two actual bedrooms plus a loft and one little full bathroom, the situation turns into fucking small.* When figure in that half the people are girls with that majority being girlie**, the whole thing becomes a comedy act. Besides the injuries, there's been minor drama. If this was The Real World Cape Cod, it would be the drama that hasn't reached the pinnacle where one person is grumbling about it to the other, but before the season reached it's zenith, everything would be laid out and the fighting would be massive. Name c...

Zombie Thur sdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here . Our fearless hostess, Alicia, is on vacation taking it easy. I'm sadly not on vacation, and what's worse... I'm getting sick. To quote Nathan Explosion (or to paraphrase him anyway)-- "There's nothing worse than a summer cold!" I'm on the verge of feeling miserable. I know the worst is yet to come. As such, just a quick video to post to you all on this Zombie Thursday, compliments of our friends over at College Humor! A few weeks ago we discussed the allure of the Nazi Zombie (if you haven't checked out that entry, I highly encourage you to!) and its ties with humor and comedy. So, to further drive the point home, here is a hilarious video parodying the Call of Duty game and Nazis who are zombies. Or are they just zombies? Zombie Nazis? Nazi Zombies? The world may never know... Enjoy!

Vacation Week, Day Two If you know me in real life, you'll know that I'm not athletically inclined. You can go as far as saying I'm the epitome of overweight book nerd. (I am.) I was the kid that barely passed gym since elementary school and had to wear a mouth guard because my mother instilled the irrational fear that a ball smash into my mouth causing my braces to tear my lips off. In short, I don't do sports. But I do love things that are "easy" like badminton or croquet. It's simple, non-contact, and danger-free. So when my mother-in-law announced she brought a badminton/ volleyball set, I got excited on the inside. I can participate and not look like a jackass. Awesome. So we played on Tuesday night: Hubby, two of younger SIL's friends, and me. Everything was going great until I nailed it into the other yard. I retrieved and sent it back to the tallest in the group.* When I got back into our yard, we had a man down. Hubby nailed the bad...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you your link in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's question : What does your character hide in their underwear drawer - or other secret location? I got to admit, this is something I've never thought about while working on character development. As far as I know, Cheyenne doesn't physically hide anything. Mentally is a different story. She has secrets as do most people and those she keeps locked pretty tight. Since this week I'm working on editing my NaNoWriMo project,* this RTW is timely. I have characters who definitely have things to hide. Grimoires. Weapons. Contraband. Cryptozoological animals. Not to mention the affair that shouldn't be happening. Some of these things already have secret locations. The grimoires are in a secret compartment behind government-approved books. The animals are in ce...

Welcome to Day One of vacation week where my internet connection is spottier than a leopard. Speaking of leopards, ever wonder if they like catnip? I didn't know that I did until Empress shared this video with me. And since I'm already missing The White and Stripey Ones, I had to show you guys. Stay tuned for the rest of the week's entries which will be as short as me. Miranda will enlighten you with zombie culture as always on Thursday. And, don't forget to contribute to the Choose Your Own Adventure story . I'll see you guys tomorrow!

I'll be on vacation next week, so the blog schedule might be spotty. Feel free to go through the archives and continue Sidney's story. Maybe Phantasma shows up and saves the day? Who knows? Only you can decide. Have a great weekend everyone! _________ Last.fm hit of the day : War to End All Wars by Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force* *Yes, it's as pretentious as it sounds.

Zombie Thur sdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here . On the quiet streets of a city near you, they come by the thousands. Slowly ambling along, moaning for brains, they fill the streets and grab innocent bystanders forcing them to join in the mob. The zombies have invaded! As cool as it would be to have an actual zombie apocalypse on our hands, what I’m describing is actually known as a Zombie Walk! Also known as a Zombie March, Zombie Crawl, etc. Zombie Walks are an interesting phenomenon that clearly show the growing trend towards zombie culture and the world’s fascination with the living dead. During these marches, people dress up in tattered clothes, use copious amounts of fake blood, and apply their best zombie makeup. The marches are typically large organized events (although some spring up spontaneously), and rely heavily on word of mouth and internet advertising to spread the when and where of these gatherings. The walks ...

Due to the YA Highway girls recovering from SCBWI, there's no Road Trip Wednesday this week. If you want to read previous topics covered, click here . In other news, it turns out that you guys don't like open threads here. Lurkdom, I hoped you would participate. There's still time. You can do that by clicking here . I strongly encourage it. The White One does too. In fact, he's watching to make sure you do. Now. So because of the lack of road tripping today, I'm at a loss of what to blog about. Fortunately, there's contests to be had. *drum roll* CONTESTS!!! That's right, there's contests, and you can find them here. Roni & Julie's Totally Epic Summer Contest . Prizes include ARCs of books, page critiques, and query critiques. Blue Lipstick Samurai's Contest . Prizes include autographed books, books, stationary, and every sugar fiends favorite thing - CANDY! YA Highway's SCBWI Books Giveaway . Prizes include books, books, a...

Some of you may have noticed the lack of writing related entries on the blog. I bet you're wondering why. Let me explain. I write. I write a lot, but just because I do doesn't mean I have a profound knowledge of the subject. In fact, I'm still learning the ins and outs of craft. Since there are tons of great blogs out there that discuss writing, it frees me up to talk shop whenever the mood strikes. As you could guess, today isn't one of those days. So if you come by here looking for pearls of writerly wisdom, I'm sorry. Slice of the Blog Pie tries to cover different aspects of life without getting too personal, but I'm open to suggestions for content or features. In fact, I encourage you to tell me what you want. So, my lurkdom, what would you like covered here? Anything is possible. __________ Last.fm hit of the day : Killer Wolf by Danzig

Dear Blog, It's been a while since my last letter. I hope you've been well. The last two weeks have been rough and I've tried to not let it intefere with my blogging schedule, but I've lost. While I recuperate from life, I'd like to show you what I get to look forward to on August 31. *squees in excitement* Love, Me PS: You should comment on the choose your own adventure . Tell me what happens to Sidney. _________ Last.fm hit of the day : Cuts 'n' Bruises by Son of Sam