Autumn, Why Do I Love Thee?

I think I've figured out why I've been so looking forward to Fall this year. The reasons are pictured below. :P Now, in years past, I've never made these things (although others have made them for me) but this year, I'm thinking I might get my bake on for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

First, let's start out with the yummy, delicious, scrumdiddlyupmtious Pumpkin Ice Cream.



I haven't yet been able to find this spectacular specimen of spice (dammit) but I have been looking, oh yes! I'm dreaming of ice cream bowls, ice cream cones, & milkshakes OH MY! :P

The next in line of my culinary tour of Autumn is the ever popular Pumpkin Cream Cheese Log. Dear Gawd. This is sooo frickin' good, you'll literally LICK your plate, people. I have a friend who used to make this for me, but she doesn't any more. I don't know why she hates me so **stares at Val Howland** heheheh... >:D Therefore, I endeavor to make this myself. If you haven't had a pumpkin cheese log, find a recipe and MAKE IT. You'll be so glad you did. (And you'll probably get noogie for it, too. **wink wink nudge nudge** know what I mean?? :P)



The final pumpkinny dish I have for you is Pumpkin Bread. MMMM Just baking it makes your entire house smell delicioso. Of course, I wouldn't KNOW, since I've never made Pumpkin Bread. **blushes** But I'm hoping to rectify that in the near future. hehe



Of course that would mean that my kitchen would go from this:



TO THIS:



**BIG dramatic sigh**

~~Becka
(neither kitchen pictured above is *actually* Becka's real kitchen. LOL)

I Wish I Had Something Pleasant to Blog

I wish I could blog about rainbows or butterflies or cotton candy, childhood, dandylions or bank errors in my favor. But life is cruel, and every now and again it smacks you upside the head and makes you realize you aren't immortal after all.

My editor at Samhain Publishing, Teri Smith, passed away today. She was taken to the hospital Sunday evening after suffering a massive heart attack. She'd been sick and on bed rest due to other issues, and to have this happen was shocking to say the least. I was just talking to her myself on the phone just a few days ago, ironing out some edits for one of my books.

My thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family, and the entire "family" at Samhain. Teri was a great lady with a lot of spunk. Even though I didn't know her for long, she left a mark on my life. She earned my respect for being an uber geek, just like me, loving sci-fi and fantasy and being able to talk about DragonCon with a straight face. Or heck, even knowing what "DragonCon" even is.

Teri is the one who signed my Legends of Mynos series to Samhain, as well as Jareth's story, HEARTS UNBOUND. She even co-wrote a book with one of her best friends, JeanMarie Ward, entitled WITH NINE YOU GET VANYR.



Isn't that cover GORGEOUS?? At least she got to see her beautiful cover before she passed. When we were on the phone last week, she told me all about the wonderful world she built with JeanMarie. I intend on buying her book and reading it.

For the short time I knew her, Teri was a great friend and editor. She will be greatly missed. As much as her passing saddens me, I cannot help but rejoice for her, because now, she's in a much better place, with no pain and no sorrow. We on Earth mourn her loss, but those in Heaven celebrate their gain.

~~Becka

It's That Time Again.

What do:


Belle


Little Red Riding Hood


Batman


Tinkerbell

Have in common?

That's right. This is the Goings kids line up for Halloween. Hannah is Belle, Miriam is Tinkerbell, Simone is Little Red, and Levi is Batman. I'll take pictures of the big event and post them. :P It'll be great.

Unfortunately, we moved into a neighborhood that doesn't really celebrate Halloween. There *is* the random house here and there that has their porch light on, but I'm not going to walk all over creation just for a few candy bars!!! I wanna just walk around the block and be done. LOL (I'm old. hehe) Therefore, we're going to be trick-or-treating in our friends' neighborhood which just happens to be right across the main drag from our street. Kids galore. It'll be great.

There are kids galore in our tract too, but they're hispanic, and no offense to the hispanic community, but I guess they don't celebrate Halloween. We only had ONE trick-or-treater last year, and I had stocked up on candy. So my kids got double dose of candy last year. It was a bummer, because my DH really enjoys creating his pumpkin masterpieces. But if no one is going to be around to enjoy them, we aren't going to do them any more. :(

Here are some of DH's creations from yesteryear....


Superman & Captain Jack Sparrow


Flounder & Ariel

These look fricken' AWESOME from the street. But no pumpkins for the Goings's this year. Awww.... Damn Halloween-Scrooges we live next to. LOL

~~Becka

My Latest Obsession

For those of you who are Stargate geeks, you'll recognize who this is. This is the man who plays Lt. Col. John Sheppard on Stargate Atlantis. He's also the man I've chosen to play Rogan Wolfe in my little book trailer for B*E*A*S*T* OF BURDEN. His name is Joe Flanigan, and dear Gawd, he's HOT!!!

Now, this man is handsome, yes. You look at him and think, hmm. Not bad. I've been watching Atlantis for awhile now and over time, I've gotten to the point where I think Mr. Flanigan is a knuckle-biter. Maybe he's grown on me, I don't know. But to me, "wow" isn't a strong enough word to convey how hot I think this man is.

I've always thought he was good looking. But now, whenever I see him on TV, it's like HOLD THE PHONE! MY MAN IS ON!!! lol

Gah.

I've literally been drooling over this blog post for like 20 minutes now. Heheh

Le sigh. No wonder I REALLY like Rogan's book... :D

~~Becka

World's Best Trash Guy

We all know the feeling. You're lying in bed all cozy and warm, maybe even spooning with DH. Then you hear it. The dreaded trash truck. And you think to yourself $#!%! I didn't put the trash out!!! You mentally begin calculating whether or not you can beat the trash guy and have enough time to grab a robe and run out to the curb to put your bin on the street.

Then you begin to wonder if it's even worth it, since you are so warm and cozy after all. So you ponder whether or not your trash bin will be able to hold another week's worth of trash. If not, you start making plans to instead call the trash company after you wake up and pay the $15 fee for them to make a special trip out to YOUR house.

Well, let me tell ya. I have the world's best trash guy. Why?

On more than one occasion, I've forgotton to put my trash out on the street. And on all of these occasions, this sweet guy has taken the time to get out of his truck and position the bin for the mechanical arm that grabs it and dumps it into the truck. See, DH and I keep our bin near the street. Probably about two yards away, so literally, we only have to roll it a few feet in order for it to be on the street ready for the trash guy. But in today's day and age, when people are rushing from one place to another to keep on schedule and screw the guy who "forgot" to do what they were supposed to, it's refreshing to wake up after the trash guy is gone and realize, he took your trash after all.

So thank you, Mr. Trash Guy, wherever you may be. The world needs more people who will go the extra mile, even if they're only collecting someone's trash.

~~Becka

Michael W. Smith, My Birthday, & My New Website

My birthday was October 9th. Last Monday. I had a great day. I got to see one of my favorite Christian singers of all time, Michael W. Smith in concert:



Yes, the man is like 50 years old and he's a HOTTIE. Wow. He's married and has four kids, and I've been listening to his music for 18 years. He has hits such as Emily, Old Enough to Know, Friends, Go West Young Man, Place in This World, Give it Away, Healing Rain, I Will Be Here For You, Pray For Me, Rockettown . . . And the list goes on.

Well, he gave an acoustic concert that was just him and two other people on stage with him. NO opening acts at all. That was sweet. All concerts should be like that. :P He was promoting his new album, STAND, which comes out on November 7th, and of course, I preordered my copy. He didn't do autographs after the show, but that's all right because I was so tired and wanted to go home. Hey, I just got a year older... Old age is creeping up on me. :P

Also on October 9th, my new website was launched. So if you haven't seen it yet, then go to http://www.rebeccagoings.com and check it out. I still have my blog, under the BLOG heading, but my website is redesigned with blurbs and excerpts and linkies to all the movies I've made. :D So go check that out!

I got a huge toaster oven for my birthday from DH, it fits a 12 inch pizza. :-0 It's epic. I love it. Looks like a microwave. I also got a food processor. Yay, salsa! Yay guacamole! No more "fudging it" in the darn blender like a bunch of dweebs! LOL (If you understand and recognize that word, then you're a fogie like me. heheh)

I've been scarce this past week because I've been holding a birthday bash for myself on my author loop, The Magic of Romance. It's over now, seen as how it's the end of the week, but we had a lot of fun posting excerpts and giving away prizes. It wasn't just me, but my fellow authors as well all partying together. :D Even some of my heroes and villains came out to play! It was great.

Anyhow, I'm takin' off for now. I'll try to post more in the week ahead. :D Problem is, I'm so dang BORING. LOL

~~Becka

Dang, I'm a Slacker

Apparently, I've been forsaking my Babble blog lately. But my life is about as exciting as watching paint dry. LOL I did indeed finish my book a couple of days before my deadline, so hopefully I can start posting here regularly again.

I am throwing a virtual birthday party for myself all next week, and y'all are invited to come. I'm hosting it on my author loop, The Magic of Romance, where not just me, but all my author friends will be giving away prizes, posting excerpts, and even having cameos of your favorite characters. From Oct. 9th thru Oct. 13th, we'll be having fun fun fun on my loop. So come and join us if you can!

http://groups.google.com/group/themagicofromance

I had a dream last night that I was at a booksigning with a few other authors. I don't remember who they were now, but I was at some big event like RT or something. And there were these fans in a line waiting to get my autograph, and they were NERVOUS to meet me. That made me feel weird in the dream, I remember that.

I kept thinking, why are they nervous? I'm just a normal gal from Oregon who happens to write stories. :P Let this be a note to y'all. If you ever meet me at an event and/or booksigning, don't be nervous. I don't bite. I'm flattered, if anything, that people actually care enough to buy and read my books. :)

Of course, if I haven't eaten lunch yet, you might want to be nervous. Oh, and if you have something bad to say about one of my books, I would be nervous too. Uhm, if you pass me up without picking up one of my books, I think you should be nervous as well. :P There's no telling what I might do!

Seriously, folks, I'm not a Ninja. I don't flip out and kill people. :D



But if all you want to do is schmooze and get my signature, I'll be more than willing. Hehehe

~~Becka