Escaflowne
We’ve been watching this old anime series with the kids now that they are old enough for something like this. When they were little, we waited for them to go to bed before we watched Escaflowne.
There's both a movie and a TV series. The movie is only a condensed version of the TV series, so if you want the full affect, find the TV series.
It’s a really magical story, and the world is so well developed. One Japanese girl (Hitomi) has been transported from her home to this magical dimension called Gaia where Earth is the mystical moon hanging in their sky. War has erupted as a mad man wants to create a utopian future.
The whole story is an intense ride. What I love most about it is the important life lessons Hitomi learns along the way. Like you need to believe in the people you love. Like you can't look to the future with dread and fear or you'll choose a future full of everything you're afraid of.
And when the credits scrolled on the last episode on the last disk, my little Ro (age 9) waited for her sisters to go upstairs and then came up to me to tell me a secret. She said, “I love Van, mom. I really do. I hope I can marry someone like him when I grow up.”
You should have seen the sincerity in her eyes. Her first fictional boyfriend. And can you blame her? He's got wings!
Cover Reveal: Erasing: Shadows by KD Rose
Title: Erasing: Shadows
Author: KD Rose
Genre: Mature YA, Paranormal Romance
Expected Release Date: December 18th, 2013
Expected Release Date: December 18th, 2013
Reveal Host: Lady Amber's Tours
Synopsis:
Mira is a girl outside of time. She
has experienced every mother’s nightmare—your child disappearing right before
your eyes.
But, this isn’t at all what it
seems. This isn’t a tale of kidnapping. Mira’s child doesn’t get snatched. He
literally disappears—fading from her grasp—right before her eyes.
Mira and her gang of friends are
forced to once again travel to the ‘other world’. A reality made of dreams—and
nightmares—with dangers none of them expected. Things aren’t at all what they
appear to be.
This isn’t the first loss Mira has
experienced, and when her husband and friends travel to the ‘other world’ to
find her, they find more than they bargained for in a world made of dreams and
shadows…and danger.
Join the High Five Gang as a group
of ‘adults’ move into a world where they are now teenagers again. Can they save
Mira from her own worst nightmares before it’s too late?
First in the Erasing Series,
Erasing: Shadows recounts the beginning of an exciting and dangerous adventure-
one that has repercussions far beyond imagination.
K.D. Rose is an author and poet and currently has
"Heavy Bags of Soul", "Inside Sorrow" and “I AM” on sale at
Amazon.com. Look for The Erasing Series, Book 1-“Erasing: Shadows” on sale in
December, 2013! Erasing: Shadows is the first of a Seven Book Series for New Adults
in the Paranormal Genre.
K.D. Rose is now also an author with Lycaon Press, a
subsidiary of Breathless Press. K.D.’s book, Inside Sorrow won the Readers
Favorite 2013 international Silver Medal for Poetry. Just like her books, KD
Rose is edgy, hits you in the gut and gives you the education you never knew
you needed. Writing with irony, truth, and a spiked pen, she takes you past the
self into self-evolution.
K.D. has an eclectic mind and loves language, physics,
philosophy, photography, design, art of all kinds, writing of all kinds,
symbolism, semiotics, spirituality, and Dr. Who.
K.D. Rose values the question more than the answer and
loves creativity and innovation. K.D. is also a sucker for cutting edge thought
and has been known to bring some into reality herself.
KD Rose is an avid supporter of music, the arts, cutting
edge science, technology, and
creativity in all forms that encourage us to expand and
explore past the artificial limits we often set for ourselves in order to see
the everyday connections that exist among all things.
Join
K D Rose on the following social media sites:
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00830RFC0
Blog: http://www.kdroseauthortales.com
Email: kd.rose@aol.com
Twitter: @kdrose1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kdroseauthor
https://www.facebook.com/K.D.RoseWriter?skip_nax_wizard=true
Blog: http://www.kdroseauthortales.com
Email: kd.rose@aol.com
Twitter: @kdrose1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kdroseauthor
https://www.facebook.com/K.D.RoseWriter?skip_nax_wizard=true
Artist, Authors and other creatives, feel free to friend
my personal page. You can also "like" my official facebook author
page to receive updates on my books, interviews, blog tours, release parties,
contests, and release dates.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6038789.K_D_Rose
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=184204909&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=184204909&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Website for the Erasing Series: http://kdroseworld.com/
Cover Reveal: Found in You by KL Ruse
Title: Found in You
Author: KL Ruse
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Romance
Expected Release Date: January 6, 2014
Reveal Host: Lady Amber's ToursExpected Release Date: January 6, 2014
Synopsis:
Twenty-three-year-old Camryn Singer
never imagined that she would return to the place
where she lost everything. To grant
a dying wish, she moves back to the small Jersey beach
town where she grew up, hoping to
somehow find the missing pieces of her life. Determined to
keep her wounds unopened and her
heart guarded, she instead slams head-first into Cole Stevens.
Sexy surfer Cole has always used the
waves to numb the pain of his past. But when he
runs into Camryn on the beach one
day, he wants nothing more than for her to heal his scars and light the spark back in his life.
Will Camryn and Cole be ripped apart
when the ghosts from their pasts come back to life, or will they discover that
it’s not until you’re lost, that you can be found?
I am a
middle school teacher who recently traded in my chalk for a laptop to follow my
dream of writing contemporary romance novels. I live with my husband and two daughters
in the suburbs of Philadelphia. When I'm not writing, I spend my time reading and
relaxing with my family at my home-away-from-home, the Jersey shore.
After I
graduated from Villanova University in 2003, I never imagined my path would lead me
in this direction. Writing was a hobby, an outlet for me to live in a world of happily
ever afters. Now as I watch my dream become a reality, I believe that happy endings
do exist.
Links:
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/klruse
Twitter Page: twitter.com/KLRuse
Email: authorklruse@hotmail.com
Facebook Author Page: www.facebook.com/klruse
Twitter Page: twitter.com/KLRuse
Email: authorklruse@hotmail.com
Website:
www.authorklruse.com
I
pulled his mouth back to mine, and ran my hands through his hair, weaving the ends
through my fingers. Although lust was pumping through my veins, I pushed it
aside, taking
this moment to just feel his mouth against mine. We had time for the rest, and
for the
first time in over five years, I was finally living in the present.
We
stayed in each other’s arms for a long time, watching the waves ripple across the
rocks, and the seagulls touch down to peck the water for fish. I could feel our
bodies finally
surrender to a sense of calmness. Although we still had so much to learn about each
other, and many more fears to face, we found a way to take that first step, and
would journey
the rest of the way together.
This
feeling of contentment and satisfaction was so new and refreshing. I finally saw a
beginning, rather than an end. Everyone started walking toward the back deck, while I
took one more look out toward the vast stretch of sand. This beach town has
held the
origin of my fears and the depth of my heartache. But today, it represented the
birth of my
new life, one that included Cole. However, looking toward the water’s edge, my elation
was stripped from me, as I stood staring into the aqua-colored eyes of my
greatest fear.
Release Day Blitz: Extracted: The Lost Imperials by Sherry Ficklin & Tyler Jolley
Title: Extracted: The Lost Imperials
Author: Sherry Ficklin & Tyler
Jolley
Genre: Young Adult
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's Tours
Synopsis:
Welcome to the war.
The Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers called Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try to alter it.
The Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption of the time stream.
Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war.
When Lex’s girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the enemy camp. It’s there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen from them both comes flooding back.
Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both…again.
Welcome to the war.
The Tesla Institute is a premier academy that trains young time travelers called Rifters. Created by Nicola Tesla, the Institute seeks special individuals who can help preserve the time stream against those who try to alter it.
The Hollows is a rogue band of Rifters who tear through time with little care for the consequences. Armed with their own group of lost teens--their only desire to find Tesla and put an end to his corruption of the time stream.
Torn between them are Lex and Ember, two Rifters with no memories of their life before joining the time war.
When Lex’s girlfriend dies during a mission, the only way he can save her is to retrieve the Dox, a piece of tech which allows Rifters to re-enter their own timeline without collapsing the time stream. But the Dox is hidden deep within the Telsa Institute, which means Lex must go into the enemy camp. It’s there he meets Ember, and the past that was stolen from them both comes flooding back.
Now armed with the truth of who they are, Lex and Ember must work together to save the future before the battle for time destroys them both…again.
Sherry FicklinSherry is a full time writer from Colorado where she lives with her husband, four kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens and house guests. A former military brat, she loves to travel and meet new
people. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is often only seen in blurry photographs.
She is the author of The Gods of Fate Trilogy. Book 1, Foresight, book 2, Second Sight, and Book 3, Hindsight, are now available. She is also the author of the adult paranormal novels, The Palmetto Moon series. Book 1, Born of Blood and book 2, Grave Secrets are now available.
Her newest YA steampunk novel, EXTRACTED: The Lost Imperials book 1, co-written with Tyler H. Jolley is undercontract with Spencer Hill Press. Book 1, EXTRACTED, is due for release 11.12.13. It is now available for pre-order.
Sherry D. Ficklin, Author Links:
www.sherryficklin.com
http://about.me/sherrydficklin
Tyler JolleyTyler was born in Vernal, UT. He's an author, orthodontist, periodonist, and farmer. His wife and four kids
Buy Links for Extracted:
USA Buy Links:
USA Buy Links:
International Buy Link (free worldwide shipping)
Release Day Blitz: A Long Time Coming by Heather Van Fleet
Title: A Long Time Coming (Perfect Timing Series #2)
Author: Heather Van Fleet
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Romance
Release Day:
November 12th, 2013
Publisher: Sunshine Press
Publisher: Sunshine Press
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's Tours
Blurb:
Abigail
Orson has a problem. A love problem to be precise; and she has absolutely no
idea how to go about fixing it.
For
years now, she has been chasing her best friend’s brother—demanding things from
him that he’s never wanted to give. For one? A real relationship that surpasses
well beyond that dreaded ‘just friends’ zone. You see, David Anderson is her
idea of perfection to a T. The one and only guy who has ever had the ability to
make her heart beat faster; make her toes curl with the simple blink of his
long, girly lashes. But David is also a recovering amputee, and the only thing
he really wants from Abigail is to be left alone. Abigail is a fighter though,
and losing the one guy who has ruined her for every other is no longer an
option.
A guy
with one leg who has lost his motivation to live—to love—to actually be a man.
David believes he’s a waste of space. If only the beautiful girl of his unattainable
dreams would get that through her perfect, blonde, stubborn head! He’s not the
right guy for Abigail. He’ll never be worthy of what she deserves. However,
staying away is almost impossible, especially when he’s just as in love with
her as she is with him. But Abigail has a life ahead of her, one that’s
definitely livable without a nineteen–year–old gimp like him holding her down.
What makes her want to stick around is beyond questionable to David’s mind.
Choices
will be made. Lines will be drawn. And together, they will face challenges that
nobody saw coming. David and Abigail may have had almost fourteen years to fall
in love, but the thing is, timing and love have never exactly worked in their
favor.
It has
been years in the making, and definitely A Long Time Coming for David and
Abigail. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up before they actually have the chance
to get it right…
Heather Van Fleet currently reside in northern
Illinois, with her three little ladies, and fabulous hubby, and high school
sweetheart, Chris. She’s a stay at home mom by day, and an avid and completely
obsessive writer and reader by night.
She’s always had a soft spot in her heart for
books, and has been creating her own little stories since the age of seven. But
she never really had the confidence or the time to actually sit down and really
do something about it until her youngest daughter Isabella was born just two
years ago. Bella, as well as her older sisters Kelsey and Emma, are and always
will be her greatest inspirations.
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorheatherpowell
Twitter: @HLVanFleet
Website: www.heathervanfleet.com
Buy links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorheatherpowell
Twitter: @HLVanFleet
Website: www.heathervanfleet.com
Buy links:
Title: A Long Time Coming (Perfect Timing Series #2)
Author: Heather Van Fleet
Genre: New Adult Contemporary
Romance
Release Day:
November 12th, 2013
Publisher: Sunshine Press
Publisher: Sunshine Press
Blitz Host: Lady Amber's Tours
Blurb:
Abigail
Orson has a problem. A love problem to be precise; and she has absolutely no
idea how to go about fixing it.
For
years now, she has been chasing her best friend’s brother—demanding things from
him that he’s never wanted to give. For one? A real relationship that surpasses
well beyond that dreaded ‘just friends’ zone. You see, David Anderson is her
idea of perfection to a T. The one and only guy who has ever had the ability to
make her heart beat faster; make her toes curl with the simple blink of his
long, girly lashes. But David is also a recovering amputee, and the only thing
he really wants from Abigail is to be left alone. Abigail is a fighter though,
and losing the one guy who has ruined her for every other is no longer an
option.
A guy
with one leg who has lost his motivation to live—to love—to actually be a man.
David believes he’s a waste of space. If only the beautiful girl of his unattainable
dreams would get that through her perfect, blonde, stubborn head! He’s not the
right guy for Abigail. He’ll never be worthy of what she deserves. However,
staying away is almost impossible, especially when he’s just as in love with
her as she is with him. But Abigail has a life ahead of her, one that’s
definitely livable without a nineteen–year–old gimp like him holding her down.
What makes her want to stick around is beyond questionable to David’s mind.
Choices
will be made. Lines will be drawn. And together, they will face challenges that
nobody saw coming. David and Abigail may have had almost fourteen years to fall
in love, but the thing is, timing and love have never exactly worked in their
favor.
It has
been years in the making, and definitely A Long Time Coming for David and
Abigail. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up before they actually have the chance
to get it right…
Heather Van Fleet currently reside in northern
Illinois, with her three little ladies, and fabulous hubby, and high school
sweetheart, Chris. She’s a stay at home mom by day, and an avid and completely
obsessive writer and reader by night.
She’s always had a soft spot in her heart for
books, and has been creating her own little stories since the age of seven. But
she never really had the confidence or the time to actually sit down and really
do something about it until her youngest daughter Isabella was born just two
years ago. Bella, as well as her older sisters Kelsey and Emma, are and always
will be her greatest inspirations.
Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorheatherpowell
Twitter: @HLVanFleet
Website: www.heathervanfleet.com
Buy links:
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376721
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-alongtimecoming-1343646-149.html
Sunshine Press: http://sunshinepressbooks.com/shop/a-long-time-coming-by-heather-van-fleet/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-Perfect-Timing-ebook/dp/B00GLRP89E/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1384183909&sr=1-5&keywords=Heather+van+fleet
She
spun around, nibbling on her lip, grabbing both of his hands as she pulled him
slowly along with her. Her eyes were so focused and shiny that he barely
remembered his own name, let alone what he was about to say.
“No
crutches, David.”
They
made it to the edge of the floor, just as the tempo of the music slowed, to
that of a seductive, rhythmic beat. She pulled his hands towards her, and he
took that non–verbal command, wrapping his arms around her waist. His fingers
knew just what to do, settling into the curves of her body right above her
perfect ass. Those damn traitorous body parts had a
mind of their own.
“I
won’t let you fall…” she whispered in his ear, running her fingers through the
back of his hair like a vixen who he wanted to steal away forever, only,
though, so he could lock her up with him in the backseat of her car again.
Shit
…it wasn’t the fear of falling that worried him. Oh no…it was the fear of never
wanting to let her go again.
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376721
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-alongtimecoming-1343646-149.html
Sunshine Press: http://sunshinepressbooks.com/shop/a-long-time-coming-by-heather-van-fleet/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-Perfect-Timing-ebook/dp/B00GLRP89E/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1384183909&sr=1-5&keywords=Heather+van+fleet
All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-alongtimecoming-1343646-149.html
Sunshine Press: http://sunshinepressbooks.com/shop/a-long-time-coming-by-heather-van-fleet/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-Perfect-Timing-ebook/dp/B00GLRP89E/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1384183909&sr=1-5&keywords=Heather+van+fleet
She
spun around, nibbling on her lip, grabbing both of his hands as she pulled him
slowly along with her. Her eyes were so focused and shiny that he barely
remembered his own name, let alone what he was about to say.
“No
crutches, David.”
They
made it to the edge of the floor, just as the tempo of the music slowed, to
that of a seductive, rhythmic beat. She pulled his hands towards her, and he
took that non–verbal command, wrapping his arms around her waist. His fingers
knew just what to do, settling into the curves of her body right above her
perfect ass. Those damn traitorous body parts had a mind of their own.
“I
won’t let you fall…” she whispered in his ear, running her fingers through the
back of his hair like a vixen who he wanted to steal away forever, only,
though, so he could lock her up with him in the backseat of her car again.
Shit
…it wasn’t the fear of falling that worried him. Oh no…it was the fear of never
wanting to let her go again.
Our Halloween Fun
The best part about homeschooling is the time we get for extra-curricular activities. My kids aren’t just learning math, science, history, and language arts. They also get sewing, knitting, drawing, music, acting, and dance classes through the YMCA, church, That Music Place, and our local dance studio MVDA.
I feel so blessed to have the chance for all this fun stuff with my kids. Even more, I’m blessed for the two grandmothers in my girls’ lives. This summer, my mom came to visit for a week, and while she was here, she taught all three of them how to use the sewing machine, how to follow a pattern, and how to make clothes.
But one project my mom didn’t get the chance to make with Mak (age 11) before she left to go home to Wisconsin: the sheep costume for Halloween.
So Mak took the material to her OTHER grandmother, and she learned how to make her own patterns. Using pajamas as an outline, she made a zebra outfit for little Ro (age 9) and a sheep costume for littlest Kay (age 7). Though TJ and I helped her a little bit here and there, she did this pretty much by herself.
Mak ran out of time to make her own costume, so she went as an Elf Archer, Princess of the Animals.
Over all, Halloween was loads of fun!
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