Just finished reading Jill Monroe's Share the Darkness today and loved, loved, loved it!! The main character, Hannah Garrett, is on the run from a real bad@$$, and yummy agent Ward Cassidy is just the man to put her world to right. Hannah is so well drawn and sympathetic, I couldn't help but cheer for her. I also want to live in the safe house by the lake and learn how to skip rocks. Way to go, Jill!! Amazon has one copy left with more on the way. You can probably still get it at eHarlequin. Her next book, Hitting the Mark, will be out in Feb. Look for great things from this author!

Hope you all had a great weekend. We took Brooklyn to the fair which was totally fun. I actually found a few things I could eat. I had a Turkey leg, the beans and salad part of an Indian taco, and roasted corn - not the best fare, but nothing to completely wreck my healthy eating. I found an excellent recipe for shrimp creole - I'm actually learning to eat the little buggers, which is nice since I get tired of salmon all the time.

Thank goodness for Southern Living magazine. I've found a ton of great recipes, and the best thing is - you guessed it - they're southern! The older I get, the more I feel my settler's roots. Even down to the old frontier work ethic where you don't sit on the pity pot. You get your behinney up and work your way through whatever you face. You never give in. Always fight. I think that's why I can't be taken all the way down spiritually by this disease. Yeah, every now and then I sink to the floor and whine (healthy in my opinion), but more of the time, my ancestry will barely let me acknowledge I have a disease. Thank you, God, for a legacy of strong women!

One time, a coworker was surprised that I know how to drive a trailer and our account director said, "Sure she does. She's a country girl." The more I think about that, the better I like it. You know how you find out something new about yourself (not always good, but -- we won't talk about that side right now) and it just fits with your image of yourself? That was one of those moments.

One more thing. I got the coolest bookmark from my coworkers (yes, they are the best). It says:

What Cancer Cannot Take From You

It cannot take away your Faith, shatter your Hope, or lessen your Love. It cannot destroy true Friendship, invade the Soul, or take away Eternal Life. It cannot conquer your Spirit.

Don't you love that? Stuff like that I receive shores me up in all the times when I'd like to break down. There're more challenges in my life than cancer, and sometimes they like to gang up on me. Too bad for them, because God has used my friends to provide me with several potent weapons for my defense.

Well, gals, I'd better get on with it. Time to exercise (oh doody...) Hubby says I'll get to where I like doing it. Yeah. Still waiting on that one.

Love ya!

~pinkie