Real estate notes, music, photos, and us oh my!

TV shows

As of recently I have started watching re-runs Gilmore Girls and Everwood...I love them. I had never had any interest in watching either of them before, until Monday when the boys were laying down for their nap and I was way too tired to do much of anything (including picking up that heavy remote and changing the channel) When Everwood followed by Gilmore Girls came on and now I'm addicted. Just thought I would share that as I am watching now and yet again exhausted.

For Now,

Lauri

Pregnancy

Hello,

So we're 33 weeks now, and my meds. have been upped again (You gotta do what you gotta do). If I can just make it three more weeks I will be ecstatic. Obviously I'm not allowed to do too much so I spend a lot of time reading (which doesn't bother me a bit).  My latest read would be Jenny McCarthy's Belly Laughs it's incredibly entertaining. For anyone who hasn't read it (even if you don't like Jenny McCarthy) you'll get a kick out of it. Though I do have one question about the chapter on pre-term labor (as I have that same problem and my interest was peaked) at 25 weeks she is cramping which she says wasn't even as bad as some menstrual cramps she had had in the past, so she calls her doctor (slightly concerned) instead of going to triage and he tells her to "have a glass of wine and put her feet up". Just so you know she decided that it would be better to go to the hospital instead.  Now as I have understood it ever since my first pregnancy in '02, alcohol is a HUGE no no. Now, I know that when my mom was having kids they would make the same suggestion, but this book was published in 2004. Do some doctors still recommend this?

The other book I recommend for the new mommy to be if you want to know how to pamper yourself (or have someone else pamper you) pick up Spa Mama by Stacy Denny. There are masks and massages galore in this book and even a few recipes, I know as I have tried quite a few myself. So pick it up and enjoy.

For now,

Lauri

another book sample

Hello all,

It's been a few days, I've been busy. I wanted to put another small sample of my book out there for any who are interested. please let me know what you think.

Snow had so many questions she wanted to ask but at the moment there was a buzz in her ear that she had not quite been able to shake all through out dinner. “Do you here that?  It’s kind of a low noise, like a groan or a buzz or something.”

“You here it too?” Vanessa nodded just happy to know she wasn’t crazy. “I’ve been hearing all through dinner.  I thought that may be it was a TV or something.   Where is it coming from?”

The girls got up from the table, leaving the remainders of their dessert behind. Snow checked every appliance in the house. Vanessa followed listening intently to every noise they came across.  Their job wasn’t however being made any easier for the simple fact that Max stayed with them panting very loudly every time they stopped to listen. They were running short of places to look and had both determined that the noise had to be in the dinning room. They made their way back to the dining room, Max lolling behind them. This time they made real notice that the noise was growing as they neared closer to the basement door which sat in the back of the dinning room.

“I hate going down there, the basement is so dark and creepy.” Snow had always loathed any trip to the basement.

It was then that she noticed something that she never had seen before. Behind her mother’s tall

China

cabinet which sat directly next to the basement door there seemed to be a glow. She looked over to Vanessa and the black Great Dane, Snow was not the only one who had noticed it. Vanessa gave Snow an awe struck look and then stared curiously back toward the cabinet.  Max had gone ridged, the fir at the nape of his neck stood on end as did the straight line of fur that peaked all the way to the end of his tail.  He was growling deep in the back of his throat.  Snow and Vanessa starred at each other with an understanding that only friends could.  Although they knew that the glow couldn’t possibly be anything good, their curiosity and the urge to face the inevitable carried them on.  They had to move the cabinet, and make sure not make a sound for Mr. and Mrs. Kensington to hear.

Moving the china cabinet proved to be quite a task, but with immense strain and a little unknown magic they slid it aside just slightly. Neither, of them had expected to find what they were looking at. Another door sat side by side with the basement door, it was the crack of the new door that had been glowing. This one looked much like the front door of

905 Allen Drive

.  It was carved with strange symbols and animals but the animals on this door were different, of the likeness neither of them had ever witnessed in person nor in any reference. It had a golden knob which sat rather high up and on the opposite side from the tarnished knob of the basement door.  Snow nodded at Vanessa and reached for the handle.

The door opened with a light creak of age. Vanessa and Snow found themselves staring up a short, curved staircase in a very dark hallway with odd nooks and crannies.  At the end of the tunnel there was a light, a grayish light. The girls cautiously made their way up the stairs with Max tailing them with the same guttural growl he had made before. Snow and Vanessa carefully looked out of the opening. Their mouths dropped.

Lauri :)

my book (a small sample)

Hey all,

As you know I am a huge James Rollins (who writes fiction/Thriller books) fan and am sad to say that I am hugely disappointed to say that I received an invite to a writers convention in Maui (sounds good already right?) at which Mr. Rollins would be teaching (along with some of the great writers of our time) and I can't go :( .  Reasons being that not only is money tight, but I am in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy and airlines don't let women over 6 months fly.

It would be cool to have talked to him though. of course I am somewhat hesitant to as questions for fear of sounding stupid. You know, like if I were to ask him how he writes women and scenes for women so well, (given that I don't know him) would I get the Jack Nicholson reply in that movie with Helen Hunt, Cuba Gooding JR. and Greg Kinnear (sorry if I misspelled) "I take away all reason and accountability" or something of that nature.

Anyway since I can't go, I thought I would give a tiny sample of my pet project of the moment (if you can call a year and a half a moment). This is from my Young Adult novel about a 12 year old girl named Snow who discovers some strange things not only about herself but of her hometown.  Here it is:

         Snow starred down at her feet and realized that the sidewalk on which she was walking had suddenly vanished and now was replaced by a waving, misty, green, scene just as you would see the mirage like evaporation that comes off of pavement when it's hot outside. As the waves began to dissipate, Snow saw that they had been replaced by mossy covered earth. Raising her eyes to look around she that realized in front of her where the street had just been, there now stood in its place, a large forested area surrounding her.  She stared transfixed, the forest was no normal forest, at least it was unlike any she had ever seen before. To her left she noted a knobby, well rounded tree.  It looked more like a huge, wooden ball with roots and round knobs protruding from all around it, long thick branches reaching to the sky. Although the tree itself was an awe-filled sight, what had really caught her attention was placed up in the upturned branches. A small, wooden, cottage sat up in the main fork at the middle of the tree. It seemed there was no apparent way to get up into the house, at least not that Snow could tell, but then again who was Snow to say anything lately, nothing was as it had seemed. This scenery in particular looked to have come straight out of an illustration in the book she had found in the attic of her house.  Had a Realtor been showing this house for sale they would have described it as cozy, if indeed any Realtor had encountered such a strange sight and decided it to be normal.  The door stood over to the right side of the small home, it had a peaked roof with a smoking, crooked, pipe, chimney popping out on the left. The funny shaped chimney had smoke of different colors coming out of it in a precise pattern, red, blue, green, yellow, purple, red, blue….. on and on it went. The outside of the house had the look of a small, deep, woods cabin. It possessed a small, four pained, glassless window looking out the front. Enthralled as she was, there was one other thing which had Snow nervous, there seemed to be nothing else moving in the forest, not a bird or deer, no insects, nor was there even a sound. What was this place?

Lauri

Hope you enjoyed, let me know.

To visit James Rollins' website here is the link: James Rollins site

favorite authors

Hello again,

it's me Lauri. So I'm always looking for a good book and when I find one I have to rave about it. My absolute favorite author in the adult book world is James Rollins and I love almost all of his books. The first book of his I got my hands on I could not put down (Amazonia). Out of 8 books I've read 5 (I'm currently reading book 6 Sandstorm) there was only one that I wasn't as impressed with. For anyone who reads Dean Koontz, Matthew Reilly, or similar authors I highly recommend picking up a James Rollins book (starting with Amazonia, Subterranean or Ice Hunt) He truly can capture you into his own world, and the characters are believable to check him out here is his website James Rollins.

Of course with my writing I also read young adult books, and yes I have read and love every Harry Potter book out there (My three year old Keith thinks he is Harry), JK Rowling truly has a wonderful imagination, if you haven't given her a chance yet... you should. I have found a few other series that I would also recommend even for adults such as the Pendragon series, the author D. J. MacHale has an awesome way of writing, although there is a normal 3rd person point of view for the side characters off and on, the best part of his writing is the fact that he uses a Journal to tell the story of the main character allowing you into the characters mind so you don't see whats coming. A few other books I would recommend would be Artemis Foul, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and The Edge Chronicles. There are so many more, I wish I could name them all. but at least I've given anyone interested a start.

Lauri