Fridays are a cursed day, a day of broken promises. At least twice now during the R.I.P. II Challenge I have promised intriguing contests with exciting prizes to be revealed on a Friday and have not kept my word. And, as if you hadn’t noticed, my Friday Favorites art posts have been absent for some time now. Fridays just aren’t good…or rather, Thursday night is not good. Awhile back I switched nights on my part-time job and I work late on Thursdays, thus cutting in to my usual work time for my Friday posts. Unfortunately I am feeling my age and staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning working on Friday Favorite posts just isn’t cutting it. Thus, despite the rain pouring down and the Bangles’ song Manic Monday roaring in my head, today is Friday. Ignore your calendars, I am right. Today is Friday. And since it is Friday, I have another exciting R.I.P. related contest to tempt you:

Something Sinister

Something Sinister is not a Stainless Steel Droppings contest, but it is an idea inspired by the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril II Challenge and it is the brainchild of Suzanne from Thus Says Suzanne. As such I have chosen to sponser it, make it part of the fun R.I.P. II activities, and offer a prize for the winner. So, dust off those cameras, put your sinister thinking caps on, and come with me.

Continue reading Something Sinister →

“A dog has the soul of a philosopher.”
~Plato

This past May our family experienced something that we all hoped to never have to experience. We had to choose whether or not to put our dog to sleep. Razz was a dog that we met back in 1998 when we moved to the Kansas City area from Tulsa, OK. We were introduced to James and Julie and Razz was their dog. He fast became our daughter Tori’s best friend.

Tori had been asking repeatedly for a dog and we used the standard excuse that unless we had a fenced in yard we would not be getting a dog. Fast forward to the year 2001 and we are home owners with a fenced in yard and a daughter looking to hold our feet to the fire. James and Julie came to the rescue offering to let us adopt Razz. They had several young children and Razz wasn’t getting any younger and they felt he would do better in our home. For the next 5+ years Razz was our very own bundle of joy. He provided countless hours of companionship and fun for our family. In May he had a stroke which severely affected his whole body and after trying certain meds and helping him to eat and drink for 3 or 4 days we realized that he just wouldn’t get better and his quality of life was at an all time low. So we made that sad trip to the vet.

Continue reading Happiness is a Warm Puppy →

“There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir, We must rise and follow her; When from every hill of flame, She calls and calls each vagabond by name”

~William Bliss Carman

As I sit here on this sunny, cool morning, windows wide open after a night of autumn rain, I cannot help but be immensely grateful that blessed October has finally arrived, with the scent of cinammon on the air and her promises of crisp, fall days. Finally. I live for these last three months of the year.

October, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways….

Continue reading October!!! →

“With Icarus quill and ink from the blood of nameless things,
I here pen words no mortal should ever speak
Of horrors beyond the ken of man yet in possession of his senses.
Ere the hour of peace dawns upon mankind these abhorrent scratches
Will find their way into the hands of one whose eyes will be consumed
By my accursed remembrances.
It is in that day that all courage will fail you, for your doom is at hand
And things unspeakable will haunt your waking dreams…”

~Calvin Renct, 1698

Thus begins this Tiny Stories Contest, R.I.P. II style! For those unfamiliar with the Tiny Stories concept or for those needing a refresher, the rules are as follows:

Continue reading Terrible Tales: A Tiny…Creepy…Story Contest →

Okay R.I.P.ers, the first of the promised contest announcements is here, with more to follow during the week. As I did with this spring’s Once Upon a Time Challenge, I want to encourage site visitation amongst those participating in the challenge. So…once again I am going to give away a prize drawn from a list of names of those who make at least one visit to every site on the R.I.P.ing Yarns Book Review Site. I believe I counted 123 sites listed there as of today. The sites listed today will be the ones you are accountable for. If you have already visited a site (or sites) then you can count those as already visited. The deadline for visiting all the sites at least once and reporting back to me with a comment here is….drumroll please…Friday, October 19th. That gives you a little over 3 weeks to visit all the sites.

And what might you win if you were to take on this perilous challenge?

Continue reading We Are Not Alone: The Visitation Giveaway →