Category Archives: Every Day Life

Air Fryer, County Fair, Box Set : Monday Blog Post

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Air Fryer with Mushrooms

Newest News:

So hubby and I purchased an air fryer. I see so many recipes on Pinterest for air fryers that I decided to get one. We’ve been experimenting over the weekend with both mushrooms and sweet potatoes and they’ve come out very well. I think this is a new favorite kitchen gadget.

I’ve been working on the Northern Gila County Fair (Sep 6 – 8). www.NGCFair.com  Primarily setting up an on-line exhibit registration through the ShoWorks. It was a struggle but late Friday afternoon I got it up and running. That should make it much easier for exhibitors to register their items to show. I’m pretty pleased with myself. I had hubby do a test run while I hovered over him. He liked it pretty well and found it easy to do. Yay!

I’m still working on the Gulliver Station Box Set. I have one more book to edit, then it’s update the Amazon set, and put the Smashwords set up. Then I can work on formatting the paperback version. There’s progress, slow as it may be.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Sunday: Daily Blog Post

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A flower for your Sunday.

 

Hey!

It’s a quiet day here. Am soaking my stove burners in ammonia to rid them of burned on gas black stuff. I found the tip on Pinterest and thought I’d give it a try. Do you Pinterest? I’m at https://www.pinterest.com/conniecockrell/ if you’d like to follow me.

Finally figured out why the coconut yogurt I made came out thin. HA! I forgot to put the gelatin in it. Duh! I had the printed recipe right in front of me and totally forgot to put any in. Silly me. The batch tastes good, it’s just not thick like the regular greek yogurt I like. Next time.

Hope you enjoy your Sunday!

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

The Week Begins: Daily Blog Post

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Just for fun!

 

Hey!

Monday was busy. Hubby had blood tests at 10am. He’s had stomach problems (an old issue), which have resurfaced over the last week. The docs are trying to identify the current problems.

I had a book festival meeting, also at 10am. We went over status of where each department is at this point and reviewed the feedback from authors and attendees. Lots of good comments there and a few good ideas for improvements. Then I went to lunch with one of the committee members and her husband. That was fun.

On the box set, I have one more book to edit and I can update the Amazon copy, publish the Smashwords copy, then re-format for the paper box set and get that uploaded. There is an end in sight! Yay!

A reminder: The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Saturday Relaxing: Daily Blog Post

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Pretty Picture of my Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Hey!

Saturday was relaxing for me. The hubby has been sick but on Saturday, felt pretty well. I trimmed my lavender bush and gave the blossom stems to a friend who makes lotions. I went to the Farmer’s market and bought basil and microgreens. I also talked to a number of friends as I made my way around the stalls. When home, made chicken vegetable soup so the hubby would have something easy on the tummy to eat.

I did try to play Mahjong Trails on Facebook but must be several million other people were trying to play too. The game was so slow to load, I just gave up.

No writing work today. Yesterday I left off edits of The Challenge about half-way through the book so I’m progressing nicely.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Hiking: Daily Blog Post

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Hey!

In my Jean Hays series, Jean and her friend Karen like to go hiking. They even found a body on a hike in Mystery in the Woods. I love to go hiking. I like being out in the woods, or because I live in Arizona, the desert, and listen to the quiet. Tuesday is a regularly scheduled hiking day. I go out with the C Group of the Payson Packers. This hiking group has been around over 25 years and grown to the size such that we break up into groups based on hiking ability, desire for hard or easy hikes and length of hike. My group, led by my hubby, does easy-moderate hikes of 4 – 6 miles in length over easy to moderate, occasionally hard, terrain.

Yesterday we went to a spot called Jones Crossing. This was a 6.5-mile hike on level terrain through a ravine with a streambed. No water in the stream this year as we’re in a drought though there were a couple of pools that had polywogs in them. And, it was hot! Probably about 95 degrees as it was 99 in Payson. At any rate, the turn around point has a slot cave where many sat and had their snack as it was quite cool in there.

There was no writing on Tuesday. I was just too worn out from the heat. I’ll pick it up today.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Peaches!: Daily Blog Post

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Frozen peach slices

Hey!

So I mentioned in Monday’s post that I have an abundance of peaches. Monday morning I made cobbler, which used up 4 cups of chopped peaches. I had some of that for breakfast, yum!

I turned three other containers of peaches into sliced peaches and put them in the freezer. If you also have an abundance of peaches, here’s what to do. Quickly blanch your whole, ripe peaches, about 2 minutes. Drop them into ice water to stop the cooking. Then with a paring knife, peel each peach. If your peaches are truly ripe, the skin will slip right off. If your peaches aren’t fully ripe, you’ll have to actually peel them. Take care to just take the skin and as little of the peach flesh as humanly possible. Then half, pit, and cut into slices. Put them on a freezer-paper lined cookie sheet or sheets, in my case, and put in the freezer. I usually let mine freeze at least 24 hours. Longer if I get busy. Anyway, take from the freezer, loosen from the freezer paper, and put into gallon freezer bags.

There you have it. Frozen peaches ready for cobbler, smoothies or bellini’s. Don’t know what a bellini is? Check this out: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238504/classic-bellini-cocktail/

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy my Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Cell Phones Update: Daily Blog Post

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Samsung Galazy J7

Hey!

My new, Samsung, Android J7 arrived Saturday! Yay! It came with a charging cord, and I purchased the skin and a car charger to go with the phone. It looks like my Moto 3G with just a couple of small changes in microphone openings, On/off switch and volume buttons. Anyway, I’ve charged it up. Then Sunday morning, I went into the system and yay! They’ve made it easy to transfer contacts and applications and files from the old phone to the new one. All I had to do after that was call Consumer Cellular and have the new phone activated, the phone number transferred and the old phone de-activated.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Cell Phones: Daily Blog Post

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Samsung Galazy J7

 

Hey!

My whole deal Wednesday was cell phones. I had a phone quite awhile back that I used just for emergencies. It was a dumb phone. All it did was make phone calls. After I started writing and going to events, it became clear that I needed a smart phone. After all, not only did I want to be able to use the Square for taking credit card payments, but I wanted to post to social media about whatever event I was at. That was a, um, three years ago.

Since I’m old, I’m also cheap, er, um, thrifty. I was not going to pay $700 for a phone. I tried using a smart TracPhone and that was fine for a bit but didn’t really meet my needs so about two years ago I went to Consumer Cellular (they use AT&T as their provider), and bought a phone, a Moto 3G. I got it set up, struggled to learn all the stuff the phone could do and all was fine for about a year. Then the sim card filled up. I couldn’t update my apps, including my Square app, which was going to be problem. I futzed around for over a year, trying this, that and the other thing and finally, about three weeks ago the phone started telling me it couldn’t do system updates.

I managed to make it through the Payson Book Festival with the phone operational but Wednesday, I finally went to a local guy, a Verizon seller, and asked for help. What a great guy! I told him what I use the phone for and he did some searching and ended up telling me to go to Amazon or back to Consumer Cellular and buy from them. Right! A wonderful fellow. Anyway, I searched Amazon, and the CC sites and finally called Consumer Cellular. Nice young woman talked to me and I finally sprung for a new (I was considering refurbished) Samsung Android 7. It should arrive Friday. I did not spend $700. I didn’t have to change my service plan. When I get the phone, I’m going to take it and my old phone to my local seller and pay to have him transfer everything over to the new phone. The least I can do, am I right?

So that’s my phone story. I’ll let you know how it goes.

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Gardening, Community Notices, Gulliver Box Set: Daily Blog Post

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Hey!

I meant to post this yesterday but lacked a picture so was waiting for it to arrive from a friend. Then it was dinner, then tv, then bed. Forgot all about it. Anyway, here’s yesterday’s and today’s post.

You know I like my gardening. Above and below are two pics from the garden. Above are a basket full of peaches I picked this morning. There’s still this many and more on the tree. Below is a picture from the melon patch. That’s hubby’s thumb in the picture. The little melon beside the big one are the biggest in the patch. The rest are all tiny little buds yet. The one melon plant is taking up an entire 4X4 foot garden bed and creeping over the sides and across the yard. So glad I didn’t succumb to temptation and plant anything else in that bed.

One of the things that fills the writer’s well of creativity is normal life. We do occasionally venture out of our writing caves and get some daylight. And besides, I mean, really, is there anything more useful to a writer’s characterization of a protagonist or other character than to be aware of the reactions of the people around them? Of course not.

Concurrent with that is being aware of community events. These events provide the little details that can be used in a book to make the whole story come to life.

In that vein, I want to talk about two local events that are coming up that feed that need for my own writing.

 

One is the upcoming Northern Gila County Fair. (I based some of my book, Mystery at the Fair, on my volunteer time with this fair.) This year we’re trying out a talent show. If you’re in the area, come and try out. There are still several dates available to do that. Here’s the flyer. In the meantime, mark your calendar for September 5th – 7th, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, to come and see the fair.

Then, September 15th, is the Christopher Creek Car Show. I plan on being there in a vendor booth talking to readers and selling and signing books! (Sorry, no flyer available yet.)

That’s it for today!

The Gulliver Station ebook box set released July 30th, 2018. You can buy it at Amazon today. You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.

Ice Cream Maker, Interviews and Talks, The Garden: Monday Blog Post

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Ice Cream Maker

Newest News:

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I couldn’t find the motor half of my ice cream maker. I’ve looked, hubby has looked, and it is just not anywhere to be found. We went to the local Walmart on Sunday only to find they don’t carry any, at least at the local store. So of course, I’m headed off to Amazon when I finish with this post, to order one. I’m thinking Cuisinart, as I already have a Cuisinart food processor and really like the brand. Probably less than 2 quarts. I don’t have any recipes that make 2 quarts of ice cream. In the meantime, I dug out my popsicle forms and poured the ice cream base in there, then took out a metal bread pan and poured the rest of the base in that. As I was putting it in the freezer I remembered I should have lined the pan with plastic wrap for easier removal. Sigh. I can now look forward to a fight to get the ice cream from the pan, but I’ll manage somehow. I’ll take a picture when I get a bowlful or eat one of the ice cream bars. Hmmm, wonder if I can make a chocolate shell????

 

I’ve been contacted recently by a couple of different people to appear on their radio show and in March, as a speaker at their fund-raising event. The show interview will probably be this fall. Details are still being set up. But the March thing is solid. I’m pretty excited and will certainly share specifics with you all when I get them, and the dates get closer. Both of these came about because I was at the Payson Book Festival. For many authors, attendance at these kinds of book signings is a money losing proposition. We never sell enough books to cover the costs involved in attending. However, the main reason we attend is to talk to readers. And, sometimes, we meet people that want to bring us along for other events. These are ways to get to meet more readers and, perhaps, generate future purchases of our books. I love talking to others about my journey as an author and about my books. I’m looking forward to both of these events. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a speaker, check out my media page. I have samples of interviews I’ve done, and basic information about me for you to download. There is contact information as well. I’m always looking for new opportunities to meet readers.

Hornworms

The garden is going strong. I’ve been in a battle for the tomato plants the last few days. Since last Wednesday I’ve gotten rid of about three dozen tomato hornworms. Ugh. They eat the plant down to the stem and they do it fast! Above is a picture hubby took of just a few of them before I sent them over the fence into the drainage ditch.

Giveaways:

The 2018 Authors/Bloggers Summer Giveaway is in progress at https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/giveaways-and-prizes/. There’s $80 as a Grand Prize Paypal Cash and 27 books and 27 prizes available to win.

The Smashwords’ site’s Summer/Winter Giveaway ends tomorrow! I have books ranging from free to 25% or even 75% off. I don’t usually do this so if you’re interested in some discounts, this is your last chance for a whole year! You can find a list of all of my books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/conniecockrell with the discounts already marked. Enjoy!

Newsletter Sign Up:

Click here to sign up for my newsletter.  I just published a new one last Sunday. I’ve put sign-up gifts on the regular and the SciFi/Fantasy and the Cozy Mystery newsletter sign-ups. That’s right. If you sign up for my newsletter you get a free story from me. Be prepared for fun and contests! Click on the video link for a short video from me. Hear what I’m working on. Join my “A” Team to be the first to read my books and hear what new books are coming.

Don’t forget to follow my blog, too. Different material goes in the blog as in the newsletter. You can share both, so spread the word!

Newest Book Release:

Tested released January 31st and I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords, today! You can also see all my books on https://conniesrandomthoughts.com/my-books-and-other-published-work/. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a short, honest, review on the site where you bought it or on Goodreads. It’s critical to help me promote the books to other readers. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my blog. Like all of the other work I do as an author, it takes time and money. If you enjoy this Monday blog and the Friday free story and the recipe I put up on the 25th of every month, consider donating to https://www.paypal.me/ConniesRandomThought. I appreciate any donation to help support this blog.