I’ve seen these a few times on You Tube, but I thought I would post them because they’re just so darned funny. I wish I could cut movie trailers. You can literally, through music and cuts, make any movie into a different genre. The Shining as a romantic comedy? Mary Poppins into a horror? Top Gun as the next Brokeback? LOL You decide.
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
2.) It takes place in my stomping grounds, good ol’ Portland, Oregon, baby!
3.) My novella in this project, entitled UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE, was once nominated for “Best Novella in an Anthology 2005″ at the RIO Awards.
4.) Jeremy Kitteridge, the hero, is one of the most adorable men I’ve ever written.
5.) Jeremy’s last name is one of Becka’s real life family names from back in the day.
6.) Jeremy dresses up like Santa for the kids. Aww…
7.) This book is available in eBook AND print, and is even on Amazon.com! 
8.) It will get you in the mood for Christmas if you’re not feelin’ it this year.
9.) You’ve read all my other books, but never this one, because it wasn’t Christmas time. Well guess what? 
10.) If you’ve NEVER read any of my books, this is an excellent one to start with, since MY contribution is only a novella, and it’s in an anthology with two other authors you may or may not have heard of. Broaden your reading horizons!
11.) It’s a straight contemporary romance, with no shifters, vampires, magic (despite the title), menages, or manlove.
12.) Yes, I said manlove.
13.) Paul Walker.
Okay, so #13 was contrived. But it woke ya up, didnit? 
Happy T-13!
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
After reading so many current events in our news recently, I’ve come to realize that we in America sometimes take our rights and privileges for granted.
Freedom of speech, for instance, to name a teddy bear any damn name we want to.
Our right to meet with men in public who are not relatives, and if we do happen to get gang raped along the way, we’re not “blamed” for it — and then flogged and jailed.
Good Lord. What the heck is wrong with the world today?
Sure, America has it’s fair share of heinous and unforgivable crimes. But when it comes to our rights as citizens, we can take them for granted. Regardless of what you think of our president, the war in Iraq, or the state of things here at home, we Americans really do have it good. Our women don’t have to dress from head to toe in black robes. We’re not whipped or caned upon being punished by the court. Our women can VOTE and heck, campaign to become the leader of this country, or even be one of the richest women in the world. Our women can drive and talk to any stranger she likes. We’re allowed to worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster if we so desire.
Yessiree, I’m proud to be an American, and regardless of their questionable life practices, I would kiss the Founding Fathers if I could.
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
Here it is, week after Thanksgiving, and I’m just “thankful” it’s all over with. Is that horrid of me? You know, I do so love the holidays at the end of the year, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The holiday trifecta. However, there does come a time when the “fun” becomes too much and you just want your life to go back to normal. I reached that point yesterday. LOL
We had fun at my sister’s house on the big day, and on Black Friday, we went out and chopped down our Christmas tree. Pics can be seen on my hubby’s Flickr page:
Christmas tree farm/decoration pictures
As you can see, our tree is red and silver this year. It looks really great, even though our four children oversaw the entire decorating process. I hung a few small balls on the top while DH planted the angel on the tip. All the rest (aside from the lights) our children did. Our tree was 9 feet tall and had to be cut from a much taller Noble Fir. You see, DH and I love the Nobles, in part because they LAST the entire Christmas season, and also because their branches allow your ornaments room to dangle. A lot of other firs, the ornaments “rest” on the needles, and that’s no bueno. So the Nobles this year were EPIC in size, and the farmer told us to go ahead and lob them off wherever we wanted the height to be. So the part we cut off, (9 feet of tree) was about 4 feet up the trunk! In all, the tree we chose was probably about 13 feet from the ground to the top, as the crow flies. Yup, epic, I tell ya.
Did you know that something like 40% of the country’s Christmas trees come from Oregon? So the next time you’re buying a tree from your local tree stand… Perhaps it’s from the Pacific Northwest.
But there’s nothing quite like chopping down your own. The farm we go to does a few things for us. First, if you bought their tree stand from years past, they will give you a free bale for you (which ties up the tree in a thread of plastic twine), and before they bale it, they will shake it on a machine (to get all the dead needles off). That’s kinda funny to watch. lol Then, after the tree is baled, they mount it on their base, which has a spike that goes up into the trunk of the tree. This is extremely handy, because all you do is take your tree home, stand it where you want it to go, cut the baling twine, and voila, your tree is perfectly placed and standing straight up and down.
Not only that, but they give you free hot apple cider and hot chocolate along with candy canes. If you want, they also sell wreaths made with real pine branches. So totally cool. It’s a little bit of a drive, but it’s tradition in the Goings family to go out day after Thanksgiving and start the Christmas season off right.
Besides, picking your tree from a “forest” and chopping it down is much more fun that picking it out of a parking lot line up. LOL Of course, I don’t do any of the work, so that could be why I like it so… hehehe
If any of you is wondering who that dog is in our pictures, no, she’s not our dog. Her name is Reba, and she’s the farm’s dog, allowed to roam wherever she may go. She was a sweetheart.
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
But aside from the “punny” movie quote, I’m blogging about food. More specifically, baking said food. You see, the fam and I are going to Salem on Thanksgiving, to my sister’s house. Because my sister hates me for some reason, DH and I have always had to bring our own pecan pie. Oh, pumpkin and apple make it to the table, but never the pecan. Favorite. Pie. Evar.
Seriously folks, apple? APPLE?? Who the heck eats apple pie on Thanksgiving? Sure, it’s an American pie on an American holiday yadda yadda. But traditional Thanksgiving fare has always been the double p’s – the P-Squared if you will. P/P? No, that’s just fricken’ wrong.
PUMPKIN and PECAN people, pumpkin and pecan. What do I gotta do to get some pecan action on my holiday? I’ve got to make it myself, that’s what I gotta do. So tomorrow, I am making a pecan pie from scratch with homemade flaky crust (yum).
Aside from the pecan pie snafu, my family never has any whipped cream on hand. NEVAR. What the heck? You have a bajillion APPLE pies on Thanksgiving, at least you can have some %$*@# Cool Whip! Therefore, I bought 6 extra tubs of the stuff (there will be a lot of people there who love pie with their Cool Whip). So, that’s covered.
But get this. There is one member of my sister’s extended family who loves to bring deviled eggs to any pot-luck gathering. Right on, right? Well, we ALWAYS run out. I don’t know what it is about my family, but a plateful of deviled eggs gets devoured within about 5 minutes from appearing, with the plate licked clean enough to be placed back within the cupboard.
Therefore, I’m making a “back-up” stash. I even asked my sister if her sister-in-law would be “offended” or “saddened” that I stepped on her toes, sorta speak, because SHE’S the one always bringing the eggs. I say girlfriend better buy another couple dozen eggs if she doesn’t want anyone encroaching on her territory. LOL “Deviled Eggs To Feed Them All…”
On top of all THAT, I’ve got to make rolls for 20 people. Well, 15 adults and 5 small kids. Assuming the small kids will only eat one roll, if I make enough for each adult to have at least two (better safe than sorry), we’re talking 35 rolls. That’s about three batches of rolls, homemade. My sister didn’t have this covered, if you can believe it. What kind of Thanksgiving FEAST is it without the rolls? I mean, even if you don’t eat them all during the dinner, or even if they don’t get passed around at all… Uhm… Leftovers? You know, those yummy little turkey/stuffing/cranberry sauce sammiches you make around 7pm?
So yeah, I decided if I was going to be responsible for bringing stuff, I’d at least homemake them. I could have bought rolls at the store or a pecan pie, even. But even with all the strange idiosyncrasies my family’s got, I still love ‘em, the big lugs. And let’s face it. It’s not like I can trade them in for upgrades.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Until we meet again after the holiday weekend!
(or during, because we’re going to get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving *tradition in our family – we cut down our own from a tree farm* and I might have something cool to blog about our tree).
Dear Lord. The kids just went trick-or-treating and now we’re getting a CHRISTMAS TREE?!? One of these days, I’m going to wake up and be 80 years old and think to myself, “Life comes at you fast…”
Heheh
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
I just wrote Regal Cinemas Corporate a nasty-gram.
Maybe not as scathing as I would have LIKED to have written, but I wrote them a letter nonetheless. Why? Well, DH and I took the kids to see Fred Claus today, which surprisingly, was a good movie. You know you’re a sap when a movie like “Fred Claus” can make you cry. lol
Anyhow, my crying is not the point. I’ll let my nasty-gram tell you the story. And I’ll keep you updated if/when Regal Cinemas ever get in touch with me regarding this issue. Believe me, I left them with my address, my email, and my phone number, so they better damn well get back to me. I don’t necessarily care about “compensation”, (ie, free movie tickets or whatever), but just acknowledgment that SOMETHING will be done about this matter.
Without further adieu:
I took my family to see “Fred Claus” Saturday Nov. 17th. After watching the movie, myself and my two young daughters, aged 8 & 7, had to use the restroom. Upon entering one of the stalls, I found no toilet paper. I went to another stall, and there was no toilet paper in there either. In the FIFTH stall I checked, there was half a roll left, and at this point, I was highly frustrated. My oldest daughter had finished and was washing her hands while my younger daughter mentioned there was no paper in her stall. This was stall #5 without toilet paper, as the first four I’d checked didn’t either. When I was finished, I handed her some toilet paper under the door. I asked my older daughter if there had been toilet paper in her stall. She said no, she just did her business without wiping. That would be stall #6 without toilet paper. After experiencing such shock at the lack of toilet paper, I heard a stranger in a stall I hadn’t checked ALSO lament that there was no paper in HER stall. #7.
I wanted to check the other stalls, but by this time, I was so upset that I went to find a manager. His excuse? They knew they were out of toilet paper and they had someone going to another “location” to pick up more.
My husband was upset as well, mentioning they should put up a sign on the empty stalls, and the manager looked at him as if he’d never thought of that solution, and said, “Good idea.”
This appalled me, mainly because it was Saturday morning, and if Friday night had been so busy, then you’d think the cleaning staff Friday night would have seen there was no toilet paper for the morning. And not only that, there was a SPECIAL EVENT going on at this theater this morning, that included some “fun time” for the kids in lieu of the release of the “Magic Emporium” movie, with a miniature bounce house and some kiddie bowling, not to mention two Marines in full dress uniform handing out raffle tickets. Imagine my disdain in knowing this theater was so poorly maintained that NO ONE on the night shift even THOUGHT to go to this “other location” and obtain the toilet paper before the event the next morning.
I wouldn’t have been so angry if it had just been one or two stalls that had been out of toilet paper. But SEVEN stalls (that I know of), out of about twenty stalls, without toilet paper is unacceptable, especially when my young daughters cannot go to the restroom without soiling themselves. Thank goodness they didn’t have diarrhea! I shudder to think of what poor woman did her business only to find she could not cleanse herself. It is not only unprofessional, but unsanitary, and even though we complained to the management, I felt they did not handle the situation in the manner it should have been handled. There is a huge grocery store right across the street–they could have bought ANYTHING just to have SOMETHING on hand while waiting on a toilet paper delivery from another location. If an employee had done that, I might be writing you a letter of praise instead of one of complaint. Having toilet paper is more than a courtesy, it is customer service, and if Regal et al. wants my family and all my friends to continue going to that theater, I expect there to at least be toilet paper in every stall, so that my children can go to the bathroom and not have to worry about soiling their panties.
~*~*~
Bastardos.
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
Today, I’m chatting with my fellow authors, Beth Williamson and Melissa Schroeder on the Samhain Cafe Yahoo Loop. We’re posting excerpts and giving away free downloads today. You do NOT want to miss this chat! What are we yakking about? Our latest anthology, Leather & Lace, of which HIGH NOON is a part. And in honor of HIGH NOON, I thought I would give you the inspiration behind Talon, Mr. Jay Tavare.
Now, you might recognize Jay, not only because he was one of my previous hotties, but because he was also featured on my HotW Rewind a few months ago. Yup, this is his THIRD time being showcased here. But it’s not without reason. I think Mr. Tavare is, perhaps, one of the hottest Native Americans I have EVER laid my eyes on.
Who better to choose for Talon’s inspiration?
Enjoy the Man of Hotties’ Past and come join me for some good times today!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samhaincafe/
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
Okay, folks, I know I haven’t done a T-13 in a LOOOONG time, over a month. 
But today, I’m back and better than ever (until after Thanksgiving, because let’s face it, I’m gonna be piggin’ out next week. WORD!)
Aside from the fact that my newest book, HIGH NOON, an historical Western romance, has been released in eBook (it’s only a novella, folks, you can read on the computer for an hour or two. ):
http://www.samhainpublishing.com/romance/high-noon
/shameless plug
Here are 13 things I’ve always wondered about:
1.) What the hell sense does the explanation, “The grass is green because it reflects every color except green, therefore, it is green” MEAN, exactly? That’s the kind of weird circular logic that ties my brain in knots, folks.
2.) Why is Native Americans’ skin so much DARKER in old timey pictures than it is today? Have the Indians of today had their bloodlines “watered down” by the white man? Is it the quality of the black and white film? Or were they merely tanner than today’s Native Americans because they were always outside in the sun?
3.) Before blogs, websites, podcasts, MySpace, Yahoo/Google groups & basically the Internet in general, how did authors promote their books?
4.) And on that note, how can we be such a tech-saavy society when everyone I know (who isn’t married to me) barely knows how to turn on their computer?
“What did the error message say, exactly?”
“I don’t know, I just clicked on “OK”.
5.) Why do people get so pissed off when you bring up Jesus, but have absolutely no problem talking to you about ANY OTHER RELIGION on the planet? Even the hostile ones?
6.) Who are “they”?
7.) Further, where are these “studies”, “surveys”, & “statistics” posted?
8.) Who actually LICKS a Tootsie Roll Pop?
9.) Why couldn’t the mucky-mucks in South Carolina pull the sticks out (if you know what I mean) and allow Stephen Colbert on the Democratic ticket? I’m tellin’ you right now, I bet a WHOLE lot more people woulda voted come election day. Think about THAT, pundits.
10.) Is my favorite color rose pink or lavender purple?
11.) Why do people constantly ask me if all these kids….are mine? No, you moron, I run a Day Care and frequently take other people’s kids on a “field trip” to the grocery store — of course their all mine!! **SMACK**
12.) If we can’t digest corn, then why are these corn chips making me fat?
13.) Why can’t Creationists and Evolutionists come to a compromise and admit that yeah, they BOTH might be right?
~*~*~
There you have it. Thirteen questions I’ve asked myself.
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
People Magazine has recently announced their “Sexiest Man Alive” and I’m just grinning from ear to ear. If you’ll remember, I campaigned a few months ago with my Hottie of the Week to give the SMA title to the deserving Matt Damon. And they listened!
See for yourself:
People Magazine Announces Matt Damon as “Sexiest Man Alive”
In fact, I’m so tickled for Mr. Damon and his campaign to become the SMA, I was giggling like an idiot when I read the above article. Of course, my daughter then asked, “What’s so funny?” I tried to explain it, but her eyes glazed over and she began to drool. Unfortunately, not the kind of “drool” one might associate with the Sexiest Man Alive.
If you read all the way to the bottom, you’ll in fact see a sidenote that says:
“Many thanks to Rebecca Goings and her blog Becka’s Babble for swaying the editors of People Magazine to choose Matt Damon as the Sexiest Man Alive.”
(Well, not really, but that woulda been cool, eh?
Congratulations, Matt Damon. You’ve got friends in high places!
~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com
As much as I love dragons, I have no love for the bearded ones. Yes, folks, our bearded dragon “Lizard” died this evening (or perhaps yesterday or the day before, we don’t really know.)
The facts are these:
About 8 Christmases ago, DH’s best friend decided it would be a good idea to give him a reptile as a gift. This idea sprang from DH’s passing comment of “Lizards are cool” or some such, which somehow got construed by the best friend as “Ooo, I want a cool lizard!”
And so, on Christmas morning, as we were opening the strange trembling gift with the airholes on top, we found ourselves face to face with a brand new car! No, no, sorry. *ahem* Wrong post. …a brand new bearded dragon hatchling.
Thanks. I think. :-\
Now, we were in a quandry. Forced to buy some kind of terrarium for the tyke, we obtained one from DH’s mom (my memory is kinda sketchy on this, as it’s been so long, but I think that’s where we got it.) This monstrous-looking thing came with a huge, ugly, HEAVY base with cupboards and all. For such a small creature, you’d think their home wouldn’t be quite so big. I mean, it’s impossible to hide that thing.
HI, WE HAVE A FRICKEN’ LIZARD!!!
I think people noticed the lizard first because of the huge terrariuminum instead of our other critters. But because this creature was a gift, we couldn’t give it away or sell it, as that would just be plain rude, and how do you explain to your best friend that you couldn’t stand the damn thing in the first place?
So the years rolled on and we moved quite a bit, all the while cussing at the lizard, the terrariummuminum, and the heavy-ass base it sits on for all the space it takes up in the moving van, not to mention our new home. Seriously. Worse than fish, folks. At least with fish, I’d want to sit and watch them for awhile. The only joy we got out of that lizard was watching him eat the occasional cricket and/or mealworm, but of course that meant *I’D* be the one going to the pet shop to buy the damned things. More than once, I’ve had to hold back the willies while a bag of 50 adult crickets rolls around in the front seat of my car on my way home to feed the lizard. **shudder**
We “loved” the lizard so much that we named it…you guessed it, “Lizard”. Originally, DH had named it “Dog”, because we didn’t have (or couldn’t have) a dog at that time, and he really wanted one. But we never called it “Dog”, and once we got a dog, it seemed a misnomer. We hardly ever handled the thing, so whenever you’d go to change its water, the darned thing would hiss at you.
Every year, when he’d go into hibernation, DH and I would frequently poke and prod him, wondering if he’d passed on to bask on the Giant Boulder in the Sky, but then he’d crack an eye and we’d groan, lamenting yet another year of the poor, unwanted lizard and the unsightly terrarinariranium.
This evening, whilst going through my nightly ritual, locking up and turning off lights, I noticed I didn’t see him breathing. Well, that was nothing new, as when in hibernation, he’d frequently take shallow breaths few and far between. But his eyes were half-open, just barely cracked, and he’d never do that, unless to curse you for interrupting his beauty sleep. And so, I decided to do my scientific “Is he dead yet?” test perfected in years past. I tapped on the glass. Nothing. I blew into the cage. No flinching. I stared at him for a full minute. No sign of breathing.
I call out to my DH, “Hey, I think your lizard is dead.”
“Really?” he asks, moseying over to the terranthimum. “‘Bout time.”
I arch my brow.
DH looks at me. “Now we can put this thing on Craig’s List and finally be rid of it.”
(not the dead lizard, the CAGE, you nutty people)
Do I feel bad about not mourning the loss of a critter we’ve had for eight years? Not really. I never would have chosen a lizard for a pet, and I still wouldn’t. Not because I think lizards or snakes are “gross” or “creepy”, but because you can’t really snuggle with a bearded dragon. Perhaps some people do, but they’s crazy folk. And because of that, I never “bonded” with the thing. It was just one more mouth to feed, really.
All of this brings me to this moment, at 1:25am in the morning, blogging on Becka’s Babble. Why am I blogging at this time of night? Well, because I wanted to get rid of the lizard before the kids wake up. Don’t want to deal with “clean up reptile corpse on aisle 5” in the morning. Besides, just having it laying there waiting for me to dig it out of the terraminium is kinda nasty/creepy. I literally went to bed, then got up to take care of it. Icky icky icky pe-tang!
Now, I will quietly remove any mention of “Lizard” from my bios that are in the back of my books (only upcoming books, not ones already released). As of this moment, we only have one dog and one cat. If anyone ever has half a mind to give us another lizard again, better check your pockets and purses, because that shit’s goin’ home with you!
