Dear Readers,

I want to thank each and every one of my readers and fans for the support and love throughout these years.  It has been my dream for as long as I can remember to be an author.  I’ve always wanted to write romance, as it is the power of love and commitment between a man and a woman that drew me.

However, I can no longer write these novels with a clear conscience.  As most of you know, I am a Christian.  I have a religious blog and I frequently talk about God on my FaceBook page.  I feel as if God has been pressing on my heart that He has other plans for me than writing romance and/or erotic romance.

Celebrating and writing about the power of love and commitment is one thing.  But doing so for the express purpose of titillating the reader is wrong in my eyes.  Therefore, the releases of SCOUNDREL in June from Carnal Passions and RENEGADE in August from Champagne Books will be my last and final romance novels.

For many of you, this is a huge disappointment.  I know of many people who enjoy my books.  However, I have written roughly 31 books and novellas, a number any author can be proud of in a career.

This decision has nothing to do with getting rejected by any publishing house, and it has nothing to do with being an eBook author.  This is strictly a conviction I have felt since the beginning of the year that this part of my life is over.

To those who aren’t religious, you might believe this is a rash and silly decision.   But in reality, it was a very easy one for me to make.  If you knew me, you’d know I am a Jesus freak.  I only listen to Christian music.  I have words of inspiration on my walls.  I read my Bible daily.  And the recurring themes of lust, fornication, and cussing in my books weighed heavily on me.  It might give my books a realism, however, I believe as a Christian, that I am IN this world, not OF it.  Therefore, I can no longer participate in writing about such things.

Please do not take this post as a judgment on others who choose to write or read romance.  This decision is about ME and what I feel in my own heart.

This was a hard decision, but in the end, it really wasn’t hard at all.  I apologize for any shock or disappointment I may have caused, but I am still around, on FaceBook, Twitter, and email.

Thank you to everyone for joining me on this journey.  I love every one of you, and I hope you will continue to follow me on this adventure we call life!

~~Becka

My dearest Jim,

Today is our anniversary.  We’ve been married now for sixteen years, however we’ve been together for eighteen–literally half our lives.  There is no other person who knows me so well, and no other person I’d rather be with.

Together, we’ve grown as people, as friends, and as lovers.  I look back at our lives and I’m amazed by all that you have given me.

First, you gave me your heart.  Then you gave me your life.  The years passed and our family was blessed as one-by-one, you gave me five beautiful children.  You worked hard to give me the means to stay home with them, to nurture and teach them in the ways that they should go.

As if that wasn’t enough, you continue to give of yourself, and whether it be great or small, I see every one of your sacrifices.

I do not tell you every day how very much I love you or how totally blessed I am that God gave you to me.  It is not often one can say they’ve found the person they want to stand beside for the rest of their life–and mean it.  It’s even more rare to find that person so early in life.

There are times I’m caught off guard by your smile and how very handsome you are.  Sometimes I’m struck by your tenderness which makes me love you all the more.

I never knew there were so many layers and so much depth to love until I married you.  I never knew anyone could ever love me as fiercely as you do, all in, with no reservations or second thoughts.  Before I met you, I believed it was hopeless for me.  I thought the man I dreamed of didn’t exist.

But you did, and I thank God every day for giving me to you.  You are the rock of our family, my very best friend, and the only man who will ever live in my heart.

I love you.  Happy anniversary.

Always,
Rebecca

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates to my blog.  A few weeks ago, my baby daughter accidentally spilled coffee all over my laptop.  It was still under warranty, thankfully, but that meant in order to fix it, the entire laptop needed to be sent off to TN.  UGH.  I waited about two weeks to get it back, and when I did, I learned the only things that hadn’t been replaced were the monitor and the hard drive.  WOW!  It’s like getting an entirely new computer.  I was amazed and thankful that I didn’t have to buy a new one!

I can’t tell you the different levels of heart failure I went through when I saw that coffee on my laptop.  First, it happened in slow-mo, with a long, drawn-out, “NOOOOOOO!!!”  But of course, it’s one of those things you can’t stop from happening.  I felt like Helen Keller without my computer, even though DH sacrificed his work laptop so I could have a computer at least.  But it didn’t have MS Word installed on it, so I couldn’t write, nor could I do my edits on THE JACKAL PRINCE, and it was killing my inner child!

BUT, I finally have my computer back, and I’ve been working on edits and writing.  YAY!  I got my first round edits turned in on JACKAL, Book V of my Desert Princes.  Book IV, THE SPIDER PRINCE, releases from Carnal Passions on Wed., February 16th!  You definitely do NOT want to miss that book, it’s my favorite out of all the princes. 

My current project, HEART OF A SCOUNDREL, is almost finished.  Right now, I just have wrap up to do and then clean it up before I turn it in.  My publisher thinks it’s title is too clunky, and has suggested naming it simply to SCOUNDREL.  That will most likely be the book’s finished title.  But I’ve had great fun writing this one.  It won’t be too long, probably a few thousand words past 40K, but it’s a great little story, I believe! Hopefully you won’t have long to wait before you can read it. 

DH and I have been taking care to eat better and measure our food portions, not to mention getting out and exercising more.  Since January 1st, I’ve lost 16lbs!  It’s very rewarding to see the scale go the other way, considering I lost about 65 lbs before I had my baby daughter, then promptly gained it all BACK!!  Ugh.  So I’ve got to lose all of that AGAIN before I see any “new” progress.  But this time, I’ve been very good about not sneaking food or cheating.  Every week to two weeks, DH and I have our “cheat” days, and that helps a lot.  Couple that with low calorie Skinny Cow ice cream desserts, and we’re doing just fine.  I don’t even miss eating like I used to.

The thing is, whenever we cheat, I feel like I have a gut bomb in my belly now and I pay for it a few hours later.  My insides just don’t like to eat greasy fatty foods after being fed good stuff for awhile.  So I don’t always like to cheat because of how I feel afterward.

My goal is to lose enough weight so that I can buy an affordable treadmill for home.  Ironic, right?!  They do make treadmills for fatties, but you’ve got to shell out the dough.  The moment I can get down a bit, I’m going to buy myself an affordable one.  It’s just easier than packing up five kids and walking around the neighborhood.  It’s very hard for me to get the proper speed I need to get my heart rate up and calories burned when I’ve got to keep five eyes on my kids.  So right now, I’m more focused on MOVING more rather than speed and cardio.  Once I can get my weight down enough with diet and moving more, I can focus more on speed and cardio after I buy a treadmill.  And that IS the goal.  I can’t wait to strap on my iPod and just WALK (or jog) without having to worry about the kids lagging behind or when am I going to exercise if the baby has to nap kind of thing.

Anyway, I’ll keep you updated on my progress.  That’s it from my end.  Hope y’all have been doing well!

~~Becka

2010 was a productive year for me.  It brought a string of rejections that I was able to turn into sales.  BLACK ANGEL, RIDE THE LIGHTNING, THE FALL OF JERICHO, & RENEGADE were all rejected, but were snatched up by Champagne Books and Cobblestone Press.

It brought the return of my BEAST series (OMG Mac..*drool*) and the introduction of a new erotic series about Desert Princes, which people seem to like a bit. 

I was discovered by eBook pirates, but I’m not complaining — too much.  Since I’ve been “discovered”, my sales have gone up, so I suppose once they read one book they like, they buy the rest.   And unbelievably, my fantasy novella, KINDRED, did amazingly well in sales.  Better than I ever thought it would do.  I don’t know what it was about that little book.  Dragon shifters?  Word of mouth?  I don’t know.  But it was a pleasant surprise for me.

I spent the rest of the year finishing that Desert Princes series (it was so much fun!), and I’ve finally begun a new Western, the sequel to IN YOUR ARMS, a book for Shirley Bloom.  It’s also erotic, entitled HEART OF A SCOUNDREL that I’m about halfway through currently.

I decided about halfway through the year to quit chasing the Golden Carrot of NY publishing.  Not because I didn’t think I was good enough, and not because of my rejections.  But because I truly believe eBooks are the wave of the future, and more and more people are buying Kindles and Nooks every day.  If I can be the Best Darn eBook Author I can be, then score!  I would love to be well-known as a best selling eBook author.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to get as well-known as a NY author, but NOT be pubbed in NY?  I think it would be pretty darned sweet.  So that’s my new goal in my writing career–write as many books as I can, reach as many people as I can, and become a Big Name without the springboard of NY.  Anything can happen in five years…

(….so tell your friends and help me make this a reality!  lol….)

And then I had my whole wrist debacle.  UGH.  I still don’t know what’s going on in there.  I think for now, there’s nothing more doctors can do for me.  But it took the entire year to come to that conclusion.  However, I did score surgery on my wrist that helped me tremendously, so it wasn’t a complete failure.  But I can work throughout the day without my brace on 24/7.  That’s a win in my book.

It was a wild ride, 2010.  Up and down, rejections and sales, and too much dang time waiting on doctors to find out what the heck was wrong with me.  Let’s hope 2011 brings all kinds of great tidings!

~~Becka

I forgot to tell you guys I went to the rheumatologist right before Christmas.  I do not have RA, thank goodness.  However, she did say I’m “double jointed”, the non-technical term for joints that hyper-extend further than they’re supposed to.  Athletes and gymnasts are well-known to be double jointed to do the things they can do.

What does that mean?  Well, it means hyper-extending a joint can do more damage to the cartilage/ligaments than it might a normal person.  So when I pushed up off my cushy couch over a year ago and twanged my ligaments that lead to the TFCC tear, they most likely hyper-extended and “laxed” a bit.

She mentioned to make sure I keep my muscles toned, as a tighter muscle pulls on the tendons/ligaments and thus reduces this laxity.  What does that mean in the long run?

According to her, wear my brace while doing heavy lifting or more intense chores, or whenever my wrist hurts.  Possibly at night when I sleep, too.  And tone my arm muscles more so they pull tighter on the ligaments.

Basically, thank you, drive through, and welcome to the rest of your life.

Now, there’s not much I can do about my wrist other than wait and see if some new problem pops up.  Which will most likely be arthritis.  I always knew I’d have problems with this wrist one day.  Looks like my time of just sucking it up and living with it has come.

It’s not gonna keep me from writing, tho.  No sirree.

~~Becka

DH and I were a little “late” doing our Christmas cards this year.  We usually like to get them out by the 15th of December, but this year we were lazy/busy and didn’t get them done in our usual timely manner.  But, since we know friends and family love to have pictures of the kids at least once a year, we knew we had to do them.

My hubby has a nice camera, so we got everything ready and took photos of the kids.  After he put them on an SD card for me, I was on my way to get them processed for our Christmas cards.

I had some grocery shopping to do, as well as some Christmas shopping, and I had to get the photos printed.  This past summer, Walmart just opened a Super Walmart in my neck of the woods.  I love Walmart, and since I could do all three of my errands in one place, I decided to do a one-stop-shop and go to my local Wally’s.

One hour photo was great.  I chose what I wanted and selected my prints.  Did my shopping, got my pictures after an hour and was on my way.  I should have looked at the photos before I left the store.  When I got home, the group shot had the kids’ foreheads chopped.  ACK!!  Are you kidding me?  The pics were perfectly cropped on the SD card, why were they weird in the prints?!

SIGH

This means I have to go back out to Walmart.  And it’s not that close, it’s about 5 miles away.  Okay, well, DH has a prescription to fill and I did want to get some Christmas gifts for the kids while they’re hanging out with Daddy.  So, later that evening, I go back out to Wally’s to get these other errands done — and to have them fix my prints.

Bad idea.  BAAAAD idea.  See, I probably would have gone to Target or Costco to get it done (they’re both closer) BUT, I spent too much $$ on these prints AND I couldn’t find the damn receipt.  *sob*

So I get there, and the lady informs me she can do it in a few minutes.  But while she puts my bad prints aside, someone comes up to the counter with a request to pick up a package at the site-to-store counter, which just so happens to be — wait for it — the one hour photo counter!  Ding ding ding!

So the ONE lady working the one hour photo goes in the back to look for this person’s package.  She’s gone for a good five minutes.  While we’re both waiting, a line begins to form.  The lady comes back, and begins helping all these people in line, who all just happen to be — wait for it — site-to-store customers!  What does that mean?  It means they order something online, and they pick it up at the store.

Apparently, site-to-store trumps reprinting my bitchy prints, because this lady keeps helping everyone in line, supposedly waiting for a break in the insanity.  But none comes.  Person after person is lining up for pick ups at site-to-store, and she disappears time and again for more packages, all the while saying, “I’ll get to you in a moment” or “I’m so sorry, I’ll be right with you.”

LIES, ALL LIES!

After about a 1/2 hour of waiting, I finally just say, I’m going to come back.  She looks relieved, still having a long-ass line to take care of for site-to-store.  I’m rather pissy, because customer service lady told me it would only be maybe 5 minutes to reprint my photos.  So I leave, do my other shopping, and return, only to have the lady tell me she couldn’t print the photos without chopping off the foreheads and she’d have to have her manager do it.  When does the manager come in?

The next day.

I take a deep breath, surpress my inner bitch (because I haven’t eaten yet, and anyone who knows me knows I will bite your head off and chew on your neck if you look at me cross-eyed when I have an empty stomach), and agree to the terms.  ONLY because I have to come back to Walmart the *next* day to pick up another prescription (they didn’t have it in stock) and to return a book I’d bought there previously.  And also because I understood the lady behind the counter wasn’t the brightest light on the tree.

“We’ll call you,” she said.  Lies.  All lies.

So the next day, I decide to call first, and of course, the photos desk doesn’t answer their phone.  I noticed this when the lady had been helping site-to-store the previous evening.  She ignored it.

I’m going in!

I get there, and of course, the prints haven’t yet been reprinted (it’s about 19 hours later, mind), BUT, the manager is IN.  Yay!  She informs me she can include the foreheads, but she’ll have to crop their chests.  UHM…no one effing cares about their chests — DO IT ALREADY!!!

And omg, more site-to-store people.  GO THE EFF AWAY!!!

Boss lady says, “This’ll take 5 minutes, just wait, we’ll be done in a flash.”

Lies.  All lies.

So I’m waiting.  The boss is looking for packages, it seems she’s training a newbie OR this person is a few weeks in, because they had a somewhat deer-in-headlights look about her.  After 10 minutes, boss says, “Sorry, we’ll get to you in a minute”.  After another 15 minutes, she explains, “I’m so sorry, but we had a huge greeting card order to print before I printed yours, and I didn’t know until it came through.”

WHAT?!  So tell me to go shop or something, don’t tell me to stand there and wait because it’ll be “5 minutes”.  But now that I’ve already waited this long, the greeting card order is now finished.  And the boss decides that’s a good time to… leave.  I don’t know where she went, but she left, she might have gone on break, decided to do something else, I don’t know.  But she left my reprints in the hands of deer-in-headlights lady.

I wait another 20 minutes.  And by now I’m right pissed.  With nothing else to do, I take one of their “suggestion box” slips and proceed to write a rant — front and back of the slip — of my saga.  I slammed Walmart for the bad prints for one, for making me wait for two, for lumping site-to-store with one hour photo for three, and telling them I will NEVER order prints from them again OR do the site-to-store option, because I also witnessed THOSE people waiting for 1/2 hour 45 minutes for someone to find their packages in the back.  I told them BOO, VERY BOO, Walmart!!  I even left my phone number.

I will LOVE to talk to someone if they call me.  I doubt they will.

I understand it’s Christmas.  I understand lines will happen.  But my GAWD, Wally, the Customer Service ladies were doing NOTHING at their counter, make THEM do the effing site-to-store!!!  Why does it have to be one hour photo that gets the shaft?!  And if the photo reprints were as easy as chopping a sliver of their chests to get their entire heads, then why didn’t the first lady know how to do that?!

It was an epic FAIL all the way around.  If I were a bitchier lady, I would have been vocal, I would have been ranting — in store — I would have demanded my money back, even though I didn’t have a receipt.  But I’m very non-confrontational, and I do understand when things get busy and hectic.

But I what I expect is some modicum of decorum from ANYONE involved in this debacle to tell me to go shopping — this will take awhile.  Don’t tell me it will be “5 minutes” and then leave for your g’damn lunch break.  Don’t tell me you have everything under control and then proceed to IGNORE me in favor of site-to-store.

Moral of this story folks, because I gotta share this with you so you aren’t stuck in the same FUBARED SNAFU — NEVER get your pictures printed at Walmart, and NEVER do site-to-store.  I told you, Walmart, never again would I utilize you for these two services.  And now, I’ve educated my readers.  Hope you’re pleased with yourself.

~~Becka, who is NOW releasing her inner bitch

Good bad news?  What is that?!  Well, the short version: Doc didn’t find anything wrong.  Good news because nothing is wrong — bad news because nothing is wrong.  There is nothing further my doctor can do for me.

He suggested I go see a rheumatologist.  In his experience, patients who present with “phantom” pain are often diagnosed a year or two down the road with a condition that gives hindsight to the pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis.  Even though the bone scan showed no inflammation (I don’t understand how that’s possible), it is still in my best interest to get checked out.  There is no cure for RA, however, early treatment can work wonders, apparently.

The doc did give me a blood test back in May that came up negative for RA, however, he mentioned it’s not as detailed as a blood test a rheumatologist would give me.  And since my mother has it, there is a chance I could get it too.

I just think it’s so odd that nothing showed up.  A bone scan can see inflammation, hairline fractures, ligament tears, infections…  There was nothing.  It looked exactly the same as my “healthy” side.  Couple that with my doctor mentioning the cortisone shot I had didn’t do anything for me, he just has no idea what’s wrong with me.

I’d thought maybe my doc had missed something on the MRI, but you’d think whatever they missed would have shown on the bone scan.  I just don’t understand it.  I do have other aches and pains in many of my other joints.  My ankles and knees are stiff a lot.  My shoulders ache sometimes.  But I’m overweight.  I don’t have the best diet.  I do chores throughout the day.  I have five kids.  A normal person is bound to have aches and pains, right?

Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe this is all a symptom of something that has nothing to do with my TFCC.  But if the rheumatologist can’t find RA, I’m back to square one.   I suppose I could get a second opinion since all the various tests have been done, just to have another set of eyes on my films.  I don’t know.  I kind of feel defeated.  I feel like the RA thing is a red herring.  But I’ll do it, just to be able to say, “I did that, it’s not that.”

When/if that point comes, will I just have to live with this?  That…kinda sucks. 

~~Becka

Wednesday was the day of my scheduled bone scan.  If you’re not familiar with a bone scan, it’s like the opposite of an x-ray.  Where x-rays send radiation into your body, a bone scan reads the radiation from your body.  How does it do this?  With a radioactive tracer they put in your body, of course!

Yes, I said radioactive.

I’m assuming it’s “safe” or else they wouldn’t do it, right?  Or at least that’s what I thought before I got the injection.  When it came to be time, I was given an IV into a vein in my elbow.  Then the nurse grabs a lead box.  Nestled inside was a yellow syringe, made of special leaded glass, he tells me.  It looks all awesome and old-timey.  Exactly what you’d expect something would look like that held radioactive goo.

“You won’t feel any different,” the nurse says to me.  “Perfectly safe.”  I was more fascinated than scared, to tell you the truth.  He says most people get freaked by the lead box.  Well, I did feel different.  I got a buzzed feeling and it stayed with me all day.  Not too buzzed to drive, maybe more like a foggy feeling.  I couldn’t concentrate, and it was kind of hard to think for awhile.  But the amazing thing was they put your arms on the scanner — it scans you from above and below.  Right after he injected me, I instantly saw dots of radiation on the monitor.

I told him I was surprised it spread so fast and he said, “Yes, once it gets in your blood stream it’s everywhere very quickly — your heart beats 60 times a minute.”

I had pictures taken right then after the injection, of my wrists, my elbows and my shoulders.  My doc had ordered a bilateral upper extremities scan, to compare and contrast the ouchy side from the healthy side, but to also see if there was anything else going on in there.  I had to come back 4 hours later after the radiation had been absorbed into my bones for more pictures of the same. (I know, folks, I don’t like typing that anymore than you probably like reading it. lol)

Anyway, even though I could see the images on the monitor, the nurse explained that I wouldn’t be able to see the finished films that day.  Apparently, they just look like a bunch of dots on a black background until the scans are sent through a special imaging program to read them properly.  He explained it should only take a couple of days to get the results and that I should be hearing from my doctor in two days (that would be today).  I haven’t heard anything yet, but Fridays are my doctor’s surgery days, so I don’t know if I’ll actually hear anything.  He did say he’d call me personally though, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.

And hopefully, I’ll be able to see these scans at some point.  I’m fascinated by it all.  I’m actually praying they DID find something of interest in there, because if not, my doc said there’s not much more he can do for me since the MRI I got didn’t show any other tissue anomalies, and my x-rays were clear, and if this bone scan is clear, then… Not much more he can do.

That’s going to suck if he says that to me.  I don’t have serious pain, I have full range of motion, but it’s stiff in there, and if I press on my hamate bone, that’s when it starts to hurt.  If I do too many strenuous things, it hurts.  And sometimes it just hurts for no reason.  That’s why I wonder if I fractured my hook of hamate — that non-union fracture can’t be seen on normal x-ray films and it seems to have the very same symptoms I’m having.  Treatment is extraction of the hook via surgery.  Of course I won’t know until later today if that’s what’s going on if/when the doctor calls.  So I’ll let you know what he says after I talk with him.

~~Becka

I have been given, quite possibly, the most amazing and epic book review for THE VIPER PRINCE…well, ever. For ANY of my books, for that matter. It comes from Kiki of Two Lips Reviews. She gives VIPER five kisses and here’s a few snippets of what she had to say:

“To say that I loved The Viper Prince by Rebecca Goings is an understatement. I adored this book. It had all of the components desired for a great fantasy love story: strong characters, action, adventure, a beautiful backdrop and the “Love Conquers All” theme. The imagery and descriptions Ms. Goings uses to describe the dry, desert planet of Jikkar, as well as the ensemble of characters she has assembled in The Viper Prince is amazing.”

and…

“The Viper Prince is the first book in The Desert Princes of Jikkar series by Rebecca Goings. If this book is any indication of what we can expect from the others in the series, we are in for a great ride. It is definitely one of those books that you run across every once in a while that make you want to read it over and over again and recommend to all of your friends. If you love the fantasy romance genre, and it’s been awhile since you have come across a book like that, you definitely will want to pick up The Viper Prince.”

And that’s not even half of what she said. If you’d like to read the Most Epic Book Review Ever, click here:

http://www.twolipsreviews.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5577&Itemid=36

If you’re interested in TVP, click here:

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theviperprince-449175-143.html

http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Desert-Princes-Jikkar-ebook/dp/B003ZYFBVG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1282268350&sr=8-2

~*~*~

In other news, I have called my hand surgeon and scheduled a new appointment with him in two weeks.  Why?  Well, the pain of my arthroscopy in July is completely gone, and yet my wrist still hurts.  I don’t have to wear my brace 24/7 anymore, and I would TOTALLY do the arthroscopy again.  It took away a lot of my wrist pain.  But I’ve always known my wrist hurt in two places.  My doctor wanted me to wait until my surgery pain was completely gone before seeing him again, IF I was hurting.  I didn’t need to follow up unless I had pain.

Well, now, my pain is still on the outside of my wrist, right over my ulna bone.  The pain goes up into my hand near my pinky, and when it really hurts, radiates down to my elbow.  My doctor believes I have Extensor Carpi Ulnaris Tenosynovitis.  The treatments are rest, splinting, anti-inflammatory meds, and if those fail, cortisone.  But since all those options were already exhausted with my TFCC treatment (and the cortisone didn’t work), he mentioned at my last visit that if it doesn’t go away that he would need to take “more aggressive measures”.

In looking online, the next step after all of the above is… surgery.  Of course, my doc didn’t come out and SAY surgery and I should have called him on it.  For all I know, I just need some PT to get things right as rain in there.

Then again, I’ve already SEEN a physical therapist back in February for about 4 weeks.  And that didn’t help either.

So, where does that leave me?  I dunno.  I made an appointment today, and I see him in two weeks, on November 3rd.  Like many of you who’ve emailed me privately, I’m torn between wanting my hand to feel better, and feeling like my pain isn’t “bad” enough to rationalize surgery.  But I think my pain is lessened by a few facts.

First, I’m used to it.  It’s almost been a year.  If I was fine yesterday and then suddenly had this pain, would I call it “not bad enough”?  I don’t know.

Second, I’ve altered my habits to lessen my pain.  I carry my laundry differently.  My pots and pans.  The milk.  I’ve learned how  not to tweak myself.

And third, my hand only hurts when I use it.  This  might sound kind of funny, but I do sit a lot.  I type on my computer and I homeschool my kids and watch TV with the family at night.  But any “use” of my hand, chores, errands, driving…flares it up.  So sure, I’m at rest a lot, and that might give the illusion of “not bad enough”, but it doesn’t count.

What does it feel like?  Burning at times.  Tightness at others.  Fatigue definitely.  Weakness.   Diffuse pain radiating into my hand and up to my elbow, but not a nerve pain.  My hand doesn’t fall asleep, there’s no sharp pain.  Mostly my wrist tweaks during supination (palm toward the ceiling).  And wearing my brace doesn’t really help it anymore.  Neither does taking drugs, really.

What is the surgery if I need it?  Tendon release.  They’ll go in and cut the inflamed sheath of my tendon, releasing it to glide without pain.  Kind of like the surgery for Carpal Tunnel, but on the outside of your wrist/arm.  What is the recovery?  Four weeks in a full arm cast (or full arm splint) and physical therapy afterward to regain strength.

Joy of effing joys.  I’ll keep you updated after my doctor visit.

~~Becka

I don’t know what’s wrong with me, folks, but ever since my birthday, I’ve had an obsession with nail polish.  I got a couple of gift certificates to Amazon, and I thought I would use them to buy some eBooks.  And I did.  But the rest of the cards were used to buy nail polish.

I love painting my toenails.  I can’t stand my naked toes, but I usually hate painting them because it’s such a chore, and I hate going to the salon because it’s money I could spend elsewhere.  I do get mani’s and pedi’s every now and again, but most of the time, I don’t like the colors they have on the wall.

And I don’t paint my fingernails because I work so much with my hands typing and doing housework that they chip all the time, usually within 24 hours of painting them, and let’s not even TALK about drying time.  Color on my toes would stay on until the cows came home, but keeping paint on my nails? Fuggettaboudit!

Well, that’s all changed.  I’ve found that the nicer a nail polish is, the longer it will stay on your nails.  And yes, by “nicer”, I mean more expensive than the cheap $1 – $2 polishes we’re wooed into buying.  And a lot of the time, if you have a great topcoat, your manicure will stay on longer as well.

I haven’t been in the “polish” business long, I’ve always had about 7 colors I really liked.  A few glitters, a nice lavender, a black, and a couple of pinks.  Maybe a red.  Now, I have over 30.  It’s boomed in under a MONTH.  Already, I have favorite nail polish lines.  I LOVE Orly and O.P.I.  They go on my nail and they STAY on my nail without chipping.  I currently have Orly’s Fantasea on my fingers for the past 48 hours.  No chipping.  I have Orly’s Flagstone Rush on my toes.  It’s gorgeous!

Recently, I bought almost all of the creme polishes in OPI’s Burlesque line.  There is a glitter from that line I still want to get.  Here are a nail polish reviewer’s swatches on this line:

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2010/10/opi-burlesque-collection-holiday-2010-swatches-review-comparisons.html

I also just bought China Glaze’s Halloween collection called “Awakenings”:

http://beautopia.onsugar.com/China-Glaze-Awakening-Collection-Halloween-2010-10702555

I’ve also bought Space Cadet from Orly’s Cosmic FX line:

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2010/08/orly-cosmic-fx-fall-2010-collection-swatches-review.html

I’m also getting Galaxy Girl and Out of This World. 

I keep telling myself I only have ten fingers and ten toes.  When am I going to wear all of this polish?  Then again, I don’t wear make-up unless it’s a special occasion, so nail polish makes me feel pretty.    Besides, I just ordered Orly’s Sec N’Dry top coat and I have my hair dryer at the ready to make drying a … forgive me … BREEZE! 

I need to get off of these nail polish review sites.  Now, I want OPI’s Extra-Va-Vaganza and Orly’s Rage.  And does SOMEBODY have a MAC Bad Fairy that doesn’t cost $30?!?

GACK!  SOMEBODY STOP ME!  lol

~~Becka