Serials and Scenarios - Jenny B. Jones's Just Between You and Me.

I haven't read this little gem, yet. But Jenny B. Jones (I love saying/typing her name) visited Dregs a while ago. Here's her interview. And go here and here for a couple of reviews of Just Between You and Me.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Just Between You And Me
Thomas Nelson (September 1, 2009)
by
Jenny B. Jones


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

I write Christian fiction with a few giggles, quite a bit of sass, and lots of crazy. My novels include the Katie Parker Production series and So Not Happening. I would also like to take credit for Twilight , but somewhere I think I read you’re not supposed to lie.

When I’m not typing my heart out (or checking email), I teach at a super-sized high school in Arkansas.

My students are constantly telling me how my teaching changes their lives and turned them away from drugs, gangs, and C-SPAN.

Okay, that’s not exactly true.

Since my current job leaves me with very little free time, I believe in spending my spare hours in meaningful, intellectual pursuits such as:

-watching E!
-updating my status on Facebook
-catching Will Ferrell on YouTube and
-writing my name in the dust on my furniture

I’d love to hear about you, so drop me a note. Or check me out on Facebook.




ABOUT THE BOOK

The only thing scarier than living on the edge is stepping off it.
Maggie Montgomery lives a life of adventure. Her job as a cinematographer takes her from one exotic locale to the next. When Maggie's not working, she loves to rappel off cliffs or go skydiving. Nothing frightens her.

Nothing, that is, except Ivy, Texas, where a family emergency pulls her back home to a town full of bad memories, painful secrets, and people Maggie left far behind . . . for a reason.

Forced to stay longer than she intended, Maggie finds her family a complete mess, including the niece her sister has abandoned. Ten-year-old Riley is struggling in school and out of control at home. The only person who can really handle the pint-sized troublemaker is Conner, the local vet and Ivy's most eligible bachelor. But Conner and Maggie keep butting heads--he's suspicious of her and, well, she doesn't rely on anyone but herself.

As Maggie humorously fumbles her way from one mishap to another, she realizes she's going to need to ask for help from the one person who scares her the most.

To save one little girl--and herself--can Maggie let go of her fears and just trust God?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Just Between You And Me, go HERE

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Toast-Making

Why am I drawn to simple toast-making moments?

You know, the scenes in movies or books that are so ordinary that they'd be B-O-R-I-N-G save for the conversation or thoughts or interactions of the moment.

I am absolutely drawn to the things that connect with my senses. Not necessarily the stench of the dead possum that languishes at the side of our walking path...I pull my T-shirt over my nose for that particular sense tickler. But the walk itself and the other discoveries feed my soul as my senses soak the moments up. And somehow being involved in a parallel activity or connecting while doing makes everything feel richer.

22 and I seem to have deep discussions about life as we walk the dogs. Of course, those discussions are always punctuated with pauses to scoop poop (I recommend the arrangement we have, her dogs = her drudgery and responsibility and I get to babysit/enjoy)("they" say that this is the essence and joy in grandparenting...k sounds good) and the behavior corrections, or the exciting discovery of a rabbit bolting from a hiding place or a biker sneaking up behind us. But we seem to have the same vein of conversation each and every time we walk together. Faith and relationships. Always. I don't know that it gets better than that.

We've also somehow developed the habit of reading books out loud. Much of our down time together involves one of us doing some necessary chore while the other reads out loud. It started with the book club we attend. Instead of leaving a communal book lying around with two or three bookmarks we decided to read it together. And the next thing I know, we'd begun another book. In the last three months I believe we've gone through five books that way. Reading them while we complete tasks makes life feel a little like a series of toast-making adventures. Moments of transcending the drudgery and embracing the life within it.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Hair Chopping for the Brave.

I'm a do-it-yourself hair chopper. My worst experience were two extreme bang snips...one perpetrated myself when I was 16, and the second was when 22 was 12 and I let her cut my bangs. Bad idea, both. Hair does indeed shrink up when it dries. However, IT DOES grow back. So hardly deterred, we have kept experimenting.

22 just discovered a great way to chop her hair and it looks fabulous. Keep in mind that this will be a choppy look, almost like you'd get with a razor cut.

First, she pulled strands, like the size you'd use for french braiding (all the hair on your head separated into eight sections). She twisted the hair several times and then cut downward at an angle.

If you are going to try this, experiment on the ends first. She started right above her ears and went all the way down. She chopped about eight different chunks. It thins the hair out and leaves the choppy look that looks so cute on most chicks.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ I Just Can't Pass This One Up...

If you ever feel a little bit stupid, just dig this up and read it again; your confidence will be restored! It helps. Trust me. Once again. An e-mail forward of dubious fact and origin...but funny just the same.



On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: 'I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,'
-- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest .


'Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.'
--Mariah Carey




'Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,'
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign .


'I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,'
-- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward .



'Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,'
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC


'That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,'
--A congressional candidate in Texas


'Half this game is ninety percent mental.'
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark


'I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix .'
-- Dan Quayle

'We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need ?'
--Lee Iacocca


'The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'

--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.




'We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people.'
-- Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor .


'Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away.. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.'
--Department of Social Services, Greenville , South Carolina


'Traditionally, most of Australia 's imports come from overseas..'
--Keppel Enderbery


'If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed, and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record.'
--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

Scribble and Scrambles ~Share Your Love of Books.

Check this out, book lovers. Click and post what book or books helped you develop your love of reading. Then pick your favorite state to win 50K books. A friend from Nebraska forwarded it to me...and Nebraska is in 3rd place, so feel free to vote for them.

Go to it.

Scribble and Scrambles ~Local Scenes

Rob, Toadboy, his lovely wife, and I spent a great Sunday afternoon at Lauritzen Gardens.

I took a few flower pictures. But, with my texture obsession, these were some of my favorite sights/sites.

Scribble and Scrambles ~ Tell Me I'm Incorrect, That I Totally Didn't Hear This.....

This isn't a just a pretty picture.

I feel disgusted and horrified about something I heard in my office today.

This is going to be shared as delicately as I can while still getting the point across.

It seems that not only is my region extremely wealthy in STD's but that there is a new implication I hadn't even considered. A co-worker shared some information she'd received from a colleague. Throat and head cancer are rampant in twenty-something females secondary to the Human Papilloma Virus also know as HPV.

Seriously. And that folks have wanted to bring a seminar to schools to warn high school students of this new quirk or perk of revolving partners. And they were turned down.

But letting kids know that they can abstain is evil?