ANASTASIA'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS...

It’s the start of a new year and with it comes lots of well-intentioned resolutions. Have you made your list of resolutions? I’ve made mine—and already broken one of them, the one about passing up those yummy sweets in the break room. Here it is the first day back to work after New Year’s Day, and that resolution didn’t last twenty-four hours. Which makes me skeptical that my resolution to lose at least ten pounds this year doesn’t stand a chance thanks to a combination of our food editor’s baked goods and my lack of willpower when it comes to anything with sugar. Or chocolate. Sigh!

But I do have other resolutions on my list, and one of them is to carve out some time to read more for pleasure. I used to read at least a book a week back when I commuted to work on the train, but that changed when our offices moved to the suburbs and I had to trade the train for a car and bumper-to-bumper New Jersey traffic. Then life really took a nosedive, and I’ve been dividing any spare time I find between moonlighting to pay off enormous debt and catching killers.

It’s a long story…

However, if you’re interested, the entire sordid affair is documented in Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, the series author Lois Winston writes about me. And for the month of January the book, which received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was nominated for a Book of the Year Award by ForeWord Reviews, is on sale on Kindle for only .99 cents.

Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 1

When Anastasia Pollack's husband permanently cashes in his chips at a roulette table in Vegas, her comfortable middle-class life craps out. She's left with two teenage sons, a mountain of debt, and her hateful, cane-wielding Communist mother-in-law. Not to mention stunned disbelief over her late husband's secret gambling addiction, and the loan shark who's demanding fifty thousand dollars.

Anastasia's job as crafts editor for a magazine proves no respite when she discovers a dead body glued to her office chair. The victim, fashion editor Marlys Vandenburg, collected enemies and ex-lovers like Jimmy Choos on her ruthless climb to editor-in-chief. But when evidence surfaces of an illicit affair between Marlys and Anastasia's husband, Anastasia becomes the number one suspect.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR TERRY SHAMES

Terry Shames is the author of the award-winning Samuel Craddock series. Her latest, A Reckoning in the Back Country comes out January 9 and is available for pre-order now. Learn more about Terry and her books at her website. 

New Year’s Resolutions…again

I know, I know New Year’s resolutions are a sucker’s pastime. You know you aren’t going to do what you say you’re going to do, so why bother? You may start out well, determined to:

-lose x pounds (you fill in the number)

-be nice to your neighbor, even when his dog….well, you know

-clean out your closets

-write a zillion words a day

-clean off your desk

-start developing that idea for a book that you know will be “the one”

Any of those sound familiar? Sure they do. And so do your excuses for not doing them. (My dog ate my manuscript doesn’t count!)

But I contend that it isn’t the completion of the resolution that’s important; it’s the making of them. Every year thinking of resolutions makes me take stock of where I am versus where I want to be.

Here are the things I managed to do:

-I didn’t write as many words as I wanted, but wrote a book, and it comes out January 9.

-I wrote the first draft of another book

-I decided to let the past fall away and be friendly to our neighbors. It paid off. We are cordial.

-I didn’t lose 15 pounds, but I lost 5.

-I cleaned out my desk—several times.

As for cleaning out my closet, that’s one resolution from last year that turned out well, and that I think has meaning in other areas, but not for obvious reasons. A little background: When I’m flustered or feeling unattractive or in a big hurry, I sometimes start getting dressed and before I know it half the things in my closet are on the floor, while I try in vain for just the right thing to wear (sound familiar?) I realized that every time this happened I was trying on the same things again and again and rejecting them. Thus my idea: If I tried on something and rejected it, I had to get rid of it. There were exceptions: I could have a “trial try on.” For example, if I wasn’t sure a sweater was the right color to wear with a pair of slacks I wanted to wear, I could try on a couple of different things.

I can’t tell you how much this helped. Instead of flinging on things that I hated, it made me really think about what I was going to wear….and then wear it. Otherwise, it was gone. In the end it saved me a lot of time and I got rid of some things I truly disliked and wondered why I had ever purchased. This allowed me a way to acknowledge my purchasing mistakes and move on.

And that seems like a pretty good way of looking at my writing: maybe that book I started wasn’t such a good idea after all. I tried it on, and it doesn’t “look good.” Maybe it needs to be thrown out. Or maybe I just need to modify it. Either way will work to clean out the clutter.

I’ll be making resolutions again this year—some that will make a difference, and others that I’ll “forget.” I’d like to know what resolutions others have made in the past that meant something—and which ones do you make year after year and never seem to keep?

In keeping with one of my resolutions this year, to be better at promoting my books, here’s something to tantalize you about A Reckoning in the Back Country, which comes out January 9: read it to find how Samuel Craddock gets a puppy. And to find out how his love life takes a dramatic turn.

Also, one of my resolutions last year was to update my website. I just squeaked in under the wire. Have a look. www.Terryshames.com

Reckoning in the Back Country, A Samuel Craddock Mystery

Acting Police Chief Samuel Craddock investigates the murder of a visiting physician, whose mangled body is found in the woods. 

When Lewis Wilkins, a physician with a vacation home in Jarrett Creek, is attacked by vicious dogs, and several pet dogs in the area around Jarrett Creek disappear, Police Chief Samuel Craddock suspects that a dog fighting ring is operating in his territory. He has to tread carefully in his investigation, since lawmen who meddle in dog fighting put their lives at risk. The investigation is hampered because Wilkins is not a local.

Craddock’s focus on the investigation is thrown off by the appearance of a new woman in his life, as well as his accidental acquisition of a puppy. 

Digging deeper, Craddock discovers that the public face Wilkins presented was at odds with his private actions. A terrible mistake led to his disgrace as a physician, and far from being a stranger, he has ongoing acquaintances with a number of county residents who play fast and loose with the law.

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MONEY MATTERS WITH SHEILA--DIY HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS

If your New Year’s resolutions include saving money, our money guru Sheila Conway has some ways to cut your cleaning costs. -- AP

That’s right, Anastasia. Not only are household cleaning products outrageously expensive, most are neither environmentally nor health friendly. Think about that tightness in your chest or the coughing spell that often accompanies cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. That’s because you’re breathing in toxic fumes.

So here are recipes for three DIY cleaners that will cover all your cleaning needs while neither affecting your health or our planet.

SCOURING POWDER
Use backing soda. It does a great job and is less abrasive than commercial scouring powders.

GLASS CLEANER
Mix a quart of warm water and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a squirt bottle. Your windows and mirrors will sparkle, and your wallet and lungs will thank you.

ALL-PURPOSE CLEANER
Mix a cup of white vinegar with a cup of hydrogen peroxide. Add a few drops of tea tree oil. You can us this concoction to clean and disinfect all bathroom and kitchen surfaces except granite.

Great recipes, Sheila! For just a few pennies and a little time, we can all save big. -- AP

HEALTHY LIVING WITH JANICE - DO YOU HARA HACHI BU?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, also known as the start of the Great American Pig Out. Beginning tomorrow and continuing through Christmas, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and culminating with Superbowl Sunday, we Americans will eat and eat and eat. Most of us will gain weight, hence the New Year’s resolution most often made (and unfortunately, most often broken) to lose weight. Health editor Janice Kerr says we should all Hara Hachi Bu over the next three months and beyond to avoid the need to make that resolution we’ll all break anyway. -- AP

Hara hachi bu is Japanese for “eat until you are eight parts full.” It’s the philosophy of the people who live on the island of Okinawa, where the residents enjoy exceptionally long and healthy lives. Okinawans have the longest life expectancy in the world with 29% living to 100. This is roughly four times the average in western countries.

Hara hachi bu works because your brain needs about twenty minutes to realize that your stomach is full. If you eat until you feel full, twenty minutes later you’ll be about 20% over capacity. Keep this up at every meal, and you’ll continually stretch your stomach larger and larger, which in turn will require you to eat more and more food at each meal in order to feel sated.

Hara hachi bu is the basis for the traditional Okinawa diet, which emphasizes vegetables, whole grains, fruits, soy, and fish. Such a diet, high in antioxidants and with limited amounts of lean meats, has been proven to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and minimize free radical production.

Heart disease rates in Okinawa are 80% lower than in the U.S., and cholesterol levels are typically under 180, Rates of cancer are 50-80% lower. Hip fractures are 20% lower than those on mainland Japan and 40% lower than in the U.S. Dementia is rare. Conversely, Okinawans who adopted Western eating styles had about the same rates of heart disease as in the U.S., and a study of 100,000 Okinawans who moved to Brazil and adopted local eating habits, showed a life expectancy 17 years lower than in Okinawa.

So think about following the two main rules of the Okinawan Diet, beginning tomorrow. Your body will thank you, and you won’t have to make that yearly New Year’s resolution that we both know you won’t keep.

Rule 1. Eat to 80% full.

Rule 2: Eat healthy, non-processed foods as much as possible. making sure your diet is rich in veggies, whole grains, fish, and legumes.

I guess this means turning down a second slice of pumpkin pie tomorrow, readers, but why not give it a try? Who’s game? Post a comment to enter the drawing for a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP

TRAVEL WITH SERENA -- GUEST TRAVEL WRITER DR. KELLE Z RILEY

Our globe-hopping guest travel editor Dr. Kelle Z. Riley is back with us today with a very unique New Year’s resolution, one I plan to take her up on. -- AP

Greetings fellow travelers!  I hope you all recovered from our whirlwind shopping trip last month.  Here in my Tennessee home, nature gifted us with a White Christmas and the perfect winter, one that lasts only about 3-6 weeks.  Despite this, January is overcast and gloomy—and brings with it the pressure to make resolutions.

I’ve given up on New Year’s Resolutions.  How many of you make them?  How many keep them?  I confess there was only one New Year’s Resolution (out of many) that I actually kept.  Before I reveal it, you need to know a little about me. 

Generally, I have two speeds:  all out and full stop.  Life is short, so I throw myself into it.  For example: I earned a Ph.D. in chemistry, taught at a graduate level, and worked in industry doing research, teaching, engineering, and sales support revolving around water purification and use.  It was tough but fun.

I also earned a third-degree black belt in Karate, developed and sponsored self-defense workshops, taught at a women’s shelter and obtained certification with a national self-defense training organization.  From that I developed my passion for raising awareness about Domestic Violence and its prevention.  And all of this in spite of my two left feet!

Then, I started writing.  One novel, a handful of short stories and a closetful of manuscripts later, I’m still writing, developing workshops on craft and striving to perfect my skills.

Oh, and in between all of this, I dabbled in house buying and remodeling (laying bricks was more fun than installing linoleum), wedding planning (my own), community and charitable activities and just about anything else that presented itself.

Which brings me to the NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION.  During a hyperactive phase, where I took time out only to eat and sleep, I resolved to relax on the couch and read more books.  Seriously.  I resolved to be lazy.  You’d think it would be easy, but I struggled to keep it.  Eventually I achieved a better (though far-from-ideal) balance between doing and not doing. 

So, instead of striving to do more, be more or get more, this year, I’ve decided to appreciate what I have more.  To count blessings instead of short comings.  To balance accomplishments with goals.  And to continue to read more books.

So what about you?  Won’t you join me in declaring January “Curl-Up-And-Read-A-Book-Month?”  Because really, there is nothing in life that can’t be made more bearable by a cup of hot tea (or cocoa or coffee) and a satisfying book.  We all deserve some time out to replenish ourselves.

If you agree, please comment with your suggestions of a great book for January reading.  And I’ll see you next month, when I’ll share some of the romance of Paris, just in time for Valentine’s Day.  Happy Reading!

So readers, what do you think? Ready to curl up and read a book for Curl-Up-And-Read-A-Book-Month? Might I suggest you start off by picking up a copy of Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the book about yours truly? Whatever book you decide to read, don’t forget to post a comment to be entered in the drawing this week for a book by our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP