My original intention was to write the final Monday Morning Madness post for 2013 this morning, but it slipped my mind, so I'm writing this at nearly 10:30 PM on my Dell latitude laptop while I'm halfway watching (or more like listening) Superman III. Yes, I said laptop. I have officially owned a laptop since right around Thanksgiving. It does come in handy for writing late at night! Plus, it connects quickly to the Wifi, where I've been catching up with the last few episodes of The Big Bang Theory and The Vampire Diaries.

Christmas flew by way to quickly, but I did have a wonderful time with my parents, grandmother and uncle. I spent the majority of last week watching a few Blu-rays (Christmas gifts), such as Man of Steel, The Wolverine, Fast & Furious 6, The Conjuring and a few others.

Most people will probably be thinking about their New Year's Resolutions, but I started mine on December 26th, which is basically the same resolution as I had last year. What is my resolution? Well, it is to get healthy. I've been exercising daily since last Thursday and I've been eating more greens, so I think I have a good jump start on my resolution this year.

Last year, I had many ups and downs, including a family emergency, that derailed my resolution, but I'm thinking positive thoughts this year. I even bought myself the new P90X 3 home workout program, which I received today in the mail. According to the FedEx tracking, I should receive a box with some fitness bands tomorrow, so I'll start the workout program on the 1st.

The madness of Thanksgiving is finally over. In the madness, I mean the cleaning, cooking and putting up with the relatives you can only tolerate for once a year. For me, I like all my relatives that where at Thanksgiving dinner, but I couldn't stand my three young cousins (the youngest is five) jumping up and down, running around the house and screaming for three hours. I disappeared briefly to take a break from everything, thankfully everyone left a few minutes before I went to the big Black Friday (well, Thursday night) sale at Walmart.

The sales were supposed to start at 6pm, but all the 1-hour In-Stock Guarantee $98 32" Funai TV wristbands were already given out, which really isn't fair since the sale was to start at 6pm and I arrived an hour earlier. Nevertheless, I still got one of the 1 hour guarantee gift cards and an access code when I checked out. I had to get on the internet when I got home and wait on the Walmart site for over 2 and half hours to redeem the gift card. I did however get the TV ordered, which is supposed to be delivered at my local Walmart before Christmas.

My original plans for the weekend was to do some more cleaning in preparation of Thanksgiving and to get a several posts/reviews written and scheduled, but it seems when you make plans everything goes wrong. I woke up with a severe sore throat on Friday, but I pushed through it and got a few things finished. My throat was better on Saturday, but I sneezed all day. I did manage to get the fish aquarium and the bird cage cleaned. Plus, I did rearranged my living room. Sunday I awoke to a stuffy nose, cold chills and a horrible cough. I slept most of the afternoon, but I did get to watch The Walking Dead and Witches of East End.


I couldn't sleep, so I made some herbal tea and popped a DVD of Power Rangers Dino Thunder (yes, I'm a geek) into the DVD player and laid in bed until I started to feel better. Since I still can't sleep, I'm typing this post on my new laptop while the Power Rangers are still playing. Yes, the show is silly and is technically meant for kids, but I've been in the mood for the franchise ever since I reviewed a few Power Ranger titles earlier this year. I watched the original series (secretly) when I was in the sixth grade and I continued to watch it until the end of In Space. I had bought the 8-12 seasons set and I received it in the mail last week, which I have never seen any of the episodes before, so everything is new to me. Actually, I'm watching it backward starting with season 12.

This is November and I currently have a fan circulating, though I think the news channels mention something about flurries later in the week. When the weather suddenly goes a bit wacky (cold to warm or vise versa), it causes my allergies to go even wackier, resulting in me being sick for the most part of yesterday! I didn't get very much writing done as I would have wanted to, but I did get a few Holiday Gift Guide posts finished.

I use to have a Great Finds weekly post, where I listed my book finds that I found at a local thrift store, but I've been cutting back on buying books, only buying the ones that truly interest me. Over the weekend, I bought three books by author Meg Cabot. She wrote the Princess Diaries books, Avalon High and a couple of vampire novels (I forgot the names, but I did read the first one).

The books I picked up by her are:

No, I didn't forget to have this written and scheduled for this morning. Actually, the internet connection was extremely slow last night, so I decided to write this today. Plus, I was busy watching The Walking Dead and Witches of East End last night.

The slow internet is a reason why I didn't get a few review posts scheduled over the weekend, so I'm going to be busy today and the rest of the week getting these reviews finished.

I know what "Thanksgiving" is, but it is the one holiday I would rather avoid at all cost. If you are like me, you probably have a few relatives that you don't want to see, let alone like them. Normally, it is just my parents, my grandmother, my uncle and me for Thanksgiving, which I still dread as I'm not a fan of turkey, cranberry, stuffing or anything with pumpkin in it, I would rather watch Home For The Holidays and go to the stores for the pre-Black Friday sales.

Wow! This makes it two weeks in a row that I have published my post in the actual morning. I guess I'm on a roll, which is shocking considering I'm practically running on fumes. It is a good think I had a cup of coffee this morning.

Let me start out my announcing my new co-bloggers. Brenda will be posting Writing Tips Wednesdays on the first Wednesday of the month. On the weekends, Camelle will be writing Top 5 Best Book Covers and Emma will be posting book reviews.

Despite the rain last week, I did drag out the inflatable Frankenstein's monster and Homer Simpson in a skeleton costume and set them up in the yard, which I hammered in some stakes around the area and stapled crime scene tape to the stakes. I didn't want any kids tripping over anything. Then I set up my graveyard with a fence, lights, tombstones, skeletons, etc.

My annual tradition is carving a Jack-O-Lantern, which I continued this year by carving the Grim Reaper! After all the years, I have never made roasted pumpkin seeds, but this year I made a batch. They were quite tasty, almost like popcorn.

Ever since the new library was built in my town, there has been an annual book sale on the weekend (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) before Halloween. Though in the past there are usually older books there, I still love to go and I do buy a few books, but I forgot about the sale last year, only thinking about it the weekend after. This year I remembered to go to the sale on Saturday when all the books (paperback & hardback) were 25 cents each.

I know! I know! Like the last thing I need is more books when I already have gobs of books at home on my bookshelves and piled up in closets, but I can't pass a good bargain. Plus, the library book sale had newer books this year.

I bought two Jane Kirkpatrick hardbacks (which I don't remember the titles) for my grandmother. Then I bought eight books for myself.

The books are:

Yes, I'm well aware my Monday Morning Madness posts have been lacking this month, mostly due to me not having time to write them, which is one of the reasons why I'm writing tomorrow's post on a Sunday night. Plus, I had forgotten about watching Witches of East End tonight, so I had an hour to kill. I'll try watching the episode On Demand later this week.

My original plans was to get caught up with a few reviews, but between running errands for my Grandma, taking down and installing new curtain rods for my mother, and mowing my yard, the majority of my weekend was gone. I was too tired today very do much, though I did get one other post written and I got caught up on last week's Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and of course I watched The Walking Dead tonight.

Halloween is next week and I still need to get a few more bags of candy. Then I'll have to put together at least 120 treat bags. I won't decorate the yard until a day or two before Halloween, as it has been raining cats and dogs all week.

I know! I know! My Monday Morning Madness isn't exactly being posted in the morning hours, but instead I'm writing this at nearly midnight, so, yes, I"m waiting to the last minute to write the post, mostly due to me being a little busy today!

I have some good news and bad news.

Let me start with the good news.

There will be three co-bloggers starting in November.

The Co-bloggers are:

Emma from Words and Peace

Brenda from Daily Mayo

Camelle from Home of a Book Lover

As you can see, Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writers has a new cleaner design, but it isn't fully finished yet. My blog designer still has to make the new buttons, signatures and rating system. I hope everyone likes the new coffee look. There will be two co-bloggers starting in November along a new meme, Top 5 Best Book Covers, and a new monthly event, Writing Tips Wednesdays.

My 32nd birthday came and went quickly, I don't feel any older, though I did eat too much cake, which happened to be a Duck Dynasty cake (yes, they'll put their logo on anything). I didn't care for the pink icing, but I do like the series.

 

Ever since I switched to a domain and had the blog redesign, I have had many opportunities to work with many different companies and brands. That being said, my blog is becoming more than just a book blog, therefore I believe a few changes need to occur, but I need some input from my readers. A blog redesign won't happened until later in the year or in early 2014, so it wouldn't interfere with the 31 Days of Halloween & and the Holiday Gift Guide events.

I need your help readers:

Looks like The Smurfs 2 didn't do so well at the US box-office as it came in 3rd place with only $18.2 million ($27.8 million over the 5-day weekend), but it did well overseas with $52.5 million, meaning there will be a Smurfs 3 in the near future (July 24, 2015 to be exact), whether we like it or not. I grew up watching the blue Smurfs cartoon and as an adult I continue to collect each new DVD release. I have mix feelings for 2011's The Smurfs live/CGI film, which I have only watched once all the way through. The CGI looked spot on, but the script was horrible. It doesn't take a genius to create a decent plot as there are plenty of stories from the cartoon and the original Peyo comics to adapt into a screenplay, but it seems Hollywood (for the most part) is missing any creative thought.

I could be wrong; maybe The Smurfs 2 is good, but I highly doubt it. I'm sure it falls in the the horrible sequel category as Garfield 2 and the Alvin & the Chipmunks sequels.

At least Disney isn't remaking their classic animation movies, but instead they are releasing them onto their Blu-Ray Diamond Edition Collection series. In 2014, Disney will release Sleeping Beauty (October 2014) and The Jungle Book (February 2014) to this prestigious collection for a limited time. Both films have been hidden in the Disney vault, but are being released with high definition picture and sound clarity for whole new generation to enjoy. The Little Mermaid Blu-Ray Diamond Edition Collection is coming out this October.

For once I’m actually writing this post in the actual morning. You might have noticed my weekly post was missing last Monday. Well, I do have an excuse as I went to bed around four o'clock in the morning on the 22nd. The Syfy channel was playing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon over that weekend and I got hooked into the madness around 10 PM after I had finished watching True Blood and Falling Skies.

I was bullied all through my high school years and I found solitude by watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel. I guess you could have called me a  Slayerette or a Scoobie as I had Buffy posters plastered on bedroom walls, I recorded every episode onto VHS tapes (I had a few of the VHS sets too), and I collected and read every tie-in novel, that is until my local Walmart quit carrying them. I eventually grew out of my Buffy/Angel phase. I still have the tie-in books in a closet. I was given both series on DVD a few years ago for Christmas, but I have never attempted to watch them to this day. Though after watching the marathon on Syfy, I may have to drag the DVDs out and watch them.

Another week has quickly gone by and here I am again writing my Monday Morning Madness post on Monday evening. My mind was on other things over the weekend and I forgot to write my weekly Revolt Now Fitness post. The workout program was created by Nichole Huntsman and consists of five workout days and two rests days, though there are optional workouts on Wednesday if you don't want to take the day off. There are cardio, upper and lower workouts, all ranging from twenty minutes to forty-five minutes.

I had a chest cold last week, so my workouts weren't 100%, but I tried my best. My diet has been pretty good; though the scales have informed me I haven't lost any pounds yet. Maybe it's just my scale! I'm getting a new digital scale to review soon, so maybe I have lost a few pounds.

I have a slight problem with procrastinating! Does anybody else having this problem? I keep putting off my fiction writing; I mostly complain that I don't have enough time to write, when I have plenty of time. It only takes five minutes here and five minutes there to begin a short story or novel.

I received Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers in the mail on Friday and I'm about half way through it. The stories are written by writers (bestsellers and newbies) & even bloggers. The forty-four stories I have read so far have really lifted my spirits and have given me new encouragement to begin a daily writing routine, even it if is only fifteen minutes. Blogging and writing reviews doesn't count!

My plan is to start my daily routine today!

Last week certainly went by like a flash! Actually, the whole month of June flew by too fast. My plans of reading a few Harlequin books didn't happen, though I do plan on crash coursing myself on the genre this month. Instead I'm reading a zombie romance anthology, mostly because I'm brainstorming on my own zombie romance story. So far I've been a complete dead brain, but hopefully a creative spark will occur.

I spent most of my free time editing through a short story authored by myself and four other writers. Though the story is just over five thousand words, it wasn't an easy task as all of us have our own style of writing. Nevertheless, I like the final version of the story, which I sent it into an upcoming anthology. Cross your fingers that it'll get into it!

I skipped last week's post due to I just didn't have time to write it. I've been a little depressed for the past month or so, causing me to break my diet and eat any junk food in sight. I haven't been exercising as much either. Cross your fingers for me to actually get a workout routine started today. My life took a chaotic turn when my father had a stroke back in early April, who has now recovered almost fully and is back to work.

When any type of life or death situations occur to your family, friends, or to yourself, you start to look over your life. Which was exactly what I did and it has caused me to become an emotional mess for the past month. Let's face the facts: I'm in my early 30s, single, no children, out of shape, and my job direction is going nowhere. Not to mention my anxiety issues still popup from time to time.

I've decided I need to make some changes, hopefully by working out today and making a daily habit of it. My dream goal is to published novels and make a decent living from it, but it is never going to happened until I vaporize this writer's block (or laziness) and actually sit down and type!

I have been editing a group project written by myself and four other writers! I love writing short fiction for children/teens, but I've been wanting to switch genres, maybe to romance. I have dozens of Harlequin type books I have bought at a thrift store just sitting around and collecting dust. The only way to write a different genre is to read it! I read many inspirational romances, but not very many Harlequins, though I have read a few Debra Webb titles.

No, I didn't forget about the past two Monday posts. I thought I would just take a few weeks off since two weeks ago was Memorial Day and last week I was just too busy to get a post written. Plus, I was completely worn out from pulling up an old carpet in the basement that had took a turn for the worse after some rain water flooded the garage and basement last month. I guess I'm finally starting my spring cleaning as I filled six boxes and two paper bags full of books that I plan on donating, but first I need to remove them from my Shelfari shelf and that will take a few days to complete.

I'm sick and tired of all the thunderstorms. It rained liked every other day for the past few weeks, in which it caused the electric to flip on & off for a few days, the cable & internet has started to act wacky, and the telephone line doesn't want to connect. Thank God for cell phones!

There are not very many options for internet service around my area. I guess I should be thankful that it works most of the time. Has anyone tried dial-up internet?

I'm once again late in writing my morning post. This time I had completely forgotten about it. The weekend went by too quickly, but I did manage to get a few reviews written. I had planned on reading Dead Ever After, but I didn't get around to it, though I did read about 1/4 of the book this morning. I should have written this post then, but I got sucked into Sookie Stackhouse's world.

Game of Thrones was my highlight of Sunday as well as the thunderstorm that hit during the night. There has been way too much rain this year already. Luckily, there have been no tornadoes around my area. I saw the horrible tornado disaster in Oklahoma on the news. My thoughts and prayers go out to victims' families.

Yep, for once I'm actually posting my morning post in the actual morning, but of course I couldn't start writing this post without my morning cup of coffee, which I have now switched to Nescafe' decaffeinated. The weekend went by way too fast as I didn't have a lot of time to catch up on a few books and movies, all of which are for review purposes, though I did manage to write a few reviews.


I did find time to rewatch 2009's Star Trek as I might go see Into Darkness this weekend, though if the rumors are true I should just rewatch Wrath of Khan. Yes, that means I'm somewhat of a Trekkie fan. I grew up watching reruns of the original series, the movies, and watched The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, but I lost interests after the awful Voyager series. And yes, I was the type of kid that had the starship plastic models, though I did eventually grow out of it. I would have never called myself a Trekker as I was never the kind to dress up in costumes or collect any of the toys or props. I just liked building models as a kid.

I don't go to the theater very often. By the time you buy your ticket, popcorn, and a drink, you should have just saved your money and bought the movie when it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray and you probably would have saved a few bucks. Though it is nice seeing a movie on the big screen, they're hardly any movies worth going to see anymore.

Silver Linings Playbook is the most recent new movie, which I saw on DVD. Typically, I'm not into dramas, but I like Jennifer Lawrence in anything she plays in, good or bad. I can't wait for Catching Fire to be released!