I hate to admit this, but my eating habits haven't been the best as of lately, especially when I've been drinking unneeded energy drinks a few times a week; which has resulted in my pants getting tighter around my waist. Hopefully, I can cut back on the sweets and push myself to exercise a bit more daily, so I can at least lose a few pounds for the holidays.

One the best ways to give in to your afternoon cravings without the all the unwanted sugar and other junk is to make yourself a protein shake!

Recently, I was sent a container of Zahler Whey Protein Meal Replacement Powder, which comes in many different flavors, such as Toasted Coconut, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Apple. The flavor that was sent to me was Cappuccino!

Unlike a lot of protein mixes, this one has only 1 gram of sugar per serving. It has 25 grams of protein per serving (1 scoop). It also contains BCAAs, Essential Amino Acids and Non-Essential Amino Acids, which will help a person burn body fat and gain muscle, if you are exercising regularly.

If you follow my blog regularly, then you would know that one of my favorite genres to read is Christian romances, preferably historical fiction set in the 1800s. In the past I've stayed away from any novels set during WWI or WWII as the plots never appealed to me; though I've broken that rule from time to time when the books featured Amish characters.

I'm sure many horror fans (me included) will be watching the season premiere of The Walking Dead this Sunday. And a few others will be patently waiting for Halloween Night for the first episode of Ash vs Evil Dead (which also includes me). I guess you can say that I like any television series that has a horror theme. Yes, that even means that I watched the short-lived Witches of East End!

I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard of the series before since in it aired on Lifetime. It loosely based on the books by by Melissa de la Cruz. The series debuted in the fall in 2013 and centered on Joanna Beauchamp (played by Julia Ormond) & her two daughters, Ingrid (played by Rachel Boston) and Freya (played by Jenna Dewan Tatum). Their lives are turned upside down when Joanna's sister Wendy (played by Mädchen Amick) arrives and forces Joanna to tell the girls the truth that they're immortal witches from Asgard.

Plus, a curse was played on Joanna and Wendy years ago. Wendy was cursed with nine lives, the ability to turn into a black cat and every time that she dies, she comes back to life within hours. Joanna was cursed with seeing her daughters die in their twenties and immediately becomes pregnant with them again. This cycle is repeated over and over, to the point where she had hid the girls' heritage from them.
 
The first season was basically a cheesy soap opera with love triangles, silly plots and so-so acting, but for some strange reason I still watched it. Oh, wait, it probably has to do with the fact that the all the actresses gorgeous.

Anyway, Season two debuted in the summer of 2014 with little advertisement from Lifetime. The first episode picks up shortly after the season one's finale, which showed what happens to Killian Gardiner (played by Daniel Di Tomasso). Meanwhile, his brother Dash (played Eric Winter) is experimenting with his new-found powers. Who are these guys? Well, Dash is Freya's ex-fiance and Killan is her soul mate. Remember, I said this was like a soap opera!

Tomorrowland
Director: Brad Bird
Cast: George Clooney. Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Hugh Laurie
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 13, 2015
Retail: $39.99
ASIN: B00WAJ8OLG
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rating: PG
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving on DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday from Walt Disney Home Entertainment is the fantasy-adventure Tomorrowland. Directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles), the film stars George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Hugh Laurie. Bonus Features on the Blu-ray includes Remembering The Future: A Personal Journey Through Tomorrowland With Brad Bird, Animated Short: The Origins Of Plus Ultra, Casting Tomorrowland, A Great Big Beautiful Scoring Session, The World Of Tomorrow Science Hour - Hosted by Futurologist David Nix, Deleted Scenes, Brad Bird Production Diaries, Blast from the Past Commercial and 4 Easter Eggs.

Loosely inspired by the Disney theme parks' Tomorrowland attraction, the film centers on a Florida teenager, Casey Newton (played by Britt Robertson), who has a niche for technology and science. She also has a wild streak that gets her into trouble with the law, which doesn't sit well with her father (played by Tim McGraw), a  NASA engineer.

After being bailed out of jail, a police officer hands over Casey's belongings. She quickly notices that one thing isn't hers - a strange-looking pin that is embossed with a "T" symbol. When she touches the pin, she sees a glimpse of a futuristic world!

With a quick internet search, Casey finds no information on the pin, except that a Houston memorabilia store has been looking for it. She is determined to find out what the pin is and travels to Texas, but upon arriving she is attacked by robots. Luckily for her, she has a new-found friend - an Audio-Animatronic robot named Athena (played by Raffey Cassidy).

Now with more evil robots hot on the trail, Casey and Athena must seek out the inventor Frank Walker (played by George Clooney) to help them travel to Tomorrowland save it from extinction.

2. Enter the link to your terrifying tale in the haunting list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in a curse).

 

3. Visit other haunters in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new creeper.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.
 

Candy Corn!

Linky List:

The Last Great Halloween
a Trudy McFarlan Novel
by Rootie Simms
Publisher: Wilder Things Publishing
Pub. Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1512287394
Pages: 186
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

While I was setting up the schedule for the Halloween Madness event, I received a press release about the new young adult book - The Last Great Halloween: a Trudy McFarlan Novel by Rootie Simms. After reading the synopsis, I knew I had to read the novel.

Set in 1960, The Last Great Halloween centers on Trudy McFarlan, a preteen who got to skip the six-grade along with her best friend Paige and jump right into Junior High (7th Grade). Her favorite holiday is Halloween. Trudy and Paige have been planning the greatest Halloween party since forever, but they've never gotten around to actually having it.

After Trudy's mother told her that she was too old to go trick-or-treating and if she wanted a costume, she would have to make it herself, the unthinkable finally happens - the Halloween party becomes a reality.

Paige's mother is letting them have a Halloween party. Trudy already has the perfect costume - a bat, but she needs to find all the materials to make it first. If she doesn't find what she wants in dusty attics, then she's going to have to buy it herself, which is difficult when she doesn't have an allowance to spend. Plus, the ten dollars her mother gave her is for party supplies.

Trudy's plans for a last great Halloween becomes in jeopardy when she has a falling out with her Paige, resulting in a separate party.

My favorite holiday is just around the corner - Halloween!

Ever since I was a young kid (which was in the '90s), I gave up trick-or-treating and started decorating the outside yard for Halloween Night. Now as an adult, I still decorate my yard; adding a few new scary props each and every year. The only problem for me is that I'm limited to Walmart and Dollar General in my town that both put out only a small Halloween section every year. The good news is that when I can't find anything in those stores (which is almost always), I can always look on the internet to find great Halloween props.

One of my favorite online stores to get Halloween goodies is Oriental Trading, which has a slew of items to choose from. I was sent a cool new tombstone to review especially for the post. It is the Day of the Dead Tombstone!

Made out of foam, the tombstone measures 12 1/2" x 22" and comes with two plastic stakes, which will secure it to the ground. Due to the fact that it's made from foam, tombstones can be damaged while being sent in the mail, but I'm glad to say that the Day of the Dead Tombstone (retails for $14.99) arrived in perfect condition. It features a creepy skeleton and the words "Dia de Los Muertos" (Day of the Dead) engraved on it.

Now this tombstone is going to look a little bare by itself, so it's going to need a companion, like a ground-breaker. Oriental Trading nicely sent me a cool Latex Zombie (retails for $25.99) ground-breaker (also known as a grave-breaker).