WOW! Women on Writing Book Blog Tour for Larry Kilham's "The Digital Rabbit Hole"

Please take a moment to check out The Digital Rabbit Hole on Amazon and let me know what you think.

Here's a quick summary:

The Digital Rabbit Hole reveals that we are becoming captive in the digital universe. The portals are smartphones and the world is the Internet. We immerse ourselves social media; we learn through packaged feel-good information; and we will leave the hard work to robots and AI. The book details digital media and discusses smartphone addiction problems. It proposes solutions to stimulate creativity and education and to recapture our humanity.

I am working on putting together a WOW! Women on Writing book blog tour for this book. The tour will begin July 10th and run through the first week of August. If you would be interested in reading and reviewing The Digital Rabbit Hole by Larry Kilham, please email: crystal@wow-womenonwriting.com as soon as possible!
Include in the email:

* Your email address if you'd like a digital copy or your physical address if you'd like a hard copy mailed.

*The name and url for your blog, or a note letting me know you'd like me to post your review on my blog.

*A date you would prefer as your first choice, as well as a 2nd choice - this will be the date your review will be posted to your blog/my blog and social media.

Including posting to your blog, it would be fabulous if you could post your review on Amazon/Goodreads as well as your own social media. This is greatly appreciated although not mandatory to participate in a book blog tour.

As soon as all the dates have been filled and a calendar has been put together, I'll email a media kit to everyone involved in the tour. This kit will include the authors head shot and bio as well the book cover and official summary and links we'd like you to use. This email will also include the calendar for the tour and should be able to answer most (if not all) the questions you may have concerning tour participation.

If you are an interview only blogger, please  email with your interview questions as well as the dates available.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in this and all matters. It's been awhile since I did a tour and I'm quite looking forward to working with you!

Hugs,
~Crystal

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!

I haven't always been the best daughter - the truth is I've probably been one of the biggest pains in my mom's ass for most of my life. You know what is pretty amazing though? She's always bent over backwards for me. Sometimes I didn't appreciate the help or the advice - okay...most of the time I didn't appreciate it, but she was always there and unwavering in her commitment to me.

I'm not going to get into the details of the hell I put my mom through, but I'll openly admit she has earned every one of those grey hairs and I have caused each and every one. What I do want to tell you about is what an awesome grandmother and mother my mom is. She reschedules her own social engagements and appointments to make sure she is available to babysit. She has learned more about car seat safety than she cares to, and at 70+ years old she spends every Sunday morning making breakfast for a family of 6 then entertaining the toddlers/infants while I head off to church with the older children. She opens her home for me, my crew, my friends, their children, and anyone in need...and spends hours cleaning up what takes us just a small amount of time to mess up.

My mom has a cupboard full of sippy cups and toddler plates, infant spoons and baby silverware, baby body wash, extra cloth diapers, and she even makes sure she has several changes of clothes for each child, plus shoes and boots for them. Grandma's house is somewhere you feel comfortable whether you've called ahead or just popped in. She's open to a quick stay or an overnight. You can see in her eyes she enjoys the visits, but I know she naps for hours after we've headed home. She never complains about sticky fingers, smudged classes, or tipped cups of this and that on her new table cloth.

I didn't appreciate my mom until I saw her with my children. We are different in a lot of ways, but I have also come to appreciate the ways we are the same. My mom doesn't love with flowery words, but she loves just as hard and as deep as I do. She would give the shirt off her back to help someone she loves, and even though she can't make scrambled eggs to save her life, she always has icecream and treats to turn around a bad day.

I'm not sure what I would do without my mom. For many years I thought I didn't need her and now

I'm in tears of the day we have to say "goodbye for now"...it's amazing how one person can have such an impact on so many lives.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I'm sorry for all those years...and the grey hairs (you wear them well, but I should have realized sooner how amazing you are). Also sorry for using a few cuss words on my blog from time to time - I promise I type them far less than I think them...um....maybe you don't want to know that either...lol

Really though - you're awesome and I hope I can be half the mom you are!

Love Always,
~Crystal

Ruby Doodle Cookie Recipe - Rhubarb Cookies

So - I took a look at a recipe a friend sent me for rhubarb cookies and I tweaked it a bit to ensure I would end up with lots of fluffy melt in your mouth delicious cookies. So here goes:

Ruby Doodle Cookies!


3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rhubarb, diced
Juice from 1/2 lemon (or approximately 2 teaspoons of lemon juice)


Set aside another 1/2 cup of sugar and if desired, mix with chi latte mix (you'll use this to roll the cookies in)

Pre-heat oven to 350 F and place rack in the middle position.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Step One: Measure and combine in your mixer the sour cream, butter, egg, and vanilla, mix well.

Step Two: add salt, sugar, lemon, baking powder, and baking soda. Continue mixing well.

Step Three: add rhubarb and again mix well.

Step Four: add flour and mix. Batter should be easy to handle (you'll be rolling it into balls) - add more flour if needed.

Step Five: roll batter into balls (the size of a ping pong ball is ideal), roll in the sugar/chi mixture until lightly coated.

Step Six: place cookies on your cookie sheet (doesn't have to be greased, but feel free to use parchment if you wish) and space them out allowing plenty of room.

Step Seven: Using the bottom of a mason jar or other flat surface, press gently on the balls to flatten them into cookie shapes.

Step Eight: Bake for 11 minutes; remove to cooling racks & enjoy! Even better when shared with friends!!!

Crystal is a secretary and musician at her church, birth mother, babywearing cloth diapering mama (aka crunchy mama), business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Publicist with Dream of Things Publishing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin with her husband, four young children (Carmen 10, Andre 8, Breccan 3, Delphine 2, and baby E due in fall 2017), two dogs, two rabbits, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, and over 230 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal riding unicorns, taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books, baby carriers, cloth diapers, and all sorts of other stuff here, and at WOW! Women on Writing.

Guest Post Part III: Dear Friend Who I Admire

Today's guest post is written by  friend of the woman who submitted the letter to her soon to be ex-husband, and his mistress, in light of his cheating (originally discussed in "Crawling Out of the Dark".


Dear Friend,

You are so strong. I know you don't feel very strong right now, but you are. You could have handled this situation in so many different ways. Instead, you confronted the situation head on with your head held high. You didn't crawl into a bottle. You didn't run to the arms of another. You continue to be a wonderful mother and friend, you continue to work hard helping others and enjoying life to the fullest. 

I wish I could do something to ease your pain. I wish I could do something to help you see none of this is your fault. You are beautiful inside and out. Your husband's wandering eye has nothing to do with you. He is broken; you are not.

Soon enough that sparkle in your eyes will return. The confidence in your stride will be back. You'll move on and realize this was indeed a bad dream. In the meantime, I'm here for you. Days you aren't feeling amazing and beautiful, call me...I'll remind you. 

Love,
~Your Friend

Guest Post Part II; Dear Mistress

I don't know if everyone remembers a previous post: "Crawling Out of the Dark" about a woman going through a difficult time with a cheating spouse. I previously shared her excellent letter to her husband and now here is her letter to the mistress! This fabulous letter is absolutely worth sharing. And here it is!


Dear Other Woman,

Quite a bit of time has passed since the last time we have seen each other. I do have several questions for you. All of them are cruel and all of them are direct.

So let's get started,
Question #1
Why my husband?  You would provide oral services for a man and in return get a little bit of attention maybe and if you were lucky some affection. That’s not a relationship, that is a man being a selfish asshole.

Question #2
How come you never went away?
I hadn’t heard from or about you for years until I was informed you had invited yourself to our wedding.  Are you a whore version of Batman? Hiding in the darkness to prey on married men. What's your superpower? Deep throat? Medusa? Or just blow job giving version of Satan?

Question #3
Why would you want to see the man you have gushed over for years get married? Maybe you saw that as a challenge, maybe you needed to feel included, or maybe that was just your way of showing some sort of control or intimidation. No matter what the reason, it is weird.

It was no secret that I didn't like you. I saw through your acts, quite frankly I had labelled you as a sociopathic narcissist but that was just my opinion based off my observations of your behaviors.

Anyway back on topic here. I gave strict orders on my wedding day you were not allowed anywhere near me until after I made it down the aisle. Turns out you serviced the new groom two weeks before the wedding to help him say good bye to bachelorhood. Insert whore cough here.



Since the horrible day that I learned about your affair with my husband; July 28, 2015 at 11:11am to be exact, I have extreme anger and disgust towards you both. You both have committed unforgivable acts. You both have hurt many people beyond words.You both have damaged the respect that family, friends, and acquaintances have for each of you. Plus people think you are a whore and wonder why he would go near you let alone put his member in your mouth. Did you at least remove your dentures? I bet that's you superpower! Classy.

I am aware you refer to me as “the storm” and you play the victim who has been publicly shamed on Facebook. Damn right you were publicly shamed on Facebook. You did horrible things and people should know it. I called you out, I called my husband out and I cleared up the rumors. No regrets on my part. You do the crime be prepared to do the time.

Questions #4,5 &6
Did your affair embarrass you? Did you feel guilty? How did your family, friends and husband look at you after your secret was exposed? I am guessing it didn’t feel as warm and fuzzy as your relationship with my husband made you feel. I am also guessing you have no empathy towards anyone you hurt and only feel sorry for yourself. No worries, I have some empathy towards you. I feel bad for you that you are not a good role model for your children. I feel bad that you are not the woman your mother raised you to be. I also feel bad you are the definition of homewrecker, whore and mistress. Again, classy.

Now let’s refer to reference to “the storm” and the label homewrecker. You claim your life was great until I, the storm, turned everything upside down.

Question #7
Was your life really that great? You were cheating on your husband with a married man. You also claim you aren’t a homewrecker because our broken marriage was already broken. Maybe the term homewrecker doesn’t apply to you. Our marriage wasn't broken, it was new. We were balancing the first year of marriage and the union of two families. Our marriage wasn't broken it was under construction. So I guess instead of homewrecker you are more like a wrecking ball. It's too bad your ass wouldn't fit on one. You could be just like Miley Cyrus-- rumor has it she's a crazy whore too.

Question #8
Why do you justify your actions by saying "A man who truly loves his wife doesn't need another woman"? It makes you sound stupid!

You are right a man who loves his wife can’t be taken. But the problem with your theory is that my husband didn’t love his wife. In fact he didn’t really love anyone but himself. He wasn't capable of trusting or truly caring for anyone. You knew that and you used that in your advantage. You didn’t win; you didn’t get the prize. You were the person who gave him attention, oral favors and a boost to his damaged ego of viewing himself as failure as a provider to his new family. In reality you two are basically the same person. That's how you both woke up every morning and thought you were good people. You were not, you never will be.

A little bit more on the storm reference. While you play the victim I can’t help but think you have been down this road before. You are good at manipulating people and controlling the way things go, insert my sociopath narcissist diagnosis here. The storm I caused in your eyes was beyond your control so you tried your hardest to fix it. You reached out to mutual friends and used them for insight. You reached out to extended family of my husband looking for sympathy. You even reached out to me to give me advice about how I obviously love my husband, not to divorce him and to know that you did things but you always had my best interest in mind. After all that’s why you hid your affair and never wanted me to find out, because you didn't want to hurt me. My advice just keep your mouth closed. Your mouth clearly is what gets you in trouble. Close it and probably your legs too.

Questions #9 & #10
Do you expect a thank you? Pretty sure you deserve a kick in the face. Why do you refer to this as a game, taunting me with "game on" messages?

If this truly was just a game to you, I guess you win. You win the label of being the other woman. You win the honor of performing oral services for a man and receiving nothing in return. You also win the self-appointed right of being a victim. You win a game that no one else was playing. Nobody wanted to play with you then and nobody wants to play with you now.

My advice--get off your wrecking ball and stop being a whore.

Sincerely,

The Storm

Guest Post Part I; Dear Cheating Husband

I don't know if everyone remembers a previous post: "Coming Out of the Dark" about a woman going through a difficult time with a cheating spouse. I think she wrote a fabulous letter worth sharing. And here it is!


Letter To my “Husband”



Dear Husband,

While everyone, including myself, is so busy blaming your mistress for your affair I don't want you to forget you are to blame too. In fact you are more to blame than her. You are a horrible person. You have spent our entire relationship lying to me about her. In fact you have spent your entire life lying to everyone. That is how we got to this point, you are a compulsive or maybe even pathological liar.

You lie about everything or at the very least exaggerate details in almost every sentence you speak. Your family makes excuses for you, your friends allow you to be dishonest, and you continue to treat people like crap. Basically everything in life is about you and what you want. Never do you stop to think about others. When you do think about others you always have a plan in mind how you can use the favor you did for them or the nice deed you did as a bargaining chip in the future. Even your affair was all about you. She spent all the time doing oral favors for you and you did very little in return.

Often times people comment on how you have changed in the past 8 years. They comment on how you have matured and seemed to have settled down. Have you really? Because if you have you must have been a pretty sucky person before we met. Or maybe it is all just an act? You clearly have mastered living a double life.

You spent your days pretending to be my devoted husband and loving step dad to my kids. Meanwhile at night while you were having an affair with another woman. You spent 3 months, or at least that is what you have confessed to, leading a double life. All those days you were supposed to be sleeping during the day because you worked third shift you spent entertaining your mistress. Meanwhile I was working full-time, taking care of the kids and the house. I was running them to baseball games and practices, you know all the ones you missed because you were busy sleeping or planning your next meet up. I was spending my nights cleaning, doing laundry and trying to keep control of the house because you didn't do anything all day long but sleep and cheat. Looking back it all makes sense. That's when I started having my suspicions you were doing something you shouldn't be. That is also the excuse you use for having an affair, because we were arguing and I was crabby at you. Yes, I was angry and crabby at you BECAUSE YOU WERE HAVING AN AFFAIR! I didn't know at the time what you were doing but I did know that you were being an ass, lazy and lying. You weren't doing your job as a husband but you had all the time in the world to blame me for being a bitchy wife.

None of this is new to you. I have said this all before and you either ignore me or pretend to listen. Since you are incapable of caring about anyone but yourself I am not surprised with your lack of remorse or concern about how I feel.

Maybe you will suffer a major head injury and emerge a better person. Maybe you will wake up one day and decide to be a better person. Or maybe you will wake up one day and realize that I am gone. You will have no one to blame but yourself, however somehow you will spin it as me being a bad person. Your family will lie and gossip about me. You will try and weasel your way back into my life. Clearly the skill to weasel into someone's life is a skill your mistress taught you.

Not so sincerely,

Your Wife



And if you'd like to read her Letter to the Mistress, find that here: http://bringonlemons.blogspot.com/2017/05/guest-post-part-ii-dear-mistress.html