Well, my boys are back! Yeah, I know, we barely squeaked that one out, but a win is a win! Nice to see D-Wade back to his amazing self, sore knee and all. I could do without that kind of 4th quarter drama, but we came out on top, so I’ll get over it. Go Miami!

What I can’t get over? Who they voted into the house on Last Comic Standing. What? WHUT? I don’t think I can watch the show. I…I get that what they are doing is casting a reality show about comics rather than a television show about finding the funniest guy or gal. But still….whut?? The pregnant chick and the short “stair climber” chick? Really? Cuz I don’t want to watch them on the show, much less behind the scenes living on Queen Mary. If I wanted manufactured drama, I’d have continued watching Windfall. I hope Roz tosses them both into a life boat and launches em.

Just…incredibly disappointing given all the talent they had to pick from. Deep sigh, here. Deep, disgusted sigh.

So far, Summer Programming is -0 for 3 on my dance card. Not great odds, y’all.

Thanks for all the good wishes and congrats for my oldest. Hard to believe graduation is finally here! But he’s ready and so are we. Harder to believe is that in less than eight weeks, his first college classes commence. But, I look at it this way. Maybe with it just being me and Spence, the groceries will withstand more than that twenty-four hour grace period before somehow being mysteriously teleported off planet.

Happy Hump Day, Blog Babes!!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Sorry Blog Babes, but I’m going to give a pass on Windfall y’all. Just not my cuppa. For those who want the skinny and haven’t watched it, they will repeat the season opener this Thursday at 9pm EST, before showing a new episode at 10pm. Enjoy! I’m holding out for…well, something other than this.

Tonight is Last Comic, I think, where they name the other finalists. Might give that a peek. Mostly I’m looking forward to next week when the audition phases end (for that one and Dance) and the shows actually begin. Something needs to begin. Treasure Hunters starts this weekend. Maybe we’ll luck out there.

It’s a crazy week, my son’s graduation is Friday, so my apologies if the blogs are a bit sketchy.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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So, I don’t know who those guys in black were playing against the Mav’s last night, but they were obviously all imposters. Where did my boys go??? That? Was just sad. Free Miami! Thank god I taped the men’s French Open Final between the #1 and #2 in the world, because that? Was some grand slam tennis, baby!

I still haven’t gotten to Windfall yet, so my apologies on no Monday MAC. They reran it not once, but twice over the weekend, so seriously pimping the show. Hope it lives up to the hype. I’ll give you my take, hopefully, tomorrow.

Let’s talk about this week’s SHaQ Attack instead!

This week’s question is: What do Jarrett McCullough, Zach Brogan, and Dane Colbourne have in common?

You can find the answer on my website, I swear.

Send your answers to donna@donnakauffman.com with My Three Heroes in the subject line. I’ll draw a name from the correct entries on Friday. The winner will receive…well, books related to the correct answer.

Happy hunting!

Tags: Writing by Donna
10 Comments »

We have a winner! No, I’m not talking ’bout Miami (just wait for Game 2 y’all! Dwayne, feel better fast!) I’m talking ’bout the winner of this week’s SHaQ Attack contest.

The four members of the Dirty Dozen team were: Diego Santerra, John McShane, TJ Delahaye and Scottie Giardi. (Yes, women can be super secret agents, too. )

The Bonus Answer to “One of These Things Is Not Like the Other” is: Silent Warrior.

While I totally appreciated your creative reasoning why any or all of the other covers might have been the odd cover out, the resounding number of you agreed with me that John McShane, my Silent Warrior, looks NOTHING like a college frat boy in a polo shirt. What WERE they thinking??? I cringe to this day. Even the Dan Quayle Loveswept cover isn’t that bad. (Go ahead and guess…. )

Oh, right…I guess you want to know who won, huh? Well, put your hands and ice cream scoops together for Trisha B, Carol M, and Kris M!! Woo hoo! A complete set of the Dirty Dozen books have been set aside for each of you (just picture, oh, I don’t know, Clive Owen when you read Silent Warrior.) Trisha and Carol nailed the bonus question, too, and also will be receiving an additional choice from my bookshelf. Way to go, Blog Babes!

(We need Blog Babe t-shirts to start giving away to winners….lol.)

Tune in Monday for the rules to the next SHaQ Attack hunt. Hmmm……what to do…what to do…. (rubbing hands…. Now that y’all have found that Booklist Link on my homepage, things are getting way too easy.

There might even be a little MAC coming your way next week…So You Think You Can Dance is finally down to 20 and the show begins next week. Things are looking up!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
23 Comments »

I’m older than dirt.

It’s bad enough that I went gray at 16. I was too young to care and too young for it to matter. Later, I became close personal friends with L’Oreal, a lifelong friendship that survives to this day.

However, despite the fact that every single member of my family–both immediate and extended–every sister, grandparent, aunt, and cousin thrice removed, have all worn glasses since an early age, I miraculously escaped this. I was the sole 20/20 girl in the entire clan.

Lately, however, I’ve been noticing something odd happening. Manufacturers, road crews, local governments, and marketers have all joined in some kind of global conspiracy. Yes, I’m talking about the conspiracy to start printing things in really really tiny microscopic print. I know it looks like the same old print, but clearly, there’s something fishy going on, because suddenly it’s all wavy and blurry and no matter how much I squint, it doesn’t self correct.

What is going on here, I say? Surely it can’t be a user error. Because, that would mean the unthinkable. That I would have to retire my Sole 20/20 status amongst the clan. No, no! Conspiracy, I tell you.

So I set up a secret meeting with an optometrist…mostly so she could tell me that, yes, it was all one big giant conspiracy drummed up to boost designer frame sales in the age of Lasik.

Sadly…I was informed that, uh, no….no such conspiracy. “You just need glasses. After all, you ARE 46.”

So there you have it. Older than dirt. Confirmed.

But I did get cute, Tina Fey frames. Red, natch. (Girl has to make the most of a sad, sad situation…there might have been some consolation ice cream involved in there somewhere, too….)

Don’t forget, last day to enter this weeks’ SHaQ Attack contest. And speaking of SHaQ…..tonight’s the night, baybees! It’s on!! GO MIAMI!!!

Tags: Writing by Donna
24 Comments »

It’s not even summer yet, and I’m already going through reality-tv withdrawal. I’m not sure which is more pathetic, that I actually have a life and still miss my hourly fix of complete, mindless abandon…or that I’d give up some of that life to get my reality fix back. What is wrong with The Folks Who Pick Summer Programming? It’s not like we all go off planet in the summer. Maybe it’s just the network programmers who do that…hmmm……

And, I know they’ve tried to substitute new shows, they have. Failing miserably thus far, but golf clap for making an attempt. I tried, Blog Babes, I did, to watch and recap Last Comic Standing last night. I love stand up, I love comedy. I believe laughter should be a daily requirement, just like vitamins. Laughing should be the fifth basic food group, but this stuff? Is not recappable. It’s not even watchable.

Because I care, I will make a valiant effort with the Dance thing tonight, but , honestly? It looks like we’re in for a looooong, slooooooow, booooooring summer. Where is our Dancing with the Stars, huh? Where is our mindless summer fun?

I did see where Project Runway is coming back in July. (Where IS Andrae?) But that’s eons from now. Why must we wait, people? Why?

I have a little TiFaux’d tennis to help stave off the reality show twitches, and the playoffs mercifully begin Thursday night (Go Miami!)….but it’s Just Not The Same. I’m bereft, I tell you, bereft. What is the point of getting Edy’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough on sale half price if you don’t have a good, snarkalicious program to give you an excuse to dip into a scoop or two? Honestly. Someone needs to hire me to run network programming.

On the Good News side of things, I have delved into my To Be Read This Summer (a hahahahahaha, right) Leaning Tower of Literature. It’s still a few more weeks before the next Plum hits the stands, and I’m hoarding the Brad Meltzer ARC for later this summer…so I’m going to give Karen Marie Moning’s Immortal Highlander a spin. (Well, not the immortal highlander himself…I should be so lucky! No, really, I should be so lucky. Where’s a good immortal, half naked hunk when you need one, I ask you? First no reality tv, then no half naked men wandering into my life….what is the world coming to? Am I really asking for so much? Am I?)

See? I told you. Clearly pathetic. Now pass me the ice cream…

Tags: Writing by Donna
9 Comments »

So, we’re into the second week of the second grand slam of the year and only one lone American is left standing on the red clay of Roland Garros. Hard to believe, but that lone American is Venus Williams. As sporadically as she and her sister play anymore these days, that’s kind of a surprise. (And..edited to add that I just tuned in to find out Venus went down today, too! Ah well..)

Another surprise, Martina Hingis is back and still standing as the quarterfinals begin.

But mostly I’m watching for Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Can Roger win his fourth major in a row…the only major that has thus far eluded him? Or will the Giant Killer, Nadal, punch his ticket here in Paris again. The only man who seems to have Roger’s number…on clay anyway. Can’t wait for the inevitable showdown this weekend in the finals.

Hard to believe I was there, in Paris, two summers ago, on my way to Wimbledon soon thereafter. (It’s almost here, it’s almost here!) Yeah, researching books is hard work, y’all! Wish I was there this spring, too.

But we’re actually having a spring here in Virginia. This time last year it was already stinkin’ hot and stayed stinkin’ hot. We’ve had a handful of those days, but mostly, we’ve actually had some lovely blue skies, and cool spring breezes. My flowers are quite happy about that.

Enjoy your Tuesday….stop and smell the honeysuckles…and keep entering this week’s SHaQ Attack! So far….pretty good!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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And never has SHaQ been a more appropriate acronym. Yes, I’m going to talk basketball, but it’ll be mercifully brief, I swear. Way to go Miami!! Makin’ it to the finals. Smmmmmmokin’ the Pistons (boy, I waited a looooong time for them to go down. It felt every bit as good as I’d thought it would, too. Buh bye, Rasheed. ) Dwayne Wade, even on IV support, you amaze me!

Okay, all done gloating now (and to the Pistons credit, they took the loss like the pros they are.) On to the fun stuff…free books!

This week’s scavenger hunt question is this:

Four members of Delgado’s Dirty Dozen got their stories told in some of my old Loveswepts. What are their names (first and last)? I don’t need the book titles, just the names of the four who were members of the Dirty Dozen. (The answers are right on my website, you need look no further! It’s easier than it sounds. )

Bonus book!!
Three of the four Dirty Dozen covers are great. The other one? Not so much. So, we’ll play “One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others…” Tell me which cover is just wrong, wrong, wrong for both the title and the story….and you’ll get another book of your choice!

Send an email with your answers to donna@donnakauffman.com with Dirty Dozen! in the subject line. On Friday, I will draw three names from the correct entries and you’ll each receive the Dirty Dozen set. (Plus the bonus book if you got it right!)

Good luck and happy hunting!

Tags: Writing by Donna
6 Comments »

Thank you all for making “release week” that much more fun. Your support and well wishes mean a lot. And thanks, also, for entering this week’s Glass Slipper contest with such great abandon! Blog Babes Rock!

The winner of this week’s SHaQ Attack is Renee C! Your copy of Sleeping With Beauty will be winging it’s way to you shortly. I hope you enjoy!

Tune in Monday for a new SHaQ Attack giveaway….hmmm…..I took it easy on ya this week, so that means next week… Nah! Well…I promise it won’t be too hard.

Hope everyone has a fantabulous weekend!

Tags: Writing by Donna
15 Comments »

…for the dancing part to begin. There were a few good ones sprinkled in there last night (Hello Ryan’s Sick Step crew - awesome, all of you) but I think I’m officially burned out on the “audition” parts of these various shows. So I’ll respectfully hold off on spending time MACing until we’re at least down to the dancers/comedians/whatever who have a chance of making it onto the program.

So, instead of Dance MAC this morning, how about a little more Book Chat?

I finished up the Crusie/Mayer novel and dug into Jill Shalvis’ Her Sexiest Mistake. (I know, it was out last December and I’m waaaay behind!) But so far, hubba! Why did I wait so long again? Kevin McNight…right up my alley. Nice follow up to JT. Can I pick em or what?

Next up after this is a bit of a break for some straight mystery/suspense from one of my very favorite authors, Brad Meltzer. I was extremely lucky to get an advance copy (squee!!!) of his upcoming release, The Book of Fate. Love the intrigue, and set in my own backyard of DC makes it double delish. It’s been awhile since his last, so SUCH a treat for me. Cannot wait to dig in.

And after that, well, Twelve Sharp of course, the latest by Janet Evanovich. More Ranger for me! Nice way for any girl to kick off those hot summer months.

So…what are you all reading now and what’s up next? There is always room on my tottering stack for a few more…

And a last reminder to enter the Glass Slipper giveaway tomorrow - see Monday’s blog for all the details..(and yes, yes, if you have them all, we’ll work out a suitable substitute. Just call me Monty Hall…we’ll look behind Door #4 if we have to!)

Hope you all have a great day!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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