Posted in beach, blooms, breakfast, bucket list, cruise, drinks, driving, Family, Fiction, food, friends, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, travel, writing, tagged 50 states, funny, funny video, ice cream, knowledge, laws, road trip, states laws, strange stuff, stupid rules, traveling, United States, vacation, weird laws on August 20, 2018| 4 Comments »
I’m getting ready to go on a very much needed vacation. By now most of you know how the past few months have gone for me, so this is truly a needed get-away. I’ve been anticipating this trip for quite some time and it is finally time to start packing.
Posted in April, authors, Autumn, Baer House Inn, beach, blooms, Family, food, friends, Halloween, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, romance, sports, spring break, vacation, Vicksburg, weather, writing, tagged auturm, crawfish, Fall, graduation, harvest season, hunting, Mardi Gras, pilgrimage, school, seasonal, seasonal fruit, seasons, sports, spring, summer, television, tourists, winter on February 12, 2018| 9 Comments »
We’re all familiar with the four traditional seasons and most of us have a favorite. I’m partial to summer, because I like it hot. Spring is beautiful, but too short. Autumn is pretty but often too cool for my liking. I love the long hot summers. I know, I’m a weird-o to some of you, but hey, I’m honest. I like it hot. (more…)
Posted in Baer House Inn, blogging, blooms, dogs, drinks, Family, food, friends, Holidays, Jansen Schmidt, love, romance, roses, writing, tagged Adirondack chairs, back porch, balcony, front porches, front proch, iced tea, porch furniture, porch swing, porches, quiet, relax, relaxing, rocking chair, sit on porch, sweet tea on June 19, 2017| 10 Comments »
There’s something special about a front porch. Front porches come in all shapes and sizes; there’s one for every taste. I’ve always loved porches, front or back. I’m blessed here at the Baer House to have a front porch, 2 back porches (first and second level) and a balcony on the second floor in the front of the house. (more…)
Posted in authors, awards, beach, Belize City, blogging, blooms, bucket list, Cancun, cruise, Family, Fiction, friends, Hawaii, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, love, Mexico, resolutions, romance, St. John, St. Thomas, vacation, words, writers, writing, tagged backyard, blog follower, blog love, grandchildren, interruptions, me, redecorate house, remodel, summer, summer vacations, travel, vacations, you on June 13, 2016| 12 Comments »
We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to talk about you. That’s right – you. As I’m beginning to discover, it’s not always about me. (I know, that’s wrong, but true.)
So, dear readers, tell me, what’s going on in your world? What little tidbits of completely useless information should I know about you?
Posted in authors, blogging, blooms, chocolate, deserts, dessert, diamond ring, drinks, engagement ring, Family, Fiction, food, friends, Holidays, Jansen Schmidt, love, romance, roses, wedding ring, words, writers, writing, tagged anniversary, bacon, bouquet, candy hearts, chocolate covered strawberries, flowers, red velvet waffles, romance, romance writers, Valentine's Day, zymotic on February 15, 2016| 13 Comments »
So the BIG long weekend is nearing completion. Time to go back to work. Well, for most of you. I’ve been working all weekend and it’s been great! Full house for Valentine’s eve with delicious breakfast treats on Valentine’s morning.
The red velvet waffles were a hit even though they were sort of a brown-gray-pink color. I used a lot of food coloring too, but they still weren’t all that red after cooking. The batter was a killer hot pink color though. They looked like they were going to be red. Oh well, I just slathered on a little extra cream cheese icing and it was all good. Add some Baer House eggs (a house speciality) and some bacon and a fruit parfait and you’ve got yourself a sweet feast.
Anyway, we had two couples celebrating their anniversary; one just completed their first year of wedded bliss (aw), the other 13 years. That was fun. Another guest surprised me with a small box of chocolates and chocolate covered strawberries. That was unexpected and very sweet!
And my own sweetie stopped to get be a bouquet of candy hearts on his way home from the store that morning. All in all, a good weekend.
How about you readers? Anything worth sharing? We romance writers like to know these things. Fodder for our books you know.
Have a great week!
Word of the Day: Zymotic
Fun fact about me: I’d rather have flowers than chocolates for Valentine’s Day.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, February 2016. Photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in Autumn, blogging, blooms, dessert, desserts, Family, Fiction, food, Holidays, humor, Jansen Schmidt, short story, words, writing, tagged Easter egg hunt, Easter eggs, harvest, harvesting pecans, kulak, pecan tree, pecans, squirrels, tiny Easter eggs, Vicksburg on November 2, 2015| 14 Comments »
Pecan Tree. Courtesy Google Images
Dear lovely ancient Pecan Tree:
Thank you for the lovely fruit. How I adore baking with the tasty nuggets you drop to the ground each fall. I do, however, have a request, if it’s not too much trouble? Would you henceforth please drop your tiny morsels of goodness in one neat pile on the pavement instead of scattering them all over the yard. And, while you’re at it, could you make it a nice sunny spot instead of those inticing shady areas where pesky mosquitos and mud bogs and snakes tend to lurk.
It’s not that I mind bending down and picking them up so much, but because they are all one lovely, non-descript shade of tan, they tend to blend in with everything, making them much harder to locate. Each morning it is like I am on some outlandish Easter egg hunt for the tiniest Easter eggs ever, all cleverly disquised as clods of mud and pebbles and chunks of cement. I am sure you surreptitiously watch me with merriment as I try to locate the delicatable treats through squinty eyes.
Photo coutresy Google Images.
And finally, after dumping your nutty deliciousness in a tidy pile in the warm sunshine, perhaps you could talk to some of your feline friends, and ask them to protect the mound of morsels from thieving squirrels until such time as I can make my way outside to collect the bounty?
For all of your helpfulness, I shall reward you handsomely by trimming your foliage in an attractive fashion so as to inspire greater productivity next year and to keep your sturdy branches from overload and thus the threat of breakage, like what happened to the gentle giant in the driveway. I promise to take better care your support limbs and to admire the shade and beauty you provide each day, if only would you do your part by helping with the harvest.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation. I am sure by working together we can both become better living beings as a result. Oh sure, we’ll piss off the squirrels, but all in all, who really cares about pissing off the squirrels?
Photo courtesy Google Images.
Forever your most humble servant,
The Innkeeper
And so I ask you dear readers: have you ever harvested your own pecans? Walnuts? Almonds? Any advice for finding and gathering them? Not to mention cracking open those suckers?
Word of the Day: Kulak
Fun fact about me: I don’t really like pecans, but I have a lot of recipes that list pecans in the ingredient list.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, October 2015. Photos courtesy Google Images.
Posted in authors, blogging, blooms, Family, Fiction, food, friends, humor, Jansen Schmidt, words, writers, writing, tagged B & B, bed & breakfast, brain, coughing, craze, fad, Hollywood, inns, life change, magnolias, North Carolina, sick, suggestions, synapses, trend, writer on June 22, 2015| 15 Comments »
Image courtesy Google Images
The human brain is an amazing thing. We have the ability to process tremendous amounts of information in a single second. Our synapses fire at incredible speeds for very long periods of time. It’s a wonder we don’t get dizzy with all of the information pouring into us and through us, triggering rapid-fire bursts of energy under our skin. But, what amazes me the most is the persuasive power of suggestion.
Photo courtesy Google Images
We’ve heard the expression we “will” ourselves not to do something. It is our will that prevents us from getting sick. Or vice versa, the power of suggestion can in fact make us sick. How many times have we traveled on a plane or in some other vehicle with close quarters and some kid or obnoxious adult is coughing and hacking without the decency to cover their mouth? Haven’t we all said, at least once in our lives, “I’ll probably be sick now?” That’s right, we “will” ourselves into illness. We’ve made the suggestion to our ever-powerful mind, and it happens just so.
That my friends is the power of suggestion. That is how trends become fads and fads become crazes. Someone “suggests” something and we all jump on the bandwagon. Someone in Hollyweirdwood decided to shock the world by wearing a see-through dress. Now, everyone who’s anyone is wearing see through clothing because it’s all the rage. Someone suggested it, someone else pondered on it and voila, it’s a new trend. Not long ago I blogged about eating fads and the new trendiness of having food allergies. Someone with an honest to goodness gluten allergy got sick and tired of nobody believing them so they riled up the social media sites with their symptoms and bang – everyone’s gluten intolerant because they happen to have similar symptoms. That’s the power of suggestion.
Image courtesy Google Images
This persuasive tendency in our minds is very real and very reliable. Above I said that people can “will” themselves into being sick. Same works in reverse. Ever heard the expression, “where there’s a will, there’s a way?” That’s the power of suggestion my friends. We suggest that something may be possible and suddenly it happens. That’s how I became a writer. Someone from my past suggested that I write down one of the crazy tales spinning around in my head. I pondered that idea and look at me now, I’m writing books.
The power of suggestion has actually had a profound effect on my life very recently; life-changing in fact. If you follow my blog, you know that my house is for sale, which obviously means that I am moving, and you’ve seen my most recent post about the obstacle blocking the path I chose from the fork in my road. Well, it seems that that obstacle has been removed and I am once again cruising down the road to my future.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Here’s how it all started; my husband and I have been trying to move out of California for many years now, but something has always prevented us from doing so. I’ll not go into detail, but suffice it to say that the things preventing our move were huge and much more important at the time than us moving East. We decided at the end of last year that we would try again. We traveled to North Carolina (the State we’d decided on many years ago) to look at houses and check out the employment market. While we were there an opportunity presented itself to us and we sort of checked into it on a whim. That whim got us to thinking, which lead to suggesting that perhaps we choose another path; one not in North Carolina. Here’s where the power of suggestion changed our lives – that suggestion is going to happen very, very soon.
Photo courtesy Google Images
We are going to be the owners of a Bed & Breakfast!
That’s right, we’ll be innkeepers. The power of suggestion has transformed our lives dramatically. Neither my husband nor I had ever talked about owning or operating an inn, yet here we are, about to be innkeepers. (It should be noted that we both have experience doing this kind of work and in the hospitality and food industry.)
While we were looking at houses in North Carolina back in November, we can upon a really cute old farmhouse for sale. Even though it was out of our price range, we decided to check it out – on a whim. It was operating as a bed and breakfast, but only had 4 guest rooms. It was way too expensive to consider buying for a private home, but did not provide enough income opportunities (with only 4 rentable rooms) to make ends meet as a business. But, that got us to thinking – why not look into buying an inn? That way we’d have built in jobs when we purchase our new home. Sort of, killing two birds with one stone.
That’s all I’m going to say for now, because a couple of little pieces still need to fall into place to complete the big picture, but I’m fairly confident that in a week or two there’ll be an announcement with all the details. There is a clue in this post, however.
And that my friends, is how the power of suggestion can change a life.
Photo courtesy Google Images
Tell me dear readers, how has the power of suggestion had an impact on your life? Have you ever willed yourself sick? Or not sick? Have you ever stayed in a bed and breakfast inn? If so, what was your favorite part?
Word of the day: Rya
Fun fact about me: I worked at a bed & breakfast one summer a number of years ago. I enjoyed it.
Original post by Jansen Schmidt, June 2015. Images and photos courtesy Google Images.
