On Cupcakes & Texas Homecoming Mums - Plus, a Giveaway! By Sara K. Parker

Two updates! :)

1. I spent several hours creating my first Texas Homecoming mum, and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the process. It helped that my friend had almost all the supplies, including one of those amazing printers that can print any shape - namely, the glittery orange diver I added to the mum. My son's friend is a diver, and you can't find much diver paraphernalia at craft stores in September. 

2. I know I'm late posting, but Sherri G. is the winner of the gift card. Send your e-mail address to parker.sarak@gmail.com.

Earlier Post:
I know it’s my day to introduce myself, but can I first just tell you what's on my mind right now?

Texas mums.

And I’m not talking about these:

I’m talking about THESE:

I have been quietly giggling about these larger-than-life ribbon-stuffed-animal necklaces for years. Texans, forgive me. I’m a Maryland girl, where mums are still just flowers to be tended to and admired. But today? Today I will be initiated into the world of Texas Homecoming Mum Crafting. Actually, I made that up. What’s really happening is this:

My amazing, selfless, creative, and ridiculously patient friend Lori is having pity on me because my 15-year-old son decided four days before Homecoming to ask a girl to the dance, and this Maryland mom is completely clueless when it comes to Texas mums. Lori picked up supplies, which I can only guess include ribbons and glue and glitter and maybe feathers or some-such, and she is going to walk me through the mum-making process.

She even offered to make the whole thing herself, but with three more kids coming up through the ranks, I’m thinking that mum-making skills will serve me well over the next seven years. Or, maybe I will get rich and I will be able to pay someone to make these fancy monstrosities. If you would like to contribute to the Parker Family Mum Cause, message me and I’ll let you know where to donate. Be advised: I cannot promise that some of the funds will not be used to support my cupcake habit. When stressed, I eat, and this whole mum business is taking its toll.

From Left: Mudslinger, S'mores, Oreo

I’m mostly joking. Fun fact about me #1: I think any excuse is a good excuse for cupcake consumption.

#2 – My husband and I met on a blind date and have been married 15 years. Ironically, I asked him to never buy me flowers. I’d rather have chocolate that I can eat than flowers I can merely look at until they die.

#3 – We have four kids: two teenage sons and identical twin daughters.

#4 – We have four animals: a 16-year-old cat, two crazy dogs and a five-month-old puppy. Our dogs are named after candy: Reese, Rolo, and Twix.

Haylea, our elderly kitty.

Rolo, age 4

 

The newest addition: Twix, five months 

Reese (age 4) meeting Twix for the first time.

 #5 - One of our daughters is a Ewing Sarcoma cancer survivor, and just reached the one-year NED mark on September 9! Here's a pic of our family getting ready to board our Make-A-Wish flight to Florida for our Disney Cruise!

#6 – I write for Love Inspired Suspense, and I also teach developmental English at a nearby community college. I absolutely love doing both!

#7 – In my occasional free time, I go on long runs (AKA astonishingly slow jogs), stay up too late reading novels I can’t put down, and play the piano.

#8 – I landed my first book contract (Undercurrent) through a pitch contest my sister Shirlee McCoy encouraged me to enter in 2013. I didn’t sell again until 2017 (Dying to Remember).

#9 – My third book is coming out in March 2019 (ShatteredTrust), and I’m madly writing book number four, slotted for publication next fall.

#10 – I like to give things away! To be entered into a drawing for a $15 Amazon gift card, comment below with a fun fact about you or a question for me. Winner will be announced here at 10 p.m. CST. I’ll try to post a photo of the completed Homecoming Mum, too!

By the way, I’m still trying to find my groove when it comes to keeping up with social media, but I’d love to connect with you:

Click here to visit my Facebook author page. 

Hop over here to check out my occasionally updated Website.

Feel free to visit my rather silent Twitter account. 

And, here is even a link to my shamefully neglected Instagram account. 

Thanks for popping by to say hello!

Love At Cupid's Cove--Valentine Serial Day 13

 

Duncan stopped. He was standing beside the old historic log home that was just down the street from Lacy’s shop. It had the huge cascading Bridal Bush in full bloom that his mother loved. And as Lacy moved toward him he suddenly had an image of her as a bride. His bride. He shut that down immediately. It wasn’t something that could ever be. Wasn’t something he could ever deserve?

Lacy marched right up to him, her eyes alive with a fire he’d not seen there before. “Oh Duncan, I can’t let you walk away like this. For the last couple of days I’ve heard more whispers and talk about you than I care to hear. But maybe that was a good thing because it’s becoming clear to me that you are carrying a burden that you aren’t meant to carry.”

Duncan’s heart was slamming against his ribs as he studied Lacy, wanting so much to pull her into his arms and be free from the guilt and sorrow that blanketed him, suffocated him. But no, he shook his head. He’d prayed for answers, for help and God hadn’t sent it. He’d prayed for Missy to forgive him but—      

“No,” Lacy broke into his thoughts. “Don’t shake your head. Please listen to me, Duncan.” She stepped up close, obviously not caring that they were on the street and everyone could see them.  She placed her hands against his cheeks and her beautiful brown eyes shimmered with more gentle kindness than he’d felt in so long. “My heart breaks for Missy Taylor and that she lost her husband,” she said, as if reading his mind. “But the truth is, she is hurting, grieving and she and others—including you—are blaming you for something that isn’t your fault. You have to let it go. God will heal her wounds with time."

Duncan’s throat tightened with emotion so strong he couldn’t help himself, he pulled Lacy into his arms and laid his head against her sweet, cupcake scented hair. Felt her heart beating in time with his. Closing his eyes he tried to process all that she’d said. And suddenly he realized that maybe God had been listening to his prayers—that maybe in the darkness of his guilt God had sent help, a ray of hope… God had sent Lacy, this beautiful, shaft of sunlight into his world when he’d most needed someone to believe in him.

But could he believe what she was telling him? Could he let go of the guilt eating at him?   

 

 

 

 

 

Love at Cupid's Cove--A Valentine's serial--Lacy Williams

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1401282

He moved, or she did, and their lips brushed in a tentative, seeking kiss. Slowly, Lacy raised one hand and threaded her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck.

Noise rushed in her ears, as if she’d turned on all of the electric appliances at once; heat flushed through her like she was standing in front of an open oven door.

She could feel his tension, his muscles coiled to move away. Duncan was a man who kept things so tightly bottled inside… until she felt him break, and he crushed her to him.

Moments—or eons—later, he ended the kiss, pressing her head to his broad chest, tucking her head beneath his chin.

“That was a mistake.” She was so close that his words rumbled beneath her cheek. Stubble from his jaw caught in her hair, tugging the fine strands at her temple.

“It doesn’t feel like a mistake,” she said, heart now pounding with more than adrenaline from their kiss. Somehow, she’d found a way inside the walls he kept up to protect himself. Would he push her away?

She wrapped her arms more tightly around his waist, willing him to hold on to her.

“It does to me.” Gently, he set her away from him.

She blinked beneath the harsh kitchen lights, away from his warmth and the protection of his arms.

“I would never… purposely… do anything to hurt you.”

Then why was he pushing her away? It had to be some misguided sense of honor, because of what everyone in town thought about him. Everyone but her.

“Duncan, wait—”

He turned away, one hand on the back of his neck. Headed for the door. “I shouldn’t have come. I should—we should stay away from each other.” He sounded so determined, but she also heard the thread of doubt underscoring his words.

Luckily for the both of them, his statement only sparked a new determination within Lacy—to find a way to make things right for him.


Start at the beginning:
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial_2.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial_3.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/cupids-cove-valentine-serial-debby.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentines-serial.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentines-serial_5.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial_7.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cover-valentines-serial.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial_9.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentines-serial_11.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/love-at-cupids-cove-valentine-serial_12.html
http://craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/2013/02/happily-ever-after-in-cupids-cove-happy.html

Love At Cupid's Cove - Valentine Serial - Jean C. Gordon

Duncan kept his head down against the wind, a chill running through him that was out of proportion to the slight dip in the temperature this morning.  He crossed the street in front of his mother’s house and ducked down the alley-like short cut that he and his friends had always taken to Cupid Cove High School. Mom had been sleeping when he’d left. She wouldn’t know that he’d detoured a bit with her surprise cupcake.

His thoughts went back to the bakery and its proprietress. She’d seemed as sweet and cheery as her pastries. And, of course she knew his mother. That was the way with small towns. Everyone knew everyone else and their business. Places like Cupid’s Cove had a way of putting labels on their inhabitants. She must not have heard his. It certainly wasn’t hero.

The path he’d been following came out on the driveway of the last house on School Street before the school. The grass in the back yard was a shade longer than last week when his offer to mow the lawn had been rebuffed. He followed the driveway to the kitchen door at the side of the house and knocked.

“Hi, Duncan,” the five-year-old towhead answering the door said.

“That’s Mr. Hines, Angie,” her eight-year-old brother Jason corrected from behind her. “What do you want?”

“To see your mother.”

“She doesn’t want to see you,” the boy said.

“Are those from Miss Lacy’s bakery?” Angie asked, pointing at the box he was crushing in his hands. “For us?”

“Yes.” He unclenched his fingers. Lacy. The name suited her. Delicate, feminine.

“Jason is right. I don’t want to see you,” a disembodied voice said from the front of the house. “Please leave.”

Jason reached over his sister’s shoulder and started to pull the door closed. Duncan pressed the box into Angie’s hands before the door closed in his face. He heard the lock click.

Leave. There was nothing he’d rather do than leave Cupid’s Cove. But he couldn’t. Not yet.

Love At Cupid's Cove - Valentine Serial - Pamela Tracy

Before she had time to stop him, he dropped a twenty on the counter and was out the door.


“Wait! You only owe-"

“Let him go,” said old Mr. Valentine.

“But-"

“I said, let the boy alone.”

Lacy joined Mr. Valentine at the big picture window at the front of her store. He was a regular every morning, showing up when she opened, waiting patiently while the coffee brewed, and then accepting one of her coffee crumb cakes.  He usually wasn't this crotchety.

“Do you know him?” Lacy had only been in Cupid’s Cove for five years. She knew the residents, knew most of their stories/history, but now that she thought of it, only Duncan’s mother talked about him.

No one else.

Had his name been on the prayer list at church and she’d missed it?

“Course I know him. He was in one of my ninth grade history class that I taught at Cupid Cove Junior High. He’s was a smart one.”

“Then what-"

This time when Lacy stopped, it wasn’t because Mr. Valentine interrupted her.

Duncan’s mother Betty lived only a block from the bakery. Lacy could easily see her house – a big rambling two story - from the store.

And what Lacy saw right now was Duncan, white box of cupcakes clutched to his chest, head bent as he pushed against the brisk wind, walking past his mother’s house.