Tag Archives: Family

More personal details regarding my family activities or events.

Honoring Babs, an awesome Personal Assistant #PA #VA #GoFundMe

Updated on 10/03/2019 by Kayelle Allen

Babs Hightower of BabsBookBistro was an awesome personal assistant. She did a prodigious amount of work for me. She even took care of things for me over a long holiday weekend because I hadn’t had a break in literal years. When she died, it stunned me. She’d seemed healthy, energetic, eager to help, like always. But she was there one day and gone the next. Other authors she supported are also reeling.

Honoring Babs

If we’re hurting, I can’t imagine how her family must feel. Her husband, Tommy, is a truck driver. There’s no way he can be gone that long now, so he’s looking for different work. Babs and Tommy had 3 kids at home, two of them special needs. She had a bazillion Huskies that she took care of. I’m not sure even she knew how many. She just fed and loved them and gave them baths and… OMG. Huskies. Gotta love ’em. In this picture, her husband’s shirt says “Hair on this shirt provided by my Siberian Husky.” How much you want to bet, Babs bought that shirt. That was her sense of humor.

Authors Keta Diablo, Amber Marr, Rue Allyn, and Marian Lanouette were also supported by this awesome lady. I’m not sure who else she took care of. She was a combination mom, big sister, and no-nonsense boss. “Get to writing” she’d tell me. How I miss that!

Keta and Amber and I put together a Go Fund Me to help the family as Tommy adjusts to being Babs-less. The mom and grandmom (to a brand new grandbaby) is missed everywhere. We’d like to do whatever we can to help them. Babs would have moved heaven and earth to help us. Our very sincere thanks to Crystal at Reviews by Crystal for helping us set this up. When she heard we wanted to help Babs, she offered to do whatever we needed.

Will you give us a hand too? I know her family would be super grateful for anything you can do. Will you share this as another way to help?
Honoring Babs: a #GoFundMe to help the family of a wonderful Personal Assistant https://www.gofundme.com/f/barbara-babs-hightower-memorial-fund Click To Tweet

Here’s where you can help take a little of the load off this family. https://www.gofundme.com/f/barbara-babs-hightower-memorial-fund

Thank you for helping us help Babs!

6 Romantic Spring Date Ideas #hopelessromantic

Updated on 04/08/2017 by Kayelle Allen

Why write about romantic spring date ideas? Because I believe in romance. The motto in my logo and on my website is Romance Lives Forever.

I’ve been married 43 years to the same guy and we still savor romance every day. We enjoy being together. Part of that reason is because we listen to one another and we laugh together. We don’t go out on the usual dinner and a movie type dates. We do enjoy going out to eat and we watch a lot of movies, especially at home. But to go somewhere and have fun without spending a fortune or wearing yourself to a frazzle with the travel… That’s tricky. With it being spring, I thought it would be fun to come with some ideas on what to do. I asked my husband for ideas. There were two requirements. A) They didn’t require a lot of money. B) They were things he’d enjoy doing. Here’s what we brainstormed.

1. Pack a lunch and head to the airport. There is small airport not far from our house and we can park outside the fence and watch planes take off and land. Talk about where the various planes might be headed. For example, a large plane has a greater distance, so it might be bound for a more exotic location than a small, light aircraft. Talk about where it’s going and what you’d do if you were there.

2. Look through some travel magazines and pick a location. If you want a romantic spring date but it’s still cold outside, have an indoor picnic. Open the curtains to let in sunlight. Place a blanket on the floor and sit down together. Pretend you’re having a picnic in the location you chose and role-play what you see. “Oh look! There’s a dolphin pod out there past the waves!” Or, if you can go outside, have your picnic in a park and pretend you’re in a different place, like New York City’s Central Park.

3. Go to a museum and take turns picking the area to visit. It could be a firetruck museum, an art museum, a local historical museum — the site doesn’t matter. The idea is to be together. Hold hands and take your time. Remember, you’re there to enjoy the day and bond with each other.

4. Go on a photo safari. Take your cameras or smartphones and each of you capture images. It can be of each other, the backyard, the sunset, the park, or wherever you happen to be. Then share the photos with each other. If you both take pictures of the same thing, how are they each different? Did you like a particular image? Why not make it your desktop image, or print it in larger size for a poster? That would make the time even more memorable.

5. Go hunting for lightning bugs. When summer is just underway, go outside and look for lightning bugs. Try to count them. It’s just about impossible! They blink and they move, but give it a shot. No need for anything fancy to do this. Just a love of being together.

6. Puzzle night. Get an small puzzle (can even be a kids’ puzzle) and put it together. There’s not much to do while you’re searching for pieces except talk. Which, after all, is the point of a date, right? Getting to be together and sharing?

Here are some places for more ideas. (They open in new windows so you can save your place) Dating Divas offers a list of 40 fun things. Business Insider has some wonderful ideas too. I loved the ideas in this post on She Knows.

Bottom line, whatever you do, take time to show how you feel. Expressions of love never get old. At the end of your date, commit to your relationship and to each other, and make plans for another romantic spring date.

Which of these would appeal to you and your special someone? What kind of romantic spring date you have gone on? Have you been on a date that was different and special? Share in the comments.

Is it right to quit? 10 times it’s ok #author #entrepreneur

Updated on 02/24/2017 by Kayelle Allen

The question, “Is it right to quit?” seems to require a “No!” in response. But does it? Not if you are quitting for the right reasons. Here are ten times it’s okay (and perhaps advisable) to quit.

When is it right to quit?

When you realize what you’re doing is wrong. You’ve gone about it the hard way, for example, or you realize your information was incorrect.
When it’s harmful or dangerous to yourself, others, or the environment.
When it’s wasteful and not a good use of resources. Is it right to quit if you can fix the issue? Perhaps not.
When someone else can do it better for less. This is an iffy one — quality and quantity are market related. If you can make a widget for a dollar and someone else has a means to make ten of them for that price and they outperform yours, give serious thought to moving on.
When it’s not going in the right direction for your purposes.
When you can’t control what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, this is a good time to step back and reconsider how and why. Is it right to quit if you can’t control the outcome? This is probably one of the best times, depending on what you are trying to do in the first place.
When it’s no longer necessary. At some point, when no one needs this product or service, set it aside and move on.
When it’s time to hand it over to a new person. Perhaps someone you know needs a chance to succeed and this project would be ideal for them. Step back and coach, but let it go. Is it right to quit when it means enabling others? Yes.
When you’ve lost your enthusiasm. Perhaps a different approach to the issue is needed, but if you’ve tried different things and you still don’t care, quit. I know, that flies in the face of contemporary advice, but don’t beat a dead horse. Ride a live one.
When you no longer love it. You might be enthusiastic about the concept or the product, but you’re tired of it. You don’t want to do this anymore. Then by all means, step back and move on.

The point of knowing when to quit is knowing what to do afterward. Is it right to quit just because you feel like it? Well, why do you feel like it? Is it because one of the reasons above?

Let me share some things I decided to quit doing recently. I unsubscribed from a few online services I no longer used and from a few newsletters I never read. I stopped wasting time opening email and then filing it and instead, set up a filter in email to automatically file many emails from my target people (friends, family, and businesses). Now I can see the folders have unread mail, read it, and then either delete it or go on to the next thing. It cut down on time filing quite a bit.

I am a graphic designer and love creating fanart, plus book covers, banners, and more. I created a company, The Author’s Secret, for that purpose. However, after five years, I realized I was spending so much time maintaining social media, websites, blog posts, and more for both myself and the company that I had little time left to do what I want to do most. Write. So after a long soul-searching period, I decided to close the company.

Instead, I will offer a few of the same services from my own website. That way, I’m promoting only one site and one set of social media. It’s a win-win.

Is it right to quit? I think so, yes, when the reasons are sound. What do you think? Is it right to quit or should you slug it out no matter what? Share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear from you, yea or nay.

Posted in Marketing for Romance Writers | Tagged Family, Kayelle Allen, Life, Marketing Tips, MFRW, New Writer Tips, Tips and Tools, Writing |

Saint Patrick’s Day Yumminess – Pistachio Cookies!

Updated on 09/27/2016 by Kayelle Allen

Shamrock

A quick and easy low sugar recipe for cookies you can use any day of the year, but they’re great for Saint Patrick’s Day.

Pistachio Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 cups baking mix

1 (3 oz.) package instant pistachio pudding mix

1 egg

1 Tbsp sugar

Preparations

Grease cookie sheet.

Preheat oven (350 F)

To Make

Stir the butter into the pudding mix, and add the baking mix a bit at a time.

Beat the egg slightly, and add.

Stir in the sugar.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface. A shamrock-shaped cookie cutter is great for this holiday, if you have one.

Bake 9 minutes, or until lightly golden.

– – –

Cream Cheese Frosting

5 oz pkg cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese

1 T vanilla

1 T honey

Mix ingredients. If desired, add 1-2 drops green food coloring. Spread on cooled cookies.

Kayelle Allen is an award-winning, multi-published author. Her heroes and heroines include badass immortals, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable–or hide it forever. She is known for unstoppable heroes, uncompromising love, and unforgettable passion.

Posted in Kayelle Allen | Tagged Family, Fun Stuff to Do |

Today My Husband Won’t #poetry

Updated on 09/27/2016 by Kayelle Allen

My husband and me, 2011.

Today My Husband Won’t

By Kayelle Allen

Today, my husband won’t leave his socks on the floor, or miss the hamper.

He won’t pull out a towel and mess up the way the others are folded.

He’s not going to run over the newspaper as he comes down the driveway.

He won’t leave the garage door open, or back the car into the grass on that tight corner.

My husband won’t watch the early news instead of talking to me.

He won’t ignore the family for a ball game.

He’s not going to fall asleep watching the late news.

There won’t be a magazine or book open in his lap.

He won’t complain about traffic on the freeway tonight.

He won’t sing off key in the shower.

He’s not going to putter around in the garage.

He won’t work overtime and end up being late for dinner.

It won’t be because he’s a perfect husband.

Nor because he’s turned over a new leaf.

Today, my husband won’t do any of these things…

Because my husband is now in Heaven.

I miss him.

Hug your husband today.

—

My husband is alive and well. I wrote this because I try to keep in mind every day that my spouse, like me, has a finite number of days on the earth. I want to enjoy every single one of them with him, while he’s here. Never take your loved ones for granted. We have only this moment, right now, right here. Hug your husband. Think twice about complaining about what he says or does. You have so few moments together. Make each of them count.

Posted in Kayelle Allen | Tagged Family, Kayelle Allen, Life |