The Bachelor Begins!

Readers: The photos have been removed because of the threat of a lawsuit from a Copyright troller on the internet. They buy a popular photo and then threaten to sue you if you use it. apparently it's a new business. Until I figure out how to afford photos or find free photos of The Bachelor, I'm leaving out the pics. :(

Monday night had us Bachelor fans eagerly parked in front of the HDTV waiting for the event that got us through the busy Christmas season, gave us reason to get up Monday morning with a smile, and kept us humming all day.
The Bachelor is back!
And Farmer Chris, who we really liked on The Bachelorette, is the guy looking for his wife this winter and describing this experience as the best opportunity a man could have. Um... Okay. I guess Chris never wanted to be an astronaut on an expedition to the moon or to eat a Klondike bar. But I'm getting ahead of myself in both story and in anticipation because the producers of The Bachelor got a cockamamie idea to milk this for all they could and made us sit through an hour of watching everyone arrive at the tin sound stage building which was as interesting and thrilling as watching glue harden. I switched to Celebrity Apprentice where I developed a new dislike for the smarmy, full of himself Geraldo Rivera. OMG. He needs to be taken down a notch or twenty.

My hubby watched The Bachelor's first hour, a red-carpet/interviewing fiasco with fans behind ropes and Chris Harrison catching Bachelor alumni/family/stars on the way in to the viewing which probably happened last week, you understand. He asked the 'stars' the same old questions he always asks them about when's the wedding, how do you like me?, that type of thing.
I drifted in and out of the room but was too bored/disgusted to sit down and watch. Just as well because the Bachelor people (not contestants but paid employees like Chris H.) can't stop running off their mouths about Juan Pablo. Never, in the history of the Bachelor has one man made so many lower level producers so furious and hateful, it seems. I did catch C.H,'s drilling on Nikki over how she could have made such a horrible mistake in dating Juan Pablo. Sheesh, it's like high school over there at Bachelor headquarters. I imagine the less mature producers are egging Chris on and laughing behind the camera like they got the nerd to make a fool out of himself again on camera. That or C.H. has a real vendetta out for J.P. and cannot get over it to save his career. You'd think Juan Pablo threatened to burn down Bachelor Pad or something the way they can't let the legend of J.P. go. A statement has been made, C.H. We know you hate him. Move on.

Here's my quickish recap of the first night of Chris Soules, the dashing farmer/entrepreneur from Iowa's Bachelor season.
There were a lot of ladies coming out of limousines in everything from gowns and cocktail dresses to almost underwear and short shorts. The first fifteen ladies were greeted by Chris and then a small party ensued in the mansion. Where were the other ladies? Could the Bachelor producers have changed the format of the show? By this point in the franchise, everyone has heard of The Bachelor except those living on that satellite in space where they measure atmospheric anomalies. There's supposed to be 25 girls. The ladies were restless but not nearly as restless as they became when the final 15 arrived in more limousines and then there were girls absolutely everywhere.One even rode up on a motorcycle. Of course she did. There were girls teaching Chris to dance, girls telling him that they are crazy-obsessed with him, girls getting drunk on Jack Daniels (think cowboy boots and short shorts) and girls singing badly on a portable karaoke machine.
Bless that Iowa boy for trying to talk to every single girl!

Several stood out to me and to Chris as well because he picked his 15 or was that 20? and sent the rest packing, including the girl with the big eyes and anyone who seemed a little too obsessed with him already. Wait, no, those girls got to stay. By the time filming stopped that night, it was noon the next day according to the sun dial in amongst the fake flowers in the yard. Did you notice how bright the sun was after the rose ceremony? One of the ousted, named Kimberley, just couldn't believe that she was leaving and went back inside to talk to Chris.
That's where we pick up next week; with Chris discussing the possibility of her joining the filly paddock, I mean the hopefuls, to vie for Chris' heart.
I like the first impression rose gal, Britt (who didn't?) and the girl with the short brown hair curled (such guts to not die it blonde and get extensions for the show!) Who did you like?

See y'all next week where I'll have had time to think up some Iowa farming jokes and references and maybe to forgive the Canuck girl for a tasteless reference to plowing, and then a stupid tasteless joke at the party. Those Canadians!

See you next week.

Kim Hornsby is a Bestselling author with novel available on Amazon. She also writes a novella series, The Husband Hunt, that resembles The Bachelor. But what she's most known for is her housekeeping skills.

New Year's Resolution 2015

I am easily discombobulated. I can be thrown off track with the flick of a notion. If I have too many things going on in my life, I feel scattered, disorganized. I've always been this way and even as a child endeavored to keep life simple. The calendar of events that exists in my imagination must be kept relatively clear. I don't like too many events, appointments, commitments, or I feel spread too thin.
The clutter in my house is a daily reminder that we have too much stuff. I've let my simple life get out of hand. The garage is full of knick knacks that my realtor husband uses for his work. All the bedrooms are chock full of clothes, books, reminders of life events. When I try to thin out our belongings my sentimental husband who grew up with very little steps in. He likes all the stuff. It reminds him of happy times and he's hesitant to let anything go. We still have the crib and our youngest is almost 13.
In talking to my sister on the phone yesterday she mentioned that her house is immaculate because she needs to keep it that way to feel organised, in control. So many things are beyond our control but a clean house is not. I've dropped the ball on this one. My house is not only cluttered but could use a team of house cleaners with mops, disinfectant, spot remover, and scads of garbage bags for the stuff we've accumulated. I recently posted a meme on Facebook that said I cleaned my house but then remembered we still live here.

We have two dogs, each 65-70 pounds who play and romp outside in our backyard. Trouble is that our backyard has very poor drainage and is now a field of muddy water in the Seattle winter rains. Although I built a bridge-like path across the backyard to higher dry ground, the dogs prefer to truck through the mud and then come inside with dirty paws. If the kids let them in, there are muddy prints everywhere. Such is life. What's that saying about the sign of a busy home is a messy house? Or is that a happy home? I worry that I'm paving the way for my children to be slobs. At least their future spouses will not be stressed to keep a tidy house. My son once commented on a friend's gorgeously immaculate house by saying it looked like no one lived there. Ha!


We live in our house. A little too much. As I type this the dogs are cavorting upstairs, barking and waking up the rest of the family with their damp feet pounding on the dirty carpet. The dishes lay waiting from yesterday, presents need to be put away from Christmas, laundry sits in three tubs at the top of the stairs and happy children sleep, unaware that their friends' homes are more organized and tidy because their mothers can keep their minds' thoughts categorized. I cannot. But the good news is that my family gave me a smart phone for Christmas and I now have a personal assistant to help me. Her name is Cortana.
And so, my New Year's Resolution for 2015 is to get rid of at least one third of our junk around the house, pare down, get lighter, sell things we don't use, give away the rest. I know that was last year's resolution and I did a bit but this is the year to get myself organized and in order to do that I need to be managing less stuff. Note to Cortana: Remind me in February, June and September to purge the house of unnecessary things. And remind me in March, July and October that I'm doing a great job.
Here's to ridding one mother of discombobulation! Welcome 2015 - the year of less stuff.

Start Your Engines, Ladies

Today, December 3rd, I'm guest blogging over at Lee Hyat's blog Tote Bags 'n Blogs, talking about how incredibly busy this month is for women.http://www.authorsoundrelations.blogspot.com/
Men, not so much.

Oh, and I have a .99 Christmas Novella at Amazon with Christmas Cookie Recipes in the back.


CHRISTMAS IN WHISTLER

Come on over to the blog and tell me what you do to save time this month.

http://www.authorsoundrelations.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting cookie recipes next week!

Like these chocolate salted caramels.

Kim Hornsby is an award winning author of Suspense and Contemporary Romance. Find her at www.kimhornsbyauthor.net

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Just a quick note to everyone to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

 

We've had our twenty person sit down dinner at this point at my house and I'm thinking of putting up the Christmas tree tomorrow but let's continue to be thankful for all our blessings this holiday season.
At first thought, here's what I'm thankful for this weekend, in no particular order:

A warm house
Great books to read by the fireplace
Sweet doggies who loves me unconditionally
A husband who cooks -- well
Women's Rogaine
Healthy Kids
The song Chandelier by Sia
Lorde's performance on AMA's with no provocative costume
The Paradise - BBC series
FUGG's - fake UGG's
Eat Pray Love Movie
Greek Salad
Eliza's friendship
Dreams that involve handsome men
Plane tickets
Chardonnay
Card games like Euchre and Spoons
Catharina's influence on me
My son won both soccer games so far
New Paperbacks delivered to the door
I'm not Amanda Bynes
October is over
November is almost over
Today is sunny in Seattle with snow on the ground
Maui in January
I fit in last year's jeans
Cozy bed


What are you thankful for?

Gun Control

John Oliver is an interesting TV host, a spurn from the Daily Show with John Stuart, I believe.

As a parent, I fear for the safety of my children, even though the statistics tell me they'll probably be safe.
As a dual citizen of both Canada and the U.S., I wonder if it would be better to move to Canada seeing Baltimore Maryland has more murders in a week than all of Canada does in a year.
I believe you should always ask about the presence of a gun in a house before your child has a playdate at that house.
I'm horrified to see how easy it is for anyone to buy a gun in this country.
And I'm not afraid to say that when they drew up the right to bear arms, they lived in another day and age when personal protection was necessary in remote areas.

Why is it that other countries have strong opinions on what America should do to put a stop to all these school shootings but we vote to hold on to our right to bear arms, like it's every person for themselves here?

This is a troubling topic.

Kim

The Bachelor Headed For Disaster!

I can't help it! I want to know what's going on over there on the set of The Bachelor and I have my ways of getting the scoop, pre-January 5 when we start watching Chris Soules' journey to love.
Or will it be a journey to disaster?

Don't read on if you don't want to know the possible bad joke that the Bachelor Producers have directed towards the farmer from Iowa. If you think that the producers really care about their contestants finding love, you can ask yourself why they'd allow a girl on the show with so many prior arrests. Or one who posed for Playboy and has a web site that links to full nudity.
Friday of this week, November 14th, the show films in Los Angeles and then heads to a certain tropical South Pacific island with four letters and a fabulous reputation, for overnight dates. Chris has four girls remaining after hometowns and one of those girls has a questionable past.

In photos, they look cute enough together but this week, her name was leaked and dirt was dug and Chris is now dating a former Playboy model with priors for DUI, shoplifting, speeding and some other choice offences. Does he know about her past? We have no idea but wouldn't it be just like The Bachelor to know this going in, anticipate the big poop storm that will hit the fan in February/March and be salivating at the thought of Chris actually choosing this woman as his wife. And while the rest of us out here who believe in love, watch the show hoping the next Bachelor finds his perfect mate, the producers are having meetings about how to handle the fabulous publicity when a bad girl makes it to the final four. Which is okay if Chris knows about her past, her photos, video, modeling aspirations, her police record. If he doesn't, then shame on The Bachelor producers for not screening, or for screening and letting a contestant slip by who clearly might not fit in to family life in Iowa as a farmer's wife
In August Chris interviewed on Good Morning America. This is what he said.

"I believe in the process. I believe in what I went through on the previous show. That's why I'm doing it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't feel like there was potential."

Oh, oh, I hope I eat my words about this disaster in March.

Want a happily ever after story? KIM HORNSBY is the author of Christmas in Whistler, a romantic novella on Amazon Books available for sale November 14th for only $.99 throughout the Christmas season!

The Bachelor is Filming Hometowns

There will be no spoiler alert here, today, this month, because The Bachelor hasn't started yet. Well, not for us to watch on TV. It's almost over as far as filming goes.
Can you believe that??? While we've been satisfying our Monday night Bachelor addiction with Dancing with the Stars, filming for The Bachelor has been forging ahead with the Farmer from Iowa, a fan favorite from Andi Dorfman's season.

Chris Soules is narrowing down the playing field as I write this, to four lucky farmerettes, I mean women. I HAVE jumped ahead to peek at what's going on, where they are, and what they're wearing on dates, but I won't give anything away to those of you who want to watch the whole thing unfold like a game of 52 pickup in January.
Let me just say this much. Chris has been around Des Moines Iowa this last week having final dates before Hometowns, and considering that everyone but me has a smartphone with an awesome camera and a twitter, tumblr and tinder accounts, the social media sites are buzzing with photos and sightings.

I've seen pics from cars, from football games, in the windows of restaurants, all over Des Moines as fans realize that Farmer Chris is dating in their own backyard.
Strange thing is that there is one girl who is unknown at this point. Reality Steve has no idea who she is until someone sends him some more information. Chop Chop Everyone!
Reality Steve puts together the information like he's running campaign headquarters for a presidential candidate. He filters information, then sends it out on twitter and his blog site to inform the public to their God-given right to know what is going on with The Bachelor. Steve even knows that when the Bachelor productions crew blows in to town, Tinder lights up for that particular town with hookups for the single crew members. If you're unfamiliar with Tinder, I believe it is a social media site for booty calls. Oh to be young in this day and age. One word: Condoms.


Anyways, Chris is looking good this week and didn't we just know that the down home farmer look was a thing of the past once he went through the PR machine that is The Bachelor. He'll never be the same again, probably will never be satisfied with the small town life, and his new wife, assuming he finds one in this group of highly made up super-modeled looking singles, will never know what it's like to bring in the hay in late August because winter's a comin.







Kim Hornsby writes award-winning novels that are cheaply priced considering how good they are. The Dream Jumper's Promise was Chanticleer's Top Pick for Mystery/Thriller Paranormal this year as well as being nominated for Best Indie First Book by Indie Rom/Con.