It's been a long, hot summer and this author is ready for fall. Typically speaking, I am the first in line to party Halloween night. But having just moved and been going non-stop all summer, I am ready to lounge in front of the fire with my honey and a hot buttered rum. So, this Halloween that is exactly what I have planned. Date Night with the hubby. But it is Halloween, so just any date night won't do. I have something special planned. Date night Jenga. Yep. You've heard of they family game? Maybe even the drinking game. I have decided to make up my own version with sexy and thoughtful commands designed to make our Halloween date night magical.

Then I thought, maybe I'm not the only one who's up for a quiet intimate Halloween. So, I am going to share the game here with you. I intend to type the commands listed below, print & cut, then hodge podge them to the blocks of a Jenga game. I hope you enjoy, because every night is right for romance. If you have any ideas to add, just share the love in the comments below. One random commenter will be chosen at the end of the week to win a romance themed gift box from me, which will include a signed paperback copy of my novel "Only Love Survives" a zombie themed steamy romance.
Happy Halloween romance lovers!

-Kiss a patch of exposed skin.
-Expose a patch of skin and kiss it.
-Slow dance 1 song.
-Take your undies off.
-Take off a piece of THEIR clothing with your teeth.
-Run your tongue along their 'Happy Trail'.
-Flash partner.
-Take a body shot off partner.
-Lick whipped cream of body part of their choice.
-Go again.
-Give special kisses. 1 minute.
-Receive special kisses. 1 minute.
-Give a lap dance.
-Get a lap dance.
-Use an ice cube on partner creatively. 1 minute.
-They kiss YOUR inner thigh.
-Frisk your partner against the wall while they hum the theme to "Cops". 1 minute
-Give a massage, they pick body part. 1 minute
-Give a massage, you pick body part. 1 minute.
-Kiss me like YOU want to be kissed.
-Staring contest. Winner draws next.
-Kiss for 2 minutes, no hands.
-Make partner change into outfit of your choice.
-Describe your dream vacation to partner.
-I get butterflies when you...
-Tell a favorite memory from when you were dating.
-I feel special when you...
-My favorite place to be touched is...
-I get goose bumps when you...
-I feel safe when you...
-I love you because...
-I find it Sexy when you...
-It turns me on when you...

Follow this link to the hop for more fun, great books, and awesome prizes.
http://www.thesnarkology.com/snarkology-halloween-hop-oct-26-31st/
For a chance to win these prizes:
(1) $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card or
(1) $50 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
Go to the hop's 'like' and 'follow' list here... http://goo.gl/forms/C8m0B2NQ3d

October is my favorite month, crisp air, pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING, hot buttered rum, and of course Halloween! Here is my to do list for this October. If you have anything to add, I am always up for new ideas! Just leave them in the comments.

1. Gaze at the moon with my Love, and then make out like teenagers.
2. Go candle shopping (because the ones I have hidden in a drawer somewhere are NOT GOOD ENOUGH, must have new ones. Scents I have not tried) and burn them as soon as I walk in the door, every day.
3. Buy ingredients for Hot butter rums and hot toddies. Buy extra to keep on hand for guests.
4. Pull scarf collection out from back of closet.
5. Find a corn maze and get lost for two hours.
6. Read a new random author cozied up with a blanket and afore mentioned hot toddy.
7. Visit Pumpkin patch, pick out prettiest pumpkin I can find then bribe teenager to massacre it. 
8. Buy Halloween candy too soon and then but more the day before Halloween because family has eaten the stash.
9. Find new place to stash candy.
10. Get a pedicure with Halloween colors.
11. Make at least one of the new DYI Halloween decorations I collected on 'It's Almost Halloween' Pinterest board all year long.
12. Bake something sweet for my family.
13. Donate any Halloween decorations I've not put out last three years in a row, to make room for new ones.
14. Change blonde hair to red.
15. Watch some Halloween movies in the dark, and find a new one for the fav list.
16. Go to the haunted house flashlight tour.
17. Plant bulbs for next year.
18. Start a new INDOOR date night activity with Hubby. Tango lessons anyone?
19. Make my 19 year old watch a new kid’s movie with me. (He secretly loves it, but don't tell anyone.) Hummmm, I have not seen Frankenweenie yet.
20. Organize the kitchen to prepare for the next season to come. ;) (I will not speak it out loud, but some organization would make it run a tad bit smoother.)​

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I grew up in Fremont, CA, a lovely town on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. My Grandparents lived in the rolling hills of Calaveras County. To get there we often took a shortcut to the freeway known as Niles Canyon. Friday afternoon on the way to Grandma’s, I’d stare out the window excited to witness the spectacle of the canyon.

The two lane road winds along a small river dotted with picnic benches, dense brush that often shades the road, steep cliffs that reach high above, and old railroad trellises crisscrossing the canopy. A lovely drive for a small girl and a big imagination.

Coming home Sunday night was never as much fun. 

Growing up an only child, I eavesdropped on the adults probably more often than I should have. I do not remember the first time I heard of her. A lost girl trying to get home. A lost soul reaching out for something she cannot find.  

If you are familiar with the area, you've probably heard the tale of the White Witch of Niles Canyon. Depending on who tells it, sometimes she was on the way home from her prom, sometimes on the way to her wedding. Usually once she is picked up she asks to be taken home, across one of the bridges. Once the driver tries to pay the toll of 15 cents, which indicates how old this story is, the taker tells him he is paying too much, and when he looks the girl has vanished from the back seat. When they go to the address she gave, there is a family member that says yes, she once lived there, but died years ago.  

As a child, when we’d pull off the freeway and turn into the Canyon, a familiar feeling would overtake me, terror that the Ghost of Niles Canyon would appear in the back seat next to me looking for a ride home. 

I’d squeeze my eyes shut and keep them closed the entire trip back, an eternity of wanting to open my eyes and see her, yet being afraid of what I might see if I opened them. Eventually the curiosity of what might happen would win out, and I had to peek. My heart would race. I’d take a deep breath, hold it and open one eye. 

Nothing would be there. Relieved and disappointed at the same time, my eyes would slam shut again and I’d wait till the point I knew we were out of the canyon, the single stop light at the end. Once my father slowed to a stop, I knew I was safe again. I could open my eyes and breathe a sigh of relief.

I never saw her. Not once, on all the thousands of trips to Grandma’s house. But I didn't have to, did I? I carried her with me each trip. This Ghost haunted my childhood without any effort on her part all. That’s the true power of a ghost story.  Not the actual seeing of a spirit, but the fear of what might be seen.

Mini Contest:
Tell me a spooky event from your childhood in the comments below, and at the end of the week, a random winner will be chosen to receive a spooktacular set of zombie shot glasses. (CONTEST CLOSED)

Halloween parties mean costume time... but tell the truth, did you cringe when you got the invitation thinking, "What on earth am I going to wear"? 

I did. Except being the glutton for punishment that I am, I'm the one throwing the party. So I can't very well show up in a T-shirt that say's "This is my costume". So what's a curvy gal to do? I did what any modern woman would do, I hit up Google for ideas.

Someone please explain to me why when I Googled costumes for Women with curves, I found a disturbing trend of purple and green gals dressed as Ursula and Fiona? I mean... Every. Other. Picture. 

I get it, that's what others recognize as a "fat" chick's go-to Halloween costume. And if that's your thing, rock on. But, if you just can't think of anything else, I say why not be the sexy princess, dirty cop or hot nurse? 

It's Halloween! If there were ever a time to step out and be daring, it's now! 

Upon digging a little deeper, I was inspired by these beautiful women in costumes that scream 
"I'm sexy", not wimper "I'm sorry I dared to dress up". 

Although some of the costumes below center around a corset, I will be sporting cheap knockoff shape wear, myself. It doesn't take a lot of money to feel sexy, just an imagination. You are as beautiful as you dare to be. So, this year I will be donning a sexy goddess outfit. Just call me Hera. Even got the hubby a Zeus costume to match. 

Remember, sexy is as sexy does. Go to that Halloween party and Rock whatever costume you want! I would love to hear what you come up with in the comments.
Happy Halloween!

I got tired of the little '10 song' lists. Ten song's does not a party make. So, I did the leg work for you. I started off with over 100 songs, of every possible song anyone has ever thought related to Halloween. Yep, took a while to widdle it down to this list. My ears and my MP3 player are tired. Some good songs, some great, some just for fun to get your party on. Bwahahahah!
Happy Halloween! 

One of my favorite things about October is curling up on the couch on a rainy day with a bowl of popcorn watching a scary movie. I am not a fan of splatter flicks. They are too easy.  I like dark stories that lead you to the edge of a cliff, and when you are least expecting it, push you over. Or ones that are just pure fun. Either way, Halloween is the season I get an itch to watch these films. What's on your Halloween film list?
Practical Magic
Poltergeist
Sixth Sense
The Skeleton Key
An American Haunting
The Others 
What Lies Beneath
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Young Frankenstein
Fire In The Sky

What's you favorite part of Halloween?
All this month I will be posting fun facts, book lists, music lists, pictures, recipes and anything else I deem worthy on facebook in 'My 31 days of Halloween'. Join in and let's have a wicked party!
ReneeCharles

You can easily imagine how they jumped to this...

2) Bigfoot 
Have you ever seen a bear walk upright for long distances? If not, follow this link, bear walking up right and get back to me. That coupled with this picture of a bear with a balding desease, it's easy to see how people could spot bigfoot all the time and yet we never find bones (that's the sceptic's big argument.) Once the fur and skin are gone, you are left simply with a dead bear. On the other hand remember, large mountain gorillas were thought to be a myth until 1902. Does it seem possible we have a gorilla-like creature undiscovered deep in the woods of our less developed areas? Mmmmmaybe. I lean toward mutant bear, myself. 

3) Lock Ness Monster

There is a Damn in Oregon, Bonnieville Lock and Damn, where they give tours. The visitor center has 10-12 foot sturgeon on display. We were told back in the 70's when divers went down to work on the damn, they came right back up exclaiming how there were sturgeon the size of school busses swimming below. Sturgeon are immune to the cold, the dark, and are bottom feeders.  Is it possible that a creature such as this, a modern fish with close ties to it's prehistoric ancestors, lives quite happily in Scottland?

4) Dragons

Yes, I believe in Dragons. Or I should say I believe people of yore found 'Dragons' and made lovely stories about them. Have you ever noticed how much a Dragon resembles a dinosaur?

Better yet could you imagine what people of those times thought when they stumbled upon a scene like this?

5) Vampires

Okay granted vampires are a stretch, and Count Dracula was greatly exaggerated by Bram Stoker. Although he was certainly the most famous, he was not the first to write of these creatures. Where did they come from? Fokelore, as with any legend. 

The truth behind the legend? Well, I have a girlfriend with an alergy to sunlight. She actully breaks out in a rash if exposed for any length of time. The poor woman wears long sleeve shirts in summer. Good thing the summers are typically short here in the Great North West. 

Secondly, the medicinal practice of drinking fresh blood has been practiced through the ages. Thank goodness for modern science, huh? Give me a shot, thank you very much. 

Monsters exist because we try to name the unexplainable. Just because we witness the unnatural, a bear walking for example (seriously watch that video), and explain the weirdness by calling it some extrodinalry name, like Bigfoot for example, doesn't mean that it never happened. Quite the opposite. We are so busy denying what we don’t understand rather than accepting it and looking for the reality behind it, a truth which is undeniable. 

The unnatural event has already occurred. The only variable is how we explain it…"Monster".  

August is a good month for Zombies! Below are some links to local events I hope to attend.
August 17, 2013
Bug Out Beta Test at Dryad’s Rest near Chehalis,
WA
http://tacomazombpocalypse.com/home

August 17, 2013
The Zombie Run is an untimed 5K fun run. The Apocalypse is infecting Magnuson Park, Seattle,
WA
 http://thezombierun.com/location/seattle/ 

August 24, 2013 
Run For Your Life obstacle course and 5K run in Straddleline ORV Park, State Route 8, Olympia, WA.
http://www.runforyourlives.com/locations/seattle/

 Bonus:
 September 27-29, 2013
The Tacoma Zombie Festival and Preparedness Expo’s newly renamed – QZCON is a military-focused science fiction convention that combines the popular theme of surviving the zombie apocalypse and old school Rockabilly punk.
 http://tacomazombpocalypse.com/about


 

 


When I was 20 I lived with my mother and step father while I figured out what direction to take with my life. I had settled on joining the Coast Guard, and was waiting for school to start when we moved into an old house in Niles Canyon, built in 1886. 

It was a charming house, although small. Only two bedrooms, both attached to the single bathroom.  A
parlor.  A dining room and large kitchen took up a good third of the house and where everyone spent most of their time. The house also sported a mudroom, basement and attic complete with
cobwebs. I stayed in the small bedroom off the parlor in the front of the house. I loved the room, with its tall windows and ornate wood trim. Beautiful.  We lived there for about three months before the dreams began. 

I wasn’t prone to nightmares, and if I did have them, they were usually made of the typical stuff, falling outta a plane or my teeth falling out. Never monsters. Never ghosts. Until then.  I began having a reoccurring dream of a black cloud like thick ink that floated over my bed undulating, and flowing back in on its self.  It pulled at me like it wanted something until I couldn’t stand it anymore and would wake up. I didn’t understand, and even once awake, I could feel the sense of desperation hanging over me. The dream didn’t happen every night, but each time it did happen the pull grew stronger. I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t tell anyone.

One day I brought a friend home from work on our lunch break. She was very animated and bubbly while we made sandwiches, then we went in my room to grab a couple of things and all of a sudden she was silent. She didn’t sit down and she stayed near the door. On the way back to work she apologized and said there was something strange about my room that made her uncomfortable, and not to take it personally, but she would never come home for lunch with me again. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before.  I was young, active and always on the go. I always brought friends home.  Because I lived with my parents, when I entertained, we hung out in my room. Her reaction struck me as strange, but unimportant. 

A few weeks later I invited a boy I’d been dating and another couple over. Once we entered my room my date’s demeanor changed. He became unusually quiet. No one else seemed to notice. They were laughing and joking as usual, but he did not speak a word. Then, after about 20 minutes, he abruptly stood up and said, “I’ve got to leave.” 
 
He rushed out and concerned, we followed him to the large front porch. Agitated, he apologized for his weirdness, but there was a presence in my 
room and he couldn’t stand to be in there. 

That was the wakeup call. There was something wrong with my room. The dreams that still felt so real in the mornings were growing stronger and 
more frequent. I had to tell someone what was happening. I couldn’t tell my family. No one else seemed to be effected by it. So, I told my best friend, Danielle about the dreams. When I did, her face grew pale and she told me whenever she spent the night she heard whispering in her sleep that she could still hear as she woke up, and she didn’t like sleeping over. 
 
Six months after we’d moved in, my mother informed me we were moving out. When I asked why she confessed the house seemed “uncomfortable” to her. Being a firm Christian therapist that was all she would allude to. 

The week after we moved out, my mom asked if Danielle and I would go back to the house Saturday to pick up the extra boxes, newspaper and tape 
that we’d left behind. We agreed without a second thought. On the way, we chatted about a guy we both knew, John, who’d asked out on a motorcycle ride the next morning, and the fact that I was scheduled to swear in to the Coast Guard on Monday and ship off to boot camp soon.  

When I opened the back door and we stepped into the old house, the oppressive feeling engulfed us, and was so heavy that it literally sucked 
the breath from me.  It was no longer just in my room. It was everywhere. There was a weight on my shoulders and my feet felt like cement blocks. Danielle and I worked quickly and silently. The parlor at the front of the house seemed much darker than it should have been at dusk. Without a word between us, we both stayed well away from the door to my bedroom.  When we finished, we got in my pickup and drove away still silent. 
 
As we got further from the house the pressure lifted, and my friend finally asked if I had felt what she felt. I told her it was the same thing I dreamt about nearly every night by the time we moved. But I had never
felt it while I was awake. It terrified me. My hands trembled on the steering wheel as I drove and I could not shake the horrible dread, as if the heaviness were trying to follow me, but couldn’t stretch far enough. I dropped my friend off at her house and went home to bed. Thankfully, I did not dream.  
 
The next morning was my date, but when the boy was a half hour late, I called Danielle to tell her I was having second thoughts. When I explained something was telling me not to go, she laughed and said John was sweet and to give him a chance. I mentioned it didn’t matter if he stood me up or not since I would probably never see him again after I left for the military. John came right after I hung 
up.

At 9:30 am Sunday morning we left for a motorcycle drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains. Forty-five minutes later we were in a horrific accident that left us both alive, but in the hospital. I had broken my back in three places, severed nerve endings 
in my leg, destroyed a toe, broke several bones and wound up with a double concussion. John broke an arm and a leg. 

We survived. Both our lives changed that day.  I did not leave for the Coast Guard as scheduled. 

I never felt the black oppressive sensation again. I never dreamt of it again. Was it the evil presence everyone thought it to be? Or was it trying to warn me? Either way, I am glad I got on John’s motorcycle that morning, because my life did indeed change that day. That boy eventually became my husband of twenty years.