May There Always Be Books - Blog Hop & Giveaway

This hop is hosted by Literary Addicts and is from May 20 at 12:00am – May 31 @11:59pm EST.

Thank you for visiting my corner of the virtual world. Thank you to our host, Literary Addicts for putting this all together!

Our Giveaway

$5 Amazon Gift Cards

3 E-Books by B.K. Walker (Winners Choice)

PLUS

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Excellent Resource: Journey After School by Jasmine Sheffield Promotional Tour

Journey After School

by Jasmine Sheffield

About The Author:


Jasmine, a loving mother and wife, is a resident of Virginia. She is a graduate of Florida A&M University where she received a B.S. in Computer Information Systems. She went on to receive her M.S. in Management Information Systems from University of Illinois Springfield. Although she has a passion for technology, her greatest love is helping her peers with their careers and finances. 

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Book Genre- Self-Help

Publisher - Our Journey Publishing
Release Date - 1/9/2013
Amazon

Graduating from college is easy when compared to the effort of getting hired after graduation. Once hired, maintaining your professionalism and managing your finances can be challenging. Journey after School seeks to provide guidance for new graduates. Like the syllabus provided by a professor at the beginning of a semester, Journey after School is a brief, easy read.

Excerpt 1-

You’ve proven you have the skills, experience, and personality to join the company. From the first day on the job, you have to perform and do it professionally. For young professionals, a challenge will be proving that you are capable of performing the job. You are no longer in college and should not give your colleagues the impression that you are a student.

Appearances are important, and just like at your interview, you should wear appropriate attire to work. The business attire you wore to the interview may not be required for your office; therefore, it is important to ask your recruiter or hiring manager about the dress code. As you begin working, you can observe your colleagues and determine how formal or casual they dress.

In school, classes had a defined schedule, but in your career, you may not have a specific schedule. Many employers expect that you will be at work at a reasonable time and do all of your hours for the day. If you have the luxury of choosing your own schedule, be mindful of your company’s core business hours. Typically, the core hours
are defined between a start and finish time like 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If your schedule is predefined, be sure you are punctual. You are not expected to work non-stop when you arrive at work, but you should minimize your downtime. When you are away from your workstation for an extended period of time, you should inform someone that you will be away. Your colleagues should not have to search for you and should never question whether you have actually worked all of your scheduled hours. 

Follow The Tour Here

Stressful Weekend!

My daughter took me to lunch for Mother's Day and left the boys in charge. We get home to find our pup, a Chihuahua weighing about 5 pounds, MIA.

All the kids drove around, hiked the mountain, and hunted their hiney's off looking for our baby of the family. They spotted him once, and he was so scared...

He Ran Off Frantically!

We hunted until it was too dark to see, then my daughter continued until 11 at night. She came home crying, worried that Tito may get eaten, freeze to death and starve.

We left a light on, went outside and called his name every couple of hours, only to turn up with Zilch!

Britt went to work the next morning and we left to start hunting all over again. We come home for a break and the phone rings!

I just saw your dog!

Woohoo! We jump back in the car to where he was seen, did a small hunt, found him hiding under some brush. He smelled us, and was tracking our scent, but when we called him, he was so scared that he had no idea it was us, poor fella!

I walked slowly to the brush pile, said, "Come to Grammy, Tito!" Softly, of course, and once he realized it was me, he ran as fast as he could and jumped right into my arms!

Finally Home!

We were so relieved to find him. He at an entire can of dog food and slept the rest of the day and evening in my lap. He did play a bit with the kittens, but he was just...

How was your weekend?

Kitten Krazy!

Our newest babies just love to snuggle, even with Rancid :). I think they think I'm their Mommy, and I crack up every time our tabby gets in my face and meows real close until I kiss her cheeks. If I stop kissing, she stops meowing!

They all love to lay on my chest. Our gray ones don't care how they lay, they roll off and stay in whatever position they land, it's hilarious.

Peek-A-Boo: Listen Closely and You Will Hear A Kitten Squeaky Snore

They drive me crazy sometimes, but I'm glad we brought them home. They are so spoiled already and growing so fast. I'm going to hate it when they get big like Shitigan, who, btw, HATES the kittens haha. He's so mad we let them in our house, he stays outside until dark now, LOL.

Sadie can't stand them either and I think, she thinks, that they are always crawling around her, because she will wake out of a sound sleep and bark like something's getting her! She's going crazy, HA!

Jessie, well, their just another set of babies for her!

Dutch, today is the first day that he snuggled with them. He was sleeping on Dan's bed with one today, lol.

On another note, we noticed the pig we thought had blue eyes, now has one blue and one brown and is completely CRAZY!! Goats finally let me touch them, and literally pet them today *happydancing*

Hope you had a great Monday!

Dang Pigs Anyways!

When Pigs Fly

I've seen it! I've really seen it!!

If you think pigs can't fly, guess again! I was feeding the other day, and it came time for the pigs. They got so anxious, one of our pigs FLEW through the stall boards and right into my ribs.

OUCH!

I never thought in a million years the dirty scoundrel! I just walked into his view and he nailed me. Mean bastard! I just couldn't believe it. 

My husband is the one that normally feeds and waters the pigs, giving them the attention they need and playing with them, but he was ill this day, so I was left to care for them and apparently, they didn't care for me doing it LOL.

I got him back in his pen though, got them watered and fed, and all was well.

Whew!

From now on...I'm leaving that job to my husband! I'll stick with my cow, Maggie!

No matter what my chores are for the day, I will admit...I love farmlife! It's so much fun learning everything and the chickens are getting tamer too. The hens fight every now and again, which is hilarious, but all in all...

First Year Is The Hardest!

Remember when we were kids, playing with our Barbie marrying her off to Ken, watching them drive away in the horse carriage? Maybe you had the pink convertible. Maybe they eloped or married in front of all their Barbie friends.

Either way, it's every girls childhood fantasy! Isn't it?

I didn't think much about marriage when I was a kid. Probably because my Mom was a single mother,  and swore off marriage for the rest of her life! That was until it caught her by surprise and now she's been married 20+ years or so. LOL.

It wasn't a sin in my house, it's just my father put my mother through the ringer and she learned her lesson about men. Times had changed from years ago when men took care of their family and they never divorced.

I remember laughing when my best friend, who SWORE she would never get married...got married. She's been married for over 15 years now.

Not me! I know how things go. Nothing is forever, people just don't take their vows seriously anymore. Divorce is way too easy!

Now...I'm married!

I know my best friend laughed at me too! I deserved it, right? Right!

BUT...

Whoever said marriage was easy...Boy were they wrong!

Do you know how hard it is to remember this? To remember why it was we got married in the first place?

Under new management is right! 

When you go from a single mom, making sure to include your children in all the decision making that affects us as a whole, to now having another head unit to consider, it is an adjustment!

Now I don't have to depend on my kids so much. Yes...their opinion still counts, but now it's not me alone to make the final decisions.

We are still learning to live with each other!

Yes we have disagreements. We see things differently, and I'm not sure we will ever see things exactly the same. I think that comes from me being so alone and independent before we got married.

Old habits die hard!

I know that better than anyone. Sometimes it's so hard to remember that it's okay to disagree. It's okay to have an argument.

It's okay to just love one another.

What was your first year of marriage like? Did you have the same struggles? How did you get through it? 

What advice can you give me?

A Space of My Own

As most of you know, I'm an author, book promoter, and tour organizer. I decided that I really need a place of my own, that has nothing to do with any of that. A place to call my own, where I can vent, share my actual life with, and personal thoughts.

A place that I don't have to be just a professional, but can goof off too :)

Everyone needs a space of their own!

Don't you agree?

So I invite you to join me for a cup of coffee, on our farm and let's just chat :)