Join Andi Lee on the blog tour for her New Book, Risky Business! She’ll be answering questions (and so will her ferret) and there will be giveaways at several stops!

Best of all, don’t forget to grab Risky Business and have a great romantic read! Purchase Risky Business at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Risky-Business-Animal-Lark-Book-ebook/dp/B09LHTBGKZ/) and other fine online retailers.

Veterinarian Dane Vincent is used to being unlucky in love. That’s why his crush on new friend Ben is No Big Deal. He’s more than happy to swoop to Ben’s rescue when he brings a ferret into his practice. It’s what friends do—and vets.

Ben Clifford came to Lockstone for a new job and a fresh start. He didn’t expect to make friends, never mind a tightknit group of them. They’re all wacky and wonderful, and he fits right in, something he’s never done before. They even support him when he finds a ferret at work and decides to keep the cute little bundle of joy.

There’s just one tiny problem. Ben’s house doesn’t allow pets.

Moving into Dane’s spare room is meant to be temporary, but the more time he spends with him, the less he wants to leave. They connect on a level he’s never experienced before, and slowly but surely, the feelings of friendship Ben has for Dane morph into something deeper.

The question is… does he have the courage to act on them?

I do love retro recipes. Since most “American” food isn’t what I grew up with, my exposure to them is usually from restaurants or visiting friends. Now I’ve made a version of this but that was kind of tossed together based on something I tasted so going back to an “old” recipe is always interesting. Also, I just love old recipes. Dunno why. Kinda crazy but there you have it.

We had a great Halloween and I’m ramping up to do the wording thing. I’m actually also wondering how all of you are doing? There some odd fluctuations in my brain and that’s being worked on as well as hammering at doctors and more tests… nothing life threatening but mostly annoying.

And you know what is often nice? White rice and beef gravy. I highly recommend it. We prefer calrose rice in this house but that’s a personal preference (it’s the best rice).

Of course, now I’ll have started a rice war and lines have been drawn.

It’s been a long week and I’ll post some catchup texts but… it was a great trip. Even did a Pendle run. Which of course was awesome. The Potato didn’t go for a walk today because it’s cold and he’s a bit stiff but I brought home some guests so he’s in heaven.

Guests mean people who don’t know the food rules and can be conned into giving extra treats.

I actually haven’t just rambled here in a long time so bear with me for a bit. This past year has been a fleeting one but heavy, burdened with a lot of things I have had to scrape off in order to move forward. Oddly enough, it’s also been a bit of a journey to find out where I am, who I am and honestly, who is with me.

The past couple of years brought a lot of sadness and stark truths to my life. I’d always been… obtusely oblivious for lack of a better word and trusted a lot of people who I called friends. That was shaken quite a bit and now, in the ruins of so much, there are still pillars I can lean on. So in a lot of ways, I guess it’s something I truly had to go through in order to discover who was with me. And that while I know I’m going to be hurt because a lot of people truly do not be careful with others’ emotions, I’m better for knowing I’ve not compromised who I am inside. And have dealt with just the crappiest things but I’ll be okay. Coming out on the other side will happen. I just have to have faith of it going forward.

Faith is a fucking hard thing to hold on to and it gets tested all the time. Seriously. It’s a bitch.

Mind you, I’m rambling here so… I’m going to be all over the place.

I’ve also just come to accept (?) the Aspergers part. Yes, I still mask. I think it’s just automatic coping mechanisms but I’m kinder to myself when I don’t or forgiving myself more for those quirks when my brain says… Nope, can’t listen to that chime on the phone anymore, it’s burrowing down into my ear drum so change it.

I used to say; just power thru it. I’m big on confronting the aversion aspects of this damned spectrum shit but sometimes, I don’t have to. I don’t have to do it all the time and I needed to remember that. I’m never going to be “normal human” and I have to accept that. There’s things people do that make absolutely no sense to me and I can’t comprehend the why of it. And that’s okay. Learning to be okay with those things you cannot change… ooof, that’s hard.

Not gonna lie. Aspergers sucks. And yeah, it’s not the worst thing. You always hear that. It could be worse. I’m like… fucking hell, it isn’t a competition of sad-sackness. Sometimes it’s just fucking tiring and I hate fighting for the normal. Because while people say they’ll make allowances for spectrum people, they kind of don’t. Not really. It’s tiring for them too. Most often there’s huge misunderstandings and we spend more time explaining and smoothing things out in our relationships than actually living our lives. But you know, you gotta keep trying.

Dogs and cats are a hell of a lot easier.

Right now, Gus (The Blond Potato) is sleeping off a long weekend of hard activity and much company. He reached saturation point on Sunday and kind of gave up socializing but rallied yesterday. But today, he’s all… let me sleep. Partied way too hard this past week so… no Borking today. It’s also going to rain. Which would be nice.

And I’m off to create words. I hope they are good ones. I also hope all of you have a great week and one filled with laughter and good food. And coffee. If that’s your thing 😀