I often receive emails from people asking if I accept guest posts on my blogs, and if so, what are the post guidelines or requirements for submitting guest articles for possible publication. Yes, I do accept article submissions/guest posts on this blog and a couple of my other blogs on an ongoing basis.

Most of the people inquiring about submitting articles or guest posts contact me by email via the contact form with questions about how to submit articles, if I require the guest writer to have a blog or website of their own, if I pay for article submissions, what kind of content I would accept, and if guest writers are required to write articles on a regular weekly or monthly basis.

In order to submit articles for publishing on my blog, it is important for guest writers to follow guest post guidelines and legal standards for content and use of images within posts, plus understanding what kind of article content fits best with the niche topics hosted on my blog(s).

I do not require guest writers to have their own blog or website, nor do I require guest writers to agree to submit articles weekly, bi-monthly or monthly etc. If you have your own website or blog, you can certainly include a link to it within the guest post itself and/or at the bottom of the article within your self-written byline paragraph describing yourself and/or your site as a great way of helping to promote you, your blog site or business.

Two external links to your blog site or specific post are allowed, or one within your guest article itself and one more in your byline at the bottom of your guest post. No affiliate links and no “sponsored posts” will be permitted. If you do not have a website you can link to your facebook page, myspace page, twitter page etc, or none at all – the choice is yours.

Why Submit Guest Articles?

The reasons for writing and submitting guest articles are many, even if you don’t have your own blog or website.

• Maybe you are just starting out as a blog writer and you want to get a couple inbound links to your blog or specific titled post to improve its ranking in online search results.

• Maybe you have read a great book or two that gets your creative writing juices flowing and you want to write and publish a review of the book(s) you enjoyed so much.

• Maybe you have a blog that is strictly confined in its niche topics or categories and you want to share your thoughts on topics outside of your own niche.

• Maybe you just want to share your thoughts and views on topics of interest to you and my readers, regardless of whether you have your own blog or not.

Before submitting guest articles for possible publication on my blog, take the time to consider the kind of articles and subjects that fit best with the blog niche. I do not pay for guest articles. Articles about health, diet, exercise, education/schooling, home-schooling, raising children and teens, dating, marriage, parenting young or adult children, step parenting, general or specific family relationship problems, divorce, infant/baby care, holiday-related topics, spiritual/religious topics that are not too controversial are all fine and fit within the large niche.

Visit the article archives page to see the large variety of relevant topic subject matter that can be posted on this blog. If you are unsure about a topic you would like to write and submit as a guest post, email me and ask. I’m easy. Topics on religion, spirituality, bible/scriptural matters relevant to real life and family living are fine too, as long as the content of the post is not highly controversial or inflammatory to individual beliefs or that negatively target certain religions or denominations.

Guest Article Guidelines

Your submitted guest article does not have to be perfect, and I rarely ever reject guest submissions unless the article is extremely controversial or inflammatory to readers and visitors (ie politics, abortion, etc), or the guest post has so many spelling or grammar errors that I would end having to almost rewrite the article myself in its entirety. Other than running your guest article through a spell checker, grammar checker, checking/verifying outbound link destinations and possibly editing punctuation used, no changes will be made to the actual content of your guest article.

Guest articles submitted for publishing must be your own original work and must not be republished anywhere else on the web. Articles submitted are checked for duplicity with copyscape and google, therefore, no duplicate content whatsoever. Articles must have a minimum of 650 words, must be relevant to the host blog, and image(s) used must be free of copyright use restrictions and pre-sized/optimized appropriately. The less work I have to do on your guest post the better.

Potential guest writers interested in having their guest post approved, or if you have any questions about guest posting here or getting your article approved, or even if you just want to pitch a post idea you would like to submit, email me and I will reply as quickly as possible. Guest writers are strongly encouraged to comment on their own submitted post(s) and subscribe to subsequent comments or questions from readers/visitors and respond promptly, as will I.

Submit an Article

Article submissions should be sent via word doc with desired image(s), may not include advertisements, promotional items or sales letters, and your name must be used as the author of the article. Once a submitted article is approved and published, the author will be notified via email along with a courtesy link to their published article.

As owner and host of this blog, I retain the legal right to publish, edit or reject any/all article submissions for this site to maintain the integrity and reputation of the site and site owner (me). Guest article submissions requiring extensive editing will be returned to the author for rewriting, and if necessary rejected.

To submit a guest article for publication or if you have further questions about guest posting on my blog, contact me via the contact page at the top of the site or email me if you already have my email address. I look forward to hearing from new and/or experienced guest writers interested in guest posting once, occasionally or even on a semi to regular basis.

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Baby showers are a wonderful opportunity to show support to the mom to be and to bring the family together for a time of bonding and sharing. What if you really want to celebrate but you’re on a tight budget? There are things that you can do to make a baby shower more affordable and at the same time not look “cheap”. Here are 4 ideas to save while celebrating.

1- Balloons create a fun environment.

Balloons are a favorite when decorating simply because they are so pretty and very cheap. Find focal points of the party that you want to embellish and fill them with balloons. Some of the best places to put the balloons are at the entrance way of the party, behind the cake, behind the foods tables and near where the mommy to be will be opening the gifts.

Another thing that you can do is have them hanging individually from the ceiling. This creates an awesome effect. To do this, simply fill some of the balloons with helium and place double sided tape on the top of the balloon so it will stick to the ceiling. Tie a beautiful shiny ribbon to each of the balloons for an even more charming effect.

2- Be creative and use plastic bath tubs.

Plastic baby bath tubs are not expensive and make great decorative items. A plastic tub can be a holding place to put the gifts that the guests bring. Decorate the tub with confetti and tie a helium balloon to it. If you’re hosting an outdoors party, you can fill the tub with ice and use it as a place to keep the sodas cold too. If the tub isn’t too big, it can also be used as a punch bowl. Afterwards you can fill it with punch and place floating decoratives such as rubber duckies or plastic lily pads. This rubber duck baby shower post has plenty of ideas that incorporate bath tubs. Plastic tubs can also hold game prizes or even baby shower favors.

3- Use certain gifts as a part of the decoration.

When planning your party, you want to be innovative. there are many creative baby shower ideas that you can integrate to your theme. For example: tie a clothesline across a wall that you want to decorate. You can hang baby clothes with wooden clothespins. Ideas for items that can be displayed are bibs, booties, onesies, socks, jumpers, hats and even cloth toys. You can even incorporate these gifts into the favor ideas. For example, wrap a chocolate truffle in pink paper and place inside a pink baby bootie if the baby is a girl.

If you don’t want to display the clothes that will be gifts, you can also cut out letters from cardboard to spell out certain sayings. Another idea is to write out the letter with a permanent marker on disposable diapers. The traditional sayings are: it’s a boy, it’s a girl, welcome baby, or even spell out the baby’s name.

4- Send emails instead of physical invitations.

With the great rise of the digital world almost everyone has an email and access to the internet. This makes it much easier to save money when sending out invitations. You can create a very cute email with images that match the theme of the baby shower that you’re throwing. Make the font of the image colorful and pretty but easy to read. Once you have the email done you can send out a test email to yourself to make sure it looks all right. Once it looks like you want it to, you can send it to everyone at once. Call all the guests to follow up and make sure that they got the email and remind them of the event.

If you really want to have a printed out invitation you can use your own printer and find free invitation templates. For example, if you’re throwing a monkey themed baby shower these monkey baby shower invitations will be a great match for you.

This is a guest post by Eren Mckay, who is a work at home mom to 3 boys. She loves to share baby shower ideas and help others with party planning. She is also the founder of Embracing Home which is a website created to inspire, encourage, motivate and provide resources for families.

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Tired of winter? Tired of being inside the house with nothing new to do? Are your kids bouncing off the walls? Gummy Lump to the rescue with a NEW KIDS CRAFT practically every day! That’s right! This year you and your child can join GummyLump.com in making 300 easy kids crafts that will entertain your kids while helping them develop a wide variety of key skills!

As the Mom of two 3.5 year olds I am always looking for creative things to do with my children. More than that, I’m also looking for educational activities that will develop fine motor skills, increase self confidence, develop problem solving skills, express creativity, break the boredom, and allow us to more closely bond during one on one time. My answer came as a result of my New Year’s Resolution to my kids: to spend more quality time with them every day. How?

I created 300 Crafts for Kids in 2011! I can’t tell you how much this crafting project has changed me and my children. My preschoolers have become so much more inquisitive and are better problem solvers already – only 24 crafts in! There is a noticeable difference in their interest in arts & crafts, sensory play, fine motor skills, and self confidence.

Best of all, they cherish the one on one time (or in my case, 1 on 2 time) that they get, distraction free, while we’re creating our crafts. They are like little crafting engineers. They especially love to watch me “experiment” with new crafts. They love to ask what I’m doing, why I’m doing it, how is it going to stay together, and so on. I never realized all the skills that develop during arts & crafts projects.

Personally, I was never a crafter. I think the last craft I did prior to this project was a pom pom bear I made in Brownies in the 1970′s! Crafting has changed me too. I’m a more patient, less controlling Mom and my kids greatly enjoy the freedom of expression it gives them. Truly, no one is more shocked than me at the visible changes and growth that has taken place in me and my children since this project began. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done! We hope that you’ll join us and experience it for yourself.

If you’re a Type A Mom like me, believe me when I say it’ll be good for you! It’s a small period of time each day when even you can be silly and messy! It all cleans up easily and also gives your children the opportunity to be free from so many rules for a little while!

What’s stopping YOU from joining us?

Some MYTHS About Doing Crafts with Kids:

• You need to have experience doing crafts to be able to follow along. Nope! I don’t. Before this project I hadn’t done a crafty thing since Brownies. Look at me now!

• You need to have hundreds of supplies on hand. Nope! I use basic kids art supplies and almost every craft will allow for very liberal substitutions.

• I don’t have the kind of time needed for this. Wrong again! These are preschool crafts so they don’t take a long time. Kids this age can’t handle it. Our craft projects take 15-45 minutes depending on how closely you follow the instructions. I encourage you to do it your own way. Shave off some time if you think you or your child can’t handle the amount of time I’ve said it will take.

• It has to look like the photo and I’m afraid my child won’t be able to do it. NO! NO! NO! It should NEVER look just like mine. These projects are not at all about perfection in any way! If anything, they’re about the opposite. They’re about being creative individually, doing it your own way, changing it to make it suit your supplies and your child, and about connecting with your child. THE LAST thing to concern yourself with is if you think it looks “good”. Believe me, it looks good to your child because THEY made it out of a few assorted supplies and now it’s “something”. That is amazing. Enjoy that! They are surely relishing it!

• My child has special needs so he can’t do these kinds of projects. Possibly, but not in most cases. Your child may have different abilities, but that is also true for every single child on the planet. None of us is the same, including our abilities. One of the most fantastic things about art is that each creation is as unique as the person who creates it!

I provide modifications for children with special needs, but you know your child best and can make appropriate adjustments where needed. This can be a wonderfully liberating experience for your child because it’s an environment he they can make all kinds of decisions that are ALL right! There are no wrong choices here! That  can be an incredible self esteem builder. You may even be shocked at how much your child enjoys certain aspects of art, or how good he is at it!

• Those crafts are cute but my child is older now. Great! I also include modifications for older children! Your older child can join us

• There are no giveaways! WRONG! You are automatically entered to win a weekly giveaway just for posting your completed project from 300 Crafts for Kids on our facebook page! Our last 3 winners all got $25 in kids art supplies!

• Crafts are fun but have little if any educational value. NO! Craft projects are extraordinarily educational! Art develops creative thinking, provides means of communication and self expression, increases self understanding, strengthens self concepts and confidence, serves as an emotional release, provides decision-making opportunities, develops appreciation for the individuality of others, aids physical coordination, develops work habits and a sense of responsibility, heightens aesthetic awareness and sensitivity, and generates joy! Crafts also serving as a jumping off point to learn more about the topic!

Ready to start? Join us Right Now!

Our First 24 Kids Craft Projects:

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #1: Shiny Sequin Design

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #2: Choo Choo Photo Train

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #3: Fuzzy Polar Bear

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #4: Dinosaur Fingerprint Creations

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #5: Coin Art Fruits

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #6: Sensory Dinosaurs Craft

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #7: Hearts Bouquet with Sparkly Vase (Valentine’s Day)

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #8: Making Chocolate with Children

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #9: Hatching Dinosaur Egg in Nest (with baby dinosaur)!

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #10: “Things I Like” Wall Hanging

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #11: Valentine Foil Heart Kids Craft

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #12: I Love My Family Valentine Craft

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #13: Heart Mosaic Valentine Wall Hanging

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #14: Making Brownie Love Pops & Heart Shaped Brownies with Children

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #15: Foil Play Food Cupcakes for Valentine’s Day or any time!

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #16: Three Crafty Bear – Teddy Bear Love

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #17: Fabric Heart Valentine Hanging

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #18: Baking with Preschool Kids for Valentine’s Day

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #19: Valentine Watercolor Flowers in Vase

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #20: Walking Love Bug for Valentine’s Day

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #21: Teddy Bear Hugs Lacing Craft

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #22: Heart Deco Desktop Craft

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #23: Three Valentine’s Day Flower Corsages

• KIDS CRAFTS PROJECT #24: Pipe Cleaner Vase with Button Flowers

P.S. I want to give your readers the “KIDSCRAFTS” discount coupon code to save 10% on all art supplies at gummylump.com – The discount applies to any Kids Art Supplies here – even Melissa & Doug items that are ALREADY marked down 20%!!!

Each kids craft project also includes modifications associated educational activities including a book recommendation! Come on! Join in on the Fun Kids Crafts and tell your family, friends and neighbors to come along too!

Guest article written and submitted by Linda R. from Gummy Lump Toys at www.gummylump.com. Kids craft images used with permission.

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With Last Sacrifice being the last (official) book of Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy Series (book 6), a lot of questions get answered, but leave it to Richelle to end the book with more questions being asked. What a great way of keeping the Vampire Academy story alive!

Despite this book completing the Vampire Academy series, Richelle is currently working on a spin-off series of these books entitled Bloodlines, which focuses more on the side character’s stories than Rose, Lissa and Dimitri.

Last Sacrifice picks up right where Spirit Bound (book 5) leaves us- with Rose locked up because of her being accused of murder. When Rose’s lawyer (who also happens to be her father) Abe, comes to deliver some bad news, Rose’s trial gets bumped up from her possibly being convicted in a couple months, to being two weeks away!

Vampire Academy Series “Last Sacrifice” Book 6 by Richelle Mead

With all of Rose’s closest friends working as fast as they can to help uncover the truth, Rose needs to make sure that the task assigned to her, by the now dead queen – Tatiana, is a legitimate request. After conjuring up Tatiana’s ghost and verifying the note, which was passed to Rose through Ambrose, Rose returned to Lissa’s mind to see what was happening in the world outside her holding cell.

With Queen Tatiana’s funeral arrangements having already been made, Lissa decided she would take part in the funeral taking her family’s position walking alongside the casket, along with a member of the other 11 royal families. When Rose finally fell asleep, she was abruptly awoken when she realized she couldn’t feel/sense the bond that allowed her to slip into Lissa’s head.

When morning finally came, Rose felt the bond connection had returned and she had full access to Lissa’s thoughts and feelings; it was also time for everyone to get into place for the funeral of Queen Tatiana. As the funeral began, Rose noticed that Lissa had been hiding thoughts and feelings from the bond, as nervousness fell through the cracks and Rose noticed that something wasn’t quite 100% with Lissa. Nothing was making any sense to Rose as Lissa walked alongside Tatiana’s coffin, and they were arriving at the cathedral. You can imagine everyone’s surprise when the statues that were in front of the cathedral had exploded-literally!

With all the confusion taking place at the cathedral, Rose herself was in shock when she saw Eddie, Mikhail, Adrian and Dimitri all in front of her, breaking her out. When Abe strategically exploded a wall to create an exit for Rose and Dimitri to escape the Royal Court as easily as possible, it was time for Rose to get to the bottom of Tatiana’s secret note.

Of course, it’s easier said than done when it comes to Rose; instead of staying in a hotel with alchemist-friend Sydney and Dimitri in West Virginia (like Abe told them to), Rose made a change of everyone’s plans and set out to find Lissa’s mysterious half-sibling. As Sydney starts digging around Lissa’s father’s (Eric) bank information, they find that he had been giving money to a mysterious Jane Doe.

With Sydney trying to figure out who this person is, Rose gets a surprise dream-walk visit from Viktor Dashkov and his brother Robert. When Rose relays theinformation to them about finding Lissa’s half-sibling, Viktor knows they need more time. He comes up with a plan to bide Rose more time, by telling Rose that Lissa needs to take part in the process of becoming the new queen.

After Viktor and Robert leave Rose’s dreams, she gets a new guest-her boyfriend Adrian who dream-walks to talk to Rose as well. Since Rose isn’t at court to make the plans happen with Lissa, Rose tells Adrian what needs to happen to get Rose more time finding Lissa’s half-sibling, and clearing her name from Tatiana’s murder. While the Queen and King nominations take place, and Lissa gets nominated (and accepts) for queen, she must take part in 3 tests. Each test is designed to determine the best candidates for King/Queen- eliminating those who can’t handle what it takes to do such a difficult thing.

While those tests take place, Sydney discovers that Eric Dragomir had been sending money to none other than Sonya Karp-a Strigoi who was one of Rose’s old teachers before she took off with Lissa. Once Rose, Dimitri and Sydney got the information they needed to locate Sonya, Viktor and Robert arrived to help capture her, and used a spirit-induced stake to return Sonya to her Moroi self. Despite her confusion, and hurt over the things that transpired, Rose needed to continue with locating Lissa’s half-sibling, and had to (basically) interrogate Sonya to find out what information she knew.

Although Sonya wouldn’t quite tell Rose everything, she did hop in the car with them and show her where she needed to be to find Lissa’s half-sibling. The news to the Mastrano family was a shock, since Mrs. Emily Mastrano had to make a confession. When it was finally decided that Lissa’s half-sister would go to the Royal Court and announce her heritage to everyone, things didn’t end up very well, since Guardians had been called, and Viktor left with Lissa’s half-sister Jill.

It wasn’t hard to find Viktor with Sonya continuously dream-walking to locate where the brothers and Jill were at. In a short amount of time Dimitri, Rose, Sydney and Sonya had all gone to Viktor’s hotel to ambush him and Robert to get Jill away from them. Things hadn’t quite gone as planned, when Viktor kept pushing Rose’s buttons, and Viktor ended up on the floor lifeless. With Viktor’s sudden death invading Rose’s thoughts, it takes a spirit-charmed locket to keep Rose sane. Luckily, they were able to get Jill away and started heading back to the Royal Court, while Rose started piecing together who REALLY murdered the Queen.

With Rose seeing that Lissa had passed the 3rd and final test, Rose needed to go see Sydney and the other Alchemists which were being held at court (Sydney got captured by the Guardians who raided the Mastrano house). Rose assuming she had all the information she needed, all evidence pointed to Daniella Ivashkov, Adrian’s mother, being the Queen’s killer. The information Rose received from the Alchemists wasn’t what she had expected at all.

The description of the last person seen in Queen Tatiana’s room the night she was murdered wasn’t Daniella Ivashkov at all! Rose knew who it was, and all though she didn’t quite know the reasoning for being framed by this person, she headed over to where the Council was to announce Lissa had a sibling (which would allow Lissa to rule as Queen), and to announce who Tatiana’s killer really, truly, was…

Richelle Mead didn’t fail to bring more suspense and action to Last Sacrifice, her final book of the Vampire Academy Series. Tatiana’s killer definitely wasn’t who I thought it was going to be, but the reasoning for it makes sense. After finally being told who framed Rose, Richelle did a nice flashback kind of thing to remind everyone of what happened in a previous book, to explain the reasoning for the murder.

Vampire Academy Book Series 1-6 by Richelle Mead

1. Vampire Academy Book 1 – Vampire Academy Review
2. Vampire Academy Book 2 Frostbite – Frostbite Review
3. Vampire Academy Book 3 Shadow Kiss – Shadow Kiss Review
4. Vampire Academy Book 4 Blood Promise – Blood Promise Review
5. Vampire Academy Book 5 Spirit Bound – Spirit Bound Review
6. Vampire Academy Book 6 Last Sacrifice

Although I’m saddened that the Vampire Academy series of books is officially done, I’m quite excited to read the Bloodlines spin-off book series (release date August 23, 2011) to see what happens to the other characters, and to see how some unanswered questions finally get settled. If you’ve procrastinated on buying all of the Vampire Academy books in the series, then wait no more and buy the Vampire Academy box set of books 1-4 to get started, and you won’t be disappointed in Richelle Mead’s spectacular series of books.

The rights to make the Vampire Academy series into movies has already been sold! Be sure to follow the “Official Vampire Academy Movie” on Facebook to be kept up-to-date on decisions about the movie(s), as well as being able to put in your opinion on what should/shouldn’t be done with the movies to preserve the books we all love so much!

Guest post review written and submitted by Heather P. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow Heather P and engage with her and fellow Vampire Academy fans, Hush, Hush and Twilight book fans.

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Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series book 5 Spirit Bound starts a few weeks after book 4 Blood Promise ends. With Rose thinking that she had succeeded in killing Dimitri, she was quite shocked when, after re-enrolling herself back in St. Vladimir’s, she was getting weekly letters from Dimitri. Rose had to put those thoughts of Dimitri, coming to hunt and kill her, away because now it was time for her final exam-the exam that would allow her to graduate to a full Guardian!

Success came quickly for Rose, despite the Guardians needing to craft a special exam specifically for Rose, given she already had real field experience. After everyone had finished their tests, it was time to get the “Promised Guardian” symbol tattooed on their backs, to show they were full Guardians. The graduation ceremony came and went, and once everyone was finished they all headed over to the Royal Court to have the new Guardians be picked by the Royal Moroi who graduated school as well and now needed their own Guardians. Rose, of course, had her own plans-to break Viktor Dashkov out of Tarasov Prison to locate his brother Robert, who was another spirit user, who had the Spirit power to restore Strigoi to their old Moroi/Dhampir selves!

Vampire Academy Spirit Bound Book 5 by Richelle Mead

Despite Lissa not quite liking/approving of Rose’s plan, she didn’t want to lose Rose again, and decided to accompany Rose and help her break Viktor out of prison. With the help of Guardian Mikhail, and the girls’ friend Eddy, they had succeeded in breaking Viktor out of prison. Their only problem now is making Viktor tell Rose and Lissa where his brother, Robert Duru, is. Once he decides, Viktor tells them they need to head to Las Vegas to see Robert. Spotting Robert in the Casino, he had arranged to meet everyone in, wasn’t difficult since Lissa was able to pick up his Spirit magic. The meeting didn’t quite go as planned since Dimitri had arrived to finally act on his threats to kill Rose.

Not killing Dimitri was a difficult task for Rose, since she was risking everything to try to save him. The consequences back at Court, for taking off, weren’t what Rose was expecting; she isn’t in school anymore and her actions have very real consequences. With Rose being on punishment and not allowed to go anywhere, Lissa has full opportunity to learn how to wield a stake and therefore being able to return Dimitri to his Dhampir self!

Things of course don’t go quite as planned. Lissa is off with Christian and Lissa’s new guardians, Serena and Grant, checking out Lissa’s college. After dinner, things became a blur since Lissa and Christian were being flanked by numerous Strigoi; one of whom was Dimitri. As a way of baiting Rose to him, Dimitri kept Lissa and Christian alive knowing that once Lissa is in danger, Rose will head straight for her. Rose did exactly that; headed straight for Lissa with a group of Guardians, with 2 missions in mind: rescuing Lissa and Christian, and killing Dimitri.

Once Rose and Dimitri finally came face-to-face, they danced back and forth, battling, waiting for the other to slip up so they could have their opportunity to strike. Rose’s opportunity came-and went because she had been shoved aside by Lissa and Christian. Lissa was hell-bent on saving Dimitri, so she had her Spirit-infused stake pierce Dimitri’s heart, while Christian formed a fire-circle- keeping everyone away from them and Dimitri while Lissa works her magic. Using all the strength she had, a bright light had shone once the stake had reached Dimitri’s heart. The impossible now became VERY possible with Lissa’s success!

Word spread quickly of what had transpired with Lissa and Dimitri, although everyone no one really believed what they heard/saw. Despite protests by both Rose and Lissa, that Dimitri was no longer Strigoi, he was being held in a cell at the Royal court. Everyone needed to be 100% certain he wouldn’t go off on a tangent and start killing again, so they ran numerous tests on him which seemed to be endless!

Although Rose assumed that once Dimitri was returned to being a Dhampir that he would want to see her, she was last person on Earth he wanted to see because of guilt and shame of all the horrible things he had done to her while being Strigoi. Rose started developing a small resentment towards Lissa, for being the only one allowed to see Dimitri, and for being the only one he asked and wanted to see at all. As a way of making herself feel better, she ran to Adrian for comfort.

When Dimitri was finally released, despite being heavily watched, Rose finally sought her opportunity to make Dimitri see that he was still in love with her. Things didn’t quite happen that way, as Rose departed from Dimitri as saddened and depressed as ever. As days went by and Rose and Dimitri were starting to talk a little more, and Rose was (kind of) content with being just friends with Dimitri, Dimitri’s love for Rose never left as a horde of Guardians approached Rose looking ready for a fight, and ready to attack. Out of pure instinct, Dimitri leapt in front of Rose and started battling with the oncoming Guardians, putting injury on his reputation that he was a fully restored Dhampir, once again.

The assault by the Guardians didn’t come from nothing, of course. As Rose was arrested and was being charged with treason, it wasn’t until she was face-to-face with her father Abe that word had reached Rose that Queen Tatiana had been brutally murdered, and Rose’s stake (which had gone missing) was in the room with Queen Tatiana’s body, covered in her blood. Who could/would have framed Rose for killing Queen Tatiana, and why?

Fingers are being pointed in several directions, but there’s only one way to find out who the murderer is, and why they framed Rose for it: you have to read the last and final book (book 6) of the Vampire Academy Series, Last Sacrifice, to find out!

Guest post review written and submitted by Heather P. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow Heather P and engage with her and fellow Vampire Academy fans, Hush, Hush and Twilight book fans.

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The holidays are upon us again, and those who enjoy them welcome them with open arms. Others however find that they’re stressful, what with having to spend money, plan parties, put up decorations, and conform to general holiday cheer.

It’s not unheard of for modern day Scrooges to whisper “Bah, Humbug!” under their breaths even as they go about pretending to enjoy the holiday season. They’re not to blame for their wet blanket attitude; prolonged stress and forced holiday cheer can make disbelievers of most people.

Even those who love and enjoy the holidays are subject to stress once they’re over; perhaps they’re suffering from withdrawal syndrome, or perhaps they’re not sure how to cope with the overwhelming experience that holidays are.

If you’re the kind who finds holiday time or post holiday time stressful and find coping with holiday stress difficult to deal with, follow these tips to minimize the tension and maximize your enjoyment:

1. Don’t spend more than you can afford: Money is often the root cause of all our troubles; we either fret that we don’t have any to spend or we spend what we don’t have without a care in the world and drown deeper in debt, especially during the holidays. The key to minimizing post holiday stress is to reduce spending before and during the holidays, especially when you cannot afford it and ride out the season using your credit cards.
2. Don’t eat too much: Another stressor is food – we forget that we eat to live and make holidays about living to eat. All that rich food adds to the lethargy and laziness that envelop us during holiday season and make you feel more bloated and heavy when it’s time to get back to your regular routine. Make your holidays more enjoyable by eating healthy food and small amounts of foods that are a part of every holiday gathering – this is the best way to eat your cake and have it too.
3. Don’t take on more work than you can do: You may consider yourself the ultimate host, but if you end up obsessing over how to make each holiday better than the last, how to outdo yourself every year, you’re going to end up a basket case even before the holidays are done. It’s a time to have fun, let down your hair, and relax with those closest to you; so focus on what really matters, not the outward trappings that you think is important.
4. Stay organized: Holidays are all about decorations and other preparations, and if you’re not organized and have to rummage in all your cupboards and storage areas to put together your tree and hang out your decorations, it is going to be a stressful experience. A place for everything and everything in its place works wonders in reducing stress and panic during holidays.
5. Don’t force family to spend time together: Some families are close, others prefer to remain at a distance. If your family is of the latter kind, don’t force them to spend time together during the holidays – it can only lead to additional strife and tension. Instead, keep in touch throughout the year, focus on rebuilding your relationship, and then spend the next holiday together.

This guest post is contributed by Maryanne Osberg, who writes on the topic of RN to MSN Online Programs. She can be reached at mary.anne579(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

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