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About STONE COLD SEDUCTION “Elle. It’s just Elle.”When a regular night of Robin Hood-ery results in the manifestation of some, um, unusual paranormal abilities, perfume-maker Elleodora Fredricks realizes the normal world she lives in isn’t quite�� normal. And neither is she, thanks to her father, king of the shadow elves. Not only is he evil incarnate and the reason Elle moonlights as a burglar—someone has to take care of all his victims—he’s stolen her memories.And only reading her fate can fix that.Good thing she’s got a trio of hotties willing to help her find said fate. Saving her oracle BFF’s fiancée, falling in love with the gargoyle, and making up for breaking the phoenix’s heart ought to be a piece of cake for the princess of the shadow elves.If only the king didn’t want his daughter dead�� About Jess Macallan Jess lives in the Inland Northwest with her husband and three children. She thrives on creative chaos. Curiosity drives her to try new things as often as possible. When not writing or chasing trouble, she teaches yoga, reads, runs a mini farm, watches MMA and gardens. The only things she takes seriously are chocolate, tea and world domination. But mostly chocolate.

It’s national Wear Your Pajamas to a Buffet Day. Okay, it’s not a national holiday, but it should be. Most traditions seem to revolve around Thanksgiving and Christmas, while the rest of the year is sadly lacking. Why not create a new tradition designed specifically for you and your loved ones?
Once a year, the Brux family chooses a Sunday for our annual wear our pajamas to the Golden Corral Buffet. The kids look forward to this event, talk about it all year, and get really upset if PJ and Breakfast has to be rescheduled.
Let me stress that there are rules to participating.
You must wear pajamas or something that resembles loungewear. When the snow is deep we wear boots, but usually slippers are mandatory.You can’t comb your hair, remove mascara raccoon eyes, or even brush your teeth. Nuff said.You may accessorize with a robe, stuffed animal, blanket, etc.Anybody can play as long as they wear pajamas.You must be there when the buffet opens, even if this means waiting in the parking lot. More on this later.When it comes to food—anything goes.
We’ve noticed a pattern with the buffet patrons. They arrive in two morning shifts. The first wave is the nonchalant diner. These people come for the food and are there at opening time. This is the wave you want to be in. Most eaters wear sweats, t-shirts, hoodies, and yes, even slippers. For the most part we blend in. Plus, this crowd is focused on eating. I could wear a plastic wrap dress with big red clown shoes and get no more than a cursory glance. As long as I’m not blocking the omelet bar, we’re cool.
Next comes the churchin�� crowd. Make sure you’re headed home by this time. Nice dresses, freshly applied makeup, hair all coiffured. Don’t subject yourself to the judgmental looks; just finish your M &M peanut butter brownie surprise with sprinkles and get the hell out of there.

Tainted doughnut, been touched by gravy!!!
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Which brings us to rule six. This is what makes my kids giddy and ratchets our parental status to stellar. It’s the one day I don’t harp about gorging themselves on sugar. Let me share a few photos of what happens when you let kids run wild at The Golden Corral Buffet.Cheez Whiz Fries��
Marshmallow on a stick dipped in chocolate��
Stick dipped in chocolate��
Let the games begin��
To be honest, buffets are lost on me. I only eat one plateful and rarely get dessert. I stare in wonder as my kids and husband create a revolving door effect at our table, going back again and again for food. Sure, they may only return with one or two delicacies, but it adds up after the seventh trip. And it’s weird stuff, Jell-O  and a hunk of ham, scrambled eggs and a bowl of gummy bears from the dessert bar, fried chicken and a glazed doughnut. Yeah, fried chicken at the breakfast bar, go figure.

Each year we’ve done this, we’ve gotten the same waiter. I’ll call him Paulo since I doubt he’d want to be immortalized in this blog. He’s awesome, timely with the coffee, always smiling, and clearing the plates as quickly as the chowhounds can pile them up. Paulo always gets a nice tip.
At the end of our feed, on the way home, we all smile, thank the makers of elastic waistband and cheer another successful Pajama to the Buffet Day.
I’d love to hear about any non-traditional traditions you have. Really.

Boone : Welcome back to Fluffy Friday. Thanks for joining CJ and I for a spectacular new feature we plan on doing together: Lazy Cooks.
CJ: Yup, you read that right. We might invite other bloggers in to share, too.
Boone : We’ll see, we're kind of lazy.
CJ : I love to eat...
Boon e: Dude!
CJ : And I try to eat healthy, most of the time Boone : Uh, yeah, right. Me, too.
CJ : But with this current writing gig, two kids, a house to manage, a small company to run, and a husband who eats like two men�� well, let’s just say their aren’t enough hours in the day.
Boone : OMG, I have a writing gig, two kids, and a husband. No small business but I do have a fish.
CJ : Fish? Those are work. Change the water�� feed them�� Hey, what happened to the puppies? Hope you didn’t get too hungry and they wound up in a stew pot! Just kidding folks, we’re not that lazy or hungry.
Boone: Puppy stew. *taps chin in contemplation* Intriging.
CJ: I don’t know about you, but I hate scrambling at the last minute—I often wind up grabbing solid hunks of meat out of the freezer wondering how long it will take to defrost them in the microwave.
Boone : I hear ya. I really hate trying to base a whole meal around stale popcorn.
C.J.: LOL! Sounds like a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special ;-)
Okay, the next time you’re feeling lazy, try this one on for size, it’s my latest Lazy Cooker discovery, and I think I’ll be making it again real soon:
Pork a la Marinara
Ingredients:Two defrosted Tenderloins (because they were frozen together)1 jar of good marinara sauce (not Prego or some other crap, spend two bucks more if you can afford it and buy a fancy jar)
Directions:
Place pork in slow cooker, add marinara sauce to it and about ½ to one cup or so of water.Cook on low for six hours or so, until meat is done.
** Note, to set this up when you are out of the house, try getting a timer for your slow cooker if it doesn’t have one installed. No, the meat will not go bad sitting in the cooker for a few hours, relax. Heck, you’re cooking it for a long time, everything will die, it will be safe to eat (unless you are in a tropical climate, but if you are why are you using a slow cooker? Make them eat a salad with meat on it and tell them to shut up or they can cook).
Serving Suggestions: Side veggies and pasta. We had pasta left over so I put some sauce on and heated it up in the microwave. Yes, you can save leftover pasta. Nothing gets thrown out at our house unless it’s gone bad. Toss the leftover patsa will olive oil while it’s still hot and it won’t stick together in a big messy lump in the ziplock bag in the fridge.
Bam! You’re done.
Boone: This sounds so good I'm actually getting up to go dig through my freezer and find a hunk of frozen meat. Thanks for an amazing meal, CJ!!!