First Ever Weekly Pet Peeve - SHOPKINS!

This is my first ever weekly pet-peeve blog.

Each week, on Wednesday, I will tell you about my current pet-peeve of the week. 

Do you have a pet-peeve?  Share it with me at info@benjamindedrick.com!

I don’t know about your kids, but mine are in love with Shopkins, and at least my 9-year-old, she has been for the past couple of years.

What are Shopkins?  Well, in case you’ve been living in a hole for the past three years, think your grocery list meets your old baseball cards.  That’s the basic idea.

Shopkins are little plastic toys based on grocery items with faces and cutesy names.  Did I say toys?  They are actually collectibles.  Each Shopkin is designated as common, rare, and ultra-rare.  And with cute faces like these and adorable names like Cheeky Chocolate (a chocolate bar), Apple Blossom (you guessed it, an apple), and Kooky Cookie (a chocolate chip cookie), how can you not fall in love with them?

Our house has.  Our two 9-year-old daughters and even our 6-year-old son collects them.   You can buy a surprise pack of two Shopkins, complete with a shopping basket, at any retail store (that sells toys) for about $4.  Prices go up from there.  You can buy kits that have up to 20 assorted Shopkins, you can even buy carry and collector cases shaped like refrigerators.  The toys are available in seasons.  They started with the first season in 2013, and they are now on season 4. 

So, you must be asking yourself, what can this guy POSSIBLY have against such cute little collectible toys?  Well, for one thing, every time we go to a store we get harassed to buy more.  Between the three of them we have over two hundred of the little buggers lying around.  They are small and they are everywhere!  I even found some in the crisping drawer in the fridge.  Apparently they didn’t want Ms. Millie Shake to go bad! 

Ok, so they are small, have edges, and are left lying everywhere…what does that sound like to you?  That’s right, they are like the next Legos!  Always underfoot, I stepped on a Crispy Chip this morning climbing out of bed.  Right between the toes!  Ouch.

Don’t get me wrong…I think it’s cute that my kids are all gung-ho about collecting something.  They even bring some of their doubles and triples to school and trade them with their friends.  I have no problem with the concept or the kiddos loving them.  So what is my biggest issue with this multi-million dollar franchise that feeds off of the love for shopping shared by young and old alike? 

Easy!  That I didn't think of the idea myself!

To find out more of my pet-peeves check out the blog every Wednesday at 2PM EST.  Email me anytime at info@benjamindedrick.com to submit your own for me to share!

Thanks for reading!

The Positive Side of Masters Week

So it’s that time again.  The time that every Augustan dreads. 

Sorry guys, what I’m talking about is much worse than pollen season.  It is the dreaded MASTERS WEEK!  Sure, you could submit yourself to the torture of actually doing something downtown this week with the possibility of sitting behind a famous person while eating at T-Bones or Chili's

or the Golden Arches (hey famous golfers love Quarter Pounders as much as I do, probably). 

But I am going to tell you all something that you probably won’t be able to wrap you brains around until next weekend, when all the out-of-staters pack up their Mercedes’ and Land Rovers and start driving back down to Florida or up to the snow-covered North East.  Until after they pack all of their golf bags, hats, shirts, shorts, and funny looking, uh, children into their cars and out of the homes that locals rent to them for hundreds of thousands of dollars for a one week stay while we use the deposit on that week to take our 18 children, aunts, uncles, step-cousins and that dude we met at the party in college fifteen years ago on a week-long all-inclusive vacation in the Caribbean.  Oh, and by we I mean, you know, the locals that are smart enough and able to do that…because we weren’t this year…I’m still working and the poor wife is stuck at home in Grovetown with four of the kids.

But anyway, what I am going to tell you is it isn’t all bad!  Just like the dreaded pollen season isn’t all bad…I mean, you know, it is great for the bees and for those of us who bought white cars but later had buyer’s remorse because we were actually hoping for something a little more yellow…neither is Masters Week. 

And here is my list of reasons why I think Masters Week isn’t all bad:

1     1)  There aren’t AS MANY people at work.  Yup, if you think the parking lot at work doesn’t seem as crowded this week, you’re probably right.  The smart and well-off people took those golf-fans money and left for the week.

2

       2)  You can speed on the interstate and not have to worry about getting a ticket within the vicinity of Augusta.  The powers that be don’t want to scare off the Masters money…so chances are you can get away with a little speeding where you can’t the other 51 weeks of the year.  Because people that love the Masters so much that they will pay $100k+ for a week of GOLF probably wouldn’t come back if they were pulled over for driving crazy on the interstate in their black tinted out Suburbans!  By the way, I’m joking.  If there were any stretches of interstate not bogged down by annoying golf-loving out-of-staters, you could PROBABLY speed a little…but watch out!  They don’t know how to drive.  Those O-O-S drivers have a tendency to be in the passing lane until they realize their exit is right THERE and then they slam on their brakes and fly across one or two lanes of traffic, who then have to slam on their brakes or end of in a collision.  So, yeah, speed with caution.

3

        3)  OK, well, I’m running out of non-sucky things related to having your home invaded by a bunch of rich stuck-up golf-types…so this list is going to be short.  Number 3, the pollen seems to have taken a temporary break.  So that’s not bad, right?  I mean, unless you wanted to keep that yellow car for a little while longer.

Rebecca Scott

For just a short time, Joe Kelley's first novel, Rebecca Scott, is available through Kindle Countdown Deals, for just $0.99!  Find out more here: http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Scott-Joe-Kelley-ebook/dp/B00MFS3M6O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1456767795&sr=1-1&keywords=rebecca+scott

The First Review is in!

See this review on Amazon!

THE WINNING TRY FOR THIS FIRST TIME NOVELIST!

ByJasonon February 17, 2016

Having heard a fellow submariner wrote a novel I thought I'd show my support. This was my first romance novel I've ever read. I'll admit I used to think I was tough. If this book doesn't make you tear up once, you may not have a soul. If a tear never falls you need to see a cardiologist. Having children changed my oyster shell exterior forever. I could visualize characters in the book so vividly, I can picture them as modern media icons and actors in the movie version. Which may be predestined IMHO. It is hard to believe this is Dedrick's first novel. Just over three hundred pages, I finished it in less than 2 days. That's how good it was. I have a stack of six books on my nightstand that I am currently reading, yet this is the first book I couldn't put down in years. Don't let the fact that is a romance novel deter you from reading this book. There is plenty of grit even for hardened veterans and so called tough guys. Hope is alive in this book even when events seem insurmountable. Many people wouldn't make it back from some of their circumstances. Not only are there physical heroes and heroines in this book, it shows us that life is worth fighting for and that we are on Earth for more than our mere existence.

A Love Predestined on SALE This Weekend

All new books need a promotional period and my new SPROMANCE (Spiritual Romance) novel A Love Predestined is no exception!


Out of respect for all unknown spromance novels out there, I am giving away A Love Predestined (Kindle Version) on Amazon for just $0.99 all this weekend (Friday, February 19 - Sunday, February 21st, 2016).


You can find the link by clicking here!


Even at the reduced price, a portion of every sale will be donated quarterly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help those fighting blood cancers.  You can keep up with how much we have raised so far by checking out my website.


I hope you will check out my first novel.  Writing it meant a lot to me and I hope reading it will mean a lot to you!


Thank you,
Ben Dedrick
Author, A Love Predestined