Nothing else matters ...

I'm at work and I have a headache. I also have the air conditioning set to "ridiculously cold". Part of me thinks that I should turn it down a bit (or is that up? You know, if I want it less cold?) just to warm up my fingers but then I think about how hot my room will be when I get home and I figure I'd best enjoy it while it lasts.

So, ridiculously cold it is.

Speaking of work, since I rarely see people on Saturdays I tend to dress a little less professionally than I normally do. In my defense, Saturday and Friday are both our casual days so it's not a huge deal. Today I'm wearing a black and gray miniskirt with a purple and black shirt, purple striped socks and knee-high boots. I'm totally rocking this look!

Anyway. I have a bunch of bookish stuff to babble about.
Book #261 - The Secret Guide to Dating Monsters (Secret McQueen #0.5) by Sierra Dean - Warning: Panty-melting kiss ahead! Seriously, that kiss was phenomenal. Especially since I didn't see it coming.
Book #262 - A Taste of Magic (Magic #1) by Tracy Madison - Cute without being too cute. I liked it.
Book #263 - Giving Chase (Chase Brothers #1) by Lauren Dane - Oh, Lauren Dane writes some sexy men. Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
Book #264 - Lord Demon's Delight (Dunmore Demons #1) by Gia Dawn - I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would. Mostly because of the family relationships and how they were portrayed.

I have another hour-ish of work. I want to get a good portion of my current book read before I head home to the furnace of my house. I can do it.
later.

It was hot here today. I think the weather report said it was supposed to hit 90F but our thermometer put us at 95-ish. Hot. Yucky. I stayed inside for most of the day. And the one time I went out? I came back sticky. STICKY! Like the movie theater floor. Not enjoyable.

It's supposed to be hotter tomorrow but I'm choosing to just grin and bear it. Mostly because Cole's up in Palm Desert with his dad this week and it's over 100F there. I mean, at least I'm not dealing with that. Right? Right. FYI, my motherly advice to Cole before he left: "Wear lots of sunscreen. Even when you don't think you need it." I'm totally good at being a mom, yo! Also, he forgot to wear sunscreen one day while swimming and his poor sunburned shoulders are finally back to a normal color. <--total mommy-fail, guys. Total.

Okay. Books. I got 'em.
Book #242 - Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress #4) by Jeaniene Frost - Seriously, this series just keeps getting better. I absolutely adore Cat and Bones and want to read a million more stories where they're being all brutal and fight-y while loving the hell out of each other.
Book #243 - The Debutante's Dilemma by Elyse Mady - A fast, naughty read. Nothing mind-blowing but still fun.
A week of free ebooks from Carina Press - Umm... pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Free ebooks. From Carina Press.
In My Mailbox - I am so proud of myself for reading and reviewing every book I got last week. Plus some of my TBR books. I was rocking it. This week? Probably not so much. Although I'm doing well so far.

Okay. There you have it!
Later.

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain. Again. It tapered off fairly quickly and we ended up having a nice (if somewhat cold) day but this rain is throwing me off my game. Not that I really have a game or anything. I'm just saying that... I don't really know what I'm saying.

Anyway. I ran some uninteresting but needed errands this morning (dropping a book off at the library, exchanging a pair of shorts I bought for Cole) and then I vegged. Some days I honestly don't know how the entire day can go by without me doing anything.

I didn't even review any books today. I finished one and started another. I drafted the templates for the next 4 or 5 books I'm planning on reading. But I haven't written up the actual review yet.

However, I did crack open the Epic Werewolf Masterpiece #1 because I had a total light bulb moment about one of the small details that have been bugging me. My light bulb totally works, too. It's like my brain has been sifting through all this information until it came up with the one thing that will tie all these other little things together. Brilliant! Way to go, brain!

Yes, I do impress myself. Often. Thank you for noticing.

And now I'm done.
later.

Seriously, I have a bunch of random stuff...

Random #1: One of our neighbors is incredibly anti-social and we rarely see her around the neighborhood. I mean, maybe once a week. Maybe. The other day my mom's looking out the window and she's like, "That package has been sitting in front of B's house for 2 days. If we start to smell something weird soon I'm calling the police." I was like, "What? You think she's mouldering away in the bathroom or something?" My mom was like, "I do." I wandered off with visions of Zombies and decaying corpses dancing through my head.

For the record, we still haven't seen B but the package has been mysteriously picked up.

Random #2: I myself got a package in the mail today. It was a book I ordered for a co-worker who didn't have an Amazon account. I kid you not, it took me more than 10 minutes to open the fucking thing. The vendor had wrapped it in packing tape - not the shiny, easily sliced packing tape either. Oh, no. It was the packing tape with threads in it. The ones you can't tear apart with your bare hands in a show of Hulk-like strength. Dear GAWD! I thought I was going to be found in a 100 years with that damn package clutched in my mummified hands and tear tracks carving salty trails down my withered cheeks.

Eventually I conquered the tape and managed to get the book out of the packaging. It was really touch and go for a while, though.

Random #3: I've worked out some of the backstory on how the Zombie Apocalypse started in my Zompocalypse story. I have three words for you: Cursed Glass Eye. I threatened Cole and his friend yesterday that if they didn't shape up I was going to write them into the story and they wouldn't be cool at all. Nope, not at all. They were actually excited about it so it didn't seem to be all that much of a threat.

Random #4: Blogger has been down for most of the afternoon. I'm just pleased that I wrote up those three reviews at work this morning. *fist pump*

And since I'm already talking about books...
Book #187 - Scary Mary by SA Hunter - Fun and fast, this is one of the freebies I picked up yesterday.
Book #188 - Random Acts of Senseless Kindness by Graham Parke - This short story was AWESOME! It was so out there and quirky that I laughed out loud AT WORK!
Book #189 - Dead Drop: A Lawson Vampire Bonus Story by Jon F. Merz - Okay, so this was a really short review but I really liked the writing style and thought it was a good introduction to the series.

Maybe I'll have more random fun tomorrow.
Who knows?
Later.

My dog keeps twitching her nose at me which is cracking me up beyond all belief. It shouldn't because she does it all the time, but it's totally hitting my funny bone today.

I'm kinda at a loss on what to do today. I cleaned the house on Wednesday (and by "house" I don't mean house at all. I mean my bedroom and bathroom.) and did all those stupid little things that I've been meaning to get to for ages. Now what? I'm just... adrift.

On the work front, I've been renting apartments like mad. I think I've rented six in the past week. That's a lot. All of a sudden we have a ton of people giving notice and I don't think I like it. It's far too much work for a delicate flower like myself. *blink blink*

I shipped Cole off to school today. He missed nearly the entire week with his stomach ailments. I'm just thrilled to have the house to myself again. Of course, having nothing to do to fill my alone time puts a bit of a damper on this but whatever. I'm cool with it.

And last but not least, a meager book post.
Book Blogger Hop, Follow Friday & Tagalong Friday (05/16/11) - I talk about how my underwear has skulls on it, that I was possibly a pirate in a former life, a few favorite books, some favorite characters and post a pic of a hot, tattooed man. Lovely.

That, my darlings, is all today. Maybe I'll go plant some flowers before it gets too hot out.
Later.

I had a bunch of stuff I needed to do today. Laundry. Go to Target for the things I forgot to buy yesterday. Finish the embarrassing book I was reading. Write up a few reviews.

Well, I did the laundry. Like, 5 loads of it. Maybe it was only 4. Then I read for a bit. Than I had to take a nap becasue I was sleeeeeeepy. I finished the embarrassing book and wrote up the reviews. I never made it to Target but whatever. I can go tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm fairly certain the world won't end if I put it off a few days. I think.

Oh, hey. I thought I didn't do anything today but it turns out that I was totally productive. Totally.

So. Books.
Book #98 - Dances With Wolves (Highland Wolves) by Mandy Monroe - malkovich03 gets a shout out in this review because she's never invited me to an orgy. True story. Also, I've never invited her to one.
Book #99 - Alien Penetration (Alien Breeders #1) by Kaitlyn O'Connor - This book was surprisingly light on the penetration part of the story. I was disappointed.
In My Mailbox (03/06/11) - Free books, review books, and books I didn't mean to buy but couldn't resist.
Teaser Tuesday (03/08/11) - A little early, but ... alternate realities, spirits, and dark fae.

My next book will be #100. Whoa. I think I'm on track to hit my 150 book goal for the year. Yeah? Yeah.

I'm done now.
Later.

I didn't journal yesterday. I had such a streak going, too, but I just wasn't in the mood. I also didn't post anything at my book blog. This is the first day I've missed since I started that one. I think I started it at the end of August, so that's a lot of consecutive posting.

Oh, well. Like I said, I just wasn't in the mood.

We had a storm roll in last night. It was crazy windy. I had left my window open a crack and I had to get up around 1 in the morning to close it because the wind was absolutely whistling through it. It was creepy.

So, I have some bookish stuff that I've posted today and Saturday night.
Book #73 - Hunted by the Others (H&W Investigations 31) by Jess Haines - I think I need to take a break from urban fantasy books for a while. I start to nitpick at them when I go on these extended reading sprees and that's never good.
Book #74 - Jewel of Atlantis (Atlantis #2) by Gena Showalter - Oodles of fun! Paranormal romance with a mythological twist. Plus, I get to read about vampires and demons and shapeshifters! Oh, my!
In My Mailbox (02/13/11) - Lots of freebies this week with a few random purchases thrown in there.

I have one more review to write tonight but my computer is crawling along and I'm too impatient to wait for all the webpages I need to use to load. I'm an impatient little bitch, you know.

On that note...
Later!

It's been raining just enough that the ground can't dry out. I take the dogs for a walk and squelch across the grass. Which would be cool if I remembered to take off my slippers before leaving the house. As it is, I just end up with damp feet.

I got sick of Hailey and Cole fighting today and I stomped into my room (well, I didn't "stomp" exactly but I did walk with purpose) and cleaned. I straightened up my entire bookcase (the big one) dusted, filed and pulled out my NaNo story for a re-read so I could remind myself where I left off. God, I love that story. Every time I go back to reacquaint myself with it I get amazed all over again that it came out of my head. That may sound conceited but it has flow and sparkle (without the vampires) and I adore my two main characters. Hell, I adore my secondary and thirdary characters. Haha. But really, I read it and I don't remember writing half of it and I'm starting to wonder if the good parts of the writing were done by someone else. Someone much smarter and more organized than I.

Did I ever mention that I used the phrase "animalistic fucking" in it? True story. Probably one of the reasons I love it so much. Of course, as much as I do love it I'm still terrified to let anyone read it. Because, you know, what if it's only good in my head and everyone else cringes and tries to skulk away whenever I force it on them? That would not be enjoyable. For me. Probably for the person I was trying to make read it too, come to think of it.

Just let it be known that the biggest step in writing is not opening Word. Nope. That might be the first step, but it turns out you still have to do some writing to, you know, write. Weird. I'm still considering jotting down a paragraph or two tonight on that story just so I can tell myself that I wrote today.

Okay. Book stuff:
Book #287 - The Making of a Duchess (The Sons of the Revolution #1) by Shana Galen - Comical spying by a governess who has no clue what she's doing. It's a historical, guys, and I really liked it.

Okay. That is all.

I'm laughing at myself right now. I just ... I set out this morning to clean my room and bathroom, do some vacuuming, just all that stupid stuff that you need to do if you don't want to be sharing space with dust buffaloes and greasy fingerprints. So I started marginally dusting and my bro-in-law texted me to ask if he could borrow The Nightmare Before Christmas and I was like, Hmm, I don't mind lending it to him, but where is it?. So I set out to find the damn movie. I pulled out all my DVDs below the TV. It wasn't there. But, you know, since I had all the stuff out to dust already I might as well do some cleaning while everything's pulled out. 2 hours later I had dusted and reorganized my DVDs and managed to clear up a shelf on my bookcase for another row of books. Which works out because I got a shit-load of new books for my birthday. But that's not the point. I set out to find this damn DVD- WHICH I NEVER FOUND, THANKYOUVERYMUCH -and ended up playing around with all my books and movies.

Plus? I never finished the cleaning that I had been planning on. Nice, Kel. Real nice.

But, hey! My bookcases look fabulous!

Okay. Book stuff that isn't about me cleaning.
Book #224 - A Safe Harbor (Building Sanctuary #1) by Moira Rogers - A tale of bootlegging werewolves set during the Great Depression. And it's good!

30 days of books... Day 39 - I think I babble a bit about mad sorcerers.
Booking Through Thursday - Foreign Books - I talk about The Thirteenth Tale while wondering if these weekly questions could be any broader in scope.

Okay. I'm done.
Later.

Oh, look! It's almost that time again! You know, that time where I joyfully celebrate my birthday for at least a week and remind you endlessly to shop early and shop often. Yeah, that time.

Things I've learned about my birthday celebration in San Francisco since yesterday: I'm getting picked up at 2 and I can wear jeans if I so desire. O_o < lj user="malkovich03"> is really not giving me a lot of work with here. On the other hand, at least I have a departure time. Seriously, Mal is pretty awesome. She's even arranged pick-up and drop-off for me since I don't want to drive in SF. At least, I assume she'll be dropping me off. I don't know. Maybe I'm being left in San Francisco to find my own way home.

That would definitely make it an unforgettable birthday. Kinda like the birthday of '89. Actually, that birthday really sucked. I hope it doesn't turn out like that. Also, my birthday 2 years ago wasn't fun because we were freaking moving that day and it was hot and sweaty. Blech. Still, I ended up with a house out of that, so I guess complaining isn't going to get me anywhere.

Which reminds me: Tomorrow is the official 2 year anniversary of buying my house. That's kinda cool. Even cooler? I quit my soul-sucking bank job a year and a half ago. I wrote a novel. I'm planning out novel #2 and will be starting it in a few weeks.

That stuff? Is cool.

Okay. Books. Books. Books.
Book #217 - Shadow Bound (Shadow #1) by Erin Kellison - A free Kindle read that was pretty darn good. After getting through the flowery prose at the beginning, that is.

30 days of books... Day 33 - Underwater.Archeologist. Sweet!
Book Blogger Hop - Do you give up on books that you can't get into?

I have one more review to write tonight and I have to get tomorrow's wishlist post together so I can post it in the morning.

I think I'm done now. Wish me lots of fruity alcoholic drinks and a hot werewolf or two. You know, just in case I don't get back here before heading out on my birthday extravaganza.
Later.