Nothing else matters ...

I don't think that I've mentioned how Cole really wants a laptop. He keeps putting ads for Best Buy and OfficeMax in strategic places around the house for me to find. I was all, "Sure, you can have a laptop. Once you save up your money and buy it yourself." Now he's taken to giving me big cartoon eyes, complete with batting lashes, every time he looks at me.

It's not going to work.

I'm sure of it.

In other news ... no, that's all I had. How sad.
Later.

Uggh. I'm having one of those days where things just seem a little off to me. Not fun, but whatever.

Read some books.
Book #123 - Men of the Otherworld (Women of the Otherworld) by Kelley Armstrong - I completely loved this set of short stories. Completely. Absolutely. Focusing on the men of the Werewolf Pack, namely Clay and Jeremy, each story gives us a bit of insight into the things that made them the men we grew to love in the Otherworld series. Infusion sheds some light on Jeremy's parentage. Not much light, mind you, but enough that those teasing hints that were dropped about the non-werewolf side of his heritage in earlier books begin to take on more meaning. Savage jumps us forward 20+ years to when Jeremy brought Clayton into the Pack. This was probably my favorite of all the stories. Clay's antisocial behavior was always interesting to me and giving him this backstory just makes him that much more alluring as a character. Ascension continues Clay's story and takes us right up to when Jeremy becomes Pack Alpha. Once again, things that had been mentioned and hinted at in early books were fleshed out and Clay's unwillingness to go against Jeremy's orders was explored. Kitsunegari propels us into (nearly) the present (following No Humans Involved) and gives us a few more answers as to what Supernatural race Jeremy's mother belonged to. Overall, it was a very satisfying read. Let face it, I basically love Clay and his completely inappropriate behavior.

-and-

Book #124 - Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels - Typical Harlequin fare. It wasn't great by any means and the ending felt ... rushed. Not rushed, rather lazy. Everything tied itself up. Everything. Leave a little mystique, please. Story? Murder, mayhem, unrequited love, betrayal. And red high heeled shoes. Yep.

-and-

Book #125 - Demon Possessed (Megan Chase #3) by Stacia Kane - Okay. So, I'm totally not a crier. I don't cry at movies or books or TV shows or anything. That said, this book made me all teary-eyed. Dammit. I just wanted to slap Megan up alongside the head and tell her to suck it up but at the same time I totally got why she was fighting as hard as she was. That's good writing. It's been nearly a year since Megan was introduced to the world of the demons and she's pretty much found her groove. She has her man, her family of personal demons and her practice is picking up again. Suddenly she's got a killer on her tail and the FBI asking questions about Greyson and the other demons. Being part human doesn't seem like the best idea, but she's unwilling to take that final step and give herself over to the demon nestled within her. For the most part, I think Megan doesn't ask enough questions. She's a smart woman, yet she continually handwaves things she should be learning. After a year of living with Greyson and having her own family of demons, you'd think she'd take the time to learn the subtleties of being a Gretneg. Despite Megan's sometimes obtuseness, the books moves along at nicely. People bleed, people fight, people kick ass. Nice. I'm kinda sad to finish this series.

Okay. I'm going to take my off day and my Kindle and go watch TV with my kid. Sweet.

I didn't do much today. Managed to get some grocery shopping done. Watched Ryan for a bit while Amb and Phil worked on the backyard. Finished a rather forgettable book. *sigh*

Book #102 - Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Melanie George and Jaid Black - First off, for a book of this title it was surprisingly vanilla. Honestly, I was expected a little bit more bondage in it. Not that I, uh, read that normally or anything. Really. I was just led to believe that there'd be more of the tying and less of the not tying up. You know? So, three short stories. The best of the bunch was probably Jaid Black's Hunter's Right about a secret civilization of Vikings hidden away under the Arctic and the Army Corporal who stumbles upon their society after surviving a helicopter crash. Yes, it seems a bit far-fetched but it's engagingly written and the characters are at least interesting. This is not the case with Melanie George's Promise Me Forever. Boring. Not my cup of tea. I would have skipped it but it was so short it was done before I finished blinking. Sherrilyn Kenyon's Captivated By You was not nearly up to the level of any of her Dark-Hunter stories. Set in her B.A.D. universe, it involves two members of a counter terrorist group who have to learn the ins and outs of the bondage scene in order to take down a Very Bad Man. Despite what you might think it was surprisingly light on the actual bondage. Overall, not a book I'll be revisiting. And I'm still disappointed that there was so little truth in advertising with the title.

Tonight? Writing. Lots and lots of writing.
Here goes.

We went from rain earlier in the week to 80+F today. Go figure. I took the kids swimming, but Cole got a tummy ache shortly after we got there and we ended up coming home. Poor guy. He feels fine now. I think I need to remember to feed him a little more regularly. And me. I have seriously been eating terribly. Forgetting to eat breakfast, skipping lunch (although not usually on the same day), blah blah blah. So, yeah. Eat more regularly.

You know, I really don't have all that much to say today. I had things earlier. I swear I did. But now? No. Nothing. I think my nap knocked all the thoughts out of me. How sad.

On that note, I'm going to finish watching The Two Towers. Hailey and I watched the end of The Fellowship of the Rings earlier and I had a hankering for the second movie. I took that hankering and went with it.

I've also been having this weird urge to get back to my Xena marathon. I left off just before my favorite episodes of season 2. That's no good. No good, at all.

I'm out.
Later.

Another day, another journal. Another day past my sister's due date. I know that she will have the baby by the weekend (simply because she'll be induced either Thursday or Friday if she hasn't had him by then) by I think it's time. Get it done, Amb!

Since I finished off the Dark-Hunter series yesterday (boo) I'm having a hard time figuring out what to read next. I did read book 7 of The Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine earlier simply because book 8 is released tomorrow and I've already pre-ordered it (and it's on its way to me) and will be reading it once it's in my hot little hands. However, that's a book I can't count since I read it once already this year (see: Kelly's Rules for Book Counting in the New Millenium). You know how it goes: My journal, my rules.

Now I've picked up the first book in Christine Feehan's Carpathians series but I'm not really feeling it yet. It doesn't feel as epic as the DH series and I'm in the mood for something terribly epic and grand and bold and ... hot. Ehh, I'll give it a few more chapters before I decide one way or the other.

Have I mentioned how much I'd really like to own a Kindle recently? No? A lot. An awful, awful lot. I'm saving up my pennies. I think I'm about halfway there. Maybe a little less. Look, I'm totally being responsible and it's killing me! Killing me. Ouch.

Alright. I'm done. I have very important things to so. Very important. Or something.
Later.

I will be so happy when the kids are back in school next week. Seriously, I need my regular nap times back. Uggh.

In totally awesome news, I bought a new phone today. The Droid. What? It's not the droid you're looking for. Hahahahaha! I crack myself up. I love the thing, though. It's so ... neat. It does stuff. More than just phone calls. I was kinda in the dark ages with my last piece of shit phone so this is like discovering that the world is not flat and I can sail all the way around it. Amazing, isn't it?

Thus far I managed to set my alarm. And update Facebook. And ... no, that's it. I'll figure it out. Eventually.

Man, I'm tired.

See? It's all fun and games until someone misses her nap.

I didn't read a book today. Or write. Or do anything other than buy a phone. Take that, world! Take it and do something with it!
I'm done.

You know what? I like Facebook. It will never replace journal writing in my heart because I just love to write and write and write and FB doesn't give me enough room for what I have on my mind, but the little snippets of info that one gets throughout the day are just fun. And the games? Oh, the games. I have a bad ass farm over on Farmville and I'm not afraid to admit it.

However. There is one thing that bugs the crap out of me. I'm have reached a place of deep LOATHING for those copy and paste "97% of people will never do this, will you be one of the 3%?" quotes that go around. You know what? I'm not going to do it. I don't want to. I admire that fact that you're all for finding a cure for fungal melanoma or you know someone who once gave birth to a 7 toed baby sloth, but I'm still not planning on reposting it! And that doesn't make me a bad person. Even though that's exactly what you're implying if I don't copy and paste it.

So, take that, copy and paste-ers. I'm taking a stand here and now. And I'm refusing to become a copy and paste whore.

Anyway. It barely rained today. *gasp* But we have another two storms coming in tomorrow and Tuesday. I can't adequately explain how uber squelchy it is when I walk on the grass. It's possible I moved to the Everglades and forgot to tell myself.

Cole and I had some quality mom/son time today and we watched Star Trek. Well, I napped through it. But then we watched a really weird movie that I had to keep pausing to explain to Cole what was going on. Half the time I didn't know what was going on so it was a pretty interesting movie watching experience.

Yes, I realized that I napped through our quality time together. I'm awesome like that.

I'm out. I have a book that I feel like I should get back to. (Just because oddmonster is kicking my butt on book reading this year already!)
Later!

I have a houseful of 5th grade boys downstairs playing oodles of video games and eating pizza. It kinda feels awesome. Mostly because it means that I have a whole evening basically to myself. Nice.

Okay. Things I didn't do today (by me) -
I didn't watch any episodes of Castle. Simply because the next two episodes just finished downloading.
I didn't outline any part of a story.
I didn't clean the carpets.
I didn't clean.

However ...
I did catch up on a few of the shows that have been languishing on my DVR and take a three hour nap. It was heavenly.

I'm pretty sure that I had the best day ever today. Yes? Yes.

Those boys sound like they're getting a little loud. Perhaps I should check on them.
Later.

I finally got around to watching White Collar (all the eps today, thank you very much. Yes, I know what that says about me.) and I really kinda like it. I can't say that I'm shocked by how the last ep ended because I knew that something big was coming (the perils of not watching a show while the rest of the world watches them, I guess) but I wasn't expecting it to go there. I kept looking for my answers in another direction and then ... whoa. All in all, I think that knowing that something's coming and still being surprised by it is a good thing. I am curious as to how they're going to play out the remainder of the season and the continuing seasons. I can't really see a way out of where they wrote themselves, but that's why I don't write TV shows. It's always fun and exciting when you're a clueless mess. Big thumbs up from me. Big thumbs.

I meant to put a review up at blabapalooza today but I got caught up in my mini marathon. So, yeah. I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Sometimes when I sit crosslegged on my chair my feet fall asleep. That just happened to me. You'd think I'd figure out that it's going to happen and not sit that way but ... no. I still do. And then I'm forced to hop around like an idiot trying to get the blood back in my feet. I'm awesome. I'm not talking about crossing my legs while sitting at my desk either. I'm mean full-on old skool, criss-cross applesauce, legs all the way folded beneath me. :)

I have to get the kiddo to do his reading homework. He has to have his book finished by Friday and he still has 150 pages. I could do it, but I'm having a hard time making his sit down to read at all. This should be fun.

Later!

I've had a doozy of a headache this afternoon. I even skipped dinner at my sister's house because I just kinda feel blah. I could blame it on how little sleep I've been getting lately but I don't feel tired or anything. Just headachy and kinda blah. Whatever. I couldn't go to bed last night until I'd leveled up several times on Vampire Wars. Damn addictive game.

I'm pleased, thrilled and otherwise excited to say that we're doing some brisk business in movie reviews over at blabapalooza. I think we already have 6 or 7 for the year. Plus the new Clash of the Titans trailer. Mmmm ... Sam Worthington. I just might have to watch Terminator Salvation tonight. So, stop on by, friend us and see what horrible movies I've been watching lately. Do it!

I think I've said all the relevant things.
Later.