Nothing else matters ...

As is my tradition on New Year's Eve, I watched a few movies. Hailey and I started off the evening with Resident Evil: Afterlife which was pretty much just like I remembered it from the theater except without the 3D. The opening scene in the rain in Tokyo is still gorgeous. The fight scenes are fun and brutal. There wasn't enough one on one zombie action. Of the fighting variety. In my opinion. After REA, we popped in the first Resident Evil. Hailey has now abandoned me and I'm watching Resident Evil: Apocalypse (which, crap, is also REA) by myself. I cleaned the bathroom through the end of RE, though so it's not like I've been mindlessly watching moves all day.

Speaking of Resident Evil, I made a webpage for the movies. It's pretty much all the same stuff that used to be on my Zombie movies page, but that page was getting HUGE and I decided to break it up into smaller, more manageable sections. If anyone has an account (or whatever you'd call it) with Squidoo, I'd love you forever if you could pop over and rate it for me. Rating is easy now, you just click on the thumbs up in the upper left hand corner and you're done. So, please?
The Resident Evil Movies

I also made a page for Southern Arcana by Moira Rogers the other day. That's a paranormal romance series about werewolves, warlocks, shapeshifters and psychics that's absolutely amazing. Same goes with that page- for anyone who can, a rating would be fabulous.

I have a bunch of year end books things to post but first I want to throw out a few numbers.

In 2010 I read 311 books according to Goodreads. By my count, which doesn't include most of the stand alone short stories that I included at GR, my total sits at 289. The goal I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to read 100 books. I think I did pretty darn well.

I wrote 165,295 words, which consisted of one full length novel, 2/3 of a second novel and snippet of a story that fizzled out. I'm working on finishing novel #2 before I dig into some serious editing for novel #1. The goal I set for myself with writing was to write more. I can say with confidence that I accomplished that.

I wrote a fucking book, guys.

Anyway. The book stuff.
Book #289 - Impetuous by Lori Foster - Enjoyable but nothing earth shattering. Although the price was very nice.
Follow Friday - Some of my book blogging resolutions for 2011.
Kelly's Favorite Books of 2010 - Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Some new-to-me books that I found fantastic.
Year in Review - Pretty much all the stats I gave you above about the books I read, but a little more in depth.

Tomorrow: My 2011 resolutions!

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

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.

Guys, I love my family (most of the time) but all this togetherness over the holidays is putting me into family overload. My Aunt and Uncle from Washington state are visiting for a few days and tonight we had dinner with them over at my sister's house. I like seeing my Aunt and Uncle, Ilove playing with my nephew while I'm at Amb's house, but I'm also ready for things to fall back into their normal routine.

One thing I keep telling myself I'm going to do is finish up my NaNo novel. I haven't written a single word on it since I hit 50K back in the middle of November and I'm feeling a lot of guilt about this. I love this story. I love my characters. I need to sit down and just finish it so I can get back to editing and tweaking and re-editing.

And in book news:
Book #284 - Faefever (Fever #3) by Karen Marie Moning - There was a lot of flailing and ALL CAPS as I wrote this review. In an entirely good way. Because this series is AMAZING!
2011 Reading Challenges (pt 3) - Vampires, Shifters, TBR and a themed monthly challenge. I'm going to be doing a lot of reading in 2011.
Roof Beam Reader's 2011 TBR Challenge - The official list of books I'll be reading for this challenge.

I also put up a new Squidoo page dedicated to the Southern Arcana series by Moira Rogers. I honestly think everybody who likes werewolves and doesn't mind steamy sex should read this series. Honestly.

And that is all.
Later.

Oh, bangaboomerang, I wanted to wish you a happy belated birthday! I'm sorry I'm late. Forgive me?

It's Christmas Eve and Cole's playing his video games while I wander aimlessly around the web looking for something to keep me awake. What? I didn't get my nap today. It was tragic.

The fam went to Amber and Phil's for dinner. We honestly didn't do much. I had a drink. We played with the baby. We ate. We came home. That's the most unexciting thing to write ever. Boring.

Anyway. One last thing before I drag Cole in here to watch a movie with me.
Book #281 - Bloodfever (Fever #2) by Karen Marie Moning - Holy Hannah! This is a good series.

And now I'm done.
Sleep well. Keep an eye out for that red-clad guy who likes to sneak into houses!
Later!

I did not realize how late it was getting. Huh. I apparently have lost all sense of time and space. Interesting.

I did some Christmas wrapping today. Not all of it. I lost steam about halfway through. Hopefully that means that I can get it done tomorrow. Awesome.

Book stuff:
Book #278 - A Peyton Family Christmas (Southern Arcana #2.5) by Moira Rogers - A short story that bridges the gap between Crossroads and Deadlock and lets us take a peek at the first Christmas that Nick and Derek spend together.
Book #279 - Hero (Cat Star Chronicles #6) by Cheryl Brooks - Concluding the story arc and tying things up while setting up a new arc. Nice.
Waiting on Wednesday - The Mysterious Lady Law - Steampunk awesomeness!

And that pretty much concludes my day.
Later.

I did a big fat lot of nothing today. Seriously. I made a run out to the mall with Amber to help her with the rest of her Christmas shopping. I finished a book, read another and picked up an ARC for review. I actually finished the ARC but I don't want to review it until the cover is finalized. Hopefully that'll be soon, but if not I'll just have to read this delightfully naughty book again.

So, yeah. A whole lotta nothing. I have oodles of wrapping to do and absolutely no urge to do it. I have a few movies I want to watch. I should really, really get back to looking for a job or finding a writing job that makes me money. The second one is the one I'm leaning toward, in case you're wondering. Because holding down a real job makes my insides quiver in a nauseous debilitating way. Not cool.

So. Books.
Book #273 - Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble (Jolie Wilkins #1) by H.P. Mallory - Total shout out to malkovich03 half way down. Because I'm cool like that.
Book #274 - Club Shadowlands (Masters of the Shadowlands #1) by Cherise Sinclair - While I'll be the first to admit that I like books that explore the kinkier side of sex, especially the Dom/sub relationship, I thought this book was absolutely outstanding. Sexy and full of heart. Wonderful!

Okay. I have things to do. Like hunt down another candy cane.
Later.

Okay. Cole and I met up with Bff #1 and her husband to see Tron last night. I liked the movie. I'm going to say that first off. I liked it. However, I did think that it was a little too long. Maybe that was just because we saw a 10:15 showing and we didn't get out of the theater until 12:30. I was tired at that point. There were some slow talky-parts in the movie that really dragged it down. Once again, that might just have been the lateness of the evening talking. I loved the light cycle/light flyer scenes. Those were just fun. I thought the ending was LAME. If I was going to see my first sunrise, I hope it would look better than that piece of crap one there. Over all, I liked the movie. They could have edited out a good 20 minutes of it to keep me a little more engaged but I'm not complaining too much. I was also happy that I didn't get a headache watching the 3D stuff. Always a bonus.

Anyway. Book stuff.
Book #271 - Ill Wind (Weather Warden #1) by Rachel Caine - It took me a while to get into it, but I ended up enjoying it.
On My Wishlist (week 15) - Liz Maverick's Crimson City series and Gini Koch's Katherine "Kitty" Katt series.

I'm sleepy. Perhaps I will go bust out my yummy coffee so I don't conk out too early.
Later.

Do any of you guys have a task that you absolutely hate doing? For me, it's cleaning the shower. I don't mind cleaning the bathroom, but the shower makes me cringe. I don't actually know the last time I cleaned it for real. Most of the time I do this half-assed job that probably doesn't actually clean it at all. The moral of this story is that I need to clean my shower. >:|

Random hair story that I forgot to tell yesterday: I dye my hair dark red. When my stylist mixes up the color it usually looks like some awesome punk neon pink COLOR! in the bowl. Well, this last time, she used a different brand or something and I swear that the mix color was Strawberry Shortcake Pink. I was having visions of my hair turning out like this:

And I don't mean just her hair. I mean the whole package. Shades of frilly pink. Can you image me with pastel pink hair? I CAN'T!

Anyway. I have book stuff to share.
Book #268 - Up On the Housetop (Kyron Pack #1) by Suzanne Rock - I love free books!
Book #269 - Angel's Master by Sandra Sookoo - I don't even know how this book went from a fun historical pirate book to a paranormal romance. I just don't get it.
Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday - I want to write a book about demon werewolves now. Also, my mind is full of smut.

And that's it!
Later.

Things of note: I did not have a wardrobe fail today. In fact, I dressed completely (including ALL my underwear) and went out to do some Christmas shopping. I even wore shoes. Guys, this is like the most epic thing ever. I wore shoes and underwear AT THE SAME TIME! No, no, hell didn't freeze over. I checked.

I also managed to fire off an email to jenah, kimbrchick and malkovich03 about our annual holiday gathering. WHICH IS THIS SUNDAY AND I WAS SO DAMN SLOW GETTING THE EMAIL OUT THAT I FEEL LIKE A TOOL! So, uhh, guys, if you haven't checked ye olde email yet, you might want to do that. Okay? Thanks.

I have a little bit of the book stuff:
Book #264 - The Ghost Hunter by Lori Brighton - I really liked this book and yet my review is so short. I don't get it. I liked it. I promise.
I finished another book this morning but I'm not feeling the snark at the moment and the review was like reading bad fanfic. You know, stilted and wooden. So I saved it to finish tomorrow. I am all about being flexible. Or something.
Teaser Tuesday - Ghosts and Witches (a book I'm not 100% behind at this point), Magic (read 2 pages so don't yet have an opinion) and Djinn (I think I like it).

So, yeah. I've been way tired lately and I'm trying to keep myself awake just a tiny bit longer. Although I don't know why. It's not like I'm doing anything tonight that I need to stay up for. I confuse myself sometimes.

Right. So I'm off to bed.
Later.

I am so freaking tired right now. I don't feel like I'm going to face plant into my desk anymore, and trust me when I say that was a possibility earlier, but I can't imagine that I'm going to be staying up too much longer.

Cole had his final football games today. He ran in a touchdown, which was cool. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I don't mind having my Sundays free again. Not that it was all that taxing, but it's just going to be nice to have a few free weeks with all the crazy holiday stuff coming up.

Which reminds me that I need to email the ladies about our annual holiday party. I should really get on that.

Onward.

Book stuff:
Book #262 - Undertow (Building Sanctuary #2) by Moira Rogers - I love werewolves. I love couples caught in storms. I love alpha males. Yep, this book pretty much pushed all my buttons.
In My Mailbox - Books and books and books. Love!

I'm tired. I'm going to get the kids off to bed now.
Later.