Nothing else matters ...

The boy is still not feeling well. Poor kid. He hasn't eaten much of anything today and he keeps taking naps. Unlike his mom, he NEVER naps. So this is huge, guys. Huge!

Since he's been bed-bound for the past couple of days, we've watched through the end of season 2 of Supernatural. I am loving it like you wouldn't believe. Oh, boys! How wonderful and stabby you are.

Okay. Book stuff:
Book #109 - The Iron Duke (Iron Seas #1) by Meljean Brook - I seriously loved the worldbuilding here. The picture Meljean Brooks paints with words is fabulous. I can see the clockworks, the automatons, the flying ships. And I loved it.

And the climactic season 2 finale is just starting to heat up. I must away!
Later.

OMG! This time change is kicking my ass, but probably not the way you think. My problem is that I wasn't feeling well yesterday and I ended up sleeping off and on all day. When evening rolled around I wasn't tired. At all. So of course I stayed up way too late and had to get up way early and... blargh!

The good news, I didn't sleep all day today so I don't think I'll be drooling on myself tomorrow. On the other hand, one never knows.

And on someone else's hand, Cole was home with a tummy ache today and we watched many, many episodes of Supernatural season 1. Seriously, like, 15 or something. I think the TV was on all day today. I never have the TV on during the day. Come to think of it, I rarely have the TV on at night either.

Interesting.

Okay. Books.
Book #106 - Wired by Liz Maverick - Twisty and fun with a little bit of the sexy.
Book #107 - Stopping Time (Wicked Lovely #2.5) by Melissa Marr - A dark look at my favorite Fae's life after the end of book 2. Nice.

Okay. I'm off to make sure Cole's ready for bed.
Later.

I thought I'd start out the new year by finishing my book ...

Book #1 - Malice by Chris Wooding - I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It sounded good. The cover is really cool. But those things don't mean squat if the writing falls flat. I'm pleased to say that isn't the case here. Malice was creepy. It crawled and chittered and grew as you saw more and more of this twisted world. The story had enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. Plus, it gave that extra little dollop of plot that pushed the book from being a one-storyline wonder into something big and grand. I want to know what's going to happen to these kids. I want to know how they're going to get out of their predicament. The revelation about Kady and her time in San Francisco took me by surprise.

The plot? Rumors are whispered about the comic Malice. Rumors of a ritual that takes those that perform it into the comic itself. Following a trail of missing children, Kady and Seth find that the rumors are true and that escaping Malice is even harder than getting in. I'm pretty darn excited to get my hands on the second book in the series. There are so many things I want answered. Arrgh. The official website says it will be out in 2010. Nice.

Since it's a new year and all that I was looking back on my reading resolution for 2009. I wanted to read 100 books. I did that. I read 109. I finished my last one on December 15th. That's 2+ weeks that I didn't finish any books. Hmmph. I'm sticking with 100 books again. That's such a shiny number. It makes me happy.

I also like to mention that if I reach back in my (dusty) memory all the way to 2008 I can admit that I didn't write anything (non-journal, that is) at all that year. Damn me and my nervous breakdown. Quitting my job and being an unemployed slacker did lead me to write a bit in 2009. It's still not up to the level that I'd like it to be, but I can work on that. However, I feel like my journal writing and movie reviews have really picked up this last year. Still, I signed up for NaNoWriMo and cranked out 1000 words on an original piece. I wrote another chapter on my Supernatural fanfic (which I started in 2007, I think). Well, a chapter plus part of another chapter. I should really finish that.

Not great, but still totally workable. Read and write. And hopefully find some sort of job that pays me to do both. Or at least one of those. :)

There you have it. Books, resolutions and ramblings about writing. All the good things in life.
Okay. I'm out. I have nothing to do. I might have to start another book. Yes!

PS- I totally did a monthly and yearly wrap-up for blabapalooza. I wrote up a shitload of movie reviews over a 2 month period. Rock on!

I'm going to lunch with one of my old work friends later today, so I thought I'd better get on the ball this morning and do my thing. Plus, oddmonster is getting ready to use her big voice on me if I don't do the promised icon meme. :)

First off:
Book #109 - The High King (The Chronicles of Prydain - Book 5) by Lloyd Alexander - This was a very satisfying ending to the series. There was much action and sword fighting and epic battles. The main character, Taran, had a lot of growth from the first book to the last. Of course it ended how I thought it would end. But I was okay with that. Definitely worth a read if you can get past the tongue twisting Welsh names.

I have one more book that I'd like to get read before the end of the year, but nothing else is pressing on me insistently.

Secondly:
oddmonster gave me some icons to talk about.
( Here goes )

This morning I was taking a shower and Hailey and Ruby were sitting in the bathroom talking to me (which is why I usually shower when no one's home ... PRIVACY!) and we had a long discussion about what color our snot currently is. We've both progressed to clear if anyone really needs to know. But we're both still pretty stuffed up. Yes, Hailey caught my cold. She informed me (quite snootily, might I add) that I "gave her a stuffy nose!" Nice.

I think I've written a long enough post for the day. I've covered all the topics I was planning on covering and now I can move on to my next thing.
Later!

My Thursday TV viewing is KILLING me. I just have too much going on. Too much. And and and ... there was no preview for a new Vampire Diaries. I realize they're going to be marathoning all the eps one week but when do we get neeeewwwwww ones??? When? Tell me. I must know. Because I kinda think I love that show just a little bit and it might have everything to do with how Ian Somerhalder isn't Boone and he has very pretty eyes. It might also be because I'm a little bit in love with Elena's hair. There might also be some "Ohmigod, did you see that tattoo on Stefan's bulging bicep???" I'm just saying.

In news that isn't about bulging biceps - and it's so sad that I have to write that - I taught Bailey how to sit on command today. Now I just hope she remembers it tomorrow. *blink blink* Bailey. Sit. Sit. Bailey. Sit. I think I said that about a million times. Maybe a million and two. But she was doing it pretty consistently at the end. We'll see.

The kids are on minimum day this week for conferences and they're getting home way too early. 12:30, people. Twelve freaking thirty. I can't even get a nap in because it's just too early. This is terrible. I keep telling myself that it's just one more day. One more day. One more day. In the few pitiful hours I have to myself in the morning I've been working on my NaNoWriMo novel. Not that it's a novel at this point. It's more of a collection of pages that might eventually tie together. If the gods and planets align. And if the kids were in school longer. Dang it. But I'm working on it. That's the important thing you should be taking away from this rambling diatribe. I'm working on it.

I'm off to watch Supernatural and then bed. In that order. Mostly because if I go to bed first I'll be watching SPN tomorrow and I want to watch it tonight. Take that!
I'm out.

I'm having a weird morning already. I'm completely unmotivated to get things done ... well, that's not entirely true. I'm unmotivated to get the stuff done that needs to get done around the house. The other stuff, the stuff that's fun-ish and wastes my time ... that's already done for the day. Go figure. I did manage to get a load of laundry in the wash, but everything else is just falling by the wayside. Clean the bathroom/vacuum/etc ... no, thanks.

Whatever. I'm sure my life or the house or anything else won't fall apart if I don't jump on all that stuff right this minute.

I think my sisters and I are going to go Christmas shopping tomorrow. Speaking of shopping, Amazon has all the seasons of Doctor Who on sale for half off today only. That knocks the price down to a little over $30. Umm ... I'm so tempted. I know I shouldn't spend the money, but $30 vs. $60 ... that's a big difference. I'm only missing season 3 and 4. That's a buy one get one free deal. Do you see my dilemma? Arrgh!

I'm cold. It's possibly time for me to shut my window for the cold season. Is it ridiculous to wrap yourself in blankets while the window's open? Part of me likes the crispness and part of me doesn't like how chilled my fingers get. I'm a mass of contradictions right now. A mass.

Randomly, Supernatural was preempted last night because of the 49ers game. They pushed Vampire Diaries to 9 and SPN to Saturday at 8. Weird. Thank goodness for downloads.

You know, I have nothing else to say. That doesn't happen too often. Also, my typing blows this morning. You'd think the keyboard spontaneously rearranged itself last night. But no. It's just me.
Later.

I completely want to be sleeping right now. Boo.

I had a great Halloween party. Thanks for kimbrchick, malkovich03 and jenahville for humoring me and staying to eat my food and watch some movies! I ended up making baked ravioli and it was really gooooooood. I would most definitely make it again. Especially since it was incredibly easy to make. Hailey made me bob for apples and I actually managed to get one! Of course I was drenched after, but it was fun.

We watched Friday the 13th (Jared Padalecki version) and My Bloody Valentine (Jensen Ackles version). It was almost like having the Winchesters over for the party.

Also ... Butterbeer is good. So was that Blood Orange Martini. Yummers.

My throat feels a little scratchy today. I'm not thrilled by that. I have to roust Cole from his mound of Legos and get him ready for his football game. It's picture day!

I'm done.
Later.

The rains have arrived!

I woke up this morning to extremely wet streets. Bailey took one look out the door when I went to take her out this morning and she turned and tried to walk the other way. I had to pick her up and carry her under my jacket to the grass so that she could do the fastest pee in the history of dogs. We ran back home. I also got an ocean of water in my shoe. I had to switch shoes to take Cole to school because the first pair were just too damn wet.

I love the rain.

Enough about the awesome weather. I've been working on this SPN fic, as I've mentioned repeatedly. I think I'm going to break it into chapters because I've reached a natural break in the story that feels like a chapter break. I'm also running through the mental notes I have for the rest of the story and I'm pretty sure that it would be way too big if I didn't break it up. I've never written a chaptered fic before. I kinda like it.

The point of this is that I think I've finished the chapter I was working on. I have Dean where I want him to be and now I have to transition him into the next part. Once I do a re-read or three and clean up some of the messier writing, I'll post it. Whether you want me to or not.

Mwahahahahaha.

I'm done. I've got things to do that don't AT ALL involve staring out the window at the driving rain.
Wish me puddles!
Later.

I have roughly half an hour until I have to be back up at Hailey and Cole's school to leave on the field trip to the apple farm with Hailey's class. What do I do with this time? Journal. Of course.

Since I have places to be and things to do, this journal will be short. In theory.

First off, I slept horribly last night. It was all jumbled dreams and constant waking. I wish that I could remember some of the stuff I was dreaming about because it was incredibly weird. I love the way the subconscious takes all these unrelated things and squishes them together while you're sleeping. It's the stuff that stories are made of.

Speaking of stories, I did my daily writing yesterday plus I ended up typing up all the stuff I'd already written on my SPN story. I like doing my first draft longhand on actual paper. It's so much easier for me to visualize when I go back and make edits. It also lets me do minor editing when I'm typing it up. Stuff that I'd marked as something that needs to be tightened up or rearranged. The initial time it goes from paper to screen seems to loosen up some of the words I'm trying to get out. I know that a lot of people compose directly on the comp, but the beginning of stories always start out on paper for me. Somewhere along the way I usually end up transitioning to writing directly onscreen, but they always start out on paper.

What can I say except that it works for me.

Okay. The clock is ticking here. I have to get the last few things together that I need and then head off to school.
Later.

Wow. I totally didn't journal yesterday. Weird. It just slipped my mind. Like a slippery thing that slips.

Not that I did a whole lot yesterday to write about. Let me think ... Hailey and I went to the craft store and bought some scrapbook stickers so she could finish up her page she gets to do about herself for school. It's a really cute thing that they do. Each kid in the class gets to be VIP for the week. They bring home a backpack on Friday with a stuffed Winnie the Pooh, a journal and an "about me" poster. You take a picture (or draw one) with you and Pooh and write a few sentences about what you did with him. Then you make up a page in the journal to look like a scrapbook. At the end of the year, all the kids will have been VIP and the teacher will have a memory book of all the kids in the class. Too cute. Seriously. So, Hailey had her pic taken on the soccer field with Pooh. We bought some soccer stickers and made dolled up the page a bit. It was pretty cool. Like, way better than some of the other pages in there.

Also, Hailey scored her first goal at her soccer game. I wasn't there for it. As you might recall, I was trapped in downtown San Jose, weeping as I circled endlessly and tried to find a street that wasn't one way. How is it that one way streets are always going the one way you don't want to go? Especially when you're already a bit frazzled from accidentally running a red light as you tried to read the freeway signs up ahead. *sigh* My directional sense sucks, people. SUCKS.

But enough about that.

Supernatural update: I have four episodes left in season 4. FOUR! What am I going to do once I finish this? Start over? Confession - I kinda already did start over. I was cleaning my room the other day and wanted something in that I didn't have to pay super close attention to. So ... I watched the first four eps of season 1. I love the Pilot (of course!) and can watch that one endlessly. The others just followed along.

Well, I'd best get back to outlining. I keep kinda putting it off. It's not the most, most exciting thing in the world to do, you know.
Later.