Nothing else matters ...

Today I discovered Nutella. Apparently, people feel very strongly about Nutella because as soon as I started tweeting about it the replies started coming in.



-and-



*blink, blink*

I had no idea Nutella was such a driving force...

Between last night and this afternoon I had the strangest Twitter conversation. The strangest. It started between author Jodi Redford and I and ended up as a 5+ way convo between several authors and myself. What was it about? Mainly, puffer fish and all the sex that they don't have. O.o Yes, you read that correctly.

Somehow in the middle of all that I managed to finish reading Maximum Witch by Jodi Redford. This book is the whole reason the puffer fish conversation started and when I reviewed it this morning I wrote "Jodi Redford writes the best non-puffer fish sex I've read all week." Well, you can see that quote in all it's glory on Jodi's website now. There was even talk of glittery gif puffer fish to accent it.

Don't be jealous that you didn't think up a quote that spaztastic first. Some of us are just gifted in ways that defy explanation.

It probably goes without saying that I had a lot of coffee today (hence the continuation of the puffer fish convo) but that entire tweet stream is motherfucking gold, people. If you're not following me and everyone I follow on Twitter, you're totally missing out. Totally.

Anyway. I have a bunch of book stuff to catch up on. Are you ready to rumble?!?
Book #312 - Her Guardian Angel (Her Angel #4) by Felicity Heaton - Sexy angels and the women they worship. Niiiiice.
Book #313 - Maximum Witch (That Old Black Magic #3) by Jodi Redford - There is no puffer fish or sea horse sex in this book. But that shark shifter is mighty tasty!
Book #314 - Anasazi (Sense of Truth #2) by Emma Michaels - I liekd this one more than the first book. Plus? Pretty cover!
Book Blogger Hop & Follow Friday - Crazy book titles, reading habits and book covers that make me swoon!
Spotlight On... Amanda J. Greene's Caressed by Moonlight - Amanda's book gets a new cover on it's rerelease! Sweet!

Okay. I'm going to crack open my Epic Werewolf Masterpiece #1 (and there's a story about how I cut over half the book because I was unhappy with how my two halves weren't matching up) and WRITE!
Later, skaters!

This morning on the way to Target, we (my mom, sis, Hailey and myself) came across a car that had crashed the wrong way into some bushes. The way the car was situated you couldn't see it from the road, we only saw it because we were at the cross street and had an unobstructed view through the bushes. Anyway. My mom called 911 to report it and the dispatcher asked her if she could see the license plate. My mom, being my mom, made me pull over so she could get out of the car and walk through the field to give it to her. As she's walking up to the car she's telling the dispatcher that she really hoped their wasn't a dead body in it. There wasn't, for the record.

So. After she tells us this I'm all, "Well, if there had been a dead body that's one thing you can mark off your bucket list."

Dead silence in the car.

Me, "What? Seeing a dead body isn't on your list of things you want to experience before you die?"

Everyone else, "NO!"

Me, "Huh. I guess that's just me then."

Sometimes I wonder how I ended up so awesome with such a mundane family.

On an entirely unrelated note, Hailey and I started watching Firefly today. This is all because one of the authors I follow on Twitter has just fallen into the wonders of space cowboys and she's been talking about it. Oh, Nathan Fillion. You are so wonderful as my beloved Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

In bookish news:
Book #233 - Dark Desires After Dusk (Immortals After Dark #6) by Kresley Cole - I likened this series to a light-hearted version of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters. So.Damn.Much.Fun.
In My Mailbox - Those advance copies of books killed me this week. And I was doing so well on getting my TBR pile down.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to take the dogs to the dog park and wash my car. I might even try my hand at making some cake balls. (Haha. Cake balls. Yes, I'm 12.) The ones my sister made today were DELICIOUS. They were chocolate cake with chocolate coating. It was like biting into a decadent chocolate truffle. Yum, yum, yum.

I am done.
Later.

My wee beastly boy (who really isn't all that wee anymore seeing as how he's nearly as tall as I am. I can hear all of you that know how tall I am laughing hysterically at this point and saying that the fact that he's nearly as tall as me is nothing to write home about) slept from 6:30 last night until 6:30 this morning. The little brat was tired, I guess.

Anyway. For Mother's Day he gave me a Karma necklace shaped in a spiral that says "What goes around comes around". Lol! My kid knows me so well.

Hailey asked me if we could watch The Walking Dead earlier and naturally I agreed. Somewhere along the way I started chatting with oddmonster on Twitter about Zombies. I'm proud to announce that Odd shamed me into cracking open my Zompocalypse short and cranked out 450 or so words. Not great, I know, but I still have time tonight to get some more done on that. Hopefully I can finish it up in a few thousand more words and get back to writing the epic Zompocalypse Morgan Hill story. I'm not promising anything but there might possibly be a cursed glass eye that makes an appearance.

In totally random news, I started watching Game of Thrones and really wasn't all that impressed by it. Now, I wasn't fully focused on it so that might have been part of the problem but the first episode seemed incredibly slow. Incredibly. Like, I kept waiting for something to happen and finally I just turned it off. I'll try again at some later date but I'm not really feeling the love at this point.

So. Book stuff. Of which I don't have a ton.
In My Mailbox - A couple of fun ones. Yay!
As an aside, I'm going to attempt to get my TBR pile down by tracking it weekly on my IMM posts. My starting point? 224 books. Let's see how I do on taming that beast!

Okay. I have a sweeping story about Zombies and blood to write.
Later.

Today I...

1. successfully assembled Cole's Science Project display because that poor kid has no sense of what's aesthetically pleasing.
2. had my toes done (and they look goooood!).
3. took the longest hardest nap you can imagine. Seriously, if the alarm hadn't been set, I wouldn't have been awake to pick the kiddo up from school.
4. read a book.
5. wrote up my Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night posts for the book blog. I think this is the first time I've ever been ahead on posting.
6. had an amusing conversation on Twitter with one of my book blogging pals about how I fully believe she's training to be an astronaut. She claims she's not but obviously I'm right. Obviously.

So, yeah. I did stuff!
Also, I have this whole book thing going on...
Book #127 - The Heat (Big Bad Wolf #1) by Heather Killough-Walden - A fun, paranormal romp with werewolves! Boo-yah.
Book #128 - The Vampire Dimitri (Regency Draculia #2) by Colleen Gleason - I called a sexy vampire a crotchety old man in this review. That makes me laugh.
Teaser Tuesday (03/29/11) - Vampires, vampires and werewolves. I've finished all these books at this point, I just have to write up the final review.

I'm nearly 100% certain I can hit my goal of 130 books by the end of this month. I have one more day, I can read one measly little book.
And on that note...
Later.

I'm heading out in a few minutes to meet up with the BFF. The words "dive" and "bar" were used to entice me. Lol!

So, book stuff:
Book #25 - Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood #2) by J.R. Ward - And I thought the first book was good!?! I love the characters J.R. Ward has created here. They are fantastic!
Book #26 - Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood #3) by J.R. Ward - I stayed up until last night reading this one. I finished book 2 and literally picked the next one up and went to town on it. So to speak. And this one was even better than the 2nd!

And that's it, guys.
I do not promise not to drunken tweet tonight. Sometimes it just happens, you know. On the other hand, maybe there will be no tweeting. We'll see.

Okay. I'm out.
Later.

Cole had his flag football game today and it was both windy and hot. That's a weird combination, guys. Just, weird. Actually, when I say "flag football game" I really mean games since he plays 2 back-to-back. They're only 45 minutes each so it's not like he's out there for hours and hours or anything. Still, by the end of the second, I was ready to go home. The wind was making my eyes water and the sun was making me sweat. I didn't enjoy it.

In other news, my dogs are ridiculously cute. As always.

NaNo stats:

I'm in the middle of writing one of the wrenching scenes that I've been working toward since the end of book 1. My kidnapped girl is going back to see her family for the first time in 15 years. She has doubts as to how they can love her. She can't imagine that they can accept her as she is, scarred and broken. They can't believe that their daughter has been returned to them. It's hard to write. Not hard, like the muse is being uncooperative. Hard, like emotionally difficult. After a book and a half, my main character feels real to me. Part of me doesn't want to put her through something this emotionally wrenching. And the other part of me is telling me to dive in and go for it.

I'm balancing between the two by diving in and then taking breaks to chat with people on twitter. Hey, it works for me.

I'm trying to hit 40K tonight. Earlier I would have said there was no way in hell. Now? I think I can.

Things of the bookish variety:
In My Mailbox - Kindle books. Books for my Kindle. None of which I spent any money on. Free stuff is good.
30 days of books... Day 63 - The 2nd book in a series I picked up free a few months ago. Nice.

Okay. A few hundred more words then I get to treat myself to The Walking Dead. Then I have to plan the book giveaway I was chattering about yesterday. Then I'll sleep. Maybe. I had a lot of coffee. Sleep might not be an option.

I have an hour until I'm being picked up for the great birthday extravaganza planned and executed by the fabulous malkovich03. I've picked up an extra copy of Boneshaker to have signed. I think I'll give it away on my blog. And if they're selling copies of Dreadnought at the bookstore (which I can't imagine why they wouldn't be) I'll buy one and get that signed also to give away. This is on top of my personal three books, mind you.

Anyway. I have a few book things to clear out.
Book #218 - The Bite Before Christmas by Heidi Betts - A fun collection of Christmas-themed vampire stories of the shorter variety.

On My Wishlist (week 6) - Delilah Street, naughty covers and the awesome Morgan Kingsley. Oh, and I don't think I've managed to put up a short wishlist post since I started this weekly meme.
30 days of books... Day 34 - The ghost of Jane Austen takes up residence in a young girl's head and helps her with her romantic life. I know. It's not my usual type of book. Just go with it.

For the record, I froze my ass off this morning during Zombie watch. I could barely type. (That's my excuse if you come across any typos. *nods*) No, really. It was very cold. And foggy. And slightly damp. Hailey scored a goal. Yay!

Okay. I do not promise that I won't be dong any drunken tweeting tonight. I also don't promise that I will.
Later.

Holy crap! I almost forgot to journal today. I ... don't even understand. I don't get it. What? It must have been that Mike's Hard Lemonade. Funny story, I grabbed 2 Mike's earlier and drank one while I was reading and when I went to open the second one I totally couldn't get the cap off. I figure it was the Gods of Drunken Tweeting telling me not to drink it. So I didn't.

Yeah. Anyway. Here at Casa Rubidoux we have a jam packed weekend. Hailey's soccer game tomorrow morning, although she threw up this afternoon so that might not be happening. Then we're going to the pumpkin patch. This is a crazy huge pumpkin patch with a train and corn maze and grilled corn on the cob and ... lots of other things. Sunday is Heather's birthday so we'll be doing that whole family thing.

Which brings me to a topic that's near and dear to my heart ... My Birthday. It's on the 17th, guys. I accept parcels of land and jewels, preferably cut and polished already so I can sell them immediately. I mean, what?

Okay, I'm kidding about the jewels but the parcels of land thing is still on the table. Right? Right?

Okay. Books.
Book #203 - Friday's Child-Sexual Healing by Moira Rogers - I won this through Twitter. Fun!
Book #204 - Eternal Pleasure (Gods of the Night #1) by Nina Bangs - All I can say is that I had no idea dinosaurs were so sexy. I'm just sayin'.

30 days of books... Day 26 - What in the name of Pete am I downloading?
On My Wishlist (week 5) - The werewolf edition, now with polar bears. As an aside, this is one of my favorite weekly events I participate in. I love scouring my wishlist and being reminded of all the great books I'm dying to read.

Okay, full day tomorrow, I'm ready to map you out. Also, that one Mike's has made me sleepy.
Later.

Oh, Twitter. You and I have become such good friends since I bought my smart phone. Now I can post stupid and annoying pictures of myself doing things that no sane person would normally do at all hours of the day and night. I can take pictures of my shoes and socks and fingerless gloves. You never mock me for doing this, Twitter, and for that I thank you. You take my pictures and you put them up on your website and let the entire internet gasp in awe at my over-the-knee socks.

Now that it's almost Halloween I can post pictures of me decorating my house. Like this:

If you can't tell, that's a heart dangling on the side. Oh, man, I love Halloween. I glued all those spiders on by myself. There was a whole glue incident and I've been peeling glue off my fingertips for the bulk of the day. Maybe I'm down to skin now. I don't know. Does it really matter?

One thing I've learned from all this, dear Twitter, is that the bulk of authors I follow are all as sadistic as hell and they like to torment their creations. This is somewhat like a mad scientist, I think. Which is interesting since it's October and I've just hung a heart from the table outside. I kinda feel like I've found my place in the world. And that's all thanks to you, Twitter. You've made me realize that wearing at least one piece of skull-adorned clothing everyday and liking tattoos on men and saying "fuck" often and loudly are normal. Well, normal for people who talk to themselves and write about imaginary people.

Yep, I fit right in.

Speaking of which, tomorrow's Zombie Watch should be starting around 10:30 or so. Bring it!

Okay, enough about my Twitter love.
Books. Things that go book in the night. All things bookish.
Book Blogger Hop - I posted this last night but I'm kinda in love with the banner I made and I want everybody to look at it and tell me how utterly awesome I am. No, really. Tell me. I won't mind.
30 days of books... Day 19 - A series I wanted to read but couldn't get into. Yet I still have one of the books. Go figure.
An awesome contest held by one of my favorite authors! - Moira Rogers and Vivian Arend are teaming up to give out a virtual ton of books. You don't have to do anything but tell them you're interested. Free books, guys. Free books. That is all.

Okay. Enough babbling. I have to get tomorrow's early morning post put together so I can go out and make sure the Zombies don't invade Morgan Hill any more than they already have with a clear conscience. Which reminds me: I'm writing motherfucking Zombie Apocalypse fiction with the outstanding oddmonster. That girl has some mad writing skillz.

I'm out.
Later.