Quote of the day:
If they are stylish, we feel stylish, and to hell with comfort.
–Colin McDowell, Shoes: Fashion and Fantasy

Before I get into my long-winded post about my weekend and my near-fatal brain meltdown, I would like to announce I have received my first review for Talk Dirty To Me!

The reviewer gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 …whatevers… (I’m not entirely sure what the symbols are. Ideas?) and said:

“The chemistry between Claudia and Blake is scorching and the love scenes absolutely ignite the pages.”

And that I’m “definitely an author to keep an eye on.” I can’t tell you how thrilled I am!

You can see the entire review here.

Now…about my brain meltdown. I got new smilies! (Feel free to rip them off! :hehe:) But in the process of getting them uploaded, I did a major boo-boo. First of all, I uploaded them to someone else’s site, changed the file that needed to be changed…and effectively wiped out every smiley she had.

:duh:

So after an hour of getting the thing fixed (it kept giving me a PHP error on line 106 or some crap), I finally got her smilies all back in order. Sheesh. :rtfm:

Then yesterday we went to Ikea – which was, great by the way! – and Sysenlaw and the kids rode with me. Apparently my brain was running faster than my mouth. I think I started three stories in the span of 2.3 seconds. Finally she said, “I’m just waiting for you to finish one story.”

HA

So I backed up and started over with the whole cordless vacuum story. I found this great little one at Wal-Mart for $15 and since the cat is a huge mess with his food, I figured it’d be a great thing to have. So I’m telling her all about this, come to what I think is the end of the little anecdote and continue driving.

“So did it work?” she asks after a long pause.

Maybe it was the hot sun glaring through the windshield. Or maybe it was because I haven’t been sleeping well in the last few days. Or the fact that I have about 23408 things on my mind. Who knows.

“What?” I ask. And I was completely blank. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“THE VACUUM?”

“OH!”

:duh:

I bought this wonderful little TV stand, too, at Wal Mart. I actually got it all together by myself yesterday – only took about 30 minutes – and decided to break down the TV and DVD player and everything after Desperate Housewives (which was totally anti-climatic if you ask me). So after the show is over, I do just that. I get everything apart. The last remaining piece is the coax attached from the box to the wall. But the dumbass kid who installed my satellite box screwed it so tight into the wall, I can’t get it out! I was ticked. I have no pliers, so I didn’t have anything I could use to get some leverage on the thing to unscrew it. So, right now, I have wires and components laying in the middle of my living room floor. And you just can’t run out and buy a pair of pliers at 10:30 at night on a Sunday. Tonight I guess I’ll go buy some and try and unscrew that bloody coax cable. (I couldn’t even get it unscrewed from the back of the box!)

Then tomorrow night I have to go buy a graduation present for my niece.

And today I have to finish my synopsis because I have to focus on Nice Girls . Immediately.

So much to do. So little time.

But you know what? I love my life. I love my freedom. I love my independence and the fact that I can come and go as I please. I love that I don’t have to report in to anyone and I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I love my little apartment. I love my little car. And the fact that I can pick out the living room furniture *I* want and not have to discuss it with anyone first. I’m enjoying my life and I love who I am.

I’m up early to get ready to trek to Ikea! Why am I so excited about this? I have no idea other than I dying to see that retro couch in person. It looks like this:

Sweetie Boy wants me to get it in dark blue.
:yesmaster:

The cool thing about this sofa is it has a removable machine washable cover. And when you have kids and cats, it’s a very good thing. Plus you can get them in different colors to sort of mix it up and change the look. Love it!

Alrighty - off to the shower, cup of coffee, and breakfast. Then gotta get the kiddo up.

First…I just want to say … :censored: YOU SPAMMERS! I finally had it after getting THREE HUNDRED spam messages A DAY on this blog. I installed a couple of plug-ins so hopefully that will help. Still getting the spam, but it’s not as bad as it has been. Just give them time, though, eh?

Second…trying to install new smilies, but am having a total brain meltdown and can’t think what I’m missing here. ARGH. I’m annoying myself. :yelling:

Got up early this morning and ran to the post office (it was uneventful) and then went to get he car washed because it was filthy. Then it was on to grocery shopping and then Wal-Mart where I got this very cool TV stand for $40. Well, originally I had one for $20 but my TV was too big for it (yes, I was retarded and forgot to measure before I went!) so had to take it back and get the proper size. I think I’ll put it together tomorrow night when I don’t have a little helper.

Cleaned off my desk and organized. It looks much better.

The fam and I are going to Ikea tomorrow. I’m excited! I can’t wait! I’ve never been and they have this retro couch I’m hot to have. Going to see how it feels and if I really do like it in person as much as I like it in their catalog. I’m sooooo ready for grown-up furniture.

Time for the kiddo’s bath and then I think I’m going to have a chat with Ms. Clairol. :hehe:

ADDENDUM:
I’m a total :loser:. Figured out my problem on my blog and got the new smilies working so here they are:

:cuss:
:yesmaster:
:rock:
:rtfm:

All courtesy of my Sysenlaw!

Quote of the day:
A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.
- Alistair Cooke

Bop on over to Inara Press’ blog today as I’m the one blogging. You can get to it here:

http://inarapress.blogspot.com/

Busy busy today! The server at work crashed yesterday. I mean, a total meltdown. No email, no nothing. All day. It was excruciating, let me tell you. All the emails that were sent to me were lost in cyberspace. Never got any of them.

So today I come in to find a small emergency of which I’m trying to handle without having to bother my boss because she’s in a meeting all day and is unreachable. So far so good. But I tell ya, I feel like I’m flying blind.

A really good friend of mine is leaving the company next Friday. He works in another office, but I’m so sad he’s leaving. I wish him all the best of luck, though, and I know he’ll do great in his new job.

Got all the edits done for MAGIC and am about to take a look at the synopsis to make sure it’s up to snuff. Then I’m going to print the whole mess out and send it off to Harlequin tomorrow. WOO! Yes, Leigh, let’s DO compare post office notes tomorrow. HA.

I cooked last night. This is a very rare occurrence, but I did cook. Make chicken and rice. Of which my child ate none. Ah well. Then after I dropped him off, I had a riveted time waxing my eyebrows. Yes, I did it myself instead of paying someone $12 to do it. At least they’re even.

And then, since it was early and only 9, I sat down and actually watched some TV for an hour and I thought to myself, It’s really nice to be all alone. Just me and the cat. It’s so totally great.

So I went to bed early since I was a little tired and my freaking phone rings at 12:30. It was a wrong number I’m sure – I didn’t answer it – but it jolted me out of my peaceful sleep. Took me a good 20 minutes to get back to sleep. And then when I did, I dreamed about flipflops with big flowers on top. And they only had a right shoe in my size. Whatever on that.

I’m so happy it’s Friday! And rather surprised that it came so fast. Have a great weekend, all.

Quote of the day:
To live in the presence of great truths and eternal laws, to be led by permanent ideals - that is what keeps a man patient when the world ignores him, and calm and unspoiled when the world praises him.
- Honore De Balzac

Well as it turns out my something big fell through. It was a long shot anyway, but I figured I’d give it a try. Wasn’t for me and didn’t work out and that’s cool. No real reason to blog about it, but if you’re curious, you can email me.

I finished the edits on MAGIC yesterday. Got chapters 2 and 3 done. Now I just need to package up my partial and get it in the mail. I’m shooting for Saturday because (a) I get paid on Friday and (b) I have a box to return as it is. So a trip to the post office is definitely in order.

I also finished the rewrite of chapters 1 and 2 of the second book in the Coffee House Chronicles – Nice Girls Do. And not only that, but I’ve finished the edits for the second season of Ransom & Fortune. So good progress there. And may I just say that season two is going to rock your pants? Don’t miss it!

Got the thumbnail up on the sidebar for Talk Dirty To Me. See? Be sure and click on it so you can go directly to Samhain’s site and see my blurb about the book.

When I got home finally tonight, I threw my hair up in a ponytail…and discovered a VERY white streak going through it.

Nice. Time for Ms. Clairol!

I think it’s because I’ve had so much stress in my life lately that I have more gray hair than I should. Or maybe it’s because – ahem – I have a birthday coming up and this is Nature’s way of saying, “HEY! You’re getting really :censored: old.” :talktohand:

At any rate, when I get paid this week, it’ll be time for some personal grooming. I’m getting my hair cut, my eyebrows waxed, and a pedicure. Happy birthday to me. Early. At least, this is the plan. There’s always some monkey wrench that gets thrown my way and I never quite get everything accomplished I want to. So perhaps just the eyebrow waxing, eh?

I’ve officially put myself on a budget. This will be difficult but I think I can do it. I want to start saving up some money for my retreat later this year. Plus I have another trip I’d like to try and take.

That’s about all I have to report at this time. Is it Friday yet??

Totally busy today..haven’t had a chance to sit down and compose a decent blog entry BUT it’s LOST night! :thumbsup:

And…I have something in the works. Can’t quite blog about it yet but it’s big. Stay tuned.

Quote of the Day:
A day dawns, quite like other days; in it, a single hour comes, quite like other hours; but in that day and in that hour the chance of a lifetime faces us.
- Maltbie Babcock

Okay… first of all: Grey’s Anatomy.

I cried when the dog died and then I cried when Denny died and Izzy was just sobbing on Alex’s shoulder. It was KILLING me. But OMG what a fantastic episode. I can’t wait until next season!

And… *gasp* Derek and Meredith…and that’s all I’m saying. Except for… WOW

Now for the exciting news! Yesterday evening I opened my email to find … my cover art for Talk Dirty To Me! It’s fabulous!

Take a look here:
(more…)

Totally forgot to blog about this! May I just say OMG?!?

I will be parked in front of the TV for the 2 hour finale tonight. I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!

:rockin:

Quote of the Day:
What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond-buckled shoe.
- Aileen Mehle

What a weekend. I think I drove about 200 miles this weekend. And it was really all worth it.

Saturday morning, I picked up Sweetie Boy. We went back to my place and I finished up laundry and stuff and then we headed to my brother’s house (which his sort of south and east of where I live) for the afternoon/evening/spending the night. We played a rousing game of Texas Hold ‘Em of which I totally suck at and made Cosmopolitans. My brother kept telling me and Sysenlaw how they were so gross, yet we were pretty happy drinking them. So happy everything was hysterical by about the third round of drinks. So, we tied one on.

The next morning we were horrified to discover we had killed nearly and entire liter of vodka.

Wow.

The thing is, even though we drank so much, the next morning we felt fairly good. Aside from a small headache that coffee couldn’t cure, that is.

Then we headed to my mother’s house, which was about a 45 minute drive. Our plan to was to head north to the cemetery and put flowers out at Dad’s grave. So we picked her up and got back in the car and drove another hour away.

At least it wasn’t scorching hot out there and there was a nice breeze. My aunts and uncles and grandparents are all buried there, too, so we visited the graves, decorated them, and then headed out. Back to my mother’s. Another hour in the car.

We had the best dinner there too. Brisket, potato salad, baked beans. Wow, it was all so good. I stuffed myself until I couldn’t eat anymore.

I headed home after that to drop off Sweetie Boy but he had mommy-syndrome in a bad way. He was very clingy and insisting he wanted to come home with me. I ended up taking him back to my place and letting him spend the night. He did the same thing this morning when I tried to drop him off at the sitter’s. Very clingy and not wanting me to leave. I was finally able to get him to give me a hug and kiss and let me go to work.

Anyway, it was a good weekend. A hectic weekend. And I’ve decided I want to buy a house. Now, getting approved for the loan and paying off the bills is an entire OTHER matter…

Hope all you mommies have a terrific day!

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