I don’t have much to say. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and I’m still kinda tired. I have zero progress on my writing which is really discouraging. I hope to get more done today.

Tomorrow – taking the kiddo to Six Flags. That should completely wear me out!

So.

Saturday started out like any normal Saturday. The cat woke me up at 6:30 with his insistent meowing. I finally got up, fed him, and went back to bed but it was useless. I ended up getting up about an hour later and drinking coffee.

The baby boy got up and I cooked bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. While we were eating, I noticed something. He had these red splotches all over his face. I was immediately alarmed. He’d been running fever off and on for the last few days so I worried something was definitely wrong.

We headed to the doctor’s office, which is open on weekends (thankfully). I called his dad on the way to let him know what was going on. An hour later, we left there with his diagnosis – Scarlet Fever.

The doctor said he was highly contagious and he probably got it from strep. He asked if his throat had been hurting but Sweetie Boy said no. Shocking. This is the weirdest sick kid I’ve ever seen. He acted normal the entire time we were in there. Not like he was in any great pain and suffering. So the doc prescribed antibiotics.

And I called his dad to let him know we’d all been exposed to it.

Crossing fingers I don’t get sick.

It certainly put a monkey wrench in the day. I had plans to go to The Man’s resturant for an early dinner that night. Canceled. I had planned to hit Target. Canceled.

Instead, we went home, ate lunch and watched E.T. And it made me cry, darn it. I forgot how great a movie that is.

He played in his room and still acted normal. Ran a low grade fever of 99 and that was it. Ran low grade late Sunday but other than that, he was fine.

We got up Sunday morning, had breakfast, went to the grocery store. Then we went to Target and got hima new backpack for school. Got home and cleaned my dirty house. At one point Sweetie Boy announced he was bored and I was working too hard. hehe

Later that afternoon we hit the big sale at JCPenney for school clothes. I saved $85 with the sale and the extra percent off I had. It was wonderful.

Back at home, I fried chicken tenders and he played on the computer while I finally sat down for the first time all day. It was a huge relief to get him settled down for bed because I finally got really relax. For a weekend of a whole lot of nothing, I sure am tired.

He was mad he wasn’t going to get to go to work with me on Monday. Apparently, he got used to that when we did the week of MusiCamp.

I seriously can’t believe it’s Monday again. Time flies when you have a sick kid who thinks he’s not sick…

Anyway – there’s lots of things happening this week. On Wednesday, an anthology put together by some writing colleagues will be available for download. I’ll have more on that then so be on the look out for that.

And I still need to get my short story up for download. I’ve been working on BREAK and get it finalized. I need to get it back to the editor this week.

Lots to do. And not nearly enough time in the day.

Figures.

YAY! I made it to Friday. And what a week it’s been.

A cool front blew in last night so I mowed the front yard. I was going to do the back but it really looked like rain so I didn’t push it. Of course it didn’t rain.

Since it was breezy and cool, I opened up the house and turned off the air. That’s just something that doesn’t happen in July in Texas – turning the AC off and opening the windows. It was nice. I actually slept with the window open too and woke up about 12:30 to kids screaming and yelling somewhere in the neighborhood – far enough away to wake me up but not close enough to call the police. Oh well.

It’s still a little cloudy this morning and it’s supposed to rain today.

A co-worker loaned me the entire season if Firefly so I watched another episode last night. A shame that series didn’t take off becuase it’s really good and I like Nathan Fillion a lot as the captain.

Not much else to report other than I’m glad it’s Friday and I get my baby boy back tonight. We have lots of activities planned for the next few weeks so we’re going to be super busy. Six Flags, movies, museum…it’s going to be fun!

Happy weekend, ya’ll.

I went to bed early last night but I still feel like I could have slept another two hours this morning. I’m exhausted. And I really don’t know why.

Tonight when I get home I have to mow the yard so maybe that will help perk me up. Who knows.

There were major explosions in downtown Dallas yesterday right off of I-30 and I-35. Thank goodness I don’t have to go anywhere near that interchange! Apparently, a truck of some sort caught fire and it happened to be backing up to a welding company. Which in turn caused the building to catch on fire. Which in turn caused all the acetylene to explode. My friend and co-worker was driving to work when it happened and she saw fire ball after fire ball go into the air. And fiery debri flying everywhere. She said it was terrifying to be stuck on the highway with noplace to go and watching this happen right in front of her literally only a few feet away.

It made national news from what I understand. You never know when something like that happens these days if it’s an accident or something more sinister at work. This time, it simply was an accident.

I was at the salon getting a pedicure during the 6 pm news so I missed the news reports but I saw the video and it was incredible. Mym other doesn’t live too far from downtown Dallas, so I called her last night to see if she felt the explosion (the ex works IN downtown and he said they felt it at their building). She had no idea it was going on. haha

We chatted a little bit and then I drank a beer and watched the first episode of Firefly – that Joss Whedon series that only made it one season. I really needed to work on the book but I just can’t seem to find the energy lately. I’m just exhausted ALL the time.

I need to start working out again I suppose.

And it’s off to begin another day. I’m in need of much coffee.

Tuesday morning began like any other day. The alarm went off at 6 and I hit snooze. I do that twice because I have to prepare myself to get up.

Except this time on Tuesday, I fell back to sleep. Hard. So hard, I started to dream.

And it was a disturbing one.

I dreamed my best friend/sister-in-law and I were headed to pick up her daughter (who’s 11) from somewhere. But along the way, at an intersection, some police and/or firemen (I’m not exactly sure which) came through the intersection on foot and told us all to evacuate immediately because there was a terror threat of biological warfare. They wanted us to abandon our cars and run away – on foot (which is totally strange). All I could think was I needed to get to my son and RIGHT THEN. It was horrifying I didn’t have him with me. 

Needless to say, I woke up with a very odd feeling and it seemed to carry me throughout the day. I just felt out of sorts all day.

I had a meeting for about two hours yesterday and it was productive one. I sense good things will come out of this meeting but more on that later.

I DID get to see the kiddo last night which was really REALLY nice. Especially since I’ve been missing him while he’s been at his dad’s (we’re 2 weeks on/2 weeks off during the summer). We hung out and I cooked chicken fried steak (and it came out perfect) and mashed potatoes (it’s his favorite meal) and then we had checkered flag ice cream and watched Pokemon. And then I took him home and by the time I hit the door when I got home, I was terribly exhausted.

So I did what anyone would do. I put on my PJs, poured a glass of port, and sat and had a Sex and the City marathon.

Oh and I do have a little announcement. I’m getting an old short story prepared for a freebie download. It’s sort of the prelude to the book I’m working on now and is called The Soul of Sharah. I wrote this about six years ago and entered it in the Writer’s Digest Writing Competition in the Short Story/Genre category. And guess what? Out of about 1600 entries, my little story placed 40th and actually received an Honorable Mention.

I think that deserves to have it’s own cover, made into a PDF file, and put out there for all of you folks to enjoy. Don’t you? I hope to have that up by Thursday at the very latest.

I’m also getting another short story ready for a freebie as well. It was a story that made it to the Editor’s Choice over at Wild Child Publishing in February of last year and is called Mingled  Yarn but I’ll post more about that later.

In the meantime, is it really Wednesday? This week is going way faster than last.

Sometimes I just want to get to my desk in the morning and start working. Sometimes I need that extra 30 minutes before the day starts to sort of get into my happy place before I can face people.

The last few days, I’ve not been able to get into that happy place and I’m starting to get a little cranky about it. I have a routine. I want to stick to it. Maybe tomorrow I can get back to my routine.

I didn’t get any words done on MAGIC this weekend or Monday. Thought I have to admit I DID get a lot done around the house. It looks great and I really like it still.

I’m thinking it’s getting close to time to do the ofice so I can get that out of the way.

My goal when I moved in was to get the entire house painted in the first year I lived here. I think I’m going to make it seeing as how I only have one more room to go. Not bad for a first year – which will be official toward the end of September. I can’t believe how fast time flies.

July is nearly over and done with already.

Not much else to report. Busy day ahead. I have a meeting and then tonight I hope to get some words done on MAGIC. I’ve put the word meter up so hopefully that will help me make progress.

Oh and got Round 3 of edits back on BREAK. I’m getting closer!

I painted for about 8 1/2 hours on Saturday and then about and hour on Sunday (I couldn’t finish Saturday). I also re-hung my curtains. When I first moved into my house, I just put the curtains up where the holes were in the wall. Since I was painting, I filled all the holes and started over. And besides, the curtains were about 5 inches off the floor and that just bugged me. Now, they hang the proper length – right above the carpet – and look better than they did before. Plus with the color on the walls, it just warms up the entire room. Makes it cozy. I’ll get pictures taken and post soon.

And then last night I cut up tree limbs last night and bagged them – 7 bags full! I waited until it was after 7 before I got outside to do that but I still sweated my ass off and the mosquitoes were awful. Good thing I had some bug spray all over me. Now I can get the yard mowed (oof).

I’m sore all over and I have about a dozen or so bruises all over my legs. And paint still on my elbow. haha BUT the house is done. I have one more room left to paint and that’s the office and then I’m really DONE. Well…except for the kitchen cabinets. And maybe the laundry room doors…

I just have this aversion to white walls. The transformation from white to that cream color is really amazing. White makes the house so stark and so bright and so…blinding. I’m still amazed at how toned down the living room feels. And the entry and the hallway.

Anyhoo…that’s about all I did this weekend. And I’m tired and had to come back to work to rest. hehe

And now it’s time for coffee…

…cracks me up.

This evening, Sweetie Boy called me before bed, as usual. And in the course of the conversation he says, “How was your day, Mom?” And I reply with, “It was really busy. I was in a meeting all day.”

There was a slight pause, then he says, “Wow, that must have been horrible.”

BAHAHAHAHAHA

I love him. I do.

I didn’t do much last night except buy shoes and visit with The Man. Other than that it was a pretty tame evening. No home repairs or computer repairs.

I did, however, get some work done on MAGIC. It’s taking an interesting turn and I may end up rewriting more of the book than first anticipated.

And I suddenly realized I forgot to send out my July newsletter! Shame on me. Guess I’ll put that on the Things To Do list for this weekend.

I’m painting this weekend, too! I’m this close to having the entire house done. And when the walls are done I can start working on the kitchen cabinets. It never ends does it? I love it.

And that’s it for me. I’m going to go drink my wonderful Columbian coffee The Man gave me. Happy weekend, ya’ll!

Hey I’m posting over at Chicas today, so stop on by if you get a chance.

I am so proud of myself. Last night, I did the unthinkable. I actually fixed a computer problem.

See. I had McAfee Suite 8.0. And I hated it. It takes over your entire machine and it ticks me off. I’m an AVG fan, so that’s what I use.

So anyway. Last year, when I went through The War and lost 220 pounds on my left ring finger, I decided to uninstall McAfee since it was registered to him. The only problem with that was McAfee didn’t want to go away so easily. I was left with this Error Code 7.1.015. Even though I tried and tired, I couldn’t get rid of the MFer.

So I was talking with IT Guy at work and he told me to email him a screen shot of the two errors I was getting and he’d help me figure it out. But when I got into, I decided to do a little research on my own.

After several Google searches and one phone call to Brother when I realized there was NO WAY I could mess with the registry, I found the information I needed. it was this little uninstall tool call McAfee Cleanup I needed. And so I held my breath, downloaded it and ran it. And TADA! It worked! I removed the offending software from my machine after having it on there for over a year.

Talk about elation.

And the best part was – I didn’t screw anything up in the process.

So I called Brother and told him the good news.

“That’s great.” And he’s all deadpan.

Oh thanks for that.

And since I was feeling so sure of myself, I decided it was time to get up my two new kitchen lights. So I played Electrician. The first one went up with no problems. The second one was a big of a pain in the arse. When I pulled it down, all the old insulation on the back of it was (a) stuck to the ceiling and (b) fell all over me.

Then the electrical tape was so old, it was literally fused to the damn wingnut thing-a-ma-bob. I finally got it all unwired and down. (And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did flip the circuit breaker to make sure there was no power to the swtich.)

Meanwhile, The Man calls me and asks what I’m up to. I tell him I’m writing my new lights.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asks.

I should have been insulted especially since I hung every other light and ceiling fan in the house (except for the two fans I couldn’t do myself). Anyway, he was kind of foul so we didn’t talk long and I finished my light.

I cleaned up and turned the circuit breaker back on and TADA! They both work. I’m happy but itchy. So I ran through the shower.

I swear I still fell all that insluation crap all over me and it’s making me nuts.

At any rate, the computer is running great and the lights look fabulous. And now I’m off to work.

Yesterday just crawled by. I don’t know why. Maybe because all I thought about all day long was Coach.

I did get some edits done on the MAGIC book. I need to start rewriting the rest of the following chapters if I’m going to turn it in like I want. I think I need to put up the word meter as a visual aid so I’ll have a goal to meet.

Still waiting on edits to come back on BREAK. At least Round 2 is done with. I’m ready to get this book finished up.

A friend at work loaned me some tree trimmers. So when I got home, I trimmed the trees in the backyard and the hedges in the front. It was a jolly good time (can you hear the sarcasm?) especially since it was 5000 degrees outside. Even after 6 pm.

I suppose summer is officially here.

And my house seems to be overrun with gnats. WTH?

I’m still in love with my Coach bag. I think I’ve officially crossed the “high maintenance” threshold.

I also think it’s time to get a financial plan – a real one – and a budget and stick to them. I’m revamping again over the next two weeks to figure out what the heck I’m doing. Stop spending money would be a start. LOL

Okay I’m off to work. Happy Hump Day, ya’ll.

Sunday nearly killed me. I was terribly busy running around and getting stuff done at the house.

I bought this amazing shoe rack that holds 36 shoes and is an over-the-door thing. I thought that’d be GREAT since I was tired of tripping on shoes that are homeless (i.e. have no boxes). I got it all put together, but it over my closet door…and the freaking door wouldn’t shut. Apparently, this closet door is a little bit narrower than a regular door. WHATEVER!

I tried to hang it on the back wall of the closet. I drilled holes and put in wall anchors and EVERYTHING. But to no avail. It still fell off the wall. Much to my dismay.

So today I schlepped it back to Bed Bath & Beyond to unshop. I hate unshopping. On Sunday, I had to unshop at Lowe’s and return 11 sets of hinges I bought. They didn’t fit my kitchen cabinets like I had envisioned, so back they went.

Anyway. Back to BB&B and I returned it. And bought a shoe rack that went on the floor and holds 20 shoes. Okay so it’s not as cool as the other one, but it’s totally functional. And I got a set of 10 clear plastic shoe boxes with lids.

See, the idea here is that eventually…someday…I will have a clear plastic shoe box for every pair I own. Then I can ditch the actual shoe box and keep them all in their very own, stackable, clear shoe box.

I know. It’s anal, isn’t it?

Oh. I also hung up my mirror FINALLY on my closet door. Since the stinking shoe rack didn’t work. It was a total ass pain to hang, too, but I did it and got it up and I quite like it.

Sunday was also my trip to Lowe’s where I bought six gallons of paint to finish off the interior of the house. I’m so ready to get every wall painted in this house and I’m this close to getting done.

I’m also going to pain my butt-ugly kitchen cabinets. Man. I hate those. Dreary, depressing brown. I need something happy and cheerful.

I can’t hardly believe it’s mid-July. Where is the year going? And I’m the speaker in August at the chapter meeting. I guess I better figure out what the hell I’m going to talk about, eh?

So far today I have…

Done three loads of laundry,
Mowed the front and the back,
Used the weed eater (YES! It started right up!),
Went to the grocery store,
Put groceries away,
Talked to The Man,
Ate lunch

And I still have to go to the pet store and get litter liners and Lowe’s to buy more paint.

Go me!

I woke up this morning with a smile on my face. I can’t remember the last time that happened.

Sweetie Boy had his performance last night at the church. To say he was precious would be a gross understatement. He was adorable and so funny. I can’t wait to get the DVD and watch it. They did a week in review type video too for the kiddos and my baby boy was on there. He was so cute!

His dad came, as well as Best Good Friend and Skater Daughter. We had a good time watching the little performance. Afterward, he went home with dad and I headed to North Dallas to see The Man. I had some seriously good martinis.

I got lots of birthday shopping for my boy done, too. His birthday isn’t until the end of August but I want to be prepared. PLUS, Target had the Jack Sparrow treasure chest he wants on sale. I picked up a few more Ben 10 toys for him, as well. Yesterday in the mail, I got a $25 reward certificate for B&N so I went and spent every dime. Got the baby more Magic Tree House books and a new A-Z Mysteries book for him. Some of the Magic Tree House books are for now, and some are for later. He’s definitely reading on a 3rd grade level now which is highly impressive. Especially since he’s only going into the 1st grade.

That’s my boy!

Then I headed over to the mall.

Now. I’ve coveted Coach bags for years. But I’ve never bought one and any man I’ve ever been with has balked as the pricetag of them. They are beautiful bags, though, and I know if I ever got one I’d carry it for life.

Best Good Friend recently made her first purchase. Which made me insanely jealous. hehe I started to have the wants real bad for one. And what made it worse is the fact I have all this buying power with credit I don’t use. I’m trying to be thrifty, you see.

However, my wants got the best of me today. I went into the Coach store with a specific bag in mind. It was the Signature Scarf print but it was so small I knew I couldn’t have that for every day use. The gals in the store were GREAT, too. Very helpful, friendly, and just lovely to deal with. 

Needless to say, I made my very first Coach purchase today. And walked out of there a little less richer. But that’s okay. This Coach bag will be with me for years. And in case you’re wondering what it looks like… it’s the Chelsea Patchwork Large Hobo, Style #10974. It’s suede and smells like leather and MY GAW I love it. LOVE IT! It’s a beautiful bag. And yes, I hugged it and sniffed it and petted it.

I guess you could say I’m officially a snob now. hehe!