I’ve been off work for a week and it’s been glorious. I’m back to work today. *grumble* And even though I detested getting up early and waking up my child, I’m kinda glad to be back in the office. To have some routine again.

So I had a really nice Christmas. My mom came and spent some time with me and the kiddo.  I took her home on Thursday. Friday my baby boy and I had lunch in downtown and then we went to see The Water Horse. I’m taking him to see the new National Treasure movie tomorrow.

ANYWAY… on my days off, I started de-cluttering the house. I decided somewhere in my subconcious I needed to start 2008 off with a clean house. So I cleaned up my office and cleaned off my desk. I actually want to work in there now. It’s nice. Then I decluttered the rest of the house. Took down all the Christmas decorations and put them away. I cleaned out the storage under the sink in my bathroom and threw away things I haven’t used in over a year. It’s a big step for me. I found things I thought I had lost. Things I didn’t know I had. And things I had been given that I knew I’d never ever use. I gave away some stuff but overall just tossed everything else.

I also had this area inside my laundry closet where I had stockpiled paper carry-out sacks from PF Chang’s and TONS of plastic bags from the grocery store. I got rid of EVERYTHING under there because I suddenly decided it was a breeding ground for bugs.

Then I went through the house and found several windows that were drafty and wouldn’t shut. I fixed them all. One was in my office – no wonder if was so hot as blazes in there in the summer! And drafty in the winter. I vacuumed. I cleaned the kitchen counters.

And you know what? My house feels good. It feels clean. I LOVE IT! Now I have to keep it that way… right? Hopefully I can.

That’s it for me… Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s!

Hey ya’ll – I blogged yesterday at 3 pm over at the Samhain blog. Check it out by clicking HERE when you can! It’s my Goals for 2008 post.

The baby boy and I had a great day. We had lunch downtown with my honey at Pei Wei. That kid ate every bite. After that short-lived adventure, we headed home and he kicked my ass at bowling on the Wii. hehe

I took him to the movies this afternoon to see The Water Horse. It’s a surprisingly good movie. Very touching and sweet. I really liked it and so did the kiddo. I think my favorite part about the movies, though, are the previews. There are several movies coming out I’m really looking forward to next year. Specifically: Kung Fu Panda and Nim’s Island.

I was able to snag the code for the trailer of the latter (which stars that hunk Gerard Butler – Gaw he’s so hot). Let’s see if this works. (Click on it to make the trailer go)

I couldn’t stand it another second! I cleaned off my desk and other surfaces that were totally cluttered in my office. It’s a nice start for 2008. I organized. I trashed stuff I didn’t need anymore. Now all I have to do is some filing and TADA – organized office!

We’ve had a busy last few days. Christmas was good! And my Sweetie Boy got everything he wanted – and then some! I bought him a Batman bathrobe and he loves it. He wanted to sleep in it last night. hehe

And as for me – I got the biggest bottle of perfume known to mankind for Christmas from my honey. That along with a very nice gift set from Bath & Body Works (Sweet Pea – the best stuff on the planet!) so’s I can smell good for my man. Think he’s trying to tell me he wants me to smell delightful for him?

My mommy came to visit, too, for a couple of days over the holiday. We had a nice time and mostly stayed home. I took my niece shoe shopping and she LOVED it. She bought three pairs of shoes and a hat and spent all her money. She was so cute in the store (she’s 11) running from pair to pair with the Inward Sucky Noise. I think she got the Shoe Gene from me. hehe

We also played Sorry! and Clue and the Wii. And I set up the Battleground game for the baby boy, too, and he played and played with that for several hours. I like when he entertains himself like that. I can get lots done that I need to (i.e., clean the office!).

And let’s see…I think I’ll be taking down all the Christmas stuff this weekend because now that Christmas is over, I’m ready for my house to be back to normal again.

Hard to believe 2008 is just around the corner. My how time has flown!

Hope everyone has a joyful Christmas!

Check out this list me and my fellow Chicas compiled over at The Good, The Bad and The Unread. It’s 12 Hot Hunks we’d like under our tree

It’s the end of the week! Is it just me or has this been the longest week known to man? Sheesh.

Yesterday was an intersting day. We had a chili cook off/bake off at work. Now, I love to back. LURVE it. And I make killer cheesecakes. I also make killer brownies. I mean, they are to die for. So. I decided they would be a great contender in the bake off. I’ve burned up hand-mixers making these brownies – that’s how GOOD they are. Lots of sugar and butter and eggs. Yeah, um, like 1000 calories a bit. But wonderful.

Anyway. So I bring my goods for the bake off and folks eat and drink and they vote. And…I don’t win in ANY of the categories. And there were four: People’s Choice, Best Tasting, Best Presentation, and Most Sinful. Or something.

Instead, this nasty banana cake or some sort one. In three.

Now. I’m not a sore loser. Not by any stretch. Fair is fair. But when the person who counted the votes and the person who sponsored the event are the sole winners in the dessert category… yeah, it makes me raise a suspicious eyebrown. I’m sorry, but.. IT WAS RIGGED! It had to be.

So I very calmly picked up my left over tray and announced in my most jovial voice, “You guys suck. I’m taking my brownies and leaving.”

Now, mostly I was kidding. But I can’t tell you how WRONG that whole thing was. I had several people tell me their thoughts on the matter and they thought the same thing I did. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one. So I’ve decided – if they do that next year, I won’t be playing. When I bake, it’ll be for my favorite people in the office. And EFF the rest of ya.

How’s that for holiday spirit? HEHE

Aside from that, the rest of the day was nice. We had our own little Christmas with our department and exchanged gifts. I got lots of goodies to eat and LOTS of fun little gifts. Not to mention we had lots of laughs and just shared a good time.

Doesn’t help I have the best boss in the world EVER. Yeah, she totally rocks.

Anyway, left the office early and just as I got home, the ex called to discuss how we were going to do next week with the kiddo. He totally surprised me by saying he wanted to let me have the baby boy Christmas Eve afternoon, let him spend the night and have “Santa” with me and my mom, and then bring him to his house later that morning. I was very surprised, especially since it’s his year to have Christmas with the baby boy. I’m super happy about it.

So now my plans have changed slightly for the next week. On Monday, I’m driving to my mom’s (EARLY) and having Christmas with my brother and sister-in-law and their kids. And then Mom and I are packing up and heading back to my house in time for the ex to bring over the kiddo that afternoon. And THEN the three of us are going to the candlelight service at the church at 6 pm.

And THEN we come home, have a little snack for dinner and then go to bed to get up early (I’m sure) the next morning to have Christmas morning.

But wait – there’s more!

After I hung up with the ex, me other phone rang. And lo and behold it was my aunt. She was in the area with my cousin and so they stopped by for a few minutes for a very long overdue visit. As I’m visiting with them, the ex and the kiddo stop by to pick up his things from the past week. 

So after they left, I ended up talking with my mom on the phone for nearly an hour. And THEN I was starving and had dinner and wrapped the rest of my presents and hooked up the Wii and played it. And OH MY GOSH the Wii is so much fun!! I played the bowling game. It’s just like the real thing. LOL

Back to next week, though – it’s going to be BUSY and full of Christmas activities. My neice will be coming to stay with me the three days after Christmas and I’ve planned some outings to the movies and to the mall with the Neiman Marcus store because she’s a Mini-Me when it comes to shoes. So we’re going to pet Manolo Blahnik’s and Christian Louboutin’s together. Won’t that be a blast? I think so.

I’m just so thankful it’s Friday I could cry. It’s seemed like it’s taken FOR-EV-ER to get here and now that it is…I’m very much looking forward to my week off. Yes – I’m off ALL next week. WOOHOO!

I do plan to blog, thought, but for those of you who are traveling have a safe and very merry Christmas!

Hey I’m blogging over at Chicas today – so please stop by and read my Christmas “makes a great gift” post. LOL

The longest day known to Man! That was yesterday. Wasn’t it? The freaking LONGEST day of the year. Gosh, it seemed that way.

Work was just work. Nothing unusual to report at this time.

I came home to a very large box on my front porch. I had ordered a force action lightsaber on FRIDAY from Target.Com and – TADA – it arrived today. Man. That’s some super fast shipping! I couldn’t believe it already showed up. Especially since it wasn’t due to arrive until 12/24.

Thankfully, the Sweetie Boy wasn’t the least bit interested in the box. He was too busy making up goofy songs to notice.

He had me cracking up in the car on the way home. He made up this silly song about Batman in the hall and Robin in the kitchen, and all the bad guys in the bathroom. I was laughing at him. He got to giggling too and we were both cracking up by the time we hit the house.

My child has a sense of humor that astounds me sometimes. I had dragged him out to run some errands on Sunday. As we were leaving Office Depot, he was walking next to me holding my hand. Except he wasn’t really walking. More like hoping, skipping and jumping and just acting silly. I said, “Can you walk normal, please?” And so you know what he did? He walked sideways and looked up at me with the biggest grin ever. He knew he was being funny.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

On the writing front, I’ve been thinking about the MAGIC book a lot. I agree 100 percent, Devon. It’s an exploding market. It makes me scratch my head a little at the response. But tis okay. I have other plans for the book. I’m going to make some changes to it and then try again. I’m not giving up yet!

My goal for 2008 is to complete five – YES, you read that right FIVE – manuscripts. Now, let’s see if I can acomplish that.

Here’s the list:

• Coffee Tea or Me - comtemporary
• The Magic Within - fantasy
• Dragon Fyre – fantasy
• The Magic Untouched – fantasy (sequel to first MAGIC book)
• the as-yet unnamed Roman book

Whew. That’s a lot. I may not make the goal, but I’m sure as heck going to try. Some of the above named are already works in progress that need to be finished and submitted. The others are completely new material from scratch.

Over this last year, I’ve learned what really works for me and what doesn’t as far as writing goes. I am not a plotter. No matter how much I try, I’m just not. I can go by a very rough synopsis. But I just can’t do detailed plotting. And I certainly can’t write to a detailed plot, even if I make it up. I know I know. It’s supposed to help and make you write faster. But for me, it makes me feel boxed in and it’s like there’s no mystery and I can’t write the story that way. I need for the characters to reveal to me their story as I write it. Weird, I guess. But that’s definitely what works for me.

Another thing I want to do in 2008 is set those deadlines and stick to them. I really want to make myself finish these projects this next year. Working under deadline pressure works for me, too. I work better under stress. I know, another weird thing. But it works for me. It forces me to do what I have to do and I don’t think about it. I just do it. Kind of like Nike. Just do it!

So. For me the mantra of 2008 is that – Just Do It!

And it’s your job out there to kick my ass when I’m not doing it.

I haven’t blogged since Thursday? What’s wrong with me?

I’m a tired woman, that’s what.

This weekend FLEW by. Had lots of errands to run on Saturday with the kiddo. There were a few last minute things I needed to get for him for school. I’m officially out of money this week. Which sucks, since pay day until after Christmas. I suppose I’ll survive, though. The bills are paid and I have food in the fridge. And wine. And coffee. I couldn’t live without my coffee.

Church was good on Sunday. I plan to attend the candlelight service on Christmas Eve with my mom. Then she’s going to spend the night with me. And then my niece will be spending the three days after Christmas with my and the kiddo.

Speaking of the kiddo… he’s been counting down the days until Christmas. “Mom, only nine more days.”

He’s not excited or anything. I did break down and order him a force action lightsaber. Okay, so it was only $14 and I got it through Target.Com and they are delivering it right to my door. I hope it makes it here by Christmas… the expected delivery dayte is 12/24. I’m holding my breath.

I had somewhat of a cat litter debacle. I bought the wrong size liners – too small – which is a bad deal. I also bought the wrong kind of litter. The cat let me know about it too by pooping outside the box. Nice. So I had to rectify that Sunday.

By the way… NEVER EVER go to the “big” Wal-Mart (what my kid calls it) OR the pet store ten days before Christmas. What a nightmare!

Anyway, I bought the correct size liners (jumbo – another $10 sheesh) and got the cat all fixed up. He’s much happier with me. So happy in fact, he decided it was play time while I was on the phone with Mom. He kept jumping up and grabbing my arm. Goofy cat.

In other news… a rejection arrived in my inbox Saturday for the MAGIC book. I’m really not surprised and it wasn’t a bad rejection. The agent was gracious and told me placing the book would be difficult. I guess there’s just not a huge market for fantasy with romantic elements. I have another place I can sub it to, though. The only question is…continue with the rewrite? Or sub the previous final version? I haven’t decided yet.

It’s turned cold here. It was very windy on Saturday. After running around town, we came home and had hot chocolate, popcorn, a movie, and a fire in the fireplace. It was great. Plus I got some nice quality time with my kiddo.

And now it’s back to work. This is the last week of work for me before Christmas. I have the entire next week off. YAY! I’m totally looking forward to it.

Hey ya’ll – I’m giving away a $15 gift card to Starbucks over at the Chicas blog today. Check it out!

So. The other morning started out like usual. The alarm went off and I hit the snooze button. But them I went back to sleep. Hard enough to start dreaming in those short nine minutes between snoozes. The dream I had sparked something when the alarm went off again – a great idea for a new full-length novel!

I couldn’t stop thinking about it the entire time I was getting ready for work. In fact, as soon as I got to my desk, I wrote out a three-page synopsis. I sent it to my Best Good Friend. Her response was: “OMG THIS BOOK IS GOING TO MAKE YOU FAMOUS”.

I think I blushed when I read that email response.

When I talked to her later about it, she said she was immediately engrossed in the story and couldn’t wait for me to get it written. I told my new man about it, too. He thought it was a cool idea (he reads everything from Dan Brown to Tom Clancy to Raymond Khoury – he likes those kind of books). He told me the next day that I needed to “get on that”.

Just the positive response alone from the synopsis is making me all fired up about the book. Best Good Friend has a book about Roman armor (did I mention it’s set in the Roman Empire?) she’s going to loan me.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the story either. I had a particular scene in my head, too, so I wrote it out (5 pages worth). Oh, and the working title is Til Death Do Us Part. And yes, it’s a romance but there is lots of action, conspiracies, assassins… it’s great fun.

I’ve made a commitment to myself to finish Take Me I’m Yours this month. Pretty sure I can do it if I can just focus.

Anyway – I want 2008 to be a much better writing year than 2007. I sold NOTHING this year. Next year, I want to change that. I can do it. I will do it.

And on that note -Happy Thursday, ya’ll! I’m off to work.