The snow on Friday shut pretty much everything down, including my office. So the kid and I hung out and played in the snow some more. It was fun. We had another snowball fight. It was generally lazy day. The kiddo played on his Wii, Man worked, and I watched three episodes of Grey’s Anatomy trying to catch up. I’m still not caught up but I’m getting closer to not being so far behind. We finally got out of the house late that afternoon for a trip to the book store (which produced nothing) and a trip to Starbucks (which produced a latte and an Americano). Back at the house, we watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

I love the Olympics and Winter is my favorite. I love all the skiing, the ice skating, the speed skating. It’s awesome and those athletes are amazing. So we stayed up pretty late waiting for them to light the torch – which had a problem but they did get it lit.

Had to get up early on Saturday for my chapter meeting. Man and I were making coffee when there was a knock on the front door and lo and behold, a guy was standing on the other side with a dozen roses! I was surprised. And the first delivery of 2000 for the day (according to the driver). So I got flowers! And they’re beautiful and smell really good. Man told me he ordered them before January was even over. I was very impressed.

So off to the chapter meeting I went and it was great. Had an awesome speaker who talked about how to put emotion into love scenes. Then went to lunch with the girls, which I couldn’t stay long because I had a hair appointment. Got my hair cut and my roots done and my brows waxed and I felt so much better after that!

Back at home, Man and I went to Valentine’s dinner – we decided to celebrate early since we knew every place in the area would be jam-packed on Sunday. We had dinner at Outback – my favorite place – and I stuffed myself with prime rib and had the house Merlot. It was all delish. We stopped for coffee (of course) afterward and went home to watch more Olympics. He surprised me with a gift from Helzberg – a brand new watch! I love it. It’s gorgeous. All silver with a black face and small diamonds for 3, 6, 9 and 12. And all I got him was a giant Hershey’s chocolate kiss (but he managed to put a healthy dent into it before the evening was out).

Sunday we got up and had a leisurely morning before grocery shopping and then running some afternoon errands. The kiddo came by with a box of Dove chocolates – yum. Went to Barnes & Noble, Best Buy (got a move and a CD), Bed Bath & Beyond and Petco (for cat grass because Sampson decided the greenery in my flowers looked tasty and belonged to him!). My cat is spoiled rotten by the way. He followed me around a good portion of the day yesterday wanting either to be petted or to be fed. I’ve been buying the premium food for him lately. When he saw it come out of the grocery sack, he was all over me.

And just like that, the weekend was over. Which is a bummer because it was an awesome weekend and they never last very long anyway.

I did get my tax refund already and bought myself a new Coach bag with some of the money. The rest went into savings for my trip to Nationals this July and maybe another trip this year if I can figure out when to go.

This week starts another whirlwind of activity. Soccer starts up in full swing this week and we’ll be running between that and basketball, which doesn’t have too much longer to go thank goodness. But we’ll be busy which is good because it keeps the kiddo busy and off the computer games, which can be excessive at times.

Okay – that’s it for me. Time to get busy!

Happy Monday, y’all!

I think that’s how I truly feel about the Lost premiere. I was underwhelmed. Oh, sure, it had its good points. And it raised more questions – of course. But overall, Meh.

Things are a little hectic. Man took his truck into the shop so I’m the taxi for him and the kiddo. Which is really fine. We’re lucky in that we only work about 5 mins from each other and his work is on the way to/from my work. And the dealership is just up the street from the house.

I’m nearly done with my taxes. I have a few tweaks to make on it before I decide to submit it. Then I’m hitting efile and calling it done. With my tax refund this year, I’m going to try to get my sorry bathrooms fixed. They’re really in sad shape and if I ever want to sell the house, I think they need some attention. New shower/tub installations, a coat of paint, new sinks new light fixtures, new mirror, some storage. Yes, I hear the dollar signs ringing. But I will do what I can with what I have.

Got about 800 words written on the story. The evenings go SO fast and the kiddo had a ton of homework last night because he was out Tuesday for the doctor. It was painful. Math, science, spelling. We didn’t finish. Luckily he only has to turn it all in by Friday so we’ll be finishing it up tonight.

And that’s about all I have to report. I’m relieved it’s nearly Friday.

I got called back to jury duty for this morning. I’m not picked on a jury … yet. But it’s damned annoying that I have to go back today. Don’t they realize I have lots of work to do back at the office? ;)

I did go in Friday afternoon for half a day. I was so wiped out by the time I got home, though. All that running to/from the courthouse and then I had lots to do when I got to the office. Lots of running there, too. Even now as I sit here and think about Friday night, it’s kind of a blur. I don’t remember much from that evening. Sad. I must be getting old.

I was supposed to bake a cheesecake for Saturday night but I just didn’t have the energy. Instead, I made chili and got way too much cayenne pepper in it. Wow. It was too hot for me to eat.

Instead, I got up early Saturday morning and started laundry and made coffee and baked. The whole house smelled like lemon cheesecake and coffee. By 11 am, I had two loads of laundry done, the cheescake done, ant the floors vacuumed. I decided I was going to get everything done I could since I had a Christmas party that night.

Man went out in search of the perfect house lights and the kiddo and I went to Macy’s to mail his Santa letter. While we were there, I finished up my Christmas shopping. Yes, I’m done! Except for a few minor things that I can pick up at the grocery store and of course the stuff for Christmas dinner. And I’m really pleased with myself this year. Not one present bought on a credit card. That feels really good.

Anyway, so the kiddo picked out presents for his grandparents and his dad and I was very excited to see them all on sale. We did manage to get all our decorations up this weekend, too. The house looks great! Even the cat thought it was great to get everything up. He’s especially fond of the tree. He likes sitting under it and he thinks the tree skirt belongs to him. And all the shiny-pretty ornaments on the bottom.

Last year, he broke several of my gold Christmas balls, so this year I got smart and bought a bunch of plastic ones that go on the bottom of the tree. That way, when he decides he wants to play with them, he won’t hurt himself and I won’t have to clean up broken shards of glass. It’s win-win for all of us. Here he is enjoying a spot of sunshine under the tree.

So Saturday night was the chapter Christmas party. I came home with two slices of cheesake, some ham and these delicious cake balls. Talk about a sugar rush! The cake balls were divine. I think I could gorge myself on them. I also came home with a $15 iTunes gift card – wahoo! I’m trying to decide how I’ll spend it.

Sunday morning I had to perform surgery on the coffee pot. I have one of those Cuisinart with the grinder on top. Apparently, it was clogged with grounds because all I was getting was hot water. So I used a straightened paperclip, a spoon and paper towels to clean it out. It felt so MacGyver. We finally got the grinder to work again, though, so HOORAY! I’d hate to have a $200 coffee pot go to waste because it was gummed up with gross grounds.

Kiddo and I went to church Sunday morning for the annual Christmas Cantata and it was wonderful as usual. There’s something about a full choir and orchestra playing/singing Christmas hymns that will give you goosebumps and make you tear up just a bit. Plus the children’s choir was just precious.

Got my Christmas cards done – or most of them. They’ll be in the mail today. Got most of the gifts together and ready to be wrapped. Went grocery shopping. Forgot seveal things so I have to go back (and it was a total zoo at the store, too; all sorts of brainless people wandering through the aisles and blocking them like they were the only ones alive).

Lots of things to get done Sunday and – POOF – the day is over. The weekends go too fast. And we’re inching closer to Christmas and New Year’s. I’m not ready for it to be 2010! Okay, maybe I am just a teensy bit.

Happy Monday, ya’ll.

Note 1: Boat shoes and plaid shorts DO NOT look good together. I don’t care how preppy you are.

Note 2: NEVER go to Fry’s and try to browse. You WILL be harrased mercilessly by salesmen who have English as a second language.

Note 3: When going to your son’s soccer game, wear a hat to keep the sun from beating into your skull. And chapstick! Save your lips!

Note 4: Going to the movies with your man is fun. People watching is even more fun.

Note 5: One bowl of chili is really enough. Really.

Note 6: You know you’re getting old when you crash out in front of the UT game at 9:30 pm on a Saturday. Sad.

Note 7: Boys find bathroom humor hilarious whether they’re 8 or 46.

Note 8: October is really too early to have Christmas stuff out in the stores.

Note 9: There are only 60 days until Christmas!

Note 10: The weekend went by WAY too fast.

Happy Monday.

This weekend was awesome. And jam-packed with fun and frivolity. Okay maybe not the latter, but fun nonetheless. (I really just wanted to say frivolity.)

Saturday was about errands and visiting Mom. So we got up Saturday morning, I made my list, and then we headed to what the kiddo refers to as “the big Walmart”. And the absolute second we stepped a toe into the store, he started in with the fact that he didn’t get a Transformers toy for his birthday and he really wanted one and could he please get one? To which I answered a big fat NO.

Hey, I’m not that mean, usually. But, you see, his birthday party was the next day. No way was I going to buy him more toys when he was going to get more for his birthday. Yes, I know his party was a week late. But I couldn’t see sending birthday invitations to school the first week. And so, alas, I delayed things. So I had a pouty kid for about 10 seconds into the trip when I told him very firmly if he didn’t knock it off, he could forget about having a birthday party. Period.

Okay, so I was in no mood to drag a sour-faced kid around the store for the next two hours.

Yes, you read that right. It took me two, long, life-sucking hours to grocery shop. By the time I got home, I was ready to slash my wrists.

And, by the way, the temps were in the mid-90s all weekend. I’m sick of sweating my ass off everywhere I go! Come on, Cool Front!

Anyway. Got home, unloaded the groceries, fed the kid lunch and then decided to hell with getting party favors. I’ll get them at the place the next day. So we packed up and headed to Mom’s for the rest of the day. We stuffed ourselves silly with brisket (yum) and beans and lots of other yummy food. I was completely full and miserable the rest of the night. And the kiddo got more birthday presents from his aunt and uncle and his Grammy. He was happy. I was happy. Good times.

Sunday started with chores. Then we went to the game place for the birthday party where 12 boys showed up. And can I just say boys are completely rowdy? Yes, it was chaos. My objective was to feed them, open presents, and eat cup cakes as quickly as possible so I could release them into the wild. And release then I did, armed with $5 game cards and one free attraction. They scattered. I ran out to the car with all the gifts (oh, yeah, he made out like a bandit too) and then I was stuck in the game place for the next… two hours. My life seems to be revolving around the two hour time slot. Oh and I spaced and FORGOT the durn goodie bags. Ah well.

I came home exhausted and the kid came home happy. He tore into all his presents. He made a giant mess. There were cardboard boxes and directions and itty bitty guns everywhere. Enough to drive a sane Mom to the brink. So while I was trying to cook dinner (because I refused to eat that cardboard pizza), I think I heard “Mom” about a thousand times. So much so I think I’m ready to NOT be called Mom again. I think I heard “MOM” more in the last three days than in the last eight years of his life. Man said the cat was going to start calling me Mom.

Yes, that’s how much he said it. Mom, this and Mom, that. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love being Mom. But Mom was tired and Mom wanted some dinner and a martini. And Mom crashed early, too.

Monday. Cook-out day. Man forbid me to do anything regarding dinner. I wasn’t even allowed to step foot into the kitchen. The Earth moved. The Angels wept. Somewhere in the distance, I heard the Hallelujah chorus. Talk about a woman’s dream come true! Sure. I’ll let you cook. You go right ahead. He even did the dishes. Gotta love a man who cooks and cleans. And yes, I’m keeping him.

Anyway, did some plotting on the new book that morning with CP. I finally have a direction and I completely forgot about using the 20 Master Plots book I have. Duh. Jotted down lots of notes and I’m going to start working on the GMC now. I have an idea and I have a big picture idea – but I needed something for this book. I’m thinking trilogy at least.

While Man prepped in the kitchen, I tackled the kid’s room. I figured I needed a task to keep me busy or I’d be in his way and he’d get mad. And BOY was the kid’s room a disaster area. I made the kiddo help, too. We made piles of things in the hallway: Keep, Trash, Donate. He was pretty good about getting rid of his ”younger” toys but I suspect he had a hard time parting with some of them. But I told him – everyone needs to purge every now and then. I just got rid of clothes I hadn’t worn in 15 years. And that felt great. And now it was time to clean up and organize.

I even moved his furniture around to change it up. I’ve discovered the bunk beds HAVE to go. And the sooner the better. They’re blocking the AC vent and the ceiling fan and the kid sweats at night. TIME TO GO. BUH-BYE. The only catch is I have to get some other things paid off before I can spend more money. Where is that money tree when I need it? I’m hoping we can hold out until January for a new bed.

I managed to get all his toy tubs in the closet (a big one for big toys, one for Legos only, one for action figures, etc.). And gave him a little more floor space to play in. Plus I finally found a new home for the chest so it’s not in the way of the closet doors. His room is small – only 10 x 10 – so it’s a challenge with furniture placement. And I don’t want his bed by the window AT ALL.

Dinner. It was fantastic. Burgers were awesome; hot dogs rocked. And yes, I stuffed myself silly. Again. But I wasn’t miserable like I could have been. I forced myself to stop. Even though I really wanted another chili dog.

Afterward we watched The Mummy because I hadn’t seen it before and Man picked it up for $7.50. Fun flick! And even the kiddo enjoyed it. And by the time that was over, the evening/weekend was done. Another one for the record books. Another Labor Day over with.

And today – it’s back to work and back to school. Another busy week ahead. I swear I think this was a marathon post like the weekend.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and a smashing holiday!

I forgot what it was like living with a man. They like their toys. Electronic gadgets, to be exact. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I love surround sound as much as the next person. But sometimes, electronic gadgets are a royal pain in the arse.

Example: Man says, “Hey, it’s time to upgrade to the HD-DVR.” Which of course tickles me because I do love me some Discovery HD. So I call DirecTV. Now, aside from their awful voice-activated system (I’m sorry, but Valerie is annoying as HELL), they’re customer service was great. However, I must complain that it took me two calls and several punchings of the number ZERO before I got past Valerie. Especially because she didn’t understand that I wanted to upgrade. She kept wanting to give me new channels. At one point I shouted into the phone, “GIVE ME A REAL PERSON!!” I’ve deleted the expletive for the faint of heart but rest assured, I DID use one.

Anyway, got the thing ordered and they’ll be here tomorrow morning to install the new dish and the new box and give us the new HD channels. WOO!

However, last night when I got home, I turned the TV on as per the norm. I checked email, got the mail, changed clothes. As per the norm. But the old box decided to do an upgrade. And then it got stuck in this perpetual loop that it wouldn’t come out of, even after pressing the reset button. So I call technical support. Turns out the box thought it was the NEW box and it kept trying to download upgrades and then of course it would get stuck and no do anything. The guy ont he phone had no clue.

Man says to unplug the thing. I should have let Mr. IT do it in the first place.

I unplug it, let it reset and moments later, we’re back to watching TV. Except now, every 30 minutes I have to tell it to NOT install the updates. Whatever! Thank goodness they’re coming tomorrow to fix it. Otherwise, that would drive me batty.

The downfall of the new DVR? I’m losing everything I’d saved on the old DVR. And the kid will be unhappy he’s losing his Ben 10 show. Oh well. Life goes on.

So after I get the HD-DVR ordered, Man sits back and thinks about it all. He decides we need a new HD TV now. And a Blu-Ray. Of course. It never ends. Not that I care. I’m happy for him to buy whatever it is he wishes to buy. But I told he was in charge of All Things Electronic and All Things Outside. And I was in charge of Furniture. That seemed to suit him just fine.

Anyway, slow progress on the book. However, I’ve busted the 7K mark and I’m still writing. Just finished chapter two and started the third. I need to finish reading my CPs ms. in the next week or two, though, so I may be taking a short hiatus from it while I work on plot details. Always important to have a plot, right?

Happy Wednesday!

So! This weekend went by SUPER fast. Friday night I had a board meeting for one chapter. Saturday morning was my local chapter meeting. We did the “first kiss” contest and I think it went very well. The “assignment” was to write a first kiss scene between two characters and then we all voted on our three favorite. We didn’t do it by heat level, just by which ones we liked the most. Gave out the prizes. What I love about that is it got them writing. Several people said they stepped out of their comfort zone and wrote things they normally would not have. I think that’s fabulous! And all the writing is great. Lots of talent in that bunch and I now know they can do it! So n more excuses, ladies.

After the meeting, I had to swing by the mall to exchange a belt and lo and behold Man was there. We ran into each other and he shopped with me. The mall was exceptionally busy being Valentine’s Day and all. Then I went back home while he did some shopping for a “few little things” before coming to the house.

When he got there, we exchanged gifts. I gave him two giant special dark chocolate bars, a card, and a photo card I made. He gave me chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva Chocolatier, a super-duper mushy card that I love, and some unmentionables. Oh, and he also got me some clothes earlier in the week from Eddie Bauer. Gotta love that. Anyhoo, we headed to dinner at 4:30 (Red Lobster) but there was already a wait – 45 minutes. We waited. In the very crowded front of the restaurant. We tried to wait outside but it was just too cold.

Finally got a table and by the time we were seated, the wait was an hour and ten minutes. Oof. Despite the crowd, we had an excellent waiter (Charles was his name and he was awesome). I had the wood-fired shrimp and lobster with red wine (yes, I know, a culinary faux pas but it was delish). Man had the Hawaiian salmon and coconut shrimp (and chardonnay). We had a really nice time. Afterward, we headed downtown for another round of drinks at Fox & Hound. Great place but it was dead. I guess the entire universe goes out to restaurants and not bars on Valentine’s Day.

We came home, watched French Kiss, and then I promptly passed out. It was all that wine.

Sunday, he went to hang out with his daughter and I cleaned my disgusting house. Vacuum, dust, cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen. It’s nice and shiny now. I also did laundry.

Man had left a basketful of shirts at my house. He said he’d do them later. But I was doing all my laundry so I figured what was one more load, right? Well, one his red shirts was in the load, along with his white ones. Now, I washed them in cold water but that damn red shirt still bled all over the place. sigh

I was frantic. Man is very particular about his laundry. So I knew these pinkish shirts would send him over the edge and I would never be allowed to touch his laundry again. Ever. Even if I had the best intentions. I felt horrible. One of the shirts was from Eddie Bauer and one was one I’d given him for his birthday last year. I email my mother and my friend and ask for laundry advice. I tried their suggestions – bleach and hot water. The shirts were still pink!

So I did a Google search on what to do for that. I found a comment thread on some forum about the same problem. Several people recommended Rit Color Remover. I found it online for $2.50 but it would be 10-12 days for shipping (URGH!). Amazon.Com has it online, too, but still I’d have to wait for it to get here. So I grab my shoes, bag, keys and jacket and hit the door for Walmart. I need a newspaper anyway, so I may as well see if I can find the stuff.

Well, I found it! It’s in a little box for $1.62 at Walmart. I got that color remover and the laundry whitener. I figured if one doesn’t work, the other one will. I followed the directions on the box to the letter. The whitener didn’t do a dark thing, so I tried the color remover. And, thankfully, it WORKED! Whew. I dodged a bullet on that one. His shirts are sparkling clean and very white. And I will never tell him I turned his white shirts pink. LOL

In other news… got a couple of crits back on Rome. Lots of good suggestions for tightening the writing. And I got my edits done for TAKE ME I’M YOURS and sent them back to the editor. Better to be early I think. I had two really bad annoying habits in that book – too many “beautiful”s and too may “grinned broadly” phrases. It was annoying ME. LOL  So the edits are done and now I’m going to edit Rome and start working on Delilah’s story again. I am determined to get it finished and to the editor. I could use a couple of releases this year.

Can’t believe it’s Monday already. And back to the old grind!

Why does it seem Monday comes so fast? This weekend flew by.

Last night I did some intense updates to the chapter website. Our member page needed to be updated in the worst way and by the time I got it all done and uploaded…the side navigation quite working. ARGH. So I did it over, adding them one.at.a.time. only to learn that the SideNav file didn’t like an apostrophe in someone’s name. Go figure! It worked when I took that out.

I’ve decided to start up online workshops for the chapter and put out a call for presenters. I got a lot of responses and now I have to get organized and get them all scheduled. What the hell was I thinking? Don’t I have enough to do? Of course, as I’m compiling all the information, I realize I need a place on the webite where people can, you know, register and pay. And, of course, it dawns on me I don’t have the vaguest idea on how to make a form. So I’m recruiting Man to help me. I mean, what else are boyfriends who work in IT for? RIGHT?

Anyway… went to dinner with Man and his daughter last night at Texas Roadhouse. It was delish. Stopped for London Fog Tea on the way home. And then I spent the rest of the evening in front of the computer. I have so much to keep up with it’s insane.

My brother and sister-in-law were supposed to come get my old bed (it’s in my living room right now) and it wouldn’t fit in the truck they had borrowed… SO… Man and I are going to drive it out to their house tonight. I’m so ready to be rid of this thing. But I’m glad it found a happy home.

Anyhoo… not much else to report other than that. It’s off to work now. Wish I could stay home and sit in front of my computer instead of go to work and sit in front of my computer.

This morning, I tried to vacuum. I have a Dirt Devil vacuum with the pet hair attachment. Half the time it doesn’t work. The other half the time the stupid vacuum cleaner overheats and craps out on me. I can’t even get the whole house done. So that’s what happened today. I was so fed up with it, I put it on the curb with a “FREE to good home” sign taped to it. Then I marched down to Target and got the Bissell Turbo Charged Pet Hair Remover Awesomey Awesome Vacuum.

I got a $20 gift card from Target for buying it there, too. LOL

I put it together and it’s great. And that pet hair attachment really DOES pick up like a magnet! It’s cool.

As I was cleaning, I happened to glance in the mirror. My hair is awfully scraggly and just ugly. So once I got that done, I called a nearby salon and made an appointment for 1 pm.

Now, for me, finding a stylist that can cut my hair the way I want is like finding a good doctor. They’re hard to come by. So imagine my elation when I got in the chair and starting talking to Debra and discovered that shes fabulous! She cut my hair exactly like I told her and styled it. AND she didn’t try to curl my very-natrually-straight hair (plus, it’s baby fine, so you know…double whammy). I scheduled an appointment with her in eight weeks. I am so totally going back. It was worth every cent. I guess I’m going to have to suck it up and realize that paying $8.00 for a hair cut isn’t going to cut it (no pun intended).

Got back the house and cleaned the cat box. Also, the kiddo had pulled the hand towel rack out of the wall, so I repaired that. Then I finished up the laundry and now I’m just waiting on Man and his daughter to come pick me up for dinner. I’m ready… cuz I’m starved.

I discovered recently that my brakes need to be fixed because they’re squealing quite loudly. I noticed it about a week ago and since I didn’t want to wait until it got really bad, I decided to take it in.

I figured I could just go down to the local brake shop and have it repaired. Since I only have about 41,000 miles on the car, I figured it shouldn’t need anything but brake pads. Right?

Uh huh. So I took it in. Man followed me in his truck and we dropped it off. About an hour later, I get a call from the shop telling me my front brakes are fine, but my back brakes are trashed. And, oh yeah, I need to have the calipers rebuilt because the ones on there are “prematurely” worn-out. It would cost $325 all total. I sighed heavily. And he says, all jovial, “I hear your sigh of relief!” More like a sigh of frustration. I told him I’d call him back.

I went to Man and told him what the guy said. He called him and talked to him and, apparently, the guy at the shop didn’t like that I had my “husband” call (snicker). Man told the guy to stop talking to him in that condescending tone and that he understand what he was saying to him. He told the guy he’d let me know what “his wife” decided. So Man hung up and told me to go call the dealership.

So I did. And guess what? The dealer can replace the entire brake system for… $180. He said, of course, they’d have to look at it and there was NO WAY the calipers needed to be rebuilt at 41,000 miles. He said that’s how those brake shops make their money and it’s all a big rip off. He also said if it did indeed turn into being the calipers, it was still covered under the warranty. AHA!

Man and I went and picked up my car promptly before the brake shop did any more damage. He’s following me to the dealership this morning so I can drop it off and hopefully get it back tonight before they close. Not a great day to schedule repairs but it IS the brakes and all. Hopefully this experience will be painless.

I admit, I’m not very car savvy. I don’t want to be. That’s Man’s Work, if you ask me. Anything dealing with the car and outside is (oh, and killing spiders). Man told me I should have just called the dealership first and he was right. Next time, I’ll listen to him. It was nice to have the back-up, though, should I have needed an intervention with the brake shop. Luckily, they didn’t try to charge me for bringing it in and tearing it apart.

Tonight, once the car stuff is finished, we’re going to hang out and drink some champagne and watch the ball drop. I’m really looking forward to having a nice quiet evening at home. And that’s it for me for 2008, folks.

Hope everyone has a fantastic and safe New Years!

My friend turned me on to this new theme for the blog and well… it fits me! So I’m going to try this one out for a while. Then when I get bored, I can switch back to the coffee thing.

Dark Knight was excellent. I’m not a Christian Bale fan, though, so that almost ruined it for me. And the changing of his voice when he was Batman just didn’t work for me. Heath Ledger was scary as hell as Joker. He deserves the Oscar for sure. And I was shocked to learn Gary Oldman was Commissioner Gordan. That man is an amazing actor.

Man and I overloaded on popcorn. The gal put way too much butter on it so we had a nice sheen on the popcorn when we got it.

It was frigging HOT this weekend. I hate July and August. It totally sucks. I stayed inside a lot but I did mow the front yard Sunday morning after grocery shopping. Then I cleaned house. After all that, I headed to the mall for some school clothes shopping. Penney’s was having a sale. They also had their housewares stuff on sale and I got a $200 knife set for half price. I couldn’t pass them up. They totally ROCK too. It’s so nice to have a decent cutlery set finally!

By the end of the day, I was ready to collapse, plus I had a massive headahe.

I have a doctor’s appointment this morning for a check up. And otnight I’ve promised the kiddo I’d take him to buy school shoes…however, I think I might wait on that since he’s got brand new sneakers.

That’s it for me… Happy Monday!

I finished updating the sidebar on the blog! Yay!

Instead of having the books listed in the sidebar, they are now located on their own page. Isn’t that cool? The link is also at the top of the page of this blog. Also, I added an About section. I thought, you know, I should just in case someone from the outside world managed to hit my blog before hitting my website.

So what do you think of the new design? I have to say I really like it. It looks clean and tidy and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the coffee cups at each entry. It is SO CUTE!

This week was a monster. Monday and Tuesday were spent learning Flash in training – which was really great, actually. I thoroughly enjoyed the class. It was nice to get back to the office on Wednesday but I literally hit the ground running. I had to help get a proposal out the door and ended up working until 6. Raced home, cooked dinner on the grill, and then hung out with the kiddo the rest of the time. Thursday it was off to the dentist and then to work after. I got stuck in a meeting until nearly 7 so I didn’t get home until nearly 8! Man came over and we hung out until we both crashed. Well, I crashed, he managed to somehow stay up a while. Of course, he is a night owl.

Today…well, it was long. Had an excellent meeting today but didn’t get back to my desk until nearly 2. Then had lots of things to catch up on. After work, I got my hair cut. YAY! It feels – and looks – so much better.

This evening was quiet. I chatted on the phone for nearly an hour with Man (amazing, we see each all day yet we STILL manage to talk to each other for an hour on the phone!), and then chatted with a girlfriend for nearly an hour on the phone. I guess I was chatty tonight. Email chatted another friend for about an hour or so. And I still need to call my mother and chat with her.

Tomorrow morning is my monthly RWA meeting. And then sometime tomorrow I have to grocery shop (yuck) and THEN… I don’t know. The day is mine. I may do something wild like…go to the book store and get my free coffee. Yeah, I walk on the wildside all right.

Okay it’s off to bed now. Happy weekend!

Well I ended up going to the BBQ AND hanging out with Man on Friday. It was a nice day.

Man came over at about 10:30 that morning. We went to lunch at On The Border and then did a little light shopping. We didn’t buy anything. It was just one of ther excursions where you’re killing time and looking at stuff. We went to Rooms To Go and checked out furniture. Plus it gave me a chance to look at kid’s furniture. I found a really cool bed for my kiddo there. Of course, they’re kind of expensive, but it’s something he can use until he’s old.

We split up about 5 so he could go to work and I could go to the BBQ. I made my 4th of July dessert – it’s a trifle with red and blue jell-o, cool whip, poundcake and strawberries. Very yummy. I stuffed myself again with hamburgers and yummy potato salad.

Met back up with Man at 8 pm and went to watch fireworks. He gave me this mocha energy drink which of course made me wide awake until 1 am. hehe We got up Saturday morning and did yard work. It was so domestic.

We went our separate ways that afternoon. My kiddo came home and we hung out all afternoon watching movies. I was exhausted and ended up napping on the couch while he watched Night at the Museum. After a while, we headed to Lowe’s and I did some pricing on materials for my bathrooms.

Sunday was church day and then I headed to my mom’s for dinner. We got home about 8:30, once again stuffed to the gills. There’s nothing like having dinner at Mom’s.

I have training class all day today and tomorrow. I’m learning Flash, so it should be good.

No writing this weekend. I was a bad girl. But I plan to get back to it tonight!