First: Happy Birthday to Man!! Hope you have a fabulous day, sweetie. I love you!

Second: I’m blogging at Pop Culture Divas today about Star Trek. Come on by and say hi!

I have two words:

HOLY SHIT

That is all.

A friend of mine sent me this really cool sign that says chase your dreams. I think it’s very appropriate for my office! I took a picture of it after hanging it and now that I look at the stuff over my desk, it seems like a really motivational and inspirational place.

Chase your dreams goes really well with my other signs: create, imagine, dream. Plus I have framed pictures of Ireland, Celtic harmony candles, a Celtic cross, my Lord of the Rings collectibles. A knight in shining armor. A pewter dragon with red eyes. Another really cool jeweled cross. There’s another sign near the desk (not shown) that says, “All things are possible if you believe.”

This is what I see when I sit at my desk and write, sometimes edit. You’d think I would be really inspired sitting at this desk with all these wonderful really signs. And most of the time I am. Sometimes, I can’t write at this desk and need another location. I think that’s the case for mose writers.

Anyway – the weekend was good. Saturday was soccer game (we won!) and grocery shopping. I stayed up way too late with the springing forward catching up on the DVR and then suffered all day Sunday. I made myself get up early (and the kiddo) and we headed off to church.

The kiddo went with his dad and grandparents to dinner last night so I ran some errands. I had a $10 reward certificate from Best Buy burning a hole in my wallet, so I bought two movies: The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Ben Hur with Charlton Heston. Two of my favorite classic movies. My next old movie purchases will be El Cid and The Sound of Music and I’d really like to get my hands on a copy of Captian Blood. Then I headed to Walgreen’s for some allergy medicine for the kiddo. Poor thing was sneezing his head off all day. Picked up some dinner at Boston Market. After I got home and ate, I laid on the couch like a slug and watched most of The Quiet Man.

Finished the laundry. Cleaned the litter box. Cleaned the fireplace since it was 80 degrees outside. Despite the nice weekend, we’re getting a cold front with some rain this week. It won’t get out of the 50s. I guess I won’t be putting away those warm clothes or electric blankets yet.

On the writing front… well, aboslutely NOTHING. I took the weekend off. But I’m back to edits this week on Phoenix. I’m sticking with that story because it’s begging me to get polished and submitted. I did a little bit of research on the layout of Ancient Rome, but not enough to get the map of my city made up yet.

The superhero story is in my head. I have a tentative setting for the beginning but I need to do some locale research. I’m actually considering setting the beginning in the early 1940s. I have this vision of one of those elegant night clubs with ladies in fine dresses and men in tuxedos, a big band playing on the bandstand, and patrons sipping champagne and dancing cheek to cheek. It’s an image I can’t get out of my head. I don’t plan to have the entire story set in that time period, just the beginning.

Anyhoo…that’s about it for me. Stick around this week – I have another guest blogger on Wednesday. And tonight is open house at the kiddo’s school. That’s always a fun time.

NANO STATUS: 35,306

Okay. So. I wrote my ASS off tonight and got about 5,000 words in. WOOHOO! Go me! Tomorrow, I want to write at least another 5,000 words and be at 40K by the end of Sunday. A tall order, but I’m sure going to try to get it done.

We didn’t do much today. We just mostly hung around the house. We stayed in our jammies until nearly noon. We were lazy bums. LOL I did a lot of work on the computer to get caught up on stuff that was Non-NaNo related. Then we finally got dressed, had lunch and headed to the book store. I got four more Christmas presents. I’ve decided it’s a Book Christmas this year. I want to not only support writers but book stores and publishing in general. I’m doing my part to fuel the economy, believe me! LOL I did get two gift cards because I couldn’t find something I wanted for two of my friends.

When I got home, I assembled some of the gifts I had to see what exactly I DID have. I have all my friend’s accounted for except for one and I need to figure out something to get her. Plus I have $200 left in my Christmas budget. WOOHOO! I’m going to get the kiddo a few more little things and then I am officially DONE. I should be all done by Thanksgiving or shortly thereafter.

Yes, I am an over-achiever.

The kiddo and I made a gingerbread house, then he played Wii and I wrote. Then he watched Star Wars Episode III and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

And now it’s bedtime! Yay! Actually, he’s been a super great kid… well, most of the day. LOL

On Friday, I stopped by the liquor store to pick up a few things for two gift baskets we’re giving away at my company’s awards banquet. I bought two kinds of tequila and four bottles of wine. The lady at the counter actually carded me. I was so happy about that! She said she’d figured me for at least 10 years younger than I am. I told her I loved her. LOL I was kind of nice to get that compliment, though, especially since 40 is not that far off for me (EW. It sucks to get old… ).

Anyhow… gotta get the kiddo ready for bed and then I’m going to wrap up this chapter I’m working on, so hopefully that word meter will move just a bit more before I shut down for the night.

Happy weekend.

We finally got some much needed rain yesterday – in the morning and evening hours. It was nice! Of course, then it was steamy outside. Which wasn’t nice. BUT! We got rain!

Yesterday was a super busy day. I went to an internet marketing workshop with the boss which was really informative. I’m glad she went because it was a lot of absorb and I’m not sure I could have remembered everything to tell her. It last most of the afternoon.

Got back to the office and stayed long enough to pack up and shut down and then went to get the kiddo. I had a splitting headache by the time I got home. I cooked a quick meal – dirty rice – and then we watched Star Trek IV. About half-way through, the kiddo started to whine that he wanted to watch something else but I wouldn’t cave. Besides, it’s my TV, too.

I’ve been exceptionally lazy when I get home in the evenings. I’m so tired, I just want to sit and not do anything productive. It took all my strength to clean up the kitchen tonight. I even let the kiddo stay up past 9 pm which I usually don’t do. The 9 pm bedtime is non-negotiable and I’m read for some personal time. Anyway, I haven’t been able to stay up past 10 lately which is just…lame. I need to seriously get the mojo back and flowing. Right now it’s nonexistent.

Kiddo has a dental appointment this morning. Hopefully this is the last one for a while. He gets the last of his fillings.

My life is completely uninteresting right now so I guess that’s it for me today… We’re one more day closer to Friday. WOOHOO!

It’s supposed to be 103 today with a heat index of 105. KILL.ME.

Yesterday, it was 105 by 3 pm. UGH. We are DYING down here. And there’s no end (or rain) in sight. It’s supposed to be 101-103 all week long too. You feel like you’re going to burst into flame just walking to and from the car. It seriously makes me want to hibernate. And it zaps all energy. My AC runs from the time I walk in the door at home until about 9 pm. Sad. I hope my average billing doesn’t go up, although I shouldn’t be surprised since EVERYTHING is going up. BUT – gas is down to 3.75 a gallon. WOO!

I guess I should water my lawn – or at least the foundation of the house.

Now on to the title of the blog…

SO. Last week, Columbia House (of which I’m a member) had their box sets on sale for 50% off. So I perused them… and found the entire original cast Star Trek box set on sale for $40! How could I resist that? I gleefully clicked BUY NOW and they were finally on their way Friday. They arrived on my doorstep yesterday. WOOHOO!

I’m so totally excited about the movies! I couldn’t wait to sit down and watch STII: The Wrath of Kahn (my personal favorite) and STIV: Voyage Home (my second favorite). Yes, I am a total nerd. Next on my hit list is the entire box set of the original series (all three seasons of it). I remember the days when I went to all the conventions and collected autographs from the original crew and the Next Generation. See? I told you I was a nerd. No, I never dressed up. I never took it quite that far. And the proper word is TREKKIE not TREKKER.

My friends and I use to play Star Trek role-playing games. This was sort of the same as D&D except the ST version. Nerds. Then we’d hit the conventions. I actually found my orignal cast Star Trek Compendium and Mr. Spock’s Guide to the Enterprise. Autographed by most of the original crew! It’s in mint condition, too. Should be worth a pretty penny, should I ever decide to sell (never).

I was so excited about the box set, I couldn’t wait to tell my brother… also a Trek Fan. Yes, I suppose nerd-dom runs in the family, eh?

Live long and prosper!

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!

FIRST – LOST. Oh.My.Gawd. It was the best season finale EVAH!  Very happy with the way it turned out and it, of course, gave us more questions to answer in the next season. Those writers are fricking phenomenal! There were two things that stood out in the show for me: Sun and Jin and Desmond and Penny. And yes, I wept over both! Damn writers.

I was alone all weekend and it was fantastic. Of course, I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. Friday I moped around the house all evening. I ended up mowing the front yard for some exercise and worked outside until dark. Then I came in, watched a couple of episodes of Sex and the City and then went to bed.

Saturday I got up fairly early, still moping, and started cleaning house. Changed sheets, vacuumed, dusted, you know… all the good fun stuff. Started laundry. I think my house had about an inch of dust everywhere. It was gross. The toilets were gross. The litter box was gross. My ENTIRE house was grossing me out. I picked up all the toys and got them to the kiddo’s room. I also cleaned up the his room. I went through all of his toys and threw away a bag full of crap. You know those toys that come in Happy Meal’s and kid’s meals and they’re junk anyway… I tossed them ALL. Well, except for a few I knew he played with. I organized all over his books and stickers and pens and pencils. Yes, it was totally anal. But it looks SOOOO much better now. You can actually see the floor in there! I have threatened him with his life if he messes it up. Okay, not really. hehe

I went to the new Barnes & Noble. I wondered around in there for about an hour looking at everything. I debated on whether or not to buy a new book. I hesitated sometimes to buy a new author I’ve never read before, even though the book itself sounded very intriguing. I didn’t buy it. Instead, I went home and had a late dinner of grilled cheese and watched a cool show about archaeology on the History Channel.

Had weird dreams all night. Woke up at 3 am and had a horrible thought that maybe I didn’t shut the garage door (it’s happened before after all!) and was too scared to find out. Wandered the house in the dark for a few minutes and then went back to bed. Woke up again at 5 am, tossed and turned for another two hours and then said to hell with it. So, bright and early Sunday morning, I got up and went to the grocery store.

Shopping that early at the big Wal-Mart is really kind of nice. There are no jackasses blocking the aisles and you don’t have to dodge people. I shopped in peace. I actually saved a little money this week since I didn’t have to buy a bunch of stuff for school lunches. That was nice. And of course, I used my coupons.

You know what I hate about coupons? The ones where you have to buy 2 or 3 of something to save ONE DOLLAR. Hello. Why should I spend double or triple just to save one measly dollar? Forget it. I’ll just buy the extra dollar and be done with it. The one that REALLY ticks me off is the General Mills coupon – buy THREE cereals and save AN DOLLAR. It makes me want to tell that cereal company to eff right off. I guess that’d work if you have a bunch of kids and buy a variety, but I don’t. I have AN child. That’s it.

So with my extra savings this week, we’re headed to see Speed Racer. I promised him I’d take him and I want to get to it before the movie leaves the theater. This week Kung Fu Panda opens and we’re really looking forward to that!

Sunday, after grocery shopping, I kind of lounged around the house. I did make a trip to Lowe’s to get some hangers for a mirror that’s been sitting in my closet for, oh, eight months. I finally got it on the wall over the dresser. Looks pretty good. And then I finished laundry and then… I wrote. YES. Shocker, I know. I finally finished the rewrite of chapter one on MAGIC. I am trying to desperately get back to it, especially after this awful slump. Time to put on the big girl panties, suck it up, and do it no matter what. Summer, though, should allow me the time I need to get going on the book. Especially with the kid entertained with the Wii and other things. I just have to keep going no matter what and that’s hard when you’re out of practice.

Okay, anyway… good weekend overall I supposed. I made out my menu again and tonight is… frozen pizza night! Yeah. I’m a lazy mom tonight.

Okay. I confess. I headed into last night’s game with the attitude that the Stars would lose. After all, I had to prepare myself for the sweep. I didn’t want to get my hopes they could win, knowing their season would be over and I would have to wait until October to see my guys again.

However… it was probably one of the best playoff games I’ve ever seen. No score in the first, and then the Stars went up in the second. They came out strong and hard and got the lead first. Granted, Detroit came back and scored again to tie it up, but the Stars didn’t allow them to get ahead. Ever. There were some very intense moments. Especially when the Stars went up 3-1 in the third period. Morrow and Modano both got penalties with 40 seconds to spare… and Detroit had pulled Osgoood to get an extra attacker on the ice. Talk about tense! I was sitting with my hands in my hair the entire time…and yeah, those were the longest 40 hockey seconds of my life. I’m sure they were for the Stars, too.

I’m happy for Marty Turco. He played a helluva game. He only allowed one goal through. I know it’s a huge long-shot for them to pull another win out on Saturday, but if they can keep the offense up like they did in this game (and the penlty killing as excellent as it was), then they MIGHT be one of those historical teams that comes back from a 3-0 deficient. Might.

The playoff mantra has been “Believe” and it certainly looked like they believed last night!

Tonight, all eyes will be on the Eastern Conference to see if the Flyers can pull a Dallas Stars trick out of their hat.

At any rate, here are 5 reasons why I love the Stars:

1. We have hotter men than Detroit
2. Our captain, Brenden Morrow
3. Penalty killing and Power Plays can be and quite often are supurb
4. Our fans are nicer than Detroit fans
5. AND we have Bill Ollerman, the voice of the American Airlines Center. haha

Oh, and, I got a sports related injury during the game. When they got their third goal, I did a “YAY” and jumped up with my arms straight up…and my hand went in the ceiling fan. My knuckle on my third finger immediately turned blue. It’s bruised. And ugly. But you know? Totally worth it.

Now for American Idol. Okay – um - DUH. I think we all knew the Davids would be in the finals. I’m curious to see how they do next week. I’m still rooting for David Cook! I’m also looking forwars to Lost and Grey’s Anatomy tonight.

As for writing… I did manage to eek out five pages. Okay, so it took me two days to do that BUT at least I’m writing again. I’m completely rewriting the opening of my fantasy with romantic elements. I want the main story element that pushes her into her quest to happen in the first 30 pages and, really, if you think about it… that’s pretty quick!

Okay that’s it for me. I’m wrapping up and headed to work and school. Happy Thursday!

Well I’m sorry to see Jason Castro go on Idol, but I think it was probably due. He really didn’t do well Tuesday night. Frankly, I’m surprised Syesha is still there. My top think pick was David A., David C. and Carly. Now it’s down to the final three and I still think David Cook is going to come out on top as the winner.

Low key evening last night. I love those.

I’m having some focus issues lately with the writing. I think because my weeks are so… busy and hectic I just haven’t found the rhythm again. I miss it. I want it back. I was thinking about it last night and I’ve decided now that it’s about to summer, I’m going to allow one full evening of writing. Which means I’m going to be a bad mom and park the kid in front of the Wii for three hours. But it will allow me to have an evening back. I’m just so tired after he goes to bed, I have a hard time staying awake. I need my writing time back, dammit! I miss it. I also miss getting to work early before the crowd but that’s something that can’t be helped either. I’d much rather have time with the kiddo instead of time at the office.

I have GOT to get to the bank today at lunch. It’s been rainy and gross the last two days so I haven’t wanted to get out at lunchtime. Today, I must go.

Gotta get the the kiddo ready for school and then we’re off. Thank goodness it’s nearly Friday.

I seriously believe this has been the longest week known to man. SERIOUSLY.

Had a great evening last night with the kiddo. I couldn’t face cooking so we stopped at McDonald’s on the way home. The kiddo ate every bite and then went outside to play. He was out there about 45 minutes while I paid bills and got things in order. Oh, yeah, and used my birthday certificates from DSW. I ordered a pair of shoes, but the color I wanted was sold out. weep So I bought orange instead.

I also have $25 in JCPenney certificates I need to use. I have my eye on an outfit.

Got the kiddo in the tub since he was dirty and sweaty from being outside. He decided he needed a snack before bed so he had milk and graham crackers, which I figured was a better snack than anything else. Then we finished watching Don’t Forget The Lyrics celebrity version with Brett Michaels (ROCK OUT!) and then put him to bed.

**CAUTION: LOST SPOILERS AHEAD**

(more…)

Thursday was a very long day. I drove about 175 miles, including the miles to the office.

I took the baby boy to school and then it was off to work for a couple of hours. Then I went to Mom’s and we had lunch and then drove out to the church for the funeral. My uncle passed away last week; he was 91. It’s a small church with about 70-100 members tops in the same city where my dad grew up and was born. We drove out there from Mom’s and got there about 30 minutes early. Mom rode with me (I had to follow in my car because I had to leave directly from there to get the kiddo for his evening soccer practice) and I bent her ear on some things that have been bugging me.

Even when you’re 30+, you still need your mom. Right?

It was good Mom/Daughter time, I thought.

My other uncle, who’s a reverend, preached the sermon and it was very nice. But he did mention my dad (who died 7 years ago in March) and of course that made us all weepy. I was doing good till then.

There’s something about funerals that sort of make you face your own mortality. It’s like you realize then and there that you’re not so invincible. For some reason, I found myself thinking of where I had come from and where I was going. And I wondered if I had made different choices about my life if I would be the same person…and who would be at my funeral? I wondered if my siblings would be standing in a church mourning the loss of one of own someday in the (hopefully) very far future. Isn’t that a morbid thought?

My SIL told me she wanted “It’s Not Unusal” by Tom Jones played at the grave side at hers. Which of course made me laugh out loud which got me in trouble with Mom. Yeah, I can still get the Evil Mom Look even at my age. heh heh

It’s kind of sad to see all the aunts and uncles going, one by one. And when you’re a kid and you grow up with these people, it never really occurs to you that some day you’ll be sitting in a church listening to humorous andecdotes about their very long life. Or visiting with cousins you haven’t seen since the last funeral a few years back. The family as we knew it back then has changed to something different where all the kids are grown-ups with kids of our own. Where we talk about where we’re living now and what we do for a living instead of Aunt Loradell’s chickens running amok and fresh milk straight from the cow. The dogs in the yard. Uncle Bud’s ham radios. And Dad and his brother talking about stuff for hours. Telling stories about their days long past when they were kids. They grew up in a era we’ll never see again. Which makes me wonder – what are we going to be talking about in twenty years? What sort of stories will we tell our kids? That we never had a Wii or carried a cell phone until 1995? That we grew up with one television in the house and Pong? There was no such thing as digital cameras and DVRs?

I have to say, though, it was nice to visit with the few family members that hung around after the grave side. Unfortunately, I had to dash back to my neck of the woods to pick up the kiddo for soccer practice. Right in the height of rush hour traffic. The Turnpike is the best thing since sliced bread – I never would have made it if I didn’t have a toll tag and couldn’t take the turnpike. It shaved probably 45 minutes off my drive and it took me an hour and a half as it was to get back across town. He had to be at practice at 6 and I didn’t get to the sitter until 5:45 to get him. We made a mad dash home, changed in lightning speed, and then rushed back out the door to practice. We were only 5 minutes late. Whew.

Got home, had dinner, watched Idol (no surprise on who left either. Had to happen eventually since she was kinda…boring). During dinner, I tried to get the kiddo to do his spelling words. He said, “Hey, can’t you see I’m busy eating here?” It cracked me up and I coudln’t help it, I laughed out loud. Goofy kid.

Then by the time Idol was over…it was bedtime. And I was so happy to climb into bed and shut out the lights. Talk about exhaustion. Of course, the kiddo took a nap after school she had trouble getting to sleep. I told him to lay in his bed, close his eye, and think happy thoughts. Not sure if that worked out not. haha

Okay I think I’ve rambled enough here today. I gotta get to school and work. Thank goodness we are one day closer to FRIDAY.

Okay so. Just a quickie entry here.

On Idol – David Henrandez is gone. He wasn’t my favorite so I’m not too broken up about it. What I don’t understand is why that Kristy Lee Cook didn’t go. Especially with that train wreck of a song she sang on Tuesday. Blah! She was awful.

Of course, there are rumors David is gone because he was a male stripper. Hm. I wonder about that. He really wouldn’t be the image of a good role model, being a stripper and all so I guess I could see with the Idol Powers would want him out.

Now on to LOST.

*SPOILER ALERT**SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

If you haven’t seen the show yet, don’t read any further.

Was I the ONLY person in the world who wept like a baby with Jin and Sun’s story? And what happened with Jin that he’s in China and Sun thinks he dead? What IS UP WITH THAT? And where IS Sun? Apparently, she’s in California with Hurley, Kate and Jack. Although, Sun did say, “I can’t believe you came all this way.” So could that mean she’s in Korea? And Hurley flew all that way to see her and the baby?

In Island time, what’s up with those people on the boat? Why did that broad jump off the ship with chains around her? And NO ONE bothered to stop her? And WHY is Michael saying his name is Kevin Johnson??

Desmond is still hot. I love Desmond. And Sayid is one of my favorite people. If I was stuck on an island, I would definitely want him on my side.

Anyway… today is the “spring party” at the school. I just love all this PC BS the schools do now. They won’t call it an Easter party of Christmas break because they might offend someone. I’m so sick of stuff like that. And here’s what else ticks me off – the room moms asked for some of the kids to bring a 12 pack of sodas to school. Okay, my kid is 6 1/2 and he’s supposed to lug an entire 12 pack to school with him this morning? Nu uh. I don’t think so. I won’t make him do it. So when I drop him off this morning, I’ll have to park, get out of the car, walk him up and drop off the sodas myself. Why couldn’t they pick something like napkins or paper plates or something that could fit in his backpack? I’m sorry, but I think the room moms should be responsible for the drinks, especially if they want a 12 pack!

Okay that’s it. Gotta run. I’m off to work and school.

TGIF!