Hey, all! I’m over at Pop Culture Divas today talking about Life and Star Wars. Check it out by clicking here.

I had so much planned for this weekend and it all went KAPLOOEY. Friday night, The Sickness hit me hard and I went down. And a few hours later, the kiddo was sick again. So we were up most of the night. Which meant we were recovering most of the day Saturday.

I had planned to take the kiddo to the movies but that obviously didn’t happen. Instead, we were moving slowly all day and barely eating. Man was nice enough to go to the store for me and pick up lots of cleaning supplies for me.

I tried hard to stay up for the Olympics and see Apolo Ohno but couldn’t do it. I went to bed at 9:30. Poor Man got hit with The Sickness that night.

But by Sunday morning, I felt back to normal. I started cleaning the first bathroom from top to bottom. Washed dishes, washed clothes, vacuumed, cleaned the second bathroom. washed coats. I seriously didn’t want this virus hanging around anymore.

I did, however, learn why Apolo Ohno yawns before he races. Fascinating.

So Sunday was another lost day. It was Cleaning and Sterilization Day. I don’t think the house has ever been this clean.

I did write some.Finished a synopsis for my scifi and entered a contest. Doubt I’ll final but I got a plea for more entries to fill the category and figured what the heck.

Cooked dinner and POOF the weekend was gone. Didn’t get to the movies. Didn’t get to the Farmers Market of Lowe’s or any of the things I needed and wanted to do.

Oh well. Guess it was a sign I needed to slow down. I have some contest entries to finish judging/reading this week. Guess I’ll get to it.

Happy Monday, all.

We’re better today but the Bad Ass Virus hit Man last night around 11. He was sick most of the night. I guess that was to be expected! He told me he didn’t like me very much. hehe I don’t blame him. Kids bring the nastiest stuff home from school and then it spreads like wildfire.

Today is Sterilization Day. Good thing because the house (both bathrooms especially) needs it. At least I feel human again! It was definitely a 24 hour thing. I finally ate something last night and today I actually feel like I could eat breakfast. Something light, though. No dairy for sure. Maybe some dry cereal.

Anyway, off to make coffee!

Kiddo woke up Thursday morning at 4 am throwing up. It continued through the morning. I had a deadline at work so I had to take him to the grandparents so I could get my work done. I left around noon and got him. He was feeling better. By the evening, he was even better and went to school on Friday. I went back to work.

Friday night I started feeling awful. Bad stomach ache and I just knew. I crawled onto the bed and laid there until nearly 10 when it hit me. About an hour later, the kiddo got sick again. Same thing. We were up every 30 mins to an hour, both of us. Me with him or me by myself.

And the one time he gets to the bathroom, he’s sitting on the floor BY the toilet…and throws up all over the floor. In my head I screamed, “WTH?!?!” and of course I did somewhat yell at him for doing it RIGHT NEXT TO THE TOILET. At that point, I was ready to stab myself in the eye.

Instead, I got the mop and bucket and cleaned it up. Isn’t this fun? You have NO idea…

I finally made it to morning. The kiddo was doing being sick around 6 am and we finally got some sleep. I didn’t crawl out of bed until after 11 this morning when my phone rang. The poor grandparents got it, too. Ack. So, we’re all sick. Except for Man and I’m waiting to see if it’s going to hit him tonight.

It’s definitely a bad ass stomach virius. I haven’t been this sick in years and I don’t want to repeat it. EVER.

The kiddo and I managed to eat something finally but I still don’t feel 100%. At least I got a hot shower and that helped. And then I made the kiddo take one, too. I have all the sickie towels, bed linens and clothes in the washer on super hot, major cleaning.

We had plans to go to the movies today but now, not so much. We’ll be sticking to the house drinking Sprite, water, eating soup, and just trying to recover.

And as soon as I’m able, I have to scrub down both bathrooms. Ah, being an adult and a parent rocks…

I must rant. So if you don’t want to read a rant, you have my permission to click away now.

That’s my disclaimer. You have been warned.

It seems like every time I get ahead, something happens beyond my control and it knocks me back again. And you know what? I’m damned tired of it. The other day, I made huge progress on my WIP (and no I didn’t blog about it becuase I’ve decided that blogging about it jinxes my process. Call me superstitious if you must). Like just over 4000 words progress and it was great and fantastic and it felt good. And I got some awesome feedback on the first three chapters and was just starting to incorporate the changes to fix some glaring character errors so I could move on. And then what happens? I have a sick child and someone else needs something from me and guess what that means? I have to drop everything. I have to sacrifice my writing time.

Now, I know there’s nothing that can be done about a sick kid. He’s sick. I’m not upset about that. It’s my job as a mother to take care of him and I’m happy to drop everything and do it. I love my child. I would walk to the ends of the Earth for him. But I’m sick of everything else that doesn’t matter all that much encroaching on my writing time. I’m not talking about personal time with my family, either. That’s Necessary Relationship Stuff. I’m talking about things that get in the damn way all the time. Things that don’t matter to ME. Selfish? You bet. It’s high time I get selfish.

So this is the year of the dumping. This is the year I’m pawning off all my volunteer duties so that by the end of 2010, I will be FREE. Free to write. Free to concentrate on MY CAREER as a writer. Because it’s MY DAMN CAREER. And the only way I will ever be successful is if I take control of the situation and start using the word “NO”. A lot.

There you have it, folks. I’ve had it. I’ve officially reached my limit and I’m officially burned out. And it’s not even March 1 yet. Sad.

Now I have to go to work so I can pay my mortgage. THAT is a viable excuse for not writing.

Happy Friday.

And PS – I’m sick of winter and SPAM emails. And yes, I’m cranky.

No other words necessary.

We’ve been watching the Olympics every night. The following conversation occurred:

ME: Hey, isn’t that guy Brent Musburger? I thought he only did football. [on the commentator]

MAN: No, honey. That’s Bob Costas.

ME: [pause] No way. It’s Brent Musburger. I’d know that face anywhere.

MAN: [sighs] No. It’s Bob Costas.

ME: Are you sure? Because I’d swear that guy is Brent Musburger. You know. He does a lot of sports.

MAN: Honey. It’s Bob.Costas.

ME: [long pause] Really? [pause] Are you sure?

MAN: I’m going to look it up. [whips out blackberry; punches buttons] See? Bob. Costas. [he doesn't bother to hide the triumph in his voice]

ME: Well, he lookslike Brent Musburger.

MAN: [sighs heavily]

ME: Don’t you think so?

MAN: No, honey. He looks like Bob Costas.

ME: [pause as we watch more Olympics] I still say he looks like Brent Musburger.

MAN: Well if that’s the case, then someone needs to tell him to stop using Bob Costas’s face.

So he was right and I was wrong. I’m adult enough to admit that.

But I still say he looks like Brent Musburger.

Per Lori’s request. Madison Maggie Boxed Op-Art. MMMM

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!

Check out all our snow!

Coach.Com had a writing competition – finish the story. So I sent something in on a whim. Well, I got the email last night that I won “Most Romantic” LOL!

You can see the story here: http://www.coach.com/online/handbags/Home-10551-10051

You’ll know it’s mine. It’s by Michelle M.

We had 12.5 inches of snow in a 24 hour period yesterday.

You read that right! North Texas doesn’t often seen that much snow – like in 32 years! – and so it’s a awesome to step outside and see it. It’s ankle deep here at the house and we’re definitely snowed in for the day. School was cancelled yesterday. I have pictures which I’ll post as soon as I get them resized. The trees are drooping from all the snow and we’re VERY lucky we still have power. Some folks don’t.

I’m making coffee and cinnamon rolls right now. And then Man and I will be working on our laptops all day so we can get paid.

It’s a White Friday!

This morning we woke up to this. Yay.

Oh, HI! I’m the proud recipient of the Sunshine Award, thanks to the lovely Mz. Allison Pang. *sniff* My first ever blog award. I’m.So.Happy.

Now for the acceptance speech. I’d like to thank all those who made this award possible. All my fans and readers. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Thanks to all my friends who tolerate me.

Thanks to my mother for giving birth to me. I certainly couldn’t be here without her!

Now to share the love with all those who put sunshine in my day (and a little nudge to some of them to get them blogging again – AHEM).

And the awards goes to (in no particular order):

• Lara – Ramblings of a Suburban Soccer Mom who could probably use some sunshine right about now
• Devon – Ink In My Coffee who is a daily inspiration to me
• BK Birch
• Colin Galbraith – Freedom From The Mundane
• Lori  – Words on the Page
• Sandy – Magick Musings
• Sandra Swanberg
• Denise McDonald – In Denise’s Head
• John Scalzi – Whatever because, well, he’s John Scalzi and he’s hysterical
• Pop Culture Divas
• Razor – Dallas Stars Blog
• Nathan Bransford

Rules to Accept the Award:

*Put the logo on your blog in your post.
*Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
*Link the nominees within your post.
*Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blogs.
*Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

One of my publishers emailed and asked, since I was a contractor author, if I would be submitting anything for their 2010 line-up. And if so, what and when. of course, it’s contingent upon acceptance.

Well, I took that as the push I needed to get my very large, lazy ass in gear. So I committed to finishing a contemporary in three months. I’m shooting for novella length and it’ll be a follow up to TAKE ME I’M YOURS. I’m pretty sure I can finish it in three months if I force myself to write every day.

So I started on Sunday and I’m currently 7879 words into it. Most of that is revision, but some of it IS new material. Especially since I’m switching POV from first to third. So not sure how I can keep up the rigid schedule with basketball on Tuesday, soccer of Thursday, and a myriad of other miscellaneous things I have to get done. But I AM going to do it. 

I promised myself I would. So, no more jacking around. I’m writing. Wish me luck.

My weekend was full of sports. Saturday was basketball for the kiddo and then Sunday we had soccer practice (in the FREEZING COLD DRIZZLING RAIN). Got home and fried my own chicken wings and even made my own sauce for The Big Game. Man cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. We stuffed ourselves silly. It was awesome.

And…I kinda sorta committed to writing a novella for one of my publishes. They emailed and asked if I would be submitting something. It was sort of a nudge. So I said okay and now I have three months to finish something already in progress. Pretty sure I can if I can (a) focus and (b) write.

Not much else going on and this is a really boring post and besides, I should be writing. So that’s what I’m going to do. See y’all tomorrow.