I hope all my American friends had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty good, spent with good friends who made the meal effortless and the day relaxing. We had a lazy day in today, too. Alicia isn't well, having lost her voice from the cold she's fighting now, so we decided to make do with in-house entertainment. Movies, games, leftovers, fun. The tree is up, but we're waiting on decorating to let the cats get used to having it around. We didn't want to decorate it and then find it tipped over the first night they're left alone with it, lol.

I'm going to start my Christmas cards at the end of next week, so this will be my last call for one. If you haven't already commented, just head on over to my card post and do so. I want to spread Christmas cheer!

Craig's mother is in the hospital with something viral. She probably could have fought it under normal circumstances, but she's been on various drug protocols the past year to try and fix the joint thing that attacked her last Christmas, and her immune system is compromised as a result. She's going to be fine - they're letting her out on Monday, most likely - but she can't come here for Christmas. Which means the FIL isn't coming, either. It'll be the first Christmas the kids have had without their grandparents there. I feel a little guilty, because there's nobody else to come to try and fill our house, but the kids understand. It's still a loss, though. Hopefully, they'll be able to come in January or February to make up for it.

Missed posting this weekend because rolling closer to the holidays has me busy. But I tried a WW veggie lasagna tonight that had so much flavor, I'm going to post the recipe here.

( Roasted Vegetable Lasagna )

My busy day:

1. Our new couch set arrived, and it looks gorgeous.
2. Picked up one of my two new pairs of glasses. Am trying to get adjusted since they're only reading glasses and every time I look more than 18 inches away, the room warps around me and makes me dizzy. Think it might take awhile.
3. Wrote chapter on new JC story. We're at just under 30k, and it's shaping along very nicely.
4. Had heating guy around to fix the heating problems we had. Apparently, the wiring was switched so that what should have been happening upstairs was happening down, and vice versa.
5. Watched Star Trek with family, and got quality cuddle time.
6. Did far too much laundry and cleaning.

This weekend is going to be busy, too. Tomorrow, we do the bulk of our share of the Thanksgiving shopping. Our best friends are coming here for the holiday (instead of us going to their house like we've done the past 3 years), so we've split up duties. We're doing it smart, too. They're arriving Wednesday evening so we can get some of the baking done then, then spending Thursday evening here, too, so nobody has to worry about cutting the day short to drive home. So we've got cleaning to do in prep for that as well, not to mention Craig has managed to wear holes through the bottom of his shoes so there's shoe shopping on the agenda at some point.

I should probably get a good night's sleep, lol.

I have a new TV love. I happened upon it by accident. Craig was flicking, it was just starting, it looked interesting, and I asked him to record it so I could watch it at some point. I watched, I got hooked, and now I'm going back to watch the first season and everything I haven't seen until now. It's "Sons of Anarchy" and I can't get enough of it.

Does anybody on my flist watch it? Am I alone in seeing how engrossing it is? Katey Sagal made me cry last week, and this week, Ron Perlman broke my heart. And Jax? The guy in my icon? I have got to watch this actor's other work. Apparently, he was on the Brit QaF, as well as a lot of other stuff. He comes onscreen, and I'm just riveted.

I missed a day. Oops. That's what happens when your life is as boring as mine.

All today was domestic goddess goodness. Every time I got online, my eyes revolted. They seemed especially tired today. I really hope they call me tomorrow to say my glasses are ready. At this point, I'm not fussed. I just want my eyes to be better.

Oh, but watching GH today both made me cry (that scene with Lucky and Luke was killer) and sigh (I am such a Dominic/Lulu fangirl at this point, it's not even funny). I'm really looking forward to seeing how all this James Franco stuff plays out. It's even worth it to tolerate those characters that drive me up the wall (oh, but they better not be doing anything about Kristina's flirting with Ethan, that was just plain creepy).

And now I'm off to bed to do it all again tomorrow.

It has been a very long, very tiring day. I haven't had a chance to respond to previous comments, and most likely won't until tomorrow. I'm just beat. Tons of running around today, though it was fun.

First, we finally found a couch we like for the front room. We've been haunting CraigsList for 2 months, hoping for a deal, but nothing came up that we liked. So we went to JCPenney's today, which is where we got our family room couch that we love so much, and found the perfect set. We got it for an even better deal than what's there on the website, and get it delivered this upcoming Friday. That cranberry color is absolutely gorgeous.

Then it was to our friends house to sit and plan out Thanksgiving dinner. Our two families always celebrate together, but this year, they're coming here and spending Wednesday and Thursday nights. It'll save them time and be more relaxing all around. And of course, there will be too much food, but that's the point of the holiday, right? ;)

Then, this evening, after some more errands, we drove into SF to take the wonderful mydeira out to dinner. Craig fancied teppanyaki, which in SF means you pretty much have to go to Benihana's. It's a fun experience, and the food is always good. Alex has decided, yet again, that he wants his birthday dinner there, lol. But it was great to catch up with mydeira because I haven't seen her in a couple years. Which just seems wrong.

And now I'm likely to crash because it's taken me forever to write this and I'm seeing double. I should be getting my reading glasses some time this week. I think it's a very good thing.

Got some great news today!

Pepper and I entered 7 titles into EPIC's annual e-book award. Last year, we had a number of finalists, and though we had fewer eligible entries this year, I still managed submit 4 Jamie Craig titles, and 3 of mine.

Tonight, we found out that the Jamie Craig story, "Trick of Silver," and my VD story, "Crave," are both finalists in the Paranormal Erotic Romance category!

Ours are the only two m/m titles in that category; the other 4 are het. And it figures we have them competing against each other, but still, we're chuffed about finaling again. The awards get announced at the convention next March in New Orleans, so now we have reasons to go, lol.

It was a great way to end a very long day. :)

It's not midnight yet, so I'm still good on trying to post everyday...though the only thing of note to happen today was making plans to meet up with mydeira on Sunday for dinner at Benihana's. Watched a really terrible movie, picked up and put down a really terrible book, discovered Alex had tried flushing a wad of paper towels which is why their bathroom toilet is now completely blocked and we need to get a plumber to fix it because not even the snake will go through, and had animals acting like they're possessed regardless of everything we did.

So...kind of glad that it's the weekend. Though it's going to be a busy one. I think that'll hold true for every one until 2010, at this rate...

It...was not a great day. It wasn't truly awful, but I'm having a hard time not dwelling on the bad stuff. So to help counter that, I'm going to list stuff that's made me smile/made me feel/made me happy in the past couple days:

1. Glee. I love this show so much. What specifically this week? Jane Lynch. And Kurt's father. And Puck. I know I shouldn't like him so much but I do. I want to gouge Quinn's eyes out, but what he did for her this week...maybe it's the bad boy thing I have.

2. I finished the last part of my 4-novella series about a pair of gay lawyers in San Francisco. It's nice to feel accomplished, even if I've been a sea of self-doubt lately.

3. Turning off the TV and computers, and sitting with my kids for a couple hours tonight to play board games.

4. Oddly enough, General Hospital. Having Jonathan Jackson back has been amazing, and showing the flashback scene today? Made me want to cry. Plus, Lulu and Dante are heating up, Carly's had some great material this week, Claudia is finally gone, and they actually found another baby with red hair. Alicia saw the commercial advertising James Franco's upcoming stint and flipped out. At first she was all, "He's just really good!" But she had this goofy grin and wouldn't meet my eyes, and I finally got her to admit she was partially excited because he's so cute, lol. My daughter has good taste. ;)

1. Christmas cards! I've already posted my call, but I'm going to repeat it because I know some people fall behind on checking LJ, overlook a post, etc. If you're interested in being on my Christmas card list, go to this post and sign up. I love this season. I'd like to be able to include you in my cheer!

2. Alicia is feeling better, but now Alex is sick. They're off school tomorrow because of Veteran's Day, and Craig is working from home, too, so I'm going to have a full house.

3. Pepper and I are trying something new in our collaborative process that is terrifying both of us, lol. I'm hoping the end result turns out great to make all this nail-biting worth it.

4. I'm in a bit of pain today. Last night, I realized after I'd gone to bed that I'd forgotten my phone downstairs. So I went down, without turning on any lights and very tired, and promptly missed the bottom two stairs. I fell down and landed on the hard tile at the bottom on my left shoulder, jamming my left wrist and twisting my right ankle. Oh, and skinning both of my knees and my left elbow. Fun, huh?

Recently, I used up the last of the gift certificate I got for Amazon for my birthday from my in-laws. That shipment arrived today, and it had in it two things that have me excited: Gay Art: A Historic Collection, and Chess in Concert with Josh Groban and Idina Menzel.

Clearly, I'm excited about these for different reasons, lol.

I haven't had a chance to do much more than flip through the book yet. It arrived when the kids were home, so because of its graphic nature, that got put away after a couple careful peeks.

But the DVD...even Craig is excited about that. I love Chess, and have had it memorized since I first got the CD in college. I belt it out when I've got it on. I even lost my voice on a trip to a con in LA one year because I kept singing/playing it over and over for the 8 hour drive down, lol. I had heard Groban played Anatoly in this production, but I was super excited to see that Menzel was in it, too. Adam Pascal plays Freddy, too, which will be fun to watch. I was going to pop it on tonight, but Craig is currently working and I was threatened if I watched it without him.

Maybe I can sneak it on tomorrow and just not tell him that I've already seen it. ;)

Damn it. I forgot to post yesterday. But I didn't really have anything interesting to say, anyway, so better than gabbling about nothing, right?

Except I've still got nothing, lol. It's been a busy couple of days, with a ton of cleaning, shopping for stuff for the house, proofing a galley, writing about 4k, taking care of Alicia since she's sick, and all the normal house stuff. Alicia is doing better, and will likely go to school tomorrow, but I have really got to hit the grocery store soon. I've been scrounging up meals with stuff in the house, and considering I haven't done a full shop in almost 2 weeks - just a couple runs for milk and bread - it's been interesting, lol. I ended up making a potato soup for lunch yesterday that my mom used to make, a comfort food for when we were sick. That compelled me to try other recipes from when I was growing up, at which point I realized why we had them so often. They use staples that are always on hand, lol. Funny it took until I was 40 to actually learn that.

Long day. Very tired. Alicia came home sick this morning, and most of my day has been taking care of her. Doesn't bode well for the weekend, though at least her temperature had gone away by the time she went to bed.

It's official. My eye appointment today confirmed that while my long distance vision is still perfect, my left eye - which has always been weaker - has deteriorated enough to fatigue my overcompensating right eye. Thus, I now have prescription reading glasses. Or I will in two weeks when they come back fully fitted.

I picked out two sets of frames, since our insurance paid for one and I'm notorious for losing things like that. I took pictures of the frames at the opticians, but the quality is crappy. This pair is the blingier of the two, and really comfy, while this pair is incredibly lightweight and more neutral.

Such is life. And hey, if it helps the watering and headaches, I can't really complain, now can I? :)

So, we watched V tonight...( Read more... )

I didn't balk too much this past summer when I turned 40, but I've been balking at something else recently that proves I'm not as comfortable with getting older as I thought I was. For a few weeks now, my headaches have become a little more common, and my eyes have been getting tired and achy for seemingly no reasons. I don't wear glasses or contacts, though when I was 18, I was told one eye was near-sighted, the other one far-sighted, and should probably wear reading glasses to help the headaches I got then.

I got them, but they didn't help. They actually made things worse. So I stopped wearing them and just got used to the constant conscious focusing I have to do every time I change perception depths. It's gotten to the point that it's automatic, but lately, it's not as fast as it always was before. Which leads me to think that maybe some of my other maladies might be related to my eyes, too.

So Thursday afternoon, I go for my first eye exam in 22 years. Yes, I know I'm overdue, but there never felt any need for one before now because I had such excellent vision. I have no idea what it's going to reveal, though I suspect something is probably wrong. And you know, the idea of needing glasses bugs me a hell of a lot more than the numerical value of my age. It's silly and vain (because if I do need glasses, I doubt I'll get contacts because I've always been *uber* sensitive about stuff near my eyes), but oh well.

I guess I'll know on Thursday.

I know people will cringe when they see it, but I'm starting my organizing early this year because it's the only way I can guarantee getting it done, lol.

I am sending Christmas cards to anyone who might want one. All you have to do is leave your address in a comment (all comments screened) or drop me an email at sigrid72 (at) gmail (dot) com with the info. Let me share my Christmas cheer! :)

One of my stories has been listed as today's Daily Deal over at Amber Quill Press.

It's an m/m vampire novella called Bridge Over Troubled Water:

Detective Brady Lindstrom deals in death, and not just because he’s a homicide cop with the slaughter of a century to solve. Ten years ago, vampires murdered his lover. Ever since, he’s looked over his shoulder, ready for vampires to strike again. Or maybe just the one he loved.

Exhausted and angry about the needless deaths he has to investigate, Brady worries that the killers he’s looking for aren’t even human. Those fears are compounded by an unexpected visitor, the battered and nearly broken Cole Singer, the lover he’d long ago given up for dead. When Cole offers to trade information on the killers in exchange for sanctuary, Brady realizes he doesn’t have a choice. He just can’t turn his back on the face of the only man he’s ever loved. Even if he’s a vampire...

There's an excerpt at the site above, and today only, it's only $1.50. But you have to buy it through this link, not the blurb/excerpt page since it's part of the Daily Deal program.