Today has been a bit slow starting, but in just a couple hours, Craig and I will be hopping on the BART to head into San Francisco. We're going to this, a monthly event I learned about through Adam Savage's Twitter. Writers get up on stage and read from their work, all in the milieu of this bar. If it's half as much fun as I think it's going to be, I might end up making it a monthly trip.

I figure it's going to expose me to authors I might not necessarily know, plus we get a night out. We love Mythbusters and Adam Savage, so seeing him in person will be fun. And I'm taking books to sign in case they do that sort of thing. We'd thought we'd get dinner in the city, too, but we ended up going out last night instead. Nothing fancy, just Black Angus and then shopping at B&N. That's not too far from a perfect date for me, lol.

I talked Craig into working from home today. He really didn't want to have to go into the office anyway. The stupid project is falling apart all over the place, because people are idiots and refusing to step up to the plate. He's frustrated, and I figured working from home would at least give him someplace to escape when he got *too* frustrated. It worked, to a degree. But he's about to go back to his desk and work some more. My poor guy.

It wasn't too bad a day for me otherwise. I got a fantastic review for my most recent release, I managed to get 6 more boxes packed, and so far today, have written 2500 words on my latest novella. Craig and I watched "Being Human," too. The guy who plays the vampire Mitchell? Ohmigod. So so pretty. I could eat him up with a spoon. And really makes me want to write something vampire-y. But he's by far my favorite character on the show, and not just because he's pretty and fangy, lol.

I really need to get back into the habit of updating. So more on the drama that is my life:

1. Craig drilled his finger on Sunday. He was drilling something for the boat, had it in the vise and was all safe, but the bit broke, the drill skidded sideways, and went through his left index finger. It was gushing blood, but we cleaned and wrapped it, and when it looked like it had stopped and he said it didn't hurt anymore, we decided not to go to the ER. He went into the doctor's on Tuesday instead, and we discovered then that it had actually gone all the way through. Completely bypassed bone, nerves, and major veins, somehow. He was very lucky.

2. We went out to the development for a new owner's meeting, and got to see how far along the house is. The second floor is all framed up and Craig got to walk through it with the camera, so we've got some video of that. It's all up on the website if you want to take a look, including some additional photos Craig put up on some of the earlier dates.

3. I am not looking forward to this weekend. At all. The next three days will be insane. School open house tonight, three ball games over Friday and Saturday, then Saturday night, 8 girl scouts descend on my house to spend the night. Something insane I volunteered for. Hell, I even suggested it. I am certifiable.

4. Amidst everything in the next couple days is the fact that my tenth wedding anniversary is tomorrow. We're not doing anything. Maybe we'll order food after Alex's game tomorrow night. Oh, and we're going to go out and buy something for us to commemorate the event.

5. joss_las kind of aborted the last round last summer, scrapping it when it hit the final four, of which I was one. That means I have my last piece that has never seen the public. So I'm going to post that some time soon. Maybe tomorrow.

I should probably post an update about what's been going on with me...

1. ( American Idol results )

2. It's been a week of medical stuff. Craig had an outpatient procedure done on Tuesday that thankfully showed he's healthy, so that's a plus. On the not so plus side...( Stuff about my mom )

3. Speaking of medical stuff, Alex's cough is back. :(

4. We've gone ahead and purchased the kids' flights for the UK. They'll be gone for 5 weeks. I also might be taking an interim trip with them out to visit my mom before that.

5. My 10th wedding anniversary is next week. Craig and I don't have real plans, because, guess what, we're hosting the Girl Scouts end of the year sleepover at our house the same night, lol. We've decided to do something after the kids leave for the UK to celebrate both our anniversary and my birthday in July. Right now, we're going back and forth between NYC and Hawaii. I think I'd have more fun in NYC, but we've never been to Hawaii.

6. The new house is underway. Craig has thrown up a website for us to share pictures and videos of the process. It's easier than wasting bandwidth to show family, so I'm sharing the site with you, in case anyone's interested. :) The interior pictures of the model home are just for reference. For instance, one picture of the kitchen has the layout, while the other has the cabinets/countertops I picked out. Ditto for the pictures on the floors. We wanted reference of the carpet and tile we picked out (the lighter ones), rather than just the dark tile in the model home.

Today was an odd day. On the one hand, it was hugely productive. I had a rough start, but then spent a good part of the day getting caught up on updating the Jamie Craig website and dealing with a lot of the administrative stuff that crops up. pepperlandgirl4 and I managed to get 3k written on the final book in the Master series, too. So productive, right?

Except I'm all out of sorts at the moment. I think part of it comes from just having finished a project yesterday for an anthology (and then finding out today that a crucial detail I needed to know about would have changed what I wrote completely, and now I fear being the element that holds the anthology back). But I always get post-story blues, which is why it's an excellent time for me to get caught up on admin stuff. It's just...I've had this vague sense of dissatisfaction lately. Like I'm living on the edge of my life, looking in. I'm pretty sure it's a reaction to having company for so long, and abandoning any semblance of routine in my life for the timebeing. It's just all adding up.

It doesn't help that Craig's been miserable the last few weeks at work. His company made everybody take 2 weeks off over Christmas as they shut down, and on the Monday they came back, they fired 85 people. Including his best friend. The one person he could vent to about work in order to let off steam. Now he doesn't have that person and everything is percolating. It's not good. He knows the market is bad, so he's not really serious, but every other day he comes home talking about another part of the country to move to, in order to make a change. I worry about him. And am probably catching his general malaise.

And I'm using my Glen Hansard icon because thinking of him cheers me up.

So today was my wedding anniversary. 9 years. Craig and I took it easy this year, and with his parents still here to watch the kids, just went out to dinner and a movie. A grown-up movie. With drinks at dinner. Woo hoo!

We saw Iron Man, which was as good as I'd hoped. Robert Downey Jr. is still as shagworthy as ever. But what amused me most had nothing to do with Iron Man. No, Sex and the City was playing on 3 screens at our theater. When we bought our tickets at 5, all tickets for the rest of the night for Sex were sold out already. AND I have never in my entire life seen so many 30/40something women in clusters, dressed to the nines - like they should be at a club and not the local theater - chattering and queueing to see a movie. Seriously. I get that it was a popular show. I saw a few episodes and certainly enjoyed what I saw. But this was enough to put any scifi convention to shame. And you know what gets my goat? Most of those women would likely mock or turn their nose up at scifi con goers. But they're doing the exact same thing!

Anyway. Other than that, it was a most excellent evening. Peach margaritas are wonderful. So is Cold Stone. And the hot tub is waiting, so I shall bid you all adieu...

I know I've been pretty quiet again, but with pepperlandgirl4 and her sisters here last week, my schedule went all to hell. However, they left early this morning, so maybe I'll get it back. I doubt it. The kids are on spring break this week. And guess what? For the third year running, Craig isn't home on his birthday. Nope, this year, since the company isn't sending him to India as much anymore, they found a new way to torture him. On Wednesday morning, he gets to fly to Delaware so that on Thursday, he can spend the day testifying in court for some business transaction thing. So we're going to celebrate his birthday on Friday instead.

Other than that...I have tons of work to do. Two edits and a galley sit on my laptop, not to mention all the coding I have to do for the new LLG, a story that's due by next Monday at Amber Quill, and my joss_las entry due by the 1st. Also, we watched a bit of Buffy and Angel the past couple days so that bug is biting, too (the Paley stuff totally didn't help there). But no writing for me today. The kids might have spring break, but guitar and piano lessons still go on...

Craig and I had a couple days away as our Valentine treat this year. We dropped the kids off at friends on Friday, drove down to San Jose and went to a concert that night after having dinner out. We stayed in a hotel, and the kids didn't come home until late Saturday afternoon. Very relaxing and very intimate. It's a four-day weekend for us, but after a heavyduty cleaning day yesterday, we're taking it a little easier today. Just guitar and piano lessons this afternoon.

I'm seriously considering signing up for joss_las in hopes of getting my muse kickstarted. There's only three signed up so far so if there are any writers out there interested, go take a look.

So, curious to see Craig's car?

( Craig's car )

What's so funny is that the picture he took from the driver's side of the car makes it look the car is perfectly fine. I'm glad he didn't make me look at it any sooner, lol.

Oh, and I learned something new about Alex yesterday when he was getting dressed. Apparently, my son insists on matching his underwear to his clothes. He will select his clothes specifically based on the color of his underwear, or vice versa. I have absolutely no idea where he gets this from, lol.

We had some drama here last night. Craig got rearended coming home from work. A huge van plowed into him from behind, pushed him into the car in front of him, which pushed her into the car in front of her. Our car was the only one to take any damage, and it's....well, it's pretty much totaled. Craig and his friend who he carpools with are very lucky to come out of it just being a little stiff. But the back end of the car was completely smashed in. As soon as the insurance gets all sorted, which can take a few weeks, we'll have to get a new one.

Though he's all right, I - of course - had nightmares all night. So I'm a little tired today. Stupid dreams. Stupid overactive imagination. He's fine. I keep telling myself that. He wanted me to go with him this morning to go see the car, but no, I really don't need to see that..

Craig is home again, and all is right with the world.

Three day weekend, beautiful weather, we actually have plans for Valentines this year...I'd say life is pretty darn good at the moment. The little things. That's what matters.

ETA: Oh, and today, Pepper and I are talking about Is there such a thing as *too* much sex? over at It Takes Two, the blog for collaborating writing teams we're a part of. If you have a spare second or two, hop on by. :)

Craig is off for the week for a work-inservice-thingy. No flying this time. He's got 5 days over at Half Moon Bay, which is great for both of us. If I get lonely or need something desperately, he's only an hour away.

Today marks our first full week back. Kids are at school, and Alicia and I resume piano/guitar lessons today. My lesson isn't going to be that thrilling, mainly because I haven't picked up Delilah in a month, but I want to talk to Scott about something else anyway. See, we picked up a small guitar for Alicia for Christmas since she wanted one so badly. I don't want her starting lessons yet, but I'd like his advice on what to do to get her started. Plus, Alex got drums. Don't ask. I lost that battle, suffice it to say. Not that I'm complaining, because hey, if they want to explore music, I'm not going to stop them.

Speaking of music, Alicia auditioned for their school musical last week and starts rehearsals today for that, too. She's singing and dancing in that. That goes from after school until 4, I'll pick her up, and then we head over to our lessons at 4:30. Needless to say, it's going to be a hectic day, but then Mondays always are.

In the end, we got around to our blitz yesterday. The playroom looks phenomenal. We have 4 bags to get rid of - 1 just of dress-up clothes that I'm going to offer to the neighbor for her little girl, 1 of toys to give away and then 2 trash. On top of that, we completely rearranged the room, go the futon in there from the spare room so that there's something to sit on while playing xbox or watching tv, and lugged up two barristers from the garage. The closet got cleaned out and reorganized as well. Man, we have a lot of puzzles and games. But still, the room looks great, we got stuff done we've been meaning to do for 4 months, and we're ready to tackle the next project next week. Not a bad start. :)

I had two...I wouldn't call them resolutions, but points of action I was going to take for the new year. One was a weekly clearout, something I read about last year that I never got around to doing where in an attempt to declutter your lives, you do it in manageable doses. You get rid of 7 items a week - 7 books, 7 CD's, 7 items of clothing, etc. I'm doing this with my MIL, so until I figure out who I can give stuff around here - would you believe that there isn't a Goodwill within a 20-mile radius who will take donations? They all want me to drive over to the peninsula or into areas I can't park easily in order to donate - I'm throwing stuff away. This week is my tupperware cupboard.

The other thing was a weekly blitz/odd job time. Weekends in this house are typically spent one of two ways - Craig disappears with the kids for the bulk of the day or everybody lazes about, playing video games or watching movies to recuperate from the week. So, in an attempt to try and get a handle on odd jobs that have been piling up because I can never grab Craig long enough and to give the kids more responsibility, Craig and I blocked out 9-11 on Sunday mornings. No tv, no games, no computers. We work for those 2 hours on whatever projects we've deemed necessary. Starting today. Today's project is the playroom, and Craig and I are moving the furniture around in order to get the bookcases we've had out in the garage for storage up there. The room is in desperate need of new storage.

Well...it's 7:10 am. The kids and I are up. I woke up at 4am, and Craig was not in bed yet. He didn't come to bed until after 5am. Because he was playing the new video game he bought yesterday. How much do you want to bet he sleeps the morning away? And I don't dare wake him up because he leaves after lunch for a 4-day onsite for work. I wake him up and he's going to be exhausted while he's driving, so...yeah, not going to do that.

If we weren't planning on the furniture move - which has to happen first before we tackle most of the other projects for upstairs - I'd do it on my own. *sigh* Maybe we'll start next week.

My little guy is home from school today. He was up half the night vomiting.

My big guy is home from work today. He got up with me when Alex started in last night, but having his sleep disrupted messed up with the body clock he was trying to restart. He ended up wide awake and staying up with Alex.

So I'm Nurse Mom today.

Craig's home! Woo hoo! It was so nice rolling over and having him in bed with me. Nothing like that feeling in the entire world.

I finished reading what I had done on A Soul to Seduce. I'd forgotten how layered and complicated it was, lol. I think I'm seriously going to try and work on it this week, but no promises. I have galleys that are due by Wednesday, and two new releases this upcoming weekend. But I'm going to try. I just hope I can find the flavor of it again. I will warn people if it looks like I'm going to post, however. Because I think people might need to re-read some in order to get back into it and I want them to have to do that. All that damn plot, lol.

Pepper and I didn't quite finish A Hidden Beauty last night like we wanted. We're on the last chapter, and she asked for "we're alive can we have comfort sex" for the guys. How am I supposed to say no to that? But hopefully, we can finish tonight. That'll put us at 73k in 2 weeks for this book. Not too shabby.

Things to Be Grateful For

1. Craig is home in less than 24 hours. Woo hoo!
2. Pepper and I have written 66k on our gay poet historical in less than 2 weeks. We've reached that point in the story where we start dragging our feet because we don't want it to end. On the bright side, we're seriously considering making this a new series for us. Or at least a series of three.
3. I had a wonderful meal with friends on Thursday.
4. My first mass market paperback release - with Pepper, who made it all possible - comes out in less than 2 weeks. How cool is it going to be to go into a store and see my book on the shelf?!?
5. I've just got a pretty darn good life, when it comes down to it.

So...Craig is gone again. 2 weeks in India. He's gone for Thanksgiving, which has Alicia more than a little upset.

The good news is, however, that he's taking a different position within the company beginning in December. It is very likely that he's going to be cut down to a single trip to India a year, which would be much, much nicer for us.

For now, though, I'll grin and bear this one. I have a lot to keep me busy. That's always the best medicine.

Craig has moved on to the next step in not bothering to sort the mail when I'm gone.

This time, he didn't even bother taking any of the mail out of the box. :P

So, while Craig was in the UK, he was a tad on the horny side and went and ordered new toys for us to use when he got home. I knew the contents of the box, but apparently there was supposed to be a free gift, as well. ( Cut for TMI about my sex life, but it's funny as hell )

You know, I should be used to this by now. I really should. Craig travels routinely. He's done this for as long as I've known him. And it's not like I'm not busy. I have a ton of stuff to keep me occupied during the day.

But then the night comes. And no, I'm not used to it.

He messaged me about 7:45. Which is 3:45 am in the UK.

Craig: Hi
Sigrid: Hey you :)
Sigrid: It's the middle of the night. Why are you awake?
Craig: Can't sleep
Sigrid: Oh, still on CA time, huh?
Craig: No, just missing you

...

It's going to be a long night.