I was so out of it this year, I didn't even upload Christmas icons to LJ. And look at my resolution fly out the window about updating. Phhbthhhhhh.

But it's the first, and the time for resolutions, and for today at least, I'm going to stick with it. I've been doing admin stuff all day, including - surprise surprise - coding at LLG. I got a new site layout almost 2 years ago and got tired of all the recoding to get it online, but after getting slammed with the fandom bug again over the past month, I really want to finish it. That other layout is soooooooooooooooooooooo old. My biggest headache is, however, writing such damn long stories. :P

The holidays were nice and quiet, lots of quiet time with my family. We've been playing Lego Rock Band every night, and I have to say I do love the tracks on it. Of course, they make me feel old, but oh well. It's not like I'm in my 20s anymore lol. I got a lot of great stuff, and this weekend, we're using Xmas money from the inlaws to go out and buy a Wii for the family. I'm hoping it'll help me in starting to exercise more. Ha. We'll see how long that resolution lasts.

But I'm alive, and well, and missing everybody, so I'm going to try and be a lot better about posting. AI starts up soon, which means those posts at the very least, and I'm sure I can find other stuff to talk about. That's the promise I'm making to myself. :)

Gah! Stupid drivers are making me so angry this morning!

So, I'm taking the kids to school. It's rained all night. The roads are slick. I'm stopped at a T-junction with no light, making a left with heavy traffic coming in both directions, the right side of which comes over a hill so it partially blind not too far away. It's not a junction to take lightly. And I drive a minivan. *And* I'm on a slight incline.

A minute after I'm stopped there, a monster white pick-up pulls up behind me.

Two minutes later, he honks at me, because it's *still* not safe for me to go, pulls up on my right, makes a left in front of me that makes his wheels squeal and causes at least one of the cars coming from the left to slam onto his brakes, then actually flips me the finger as he passes in front of me.

I mean, really? So for a split second, I'm thinking, Well maybe he's late for work and he's got to get his kids dropped off, too, because the school is just one block down. But no, almost immediately he turns into a residential area, so it's very likely he's just going home.

And I was able to finally make my turn 30 seconds later. If he'd only waited...

I just don't understand that kind of driving. I don't. It puts people unnecessarily at risk, and serves absolutely no purpose. It's a *school zone*, for Christ's sake. And yet, somehow I'm the one who deserves to be flipped off? Oy..

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 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.

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? :)

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.

No accident today, so that's a mark in the plus column. However, I woke up with a headache and am currently nursing my coffee in hopes that it eases soon.

Today, I get to make victoria sponges for Alicia to take to school on Friday. For those who don't know what they are, it's basically an unfrosted sponge cake with jam or cream between the layers. Know why I'm doing this? Because Alicia's teacher announced that they weren't having a Halloween party like the rest of the school. It's a combined 4th and 5th grade class, the kids who are considered academically excelled, and according to her, they are now too old/mature for Halloween parties so instead they're having a cultural heritage party where each kid is responsible for bringing in some food item to share with the class that's part of their heritage.

When I heard about the reasons why they're not having a Halloween party, I laughed actually. The thought that 9 and 10 year-olds are too old for Halloween is ludicrous. I like Alicia's teacher, and the idea of a cultural heritage day is a great one, but as a substitute for Halloween?

I don't think so.

This has not been a good day. Craig worked most of the night and came to bed at 5. I was up 90 minutes later and in the shower, but when it came time to leave for school, the kids dawdled and we ended up not getting on the road until 7 minutes past our normal time. That 7 minutes is important because there are so many frigging schools around here. By leaving that much later, I got caught up in the school traffic, so my normal 5-7 minute trip to school took twice as long. Worse, on the ride home, I ended up getting caught in the traffic of everyone arriving at the high school, too. I avoid that when I leave earlier.

What did that mean today? That meant I got rear-ended.

I had gone past the front of the school, approaching the corner where I turn to go down the side (with yet another entrance for people to pull into) and into my neighborhood. The SUV in front of me started making the turn, then stopped because a kid was crossing the street. I stopped, with plenty of room and time, but the woman behind me didn't, and rammed into my backside. I couldn't pull over right away. Traffic is way too heavy for that. In fact, by the time I could pull over, I was half a block from my house so I just pulled into the driveway instead. She followed me, and we got out to inspect our cars. My van was fine, due to Craig's laziness on Sunday when he got back from sailing. He'd failed to take off the tow hitch like he usually does, and that was what the woman ended up hitting. Pieces of her car were stuck to it, and there were some scratches on my bumper, but that was it. She, in her sedan, had it worse, but I was more worried about the two-year-old she had strapped into the backseat. Thankfully, they were both fine, we agreed to part ways, and she left.

I was a tad shaken. Still am, actually. I didn't sleep great, and the headache I had from arguing with the kids only got worse after the accident. I'm trying to regroup. I think it's going to be a very long day.

New month, fresh start. Life is slowly finding a new order, so I'm going to do my damnedest to get back into the swing of LJ.

It's been an odd month. We're still getting settled into the new house - which I love - but it's a slow process as a lot of projects, like hanging curtains, have to wait until Craig is home on the weekends. I took the month off from working on any Jamie Craig stuff, which gave pepperlandgirl4 massive amounts of time to write two long ST fics, and yesterday, we picked up on a project that we've been wanting to get back to for over a year. We were invited last June to submit to MLR, so this is the story for that.

But being eager to get back into writing with Pepper has been tempered by my frustrations with a sequel I promised that I just can't get into. ( Because this turned into a rant and I mention last night's ANTM which has a spoiler in it )

Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like such a whiny bitca. It's been a crappy morning already, and it's only 9am. I made homemade cranberry/orange scones this morning in an attempt to cheer myself up - and because the kids are home on fall break so I wanted something special for them. So far, it hasn't worked.

Our moving schedule seems to be firm now.

Monday, 8/24 - Final walk-through
Friday, 8/28 - Get keys
Sat/Sun, 8/29-30 - Move small stuff ourselves
Monday, 8/31 - Truck arrives to move furniture/bulky stuff/most boxes

The kids will start at their new school after Labor Day then.

What this means? My next two weeks will be INSANE. Because on top of the move, I have to write one more sex scene to finish a 40k novella due 9/1, write 6-10k addition for novella at LSB due 8/27, write 15-18k part 3 of my gay lawyers series due 9/15, and write the Waltz sequel (anywhere from 70-100k) due 9/30.

And the finishing packing, school shopping for the kids, unpacking...

I'm tired already.

An update on mom: she's agreed to go to Mayo. We're not sure when. As soon as possible, but we're waiting to get the appointment. There's been some good results there, apparently, enough to give everyone hope.

My hip has been bothering me again since Saturday night. It's my punishment, lol. I've been back on the Tylenol arthritis since then, when I hadn't had to take any since June. Damn it.

Other than that...it's all work. And cooking. And baking in the heat. Just trying to survive. Until tomorrow. :)

Oops, it's 11pm and I haven't posted yet. It's been a long, busy day. There was cleaning, and then driving out to the new house to show it to pepperlandgirl4, slacker_97, and gigglestheblood, then back for more cleaning, and their arrival just before dinner. gigglestheblood had never seen "Boston Legal" so we've been watching S3 all night, and it's been incredibly distracting, lol.

But anyway, the Writers with Drink event last night was great. The first three authors ranged from ohmigod I can't believe I have to watch this to well, that wasn't too bad. Then there was an intermission, after which we got Adam Savage.

Adam's presentation was 100 things he wanted or wished for. He had them all written on their own notecards and he flipped through them as he read. Basically, it confirmed that Adam is the coolest person ever, lol. Some of the things he wished for?

1. A week on a Quentin Tarantino set.
2. A monkey. He'd settle for a friend with a monkey, because he imagines they're a lot of work.
3. Dinner with Joss Whedon.
4. For his kids to have jobs they love.
5. A library with super high super high ceilings with floor to ceiling shelves and those really cool ladders that slide around
6. To smack Dick Cheney in the face.
7. A light saber
8. To be friends with an elephant.

And so on, and so on. There was a ton of stuff about his wife's talents, and his kids, and secret rooms, and movies, and he was just so much fun. And he spent the whole thing sitting just 10 feet in front of me. Which, okay, silly fangirl stuff, lol.

But as much fun as Adam was, the final speaker was the absolute best. Dorothy Allison. Now, I'll admit I've never read Bastard Out of Carolina and won't because I can tell just from reading the summary and an excerpt it's going to trigger me in bad, bad ways, but after last night, I'm prepared to go out and buy all her other stuff. She was the most dynamic presenter. She read two short works that just blew us away.

I am so going to this again. They have monthly events, different people each time. It was hot and crowded, but they said it was a much bigger crowd than usual. Probably Adam Savage's presence. But it was just so refreshing. A room full of book geeks, enjoying a variety of words. Pretty damn amazing.

Oh, and what cracked me up? I wore my tie purse into the city, and within 15 minutes of finding my spot in the audience, this absolutely gorgeous guy sitting a couple feet away (with an equally adorable guy I suspect was his boyfriend) leaned over and said, "Is your purse really made out of ties?" I said yes, and he commented on how cool it was. The purse strikes again. :)

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 mentioned one of my purses awhile ago, and made a promise then that I was going to do a purse post, because, I have to admit, ( I'm a bag ho...this is not dial-up friendly )

The scary thing is that I do have others I didn't take pictures of. I'm going to cull a few out when I get around to packing them, but it's *really* hard for me to get rid of purses unless it breaks in some way. I always think I'll find some way of using it down the road, lol.