Sue Gourley Tagged Me with Eleven Cool Questions

One of the worst parts of being so busy with work and writing and family is that I never have time to spend reading blogs anymore. Blogs of my friends, of reviewers and fellow authors, of publishers and random cool people who have nothing to do with writing or books.

So I'm always really happy when I get tagged, as Sue Gourley did last week. (Along with Ava Quinn, TM Crone, Cate Masters, and Jon Sprunk.) I answered my questions before I read theirs, so any overlap is accidental.

Fun fact: Jon Sprunk is the son of my father-in-law's cousin, Fred. How incestuous is this business, anyway? LOL

1. Are you a Kindle, Nook, Ipad or other? Or none?

I own a Kindle 2, which was a Christmas gift a few years ago. I'm very happy with it, though I still like to read print books, too. I wouldn't want to read on a backlit screen. I have eyestrain bad enough already.

2. Who is smarter, you or your phone?

I am, because I have a cheap little flip phone that doesn't do much. :)

3. Do you like two story or one story homes?

Hmmmm. I like anything except split-level/bi-level, I think. I live in a ranch house (one story) but it has a finished, walk-out basement, so it's like a two story. I like space.

4. Country born and bred or city slicker?

Hybrid! I like space. :) But I also like convenience, and I like the energy of a city in small doses.

5. Cereal, toast, eggs or just coffee for breakfast?

I should eat more cereal. I hate eggs, but I usually have an English muffin or frozen waffles and tea if I make it at home, a mocha and croissant if I do Starbucks on the way to work.

6. What new show on TV has caught your interest this year?

I started late, but the buzz about Revenge intrigued me. My boss asked if I was watching when I was about halfway through the existing episodes. Now I have to watch it live so we can talk about it the next day. LOL I really like the characterization, cleverness, and mystery of it.

7. Have you ever bought a celebrity book? About whom?

Not that I can recall!

8. What is your favorite guilty snack?

I don't feel guilty about it, but I guess I'm supposed to: stove-popped popcorn with real butter and salt. It's one of those childhood things. :)

9. What was your favorite cartoon character growing up?

Oooh, good one, and tough. Every time I think of one my brain hops to another. I think it was Sylvester, though. Must have been the lisp.

10. Do you pack your lunch or carry it?

Neither! I work until 1:00, so I'm about equally split between picking up something bad for me on the way home and cooking a lunch when I get here.

11. What book have you read over and over again?

Most recently, Harry Potter, though I'm not sure it counts because I listen rather than read. I must have read all the Nancy Drew books and the Little House books dozens of times, but nothing else in adulthood. There are too many new books to read!

Okay, now it's my turn. I'm tagging:

MJ Fredrick (because I always do)

Misty Simon (because she hasn't blogged in over 2 months)

Cynthia D'Alba (because her book is out soon)

Robin Covington (because I never have)

Here are my 11 questions:

1. What foreign country would you most like to travel to that you haven't visited yet?

2. Name your most coveted gadget—unlimited budget, and something you don't currently have.

3. Do you have brothers and sisters? How often do you get to see them?

4. How much of your own wish fulfillment is put into your books?

5. If you dug into your basement/attic/back closet/whatever storage space, what item would you find that would make you go "I WONDERED where that was!"?

6. Have you ever had direct encounters with a wild animal? Describe the circumstances.

7. Who is your favorite non-famous musician/singer? If possible, provide a link to their music/website.

8. What's your favorite NFL team? Or professional team in general, if football isn't your thing.

9. What was the most fun job you ever had, besides your current one(s)?

10. Are you living where you want to live? If not, where's the home of your heart?

11. What book are you reading right now?

The Unreliability of Memory

My super-fantastic husband has been systematically cleaning out our boiler room over the past several weeks (hey, there's floor! and a workbench! and I can get to the oil tank without gouging out my abdomen on the weight bar!), and yesterday he found one of my old photo albums.

It has pictures in it from the end of my senior year of high school, graduation, the summer before college, and the weekend I arrived at Ohio Wesleyan. You know that funky slide into nostalgia you get when you look at stuff from 24 years ago? I'm kind of wallowing in it right now.

It's odd. I don't really consider myself a sentimental person. I told him to toss some ugly homemade ornaments from my childhood, including a particularly unfortunately clay design I made:

Me: Throw it away. It's ugly. 

Him: Nooo! It looks like poop!

But wow, do these photos have me missing the good old days. And that makes me resentful, because if there's anything I hate almost as much as close-minded absolutism, it's being a cliché. But after a childhood of being shy and introverted and picked on, my senior year of high school was pretty awesome. I'm very happy in the life I'm living now, so it's not like I'm wishing for change. I just miss some of the best parts of those times.

It's also interesting how faulty memory is, both good and bad. In mine, I'm always overweight. I lost 25 or so pounds that senior year of high school, and I weighed 117 when I left for college. I *know* intellectually how fantastic that is. But I don't remember it that way. I remember poochy belly and flabby inner thighs and jiggliness where you don't want it. But then I see this:

I look pretty good! If you ignore the 80s waistbands and hair. But OMG, the hair. I remember the curls from senior prom as being not the way I wanted them, but not awful. Um, yeah, they were awful. Very frizzy. I got what was supposed to be a spiral perm right before I went to college. I wanted it just like my friend Sue's, and I event went to her hairdresser. But I guess the wife usually did Sue's, I don't know. The husband cut and cut and cut and permed and cut some more. It was like a Brillo pad. Literally. Wiry and rough and tight and horribly, horribly short. I remember it as being bad...and still, it was worse.

I'm not posting those pictures. Some things should just remain off the Internet.

One side effect of nostalgia is a reminder of how grateful I am to all the kids in the Ichabod Crane Central High School classes of 1988 and 1989. They welcomed me into their classes and social circles, invited me to parties and *didn't* follow up by saying they didn't want to be friends with me anymore. Without them, I never would have gained the confidence and self-esteem that got me through college and gave me the ability to have the friendships I do now.

And maybe even more importantly, the passion to write romance novels.

The Versatile Blogger

On Monday, MJ Fredrick, whom I used to adore, nominated me for this award. The requirements:

1. Thank the folks who gave you the award and and link to them;
2. Share 7 things about yourself;
3. Pass along to 15 bloggers (and link to them); and
4. Pay it forward: Comment on their blogs to tell them they are now recipients of the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thanks, MJ! She said with no sarcasm whatsoever. :)

I'm going to cheat and pick my 7 things based on hers:

1. I love to fly. I especially love takeoffs and landings. I love looking out the window to see the country below, especially when it's unique (like Utah). I love the swooping sensation when we drop, and turbulence—in moderation, of course—is kind of cool.

2. I don't ever run sprinklers because it wastes water. But I DO like the sound of running water, preferably the ocean, but a waterfall will do. :)

3. I was raised Catholic until I was 7. Then I had my first communion and was allowed to recover. I mean, was allowed to choose my own religious path. :)

4. I would never rather clean anything. I mean, I have the things I mind less than others, but if I ever get enough money, I'm getting a housecleaning service again. It was the best thing we ever did and the worst thing I ever had to give up.

5. I've been saying I'm jealous of the people at National, but that's not completely accurate. I desperately wish I was there, I hate not connecting with the friends I only ever see there, and I hate losing the opportunities for networking that my career really needs right now. It doesn't really carry over to envy, though.

6. I've driven in NYC, DC, Philly, Columbus, and half the big cities on the Eastern Seaboard, Northern Division. :) Though many of those Eastern cities, it was just highways, not surface streets. The first four I listed, was actually in the city. I might have driven in Dallas, too, but I don't remember for sure.

7. Since I'm only two weeks into my job, it's hard to say what I dislike. Oh, wait. The sore feet and aching legs after my 4.5-hour shift and half an hour in the car. It got very hectic today, and I don't like patients waiting when that happens, but it's not a hate thing. It makes the day go really fast, and that's awesome.

Okay, 15 people. MJ didn't notify me, she just let me read it on her blog, so I'm not going to notify anyone, either. This way, if they don't want to do it, they can just pretend they never saw it. :)

1. Vicky Burkholder

2. Jody Wallace

3. Vicki Smith

4. Cathy McDavid (who blogs at The Gabwagon)

5. Mackenzie McKade

6. Trish Milburn

7. Cindy Procter-King

8. Tracy Madison

9. Ava Quinn

10. Susan Gourley

11. Megan Hart

12. Natasha Fondren

13. Melissa Bradley

14. Misty Simon

15. Gail the SciFi Chick

Coming Clean

Huh. I screwed up the rules. Honestly, I am NOT one of those writers who claims to be horrible at math. I've always been pretty decent at it. But somehow, I failed to add 1 to 6 and didn't end up with 7 things, but only 6.

Oh, well.

So, which are my truths and lies? Well, good liars know that good lies are always grounded in truth. So here's me coming clean:

1. I have been to several countries in Europe, and I don’t remember any of it.

This is 100% true. Some of the traveling was in utero, and some was postpartum, but all was before I was a year old. :)

2. When I was like 14, babysitting my brother, we got into a fight and I tried to stab him with a garlic press, and hit my hand instead. I still have the scar.

Again 100% true. I scared myself so badly when the blood welled up, I immediately stopped fighting with him. And went to tell the neighbor that no, even though I screamed I wanted to kill him at the top of my lungs, I didn't actually do so.

3. I have top security clearance because of my job at National Geographic, which means I could technically be told lots of state secrets.

HA! No one could have thought that was true. Pretty outrageous.

4. When I was dating my husband in college, his fraternity had a tradition that if a brother pinned his girlfriend, they carried him down to the sulfur spring, stripped him naked, and tossed him in. Then they gave him back his shoes and made him run naked back to the frat house, about half a mile. I got to see this happen to two of my husband’s brothers, but not him. He never pinned me.

Fully true. I think he gave me the pin after he graduated, but by then we were practically engaged, so it didn't count.

5. When I worked in DC, my aunt worked for Budget Rent-a-Car and she got me cars when I needed one for a trip home. One was a Lincoln Town Car. One was a red Mustang convertible. I kept that one a couple of extra days and took it up to 100 on the Beltway.

I hope she never reads this, that's all I can say.

6. In my summer job at Sarett Nature Center after my sophomore year of college, I got bit by all of the following: a raccoon, a barred owl, a black rat snake, a baby fox, an injured kestrel, and a tiny white mouse. Oh, and black flies.

Mostly a lie. I only got bit by the mouse and the flies. :) Someone else got bit by the black rat snake, when he was catching it (those puppies are FAST), and I don't think any of the others ever bit anyone.

Huh. I told more truth than lies. I guess I'm not that good at it after all! :)

One Lovely Blog!

A few days ago, Susan Gourley/Kelley generously gave me the One Lovely Blog award! I'm very honored, because as most of you know, I mostly just jump on here to be a know it all or spew about my day or rant about my problems (which are annoyingly minor) or brag about my kids (who are obnoxiously awesome) and stuff like that. There's no theme, no cohesion...it's just me. So being named for a grass roots award like this is very personal. Thank you, Sue!

Okay, first I'm supposed to list 10 facts about me, then nominate some new recipients of One Lovely Blog. Luckily, I followed the trail back a ways, and could find no rules about how many I can name. I don't think I can stick to three. :)

Stuff About Me You May Not Already Know, in Random, Off-the-Top-of-My-Head Order!

1. I'm overweight. That's the not the "interesting fact." A lot of weight loss material references eating massive amounts of food, like a whole cake. I've never done that. I never had binging issues. With one exception: Pringles! I can eat a whole can sometimes, though I never do it in one sitting. One day, occasionally.

2. I spent the summer after my sophomore year of college in Michigan, working at the Sarett Nature Center. I taught kids with a barred owl (Joey) on my wrist or a 6-foot boa (Charlie) over my shoulders, got bit by a wee little mouse, helped get a baby fox (Whizzer) and bunches of raccoons and an American Kestrel back into the wild, and mowed a lot of trails.

3. I spent the summer after my freshman year of college working a concession stand at the beach—Valentine's by the Sea. I took my breaks on the beach (lunch was usually a very awesome hamburger with bacon and onions, with fries) and when I remember it, I can recall smell of the salt breeze and the feel of the rough wood.

4. Vying with the previous two items for Favorite Job Ever, I worked at National Geographic Society for five months after I graduated. It was just an internship, and my sexist boss hired a guy for the permanent position I wanted, but as much as I love DC, we probably would have been less happy as a family, living down there instead of here in suburban PA.

5. I won 3rd place in the Ruth Davies Award for Excellence in Writing my sophomore year of college. It was for a paper on deforestation, which is very clearly not what I write now, but that award, combined with the articles I wrote for the paper when I was at Sarett, are what led me to become a writer, and to decide that at a relatively young age.

6. The job at National Geographic was mostly editing nonfiction abstracts for the 27th International Geographical Congress. I did my share of 500, split with one other guy. The abstracts were mostly written by non-native English speakers, so that job directly led to my freelance work.

7. I played the violin in 4th grade. I convinced my mother to let me stop after that because it made my arms tired and I wanted to grow my nails. I was a classic nailbiter in grade school, and it bugged me a little that I'd started to outgrow the habit but I had to keep clipping them so I could finger the strings. Every time I listen to "The Marriage of Figaro," I regret quitting.

8. This one might be a repeat: I was on the Equestrian Team in college. If I recall correctly, over the two years or so I showed, I won two fifths, a third, and a first. The horse I rode for the first was a retired Michigan State Police horse, and he's the sole reason I won.

9. If we'd had a boy, we'd have named him Mason James. Whichever of our daughters has children first is assigned that name for a boy child.

10. Every time we play Band Hero, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, or Rock Band 2 as a family, I have the lowest score. On easy.

That was harder than I expected it to be. Okay, now to pass on the award! Any of the ones in my blog roll are worthy. (Shoot, I just realized I didn't reinstate that when I changed my template. Bugger! Hang on while I update it...)

Well, good thing I had to do that, actually! Some of the ones I'd have awarded already got it. No sense doing it twice, right? So here are mine, chosen for how much they amuse me and brighten my day, and because my primary contact with them is online:

Meankitty/Jody Wallace/Ellie Marvel

Shannon Stacey

The Bandwagon

SciFi Chick/s

Mommy and MeMe

This is going around the Internet. I wondered if my kids would answer the same, so I had them write their answers down. Number One is 13.5 and Number Two is almost 10.

Ask your kid these questions and write them down exactly how they respond.

1. What is something mom always says to you?

Number One: *blank stare* then "what do you want?" (with regard to snack choices)
Number Two: Chew with your mouth closed.

2. What makes mom happy?

Number One: Jensen and Jared.
Number Two: When I chew with my mouth closed.

3. What makes mom sad?

Number One: Jared ditching the convention.
Number Two: When I don't chew with my mouth closed.

At this point, Number Two was cracking herself up.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

Number One: Sarcasm.
Number Two: By not trying to make us laugh.

5. What was your mom like as a child?

Number One: IDK, like me?
Number Two: Poofy hair.

6. How old is your mom?

Number One: 38
Number Two: 38

7. How tall is your mom?

Number One: approximately 5'2"
Number Two: 5'6", taller than me, way taller than me, huge

I'm actually 5'4", thank you very much.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

Number One: Blog, IM, giggle over hot guys...basically being a teen.
Number Two: Write and read.

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around?

Number One: Same as 8, then clean, go to the club, or work
Number Two: Watch TV and invite friends over

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Number One: Writing a bestselling novel
Number Two: Writing romance novels

11. What is your mom really good at?

Number One: Writing, listening
Number Two: Writing romance novels, cleaning

12. What is your mom not very good at?

Number One: Listening, yelling
Number Two: Making me laugh, tickling

13. What does your mom do for her job?

Number One: An author, and she does editing work on the side
Number Two: Editing and writing books and stories

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?

Number One: Pasta, chocolate, Pringles
Number Two: Popcorn

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Number One: She achieved her goal of becoming a full-time writer, and she isn't that embarrassing
Number Two: She's a successful author who published many books

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Number One: Marge Simpson (from the movie, common sense person)
Number Two: Wanda from Fairly Oddparents (she likes things in order)

17. What do you and your mom do together?

Number One: Watch Supernatural, eat, and read
Number Two: Play games and read

18. How are you and your mom the same?

Number One: Infinite possibilities: we both like to write and read, we both have the same food tastes, we like the same TV shows, guys, have basically the same conversations, and impatient
Number Two: We both like to read

19. How are you and your mom different?

Number One: She's a little bit more temperamental *cringes in fear*
Number Two: I love to play soccer; Mom didn't when she was my age

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Number One: She tells me every night, and yells it out the door when I leave for school
Number Two: Hugs, kisses, smiles, says "I love you"

21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?

Number One: Megan's, the movies, club
Number Two: Her office and the café

MeMes

Who is Your Ideal TV Boyfriend?

More on Gossip Girl. Created by BuddyTV

Who Is Your Ideal Leading Man?

Created by BuddyTV

Are You Compatible With The Supernatural Boys?

More on Supernatural. Created by BuddyTV

Which TV Bad Boy is Right For You?

Created by BuddyTV

Totally Bogus

Here's the readability rating for my Blogspot blog:

TV Reviews

Here's the readability rating for my Livejournal blog:

TV Reviews

They have the exact. same. content.

I'm so disillusioned.

Thank Goodness, Right?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Names and Stuff

I haven't found myself with much to say lately. Been busy, of course, as we all are at this time of year. Most of what came to mind was of the "why I love December" variety, but geez, how many years in a row do you want to hear that?

So.

I bought Necco wafers today. I can't stop eating them. I bought one assorted and one chocolate and they're both half gone. I suppose that's not too bad, considering I bought them 8 hours ago.

Today Megan Hart posted about her name, and asked "Do you like your name?" Because I tend to be long-winded, and because I had no recent posts, I decided to answer here instead of there.

So. Again.

Do I like my name?

Mostly yes.

I was born Natalie Jeanne Jacobus. Let's break that down, 'kay?

I never disliked Natalie that I can recall. I've always tried to go against the crowd (without going all the way to outright rebellion), and I liked having a name no one else had. There was one other Natalie in my entire school district (as far as I could tell), and we never crossed paths. I may have had a short-lived dislike of the unusualness of it, maybe around first or second grade, but it wasn't very intense, and I came to appreciate not being Jennifer.

On the other hand, I never liked Jeanne. Still don't. When I got married, I eliminated it from my legal name.

Jacobus was always pretty cool, too, despite the typical "Fatalie Jacopiss" and "Jacobitch" taunts. It was unique; different from Jacobs, which was more common. But I never linked my identity to my name, and while I have solid respect for everyone's right to decide how to combine their married names and a mild resentment for the expectation that the woman has to give up hers, Jacobus-Damschroder was even more cumbersome than my favorite teacher's name (Albright-Rivenburg). Plus, logistically, it seemed mean. What if my daughter, Dakota Jacobus-Damschroder, wanted to marry, say, Dean Erickson-Patton? (Just as a hypothetical, there's no boy by that name.)

So now I'm Natalie Jacobus Damschroder and I will not give up the J. Professionally I am Natalie J. Damschroder, my signature is usually NJ Damschroder (because otherwise it's too damn long), and I even like my initials, NJD.

But wait! There's more!

Nicknames.

People generally tend to shorten Natalie to Nat. Growing up, I HATED Nat. Hated everything about it. I tried really hard to keep people from using it, but that was difficult, and I realized at some point that I minded the idea of it more than the actuality. IRL, I barely noticed it when it happened. So I let it go. Many people still use it.

Someone tried to call me Nate for a while. THAT I put a stop to right quick.

A hearing impaired friend called me Nad. That was before that word got used much for something else, I think, or at least before we were old enough to understand the slang use.

But my lifelong nickname has been Nuj, and of course, there's a story behind it.

My mother's initials were TAM (for Teresa Agnes Miller, and yes, she most definitely dropped the Agnes when she got married, and did not take it back after she got divorced and reverted to Miller). She always wanted people to call her Tammy, but no one ever did. I didn't know her then, obviously, but she never struck me as much of a Tammy. (My childhood best friend was Tammy Moran. Hey, Tam, if you Google yourself, give me a holler!)

Fast forward to my birth, where my father commented on my initials being NJJ. "NJJJJ," he said. "What can you make with that?" So Nuj was born. It led to Nujie (which my little brother used most), and Nujer-Buj, and cutesy stuff like that. I did have a longer period of acute hatred of this name, in my tweener years, but I outgrew it and by high school, I lovedlovedloved it and actively encouraged it.

When my mother went to Washington (state) to visit the guy who'd become my stepdad, I told her the souvenir I wanted was a shirt with Nuj on it. They didn't know where to put it, so she came home with a baseball-style shirt with Nuj in script on the upper left chest, down both arms, and on the tail.

I miss that shirt.

So that's it. I still use Nuj. It's in my e-mail address, my LiveJournal name, and a lot of message board usernames. I even have a personalized license plate with it. If I were to have a gravestone when I die (which I won't), it would be on it.

I often wonder if my uncommon first name and totally unique nickname have led to my preference for unusual names both in my kids and for my characters. With my kids, the names were uncommon when I picked them, but we apparently tapped into a burgeoning zeitgeist with both. Number One only has one kid with her name in her entire class, a boy, but they often wind up in class together. Number Two has kids ahead of her and behind her with her name. No one in her class so far, but plenty of variants. It really galls me to look trendy. *sigh*

Your turn! Tell me your name story in the comments! Be as long or as short as you want. :)

My "Blog" Personality

AHAHAHAHAH. No.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The analysis indicates that the author of http://www.nataliedamschroder.blogspot.com is of the type:

ESFP - The Performers

[ESFP]
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

Typealyzer

I Want It All

I've had "I Want It All" running through my head all morning, for no reason at all. I didn't hear it, I didn't see the words somewhere, it's just there. I was trying to get it out, because Hello! High School Musical! *gag* But then I thought about the words, and hell, yeah, I want it all. So maybe I need to be like what's-her-face with the dog's name and just go for it. Maybe the mental is what I'm missing.

I was raised by a lapsed Catholic who struggled between what she was taught and what she taught us. Both sank in, one insidiously. Poverty is noble, hide your light under a bushel, do for others first, yourself dead last, and so on. I try to maintain balance (like, not go to the other extreme) and most of the time succeed. But when it comes to personal success, I have a hard time even breaking center.

While I work hard to achieve my goals, I think part of me believes I don't deserve them, or believes that if I think I deserve them, that's bragging and putting myself above others and that's not the right way to be. So consciously or not, I avoid it.

I know that In Real Life, there are always trade-offs. I don't regret the choices we've made or the sacrifices that come with them, and in most areas, they help me check off the list of things that qualify for "All." But that doesn't mean we have to settle.

I want my kids to get fabulous educations, and my husband to have a great, flexible job that he loves where he doesn't have to wear a suit. I want to not worry about money, which means making more money in the career I'm passionate about, the career that has led to those sacrifices we've made. I want success for my friends, so our get-togethers are a constant stream of celebration. I want my promotional efforts to actually work. I want to see my scattered family more than once a year. I want at least one of my books to be made into a movie, and to be allowed to lurk on the set anytime I want to while it's filming. I want Supernatural to last for five more years with no decrease in quality, and I want to meet Jensen and Jared in such a way that I stand out from all the screaming fangirls and they like me as a person and text me from time to time with things like "Jared is really smelly today" and "Jensen won't keep his hands out of my hair" and "We start hiatus next week, wanna hang out?"

Okay, maybe that's getting a little carried away. :)

Bottom line: I'm not going to chase that song out of my head. At least not today.

Aside: I was watching video of the Supernatural Convention, and I was amazed at all the people who talked about watching the show with their daughters, sons, and even grandmothers, and how the boys treated them all the same. They didn't have more respect for the adults, or give more attention to (or talk down to) the kids. They joked equally with everybody and appreciated everyone who was there. There's no reason why they shouldn't, but I still liked it.

Just a Few Things I Love

1. Reading about myself on other people's blogs, especially when they don't use names, and, of course, when it's good stuff they're saying.

2. LOLcats. No matter what kind of day I've had, they make me laugh and laugh.

3. LOLdogs. Not yet achieving the consistent brilliance of the cats, but what can you do? They're dogs, after all.

4. Matt Cassel. Backup quarterbacks are always scrutinized, but when you haven't started a game since high school and you're following quite possibly the best player in the position ever, you're facing a whole new level of difficulty. Cassel has poise, class, and gorgeous eyes. And he's doing his job right. Gotta love him.

5. Saturday, we went shopping for Halloween costumes. Got a tan trench coat at Goodwill for $15 (excellent!) and black wings at Party City for $25 (eek!) plus some black and glitter hair spray. Add a button-down shirt and an askew tie, and you've got a warrior from God. Yep, Number One is going trick-or-treating as an angel from Supernatural. Not Castiel, because she wants to stay female, but modeled on him. It bothers her not a whit that no one will know what the hell she is. She dealt with the same thing last year when she was Tonks. The point is pleasing herself, not getting attention.

6. Kids who are secure enough to please themselves, not the world around them.

I'm Such a Rule-Follower

I've seen this meme twice now, and I feel too guilty ignoring it again. So I'm taking a page from Megan's book (not her book, actually, though that's a lovely set of covers--scroll down if you click over, see her meme post) and posting just a PART of me.

Take a picture of yourself right now. Don’t change your clothes. Don’t fix your hair. Just take a picture. Post that picture with no editing. (Except maybe to get the image size down to something reasonable. Don’t go posting an eight megapixel image.) Include these instructions.

I didn't realize my lips are so damned crooked!

Wanna hear something weird?

I took Number Two to a local college's women's soccer game today. Guess who their opponent turned out to be? Never mind, you'll never guess. I'll tell you.

Ohio Wesleyan University!

What do you mean, so what? Haven't you memorized my bio? Sheesh. OWU is my alma mater! The reason I can check "Graduated College" in all those surveys. Anyway, I rooted for them instead of Messiah. They lost, 7-1. Messiah is scary good.

Football tomorrow! Man, I love fall weekends.

Wild Wednesday

Discerning readers will notice I have a new blog template. Whatcha think?

In updating my Gadgets (see to the right), I found that Blogger has a whole bunch of new things. I added a few. It would be cool if you became a Follower, if you are a Blogger user--that will make me look cool, as opposed to foolish, as I do now, with ZERO followers. You can do it anonymously.

I know the Supernatural Gadget doesn't fit on the sidebar, but LOOK! New promo!

Scroll down a little and you can see not only the blogs on my list, but when they were updated (I'd point out that Misty Simon is on the bottom of the list, but she won't read this to notice I'm picking on her, so never mind) and even what kind of blog it is (or the blog's special icon, for Sophisticated Bloggers).

I was looking at my sitemeter stats and found that while my search strings aren't as fun as Shannon Stacey's are, they can amuse. Apparently, most people who find me randomly are searching for TV spoilers. Unfortunately for them, it's the shows I don't talk about that often. I also had "boys don't realize" and "secret sneaker liar" near the top of the list. The former took them to this post, the latter to a post that briefly mentioned the store by that name.

Mary tagged me with this meme.

Rules:
I am going to list three categories of books: 5 MUST Read Books, 5 Books on Your Nightstand, and 5 Look For These Soon. Anyone I tag should put these same lists on their blog but SUBTRACT one book from each list and ADD one of their own. (I've highlighted my additions) Then they should tag at least 5 more bloggers. It will be fun to see how the lists change as it goes around the blogosphere. Please come back to this post and leave a comment so I can see how the lists are changing as they go around the blogosphere!

(Since this is Book Buzz…please keep your lists to titles released in 2007-2009.)

5 MUST Read Books:
Not Without Her Family by Beth Andrews
A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson
Cast in Stone by Kerry A. Jones
Yellow Moon by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Bobbie Faye's Very (very, very, very) Bad Day by Toni McGee Causey

5 Books on the Nightstand:
Last Dance at the Jitterbug Lounge by Pamela Morsi
Nightswimming by Rebecca James
Pleasure by Eric Jerome Dickey
From Harvey River by Lorna Goodison
The Queen's Bastard by CE Murphy

5 Look For These Soon:
Wanted by Shelley Shephard Gray
After the Fire: A True Story of Friendship and Survival by Robin Gaby Fisher
Midnight: A Gangster Love Story by Sister Souljah
A Firefighter in the Family by Trish Milburn
Stranger by Megan Hart

I tag anyone who wants to do it.

Oh, shoot. My day is almost over! Number Two will be here in 20 minutes and I haven't eaten lunch yet. :(

Help, New MeMe, and Winchesters

I've started a new book, and I need some input.

Remember the movie Sweet Home Alabama? Reese Witherspoon wants to marry her rich fiancé but can't until she gets a divorce from her redneck ex. She winds up with the redneck ex.

My book has a certain basis in that premise. The heroine has a past that has come back to threaten her. She dumps the fiancé to protect him and his family but knows she's not safe until she solves the problem, so she goes back to her former flame, who is now a mercenary and the only person she knows who could maybe help her. But the fiancé surprises her and insists on helping. So there are two potential heroes, both of whom defy the labels she has placed on them, both of whom are worthy of her. I don't know who she winds up with yet.

My dilemma is, should I write the book all in her POV (it's third person) or include both heroes' POVs?

Having all three POVs is highly unconventional, even more unconventional than having two heroes in the first place (outside of erotic romance, I suppose, which this book is not). But I think the book would be richer and more emotionally engaging if we saw inside the guys' heads.

So tell me...what would you like to read?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trish Milburn has started her own meme. Please participate, if you are so inspired!

Famous People Meme — Which famous person in each of the following categories would you like to meet?

Author — My first thought was Jim Butcher, but Trish said JK Rowling and that's a good one, too. Many of my other favorites, I've had the great fortune to have met already.

Movie Actor — Jason Bateman, I think. I still have semi-obsessions with Brendan Fraser, Orlando Bloom, and Joaquin Phoenix, and Jonathan Rhys Myers, but I'm so impressed with Jason's acting, and he seems like the kind of guy who'd sit down and talk to me about writing and acting and the business and stuff, without acting like he's doing me a favor.

TV Actor — Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, total no-brainer.

Musician/Singer — Jason Manns

Historical Figure — No idea. Maybe Laura Ingalls.

Fictional Book Character — Harry Dresden

Fictional Movie or TV Character — Sam and Dean (from Supernatural, of course)! And also Derek Reese from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of my "friends" have been successfully keeping me (among other people) away from my writing challenge with Winchester videos. As a result, I find Winchester vids peppering the blogs I read. I might as well join in! Here's one of my favorites:

Six Things Tag

I was tagged by Megan Hart to share six things about myself.

The rules:

a. Link to the person who tagged you.
b. Post the rules on your blog.
c. Write six random things about yourself.
d. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
e. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment at their blog.
f. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

So here we go:

1) Like Megan, I have never broken a bone. Officially. I think I broke my finger a couple of years ago, playing football, but I just borrowed a splint until it felt better.

2) I don't go to the doctor much.

3) Number One is taller than me now, by about a quarter inch, which obviously means she's taller than I was at age 12. She's also about two bra sizes larger (than me at 12). HGH, I'm telling you!

4) One of my favorite pieces of art is a pencil drawing my brother did when he was, I think, in high school. It's of a hand flipping the bird. It's not hanging on my wall.

5) I'm not very sentimental. I keep things because I feel like I should more than because I want to.

6) I use bath towels more than once. I mean, I'm clean when I dry my body, and it's incredibly wasteful to use a new one every time you shower. But I was roundly derided by my former boss when this came up in conversation (she was whining about having to do laundry for five people's towels every single day). She said "It's like wiping your butt and then wiping your face!" I didn't have a comeback at the time, but a dozen years later, I still think of that conversation nearly every time I get out of the shower, and wish it wasn't too late to say, "Ohhhh, I see, you don't CLEAN your butt when you shower!"

There you go. Six things about me I'm sure you are thrilled that I've shared.

I'll tag Shannon, Jody, Trish, Mary, Gail, and Cindy.

MeMe

My Personality

Neuroticism	54
Extraversion	34
Openness to Experience	61
Agreeableness	69
Conscientiousness	66

You are a calm person who is considered almost fearless by some, however you feel strong cravings and urges that you have difficulty resisting. You tend to prefer short-term pleasures and rewards over long-term consequences. You tend to feel overwhelmed by, and therefore actively avoid, large crowds. You often need privacy and time for yourself. You are not interested in the arts and do not display aesthetic sensitivity. You dislike confrontations and are perfectly willing to compromise or to deny your own needs in order to get along with others, however you feel superior to those around you and sometimes tend to be seen as arrogant by other people. You have strong will-power and are able to overcome your reluctance to begin tasks. You are able to stay on track despite distractions.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. The best Buying Pet Gifts.

MeMeMeMe

Monica tagged me!

The rules:
Once you're tagged, you have to write a blog with ten (10) random things, facts, goals or habits about yourself. At the end, you choose ten (10) people to tag, listing their names and why you chose them. You also have to leave them a comment telling them "you're it," and instruct them to read your blog for instructions. The rules also state you can't tag a person who's already tagged you.

Let's see if I can think of 10 things I haven't posted already.

1. I used to be the newsletter editor for the local chapter of the Cleveland Browns Backers fan club. The internet made the task obsolete, but I did a nice layout and got football news from old-fashioned bulletin boards. I mean, old-fashioned computer BBs, that is.

2. I took sailing lessons the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college. I don't remember any of it. That was the same summer I worked on the beach. Man, that was a great summer. Of course, I also worked at Blockbuster, so I didn't have a lot of leisure time.

3. I am hard to live with. Okay, okay, stop laughing, I guess everyone knows that. I get cranky easily, I'm selfish and self-focused, and I hate to clean.

4. I own TWO jars of Foxboro Stadium dirt.

5. If we'd had a boy, he would have been named Mason James. I liked Tasslehoff Nelson Damschroder, but Jim objected. I think Tas is an awesome name for a kid. Points for you if you know the literary reference. :)

6. The "E" on my keyboard is completely worn away. L, O, and S are soon to follow. I guess that's not something about me, really. I mean, what could it reveal? That I use the same most-frequent letters as everyone else? Please don't point out that it spells "LOSE," thank you.

7. I try not to fear things. Like something happening to my kids, or major diseases for me or anyone in my family, or disasters, or whatever. Stuff that's mostly out of my control. I have a theory that fearing things attracts them to us, based only on a lot of people having their biggest fears happen to them. I mentioned this to a psychic once, and she pooh-poohed it, but I don't think it's a bad strategy anyway. I mean, there's no value in getting anxious about breast cancer or child abduction, right?

8. I write romance because I am addicted to falling in love. In real life, I would never change my choices. My husband is the perfect partner for me, I love my life, my children, my job. But there is nothing like the feeling of falling in love. I joke about falling in love with TV characters and shows and movies and stuff, and I do, but that's all superficial. When I'm writing about two people falling in love, I can actually live it. It lasts a lot longer than reading a book does (taking me four to twelve times as long to complete writing than reading). And I can't imagine that ever changing.

9. I don't like to write dark. I like adventurous, upbeat plots, even if the end of the world as we know it is imminent. I don't write a lot of tortured characters or get into the heads of evil people. I have a difficult time killing important secondary characters, and I never write about murder and that kind of mayhem. But I just got an idea for a book, and guess what it has? A tortured hero. Death and evil (governmental evil, even). Mayhem and probably murder, I don't think I can write it without that. And I'm kind of excited about writing it, too. Mostly because of the hero, of course.

10. I hate being wrong. Not to the extent of failing to admit it when I am, because I think in order to have people listen when you are sure you're right, you have to be willing to admit when you're not. But I try hard to make sure what I think I know is correct. Not that this is a unique trait, of course. But it wounds me. For example: I always pronounced "contrived" as "kon-try-ved." My whole life. But then I heard someone say it as "kon-tree-ved," and it had to be someone I deemed "in the know" because I started pronouncing it that way. No big deal when it's in my head, but I used it in front of friends recently, and they made fun of me. Teased me about it for DAYS, including in front of people who had no idea what was going on. I cried inside, and vowed never again to take a chance. I'll find a way to avoid saying words of more than two syllables from now on.

So there you go. Now, to punish by tagging...Megan, Jody, Misty, Vicki, Vicky, Mary, Trish, Jacki, Gail, and Karmela. I picked you guys just by going down my blogroll, so you may or may not be deserving of punishment. :)

Missing Mass.

Some of you may know that I grew up in Massachusetts.

Obligatory Exchange:

You: Funny, you don't have an accent.

Me: Only Bostonians have an accent. I'm from Western Mass. We enunciate more clearly than any other region of the country, or so I've been told.

(I've since met more people from all over the country, and while it may be partially true, there are accent-less people everywhere.)

Anyway. I lived in MA from age 1 to age 16, when my mother remarried and we moved to upstate New York (halfway between Hudson and Albany). A year later, I went to college in Ohio, and six months after that, they moved to Connecticut. I lived in Michigan, California (for two weeks), Maryland, and now Pennsylvania, where I've lived second-longest.

But you never forget your home state. I was lucky, and have mostly good memories. I evoke my New-Englandness several times every winter:

"I grew up in New England. I learned to drive through the Berkshires. I'm not afraid of a little snow."

I miss a lot about Mass. The foliage (it's okay down here, not always spectacular). The real snow (we get more than six inches about every three years). The solidarity (It's hard to be a Pats fan amongst Steelers, Eagles, Redskins, and Ravens fans, though it could be worse--I could be living in Indianapolis).

But you know what I miss most?

The presence of the word "wicked" in my vocabulary. As in, "Those Pats were wicked awesome this year."

I need to go home.