Yesterday's Near-Death Experiences

Today I am nowhere but here. Tomorrow I will be at The Qwillery, so come join us! I'm giving away a gift certificate to the online bookstore of your choice.

So yesterday morning, I arrived at work and hit the bottom step to the employee entrance. In a split second, that foot shot sideways, and I came down on my shin (dented, bruised) and knee (scraped, bruised, still achy). The knee slam aggravated my right hip, too.

On the way home last night, I'm driving along, slowing as I near a busy intersection. Now, I'm on a major road that has no stop signs or stop lights for at least 5 miles. There were cars ahead of me and behind me, and stopped on either side, exiting side roads. I locked on the guy on my right for some reason, maybe his car was inching out. He was watching to his right. You know how you just KNOW something is going to happen, even if you don't think it in so many words?

Yeah, he pulled out, still not looking in my direction, making a left turn across my lane. I did the slam-and-swerve, as his rear fender filled my vision. I had two seconds of resignation, sure I was going to spin him around, but I swear I missed his bumper by just a couple of inches. I thought he bumped me on the way by because my car lurched, but it was either my car settling after the violent stop, or the car behind me bumped me. I actually have no idea if there was a car behind me, because I was too busy watching the jackass in my rearview mirror, continuing on down the road without even a flash of brakes.

Guess I jammed my right wrist and the seatbelt had fun with my left shoulder and neck. Those are better than they were last night, but still twingy. And I'm still pissed at the MFer who can't look both ways.

And THEN! This is the best one. I was sitting at the dining room table, using my laptop. Frisbee jumped up behind me, as she is wont to do, and stretched up to put her paws on my shoulders. Then she tried to sit back down, but her claws got caught in my sweater. I gagged and choked a "help!" until Number Two came out to unhook those claws I couldn't reach.

*glares at needy cat*

What? I wanted petting.

So far, today has been a much safer day.

What's your most memorable near-death experience?

Back to the Genius of Borax

Today has turned into quite a different day than I'd planned.

I've spent a lot of time at the Goodreads Q&A, and doing other promotion. There's an intense discussion going on one of my publisher e-mail loops, and I helped a friend with a query.

When I made lunch, I ended up watching two episodes of The Mentalist. (The last one had the police chief from "Dead on the Water" AND Henry Thomas from ET!) Those took longer than normal because the power kept flicking off, then back on. Thank goodness my computer is on a power supply!

Oh, and I posted a lot on Twitter and Facebook.

So even though I got up early and didn't have to spend 160 minutes on soccer, I've only crossed 4 out of 11 things of my to-do list. But I've had a heckuva lot of fun. :)

So let's get on to Supernatural!!!

I so loved "Slash Fiction." I mean, it was awful to spend every minute thinking Sheriff Jody was really a Leviathan. (I'm still not convinced she was Jody, even though I really, really hope she was!) But the way she looked at Bobby, and the way he interacted with her, was delightful.

And I didn't like that Sam found out about Dean's lie about Amy, and that he took off. But I'm strangely less bothered than I should be. I mean, in past years, I HATED the secrets and lies. And this year they've been trying hard not to do that. But Sam's reaction was so appropriate, and Dean's response just as much so, that I couldn't be annoyed. Dean accepted Sam's anger as his due, but not in the crushed, defensive, despairing way, because he believed in what he did.

In fact, I think Dean has a new level of confidence. Not just the "good at my job" confidence and "sugar for every woman's tea" cockiness, but a deeper acceptance of himself. It's partly in the writing, but mostly in Jensen's oh-so-awesome acting.

(I could be full of it, projecting, seeing ridiculous subtext that's not there. I'd love to know if anyone agrees with me. Even if you don't, I get silly-happy imagining Jensen hearing my thoughts and being thrilled that I saw what he was trying to do. LOL)

I loved the way they handled the Leviathans. There's no story breakdown here. No holes or convenient leaps of logic. These beings are natural, powerful, ancient, there's no lore on them because they haven't been part of our world since we started creating lore. But 800-year-old witches are extremely powerful, so we can buy that they have a spell that would paralyze any enemy and lock down its powers. You don't live to be 800 without serious defensive magic, right?

Bobby pointed out, "You can bleed...you can die." All living creatures can die, and even ones who aren't truly "living" can die, too. It's part of God's creation signature. :) And everything has a weakness, usually one that occurs naturally (not counting holy water). Salt defeats demons and ghosts, silver gets shapeshifters and werewolves, iron harms ghosts and fairies. In real life, there is PLENTY that occurs naturally that poisons humans and animals and even plants. It's part of the circle of life, right?

So I got really excited when Bobby told Dean to use sodium borate. It's naturally occurring (from, according to Wikipedia, the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes), just like salt. But not as common and low-brow as salt, just like the Leviathans are not common and low-brow.

The Big-Mouth Bobby experimented on was awesome. I love that these guys are smart. "Mensa Monsters," Bobby called them. They're smart-mouth, too, but not in the sneering, derisive way demons are, which showcases their insecurities and envy. No, the Leviathans are confident in their ability to take care of any potential threat. Even once that threat stepped up their game and took heads.

How funny was Bobby, slicing that guy's head off? "It's a start."

We got to meet the leader of the Levs. He was slick and in charge, as you'd expect, but slick and in charge as a human, too, which is not so much as I expected. Which makes me wonder how long he's been out there. I mean, sure, the other Levs gained knowledge and ability with each body they emulated, but I find it a little hard to believe this guy could just slide into the body of a...what? Respected politician? Billionaire businessman (my guess)?...without anyone being suspicious. There'd have to be SOME inconsistencies. So I suspect he may have been out of purgatory for a long time.

By the time a show reaches season 7, clip shows are inevitable. Most sitcoms and dramas do either a non-fiction retrospective, where they separate the episode into themes and include clips to illustrate those themes, or do, like, 5 minutes of new material that's essentially "remember when" intros of the clips. Supernatural is flawlessly integrating clips—teeny, tiny pieces you almost have to work to place, sometimes—into all-new episodes. It marries nostalgia with story progression, and I love it!

Which brings me to the other nostalgia factor in "Slash Fiction." Number One mentioned it first. I'd noticed it, but on a more subconscious level. Consciously, I was just thinking, "Jericho, that's significant because it's prominent on the bank wall, but why is it familiar?" I was thinking of the short-lived TV show, of course. But Number One immediately said "I just flashed to Ron and the laser eyes!" And sure enough, that whole scene was reminiscent of "Nightshifter."

How clever is that? They were in Jericho, where "Pilot" took place, but evoked "Nightshifter" in Milwaukee. Conor's Diner in St. Louis reminded me of the diner in "Mystery Spot," as well as the one in "Mommy Dearest." And once they were arrested in Ankeny, Iowa (I had to get my DVDs to look that one up—"Hookman," for anyone else who couldn't remember), it was eerily similar to "Jus in Bello" while also bringing to mind "The Usual Suspects." Just small, subtle touches that gave the whole episode a comfy feel. :)

I'll finish up with the best part of all: Dean singing "I'm All Out of Love" so passionately! The look on his face when he sang, and when he tried not to let Sam see, and when Sam did see, and the look on Sam's face, so confused and disgusted. We laughed so hard! Man, I love these guys.

Okay, I think I've exhausted my supply of gushiness. Any comments on the episode? What do you think of the season so far?

WTF Weather, Ask an Author, and BORAX, BABY!

SO much to talk about today!

As many of you know, the northeast is experiencing or anticipating a massive snowstorm today. This isn't the earliest I've had one, but the early October three-footer was in upstate (Albany area) New York in 1987. So this is significant.

We got notice last night that Number Two's soccer game was probably going to be canceled. It was a 9:00 game, 40 minutes away, so we had to leave by 7:40 a.m. I got up at 6 to see if they'd officially canceled, and there was no word. So we went.

Number One bundled up in sweats over jeans, three pairs of socks in my waterproof construction boots, a long-sleeved shirt under her sweatshirt under her father's sweatshirt that he's never going to see again. Number Two caved and wore her under-armour-style leggings. We headed out.

And got about 4 miles before we got the phone call. Really? Come on, people!

The battery for our camera is completely dead, and I'm not sure where the charger is, so here are some crappy cell phone pictures of the view through my office window (in the basement):

Taken at 9:28 a.m., just as it started snowing big, fat flakes that you can't see at all.

 

Taken at 10:08 a.m.

 Taken at 10:52 a.m., already over an inch of fluffy snow on the ground

I do believe we may get that 6–10 inches after all! So much for my scoffing on Tuesday, when it was a 50% chance of happening at all.

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I am having a GREAT time today in the Ask an Author, Win a Book Corner at Goodreads today! This lasts October 29–31, so come on over, read the great questions and my hopefully not lame answers, and maybe ask a couple of questions of your own.

Tomorrow I'll be at the Coffee Thoughts blog at Coffee Time Romance, with posts throughout the day. Regular posts, excerpts, blurbs, and books I've recently loved.


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I'm dying to talk about last night's Supernatural, but it will be looong, so I'll do a new post. Look for it later today! (Preview: OMG Borax is ingenious!)

Random Thoughts on Bees, Age, and Clear Skies

• Age does not automatically make someone worth listening to. Experience can bring wisdom, but it can also reinforce prejudice and rigid thinking. I respect everyone's right to an opinion, but being 94 doesn't turn those opinions to gold.

• The horror of nature's destructive forces can't be overstated. But the flip side of a hurricane is incredible clarity and freshness. I'm drunk on the breeze coming through my window.

• We have a colony of bumble bees nesting in some old rodent holes in our backyard. If the rains didn't drown them out last night, we'll have to get them taken care of, because apparently—and contrary to what I was told all my life—they not only sting, they can be nasty about it. But wow, are they stupid! We watched them coming and going for a few minutes Saturday, and they had a really hard time finding the holes. They kept landing and trying to burrow into solid ground.

• Google "stupid ground bees," and guess what comes up? Government stuff! :)

• Last night's episode of Doctor Who was brilliant. I find myself longing to be in the middle of a past season so I can marathon new episodes again. This waiting stuff sucks. But the mind-twisty writing, the acting, the depth of emotion, and the places this storyline can go...delicious.

• Drawing is still open for a copy of Cathy Pegau's Rulebreaker! Click here and comment!

• Writing is going very well today, so I shall get right back to it. Fill my comments with your random thoughts!

Pushing Spring

I'm not one to want to hurry through the seasons. Sure, I hate March in particular and by the time winter and summer are waning, I'm more than ready for spring and fall. But generally, I like the seasons and try to enjoy them while they're here.

Not this year. I'm sick of writing massive checks for oil every two weeks, and getting up super early to drive slowly to work while my kids sleep in because school was canceled (and get to work only to have 90% of my patients not show up, anyway).

So you know what? Let's fast forward a little bit. To May. May 1st, to be exact, and the start of Brenda Novak's 2011 Online Auction to Benefit Diabetes Research.

This year, I'm participating! I don't mean just drooling over stuff that has bids way above what I can afford, or buying tickets for the incredible raffles, or bidding on a bunch of stuff I CAN afford (assuming I don't win it all...).

First, I'm offering a Proofreading/Polishing of a Partial Manuscript. If you're a writer and proper spelling, grammar, and sentence structure are the bane of your existence, you might want to check it out.

Not a writer? That's cool! Carina Press authors are offering up a boatload of stuff. An entire page of stuff, in fact. In addition to first-chapter critiques by a multitude of authors, we're donating a NOOK Color and a Kindle, both loaded with e-books. There will be a breakfast with Carina authors attention the RWA National conference this June, too.

It's not too early to head over and start browsing. There are TONS of awesome items, no matter what you like.

That Week Was at Least Two Weeks Long

Reasons (both good and bad) why this week felt like two:

1. Started new job on Monday morning.

2. Number One also started biology lab at school on Monday morning.

3. #2 necessitated Number Two going to a friend's house every morning.

4. Soccer practice for Number Two on Tuesday and Thursday.

5. Multiple editing projects sent to me daily, including a heavy project with a new client.

6. Soccer game in MD on Wednesday night, 3-hour round trip.

7. Editing that had to be done when we got home from the soccer game at 11:30 p.m.

8. Jason Manns in Philly Thursday night, another 3-hour+ round trip, didn't leave the city until close to midnight (albeit earlier than we usually do! :) ).

9. Record heat levels with no reprieve.

10. There really isn't a ten, but I had couldn't leave it at nine.

Weather

Today we had long, slow rain. The drippy kind. The read-a-book-all-day kind (not that I did that). It was a nice change from last week's wild storms.

But those storms produced the most perfect rainbow I've ever seen!





I don't think I've ever caught the whole arch like that. Usually it's just one side, or it fades to nothing at the top, or all the colors aren't clear. This one almost glowed!

Snow Day Madness

Phone call at 5:30 this morning. School canceled. Not just a delay! I was surprised, because the actuality had flagrantly defied the forecast. When I got up at 8, I snapped this photo:



People kept telling me bad things were expected, so I figured more was to come, and it was very windy. I mean, not windy enough to close school IMO, but buses do have a high profile and some undoubtedly go out into unsheltered farmy-type areas, so the wind would be blowing yesterday's 1/4-inch dusting across the road.

But my husband told me the roads all the way to work were dry, and he passes through a lot of unsheltered farmy-type areas. We've had flurries, sunshine, and what they call "snow showers" when it comes down faster than flurries, but doesn't stick. But nothing worth closing over.

I don't cast any blame, however. (I know, can you believe it?!) A news report I read talked about the horrible blizzard the Northeast got. Twenty or more inches of snow, furious winds that caused massive fires, tens of thousands of people without power. Even 20 inches of snow here in PA! The PA Turnpike was closed for 60 miles due to a 10-car/tractor trailer pileup. A friend down in York, about 30, 40 miles away, sent me a list of the active 911 calls this morning, with a dozen accidents. She said the plow never came to do her parking lot. We didn't even need to clear off the car! Turn on the wipers and the back defroster, and voila!

This has been an exceedingly weird winter.

So I tried to work this morning. Morning became "entire day." I got some vital e-mails taken care of, confirmed the tax refund came so I could order oil, and was heading into "actual work" territory when Number Two wanted to play Rock Band. I couldn't say no, of course. And then it was lunchtime, and then when I came to work more Number One finished researching her computer and we needed to do additional research and shopping to make everything work. So that took a couple of hours of the day, but it's ordered, and she's very happy even though it won't come until mid April. Gah. Then I had to get Number Two ready to go watch basketball playoffs with her grandfather and father.

I'm still in my jammies.

In my defense, Number One and I were going to go to the club after Number Two left, but she lost her iPod and the idea didn't appeal to her at all, so she went out jogging instead. I'm going to do some Wii Fitting and take a shower. Then I'll try to force myself not to call it a day.

*sigh* Snow days.

See What I Mean?

Starting Saturday or Sunday, the weather people started telling us whoa, look out, more snow coming!  They couldn’t tell us how much to expect, just that it would be “plowable.”  I heard a few places say 5-8 inches, someone else said 2-4.  Guess what we got?

Yeah, we got as close to nothing as you can get and still have snow fall from the sky.  It was supposed to snow from 2 yesterday afternoon until 7 this morning.  It started late, and stopped about 12 hours early.  I had to brush a dusting off my rear windows, but the streets were only wet.  Some were actually pretty slick this morning from refreezing, but apparently not enough for them to call a two-hour delay.

So THAT’s why I live permanently in the “wait and see” category for ANY predicted snow. :)

Okay, I promise, that’s the last I’ll talk about the weather for a good long while.

We have oil.  I’m on the second load of dishes in the dishwasher*, the house is warm, the kids can shower.**

*The boiler heats the hot water, so we didn’t run the dishwasher, and we don’t wash dishes by hand—that’s what the dishwasher is for! LOL

**Not that the kids minded not showering. They chose skipping over taking short ones.

We saw two movies last weekend.  Number One and I saw Valentine’s Day on Friday night, and it was awesome.  The theater was packed—and I mean PACKED, like I was the oldest one there! and we were wall to wall, elbow to elbow—with teenyboppers.  They were fine during the movie until Taylor Swift came on screen.  We missed more dialogue for the high-pitched screeches for her than the ones for Taylor Lautner.  What’s up with that?  But then they awwwwed for the characters outside their demographic, too, so that was heartening.

Valentine’s Day was built like Love Actually, with intertwining relationships. It was masterfully done, so that you never lost track of who was doing what and why, no story thread got short shrift, and we learned enough about every character to really care what happened to them at the end.  My two very favorite parts were surprises (though one could be figured out if you had the right perspective, and I do :) ) so I can’t mention them here.  MJ, you, especially, will like this movie, I think.

The other movie saw was The Lightning Thief, a family outing, which are rare as Number Two is outgrowing one level of movies but not quiiiiite there for the next level.  We all liked it, though it was so hard not to be annoyed at certain changes.  Some made sense for the transition from page to screen.  Some were totally unnecessary.  Like what happened in the fight with the minotaur.  But most of the casting was good (even if the gods were so melodramatic they all deserve a Razzie) and there was a lot of humor.  Definitely a fun movie, especially if you didn’t read the book. :)

This just in: Supernatural has been renewed for a sixth season!  Woo hooo!

*runs off to tell everyone*

Snowmageddon and Stuff

Geez, it's been a long time since I posted! A friend even e-mailed to see if I was okay because I hadn't posted about Supernatural. I know, it's enough to make anyone think I was sick or dead. :)

Mostly, I've been buried. We got another 18 inches of snow last Wednesday, on top of the two feet we got the Saturday before. That's not the official amount, but it's what I shoveled Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. You know what's bad about that much snow? It's not the amount on the driveway. It's the amount on the SIDE of the driveway. When you have to lift every shovelful over your head, the job becomes three times harder. My husband was sick, so the kids and I did most of it. I wanted to cry every time I tried to toss it over the bank, it stuck to the shovel, hit the top of the bank, and rolled down into the driveway behind me. But we got it done.

And I learned something. I'd pulled my car into the carport so we only had one to clean off, because I hate cleaning them off and trying to shovel around them. I find shoveling the empty driveway far easier. But that's only when we have less than a foot. So for the snow we're getting tonight (I KNOW!), we're parking in the driveway. At the bottom, because there's just no place for the snow to go down there!

The kids hardly had any school last week. Two-hour delay Monday and Friday, one full day on Tuesday, off completely Wednesday and Thursday. They were supposed to be off today, but it's a snow makeup day. They have to make up March 12, too. The way things are going, I won't be surprised if they have to extend the school year. My kids are so good about letting me work on snow days and stuff, but despite that, it cuts into my schedule. I don't get up as early, I feel guilty if I ignore them all day, they do need me for some things, and then there's the whole shoveling thing.

The snow caused another problem. Well, really, it's all my fault. We're almost out of oil! We filled the tank, a rare occurrence, in December. I'd been watching it, but it had a quick slide between half a tank and a quarter. I planned to call for delivery, but with the chaos of last week, didn't call until Thursday, payday. I wasn't surprised when she said they were behind and couldn't come until Tuesday, but I hadn't thought about it beforehand. And of COURSE the temperature then dropped to low teens every night since. We've cut back on showers, not run the dishwasher (our boiler provides the hot water as well as the heat), used the fireplace, and cut the thermostats way back, and still had to get some kerosene to get us through. Do you know how long it takes to pour five gallons? It doesn't sound like much, but man, it's heavy. :)

I have to say, I don't know how people keep their thermostats at 65 all the time. I used to do that during the day, but then the furnace ran so much in the evening, it clearly doesn't save anything. Now I keep it between 69 and 71 most of the time. That's a little lower than other people in the house would like, but we've found it endurable. But 65 is so not.

Maybe it's the configuration of my house, which is a ranch. The thermostat is at the end of the hall, near the living room. It's always comfortable on that side of the house. Number Two's bedroom is right near it, she only has one exterior wall, and she sleeps in a loft bed, so she's always fine, even now with the temp low. But Number Two is on a corner, and the master bedroom is on the north corner. When the thermostat says 65, the master bathroom is 55 degrees. Our bedroom is probably about 60. In the spring, when we've been enduring 10-degree days for five months, 60 is heaven. In the dead of winter, not so much.

Okay, moving on. Enough about the stupid weather already!

Supernatural. I admit I don't talk about it as much here anymore because of Supernatural Sisters. But last week? OMG GROSS. That definitely takes the prize for Biggest Grossfest. Ugh. I'm not going to list the ways it was gross, we all know them. Let's talk about Castiel! I love that guy so much. "They're not incontinent." "I'm here." "Nobody likes it." Misha's delivery is golden. But come on, there's no logic for him being stuck in the same clothes all the time. Let him change! :)

I thought Jared did a masterful job with the addiction, and so did Sam. I hate the clown face (wipe it off before you head to the diner, buddy!) but the way he ignored the craving and did away with Famine was awesome. Dean's utter helplessness every time he watches his brother go badass is both poignant and frustrating. Dude! Cut off the damned ring already!

I don't think any of us buy Famine's assertion that Dean's already dead inside. I know he believes it, he talked about the hole inside him when he returned from Hell. But no one cares that much about people, especially strangers, and is dead. One of the commenters (I'm too lazy to double-check who) at SPN Sis said what Dean craves is peace, so that's why Famine didn't work on him. There's no way to gorge yourself on peace, none around to feed the craving. I think that's brilliant. Though the idea of a well-fed Dean? Oh, yum.

This final six-week hiatus might kill me, especially since it coincides with the Olympics and therefore hiatus for most of my other shows.

Fringe went on an even longer hiatus, joining Glee and FlashForward for Insanely Long Breaks. I'm slightly disappointed with the way they handled the whole Peter revelation. Why didn't Olivia notice it right away? Why not Peter before the building, when she realized she was scared? Why not in the daycare center, when she was selecting the 16 things from the other world? I get why they connected it to their "date," but her reaction was a little underwhelming, too. But oh, well. It was a good cliffhanger.

The problem with waiting so long to blog is these gigantic posts. You're bored (if you're even still reading), I'm behind on my work, and it takes up a LOT of space on the page. So I'm going to stop now.

The Snowpocalypse

Number Two went out a few minutes ago and measured our current accumulation. 20 inches! It's drifted higher in a few places. The weather people have updated the ranges so that where it was supposed to be 5-15 inches they're now predicting 20, and we're on that border between areas, so south of us might get 30, and we'll probably get close to that, as it's not slowing down at all.

It's kind of a bummer that it's happening, yet again, on a Saturday. I'd rather the kids go to school on the 15th (they're currently off, but it's a snow makeup day) and have had this happen yesterday, and still get my writer's meeting today! :( Oh, well, I think this is only the second time we've had to cancel in the 14 years I've been a member.

How's things in your neck of the woods?

Ranty McRanterton, and TV Comments

So the northeast is about to be blanketed with a storm system. It's pretty certain we're going to get the snow, since the system is massive and will definitely pass over us. But the predicted snowfall range is huge, from 5 to 15 inches. And there IS a precedent for the forecasters to be totally wrong. Several years ago we were supposed to get a similar dumping, and got not a flake.

That makes things tricky, I know. Here in central PA, we're on an edge whereby if the storm tracks just a few miles north or south of the prediction, it has a huge effect on how much we get. And someone half an hour south or east could get three times as much snow as we get here in my neighborhood.

So I always take a wait and see approach. I TRY not to be all superior and obnoxious about having to plan ahead. Like, a neighbor's son was supposed to have a sleepover, with activities at a nearby sports facility right around the time the storm will be ramping up. So it makes sense to play it safe and reschedule.

But what REALLY gets me in an uproar...I'm just glad this wasn't my school...A couple of local school districts—and I mean just up the road, one of them AWAY from the approaching storm—announced an early dismissal for today. Last night, before 9:00 p.m. Despite the consistent forecast that said nothing was going to start until rush hour, and the heaviest snow will be overnight. No, they had to get their kids home at 12:30. Those buses are driving around right now, in the ZERO precipitation. For what? Nothing. So they can inconvenience parents who had to scramble to make arrangements for their kids, so they can make some of those kids wait outside in the cold or be home alone because their parents never dreamed there'd be an early dismissal because NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

I've lived here 18 years, I'll never get over the idiocy obsessive overcaution.

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Enough of that. Some comments on recent TV:

1. I love the way Booth looks at Brennan.

2. I hate the way our local affiliate (I guess) decided not to air Better Off Ted this week, replacing it with an hour-long Ford infomercial.

3. Some people took my comment about Lost as an indicator that the show is over. I won't tease them for not seeing the massive amounts of promotion and media attention the last season premiere has been getting over the last two months. :) They don't watch anymore, why would they pay attention? Anyway, just to clarify—no other show I've ever watched in my life makes me feel the way I feel watchingLost. Tuesday's episodes bore NO resemblance to past seasons, even the first one, but watching it was exactly like watching season 1 again. I had all these "Frogurt! Arzt! Boone! CHARLIE!" moments. I struggled to decide if the timelines were simultaneous, what-ifs, or neithers. I mourned Juliet, and totally knew Jacob was going to take over Sayid's body when he was standing over him, talking to Hurley (unless that's not what happened, then I guess I was just being led by the trickery—and I don't care!). I'm so glad the show is back.

4. Because last week was massively busy, and I went away for the weekend, and I've been super-tired this week, my DVR is filling up. As of tonight, I'll have (may not be accurate, it's off the top of my head): Jimmy Kimmel and Nightline with Darlton; Life Unexpected; Human Target; 2 Numbers; 2 Fringe; The Mentalist; Modern Family; 2 White Collar; and 2 Leverage to watch.

5. Favorite lines of the week (so far):

"You shouldn'ta done that. I was supposed to die."

"You're psycho." "Lapsed."

"It appeals to the schizophrenic in me. Both of them."

"I don't understand that reference!"

6. I loved how they did the Dollhouse finale, though not what happened to Paul. It had its shock value, of course, but *sob*. It was intriguingly awesome that Alpha was "okay." I love seeing Tudyk in a heroic role again, even so short. He's been quite the bad guy lately.

7. Supernatural. Ohhhh, Supernatural. I know what I said about Lost, but don't worry, honey, you're still my favorite. I still love you best. If I had to choose, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick you. Talk about shock value—I totally sucked all the air out of the room when Michael showed up. And there wasn't much, after Anna shoved that pipe through Sam. (Did you notice the blood coming out of the pipe as he lay on the floor? Nice touch!) I knew Mary was pregnant as soon as she opened the door. My heart broke for Sam as he watched her, and when he talked to John. Castiel is cracking my sh** up every time he's on screen, which is not enough, let me tell you. Last night was a mean tease, breaking him and hiding him in a hotel room all episode.

So that's all I have right now. I have to go finish up some work in preparation for being holed up in the house all weekend. Yes, I'm succumbing to the weight of hysteria for the coming snowpocalypse (credit to my brother for that one). But I'm showing them. I'm NOT joining the hordes descending on the grocery store. I already HAVE milk and bread. So, HA!

Pbbbbbt.

Teasing Day

A lot of people I know in other parts of the country are enduring snow and ice storms, or the aftermath, so I'm not complaining. But the weather today has been a big, noisy tease. Temps went up, sun came out...then it started spitting ice and the temp dropped again. Then the sun came out again. Now it feels bitter.

The revisions have been going well, but I was just about to tackle chapter 15 and it needs some bigger changes. Dinner hour is not conducive to that, so it's going to wait, probably for Monday, though if I can get some done on the weekend, I'll be much happier. My half of the tax stuff is done, and I did my weekly column update and submitted some editing/proofreading bids. Pretty productive day, all in all. Will spend the rest of the evening critiquing.

I've been spending a lot of my off hours watching Bones on DVD, and just finished season 3. I understand why the people I know who watch it love it. Boreanaz and Deschanel have as much chemistry (of a different sort) as Ackles and Padalecki, and they are surrounded by excellent secondary characters. The extreme forensics angle is cool, too.

Two small problems, though. First, of course, I'm just sick over Zack. How could they take him from us two seasons in a row? And I guess this time is pretty permanent. The other thing is regarding Bones and Seely. He's just about perfect. He does all this sweet stuff for her--the Christmas tree outside the prison, the Brainy Smurf, telling her she gave Zack a lot (a home, ref. the job offer letter, in the season 3 finale), even allowing her to use him to cast suspicion on her in her father's trial. But what does she do for him? I know she's very stuck in her own head, very bottled up emotionally, but she does nice things for other people. I'd like to see her think of him from time to time.

Now I have to find some way to catch up with this season. There are no repeats before the new eps start on March 12 (I have one recorded), but eps 11-14 are available online, for free. I hate to pay for all the rest at iTunes, but I'm not going to bitorrent (I can't decide how that's spelled) them, so I guess I'll have to. I saw that the Gravedigger is back--that was my favorite episode, I think. Except for the kiss one, under the mistletoe. Anyway, I do have other things to watch along the way. The little TV time I've had has been on the laptop waiting for the kids to go to bed, so tonight I shall catch up on some other stuff, like Lost and Terminator and maybe Leverage. If I can stay awake that long.

Everyone have a good weekend! That's an order!

Wicked Cold

It was 5 degrees this morning.

Wind chill of -4.

I kept mentally rolling my eyes at my husband, who grew up in Ohio and should be used to this. I grew up in Massachusetts and I'm not flabbergasted by winter weather of any sort. Five degrees doesn't seem that amazing.

Except...I'm 38 now, and I think I'm feeling the cold more than I used to, which I always pooh-poohed when people older than me said it. Now I hate my smug younger self, as I huddle here next to my poorly insulated basement window with my fingerless gloves, two blankets, massaging foot-warmer, and space heater.

Far more important, however, is how fast we're sucking down oil, and how much I dread seeing the electric bill after the dim, dreary days, two weeks of having the kids home all the time (Wii, computers, lights, more dishes, etc.).

Having the heart of winter after the Christmas expenditures doesn't work for me. Whose idea what that, anyway?!

I Love My Boots

So I don't know what's up with this school district. Yesterday was a throwback to the panic/reactionary times of a few years ago. (One winter they canceled school the night before and it never did anything--no snow, no ice, no rain. It was infuriating.) We had predictions of an ice storm, and it came, but they did a one-hour early dismissal even though nothing was happening yet, and nothing did happen until a couple of hours after the kids were home.

Today, with an inch of ice on everything, freezing rain still coming down, the roads fine but with patchy ice and slipperiness--far more than the nothing we had yesterday!--we only had a two-hour delay. I just don't get it.

Anyway, with the ice storm, I got to try my new boots. I have a pair of cheap men's waterproof construction boots that keep my feet dry but have NO tread, and an old pair of hiking boots that have good tread and are lightweight but have no waterproofing and even if I spray them, they're uninsulated so my feet get cold

So we were shopping for shoes last week, and due to a rockin' discount we had four pairs of sneakers, a pair of sheepskin slippers, and a package of socks and were still under budget. I tried on a pair of boots that I knew I'd be getting for less than half the "suggested retail" and the first pair fit perfectly, cradling my feet. Now, this never happens. I have weird feet. Before I had my kids, they measured 6EEE but I wore a 9C or D, depending on the style of shoe. I haven't done an actual measurement since, because I know my feet and I worked in a full-service shoe store so I know how to fit shoes, but with the normal loosening of the joints that pregnancy causes, and the fact that I've only worn flat shoes for the last 10 or 15 years, they've spread even more. So finding a pair of shoes that's wide enough without being too freakin' long or pinching somewhere or having the arch hit me wrong is a miracle. So I bought them.

Today I got to wear them, and OMG, they are awesome. So warm and dry and light and I have no fear of skidding on the ice. I mean, even the best tread is going to allow occasional slipping, but these at least have some grip. So today, I got to start off gleeful. :)

Random Friday

I'm still calling this Random Friday because I started writing it just before I dumped an entire mug of hot chocolate in my laptop and drowned the keyboard. That tends to take the wind out of your blogging sails. I've been working on this, therefore, for three days.

So, yeah. Stood up to help Number Two pull her hood out. The dining room carpet is thick and the chairs don't slide on it, so when I pushed on the chair, it didn't move. I did. I ended up leaning forward just enough to tip the mug with my heavy winter shirt. I didn't even feel it, just heard it clunk.

The good news is, I found another keyboard for about $24 and it's already on its way. The liquid didn't seem to get into the laptop itself. The bad news is, one of the screws holding the plate down over the laptop connector was tightened by Big Strong Man, and we can't get it off. It's now partially stripped. Stay tuned for the finale of that saga sometime next week.

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We have officially reached that time of year when I want to renovate my bathroom. Tear out everything in the master bath and the teeny room labeled "Daddy's Room" that's off our bedroom. Combine the two and install a gigantic tub. A tub that will allow me to immerse myself in hot water, from toes to chin, without, you know, half my body sticking out the top and my knees pushed up to my chin and my neck totally torqued.

I'm tired of being cold. Already.

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Moviefest

Friday night I watched The Christmas Cottage, the Thomas Kinkade movie. It had a fabulous cast, good acting, and nice individual scenes, but it was very slow and self-important. That sense was intensified when I watched the behind-the-scenes stuff. Thomas Kinkade seems like a very nice guy, but I'm always suspicious when someone says, "I have some great ideas for movies from my own life." He and the director acted like they were making a hugely significant, high-impact film that in actuality, didn't go anywhere that a thousand movies before it haven't gone.

However, I didn't get so bored I wanted to turn it off, and it made me cry at the end, a few times, so it was definitely worth the rental fee. As for Jared Padalecki, he made me forget about Sam, except a few times when he had an expression that's all Jared.

Next up was Bolt with Number Two, which was fun and funny, with a cute, well-executed premise. As all the reviewers said, the pigeons were awesome (Number Two couldn't stop giggling).

And finally I braved the teenager-fest and took Number One and her friend to see Twilight. I went in to this with a huge dose of cynicism, after seeing the trailer and reading interviews with Robert Pattinson. I expected high melodrama, and there was some, but not as much or as bad as it could have been. The casting was pretty good. The guy who played Jasper was the worst actor of all of them, and that made me feel bad for him. He looked terrified all the time, when he didn't look constipated. Luckily, he didn't have much to do. Charlie wasn't at all as I pictured him, but he did the job well, conveying the spirit of Bella's dad, if not the image. Everyone else was spot on.

Unfortunately, Robert Pattinson was pretty inconsistent. He did fine with general interaction, but when he had to convey intensity and struggle by itself, it was with wide-open eyes and flared nostrils instead of emotion. He made the crowd laugh at the wrong times, especially when he first encountered Bella. And his hair was just ridiculous.

But it was a good enough performance that I think he'll develop through the next three movies.

Story-wise, I thought they did a great job. Number One said she kept up a constant stream of criticism for what they got wrong (the color of Edward's rug, for cripe's sake!), but I read it the book long enough ago that only the bigger things mattered to me. Two scenes were absolutely perfect--the car/ice rescue, and the baseball game.

All in all, it earned the highest compliment I can give a movie adaptation--it made me want to read the book again.

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My NaNo words are trickling out. I'll make the NaNo goal, but it will be down to the wire. I have to spend all day tomorrow on a read-through of a previous book, then get started with revisions on that, so the NaNo book will suffer. Which is okay, actually, because it sucks. But that's to worry about later.

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Trying to think of what else I planned to say...I'm behind on all my TV watching, so my Sci Fi Chicks reviews are suffering. And...

OH.

HOW COULD I FORGET?

The Supernatural Convention will be coming to Cherry Hill, NJ, in March. That's two freaking hours away from me. And guess what?

I GET TO GO!

It's my birthday present, and I am giddy with joy. The only confirmed guest is Jared Padalecki, but if he was the only one I got to see/touch/listen to/get my picture with, it would be worth it. I promised my autograph to Number One, since she's all ticked that I'm not taking her. Honestly, she doesn't need to see her mother being all fangirl. Not like that, anyway.

So thank you, Megan, for jumping all over this, and thank you, J, for being the best husband in the world, and thank you, JPad, for being so amazingly willing to put yourself out there for the fans. I am full of love for everyone.

Who else will be there? Gail? That's close for you, too!

RWA Day WhateverTheHeckItWas Plus Every Day Since

My five-and-a-half-year-old laptop was very uncooperative with e-mail the last time I used it, so I stopped trying. Plus, I got busier. And more tired. So that explains the gap in posts.

I'm home now, but way behind, of course, and suddenly SF seems long ago and far away.

Saturday...hmmm...Saturday. I think I got more books at signings. Thought about attending workshops, but didn't. Had lunch with Cathy McDavid, which was great because we caught up on all the stuff that we didn't talk about when others were around because they already knew it. Shipped my two boxes of books and goodies. Spent some time editing in the afternoon. Went out to dinner with friends again before the award ceremony, which was as awesome as always.

Oh, I keep forgetting to mention...I have got to stop listening to people. It's not that they were wrong, just that I know myself and I'm different than the norm. I know, big surprise. Anyway, all the talk was about how cold SF is, and how I would need long sleeves for the duration, and the hotels are always cold, etc. So I listened, though I knew I'm almost never cold in the hotels so I mostly refrained from bringing really thick shirts and sweaters. But I did have a long-sleeved shirt for sightseeing Wednesday, and the only time I wasn't FREAKING HOT (and therefore obnoxiously complaining) was when we were actually on the wharf with the wind in our faces. The hotel was so hot, we had our room AC set at 66, and even 64 the last 24 hours. I couldn't stop sweating and was really unhappy about that.

But did I mention the elevators? They were awesome. Amazingly fast the entire time. I also found the room to be wonderful (really comfy beds) and the service to be efficient and very personable.

Okay, Sunday. Sunday Tracy Madison (who was not responsible for keeping us up late on Tuesday, only an innocent bystander, I swear) let us leave our stuff in her room as we had to check out but not leave until 4, and she stayed until Monday. That gave us a little more time to visit with her and her lovely daughter.

Sunday I spent mostly by myself. Lisa Mondello, my roommate, was meeting cousins she hadn't seen in years. Libby and Cathy invited me to lunch, but they had earlier flights and I really wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge, especially since I missed Alcatraz. So I went off on my own for five hours. In the interest of keeping this blog post shorter than Breaking Dawn (which is apparently only 7 pages shorter than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, according to Number One), let me sum up:

*Took the 30 bus to the 28 bus
*30 bus didn't go to end of line, so got off early
*Hey, I'm really near the crookedest street! I wanna see it up close.
*Hike up Lombard 4 blocks. And by "up" I mean "80 degrees up." Stop every half block to take pictures to disguise windedness.
*See crookedest street up close. Very pretty and kind of cool, but wouldn't want to sit in traffic waiting to go down it.
*Hike back down to 28 bus.
*Take 28 bus to GGB.

I loved the GGB area. It's so different from the rest of the city, with the cliffs and the look of the bay and the vegetation. It was foggy, so the tops of the towers were in the clouds, but the view was still spectacular.

*Walk partway across bridge. Take lots of pictures of self on bridge that all suck and shall not be shared on this blog. Buy souvenirs.
*Take bus back to Ghirardhelli Square.
*Walk around Hyde Pier and The Cannery, eat ice cream, listen to guitarist apparently inspired by August Rush music. He was good. Az Samad. His album Acoustic Gestures is available on iTunes.
*Stand in line for cable car for an hour.

I was absolutely determined to ride a real cable car. I rode the street car on Wednesday, as well as a wheeled cable car-like trolley for the tour, and the bus (the 30 went through Chinatown). But I had to ride a real cable car. It was cool. 120 years old and well cared for. Gleaming wood, signature bell, and unique operation. No cables, though. Kind of weird, unless the rails have cables inside them. I'm too tired to go look that up, and I didn't have time to get off and see the Cable Car Museum, which would have been interesting.

17 hours of travel, no sleep on plane, a little Buffy on the layovers, home with the kids Monday afternoon, shared photos of Holland and SF, got up to date on their activities. Napped, but only for an hour, not nearly helpful.

Number One and I went to see the Mummy movie last night. It wasn't disappointing only because my expectations were low. To wit:

*I've seen what kind of writing the writers had come up with for Smallville two seasons ago. They lived up to that. Plot was fine, but the dialogue didn't match the previous two movies, and either the story itself or the editing was erratic.
*Maria Bello is a wonderful actress, but she is not Rachel Weisz. I'm not saying she's worse than RW, she's just not her. There was no chemistry with Brendan Fraser, she was very stiff and missing the spark and joy of life that Evie is supposed to have.
*The guy playing the son wasn't as geeky and idiotic as I expected, but he wasn't written very sympathetically and I'm sorry, while an American accent isn't out of the question (he has an American father, even if he's been raised in England), he sounded like he came from Brooklyn by way of New Jersey. Or something like that.
*Rick O'Connell was gorgeous and well-acted, but again, poorly written. His exuberance was gone, too. And I sorely missed Oded Fehr.

I wouldn't say my money was wasted. The effects were cool, the acting fine even if not what I was looking for, and I had a good time watching it with my daughter. But it was very definitely a second sequel in the old tradition.

Okay, almost done.

Besides wanting to spend the day with my family, I couldn't face the pile, both literal and digital, that waited for me in my office. Today I spent the morning sleeping (ref. 3 hours sleep over 36 hours, + 17 hours of traveling) and then getting my kids to Camp Nana and running errands. After that, I think it took me 3 hours to get the paper stuff organized, the balky computer working adequately, and my e-mail read. I got some business out of the way, but still have 43 out of the original 198 e-mails to address. (That tally doesn't include the 151 spam messages, and that's all just from four days. Imagine if I hadn't checked the three days before that!)

Some cool things today...

I got my cover for my September release:



I also found out that Renegade was #9 on the Amber Heat Bestseller list for July!

And I got a nice review for Renegade from Book Utopia.

So now we're on the downside of the summer. Even though we passed the halfway mark some time ago, getting ready for Holland and San Francisco was still climbing up to the high points of the season. Now we have doctor and car appointments, soccer practices, school open houses, and tournaments before the start of school on August 25.

And you know what? I'm sad about that.

Latsa Stuff

Number Two has become something of a sports addict. Instead of turning on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, she flips to the Big Ten Network. I hit the "Now Playing" menu of the TiVo, and find college softball, NBA playoffs, and tennis.

And now, she has truly gone over to the dark side.

She's watching hockey.

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Speaking of sports...

I've just read a bunch of stuff about the Patriots, and the transcript of Belichick's interview, and reports about Matt Walsh and the absolutely ridiculous assertion by Arlen Specter (a senator for my current state) that Congress should get involved in the whole investigation. I agree 110% with Kennedy (a senator for my former state) that we have a few more important things for Congress to be doing right now.

(For the record, I never felt Congress should be spending so much time on the baseball thing, either.)

This is the thing that impressed me the most, however. It's common to see a simple, unemotional retraction or regret for a journalism error. It's really rare to see something this complete and heartfelt. Kudos to Tomase. I wish him luck recovering.

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Number Two had a soccer tournament today. She came home soaking wet and shuddering with cold, due to 50-degree weather and pouring rain. She took a long, hot shower and put on wintery fleece PJs. Two hours later she was in shorts and a T-shirt while we played catch in the sun and 70 degrees.

Welcome to April May in Pennsylvania.

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I am home from retreat. I might post some pictures this week, once I get them uploaded, but a lot are not for public viewing.

We had tons of fun, laughed our a$$es off, ate too much great food we didn't have to cook or clean up, and were very productive.

Due to some editing of my novella and talking far too much too my roommate, I didn't have the most output this year. But I did get around 22/23,000 words written and wrote an entire novella in a day and a half. We did a cemetery run and had ghost cats in our room. Last year Megan dreamed someone was trying to shove her out of bed. This year it succeeded (in the dream) by pulling her big pillow out and dragging her with it.

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I also would have likely gotten more writing done if we hadn't watched the season finale of Supernatural. Twice. Megan recorded it for us, and we watched it when she arrived Friday afternoon, and again after we went out for drinks Friday night.

Oh, my thoughts on it? How kind of you to ask!

In stream-of-consciousness order:

1. You could tell Kripke wrote it. There are a lot of really good writers on the show, and I know every script has some collaboration to it, but there was just the perfect combination of awesome lines (Antichrist superstar...Hell's other bitches...shut your piehole...totally should have been rocking "Eye of the Tiger" right there...and several more) and heartfelt emotion and violence and gore and creepiness and saving people, hunting things...I could go on and on but I'm getting tedious, I think.

2. You could tell Kim Manners directed it. Of course, there are also many good directors who have done the show. But Kim Manners just seems to get Kripke's vision, and he pulls the best performances from the guys and the guests, and he sets up great shots and times everything really well.

3. That little girl has a great future, if she wants it. MAN was she creepy! Her switches from dark to normal little girl were spot on.

4. It looks like we might be done with Ruby, or at least done with Cassidy playing Ruby. I mean, Bobby did shoot her in the chest.

5. I loved every minute of the show and can't wait to see it again tonight. DH hasn't watched yet, so I get an excuse. Not that I need one. :)

6. Dean getting shredded by an invisible hellhound was worse than seeing him impaled on a meathook, but not worse than seeing him crying for Sammy to help him.

7. Sam being able to block or withstand Lilith's power was AWESOME. I hope when Dean comes back from Hell, he had just enough time there to have some power of his own. That would be even awesomer!

8. Leave it to Kripke to turn something as piercingly exciting as Dean and Sam singing Bon Jovi into something piercingly painful. God, it hurt to hear Sam obliviously singing along, having reluctantly bought in to the abandonment of the song, as the lyrics hit home for Dean. Gah. *iz ded*

9. Watching with five other people is SO MUCH FUN. We screamed and squealed and moaned, and Megan pointed out yet again how freakishly often Sam says Dean's name, and they giggled over the bush in the middle of nowhere, the one with side mirrors, that no one would ever be suspicious of. (I wonder if that was a tribute to something? I mean, why bother hiding it? They were in a town. They could just park it in a 7/11 lot or something.)

10. Eighteen weeks is far, far too long to go without the boys. All I can say is that an actor's strike had really, REALLY better not happen. Suck it up, AMPTP!

What I Did This Weekend

Soccer. Lots and lots of soccer.

Saturday:

9:00 a.m. Number Two plays, wins game, moves into first place

1:30 p.m. Number One plays a very aggressive, physical game, very well, and loses 3-2 to remain in last place.

7:05 p.m. Harrisburg City Islanders once again amaze me with their speed and agility and wild play (hey, is that head lock legal?)--game was called, scoreless, at 41 minutes due to major lightning storm

Sunday:

12:00 p.m. Number Two plays, ties, barely remains in first place

2:00 p.m. City Islanders resume, tie game

You'd think I'd be soccered out, but I'm surprisingly excited for the tournament next week and didn't want the Islanders game to end.

That wasn't all I did this weekend, though.

I don't mind physical labor while I'm actually doing it. Getting me there, however, is a chore. There are a million things I'd rather do than housecleaning and yardwork. As a consequence, my yard usually looks like this:


Without the trash can sitting in the "garden," of course. That was only there in preparation for additional activity today, which didn't occur because of the aforementioned storm and there's no freakin' way I'm hauling around wet mulch.

Anyway, yesterday I spent a few hours on it between games, and this is what half my front yard looks like now:


I'm so proud. :)

Of course, I couldn't manage to get all the maple sprouts pulled out by the root, and I have a feeling the wild strawberry is hardier than wood chips, so this won't look so good for very long.

This is how much mulch I still have to move (I think the pile got a little smaller when it got wet):



What did you do this weekend?

She Did It Again!

A message from my former guest blogger, Trish Milburn:

I hope you're all prepared for the holiday season and will be able to enjoy your time with friends and family. Before you bake those final cookies and wrap those last presents though, I hope you can devote a moment to voting in the latest round of the American Title contest, in which I'm one of the remaining six finalists. The two people with the lowest amount of votes this round will be eliminated as of the end of voting on Dec. 30, and I really don't want to start off the new year by having to say bye-bye. :( So check out the latest round here.

Way to go, and good luck, Trish!

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Me, I'm finally on my way with the holiday prep. Cards are out (I THINK all of them). Presents are shipped, and some of the non-shipping presents are purchased. Tree is up and decorated. And I have peppermint Hershey kisses in the house. :)

We had an ice storm this weekend. All my friends had power outages and/or damage. We have some honkin'-big limbs down in our back yard, but no damage. *knocks wood* Hope all my readers all over the country weathered the weather okay this weekend--and will continue to do so with the new storms coming up.