#doyoubelieveinmiracles?

I not only believe in them, apparently, I cause them.

Tonight I took Number One and Number Two to the City Islanders playing in round 3 of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

Wait, let me back up.

Yesterday, the Open Cup announced the round 4 games. If the City Islanders won tonight, they'd host next week. But Number Two had a school sports physical scheduled. So I changed it to August, figuring even if the Isles didn't win, she'd have additional recovery time for her ankle.

It started storming around 5:15. Management announced a half-hour postponement. J decided not to go, despite already having bought the ticket. He's not that diehard. But we were determined. We packed up towels, umbrellas, sweatshirts, and jackets. Hey, it worked last week.

Not this week. The storm passed by game time, but it rained for about 75 of the 90-minute regulation period. Which ended in a 0-0 tie. You can't end a game in a tie during a tournament. We were pretty pleased with our little USL-PRO team's performance. They had a lot more shots on goal than the New England Revolution did.

(Yeah, a bit of irony there. I was wearing a New England Patriots hat into the stadium, and one of the greeters got a horrified look on his face. "You're not rooting for them, are you?" Oh, hell, no! LOL)

So we're sitting there at the start of the first of two 15-minute overtime periods. They play both, so there's no sudden death. With the rain delay, we were already not getting home before 10. Now we weren't getting home before 10:30. I said I was being a bad mother, and I did feel a little guilty, though I had no intentions of leaving early. I have NEVER left a game early. EVER.

EV. AR.

So then we have this conversational exchange:

Me: What do you have at school tomorrow?

Number One: Mom. In period one we're watching X-Men: First Class. In period 2 we're watching another movie. In period 3 I have study hall. Period 4 I have to work on a paper, but I'm half done with it. Period 5 I'll probably just have food with Madame. Period 6 we're watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Period 7 we'll probably just play FunBrain.

Me to Number Two: What do you have tomorrow?

Number Two: My Algebra final.

Oh, lord, now I AM a bad mother. But she has a 98 in the class, and aced the practice test, so I wasn't that worried. Still...

Overtime starts. The officials demonstrate their continued bias (they'd called 17 fouls against us, only 7 against the Revs, and we had 3 yellow cards to their 1 yellow and 1 red) when they didn't call a Revs player offsides though he was at least three strides past the defenders. They scored.

The Revs were also adept at taking dives. I know this is rampant in soccer, but I swear, they see a foot, they deliberately trip over it. They'll push and push and push a player until he moves, then they'll fall—and we get the foul. So one of our defenders did a slide tackle in the box, all ball, and their forward deliberately trips. PK (penalty kick, for the few uninformed who for some reason have read this far LOL). They scored. Five minutes later, on a breakaway when we didn't even look like we were trying to stop him (though admittedly, we'd pulled one of our defenders and replaced him with a forward), they score again.

3-0 is a pretty insurmountable score in professional soccer. Not impossible. But tough, especially with only 15 minutes of play left. Number Two had a final tomorrow. And the last straw was a fan who turned completely obnoxious during overtime, as if he'd downed six beers in the 74th minute (that's when they stop selling them—people will buy 2, then get in line to buy more while they drink those). We couldn't stand listening to him anymore. So I asked the girls if they wanted to leave. They agreed.

I'm lucky they didn't kill me.

We heard cheering when we got to the parking lot (about 1/2 a mile away). So we'd scored, but we still needed two more and probably had less than 10 minutes left. By the time we got home, the City Islanders had scored TWICE and tied it up again. They were going to penalty kicks. Each team gets 5 shots on goal, alternating. If you've ever watched this one-on-one showdown, it's awful. For both sides. It's as difficult to score as it is to stop a goal.

We watched on Twitter, screaming and lamenting our stupidity.

1-1

2-2

3-3

And then holy crap, we scored and Nick Noble, our fan-freaking-tastic goalkeeper, stopped the final shot. We won.

We WON.

The Isles used the hashtag in my subject, #doyoubelieveinmiracles, but all I can think is how much they owe us. Because you know that if we'd stayed another hour, they'd have lost and Number Two would lose two points on her final.

Either way, tonight I'm the bad mom.

It's Hot, It's Crazy, and It's Not Even Summer Yet!

Okay, as far as the social season goes, Memorial Day weekend is over, so summer is here (even though we really have 3.5+ weeks until it's OFFICIALLY here...I know, I'm obnoxiously pedantic about this).

But JEEBUS it's hot. High 80s, with an AccuWeather "RealFeel" of 98, is too bleeping hot for May in Pennsylvania. My husband's worried about our trip to Orlando in the middle of summer. I told him it can't be much worse.

So where have I been for the past two weeks?

RETREAT!
Central PA Romance Writers had our ninth annual All About Me retreat last weekend. It was just as awesome as the 8 that came before, if you don't count the post-wedding screaming in the parking lot until 1:30 in the morning. The retreat venue was much fuller this year than last year, which is absolutely fine, as long as people aren't screaming "give me my f'in phone" for twenty minutes. Or puking in front of the hang-out bench.

But whatever! I got over 14,000 words written, submitted a short story proposal, and made great progress on Sunroper. I took a walk with friends I don't see often enough, and we laughed like crazy during our cocktail party and end-of-retreat game night. A bunch of new members came, and I'm hoping the regulars who missed it will be back next year. It's our tenth, so it should be EPIC.

Then I came home. And was hit by...

EDITS!
The oh-so-fantastic Kerri-Leigh Grady hit me with my second round of edits on Heavy Metal. I spent all weekend on them and only have 146 pages to go. The problem is that my freelance clients hit me at the same time (they missed me while I was gone), so I've been doing a lot of proofreading every day.

But that's okay! All work and no play gives you crazy!brain, so I made sure to slip in a few fun things. Like...

SOCCER! AND TV! AND MOVIES! Caution: Spoilers!
The Harrisburg City Islanders are doing great! They won in round 2 of the Lamar Hunt Open Cup, and this week host the New England Revolution—I'm super-excited to see them in person! Then on Friday night, in a hard-played game, they beat one of the top teams in the division, handing them their first defeat. Wahoo!

I caught up on a few shows. Revenge had a really good season finale, giving us some answers but opening up new avenues to explore. I'm fall heavier in love with Nolan every day. The one thing I didn't like was Amanda coming back pregnant just when Emily was going to tell Jack everything. That's a convenient and overused conflict.

Awake held me pretty strongly, too. It didn't pull me when I wasn't watching it, but when I was, I was hooked hard. The Inception-like ending was a little disappointing, though. I don't always like it when the writers leave things to the viewers' imaginations. Yeah, then we get to decide it's whatever we want it to be, but this one leaned too heavily in the wrong direction, so I can't do that. Still, strong acting, strong story right up to the end.

I thought Awake and The Firm were tighter shows than Touch, so I feel bad that Touch beat both out for a second season, even though Awake would have been hard to sustain for much longer, and The Firm was on a different network so they weren't competing. I still have a couple of episodes left of both of those.

But we're soon back to Summer TV! Remember when it used to suck? We have the rest of the final season of Eureka to go, and Franklin & Bash starts next week, with Falling Skies the week after, and Covert Affairs, Leverage, and Alphas not far behind!

I get to watch one or two episodes of something a night, most nights. We've also been squeezing in some weekend movies. I'm talking about The Avengers at Everybody Needs a Little Romance tomorrow (Tuesday), but suffice to say I saw it twice, and so did both Jim and Number One.

Dark Shadows was disappointing—slow and far less funny than in the trailer, with a weakish plot and haphazard characterization. But Men in Black 3 didn't disappoint! Josh Brolin and Will Smith were fantastic, and the story had a poignant twist at the end that shocked me. I have to go back and watch the original now.

There are a bunch of movies out this summer I can't wait to see, but right now, Magic Mike is the frontrunner. :)

So what have you been up to?

Brown Bears and 11-Year-Old Vandals

Today I drove past a whole bunch of cars, including two cop cars, at a cemetery near my house. I couldn't see much, but two cops were crouching next to what looked like a black bear, unconscious on a tarp. I checked the local police blog, and sure enough, there were apparently two young, non-aggressive black bears walking around the area all weekend. They captured one for relocation, but it looks like the other one is still at large. NO idea where they could have come from. We're not far from rural farmland, but decently far from any comfortable bear habitat.

Since I was at the blog anyway, I read through the reports to see if anyone I knew had been arrested or in a stupid accident. A couple of weeks back, I found a report about a fifth grader damaging computers at my kids' old elementary school.

By peeing on them.

He peed all over a car full of Macbooks. The cart and computers were "damaged beyond repair" (does that mean no one wanted to touch them?) and the total damages equal $36,000.

As a parent, I'm appalled at the amount of damages and can't even imagine what I'd do if I became responsible for a bill like that. As a human being, my response is a little more direct.

WTF?!

Who decides to PEE on a bunch of COMPUTERS? At SCHOOL. It's not incomprehensible that a kid with a lot of troubles at home or at school or both might pull over a cart full of computers, or even smash them with a bat or kick and throw them.

But PEEING?! Who on earth thinks, "let me pull out my dingle and urinate on this equipment?" (Note: "dingle" was my husband's word.) That takes a few more moments of thought and... I don't want to contemplate the state of that kid's brain.

I feel most pity, though, for the cleaning staff. That is a LOT of pee. Good thing the halls are tiled and not carpeted. Ugh.

Season Finales, Sunroper, and Bugs in My Eyes

I love May. So much good stuff happens in May! Mother's Day, the City Islanders season opener (local pro soccer team), my chapter's writing retreat, and FINALLY a holiday from work, after months and months without one.

But the sad part of May is the season finales on TV. WARNING: Some spoilers here about season finales that have already occurred.

Well, there's really only one I want to talk about so far. Castle! I can't express my extreme bliss that they gave us that moment. Note to Bones writers: THAT is how you get a couple together. I thought overall they did a good job all season of setting everything up. Kate carefully taking down her walls, brick by brick, admitting what she wanted but having difficulty getting herself out of the very deep tracks she'd dug on the trail of her mother's killers. Rick's deception as he tried so hard to keep her safe and save himself. And Tahmoh Penikett as the bad guy's bad guy! Loved it! But poor Kevin Ryan. He saved Beckett's life, and everyone is mad at him.

When I first started watching Castle, I thought it was bland, with secondary characters that weren't really worth much (except Alexis). But now I love Lani, Ryan, and Esposito as much as I love Kate and Rick/Beckett and Castle.

The Fringe finale isn't until tomorrow, but I just watched last week's episode where Billy, who'd always been of questionable morals in the pursuit of science but never truly evil, is now...evil. And Astrid was shot!!! I'll be pissed if she dies.

Many of the finales will occur next week, while I'm on retreat. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the timing, because I'm really getting into Sunroper, book 3 of the Goddesses Rising trilogy, and I want to be able to concentrate fully on it. MAN, I can't wait. This always comes at a perfect time of year, when I really need it.

I'll miss a City Islanders game for the retreat, which makes me a wee bit sad. There's one the night before I leave, though, so it'll be okay. I hope it's better than last week's! Number One and I went to the home opener last Friday night, even though a storm was predicted. I swear, that was the slowest moving storm ever! We heard thunder and watched the massive clouds moving in starting around 6:30. The game started a few minutes after 7, and it had *just* slid over us when they called the weather delay in the 32nd minute. Luckily, there's a nearby baseball stadium that's not just aluminum bleachers. The crowd of 1300 people headed over there, but thinned out considerably by the time the pounding rain and whipping wind passed. Probably a hundred or so of us went back for the rest of the game, which started at 9:00.

The worst part wasn't the cold rainwater that soaked our jeans as we sat there for an hour, or the spitting rain that returned for about 10 minutes, or even the group of local kids incomprehensibly screaming for the away team...nonstop...obnoxiously...at the tops of their lungs. It was the clouds of gnats covering the entire island! I had two fly into my eyes. I was sooooo glad I was four weeks post LASIK and not less than that. Still, it totally freaked us out.

And yet, we did not leave. Who are the best fans in the world, I ask you?!

So Much Good Stuff Going On!

First, the Brenda Novak Annual Auction for the Cure of Diabetes is underway! The auction goes through the month of May, and there are THOUSANDS of awesome things being auctioned. You can find smaller, affordable items, and some pretty incredible one-of-a-kind things, too.

I'm part of both the Carina Press section and the Entangled Publishing section, both of which provide items for readers and writers alike.

Over at Everybody Needs a Little Romance this week, I'm giving away one of Jason Manns' albums (winner's choice of album and format). Go post a comment if you want a chance to win. Like Jason? Don't know Jason? Check him out! (I mean, check out his music. :) )

Tomorrow (Wednesday!) I'm guesting at Romance Author Hotspot. Stop by and see what I have to say this time. :)

AND, the BIG news, is that Diesel E-Books has selected Acceptable Risks as their Deal of the Day on Thursday, 5/3/12. What does that mean? It means YOU might be able to buy it for only $1.20! They'll start selling the Deal of the Day at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and only TEN copies are available! Bookmark the page, set your alarm, and be a deal-er! :)

Entangled Anthology for Autism Speaks

Love Knows No Bounds, an Entangled Anthology supporting Autism Speaks

Follow the link to the post on the Entangled Publishing blog about this charity anthology. So many of the authors and staff of EP have been affected by autism, this is a very important cause for us. 100% of the profits will be donated to Autism Speaks. Click above and read about these three novellas:

 

 

Literal Addiction and This is Entangled: The Gag Reel

Tomorrow (Friday, April 27), I'm going to be featured at Literal Addiction and Book Monster Reviews. These ladies are AWESOME. They really do their homework and ask fantabulous questions. You get TWO chances to win (comment at each site) and can also ask me whatever you want. :)

I'll be checking in very early, then mid-afternoon, then sometime over the weekend, because we have to go to Ithaca for an open house for Number One. I'll try to check in via my iPod if I can get a signal, but I can't do that while we're on the road. So please don't feel neglected if I'm slow to respond!

Also, please check out this very funny gag reel as a teaser to author interviews Entangled will be posting. You can also subscribe to the Entangled YouTube Channel here!

I Promise I Won't Talk About My Eyes Anymore...

...after this post.

Because DUDE.

I'm three weeks post op now. I mentioned before that right after the surgery, I kept thinking that I was seeing the same as I used to with my contacts, but had to remind myself that I'd see that way ALL the time.

I was wrong.

Did you ever have the windshield of a fairly old car (a few years old, at least) get cracked and have to be replaced? Isn't it awesome to look through the clear glass, without the tiny scratches and pits you didn't realize you were seeing through for a long time?

That's what my vision is like now. Even better—it's like the whole world has been airbrushed. There's a soft clarity to everything. I marvel every time I look down at my desk and back up at the computer screen. Leaves on the trees and street signs and my kids' faces are gorgeous. It's turned my mood into perpetual happiness.

I think the left eye has caught up, or close to it. My dryness has diminished to where I go long stretches feeling comfortable. If I put in the artificial tears too much, in an effort to avoid dryness, they irritate my eyelids, drying out and tightening the skin and having the same effect as dry eyeballs do. So I'm working on a balance between letting the orbs dry out and drying out the skin.

Okay, that's enough about that. I promise not to bore you with my LASIK joy anymore. :)

Number Two scored her second goal of the season last night! I mention it because Number One was on a school field trip and missed the game where her sister scored the team's first goal of the season, and her own first goal in many years (she played goalkeeper and defense for a long time). So yesterday, Number Two almost had an assist, but her teammate shot slightly wide of the goal. Number One went into a five-minute rant in the second half about how her sister had BETTER score another goal this season. And then she did! Shut Number One up right quick. :)

The next, oh, four months are going to be insane. We have:

• a trip to Ithaca, NY, to visit the college
• The Avengers, home opener for the City Islanders, a wedding, and the prom all on the same weekend
• Mother's Day
• J going to Vegas, overlapping my retreat
• a trip to Burlington, VT, to visit Champlain
• vacation to Orlando
• a trip to Cleveland
• a day trip to Baltimore
• a weekend family reunion in MA, with another couple of visits to colleges in Amherst

I have a deadline in there, too, so I'm going to stop here and get back to writing. Since tomorrow I take a trip to see my grandpa for lunch! :)

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?

Tomorrow I have lunch with my grandpa. I can't wait!

Mirror Mirror in the Woods

Today was Number Two's birthday celebration. Tomorrow she turns 13, but she has a soccer game and homework and stuff, so we went to lunch and a movie today.

We saw Mirror Mirror, which turned out to be very funny, quite aware of its ridiculousness, and full of charm thanks to the fantastic acting of Julia Roberts, Nathan Lane, Armie Hammer, and the 7 dwarves. (The one who was also in Pirates...wait, let me look him up...Martin Klebba! He's pretty hot.) Lily Collins was good, too.

The story twisted the original fairy tale just right. I don't want to ruin any of the twists for those who will go see it or rent it, but it kept most of the elements without following the storyline to a tedious degree. And all four of us enjoyed it, something difficult with 40-something guy, a 40-something chick, a nearly 17-year-old, and a not-quite-13-year-old.

Later, I went by myself to see Cabin in the Woods. The EW review had said something like it was clever and twisty and well acted, but too funny and smart and not enough scary. Perfect for me! And, of course, I have a history of being deeply in love with stuff by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, so I was pretty optimistic going in.

And it was clever and smart and funny (very funny!) and well acted. I might have raised my expectations just a bit too much as far as the twistiness goes. When you know there are twists, you look for them. Even though I didn't really predict them, they didn't always seem that big. But then, some things I should have seen coming really shocked me.

The best part, though, was how well everyone fit together. We had some of the usual Whedonites, some well-known talents, and some newbies, and there was definite chemistry in every part of the film. The ending was extremely gory, for anyone looking for that. I also heartily recommend this one! :)

So how about you? Seen any good movies lately? Planning on going soon? Next up for me might be The Avengers. I'm SO looking forward to that one and have such high expectations, I"m bound to be disappointed by it. LOL

Things Making Me Freaking Happy Today

1. Acceptable Risks is number 2 on Carina's most popular list today! And it's getting great reviews and went all the way to 12,241 on Amazon. It's not doing as well on Barnes & Noble, but it did halve its ranking. Yay!

2. I got lots of writing done today!

3. I get to have lunch with my grandpa next week!

4. Supernatural is new tomorrow night!

5. My eyeballs are awesome!

6. I ordered some great books today!

7. The book I'm reading (Stork by Wendy Delsol) is so good I keep stopping my work to read it!

8. I have made significant progress on my to-do list!

9. I have an idea for my next Everybody Needs a Little Romance post!

10. The Entangled Authors and Carina Press authors have put together some really amazing offerings for the Brenda Novak Auction for the Cure of Diabetes. I'm so proud of us! :)

Release Day!!!

Yay, it's release day!

I'm celebrating with a couple of guest blogs. You can find me at:

Just Romantic Suspense, talking about living vicariously through my books.

And at RomCon's contemporary blog about the evolution of the idea that became this book.

You can find the book at:

Carina

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

An YAY again! It's available today at Audible, too! You can listen to a 4-minute sample. The narrator sounds great!

I'm off to celebrate by going to work with my sliced-open finger. Yay.

Glasses Hell is OVER

Getting LASIK was one of the most surreal things I've ever done. The most advanced procedure, and totally elective. And so far, totally awesome.

I took my first Valium (ever) at 7:30 on Thursday morning. It didn't really do much. I probably could have done without it. I was, happily, the first patient. I might have needed the Valium more if I'd had to sit in the waiting area with no glasses for longer than I did.

Amy, the prep nurse (tech?), took my (perfect) blood pressure and gave me a paper hat (like a shower cap) and booties. She tucked tissues over my ears to catch drop runners. Then she put two stars on my forehead so they knew I was doing both eyes. My nametag was placed upside down, with a few notes about my procedure, like "no monovision."

Oh, and she took my glasses away to give me drops, and from then on I couldn't see.

Good thing, because I think we all looked pretty silly, sitting in that prep area. Not that that changed all day.

When I was taken in to the procedure room, they put numbing drops in my eyes and the doctor marked my eyeball with a pen. I was a little nervous at that point because I could feel it. They helped me into the procedure chair, positioned me, and tightened this inflatable/squishy pillow around my head to keep it steady. Then they gave me a fish.

(I'm pretty sure it was a Nemo-like stuffed fish. I never actually saw it.)

So I held the fish and the assistant kept her hand on me and encouraged me the whole time. The doctor taped my right eyelids open, then slid that metal hook thingie under them. I think I liked that part least, because lights were really bright adn hurt my eye (my left was taped closed at that point). I had to stare at a fuzzy red dot while they sealed the microkeratome to my eyeball. The pressure made my vision go dark. Then I heard a shirring noise as it sliced my cornea. The pressure disappeared, my "vision" returned, and I stared at the fuzzy red dot that got fuzzier as they opened the flap. Then the periphery got dark (thank goodness, I was able to relax at that point) and the laser came on, and I saw lots of pretty colors and heard cool pumping-type noises and smelled my cornea burn. It was like a milder version of getting your teeth drilled. The assistant kept telling me to hold steady, keep looking up, etc. I wasn't sure if she does anyway, or if my eyeball was moving. They'd assured me the laser has a tracker, but she kept saying it so it made me nervous that I was being bad.

It only took a minute or two for the treatment. They put the flap back, and left my eye open for a minute while they started setting up my other eye. A metal cover slid over the laser, and I realized I could read the numbers on it. Then they undid my right eye and put a shield lightly over it while they got the left ready.

When they did the keratome on the left eye and asked if my vision went dim, I said "a little bit." They asked again, and I said not completely, but they sliced anyway. Then I realized I was seeing with my right eye under the edge of the shield. Later that day, I had a kind of sharp pain in my left eye (like a honking eyelash) and a few hours after that, Number Two saw blood in my eye. I think that's my fault! I didn't ask, but they might have increased the suction and that popped a capillary or two. No biggie, but I also wonder if that caused some distortion that's the reason my left eye isn't as good as my right. But I'll get to that.

After it was over, they sat me up and had me tell the time on the wall. Normally I wouldn't be able to see more than a vague circle, but I could tell it was 8:52. My vision was very cloudy, though, so my excitement was curtailed.

The doc looked at my eyes, declared them fantastic, and sent me out to get uncovered. More drops, instructions, "lovely" goggles placed over my eyes, plus wraparound sunglasses on top, and I was sent on my way.

I could see pretty well out some parts of the goggles, but a lot of stuff was fuzzy. Turned out the goggles were fogged. That's their favorite state, and it's annoying when you're not trying to sleep.

Actually, the goggles are annoying all the time. I had to wear them all day on Thursday, and no TV, no reading, no computer. So what else can you do but sleep, which is what they want anyway, because eyes heal faster when they're closed. Every time I took the goggles off to put drops in, my vision was clearer. THAT was when it got exciting.

The goggles (like sports goggles) press hard on my eye sockets, though, and are big and hard and difficult to sleep in. I have to sleep in them for a week. The doctor called me at dinner time to see how I was doing, and said I could take them off and watch a little TV, but put them back on for bad. I could have kissed him.

I did go to bed at 9:00, though, so I didn't push it. Which meant I got up at 5:30 yesterday morning. The Valium and anxiety and trauma made sleeping the first half of the day easier, and dozing after lunch went okay, but I think I woke up every 45 minutes or so after 1:00 a.m. And every day I have a pounding headache.

But OMG, is it worth it. I had my follow-up yesterday. They didn't tell me what level I was seeing at, but I think my right eye was at least 20/20, maybe even 20/15. The left wasn't as good. He said "right eye is great, left...will come along." LOL It's expected to continue to improve and will fluctuate for 6-8 weeks. I'll ask my optometrist for my actual numbers when I see her next week.

They gave me instructions for the drops again, a card to keep in my wallet in case I get pulled over since I no longer need corrective lenses, I also got a coupon for 25% of Botox and a humongous bar of chocolate!

I have to put Zymaxid antibiotic drops in four times a day for a week, plus Falcon predisolone steroid drops. The artificial tears are frequent for a month, maybe longer. The prednisolone is bitter down the back of my throat. They congeal in my eyelashes, too, which sucks because I can't do anything about that. I can't touch my eyes or get water in them. The steam from the shower softened them this morning, and I used a Q-tip under the bottom lashes, but I think I'm gonna look pretty funky by the end of the week. :)

I look out the window and across the yards, and part of me thinks, "this is how I saw with my contacts." But part of me slaps that part upside the head, because the difference, while subtle, is life-changing.

I'll never NOT see like this. That's the bottom line. Of course, I'll need reading glasses eventually. (But not now, which is awesome! They thought I would.) My vision will fluctuate now and might even change over time again (though I've talked to two people who had LASIK 13 and 20 years ago and have never changed).

But I'll never have to take out contacts or take off glasses and be unable to see. I'll never have to worry about losing a contact in O'Hare airport (done that) or being unable to tell which bobbing head in the ocean is my kid. I'll wake up every morning already able to see, and there's no chance of a Rear Window situation if my neighbor goes berserk.

And that makes every penny worth it.

Today's Customer Appreciation Goes to...THE IRS! No, Really!

Back on January 23, I faxed my Form 8802 Application for United States Residency Certification to the IRS. I need it, see, to get paid for the Greek language rights I licensed to Anubis Publications for Kira's Best Friend, book 1 in my Brook Hollow Trilogy. (*squeeeee*)

I knew it could take up to 60 days, but as the days ticked beyond that, I figured they'd never gotten the form. Sure enough, when I finally got around to calling them today, they didn't have any record. But guess what? After the requisite half hour plus on hold, I spent about 2 minutes talking to Brandi, who had me fax it again, to her attention, and said to check on Wednesday to make sure it was processing. She answered questions about my Hellenic form and the Form 6166 I'll be getting. And I was good to go!

We'll see how long it takes from here, but for now, I'm very pleased with my customer service experience with the U.S. Residency Certification Unit.

And lesson learned—next time, I'll check in a week to be sure it was received!

~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, I smell like a campfire. Someone (not naming names, but it wasn't me...this time) forgot to check inside the oven before turning it on. When it beeped that it was preheated to 400* and I opened it to slide in the naan, the potholders on top of the pizza stone burst into flames. Not a big deal—shut the oven, turned it off, waited a few minutes, brought out a fan to blow the toxic smoke out the open windows, and increased my cancer risk by a significant percentage while I got the smoking potholders outside.

The oven is fine, the pizza stone is fine, and the potholder is no great loss. My hair smells of burnt fabric, but it was a great opportunity for a teaching moment, quizzing the kids on what they'd do if this happened to them.

For the record? "Scream" and "run to get you" are not the answers I was looking for.

LASIK Update, Soccer Goals, and Under the Moon's New Cover!

I had my pre-op exam by the surgeon's team today, and everything is good to go! They kept saying things like "great!" and "excellent!" and "oh, that looks good" so I felt progressively optimistic about this whole thing. My cornea is a good thickness so despite my extreme corrective need, I can expect a good outcome (barring the usual complications, of course). Seven days to go!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Number Two played in her second school soccer game last night. She's so funny. She's moved all over the field in the last five years, and whatever she last played is where she wants to play now. She told the coach she preferred center mid to outside mid, and he acknowledged that, but he had her at outside mid all of yesterday's game. And she not only loved it, she scored her team's first goal of the season!

*cue crowd noise*

It's her first goal in years, since she's been playing goalkeeper, defense, and center mid for so long. She had a second, very close shot just as time expired at the end of the game, too. So proud and happy for her! And really glad we have like 13 games left in the season. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~
My first paranormal romance, Under the Moon, has been chosen by Barnes & Noble for nationwide release in September. (Hopefully other accounts will pick it up, too, so you can look for it in your other local bookstore, library, grocery store, airport news shop, etc.) We have a new cover for the re-release, and I LOVE IT!

Ready?

Here it is!

It kept all the things I loved about the original cover, and made the rest even better! What do you think?

Making it Up to Jade and Praise for Patient First

screencap courtesy of celebundies.blogspot.com

@jade_kadir wasn't very happy with my bait and switch on the last post, so this picture is for her. Love you, jade! :*

~~~~~~~~~~
So all last week, I've had an atrial flutter. I had something similar before, and went to see my doc who did an EKG, found nothing, and it never happened again for over a decade. (Just like when I went to the ER for bleeding and they found nothing, sent me for a colonoscopy that was completely normal...I'm establishing a pattern!)

When the flutter kept going all week, in clusters, I decided I'd better have it checked. I don't have a family doctor, so I went over to the new Patient First facility. I was there less than an hour! They declared my oxygen perfect (100%), my pulse perfect (68), and my blood pressure perfect (118/72 or something). The EKG found nothing. The cute, charming PA asked me some questions, agreed it was probably caffeine and stress and to cut back on both, and ordered a blood test for thyroid and enzymes, just to be sure. He gave me the number for an "excellent" cardiologist in case it didn't resolve on its own and, most importantly, reassured me that this wouldn't at all interfere with my LASIK next week. (Squee! Next week!)

Everyone there was very friendly and nice and professional. The place was clean and bright and comfortable. I heartily recommend it if you have a minor emergency (cuz they always occur when the doctor's office is closed!) or if, like me, you don't have a family doctor.

Hey, guess what? I have a new cover (officially!) for Under the Moon, for its nationwide paperback release in September. Stay tuned!

Ryan Reynolds in his Underwear Always Gets a Lot of Hits

I didn't really have a good title for this post, so I stuck that one up there. We'll see what happens.

So now I'm officially T-14 days and counting. I had my pre-op testing with my optometrist today. Everything looks good. Happy corneas (her words), no retinal issues. I had massive dilation (meaning I won't be back to normal for up to 6 hours instead of the usual 2). I'm at the point now where I can see okay, but my eyeballs still feel weird and light hurts. Just call me Gizmo. The good news is that my vision did change a tiny bit between non-dilation and dilation, so I get to do it again next week. Yay. (They'll probably want to check it again so they can be sure to get the best possible outcome. I'm okay with that!)

No, the really good news is that I produce tears like mad. Since my friend Cindy had a really bad dry eye experience, that was a big relief.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey, whose responsibility is it to fire Punxatawny Phil? I admit to being a real douche about the whole six more weeks of winter thing. Groundhog Day to the first day of official spring? Six weeks. But all that aside, this year Phil saw his shadow and proclaimed an elongated end to winter, and last week we hit record-setting highs. We're about to again tomorrow, but that's okay since it's actually spring now.

I know other parts of the country have still been unseasonably cold and even had snow, but Phil is in Pennsylvania, so that's what counts.

~~~~~~~~~~~
So who's going to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games? Not us, for several reasons:

1. It's not Harry Potter. Sheesh.
2. It's a school night.
3. More importantly, it's a work night.
4. We're all going! Me, Numbers One and Two, and J.

J hates movie crowds as much as I hate festival and park crowds, so we're going to an 11:00 a.m. show on Saturday. I had a discussion on my other blog about high expectations for this movie. Most people are trying to keep them low, but I can't help it. Mine are soaring. I can't wait!

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My editor just told me about Teavana. I'm normally a pretty basic tea person, but I've already spent way too long at that site going "ooh! ooh! look! ooh!" and making notes for Mother's Day gifts. LOL I'd love some recommendations, though she's already given me enough to kill my budget for a year.

Off to browse!

Singing Praises

It has been one crappy week, and the worst may be yet to come. Hopefully not. Hopefully, in 2 hours and 20 minutes it will become magically awesome.

In the meantime, I'm compelled to sing the praises of some people who mightily deserve it.

There's a lot of bitching about the US Postal Service and the ongoing budget woes. But honestly, I think they do an amazing job for 45-freaking-cents. Number One lost her iPod recently and ordered a replacement online on Monday. It was expected to arrive on Friday, which bummed her out, but it ended up being delivered today. Since we ordered late Monday, figure it shipped yesterday, and took one day to arrive in central PA in perfect condition, all the way from Boca Raton, FL.

When the mail carrier came to the door to get my signature for the package, we chatted for a while. He's retired and works as a sub, but ends up doing two routes a day, five days a week many weeks. The USPS has cut staff and won't hire replacements, and of course the delivery people do all their own sorting, too. So thank you, USPS workers! You're awesome!

I've been aware of Etsy for a while, but I don't have much need for jewelry or fancy diaper covers, so I never really explored the marketplace and hadn't bought anything there. My awesome publicist, Roxanne Rhoads, suggested I do a search there for items for the Goddess Society gift basket I'm donating to the Brenda Novak Auction for the Cure of Diabetes. I knew they'd have good quality for great prices, but was skeptical that I'd find anything relevant without a lot of hard work with the search box.

But WOW was I wrong. I found three perfect items (a goddess pendant, full-moon earrings, and goddess sea salt and essential oil scrub) within minutes. Two have already arrived, and they were beautifully packaged with very nice notes. I'm so impressed with the earrings I might see if I can get another pair.

Your turn! Whose praises do you want to sing today?

Transylvanian Inspiration

Congratulations to Nikki, who was chosen via random.org as the prize winner! Thanks everyone for participating, and good luck with the prizes at the other blog's and the rest of Barbara's party!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today begins Barbara Vey's 5th Anniversary Party, celebrating her blog, Beyond the Book, at Publisher's Weekly. I've joined with Lisa Kessler, Rachel Firasek, Kinley Baker, Sarah Makela, Bella Street, Linda Wisdom, and Chris Marie Green to give away a Kindle AND a $50 Amazon gift card AND whatever swag Lisa can fit into the package! Go comment on Barbara's post today and be in the running to win!

Also go check out tie-in posts at my fellow author's blogs:

• Lisa Kessler
• Rachel Firasek
• Chris Marie Green/Christine Cody
• Sarah Makela 
• Bella Street 
• Kinley Baker
• Linda Wisdom

The anniversary party paranormal day theme is Transylvania. That is all well and good for people like Lisa, whose characters are vampires. But how could I tie my goddesses in?

Uh...how about by talking about Hungarian goddesses? Yeah, I was amazed by the obviousness, too. Only took me four-point-seven minutes to think of it.

So Hungarian mythology is not, I think, all that well known in the United States. Certainly not as well known as Greek/Roman and Viking mythology. But in all fairness, it's hard to name superheroes and comic book characters after Boldogasszony (goddess of motherhood) or Boszorkány (a supernatural witch, she'd play the villain in a comic book). Those names don't roll off the tongue of non-Hungarians. (Note: time-limited research is from that unreliable cauldron of interesting stuff, Wikipedia.)

Hungarian myth is heavy on the gods, and even heavier on demons. But it's entirely possible that some of my Goddesses Rising have this ancestry. Not that they know it. It's kind of hard to do genealogy that far back, so no modern goddesses know exactly from whom they're descended.

Transylvania has a dark and moody reputation, but honestly, it's gorgeous country. I mean, look at this!

© Lenard denes, used with permission via GNU Free Documentation license

Who wouldn't want to visit there? During the day, you can hike in the gorgeousness, meet friendly locals, and collect unique memorabilia. At night, the looming hills and fog and shadows will cloak the vamps and demons the region is famous for. Best of everything!

Have you ever been to Transylvania, or any other part of the country? What part of the world do you associate with the supernatural? Comment here to WIN a copy of Megan Hart's Collide and an Under the Moon coffee mug (with a couple of other seekrit goodies thrown in). Don't forget to go to Barbara Vey's blog party for a chance to win the BIG prizes, and hop on over to my fellow authors' blogs for chances to win additional goodies. Have fun!

How I Started My Writing Career

First, after all my whining, I must report that my eyesight has miraculously adjusted and I am no longer viewing a slightly out-of-focus world. I really thought I was doomed, that there was no way it could improve after getting steadily worse that first day. Now it's fine, though I have daily headaches from wearing the glasses themselves. That should work out, too.

Four days down, a-number-I-don't-want-to-count to go.

My husband dug up a folder with "Tammy Moran & Natalie Jacobus in the movies" with "Top Secret" and "censored" stickers on it. I remembered it immediately. Tammy and I spent HOURS of our childhood "making movies." I should probably give her a great deal more credit for my current success as an author. *makes note to give credit*

This is kind of hilarious. I think it was 8th grade that we wrote these up. She'd have been slightly younger, which is demonstrated in the casting. She paired herself with Patrick LaFontaine, hockey star. By the end of the booklet of ideas, I was writing in my actual crush, David Andry. My handwriting is eerily similar to what it is today, and there's a lot of editing.

Here are some examples. All typos, grammar errors, etc., are SIC.

Models without Makeup
Two famous models are posing for a new photographer. Little do they know, although they wear makeu clothes, a new x-ray camera has been developed for. A scandal sheet buys the pictures, and the girls fall in love w/ the two photographers that take these pictures, not knowing the story. Find out what happens by seeing the movie.

Understand my Love
Two girls think they are pregnant and are terrified because they are only freshmen. They tell their "fathers," and they "fathers" tell the whole school. They are not pregnant, and but they still have bad reps. As juniors, they really get pregnant, and get a lot of understanding from their boyfriends. But Lesil's father gives her the silent treatment, and Janet's mother wants to her to get an abortion. But she refuses. Will they keep the babies and get married? What will happen at school? Find out at the movies.

This one's my favorite. You've got to understand, I was an incredible Goody Two-Shoes myself. I don't know where we came up with this stuff!

Not so Innocent
Two girls [it's always two girls, of course, because we had to share top billing] are called "Goody Two shoes" by their schoolmates. In real life, they go on "school trips" to New York—they are actually Hookers. Will they ever get caught?

Like the capital H in there? Not just regular underage working girls, these two.

Here's one that foreshadows my current writing career:

On the Run
Two seemingly intelligent reporters are living in a penthouse on Park Avenue. How did they get there? They always get the best scoops because they were born with super-hearing, x-ray vision, and super-smarts. But the Mob is after their super-defense weapons, not yet known to the public.

Ahhh. Good times, good times.

Living the Nightmare

I've been wearing glasses since I was 6, contacts since I was 15. One year shortly after that, the doctor was going to move my right contact to my left eye and order a new right contact. But then he kept getting it backwards, and wouldn't listen to me. I got upset—like, verge-of-anxiety-attack upset, and my mother couldn't figure out why.

I realized it was because the doctor hadn't given me my contacts back, and I couldn't see. That ramped up my anxiety to 11, and ever since, my most common recurring nightmare has been fuzzy vision.

Today, I started living my nightmare.

Okay, that's overly dramatic. But I'm very nearsighted, and clarity is literally 6 inches in front of my face (I just measured). I wear rigid gas permeable contacts, which change the shape of your cornea, and my glasses prescription is set for that shape. So when I'm out of my contacts even overnight, the glasses aren't strong enough. Which is why I never wear my glasses. Five minutes in the morning, half an hour at night, that's it.

But because those contacts change my cornea, I have to be out of them for 4 weeks before pre-op testing for LASIK, which is a week before the operative consult, which is a week before the surgery. So six weeks of the entire world being slightly out of focus.

it's almost enough to make me forget about doing it!

I got up this morning with a low-burning anxiety over this. You know how they say people don't like clowns because their real faces are hidden? Try completely featureless blobs. THAT'S truly freaky. Of course, the glasses are good enough, so it's not that bad. But I'm on edge, working too hard to accommodate it.

I tell myself six weeks will fly by, but on this end of it, it seems like forever. The worst part is that there's a chance they tell me I'm not a good candidate, or they can't correct enough to be worth it. THAT would seriously suck.

So what's your worst minor nightmare? Have you ever had to live it?

Acceptable Risks Poll Results and Prizes

Thanks so much to everyone who took part in my cover poll for Acceptable Risks! I appreciate the comments and the guesses, most of which you got right. :)

I have Acceptable Risks goodies on their way, so I'll be contacting my FIVE winners, chosen by random.org, via e-mail. If you're international, I'll offer an e-book copy of one of my three most recent releases. If you're in the U.S., I have fun stuff I'll put in the mail.

The winners are:

Abraham, Tamsyn, Cathy M., Patricia, and Jodi. Congratulations!

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.

Acceptable Risks Back Cover Copy

Acceptable Risks

April 16, 2012

Carina Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When security expert Jason Templeton's team is ambushed while protecting a weapons manufacturer vital to U.S. interests, he risks his life to save the man's daughter...and loses. Unbeknownst to Jason, his mentor had been funding experimental medical procedures after losing his young wife. Using the untested drugs, Jason is brought back to life, stronger and faster than before, but also vulnerable in new ways. He's determined to find the traitor in their midst, who is after the miracle drug.

That means protecting the brilliant scientist Lark Madrassa. Their attraction and compatibility are undeniable, but Jason tries to deny his growing feelings for her, thinking he is too damaged. When Lark's father is kidnapped they have to rely on each other in a dangerous plot to uncover the double agent. Before, Jason always accepted the risks—but what about when the life of the woman he loves is on the line?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Text Copyright ©2012 by Natalie J. Damschroder
Cover Art Copyright ©2012 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Acceptable Risks Cover Poll

For anyone who didn't get over to Everybody Needs a Little Romance last week to see my cover reveal for Acceptable Risks, here you go!

Copyright ©2012 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited
® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

Now take a good look at the details on this cover. Before I post the back cover copy, I wanted to give you all a chance to guess what the cover means! So here's a quick and fun poll for you. If you'd like to include your name and e-mail address at the end of the poll, you'll be entered into a drawing for prizes. The nature of those prizes is to be determined, as is the number of prizes. They are likely to include things like mugs and books and keychains and notepads and stuff. Your information will not be kept or used for any other purpose, and providing it is completely optional.

Have fun, and feel free to speculate in the comments!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Acceptable Risks Cover Reveal!

Is not here.

It's here.

Check it out!

Huh. I Totally Though I Blogged About Chuck.

My husband and I have enjoyed the TV show Chuck since it started. Not continuously. There have been episodes here and there that were lame or over-the-top or out-and-out stupid. But the core of the show has always appealed to us.

I mean, it helped that Zachary Levi was made into a true hunk, not just a hunk-disguised-as-a-geek (though looking back, he was a lot geekier than I remembered!), that Captain Awesome sometimes worked out shirtless and in bike shorts, and that Yvonne Strahovski is hot enough to spark interest in 30-year coma patients.

But I loved that a couple got together and the show survived a few more seasons. (Hear that, Castle writers?!) I loved the exploration of backstory issues that gave everyone's angst so much depth. I loved that a Firefly alum had a long-term gig. (Though, come on, what's it gonna take for one of the Firefly women to get a show that goes more than a season and a half? Sheesh.)

The last run of episodes (the one that followed probably the worst eps in the show's five truncated-season history) was fantastic. The one that finally addressed the status of Sarah's mom, and the one where they decided not to buy the house, were so rich and satisfying. AND THEN! Brandon Routh returned! And so did the Intersect!

I loved that Chuck got the Intersect back, that everyone wound up with something great, that Lester and Jeff actually got to play spies. I admit, I didn't come close to loving what happened with Sarah, or that Morgan's magic kiss didn't actually work, but they at least left us with the belief that everything was going to work out.

I don't miss Chuck, really. Very little TV is must-watch-live for us, and sometimes we'd let two episodes go by before we caught up. But I do miss having a light, comedic one-hour show on our Prioritizer. I have White Collar that fits the bill, I guess, and Royal Pains is light enough. But as glad as I am that Chuck lasted as long as it did, I wish it had been a bit more successful and followed by something else like it. Dark, twisty dramas are all well and good, but seriously, I'm getting kind of depressed.

Avoiding Insanity: Not So Easy

Don't forget! I'm revealing the cover to my next romantic adventure, Acceptable Risks, next Tuesday, 2/7, at Everybody Needs a Little Romance. Make sure to come check it out!

I'm struggling to find a way to manage my time better. So I remembered an idea from a long-ago time management program that said to touch everything just once. Handle it immediately, instead of setting it aside. So I tried that yesterday.

It was a DISASTER.

It was the first of the month, therefore the deadline for submission of listings for the column I do for a trade journal. Of course, everyone waits until the day of the deadline to send me their stuff. (I tweeted yesterday with the realization that maybe they do it on purpose. Seriously, people, you can send stuff EARLY. You don't have to wait for the deadline to arrive.) I fired off a frustrated reply to an e-mail, then read the next one—and it would have completely nullified the frustration if I'd read it before replying.

So I went along, not looking at my inbox, just the next e-mail. I did proofing jobs for clients, gathered column info, jumped over to websites and back, filed electronic bills, etc. And every few seconds another e-mail clicked into my box. Let me tell you, this way was NOT more efficient.

Usually I read through all my e-mail, saving the ones I have to handle. Then I do all the column stuff at once, all the promo together, all the client work in a cluster. I've been doing it that way for years. I don't know why I decided trying something else would be better. It wasn't.

So that definition of insanity, trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results? It can go the other way, too. Trying something different and expecting the same (or better) results.

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I started watching Revenge recently, because it's been getting raves and people with similar taste to mine have been loving it. I've saved it until late evening, when it's inadvisable for me to try to work because out of two dozen words that should have been changed to UK spellings, I'll only spot one. The problem with that is that I do the "just one more episode" thing and stay up late despite my continuous good intentions.

So I'm really enjoying the show, obviously. I've got 2 more eps to watch before new eps return next week. I'm glad Tyler finally got his. I was feeling pretty violent toward him. I just wish Emily would be nicer to Nolan. I don't get her hostility, when he's the reason she has the resources to do this in the first place, AND she's always making him help her. He might actually be the most interesting character on the show, though none of them are without their twisty depth.

The other problem with liking the show so much is that I'm watching on iTunes on my iPod, and the longer I watch, the worse my eyestrain gets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of eyestrain, I went to the eye doctor today. It's nice to hear that part of my problem is that my sight is overcorrected, another degree past where it was last time, so my contacts are too strong. I'm not going to get new ones, though, because I think I'm doing LASIK.

o.O

I had an opportunity about 9 years ago, when my mom died and I got a small life insurance payout. I got chicken, though—it's less about the blade slicing open my cornea and more about the hydrating brush sweeping over my exposed eyeball—and bought a laptop and paid some bills instead.

But I'm tired of it. I've had seriously poor vision since I was 6. I may not be able to get full correction because of the degree of my nearsightedness, but anything is better. And I'm approaching the need for reading glasses, and I'm not ready to face bifocals or monovision and all that crap.

So I'm ready. And yet... I wear rigid gas permeable contacts, which reshape the cornea, so I knew I'd have to wear my glasses for a little while before the evaluation and the surgery. But SIX WEEKS?! Seriously, I'm going to be pretty lonely by the end. No one will be able to stand looking at me. I look RIDICULOUS in glasses, again because of the degree of correction. No matter what kind of frames I get, the thick lenses distort my face so it looks narrower behind the glasses than it really is. So I look like a funhouse mirror, but in real life.

The there are the two weeks of drops and not rubbing the eye and wearing goggles at night, not to mention the expense, and it almost sounds like it's not worth it. But being able to tell which bobbing heads in the water are my kids' when we're at the beach? Waking up and being able to see across the room? Not having lint and dust killing my eyeballs? Best of all, not having to deal putting in and taking out contacts? Oh, yeah, it will be worth it.

Have any of you had LASIK? How did it go for you?