Borrowed Internet

I went without internet all day yesterday (Friday) and I couldn't do it a second day, so I came out to Starbucks for some Internet and caffeine.  I suppose I should head home soon as I don't want to be out and about once all the drunken revelers hit the road.  But that means the end of my internet until tomorrow (and the tech had BETTER fix my internet tomorrow!)

I worked on the Closet from H3LL yesterday and made quite a bit of progress even though if you looked at my bedroom now you might not think so. Trust me, it is better than it was.

I am pretty blue about spending New Year's Eve alone as I am a firm believer that how you spend NYE sets the tone for the year.  I will, however, make the best of it and look forward to bigger and better things in 2012.  I refuse to buy into 2012 being "the end of the world"... I will, however, do my best to make the most of the time this year gives me.

Weird thing... before I came out today, I totally changed clothes and actually looked in the mirror.  That is not "normal" for me, but I have decided that I need to be more conscious of things like that.  I need to not settle for "good enough"...

Have a Happy and Safe New Year's Eve, y'all. Hopefully, I will be writing from home tomorrow.

On Hold

Tuesday night I got home late, went to log on to my computer and....no internet connection.  Annoyed, I reset the router and...no internet connection. The modem is in the livingroom, the router and computers are in the office. I went out to check the modem and...hmmm... that's not good, there were dark spots where there are supposed to be lights.  Cycle the modem and... no internet connection.  Tired and frustrated, I went to bed thinking it would all be ok come morning (as it has been before when this has happened).

I woke up at 4:30AM on Wednesday, stumbled out to the livingroom and... still a lack of lights on the modem.  Cycle everything (once again)... no internet connection.  Call Time Warner (don't like them, but they are the provider in my area. sigh.) and there is no outage in my area.  Tech asks all the standard questions, we conclude that maybe my modem (6 years old) needs replacing.  Great.  Just what I need. Especially on top of the fact that sometime between Sunday evening and Tuesday morning, the driver's side headlight had burned out.

Managed to get the headlight fixed (thanks to a handy co-worker) and get a new modem on Wednesday.  Brought the new modem home, installed it and...no internet connection.  Called the lovely folks over at Time Warner again and they say they need to send a technician out, how does SUNDAY sound?  Seriously? I live in a major metropolitan area where you people employ hundreds, if not thousands of people and I have to wait from Wednesday until SUNDAY (a weekend AND a holiday, to boot!) for a technician?  But... I took the appointment after griping about losing work opportunities being offline that long.   So, on Sunday, some time between 10 and 2, there will (allegedly) be a technician at my place and I will (hopefully) be back online.

I suspect that one of my illustrious neighbors was fiddling with the cable box and messed things up, because everything was working fine on Tuesday morning and I noticed that the box that houses all the cables outside has been tampered with.  (Welcome to the 'hood)

I am taking all of this as divine intervention designed to get my butt in gear and deal with the Closet from H3LL.  Of course, if I spend the weekend at the coffeehouse on the Internet, I will thwart divine intervention but not get things cleaned up.. place your bet as to whether it will be productivity or procrastination.

AdSense makes no sense to me...

A few weeks ago, after years of not joining Goggle Adsense because I didn't think it'd be worth it,  a friend talked me into trying it out.  This is a growing blog and I am experiencing a growth in traffic and I thought it might be worth a shot.

Lo and behold, I started getting some clicks. I got to the payment threshold and did all of the things you have to do to get a payment.

So, imagine my utter dismay when I get in my email box CHRISTMAS MORNING an email from AdSense saying that they are disabling my account for "invalid clicks".  Now, I run their ads not only on this site, but on my other sites as well. I have no idea which of my accounts was allegedly generating the illicit activity and Google can't (read: WON'T) tell me which account is the issue.

This is all highly suspect to me, because until I was in line to actually get a payment everything was fine.  Also, way to ruin my mood on CHRISTMAS. 

Google AdSense violated Wil Wheaton's Prime Directive "Don't Be A Dick"... I did nothing wrong, brought traffic to their advertisers and they have disabled my account, which after reading their forums seems to mean I am banned FOR LIFE with no recourse.  And the money I made? Yeah, not going to get it.  But to me, the worst part is that this all happened CHRISTMAS MORNING, when I was already feeling pretty blue about things.

Since I wasn't really counting on revenue from AdSense, the loss of the accounts is a petty inconvenience. I am, honestly, more insulted than anything else.  And if anyone ever asks me if AdSense is a good program I will tell them to not even bother considering it.  Nor will I ever consider using them to do advertising for my business or any business I am involved with. 

Makes no sense to me... Now, on to bigger and better things!

Since I already missed "bedtime"...

I was so happy that I had no plans for tonight because I was going to come home and get things done and now's it's about half past Midnight and I'm still up (AGAIN!) because I have kept telling myself "just one more thing..." and then here I am still awake 2 hours past the time I really wanted to go to bed tonight!

Tomorrow night (well, since it's after midnight I guess what I really mean is TONIGHT) I will go do my volunteering with the cat rescue so I won't be home until later.  Friday I am off work but have a critical errand to run. The majority of the weekend will be spent trying to organize the chaos that is currently the Closet from H*ll (an unfortunate side-effect from cleaning the Closet o' Doom).  I also need to get the livingroom whipped back in shape and the kitchen beaten into submission.  Don't get me started on the state of the bathroom or the fact that I have a pile of laundry to tame!

My original plan for Christmas was that I was going to go to Arizona to spend it with my Mom and The Girl (my daughter).  But, life happened and so I'm not going (which I've known for a couple of months now).  I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend, though, so I am hoping to not sit around being mopey.  Actually, I will probably catch up on my blog reading and posting and coupon clipping over the holiday. And maybe actually address holiday cards (yes, I KNOW they'll be "late" by traditional standards but I figure if I get them out before Valentine's Day, I'm doing well for me!)

If you are taking the holidays off from blog reading, allow me to wish you a Merry ChristmaHannuKwanzaSolstica!  (Try to include everyone there) and if you don't celebrate any winter Holidays, perhaps I'll see you around the blogosphere this weekend!

Need to get on the (cake) ball!

It seems in the last couple of weeks, everywhere I click around the Internet there is a mention of cake pops or cake balls and people, I have never had either and that's just not right. 

I will confess that my favorite part of cake is the FROSTING but I'm seeing these delicious looking little cake snacks everywhere and I WANT IN!

It is mind boggling to read all of the reviews of this pan or that pan for making cake pops/cake balls or this gadget or that meant to make "the perfect cakepop".  I just want to EAT some before I get to trying to MAKE some but haven't been able to figure out where to start.  I mean, I suppose I could give in and order one at Starbucks but honestly, I think they are $1.50 APIECE and I just can't justify spending that much money on one, maybe two bites of cake. I've never in my life had cake that was worth $1.50 per bite.

People are starting entire cake ball/cake pop BUSINESSES.  Are there really people out there who will pay for tiny tastes of cake? Seriously, people like this are getting $29.00 for 12 cake balls.  That's almost $2.50 APIECE.  And these are cute, but wow! $24 for 6...

I guess that the original cakeballs were cake that was crumbled and mixed with frosting then formed into balls and dipped in chocolate. Oh. My.   How is it that I have never in my life had a cakeball? I need to fix this. I need to fix this NOW.  And so... I am on a mission... I hope a delicious mission. I will find some cakeballs and devour them (in the name of research, of course).  I hope to not have to pay $2.50 apiece for the priviledge, though! 

Off now to get my labcoat (because you need a labcoat in order to properly conduct research).  Have a stellar weekend!

Wait, Christmas is WHEN?

I don't know why I thought I had more time, but the clock is ticking out if I am going to get anything mailed before Christmas. Every year for the past 3-4 years I've thought "This year, I'll send out Christmas cards" and, well... I have a bunch of cards still sitting here, waiting to be sent. So, maybe (no promises) I will get around to actually doing cards this weekend between bouts of trying to beat the Closet o' Woe into submission.

The sad reality is that I probably need at least one more closet and a couple of walls that are built-in bookshelves.  There are TONS of books that need shelf space and my cheapo bookshelves are already about to fall down from the weight of all the books on them.

I definitely have more to say, but the clock is ticking and it's an hour past the time I should have hopped into bed, so I will say goodnight for now.  More this weekend!

Wine & Writing Wednesday

Usually I am at the Wine Bar on Tuesday nights with my laptop and some other writers.  But this week, we had to rearrange things and ended up having Wine & Writing Wednesday.  I am so used to doing it on Tuesday nights, though, that I have been thinking all day today that today is Tuesday and then having to correct myself, which has been a bit weird. 

Tuesday nights, the wine bar is very quiet and we chat.  Tonight is pizza night, though. And live music night. And crowded as heck night.  Which has made things interesting. I don't know if it has made things more or less productive.

By the way, the pizza is Chef TJ's Woodfired Pizza and if you are in the DFW Metroplex, you need to find them and have their pizza. These are not your average pies... they are really tasty and unique.  And how fun is a MOBILE woodfired pizza oven? 

And if you haven't been to The Wine Therapist, you should make the trip. It's a nice little place and very writer friendly (like a coffeehouse, but with wine.... and ambience....)

So, tonight has been a nice night.  A welcome respite from the chaos that has been going on lately.  I think I have a date this weekend with the Closet o' Awful.    But once that's done, things should be much more organized.  I'm sure other things will come up, but it will be nice to get that done.

A Case of The Mondays

This morning I attempted to get on the right track but was quickly run over by a runaway train of thought... I was just out of sync and off-kilter all day today and I have had a really hard time focusing lately and I don't know exactly what my problem is.

I need to get my closet cleaned out but that will be put off for another week which annoys me somewhat but I guess if my happy heinie had gotten around to doing what needed to be done sooner, I could have gotten things done and actually had some sales for the holiday season but here I am now with all of the things I need scattered here and there and buried in the Closet From H*LL and so, I have set my sights on getting it cleaned out and getting things organized and then using the month of January to get things on track to have sales in February for Valentine's Day (I am either an incredible optimist or incredibly stupid... the jury is still out as to which actually applies!)

BUT... I've been getting writing done lately (both novel writing and blogging) so I guess I haven't been a total slacker.  And I may have found another couponing friend!

Stuffed!

Went grocery shopping today and the cashier forgot the coupons. I HATE it when that happens because then you have to go to Customer Service and wait for the person returning individual grains of rice (ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it FEELS that way).  It was not one of my better couponing days plus I was kicking myself for having missed going shopping YESTERDAY when I could have gotten a $10 gift card.  *sigh

Anyhow, dinner tonight was make-up Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas Christmas dinner because the POSSLQ was out of town for Thanksgiving and will be gone again for Xmas. *sigh   So, we had roast pork, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and because we hadn't had NEARLY enough carbs (/sarcasm) we had mini cupcakes for dessert because some evil sample guy at Target was handing out samples and the stupid "hot chocolate" flavor mini cupcakes were to-die-for delicious.  And it's probably going to take me weeks to work off this single dinner, but it was TASTY and the only reason I am still up blogging is that I wanted to give it SOME time to digest and not put it DIRECTLY to storage on my hips!

But, I have to work in the morning, so I should probably go to bed. Any tips for helping the cashier remember the coupons? (Yes, I am STILL annoyed about that!)

Holiday Feasting

So, the POSSLQ is home from his latest business trip.  While out on the road, Thanksgiving happened and the next trip out on the road will include Christmas.  This means there are two feasts to be made up for. When I'm home alone, I seldom cook much beyond what can be microwaved.  There just doesn't seem to be a point to cooking when I'm the only one who is going to eat it and I don't want to be eating leftover whatever for days after the original meal.  I know, picky picky.  So, when I can get a good meal, I am happy to have it.  Plus, the POSSLQ is a far better cook than I am and meals I don't have to cook taste better to me.

It's really late and I should be in bed by now.  I feel bad that the apartment is sortve a mess and I should probably do some cleaning tomorrow.  I mean, it's not FILTHY or anything, it's just not as nice as I would like for it to be. 

So, there will be grocery shopping to do and feast prepping and some cleaning and whatever else I can stuff into the day assuming that I get to bed soon now so I actually get up at something before the crack of noon tomorrow.

Crazy Cat Lady

I must confess that I am a Crazy Cat Lady.  Even though I only have two cats (because that is all my apartment complex will allow).  I talk to them. I let them sleep on my bed. And that's just the way it is.  I also volunteer for a cat rescue and would love to take ALL of the rescue kitties home.  ESPECIALLY the hissy/growly ones because I would love to be the person that they grow to love. 

But, I don't want to write the blog that everyone whispers about... you know... "She has 35 cats... in the house... can you IMAGINE??"  And yet, I can't NOT blog about cats at all because I am too much of a Crazy Cat Lady.  Heck, I even follow blogs about people who have lots of cats so I can get vicarious cat lovin' time.  And yes, if the cats on the cat blogs I read are having fun or going through something sad, it does impact my mood.

So, don't be surprised if there is an occasional post about cats or a cat product review here.  (You may have gotten a hint that I am a Crazy Cat Lady a couple of posts back... For the record, I am also Crazy Chinchilla Chick).  I'd write more, but I have cats to pet!

Vitacost $10 Coupon

Have you heard about Vitacost.com?
They have over 30,000 health and wellness products, including vitamins, supplements, herbs, personal care products, organic foods and more; and it's all way cheaper than the health food store!
If you decide to check it out, please register through my link so we can both get a $10 off coupon!

 

Cats to cuddle before I sleep...

My to-do list seems about 3 miles long. And I don't just have one, I have the one for home, the one for work, the one for blogging... and I keep forgetting things I need for doing other things (like forgetting my coupons that one of the people at work give me for the second day now... grrrr!)

I need to remember to do things like fill cat water bowls, remember to check their food, make sure I have laundry done for the week and I have big, special projects like cleaning out the Closet O' Doom.  I also have bath fizzies and other things to work in along with research on building a brand and marketing, etc.  This is in addition to what's going on at work and how far behind I am there!

And at least one cat is angry with me because I haven't had time to cuddle. Tomorrow night I have to deal with the stuff from the Closet O' Doom, Thursday I have my volunteer gig...and it's late and the cat is being cute but I guess I should cuddle a while before bedtime.  Which should have been an hour or so ago.

I'd best get to the cuddling so I can get to bed at some point tonight!

Diamond Candles is looking for bloggers...

Diamond Candles Campaign Announcement ~ Call For Bloggers To Review & Giveaway Unique Soy Candles With Ring Surprises

The Criteria for Your Participation Are Simple.

• This event is Free to you. Open to US only.
• If you are to review and giveaway a product sponsored by Diamond Candles Company, you'll need to include in your giveaway the sponsor's Facebook and Twitter mentions, and a couple of keywords within your review.
• If you are to participate in this campaign, Blog about this event on your blog, linking it to my post here.
• Then, fill out this Form with information about your blog.
• Once you're approved by the Diamond Candles Company, I'll ask you to confirm your mailing address for mailing products to you for review and giveaway on your blog (FYI: Diamond Candles does all mailing to the winners for giveaway.) 

I am pretty sure there are still spots left, you've got nothing to lose!  Good Luck!

Weirdness...

So, I had 16 or so GFC followers a while back and now there are only 4 and I don't know if it was something I said and people fled and unfollowed me or if something weird is going on. I suspect that the Tea Monkeys have something to do with it...

I tackled the Closet o' Doom this weekend. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Now I just have to figure out where to put all the stuff that was in there.

It rained most of the weekend.  We needed the rain, so I guess I shouldn't complain but I could do without the cold that came along with the rain.

I would sure like another day of weekend. 

Random Acts

A couple of days ago I followed a link that took me to a Target Coupon that was for a $10 gift card if you spent $50.  My printer ended up printing two of them (yay!) BUT they expired Dec. 3rd and I could not do two $50 shopping trips that quickly (the budget groans at the thought) so I put both in my purse and had a plan...

I did my shopping, paid, got my gift card (saved $30 with coupons + $10 gift card... go me!) and then walked slowly down the row towards the door glancing at the totals of other folks checking out.  I found one over $50 that hadn't paid yet so I swooped in, handed the cashier the coupon, wished the couple a "Happy Holidays" and scooted out of the store.  No, I'd never seen them before in my life but I like to think I brightened someone's day (cuz, hey, $10 gift card that was FREE, right?)  So, that was my Random Act for today and I'm pretty happy with how it went!

So, this is December?

I'm not quite sure where November went. It zipped right by as I worked on my novel, I guess.   Actually, I sortve feel that much of life just went zipping on by in November and am ready for the relative calm of December.

Tonight I ended up working late. I was trying to get a headstart on a big project that I should finish tomorrow and was entering data at my desk when my boss walked out of his office (my desk is in a hall space between two offices), walked right past me and out the door, switching all of the lights off and locking the door behind him as he left....as if I wasn't even there.  I'm hoping that this means that the tea I've been drinking is not only antioxidant, but is also imbuing me with the power of invisibility. Because that would be awesome.  I mean, it obviously has its down side if no one can see that you show up to work every day I guess eventually they'd hire someone else to do your job but you could just hang around and wait for bank vaults to open and help yourself or hang around at the bank and when they open your file just add some strategically placed numbers to your account balance...  If you are a more ethical invisible person, I still bet there are people who would pay for the services of an invisible person.  You could approach corporations and suggest that you sit in on competitor's high-level meetings (ok, still an ethical gray area) or maybe offer your services to prisons to hear what the inmates chat about, which crimes they are admitting to committing and the like.  Maybe work for the police by infiltrating a suspected drug cartel?  Or, hey, loss prevention at retail establishments.  No more shoplifters getting spooked by visible store security personnel.

Of course, this assumes you are either a full-time invisible person or that you have absolute control over your invisibility because I am guessing that invisibility doesn't totally work if you are wearing clothing and to all of a sudden turn visible, stark naked, would probably not be a happy outcome.

I'll bet you could do pretty well as a private investigator if you were invisible.  There are always going to be people who need information about other people that they can't outright ask for...

So, maybe my December won't be productive... at least not in a traditional sense.  I'm going to have to drink lots more tea.  I theorize that all the oxidants and free radicals are what keep us visible so if I can just ingest enough antioxidants, I should ring in the new year a less visible me.  I should probably work a little on my body just in case invisibility DOES require nudity.  Tea leaves may make tasty tea, but they do little to provide ample coverage if your invisibility wears off.

50,000 words later...

Actually, 50,413 words later.... I have finished this year's NaNoWriMo.  Thing is, probably half of that is going directly into the bin through the miracle of editing and there is still more writing to do to finish the story.   But... the deed is done and it's 12:30AM and I have to be up in about 5 hours to go to work, but I did it.

So, if you scroll down my right sidebar, my lil' "winner" badge is there.

And now I can finally legitimately say I'm "WINNING"! *giggle

Gotta go linky up to the Wednesday Blog Hop!  You should too!

The Only Constant Is Change

I've been hearing that Google Friend Connect (GFC) is going away, to be replaced by Google+ (at least until the Next Big Thing comes along) so I added a little clicky over in my righthand sidebar that will take you to my (at the moment) rather sparse Google+ page that I just got around to actually creating. Because I'm cutting edge. Or I'm behind the curve trying to catch up.

It's gotten chilly.  I suppose with it being nearly December, I should have expected this. However, I did not.  Furthermore, I don't like it one bit. But, no one asked me and it appears that Old Man Winter is going to keep on stalking me, whether I want him to or not.  I was sure I'd left him behind when I moved South, but like a bad penny he's come back to haunt me (no, I never understood the whole "bad penny" thing, but people say it so it must mean something close to how I'm using it here).

Can you believe November is almost over? I am still trying to finish my NaNoWriMo novel so it'll be crazy the next couple of days.  Then I get back to my "normal" life.  Except that I am not quite sure what that entails anymore. I guess it means I can't procrastinate any more and will have to actually clean out the Closet o' Doom.  Or , ya know, maybe I can find a second job and a few more volunteer gigs... I'll feel better after I've faced the Closet o' Doom, right?

Was it really a long weekend?

I can't believe that tomorrow is Monday again and it's back to the rat race.  The days have flown by and I've not accomplished nearly as much as I wanted to and now here we are on the eve of another workweek.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my job and the people I work for/with.  It's just that there was so much I was planning to get done and the days just slipped by.  I think, though, that this is the last busy week I will have as NaNoWriMo will wrap up and then I won't be writing a novel on top of all the other things I do. And yet... something tells me that maybe I will still be doing some writing. At least on Tuesday nights.  Which will be good for me.  If nothing else, maybe I can use Tuesday Night writing time to make sure that I write at least ONE entry a week in each of my blogs.

I can also use Tuesday Night Writing Time to write YELP reviews.

I clipped a HUGE stack of coupons over the weekend.  Now I will be thinking about what to do with those coupons I don't use (I don't buy diapers, for instance).  I mean, I have BEEN thinking about it, I just haven't come up with a good solution yet.

Since I have a few more things to do to get ready for the week to come, I'm going to duck out of here for now.  Have a fabulous week everyone!

Clipping

I have coupons I should be clipping.  I am trying to figure out the best place to do it.  I think that "in the room that does not have the cat who wants to cuddle all the time" is probably my best bet.  It is difficult to clip coupons with a cat whapping you in the face with her tail.  It's not IMPOSSIBLE but it is difficult.

I have some other things I need to get done today. I need to get another load of clothes washed.  I should probably load up the dishwasher. I need to get some writing done. I have a number of blogs to read. I should clean out the fridge and take out the trash, too. But I won't if it continues raining.  We need the rain, so I am not at all upset that it's raining, I just don't want to be schlepping trash in the rain.  I should probably run the vacuum cleaner, too! (You envy my exciting life, don't you?)

I also need to work on some stuff for my online store.  I'd love to do that now, but somehow don't think my neighbors would appreciate the noise of me chopping and using the mixer at this time of the morning.  Still, the thought of revenge for their 2AM arguing is a temptation.

I had some of my Teavana tea.  It was quite tasty and I need to remember more often that I have tea I should be drinking.  I am probably not killing all of the oxidants and so should probably get with the program.  Being an oxidant killer is hard work.

Quickly Thankful

Thanksgiving went pretty well. I am very thankful for three more days off, though, because I got NOTHING accomplished today and I need to do something productive over the next three days.

Tomorrow morning after some coffee I should probably get some cleaning done. Then I have work to do and some writing to get done and need to get around to getting my coupon clipping accomplished.

I think, though, that sleep is in order. I'll write a better post tomorrow. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for all of my bloggy friends!

You Down With Y-E-L-P Party

I'd never been to a YELP party before Saturday Night.  Now that I've been, I need to push to become "Elite" so I can go to more parties they throw because it was a kickin' party, y'all.  I was really, really excited for this party because I'd heard that YELP gatherings were a class act!

The Venue - Life in Deep Ellum.  It's a cultural center in, well, Deep Ellum (a section of Downtown Dallas) It was a good size for this event, parking was a little challenging as their lot is on the small side,  but I found a spot pretty easily (though not in their lot, however to be fair, I don't think they have big things like this going on every week), it was not glitzy or glamourous but I think with this sort of gathering, the venue being simple is a plus and I am hoping to go back there for a less crowded event at some point.I did feel like I was a good decade older than most of the other attendees but one of the first things I did, to help fit in with the theme and give myself a little bit of a younger vibe was let the absolutely amazing Live Hair Group stylist give me bangs. I haven't really changed my hairstyle in eons and he did a stellar  job.  The girl before me getting her bangs done was really nervous but she looked absolutely gorgeous when she was done (she was stunning to begin with, but he did a superb job with her bangs!)

They had a DJ spinning the 90's tunes who was excellent, not much as far as mic work, but I think that the crowd was more interested in music than talk, so he did a really excellent job with gauging the crowd. It was so much fun to spend a night listening to music that I knew all the words to (why yes, I AM OLD....and would you kindly get off my lawn?*giggle).  Dallas PowerHouse had dancers there and they were all very talented and about a half hour in (perhaps everyone having, by then, a drinky or two under their belts) several people were on the dance floor.  The furniture from CORT was very stylish, functional and comfortable.

There were Bahn Mi sandwich slices from Pho is for Lovers, which I will need to track down in the VERY near future as I was impressed with their Bahn Mi and am always on the hunt for tasty Vietnamese eggrolls. Velvet Taco had an amazing pulled pork taco with a pineapple habenero salsa that was spicy but not "my mouth is on fire" spicy  So, I'll be tracking down Velvet Taco soon, as well. The Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka mixed with lemonade was a nice quencher for the taco's spice.  Top all that deliciousness off with a taste of Whiskey Cake... had I known how delicious the Whiskey Cake is when my office-mates and I had gone there for lunch a few weeks ago, I would have skipped ordering food and just had cake!

The event was fun, the music was awesome, the food fabulous and the drinks were outstanding.  Very happy that I was given the opportunity to attend! There were other tables I just didn't make it to but what I did sample was excellent.  There wasn't much opportunity (due to the volume of the music, which was completely appropriate to the venue and event) to socialize with other Yelpers.  A number of people came with friends or found friends that I assume they'd met at other events but for people like me who didn't know anyone, there was just not really any opportunity to strike up conversation.  And I assure you that while there may have been people who thought I did not dress for the event (90's theme), I assure you that except for my shoes, what I wore was actually purchased in the 90's.  (Yeah, that tells you something about my "fashion sense").  It's funny, because one of the reviews I read complained that the music was not "strictly 90s" and that there were quite a few 80's songs played.  I think it had more to do with playing what was danceable/keeping a hip hop theme than anything else.  Plus, as someone who has done some DJing, try as you might, there are going to be a couple of mis-tagged songs in most sets.  It happens.

Hoping I can work my way to YELP Elite for 2012 so I can get invited to more YELP events!

Time keeps on slippin'...

Time sortve got away from me last night.  I was finishing up a project at work and didn't leave until nearly 6PM, had to stop and get gooshy food for the kitty and either a miracle occurred or the apocalypse is nigh because for the first time EVER I went into Target, got only what I went for (gooshy food for the kitty) and nothing else, checked out and went home.  I NEVER go to Target without getting way more than expected. It was weird. I had thought about maybe getting a curling iron so I can do something with my new slightly different from usual hairstyle but it's been eons since I last used a curling iron and it's not like I am a froufy kinda gal so even if I got one, who knows if I would actually use it or just get frustrated that I couldn't do anything good with it.  I figure if I get a gift card at some point, I may actually get the curling iron (since it then would not impact my bottom line like spending the money I should be saving for food on a curling iron)  and the fact remains that I DO have hot rollers, so if I feel the need to get my curl on, it's not like I have no way to do so.

I realized last night that I will likely be having Kraft Mac n' Cheese for Thanksgiving dinner.  I'll be home alone (my family is all over 1000 miles away and I have neither the time nor the funds to travel).  But for the last several years, Thanksgiving has been a small "celebration" usually marked by stuffing myself with delicious food that I didn't cook (the benefits of having a housemate who cooks!) and this year the housemate is out on the road for work and I am just not inclined to cook a bunch of food I won't end up eating (leftovers for days is not my idea of fun).

But now it is time to get ready for my day. I am tired.I am hoping some caffeine will help. It will at least taste good.  Have a stellar day, y'all!

T-Mobile DFW Blogger Party

Ok, as promised, I am going to tell you about the T-Mobile DFW blogger gathering that I went to on Thursday night.

TexasHolly sent the invite and I was excited to not only get to see the latest tech stuff and get tips on holiday shopping (something I admit I am AWFUL at doing...) but also get to see some blogger friends I hadn't seen since the last one of these fabulous soirees!

Since I work super close to the venue, it wasn't a surprise that I was early.  Except that I'd had a class that day and STILL ended up being there at 5:30 for a 7PM event. Oops!  Fortunately, I caught a power nap whilst waiting so was revved up and ready when it was finally "Go!" time!

Got in the door and wristbanded, entered the contest by tweeting (actually, I tweeted to @TexasHolly before I even got in the door!) and played some games.  I also lovingly caressed tablets and phones and thought a lot about what my next tech purchase should be.

There was WONDERFUL lemonade and sandwiches and little tasty cakes and I had to restrain myself from parking next to the table and hoovering it all up.  Fortunately, there was plenty going on and I was distracted from the deliciousness (seriously, the tomatoes on the sandwiches were fresh and tasty and that is a rarity when eating catered food. BONUS POINTS!)

Fred the Regional Manager was on hand, which was pretty impressive due to the fact that OFFICIALLY he was on vacation.  I choose to believe he had wanted our stellar company and not that he was afraid of what chaos a pack of bloggers would unleash upon his store (for the record, there was no dancing on countertops, however, there WERE flying monkeys!).  Arthur and Tanya (who looked stunning in her pink sequin Santa hat!) helped us out by chaperoning the games and it was cool that they genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves.  I know it can be tough to be tapped to work events like this when you'd rather be home in front of the TV, so I thank them for being fabulous hosts!

There were FIVE phones raffled off.  And I was pretty psyched to win one, even though I don't have T-Mobile service I am thinking of having a giveaway that will star the phone I won.  Stay tuned for that!  (Yes, I am planning it for before the December holidays, so it can be given as a gift).

Fred shared some websites with us to make our lives easier including Big Oven  Need a recipe idea?  Check out Big Oven!  200,000+ recipes!  I'll try and find my list and post a few more linkies over the next few days.

It was a ton of fun (and I'd say that even if I hadn't won something), I loved seeing blogger friends, TexasHolly throws GREAT parties and I am looking forward to the next DFW blogger gathering.  Thank you to T-Mobile and TexasHolly for a fabulously fun evening!

Just a snippet...

I went to a YELP party tonight and it was so much fun.... but I can't write about that until after I write about the T-Mobile event that I went to on Thursday.  Hopefully, I will get around to writing up both events tomorrow. 

I didn't get nearly enough done today, but I did get the one thing I HAD to do done, so there's that.

Funny thing.... I came home last night (Friday) and there was a note on my stove from the maintenance guy saying that my light over the stove was fine.  SOMEHOW, "the light fixture in the den" got translated to "the light over the stove...in the kitchen..."  which makes me want to research some Spanish to see if any of those words are even SIMILAR.  I wrote out a maintenance request (even though I REALLY don't want them back in here) that was basically written just one step up from "Me, Tarzan... You, Jane" as far as simplicity so maybe they'll actually get into the correct room and do what needs to be done. Not counting on it or holding my breath, though.

Got a couple more things to do before bed and then a busy day tomorrow.  Have a stellar night, y'all!

Playing In Traffic

It was brought to my attention that apparently I'm none too bright if I have not "monetized' my blog.  Fair enough, I suppose.  I mean, I spend countless hours weekly on the internet writing blogs, reading blogs, commenting on blogs, linking to blogs, entering giveaways and sweepstakes on blogs, looking for invitations to blogging events (events held by bloggers, not an event where we all sit around blogging, but... hey! That might be an awesome event!)  If I'm going to be investing the time anyways, why not try to have my time paid?

Don't misunderstand me, I am not a person who wants something for nothing. I am certainly not someone who figures I am entitled to anything, but isn't there some old adage about "do what you love and the money will come..."  The old wives who tell these tales can't be completely full of it, can they?  And, for the record, I like my day job just fine.  But the fact is that, right now especially, I could use a little extra income (me and the rest of the world, right?)  So, I am committed to trying to help others with their monetization and hoping I can get a little quid pro quo (that sounds delightfully naughty, does it not) and at least get some more traffic to my blogs.

I know it probably seems like I'm a new kid on the block and if you've been around, it might seem like I'm some uppity upstart who hasn't paid her dues.  The reality is that I have been blogging since 2004.  I've seen some INCREDIBLY talented bloggers pack it in and leave the blogosphere.  I've had months where I got extraordinary traffic and I've had months where I could count visits to my website(s) on my two hands and two feet and maybe have a pinkie toe or two leftover.  I've had people tell me to expand (write on more sites) and I've had people tell me I spread myself too thin (write on too many different sites).  I've had times where I'd sit at the keyboard for an hour without the first clue what to write about.  I've laughed through posts, I've cried through posts and I defy anyone who wants to try to tell met that no one you meet on the internet is a REAL friend.

All of which is to say that you may see some changes. Don't be alarmed or ticked off, this is a natural progression and I'm not going to let it stop me from doing what I love, which is writing and making new friends on the internet (and beyond).

Quick Check-In

I had a really fabulous time at the T-Mobile Holidays event in Frisco tonight.  TexasHolly was, as always, an awesome hostess, I had tons of fun and I want to do the event justice so I will write a recap this weekend. But I had SUCH a good time, I wanted to post a little about it tonight.

I took a class on Business Writing today.  I will also blog more about that this weekend.  And I have a YELP event on Saturday night that I will, of course, write about this weekend.  I think this weekend is going to be a busy writing weekend.

But now I have to get to bed. I am running on very little sleep and that doesn't work well for me.

Webcomic Wisdom

I was going to be a slacker and go to bed without posting tonight, but then I read Something*Positive and the final line grabbed me... "Don't let what you might lose blind you to all that you still have".  I'm not even entirely sure why that made me pause (and then burst into tears).  I'm pretty sure it will all become clear to me in the next couple of days. I am in a pattern at the moment of not getting enough sleep which tends to make me a little berserk in the emotions department.  At any rate, it struck me as important enough to post about and share with you.  And maybe it has to do with the entire Something*Positive today and the fact that the first anniversary of a good friend's passing is coming up which has me thinking more about life and mortality than I usually do.

On a more upbeat note... I did some writing on my NaNo novel tonight at the wine bar. There was good company and I think I may have found a nice little social group.  Which I really want/need.  It's nice to meet people who don't look at me like I'm growing a horn out of my forehead.  Tomorrow night I do my volunteer gig and Thursday is the Blogger gathering and Saturday... Saturday will be an adventure.  I got invited to and actually confirmed to go to a YELP gathering. As far as I know, there will not be anyone there that I know so I am hoping my social anxiety will be kept at bay.

But now it's way past bedtime and I should get to bed.

Why I Hate Renting (a Rant!)

Oh sure, renting means that there are things I don't have to take care of (as opposed to being a homeowner who has to deal with it when the toilet is overflowing... I mean, as a renter you need to deal with it short term if that happens but the fixing part is the landlord's gig... most of the time... except most of the places I've rented in my life).

But I have to say the one thing that irks me above ALL OTHERS in regards to living in an apartment is "inspections".  Basically, an inspection is people snooping around your apartment and they don't even need a search warrant to do it.  It is, in my eyes, a violation of my 4th Amendment Rights. (The Fourth Amendment has been held to mean that generally a warrant must be judicially sanctioned for a search. In order for such a warrant to be considered reasonable, it must be supported by probable cause and be limited in scope according to specific information supplied by a person (usually a law enforcement officer) who has sworn by it and is therefore accountable to the issuing court).  

In the case of an apartment inspection, I am sure that the folks conducting the inspection would argue that the specific information is supplied to the inspecting agency by the landlord and therefore falls under the "limited in scope" clause seen above but as someone who has been cited for (I kid you not) "No Fresh Vacuum Tracks", I think the entire inspection criteria is WAY too subjective and  is tainted by the bias of the inspector(s).

Now, I have some other issues... 1)apparently someone (I am HOPING it was maintenance) was in my apartment today and left lights on. Way to jack up my electric bill, idiots!   2) the notice is written as though it should have been distributed last week.  There is reference to coming in and fixing things "next week, before the inspection" but the inspection is this Thursday.  However, given the Engrish (spelling intentional) of prior notices from the Management Company, I would not doubt this is another semantic/grammar issue.

Further, the light that was left on was in my closet.  What do you folks need to "maintain" that is in my closet?  Forgive me for being a tad suspicious.

Nevermind that the rest of this week, there isn't a night that I will be home before 10PM  I'm sure my neighbors will adore my vacuuming at midnight.  (Payback for your kids slamming the door and screaming at 7AM on Saturdays!! VENGEANCE IS MINE!!)

Ok, I think it's time for bed now.

Looks like it is going to be another one of those weeks where I am obnoxiously busy.  Monday and Friday look like pretty clear evenings (for now) but Tuesday I have a writer's meet-up, Wednesday I am going to do my shift with the kitties for the cat rescue and Thursday I have a class during the day and then I have a blogger gathering in the evening that I am looking forward to very much.  I also have to remember to get things ready for an errand I need to run this weekend. At the moment, I really have nothing planned for the weekend, but things are sortve "in flux" right now at home so we shall see what ends up happening.

There is a fly in the apartment and it is driving me CRAZY.  It never seems to land so I don't even have the opportunity to smack it. 

I am caught up on my NaNo novel writing. I am still not convinced that this is going to be a decent read. It's going to need a ton of editing.  I am hoping that maybe if I manage to get it into Y-Writer, I can organize the thoughts a little better.

It's funny, I was supposed to get $250 off my rent in December for signing a new lease but I just looked at my lease and the "concession" as they call it was not written into the lease.  Not that I am surprised.  I am hoping to be able to move next year but am thinking that it will probably be the year after next.

I got some bath fizzies made today.  I need to get some more molds.  Or I need to sell enough fizzies to get a neato gadget that I found ($100). 

I suppose that right now, though, I need to get to bed!

Sorry Lisa, they're still out of monkeys...

A while back, Lisa wrote about her adventure at the Tea Shop (Teavana) at The Galleria (which makes me feel like I am stepping into the past because I remember the Valley Girl song that talked about The Galleria except hers was in bitchin' Encino and mine is not.  However, my Galleria has an ice rink inside so I think I should get some bonus points for that.

Anyhoo, I had to go to The Galleria today for another reason and thought I would check out Teavana when I went because maybe the monkeys were back in stock and I could let Lisa know.  How I live in the same city with her and haven't met her yet is a bit of a mystery to me but I am beginning to think that maybe she managed to get me secretly microchipped and now that she knows where I am all the time, she makes sure that she can hide when I'm going to be in relatively close proximity.  (Hey! This is MY conspiracy theory, don't judge me!)

The Teavana people a) love to fight antioxidants and b) try to sell you a $50 pound of tea.  I mean, really, who needs A POUND OF TEA?

Anyhow, I somehow got finagled into buying some tea. Which is fine, I guess.  I mean, I went to a tea store so it isn't like I was going to buy delicious chocolate (which I think also has antioxidants in it) at the tea store, right?  So, now I have to somehow convince myself that I am a tea drinker.

I think the funniest part is the (absolutely SUPER, thanks for asking) dude who rang up my purchase didn't tell me how much money I spent, he told me how much I was "investing in my health and well-being".   I'll let you know if this is some sort of magic monkey tea and if I manage to become a tea drinker.

Weekend planning...

Here it is another weekend and as usual, I have a long list of things I should do this weekend.  On that list are things like cleaning off my desks, getting some bath fizzies made, scooping litterboxes, grocery shopping and other chores that need to get done as well as some possible fun outings like going to Penzey's and seeing if I can scoot over to the LUSH party at The Galleria sometime between 1:00 and 4:00 tomorrow afternoon.  Believe me, easier said than done.

I also need to get sleep, write words for my NaNo Novel, clip coupons and get ready for the week ahead. I also need to catch up on my e-mails and things in my reader and see if I have time to enter any of the many awesome giveaways that are happening out in the blogosphere.

Now, though, I need to get some writing done and then I should go to sleep.  (I just noticed I need to vacuum the office, too).

Finally Friday

I'm glad that it is finally Friday.  I don't mind my job but I look forward to getting some sleep.  On the flip side of that, I am hoping I am not going to sleep the weekend away because I have things to do this weekend.  At least I am on track with my novel writing.  Which is one of the reasons I've been getting to bed late, so I guess it is a trade-off.

I got my lease renewal signed. There are several things that make me uncomfortable about it.  First, they won't give me a new parking sticker claiming that the folks who tow don't look at them anymore but if you get towed, you have to pay all the costs to get your car back, so I am not thrilled with that.  Secondly, there is a "bedbug addendum" to the lease that basically says that we have to pay for it if there are bedbugs in our apartment.   If I wanted liability, I would be a homeowner.  So, that sits wrong with me.  Also, my rent went up.  Not a lot, but it went up. And I guess I don't feel like I am getting more for the extra money.  They're letting in a lot of people who are violating their leases (loud outdoor parties, domestic violence (which, aside from its basic problem, it gets LOUD), kids running around until 11:30PM outside (not teens, LITTLE kids) unsupervised.  I am hoping that next year I can afford to move and can find a decent place.  If not, I should be able to afford a move in 2013.  As my sage co-worker Roy used to say "You do what you gotta do til you ain't gotta do it anymore".

Got a bunch of coupons to look through/clip before I go shopping this weekend.  But, for now, I'd best be getting back to work.

Oops!

So, I re-read the invitation I got to the blogger gathering and realized that it is scheduled for NEXT Thurday and not tonight.   It's a good thing I looked now and not right before I was supposed to go because I would have stayed late at work tonight for no good reason. It'll be a bit more inconvenient next Thursday because instead of work, I have a class but it means that I will be out plenty early so will be able to get back to the event without a problem.  I sortve wish I had someone to meet for dinner beforehand, but I guess I will have to either wait until I get home after the event or find somewhere that I won't feel too awkward about eating alone.

I am tired again today because I didn't get to bed at a decent hour again last night but at least I got my NaNo writing done.  It's a tradeoff.

Well, I'd better get back to getting things done.  At least I have a shot at getting to bed somewhat on time tonight. So.... yay for that!

Another Late Night

I am up way past a reasonable bedtime again. I was at a write-in for NaNo tonight, though, so at least I was being productive. Still, I have to admit that I was awfully tired today.

And so, in an effort to not be too godawful tired tomorrow, I am going to bed.

Blogger gathering tomorrow night. I am excited!

Sleep is for the weak

I got home about 10:45 last night.  By the time I had done everything that needed to be done it was about 12:30AM and I just couldn't justify staying up longer to make a blog post.  So, there may be two today to make up for not posting last night.  As it is, I've had about 4 and a half hours of sleep which is about half of what I need to be functional and am sucking down coffee as if my life depended on it both because it is caffeinated and because it is warm.

I have another writing thing to go to tonight which may get rearranged/abandoned because my flatmate, who is an OTR trucker, is coming into town for a few days tonight and I drive the one vehicle that we have betwixt us so I will probably end up having to pick him up.  Not a big deal and to be honest I am glad that it is tonight rather than tomorrow night because there is a blogger gathering tomorrow night which is very close to my office and there's no way I could get down to pick him up and make the blogger gathering.  I am fairly certain that being alone all day and all evening tomorrow will not be an issue for my flatmate who has been co-driving with a man who WOULD NOT SHUT UP!  Plus he was yammering on about politics and it was driving FMate nuts.

Ok, I have work to do so I am going to go and drink more coffee work very hard. Ciao for now.

Procrastinating

Actually, I am frustrated with the NaNo Novel and don't know what to write so I am here writing a blog post.  Which is weird... writing a blog post about not knowing what to write.

Girl Cat is all pissy because I am not holding her but I can't type and hold her. I am halfway considering getting a baby sling so I could hold her AND type.  Does that make me a crazy cat lady? Or a crazy writer lady? Or maybe a little of both.

I was all proud of myself today for finding a blog hop to participate in.  I went and visited some new blogs and will have fun reading them.  I am not expecting a substantial increase in readers as I am a complete unknown....(or, more accurately, my blog is a complete unknown).  I am still trying to figure out what to do with my big pile of coupons for things I don't use (diapers, dog food, etc.)

Now I am going to get back to my novel. So I can eventually go to bed.

Clipping... and clipping... and clipping...

I found out a couple of my co-workers normally just throw away the coupons from their Sunday Paper so I asked if they would mind bringing them to me.  I have a big pile of coupons I will potentially use and a big pile that I will never use. Like diapers. Because I will commit hari kari before I ever need to use a diaper again (Depends Undergarments as an oldster notwithstanding).  And dog food. Because I don't own a dog and probably never will (it could happen, but I really envision myself more a crazy cat lady).

So, now I need to figure out what to do with all the coupons I don't/won't use.  I don't want to throw them away, I am sure SOMEONE would want them but I'm a little vague on how to get them to people who would use them...

So, that's my dilemma tonight.  That and contemplating Monday.  It's not that I dislike my job, I just dislike the whole "getting up Monday morning" aspect of it.  Once I'm there, it's fine, but having to get up, shower and somehow resemble a human being is sometimes more than I can fathom on a Sunday Night.

Today did not go as planned. I think that's partially because the day was grey and depressing and partially because I was just altogether unmotivated.  I did get some vacuuming done and for the most part, things look pretty good.  I got 1802 more words written for my NaNo novel.

Sometimes good has to be good enough, right?

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Ok, I know it's some time after midnight but the time change thing always messes with my head and I don't know what time it is anymore.   What I do know is that I am tired.

Also, I have been looking at all of these "blog hops" and the like and they all say you should have a "family friendly" blog and while I know what they mean, I really don't think this blog counts because it's not a mommy blog and I think I've probably cussed more than once and I don't limit my topics so there could be something here to offend someone (like my Halloween post...)  But I want to build traffic so I guess I need to find the raunchy blogs that do blog hops or something.  Where are the "blog hops that allow the occasional F-bomb"?

Can you tell I'm not getting enough sleep? Because I'm not.  Just the fact that I'm up at some point after midnight should be an indication of how little sleep I am getting.

Does it count if my family wouldn't be offended by what I post here? Even though they don't know (and don't care) that I blog?

Can someone please come and read me a bedtime story?

Crazy Week

It's been a crazy week and the weekend is packed with stuff I need to be doing and nothing at all fun and I'm really bummed that I have nothing fun planned so I'm busy and crabby which can't be a good combination.  ANd I haven't written my NaNo words for tonight so as soon as I am done with this post, I will go and do my NaNo words for today.

I did find that 750 Words is a big help in getting me started writing.  It also gets me at least 750 words. Which is not quite half of what I need for a day of NaNo to be on target.

And I really should be noveling, so... bye for now.

NaNo Ate My Brain

I managed another 1811 words on my NaNo Novel.

I am too tired to think.

I am too tired to function.

I may be a zombie. Except that brains still sound like something that should NOT be eaten.  Even with fava beans and chianti (which I found out I don't really like).

So tired...

I finished another 1744 NaNoWriMo words today.  I'm pushing myself and I can feel it (not writing-wise but in the sleep deprivation department).  I have so much to do and I just can't let ANY of it drop.  I've started NaNoWriMo and am determined not to drop out. But I'm tired. So very, very tired,

Today I got up at the usual "Are you kidding me" o'clock, worked all day, came home and fed the chinchilla, went back out to a NaNo "write-in", wrote 1744 words and socialized a little, came home, fed Girl Cat her gooshy food, cuddled with Girl Cat and read email and all the social media I'd missed whilst writing and now here it is, 10 minutes to midnight and I'm blogging because I would feel guilty if I didn't.

Up side... at the moment I have nothing scheduled outside of the apartment for the rest of the week after work.  Down side, it's hard to write a novel when you are cuddling a cat who insists that you give up an entire arm for her.  I have a full agenda this weekend, too (no social stuff planned. At least not at the moment).

We are expecting a cold snap here tonight/tomorrow. Should be ok after that.

Ok, my eyes are closing even while I am typing, It is OBVIOUSLY way past bedtime.

WINNING!

Ok, other than being a phrase we all heard so much we probably wanted to vomit over the summer, I am co-opting the phase "Winning" today because there were things I feel went excessively well.

First, I managed to write 1711 words on my NaNoWriMo novel today, putting me a tich ahead of the 1667 word/day pace that is prescribed to achieve 50,000 words by the end of the month.

Second and, in the grand scheme of things, much more importantly, I did my first volunteer shift tonight for the cat rescue.  Yes, it's cleaning cages. Which means I scoop litterboxes and refill food and water. Not glamourous at all but I felt REALLY GOOD afterwards in a way I can't really articulate.  Plus, I got to love on a bunch of kitties tonight.  Yes, my muscles are sore because I used a bunch of them that I don't usually use, but it's a good soreness and I'm that really GOOD tired that comes with accomplishment.

And now, because it's obscenely late and I got nowhere near enough sleep last night, I'm going to bed.

P. S. Another co-worker brought me coupons today.  I'm excited!

The Insanity Begins....

NaNoWriMo starts at midnight tonight.  It's 11:21 and I'm still awake because I'm going to start NaNo at midnight and then promptly (by 12:15am) go to bed.

Tomorrow night I have the first night of my new volunteer gig which will run from when I get there (hopefully about 5:30pm) until I finish (they estimate 2 hours. I am thinking that the first couple times will probably be closer to 3 hours.  Then come home, feed the chinchilla, feed Girl Cat her gooshyfood, try to wolf down some dinner, check e-mail and social media whilst eating and accommodating a cuddly Girl Cat then retiring to the office to frantically post a blog post and get in a few paragraphs on the NaNo Novel.

Wednesday night I am going to a write-in after work so will be home late, feed the chinchilla, feed Girl Cat her gooshyfood, try to wolf down some dinner, check e-mail and social media whilst eating and accommodating a cuddly Girl Cat then retiring to the office to frantically post a blog post and get in a few paragraphs on the NaNo Novel.

By this weekend I should be pathetically behind on my wordcount for the NaNo Novel, need to do the last of the cleaning that can reasonably be done at this point, clean out the car (including going to the DIY carwash), deal with the paperwork for the week, check to see if there are any write-ins happening, work on my novel AND start to pull together my product for my online store.  Because if I don't get that going, I will have nothing to sell for the holiday season. Nevermind that I SHOULD have started that in September but September was a fustercluck and October I was busy cleaning and organizing and trying to get used to "the new normal" so here it is almost freakin' NOVEMBER and I am desperately behind.  I will confess that at this point I am pretty much resigned to having to pretty much write an entire 50,000 words on the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend.

And now, I am off to the virtual kick-off for NaNoWriMo.  See ya on the flipside!

I Sold My Soul to NaNoWriMo

I am a classic over-doer... and November is a key example of that every year.   So, here's the dealio about me and November...

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the goal is to write 50,000 words in the month of November (so, roughly 1650 words/day).

Add to that the fact that I signed up last month to do some volunteer work.  Guess what starts in NOVEMBER? Yep, there are 2 evenings where 2-3 hours of my time will be taken up doing volunteer work.  Not a big deal except I'll be doing it after I have worked my "day job" all day.  And then I have to come home, eat some dinner, write my 1650 words, maybe blog and catch up on emails and social media.

Remember LAST week when I wanted to get to bed at a decent hour every night? Well, I'm telling you now, screw that plan for November.  It's not going to happen and I know it.

I also realized that it is sheer insanity to think that the Closet o' Doom is going to get any attention in the month of November.  And while I may be crazy, I am not crazy enough to take on the Closet o' Doom in November because it will just make everyone (mostly me) very unhappy and stabbity.  Frankly, making sure that the critters get fed and the litter boxes get scooped and my basic household/self care chores get accomplished is going to stretch me to the limits in November.

So... if I start to slip on daily blog posts here, I swear that it's just for the month of November and I'll be better about it in December.

Party of One

Halloween is my favorite holiday.  It's been, well, honestly, probably DECADES since the last time I went to a Halloween Party and this year I'm really wishing I had gotten to go to one.  But, I suppose that would mean I had friends who live somewhere locally instead of friends who live in my computer.

I finally made it to one of the Tribal Blogs Slumber Party gatherings tonight.  It was a lot of fun. I need to get a sling or something so I can cuddle my cat and still type.  As it is now, she drapes herself on my shoulder and my left arm makes sure she doesn't go sliding away which leaves me with just one hand to type which makes it really slow going.

It will be interesting to see if I get any trick-or-treaters this year.  I haven't had one yet in the two years I've been here.  I have candy, just in case.  I am hoping we get trick-or-treaters cuz it will be a sad, sad day for my hips if I have a big ol' bag of candy sitting around.  But I tried the trick of buying candy I DON'T like one year for Halloween and that stuff was still sitting around when the next Halloween came around. And that's wasteful.

I DID get the one major task I needed to get done this weekend done, though. The bedroom is sufficiently cleaned  (just need to tame the closet and it'll be completely done) And I got my new lease signed.  My rent went up $20 a month, which isn't awful especially considering that it didn't get raised at all last year.  I am hoping I can afford to move somewhere nicer next year but unless I get a hefty raise, I likely won't be able to move until mid-late 2013.

I'd better stop eating the toffee, though. I don't want to end up resembling The Great Pumpkin!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween is my favorite holiday, which is a little weird since I am not a huge fan of children but the part of Halloween that most kids are interested in (free candy) is not why I love Halloween.  I love the whole costume thing... getting to be someone else (if only in appearance) for a while.

This weekend is going to be busy.  I have to finish getting the bedroom cleaned up. I need to run the vacuum, clean up the kitchen (including cleaning out the fridge) which will mean I'll have to take trash out.  I am debating whether to clean out the car this weekend or next weekend and Sunday is the NaNoWriMo kickoff.  PLUS, I need to start getting the product together for my online store so I can (maybe) get some holiday sales.

I'm also renegotiating my lease where I live and working on getting coupons together for my grocery shopping. I am still pretty new to the coupon thing so it probably takes me way longer than it should to find, print and clip coupons.

Tonight, though, it's time for nice, warm bath then bed.

Baby, it's COLD outside

It's... a little chilly.  Not at all overwhelming, just a little chilly.  I set the thermostat at about 65 and turned from AC to heat this evening.  The heat hasn't really come on but I figure this way if it gets colder overnight I won't wake up with icicles on my toes.  As it is, I am going to take a nice, hot bath before bed so I won't lay there shivering (which makes it nearly impossible to sleep).  I know I've been told over the year that for optimal sleep, you need to keep yourself cool, which is all fine and dandy, I suppose, if you have a normal body temperature. I tend to run a bit cold though (normal temp for me is about 97, normal temp for most people is 98.6) and I CANNOT sleep if I am cold.

Still, I moved here from the Frozen Wasteland of Minnesnowta and do not miss that ONE BIT.  I do not miss ice. I do not miss snow. I do not miss 40 degrees BELOW ZERO for days on end. I do not miss gray, dreary skies for months on end.  I hated that with a passion and I am perfectly happy to deal with baking Texas summers which threaten to melt you when you step out your front door.  I'll deal with fingers burned on seatbelts and shift levers that leave me needing a skin graft because they're so hot.  At least I don't have to count my fingers and toes when I come in to make sure one didn't FALL OFF outside.  Anywhere that you can go outside and start getting frostbite in SECONDS is a place that I have no need to be!

Well, my brimming email box and then a hot bath await me.  It's past "a decent hour" for bed tonight and I'm not going to even come close.  It was a good run while it lasted!

Sure, let's just arbitrarily move holidays!

Still trying to get to bed "at a decent hour" this week.  I'm still making it by 10:45 every night, but it's a challenge.

I'm trying to figure out why, at 10PM, there are kids (not teens, but little, elementary school age kids) running around unsupervised outside. What parent thinks this is a good idea (Ok , the parent who wants some peace and quiet in their apartment but, HELLO, this is not suburbia and it isn't safe for the kiddos outside after dark). But these are not my children, right? Why do I care? Is it the whole "it takes a village to raise a child" mindset? Who knows?  I suppose it's none of my damn business and I should just not let it borrow me.

Oh! But I did find something on Facebook tonight. Someone posted some ridiculousness about a legislator in Connecticut who wants to move Halloween to "the last Saturday in October" because it would be more convenient.  Hey buddy, do you suppose we could move Christmas so it always falls on a Thursday so I can have a 4-day weekend?  Halloween is NOT just "trick-or-treat" day, there is an ancient religious REASON it falls when it does and unless you're open to the suggestion of arbitrarily moving Christmas to make it more convenient, I suggest you leave Halloween alone.  That being said, having the annual "trick-or-treat" day always be on the last Saturday of October is fine with me, just call it "trick-or-treat day" and not HALLOWEEN.

And please, if you feel the need to flame me to a crisp over this, do it via email.  For the record, I am not a satanist, honestly, Satan isn't even part of my belief system.  All I am saying is you can't just arbitrarily move holidays to make them more convenient if they have a historical religious significance.

Efficiency

I came home tonight and did my laundry right away.  I used the WonderWash and it only takes a couple of minutes and *voila* clean clothes.  Yeah, they have to drip dry, but I really don't mind and if it saves me having to go to the laundromat, I'm all for it.

I thought about the other things I need to get done in the next week or so and the fact that I have a couple of projects at work that I really, really need to get done before Bosslady comes back and will likely end up staying late at least one of the remaining nights this week because every time I get something started during the day, there is another telemarketer on the phone and it is, quite frankly, really getting old.  Add to that the fact that people ask me to do things that Bosslady usually does (which I don't mind because it shows they have a little faith in me) but yesterday, the task I was asked to do took about 3 hours and I have other things I need to get done.  Still, I am supposed to be her backup/right hand person and so I endeavor to do that as much as possible when she's gone.

I also got reminded today to follow up on a project I'd started months ago but then never got information that was promised so I sortve let it drop.  I suppose I'll have to spend most of tomorrow working on that.  Which means that Thursday is probably the elected stay late night because who wants to stay late on Friday night?  And I have things going on this weekend and have to pay rent and then it's almost freakin' November already and I am doing NaNoWriMo this year so most of the evenings in November will be novel writing.  Which means I need to get the housekeeping that needs to be done finished up this weekend.

And I am thankful that I don't have any obligations on Thanksgiving this year. No family function that I have to attend, no football games I have to pretend to be interested in, no awesome food (wait... I am a little less than thankful about no awesome food...) but no binge eating and regret is a plus, right?

I'm doing fairly well in my quest to get to bed at a decent hour this week.  I haven't made 10:30 every night but I'm in bed by 10:45.  Now, if I can just have a night where I can STAY in bed, that'll be awesome.  (I was cold last night so got up and sat in a nice, hot bath for a while. Where I fell asleep... and then had a hard time sleeping once I got to bed...I'm pretty sure I'm part mermaid.

Habits

Everyone talks about kicking bad habits but what about cultivating good ones?  I was almost ready to log off and go to bed tonight (at a decent hour... so there was flaw one in my plan) and realized I hadn't yet blogged. 

I really want to have some self-discipline and it seems a terrible struggle for me. As comforting as routine can be, I feel almost genetically compelled to buck the system, even when the system is of my own devising.

Plus, I really need some focus and I've got a decided lack of that, too. And it makes me crazy feeling distracted and like I'm running in a hamster wheel accomplishing nothing.

However, I think I can pin tonight's fuzziness on the fact that my wonderful (asshat) neighbor blasted his stereo for most of last night loud enough to shake my walls and prevent me from getting any sleep.  I don't know if everyone else was invited to the party or if people are comatose/in drug-induced hazes/are tired from wrangling their herds of children but all the neighbors seemed well rested this morning. Which then makes me wonder if the cats are slipping ME catnip.

And when you start worrying about your cats turning you into a 'nip head, it's clearly time for bed.

Wait...it's Sunday?

I have no idea why I didn't post yesterday.  I guess I had thought that I did but then when I looked this morning, no post. So... maybe the gremlins took it away or maybe I have some sort of brain fog or something.  In any case, it's Sunday now and I am determined to get a decent amount of sleep this week which will include needing to get to bed at a decent hour tonight. 

I went to the laundromat today.  I do have a WonderWash and have been using it but I had towels and some heavier shirts that would take forever to drip dry and would probably end up feeling a little crispy.  The laundromat, though, is one of my least favorite places and so I do try to avoid it. But I braved it this afternoon and they had iCarly on the TV and that was... weird.  Not as weird as the hispanic cartoon shows on Saturday mornings at the laundromat and at least it was in English but it was hard to hear over screaming kids and the Mom who had conscripted her kids and was yelling orders at them as they occupied about half of the washers and dryers in the laundromat.    I don't know if these people save up all their laundry and wash it once a month or if they live in some sort of encampment and haul the entire encampment's laundry to the laundromat or what but it was a LOT of damn laundry she had those kids running around to take care of. 

A periodic trip to the laundromat was just what I needed to remind me that I don't want to go there unless I absolutely have to. 

I also took out the trash and ran the dishwasher today, as well as put the laundry away.  I know all of this probably sounds like no big deal but honestly, I am just NOT a Domestic Goddess so when things get done I feel inappropriately proud.

Meanwhile, the cat is mad at me because I ate dinner and didn't feed her yet.  I actually ate EARLY (for me) tonight and I don't like to feed the cat until about 8:30 otherwise she tries to act like she never gets fed and commences to complaining.

Well, going to go and get ready for the week! See y'all again soon!

Finally Friday

I worked on the bedroom directly after coming home from work tonight so at least I got a little done in there.

Tomorrow I have errands to run (since I skipped shopping tonight partly out of ennui and partly so I could maybe find some more coupons to take with me) and am thinking about trying to (finally) get to a local (close to my house) art fair.  But then I will have to come home and get to work on the bedroom again.  My goal is to get it beaten into submission before I go to bed Sunday night.

I had entertained the notion of trying to go to the laundromat this weekend but it's too big of a time sink with everything else I want to do this weekend.

And... I am vaguely proud of myself for not ordering Chinese food tonight even though I really wanted to. In the end, I had a hard time justifying spending the money and it was getting late so I had salad and called it good enough.

Now I am off to do some coupon hunting before bed.

The Best Laid Plans...

I had planned on going to bed early tonight. To make up for having been up until around midnight every day this week.  Alas, "early" was not meant to be.  It's now 10:30PM and I'm just getting to doing a blog post. I have at least an hour's worth of stuff I need to do before I can even THINK of going to bed.

This weekend I will be working on beating the bedroom into submission.  That sounds a lot more exciting (and naughtier) than it will actually end up being.  I may end up cheating and just putting things into the Closet O' Doom, since it's already the Closet O' Doom and how much worse could it be?  (Yes, I am aware that I have just tempted fate with that statement... I think the sleep deprivation is impacting my decision making skills).

I'd better run...I want to be in bed by 11:59PM so I can say I made it before midnight at least ONE night this week.

Why I am still awake...

I should be in bed right now. Actually, I should be in bed an hour ago but here I am.  That's dedication. Or stupidity. Either way, I'm here.

Part of my problem is that I have things I need to get done. For instance, last night I needed to file my sales and use tax quarterly report thing online. But to do that I had to find a couple of numbers off the last paper that was sent to me and I had cleaned off my desk and haven't filed things so I had to go excavating for the paperwork I needed in order to get the filing done because you know how the tax people are... if you're late, they want money for your being late.  And since I have negative amounts of money, I needed to get my filing done. Which I did.  But I had other things I needed to do, too and it was midnight before I got to bed.  And then I laid in bed and thought about all of the other things I needed/wanted to do last night but didn't get to because it was MIDNIGHT and I needed to get to bed.  So, obviously, I need to figure out a way to lobby for more hours in a day or a shorter workweek or maybe I need a personal assistant who can do my job so that I can do all the other things that need doing. Or a clone. I wouldn't have to pay a clone (you don't have to pay clones of yourself, right?)

Anyhow... tonight I am up late because I had stuff to do and part of that "stuff" was to watch Tamona's awesome Smoothie Making Experience video ( theoretically, if you do the clicky on "Smoothie Making Experience" back yonder, it will take you to the video).  I'm not even mad that I stayed up so I could watch it because it was educational and fun and a good way for me to end my day on an up note.  (Like eating a bunch of Double Stuf Oreos only without the calories or guilt!)

Now that I've come and made my blog post, I can take a slug of The Green Death and go to bed (I've got allergies, The Green Death allows me to breathe... Don't Judge Me, people!)  Goodnight!

Local Bees

This post was actually sparked by comments on my last post (re:allergies).  I need to get my hands on some local honey to counteract my allergies. Except, I'm not sure that the bees in my neighborhood are currently employed in honey production. I rather think they may have been either downsized or outsourced due to the fact that they were totally MIA when it came to fertilizing my tomatoes this year and if you've ever tried to hand-pollinate tomatoes you know that if you think about the fact that you are manually aiding reproduction you probably feel a little used and/or dirty afterwards.  Maybe it's just me?

I am also beginning to think that my trashbags multiply while I sleep at night because no matter how much trash I take out, there always seems to be more to go out in the morning.

I am going to try to get to bed before 11PM tonight.  So far this week, I've made it by 11:30 which isn't good when 5:30 insists on being so early in the morning.

Allergies

I'm getting my rump kicked by allergies. I believe it is ragweed right now.  I need to get my hands on some local honey and build up some immunity to this because not being able to breath and having very itchy, watery eyes is no fun.  Also, it doesn't help productivity.

I have to find some paperwork but it's not going to happen tonight. However, it MUST happen tomorrow night. I did get a load of laundry done tonight and paid a couple of bills, so I accomplished something.

Going to get to bed and see if I can sleep up some antihistimine!

Chair Dancing

I'm taking a break from cleaning and listening to some music while catching up on the Internet.  I will confess to chair dancing while I am listening to the music.

I am hoping my cleaning goal for the weekend isn't too ambitious and that I can actually finish. Or at least get to the point that all I need to do is take the trash out.

But I am laughing as I listen to the music because I use Spotify and  they always want permission to post what I'm listening to on Facebook.  I think I would die of embarrassment if people knew what was on my playlist! I love the music but don't exactly want to admit to listening to it.

TipJunkie + Best Buy = Excellent Event

I was pretty excited to find in my perusing the Internet and/or my email inbox this week (it's late Saturday night, I'm a little fuzzy at the moment) that there was an invitation to an event on a SATURDAY (which would be today, October 15, 2011) and it involved techy stuff (yay!) plus bloggers! Aside from my neverending quest to find the perfect purse, one of my other big loves in life is tech stuff.  And add getting to meet bloggers to getting to fondle tech stuff and YES, COUNT ME IN!!

I have to admit I was a little hesitant to make a drive all the way out to Keller, TX.  It's not THAT far, but it's about 40 miles and it's not an area I am familiar with AND (as I found out well into my trek) there is a boatload of construction happening so I got detoured and rerouted but finally found the place (in a neighborhood that was so nice that I was afraid I would get arrested for just looking at the houses...waaayyyy outta my league).

There was a drawing for a gift card, they gave away a fabulous all-in-one computer (that, honestly, I didn't covet until I got to caress it's screen and fondle it's REMOTE CONTROL). Plus, there was FOOD. And it was a beautiful day.

The ONLY down side to the whole thing was sitting out on the porch/veranda/patio (I don't know the proper term) there were a couple little kids kicking a ball with no regard for the fact that it was smacking people in the face and landing on people's plates and there was just no parent in sight... but that wasn't enough to quell my enjoyment of the day at all and I chatted with some awesome people and even though I didn't win any cool tech gear I left feeling it was an afternoon well spent.  (Plus, I was patting myself on the back for NOT eating one (or more) of the absolutely huge, very delicious looking cupcakes they had on the table even though I really, really (did I mention REALLY) wanted one but was saved by the fact that they were NOT chocolate).

Thank you to Laurie (aka TipJunkie) for the invite!

Life Segmentation

Like most of us, I have a lot going on in my life.  To make it easier to deal with everything, I tend to break my life into segments. I have different email addresses, for instance, so I can direct certain kinds of mail to an address dedicated to that segment of my life (separation of the "professional" and "personal").

I don't do this to hide myself or for the purpose of any sort of deception, I simply want some clear lines between personal and professional life and it's easier to do if I don't lump everything together all in one place.

Alura Delorean started as a pen name for me.  She became an avatar in Second Life. And now Alura's CrossWorlds Cafe is being born so I have a place to talk about couponing and giveaways and sweepstakes and saving money and don't have to inundate people in other parts of my life with posts and tweets and soforth that they probably don't have an interest in.

Welcome to Alura's CrossWorlds Cafe... I hope you find something useful here.