This past weekend I took an extra dose of bravery, held my breath, and went to the mall for tax-free shopping with my spawnlings. BabySis came along to hold my hand, in between bouts of abandoning me completely to the hordes. I dealt with Roadkill Feet and passed out in the middle of Payless. (small digression to ask WHY is it so damn difficult to remember to put socks on Every Time you wear your shoes?? If you wear shoes without socks and sweat and run through mud and puddles.... your shoes are going to slowly take on the odor of dead animal. It's a given. So Stop Already!)
Then, I got lost in the maze they call Hollister; that was scary. Thankfully, the Teenager didn't do further damage to my psyche through my wallet. I was actually impressed with his acumen for not going overboard. That may or may not have had something to do with my laying out ground rules before we even left the house.
And lastly, to top it all off, I managed to momentarily lose my Doodlebug in Kohl's. Or he lost me. I'm not sure which one it was. Sufficed to say, I turned around and found him gone, walked out to the main aisle and there he was... running up to me with a pained expression in his eyes. He hitched a big breath, squeezed out a crocodile tear, and said, "Mom. You LOST me! I called and called and you Didn't! Answer!" Gods. That's when I called it a day.
All in all... it wasn't HORRIBLE but notes for next time:
* Make sure to EAT before leaving the house. Low blood sugar and hordes of people equal some serious crankiness.
* Take a bottle of water so dying of heat exhaustion in the middle of a mosh pit of teenagers is not an option.
* Shop online instead!
The one highlight was coffee... but really? By then I was so stressed, it wasn't even all that enjoyable. And that's saying something.
In other news, I've just finished two great books. The first is ECLIPSE, by Stephenie Meyer. It's the 3rd in her vampire series.... though so completely unlike any vampire series I've read it's almost unfair to call it that. I love, love, love her characters and the world she's built. You can't help but fall head over heels for them. Seriously? Go. Read. These. Books. (the links are in the side bar)
The other book is YOU HAD ME AT HALO by Amanda Ashby (link in sidebar). I happened to win a copy of this one through another blog - The Midnight Hour. The author was kind enough to send me a signed copy all the way from New Zealand, along with a bookmark and a little fluffy pink feather halo (which will soon have a home with my youngest niece). I was up until 3am reading this one and it was just so darn cute. It'd make a great end-of-summer-last-day-on-the-beach read. She's a new author and it's her first novel so really... go get it and read it. Her next book is a YA called ZOMBIE QUEEN OF A NEWBURY HIGH, which will be coming out in the Spring of 2009. Her MySpace copy says it's "about a girl who accidently turns her entire school into zombies and has to find a cure before she ends up as the main course." I can't wait to read this one; it sounds like a lot of fun.
Other than reading much more than I ought to (I have 2 more sitting in my To-Be-Read-NOW pile)... I've been toying with my scenes. I had a minor epiphany the other day and decided to replace almost my entire First Act with a completely different direction. Of course the new direction has added a whole new dimension to my world building so now I have to figure out what going to a boarding school is like.
It's times like this I have to stomp my foot a little and wonder just why Why WHY my Daddy threatened me all those times with sending me off to boarding school and never followed through. I really wanted to go! Didn't you know that's why I continued being a horrible teenager?! And now, I have to do the research the hard way. Dang it.
So. It's boarding school research and then rearranging the Acts and revising my turning points. At this rate, I might be writing the ACTUAL manuscript for this year's NaNoWriMo. Sheesh. I seriously need to hunker down and give it less of my procrastination and much more of my time. In my defense... have you seen this new show called Californication? And the new season of Weeds? I rest my case. (or try to rationalize it in a way that makes me look like less of a complete feckwit who has tons of writing going on in her head and absolutely NO discipline)
Lots of changes coming up. School starting. Rearranging schedules. Finding DISCIPLINE. Getting RID of the treadmill!! Yes, still.
Honestly, I feel like I've been sort of floating all summer, with my face down in the water and holding my breath. I haven't made much progress with anything and though I recognize it's ME that's holding me back... I guess I haven't yet reached that point where enough is enough. I'm very close, though. And when I can figure out a way to make my leg bend backwards, there's a definite kick in the pants waiting for me. Until then, I'm steadily kicking away in my head. It hurts. Ow. Stop. I'm going! Really!
Y'all have a great week (and if you really want a laugh? Go check out Pioneer Woman. She's got cows making faces all women across the world will understand.)
Then, I got lost in the maze they call Hollister; that was scary. Thankfully, the Teenager didn't do further damage to my psyche through my wallet. I was actually impressed with his acumen for not going overboard. That may or may not have had something to do with my laying out ground rules before we even left the house.
And lastly, to top it all off, I managed to momentarily lose my Doodlebug in Kohl's. Or he lost me. I'm not sure which one it was. Sufficed to say, I turned around and found him gone, walked out to the main aisle and there he was... running up to me with a pained expression in his eyes. He hitched a big breath, squeezed out a crocodile tear, and said, "Mom. You LOST me! I called and called and you Didn't! Answer!" Gods. That's when I called it a day.
All in all... it wasn't HORRIBLE but notes for next time:
* Make sure to EAT before leaving the house. Low blood sugar and hordes of people equal some serious crankiness.
* Take a bottle of water so dying of heat exhaustion in the middle of a mosh pit of teenagers is not an option.
* Shop online instead!
The one highlight was coffee... but really? By then I was so stressed, it wasn't even all that enjoyable. And that's saying something.
In other news, I've just finished two great books. The first is ECLIPSE, by Stephenie Meyer. It's the 3rd in her vampire series.... though so completely unlike any vampire series I've read it's almost unfair to call it that. I love, love, love her characters and the world she's built. You can't help but fall head over heels for them. Seriously? Go. Read. These. Books. (the links are in the side bar)
The other book is YOU HAD ME AT HALO by Amanda Ashby (link in sidebar). I happened to win a copy of this one through another blog - The Midnight Hour. The author was kind enough to send me a signed copy all the way from New Zealand, along with a bookmark and a little fluffy pink feather halo (which will soon have a home with my youngest niece). I was up until 3am reading this one and it was just so darn cute. It'd make a great end-of-summer-last-day-on-the-beach read. She's a new author and it's her first novel so really... go get it and read it. Her next book is a YA called ZOMBIE QUEEN OF A NEWBURY HIGH, which will be coming out in the Spring of 2009. Her MySpace copy says it's "about a girl who accidently turns her entire school into zombies and has to find a cure before she ends up as the main course." I can't wait to read this one; it sounds like a lot of fun.
Other than reading much more than I ought to (I have 2 more sitting in my To-Be-Read-NOW pile)... I've been toying with my scenes. I had a minor epiphany the other day and decided to replace almost my entire First Act with a completely different direction. Of course the new direction has added a whole new dimension to my world building so now I have to figure out what going to a boarding school is like.
It's times like this I have to stomp my foot a little and wonder just why Why WHY my Daddy threatened me all those times with sending me off to boarding school and never followed through. I really wanted to go! Didn't you know that's why I continued being a horrible teenager?! And now, I have to do the research the hard way. Dang it.
So. It's boarding school research and then rearranging the Acts and revising my turning points. At this rate, I might be writing the ACTUAL manuscript for this year's NaNoWriMo. Sheesh. I seriously need to hunker down and give it less of my procrastination and much more of my time. In my defense... have you seen this new show called Californication? And the new season of Weeds? I rest my case. (or try to rationalize it in a way that makes me look like less of a complete feckwit who has tons of writing going on in her head and absolutely NO discipline)
Lots of changes coming up. School starting. Rearranging schedules. Finding DISCIPLINE. Getting RID of the treadmill!! Yes, still.
Honestly, I feel like I've been sort of floating all summer, with my face down in the water and holding my breath. I haven't made much progress with anything and though I recognize it's ME that's holding me back... I guess I haven't yet reached that point where enough is enough. I'm very close, though. And when I can figure out a way to make my leg bend backwards, there's a definite kick in the pants waiting for me. Until then, I'm steadily kicking away in my head. It hurts. Ow. Stop. I'm going! Really!
Y'all have a great week (and if you really want a laugh? Go check out Pioneer Woman. She's got cows making faces all women across the world will understand.)
Glad you survived the shopping experience!! :-)
You're the second person this week who has mentioned "Eclipse" so I think I'll have to check that series out. I can't NOT read them in order though, so which of those books is the first in the series?
Hello there! Just thought I would say hi. I wanted to say that I have finished those Naomi Novik books and I loved them. Great recommendation. I think that I will have to have a look at some others on your sidebar. I am reading so much at the moment it is silly!
So glad you liked those books, Fairy. If you haven't already read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series... I HIGHLY recommend it. And then Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series is also just too awesome.