YIKES!

I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted anything. I got so busy with my mom and daughter being here for mother's day weekend, the time got away from me. Then there is the ever present lawn work, dogs, cats, my neighbor and work, I haven't had time to do much else, including read.

And now I have a sinus infection. Between that and hubby and Max basically pushing me out of bed last night, I am beat. I ended up going downstairs to the kidlet's bedroom to sleep, and ended up with all 3 dogs and one cat helping me. At least I got the wall side so that they couldn't push me out.

I did spend last night watching the American Idol finale. I was very disappointed in the voters that Adam didn't win- I think all of Danny's voters went over to Chris, but in another way I am glad he didn't win. Now I won't have to wait a year for him to put an album out.

When I saw Chris performing with Keith Urban (love that Thunder from Down Under), I knew that whoever Adam was paired with would be bloody amazing. And was I ever! I knew the second they showed him in the costume, before he opened his mouth, that Kiss would be up on that stage. What a way to top off the night! And they weren't done yet either!

I had been twittering all during the show with some author friends and had said earlier (and all through the season) that I would love to hear Adam doing Queen. Truly, I think he could be the legacy to Freddie Mercury. I always wondered why he didn't do any of their songs during the competition. When he and Kris started with We Are the Champions, I could think of no better song for them to do. When they showed Queen actually playing?!? I almost had a fucking heart attack!! What an awesome finish to the show!

I could have done without Megan Joy and her godawful tatoo (does she own anything that has sleeves?), and a good portion of the others. I even died laughing when Kara showed off and showed up Bikini Girl (should have saved the money on the boob job- Kara's were real!) with both her singing and her bikini. I adored when Norman was "surprised" by his award. I really liked him. I hope someone, some where appreciates his talent and picks him up.

The lineup of musical talent this finale was truly amazing and the highlight of the night. I can't imagine what they will plan for next year, but it is the surprising things that they do that keep me coming back.

Oh, and I like Kara as a judge too. I hope she stays.

And I was really disappointed that Shaun won out over Giles on Dancing With the Stars. He was so much more fun to watch dance.

YIKES!

No Mother's Day Card Required!!

I wasn't making a big deal out of not spending Mother's Day with my daughter around. In 24 years it would be the first one we haven't been together. My mom is coming down today to spend the weekend, it's her 70th birthday. (On a side note, said daughter must now quit calling her Position as she has since her 69th b'day!)

Knowing that the kid is enjoying what she is doing in Hollyweird, school, making movies and networking in ways I don't think she knew existed, I wasn't going to be sad or whiny or cry (maybe a little on Mom's Day,while I was in the shower).

That is a parents job, right? We give birth, raise them to the best of our ability, give them the tools we hope help them make the right decision and then kick their asses out of the nest. There is no sense in going through all that and then keeping them tied to our side, is there? I didn't even get too upset when I brought her to the airport after the roadtrip. How can you be sad, and feel sorry for yourself when they are so happy? If I do feel sad, I go buy shoes. There's a whole nother blog in there.

I had to work Thursday morning, so I head to bed early (up at 5, ick.) At midnight hubby's youngest step-son popped his head into the bedroom, while I was sound asleep and scared the crap outta me! Told me I had to get downstairs right away. Mind you hubby was still down there, so I thought the worse. #3 Son had left his house keys and came back to get them. (thankfully I sleep in something and had the covers pulled up. LOLOL).

Imagine my shock, surprise and awesome delight to find my daughter sitting in hubby's recliner, videotaping my shock! No, I haven't seen the footage yet. I imagine she has put it on Youtube or something.

Seems they have been planning this since February, even before I took my trip out! She bought the plane ticket then, had hubby involved, got my mom to call and whine about coming down to spend her b'day here (so we didn't plan on going there), my step-son to pick her up and a co-worker (also her best friend) to make sure I wasn't scheduled to work all weekend.

And they kept it all a secret from me! Knowing that for Xmas and my b'day, I always figure out what they got me before hand. Surprising me is not easy at all, but they did it.

So now I am going to enjoy a weekend with her and my mom going out for a b'day lunch tomorrow and brunch on Sunday. Seeing Star Trek this afternoon, just the 3 of us. (Hubby said he would go, so I bought 3 tix- 2 of them seniors. This was before I knew she was coming, so the tix is for the kid, now I have to go get it upgraded to full price. LOL)

God they are sneaky and I love it! It's the best Mother's Day present ever. No card required!!

A New Addiction!!

It was bad enough when I found Twitter. Really, it was. I enjoy it so much more than Facebook and MySpace, although I do try and hit my face book once a day, if I am lucky. However, it is nice to see what others are doing. Then an evil, evil person (an author at that) whose initials are Teresa Medeiros, slipped a little link to an app called Tweet Deck into her newsletter today.



(When my daughter found out that I Twittered, she was in shock, saying as much along with wondering how I can Twitter and can't figure out Facebook. For the record, I used to like Facebook until they "upgraded" it. Too confusing and just drives me nuts now.)

So I found some of my friends, authors, news personalities and others on Twitter. One of the first I chose to follow was John McCain. Love the daily top 10 pork that they try and pass. His daughter Meghan, keeps everyone posted on her comings and goings and things like the song of the day that won't leave her head. Been there.



As for authors, I have a few that I have found, one being Leslie Kelly, fron the Plotmonkeys,aka Leslie Parrish (for her new series) and her hubby, Bruce. Smart Bitches, Angela James and others.

Nathan Fillion (Yummy) and Save Castle. Along with Save Chuck. Michael Phelps (although he has been quiet).

Lots of fun stuff. Especially for those of us with short attention spans.

EWAusielloFiles- he's keeping me posted on how little I will actually turn the TV on this fall. NBC cancelled Life. One less time I have to turn on or record anything. If they keep it up, I won't be turning on much of anything. I refuse to get involved in anything new anymore. If it lasts more than a season or two, I can find it on DVD.

But back to the evil, evil Teresa.

See, TweetDeck lets you show all your stuff on one screen, Friends, Replies, Direct Messages and updates them minute by minute. No hitting refresh needed. I love it. I have had it on all day. I finally forced myself away to go mow the lawn, no thanks to Teresa, the Evil One. She even laughed at me. Took credit for corrupting me. She is evil. :snort:

Heartbreaking decisions!!

This is Baby Blue, aka George the 10th. Hard to see it, but it's a 2002 Toyta Rav4, with 98k on it- all me (and the kid). This is the first new car I have ever owned (not talking about the leases- they weren't mine.)
This truck has been through everything- from having a very bad N word carved on the hood when I had only had it 2 weeks, to being T-boned in October by a kid delivering a pizza who ran a red light. I drove away from the accident- he couldn't get his hood open. Body damage only to mine- he wasn't so lucky.

The stories this poor truck could tell. I love it dearly, but it is time for a new one. NOT because it still isn't running great- it is. I take care of my vehicles, sometimes to obsession, I think. You wouldn't know it was 7 years old. It's been paid off for two, so anything now is gravy.

So I have started looking for a new one. But letting Baby go is going to be very hard. I know it's just a truck- but it has gotten through nasty snow storms, crappy weather, and teaching a kid to drive.

I hope someone, somewhere buys Baby and takes as good care of him as I have. The dealers have been impressed with the great shape that the truck is in and I don't think I have to worry about it heading to a crusher anytime soon.

I wonder if I can keep this one and get a new one??? Charlie loves to go for a R-I-D-E. I have to spell it, he knows what it means. He rides like this- in the front seat belted in. I have been stopped on seatbelt checks where the cops think I did this just for that reason. They love it when they find out that this is how he always rides. (Look at the leather- you wouldn't know it was that old.) He will have to get used to riding in a new one. Hope he likes it!

Finally getting there...

I am finally finding time to go through the pictures I took on my trip. The first three days were mostly rain, which really ticked me off. I was looking forward to pit stops along the Smokies and the view from the Chesepeake Bay Bridge. This is the view as I was getting ready to get on the bridge. It had actually quit raining at this point and I was hoping the sun would come out as I made that long drive across the water.

However, that was not meant to be. By the time I finally reached 3/4 of the way across where the rest stop was, it was really raining. I decided to stop for a break, sit and eat some of my nice healthy lunch (no hamburger!), browse the little gift shop, and then maybe walk the pier that they have there. No. Again the weather gods were consipiring against me.

By the time I was back in my car, eating my lunch, it was raining pretty heavily and the fog was really rolling in. However, as I was looking out over the water, I spied some movement and put my wipers on hoping to catch what it was.

If you look carefully, just above and to the right of the fence post, you will see a gray blob. It's the conning tower of a sub coming home to Norfolk. Too bad the weather was not cooperating. A few seconds later, as it got closer I opened the door to get a clearer picture and it was all one big gray blob. Nothing. Nada. Thank you Mother Nature. sigh.

I spent that night and the next morning with my friend Judy and her hubby Roger in NC. Jude and I met a looooonnnng time ago in one of the originaly AOL chatrooms for Ann McCaffrey. I'm talking around '91 or '92 when I first signed onto aol. At the time she was still in TX. We had never had a chance to get together before and I wasn't going to miss this oppurtunity. We had a great time and I can't wait to go back- when the weather cooperates!- for a much longer visit. Then we can go and find other places to check out.

However, Jude has one "problem". She has a very, very lazy cat. So lazy that she lays on her side to eat and then flips over to drink. I thought mine were lazy. This one takes the cake. (Now, old age and all I forget all their names. Jude will have to remind me, especially since I need to tag my photos. LOL)

So that was day 1-3. The next day as I left, it had quit raining but was foggy, so I delayed my start. A good thing cause we got to laze about a bit. By the time I hit the Smokies it was all rain and fog again. That was certainly interesting. But I had James Marsters and Harry Dresden to get me through it intact.

Hurry up Jim Butcher!!

On my recent road trip, I downloaded a ton of new (actually, old) music to my ipod. Stuff I love, didn't have on it or on anything but vinyl, and even did a playlist of just driving/singing music to keep me awake, aware and alive. I think I turned it on once.

I also downloaded the first of the Butcher's Dresden Files on audio. I figured I needed at least one book to listen to and I love the books.

Big Mistake. Not only did I not turn my ipod on again for music, but along the way I downloaded the other three books that are out on audio (thankyou Books on Board!). They are only recently released and finding them on download was not easy at the time, nor was it cheap. But boy were they worth it.

Never once did I picture Spike once I started listening, but I did see him as Harry, (especially since he is not really blond). I could not see anyone else reading these stories than him. He is Harry and Harry is him.

The books are as well read as they are written. I finished the fourth one yesterday (I had shipped it back to myself from CA in a big box that took two weeks to get here- that's another rant entirely). Now I have to wait until October for Book 5. Not effing fair. It's not. I want it now.

While I was driving, the story (and James) kept me relaxed, attend to my surrondings and so much happier than any music I could have listened to. Sorry, but classical puts me to sleep. I credit them with getting me down the Smokies in a downpour and fog and lots of truck drivers, to getting across the Continental Divide in high winds, in one piece. I would have loved to had had my blood pressure taken during the drive. I think my Dr. would have loved it.
A caveat here- never listen to James Marsters read something sexy while driving, especially alone. :gulp: That will mess up your blood pressure.

My only complaint was putting them on the ipod- they don't fall under the correct category on itunes when you go from the cd to itunes, so ultimately I ended up burning them to cd's. Which I had to buy of course. My laptop didn't have enough battery power for an all day trip. My new one does though. But we won't talk about that since hubby has no idea I bought one. (A nice little 10 inch Acer I picked up in San Diego at Office Depot for a really good price. It's perfect for travelling- light, fits in my purse so I don't need a computer bag, does what I need. What more do I need?)

But back to James and Harry and all things Butcher. I haven't looked but I hope James is doing his other series' too. Seldom do I find an audio reader outside of Jim Daley and Lorelei King (who does the Stephanie Plum novels) that I look forward to listening to as opposed to an author whose books I want to hear.

James is right up there. He could make a whole new career out of this.