A weekend of memories

(While I was writing this, Sean called. He took the just-repaired laptop in to the office for the first time today. )
"I think something's wrong with the laptop." He sounds pretty calmn, how bad could it be?
"What's wrong?"
"I plugged it in and opened it up and got the green light to come on but the screen is staying black."

Hmm. Maybe he walked away and the screen saver came on? Maybe the loose connection is back to haunt us?

"Try closing the screen and opening it back up." That's what used to work when the connection was loose.

I hear him click it shut, then open it back up. "Nope, still black."

Hmm. What could it ... (*insert lightbulb flash*)

"You're sure you turned it on?"

I love my non-techie husband...
****************
This past weekend was one of those happy moments you don't want to let go of. A really long, three and a half day moment. So much that for the last two days I've held off writing about them, knowing that once I put the words down in past tense, they'll really be past. History. Finished.

But it's time to let them become history, and just hang on to the memories of good times. So here, in no particular order, are some good times from my last few days.

Sis, My Brother-In-Law (MBIL), and MBIL's son My Nephew (MBILS,MN) came to stay with us for the Memorial Day weekend. They drove straight through Thursday night, getting here in the 1amish hour Friday morning. Happy was hearing their voices out in the driveway "whispering" over who needed to carry in what bag.

More happiness was having the first bottle of red opened and the hot tub going on in the next 30 minutes. More happiness still was having Sean finally get home from Trivia and tracking down Chris, and sitting outside for hours talking and drinking our way through a second bottle.

Friday was one long happy, with our introduction to Pink Lemonade Margaritas** (recipe at the end), V-8 Pina Coladas (psst... I don't think MBIL knew he was drinking V-8), sunshine, laughter, and much food. And a cd mix titled, appropriately enough, Cheese. "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting!" Chocolate Chip Cheesecake for MBILS,MN. Outdoor movies at The Flag Pavillion with 2500 other people, and leaving after watching the cartoons and the opening credits to Jurassic Park Late night conversations. MBIL telling stories of Europe while Under The Influence of Hottub.

The beach, made happier by leaving the beach and jumping into the cold pool. Lunch by the pool. Afternoon naps. Cooking too much food to fit in the lowcountry boil pot. More wine, more food, more water. Sis and I making so much great dinner that absolutely no one had room for dessert. Serving MBIL's Birthday Pie in the hot tub anyway, singing and candle required.

Drinks by the river. Phantom of the Opera! Front row seats! Hot young conductor. An old man snoring through the first Act (happy in a snickering sort of way). Last minute birthday shopping with sis. No one being at my house an hour before the birthday party starts (including me!). Forgetting the ice and all but hanging up on mom (ok, that wasn't a particularly happy moment, but it was memorable!) Sis being the best co-cook ever. Cooking a kick ass dinner, and having a safe delay spot 20 minutes out of serving time (because this is my husbands family we're talking about as guests - punctuality is not a strong point). 12th birthday party for my son. Strawberry Cake, Strawberry Icing, Strawberry Ice Cream with the box butchered by an ice cream opening novice. Realizing at 11pm that 3 nights in a row with 4-5 hour sleeps are catching up with me. Sitting outside at midnight and realizing I wasn't going to make it to 1am...

BIL's Birthday Blueberry Pancake breakfast, and wishing it wasn't Leaving Day. Then a very quiet house, still echoing with memories of 3 days and 4 nights of laughter and love.

Hope your weekend was filled with memories of your own.


**Pink Lemonade Margarita Recipe.
(Yumm!)

1/4 cup Tequila
2 Tablespoons Orange Liquer (Triple Sec, Grand Marnier, Orange Napoleon, etc)
2 Tablespoons pink lemonade frozen concentrate
3/4 cup ice
2 Tablespoons Sprite (or equivalent)
Sliced Lemon to garnish

Mix first 5, pour into glass, garnish with lemon, drink.
Repeat as long as you can. I'm thinking, with 1/4 cup tequila and 4 Tablespoons mixer, it's not going to be that long.

(After I finished this, my non-techie husband called back.)

"OK, I've got it on, now how do I get online?"

"Look down at the bottom of the screen, there should be 4 or 5 icons - hover your cursor over them and tell me what they say."

"Ok." Slight pause while he figures out how to use the touch pad instead of a mouse. "The first one says Boomtown Wifi Network, Connected, Signal Strenght Very Good."

"It says you're connected?"

"Yes."

I cough to cover the giggle. "Ok. See the Mozilla icon on the start bar?"

"What's Mozilla?"

Another cough. "See the Internet Explorer icon? It looks like an 'E' down next to Start."

"Yes, I see that." He sounds puzzled.

"Click it." Pause while he clicks. "What happened?"

"A window opened and it says Google." I can hear the amazement in his voice. "That's it?"

"That's it."

"Thanks! Love you!"

"Love you too."

Enslave Me Sweetly by Gena Showalter



She has the heart of a killer, and the body of an angel. . .



Eden Black walks among humans, protecting them from the murderous evil of other-worlders who abduct and enslave. And though she appears to be human herself, Eden is an alien, a Raka, distinguished by her golden hair and skin, and gifted with the ominous ability to kill without remorse – and with total accuracy. That is, until the fateful night she has one shot to eliminate her target, a human slaver – and misses.



“Failure” is not in Eden’s vocabulary. Neither is “partner” – but that’s what she is forcibly assigned after recovering from her disastrous mission. A sexy, steely-nerved human agent, Lucius Adaire enjoys nothing more than sparking the fury – and rousing the desire – of the fiery female assassin to proud to admit defeat. Locked in an assignment they cannot afford to lose, Lucius and Eden find themselves bound in two high-stakes, heart-pounding games: the dangerous web of kill or be killed, and the erotic dance of seduction. . .



Showalter first demonstrated her skill at blending sizzling romance and nail-biting suspense set in a convincing futuristic society in Awaken Me Darkly (2005). She now continues the roller-coaster-like adventure in an equally entertaining tale that will please a wide cross section of readers. *Starred Review* Booklist.



Order your copy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or BooksAMillion.



For more information, visit Gena’s website at http://www.genashowalter.com and her blog at http://www.genashowalter.blogspot.com

Ooops

Left the water sprinkler running all night. Sean got back from his radio show about midnight, did his usual half ass park on the curb / in the grass, and tore up the turf all along the roadway. Blech.
But at least he turned the sprinkler off on his way in.

Bragging moment

Sean just called from the school - he'd gone to check out Montgomery a few minutes early, since he was downtown by the school.

Two teachers came out in the hall and stopped him and told him that our only baby boy (ahem) received perfect scores on all sections of the FCAT testing. For friends not in Florida - this is the state standardized testing. These scores are used to judge the job the school is doing teaching, and how well the kids are learning. Last year, only 16 students out of all grades (approx 129,000 students) received perfect scores on both sections. It's a very big deal ;)

He goes to a great school - it's a magnet program with a gifted program for technology and science students. And right now, I'm about as proud as I can be of what he's accomplished this year.

Critique me!

I was taking an early lunch break, and reading through my Bloglines to catch up on messages. And what did I see over at The Knight Agency blog?

Friday, May 19, 2006

Winner of the Critique

Thank you to everyone who posted their questions and thoughts on a TKA message board! These responses are really going to help us push forward successfully with our many ideas.

Now, the answer you have all been waiting for...

*Drum Roll Please*

The winner of the free critique...

Karen of Neptune Beach FL

*applause*

Congratulations! Thanks again to everyone for their participation!

I'm just a whee bit excited!
Going to polish the first chapter of Warrior's Mate tomorrow and have it ready to send next week!

28 hours and counting

Yikes, half of May has slid away. That's ok - the best part is still to come :)

The kids have 7 more days of school before vacation starts. That's 28 more hours of childlessness (Samantha only goes from 9-1). Not that I'm counting.

Sis will be here for a visit in 10 days! Phantom of the Opera is in 12 days! Son turns 12 in 14 days! Nope, not counting.

Mother's Day was a lot of fun - Sean was able to be home in time for dinner, and we had his Mom and Dad, and his sis, BIL, and their daughter over for a late dinner. Three moms in the house, and guess who had their feet up watching golf while dinner was cooked? Men! Not complaining though - I know what to expect from the men in this house, so I planned an easy menu. Was a great night. And did I mention Sean was able to be home in time for dinner? Made my day. Samantha gave me a bead bracelet she made in preschool; Montgomery managed to forget it was Mother's Day, even though I told him all day that we were having people over for dinner. That's my son!

The new cord to the mosquito magnet finally came yesterday, so we're slowly sucking all the nasty little swarmy bugs from the neighborhood into the pit of doom once again. Sooooo nice to be able to leave the back door open, especially with the weather dipping into the 60's today!

Jim and Ali kept Samantha last night. No special reason; she just called me yesterday and said "Would you like me to keep her?" I was unnaturally happy to have this happen. Sean took Montgomery to school this am too, so I was able to go back to bed at 6:30 and sleep until 8:30 for the first time in ... ages. This would have been a great thing, except my sleep was haunted by a 2 hour dream in which I kept trying to tell Sean he had to get Montgomery to school, and he insisted it was more important that he teach our 11 year old son how to shave. Think I'm having issues with my son almost being a teenager? Nah....

Close to wrapping up Warrior's Mate. Ignore the word count in the sidebar... I haven't had time to update it in a week. Hope to have this one done before sis gets here. Ten days, and (not) counting!

Books, bugs, birthdays - Today's post is brought to you by the letter B

Just a few random notes before I run out for a day of errand running, hopefully puncuated by pizza and Beer.

Books -
Read The Perfect Weapon by Amy J Fetzer a few days ago. I picked this one for my May TBR book over a Brianna's Mommy. Had to let this one perc for a few days while I decided if I liked it lots, or just liked it. The problem was that I loved, loved, loved The Naked Truth. Fast paced, great hero and heroine, really well done dialogue. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. And the blurb for TPW made it sound just as great, so I rushed out ('k, if two weeks later is rushing) and got it to read. And it wasn't as good. My biggest complaint? There were frequent scene breaks, almost every two pages. Quite a few times there would be two scene breaks on the same page. I just could not get into the book, since every time I was sinking into a scene I was yanked out and put in someone elses head, or thrown out of that scene altogether and put in another one. The book itself was good besides this one flaw; but it made it impossible for me to just roll with it. I kept shaking my head asking myself "why... why???" Note to self - scenes need to be more than 300 words average length.
Breakdown :
Title: The Perfect Weapon
Author: Amy J Fetzer
Year published: 2006
Why did you get this book? I loved The Naked Truth
Do you like the cover? Yep
Did you enjoy the book? Yep
Was the author new to you and would you read something by this author again? Not new, will look for her books again
Are you keeping it or passing it on? I'd loan it to one or two friends, but it's a keeper
Anything else? I hope her next book doesn't have quite as many scene changes

Read Urban Shaman, by CE Murphy. This book has been really talked up on a lot of blogs and authors forums lately, so I expected to love it. Maybe I expected it too much - I liked it, but not it was not love for me. I guess part of it was my expectations. I thought it would be a romance. Everyone I heard raving on this book is a romance writer. This book has no romance. There is a hint of romantic intrest - with her boss - and this looks to be the first book of a series, so maybe we'll get romance in the next one. But... it's her boss. They're cops. That's just a big ick to me. Partners, ok, but I don't like the boss / subordinate romance potential. And then, it was in first person. I'm really not a fan of first person; a few authors do it well enough I don't notice. This one was close, except for the first 70 pages or so. They needed to be about 20 pages long. There was so much first person I'm Having A Terrible Horrible No Good Day there, I almost gave up. Luckily the action finally did kick in, and then I couldn't put the book down.

Neither of these were bad books. They're just examples of what makes a book not work for me. Other people have read and loved both these books, so take my comments as just that - mine.

Bugs - my mosquito magnet is still not working. I ordered the power cord, and a replacement octonaol pack, at the same time. The octonal came in 2 days; it does me no good with no power cord. My back yard is a swarming mass of blood sucking fiends until the cord gets here.

Birthdays - Montgomery's 12th is coming up at the end of the month. It just hit me a few days ago that this will be his last "childhood" birthday. Next year he'll be in his teens. I want to do something special, but he's already To Cool For Mom most of the time. I'm a bit stuck on ideas here. He doesn't want to have friends over, doesn't want to go to Orlando, doesn't want to do much of anything. Except get presents (money, video games and more video games) and have cake. In that order.

Any suggestions? I'm open to just about anything!

I hope you dance

Weekend wrapup

It's closing on nine pm on Sunday night, the end to another weekend.

I think the weekends have become the adult version of summer. Remember that feeling when the bell rang signaling the beginning of summer? And it would stretch ahead of you , full of promises of lazy days, late nights, no responsibility and endless days and nights to do all you dreamed of doing? Then in a blink of an eye it was August, and school was calling you back.

So the weekend is gone. Lot's of yays, a few ughs.

The worst ugh was looking out back today and seeing the termites swarming - in May!! Termites here usually swarm in late Feb or early March. I spent almost 20 minutes in the yard trying to track them to the swarm point, and finally lost the trail at our NW property line. They may be coming from the backside of our shed (not a great loss - the previous owners built it as a gardening shed, but it's always been one strong wind shy of collapse); I think they're more likely coming from one of the houses west of us. Or even from a dead stump in their backyard.

On the yay! side, I'm happy with what I wrote this weekend. Fell short of 1000 words a day, but I'm sitting at 2700 and know exactly where it's going. Still on track for hitting 15,0000 words by midmonth. That's as much as I can ask for.

Also yay! the tickets came to Phantom of the Opera. Front row. With sis. End of the month. I can't wait. It will be my second live performance, and her (5th? help me out here) - well, more than second. But the music, the costumes, the sets, the story... I can't wait to see it again.

I had more to write about tonight, but the kid's cold finally caught up with me and it's kicking my butt. Going to pop a few cold pills and snuggle up with the honey to watch Soprano's...

Hope your weekend had more yay's than boo's!

Mosquito magnet killer to General Manager

Mosquito season is here. I wasn't really thinking about it, beyond filling the propane tank on the Mosquito Magnet a month ago. (*Mosquito Magnet - bug killer on propane steroids. Quietly efficient, it keeps our backyard amazingly mosquito free. Quite a feat, since we live about 200 yards off the marsh.)

Then yesterday, my darling husband bought a lawnmower. After over 13 years of having our yard sporadically cut by a friend with a lawn service, he finally caved in to the knee high growth and decided to take care of it himself.

If you know my husband, your jaw probably hit the floor. Mr Home Improvement he isn't. Of the two of us, I'm the fixer-uper, and that's a scary thought. It's also the reason that the week before we have company come to stay we spend hours and hours frantically running around with hammers and nail guns, trying to prop up things that are droopy and cover up things that are broken. But anyway.

Took him 2 hours to put the mower together. Then he had to go buy a gas can. Then after 15 minutes of staring at the can, he asked me how to attach the pour spout to the top. Then he started mowing the grass.

Five minutes later I decided to take a picture. He just looked so cute. My man, cutting grass.

And then he turned to me (that's when I took his picture... see that "oh shit" grin on his face?) and said "Did that black power cord running across the sidewalk go to something important?"

That black power cord, of course, went to the mosquito magnet. The only thing standing between a summer of outdoor fun, and a summer of curses as the bloodthirsty hordes chase us inside until November.

"Idiot." That was the nicest thing that came out of my mouth. Of course I had to yell it, since the lawn mower was running. Any neighbors who were outside now have a wonderful opinion of my man.

Luckily for him, the day did get better. There's a new football league in town, and without going into way To Much Information about minor league football, last night they offered him a position as General Manager. Yay! I think this makes job number 6 (I've got to count - I can't keep track - Golf Tournament Co-ordinator; Tennant Printing sales; Radio Show Host; Trivia Host; Inside Golf sales manager; yes, this is number 6, General Manager of the Jacksonville Bobcats).

He thought about it for all of about 2 minutes. I guess he realized he had no future in yard maintenance, so he'd better find something to keep him out of the house more often...

Fun with Slideshows

Thank you Sylvia Day for today's "Things I spent 10 minutes on when I should have been working" update :


Click me! (It's a picture slide show; very neat, and I can't wait to have more time into making one as neat as her's is!)

Busy, sleepy Mondays

That was Samantha on Saturday afternoon. That's pretty much how I feel today, except there's no nap in my schedule for today.

It was a great weekend, just a very long one. Friday night my sister-in-law had her premier art show at Shelby's, a coffee shop in Neptune Beach. I don't know enough about art to classify what she paints (modern maybe?) - maybe someone else can title it for me.



We had a great time, and since it wasn't in a formal gallery we took the kids and let them dance and play out in the courtyard. Which means they had a great time, and they were nice and tired by the time we left. There was a wonderful band out there, and the weather was gorgous. A nice night for sitting outside and having a drink, which I also did while the kids were doing their dancing thing.



Saturday Samantha was up by 6. It was yard work day, but I convinced myself it was going to rain and skimped over all but the major stuff - blowing off the patio with my new leaf blower (vroom vroom) and cleaning the pool. Let Samantha swim for a bit, then took the kids out for a movie and dinner, since it was going to rain so they couldn't play outside. Except it never did rain... ah well. By six I was curled up with a good book. It was too good really - I ended up picking up the sequal (ebooks baby - no need to run to the store to grab the next in a series, just log on and download it!) and reading it as well. Turned my early night into a very, very late one.

Sunday I was wiped out from my late night and Samantha's usual pre-6am wakeup. Tried to get some writing done in the morning, but Samantha was in no mood to give me peace. "Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. MOMMY!" So we baked bannana bread and cleaned house, while I tried to convince her that 71 degrees and no sun is too cool to swim in. She never did believe me, but I finally distracted her with Cinderella. For a bit, anyway.

The weekend slipped by, and now we're back at Monday. Sean is headed home from his long weekend even as I write this, ready to hand me 340 score cards to be entered online. That should keep my busy... Later this week we have to start laying out our next project - writing the media guide for the Jacksonville Bobcats. I wonder if that counts for a writing credential?