I finished editing my Stiletto entry this morning, spent the afternoon reading my mentee’s short story, and my evening playing The Sims 2.  But I have food on my mind.  Tomorrow I’m doing a big grocery shopping, and we ran out of so much I’m sitting down, after writing this, to make a list.  It doesn’t help that I’m watching Food Network.  It’s like going shopping on an empty stomach.

I have my birthday on Sunday, plus Mother’s Day but it’ll just be me and the kids. Nothing special and that’s great for me.  Then my son’s b-day is 10 days later and that weekend, we’ll do the big family party, where my family will drive up from NY.  I’ll do the big cooking thing, so I preplan what I’m going to buy, so I put aside enough money.

And I’m in the mood for some really good salads.  Not lettuce, cucumber and tomato, yuck.  I’m talking shrimp, avacado, romaine, and a bunch of other kinds.  I REALLY want a garden.  Too bad I live in an apt.

Off to make my list now.

Today was one of those days where everything went wrong.  I won’t go into detail, but let’s say my fingers is all bruised and messed up, my head is pounding and my eyes are puffy and burning.  I can’t wait to go to sleep.

I posted on RD about setting up a group of suspense/mystery folks.  I hope I get some responses.  I’m going to feel like such a shit if I don’t, lol.  There are actually a handful of divas I would like to have join me, and maybe I’ll ask them specifically if they don’t come forward.

Now, back to my book.  I have to describe my heroine’s father, through her eyes.  I hate describing people.  Things I don’t have a problem with, even scenery, but showing what a person looks like?  Ugh!  It’s up there with sex scenes and really fast action.  Suuucks!

Today I chose to have my writing day off and not write.  Instead, I did the house, family thing and reorganized my bookmarks.  I’m very organized in that I have specific folders, but each folder contains many site addys.  I can’t stand scrolling through a list to find what I want, or worse, bypassing addys I never visit.  So I’m going through them, deleting ones I no longer need or haven’t looked at in a year or so.  It’s a bitch, boring and time-consuming, but feels great when it’s all cleaned up.

So, tomorrow I will get back to Brody checking up on Lind.

I’ve also been thinking about my business/writing image.  I change the look of my site (and tag) very often.  The tag is because I haven’t been satisfied much.  I really loved Murder, Magic & Mary Janes, but to me, it is very chick lit, which is what it was designed for.  I’m not writing CL anymore, so it no longer fits.  The one I have now, Once Upon a Crime…, I really love too.  This one may stick–hopefully forever. LOL  As for the site design, I believe I just haven’t found my soul yet.  Either that, or I really need to consider making designs for others, because I simply like doing them.

With this new tag though, and getting a closer bond to my writing, I’m starting to see I’m not exactly who I may have thought I was.  Not me me, but my writing.  While I adore reading gritty suspense, with police and serial killers, my writing is softer (with serial killers ).

Last night, I ended up writing an extra 5 pages, yay!  I’m so glad because I haven’t written squat yet today.

I went shopping, dealt with some issues on Divas, and now feel very lazy.  It’s 4:30, and I haven’t a clue about dinner.  My son is sick, had a 101.7 degree temp last night and 100 earlier today.  I don’t really want to cook, if he’s not in an eating mood.  His appetite dwindles a lot when he’s not feeling well.  My daughter is old enough to grab something, so maybe it’s a cereal night.  I just bought Raisin Bran and Blueberry Morning–YUM!

Maybe I’ll get some writing done later.  I don’t have much else to do.

I don’t like spring and summer where I live. While I do despise heat and humidity of ANY kind (my heater in the winter doesn’t go above 65 degrees), the main reason I hate these times of year is due to the massive amount of children in my complex. Warmer weather means open windows, means screaming, playing and running around until midnight or later on the weekends. No not the little children, they do that until dark. I’m talking about the teenagers (and some parents who like to hang with the teens and all get high together).

So today was the first time I sat outside with my son since the fall, and believe it or not, it wasn’t so bad. Probably ’cause half of the apartments are empty, lol. The kids had a ball, I had a decent time talking to some of my neighbors. For me, the slate is clean. But it’s only a matter of months before some of the shrieking children manage to grate my nerves to pure raw nothingness, and I want to throttle them. Until then, it’s fine.

Of course, with going to bed at 2 this morning and waking at 11 this morning, it means I still have 5 pages of my book to write–maybe I’m rebelling and procrastinating, because folding that laundry earlier seemed much more productive than dealing with Brody and his magical problems.

So I’m off now to try and get the pages done AND get to bed at a reasonable time, so I can redirect my schedule and start getting up at 7 AM again. Wish me luck!

Yes, today I baked approximately 169 cookies.  That’s insane, isn’t it?

I had no reason other than we wanted cookies. :)  I stopped buying prepackaged kind because of the trans fats and ingredients that you really shouldn’t eat.  So, I purchased a bunch of new baking items (cause my cocoa was a good 7 years old–probably 10) earlier this month, but I hate making cookies.  The mixing, the dropping…  I have an apt. sized oven, so I can only bake one tray at a time, and I have only a hand mixer.

So when I want cookies, you can bet they’re only getting made once every month or two (if you’re lucky).  I also wanted a variety, lol.  I made oatmeal coconut, peanut butter chocolate chip and chocolate chip toffee.  I also made a chuck roast with potatoes, carrots and onions and Cheddar-Parmesan Bread, in the bread maker.  A huge cooking day.  Started at noon and finished eating dessert at 6:30.

My greatest question is how long do homemade cookies last before they go bad?  I have a feeling it will be longer than my kids allow these to stay in the house.

I love electronics and gadgets.  They are the perfect gift for me, including kitchen gadgets.  I prefer them over any silly, romantic gift, like candy or flowers.  Puhleaze!

So today we head over to our local WalMart (which really isn’t local at all) to get cat stuff–food, litter, all cheaper there then in the grocery store.  A small bag of kitty Iams is $7.49 at WalMart and $9.19 at my grocery store, and with a $3.00 coupon, cha-ching!  I buy litter, one bag of Iams (already have two bags at home) and 40 cans of wet food.  Then there is the small toy for my son, the headband for my daughter, the liquid soap, tampons and laundry detergent.  And where do I go next?

Electronics department, of course. I tossed out my cordless phone several months ago.  The damn thing’s battery kept dying after being off the hook for only half a day, and it was the second brand-new battery I had purchased.  In the trash.  But that left us with two corded phones, and the one in my room did not have caller ID.  It’s one of those OLD slimline phones, and I hated not knowing who was calling–who I don’t have to answer to.

So, not too exciting, but enough to make me smile.  Plus it’s that sleek silver and black.  A V-Tech 5.8 ghz.  Hopefully, after realigning phone wires and outlets in my room, it won’t suck.  LOL, that’s officially my word for the week.