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Today was payday, so we went to the grocery store and spent $250!!!!!! Yes, I bought a lot of food, meats, lunches, canned goods, cat food, stamps, but dang.

And I went to Office Depot and got my calendar and I love it. The black is my page goals, the blue is life stuff and the red is writer stuff.



We also went to the library, where I got Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love Snell's book, a Dennis Lehane audio book, and the last season of Sex and the City.

I've met my page goals for the day and want to finish a scene before I finish this last contest entry.

Oh, and I was asked to judge another contest and I said NO!

I decided I'm buying this when it goes on sale at Blockbuster since I have a gift card.

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The dh has been on vacation this week and has cooked every night. Bliss! We need to hit the grocery store tomorrow again, though, for veggies. And bottled water. And lunches for the boy. I dread taking him with me, he's very spendy.

I also need to get to the library and I think I'm going to break down and get the laminated poster calendar.

I'm judging another contest (yes, I know, but the coordinator is a bud and she begged) and in both the entries I've judged so far, the heroine is so immature. She paints the hero with the same brush as every other man she's dated, which is no wonder why she hasn't had success. I mean, who knows what she's passed up before with her prejudices. It's very irksome. I wonder what's the deal, because I've judged a lot of contests and not seen that in awhile.

Oh well, one more entry to go.....maybe I can knock it out tonight.

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When I was a girl, I worshiped the bible of Seventeen magazine, especially the Back to School issue.



Yesterday I got my hair and eyebrows done. I'll color my hair this weekend. I also bought the supplies to give myself a French manicure, and FINALLY got the necklace fixed that I broke on Christmas day. Today I went shopping for the boy and ended up buying some more wedges



and falling in love with these:



Now, I've been in shorts and t-shirts all summer, and from April on, I wore my Crocs to school. So I've gone from zero to painful in just a day ;)

I'm planning what to wear. I bought this dress last fall but haven't worn it because it's a bit low cut. Mine is gray and blue, though. I thought it was very Lorelei Gilmore.



I have three skirts of the same length, and I have these shoes to wear:







Blame the wedges on my SIL, who mentioned them and made me want them, then I bought 3 pair for $40. Of course, she's five feet tall and I'm 5'7.....

Oh, and these are on the way from Chadwicks, the tortoiseshell ones:



Now I need to put skirts and blouses together with shoes and accessories to get ready for next week. Sadly, the first day we have to wear matching t-shirts - what's the fun in that????

What about you? Back to school shopper? Shoe lover? Wardrobe planner?

Anyone want to take bets on how long before I'm back in my Crocs?

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A- Amazon (wayyyy too much)

B- back yard, books, blogging, Borders, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster, Bath and Body Works

C – contest entries judged, critique groups

D – drivers ed with the boy, Dark Knight, DVDs, Diet Coke

E – edits, email, ER reruns

F – forgetting what day it was

G – Gruene, Guenther House lunch, Google reader

H – hanging out with Mom

I –inflatable swimming pool

J – jungle books – revising them

K – kitty love

L – library visits, late nights

M – margaritas, Macaroni Grill with the teachers, McDonald’s

N – NAPS!!!

O – obsessing over JDM and Watchmen and Comic Con

P – Panera breakfasts

Q – Quizno’s

R – reading, revisions, research

S – SARA meetings, Spaghetti Warehouse, shopping in San Marcos, sun tea

T – t-shirts every day, Tivo

U – underwear – my son’s wardrobe of choice

V – Veronica Mars marathon

W – writing, Whataburger, WW2 miniseries

X – X-Files, the movie

Y – YaYa (my kitty) watching – she sure stands out in the back yard

Z – zero children corrected

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I need a system of organization as the school year starts, as events are coming up, contest deadlines, booksignings, promo, writing, school events. What I want is a dry erase calendar, but with more than one month on it. When I went to Office Depot, they had one, but it was like a laminated poster, very flimsy, and it was $24!!! Hmm.

Then I looked online and found these magnet ones, called Week over Week, but while they only cost $10 a set, shipping is $8!!!

What I did was print out some calendar templates and wrote on them myself, but I need something with color coordination that is easy to change....so I don't have to print out a new calendar every time I change something.

What do you use for organization?

Oh, and I'm guest blogging today at Authors and Books Come say hey!

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It's also dh's vacation, so...we'll see.

1) haircut/eyebrows done
2) color hair
3) pedicure
4) plan wardrobe
5) go by school (noooooo!!!) to get t-shirt for the first day (BUT I HAVE THE PERFECT DRESS!!! And SHOES!)
6) Surface query and the end of the synopsis
7) Surface revisions
8) BD revisions (yes, I know, but I'm slimming it down)
9) library
10) MAYBE start Ghost Hunters revisions
11) keep up house
12) judge contest entries
13) maybe a day trip with the dh

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I got the first disc of Robin Hood Season 2 yesterday and I was So Disappointed.

SO disappointed.

Now, it’s been a year since I saw the first season but I don’t remember the villains being so bumbling. I don’t remember Sir Guy (hubba hubba) being such a lackey. And while I understand that he’s upset with how Season 1 ended, there is NO spark between him and Marian anymore.

I loved the spark. I MISS the spark.



In fact, the only character I still like is Marian. I’m very disappointed.

I’ll give the second disc a chance because, you know, Richard Armitage, but if it doesn’t get me….bye bye.

A show that is just getting better is Psych. The daredevil episode was just brilliant – I had to rewind several times because I was laughing so hard I missed other good lines. And I love that Cybill Shepard is playing Sean’s mom. James Roday and Dule Hill are awesome.

I also saw Nim’s Island. I love that Jodi Foster’s character is stuck like I am on her book. Also, she and Gerry’s characters both use Macs. Oh, and Gerry wears a wetsuit. A fairly cute movie, though it ended where I thought it was getting interesting ;)

I found this website about Breaking Dawn. I only read Twilight, but this review (3 PAGES!!! but so funny) didn't make Breaking Dawn sound so bad. Breaking Dawn

I did the interview and wrote most of the synopsis for Surface and printed out the contest entries and got my line edits for the SPN essay and went to the library and Blockbuster. I got in the car to go on my errands and realized I haven't driven in at least a week! MAYbe last Thursday. I don't remember.

I have a plan for Surface. I can’t believe it’s already Thursday, though!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOE!!!

Do you ever just get overwhelmed by the things you need to do and just lock up? I'm sitting here playing online when I need to

1) finish Surface
2) judge 3 contest entries
3) complete an interview for a guest blog
4) go to the library
5) go to the grocery store
6) double check with 2 editors about when my edits will get to me

I don't want to do any of it. Do you ever get that way? I know I'll be mad at myself for wasting time, too. Argh. And the boy isn't working after all today (it's supposed to rain) and he's awake already...

I'm blogging at the Wet Noodle Posse today about getting inspiration from dreams.

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Sunday night after my stepdad's birthday dinner, I came home and finished reading INTO THE FIRE by Suzanne Brockmann.



This book is honking huge - 477 pages - but there is a LOT going on. It's Vinh Murphy's story, who almost died in Hot Target, and lost his wife. Three years have passed since that tragic event and Vinh has become a different man. He turns to his best friend Hannah, a former cop overcoming a tragedy of her own. The conflict is so layered between these two, you hold your breath through the whole book to see how it will turn out. Both are so damaged. Their enemy this time is Tim Ebersole and the Freedom Network, a survivalist Neo Nazi group who are danged scary. DANGED scary.

Izzy Zanella also gets a surprising romance in this one. I don't remember Izzy so well, but at first he comes out as kinda jerky, but of course redeems himself SO WELL. Oh, my goodness, SO WELL. I LOVED him at the end.

Decker has a few scenes, as does Dave, the former CIA guy, and Sophia. What a triangle.

Danny Gillman has a ton of ground to make up before he can be a hero, let me tell you. Grrrr.

And Tess and Nash have a, well, I don't want to spoil it, but they play a big role. BIG role.

This is my FAVORITE Brockmann since Out of Control, Wild Card's story. I cried - no, SOBBED - the last 100 pages, which were so action and emotion packed I could not put the book down. As soon as I finished, I sent Suzanne Brockmann a gushing email, and was shocked to find a response from her the next morning! How cool!

Anyway, if you're a Troubleshooter fan, you must read. If you haven't read the others, well, you need to at least start with Hot Target. There are a lot of faces in this book and even though I've read all the books, it's been awhile and it took me a bit before I could remember who everyone was. Izzy, I didn't remember. Now I will.

I went shopping with Mom yesterday and got two pair of denim Capris and 2 pair of wedge sandals all for $75, which I didn't think was too bad. Today I'm staying home and writing. I may go to the library and Blockbuster, though.

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I got my first cover flat this weekend! I'm tempted to print it out and wrap it around Gina's book (they're the same publisher) just to see....



Looks like contest season again. I see a lot of contests are open to those of us in PAN limbo this fall.

First up...The Suzannah. Both published and unpublished can enter. I think I'll enter Breaking Daylight. Only 6 finalists are chosen over all, but you get 6 judges. Plus, money!

Next, Launching a Star. Unpublished and non-PAN-eligible authors can enter. I'm not sure about this one yet. Breaking Daylight, probably.

Then The Emily. I love The Emily. Can't enter Breaking Daylight or DLB or Surface, since all have finalled. I'd love to enter STTA, but I'm waiting to hear how it did in the two contest I entered it in this summer.

Then there is my possible first published contest, The Barclay Gold. Now, my maiden name is Barclay, so I'm drawn to this one. And the rule that will let me enter is the rule that prevents me from entering Where There's Smoke in the RITA. It has a copyright date of 2007. Now, it all depends if I get my author copies on time, because my book comes out September 12 and the deadline for this one is September 15. Talk about cutting it close!!! But hey, no printing ;)

We're off to Gruene today, lunch at the Grist Mill. MMMMMM.....

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Two more weeks of vacation, and the dh will be on vacation next week, so....

1) Absolutely finish Surface/revise synopsis
2) Resume new set of revisions on BD/revise synopsis
3) get ready for in person critique
4) online critique (?)
5) day with Mom and Baby Brother
6) hit the big closing sale at Jo-Ann
7) finish my blue skirt
8) stepdad's bday
9) finish Into the Fire/go to library
10) keep up house

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I was fastforwarding through the early edition of The Today Show, looking for footage of RWA, when I skidded across this:




SCREECH!!!! Rewind....not JDM, but DARN they could be twins ;)

Borders didn't have Empire, though they had 7 copies of Watchmen (after we ordered it from Amazon) and there were a lot of people getting their tickets for Breaking Dawn. The ds bought 2 more books, bringing his TBR to 30 books - I'm so proud ;)

I didn't have my first Diet Coke till 5 PM yesterday - and I didn't even have a headache. YAY, me!

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So even though I have 200 books, at least, in my TBR, I've bought a TON of books this summer, and checked out another ton from the library. And now, as Natalie pointed out, time is short and I'm freaking out about all the books I HAVEN'T read (though I'm on book 45 for the year.)

I have these to read from the library:





I have these that I got from Amazon this week. I already had Gina's in ebook but bought it in paper, for ease.









And I have these ebooks.











AND I need to go to Borders or B&N for the new Empire magazine. Guess why?



So I'm reading in the AM and writing in the PM....because of the light, sadly. It's easier to read outside than in.