SQUEEEEEEE!!

Set off the fireworks!!

Cue the marching bands!!

I HAVE JUST FINISHED MY FIRST BOOK SINCE DECEMBER!!!!!!!!!!

*falls to knees sobbing*

It's OVER!!!

THE SLUMP FROM HELL IS FINALLY OVER!!!!!!

*deep gulping intake of air*

I'd like to thank Nalini Singh for writing THE book that finally cracked through the wall of slump steel!!

*throws arms up triumphantly*

In the words of the American Male Gymnastic's team "THAT'S HOW WE ROLL!!!!"

Thanks To Everyone

Thank you all so much for letting me remember Mama Smith and for all your thoughts and prayers. It means everything at time like this.

Today (Thursday) will be visitation and Friday will be the service. The next few days will be exhausting but I hope we do Mom justice in her final farewell.

As to other things, I am reading again and I'm counting many of my blessings. I woke up last night with a pressure on one side of my body like someone was shoving me to wake up. That was about 1am so I got up and waited for the phone call. I then told myself I was being silly but sat up and read the first half of Nalini Singh's ARC (FABOOO!!! by the way ;) - hopefully will find more time to read over the next few days and get a review up). The call came around 5am after I had convinced myself it was just my reading mojo waking me to tell me the slump was over.

Ah, well.

I'm still saying the slump is OVER!!!

Long live romance books!

Too Funny

I just figured out that June is like, almost now and that Lover Enshrined by Ward might be out in bookstores.

So I went to Chapters website where you can check stock in a 50 km radius of where you live. Every single store has 24 copies except for the store 2 minutes from me! I actually laughed when I saw the results. Tells you how tired I am. I get loopy when I'm tired.

Thankfully C-Rex is still sleeping and can't harm anyone right now.

But then my closet fear is that I'll start Lover Enshrined and end up not finishing it. I swear if that happens I'm not picking up another book for a year. At least in the last hellish slump I still read auto buy authors. This slump is a whole other kind of evil.

My brain is just on overdrive lately so I can't seem to relax. Course if you could see the room I'm sitting in your neat freak side would birth up canaries.

Bob has killed my neat freak side.

Hell, you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Lots of Work

This week is busy for work which I'm grateful for but I lost steam at the end of last night and couldn't blog. Bad Cindy.

I don't have much to offer in the book department EXCEPT that I stepped out of my box and bought a couple of category romances. The ones that Kristie was having fun with a few posts ago (I can't seem to link to a specific post at Kristie's and can only send you to her blog. I think it could be 5 posts down or so).

Bedded By The Billionaire by Leanne Banks and Marrying For King's Millions by Maureen Child. I tried to ignore the titles of all the Desire titles and just browse the back blurbs.

It also came down to author names. I recognized Banks and Child so I leaned more towards these two.

Basically I used to read Desire and another type years ago (I can't find the name at the site so I think it's been changed). These stories could be powerful and wonderfully sexy.

I bought willy nilly for years and found many authors in these lines. I don't remember getting burned by these books but I did start to find authors I loved in these lines and instead of just buying any story I would hunt down back lists and buy specific authors.

These authors then moved on to greater things and I followed and for some reason I forgot all about category romances.

WAIT!!

I remember now.

BLAZE happened. I had never read such drek in my life and I think it broke my will to read categories. Bad Cindy. Anyways, I'm still not going to read Blaze titles but I am curious about the Desire line.

Also, being in the middle of a hellacious slump means I need to turn some stuff up and about. I *think* these books will be faster to read and easier on my need to finish books.

ETA: It's now hours after starting this post. Work hurt and then I had to look at our bills. Not enough tylenol right now! Off to bed for me!

Sickie

Well, I managed through most of the year without catching a cold but on Tuesday I got nailed. I was up for maybe an hour and had to go back to bed. It was a jammie day and I think I was up maybe 3 times an hour each and then I just gave in. 24 hours later I woke up but wasn't wide awake. And that's the way it's been since.

Another storm hit yesterday, all ice sleet and some snow. I was going to blow out the drive and then decided I didn't really want pneumonia on top of this. I was also going to paint but I couldn't get the energy up to do anything.

So I've been on my couch when I'm up or in front of the computer.

Poor Cindy.

Yeah, I'm giving myself some sympathy.

I weigh in tonight. Up till last week I had lost 8 pounds. We'll see what this week brings. I'm thinking water weight and general sicky goo might not be working for me.

I've mentioned Slumpville a few times but now I know it's real. I was thinking that maybe I just wasn't in the mood to read anything BUT auto-buy books.

Well, I have Singh's latest book which I just couldn't wait for and ... nothing. For me, this is as bad as if it was an Anne Stuart book.

Another reason why some serious comfort food will be demanded after weigh in!

Good Intentions and All That

Tomorrow we are with my mom for the evening and then I have the week to myself.

Okay, I already know I will want to visit my best friend and then there is the WW meeting and stuff. My brain is really working weird lately but I'm working on not being overwhelmed by the small stuff. I'm not really sure how to go about that but I'm really trying.

My intentions for the week are to read everything I need to know about my ebook reader and see what's out there for purchase. Did I mention Bob now wants one?

Bob: You know, that reader is awesome. I want one. What else can you do on it?

Me: It's a reader so you need to be a reader - hence, you need to be like me.

*silence*

Bob: Could I get something like Popular Mechanics on it?

So I don't think Bob will become an avid reader like me but I'm wondering what kind of mischief he'll get into once I find a permanent home (I want a place where it will stay for charging and downloading) for it. The good news is if a website asks for credit card information he backs right out.

Sometimes having a hubby who is a conspiracy theorist works out for me.

My next intention is to work out a 'tag' rule for my posts and possibly go back and re-tag things. I'm worried this might bugger up some of you who have google reader or something that alerts you to new posts. I figure you'll get a sign that says I have 500 new posts. Let me know if that would be a problem or if there is a way that you can click 'already read' so they disappear.

Finally, I started reading Lara Adrian's Kiss of Midnight. I have been carrying the book around with me for a month and a half. Today I took my friend downtown for a doc's appointment and read for an hour and I may be hooked. It's still early and those damn doc's chairs are not conducive to reading. I got up to stretch and move and the lady a few chairs over decided this meant I was ready to stop reading and have a conversation with her. Being the chatty Cathy I am I indulged her.

I know, I'm a sweetie.

Since it's only the opening of the book I think I understand why a certain action was allowed to happen - you need it to basically get the H/H to meet each other. BUT, the hero knows there are Rogue vampires and he allows them to feed (kill and mutilate a man) so they will be easier to kill. At this point I'm wondering exactly who this guy is and why he doesn't even attempt to save the human. Actually, the more I think about it, it's not about humans, it's about keeping his people safe and hidden.

So we'll see how it all plays out but at least I have cracked a book open. If I keep this up I may actually read a book this month.

Hark Upon Yonder!

I read a review of *bloody hell, which book was it* Halfway to the Grave over at Kristie's and Katiebabs Ramblings on Romance and well, I went out and bought the book tonight!

Okay, I know, but the fact that I even showed any interest in buying a book means I might be coming back.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Also, I think buying my last gift (Bob is going to have to take up some of the slack - he's so it!) tonight took a huge weight off my shoulders. I don't know about you guys but after a while I just can't think straight and I'm completely off my game. We have something like 40 major gifts we have to buy and then there are all the little odds and sods - Bob likes to do stockings and we introduced that to my family last year which means even more little stuff for people! Not only do I get anxious about what gift to buy, I then get anxious about the 'Secret Santa' gift exchange we do where you try and steal gifts from each other (it's supposed to be fun but I stress over it!). For my family it's like a challenge to see who can buy the most sought after gift. Or maybe it's me. So I never really buy myself something I want (like you are supposed to), I end up searching hi and lo for something everyone would want.

Anyways, I found something and I'm over it. I'm just glad I found something a little different and if I end up with it then I'm a happy camper also.

So we're heading into Friday the 21st and today is more like a free day. I have cleaning and wrapping to do but I don't need to get out there and tussle so it's all good.

On Saturday we're having my best friend's family (Godkids and all) over for a 'friends' Christmas with turkey dinner. Yum. Sunday we go back to Bob's mom's house, Sunday afternoon my best bud comes up and then on Christmas Eve we do nothing until we have to go to my parents for dinner. Sah-wheat!!

Don't tell anyone about Christmas Eve.

I just know if someone finds out we're not hiking all over Kingdom Come we'll get called upon.

AND, this year, we're doing New Year's Eve all by ourselves!!

I'm such an anti-social twit but a nice dinner planned and Bob and I can stay in our jammies for two whole days!?

Heaven.

A Few Things I Now Know

Yep, this should be a short post.

I'm in an epic reading slump.

Epic.

I haven't been this bad in years and nothing except a brand new Anne Stuart will get me to pick up a book.

Oh sure, I have the token book I'm carrying around and when I end up trapped somewhere or in a line I pull the book out and try.

Try. Pathetic really but I haven't read one sentence that makes me want to drop every thing and hole up with my 'Don't even think about talking to me' sign posted.

If I think too hard on it I get sad so I'm skirting the issue. Maybe I'm over romance.

Wait, not true! I recently rented Pirates III and I was thoroughly annoyed by the ending. I won't spoil it for anyone but it didn't work for me which means I really do like my HEAs.

Moving on!

I look too much into the future and don't bask in the present.

I would posit (cool, eh? I think I even used it correctly) that most anxious people rarely live in the moment. We are constantly peaking into the future and mentally arranging things to make our lives more comfortable.

Then, to turn the world topsy-turvy, when we are in the middle of something extremely provoking, time seems to stand still and there is no escape.

I spend a good deal of my life getting people to NOT depend on me for anything. Bob can depend on me but anyone else? Forget it. I'm a let down on most days.

I realized this the other day when my friend was casually (*cough* bullshit *cough) mentioning how she needed someone to pick up her son. At first I was 'hey, I can do that' and then I remembered how not so good I am at stuff like that. So I back-pedaled. Since the boy in question is my Godson I pretty much suck.

It seems my back-pedaling didn't trump her need of me doing said task. Thus, I must get up and go pick up her son from school which is 20 minutes from where we live and get him home. I swear I will never open my mouth around her again.

I know what you are thinking. WTF? How hard is it to be there for your friend? Yep. I mentioned I suck right? What people don't understand is how something that should be simple becomes overwhelming for a person like me.

'What if I don't fall asleep in time to get enough sleep before picking up my boy?' 'What if I don't feel well?' 'What if I let someone down again?' 'Did I write that note reminding myself to not forget?' 'What if I sleep in?' Don't get me started on how my brain starts to organize stuff to get around the situation. Okay, afterwards you will have to visit with your friend (which is fun and yet it's before Christmas and stuff needs to get done), you need to check and see if your mom needs her drive plowed, pick up ice and water and stop at grocery store (which I hate and avoid when my brain even remotely gives me an out) and ....

Repeat until you are pacing. Then repeat some more.

Yetch.

The reason all this 'blurgh' came up was me thinking about how after the New Year I was going to finally focus on decorating our house. Nobody needing me for anything, or celebrations, or birthdays (okay, that's never true), or visiting. Nothing. Just me and time.

On that note I'm almost afraid to go back a few years and read what I wrote during this same time. I'm betting anxiety, time for myself and a view to things getting better were all there.

I need a new schtick.