It's Been a Minute

So I log in this cold Friday morning to discover that my blog is still pink, meaning I haven't updated it since October!  Wow, times flies when you are having fun.  Let's see, progress?  Virtually none in regards to writing for the past few months now.  What can I say, life gets in the way sometimes.  But I am finding myself with more and more free time these days, so here's to hoping I can de-fry my brain and that will change in the near future.  In the meantime, I have a new Twitter account, dedicated solely to writing and the likes - @MLJWrites Other than that, I leave you with a book for suggested reading, until next time when *hopefully* I will have something more exciting to report. 

Check out the 2nd book in the Razorland series, The Outpost by Ann Aguirre.

Think Pink!

As everyone is aware--unless you've been hiding under a rock--October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I figured if NFL players could don the hue for a month, then so could my blog.  On a side note, check out the NFL's A Crucial Catch page.  It gives you the opportunity to bid on game used pink memorabilia and support a great cause all at once.

NFL - A Crucial Catch

Hallelujah Jafar!

So now that I am back to having a computer again, thanks to my wonderful husband, I began the daunting task today of digging up my multiple notebooks that I'd been reduced to writing in for the past year.  Good news, is I found them all.  Better news is that I had gotten a lot more written than I'd remembered--a solid 6 or 7 chapters in their entirety, notes and outlines I'd forgotten I'd made, and lots of snippets of stuff to "work in."  Now for the best part--I also found that I'd printed out and saved all but TWO of the chapters I'd written being held captive on my crashed PC!  To say I am thrilled would be an understatement.  Kind of makes me feel like river dancing.  

Now that I'm off my hiatus, I have lots to organize and get cracking on.  Which I have to say, feels really good.

Fabulous News!

Excited to announce, that I am no longer without a laptop!  I still have to handle the ordeal of retrieving my files off my old one, but at least I am not longer restricted to writing with pen and paper only.  I have several chapters that are itching to get our of my trusty yellow notebook.  And most importantly, lesson learned--make sure I have files backed up in several, off site locations!

Book Release

Just wanted to point out that The Rise of Nine hits shelves last week.  It's the 3rd book in the Lorien Legacies series by  Pittacus Lore.  I LOVE this series and have been anxiously awaiting thisnext installment.  I strongly suggest you check this series out if you haven't already.

Last Week's Holiday Recap

So another week of festive holidays down.  I have to say, this week was a bit of a challenge.  Some very...odd holidays.

Mon Aug 13th was International Left Handers' Day.  I was left handed for a whole week once, after I cut part my finger off on a swing set, but that's another story for another day.  I am not left handed now.  Neither is Freeman.  In honor of the day, we both wrote our names with our left hands.  Let's just say I should steer clear of swing sets!

Tue Aug 14th was National Navajo Code Talkers Day.  Let me just say that I was impressed that Freeman actually knew what this was.  I sure as heck didn't.  Since I really couldn't come up with a way to celebrate this, I shall give you a brief history lesson instead.  Ready class?  In short, the US Military enlisted the help of Native Americans to transmit messages--their native language was unknown to opposing forces, making it pretty much impossible for them to intercept any information from them.  That's as Cliff's Notes version as I can get it, but it's really pretty interesting stuff.  Here's a longer version if you care to enlighten yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Code_Talker#Use_of_Navajo

Wed Aug 15th was Best Friend's Day. Freeman and I were going to be the bestest of friends for an entire day.  We were even going to wear matching bracelets and everything.  But then job duties took Freeman out of the office for the day, so I was forced to celebrate alone.  It was very sad.  So, so sad.

Thur Aug 16th was National Airborne Day.  As I was working on wrapping up a tedious project, I threatened several times to throw things at people.  Thus making said inanimate objects "airborne."  Unfortunately that was about the extent of the festivities for the day.  I hate it when work gets in the way of a good day of celebrating something.

And the week ended on Fri Aug 17th with National Hug Your Boss Day.  Seriously.  I can't make this up.  Some bosses obviously enjoy this holiday more than others.  Period.



Weekly Holiday Recap

Mon Aug 6th brought us National Fresh Breath Day.  I chose to celebrate by offering some of my favorite gum--Shaun White Stride Mint--to everyone I encountered.  You would be surprised how many takers you can find when you are giving away something for free, even if it IS just gum.  Unfortunately, Freeman was out of the office doing work stuff all day.  Wherever he was, I hope his breath was minty fresh!  I told him that is step one to catching a wife.

Tue Aug 7th was National Lighthouse Day.  A few fun facts about lighthouses: The oldest active lighthouse in the US is the Sandy Hook Light in New Jersey.  The first lighthouse in the US to use electricity was the Statue of Liberty.  Who knew!?  Seriously, pretty near impossible for me to truly celebrate this one, given that I live in the middle of a state with no nearby major body of water requiring the use of a lighthouse.  But I thought about them a lot on Tuesday.  And at lunch I drove by this nearby house that I have always thought looked like a lighthouse and took a picture.  That will have to do.

Wed Aug 8th was National Sneak a Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night.  Seriously, I can't make this up!  Unfortunately, I did not have any zucchini at home, mainly because I don't eat it and thus never buy it.  But I DID have some peppers and bananas.  So those would have to work.  I certainly hope Ashley enjoyed her tasty treat the next morning.

Thu Aug 9th brings us to the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.  Yeah, um... So first off, I had to look up what that actually meant.  10 minutes on Wikipedia later, I still had no idea how one might celebrate it or how to "show respect for Indigenous people, their unique cultures and contributions to societies" like Wikipedia told me I should be doing.  The first thing that popped into my head was 'Native Americans' and how can I show my support for them?  Naturally, being the poker addict that I am, 'casinos' was the next thing that popped into my head.  And while I couldn't exactly leave work to go gamble for the day, I could change my screensaver to a picture of a casino I have been to before.  (Let's just say they got a lot of support from me that day.)

Fri Aug 10th, National S'mores Day!  Do I really have to mention that we looked forward to this one all week?  Only one way to celebrate this one, really.