You know, I usually look forward to holiday weekends because it gives me a chance to really focus on my websites while hubs is at his family’s, but that’s not what I did this weekend.

Tuesday was our 3rd anniversary (that would be May 19th if you didn’t feel like doing the math) so we took Friday off as a vacation day. Now, since we’re in save money mode, we had trouble figuring out what to do to celebrate. So, we eventually settled on doing what we did last year and spent the day in York. Yeah, I know.

So, Friday we hit both malls in York (York Galleria first because I hate crowds and I wanted to hit it before people got out of work). Got my hair cut (Weird tradition, but I’ve gotten my hair cut ON my anniversary every year since my wedding day- this year I was a bit late), bought a couple Veggie Tales DVDs, 2 Celtic music cds, 2 Disney shorts DVDs, some stuff for hubs, and so on. Had breakfast (at 1pm) at Round The Clock Diner which is da bomb. Best club sandwiches and croissant sandwiches around (also the best clam strips but we skipped those this time). And hubs insisted on hitting Toys R Us and Ollies (discount store where ya never know what you’ll find) and I insisted on hitting Borders. Duh. Me + allowed to buy anything I want = books.

OK, so it was almost 90 degrees out and high high high humidity. I had about 20 oz of water during the course of the day and hubs had a glass at breakfast, so by the time we got home we were sick as dogs from dehydration but then ordered out for filet mignon and lobster tail anyway. Oh yeah. Cuz that’s how we roll. (and that lobster tail was so good that I didn’t even use the butter!).

So, we’re still pooped from Friday, but Saturday hubs went to his brother’s to play board games. I, however, spent the whole day running around. I had to get birthday cards for both mom and dad, an anniversary card for them, and a father’s day card for pop.  Spent about an hour wandering around the local Christian bookstore debating whether I really wanted to spend $25 for that cute pink camo LTV (or is it LTC? Living Translation something) Bible or not (decided against, hoping it’s still there for my birthday- seriously, too cute!). Did the grocery shopping for the drinkables since I knew I’d be lugging in all the groceries myself later on, got home with just about enough time to eat Bagel Bites before church. Ran off to church, went straight to the grocery store and finally got home and could rest at about 10pm. Not counting putting the groceries away.

Then Sunday we went over to his parents’ house. Played frisbee in the backyard for about 45 minutes while we waited for his brother to get there. Sit down to eat only to realize that the AC wasn’t working and it was 85 degrees outside. So after dinner, hubs and I took a walk (a long walk- probably a mile or so) while we waited for the repair man to show, and then sat outside enjoying the pre-storm breeze while waiting for the house to cool off after the AC got fixed. (Note: one major problem with central air is that when it blows- you don’t have 3 other units sitting in other rooms). Up till about 3 am playing board games and then….

Today was Dad’s 68th birthday, so I rolled out of bed and went straight over to parents’ house. We went out for a nice (not fancy, just good) dinner about 45 minutes away and then spent another hour or so tooling around all the back country roads. Afterwards, mother and I went to visit my great aunt in a nursing home (she recently had a stroke, and she’s living there while they’re doing therapy with her), and then went to see either another great aunt or possibly a great great aunt, or possibly the cousin of a great aunt, or… Some other relative who was in the same nursing home whom I’ve never met before.  I’ll tell ya what, though, her room was CUTE! Loads of storage, kitchenette, huge bathroom (has to be big enough to accomodate a wheelchair), and she was pretty sweet too. I totally loved her! I wouldn’t mind being like her when I grow up. Sweet attitude, gets around pretty well, goes to all the activities, and was concerned about the other residents who went to the wine and cheese party (because of their medications, you know).  What a shame that I wasn’t introduced to her sooner.

So. Now I’ve got about an hour before bed and I’m finally online, even though I’m also cooking at the same time. And now, I’ve got to go and do some link building. Yeesh. A woman’s work is never done- even on a holiday weekend.

But coolest thing so far this weekend? Just a little bit ago my husband told me I was looking “particularly scrumptious today”. Good boy!

Plus I’ve been feeling really blah for the past few days. I swear I had a slight fever, but I’m not convinced that I’m sick. I do suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder year round, though. I work second shift, and my tiny, dirty window at the office is often blocked by trucks. So, lousy lighting. And the artificial sunlight lamp buzzes when it’s on, so that drains my brain too.

I tend to binge on things, and it seems to go in cycles. Around winter, all I want to do is craft and make jewelry. Summer, I just want to read. Internet, writing, and movie watching are kinda up for grabs. Right now, I’m burned out on the internet.

So, I’m going to take a few days and just relax. Do exactly what I want to do, whenever I feel like doing it. Maybe even clean the bath tub. Obviously this only counts during non-work hours, and when I’m not doing necessary things like washing dishes and cooking. Usually a few days of just hanging out fixes me right up for a month or two. Sometimes just the plan to relax gets my creative juices flowing again, and I never actually take my break.

Which is why I’m saying that I may be here, and may not be. The way I usually work, now that I said I probably won’t be around, I’ll be everywhere! It happens.

I’ll try to keep up with reading most of your blogs, and may post here. You may not even notice that I’m missing- but comments will probably be low for a bit, and I won’t be hanging around Twitter as much until I’m feeling productive again. Right now, I just really want to talk my husband into watching Enchanted with me, and catching up on those extras on DVDs that we’ve already watched. I want to keep my progress going on my WIP (7 pages on the weekend, another 1-2 last night before I got trapped in the kitchen). And, maybe play some games.

I’m gonna relax. Be back soon.

I’m the weird girl that asks for “books on anything medieval” for Christmas. And I usually get them.

But I’ve been so busy with my web ventures, and trying to spend more time with hubby… and now I’m working on crafts so that I can use up all of the craft supplies that I’ve been storing for years, that I barely have time to read fiction, let alone write it. And non-fiction? That’s gone right out the window for now.

I keep telling myself that as soon as I get one of these projects finishd, I can move on to the next thing. But I never see anything as finished. Especially online where things are moving and evolving all the time.

At some point, I’m going to need to step back and take a look at what’s a waste of time, and then cut it out. I may even have to give away all my Squidoo lenses just so that I’m not tempted to mess around with them. I’ve got so many! In fact, I am giving several away!

I’m really just not a very focused person. I like too many things, and can never choose between them. But research reading is what I’ve cut out for now, and so that’s what I want most to do!

Anyone else get that way?

I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew (excuse the cliche, I’m running out of time and can’t afford to be original), at least in a reasonable amount of time. I’m absolutely determined to make some money while I’m on vacation, and so I’ve been pushing myself to get the stores I started finished (minus content since one of the stores turned out to be waaaay more trouble than I expected- good reason to pick tiny niches).

I just wanted to appologize for disappearing before I… disappear. I had planned to write a great post, but I decided to save it for when I have more time to develop it well. Since I’m taking my laptop with me, I may get a chance to work on it. Yeah right.

I’m taking my notebooks with me as well. Hopefully the land of magic will sprinkle some of its pixie dust on my creative mind, and give me the shot in the butt that I need. I’m loving my foray into affiliate marketing, and I’m learning a lot (should I decide the marketing side is not for me, I’m certainly learning skills that would translate well into freelance writing for marketers, as well as how to market myself to them). But I do miss fiction.

Hey CJ and Tracy! Maybe I’ll even get those reviews done!

Also, the site that was giving me so much trouble is an Oldsmobile store. I finally finished programming in the search terms, but I don’t have the time to tweak it before I go. Actually, this one may just end up being abandoned as a learning lesson, but we’ll see. Also, if you need tires for your Olds…. I built a shop for that too.

And, I transferred all the old reviews over to WordPress. So if you go to BandVox.com and take a look, they should all be there. I don’t plan to update that any more until I’m back.

Whew! I’d love to say that I’m going to go relax now, but I have to clean the house. Father-in-law is playing security guard, and the house has become rather embarrassing lately.

Oh! And I dyed my hair. Couldn’t find what I was looking for (dark brown with warm red undertones), but I kinda like the color I picked anyway. Husband loves it (and I mean loves it), so it’s all good. I’ll try and get pictures later.

So, short and sweet.

I haven’t written a word for NaNo in almost a week. Why? Because a few days ago, I got my first “client” article. Whahoo! Long story short, I’m so paranoid over my writing skills that I went into high stress mode for two days. Rewrote the article maybe a dozen times before sending it in, whereupon I nearly collapsed from nervousness.

Remember the week of sewing? I got a lot accomplished in a short period of time, but it took me another week to recover. Not from the work. From the stress.

This was only two days, so it only took about three days to recover. I’m good now. But I’m still a terrible judge of my own skills, so I doubt that it’ll be much easier for my next article. It does get easier eventually, right?

There is something else that I’ve been considering- I’ll post about that later.

Friday night I updated my website with a new CD review (Flatfoot 56- Jungle of the Midwest Sea) that I’d rushed through to get it up. Amazingly, I’ve had the most positive feedback on that review. Although I have mixed feelings about the one that said “You’re really improving!”… Ok, neurosis is back.

Saturday I went to the Celtic Fling since three of my favorite bands were playing and we never seem to get decent live shows around here. Ya gotta take it when you can get it. Unfortunately I got sun poisoning along with the 4 cds that I bought, and crashed immediately upon getting home.

Those who know me, know that I don’t go to bed until 4am usually, and I got home just before 9pm.

Sunday, I still didn’t feel too great and yet all of the stress that has been dragging me down for months seemed to have melted away. I don’t know if it was spending the day doing exactly as I pleased (not counting getting dragged away from my favorite band to witness a proposal- but I was quite happy about that), or if it was the enforced bed rest- but I spent Sunday pounding out reviews, blog posts, and various other “work” that I’d been long neglecting. It felt good.

And the blog posts and reviews (I added a review of the Celtic Fling under “show reviews”) that I wrote have had some of the highest hits I’ve gotten yet. It just goes to show- sometimes when you have the most pressing deadlines is when you need to take a break the most.

Right now I’m stuck on a review. It’s an excellent book- nigh unto amazing actually. I love this book. However, I’ve noticed that the more I enjoy a book, the harder it is for me to write it. Sometimes it’s self-doubt (What if I can’t do it justice?) and other times, it’s because what makes it a great book is so undefinable. At least, in layman’s terms.

It would be easy to review this book for writers “great characterization” “good story though the plot is weak” “character arc’s over a series of books”, etc. However, the general reader needs something more. It’s difficult to summarize a character driven book (unless the plot is just as strong and/or defined) in a way that makes it sound as interesting as it is. I reached a point where I couldn’t stop turning the pages, and yet I couldn’t tell you why.

I’ve always been a “why” person. I always thought that was essential in a review, but now I’m not so sure. After all, JerseyGirl wrote a post on WritingUp about The Jane Austen Book Club that sold me on it from her sheer enthusiasm. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I bought it the following weekend just because her enthusiasm spilled over to me.

Anyway- back to the problems of writing lock-up (not blocked exactly). Since I haven’t been able to write what I’m supposed to be writing, I’m also not writing anything else. I haven’t even blogged in several days- hopefully this breaks the dry spell. I’ve posted on two of my other blogs, and hopefully I’ll get to a few more before bed.

Why don’t I do what I know works? Is it really so very important to update my website on the day I’d planned to? I’ve met my deadlines, the requirements have now relaxed, so I set another deadline for myself hoping to keep the momentum going. Even though I know my brain doesn’t work that way!

So now I’m just coming out of my little rut, and thought I’d do a little updating on my website (I added a whole new page to it, but didn’t add my AdSense), promotional things, and check up on my many, many blogs. That way I’m getting back into the swing of things, but not actually pushing myself.

The other thing that I’m doing is attempting to actually watch an entire movie in one sitting, and reading a bit more. It used to be that you couldn’t drag me away from my books, now I have to be pried from my laptop.

What I’m Reading:

It’s quite good. It seems to cover everything, plus has recommendations for extra reading. And of course, being written by both a literary agent and previously published author, it gives you advice from both sides of the fence.

I’m also reading:

Our teachers didn’t communicate very well in my school- so I missed out on a lot of classics because we were forced to read Steinbeck’s The Pearl practically every year. I’m trying to remedy that, especially since I’ve found so many good ones.