Oh my holy crap!

Last night while I was procrastinating sleep. ( I just wasn't ready to start today. But it happened anyway.) I was flipping around on the TV and discovered this:

PajamaJeans

I thought the snuggie was ridiculous but this has topped it. They leave me speechless...almost.

What kept me up even later last night? These thoughts:

1. The price point of the Pajamajean. $40 + S&H. Steep for a pair of shhhhweats. Seriously, who was the marketer that thought that price would be justifiable. They're not in touch with their demo. Now if it were $19. I'd buy a pair for Amb and Stew for Christmas.
2. Someone is making a lot of money selling these things. Enough to run an ad campaign. Astounding.
3. And finally, did you take a look at these things? They are breathtakingly awesome-bad....ass? No, they are worse than bad. They are the worst.
4. And ultimately finally, I love America. Only in America would someone dream up, make, and sell PajamaJeans. Suck on it China. You may produce and save but we have PajamaJeans. Although, I'm sure these are made in China...so touche.

hello gorgeous

Long time, no talky. Yeah, it has been a busy one. So I'll recap my life quickly (for posterity) and then move on to the current swirl in my head. [warning: my recap is wordy and probably boring. I'd send you to a youtube video if I knew of a funny right now. But I don't. Sorry.]

NCWC
Two weeks ago I went to the NCW Writing Conference in Fort Collins. And thank you mom for surviving my kids while I went. The conference was very educational and in some ways surprising. Being that this was my first conference I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I dreaded a Gentlemen Bronco experience and was delighted that only two of the many sessions had pontificating authors and no suggestions for naming your characters...although I need help with that one. Naming characters can actually suck... a lot.

Pitching The Faster Shoes to Joe Monti was an eye opener. He liked my characters and dissected my plot to make it more literary than adventure which surprised me. But my ten minutes with him gave me lots of direction. And then I went to his class on Writing for Boys. Sucker. I pitched the wrong book. My Puddlejump adventure is exactly what he's looking for. But my puddlejumpers lack character. So I've decided to rework them and my first chapters and then query Joe. Hopefully, he'll still remember me (a little).

What surprised me most about the conference was how many older people were there. At least 2/3 of the attendees were 65+. Most all of them writing memoirs. And the majority of the writers were not as far along in becoming a better writer. This is subjective of course. But after hearing the slush pile, I walked away more confident about my writing. I still have a ton of work to do, but I recognise what I need to do and I feel myself inching closer to becoming published. Oh and I did meet two great girls that are about my speed as far as understanding the biz and the craft. I need to email them.

Spring Break
So the conference ended on Saturday. Mom flew home Sunday. And then Tuesday we packed up for a long week in Utah. Aaron worked the entire time but it was fun to hang out with family. On a crappy note. My cell phone's battery died on Wed and I had forgotten my charger. So I had no way of calling friends I intended to see. That sucked.

April Fools
So of course it was April Fools. I did a few standbys on the kids--although toothpaste Oreos backfired because they just thought they were mint. But for my parents. I rescued a kitten from the animal shelter and gave it to them. I thought my mom wanted one. She didn't. So it was funny until we had to find it a real home. And Aaron being the sucker for animals wanted to bring it home. Luckily my parents' neighbors wanted the little guy otherwise it would have come home with us to Denver. Bullet dodged. I'm not quite ready to scoop litter.

Easter
Saturday between conference sessions, Amb and Sun and families came over and we played games, ate, and did a big game for the kids. Good times. Sunday, the kids were higher than kites when we drove home. We thought for sure that Morgan would throw up but she didn't. Shew.

Monday
We detoxed.

Today
I cleaned the house, we played with friends, and now I'm about to go run. I'm doing a long run on Saturday with a bunch of friends...hopefully it won't be too cold. I'm a wimp when it comes to wind.

Broncanus

Why is it so hard for me to name characters? I suck at it. I keep changing their names and not loving the change.

Maybe because it is snowing today. No snow day for the kids, just lots of snow. I'm ready for the pool to open. Not to make snowmen.

We started soccer this week for Lore and Bryn. It is a huge headache, even with friends to carpool. We get home at 7p. Their first game is on Saturday. It should be entertaining if it doesn't get cancelled from the snow.

I'm dragging today. My stomach is churning trying to fight the stomach flu that the kids finally finished. Brutal. I need to run but I have no energy.

And my final random thought: our laptop computer black screened this week. We thought we had backed up all our pictures but we realized now we're missing a bunch. I've got to take the laptop in and see if we can salvage our memories. Sucks.

Gentlemen Broncos sidebar: we saw this movie a couple of days ago. I relate to it on too many unfortunate levels. One week till the writer's conference, I'm hoping it will be more productive than the one from this movie.

one of my favorite things

Barf.

And lots of it. First Morgan, then Lauren. Bryn and Ava are just waiting in the wings till tonight when they'll start spilling their dinner all over.

And of course I had just finished laundry and cleaning my laundry room. Now it is covered in bedding and towels and pillows and stuffed animals (all victims of the carnage). It's the best. It's fantastic.

Props to Aaron for helping out last night. I was wiped out and he came to my rescue by helping Lauren at the wee hours of the morning.

Stomach flues are the worst.

and then some

I need to be doing more of it but daily life seems to suffocate me right now.

18 days till the Northern Colorado Writers' Conference. I'm nervous and excited to see how it goes. I'll be pitching my story and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that plus polish the first 30 pages in case I get a request. And then 18 days doesn't feel like enough time. So my stomach flips.

hot tub time machine

I really need one today. I'd be so much more productive...and relaxed.

Hot water bubbles massaging my back. Tim travel. Good.

eye on the prize

I'm not a huge spender (although, when I do, I binge), but on occasion I splurge on a few things that thwart my desire to spend less. These are not big tickets but they add up over time. Swine splurges:

• Books (especially if there is a good one out or I find it on sale)
• InStyle Magazine (just fashion, no sex)
• Monster Trail Mix from Target
• Chick-fil-A side salad (it's the honey roasted sunflower seeds that make me crave it.)
• Chocolate croissants

Not a huge list but I bought one of each within the past three days.

Thirfty is not one of my character traits. MMMmmm, remember Thirfty's ice cream: chocolate malted crunch. Best ice cream flavor ever. I remember when you could get a single scoop for 15 cents. Crap I'm old.

goal achieving sidebar: I'm officially sucking at getting my goals done. My laundry room...only half done, and look at my blog entries. I sucked it up in Feb but have renewed my motivation. We'll see how it goes.