Things I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

I am a really lousy blogger these days, aren’t I! I mean, there’s never been much substance around here, but lately there ain’t much of anything. So what have I been doing instead of blogging?

· Work is really, really busy. I spent last week talking about the books for Summer ’09, but I’m just making a dent into the Fall ’08 books. We have a fuck of a lot of books in the fall. My head sure has been down at the office these days. Thankfully, we have a new assistant, and she’s awesome. I just need some more practice delegating.

· I caught an early screening of Choke, the latest adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club). It’s awesome! Darkly funny and oddly poignant. Highly, highly recommend. The cast is fantastic.

· I slipped away from the fam to Word on the Street yesterday. I can’t believe how much the festival has grown. The place was packed--I could barely get a look at the many lovely books on offer. But that’s okay, I have tons of reading already. Did anyone else go? Did you buy some books?

· Speaking of reading, I’m loving my new addiction, Kelley Armstrong. She’s a Stephanie Myer for grownups. Sexy and smart. The first book in her Women of the Otherworld series is Bitten. Try it--it won’t disappoint!

· This week: a couple of work events--a retirement party for John Neale (Chairman of RHC), and a launch for the new Nino Ricci the very next night. I usually hate to be out two school nights in a row, but don’t want to miss either of these shindigs.

So, these are my excuses, and I’m stickin’ to 'em. What’s new with you, my fine friends?

Good Friday

I’m having a great day. Last night I had the pleasure of catching a classic, Alien, on the big screen with Crazymumma , Denguy, and one of Den’s pals. Today I walked to work with perfect crisp fall weather, and loud GnR on my iPod. I’m finally through my inbox (though a bunch of things are still lurking in black hole I call the “follow up” folder). On my lunch hour, I found a great new dress for cheap at one of the two fab Winners within walking distance. I bought some sweet filet mignon from the market to surprise McHotty tonight. Life is good.

And this is good. Check it out.

Don't Hate Me Because My House is Empty

As much as I love my family, I can’t tell you how much I adore some time away from them. This week I had lots of it—Cakes is staying with her grandparents for the whole week, and McHotty is out doing whatever one does on a tugboat for 4 days (I really have no fucking idea). He went to Brockville and back. I talked to him the other night and it sounded like he was having a blast; I called Cakes, and she barely had time to say hi, she’s having so much fun. When pressed, she did admit she missed me a little.

I am having no problem passing the hours (as evidenced by yet another week of un-updated blog). I spent a couple of nights lolling around the house in my trackpants, eating stinky cheese, drinking wine, reading Kate Atkinson and Kelley Armstrong, and getting to know my new PVR (how did I survive this long without a PVR!) I’m loving the new 90210. Hooray, Kelly’s back! I downloaded and watched the first episode of Alan Ball’s new show, True Blood. It’s going to be so fucking awesome! Sexy and dark, just what I like.

Last night I went out to the Green Room with a few mates from my MA program. Now that it’s September I’m feeling a little nostalgic, and I’m missing them. I really wanted to shut the place down, but I was wise for once and left at midnight so I’d be fresh and bright for work today. I was also smart and stuck to just a few Coronas instead of copious amounts of cheap draft like we usually order. I appreciate that wisdom today.

Today is a nice relaxing day at work. Miriam Toews was at the office. I’m catching up on the fun stuff, like iRead, and GoodReads and Twitter (I’m now under my real name in Twitter—look me up!). I went to St. Lawrence Market at lunch and picked up some goodies for McHotty’s homecoming tonight. Cakes comes home tomorrow, and I’m glad. While a week alone is fab, I do miss her fiercely. It really hits me when I look in her room, empty and uncharacteristically tidy. But I can tell you right now, by the end of the rainy weekend they’re forecasting, I’ll be ready to ship her off again!

What are y’all up to this weekend?

Five Years Ago

Five years already? Love you, McHotty.

Overdue Update

Once you go a week or so without blogging, it’s really hard to get back into it, don’t you find?

I really, really need to write some book reviews—I’ve been reading my ass off. Soon, I promise!

I’ve been distracted by a few things. One: after four years of going without cable, we finally broke down and ordered B*ll Satellite. After half-an-hour on the phone trying to wrangle a good package deal for phone, tv and internet, I lost my mind and told them they had ten minutes to hook me up with a good deal, or I was hanging up and calling Rogers. I was transferred to this person with magical powers, in the “Customer Loyalty Department”. The department o’ special powers can do so much better than the regular customer service. Long story short, I got high speed, phone (with long distance plan), and tv for $115/month. PVR and wireless router were free, and it was all installed three business days later. When in doubt, lose your shit! I’ve already PVRed 90210 and I plan to spend many lazy nights this fall making up for lost tv time.

It’s a good thing I ordered TV—I may have more alone time on my hands. I’m not only a firefighter widow, I’m going to be a tugboat hand widow too. McHotty has a long-time fascination with tugs, and he’s met a tug captain who works out of the Toronto area. He needs guys who can go away for days at a time with very little notice. McHotty volunteered, natch. I’m hoping my patience and understanding with my boat nerd will make up for lots of gallivanting to author events this fall.

We also made the trip up North to meet my new niece last weekend. I seriously need to buy a portable DVD player. Cakes asked “are we there yet” only about 400 times. Her second most frequently uttered phrase was, “I want to be there RIGHT NOW!” It was worth it though—my little niece is beautiful. And her parents have Rock Band. Best game ever! Oddly enough, I scored highest on the singing! Who’d have thunk!