Last night we bought a new mattress with part of our tax return. It's something I've been looking forward to for at least a year, since our old mattress sucked royally after my herniated disc started up. It was too firm to really support my hips properly and it really made me hurt a lot, even with a fluffy down topper on it.

So, we went to Mattress Giant and Mattress Firm, ended up getting one from Mattress Firm. It's got a memory foam pillow top and is super cushiony but not TOO cushiony. I daresay it's just right. What's hilarious is that it's almost twice as thick as our old mattress, and the box springs are just a bit higher too, so the bed is at least a good six inches taller now. I have to kind of boost myself into bed, but I don't care. I can't wait to take a nap, but I am going to head out and buy some new sheets since I think we need deep pocket ones now.

A mattress just feels like a very adult purchase. Our old ones were given to us by Special T, who had them in her guest room and needed to get rid of them around the same time that we needed a queen bed. It was really sweet of her, and it saved us a big purchase around the time of the wedding. We've needed a new one for a while but kept holding off so we could get a good one. We went out to eat afterwards and it just struck me funny...we were at the same restaurant that we went to on our third date (our first "dinner" date) and now here we were, six years later, being grown up married people. I didn't know that is where we'd be six years from now, but I like it.

We also picked up a little 19" Vizio LCD TV for the bedroom. I like being able to go in there and watch DVDs or whatever while I relax and Shawn does his thing in the living room, and we were using a big clunky 13" RCA TV that I've had since I was 12. This is much crisper and nicer, I'm a big fan. I hooked up the Apple TV to it (moved from the living room) and now I need to grab an audio cable today so I can hook my laptop up to it and watch Netflix streaming stuff. It has a VGA input in addition to all the other hookups, which is pretty sweet. It was a great deal at Target, plus I had a gift card for a bit of it, so it was an even better deal in the end.

I think I'm going to go shower and then head out to buy sheets. Then maybe a nap when I come home!

So tired. I think I am Christmas-ed out, y'all. I went over and hung out with Julie and Noah today and we went to Target to scope out the after-Christmas sales on Christmas stuff. Even though I didn't buy anything I came home covered in glitter.

I braved the shopping crowds early today because I had gift cards burning a hole in my pocket to both Coach and the Apple store. I knew all the deals at the Coach outlet would be gone if I waited too long, and I was right--most of them were gone by the time I got there. I lucked out, though, and got a bag that I had really been wanting plus a scarf for only $25 over what I had on gift cards. Everything I got was 50% off with an extra 20% off of that...man I love a good sale!

Then I headed over to the Apple store to use my other gift cards on a new iPod nano. Sadly I had to replace the nano Shawn got me 2 years ago, which died and never came back for some inexplicable reason. Did I remember to buy AppleCare for it? No, like a moron, I did not. Apparently every iPod Shawn gets me is cursed to die within 2 years, so I asked OTHER people for gift cards to Apple, since I didn't want to have him tied to it in any way. LOL I ended up getting a purple 8GB one, which will be great for the gym.

As far as the rest of Christmas, I got a ton of nice stuff from our families and from Shawn. My big gift from him this year was the Barnes & Noble nook ebook reader, which I am really really loving the hell out of. I have read something like 10 books on it since I got it at the beginning of the month (we exchanged gifts early). One of my other really cool gifts was the 70th Anniversary Collector's Edition Bluray of Gone With the Wind...it comes with all these cool extras and tons of additional footage to watch like documentaries and stuff on MGM. I can't wait to watch it! I also got a bunch of knitting stuff I can't wait to use (including a gift card to The Woolie Ewe, woohoo).

I am sad that my vacation is over as of Monday, but at least it's a short week. I am eager for 2009 to end and ready for 2010 to begin!

Just managed to force myself through the requisite 1,667 words that I need per day this month to meet my National Novel Writing Month goal. I am working on a novel idea that I've been outlining and fleshing out with ideas ever since last year's National Novel Writing Month was over, and it's an idea that I actually had about four years ago. I'm pretty excited, but today it was hard to concentrate and get the words out because I just feel so drained right now.

Shawn's grandfather died today, after a long battle with cancer. He was an amazing person, a veteran, and a man of great faith, so I know he is in a better place and reunited with his wife, who I know he missed immensely. I wish I had met her, and I am glad I got the chance to know him. He treated me like family from the first time he ever met me, in the first year of my relationship with Shawn. It was bittersweet and wonderful to have a grandfather again after so many years of missing my own. I think PawPaw and my grandpa would have gotten along famously. It is so strange to deal with the death of a loved one as an adult...I haven't lost anyone close since I was a kid.

We're both doing okay, still in a bit of shock even though it was expected. He's been sick a long time, and the recent decline happened fast and we knew he wasn't long for this world. I spent the afternoon getting together the work I have that needs to be done while I'm gone, talking with my teams to make sure that things will get done in my absence (not that I am particularly worried about that, my project teams are doing a great job right now...it is just the stuff I have to do myself that is stressing me out).

I had to drive all the way back to the office earlier tonight to retrieve my notebook full of notes and printouts on the project I plan on working on tomorrow--let's just say I was not very pleased about that. But I did stop at Old Navy to buy a few things...retail therapy never hurts, and the comfy sweatpants I have been coveting were on sale. I figure I will need something pajama-like that is fit for others to see (i.e. not full of holes and threadbare) and possibly suitable for the ride back from Beaumont. Six hours can get kind of uncomfortable even in an SUV.

I figure I should get to bed so I can get up tomorrow, get things ready to go, and do some work. Any happy thoughts you can send our way would be much appreciated...I think it's going to hit us pretty hard when we get down there. Rest in peace, PawPaw, we love you.

Things have been hectic lately...mostly because work was really getting to me for a bit. A couple of my clients are really demanding this time of year, because they pile on the projects that are all due right before Christmas. That makes for a really stressful holiday season, which I kind of resent. I love this time of year and when things get ridiculously unmanageable, I get pretty unhappy. Things seem to be settling in a bit, and having my team get a really successful start on a couple of projects and getting a couple of other things moving off my own plate have helped my mindset a little.

I think part of what I need right now is a creative jolt...I am just in the mood to create, and not stuff for work. I've been knitting a lot...I finally finished a project when I was sick a week or two ago, and now I'm working on finishing my first sock. It has been going really well, even though I'm in the middle of knitting back a few rows where I misread the pattern. For my first sock, I think it's more than a serviceable attempt! I take great pride from the fact that I am a really even knitter, and the tiny, perfect knit stitches on my sock make me really happy. Oh, order, how much I truly love you sometimes. I haven't worked on it much since Sunday but I will probably pick it back up more this weekend.

I seem to have made a new friend who has been encouraging the knitting...our neighbor C is really cool and we get along pretty great, I think. She and I have a mutual friend who we've both known for something like 15 years, so we knew OF each other, had met briefly in passing before, but never hung out until earlier this month. It just so happened that she moved into the property next door (also owned by my landlady) over the summer...a random coincidence (but a good one). We have a lot in common, which is nice. I always like finding a kindred spirit.

National Novel Writing Month is set to start on Sunday, and I'm still making up my mind on which project I want to undertake. I have a few story ideas ruminating but I am heavily leaning towards one that I've been working on in some form or fashion for quite a long time. I think it'll be nice to finally really dive into it and start getting the bones written out. I need to work some on my outline before then though...part of it feels very Hero's Journey to me and I kind of want to map all that out. I found that last year when I did very little planning it was extremely difficult to get 50,000 words of a story I didn't know out of my head and on to the screen. I managed it, but I ended up with a massive pile of crap I had no interest in ever finishing. I want to use NaNo as a fun way to sketch out a real, live project that might someday have a chance of being published. I love the community aspect of the whole thing and knowing that tons of other people are doing the same crazy, frantic writing thing in tandem with me. Plus it's just a good kick in the pants and a great way to establish the habit of writing every day, something that I have fallen out of practice with.

I am doing a lot of reading too...I just finished Charlaine Harris' latest Harper Connelly mystery (a long time coming, that book!) and it was a quick, fluffy read. I am about to dive into Cory Doctorow's latest and I'm also reading a volume of the collected works of Virginia Woolf. If nothing else it's all good inspiration to get off my own ass and get to writing!

I am so sleepy all of a sudden, after half a pot of tea and the soothing sounds of a quiet rain outside. I should probably get to sleep and stop surfing the Internets and adding stuff to my Amazon wishlist.

My short story "One Word" is up at Six Sentences today. Go read it and leave good comments here!

Six Sentences is this cool online literary magazine that accepts stories that are ONLY six sentences long. I am a long-time reader and I could NOT be more pleased to be included among the writers!

I have decided (randomly, like most of my decisions) that I want to drink more tea. I am not a huge tea drinker at the moment, because there are very few I have found that I like. I love chai, and I love anything herbal that tastes super fruity (like the Tazo Passion tea, especially when mixed half and half with lemonade!). I know there is a TON of different teas out there, so I figure it'll be a fun journey to find out what I like. A lot of what I am looking at is caffeine-free, which is a bonus since the caffeine gives me sad migraines. It'll just be nice to have another beverage choice that isn't water, caffeine-free diet soda, or the occasional juice.

Tonight I went to Teavana in Northpark after checking their teas out online. The salesgirl was SUPER helpful...I told her what I thought I was looking for, and what I *did* like, and she immediately started making recommendations. I tried one tea on the spot that I absolutely loved, and so I bought some of that (a green tea called Fruta Bomba) and an herbal tea (Honeybush Vanilla, which smells AMAZING). I got a tea ball since it's loose tea, so I can make a cup at a time if I want, or I can use the awesome cast iron teapot that Audra got me and Shawn for our wedding.

I think I might brew a cup after dinner is over...Shawn is making us something yummy.

Things have been...good, I guess? There has been some stress, there have been some good things. I guess it all just averages out to normal.

So, I got tested at the doctor, because the first thing they said when they looked at my symptoms was "Ooh, we need to check your thyroid." Surprisingly, it was 100% normal. I am not diabetic, my iron levels are fine, I am not anemic, etc. All very good news but just a little frustrating, since I just want to find the reason why I feel crappy. The next step is possibly a sleep study and some testing around fibromyalgia. I have been feeling a little better the last couple of weeks but still just kind of ache everywhere and want to fall asleep all the time.

Work is keeping me busy. Extracurricular work is keeping me busy too. I may not have shared this, but outside of my "real job" I am the Associate Editor for So New Publishing, which is a really small publishing house. Right now we're wrapping up a fiction contest where people submitted novellas. The winner gets a published version of their novella among other things. I've been reading through entries sorting things into maybe and no piles. The maybe pile has all the people I kind of like, and the no pile is pretty clear after only a few paragraphs, though I do make myself go through the whole thing. I have a few left to read, and then we can announce the winner. I am also an Assistant Fiction Editor at 42opus.com, an online literary magazine, and I went through all my August submissions last week.

It's always interesting to read other people's work, especially work that they consider publishable. It has not only been fun to do, but it has made me get over my fear of putting my work out there for possible rejection. This week I submitted two short stories to two different established online literary magazines, and one has already been accepted. :-) It goes up on Six Sentences (a really cool online mag that takes only stories written in exactly six sentences!) on September 9. I am a huge fan of that site (one of the 101 Best Sites for Writers according to Writer's Digest!) and very excited to have my own work up there.

Last night was kind of awesome...I won tickets to the Elvis Costello concert at Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie. I had NO idea he was coming into town, which is usually the way. I swear, I need to see if he has some kind of email newsletter or something. I have missed him probably the last 5 or 6 times he has been in town, not even knowing he was here until he was already gone. I *love* Elvis Costello, so the fact that I hadn't seen him live until last night was kind of a sore point. However, the Dallas Observer gave me two tickets and a parking pass. I took Kelly with me and we had a BLAST. Elvis was even better in person than I had anticipated, and I hold him in high enough regard that I had some pretty high expectations. He was promoting his newest album "Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane" which has a very country/roots rock/bluegrass feel to it. The backing band was AMAZING and I can say that I loved every single song they played.

He played a ton of new versions of stuff off his very first album, My Aim is True, which is my #1 desert island record. I was not expecting that so it was a very pleasant surprise. He played all but one of my favorites: Mystery Dance, Blame it on Cain, Alison (during which I kind of had trouble not crying at one point, not gonna lie...it is probably his best known song, which surprised me that he'd play it since I'm sure he is sick of it, but the arrangement with the band was sweet and gentle and I was just so HAPPY at that moment!), (Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes. If he had played Watching the Detectives I am pretty sure my head might have exploded.

He also played all my favorites from the new album as well. Not a ton of stuff from in between, but he did also play Everyday I Write the Book, which always makes me think of yaycoffee now and it's for a reason I can't even remember. LOL I am kind of kicking myself for not buying the concert poster, which was actually GORGEOUS (and it had a bird on it, which goes with my bird art obsession) but I didn't want to spend $15.00 on it. I hope I can find it on eBay.

I am excited for fall TV. Glee makes me so happy I cannot even explain it to other people. Maybe it's just because I have lived that (though show choir was not nearly so unpopular, and we didn't get to do totally awesome pop songs...we did dance like fiends though, no jazz squares for us!) and I know how great it feels being a part of a musical group like that when things just click and come together and it's so fun and sounds so good. I miss that a LOT. Seeing a great musician like Elvis Costello playing with a bunch of amazing guys who are so in tune and look like they are having the time of their lives made me miss that too. Nothing is as fun as being up on stage jamming out. I am trying to play guitar more and do some songwriting again because I miss those things. I need more music in my life that isn't on my iPod.

I have SO MUCH TO DO today and I am never going to get it all done...I will probably be up most of the night working. I have a stupid meeting tomorrow at 10 that is really interrupting my day. I will also be at the office late, I'm sure. I really really hate this week, but as long as I can get past Wednesday I'll be good to go.

Yesterday I threw a baby shower for my best friend, which went really well but also exhausted me. She got a lot of nice stuff for baby Noah, and there was a great spread of food (half of which seems to have come home with me. Mmmm leftovers). My feet were so swollen from standing up all day that I had to soak them in epsom salts last night. Hello, am I 60? I have such trouble with my feet and ankles swelling. I am thinking of getting the doctor to test me for hypothyroidism because I have a LOT of the symptoms of it, and it would explain the swelling. It would be nice to have an explanation of why I'm tired all the time and feel like someone has been beating me with a bag of hammers most days.

I am trying really hard not to be frustrated by everything right now. I can't wait for this next week to be over and it really hasn't even started yet.

This week I tackled the project of taking everything off my 500GB external hard drive so I could repartition it. I had split it in half, thinking I'd fill the first half with Time Machine backups and the second half with media. Um, wrong. The first half barely got full and the media half had 5.6 gigs free when I started copying over. Our iTunes folder is 92.2 gigs and our Video Library folder (which holds all the files that go to my Boxee installation on the AppleTV). The rest was the iPhoto library and random archived files from before I wiped and reinstalled the OS on the iBook. So, I decided to reformat it as one big partition since I never backup the iBook anyway. It took FOREVER to copy the files over and now it's ALMOST done copying them back. I just finished syncing my iPhone with music, because for some reason I only had a little on there. I think I started editing the contents and never finished. Going through our iTunes library has made me realize how very much it all needs to be tagged with the proper genre and any other tags that will help to sort and make Smart Playlists. Shawn has filled it with tons of metal crap that is just not my cup of tea. I want to be able to weed his stuff out when necessary, like streaming the music on the AppleTV while I clean, or during parties. It's essentially our stereo and it works great.

I have to make sure I have music on my iPhone because my beloved 3rd gen iPod nano seems to be having issues. It won't turn on at all. I thought the battery was just dead, so I plugged it in--nada. No happy chirpy charging noise, no nothing. I tried resetting it multiple times and also got no response. I am bummed, because that thing isn't even 2 years old yet and I baby it. Outside its case it looks brand spanking new! I don't know what could have happened to make it stop working. I have an appointment at the Genius Bar to see if they can figure out what's wrong. I am also bummed because I vastly prefer that design to the new iPod nanos. I want something to have for the gym and other times when I don't want to run down my iPhone battery, and I hate that the shuffle doesn't have a screen...so I may end up picking up a refurb 4th gen nano from Apple. They have the 8GB ones for only $99. Maybe this time I'll get purple.

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already. I need another day or two before the weekend if I am going to get everything done. I am planning on waking up super early tomorrow so I can get into the office and try to get things done. I was pretty productive today, which is awesome. I have a ton to do tomorrow, which is not awesome. If I can just get through the beginning of next week I think I might start to breathe again.

Happy Caturday Eve!

I hate it when I post to a community and forget an LJ cut...and then can't edit it.  D'oh!!!