My addiction

I admit it. Give me a good book, a really good book, and I'm useless for anything else.

I was wise, knowing my addiction, I waited to even open the cover of my newly arrived book until there came a day when I'd mostly caught up with work. Why? I've lost enough workdays to know that I will shirk responsibilty once a good book gets into my hands. Oh, I might get a few things done, after all, I don't want to get yelled at by angry customers, but I will read as much as possible while doing those jobs, including the three minutes it takes for the equipment to do its thing, while waiting for the computer to boot up, while programs to load, or because I derserve it for working for ten minutes straight.

After working an extra two hours last night, I found myself caught up enough to crack open the cover. This special occasion happened during the fifteen minutes I'd left early to pick up my daughter from her first night at bible school. I was alone in the car with my book. Ah, good stuff. Read. read. read!

We got home, I checked email. I sent the kids to bed on time--a rarity for summer break--and dove into my book for three hours. It would have been much longer, but the "turn that freakin reading light off already" vibe coming from the other side of the bed finally got to me.

I woke up early. On time, really, for the rest of the year, but early for summer since I don't have to get the kids up. Let's just say it was far earlier than I have since school let out. First thing I reached for? No, not the book. Amazing, I know. I had to watch ten minutes of morning news to see what was going on in the real world... and to see the weather report to further put my plan in motion. A nice day. Excellent.

Reading for two and a half hours officially started my day. I worked for half an hour. Then there were errands to run. I've put of getting my oil changed for a month. Oh hey! That's fifteen minutes I could be reading in the car! My oil is changed. The rest of the errands were run in record time.

Back home, with the storm clouds of last night clearning for the promised beautiful day, I laid out my plan. First up, the dog park. The poor dog has been shut up in the house, as much as I have lately. Besides, I can read at the dog park and the kids can play. Everyone wins.

Next, lunch. Then we're off to the beach. I don't care if the water is cold. As long as I can read, that's all that matters.

What I'm so madly reading:

The truth about Vayen

In friday's post, Vayen had a great time lying to you. Well, to me actually. I wouldn't let him anywhere near the keyboard. He'd only get into trouble and he does that enough without encouragement.

Without further rambling on my part... the truth is revealed:

1. I am an awesome pilot. I can fly anything. This one time... well, I don't want to brag.
LIE -Vayen never trained as a pilot. He's got plenty of other things to deal with without having to fly anything.

2. I'm a neat freak. Messy rooms drive me insane. I don't know how anyone can live like that.
LIE - As if. He drives Delyn nuts with his "relaxed" housecleaning habits.

3. Bring on the front lines, I'm a hands on kind of leader who loves to be in the middle of everything in person.
LIE - That's Delyn. Vayen prefers to leave the front line fighting to those who are trained for it.

4. I have a thing for Caltessian and Verian women. If I could find an agressive Caltessian woman in a short-statured, devout Verian with telepathy, I'd be at Geva's gates.
LIE - This one couldn't even be typed with a straight face. Vayen prefers his own kind, Balorian women, but managed to bond to a human woman instead. Nothing ever goes his way. Poor guy. (Yeah, I'm snickering.)

5. Some might say I have substance abuse issues. I would say I like to have a drink now and then. Okay, fine, maybe a few, but my experience with drugs was not entirely my fault.
TRUE.

6. I harbor no grudges with my Caltessian co-worker. After all, neither of us was physically involved in the war that took my family from me. I'm sure he lost someone he knew too.
LIE - Compassion for his co-worker is not Vayen's strong point. Then again, the lack of feeling is mutal.

7. Profanity is intolerable.
LIE - Again, not even typed with a straight face.

Thank you for playing, Vayen. Now back into the book with you!

Lies, I tell you, all lies!

Scott Free seems to be my blog muse lately. That alone is odd. Or was it crazy? No, he wasn't crazy, that was one of his lies. I'll get it straight, I swear.

Yes, I've been tagged with the bald-faced liar award... again.

Since I've already shared my lies and bequeathed the award upon others, I'm going to pass the honor to one of my favorite characters, Vayen. For a man from a novel called, Trust, how can you not... well... trust him?

This will probably be more fun for those of you who know Vayen, but everyone is welcome to play.

1. I am an awesome pilot. I can fly anything. This one time... well, I don't want to brag.

2. I'm a neat freak. Messy rooms drive me insane. I don't know how anyone can live like that.

3. Bring on the front lines, I'm a hands on kind of leader who loves to be in the middle of everything in person.

4. I have a thing for Caltessian and Verian women. If I could find an agressive Caltessian woman in a short-statured, devout Verian with telepathy, I'd be at Geva's gates.

5. Some might say I have substance abuse issues. I would say I like to have a drink now and then. Okay, fine, maybe a few, but my experience with drugs was not entirely my fault.

6. I harbor no grudges with my Caltessian co-worker. After all, neither of us was physically involved in the war that took my family from me. I'm sure he lost someone he knew too.

7. Profanity is intolerable.

Learn the truth about Vayen on Monday. He's quite happy to be let out of the book for a little while. I don't usually let my working characters out to chat. It tends to inflate their egos. Let's just hope he stays in line and doesn't catch sight of any discarded characters that he might hold a grudge with. That could get messy.

I'm back

I'm still alive, though, no more sane than I was when I left with my car full of Girl Scouts. After all, I did volunteer for this gig, so obviously there is a general lack of sanity to begin with. Much whining, pitching of fits and swallowed pool water was involved. And fun. Though, mostly had by the girls and not us sleep deprived zombie drivers with one eye locked on the road and on on the GPS.

Things learned on this trip:

Boy scouts are prepared. Girl Scouts will forget essential things like a swimsuit, lunch money, a can opener and that one car who doesn't have directions that we're supposed to be making sure is following right behind us. Where did they go? Ooops! Thank goodness for cell phones.

I can not sleep with blinking lights right above me. I don't know what the heck these ceiling sensor lights were for but at 2:30 AM, white blinky lights in an otherwise pitch black room and snoring girls did not aid my efforts to rest.

No matter how many children are on the trip, my own will always be the one that truly drives me nuts. At least I can pull that one aside and give her an uncensored chewing out without threat of any other parental backlash.

I am cursed to be the one that must always follow the gorilla men into the hot tub. Sorry folks, I have a very low tolerance for extreme amounts of back/shoulder hair.

There are a lot more tattooed people out there than you realize when you see everyone fully clothed. (Yes, I'm one of them)

Customers will still need everything right now even if I'm not in the office. Messages and emails will pile up. No one will do my work for me while I'm gone.

Twenty-four hours away from computer access is hard.

Water slides are still fun.

Witnessing my timid daughter figure out that water slides are "awesome" is, well.... awesome.

And so summer begins

Sorry folks, no witty monday morning post this week. I'm spending a couple days with my Girl Scouts at a water park. This would probably be a fun mini vacation if it weren't for attempting to keep a bunch of seven to ten year old girls under somewhat control. Oh, and the three hour car ride. Time to load up the car's DVD player and stock up on patience.

We'll see how sane I am by wednesday's post.