Meet Seanan

I know many of you don’t need to be introduced to my dear friend Seanan McGuire, but for those of you who do…I’d like to spend some time telling you how awesome she is.

Seanan threatens to eat me

(Seanan will occasionally try to eat your face. Do not be alarmed.)

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100 things-updated!

I updated my “100 things about me” list. Rand had recently suggested that I do this, and making a new blogfriend in the past week made me want to get on that right away. 😉

I’m counting this (with a link to that) as a post for this week…I didn’t have much time to do anything this week, with grades due and having to choose winners for the Dead of Winter Contest (many, many thanks to Eden, btw, for taking the lead on that one).

Someday soon I think I’m going to add some items to that list, which was originally written in 2004! Before I met Rand!

Not tonight, though. I’m off. ‘Night all!

Like sands through the hourglass

So this weekend, Rand and I went to PA for my cousin’s graduation party. I made him a gift, in addition to a bit of cash, of course. 😉

graduation

This, along with a couple of other new items, have been posted in  my etsy shop, although it’s probably a bit late to get any sales on it now! I also made some new bookmarks, posted to flickr, that will be posted in the shop this week. (Oh, and last week, I got a pretty new banner for my shop courtesy of etsy seller the photospot. I think it looks great!)

In addition to the graduation party, Rand and I were able to hang out with my friend Anita, who lives on the west coast. She happened to be in town visiting her parents, so yay!

anita and me

Before we left for PA, Rand and I noticed that the stuff in our refrigerator wasn’t really as cold as it should be. I turned up the temp a couple of notches, and we decided to wait until we got back to worry about it.

Sure enough, there was no improvement when we got back. We did a little bit of research, and determined that it wasn’t worth trying to have it repaired. This morning, Rand went into work a bit late so that we could go to Sears and look for a new one. It’ll be delivered tomorrow. (It’s a Kenmore, in white…nothing fancy. Because our space is limited, we didn’t really have a whole lot of options. The new one is much better than what we have, and is Energy Star rated.) In the meantime, everything perishable is either in the freezer, which is still pretty much working (not 100%, but enough), or in coolers.

So today, other than dealing with that, I’ve been cleaning up the kitchen, reading submissions for Toasted Cheese, taking care of some stuff Rand and I are selling on Amazon, and getting my car inspected. The inspection wouldn’t have been bad, but my check engine light was on, and so I had to pay for the diagnostic so they could figure out how to get it to shut off…but still, relatively painless. I’m good for another year, by which point we will probably have gotten a new car.

Hmmm…was that all? The excitement of my life knows no bounds…

Random Monday Things

In easy, bullet-point form.

  • Over the weekend, I purchased this book. It is chock full of low-fat, low-calorie recipes involving PUMPKIN! WHEE!
  • As of today’s “Biggest Loser” weigh-in, I am down 5 pounds from the weight that so horrified me and prompted me to join the competition. That’s nearly halfway to my target, so yay.
  • Eden just invited me to a Facebook event that brought this song to my attention. I was amused, so I thought I’d post it here. (It’s a Steeler fan parody of Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies.” Darn it all, that song is catchy.)
  • Eden and I chose and notified our Dead of Winter contest winners. Yay!
  • It is mid-term/Regents week at school, and the marking period closes Friday. That means I have no classes to teach this week, but I have a TON of work to do. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I proctor exams. When I’m not doing that, I’ll be grading or entering grades.
  • Rand and I decided to attend Trinity @ 7 last evening. We enjoyed it, and will probably be back. What makes it even more enticing? Completely randomly, we ran into his cousin Paul and his girlfriend Tyra there. Tyra was reading! Small, small Buffalo world.
  • Have not yet located a Wii. I just need to sit down and make phone calls one of these days.
  • Chatted with my dear friend Stephanie today. It had been far too long! So thanks again, Stephanie, for pinning me down. 😉
  • Through a serendipitous series of events that led to me being online friends with Jessica (aka miss_shortskirt), I got to read an ARC of Ally Carter’s upcoming book. Squee! I *heart* this series.  I’ll have to post a review.
  • Since I was a slacker and didn’t really post last week, I forgot to mention the inauguration. I got to watch for a bit at school, and I thought it was incredibly moving.  Yay, President Obama!

    Is there more? Probably, but that’s all I can manage for now. Toodles!

    Dead of Winter contest open

    Dead of Winter
    The 2008 contest is now OPEN.

    Dead of Winter is a fiction contest (any genre) for stories with supernatural elements or themes. Ideally, stories should be set in autumn or winter. The most original, most haunting stories will be chosen for publication.

    Details, including specific theme and length, are announced November 1.

    The deadline for submissions is December 21.

    Entries are blind-judged by Baker & Billiard. Decisions are final. Winners are announced January 31.

    Winning stories are published in the March issue of Toasted Cheese. Winners receive Amazon gift certificates: $20 for first, $15 for second, $10 for third.

    Stories submitted to the 8th Annual Dead of Winter contest (December 2008) should follow one* of the following themes:

    * Alaska
    * Alternative Santa
    * Blood River Bridge
    * Ventriloquist

    The word limit is 4,500 words.

    The contest opens on November 1, 2008 and the deadline for submission is December 21, 2008. E-mail entries to dow2008@toasted-cheese.com. Your subject line must read: Dead of Winter Contest Entry.

    Post any questions you have about the contest in our DOW thread at the forums. Please do not post any part of your entry in the thread.

    You may post your work for feedback at one of the critique forums but please title your post “DOW entry for feedback” or similar so that the judges don’t read it.

    Be sure to (1) set your story in winter (2) write using supernatural elements or motifs (make our spines tingle, make us hesitate to turn out the lights, etc.) and (3) use one* of the themes provided.

    *You are welcome to use more than one of the themes in your story (for example, you could write a story about a ventriloquist and set it in Alaska) but you must use at least one of them and make it strong enough so that we know which theme you’re focusing on.

    Only ONE entry PER AUTHOR, not one entry per theme.

    June? Seriously?

    Mind you, I’m not complaining. For one, it seems that the weather is finally starting to cooperate, at least somewhat. For another, it means only 11 1/2 days more of *classes* to go (they still have exams after that, but my life will be much easier).

    By the way, it turns out that I’m going to be at this job until the official end of the school year. As long as they’re paying me, I can’t complain. 😉

    I just don’t know where the time has gone is all. Finally, the fact that it is June 2 means that THERE ARE ONLY 40 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE WEDDING.

    40 DAYS!

    I am excited beyond words. I am also mildly panicking about the things still left to do. I’ll post more about the to-do list over at the wedding blog…

    I also need to do the TC newsletter, which I always, always without fail, put off until the last moment. Ah, procrastination.

    We had a nice weekend, which those of you who follow me on Twitter already know included seeing Iron Man. I loved it! I also watched the Lost finale, which I thought was very good. (One scene in particular had me weeping tears of joy. Those of you who watched it know which one!)

    Slowly but surely, we are ridding the new place of boxes and putting things away. It feels really good…

    And that is all. One more class to go for me, and I’m outta here. Enjoy the rest of your Monday! 🙂

    Lazy weekends and deadlines

    So, I’m in the middle of writing my article for Toasted Cheese which needs to be ready to go up on the site, oh, Tuesday. Procrastination is bad. 😉

    The weekend has been lazy and generally relaxing. This is a good thing. Rand and I talked about going out to a movie, but didn’t see anything that we wanted to go out for. We want to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but that isn’t out until next week. Ah well.

    We found ourselves in possession of a wee bit of extra disposable cash, so we went out to eat several times this weekend. Yesterday, we went to May Jen, and I had the yumtastic ginger garlic chicken. And we have leftovers, which will probably be eaten tonight. Mmmm…leftovers.

    We’re in the process of decluttering, and took a couple of boxes of CDs and DVDs to trade in. We spent way too much time doing that today! While we were in F.Y.E., I asked a salesperson what music was playing. It turned out to be a new release called Unfold by Marie Digby, which I just decided I need to buy on iTunes. (only 6.99, and I still had some credit left from a gift certificate Samantha gave me for Christmas. Yay, me!)

    Rand bought the full Northern Exposure box set with his credit. We also traded in a bunch of CDs at Record Theater and bought a few new things with the credit (and we still have a bunch of credit left). Sadly, we have a small selection of stuff nobody wanted. Sniff.

    I still have some photos from Rand’s birthday that I have yet to post…I treated him to dinner at Marinaccio’s, a place neither of us had ever been. We both enjoyed our meals very much. More on that soon. Besides the dinner, I (with contributions from both our parents) bought Rand a new iPod…he wanted one with more space. So guess who else gets a new (slightly used) iPod? 😉 Of course, now I have to go through the process of getting what I want onto the iPod. Oh, the trials.

    I also have some photos of my pretty, shiny new earrings that people who follow me on twitter heard about yesterday. They will be posted soon.

    Oh, and that long-term sub job I mentioned at the beginning of last week? I got it. Since it’s a shorter period of time than my other job (and in a different district), there are no benefits…but it is steady work, great experience, and a wee bit more money than I’d be making as just a day-to-day sub. I went in on Friday to shadow the teacher I’m filling in for and meet the kids and my soon-to-be coworkers. It seems like it’s going to be great, and I’m very happy to have the experience. This week is spring break, so I’ll be starting a week from tomorrow. 😀

    More? I’m sure there is, but I should probably get back to work…hope you’re having an excellent weekend!

    Obligatory post

    I promised I’d post every day during this BufBloPoFo thing, even if I didn’t get around to the prompt (and truthfully, I’m too lazy to go see what today’s prompt is…), so here I am.

    Today was a typical day in the life of a sub…phone rang at 6 am (gah…hate that…but glad I took it) and I had a very laid-back day with a great schedule. Score. I managed to both finish Living Lost: Why We’re All Stuck on the Island by J. Wood (which I enjoyed, but somehow, not as much as I enjoy his blog!) and Boy Proof by Cecil Castellucci. I love how raw and honest her characters are.

    Aside? Lost is totally rocking my world this season. Bring it on!

    And what was even worse than the phone ringing at 6? Well, digging my car out. Rand had to give me a push b/c I was completely stuck.

    Over the weekend, I ate too much pizza, slept too much, and had a brainstorm for a series of YA novels that I need to let marinade or percolate or whatever for a while. I think it could be really, really cool.

    (Speaking of writing, I need to get going on my April article for TC!)

    OH…and another big thing happened over the weekend, but I’m not quite ready to go totally public with it yet. Soon, as soon as things are definitely definite. 😉

    And that’s what’s new with me today. Hope you’re all having a spectacular Monday!