So, yeah... I'm late getting back here AGAIN. I hope I don't get yelled at by the hoardes of salivating fans who impatiently await my next entry (heheh.. yeah, riiiiight). HEY! Wake up over there! I'm posting!
*squinting eyes ala Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns of old*
"D'ya feel lucky, punk?"
*screwing up Clint's movies*
"Well, d'ya?"
*Dodging a slap by the orangutan*

Anyhoo... enough of him -- he'll get an Oscar and I'll be forgotten like yesterday's news.

Let's talk about me.

Okay, first - had a horrid day at work today. It seems they let 4 psychos escape from the Twinkie factory and they all wound up in my dept. today. ME -- who was supposed to be sick, too! *I* had to handle them! ARGH! Well, I don't want to talk about - but just suffice it to say, they have issues... and series and volumes and page numbers. As Speedy Gonzalez so eloquently put it, "They so Loco!"

So where was I? Clint Eastwood. Primates. Fruitcakes...

Oh yeah!-- I'm officially starting a NEW book! Tres True! I'm gonna do that Chick Lit think I'd been ranting about when I first started this thingie. And I read one that's fabulously funny called "HISSY FIT" by Mary Kay Andrews and it's absolutely the type of book I want to write. So... stay tuned! I may even start it by the weekend. So far I've checked 5 books out of the library and they're all "HOW TO" researchy things for the characters to do. Heck, I even checked out "Mars and Venus in the Workplace" just to get my characterization down a little better for these 2. Now, I just need to read it and the other books....

Hmm what else? Okay, nutshell version: Bran turned the big milestone (3-0) and I got him a gourmet cake. It wasn't that good unfortunately, but I think I don't have a sophisticated enough palate to enjoy the non-sweet icing that had the consistency of Crisco. But that is just me, I'm sure. The cake itself was fantastic. And the decorations... muy bueno. My father in law came a-visitin' during Jan 18 (Bran's BD) and we had a super time. So that was good. We went bowling! Of course, it helped that we all loved THE BIG LEBOWSKI and made reference to it the whole 3 games we played (BTW we each won a game - is that playing nice with each other or what?

Tra la la... other stuff happened... but can't remember it or it's too boring to relate.

So now to more important matters like:

What the heck is CRUNK? Is it a bad word? I'm usually hip (or like to pretend I am in front of the kooky youngsters), but I was watching MTV2 the other day and they kept saying it. So now I dunno if I'm cursing or just "gettin' down wittit" when I take out lyrics and insert the word CRUNK. Like today, on the way home from work, Bran and I sang a rousing rendition of Dolly Parton's "Workin' 9 to 5" and instead of workin', we were CRUNKIN'! So maybe I'm a potty mouth.. I have no clue.

That's country for: How do you like the new look? Pretty spiff, huh? The hubster did that for me -- another of my holiday gifties :) I love it! Well, the pic could have looked better... or he could have inserted Cindy FLIPPIN' Crawford in there, but nooooo....

Anyhoo (and I found a blog where Australians are really stymied by the word "Anyhoo" -- but then they said something about forgetting and "scrape the scab off a coldie." Shyeah... and they say OUR lingo is different.) :)

I didn't manage to scrape any scabs off anything. I *DID* manage to have a tarot reading by my good friend Shelby (you can visit her site here http://www.geocities.com/shelbyreed34 but be warned she's a WRITER not a gypsy, so don't go thinking she'll speak Romanian to you or let you rub her crystal ball). The reading was neat and now I'm psyched to get to writing again. Basically, I'm going to shelve the book that I've had the rave comments about. Yes, in other words, I'm scrabbing the scab off a new story and putting Serenity's Chance in a shoebox until I can once again write on it. I'm stagnating trying to MAKE myself write on that one. I think the reason it's so hard to write on it is mainly my brother. He died in 2003 -- when I was really getting into writing it and had the requests for it, etc.... I was very close to him and his death was very sudden, so I still have to come to terms with that chapter of my life. Unfortunately, writing on that book (which he'd read and loved) is extremely painful right now. And I think I'm spinning my wheels and burning myself out by trying so hard to write it.

So, as the Aussies DON'T say... Anyhooooooo... I've decided to start something new and different and I've already got an idea perculating in my noggin (yeah, chew on that vernacular, Oz-folk). I'm pretty excited about it and can hardly wait to flesh it out. Yippee!

On a completely unrelated note, at work today a lady came in singing and scrubbing her teeth. I looked up at her and she was scolding her little dog, who, by the way, was invisible. She asked for the African American Jubilee Bible and once she got it, she dragged her little dog away.

I have a Spiderman Band-Aid on my thumb. I like that. I think I should start all paragraphs with something interesting like that.

So I'm a few days late for the official well-wishes, but man... it's been ca-razy! I for one am glad the holidays are over. Well, mostly over. Brandon's birthday is this month (Jan 18) which means I ain't done a-shoppin'. *sigh* And the one thing I thought would be PERFECT for him and I'd planned on buying (without him suspecting a thing, mind you) I can't get because HE went and decided to TELL me what he wants. HELLO.. that's so not right. And get this, he wants this fancy-schmancy monitor and it's like super expensive and I don't have any good money (even tho I work allllll the time) after St Nick bit a chunk out of my wallet this season. But I guess I have to try and get him what he wants.. but (a la Napolean Dynamite) GAHHHHHHHHH! I flippin' wanted to get him a SWEET surprise! *sigh* Guess that's what on my dance card for the month.

Oh, and then this stupid bill collector calls me on Christmas FLIPPIN' eve.... can you believe THAT?? Christmas Eve... as in MY DAY OFF... of course, I answered teh phone because who would have thunk it'd be a FREAKIN' bill collector at 8:30AM on CHRISTMAS FLIPPIN' EVE??? *breathe, Leslie... breathe... it's okay...* Yeah, well anyhoo, that totally sucked. So now the debt I was going to pay off in 6 months has been compacted into me having to pay it off in 3 months. All I can say is c'mon March... I'll be free and easy then. Able to spend my own hard-earned cash again. Whoop-dee-poop.

Well, that's my New Year's Bitch :) Well that and this little morsel I found here on the MSN site:
"Look out Richard Attenborough. You've got competition on the horizon: Britney Spears is planning to direct a movie."

What the hell kind of nutso thing is that?? Egads....