Do-able for Uber Spies

Quick Saturday thoughts/IMPORTANT and MEANINGFUL things I'd forgotten to add this week:

1) This is one of the spy gadgets I want for Christmas.

HERE

Just in case one of my boys is secretly reading this blog ;-).

2) Is it me, or does EVERYONE in the TV show "Lost" has daddy issues? There is Walt, who's obviously stolen from his dad; there is the good doctor who's got the "my-dad-didn't-love-me-till-the-day-he-died" issues. There's Kate who actually killed her dad because she didn't like her genes. There's Shannon whose dad's death left her without money, poor thing. And don't forget Locke, whose liver was actually stolen by his dad. Wow, with dads like these....

3) I'm feeling grumpy. For two nights in a row, I was having very interesting vivid weird dreams and some NOISE woke me up at the most crucial moment. I don't dream much, or can't remember them, so when I do get one and have perfect recollection, I pay attention. The first one was a bunch of women, some of whom appeared to say things in a chorus, like muses, or harpies ;-), and they were all holding marching band instruments. Some of them were TELLING me something while sort of marching in a circle and getting ready to perform for me. And just when they were starting, and with me anticipating something important...my dogs started barking in the morning for no apparent reason. Boy, was I upset.

Then this very early morning, I had one of those adventure dreams that I always get--faceless bad people chasing me and me always escaping through very interesting ways. This dream felt particularly important because it had a Mafia feel to it and I'd never dreamed of the Mafia or spies or the Hood before. But I was just about to figure out this "tracking device" in my hands when AGAIN, some noise woke me up at 5am. Argghhhh. Needless to say, going back to sleep didn't produce the wrap-up to my dream. And that makes me grumpy.

4) But I truly can't complain. I had a fabulous Nov. 1. FABULOUS. First, I received a call from my agent that the anthology I proposed had garnered so much interest that it might become a full book. That was just too cool. Then, I received the call from the interested editor and we had a great conversation about my ideas. After that, I got an email that expressed interest in looking at my older manuscripts that finaled in RWA's Golden Heart contest. One of them is the one titled Big Bad Wolf, which is actually the story of one of the COS Commando's named The Programmer. This is where Jed and his daughter, Grace, showed up as secondary characters.

So as you see, totally fabulous Nov. 1. Besides all that, I had this BIG lightbulb come on in my head about my Super Soldier Spy. It's one of those moments that makes one sit up and pay attention. So simple, why didn't I think of it before?! I now know what COS Command's secret agenda for Hell is. Yippee!

5) On the "fix-the-rental-house" front, it's finally painted and not a single drop of paint fell on my head. Okay, so I cheated. I hired a professional painter, an acquaintance, to do the ceiling because, as Ranger Buddy finally AGREED with me after refusing to listen to my initial protests of doing it ourselves, PAINTING SUCKS. Esp. painting the ceiling of an entire house. But it's done. But I tell ya, there's a reason why I keep this acquaintance at bay. He's from a Latin country and HE CAN'T KEEP HIS HANDS on his paint roller. I spend a lot of time walking around quickly, keeping pieces of furniture between us ;-). He's harmless, but his hands are...um...very roamy. I complained about this to Ranger Buddy and he said, with a straight face, "Well, at least the ceiling is painted." Pffft. My next chore is to scrape the popcorn ceiling in the garage because it's falling off. And no, Mr. Hothands Latino ain't gonna be popcorning this ceiling.

6) Oh , how could I fail to report this--my contract with MIRA arrived! I told you, Nov. 1 was jampacked! I'm reading through all these paragraphs, trying to understand everything, and then...yes, I'll officially be a MIRA author. Yay! It's still scary, though. As bad as signing those papers when you're buying a house. You know...warning about lead paint and defaults, etc. etc.

7) I destroyed somebody's living room on purpose yesterday...looking for a leak. Uber-roofers are completely opposite of uber-spies when it comes to leaks. Uber-spies are sneaky about it. Uber-roofers just go to the place and just whack away at it and expose the bad leak for what it is ;-). So, the whole underside of this woman's window was all wet and to prove that the leak wasn't OURS (from the roof and no stain on the ceiling or anywhere in the wall), we took our hammers, swung hard, tore all the drywall off from under her window. There. Wet drippy icky insulation. And nothing wet above the bottom of the window. Ha. Merry Christmas. Go call the window guy and tell him his window's leaking. And can we have some of that delicious peanut butter cookie thing you're making, ma'am?

8) So lastly, just to show you how slow my life is, let me tell you what I have to do before January 30:

*Finish Book One of SSS

*Fix ceiling of rental, clean, carpet, pressure wash, wipe, mow, touch up, do everything possible to make it look good

*Sell the rental house

*Send out 1099s tax forms

*Shop for Christmas

*Run a marathon

*OK, just kidding about the marathon, but needed your attention

*write a proposal for Big Bad Wolf with a better title (got any?)

*oh, put out Christmas decor around the house! Sheesh...that's #1

*buy airline tickets and book a room in NYC (yes, going to be there in Jan)

*negotiate another contract, hopefully, through my agent

*chase after the crapenters before they escape for Christmas holidays to get some roofs ready

*wrap presents (I hate this chore. Almost as much as I hate painting.)

*I'm sure there are at least 3 more things that need to be done by January but why put myself in a panic? ;-)

Did I tell you I have forty five days (minus the NY trip) to get this book done? Hahahahaha. Don't kill yourself laughing. Let's see...five pages a day...yes, yes, like my SEAL buddy used to tell me when he was dangling me three stories in the air trying to nail a shingle down..."Doable."

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