Mr. Jen and I were talking about daydreaming today, about how I like to sit in the chair near the window and just think. Sometimes it's about how if I had a million dollars, I'd redo my kitchen in hickory cabinets and finally have a dishwasher, saving my poor little dry and cracked hands from hard labor.

Other times it's about a book that I'm writing or want to write. About what sort of shenanigans the characters will get into. Or maybe it's about what the love interest will look like and whether or not I would have crushed on him when I was in high school (always the answer is yes, otherwise, why would he be the love interest created by my imagination?).

And sometimes I just sit there and think about nothing. I sit there and watch the sunlight or the rain or the darkness. And it feels good clearing my head. 

Mr. Jen, on the other hand, cannot sit in complete silence for more than five minutes and three seconds before he's saying (quite annoyingly), "I"m bored."

"Thanks for ruining my daydream about meeting Jensen Ackles's Dean Winchester character!" I say.

"Thanks for ruining my daydream about plotting my next book!" I say.

It drives me insane that Mr. Jen cannot stop for long periods of time just to look at or appreciate something. Our hikes at the state park are hurry-up-let's-keep-going-I'm-bored. And maybe that's why he's not a writer or an artist or anything having to do with the creative arts. Mr. Jen likes science and storms and volcanoes. He would rather chase a storm cloud than stop to look at it and memorize the curve of it or the dark, bruised color. 

It amazes me how different we are or how differently we see things. But it makes him who he is and I appreciate that. Probably two daydreamers in one house would be too many. Because somebody has to do the dishes while I'm daydreaming.

What about you? Do you daydream?
 

I only have a few more photos to share. I wasn't very good about posting everyday! But I still had fun sharing the few photos I had and seeing everyone else's. 

Here's a pic of Lake Michigan. This was taken in May before they had the beach cleaned and evened out, so it looks really hilly. 



And the next two pictures are of the same place in the state park, but one was taken mid-summer and the other in winter. 

Here's the summer one:


And then winter:



And lastly, a storm that blew in last weekend. Mr. Jen snapped this one. I just love the lines in the clouds.


 

I cleaned out the closet today and found a whole bag of stuff my mother had given me. It was full of school projects, report cards, teacher letters, etc.

I found a poem that supposedly I wrote in 4th grade. My mother insists I wrote it. I would have been ten, but I don't remember writing it. I have to wonder if some other cool kid wrote it and I just took the credit. Or maybe it was published somewhere and I just copied it?

Anyways, here it is: (If this sounds familiar let me know!)

Found and Lost
A wizard's hating pet.
Rather shortish.
Somewhat slimy.
May be hungry or angry.
Please feed nightly.
P.S. No Reward.

A dragon breathing spu(?)
Flails his slimy feet.
Would eat 100 small children nightly if we let him.
Please come get him.
P.S. Reward.

And then, when we were younger, my best friend Lacy and I used to send each other greeting cards all the time. We'd try to be the one who found the funniest. Lacy sent me this one:

"I quit jogging because it was bad for my health...(open card )
My thighs rubbed together so much, my underwear caught on fire."

That was us! We hated gym class. We hated running the mile. I should send her a greeting card tomorrow. I think she'd love it. We haven't done this in forever. I've already planned to send a card to her older sister. Both of their parents have passed and my parents "adopted" the girls years ago so they both come to our family Christmas party. The older sister, Crystal, doesn't like making plans so when Lacy asked her if she was coming she said, "I don't know." But she has to come! It's a tradition that we all buy each other gag gifts. Last year I bought two boxes of chocolates and took a bite out of every single one then rewrapped the boxes. And my gifts this year will be equally fun!

Anyway, I told Lacy I was going to send Crystal a ransom card using magazine clippings to write my message. 

At Walmart today I picked the card out. On the front it says, "Just a friendly hello!" And on the inside I'm going to paste a picture of Lacy with a note that says, "You better be at the Christmas party or your sister gets it!" Crystal has a twisted sense of humor. She'll love it. (I hope!)

Other Funny Thing: Mr. Jen went to Walmart today wearing two different boots!

Last night at 12:45 a.m. I could have fallen asleep. This was terrible news since Mr. Jen didn't get out of work till 2:00 and we had a date all planned out! We were going to go to Walmart and grab some food and then come home and watch the new episode of Supernatural. We do this every Friday night. It's what I look forward to!

Not wanting to ruin the night, I went to the gas station and bought a Full Throttle energy drink. I'm addicted to those things, you see, and I quit drinking them about two months ago now. But one couldn't hurt, right?

So I get home with my Full Throttle and I'm literally squealing with delight. I felt like a drug addict, that's how excited I was. 

I get my Full Throttle into a cup with lots of ice and I sat down to rework the AA query. By 2:00, I was so wired, I could barely sit still. I'd forgotten how much fun energy drinks are when you drink them the way you're supposed to. Like one a day. Or even one every other day.

One sounds awfully good right now. But no. I'll wait till next Friday. It'll be my treat. ;)

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AND...

A new writer has joined Team LJ!!! I like to think I talked him into it. Since LJ is SO much better than those other lowly blogging sites.

You guys might know The Brad from Verla's. I met him earlier this year when I critted his query and first couple of chapters and he lightened my day with his hilarious emails. The Brad is equal parts funny, talented and cute.

So go give him an LJ welcome. And friend him!! loompawrangler 

 We just got home from a pig roast at my father-in-law's house. Mr. Jen and I grew up together, so my parents are good friends with his dad and that whole group of people.

One important thing to note, my parents and Mr. Jen's dad and that whole group they run with are cliche Michiganders. They all hunt, fish, live in the middle of the woods, drink lots of beer, roast pigs and...

Drive golf carts down two-tracks.

I had SO MUCH fun riding golf carts tonight. It was after dark by the time we got around to it so we're driving through the woods through midnight black. And I'm not so sure our driver (a guy who's known me since I was born who everyone calls Junior) was sober. He took us through woods where there were no trails. He took us up a HUGE dirt pile and we came crashing down the other side. There might have been some screaming on my part, but I assure you, it was gleeful screaming! 

They were talking about getting together a bunch of carts for a poker run soon and I am SO going!

I'm a night owl. Mr. Jen and I both are. We get a lot of stuff done after midnight. Like I get my chapters done. He gets his homework done. We watch TV. Chat. Do puzzles. We like the night. We especially like Friday nights because my mother takes Son every single Friday and Mr. Jen and I get some alone time.

But tonight the power company is shutting off the power from 2-6:00 a.m. for some scheduled maintenance. I have exactly thirty minutes of power left and I'm starting to shake with anxiety. Like seriously, what am I going to do with no power? No Internet?! It's not like there's anything going on online after 2:00 a.m. anyways. But you never know!

The laptop is all charged up. We bought candles for light. It should be an adventure. 

I did NOTHING today. I watched a movie (The Knockaround Guys) and read a book.

I can count on one hand the number of books I've read start to finish in the last six months. For some reason, since I've been writing seriously, I haven't been able to read really anything. Not for a lack of trying though. I've started and stopped probably fifty books. I have them all lined up on my bookshelf, little purple and pink sticky notes hanging from the pages where I left off. Some of them I'll go back to, I'm sure. But some of them I won't and I should just remove the sticky notes and stop torturing myself. I'm NEVER GOING TO READ THEM.

What I have read start to finish: Tithe, New Moon and Just Listen. And today I read Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys.

The book pulled me right in and I fell for the McGowan Boys. Okay, so some of them were a bit stereotypical. Jock, hottie Evan, the McGowan boy that Megan falls for. Rebel Sean who rides a motorcycle and plays in a band and who barely utters a full sentence. The plot was also pretty common, but for some reason I just loved this book. Maybe it's because I'm nuts when it comes to hot guys and there was no shortage in this book. Am I that lame? Yes I am.

But the point was, I enjoyed myself tonight and I wish I could read a whole book start to finish every single day. I wish someone would pay me to read books for pleasure. That would be nice. But while I enjoyed myself today, I am now feeling entirely too guilty for not answering emails...oh and...working on Possession! I should have been working on Possession, damnit! I could open the file now and get started on it, but Mr. Jen will be home in twenty minutes and he'll want to talk and ask how my day was.

Ugh...stupid good book. Jeeze.