Post Vacay Slump

I am late to post today. I actually sat down to do it earlier and just sort of went brain dead. It's post-vacation slump. We were so busy on vacation that now I can't figure out what to do with myself and don't have the energy to do anything I need to do (which there is enough of to cure the not knowing what to do with myself if I could just hook them up).

I do have some posts I want to do, but I want to do them when I have full brain power behind them. In the meantime, though, I was tagged and given an award, so I want to address those on here. Also, I missed out on a blog fest about summer goals by one day (boooo), but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put my goals out there anyway. After all, part of the purpose of this blog is to keep myself accountable.

First, my goals for the summer:
1. Finish editing WIP #1, Synthesis (whether that means keeping mainly as is or gutting it, gulp).
2. Start WIP #2, Untitled Scorpio Project (BuNoWriMo piece).
3. Post a minimum of twice per week to this blog.
4. Complete a short story per month and submit a short story/short piece of work per month.

I'd say that's good enough for now.

I am going to combine the award I received with the tag, so I want to thank the wonderful people who tagged/awarded me first. Margo Kelly enjoys the same things I do: reading, writing and eating (it says so right at the top of her blog). She posts great resources for writers on her blog, so check it out! She awarded me the Electropositive Blog Award, which makes ME smile.

Andrew of StrangePegs tagged me in a fun little, well, tag. Andrew is a fellow writer (as is Margo), but he also posts about movies and other pop culture tidbits and has plenty of interesting things to say. You can also check out the first chapter of two of his books, both currently in progress.

For the tag, I am supposed to answer some questions and tag a few people, and for the award I am simply supposed to post about it and award it to at least five other bloggers. Without further ado...

What do you think of when you hear the word tag?
First, "tag, you're it." Second, clothing tags. Now that I'm a part of the blogosphere, though, I imagine that will change.

Do you think you're hot?
I don't know if I'm vain or what (actually, I can assure you that I'm NOT), but this did not make me think of temperature at first. However, I prefer the temp variation, so while it is hot here, it was a heckuva' lot hotter in Florida on vacation last week. Technically, it was only a couple degrees hotter during our sojourn there, but the humidity amplified the effect. Colorado is semi-arid so dry, dry, dry, and it truly does make a difference ("But it's a DRY heat...").

Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.
I just switched computers and don't have one on here yet. The old one was a pic of my hubby and my two littles on a boat at Estes Lake in Estes Park, CO (home of the infamous Stanley Hotel of "The Shining" fame).

When was the last time you ate chicken?
Um, um, can you believe I don't remember? Not that it was a long time ago, but I'm having trouble remembering what I've eaten for the last week. I know I had a Chick-fil-A salad last week that involved chicken, so we'll just say a week ago, for argument's sake.

The song(s)you listened to recently?
I like music, so I listen to a lot of it. I was singing along to the radio earlier, but I don't remember what came on. So, again for the sake of argument, I'm going with Billy Joel. I had a sudden urge the other day to pull out one of his CD's and listen to The Piano Man (or whatever the actual title was). So that CD.

What were you thinking while you were doing this?
Shoot, I forgot to take my nightly migraine medication, so I need to go do that and I'm really hungry so I should really go pig out, er, I mean have a late night snack.

Do you have nicknames? What are they?
You know, I didn't have nicknames as a child, but I do now. Well, that's not entirely true. My younger siblings called me Sissy (not to be confused with Si-Si, my little sister's nickname--pronounced See-See, short for Sierra) and still do. One of them calls me Shan, but he's the only person in the whole entire world who does, and I probably wouldn't let anyone else do it. In high school a friend called me Non and I called her Stine (short for Christine, you get it?). And thanks to an online forum for moms with March 2005 babies (though my son came early, so February), I somehow ended up with the nickname Pookie. For those who have known me in real life, that nickname really blows them away. I've simply never been a Pookie. Until now, I guess. That answer was longer than I thought it would be.

Tag 8 blogger friends:
*Note: Because the award was about blogs that make you smile, I am going to aim for blogs that are amusing, rather than my usual writer fare, because, gasp, I don't only follow writing blogs! These are in no particular order and, as always, I will in no way be offended if you do not pass the award/tag along or don't do it completely right (because I sure never do).
1. Ani from Anime's Musings
2. Evangeline Denmark from Breathe In Breathe Out
3. Kathy of Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy and Central Oregon
4. Julie at Empty Nest Insider
5. Junebug of Junebug's Musings
6. Al of Penwasser Place
7. J.A. Kazimer at The New Never News
8. Snake's Mom over at Snakesmom Crazy Kids Cartoon Art

Who's listed as #1?
Ani is the first on the list. She has a way of wording things that always makes me smile.

Say something about #5
Junebug is nicely random in her posts, so I never know what I'll read when I head over there.

How did you get to know #3?
I believe I commented on her blog something about my grandmother having lived in Central Oregon and the wonderful memories reading her blogs brought back to me. I spent a good part of my childhood in Sisters, Oregon or on my grandmother's ranch in Turner before she sold it, and it's great to pop by and see or read about places I have been.

How about #4?
I found Julie through the A to Z blog hop (same for Kathy) and I love her sense of humor.

Leave a message for #6.
Ah, Al, you're a funny guy. I love to stop by for a bit of humor.

Leave a lovey dovey message for #2.
Well, while she is one of two people on this list I've met in person, I don't know that I know her well enough to go fully lovey dovey. I'll say she has an amazing name (seriously, Evangeline Denmark...gorgeous name) and I do see her resemblance to Jennifer Connelly. That's probably spelled wrong, but it's late and I'm too lazy to even pull up imdb.com at this point.

Do 7 and 8 have any similarities?
Uh, a healthy sense of humor? Not to beat the humor thing to death, but I did say that's what I was basing it on, to a point. Each blog provides a nice quick bit of light humor so a person can take a writing break and lighten things up.

Okay, folks, it's past my bedtime. And it is officially Wednesday, so I failed to post this on Tuesday. You can slap my hand. Also, please pardon any typos. It's late.

Do you have any humorous or light-hearted blogs or websites you like to visit?

Happy Writing!