So this week is the week of my birthday, and normally it’s not that big a deal, and it’s not really this week, except it’s a way to get the Long-Suffering Spouse to take me to see Conan the Barbarian* the day it opens, which coincides with the anniversary of my birth.

Last night, we went to see Cowboys and Aliens, which was as I’d expected it to be: Not very good, but enjoyable. And let me say, someone who knows knew that one of the best parts of the film would be Daniel Craig’s ass. Because it was in many, many shots, framed by chaps (not assless chaps, mind you, that’d be gross). I was quite impressed.

Not so fun is the hot water heater leakage we dealt with Sunday–we still don’t have a hot water heater, which means cold showers. Luckily, it is summer, so is more tolerable, but still.

*This trailer is way bloody. So don’t watch if you’re squeamish.

Yes, I have just given myself the worst earworm: “Time Passages” by Al Stewart. I HAVE mentioned I cannot stand high male singing voices, right? Yeah. Fantastic, Megan.

So anyhoo, I’m working four days a week at this new not quite a full-time, but bigger than a part-time, thing, and also continuing the other freelance and making dinners and packing lunches and TRYING not to eat ALL of the holiday cookies that are still in the house.

And I’m somehow managing it. It’s only the first week, but I’m not all worn out and overwhelmed. Maybe that’s because I like the new job so much?

Of course, I haven’t yet removed Christmas from the house (note to self: Undecorate tree), and there are larger things (note to you: Do not visit my bathroom!) that need doing, but so far–so good.

This weekend, The His Best Friend Moved To LA And The Knicks Are There This Weekend Spouse is heading to California, which means I’ll be having some fun time with the Super-Smart Lawyer and the Spawn. Much wine will be consumed (not by the Spawn, of course).

Maybe I’ll get tipsy and tackle the bathroom. It’s a thought. Maybe not a good one, but a thought nonetheless.

How sad is it that the highlight of my day is that I have NOT succumbed to a nap?

But anyway. I have not. Woot for me.

And in other news, we are (seemingly) adjusting to the Fall Schedule, although the Hardworking Spouse finds it hard to leave work before 6:50, even though he gets there at 8:30. Stupid hardworking guy.

I’ve been writing, yay, and hope to finish this historical novella thing in a week or so. By which I mean maybe ten days, since a week? No effing way.

This week is my and Scott’s fifteenth anniversary, too, the celebration of which will entail wine, bread and cheese. Yay!

Okay, back to work.

So the Son is off having Adventures, leaving his sad, lonely parents back in Brooklyn. Which means that his sad, lonely parents don’t have the care and responsibility for the Son.

Party time!

We’ve been having Date Night every night since he left, except for one night when we saw our respective friends. We’ve gone to the same chi-chi tequila bar TWICE, had wine and cheese while watching Mad Men, went on a bike ride TOGETHER, went to the movies (!) and saw Inception, slept late, took naps and went shopping.

A good, if exhausting, time has been had by us.

And tomorrow I head to Florida for the Romance Writers Of America’s annual conference, and will be presenting a workshop with Liz Maverick on social networking. See? Like this here? I am networking, socially.

Will post when I can, but my life hasn’t been worth me saying anything about anyway, so likely will not be posting a lot.

Yes, I am the Queen of Hyperbole, why do you ask?

When I got home Saturday, the (Thoughtful) Spouse presented me with three packages: One contained a yoga DVD I had rented multiple times from the library, one had Richard Armitage (swoon!) reading Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester, and one was a bike helmet. Which meant on Sunday we went and got this:

And you thought I only liked dangerous DARK-HAIRED men:

Last night, Brooklyn’s outdoor concert series, Celebrate Brooklyn, hosted a sing-along of Prince’s Purple Rain.

Oh, SO MUCH FUN!

We took the 10 year-old, after trying to remember what could’ve made it rated R, and told him we’d warn him when Appolonia was gonna take her top off. There was some bad language, but nothing more, he said, than he’d heard in the playground.

Anyway, it was awesome to be outdoors on a lovely summer evening with thousands of other Prince fans, all of us screaming and cheering and singing along. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the movie, but it never fails to crack me up that they had a chalk outline for an attempted suicide (including the outline of the gun!). Because, you know, it’s good to outline a guy who needs medical care in case he dies later, so you can preserve the moment.

The acting was atrocious, the storyline ridiculously simple, and can I say, how can Appolonia want to be with a guy who hits her, plus has all the courtship chops of that guy who keeps mostly to himself next door?

But the songs, the dancing, the pageantry, is just so damn spectacular. Plus you can’t beat Jerome and Morris Day, two of the hammiest actors ever to grace the screen. The Spouse jumped up to do The Bird, too, which made me giggle.

The best part remains, however, the Lake Minnetonka line, made even more resonant because the 10 year-old and I are going to the waters of Lake Minnetonka tomorrow so the 10 y-o can do sailing school. My mom grew up in Minnetonka Beach, and my uncle still lives in Wayzata. The first time I saw the movie I murmured, “that’s not Lake Minnetonka,” and felt very proud of myself.

Yeah, whatever, I was probably 19, my moments of triumph thus far had been few and far between.

Wheee! The 10 y-o liked the movie, too, and was dancing with us at the end during “I Would Die 4 U.”

So tomorrow we head to Minnesota, but that likely won’t affect me posting, except the people around me will be blonder. My hair, however, remains the same.

I took my son down to his grandparents’ yesterday, so I had a whole half a day to myself, which was awesome. I ended up buying a dress:

got to hang out with Alpha Sparkle Dog (aka Liz Maverick) and met the Able to Leave Work At The Almost Normal Time of 7:00 pm Spouse and went out for Thai food and then to see The Hangover.

Oh my goodness. The Hangover was one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, so funny, and so incredibly wrong. Just great. I howled during the whole thing, and was a lot more relaxed than I’ve been in a long time.

Today I have to do a ton of advance work so I can take next week off to attend RWA National in DC without losing my daily freelance pay. And then tonight the Spouse and I are going to a Those Darlins show, which should be fun.

So if you review, you will see no writing has been done by me. I am going to have to, again, knuckle down and figure out a better schedule for myself and my writing, since summer vacation is no vacation for one of us. I mean, I love hanging out with my son, and all, but it means I have to jam that much more other stuff into fewer hours.

Oh, and by the way? The pad thai I made turned out really meh. But I twittered about is failure, and my next-door neighbors, who are foodies, gave me their pad thai recipe, which they say is good. And it looks better than the one I used, even just reading the ingredients and their amounts.

Okay, back to freelance.

So the long Birthday Weekend was lovely, much to my surprise (things here at Casa Frampton are not always as shiny-gleamy as they look from the outside. Sometimes people are stressed. Just saying.). The Spouse de Cuisine grilled a whole turkey, which he’d marinated for 24 hours prior, and others remarked that the turkey was “life-changing.” Plus he grilled pork belly, which was just sinful. And I made ginger cake with crystallized ginger frosting, which turned out great.

I’m therefore oddly energetic, something I don’t say very often, and I am hoping to a) kick ass and b) take names. The Book Expo America is this week, and friend and fellow Risky Amanda McCabe (along with RR Diane Gaston) is coming to town. Plus my cousin visits for the weekend, which will be awesome fun.

Hopefully some fiction writing will occur, too, since this story isn’t going to write itself. Even with me helping, it might not get done that well. But, you know, nothing will happen if I don’t write.

And I’ve worked out eight days in a row, which is just crazy. Still weigh the same, but see what I’ve been eating, above, and marvel that I’m not a house right now.

Today is the Looks Way Younger Than He Is Spouse’s birthday; to celebrate, he is doing a lot of cooking. Which, to him, is a gift, because it means he a) has the time to do it and b) doesn’t have to suffer my mediocre cooking.

So today is all about the grilled whole turkey, six hour cooked pork belly and other insanely delicious foods. Plus, we’re having a three-family bbq with our neighbors on either side of us who are also great cooks. Yay!