And, no surprise, he looked completely underwhelmed by seeing me. Just once I would’ve loved to see some guy’s jaw drop at the sight of me. The best thing I’d ever gotten was a look that clearly said, ‘huh, she’s not nearly as plain as so-and-so said.’ Hooray for me.

“Caitlin Murphy.” He uttered it as if it were a pronouncement, which I guessed it was, sort of.

“How do you–that is, who are you?” I sputtered.

He exhaled a long-suffering sigh. Usually men only did that after spending a few hours in my company, but perhaps he was a fast learner.

So yesterday I shipped the son off to his grandmother’s, and so I had some downtime while waiting for the Works For-Effing-Ever Spouse to finish work. I headed to Starbucks, got a dark cherry lite mocha frappucino, and whipped out the iPad and wireless keyboard.

And, seated at a communal table across from a couple having their first date, wrote nearly 1,000 words.

Yeah, that’s what I said. How cool is that?

Back when I wrote music reviews, Scott used to say that I could write a review in the back of a flatbed truck driving down the highway at speed. I am pleased to say I can write the same way, I don’t appear to need a quiet room or no distractions. That could be because what I’m writing is so darn fun, but for whatever reason, I’ll take it.

Yay!

Today I bring the Spawn to his grandmother’s house for a bit (I head to National next week so he needs taking care of). I’ll be schlepping the iPad and keyboard with me for some down writing time, yay, and I hope to finish three chapters of the Paranormal before I head out of town too.

Meanwhile, Scott and I get to have some nighttime dates that don’t always involve a bottle of wine and the TV at home. Yay!

Whoa, I’ve been away from here for longer than I’ve ever been. So, what’s been going on?

Hm.

–the Frampies went on vacation to California; we saw Big Sur, good food, lovely relatives and many, many forms of aquatic life at the Monterey Aquarium (pic of 11 y.o. and cousins, above).

–we got an iPad, which I used to write on while Scott was hogging the Mac. FTW! I wrote over 1,000 words. Am taking said iPad to RWA’s National Conference, which I go to next week.

–Sleeping has been crazy problematic for me since returning home. Insomnia every night, exhaustion every day. Fun!

–My husband likes to take lovely pictures of picturesque landscapes, while I like to take pictures of people.

–I have been a week without diet Coke. No reason, just thought I’d try.

–This summer is flying by. And THANK GOD we put in central air-conditioning.

–Have I mentioned I’m so tired? Yeah. But, you’ll all be glad to hear, still preserving my inimitable sense of humor, which is to say, thinking ‘Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I wanted to happen’ when something horrible happens. Joy.

–We all love ramen. It is the 11 Year-Old’s favorite food.

–

So last week the Framptons headed on vacation, which was AMAZING. But not so restful and full of sleep, so being back, and facing reality (and a mooseload of laundry) is exhausting.

I’ll be back to normal here soon, but meanwhile, I need to rest.

So I tweeted about this already, but today I bought Quantum of Solace as well as N.K. Jemisin’s Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

The former because some blog or another had a picture of Daniel Craig kissing a spy’s back, and he had no shirt on, and I wanted to see the scene. Sue me. And the used DVD was less than $5, so at least I’m not paying too much for my salacious interest.

The latter because an author whom I profoundly respect said she had read the book and couldn’t put it down, and then another author whom I also profoundly respect wrote a review at Amazon for it. That was about $10.

All in all, loss of control cost about $15 today.

Swing by the Riskies to find out how you can do some good for your library.

[the scene: giving the Son a bath. Yes, he still likes his mom to be there.]

Me: Can you wash your face?

Him: So anyway, the value of the creature in defense mode is blah, blah, blah (Yu Gi Oh).

Me: Face. Washing?

Him: And the monster’s value is tripled, blah, blah, blah.

Me: Can you wash your face?

Him: (singing) Delayed Reaction Man!

[face washing commences]

Yikes. So over the weekend we had a birthday party for the soon-to-be 11 year-old, featuring a game of Capture The Flag in the park followed by a viewing of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.

Fun was had by all except the titular birthday boy, who got aggravated by his friends. Inside my head, however, I was thinking, ‘what else would have happened? They’re obnoxious 11 y.o.s, like you, only I am not obligated to love them.’

And then I went out with the Alpha Sparkle Dog on Saturday for sushi. Which was lovely.

Yesterday I was worn out.

And today the 11 y.o. has a half day, which means I have to leave in, like, four minutes to go pick him up. He had a really hard time getting to sleep last night, so he is worn out.

Anyway. Both of us are going to chill at home in the air conditioning (thank goodness we put it in!) and then have a celebratory dinner out with the Hardworking Husband And Father.

You’ll notice there is no writing scheduled; I hope to return to it soon, but meanwhile, have to suss out hte summer sched.

Talking Random Capitalization at the Riskies today. Go There!