Fridays are my favorite

Especially when they coincide with Halloween.  My boss let us leave at noon today to prepare for the evening and I've been thoroughly enjoying my time.  The three hours of work I did before lunch were productive and went quick, then I stopped in to visit my husband (so I could store my pumped breastmilk in his office fridge...didn't want it to sit in the car all afternoon), drove down to babies r us and got some last minute halloween costume items for both daughters (Jane is going to be Elsa and I'm dressing Abby up as Olof...I'm pretty excited about it).  After the halloween prep was accomplished I came over to the Barnes N Noble shopping area...first I walked down to Ross to see if there were any amazing deals on shoes or electronics (there were not), then walked down to Best Buy and window shopped all sorts of fun android devices (more preparation for the Note 4 I'll be getting in what feels like a year or two).  Started contemplating getting a Galaxy Tab 7.0 someday (I have absolutely no need for it whatsoever but I guarantee I'll be thinking up all sorts of reasons why I can't live without one in a few months).  Finally came into Barnes N Noble and checked out their book bags, journals, new books and saw that they have their own version of the Galaxy Tab 7.0 with some nifty Nook widget added on.  I'd buy that.  Anything to support my favorite store.  Maybe for my birthday...And if you were wondering, yes, I know I have a problem.  There are probably support groups for my particular addiction but I am not ashamed of who I am.

So NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow.  I'm sort of prepared.  I've outlined what I want to write and when I want to write and I'm only worried about my own wimpiness.  I've written an 80,000 word manuscript and there were many days where I'd get in over 2,000 words in a day but they were never the norm.  My usual daily word count was about 500 and to complete NaNoWriMo I plan on having to hit 1,750 each day.  That's a lot.  I'm afraid I'll know right off the bat if it isn't going to happen but I don't want to let myself think of the possibility that it can't be done.  Obviously I know it can.  Thousands of people with just as busy lives as me will be doing this.

I'm going to just dive in and keep going...not allow myself to overanalyze or overthink the story/character development.  It might be a disaster or it might be exactly what I need to get back on track with this.  And I have to say, staying up the past few nights to outline and read and kill time have been extremely refreshing.  You'd think I would be exhausted in the morning but I'm in such a better mood than normal.  I really believe making that extra time just for me is something I should have been doing for a long time now.  I get two extra hours (albeit semi-drowsy hours, but conscious ones all the same) to do the things I love to do.  It hasn't been a chore at all.  Which makes me chuckle since I actually mopped the kitchen floor last night at 11 in an attempt to get a second wind.  It worked...I was up until midnight reading NaNoWriMo support forums.

Wish me luck...I might only be stopping in to record word counts over the next few weeks.  And hopefully I'll remember to post a photo of the kids in costume later.

Note 4 Preparation

My husband and I are waiting a ridiculously long time to get our new phones.  I'm so mad about it.  I blame the iPhone 6 and Apple.  He ordered it from the Verizon store, which is essentially ordering it online, so the estimated shipping date isn't until November 14th.  The Note 4 is ready to ship already, but because we're starting a new service, we're pretty sure they're shipping them together.  And the idiots in the Verizon store all seemed convinced that I'd get my phone right away regardless of whether we're starting a new service.  I've got no actual proof that they're wrong, except that it's been a week since we placed the order and I should have received it by now, and because of the fact that the order status ambiguously reports that our order has been received and will ship on November 14.  First off, there are two phones so I wish it'd specify that in the details, if there were details, which there aren't.  I just want my new phone.  I've been stalking it online for months now.  I'm so sad I have to wait another two weeks because of Apple.  Damn you Apple.

So I got a case for it:

 

Couldn't do without the wallet feature...and this one was the most similar to the incipo ones I always get for my iPhones.  Unfortunately, this one only has room for two cards, but I'll have to get used to it. 

And I got a new running/fanny pack:

I'm hoping the phone fits in it.  It's a really big phone.

So one of these days I'll actually get to use the damn phone.  I just saw a commercial for it...advertising the camera.  I'm such a dork.  I can't help it.

Time for the baby to nurse/go to bed.

Rough 24 Hours

I went to bed last night at 9:30 so I could get a good amount of sleep before waking up at 4 AM for work.  Unfortunately, I never slept.  It started as that annoying mind-racing issue, then continued to spin out of control to the point where I was laying on the couch at 2 AM reading, hoping to tire myself out for an hour or two of sleep.  I gave up at 3 AM and drove to the zoo since I heard some people might actually be getting there at 4.  I figured if they didn't get there until 5, I'd just resume my pathetic attempt for extra sleep in the car in the parking lot.  They got there at 4, so I was able to help out and worked until our event ended at 11.  After lunch, I was able to finally get a couple hours of sleep, only to be terrifyingly jolted awake by the fire alarm in our house going off.  Husband baked pizza in the oven and claimed that it melted and burned.  If you ask me, the universe just doesn't want me to sleep.

Time to go backup my iPhone and save my photos so I can switch to the Note.  Exciting stuff!  Bed early tonight due to last night's fiasco, then I'll try staying up a little later tomorrow night to prepare for my upcoming writing schedule.

I ran last night outside with the dog for a quick 5K.  He was exhausted at the end...needed the exercise for sure!

Crap!

I've written every day for a month and a half and I just randomly forget to write a post yesterday.  Steve got home, that'll be my excuse, but it's not a good one considering he fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 and I watched TV and went to bed an hour later.  There was no reason for me to neglect this other than just complete mindlessness.  Damn it.

I'm in Barnes n Noble for the first time in over a month writing in my journal, which is what made my mind make the connection that I forgot to write a post.

Have I mentioned my plan of staying up from 10-midnight to start writing?  It's going to be rough for a little while, it'll take some getting used to...I was tired enough for bed last night at 8, but I'm prepared to work at it and I hope my body just adjusts to it and it becomes an easy habit.  I just can't think of any other time to fit it in, and I'm sitting here watching people read and write and work on homework and there's no place I'd rather be.  And I want to do this forever.  So it'd be nice if I could eventually do this for a living.  It's extremely unlikely, I know, but I don't care.  It's what I want.

So...NANOWRIMO is less than a week away and I've never done it before, but it seems like a good time to dive in and try it out.  Here's the thing...with both my desire to start a new project and my need to make a habit of writing every evening and wanting to make the 10-12 thing a habit, it just seems like the perfect time to try accomplishing the 50,000 words in 30 days.  What's stopping me?  If I sleep until 6 or 6:30 it's a smaller amount of sleep than they recommend, but I really don't have any other time of day to do this.  And it'll be my corner of the day...something I do for me...so I don't foresee it being detrimental to my health or anything.

Maybe I should go look into NanoWriMo strategies...and sign up on their page.  Gotta say, I'm pretty psyched.

Coffee after dinner...that's how I plan to make this happen...in the beginning at least.  And I have my trusty awesome 8 inch tablet (Asus VivoTab) with the great Zagg keyboard and OneNote program to jot down ideas on my soon to come Samsung Note 4...I sound like a commercial, I know, and it's a little disgusting, but I love gadgets.  In a serious way.  They have always been something I've loved so I'm pretty thrilled with the fact that so many of them exist now and they're so popular in general.  I was the type who wanted a calculator watch, because who wouldn't want the ability to easily multiply 124 by 7 on your wrist whenever you need to?  I wasn't even the nerdy math type, I just liked the thought of how convenient that would be.  Of course, I had one and barely used it.  Then I begged my dad for a cell phone back when they first came out.  Begged him.  Because how awesome would it be to be able to call my friends wherever I was?  I was only 12 or 13 and had maybe one or two friends, but that didn't stop me from wanting one so bad.  Imagine my delight when the iPhone came out...and then the iPad...they created more competition too, so everyone is stepping up their game, hence the fact that I'm switching to Windows tablets and the Note 4 Android phone.  And I'm an adult now with the same giddy craving for gadgets and the money to buy them with (irresponsible purchases, yea, but I don't get pedicures or highlights in my hair, or massages, so there's that).

Time to go over to the NanoWriMo page.  Wish me luck.

I also need to run tonight...it has been 6 days since the last time I've exercised...almost a record for laziness.