Anywho, because I was so rushed and in a hurry to get back to my manuscript, I decided to make tacos for dinner last night. They’re quick and filling and everyone in my house will eat them. As I was draining the meat in the sink, the fan that sits in the kitchen window fell (it wasn’t plugged in.) It hit the big wooden spoon I held which flipped up and splashed into the hot grease, spilling it all over my thumb and…the front of my very thin tank top.

Now, my thumb I can stick under the cold water tap or in the freezer on the side of the ice cream carton. I can’t exactly stick my boob under the tap or in the freezer. *sigh* Yes, that’s what got burned courtesy of my thin shirt. And really, it seems okay. The thumb and the boob. They both stung for an hour and everything was fine after that. But man, when someone asks you how your weekend was and you have to say “I burned my boob” well, that’s when it’s time to fall back on the old reliable, “It was okay.”

This week my co-worker is back from Napa (Yay!) and even though it’s month end, it shouldn’t be a killer. I spent last week with my nose so firmly to the grindstone it’s a wonder I have one left. But it left us in good shape so we probably won’t have to stress. I do have my IT budget due but I think I’ve got it in the bag. So I’m hopeful the work week isn’t too harsh.

Once Sunstroked has gone to my editor I may write up a romantic suspense review over at the Lex Valentine blog this week. I read one this past week at lunch and I was impressed. It had me turning the pages like a fiend. I’m not even a suspense fan! But I truly enjoyed the hero and heroine and the plot was exciting and timely. So if you see a Valentine Review come across Facebook or Twitter for Carried Away, you might want to check it out.

I’ve been thinking lately that I should look for some new Marcus images. You never know when new ones will turn up. For a guy pushing 40 Marcus is still hotter than hot.

We should all have genes that good. *sigh* Looking at him should have you in the burn zone in no time! LOL Have a smokin’ hot Monday, but don’t burn yourselves!

Anyway, I’m really bad. I can’t breathe. I feel like I’m suffocating. My chest burns and my inhalers are not helping.

Why? you ask.

The answer is simple. Because people are selfish. Actually, smokers are selfish.

The stupid tubes of tobacco have been proven bad for people yet there are those who still light them up.  They don’t care if it kills them. They also don’t care if it kills me.

As an asthmatic I’ve learned that every breath is precious. Yet here I sit, lightheaded from lack of oxygen, my meds working OT but doing nothing. All because there is a smoker at the front of my house and others outside my window and all the air I breathe is polluted with their selfishness.

I live in an old condo. It doesn’t have central air. It has an ancient wall unit in the dining room at the floor level. Two summers ago the painters painted over the outside of it when they painted the building and it’s never worked the same since. The condo sits over the building’s two garages. The dryers for all four condos in the building vent INSIDE the garage. And the Asian family in the condo next to mine do laundry 24/7.

In the summer, the heat in my house is impossible. I must have fans on and the windows open. My neighbors have been moving all weekend, standing beneath my bedroom window to smoke their cigs. Rott has been pissed off all weekend so he’s not gone completely outside to smoke. He’s standing (or sitting) at the open front door. And even if he did go outside on the front balcony, the way the fans and the wind around here works, it would still get sucked back to my bedroom where I work.

The result is that I’m seriously fucked when it comes to being able to breathe.  I just want to run away to someplace where there is untainted air. Where my every breath doesn’t feel strangled in my lungs. The frustration and the fear is overwhelming. Can you imagine how you would feel if you had a pillow on your face all day? That is me trying to breathe while being surrounded by smokers.

Nikki will be checking on me to ensure I don’t have any issues once I pass out, er go to sleep. Hopefully, it will get better now that the neighbors seem to be done for the night. They’re a selfish lot on a lot of levels, but you prolly remember the parking wars post. Oy.

Anyway, here’s a Marcus for today and then I have some exciting news about Tuesday!

Oh, he is so yummeh. *sigh*

Anyway, tomorrow there will be a special Sunlight Sucks post! Authors Mandy M. Roth and Michelle M. Pillow will be here talking about vampires and their books.  I hope you will stop by and show them some comment love.

Wishing you a breath of fresh air Monday!

Of course, I could tell with a few of them that they just needed a better vocabulary, better word choices, to pump up the story and give it more oomph. Others, well, let’s just say that the plots needed some work.  I will say that there were two real standouts of the ten I read and that’s a pretty decent percentage.

I talked to Nikki (Motley) about how to present yourself when you try to get a job. I told her to stand up straight and not slouch. People might perceive you as lazy and schlumpy if you don’t stand up straight. Now, in Nikki’s case, standing up straight means her gigantic boobs are really, really on display. There’s not much we can do about that.  I mean, Mother Nature saw fit to endow her with the kind of chest strippers pay plastic surgeons to get.  I try to get her to dress so that her chest isn’t so much on display when she’s job hunting. After all, despite it not being right for people to judge each other, they just do especially when they need to size up job applicants.

Used to be, Nikki had the attitude that since people shouldn’t judge each other she could suit herself. She was in her teens then and feeling all angsty and rebellious. Now, she gets it that while we shouldn’t judge others there are times you have to and most people are gonna do it anyway.  I don’t think it’s how humans are biologically, I think it’s how our culture is. And luckily, at 21, Nikki now gets this too. Now, if only she could just get people to stop staring at her boobs and give her a customer service type job…

Today’s Marcus is low key and pretty. I was playing around with gradients in Photoshop and used my favorite Marcus photo.  I love purple.

Oh! Before I go I invite you to check out Fonts For Peas. Amanda made a font out of my handwriting! It’s called peaLex Valentine. I should probably use it on this site. Whadda ya think?

Wishing you all a non-judgmental Monday!

Since I’m now short of time and need to run off to shower, I’m just gonna tell you about a chance to win a Sony eReader and other prizes in 1Romance Ebooks’ Birthday Blog Tour. What you need to do is head over to 1Romance Ebooks and register for the prizes. They give you a number that you use to comment at all the blog tour stops. Those comments give you chances to win the eReader and other prizes. I’m giving away a copy of the newest Tales of the Darkworld book, Common Ground, when I blog as part of the tour on the 21st at LexValentine.com.

Okay time for a Marcus and a shower! Hmmn. Maybe I should combine those…

That’s from the most famous series of photos of him, back at the beginning of his career. It’s still one of the hottest images of him there are.

Don’t forget, I’m blogging over at Lex Valentine on Wednesday and my last two posts there are on sci fi rom books I’ve read so if you’re looking for a good read check those out. Wish me luck with the server this morning! Everyone have a great Monday!

Those days were brought back to me this weekend when Nikki (Motley) broke up with her boyfriend.  This is the boyfriend everyone had reservations about because he was possessive (and talking about getting married and having kids when neither of them even has a job) and did controlling things like yell at her demanding she hang up if she was on the phone with me and we were disagreeing. I mean, I heard his tone of voice, it bothered me. I’m not into guys who want to control me and tell me what to do so it bothers me when someone treats my kid that way.

My co-workers and Rott all had the same impression of his behavior…stalker in the making.  So their relationship gave me more than a few qualms. Well, about a month ago she moved back home (she’d been staying with him out in Corona) and we breathed a sigh of relief. Then this weekend she broke up with him.

I didn’t much in the way of details but basically, they broke up and agreed to be friends and he told her he’d still take her to school on Monday. Well, she went out with friends that night, and being a single girl again, she messed around a little with a guy she’s known since high school. The next day, the brand new ex wants to talk.

So Nikki goes out with him to have yet another discussion about their relationship. She came home and didn’t really want to talk about it. She said enough though. He’s not taking her to school (I am) and he laid on the big emotional scene apparently.  She’s hurt him so badly. She’s worthless. He should be dead. Drama. Drama. Drama.

Ahhh, I remember those days! Every break up was a long goodbye. It was all woe is me, I’ll never feel like this again. You’ve broken my heart so badly I might as well be dead. Emo to the nth degree.

I’m not knocking the guy for feeling like that, I just don’t like it that he tried to make her feel bad about herself. (Although, Rott thinks that’s just part and parcel of the whole controlling thing-I wanna be an abuser when I grow up.) I tried to remember back to those drama days of my late teens-early 20’s to see if I could remember ever trying to make David (from Bella Daddy) feel bad for breaking up with me. I decided that I don’t think I did. I think I liked him too much as a friend to do that. (The other guy I was with back then didn’t dump me. I dumped him pretty much.)

Anyway, Nikki’s single again and even though Rott is looking over his shoulder wondering if the guy lost it and went to get a gun, I think that other than maybe some Facebook slamming and pissy texts from him, it’s probably all over with. Mama don’t let your babies grow up to date stalkers… I know that’s mean of me. It’s not like the guy ever hit her. Least, not that I know of. If he had, he’d probably be wearing a bullet hole between his eyes. Damn. I haven’t lost that flair for drama after all, have I?

Today’s Marcus is a new one. Pretty and shiny and oh, so yummeh!

BTW, I just discovered my comment above about FB is true. LOL Have a great drama-less Monday everyone!