I’m proud of myself this morning. I got up thirty minutes early and exercised today! Woot! In keeping with that theme…

Thirteen Reasons I Need to Exercise

1. My closet is now divided into three sections. Clothes that fit, clothes that almost fit, and clothes that fit 30 pounds ago. I need to fit into ALL of them.

2. I feel better when I exercise. Corny but true.

3. I bought that stepper to exercise. I’d hate to have wasted the money.

4. There’s a full-on home gym upstairs. Um, what excuse could I possibly think up not to use it?

5. My butt doesn’t look good. I need to work on firming that up.

6. Ugh. Eleven years after giving birth and I still have a baby pot belly.

7. My knees are ugly. I need better looking legs to distract people.

8. I’m almost 40. I’m sure there’s a survey somewhere that says I HAVE to exercise.

9. I’m almost 40. I had to repeat that twice cause it’s so traumatic.

10. Larissa does it, and she’s really thin.

11. It’ll give me more energy for other pursuits… hey! I was talking about writing, you dirty minded people.

12. I get to read while I exercise, and reading time has become a precious commodity.

13. It’s for me and only me. If I exercise I feel good about myself and that’s what counts.

I don’t think I’d last if it was any longer. I usually don’t feel this tired until Friday morning but damned if I wasn’t tempted to hit that snooze button and drift back into sleep. Lately my dreams have been very vivid, telling me stories with all kinds of weird characters and interesting things. That’s a sign that my imagination is kicking me in the ass.

I. Need. To. Write.

Which means I need to turn real life off. Are you laughing too? Yep, it’s that funny isn’t it? *sigh*

So on Wednesdays I’m thinking I’ll share some strange news each week. There’s always some oddball story that catches my eye… here’s one about a guy who likes shoes.

In Wisconsin, they caught this 27 YO man with 1500 pairs of shoes. Did you read that? That’s one thousand five hundred pairs of shoes. Girls shoes, not men’s shoes, stolen from schools. Ick.

Apparently two years ago, he was charged with the same damn crime. Hello? Authorities? This is the rest of the world calling, the man has a PROBLEM, people. A big one.

Here’s another squicky part… he liked to smell them.

So there you have it. Today’s strange news. Anyone else have any to share?

Join me over at Passionate Prose. I’m talking about my neighborhood book club’s review of The Treasure!

Monday’s eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

Today is John Wayne’s 100th birthday. Go and rent a movie, any John Wayne movie, and celebrate the Duke.

Swashbuckle on by to the Writers Across Time blog. I’m talking pirates.

Hey y’all. It’s been a crazy week from soup to nuts. Enjoy my Thursday thirteen!

Thirteen Reasons to Play Hookey from Work Today

1. It is a beautiful blue sky day with sun.
2. The humidity is low and it will be 82 today.
3. My bed was sooooo comfortable this morning.
4. Memorial Day sales are going on (can you say shopping?).
5. The long weekend is most tempting. For those of us in the US, it’s a holiday weekend with Memorial Day on Monday.
6. I needed more sleep.
7. Work has been going a hundred miles an hour since minute one.
8. Today would be a perfect day to do some outside work when it’s not beastly hot.
9. I’d love to blog hop. So many good Thursday Thirteen posts to read!
10. It makes a great Thursday Thirteen list.
11. My house is a big, fat mess and I really need to clean it.
12. I’m behind on my edits so I could use an extra 4 hours to finish.
13. Who doesn’t want to play hookey?

Hooyah! Wednesday is finally here! I mean, hump day is.

I made it through Tuesday okay – how about y’all? When I eat my lunch at my desk (more often than not lately) I like to read the news online. The Strange News category always catches my attention. Speaking of hump day…

This story made me wince.

A 60 year old woman gave birth to twins in New Jersey yesterday. No, really. I’m not lying. See, you’re wincing too aren’t you? From what the story indicates she has a 6 year old son too, as well as two much older children. Then they reference a birth last year of twins also in NJ from a 59 year old woman.

Makes me want to cross my legs, throw salt over my shoulder and hang a horseshoe in my house. I’ll be 40 this year and my younger son is 11. There is no way on the planet I’d want to start over with a new baby – and I’m 20 years younger than this lady. Plus, well, I’m certainly not in the same physical shape I was when I had my last baby. A 40 year old mother is a risk, even if she’s healthy – what the hell were the doctors thinking to use in vitro fertilization on a 60 year old woman?

She can be a grandmother (since her son is 33 and daugher 29) and enjoy their babies. I just cannot fathom what she and her DH were thinking. If I hadn’t had any children, then absolutely I’d consider getting pregnant at 40. At 60, after three children, not a chance. I’m all about motherhood, but this is too much. She’ll be 78 when the twins graduate high school.

What do y’all think?

I think I’m officially recovered from my trip, although I still couldn’t get up half an hour early to exercise. I really, really need to get back into the routine so I’ll try to get a walk in today to make up for it.

It seems as though 2007 is flying by with the speed of a freight train. I simply find it inconceivable (fav movie line – Princess Bride) that it’s May 22 already. The year is almost half over! It seems that we’re always looking ahead to something, for me it’s a couple of trips in June, July and August, and preparing for them. Meanwhile, time slips through my fingers and I’m shaking the damn sand off. *slaps forehead*

I had an e-mail from a reader named B.J. yesterday (Hi BJ!!) who asked me when Books 6 and 7 of the Malloy series would be in print. That’s when it hit me. Book 7 is being released in ebook in just about five weeks. Holy shit! The end of the series is coming, dang that makes me tear up. Noah’s story (The Legacy) is kind of a wrap-up to everything – he’s grown up in front of readers in the first six books and now he’s a man, ready for his own happy ending.

I’m going to create a Malloy family tree and put it on my website. For my next series, Devils on Horseback, I’ll start that tree right away so y’all can read along with my devils.

Today’s post seems to be a meandering look at how my mind jumps around like a jackrabbit, doesn’t it?

Anyhoo, I don’t have my pics from Holland uploaded yet (technical difficulties with Flickr) and I’m working my butt off to get some edits done. Then I’ve got a novella to finish, and two synopses to submit, and oh, life. That’s always important. Geeeeeez, I can’t wait for my real vacation in August when I get on a big ass cruise ship and play slots, shop and lay in the sun with a book. Just the thought gives me goose bumps!

Have a wonderful, fabulous Tuesday y’all!

Monday’s eye candy for your viewing pleasure.