Amie Stuart ~ On the Back Porch

Ok so the book isn’t done but my Christmas shopping is almost done and I just started two days ago!

I found the kid (after they’ve been sold out because i couldn’t get my lazy ass in gear BEFORE thanksgiving and get to Gamestop) a refurbed X-box 360!!! WOOT!! Lest you think I’m cheap, Gamestop has a great return plan if something goes wrong….it’s how we get most of our games too and if you’re a member, you get like 10% off used games and 10% extra (or something like that) when you sell back games).

I’m stealing this from Midnight Moon Cafe.

Thirteen Gifts I Need to Buy

1. A Nike Giftcard
2. A portable DVD Player
3. An Old Navy Gift Card
4. A bike lock (stocking)
5. Pirates DVD
6. Ratalloulie DVD
7. AXE (x2) for the boys stockings
8. Santa Clause 3 (for me!) on DVD
9. Simpsons Movie on dVD (NOT FOR ME)
10. Movies, movies, movies! Okay we are ALL ABOUT MOVIES!
11. I even already got Kevin (not his real name) HEROES on DVD
12. Raquetballs (the kids LOVE to play with them)
13. At least one new shirt for each kid.

and some other stuff………

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So what do you all think of the writer’ strike out in LaLa Land? Do you think they have a legit beef or no? Shows are already grinding to a halt, with more to follow soon I’m sure.

Yeah Yeah I know…nose to the grind stone and all that
I”m up 13k and moving along hoping to finish the first draft of this second novella this week. And yes the smileys are still broke for the duration and probably will be until I have time to devote to iinstalling an older version of wordpress.

I have Wordpress 2.3 and I can’t make the smileys work. If you can or if you know who can, hollar at me. It just makes my head hurt.

And remember………If it’s Monday, I’m at Southern Fried Chicas

If it’s Tuesday, I’m at Naughty and Spice

If it’s Wednesday - Sunday I’m probably in my writing cave though I’ll probably pop out on occasion for Slim Camp and stuff.

We had a FABULOUS time at the HeartLa luncheon this weekend!!! It was a great trip but lots of driving. I want to send out a big thank you to the ladies for all their hard work. It was a blast, and we made some great new friends!

Ok the real reason I’m here….Can you smoke in the bar section of a restaurant in Austin, Texas? You can in Arlington and I think most of the HEB, NRH area, but i don’t think you can in Dallas..it’s for my WIP. Without actually calling an eatery down there, I’d like to try and find out.

Anyone…anyone….

Sorry about the noseeum smileys…i upgraded the blog and i can’t figure out how to make the f*ckers show up.

First…..you really REALLY need to check out Mik’s Thursday Thirteen over at SFC.

Also check out Slim Camp updates and my guest post over at Sasha’s blog today.

It’s so funny, I hear folks all the time saying, “I could never give up _______” but you’d be surprised what you can give up with the proper motivation (ie no choice LOL). Even my cousin, who really needs to lose no weight but wanted to know what I was doing, balked at the idea of giving up her beloved Diet Coke.

It’s not 13 but here’s a few of the things I’ve given up in the last year (cheating aside–yes I cheat).
1. Sugar
2. Wheat
3. White Rice
4. Caffeine in all it’s glorious forms
5. Pasta
6. Alcohol (doesn’t mix with the diabetes meds so well)
7. Cigarettes
8. Soda

Things I miss:
1. Sweet Tea (HELLO this IS the south *sigh*)
2. Cigarettes and coffee in the morning
3. White rice
4. Spaghetti (though buckwheat pasta is actually a pretty good substitute).

So what would you give up? What do you think you could never give up? And have you given anything up?