I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath to find out what I was up to while my computer was in the shop & I was forcefully kept off-line.  (And if you don’t think that had me climbing the walls & pulling out my hair, you don’t know me very well. :hothot )

So first, I caught up on doctor appointments.  Eye exam & my annual overall head-to-toe.  (I actually waited until I knew I’d be out running around a lot to take the ol’ ‘puter into the shop to try to cut down on my cut-off-from-the-internet anxiety.  Am I a smarty pants or what? :winkwink )

Once again, I am practically perfect in every way. :thumbsup   My GP even asked if I’d lost weight.  I hadn’t; according to their scales, I’ve actually gained a few pounds. :blinkie   But that’s with boots & jeans & a winter sweater!  (I really have to start scheduling these things for swimsuit weather.)  When I told him so, he said I certainly looked like I’d lost weight…& then when I told him I was still exercising daily & even lifting weights, he said, “Well, then, you could actually be building up muscle mass, which would show up on the scale.”

So do we love my doc, or what?   Most times you go to the doctor & they get on your case about losing weight…mine makes up excuses for the scale to be wrong.  Awesome!  And also ironic, since this is the same man who never said a word or even seemed to notice when I lost 100 pounds between visits. :beerlaugh

I definitely got antsy without e-mail access.  It wasn’t a very good week for it, either, since I’d just sent off a bunch of different stuff to my editors & had no way of knowing if they’d gotten it, reviewed it, approved or disapproved, needed something else…  And I had no back-up to the internet, so I really was cut off from the outside world. :stalker

But I got some reading done! :cantputdown   Finished Mystery Lover by Lisa Childs & only have about 10 pages left of White Heat by Brenda Novak.

And I drooled my way through a few episodes of Hawaii Five-0, which is quickly becoming one of my guiltiest of pleasures.  It’s not like me to completely miss a hunk-fest like this, but I actually just started watching this show & am now kicking myself soundly for missing it for so long.  I love it!  Could be the theme song.  Could be the lush island setting.  Could be the gripping storylines.  Or maybe it’s the bevy of hunky leads.  Yeah, it’s probably the bevy of hunky leads.  I’m having a real problem splitting my fantasies between the three, let me tell you.  And my darling Dwayne & second-in-command Jason are starting to get a little jealous. :devil

I actually had a really nice dream about my darling Dwayne one night.  Nothing dirty…get your minds out of the Dungeon gutter, my smutty-minded Darlings…but it definitely had me waking with a smile. :love

I did laundry & made a bunch of phone calls (which I could still do, even without internet access *g*), & then banged my head against the wall when I realized that what I could have been doing with my down time was working on another Top Secret side project.  It’s not contracted, isn’t for anything in particular, but I started it a while back & would love to have finished it. If only I’d thought of that before I unplugged the PC & took it away. Ah, yes, regret mixed with stupidity is a bitter pill to swallow.  It doesn’t go down any easier with one of those luscious Everybody’s Irish cocktails, either.

Word of the Week:  buy-curious — A person who is just looking around, but may or may not actually be interested in buying something from a store.

Y’know how I asked y’all last week to keep an eye out for copies of The Boyfriend School on DVD for me? Well, that still stands—please add it to you shopping list & keep an eye out for them!

And of course, I’ve been looking all over for them, too.

Unfortunately, during my last two digs into the Wal-Mart & Big Lots bargain DVD bins, I found zero copies of The Boyfriend School. :sadheart   I did, however, come home with the following to add to my ever-growing collection:

Overboard

Charlie’s Angels:  Full Throttle

Chocolat

The Lost Boys

Batman Begins

Fern Gully:  The Last Rainforest

Igor

Spiderman 2

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

So what have you come home with recently when you were really out looking for something else? :tpspspspt

You can probably guess that at least one of the things I’m grateful for this week is that I have my computer back! :dancing

Of course, since hooking it up again was a completely pain & I’ve now spend about three days straight playing catch-up, I’m not sure that news is entirely dance-worthy. :sadheart

But still, there is catching up to do…& the more I get done, the less I have left to do.  So let’s get to it!

(Even though I’m getting straight to the prize announcements this week, be sure to post your Happy Sunday happies & gratefuls, anyway!  We want to know what great stuff has been happening in your lives this week! :brava )

WINNER #1 —

First, the winner of our “Fun Little Guessing Game” post, which asked you to take a stab at guessing what my recent Top Secret Project connected to the release of my October Brava, MUST LOVE VAMPIRES, might be.  And because her guess of “a free story that will coincide with the October 2011 release” came closest to The Big Reveal (which is coming soon, I promise)…

:dancing   Leni!!! :dancing

WINNER #2 —

Next, the winner of our Free Book Friday giveaway from last week, February 25th, (that would be The Return by Sharon Sala)…

:dancing   SiNn!!! :dancing

WINNER #3 —

And finally, the winner of this week’s Free Book Friday giveaway, Bound to Please by Lilli Feisty…

:dancing   Deanna!!! :dancing

:congrats  Congratulations, ladies!  Please contact me with your full names & mailing information, & I’ll get your prizes out to you as soon as I can!  (Lots of catching up to do there, too. :ouch )