Missing In Action: Blogger Burgandy Ice Extraordinaire

Well... "Extraordinaire" might be a big of an exaggeration.

:-)

I haven't been posting much this summer, however, so "Missing" is pretty accurate.

I'm just working, is all. In a cubicle, no less.  I have some windows, which helps with the breathing part of living, and I've decorated with plenty of art and pictures and maps. (Gotta love maps!)  I'm on the 8th story of an old, old building in downtown Portland, which... is pretty flippin' awesome. I love the old windows and how they open to a straight drop down to Pioneer Courthouse Square.  Well... my window opens to a fire escape, which is also flippin' awesome, but if I zip through this hamster maze of cubicles to the Other Side of things, I can see the Square out the window.

I do Zip.

I also do creativity, as you might imagine.  I get to schedule my day around projects I choose to work on (or so I tell myself.) I add my flair everywhere, naturally.  Like a company newsletter with a humorous column.  :-D  Why not?!

I'm always seeking additional creative outlet, though... it's never enough. Not even if I get to read on a train - and reading on a train is also flippin' awesome. I don't get enough... time to write... express stuff.  I've started posting on Instagram.  Yep. Not too personal, either. Plus there's Twitter. Lol. I am learning how to keep up on Twitter better. It has everything to do with getting one of those new devices that pose as phones. My new large device is too big to fit in a pocket and is comical to use as a cell phone, but it's got a great screen for e-books and carries tons of music plus it keeps me connected to people, which is tricky. Being a mom of four who attends football practice while working full time and managing everything else still, you'd think I'd drop the ball somewhere, hey?  Well... MIA on the blog, pretty much, unless I can figure out how to post my pic here, too...

You can find me at one of these places if you're not already following me there:

Instagram:   burgandy_ice

Twitter:  @BurgandyIce

Live a Little, even if there's a Tear!

"I had grown accustomed to my father's abandonment..." Pg 151

I'm wiping away the tears on my lunch break...

Just in time to be interrupted by a Minion asking me a question to which they had already pre-determined the correct answer. My job, therefore, was to find the Correct Answer with "hot" and "warm" and "getting colder" responses until I arrived at where the Minion was directing me and then announced it as Policy as if the Correct Answer was my own.

0.0

I'm not always a good Gru, but I try.

Just add boots,  and this is me today!!   :-D

I suppose the tears are a good indication that the answer to yesterday's question - When I was offered the position of one of the most respected people I've ever known in the work force, I:

C) Burst into tears

Carpe Dium, smell the roses, live each moment to the fullest, that's my policy. If it involves some extra emotion at really awkward times?  Well... then... *cough* you have more stories to share, right? Or more secrets. 

In my defense... In that moment I realized I would be gone from home 40 hrs/wk - 50 counting travel time. OMG. I also could not believe I had asked for so little per hour. *sputter*  You know you have asked too little when they don't even negotiate. I would've felt better if they'd've haggled a minute. Still. I couldn't believe I would be making that much money, either. Plus.. I could not believe they would hire me. I mean, I've been a stay-at-home... uh... self-employed person for some years. About eight. I'm still not sure why they hired me, but that was smart of them. Lol. 

It is always wise to remember that 

"Pride comes before a fall", yes?

Which brings me of my Most Humiliating Day. I had been working three weeks successfully and was thick in the middle of that honeymoon season of "I can do no wrong!"  It felt like everyone thought I was amazing and the rosiness was threatening to blind me with Awesome.  That morning I noted in my journal, "I hope it is not all too good to be true!" 

I must've felt a storm brewing behind the wind of my glory. I could never have predicted the size of my humiliation. So here's another multiple choice question for you.

Did I:

A)  Forget to wear clothes like the Emperor?B)  Plan a party for 400 people on the wrong date?C)  "Reply All" with confidential information for my boss regarding one of the recipients?

*shudder*  If you guess the right answer on this one, my humiliation will be complete.  

Or will it?!   Muahahaha... Oh, there's more. There is definitely more!

First, a moment of "oh no!"  from pg 151 of Edenbook:

"I closed the door and crossed the room to look out the window, fighting to keep from my heart the truth that had been thrust upon me. I may as well have been trying to blot out the sun. There was no escape from being unwanted. And that was the truth that struck me the most deeply. Nobody wanted me - not my father or my grandmother or the Wyndhams. Not Louisa. Maybe not even Cecily. And certainly not Philip... 

I felt like I did the fist time I had been thrown from a horse, with the reins yanked from my hands and the ground rushing up at me. Then, as now, there was nothing I could do to prevent the pain that was coming."

Oh... how well I know the feeling. That moment of... here it comes! and nothing to break the fall.

Archair BEA Wrap Up Fun

Archair BEA has been so fun all week. I meandered off track, as usual.  CONGRATULATIONS to all the many, many WINNERS!!  I recognize so many names & I sincerely, personally congratulate you!

We're the Same!!!!

I love this statistical Survey Results Post, did you see it? I fit nestled right in the middle of everything.

I've been blogging less than a year. Most everyone is a bit more experienced, but us "newbies" definitely dominate (participators in Armchair BEA, anyway... maybe all the vets went to New York? Lol)


I blog right about 7-10 hours per week, although I often blow into averaging 3 hours per week.  I usually pack most of that into one or two crazy days, so it's nice of them to ask for weekly totals.


Obviously I'm on Blogger... but they make it so easy, you know? It's a matter of how little I know about html stuff rather than a knowledgeable choice of platform. You know?


This is interesting... Twitter is used the most. I still don't know how to use it "right", but Twitter is where I catch tons of fun posts as people I follow tweet 'em. And I choose Twitter over any other social networking for sharing giveaways & posts & fun stuff. So... I'm not surprised, but I feel like I better figure out what I'm doing better!!!!

It makes sense that we like Goodreads, etc, next. You know... that's our world!!

Fiction - Fantasy - Paranormal topped the charts on favorite reading. Lol. NOT A SURPRISE!!!  I think this is the main reason I feel so comfy book blogging. These are exactly what I like talking about the most, what I drive my friends & family crazy talking about too much. Lol. Yeehaw!!!


I enjoy Challenges & Blog Hops best, too, when I'm organized and have time to participate, followed closely by Readathons when I have time to read!!  :-D  It's all about TIME!! 

So..... what about you?  

Are you close to the statistics? You know, like a part of what makes them a realistic reflection? Or are you different?!  

 Did you see The Future of Blogging Post?  The future is whatever we make it, you know?  But there's one idea that had me super-curious to try it and see if I could even do it (obviously not counting this post!! Lol)


That is... MICROBLOGGING.  I wonder if I can review a book in less than 500 words. I'm not sure it's possible, but I feel challenged to try. I have seen mini-summaries of reviews on Pinterest and I really appreciated it. Twitter would be a very, very quick platform, wouldn't it? But what if we could blip out wee lil' summaries like that?  I'm gonna give it a "go". Although... I can't see me using it exclusively. *Ahem*  I think I could shorten a long review after I've let-er-rip first. Maybe.

The idea of short, fast posts is intriguing, though.  I'm challenged to try.


En fin, I've enjoyed Armchair BEA this week, but I did not participate as much as I'd hoped to. Personal Life intruded on my blogging life BIG TIME. And if BEA is always the first week of June, I'm always going to have trouble participating. The only week of the year busier for me is Christmas, no joke. I have two birthdays and end-of-school parties. Plus, it seems like every year some big event or life-changing decision takes place at the end of May... this year, we moved my husband's shop. The best side-effect is collapsing exhausted into bed every night leaving my kitchen to look like a tornado hit it with balloons & streamers lingering everywhere.  What a week!!!!

Right or Left Brain?

Ok. So... since Bloggiesta, I've been thinking of how to clean up my sidebars more. And I'm trying to organize my reviews in categories with their own pages... visually, of course, 'cause I'm a visual person and I hate written lists. Of course!

And I saw this post from Wading thru the Oceans of Life about this brain test.

I had to laugh... and take the test!!  No wonder I have no idea what category to put these books in, for cryin' outloud!!  I might as well have "Fav", "liked-a-lot" and "whatever" titles for as much sense as genre titles make to me.

Hey... maybe if categorizing stuff is easy, you could tell me what to file these under...
     

Fairytale retellings?  Sci-Fi?  YA?  The Last Unicorn is under Adult at my library...  Wha?!?!

Or better, yet... take this test first and prove you can assist!!  Lol

Here's my awesome results:

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (68%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (32%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
Personality Test by SimilarMinds.com

It's not my fault!!! They asked if I'm RANDOM, SCATTERBRAINED & MESSY... uh, hello!!!

Go on... I dare ya!!  Take the test and see if you're as nutty as me or need to help me get organized!!!

Bloggiesta!

Hey... Ole!

It's All About Books is kindly hosting this git-it-together weekend for bloggers workin' on their blogs. (Complete with enthusiastic music & tweet partays.) Weekends are super busy for me, but I'll get this stuff done (eventually). First off, sharing the plan!

I'm doin' stuff, like....

1. Figuring out where my feedburner thingame went. I threw it off track, I think, not for the first time. I copy-n-paste a lot and some formats don't fit in smoothly for some reason. humph.

2. Design!!!

      - new button?!

      - (the elusive) banner!!!

3. Figuring out my format for hosting authors & books... that aren't reviews, but more like interviews or highlights with giveaways. I need a system so I don't confuse myself, especially if I'm going to give more books away. ( Yikes! Already there!!)  Then I need to respond to a bucket load of review requests and update my About Me & Sidebar for receiving requests again.

4. Fix my Google Advertising... I think I threw it off, too.  :-)

5. Could I write up a skeleton review outline so I don't forget to discuss the cover 1/2 the time or suddenly leave off the rating?  Is that too much to ask?!?!

6. I'd like to set up a casual setting, too, where I can dump thoughts regularly. Um... not like "scheduled" regularly, more like randomly regularly. I was thinking about that with the "Have a cup of tea" title. I love having friends over to sit around and chat over a cup of tea - or very fine coffee!!  And that's what I was thinking, something along those lines.  Very visit-y.

I can't stop with 6 things... that's an even number. Let's see..... (yes, I realize I gave 8 books away - drove me crazy. I nearly kept a book just to oddify the numbers.)

7........   Think of something else I need to do.  :-)

Go ahead and give me more suggestions. I can take it.  *bracing for impact*  Or leave me a comment if you're bloggiesta-ing and I'll swing by to get inspiration!!