It's Valentine's Day! And one of the cats chewed on our Valentines roses we got and now it looks like we have slugs... in the house. O__O

The last week has been bad for my right leg. First, I jammed my big toe and now the joint aches a lot, especially when it's raining, which is all the time. Then I slipped in the rain while putting groceries in the car and banged my shin really hard on the car door and there was this lump that swelled up and is super tender. And THEN because I was being careful getting into the car a few days later, I was too slow getting my leg into the car and the door tried to fall closed and smashed into my ankle. Gah. Nothing serious or anything, but still.

As you might guess, it's gray here in Seattle. Gray all the time, except when it's night out and then it's pitch black. It's so gray these days, you can't tell what time of day it is, only that it's not night time. And I have a vitamin D deficiency, which I take supplements for, but it never feels like enough. So I asked for an early birthday present and got this amazing sun lamp!



The picture doesn't do it justice as far as how bright it is. It's REALLY bright--I have to have it angled away from me so I don't end up looking directly at it. The cats love lounging under it, and the roses sitting in a vase on my table seem to think it's the real thing and have been blooming for it. I got it on Wednesday and set it up and my mood was INSTANTLY kicked up a notch or two. (Or three or... ten.) I didn't realize how big a difference sunlight makes. I feel way happier with it, I don't get down about the grayness outside, or about my horrible sleeping schedule which is currently so off-kilter I don't even want to tell you what time I eat dinner. I'm much more productive at night and feel more awake, but the time when I end up pretty much only being awake at night, like some kind of vampire, can be really depressing. But now, with my sun lamp, it doesn't bother me! And I have a lot more energy and actually *want* to be awake all day. And get work done (even chores). I feel fuller longer and don't feel like I need to overeat. I feel like it's summer, only without the heat. And I no longer spend hours every day desperately longing to be somewhere sunnier.

I've been distracted a lot lately with grad school stuff. I've been trying to find scholarships, but it seems like there's a technicality on all of them that disqualifies me. >:/ So far I've gotten into Syracuse University and Rutger's distance programs for library and information science (in case you missed my OMG, GRAD SCHOOL! tweets), and while I'm still waiting to hear from the UW, I'm falling in love with Syracuse SO HARD. I've already been invited to join a group for new students, and when I asked questions about a scholarship and was totally expecting to get a snippy response, the response I got was actually really encouraging and informative. I love the classes they offer and they're big on entrepreneurship and supporting student projects, and their students have done some really amazing things. I kind of wish I'd gone there for undergrad, but that's a different topic altogether. As is, I'm itching to send them my intent to enroll card, but I have to wait and see what financial aid packages I get, because while they're at the top of my list, they're also the most expensive.

Book wise, I've got two projects going. I made a wild claim on twitter that I was going to finish a draft of the new book by my birthday, which is in 16 days, and... Yeah, no. Not going to happen. But I've ended up getting stuff done on the not-so-new MG book I've been picking away at, so that one's u