I have been looking for a few more friends to add. So if I added you and you come checking me out, I'm a basically OK person. A little weird maybe but hopefully in a nice way. If you want to quiz me before adding me back, that's fine. If you do not want me to have you listed on my friends list then say so and I'll unfriend you.

It's almost Christmas and still difficult for me to believe. I've had a tough time getting into the Christmas "spirit" and just haven't enjoyed everything as I usually do. We've already done most of the gift giving/receiving. I really wasn't happy with some of the gifts I bought, especially for family, nothing seemed to be quite what I wanted.

I've been cooking pies and made a delicious carrot cake for tomorrow. One more big dinner and then it's all over with.:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY ON MY FLIST!!!! Hope you have a great day with family and friends.:)

Hope you enjoyed your holiday! I certainly enjoyed mine, good company, good food, no work. :)

So now I'm immediately getting ready for my little mini-vacation that I didn't expect to get. Sun and sand and beautiful beaches. We won't think of the high temp and humidity or the bad traffic getting there. I can't even remember the last time I saw the ocean. I'm excited about this...cross your fingers for me that everything goes smoothly.

Thanks to those of you who read my Han/Leia story, Muddled Thinking, at starwarsficfest and commented on it!

Here is my fanfiction for starwarsficfest, a Han/Leia piece. There are still a lot of prompts left to claim for stories so check it out if you're interested in writing a story!

July 1, darth_taral
OT, Leia/Han: a princess and a guy like me--let's be realistic, here.

Title: Muddled Thinking
Author: darth_taral
Fandom: Star Wars OT
Characters: Han Solo, Leia Organa, Wedge Antilles, Luke Skywalker (briefly)
Pairing: Han/Leia
Rating: Rated PG
Warnings: None
Word Count: about 1590
Disclaimers: I do not own or profit from these characters; this is a work of fanfiction.
Summary: Han wants a relationship with Leia but doesn’t think it would work or that she returns his feelings. Wedge tries to convince him otherwise.

( Muddled Thinking )

I have my story ready for the starwarsficfest, it's been ready for a couple of weeks but I've been waiting for the July 1 date to post it at the community. It's a Han/Leia story from the OT in which neither one has admitted their feelings for the other yet. It was fun to write and I added Wedge as an extra character just because I've always liked him and figured he might have got caught in the middle a couple of times.

Anyway, there should be at least a couple of stories posted there every day during the month of July. There are several I'm very anxious to read, especially a couple about Vader.

I have company coming later in the week and I'M NOT READY! I need to buy food and clean and decide where everybody will sleep. I'm really looking forward to seeing them but I guess I'm such a loner sometimes that I'm always glad when company leaves too. :]

I'm still reading the Jedi Twilight book, just haven't got very far. Excellent characterization so far, it's going to be a wonderful trilogy of books.

I'm in love. My ex-husband has no chance anymore because he cannot ever compare to Tony Stark. Of course, this probably proves that I'm short of a few brain cells, trading in one messed up guy for another.

But the Iron Man movie was really great. I was glued to it the whole time. I've always liked Robert Downey, Jr., the man is a chameleon, but he fit the part of Iron Man/Tony Stark PERFECTLY. I even liked the chemistry between him a Gwyneth Paltrow. And the friend Rhodey and even the guy who played the doctor in the beginning. I did not like the guy who played Stane, something about him makes me grit my teeth...and don't I know him from somewhere and don't recognise him without hair? I can picture him in something else but his name has fallen into the black hole that occupies a corner of my brain.

Anyway, I want to see it again and I haven't seen a movie twice in the theatre in a loooooong time. :)

Okay, I signed up to write a story at starwarsficfest. I picked one about Leia/Han so I wouldn't feel in over my head. I feel like I know those characters well, at least how they were during the original trilogy. There are a lot of other interesting choices too. I may pick a second before it's finished, I think it goes through July. I'm tempted by a couple of Vader prompts. But a lot of the EU characters I don't know very well except for the Solo siblings, so I'm hesitant about writing about any of those.

My days off are coming up quick! I still haven't decided what I want to do. I kind of would like to just stay home and relax, doing a few things here and there but no pressure. But I want to go somewhere too, though it can't be far.

Isn't the new Indiana Jones movie out now? *squeals & claps hands in a very silly manner*
I love Indy. Harrison Ford has aged so well. I like Shia LeBoeuff too and I'm curious how he'll fit into the movie.

Ooooookay...mini disaster time. A stopped up AC drain line means...what?...anyone?...that's right, soaked and ruined carpet and padding. So how do you get it unstopped? Well, you can dig up the pipe...the many, many feet of pipe, hoping the stopped up part's not under the house. You can buy this stuff to put in the drain and hope it will eat away whatever is stopping it up. I'm trying the second choice first. Meanwhile, if I want to run the AC, and I do some nights cause I can't sleep hot, we have a hose running into a bucket so the water can drain, hoping none will get on the wood flooring which I think would probably be even more expensive than the carpet to fix. No, I do not have insurance that covers this.

I have had a monster headache for the past two days...hmmm, wonder what caused that...and actually am home from work early and trying to poison myself with too much ibuprofen.

My ex-husband's such an ass. How he got to be his age without someone killing him is a great mystery to me. He has called me four times over the last couple of days just spouting nonsense and asking the same questions over and over...his poor alcohol/drug abused brain apparently doesn't absorb information too well anymore or else he's developed that short-term memory loss. He's suppose to be off everything now, which is good, but I think his body and mind has suffered damage from all the earlier years of abuse. And he's still a selfish bastard who thinks he knows everything and talks to everyone like they have the mind of a 1st grader. I'm still stumped as to how I ever got mixed up with him.

I finally had to get up at 5AM after a very fitful night of weird dreaming. First I dreamed about a sandy dirt road with grass growing down the middle and a friend of mine was lying curled up in a ball in the middle of it and I think he was dead. That's what got me up the first time. I fell back to sleep and dreamed a bunch of crazy stuff topped off by dreaming I had to go back to work, it was late evening and stormy looking, but I realized I'd forgotten to punch the time clock. Then I was realizing I'd forgotten to clock in and out for quite a while and that was unsettling as was an encounter with a co-worker who acted very oddly. Leaving the building and walking across the parking lot, storm clouds rolling in the sky, I get a text message from a friend of mine (not the one lying in the road in the previous dream) but a woman who's not a close friend but we know each other fairly well. But she was at one of the motels out near the interstate and was frantically asking could I come get her cause she was in danger. I get over there and am driving up to the motel and then I wake up. Cliffhanger. No, I haven't been watching much TV or even reading anything lately, I don't know why I was dreaming all that but it really left me feeling unsettled. I've done this before but usually when I'm very ill which I'm not at this time.

April showers? April showers? Forget that, we need a couple of good storms to soak everything. I don't know if I've ever had to water my shrubs and other flowers that are trying to grow at this time of the year. June and July and August, yes, but not here at the beginning of April. The ground must be extremely dry. My tongue was hanging out pitifully as I walked my little mile down the road this evening. I thought I'd start feeling stronger after a few weeks of exercise and then I could increase my distance but here at 5, almost 6 weeks later, I feel about as weak as when I started.

I stopped by my grandparents' old place yesterday on the way home. The house is gone and now whoever owns it is clearing off the property. It looks nothing like it did which really put me in a downward spiral for the evening. There were a lot of good times in that old house.

All day today I have wanted bread...warm, fresh bread.

I was so lazy all evening. I have a million things that need doing but I did a crossword, not the one from the paper, I'm still lousy at those. I did go through a box of assorted papers and mail and magazines and pictures, I can be such a slob sometimes, throwing everything together and thinking I'll get a chance to look at it one day and actually enjoy it. I can't believe the unread magazines I found.

I tried to write a bit yesterday evening but never got very much done. I'd love to write a story about Robin Hood's Guy and Marian (yes, I do prefer that pairing over Robin/Marian!) but I just can't get Guy to sound accurate. Or Marian either, for that matter. I'd love to write about the Sheriff too, as evil as he is I still love his weird sense of humor and I think he's attractive in a strange, wicked kind of way. The Merry Men I can do without, they can be irritating. And I do like Robin but I like Guy just a little bit more, especially with Marian.

I need to go clothes shopping this weekend. My clothes have gotten just loose enough on me now that they really don't look very well. Plus there are lost buttons and tiny stains and a general overall used look. I can't afford a lot so I'll have to get basic stuff that I can switch around.

It was so windy outside today, warm but hard to enjoy that with dirt blowing in your eyes. I poked around outside and then went for a walk with a friend. I am ready for winter to be over with but I'm sure we have more cold days coming before it's over with.

I've been reading, a Nevada Barr book that I missed and now a Robert Jordan book but I'm having trouble with it cause I can remember now what went on in the preceding book.

I'm hearing more about the new Clone Wars television show that's to come in the fall. Hopefully it'll be on a channel that I can get.

I wish I could speak another language. I suppose it's not necessary in my life but it's something I've always wanted to do. I took a beginning Spanish class in college but dropped out halfway through the semester because it was kicking my ass and I knew no more than I did on day 1. And everyone else in that "beginners" class already knew some of the language. French I would like to learn, and Japanese. Even if I couldn't learn to speak another language properly, if I could just get to where I could understand when others spoke it, then I think that would satisfy me.

I have been so frustrated with my work and with my personal life the past few months. It's weighing heavily on me and there are some days when I feel like sitting and crying just for some relief. I've tried writing and reading, those things used to help me a lot when I felt down, but my mind keeps returning to all these problems and feelings that feel like a mountain sitting right in my path and keeping me from going forward. I know everything can't be all hearts and roses all of the time but I have to get back to being able to enjoying things again.

Guitar Hero...is not for me. I have absolutely NO eye/hand coordination. My friend that I was playing with, she laughed so hard she just fell over in the floor and couldn't even get back up, gasping for breath.

Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight than I have the past few nights. I know the lack of sleep is what's making me feel all spacey during the day. I'm zonked out at work, I don't feel like doing much at home, too sleepy to read but then can't stay asleep when I go to bed.

Hey...new Star Wars stuff coming! Check it out at this Clone Wars community theclonewars. Something to look forward to later in the year. So, okay...it's not real people, it's animated, but it's Star Wars!

Sometimes life seems so unreal, all the day to day craziness, I feel like I could just walk out the door and escape it all.

I'm going to take a few weeks off in June. I hate to lose the extra money but it's just necessary at this point in my life. I need to simplify things.

I always do a large breakfast on Sunday morning...you know, all that wonderful tasting food that's bad for you...bacon, eggs scrambled with a little butter, toast with butter, and chocolate milk. I suppose it'll do something horrible to my body one day.

Caught the first part of Big Momma's House...yeah, that naked view in the bathroom was just the thing after breakfast. *Groaning*

What should I do today? Clean the yard? Nah, too windy and the rake looks like something chewed it, stupid dog did it. Clean the bathrooms? Hell no, who wants to do that on their Sunday. Fold and hang clothes? That might get done later, especially if I want something non-wrinkled for tomorrow. Write...mmmm...don't have any good ideas today. Read...maybe. I need to make a run to the bookstore and stock up again. I'm not sleepy. I don't really want to go anywhere. Don't particularly want to talk to anybody either.

After quite a bit of tweaking...I love that word, remember Tom Hanks used it in You've Got Mail...I finally got my new account up and going and looking reasonably good. I want to add some pictures or some kind of header later. I figure I'd better leave it alone for a few days.