Friday Five

1. My kids have decided to start waking up around 6:30 the last few days. This is not conducive to my well being. I need a longer night than that. Can someone please give them the memo that if they want nice, happy, rested, patient Mommy to stick around (or, okay, let's be honest, TRY to stick around), they need to sleep longer? Or at least stay silent for another hour if they have to wake up. Is that too much to ask?

2. I got the chance to read an ARC of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. My only complaint is that it doesn't come out until next spring, which means I have to wait FOREVER to read the sequel. Gah! Seriously though, wow. What a ride. I can't wait to discuss this one with... well, anyone who's read it! Anyone?

3. In exciting news for you, guess what??? Remember how I tantalized you all with the promise of Swedish Chocolate for prizes in my super awesome giveaway that happens to end tonight at midnight MST? And remember how I was sorry no one in my family had been to Sweden in a while, so it wouldn't be super fresh because I was going to have to buy it at Ikea? Well, hot diggity dog, my dad is going to Sweden on MONDAY!! (He was born there, plus he is the manager for a #1 band called Renegade Five over there, that he's working on getting a record deal for worldwide. Their music is awesome if you want to check it out!) Anyway, why is this good news for you? Because when he gets back a week from Tuesday, he's bringin' me some real, honest-to-goodness, straight from the source Swedish Marabou Chocolate to use for my giveaway!!! That means the winner will have to wait a little longer to get their package, but I'm hoping they're okay with that to get real Swedish chocolate, fresh from the actual country of origin. Oh man, I'm totally salivating right now just thinking about it... (I promise not to drool on the chocolate I'm giving away, don't worry.)

4. I have a love/hate relationship with really amazing books. I LOVE them because, well, hello. They're amazing! Which inherently means I adore reading them, that I want to marry them, then I want to tell everyone I know to go buy and read them. The hate part comes in when I go to write again after reading such a book as this, and think, "I hate you for writing a book that amazing because now I realize that I'm never going to write something as good as ________. Why the heck am I even losing sleep to do this? My kids are going to start yelling 'Mama!' at me at 6:30 in the morning, I should just go to sleep." Then my computer electrocutes me, and I snap out of it and keep writing. (No, actually, I'm just kidding. I don't actually hate anyone who writes amazing books, my computer doesn't actually electrocute me, I don't actually think I suck that bad or I would have quit a long time ago. However, I do have a hard time believing anything I write could ever elicit a response of love that strong in anyone else. Maybe once an editor buys one of my books, I'll be more inclined to hope for that. Ya know, that at least one or two people might think that. Besides my husband. And a couple of friends of mine that I've bribed with desserts and stuff.)

5. I ramble a lot when I'm sleep deprived. So here's a short one. Giveaway ends tonight at midnight MST. Don't forget to click here to enter! It's easy, you get to pick your prize, and the chocolate is to die for. Also, useful for consoling yourself if you ever suffer from #4.

Happy Friday! What are your thoughts today?