A month already?

Oh dear, it's been a month since I last wrote. So much for that weekly thing. But I did spend ten days of that month down in Huntsville, AL with my mum and Jerry. But seeing as they have a computer it's not really a suitable excuse. Anyway I've just spent the last hour doing taxes having realised with horror that they are due in by this Saturday. The American tax system is bloody awful and despite the fact that we have taxes-for-idiots Turbo Tax and the fact that every year I start them in January, I am still no closer to completing them than I was several months ago. I think the government does it on purpose. Makes it so confusing that people can't be bothered to fight the system and so give up and pay all the excess tax. So, again, I've given up on doing my taxes for today and really should be using my 'free' (Jay's asleep) time to type up more of my second manuscript but then guilted myself into updating my blog. I spent two lovely hours on Saturday morning in Barnes and Noble drinking coffee and writing, only now I have to put everything I have in longhand on the computer. I really do need to get a laptop and be more mobile. I've got my eye on a nice little Apple at Keith's work. I have told myself that when I hear back from the publisher I'll treat myself. In a wild moment of panic I did check up on the Harlequin chat site to find out if not hearing anything for four months is normal. Sadly it is. So I will continue to wait until I finish the next one, which should be another couple of months, and then I'll start pestering them so I can submit the next manuscript. I just want to go and sit myself on a Med island for six months and write and write, not see anyone, well other than the handsome pool boy and maybe the Duce who owns the small cottage that I am renting on his palatial spread of land...hmmn, maybe I'm spending too much time writing! Have also started looking into writing short articles and reviews for local publications and online publishers. Figured I should probably look into actually getting paid for writing while waiting to hear back from Mills & Boon ref the novel. Plus starting to get a bit bored of being a mummy. I miss my big salary and travelling...I keep trying to persuade Keith that we should sell up and go and buy an old farm house in France and Italy and I'll just write and he can play music and be a songwriter and Jay can run around in the sun with no shoes and shirt and turn into a little brown-bodied blondie. Way too much dreaming. There's lots of hoo-ha here regarding the various bills that Congress are trying to pass, and failing, relating to illegal immigrants. I honestly don't know how I feel about it. Being a legal immigrant myself I do think there is a right way to go about the process, but I got my visa and greencard prior to September 11th when it was so much easier and quicker. Watching my mum go through the process now I'm not sure I would be bothered. It's not like I care much for living in America. Not enough to subject myself to all the biometric testing and recording and the unbelievably lengthy wait that's associated with obtaining a valid resident permit now. Having lived in Arizona which has one of the highest illegal immigrant rates in the States, and seeing my car insurance rise to ridiculous heights due to the amount of illegal drivers sans insurance, etc I can understand people's objections. But I also think, isn't America founded on immigrants and granted they arrived somewhat legally but to send people home because they're working their arses off for their family? It seems so unAmerican. I do consider the fact, though that the majority of the money the illegal workers do earn goes right back out of the country thus negating the argument that they are contributing to the economic state of the county. Not sure why the US doesn't just go into Mexico and demand that they reform their democracy and government, give everyone equal rights and higher pay and then offer the US all their natural resources for saving their people. North America seems to be oh so very good at exercising such tactics. Enough of the politics. I'm currently hooked on Digging for the Truth. It's an archaeological programme on the history channel hosted by Josh Bernstein, who, yes I admit is rather dishy and my main raison de watching. He's a bit of an Indiana Jones type, but puts together a reasonable exploration of the chosen topic. The next programme is on Sodom and Gomorrah. Can't wait to see what dreadful and debauched things he finds and proves/disproves. It's got me toying with the idea of going back and doing my Archaeology certificate/diploma or possibly a Classical Archaeology MA. Only the thought of having to write all those papers and dissertations is putting me off somewhat. The weather is finally starting to improve here and Jay and I have begun tentative explorations of the garden. All the bulbs I planted have flowered which has impressed me greatly. I am not the world's best gardener and most things I plant tend to die in a rather weary and suspicious manner. We have high hopes for the back garden this year including a sand box for Jay, (although not quite sure how to stop this from being a litter box for all the neighbourhood cats) and a flagstone patio that I can drink my morning coffee on during the two months of summer that we have here. Could keep waffling but should really go and get the boy up. I'm off to the Literacy Alliance tonight. More maths, oh God...