I was just reading the Twitter a little while ago – as I so often do when I’m procrastinating – and a friend of mine reminded me of something that I haven’t thought of in years. YEARS, I TELL YOU.

Do y’all remember when people used to call the radio station and talk to a real-live DJ on the air and dedicate songs?

Oh, it was huge in the 80s. HUGE.

Until tonight it hadn’t really occurred to me that there’s probably not a lot of song dedication going on anymore – unless you’re listening to Delilah – and I have to say that I’m a little sad for this current generation of tweens and teens. They are missing out. Sending someone a link to a song on Facebook or making an iTunes playlist is nice and all, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the same impact as declaring your undying love and adoration on the FM airwaves while thousands of people listen.

I mean, I don’t want to overstate it, but dedicating a song to someone on the radio meant that you were practically pre-engaged. It was a sign of undying devotion – or at least a sign of borderline obsession before the whole relationship went to pieces after a jealousy-fueled misunderstanding during a particularly emotional couple skate to “Hard to Say I’m Sorry.”

I know that I don’t exactly have the best memory when it comes to the songs that people dedicated to each other when I would while away the weeknight hours listening to Q101 and sponge-rolling my hair, but here are the first ten that come to mind. These songs helped shape my very dramatic notions of teenage love – or LUV, as it were – and even now, if I heard one of them, I think I would stop whatever I was doing to sing into a hairbrush with great conviction and feeling. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.

“Never Gonna Let You Go” – Sergio Mendes
“Sweet Love” – Anita Baker
“Can’t Fight This Feeling” – REO Speedwagon
“Faithfully” – Journey
“Open Arms” – Journey
“Every Woman In The World” – Air Supply
“Hello” – Lionel Richie
“Endless Love” – Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
“True” – Spandau Ballet
“You’re The Inspiration” – Chicago

It isn’t an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, but my goodness. They don’t write love songs like they used to, do they?

And in all fairness, I should point out that “Sweet Love” is still every bit as awesome as it was back in 1987.

Just in case you need an idea for a song to dedicate to your beloved on Facebook, of course.

So here’s what I’ve realized over the course of my bloggy break:

I am absolutely, positively, full-to-the-dadgum-brim sick of myself.

There you have it.

Writing the book has been a bunch of fun (except for the last two weekends, when I have had the worst writer’s block ever and closed the computer and settled in for back-to-back episodes of Chopped All-Stars or Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives or whatever happened to be on Food Network). But I’m not gonna lie: it’s a lot of time to spend in my own head. And it makes me a little bit crazy. Because even after I shut the computer in frustration, I’m still in my head, still trying to figure my way into or out of a story, still trying to convince myself that the book, IT WILL NOT BEAT ME.

So I’ve just been loads of fun to be around. You can’t even imagine. Just think of someone who’s lighthearted and carefree and amusing. Then picture the total opposite of that.

Needless to say, I’d love it if I could get away from myself for a few days. That would be THE MOST FUN.

Anyway. Here are a few items of note. And by “items of note,” I mean “items that are, for whatever reason, on a running loop in my brain.”

– Trisha Yearwood’s new show on Food Network is darlin’.

– While I was watching Trisha Yearwood’s new show, I saw a commercial for The Next Food Network Star. And the commercial said that TNFNS is going to have an all-new format. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I adore Bob Tuschman and Susie Fogleson; I hope they’re not going anywhere.

– Smash is a source of frustration in my life. I’ve written blog posts in my head about it (and may wind up writing one for Ree’s entertainment section, now that I think about it). The music is phenomenal. The main characters are, for the most part, pretty compelling. But there are way too many minor characters, and the plot lines are all over the place. I feel like it’s trying so hard – but they could cover half of the material twice as well.

– When this season of Mad Men started, I was a little underwhelmed by the first couple of episodes. But after the last two weeks? SWEET MERCY. Don Draper is a character for the ages, and after last night’s episode, I kept thinking about a saying I heard a long time ago: No matter where you go, you take yourself with you.

– I haven’t been able to get into this season of Survivor at all. I’ve tried, but it’s been a no-go. Anybody else had the same experience?

– Maybe I’ve grown a little too dependent on the TV for decompressing (ya think?), but today, when I read that Giuliana and Bill Rancic are expecting their first baby, I got a little teary-eyed.

– This one is completely unrelated to TV (SHOCKING), but yesterday our pastor preached on Matthew 17, and it was one of those messages that crawled up in my heart and won’t go away. It also reminded me how much I identify with Peter, OH MY WORD.

All righty. That’s it for now. I’m going to spend the rest of the afternoon thinking of how in the sam hill I can get away from myself. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

I’ve missed y’all!

I’ve mentioned before that I fall right in the middle of introvert and extrovert on the Myers-Briggs. My brain can’t seem to decide if it’s more inclined to I or E, but the good news is that I usually feel comfortable wearing either hat. The I serves me well when I’m writing or hanging out at home in my pajamas. The E serves me well when I’m talking ninety to nothing with my family and friends.

But when that I or that E gets out of whack?

Whoa, Nellie Olsen. It ain’t pretty.

And honestly, the out of whack region is exactly where I’ve been living for the last couple of weeks. I have been running in super-high “E” mode – lots of plans and lunches and dinners and conversations and emails and phone calls and texts – and it has been a blast. I’ve felt very connected! and relational! and community-minded! and etc.! That part of things has been great. But yesterday afternoon? My “I” was begging for mercy. For some slow-down. For lots of not talking and shhhhh, no whispering, either. In fact, how about the quiet game? How about the quiet game for many days in a row while everybody keeps their thoughts to themselves and we just enjoy all the blessed quiet?

Oh, that does sound delightful. It’s not at all realistic, of course, and I’d be bored to tears within 24 hours, but being bored doesn’t sound so bad, come to think of it.

Anyway, in the interest of feeling a little more balanced and steady and level in my real life, I’m going to unplug this week. I don’t have a single obligation on the calendar other than work stuff and taking care of my people, so I’m going to lay low, soak up a slower pace, and hopefully de-clutter my brain a little bit. It’s gonna be a good thing.

Hope y’all have a wonderful week!

I thought American Idol was so great last night. And while yes, Colton was pretty much brilliant (such a gorgeous arrangement of his song), Joshua was the one who really blew me away. I loved everything about his performance, and by my best estimation, I have now watched it approximately 23 times.

Make that 24.

For what it’s worth, I expect that Hollie will be the one to go home tonight, but anything can happen, I reckon.

Who’s your favorite so far?

So I was all prepared tonight to tell y’all about a new book by Pete Wilson called Empty Promises, but then I went looking for a link on the Twitter and one of Pete’s tweets totally sidetracked me.

Seriously.

I was scrolling through Pete’s Twitter feed, minding my own business (okay. not really that last thing. because if you’re pouring over someone’s Twitter feed, to some degree you are all up in their business.), when I saw that Pete mentioned that he and his (darlin’) wife, Brandi, go to bed at the same time 99% of the time.

And I will confess to you that I was somewhat flabbergasted.

Because 99% of the time? THAT IS REMARKABLE.

Honestly, it’s one of those things that I’ve never really thought about very much, but now I’m going to ask everybody I know about it. D and I go to bed around the same time, but I am way more of a night owl than he is, so it’s not unheard of for me to be awake an hour or two after he falls asleep. Most of the people in my family operate this same way: Daddy has always been one to stay up later than Mama (I get my night owl gene from him); Sister sometimes stays up later than her husband; and my brother is always – ALWAYS – up later than my sister-in-law. We laugh about how we all like to roam around the house after everybody is asleep, and I guess I just thought we were normal(-ish) because it’s all I’ve ever known.

But now Pete and Brandi have just rocked my world with their 99% (which I think is wonderful and admirable, by the way). I honestly considered texting some of my friends to conduct an impromptu poll, but then I decided it would be a kick to ask more people and conduct an official-type poll right here.

Well, “official” might be a strong term now that I think about it.

Nonetheless, I’m just as curious as I can be. So let’s see how this one plays out.

By the way, the poll answers might in fact be the most poorly worded poll answers in the history of polls. I probably should be ashamed and maybe should do a little editing, but TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE, people. I am a nosy person with a purpose right now.

And I cannot wait to see your answers!

Well, I sat down to write a little recap of our weekend and now have absolutely no recollection of what we did Friday.

Oh, wait. I just remembered.

The little guy went over to a friend’s house Friday morning, and I thought I’d try to get some writing done. But then Melanie and I talked and decided we’d try to do a podcast, and that is always at least a two-hour process because we have to spend an hour talking about everything we can’t talk about on the podcast before we spend the next hour wrestling with our technical difficulties.

Judging by the fact that there is no podcast today, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that our efforts were unsuccessful. It was a combination of a dicey software update on my end and a dicey Internet connection on Mel’s end. Beats anything I’ve ever seen.

Friday night we went out to eat and stopped by the bookstore on the way home so that I could pick up a copy of The Hunger Games (I like to stay a solid 18-24 months behind all literary or cinematic trends). Alex and his buddy ran back to the kids’ section as soon as we walked in the doors, but I paused long enough at the front tables to notice this little gem.

What I love about it the most is that it’s so understated.

Saturday I woke up with renewed resolve that THE WRITING, I WILL TACKLE IT, so after I ran a couple of errands and cleaned up the kitchen, I sat down at the kitchen table, opened my laptop, and thought about all the the productive productivity that was ahead of me. I normally keep all the book chapters in a folder on my desktop, but I didn’t see the folder right away, so I figured that I must have moved everything to my Documents folder.

But then I couldn’t find any of the book stuff in the Documents folder. And then I looked for the master document – the one where I make sure to paste every chapter after it’s finished, but I couldn’t find it, either. So then I did a spotlight search for the book title, which was the name of the folder, but there was no such folder anywhere on my computer.

And at that point I just had to lay my head on the kitchen table while I tried to convince my heart to stop trying to race straight out of my chest.

The good news, I guess, is that I’ve been sending every chapter to my editor as I finish it, so I knew I could dig back through my email and find all the chapters I’ve turned in so far. What I couldn’t do, though, was to find the outline I’d created in Word, the notes that I’d made in the still-to-be-written chapters, and all the little bits and pieces that I’ve worked on over the course of the last year (dating back to when I thought I was going to be writing an e-book).

Oh, I was sick about it. Just sick about it, I tell you.

I knew that I couldn’t say anything to David right away, mainly because he always reminds me to back up my computer so that I don’t lose anything, and, well, I’m sort of a back-up failure. I just couldn’t bear the shame of it all. So I texted Melanie instead. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I used A LOT OF CAPS IN THOSE TEXTS.

The next hour was an exercise in searching, saving, copying, and lo, more searching, and when I was almost finished re-creating the master document, three beautiful words popped in my head.

THE OLD COMPUTER.

Because what I’d forgotten is that when I got a new computer about a month ago, we left all my files on the old computer. Which means that the book outline, the notes, and the little bits and pieces WERE STILL ON THE OLD COMPUTER.

And I nearly wept with relief.

But not before I wished that I’d remembered that little tidbit about an hour earlier.

Anyway, I was able to get everything transferred, and as far as I can tell, all systems are go. I confessed my back-up failures to D later Saturday night, so needless to say, my computer is now backed up 64 ways to Sunday.

The irony, of course, was that I was such a wreck after the unfortunate book-is-missing incident that I didn’t get a bit of writing done the rest of the day. MY NERVES, you understand. MY NERVES.

Yesterday we went to the early service at church before we headed to Mississippi for lunch with the family. Alex was so excited to see his cousins (and the rest of his relatives, too), not to mention that it was a gorgeous day for a road trip and for hanging out with some of our favorite people.

We’re home now, and it really was great weekend all the way around.

Except for the part where I accidentally deleted my book.

But other than that?

ACES.