What a long, strange week it’s been. We celebrated Sloane’s birthday with a nice, rich devil’s food cake that had a bittersweet mocha glaze. A glass of wine to go with a kick arse batch of chicken and dumplings (the recipe for which you can find in Comfort Cooking).

Nick is getting moved in and enjoying his place, it’s a great little den where I foresee much creativity and podcasting coming from. He’s all set on his site to begin his podcast, soon as he gets his recording done. Piggy Moto: All Star Boar Band is an absolutely fantastic story that I’ve had the pleasure of editing and reading for him. I definitely encourage you to check the site and check often and I’ll let you know here when the podcast starts.

The King of Viral Media has been working over time while we were on hiatus. JC Hutchins released a bunch of Obsidian posters into the wild, a lot of neat designs. I’m anxious for the 31st to arrive so I can partake in the Obsidian goodness.

I spent the hiatus with my nose buried in bodice rippers. I don’t think I’ve listened to a single podcast since last Monday, mind I have A Brobdingnagian Minute going at the moment. I went through my small collection of Bertrice Small novels, her grasp of historical romance is simply wonderful, and is one of the best romance writers around. I admit my enjoyment of her books comes forth because she paints her characters over a historical landscape instead of changing history to suit her characters. The novel Skye O’Malley is a perfect example of this and if you know a fan of the bodice ripper genre I recommend it as a gift.

Currently I’m reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Diana is probably my absolute favorite fiction writers. The Outlander saga, currently consisting of six epic novels, is a time travel fiction series that takes place in post WW1 and the Jacobite Revolution of 18th Century Scotland. Well researched and absolutely fascinating books which I read about once a year.

Finally saw Transformers, oh holy balls! Words cannot convey what I thought of this film, the fact that I’ve watched bits and pieces of it everyday since Saturday must say something. It easily became one of those movies I’ll turn on when I see it’s playing on cable. Love Bumblebee, always have, and I think my favorite scene is when he upgrades in the tunnel. The movie rocked! I’ll have a full review up by week’s end but I can promise you it’s ranked a lot of penguins.

The site, if you’re reading this through and RSS feed, has been completely redone. I sort of blew it up recently trying to remove something I had added to a sidebar. You can bet that I’ll be taking better precautions next time. I design websites you think I would know better than to not copy something before I change it. Live and learn. The new theme is more of what I was shooting for when I first began Time Well Wasted last year and I’m very happy with it. You’ll note there are some things missing, like the adsense ads, the cookbook cover and the popcorn fund buttons. Of those only the donation button will return, probably before the end of the week.

So that’s how I spent my Memorial Day hiatus. How did you spend yours?