All the Days Feel Like a Sunday

I finished reading Happiness Sold Separately a few minutes ago. I'm not going to discuss it here since I'm discussing it in my group but I will say that I'm peeved. That's all you get.

I am very excited for tomorrow to get here. Ya know why? Cuz I have a stack of books that have been off limits that I get to start reading tomorrow. Yay!! Until then, I have beasts, spirits, and humanoids to slay and the rest of my Calvin and Hobbes book to keep me entertained. We also have to go to the pet store to get guinea pig litter. Someone should have mentioned how foul those things can get to smelling. Sheesh!

I'm not going to wish anyone a happy New Years because I hate this holiday. I will wish everyone fun, safe, and good times as they enjoy the evening off of work though.

Oh! And I just realized that today is the last day of Holidailies. I think I made it through, lol. I'm not entirely sure though. I'm still going to blog but I'm not going to be obsessive about it. I'll allow myself a break here and there. 61 solid days of blogging. Wow!

The hubby and I had a fun filled day. Last night, our friends called and asked if it would be okay if they brought the girls home today at 6:30'ish this evening instead of 11 am'ish. Well, YEAH it would be okay. I know. I sound horrible. But don't judge me too harshly. The kids didn't want to come home and they said that while they missed the dogs, they didn't miss us. Lmao. Their time away consisted of going to see a movie, soda, popcorn, and candy for lunch (totally serious), lots of Dance, Dance, Revolution on the Playstation, games, and whatever else they did. Is it any wonder they didn't want to come home? And the last time they spent the night away was in May for our anniversary. I had forgotten that.

Anyway, we went to the library today and I got January's book for my book club. We're reading Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston. So far, so good. Definitely not something I would have picked out on my own but it's not too bad nonetheless.

I'm off to do some research. Hope everyone's Sunday was peaceful and pleasant.

Glad to See You're Still Here

My blog posts have been less than stellar lately. I've been occupied with other things to be honest. The holidays haven't made it any easier either. Lucky for you all, we don't celebrate New Years. So, what's been going on?

Well, like I said yesterday, I finished another book. I've been wracking my brain with something to say about it but it was so in depth and involved that I can't figure out how to summarize it. Read it for yourselves, lol. ;)

I've also been delving into the online gaming world. I'm a nerd. I've never denied this. The hubby and I have been playing two different games together. It's our couple time, heheh. Since they are addictive, we haven't been doing much else.

Today, a couple that we are friends with offered to take our kids for the night. I love my kids, but WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Do you know the last time both of my kids were gone overnight at the same time?? Neither do I!!!!!!!!! It's been, at the very least, a year. The hubby and I don't have any big plans tonight. We might go for a walk on the beach...alone, hehehehehehhe. It is, after all, 77 degrees out. Oh, and we're going to take down our Christmas stuff today too. I usually wait until the 1st but this weather isn't going to hold out and it's much nicer to take down your outside decorations when you're not freezing your butt off at the same time.

I also forgot to relate the happenings of formatting my computer the other day. Weird stuff happened that I've never had happen before on a reformat. After I reinstalled Windows, I had these rolling line deals going down my screen. That was nice. Turns out it was a resolution issue. Then, I couldn't figure out who manufactured my sound card so I didn't have sound for a bit, heheh. I remembered to back up my music files, my picture files, and my documents. Then, I exported my favorites and forgot to back them up. Real smart. I lost all my saved favorite websites. Big bummer. I also forgot to back up my address book so I lost quite a few e-mail addresses. What can I say? I can't remember everything. BUT! My computer is working much better now and I no longer desire to put a hammer through it or toss it off the roof. You take the good with the bad.

And those are the highlights. Nothing spectacular. Nothing really all that interesting. I'm not a mover and a shaker. I'm sure something horrible will happen for New Years that I'll be able to post about that will entertain.

This week has just sped by. I can hardly remember where the days went. It's probably because I spent most of my time with my nose in a book, lol. I finished The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Did I even mention that I had started it? Anyway, it was excellent. Gaiman takes mythology to a whole new level. Has anyone read this? I was lost as to the significance of the lime.

Anyway, it's getting late so this is going to be short. Catch ya tomorrow.

Thursday Meme

Brought to you by Booking Through Thursday.

It’s an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books
this year?
List as many as you like … fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance,
science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks … whatever the category. But,
really, we’re all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading
year in 2007?

I was dreading having to answer this question. I have a hard time picking favorites whether it's books, movies, songs, TV shows, whatever.

I'd have to start with all the In Death books that I read or reread this year by J.D. Robb. There's nothing like a good In Death book to take you away from the mundane. Having Creation in Death personally autographed by J.D. Robb herself and in person was, by far, my highlight of the year. That will be hard to top in the coming year as well.

Next, I'd list the last Harry Potter. Yes, I didn't like the ending, but I endeavored not to let that ruin the book for me. The Harry Potter series was truly magical and I was sorry to see it come to an end. I will never be rich and famous enough to obtain a copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Tied in the next spot (whatever that spot may be) would be Wicked and The Life of Pi.

Next would be Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. It's not often that something moves me, but this book moved me and left an impression.

I also really loved Lisey's Story by King and Beaches by I.R. Dart.

I've only covered half of 2007 with this review, but I could go on and on. It would be easier to list the books that I didn't like. 2007 was a great year for reading and 2008 promises to be even better.

The Day After

Yesterday's post sucked. We were literally in the middle of a battle when I minimized our game to post on the blog so that I could get it in before midnight. We lost the battle and the post wasn't worth the effort to read, lol. So anyway...

We had a great Christmas. The kids got a ton of stuff and were happy as clams all day. I got FOUR books off of my various reading lists and some other stuff as well. I was a happy clam too although it's really hard to hold myself back from reading my new books since I have to wait until the 1st to start them. :( Patience isn't a virtue of mine at all. Although, the hubby did get me The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes to tide me over. It's great. I've been a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes since high school and I'm willing to bet that my friends from high school who read my blog will know why. ;)

For those of you who are waiting for the better than sex cake recipe, the powers that be that hold the recipe didn't answer their phone or return my call yesterday so I still don't have it. I'm not sure what my next step on this quest is going to be so you'll have to sit tight.

On a slightly less than positive note, my computer has decided to be a big, crapping piece of crap. It's barely a year old but since it is over a year old, it's no longer under a warranty. Of course. This means that I'm going to have to reformat my computer and hope that fixes my various problems. If you've reformated a hard drive before, you know what a chore this is going to be. I'm going to have to back up all my files, search out program disc's that I'll need to reinstall, and then keep my fingers crossed that it was worth the trouble. The timing couldn't be better since I'm on my winter break from classes but that doesn't make this task any more fun. :)

And now I'm off to help the hubby clean out the car. Fun times, right?

Merry Christmas

I can't blog long. I'm in the middle of slaying demons with the mister. I just wanted to drop a quick note. Longer one tomorrow. I promise.

Till then, be safe, have fun with your new loot and I'll be back tomorrow.

Christmas Eve Wonderings

I have three things going on in my mind tonight. I'm going to blog about all of them for your reading pleasure. Consider it an early Christmas gift.



#1. The Mister and I decided that we are starting a new Christmas tradition in honor of one of the best Christmas movies ever made: A Christmas Story. For Christmas Eve dinner we got Chinese at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra! It's a fun, new tradition.



#2. I got several Merry Christmas text messages and a few Happy Holiday e-mails. I, being the biggest believer in technology and the Internet, saw nothing wrong with this and they made me smile. They did make me pause, however. This is the first year that I've ever gotten holiday text messages. It was a little strange. Any opinions?



#3. The kids were tasked with cleaning the kitchen this morning in preparation for our holiday baking. The oldest took out the trash. This is the result:

The left can clearly has bags in it. The right? Empty. She trooped the bag out the kitchen, out the side door, and around the shed, but couldn't manage to lift the lid and put the bag in the can. Her level of laziness astounds me.

Happy Christmas Eve and I'll see ya tomorrow.

My Sunday

I have absolutely nothing of interest to say. Today, we hit the commissary for Christmas dinner stuff and enough food to get us through the holiday. I was shocked at the lack of people there too. Usually around holidays (and during hurricanes) the commissary is packed but it wasn't this morning. Maybe going during church hours is the trick.

Tonight's plans are dinner, gift wrapping, and slaying some evil beasts with my minions. Fun times, right?

Oh. And yesterday I finished Five Quarters of the Orange. Excellent read. It was about sadness and hope, love and hate, mothers and their children. It was one of those books that I was sorry to see it end. When I came to the part in the story where the purpose of the title is revealed, it was like, "OH! That makes perfect sense." It's a great title. This is the second Joanne Harris book that I've read and I'm already convinced of her skills as a storyteller. I hope that I can find time in all of my reading challenges to fit in another of her novels.

My Saturday

Today was a full day. Well, it wouldn't have been as full had I actually started my day before noon but you get my gist.

We started out the day with some Christmas stuff. The hubby took the kids shopping while I stayed home and wrapped some presents. Then we had a gaming marathon for a couple hours. Next, I went shopping while everyone else stayed home. We are done Christmas shopping. Finally. I swear. Next year, I'm starting in September and I will be done by October. This last minute business has got to stop.

The hubby is in the family room cackling. Why? Because he scared the living shit out of me moments ago. I was coming out of our bedroom and he was crouched in front of the door. When I opened it, he jumped up and screamed at me. I screamed back and then chased him down the hall while he laughed his butt off and I attempted to get even. He's still laughing at his prowess. The asshole.

OH! I almost forgot to mention. I made a pineapple upside down cake tonight. It was YUMMY!! I would have taken a picture and posted it on my blog had I been able to hold myself back from it long enough to do so. Sorry.

And now I'm off to wrap more presents. Ugh.

My Friday

It totally feels like Saturday to me. The kids are on their winter break and the Mister got off of work at noon. He and I finished up our Christmas shopping for the kids today. Traffic is just horrible. I make him drive and I still get a headache from it. All that we have left is to buy for each other now. I'm stumped. Figuring out his gift will prove to be an interesting (read that to say frustrating, lol) experience.

We got a free pay-per-view from my cable company for Christmas today. I thought that was pretty neat. None of the other cable companies I've had in the past have done that.

Okay. I'm off for today. I plan on logging in some game playing time and some reading time on my current book today. I'm reading Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris. I'm only about 1/4 of the way into it but I like it so far. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for something to happen. There's quite a bit of foreshadowing in this book.

Happy Friday everyone.

Reading Challenges

After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead and join the aforementioned reading challenges. I figure that I can read all of them since I have the whole of 2008 to do so. I also created a website that lists the challenges and books that I've decided to read so that I have somewhere that it is all consolidated. You can find it here if you're interested: Reading Challenges
These are the things that I do when I don't have school work bogging me down, hehehe.

Graphic Novel Challenge

Here is my list for the Graphic Novel Challenge which is being hosted by Dewey.

• The Absolute Sandman – Neil Gaiman
• Dark Tower: The Gunslinger is Born – Stephen King
• Artemis Fowl – Eoin Colfer
• Guilty Pleasures – Laurell K. Hamilton
• Stardust – Neil Gaiman
• The Legend of Drizzt: Homeland – Margaret Weiss
• Chronicles: Dragons of Autumn Twilight – Margaret Weiss

1st in a Series Challenge

Here is my list of books for the 1st in a Series challenge which is being hosted by Joy.

• Terry Pratchett – Disc World Series – The Color of Magic
• Neil Gaiman – Sandman – Absolute Sandman
• Nora Roberts – Sign of Seven Series – Blood Brothers
• Tess Gerritsen – Jane Rizzoli Series – The Surgeon
• Lisa Scottoline - Rosato & Associates Series – Everywhere That Mary Went
• Janet Evanovich – Metro Girl Series – Metro Girl
• Christopher Paolini – Inheritance Cycle Series – Eragon
• Debbie Macomber – Cedar Cove Series – 16 Lighthouse Road
• Sophie Kinsella – Shopaholic Series – Confessions of a Shopaholic
• Isaac Asimov – Foundation Series – Foundation
• Robert Ludlam – Jason Bourne Series – The Bourne Identity
• L.M. Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables Series – Anne of Green Gables.

Alternates:

• Jonathan Kellerman – Alex Delaware Series – When the Bough Breaks
• Stephanie Barron – Jane Austen Series – Jane and the Unpleasantness at
Margrave Manor
• Isaac Asimov – Robot Series – The Caves of Steel
• Kristin Britain – Green Rider Series – Green Rider
• L. Frank Baum – Oz Series – The Wizard of Oz
• Stephen King – Dark Tower Series – The Gunslinger
• Dean Koontz – Frankenstein Series – Prodigal Son
• Steven Erikson – Malazan Book of the Fallen – Gardens of the Moon
• Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events – The Bad Beginning: Book
the First
• Janet Evanonvich – Full Series – Full House
• Shirley Rousseau Murphy – Joe Grey Mystery Series – Cat on the Edge
• Arnaldur Indridason – A Reykjavik Thriller – Jar City

2008 TBR Challenge

Here is my list of books for the 2008 TBR Challenge hosted by Mizbooks.

• Dearly Devoted Dexter – Jeff Lindsay
• Dexter in the Dark – Jeff Lindsay
• Hornet’s Nest – Patricia Cornwell
• The Six Wives of Henry VIII – Alison Weir
• Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
• The Cider House Rules – John Irving
• Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
• The Appeal – John Grisham
• The Other Boleyn Girl – Phillipa Gregory
• Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen
• Brother Odd – Dean Koontz
• Circus of the Damned – Laurell K. Hamilton

Alternates:

• The Children of Henry VIII – Alison Weir
• Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
• Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel García Márquez
• Jane and the Unpleasantness of Scargrave Manor – Stephanie Barron
• I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
• The Gunslinger – Stephen King
• Prodigal Sun – Dean Koontz
• Full House – Janet Evanovich
• Cat on the Edge – Shirley Rousseau Murphy
• Jar City – Arnaldur Indridason

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

1. What fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best
new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in 2007
don’t count.)

2. What non-fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the
best new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in
2007 don’t count.)

3. And, do “best of” lists influence your reading?

1. Creation in Death by J.D. Robb (Totally biased opinion here.)
2. I don't read a lot of nonfiction. In fact, the only non-fiction book that I've read that was published this year was The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan so I'd have to pick that.
3. Yes, lists influence my reading to some extent. If I can't figure out what to read next, I'll see what's on the best sellers list. This doesn't really happen too often though. I'm hardly ever without an idea of what I want to read next. "Best of" lists can actually have a negative effect on a book. If I read a book that's gotten a lot of hype, I go into it with higher expectations. This often leads to being disappointment with the book.

Random-ness

My house is a pleasant 70 degrees this morning. Ahhh.

I want the new Jack Johnson CD. iTunes has a preview of it and I likes. Too bad that it doesn't come out until February. It would have made a nice gift for me

C sold another cheesecake. Yeah, it's to a friend but that's how businesses start. She's coming by to pick it up this morning and I'm totally looking forward to the visit. I had the strangest dream that when I opened the box to show it to her, the cake was the thickness of a pizza. I tried passing it off to her that it was how cheesecakes were supposed to look, lol.

Christmas shopping is going the way that it normally does every year. I'm only about halfway done, nothing is wrapped, and I only have six shopping days left. If I didn't have kids, I wouldn't even bother. Isn't that horrible? The way I feel about 95% of the holidays, I sometimes think I was born into the wrong nationality or born out of time or something. I should've been a prehistoric woman.

Well, I gotsta run. Gotta get ready for my day.

My Parents

I just wanted to let everyone know that my parents made it home safe and sound. They said that the only weather they ran into was some snow flurries that didn't even stick to the ground. They also said that they actually preferred the new route because it's mostly interstate driving whereas the other route has quite a bit of surface road driving which, while shorter, takes more time. C and I plan on trying out their route next time we drive to Ohio.

Anyway, thanks so much for the comments and concern. I really appreciated it and it was nice knowing so many people cared.

(((HUGS)))

The Grinch Has Retreated **Updated x2**

I'm sitting here at my comp, enjoying my apple strudel Pop Tart, and freezing my tail off. It's only 63 degrees in my house and the heat hasn't turned off since yesterday. I'm going to call my heating and cooling guy today and ask if this is normal behavior for a brand new heat pump. If so, they suck and why do people use them.

I finished my Christmas shopping for the dogs yesterday. They're easy to buy for. Chew toys, treats, stuffed animals. They're happy dogs.

On today's agenda: Do some house work, hit the Starbucks for my fave pick-me-up, take my Frappuccino for a ride to do some Christmas shopping, mentally prepare myself for afternoon homework, and that's about it. I'll also probably fit in some game play time as well; slay some evil minions. Oh. And I'm also going to start Five Quarters of the Orange today as well. It's not a jam-packed day but it's enough to keep my mind busy.

**Update**

No, it isn't normal for the heater to have been on for 36 hours straight and for it to only be 62 degrees in the house. Yes. It went down a degree since I posted this morning. (It's 8:15 am EST as I type this update.)
As a result, I can't go anywhere today after all because I have to wait for the heating and air dudes to show up to figure out what's wrong. The guy said they'd been fielding repair calls since 7 am this morning. Fun times.

**Update #2**

It's now 11:30 and the repair guy just left. He said our unit was two pounds short on freon and the thermostat was wired wrong so that the heat strips weren't coming on. I HAVE HEAT!! We didn't really notice that the heat wasn't working properly before because it hasn't been very cold. This morning, however, it was only 24 degrees and we noticed the cold, lol.

Make Up Your Own Title

Do you go through phases where you're online a lot and then you're not at all? I haven't been online too much lately doing my "normal" thing: blogging, reading blogs, attending to the book group, Pogo, Myspace, etc., and I'm not in the mood to do these things. Blogging is taking extra effort. I think I'm getting burned out on it. Blogging for two months straight is surely enough to burn someone out, right? I haven't even been watching a lot of tv either which is unusual for me.

I finished reading Chocolat (which I liked despite the ending) today and I've been reading W&P off and on.

I'm also stressing about Christmas. Buying for the kids was a lot simpler when their list consisted of dolls and crayons. Now they want iPods, Wii's, and DS's. Ugh.

I'm also being bogged down by things that aren't suitable for public consumption. This makes it really hard to come up with mundane, everyday-type things to say. I'm not the sort of person that can compartmentalize. When I'm upset or stressed, it dominates my life. I can't shove it into a corner and ignore it. I wish I could. This is probably why I have health issues at my age.

I'm tired, my dog is snoring, and I'm going to bed.

Back to Normal

The parents left this morning. They're having to take a convoluted way back to Ohio because of all the winter weather so the trip is going to take them two days instead of one. We were all sad to see them go. Even Bailey and Hannah were a little more quiet than usual.

Tomorrow, the kids go to school and C goes back to work after his week off. I'm really looking forward to a bit or normal. Yay! I got caught up (mostly) on my blog reading tonight. So many blogs, so little time. Now, I'm off for some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and my book.

Another Busy Day

We had our early Christmas this morning. It was a good time. I got Water for Elephants. Yay!! I totally cannot wait to get into it. I have 3 other books ahead of it though so it'll be a few days before I can start it.

We also drove to Jacksonville to do some shopping. BIG mistake. That place was a freaking mad house. No. It gave new meaning to Mad House. It took it to a whole new level. We saw three car accidents all within a mile of each other. I love North Carolina but these are some of the rudest drivers I've ever seen in my life and I've been to New York and L.A. My dad wanted a GPS though and the Jax Best Buy was the only place in the area that had the exact model he wanted so off we went. We also needed dog food and I bought The Santa Clause and White Christmas on DVD.

After we got back to New Bern, we bought some steaks and shrimp to bbq on the grill and then topped off the night by watching The Santa Clause. My dad and step mom are leaving in the morning. :( I'm already sad about them leaving but we're making plans to meet up in Tennessee in June or July. Sometimes, living away from family is hard.

Tomorrow I'm not going to have anything to say because after my parents leave we plan on doing NOTHING, punctuated by taking naps, and then doing nothing some more. Bet you all are looking forward to reading about that, lmao.

Family + Holidays = No Time

I had family arrive from Ohio yesterday. I'm exhausted, tired, worn out, sleepy, etc. If it weren't for Holidailies, I wouldn't even be posting right now. As it is, I'm way behind on my blog reading.

Yesterday, we got Sonic for dinner. They don't have very many of those in Ohio and there aren't any nearby our families so it's a treat.

Today, we went to the beach and gathered bags fulls of shells. Then, we had lunch/dinner at this neat restaurant that overlooks the ocean. We watched dolphins play in the surf while we waited on our food. How cool is that? After that, we did some Christmas shopping because we're having an early Christmas tomorrow. The rest of tonight we're going to watch Christmas movies until the kids go to bed and then we're going to wrap presents and put them under the tree for tomorrow.

So, in spite of being tired, I'm having a fantastic time.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? (Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin))
If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?

I just posted about this last week. Funny timing. Anyway, I've tried all three of them. I found LibraryThing to be tedious when it comes to adding books to your library so I stopped using it and tried GoodReads. I like GoodReads well enough. I like their widget the best out of all of the cataloging sites. Then, I tried Shelfari. Between GoodReads and Shelfari, I can't really decide which one I like the best. Shelfari has my most complete library on it, however, but I'll probably keep using Shelfari and GoodReads at the same time because I have friends on both of them.

From what I can tell, people like LibraryThing the best because of the tagging feature. You can do that on Shelfari too so what's the difference? And what makes tagging so much of a desired feature? And what makes people willing to deal with LibraryThing's limitations when it comes to the size of your library? You can only add so many books before you have to pay for it. I can't see paying for something that you can get for free at two other places.

Round One Down

C and I just got back from taking the first round of our exams. We each had two to take today and we'll each have one to take tomorrow. I'm pretty confident about the ones I took today. One was for a grammar class and the other was a technical writing class. No biggie. C's a little less than sure about his but he's always like that and then it'll turn out that he did fine. Tomorrow is going to be the doozy. We both saved the hardest for last. His is government and mine is business. Yuckity, yuck, yuck. But once we're finished, we have a little more than a month off and we're both really looking forward to the break. I plan on rewarding myself with a new book and a game playing marathon. I'd say which game but it's embarrassing, lol. It's one of my guilty pleasures.

I'm exhausted so I'm off for a bit of a lie down. I have cleaning to do later on because some of our parents from Ohio are coming for a visit tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to seeing some family for Christmas. It's been a while since we've had family for the holiday.

**Edited to change three weeks into a month. Usually it's a three week break but with the holidays, we get a month before the spring semester starts. Big YAY!!

Pictures and a Video for Today

I uploaded a video from our trip to the beach today. The dogs had so much fun. You can tell from their fat tongues how much they were running and playing. Hannah's the leashed dog because she'll run off. Bailey's our other dog. They are fine pieces of dog flesh if I do say so myself.

Also, here's pictures of the light and our Christmas tree. Isn't it the ugliest light ever? Notice the broken light on the right towards the back, lol.

Christmas Adventures

We had an interesting time with decorating the tree last night. It started out normal enough. I sat on the floor passing the girls ornaments to put on the tree while C looked bored next to me. We were just about finished when C decided to stand up for some reason, then all hell broke loose. See. We had to put our tree in the dining room because there wasn't space for it anywhere else. In order to do this, we had to move the table to the side of the room leaving the chandelier(?) sort of hanging there in the middle of nowhere. When C stood up, he banged his head into the light, knocked it into the ceiling, blew out some of the lights, and caused it to fall down from the ceiling fixture hanging there only by its cord. I'm not sure how old this light is or what it's made of but it's freaking HEAVY. C's lucky he didn't give himself a concussion. After much cussing, screaming, crying, and yelling (you can figure out for yourselves who was doing what.) C and I started fixing the light back to the ceiling. It was waaaay too heavy to hang there only by its cord. We got it back into place but when we turned it back on, it flashed and blew out another light. I'm figuring I'm going to have to call the electrician to make sure that the wiring is okay so we don't burn the house down. We had to finish decorating the tree in the semi-dark with only the trees lights to see by, lol. Even so, it turned out great. This will be a Christmas we'll always remember, heheh.

Off topic side note...C and I are getting ready to take the dogs to the beach. Yay! I haven't been since September. We're having record high temps and C is on leave this week so we figured it's a great time to go. I'll post pictures of the tree and stuff later on today.

O Christmas Tree

We went out and bought our Christmas tree last night. It's a fine, fragrant Fraser Fir from western North Carolina. It's one of the nicest shaped trees we've ever had. Christmas trees are a bit more expensive here in N.C. than they were back in Vermont. I'm sure our drought isn't helping matters either. We're in the middle of getting it decorated. We put the lights and half the garland on last night. We ran out of garland because I don't normally put garland on my tree so we had to put off the rest of the decorating until today. I can't wait. We also got Gobstopper and Sweettart flavored candy canes to put on it. I've never seen them before this year.

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I like movie A Christmas Story. I had never watched it before I married C but now we watch it every year. Ho, ho, hoooooo!!

Because of the season and because it's 78 degrees at my house today, I decided to list why warm weather can be inconvenient.

1. There are more bugs because it doesn't get cold enough to kill them off.
2. You have to leave your summer and winter clothes out basically all year because you never know when you're going to have a 80 degree day in the middle of December.

That's all I could think of. Cold weather sucks.

Christmas Edition #4

I'm going to tackle another question from the e-mail today.

Do have a favorite movie you watch every year? White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye or The Santa Clause with Tim Allen.

I watch both of them every year, actually. Love, love, LOVE them both. We also watch all the Christmas specials that are on tv like Charlie Brown, The Grinch, Frosty, etc. I have a confession to make though. I have watched Rudolph every year ever since I can remember. I don't like it. I never have, lmao. When I was younger, I watched it because it seemed so important to my mom that I watch it. Now I watch it because it's gone from obligation to tradition and my kids watch it every year. I have to wonder if they watch it for the same reason that I used to or if they really like it.

Did anyone watch Shrek the Halls? My opinion? Hollywood is trying too hard to get in on the Christmas cartoon tradition. I thought it sucked. But I'm an adult so what do I know.

Off the topic side note...

What is a normal sound that is strange? The sound of people mowing their lawns coming in through my open windows in December. BWAHAHAHHAHA!!!!

Blah Saturday

Today is going to be blah at my house. My oldest came home from school yesterday with a fever of 102. Poor thing. I hate, hate, hate, seeing my kids not feeling well. The Mister is at his unit's Christmas thing this morning. It was mandatory that he go but I couldn't because of the sick child. Fun times. I am going to get started on The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans which is December's book at the book discussion club. I can't wait to get started. I need a little break from W&P.

For your reading delight, I'm including this meme that I saw on several blogs yesterday and today. So many, I'm not bothering to name which ones. Here ya go.


5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. I was getting ready for C to grad from boot camp.
2. The oldest child and I were living at my dad's while he was gone.
3. My sister-in-law and I took a mini vacation to Daytona Beach while C was in boot camp. He hasn't let me live that down to this day.
4. I was getting my driver's license for the first time. Yep. I didn't get mine when I was 16.
5. I was driving the nasty Ford Tempo which is the only car to ever strand me along a country road in the middle of freaking nowhere. And is also why I'll never own a Ford again.

5 Things on my T0-Do List today:

1. Start reading the book group book.
2. Do some online research for a couple different things.
3. Take care of my sick daughter.
4. Cook dinner at some point.
5. Enjoy Saturday!

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. Sell my house in VT and kick my renter to the curb.
2. Have the house of my dreams built.
3. Pay off all of our debt.
4. Buy my dad a house complete with lawn service and a maid
5.. Invest the rest.

5 Things I'll never wear again (or have never worn and you'll never know which is which, heheh):

1. Leg warmers
2. Stirrups
3. Thong underwear out the top of my pants.
4. Paisley print.
5. Maternity clothes.

5 Favorite Toys:

1. My computer even though I'm close to putting a hammer through it at the moment.
2. iPod
3. Palm Pilot
4. DVD Player
5. DVR (this should probably be in my #1 spot.)

This is one of those tag and you're it things. If you haven't done this already and want to, consider yourself tagged.

Christmas Edition #3

No, I didn't skip #2. That was yesterday but Thursday is always titled, "Thursday Meme" when I participate so that's what you got.

Anyway...

Question #5 from the list:

Do you dream of a White Christmas like Vermont....New England, or do you dream of a more tropical Christmas like Florida or Hawaii?

HA!! What do you think my answer to this one is going to be??? You (I mean the universal "you", not Jennifer's mom) can take your white Christmas and shove it. I had Vermont Christmases for three years and I don't care if I ever see another snow flake for the rest of my natural and unnatural life. You think white Christmases sound all nice and traditional and like it's something beautiful off of a Christmas card. Does anyone ever factor in the subzero wind chills, the sliding down the steep, mountainous roads even in your 4 wheel drive, and that a white Christmas in Vermont means 40 inches of the stuff and not just one or two that's manageable??? NO! They don't. I suppose it's all fine and dandy if you're into snow shoeing, sledding (that's snowmobiling to you laymen), skiing, and frostbite. I hate the cold and the snow and one day a year doesn't make all the rest of it okay. Our house in Vermont got over 100 inches of snow last winter. Take that and put it in your stocking.

Thursday Meme

Courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

This week’s question is suggested by Island
Editions:

Do you have a favourite book, now out of print, that you would like
to see become available again? (I have several…)

I have a very boring response this week. I've never even attempted to find an out of print book let alone have an idea of what book I would like to see become available again. See? Very boring.

In addition to today's meme, I'm also going to answer question #4 of Jennifer S's mom's e-mail list.

Have you ever actually received or given anyone a fruit cake? Have you ever eaten a fruit cake?

This is a funny question. I thought that the only people that gave or received fruit cakes were on tv. I have never eaten one either. But every time I think of a fruit cake, it always makes me crave a pineapple upside down cake. Or a better than sex cake with pineapple in it. Are fruit cakes even good to eat? Does anyone actually like them? I want cake now. Thanks a bunch.


Off topic side note:

Can't believe I'm still going strong for Holidailies. Woot! And I also can't believe how well the book group is doing. It's not the big, huge, mondo, bust I was afraid it would be. Go me!

Christmas Edition #1

Thanks to Jennifer S's mom for the list of topics.

Traditions.



Growing up, we only had a few Christmas traditions. One was leaving out cookies for Santa. We didn't do the reindeer food thing with the oatmeal and glitter. I had never heard of that until I had kids of my own. Funny story: At my dad's house, we used to leave Santa something a little different for when he stopped by our house. My dad said that Santa liked bologna sandwiches and beer instead of milk and cookies so that's what he got. And lo and behold, Santa loved our treat, lmao.

We were also allowed to open on present on Christmas Eve right before we went to bed for the night.

Another tradition was driving all over the place visiting on Christmas Eve and Christmas day because my parents were divorced. As a kid, I used to think it was nifty because I was getting presents at all these different houses. As an adult, I do my darndest to stay in my own house and not see anybody except my husband and kids.

Now that I'm grown with a family of my own, I have carried on the tradition of cookies for Santa but we also leave out reindeer food. I'm trying to break our tradition of last minute shopping and wrapping, lol. We get better and better about it every year. Oh. And ham. We have a Christmas ham every year. Ham is for Christmas, turkey is for Thanksgiving. I dream and drool for ham gravy every year. YUMMM!!

Is There Anybody Out There?

Yesterday and today I've felt like the Internet has been slow or something, and I don't mean my connection. Holidailies was down for a few hours yesterday. There were only a handful of updated blogs to read. I hardly got any e-mail or junk mail for that matter. Traffic to my blog was down. I just had a general feeling that something was and is off. I know. I'm off my rocker.

Anyway, the hubby had his court date for ticket #1 this morning. He pled to a lesser charge and they took $15 off his fine. Big freaking deal. He told me that the judge said there were 500 cases today and that 95% of those were traffic related. He also told me that the minimum fine that he saw was $130. So, if you take 95% of 500 and multiply that by $130, the county is going to make, at an absolute minimum, over $60,000 today just in traffic fines alone. Holy cow, right? His next court date is in February. I'll keep you updated, lol.

I was checking my blog stats this morning and was a little saddened by something that I saw. Someone found my blog by Googling the terms, "holding grudges against husband who is emotionally abusive". Since my husband's worst fault is dirty clothes on the floor and having a lead foot, she wouldn't have found what she's looking for here, but I hope she finds it somewhere else. Her search took her to my Second Chances post in case you were wondering.

And now I'm off, back into The Void.

Too Many Choices

I started out on LibraryThing. It was okay. I recently read that LibraryThing is more for "librarian/metadata types". Maybe that's why I decided that I like GoodReads and Shelfari better. What I would actually wish for is to be able to take features from all three and combine them into the perfect online forum for my library.

GoodReads Pros

• They have nice widgets.


• You can make as many shelves as you would like, i.e., for classics, fiction, biographies, etc.


• The shelves are easy to customize

GoodReads Cons

• While you have a "to read" shelf, if you were to make a "wish list" shelf, those books would be added into your library count.
• I would like to be able to make a wish list of books that I want without them being counted as books I already own. My "to read" shelf only consists of books I currently own.

Shelfari Pros

• I like that you can leave other uses quick notes.


• You can make notes about your books, i.e., their condition, when you read them, etc., that other users can't see.


• They have a "Wish List" shelf that does exactly what I want it to do (see above).


• When you click on a book, you can see what other people thought of it, even if they just gave it a star rating. You can also see what reading groups have added that particular book to their group.


• I like the home page the best out of all three sites.

Shelfari Cons

• You can't make customized shelves. At least I haven't yet figured out how if you can.


• I wish that the "date read" were visible to other users.

See my dilemma? Shelfari currently has my most complete library. If I can't decide, I'll just use them both, lol

P.S.

I can't believe that it's Dec 3 and it's 70 degrees outside. Vermont is getting 6-12 inches of snow, hehehe.

Holidailies

I forgot to mention yesterday that I did, indeed, join Holidailies. Here we go again on another month long odyssey into blogging. This challenge is a little different than NaBloPoMo. For NaBloPoMo, the only requirement was that you had to post something to your blog each day of November. For Holidailies, you also have to post once a day from Dec 1 to Jan 1, but it has to be 50 words or longer or a picture, and it can't just be meme's and quizzes. While posting through the holidays is going to be a challenge, it also gives me things to blog about. I don't worry that I can do it. I seem to have an endless supply of nonsense to talk about.



Today, my husband gave me a fabulous topic. He just managed to wrangle himself his second speeding ticket in as many months. This one, he was doing 40 mph in a 25 mph zone and the fine is a doozy. I am so beyond not happy right now that I feel the urge to hit something. Or someone. SHEESH!!!!

I Went for It

Last night, I decided to go ahead and start a book discussion group. I figured, what the heck. This way, if I don't like it, I have nobody to blame but myself. I have pretty simple criteria for a discussion group:

• We all read a book that the group picks out as a whole.
• We all discuss said book.
• We all treat each other respectfully

That's it. I don't mind off topic posts, but at the very least, half should be about the darn book. Right? I have yet to find a group that meets all of my criteria. Until now, hehehe. So, if you're interested stop by and check us out.

http://readersanonymous.ning.com/

The link can also be found at any time in my list of websites on the right.

Happy Saturday!

Two in One Day

I know. Why in the world am I posting twice in one day on the last day of a 30 day marathon??
Because I have something on my mind that's been bugging me for months and I want to get it out there.

Book or reading clubs. I don't have the opportunity to join one in real life. I've tried a couple different ones online, like a Yahoo group for instance, and it leaves much to be desired. No offense if any of them are reading this. But we only have a few replies a month and some of them aren't even about books. We also have no direction. Additionally, some groups are just too humongous. How can you have an informed discussion about one thing when hundreds of people are commenting on it? I just don't know. As a result, I've been toying with the idea of starting my own online reading group. Is this a dumb idea? Have I just not looked around enough online? If so, does anyone have a suggestion for a good group to join?

I'm always looking for something new to read and I'm also always looking for someone to discuss a good book with. I figure an online group (since my butt is parked in front of my comp when I'm not reading anyway) would be the way to go.

Opinions, thoughts, suggestions? If you don't want to leave a comment, send me an e-mail.
wishinglibrary at gmail dot com. Feedback would be absolutely lovely on this subject.

Out With a Bang?

Today's the last day of NaBloPoMo. I made it with 34 posts I think. Not too shabby.

Anyway, I keep forgetting to mention that I started reading War and Peace last weekend. I'm reading the new translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky. It's a very hard book to curl up with in bed because of its size (it's 1296 pages). I also have to keep two bookmarks in it: one to mark the page that I'm on and the other to mark the page of notes that I'm on that are in the back of the book. I like it so far though. The back and forth between the French and the English takes some getting use to, but after the first 100 pages it becomes old hat to read the English translation in the footnotes. It also took me a bit to get used to the Russian names. I was confusing the characters so I made note cards to keep track of them, lol.

I also finished my Christmas cards. They'll be going in the mail shortly. I'm mailing cards to nine different states including: Ohio, NC, Florida, CA, Iowa, Texas, Hawaii, Indiana, and Arizona. None are going overseas though.

And lastly, it's chilly here at my house today which inspired to me think of good things about the cold.

Pros:

• Tap water comes out of the tap really cold so you don't need ice to chill it.
• Cold kills the bugs although it hasn't been cold enough here for all the bugs to go away yet.
• I can put my duvet on the bed which makes me feel cozy at night.

Cons

• The cold sucks.

And now that NaBloPoMo is over, I hope that all the people that were blogging because of it don't stop. There are no worries where I'm concerned. I may not blog every single day of the month, but I'll blog at least 5 days a week. Ya know. Like I used to.

I just read about Holidailies. It's another posting challenge. I have one day to decide whether or not I want to participate. Is anyone else going to do it or is it just too much right after NaBloPoMo?? I don't know what I want to dooooo!!

Thursday Meme

Here's our Thursday Meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday

Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next,
which leads to the next, and so on and so on?
I don’t so much mean something
like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that
all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or
were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them
together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different
authors…

My answer to this is a definite no. Other than re-reading a series of books from beginning to end, I can't recall a time when I ever read a book based on a previous book that I had just read. If I have, it was an unconscious effort. I read whatever I have on hand. Wanna see what I mean?

Right now I'm reading War and Peace. Before that I read, Killjoy by Julie Garwood, Killing Kelly by Heather Graham, Dark Harvest by Karen Harper, Lisey's Story by Stephen King, and Creation in Death by J.D. Robb. Pretty random I think.

One exception was the R.I.P. Challenge in October. Those books were themed but only because I was reading them for a reading challenge.

On Topic...Or Not

I don't know how people can pick one topic, all the time, and post about just the one thing. I can do it some days, but sometimes, like today and yesterday, I have too many things on my mind to blog about just one thing.

Check out the link below. This one is worse than yesterday's book link. I haven't read even one book on this list. Has anyone else read any of them? Am I missing out?

The 10 Best Books of 2007 - New York Times

I'm having computer issues today. I was trying to sync music to my phone and my computer started doing weird things. I tried restarting it and it would shut down but when it was booting back up, the welcome screen wouldn't even come up. I had to do a hard reboot. After that, I had what looked to be a normal desktop but when I tried to open a program, it wouldn't open. So, I restarted again. Normal start up but my comp was so slow that it felt like I hadn't restarted in a year. So, I had to do a system restore to yesterday since I didn't have any points saved today. Everything seems normal but since I don't know what caused the problem in the first place I'm kinda worried that it's going to happen again. We'll see.

And lastly, Pam at 30 Something posted this to her blog today. It has the potential to make you feel stupid, but it's fun and addictive. Give it a try. Geography Quiz After a few tries, I finally made it to level 5 but no further.

Hodgepodge

I don't have a specific topic for today but rather a bit of this and that.

Below is a link for:

Holiday Books
100 Notable Books of 2007

Published: December 2,
2007
The Book Review picks outstanding works from the last year.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/notable-books-2007.html?ex=1353819600&en=a91112bfa8ccac62&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I've read ONE book on the list, heheh.

I've discovered another flavor of white tea that I like: Snapple White Tea with Nectarine. So far, I don't like the green apple and asian pear flavors.

My semester is almost at an end. Exam week is Dec 7-13. I've never looked forward to my break from classes more than I am now. It's been a rough semester. I HATE ADVERBIALS!!!

My HD DVR pooped out on me Sunday night. All the recorded shows that I had on it were lost. I was NOT a happy camper. C and I picked up a new one yesterday afternoon. I watched the episode of Chuck that was lost online and I'll be catching up on Pushing Daisies online too. I love technology. Sadly, I'm not going to get to see the last episode of The Closer. TNT doesn't broadcast them online and I missed the encore presentation last night. Other shows that were lost I'm not too torn up about them. This is the third HD DVR that we've gone through in less than a year. I don't know if that means that we watch too much tv or that they are cheaply made. I'd get TiVo except that I don't have and don't want a land line. Oh well.

Now I gotta go and dope my headache and make dinner.

Frontline Sucks

I've been buying Frontline since May of 2005 and have been satisfied with it up until September of this year. And before anyone says anything about the "flea cycle" I use it consistently on both dogs every month for all the good it has done me. My dogs are absolutely infested with fleas. Despite what the people at Merial, the company that manufactures Frontline, it is not working. Looking at both of my dogs' bellies, you can see fleas swarming on them. It's not just the odd one or two every once in a while. We've also treated both the house and the yard and haven't seen any changes in the amount of fleas we have. My youngest child has probably 30-40 flea bites on her back, stomach, and chest.

I called the company today to voice my complaint. They offered no defense or excuses at all. It was almost as if the tech was resigned to the fact that the product isn't working. She did inform me of their one-time refund policy in which I could either get a full refund or have a replacement supply sent to me. I told her that I didn't want anymore Frontline because it DOES NOT WORK for us anymore but that I would like my money back. In order to get a refund, I have to send them an itemized receipt. Nice for me. I bought two, three packs back in August. I don't keep receipts that long and due to hackers, the pet store that I bought them at purges their system every night.

So, I'm out the $88.58 that I paid for both boxes back in August plus the money that I've since spent on treating the yard, the house, and for flea shampoo. I'm also at a complete loss as to what to do next. I can only imagine how much insecticide that we've absorbed in my mission to kill fleas.

Score one for Vermont. At least we never had fleas while we lived there.

5 of 6

For our fifth installment, I give you:

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

What they say:

from Barnes and Noble

Synopsis
Temperance Brennan, like her creator Kathy Reichs, is a brilliant, sexy forensic anthropologist called on to solve the toughest cases. But for Tempe, the discovery of a young girl's skeleton in Acadia, Canada, is more than just another assignment. Évangéline, Tempe's childhood best friend, was also from Acadia. Named for the character in the Longfellow poem, Évangéline was the most exotic person in Tempe's eight-year-old world. When Évangéline disappeared, Tempe was warned not to search for her, that the girl was "dangerous."
Thirty years later, flooded with memories, Tempe cannot help wondering if this skeleton could be the friend she lost so many years ago. And what is the meaning of the strange skeletal lesions found on the bones of the young girl?
Meanwhile, Tempe's beau, Ryan, investigates a series of cold cases. Three girls dead. Four missing. Could the New Brunswick skeleton be part of the pattern? As Tempe draws on the latest advances in forensic anthropology to penetrate the past, Ryan hunts down a serial predator.

The New York Times - Marilyn Stasio
A deft hand at balancing the emotional light with the dark, Reichs links the enchanting Evangeline and her Acadian heritage to the unsolved cases of dead and missing girls that have stumped the police for years. And even now, 10 books into the series, Tempe's strung-out affair with Detective-Lieutenant Andrew Ryan still hangs on the tensions that confound lovers in an atmosphere of violent death.

What I say: I've read around the net how people tend to be turned off by Reichs' use of technical jargon. I may not know what all the words mean (that's what a dictionary is for people) but I think it adds to the story. For me, it makes me feel the importance of what is being said. Reichs' latest installment to the Temperance Brennan series is full of jargon, suspense, and intense character interaction. In this book, however, we get to see more of Tempe's past which I enjoyed.

The Tempe/Ryan drama I thought was completely annoying. It was almost as if Reichs forgot she was writing a novel and not an installment on a soap opera. This would be my only gripe with the book.

Overall, it was a good book in the series. I gave it a 3 out of 5 on GoodReads.

I Think I'm Done

Do you know how hard it was to find a Blogger layout that I liked? I must've tried at least 20 different layouts. It was like Goldilocks trying to find the perfect porridge and bed. Some layouts were too dark. Some weren't customizable enough. Some were too plain. UGH!! I hope what I decided on works on everyone's browsers because I don't know if I have it in me to change it again.

So, what's different?

• The layout, of course. I went from a two column to a three column layout.
• The labels are in a drop-down menu.
• I added a ton of new links under "My favorite Websites" and made them scroll so that they don't take up a lot of room.
• Same thing with my favorite blogs. I read 40 blogs on a regular basis but only had a fraction of them linked. Now, most of them are linked and I added a scroll bar to them too.
• Snapshots are gone. They annoyed me.
• The title bar is a little different and needs to be fixed. I'll get to that another day.
• The weather widget is gone. It didn't look right with the new layout.
• My doggie slide show is on hiatus. It will be back.
• Last, my favorite posts widget is gone. I may bring it back, I may not. I haven't decided.

I think that's it. If I have any broken links or something just looks really bad, I'd really appreciate a heads up.

Something's....Different

I'm trying to make some changes around here. I've been itching to do so for a while and got a wild hair tonight and I decided to go for it. If I don't gouge out my own eyes and my skull doesn't explode from the raging headache that I've had all day, I should be done sometime this century. It's still readable and that's all that matters. Just bear with me.

Black Friday

I don't do Black Friday. I think it's absolutely ridiculous to go shopping at 4 am. Nothing is that important. And how much are you really saving? There are sales before, during, and after Christmas. Are Black Friday sales with having to get up at the butt crack of dawn to fight HUGE crowds in the parking lot, in the stores, and then at the checkouts really worth the savings that are supposedly so much better than any other day of the year? I sincerely doubt it. Call me pessimistic. I am. So what did I do today instead?

Well, we started out the day with a hunt for Christmas window clings. I like window clings. They're cute and easy decorations. Once we finally found window clings (I had to look in five different stores) we headed home to put up our Christmas decorations. We put lights in all the street-facing windows, around the pillars on my front porch, and across the front of the house. I also put big bows on the pillars and on the little corner fence in my yard. It looks really nice if I do say so myself and I will. I also put out all my Christmas stuff in the house too. No tree yet cuz we get real ones and I like to wait until we get a little closer to Christmas so it will last until Jan 1. We need one more strand of lights on the front of the house and then we'll be all set. I didn't get to decorate last year because...well, for a lot of reasons so we're going all out this year to make up for it.

I also stocked up on my new favorite drink. Does anyone like green or white tea? I hate all varieties of teas except for white and green tea and my favorite brand is Snapple green tea with mango and Snapple white tea with raspberry. I can't seem to get enough of it. YUUUMMMM!!

Lastly, I absolutely soaked myself giving the dogs a bath. They have FLEAS!!! We've never had fleas before and I CAN'T STAND IT!!! We've been using Frontline every month since May of 2005 and this is the first time we've had to deal with fleas. I called the vet and they said that everyone's having a rough year with fleas. I'm pissed though because Frontline costs $43 per dog so that's $86 down the freaking drain. Literally. And that's not mention the money we've spent on pesticides for the yard and carpets. I'm calling Frontline on Monday to give them a piece of my mind. I have a really hard time living with bugs of any variety. It makes me feel dirty and it's embarrassing. Ugh!

Happy Thanksgiving/Thursday Meme

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all my family, friends, and blogger friends. I hope you all had a wonderful day.

From Booking Through Thursday...

Joanna and Brad are asking about “connecting words,” and they don’t mean conjunctions like “and” or “but.” No, what they’re looking for are unique, or treasured words that we’ve found out and about in our daily travels, words that might not be common usage, or often heard, but which struck a chord for some reason.

I've come across some strange uses for words but not really words that I've never heard before or since. In Vermont, they say wicked for everything. It's wicked cold. That's wicked neat. My friend Jennifer S. told me that in Wisconsin they call a water fountain, of the variety that you drink out of, a bubbler. In Ohio they call Pepsi or Coke, pop, whereas in California we called it soda and I also heard people call it Coke no matter if it was a Pepsi, Mt. Dew, or Sunkist. Another Vermont-ism is that they call soft-serve ice cream creamies or creemies. For the longest time I thought they were talking about Krispy Kreme doughnuts, lol. They also say "going to camp" when they mean that they're going camping in a tent or RV. Took me a while to figure that one out too. I just thought that an awful lot of people went off to camp for the summer, heheh.

That's all I can think of right now. My brain is still in a tryptophan haze.

Still Recovering

If the brain were a muscle, mine would be so sore that it wouldn't be able to move off of the sofa. After a three day marathon of intense paper writing, I'm still having a hard time with wanting to sit at my computer.

In a few minutes, I'm going to be abusing my feet. I always make my Thanksgiving meal sides the night before so that all I have to do the day off is pop everything into the oven. It makes the day much more enjoyable for me. What's weird is that we managed to not have any guests for the holiday. We usually have either Marines that don't have anywhere else to go over or family. This year, the Marines are going to another house and the family is eating at their houses in Ohio. Maybe next year.

What's on the menu? Well, we're having turkey (ham is for Christmas), stuffing, green bean casserole, scalloped corn, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, deviled eggs, a veggie plate, jellied cranberries (You know the kind that come out of the can holding the shape of the can. It's a tradition.), and pumpkin cheesecake. Can we say YUM?? And our turkey is a nice 20 pounder so if you're hard up for somewhere to have dinner, come on over. We'll have plenty to go around.

We had to do some last minute grocery shopping for our dinner. Yesterday, C hit the commissary on his way home from work and they were out of EVERYTHING. They didn't even have 1% milk. He bought what he could then we went to the Harris Teeter this afternoon for the rest. And that was a madhouse too but they had everything we needed including some stuff we didn't, heheh. We have a nice bottle of Merlot to go with our bird (Emeril recommended it) and all the trimmings. I couldn't be more excited. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. All it is, is good food and good company without the pressure of gift giving or costume buying or anything else. Me likes.

Under the Wire

I've been completely busy today. I had a 10 page paper due for my business class and grammar exercises on top of that. I also had to give feedback for a group project in my writing class. I'm so stinking tired of sitting at my computer and in this chair that this is all you get for today. Sue me.

Stealing Again

I saw this on Pam's blog today and it was too fun to pass up.

The Wikipedia Meme:

Go to Wikipedia and input your birthday (just month and date). Then write down 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday that you share your birthday with.

June 30

Events:

• 1864 - Pres. Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use and recreation."
• 1971 - Ohio ratifies the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowering the voting age to 18, thereby putting the amendment into effect.
• 1997 - First Harry Potter book is published.

Births:

• 1470 - Charles VIII of France
• 1966 - Mike Tyson (ick!)

Holiday:

• Independence Day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

4 of 6

I'm finally posting my thoughts on 4 of 6.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Published in 2004

What they say:
From Barnes and Noble

Synopsis
Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep’s
clothing. He’s handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He’s a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened -- of himself or some other fiend.

“It’s been years since there’s been a thriller as original as this one by Lindsay, who takes a tired subgenre—the serial-killer novel—and makes it as fresh as dawn.
Lindsay’s premise alone is worthy: narrator Dexter Morgan, a blood-spatter specialist for the Miami cops, is also a serial killer . . . What makes this novel zing is the narration—humorous, self-deprecating, smart and sometimes lyrical, it’s a macabre fun ride . . . A gripping, deliciously offbeat novel that announces the arrival of a notable new talent.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“After finishing this novel, readers will have only one thing to say: Wow! Dexter, a likable fellow on the surface, firmly in touch with his own inhumanity, is one of the genre’s most original, compelling characters to appear in years. He makes a fascinating narrator, appealing, articulate, and ghoulish all at the same time. Long after readers finish this gripping novel, they will still be thinking (or dreaming) about Dexter.”—Booklist (starred review)

What I say: Dexter is a mass of contradictions. Even though he's a serial killer, you have a hard time hating him. He should be a monster, someone easy to loath but as I read the book, I oftentimes found myself rooting for him.

I suppose you would have to have a dark mind to be able to write a likeable serial killer. I've never seen Lindsay give an interview so I don't know. To top it off, Lindsay's characters are funny. It's just another contradiction of the story being able to find humor in the midst of blood.

Something else I find odd about Dexter is that the Showtime series is just as good as the books. If you've never seen it, watch it. If you've never read the books, hit your library. Both are worth your time.

We Won!!

Sorry Michigan, but we won!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

It was an awesome game. Fun for all. Well, unless you were rooting for Michigan, heheh.

We won!!

Oh! The Drama!!

It's done. I told Jane everything. I made her cry. I felt like a total turd but it had to be done and I'm not sorry that I did it. I wasn't fair in keeping things in for so long. I know that. But, that's all I'm going to say on the subject. It's depressing and I'm trying to be psyched!! And why, you ask? Because tomorrow is the OSU v. Michigan game!! Woot!! Woot!!

I'm already wearing an OSU shirt and have another picked out for tomorrow. I put up decorations in the house. I hauled out C's buckeye hat and his Brutus. I also printed up a door-sized banner and put it on our front door. See? Nifty, eh?



The OSU, Michigan game is always fun at our house. I just have to go out and buy the food and drinks for tomorrow and we'll be set.

4 or 6 is coming. Hold your horses and keep your pants on. Certain things have to take precedence. Priorities people!

Thursday Meme

Our meme is back this week. It didn't make the blog last week because I was too busy shamelessly bragging about my new phone. 4 or 6 will be posted tomorrow.

The meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday:

Today’s question comes from Conspiracy-Girl:I’m still relatively new to this meme so I’m not sure if this has been asked yet, but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

I'm definitely not a person who writes in her books. I don't dog-ear the pages either. It seems almost sacrilegious to me. In one of my classes that I took a semester or two ago, my textbook said to mark in your books; make them your own. I gave this advice a lot of thought before I decided that I couldn't ruin my books with notes. I'm not so obsessive to where I worry about creasing the spine of my paperbacks though.

When I was in high school, my mom borrowed a book from a guy that she worked with under the strict condition that she return it to him without the spine being creased. We both managed to read the book and not crease the spine, but worrying about it the whole time took some enjoyment away from the story. Well, at least it did for me. I'm not sure what my mom thought.

I consider my books a collection and take care of them the best that I know how.

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(Technical Note: I know the colors and stuff are off but the post was starting to peeve me so I left it the way that it is before I decided to boot my comp out the smucking window. Thanks for understanding.)

And now for your reading pleasure, we're going to take a look at…

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Published in 2001

What they say:

From Barnes and Noble

Synopsis

Artemis Fowl is a one of the greatest criminal minds the world has ever seen. He is heir to the Fowl family empire—a centuries old clan of international underworld figures and con artists. He is arguably the most cunning Fowl of all. He is also twelve years old.

Artemis' interest in mythology and an obsession with the Internet leads him to discover proof of the existence of "The People"- otherwise known as fairies, sprites, leprechauns and trolls. He learns every fairy has a magical Book. If he can find the Book, it will lead him to "The People's" vast treasure of gold.

With his brutish sidekick, Butler, he sets his plans in motion. Artemis tricks a drunken old fairy woman into loaning him her Book, a tiny golden volume, for thirty minutes. He scans it with a digital camera and emails it to his Mac G6 computer. Back in his mansion in Ireland, he is the first human to decode the secrets of the fairies.

Artemis needs a leprechaun to help him with this plan. He and Butler hunt down Holly Short, a tough, female LEPrecon, part of a gung-ho Fairy commando unit, who is on a reconnaissance mission. He kidnaps her, and a major battle begins. It's satyr against gnome, man against elf, and for the first time in his life, Artemis must decide what he values most.

For fans of J.R.R.Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, and Philip Pullman, Artemis Fowl is a high-tech fantasy, mixing faries, leprechauns, and computers, in a brilliant, thrilling story that is destined to become a cult favorite.

USA Today

He can tell a story...Colfer offers some nice riffs in terms of creating a magical subworld of trolls, dwarfs and centaurs as well as some fun tech stuff.

What I say: This is supposed to be a young adult read, correct? Well, I enjoyed it just the same. I picked it up at the bookstore because of all the hype that I had heard about the series over the years and wanted to see what the fuss was all about. It was money well spent. The characters are engaging and funny. The fact that the main character, Artemis Fowl, is only twelve does take a little getting used to especially since he orders adults around all the time because they work for him. I often had a hard time remembering that he was only a kid. It was Colfer's intention to portray Artemis as being older than his years because of his upbringing and it came across well…A little too well at times I think.
If you're looking for a light and fast read this book fits the bill. It was fun and I intend to read the rest of the books in the series.

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Our next book is

Wicked by Gregory Maguire.
Published in 1995.

What they say:

From Barnes and Noble

Synopsis
An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Wicked just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature.
Newsday
Listen up, Munchkins. Stop your singing, stop the dancing. The Wicked Witch is no longer dead. But not to worry. Gregory Maguire's shrewdly imagined and beautifully written first novel, "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West," not only revives her but re-envisions and redeems her for our times.

What I say: I have hesitated saying too much about this book. It was really hard for me to get through having taken about 3 weeks total reading time and that's not counting the months it sat next to my bed after I read the first chapter, decided it wasn't for me, then decided I should finish it someday because I hate leaving books unfinished. I just didn't want to turn anyone off to the book because it was a good story. Maguire has an imagination that I have never seen before in an author. For Maguire to be able to write a story taken from such a classic as Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz and make his new tale a completely believable "what if" is an amazing talent in my opinion.

Yes, it was hard to get through but I am not sorry for the experience. I would say that it was probably just me but I've heard similar troubles from three other people who have or are attempting to read the book. I would still encourage people to read it and for those that are in the middle of reading it, don't give up!!

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I have finished quite a few books in the last month and a half. 4 of them I already blogged about for the R.I.P. challenge. The others sorta got pushed aside due to my laziness. Now I just have to figure out where to begin. I think I'll go by publication date that way I won't be showing any favoritism, heheh.

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart published in 1985.

What They Say:

Loudmouthed, redheaded Cee Cee Bloom has her sights set on Hollywood. Bertie White, quiet and conservative, dreams of getting married and having children. In 1951, their childhood worlds collide in Atlantic City. Keeping in touch as pen pals, they reunite over the years ... always near the ocean.

Powerful and moving, this novel follows Cee Cee and Bertie's extraordinary friendship over the course of thirty years as they transform from adolescents into adults. A bestselling novel that became a hugely successful film, Beaches is funny, heartbreaking, and a tale that should be a part of every woman's library.

What I Say:

I, of course, saw the movie way back when and I loved it. My sister and I used to watch it over and over and cry every time. I had no idea until my friend, Jennifer S., sent it to me as a gift that the movie had been based on a book. What a dunderhead I was. The movie didn't do the book justice but such is the way of movies adapted from books. Beaches was amazing. It was a bit darker than I had expected but it drew me in and I read it in a day.

To me, it was a story of what being a friend truly means. It's about tolerances, forgiveness, and loyalty. I can't wait to reread it again someday.

Don't Feel Like Posting

I had to drag myself in here. I'm not in the mood to post. I'd rather be reading my In Death book that I got yesterday, lol. I'm a little over halfway through it and it is so good!

The oldest child is giving me grief. I used to think 14 was going to be the age to dread but 11 is not exactly a picnic. She managed to get the grounding of her life today which is going to make the rest of November miserable for us all. Not that the first 11 days have been all that pleasant either. Sometimes I wish that parenting came with a handbook.

I'm going back to my book now and I'm going to try and ignore the rest of the living world.

The Book Signing!!

I'm BACK!! I had such a great time. Nora was awesome. She answered all kinds of questions and made jokes, and signed books. It was the best. What made it even better was that I got to share the experience with one my good friends. It wouldn't have been the same without her there.

I'll post more and reply to comments tomorrow. I'm so exhausted right now I can barely think. I don't like to post pictures of myself online, so you can tell just how excited that I still am that I posted that one. And that's my book on the table, lol.