Less Than Stellar Beginning

Being Lazy:  The first week of class was a bit hairy which is really sad. I didn’t have anything big due this week but I was still doing everything last minute. Not a good beginning in the least. Do I have a good excuse? Hmm. Umm. Let’s see. Err. Nope, not really. Yeah, I was busy with the kids’ homework, my work, we’re still only about half way unpacked, I had to sweat over my bills a couple times this week, I finally finished RA’s book for August and started September’s, and my mail is still screwed up but all of that didn’t consume all of my time. What did then?? SPORE!! and THE SIMS 2 APARTMENT LIFE!! Quite possibly the worst time ever to buy new games is the first week of the semester, BWAHAHAHA!! So, don’t let my whining sway you to feeling sorry for me. I made my own bed.

Reading:  Weirdly enough, I was reading Rebecca Stott’s Ghostwalk, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and Beowulf all last week. Do you know how odd it was to go from one to the other? They are three totally different works. Different times, different characters, different themes. The most shocking thing was that of the three, Beowulf is my favorite. Luckily I got to read it in translation and not in the Old English style, heheh.

The Weekend:  The Mister had to work both Saturday and Sunday as I mentioned last week. We did our best not to let it spoil the entire weekend. When he got home Saturday, we stopped in at our neighborhood block party. I say, “block party” and shake my head. There weren’t that many people there and those that were, were mostly old people. No offense to old people. They had a “band” that played gospel music and I guess it would be called bluegrass? Totally not my cup of tea in the least. The only good thing about it was that we got to meet the other Ohio State fans in the neighborhood. They have an OSU garden gnome in their front yard, heheh.

After putting in an appearance, we went to Jacksonville so that I could buy stuff for the bathrooms at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Yay! I love buying bathroom stuff. I got new towels, shower curtains, and floor mats for both bathrooms. I also got some accessory/deco stuff for the hall/girls’ bathroom. Both look very nice if I do say so myself. We also checked out new DVD players at Best Buy because ours isn’t working properly. I’m not sure if it’s broke or just needs cleaned.

Gas Prices, Again:  OH!! And I totally almost forgot to mention the gas craziness here. After Ike, our gas prices went up to $4.34 from $3.66 overnight. One gas station still had gas at $3.66 and cars were lined up into the street. We went in for gas and they were out of regular and the mid-grade so we had to get premium at $3.90 which was still cheaper than the cheap gas everywhere else. People were blowing their horns and behaving like lunatics while we were there. I saw online this morning a couple different news articles about how people were filing gouging complaints about the prices. It’s just craziness. Is it like that everywhere? I talked to my mom in Ohio who was shocked at our prices.

Okay. I figure that’s enough for one day, lol. I gotta see how my civilization in Spore is doing before it’s time for bed.

End of the Day

Today was odd. The Mister is on leave this week because we have finals and it's just weird to have him home when it's not a holiday. We didn't do much other than lounge, study, play Mario Kart, and cook the kids dinner.

Tonight, we watched Big Bang Theory and I watched Bones. I really enjoy both of those shows. BBT is so hilarious that it's a great show to watch when you just want to veg. I was also excited to see that Showtime is rerunning season three of Weeds on Monday nights to catch people up to when they begin airing season four. That's another show that I can't get enough of. We Netflix'ed seasons one and two and I don't think season three is out on DVD yet.

Also, I have started RA's May book, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. We have some skeptics this month since Gaiman's books are a little...out there. I think it's a good thing to stretch your literary wings every once in a while though. Plus, isn't that the point of being in a book discussion group, to read books that you might not have picked up on your own? That's how I found Gaiman in the first place, in another book group. So far, I've read American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Stardust, which they made a movie out of and I have yet to see. I can't wait to see where Gaiman takes us in Neverwhere.

I just sat here and stared at the screen for five minutes so I think my brain is done for the night.

It's Monday. Again

I really hate Mondays. (I have the song in my head again, btw.) Why do they have to suck so bad? And it's COLD again. 51 degrees and my heat is running right now. What is up with that? It's so much harder to face a Monday when you know it's cold outside. It also doesn't help when you start your day with your kids sniping at each other the whole morning while they are getting ready for school. You know nothing good comes from grounding your first child at 7:00 in the morning. I also got to start my Monday out by being confused. I thought I was supposed to go with my preggo friend for her first ultrasound today but it's not until tomorrow. Oh well. I have a hard enough time keeping my own appointments straight let alone someone else's.

Is anyone else watching The Tudors? This season so far, is awesome. I still think it's funny that Henry looks so young when at this point in show, he would have been about 42 years old. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is 30 years old and looks 30 years old.

Reading. Have I mentioned any books lately on my blog? For a while, that's all I talked about then I veered off course I think. Anyway, I've been a reading fool. Last week I finished Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: The Prodigal Son and Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods which was for my book group. I had mixed feelings about Koontz's book. I hesitate to say anything bad about his writing but I thought his saying that Shelley's Frankenstein was actually a work of nonfiction was too easy. He could have come up with a better, more original way of bringing his monster to life. As for Bryson's book, if you want to know my thoughts, check them out at the group. I had a lot to say. ;) My next read is as yet undetermined. I have several books in my TBR pile but I don't know what I want to attack next. Pretty unusual for me. The Mister is reading the second Frankenstein book so I'll read that after he's done and I'm reading the first Spiderwick with the oldest child but I'm reading it at her pace. I'm just not sure what I'm in the mood to read right now. When I figure it out, I'll let you know.

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.

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!

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!