Maybe It's Just Me

So, I've been checking out photography books from the library. The two I just finished flipping through were Modern Luxury Residences & Couture Wedding Gowns.

I don't get it. It's a good thing I'm not a rich celebrity who is supposed to care about this stuff. High fashion is wasted on me. I thought the wedding gown book would be fun, and it sort of was, but most of what I saw was hideous & the fun came from laughing at it. I look at Fashion Week photos online and wonder exactly who these designers think they're going to be dressing, because most of that "clothing" has no place in the real world.

Don't get me wrong- I like pretty clothes, but if it comes down to comfort & function or appearance & style, I'm going for comfort. You can't convince me that the girl with half a strip of fabric over her nipples, a skirt that restricts her ability to walk, and a headpiece that looks like a spittoon is comfortable.

And the Residence book...again, good thing I'm not rich. I don't want to live in an austere, sterile home. They're all beautifully designed, but they seem made to look at not live in. I like soft furnishings, pops of color, and spaces that make you want to stay in them. While I understand & appreciate a need for natural light, up to a point, I don't need massive windows in every flipping room. Especially when the window treatments (god forbid you call them curtains) are fussy and/or not designed to actually cover the damned things.

That said, I DO like quite a few of the designer bathrooms. I'd love to have some of the tubs I saw. Heated towel rails are lovely, and so are free standing showers. The toilets make me a little nervous- so many of them look like giant lidded cups. I'm used to traditional American loos with cisterns- you look at those and know what they're meant for.


Anyway, just felt like sharing those observations. The new cats are settling in, BTW. They're both venturing out of their hiding places and giving me drive by headbutts. Nightshade hasn't gone near them- they hiss and growl when they see her, poor girl- but I think they'll eventually warm up to each other.

Also, I dug out the Chat Noir cross stitch piece that I had started & abandoned in the fall. I'm almost done stitching the cat! Will try to post an updated picture of that next time.

The year is almost over- HALLELUJAH!!!

This year wasn't quite as bad as the second half of 2014, but it was by far from my favorite. I'm really hoping for a better 2016. Not banking on it, but I'm hoping.

Christmas was what it was. I worked, I got sick, we had the family celebration on Sunday. A few of my favorite presents:

Not much else to report. Been kind of a cruddy month. I'm looking forward to getting a few days off. I probably won't do anything special, but at least I won't have to be at work!

Button Day!

I admit it- I'm a button junkie. I love them. Somewhere in my closet is a jar full of them. I'm still mad that my Gramma's old collection got pitched. it's nice to know that I'm not alone, and that there's a day for us. I don't collect them for value, just for the way they look. I really should dig my collection out and do a craft project with them.

There's a mystery series about a button collector/seller, BTW. Kylie Logan wrote it. Here's the first book in the series:

I Should Be In Bed Right Now

But instead, I'm up cross stitching. I spent my one night off this weekend reading (Tale of Two Biddies by Kylie Logan & Tempest In A Teapot by Amanda Cooper) & stitching. Here's my progress on La Fleur:

Sorry, but as I've mentioned before, photography is NOT one of my stronger skills. Anyway, I'm now approximately a third of the way finished and will hopefully be sending the pattern on to my penpal, Paula, soon!

Listmania the First

So, I read this book over the weekend and was totally charmed by it. A kid that makes lists? My kind of kid, and my kind of book. The best part was at the end, where the author helpfully provided lists to be filled in by the reader with a variety of goofy suggestions. Mind you, this is a kid's book, but I couldn't resist posting some for the fun of it.

Six Things I Would Like My Sweatshirt To Say

1. Quit Staring At My Chest!

2. No Vacancy

3. My Eyes Aren't Down Here

4. Loki Is My Love Slave

5. My Other Chest Has Drawers

6. What Are You Looking At?




Another list to follow next week! Just because I'm nuts like that...

Books & Bloggers Swap Reveal

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this! My partner, Tula, sent me some great looking books.

Apologies for the picture quality. Photography is not my best skill. Not pictured are the candy bar & Starbucks card that Tula generously included. Those were used almost immediately!

Anyway, it was a great exchange & I'm looking forward to doing another one sometime!

15 Question Book Meme

This was originally a 15 question fantasy/scifi/horror meme as seen here, but I decided to make it a general book meme instead.


What was the last book you finished reading?
Live Right & Find Happiness by Dave Barry

What was the last book you did not finish reading?
Just the Sex, Ma'am by Tina Folsom. It was getting repetitive.

What was the last book you read that you liked but most people didn’t?
Not sure, to be honest.

What was the last book you read that you disliked?
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist

How long do your 1-sitting reading sessions usually last?
If I'm at home, a couple of hours.

What are you currently reading?
The Dark Side of the Road by Simon R Green

Do you like it so far?
I only just started it, but yes.

How long ago did you buy the book you are currently reading?
About 2 weeks ago via Amazon.

What was the last physical sf/f/h book you bought?
Jinn & Juice by Nicole Peeler

What is the genre/sub-genre you like to read the most?
My tastes are kind of all over the place. I like cozy mysteries, especially the ones featuring food and/or books. I like Regency era romances. Humorous fantasy/sci-fi.

What is the sf/f/h sub-genre you dislike the most and why?
anything with Zombies. Just don't like them.

What is your favorite electronic reading device?
I have a Kindle Keyboard and I like it much more than I thought I would. It was a gift from a former friend. I never thought I'd want an e-reader, but it IS great for traveling. The poor thing is developing problems now due to it's advanced (in computer terms) age & heavy use, so I'm debating upgrading to a Paperwhite.

What was the last sf/f/h eBook you bought?
Boundary Crossed by Melissa Olson (not my cousin, but I got a huge laugh at the coincidence)

Do you read books exclusively in 1 format (physical/electronic)?
Nope. I'm a reading slut- any format is fine!


Do you read eBooks exclusively on a single device?
Mostly yes. I have my Kindle as mentioned above, but my tablet also has the Kindle app. I use it more for games, but have read a book or two on it while waiting for the Kindle to recharge.

Today is....

National Library Worker's Day!

So go say thank you to all those librarians out there!

I'd like to thank Donna, Karen, Linda, Angel, and all the others at my branch library. Also Mom & all of her former coworkers who were amused by my lack of restraint and eagerness to check out as many books as I could carry!

Books & Bloggers Book Swap!

Signed up for another exchange since the last one was so much fun!

Happy (?) New Year

I may as well start the year out complaining. 2014 couldn't leave without a few parting shots to remind me that it sucked ass.

1. Mom developed a problem with the eye she had cataract surgery on. The panicky eye doctor sent her for a MRI to make sure she wasn't having a stroke or anything like that. Luckily, she wasn't, so now she's being sent back to Dr B to be tested for a sinus infection or to see if it's some sudden diabetes complication.

2. Dad, who objects to going to PT to build his strength up, keeps trying to do things on his own and falling. Luckily he hasn't hurt himself yet.

3. I ruined the ham we had for Christmas dinner. It was mostly edible, but NOT the delicious feast we were planning on.

4. The thyroid tumor is now exactly half the size of what's left of the thyroid. I get to go see the surgeon again and we get to fight with the insurance company over whether or not we can just remove the damned thing or if I get to have a needle jammed into it again first. Dr B. decided that wasn't enough to deal with, so I also have appointments to have my boobs mashed and a camera shoved up my ass. And I'm still too fat for his taste.

5. My car started doing all kinds of not-so-neat tricks. Two days at the mechanic for them to do the repairs that it turned out were part of the recalls on my vehicle and for them to come up with enough time to find something wrong that I'd have to pay for. Bob needs a $250 part (not including labor, of course) that I just can't do until later this month. The kicker is, of course, that the longer I go before I can afford the part, the more likely it will go from the $250 repair to a $1500 one.

6. The cousin my mom was closest to, Aunt Georgia, died yesterday. There's a winter weather front moving into the Iowa area (hoping it blows itself out before it gets here) and with Daddy's shakiness and needs, there is NO WAY we are driving into a snowstorm to go to the funeral.



On the plus side:

1. I still have a job even if I hate it most days.

2. I still have both my parents, even if they drive me crazy.

3. I still have my Shady-cat, who is very cuddly in winter weather.

4. I have a ton of new books to read.

5. I have a ton of new DVD's to watch.



Let's see what this year does to me...

New Version Book Challenge

I'll most likely do the Goodreads challenge again for 2015, but I found this online and think I'll add it into the mix.

Hopefully the link works- it's a printable checklist for the Popsugar Reading Challenge.

Firsts of the year!

First person spoken to: Mom

First thing to drink: iced coffee

First thing to eat: bowl of Corn Chex w/sugar

First thing cooked: Chuck steak on Foreman grill

First contemplated purchase: a new Foreman grill (because my current one has about had it)

First actual purchase: box of Immodium (damn meds have a new side effect)

First website visited: Facebook

First game played: Bubble Witch Saga

First book read: Cat Vs Human- Another Dose of Catnip

First DVD watched: Blackadder the 3rd

First "responsible adult" activity: balanced the checkbook (and winced to see that I've been spending money like a drunken sailor)

First household chore: Washed sinkful of dishes that accumulated over the last 10 days or so. ( What?!? I live alone, so it's not like I'll run out of dishes. I tend to run out of silverware first)

First person to get a hug: My friend Trey

First person to get sworn at: The idiot in front of me on the way to work who signaled a left turn, turned right, and then drove at 10 m.p.h. while reading text messages on his phone

First phone call answered at work: Officer who didn't know his name would come up on caller ID and freaked out when I called him by name.

First blog post: done!

What I Do When I'm Not Attempting To Blog

1. Spend way more time at my job than I would like to. Yes, I get paid OT for it, but that gets old after a while and taxes eat more of it than it's worth. We've been short 2 clerks in my office for a year now and it's beginning to wear us all out.

2. Eat junk that I shouldn't. Discovered Bacon Jerky - yes, you read that correctly- at World Market last week and have had to remind myself that it's too expensive and too bad for me to buy/eat regularly.

3. Spend money like a drunken sailor on shore leave. Working on cutting that down too. Hit the DMC sale at Joann Fabrics last week and now have enough floss to stitch a battleship. Also hit sales at B&N, Target, World Market...you get the idea.

4. Play video games on my phone. I should NEVER have upgraded to a smartphone. My 3 current addicitons are Bejewled Blitz, Candy Crush, and Angry Birds Star Wars.

5. Spend time with my parents. I took my dad to an Ohio Valley Wrestling TV taping while I was on vacation and it was hysterically awful. The highlight of the evening was the wrestler in the full length pink bunny suit...don't ask. At least one of the announcers is a Monty Python fan, because he lost it when I screamed "Activate Vorpal Bunny Powers!" Mom & I spent a day at the pool and got totally sunburnt.

6. Sing songs to my cats. Yes, I'm special.

7. Attempt to do things around the house. Something else from my vacation- I hung the London print that I got for my birthday. Then I decided that my bathroom needed work, so I put in a new shower caddy tower, a new curtain rod, and a new etagere. The rest of the house is still a wreck, but my bathroom looks nice!

8. READ! I have a ton of books that I would like to post reviews for...someday. Will work on that too!

9. Listen to music- my current new favorite is Five Finger Death Punch. One officer friend borrowed my car the other day and came back shaking his head. He'd looked at the cd's in the car. In addition to the 5FDP, I had the latest Buddy Guy, a Kelly CLarkson, Rick Springfield, Halestorm, and Barry Manilow. "You are a strange woman...you know that, right?" Well, DUH.

10. Watch dvd's if I'm not reading or stitching. I just got the first season of Elementary in the mail today, so i'm looking forward to settling down with it. I may not get to watch it until next week since I'm working all weekend, but I'm looking forward to it all the same.

More later...

It's National Haiku Day!

Nightshade and Malkin

Furry, purry little pests

I love them so much.

The books that I own

Are all over my small house...

Reader's paradise!

I'm VERY hungry.

Mongolian Bacon? YUM!

Will you bring me some?

Crap! Time to go work.

Officers and Criminals...

Where are my happy pills?

Here I Go Again- Jen Lancaster

This is Jen's second novel and quite a hoot to read. The main character is Melissa "Lissy" Ryder. Lissy was a high school homecoming queen/cheerleader/leader of the mean girls posse/snotty witch. You know the type- think Mean Girls meets Heathers. She spent her high school years running roughshod over everyone and the following years coasting on what she believed to be her past glory.

Then the proverbial rug gets yanked out from under her feet.

Suddenly Lissy finds herself broke, unemployed, single, and fat. And living with her parents. Things can't get worse, right? Wrong. She gets an invitation to her class reunion.

Thinking she can relive her glory days, and praying that her former classmates all have wretched lives, she goes. Things don't go the way she'd hoped. Most of her former victims are amazingly successful. Her ex-husband is there with a Sofia Vergara lookalike. People are lining up to take metaphorical jabs at her and her BFF has given up and walked away in disgust.

Only one person takes pity on Lissy- Deva, formerly Debbie, who has become a New Age practitioner. Deva took all the negativity heaped on her from Lissy and channeled it into something positive. She feels truly sorry for the girl who made her life hell and offers to help her by giving Liss a potion. "Only take one drop a day!"

Liss makes her way home and thinks Deva is a nut. Why be nice to someone who was so rotten to her? But it's not like she has anything to lose at this point, so she tries the potion. It doesn't taste too awful, so she has some more. And some more....and then she falls asleep...

...only to wake up in her old room. Nothing shocking there- she's had to move back in with her parents. Then she realizes that she's not just in her old room- she's in her old body! That's right...Lissy Ryder is 17 again. Now maybe she can right the wrongs of her past and have a brighter future!

Well, almost. She changes the past, and winds up with the kind of future she dreamed of. The problem is, she kind of screwed everyone else up in doing it, but is enlightened enough to care. So now she has to find Deva, get more of the potion, and try again. Does she succeed? Does she get a Happily-Ever-After without ruining it for everyone?

You'll have to read it for yourself. And if you're like me, you'll wind up digging out your old Whitesnake recordings.

"I don't know where I'm going...but I sure know where I've been..."

Oh, Happy Day!

I was feeling sorry for myself because I stayed up way too late and had to work an OT shift today. Then I logged into my Google Reader and discovered that I won the book pictured above from a contest on Stacey Ballis's blog. (http://thepolymathchronicles.blogspot.com/)

Combine that with a couple of new stitchy magazines, a quiet office, Girl Scout Cookies, a vat of iced coffee, and a deli sandwich delivered by one of my favorite officers (I actually do like a lot of them, despite my bitching, and not just because they do things like this) and this has turned into a fairly decent day!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend...

Book Expo America is Coming Up

Laura has been dying to go to this as long as I've known her. I'm kind of interested, but had never really given it that much thought since it's an industry show and almost impossible to get into unless you work in the publishing industry. Not to mention the expense- the registration is something like $400. But then we found out that this year they're offering a $45 one-day pass to booklovers not in the business.

Well, that still wasn't quite enough to tempt me...until I did my taxes the other day and discovered that I'm actually getting refunds this year! WOOOOOOOOT! Laura is doing hers this weekend, but suspects she will be getting one as well. So we decided we're going. Luckily we seem to travel well together.

Now for the fun part. *eyeroll* BEA is in NYC. Yeah...that's gonna be expensive. The hotels offering discounts to the Expo guests are all $200-300 a night. We're going to have to stay at least 2 nights. (the day pass is for Saturday, June 1, so we'll have to fly up on Friday and come back Sunday) I'm playing around with different sites, hoping to score a lower price, but it's not looking too promising right now. The lowest I've found so far was $189 and somewhere out on Long Island. (The Expo is close to Times Square)

Ticket prices are a booger too. So far it's looking like $230-300 each to fly, and that's if we fly into Newark, which means getting transport into NYC. Normally I'd be willing to drive to where I'm going, but the idea of drving in NYC (with MY roadrage?!?) sends cold chills down my spine. And since Laura sucks at navigating (sorry, chica), the odds of us getting hopelessly lost are pretty good. So flying is our best bet, especially if we wind up at a hotel near the Expo. I'm not too sanguine about the NY subway system, but we may have to use it for some of the things we're hoping to do while we're there.

Things to do while we're there- we both have ideas for that. I'm sure Laura will be posting hers on her blog, but here's mine:

1. Have a pastrami sandwich at Katz's Deli. I have been dying to do this since I saw them on an episode of Man Vs Food.

2. Visit the Strand Bookstore

3. Visit the NY Public Library and take a picture with the lions (shock, right?)

4. Find a stitch shop.

5. Visit Chinatown


Any other suggestions or travel tips?

Party Like A Rock Star

I'm always amused when somebody gets wind of the outrageous demands made by celebrities before they will deign to make an appearance somewhere. Lady Gaga has triggered the latest bout of stories with her demands for white leather sofas among other things. Jen of www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.com posted what would be her list of demands and asked her readers what theirs would be. So, with a little thought, here are some of mine:

1. A case of ice cold Nestle Pure Life Water.

2. A gallon of strong, iced coffee

3. Dark chocolate covered almonds on a silver salver

4. A crystal bowl filled with Fererro Rocher candies

5. Bouquets of purple flowers in each corner of the room and on a table in the center of the room

6. A Cheesesteak & Ham Sandwich from the original J Michael's Philly Deli in Wilmington NC

7. A case of ice cold Dr Pepper in glass bottles

8. A cool, dark, quiet room for me to rest in when I grow weary of the hangers-on, equipped with a queen-sized pillowtop bed made with jersey sheets, a fluffy duvet, and equipped with 6 pillows of varying thickness.

9. A handsome dark haired male assistant with either blue or green eyes and a melodious British/Scottish/Irish accent

10. A chinese buffet that includes Mongolian Beef, potstickers, and shredded pork with green beans.

11. A jacuzzi with 3 black and 3 purple beach towels

12. A selection of Regency Era romances, Mystery novels, and Steampunk novels with a good light to read by.

13. A funnel cake fryer, manned by another British hunk

14. A personal masseuse

15. A sound system playing soft jazz in the background.


I could keep going, but I think that's enough silliness for now. Sadly, if I wasn't so lazy/broke, I could have some of those things in my daily life. LOL

My Ideal Bookshelf

This was a fun read where people from various walks of life are asked what books would be on their ideal bookshelf and provide a brief narrative explaining their choices. Artist Jane Mount then draws a lovely image of what the shelf would look like, and she captures the real covers of some of the books VERY well.

The British: An Awfully Useful Guide- Toby Hill

A short, but cutely illustrated guide to some of the things that make the British what they are. It takes about 10 minutes to read through.