Kelley's Komments

2010-12-02T14:15:00.001-06:00

This was an excellent reding month, or rather, listening month. LOL I had lots of driing and such giving me more time than usual for listening to books this month. Finished 23 full length books and 11 shorts. As per usual, the number in parentheses is where the book falls in my tally for the year. The "book #" is where they fall in my list for the month. I broke 200 this month which is pretty great, though I'm a little bit behind where I was last year at this time. I'm hoping to read 225 this year since I finished 220 last year and thawas the most I've read in a single year in a LONG time. I do stand a pretty decent chance of making it if I keep having so much audio book time before the year end and I have a 10-day Christmas vacation coming up though it's going to be pretty crazy this year in my parents' home so not sure I'll actually be successful in my reading.

November 2010:

* (182) Book 1 – Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Book 8/Fear Book 2: Chill of Fear by Kay Hooper (audio)

* (183) Book 2 – The Blade Keepers Book 2: Underground Warrior by Evelyn Vaughn (eBook) (HQ)

* (184) Book 3 – Dark Book 14: Dark Hunger by Christine Feehan (audio)

* (185) Book 4 – Hunger Games Book 3: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (audio)

* (189) Book 5 – Prince of the Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audio)

* (187) Book 6 – A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (audio)

* (190) Book 7 – Billi SanGreal Book 1: The Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda (audio)

(191) Book 8 – Allie Beckstrom Book 1: Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk (print)

(192) Book 9 – The Shimmer by David Morrell (audio)(193) Book 10 – Exclusive by Sandra Brown (audio)

(194) Book 11 – Resurrection of Magic Book 1: Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey (audio)

(195) Book 12 – In a Fairy Tale World… Book 2: Rich Man, Poor Bride by Linda Goodnight (print) (HQ)

(196) Book 13 – I'll Become the Sea by Rebecca Rogers Maher (eBook) (CP)

(197) Book 14 – Darkest Powers Book 1: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (audio)

(198) Book 15 – Tantalize Book 1: Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (audio)

(199) Book 16 – Count on a Cop: Homecoming Day by Holly Jacobs (print) (HQ)

(200) Book 17 – Bite Anthology by Laurell K Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Vickie Taylor (print)

(201) Book 18 – Lakeshore Chronicles Book 5: Fireside by Susan Wiggs (audio) (HQ)

(202) Book 19 – The Seven Realms Book 1: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima (audio)

(203) Book 20 – Maggie O'Dell Book 7: Black Friday by Alex Kava (audio) (HQ)

(204) Book 21 – Everafter by Amy Huntley (audio)

(205) Book 22 – Without Mercy by Lisa Jackson (audio)

(206) Book 23 – The Godmothers Book 2: Exclusive by Fern Michaels (audio)

And the shorts:

* (186) Soul Screamers Prequel: My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent (short audio) (HQ)

* (186) Vampire's Tango by Michele Hauf (short audio) (HQ)

* (186) Atlantis: The Amazon's Curse by Gena Showalter (short audio) (HQ)

* (186) Lords of the Underworld: The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter (short audio) (HQ)

* (186) Lords of the Underworld: The Darkest Prison by Gena Showalter (short audio) (HQ)

(207) The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe (short audio)

(207) In My Dreams by Sarah Addison Allen (short audio)

(207) Fare Thee Well by Cathy Clamp (short audio)

(207) Eve of Sin City by SJ Day (short audio)

(207) Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson (short audio)

(207) Drake Sisters Book 1: Magic in the Wind by Christine Feehan (short audio)

My August Reads

2010-08-31T16:44:00.001-05:00

Well it is safe to assume I’m not going to finish any more books this month (unless for some reason I can’t sleep tonight though that is rarely a problem. LOL) So I am posting my August reads.

I had an excellent reading month (gotta love those audio books and shorter length novels!) I finished 20 full length books and 4 shorts this month. As per usual, the number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running tally for the year. The “Book #” is where they fall in the month’s tally. So here is my list…

August 2010:

* (119) Book 1 – The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory (audio)

* (120) Book 2 – Hell Series Book 2: My Way to Hell by Dakota Cassidy (eBook and print – went back and forth between the two as needed)

* (121) Book 3 - The Bloodgate Guardian by Joely Sue Burkhart (eBook) (CP)

* (122) Book 4 - The Shining by Stephen King (audio)

* (123) Book 5 – Faerie Tales edited by Martin H Greenberg (print)

* (124) Book 6 – The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi (audio)

* (125) Book 7 – Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (audio)

* (126) Book 8 – A Tale of the Sazi Book 7: Cold Moon Rising by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp (print)

* (127) Book 9 – The Wolves of Mercy Falls Book 2: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (audio)

* (128) Book 10 – The Prophecy Book 1: Dust to Dust by Heather Graham (audio) (HQ)

* (129) Book 11 – Back Seat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson (audio)

* (130) Book 12 – Mortal Instruments Book 1: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (audio)

* (131) Book 13 – The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker (audio)

* (132) Book 14 – The Midnight Twins Book 2: Look Both Ways by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audio)

* (133) Book 15 – Betsy Taylor Book 3: Undead and Unappreciated by Mary Janice Davidson (audio)

* (134) Book 16 – Morganville Vampires Book 3: Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine (audio)

* (136) Book 17 - The Midnight Twins Book 3: Watch for Me by Moonlight by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audio)

* (137) Book 18 – Harvest Hearts Anthology by Kristin Hannah, Rebecca Paisley, Jo Anne Cassity, Sharon Harlow (Print)

* (138) Book 19 – Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Morris (audio)

* (139) Book 20 – WVMP Radio Book 3: Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready (print)

And the shorts:

The Price of Freedom by Jenny Schwartz (short eBook) (CP)

Winter’s Passage by Julie Kagawa (short eBook) (HQ)

* (135) The Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole (short eBook)

* (135) The Queen’s Witch by Karen Chance (short eBook)

And my list of books I am currently reading:

Family Secrets Prequel Book 2: The Phoenix Encounter by Linda Castillo (print) (HQ)

Shakespeare in Love Book 3: Twelfth Night Proposal by Karen Rose Smith (print) (HQ)

Blazing Bedtime Stories Volume IV by Kimberly Raye and Samantha Hunter (print) (HQ)

The Altar of Eden by James Rollins (audio)

My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon Anthology edited by PN Elrod (audio)

Covert Christmas by Marilyn Pappano, Linda Conrad, Loreth Anne White (print) (HQ)

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler (eBook)

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (audio)

Pink Carnation: The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig (audio)

Kelley

My July Reads

2010-08-09T11:33:00.001-05:00

A little late this month posting July's reads, but I was out of town all last week for work with limited e-mail time.

I had an excellent reading month in July, finishing 19 full length books and several shorts. Most are audio, as per usual. Also, as always, the number in parentheses means my running tally for the year. the "Book #" stands for where it fell during the month.

* (98) Book 1 – The Immortals Book 3: Shadowland by Alyson Noel (audio)
* (99) Book 2 – Kate Burkholder Book 1: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo (audio)
* (100) Book 3 – Agent Pendergast Book 4: Still Life of Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)
* (101) Book 4 – Three Good Men: Matthew's Children by CJ Carmichael (eBook) (HQ)
* (102) Book 5 – Agent Pendergast Book 6: Dance of Death by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)
* (103) Book 6 – Stroke of Genius by Emily Bryan (print)
* (104) Book 7 – Eve Duncan: Eight Days to Live by Iris Johansen (audio)
* (105) Book 8 – Fallen Book 1: Fallen by Lauren Kate (audio)
* (106) Book 11 – Shakespeare in Love Book 2: Taming of the Two by Elizabeth Harbison (print) (HQ)
* (109) Book 10 – SIGMA Force: The Doomsday Key by James Rollins (audio)
* (110) Book 11 – The Matchmakers by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
* (111) Book 12 – The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (audio)
* (112) Book 13 – The Midnight Twins Book 1: The Midnight Twins by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audio)
* (113) Book 14 – The Coltons of Montana Book 2: The Covert Agent's Virgin Affair by Linda Conrad (print) (HQ)
* (114) Book 15 – Morganville Vampires Book 2: The Dead Girls' Dance by Rachel Caine (audio)
* (115) Book 16 – The Forest of Hands and Teeth Book 2: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (audio)
* (116) Book 17 – Otherkin Book 1: Sins of the Heart by Eve Silver (eBook) (HQ)
* (117) Book 18 – Agent Pendergast: Fever Dream by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)
* (118) Book 19 – The Immortals Book 4: Dark Flame by Alyson Noel (audio)

And the shorts for the month:
* (107) Ur by Stephen King (short audio)
* (108) Amethyst Book 1: Amethyst Bound by L Shannon (short eBook) (CP)
* (108) Otherkin Prequel: Sin's Daughter by Eve Silver (short eBook) (HQ)
* (107) The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King (short audio)

Kelley

My June Reads

2010-07-02T21:08:00.001-05:00

I had a good reading month finishing 18 full length books. A few were only halfway decent but no bad ones this month. And more than a few really good books! And only one or two really long ones. I just have to get my reviews written now of the ones I'm going to write them for. As per usual, the number in parentheses is where they fall in my total for the year. The book number is where they fall for the month.

* (80) Book 1 – Sea Glass by Anita Shreve (audio)
* (81) Book 2 – Agent Pendergast Book 9: Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)
* (82) Book 3 – No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (audio)
* (83) Book 4 – Mercy Falls Book 1: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (audio)
* (84) Book 5 – Shakespeare in Love Book 1: Much Ado About Matchmaking by Myrna Mackenzie (print) (HQ)
* (85) Book 6 – Suddenly a Parent: The Family Plan by Susan Gable (eBook ARC) (HQ)
* (86) Book 7 – Will Trent Book 1: Triptych by Karin Slaughter (audio)
* (87) Book 8 – The Elven Lords Book 1: The Fire Lord’s Lover by Kathryne Kennedy (print ARC)
* (88) Book 9 – Desert Sons Book 1: Her Sheik Protector by Linda Conrad (print) (HQ)
* (89) Book 10 – The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (audio)
* (90) Book 11 – The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn (audio) (HQ)
* (91) Book 12 - Sabina Kane Book 2: The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells (print)
* (92) Book 13 - The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (audio)
* (93) Book 14 – The Mermaid’s Mirror by LK Madigan (eBook)
* (94) Book 15 - Family Secrets Prequel Book 1: The Cinderella Mission by Catherine Mann (print) (HQ)
* (95) Book 16 – The Morganville Vampires Book 1: Glass Houses by Rachel Caine (audio)
* (96) Book 17 – The Immortals Book 2: Blue Moon by Alyson Noel (audio)
* (97) Book 18 – Grant County: Faithless by Karin Slaughter (audio)

Kelley

My April Reads

2010-05-03T22:35:00.003-05:00

Not as good as some of my other months, but still a fair number read this month. I think it was less because I've been too busy and too tired to go to the gym and I could usually get some listening and/or reading done during my workouts so I lost that time this month. And some of what I've been having to do at work required more concentration so I was unable to listen to an audio book while working.

I finished 15 full length books this month and one short.

April 2010:
* (51) Book 1 – The Copper Bracelet edited by Jeffrey Deaver (audio)
* (52) Book 2 – Hallowe’en Husbands by Lisa Plumley, Denise Lynn, and Christine Merrill (print) (HQ)
* (53) Book 3 – The Marriage Game by Fern Michaels (audio)
* (54) Book 4 – Magic Knot Fairies Book 1: The Magic Knot by Helen Scott Taylor (print)
* (55) Book 5 – The Godmothers Book 1: The Scoop by Fern Michaels (audio)
* (56) Book 6 – Pink Carnation Book 5: The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig (audio) * (57) Book 7 – Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
* (58) Book 8 – Kings of the Boardroom Book 5: Bachelor’s Bought Bride by Jennifer Lewis (eBook) (HQ)
* (59) Book 9 – A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve (audio)
* (60) Book 10 – Body Surfing by Anita Shreve (audio)
* (61) Book 11 – Three Mothers and a Cradle Anthology by Jill Marie Landis, Debbie Macomber, Gina Ferris Wilkins (print) (HQ)
* (62) Book 12 – Light Warriors Book 4: The Darkest Night by Patti O’Shea (print)
* (63) Book 13 – Be My Valentine by Debbie Macomber (print) (HQ)
* (64) Book 14 - METAtropolis Anthology edited by Jay Scalzi (not blogged yet)
* (65) Book 15 – Caster Chronicles Book 1: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (audio) (not blogged yet)

And the short:
Buying Trouble by Karen Chance (short eBook)

Current Reads:
The Sentinels: Wild Thing by Doranna Durgin (eBook) (HQ)
Family Secrets Prequel Book 1: The Cinderella Mission by Catherine Mann (print) (HQ)
My Guardian Angel Anthology (print)
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (audio)
Will Trent Book 2: Fractured by Karin Slaughter (audio)
Play Dead by Meryl Sawyer (eBook) (HQ)
The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn by Liz Johnson (print) (HQ)
The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn (audio) (HQ)

My March Reads

2010-04-01T22:47:00.001-05:00

Another good month of reading for me, even with reading the monstrously huge The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance! LOL (which literally took me the entire month. I started it March 1 and finished it March 31st.) I read a total of 17 full length books and three shorts. My total for the year to date is a little low though to make my goal of 225 for the entire year, so we'll see how that pans out as the year goes on.

* (32) Book 1 – The BoneMan's Daughters by Ted Dekker (audio)
* (33) Book 2 – Companion Book 8: A Time for Eternity by Susan Squires (print)
* (34) Book 3 – My Spellbound Heart Anthology by Cheryl Biggs, Amy Fetzer, Amber Kaye, Sara Orwig (print)
* (35) Book 4 – FBI Series Book 10: Point Blank by Catherine Coulter (audio)
* (36) Book 5 – Maxine Kiss Book 1: The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M Liu (audio)
* (37) Book 6 – Sapphire: A Grandmother’s Rings Romance by Kathryn Quick (print)
* (38) Book 7 – Strange Brew Anthology edited by PN Elrod (audio)
* (39) Book 8 – Bride of the Wolf by Susan Krinard (eBook) (HQ)
* (40) Book 9 – Languedoc Trilogy Book 2: Sepulchre by Kate Mosse (audio)
* (41) Book 10 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 13: Under the Radar by Fern Michaels (audio)
* (42) Book 11 – Phantoms by Dean Koontz (audio)
* (43) Book 12 – Defenders & Swords: Wild Magic by Ann Macela (print)
* (46) Book 13 – The Travis Family Book 3: Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas (audio)
* (47) Book 14 – Five Hundred Kingdoms Book 4: The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey (audio) (HQ)
* (48) Book 15 – Restoration Book 4: Dawn’s Light by Terri Blackstock (audio)
* (49) Book 16 – Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (eBook) (HQ)
* (50) Book 17 – The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance by Trisha Telep (print)

And the shorts:
* (44) Salvation of the Damned by Theresa Meyers (eBook) (HQ)
* (44) Shadow Lover by Lydia Parks (eBook) (HQ)
Wilderness by Barbara J Hancock (eBook) (HQ) (not blogged yet)

Current Reads:
The Marriage Game by Fern Michaels (audio)
The Copper Bracelet edited by Jeffrey Deaver (audio)
The Magic Knot by Helen Taylor Scott (print)
Kings of the Boardroom: The Bachelor's Bought Bride by Jennifer Lewis (ARC) (eBook) (HQ)
Wild Thing by Doranna Durgin (short eBook) (HQ)
Pink Carnation Book 5: The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig (audio)
Hallowe'en Husbands Anthology (print) (HQ)
Be My Valentine Duology by Debbie Macomber (print) (HQ)
Three Mothers and a Cradle Anthology (print) (HQ)

My February Reads

2010-03-01T12:05:00.001-06:00

Wow for a short month, I sure did make tracks. I had an excellent reading month with 16 full length books completed and four shorts (most shorts still need blogged). most of it, as per usual, is audios. I do love me some audio! I finished most of them during my workouts, runs, and housecleaning on weekends. :-) Genres I don't think were quite as wide in variety this month as I did last but I do have several romance genres covered, and an historical fiction or two. The fun part this year is I joined a few groups on Good Reads that do various monthly challenges. I have fun trying to determine where best my review and audio books will fit so I can complete all my challenges. This month, I had all but one finished halfway through the month. And the final one I still finished a week early.

As per usual, the number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running total for the year. The Book Number is where they fall in my monthly tally.

* (15) Book 1 – Secret Carnation Book 2: The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig (audio)
* (17) Book 2 – Cedar Cove Book 9: 92 Pacific Boulevard by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
* (18) Book 3 – Arcane Society: Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz (audio)
* (19) Book 4 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood: Collateral Damage by Fern Michaels (audio)
* (20) Book 5 – Must Love Hellhounds by Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook (eBook)
* (21) Book 6 – Burn by Linda Howard (audio)
* (22) Book 7 – Baby on Board: Confidential: Expecting! by Jackie Braun (print) (HQ)
* (23) Book 8 – Pink Carnation Book 3: The Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig (audio)
* (24) Book 9 – Sisterhood Rules of the Game: Final Justice by Fern Michaels (audio)
* (25) Book 10 – The Last Cavalier by Heather Graham Pozzessere (audio) (HQ)
* (26) Book 11 – Bitten by Cupid by Lynsay Sands, Pamela Palmer, Jaime Rush (print)
* (27) Book 12 – The Prophecy of Sisters Book 1 by Michelle Zink (audio)
* (28) Book 13 – The Trouble with JJ by Tami Hoag (audio)
* (29) Book 14 – Hello, Darkness by Sandra Brown (audio)
* (30) Book 15 – The Pink Carnation Book 4: The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig (audio)
* (31) Book 16 – Lady MacBeth by Susan Fraser King (audio)

And the shorts:
* (16) The Calling: Honor Calls by Caridad Pineiro (eBook) (HQ)
Midnight Medusa by Stephanie Draven (eBook) (HQ)
Angel's Pawn by Nalini Singh (eBook)
Resurrection by Lisa Childs (eBook) (HQ)

My January Reads

2010-02-02T09:58:00.001-06:00

While this wasn't one of my best months for reading, I did get the year off to a good start! Thirteen full length books and 4 shorts made up of a variety of reads this month. I bounced all over the place in genres from inspirational thrillers to historical romance to horror to romantic comedy to paranormal romance of several kinds. And that's not even all the different genres I read this month! As per usual, the number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running total for the year. The Book Number is where they fall in my monthly tally.

* (1) Book 1 – Holiday with a Vampire II by Merline Lovelace and Lori Devoti (print) (HQ)
* (2) Book 2 – Arcane Society: The Perfect Poison by Amanda Quick (audio)
* (4) Book 3 – Winter Moon by Dean Koontz (audio)
* (5) Book 4 – Home in Time for Christmas by Heather Graham (print) (HQ)
* (6) Book 5 – The Desert Prince by Jennifer Lewis (eBook) (HQ)
* (7) Book 6 – Smoke and Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz (audio)
* (8) Book 7 – Chicks with Sticks Book 3: Knock Me for a Loop by Heidi Betts (print ARC)
* (9) Book 8 – Power Play by Joseph Finder (audio)
* (10) Book 9 – Secret Carnation Book 1: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (audio)
* (11) Book 10 – Keeper of the Keys by Perri O'Shaughnessy (audio)
* (12) Book 11 – Love, Heart, and Soul Moments by Angela Verdenius (eBook)
* (13) Book 12 – Girl Missing by Tess Gerritsen (audio) (HQ)
* (14) Book 13 – Burn by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy (print)

And the shorts:
Awakening His Lady by Kathrynn Dennis (short eBook) (HQ) - not blogged yet
(3) A Hathaway Wedding by Lisa Kleypas (short eBook)
Alpha Force: Claws of the Lynx by Linda O Johnston (eBook) (HQ) - not blogged yet
Knights of White: Demon's Seduction by Lisa Renee Jones (eBook) (HQ) - not blogged yet

2010 New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-24T21:26:00.001-06:00

Meant to post these earlier in the month and just kept forgetting. So I'm
finally remembering to do so now.

1. Get out of debt
2. better time management at work and home
3. catch up on review books and stay that way
4. keep weight loss regimen to lost 12 more lbs
5. healthy eating (kick the bad carbs)
6. streamline at work and home getting rid of excess stuff
7. keep up on house cleaning.
8. keep in touch better with family and friends
9. save more money
10. stick to the budget!
11. read 225 books (50% from TBR)
12. Run at least one 5K every month

My December Reads

2010-01-17T17:23:00.001-06:00

I just realized I never posted this!

I had a wonderful reading month in December thanks to two weeks of vacation, a couple sick days keeping me in bed, and long airport layovers. LOL Which helped to bump up my stats for what I read in print or eBook as opposed to audio, almost helping me hit my goal.

I finished 19 full length books and 14 shorts. As per usual the number in parentheses is where they fall in my tally for the year. The book number is where they fall in my tally for the month. I successfully met AND exceeded my personal goal to read 200 books in a year, which was great since it's been YEARS since I read that many in a single year.

* (199) Book 1 – The Journal of Eleanor Druse: The Kingdom Hospital Incident by Stephen King (audio)
* (200) Book 2 – Mistletoe and Murder by Florence Case (eBook) (HQ)
* (201) Book 3 – Shadows Trilogy: Out of the Shadows by Kay Hooper (audio)
* (202) Book 4 – The Death Dealer by Heather Graham (audio) (HQ)
* (203) Book 5 – Haunted Holidays ed. By Martin H Greenberg and Russell Davis (print)
* (204) Book 6 – Dark Holidays: A Collection of Ghost Stories Anthology (audio)
* (205) Book 7 – The Rosetta Key by William Dietrich (audio)
* (206) Book 8 – Still Life by Joy Fielding (audio)
* (207) Book 9 – Eve Duncan: Blood Game by Iris Johansen (audio)
* (208) Book 10 – The Good Guy by Dean Koontz (audio)
* (209) Book 11 – Holiday with a Vampire III by Linda Winstead Jones, Lisa Childs, Bonnie Vanak (print) (HQ)
* (210) Book 12 – Zion's Angel by Cristy Upchurch (eBook)
* (211) Book 13 – Sugarplums and Scandal by Lori Avocato, Dana Cameron, Mary Daheim, Cait London, Suzanne MacPherson, Kerrelyn Sparks (print)
* (212) Book 14 – Holiday with a Vampire by Maureen Child and Caridad Pineiro (print) (HQ)
* (214) Book 15 – That Holiday Feeling by Debbie Macomber, Sherryl Woods, Robyn Carr (print) (HQ)
* (215) Book 16 – Santa, Honey by Kate Angell, Sandra Hill, Joy Nash (print)
* (216) Book 17 – Mistletoe Courtship by Janet Tronstad and Sara Mitchell (print) (HQ)
* (218) Book 18 – Blackout at Christmas by Beth Cornelison, Sharron McClellan, Jennifer Morey (print) (HQ)
* (220) Book 19 – Winter Kissed by Michele Hauf and Vivi Anna (print) (HQ)

And the shorts:
* (213) Christmas on Wherever Island by Amber Polo (short eBook)
* (217) Nutcracker Sweet by Jennifer Mueller (short eBook)
* (213) M & M Presents: Christmas by Mandy M Roth and Michelle Pillow (short eBook)
* (217) Look What Santa Brought by Annmarie McKenna (short eBook)
* (217) The Twelve Days of Christmas: Christmas Lights by Yolanda Sfetsos (short eBook)
* (217) Naughty Is Nice by Mari Carr (short eBook)
* (217) First Love, Second Chance by Jenna Bayley-Burke (short eBook)
A Biting Christmas by Mary Hughes (short eBook) – 10 pages
One More Night by Lin Winfree (short eBook) – 7 pages
12 Days of Christmas: Santa Baby by Karen Erickson (short eBook) - 40 pages
The Wolf Who Stole Christmas by Vanessa Jaye (short eBook) – 14 pages
An Unexpected Gift by Renee Wildes (short eBook) – 8 pages
The Present by Beth Williamson (short eBook) – 13 pages
* (219) The Awakening by Christine Feehan (short audio)

My November Reads

2009-12-03T14:05:00.000-06:00

Another excellent reading month. I finished 20 full length books and several shorts. As per usual the number in parentheses is where they fall in my tally for the year. The book number is where they fall in my tally for the month. I had hoped to hit 200 this month but then too much interfered the last week of the month that prevented me from getting any reading time in.

* (179) Book 1 - The Walker Papers Book 4: Walking Dead by CE Murphy (audio) (HQ)

* (180) Book 2 - Lucky Man by Michael J Fox (audio)

* (181) Book 3 - The Texas Cattlemen's Club: The Maverick's Virgin Mistress by Jennifer Lewis (eBook) (HQ)

* (182) Book 4 - Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J Fox (audio)

* (183) Book 5 – Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer (audio)

* (184) Book 6 – The Sanctuary: A Novel by Raymond Khoury (audio)

* (185) Book 7 – Gretchen Lowell Book 3: Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain (audio)

* (186) Book 8 – Set the Dark on Fire by Jill Sorenson (audio)

* (187) Book 9 – Cry No More by Linda Howard (audio)

* (188) Book 10 – Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard (audio)

* (189) Book 11 – The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (audio)

* (190) Book 12 – Skin by Ted Dekker (audio)

* (191) Book 13 – 9 Months Later: Unexpected Gifts by Holly Jacobs (print) (HQ)

* (192) Book 14 – The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

* (193) Book 15 – The Christmas Bus by Melody Carlson (eBook)

* (194) Book 16 – Firestorm by Iris Johansen (audio)

* (195) Book 17 – The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (audio)

* (196) Book 18 – Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder (audio)

* (197) Book 19 – Someone to Love by Jude Deveraux (audio)

* (198) Book 20 – Fostered by Love: Together for the Holidays by Margaret Daley (print) (HQ)

And the shorts:

Black Rose: Trick or Treat by Hera St Aubyn (short eBook) – 8 pages

METAtropolis: In the Forests of the Night by Jay Lake (short audio)

The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe (short audio)

Soul's Choice by Kari Thomas (short eBook) – 10 pages

The Christmas Chapter by Kari Thomas (short eBook) – 8 pages

Fairy Wishes by (short eBook) – 37 pages

Kelley

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My October Reads

2009-11-01T23:15:00.001-06:00

I had another really good reading month. I read 14 full length books and a few shorts. As per usual, the number in parentheses is where the book falls in my running tally for the year. The number immediately after that is where the book falls in my tally just for the month.

* (164) Book 1 - Rogue Angel Book 16: Polar Quest by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)

* (165) Book 2 – The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag (audio)

* (166) Book 3 – Wild Country: Cold Case Affair by Loreth Anne White (print) (HQ)

* (168) Book 4 – Everything But a Christmas Eve by Holly Jacobs (print ARC)

* (169) Book 5 – Glass Book 2: Sea Glass by Maria V Snyder (print) (HQ)

* (170) Book 6 – Agent Pendergast: The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)

* (171) Book 7 – The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer (audio)

* (172) Book 8 – Last Kiss by Luanne Rice (audio)

* (173) Book 9 – The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson (audio)

* (174) Book 10 – The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (audio)

* (175) Book 11 – Druids of Avalon Book 3: Silver Silence by Joy Nash (print ARC)

* (176) Book 12 – Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz (audio)

* (177) Book 13 – The Sentinel Wars Book 1: Burning Alive by Shannon K Butcher (print)

* (178) Book 14 – Three Wishes by Barbara Delinsky (audio)

And the shorts:

* (167) Faery Rose: Dragon Healer by Rachel Reeves (short eBook)

* (167) Snowbound: Snow Dream by Michele Bardsley (short eBook)

* (167) Demon Hunters Inc Book 1: See No Evil by Michele Bardsley (short eBook)

My September Reads

2009-10-01T10:40:00.001-05:00

Had another really good month for reading. I finished 15 full length books (mostly audio books) and 9 shorts. I was surprised to finish so many considering that while I had vacation this month, I didn't get nearly as much reading in as I normally do (on a typical vacation I read a book a day and I only finished 5 plus 4 or 5 shorts in the entire 2 weeks). As always, the number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running tally for the year. The second number is where they fall in my tally for the month.

September 2009:

* (147) Book 1 – The Book of Names by Karen Tintori (audio)

* (148) Book 2 – And Then You Die by Iris Johansen (audio)

* (149) Book 3 – Deadlock by Iris Johansen (audio)

* (150) Book 4 – Dark Horse by Tami Hoag (audio)

* (151) Book 5 – Whispers in the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel by Dana Stabenow (audio)

* (152) Book 6 – The Champion Chronicles Book 1: Retribution! By M Flagg (eBook)

* (153) Book 7 – Mothers of the Year by Lori Handeland, Rebecca Winters, Anna DeStefano (print) (HQ)

* (154) Book 8 – Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson (audio)

* (156) Book 9 – Draicon Book 3: Immortal Wolf by Bonnie Vanak (print) (HQ)

* (157) Book 10 – Here Lies Arthur by Phillip Reeve (print ARC)

* (159) Book 11 – Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (160) Book 12 – Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs (audio) (HQ)

* (161) Book 13 – Dark Summer by Iris Johansen (audio)

* (162) Book 14 – The Lost Hours by Karen White (audio)

* (163) Book 15 – Mortal Path Book 1: Dark Time by Dakota Banks (print)

* (155) Time Raiders: The Seduction by Cindy Dees (eBook) (HQ)

* (155) Wrapped and Ready by Julie Kenner (eBook) (HQ)

* (155) Wild, Tethered, Bound by Stephanie Draven (eBook) (HQ)

* (155) The Wind Keepers Book 1: Winter Kissed, Fire Bound by Anna Hackett (eBook) (HQ)

* (158) Lords of the Underworld: The Darkest Prison by Gena Showalter (eBook) (HQ)

* (158) Savage Dragon by Anna Hackett (eBook) (HQ)

* (158) After the Kiss by Michele Hauf (eBook) (HQ)

* (158) Wolf Bait by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom (eBook) (HQ)

Josie by Lora Darling (eBook)

My August Reads

2009-09-01T10:10:00.001-05:00

Not a bad month at all. I finished 16 full length books and four shorts. So here they are. The number in parentheses is where they fall in my tally for the year. The second number is where they fall in my tally for the month.

* (130) Book 1 – Jane Rizzoli Book 2: The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen (audio)

* (131) Book 2 – Pregnant Mistresses: Price of Passion by Susan Napier (eBook) (HQ)

* (132) Book 3 – The Walker Papers Book 3: Coyote Dreams by CE Murphy (audio) (HQ)

* (133) Book 4 – Invitation to Provence by Elizabeth Adler (audio)

* (134) Book 5 – Agent Pendergast: The Book of the Dead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)

* (135) Book 6 – Jane Rizzoli Book 3: The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen (audio)

* (136) Book 7 – Seduced by a Stranger by Eve Silver (print)

* (137) Book 8 – Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (audio)

* (138) Book 9 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 10: Fast Track by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (139) Book 10 – The Nobility Book 1: Noble Blood by Linda J Parisi (print)

* (140) Book 11 – The Colby Agency: Investigating 101 by Debra Webb (audio) (HQ)

* (141) Book 12 – Arcane Society: The Third Circle by Amanda Quick (audio)

* (142) Book 13 – The Hollows: The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison (audio)

* (143) Book 14 – Codex Alera Book 1: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (audio)

* (145) Book 15 – About Face by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (146) Book 16 – Fever Book 4: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning (audio)

And four short stories:

* (129) Keegan's Bluff by Dani Sinclair (eBook) (HQ)

* (144) Beyond Magic: Beyond Dreams by Elaine Cunningham (print)

* (144) Beyond Magic: Hill and Sky by Kassandra Sims (print)

Lord John Grey: Hellfire by Diana Gabaldon (short audio)

Current Reads:

Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs (audio) (HQ)

Cry No More by Linda Howard (audio)

The Champion Chronicles Book 1: Retribution! by M Flagg (eBook and print - back and forth as needed)

Dark Horse by Tami Hoag (audio)

Deadlock by Iris Johansen (audio)

My July reads

2009-08-07T11:29:00.001-05:00

Not one of my best months but still pretty good. And that's more because I went on a "shorts" reading binge and did a lot of those for a break. I still finished 12 novels even doing that, so pretty good. And I got in 13 shorts so if not for all the shorts, this would've been a really good month for books. LOL

The asterisks don't mean anything. that's just how I track whether or not I've blogged the book/story for the 100,000 Book Challenge I'm participating in yet. Number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running tally for the whole year. The "book #" is where it falls in my tally for the current month. I don't assign "book #'s" to shorts since I use those #'s only for full length novels, not stuff I'm combining to reach the set page count for it to qualify at the Challenge. HQ means it is a Harlequin read since I have to track those to make sure I'm meeting one of the requirements on the Challenge.

July 2009:

* (111) Book 1 – The Blade Keepers Book 1: Knight in Blue Jeans by Evelyn Vaughn (print) (HQ)

* (112) Book 2 – Agent Prendergast Book 2: The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (audio)

* (113) Book 3 – Chicks with Sticks Book 2: Loves Me, Loves Me Knot by Heidi Betts (eBook)

* (114) Book 4 – Can You Keep a Secret? By Sophie Kinsella (audio)

* (115) Book 5 – The Door to December by Dean Koontz (audio)

* (116) Book 6 – Fostering Family: The Family He Wanted by Karen Sandler (eBook) (HQ)

* (117) Book 7 – Jane Rizzoli Book 1: The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen (audio)

* (118) Book 8 – The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella (audio)

* (119) Book 9 – Famous Families (Men of the Double-C): A Weaver Wedding by Allison Leigh (eBook) (HQ)

* (121) Book 10 – Women of the Otherworld Book 8: Personal Demon by Kelley Armstrong (audio)

* (122) Book 11 – Summer Island by Kristin Hannah (audio)

* (123) Book 12 – Light Warriors Book 3: Edge of Dawn by Patti O'Shea (print)

And the shorts:

* (120) Draicon: Darkness of the Wolf by Bonnie Vanak (eBook) (HQ)

* (120) Aspect of Crow: Wild's Call by Jeri Smith-Ready (eBook) (HQ)

* (120) Atlantis: The Amazon's Curse by Gena Showalter (eBook) (HQ)

* (120) Primal Instinct: Edge of Craving by Rhyannon Byrd (eBook) (HQ)

* (126) Soul Screamers: My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent (eBook) (HQ)

* (126) Blazing Bedtime Stories: Once Upon a Bite by Kimberly Raye (eBook) (HQ)

* (129) Harlequin Mini Round Robin: Night Magic by Mia Zachary et al (eBook) (HQ)

* (124) Anticipation by Patrice Michelle (eBook)

* (124) Strange Angels Prologue by Lili St. Crow (eBook)

* (125) Four Dukes and a Devil: The Duke Who Came to Dinner by Elaine Fox (print)

* (125) Four Dukes and a Devil: Devil to Pay by Jeaniene Frost (print)

* (126) Harlequin Mini Round Robin: The Rancher and the Rose by Carolyn Zane et al (eBook) (HQ)

* (129) You Must Remember This by Laurie Paige (eBook) (HQ)

My June Reads

2009-07-04T00:08:00.001-05:00

I was down a bit from last month's numbers, but still had a pretty good number finished, considering I didn't have any vacation or downtime at conventions. I came in at 16 for the month plus one novella length book. I did have a 5 hr one way road trip for work but I was listening to a long one during that time so I only finished one book in the car on that trip. And I did hit my book 100 two weeks earlier than necessary for reaching my goal for the year so I'm still doing really well and expect to surpass my goal this year again. :-)

I had one more I had hoped to finish by the end of the month but it didn't quite happen. I've only got about 3 chapters left of it but... it'll be counted for July.

The number in parentheses is where they fall in my running tally for the year. The "Book #" is where they fall in my tally for the month.

* (93) Book 1 – Smokescreen by Sandra Brown (audio)

* (94) Book 2 – Let It Ride by Jillian Burns (print) (HQ)

* (95) Book 3 – The Morcai Battalion by Diana Palmer (audio) (HQ)

* (96) Book 4 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 8: Hide and Seek by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (97) Book 5 – Taken by Chris Jordan (audio) (HQ)

* (98) Book 6 – Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night edited by James Patterson (audio) (HQ)

* (99) Book 7 – Wings of Refuge Book 4: A Soldier's Reunion by Cheryl Wyatt (print) (HQ)

* (100) Book 8 – Jackson's Retreat Book 3: The Taking of Carly Bradford by Ramona Richards eBook) (HQ)

* (103) Book 9 – More than Men: Red-Hot Ranchman by Victoria Pade (print) (HQ)

* (104) Book 10 – Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down edited by Clive Cussler (audio) (HQ)

* (105) Book 11 – Paradox III by JC Wilder and Rosemary Laurey (eBook)

* (106) Book 12 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 9: Hokus Pokus by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (107) Book 13 – Blossom Street: Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

* (108) Book 14 – Feral Warriors Book 1: Desire Untamed by Pamela Palmer (print ARC)

* (109) Book 15 – What You Wish For by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (110) Book 16 – The Greatest Generation Speaks by Tom Brokaw (audio)

And one novella this month:

Song of the Muses: Dancing with Fate (Terpsichore) by Hywela Lyn (eBook) (91 pages)

books to movies - My Sister's Keeper

2009-06-28T23:40:00.002-05:00

This is something of a rant so be prepared. :-) But you know what? I’ll probably STILL buy the DVD when it’s released. LOL

I love that so many books get made into books nowadays and at the same time I am glad more aren't made into movies. How's that for a contradiction? LOL And let me preface the rest of this post by saying how I have been waiting for this movie ever since I first heard about it because I was absolutely dying to see this particular big screen adaptation after how wrung out emotionally I was by reading the book.

I also have a very important rule about seeing those movies. If I haven't already read the book I do NOT read it until after I go see the movie. Otherwise the movie is ruined for me because I constantly compare it to the book.

I went to see My Sister's Keeper tonight. I read the book several years ago so it fit the rule mentioned above. I know the book is a total tearjerker so I went in to the movie prepared with plenty of Kleenex. And I most definitely needed them. And that’s OK. I was in the mood for a good heart-wrenching emotional movie which is precisely why I picked this one to see instead of Transformers (the other movie I was considering for tonight).

Unfortunately, even though I read the book a long time ago, I still remembered certain things about it and a couple of those things actually ruined the movie for me. They did do a pretty decent job sticking to the book but a few of the changes made were a little bit too big of a change for me. They even tried to keep the style of the book, with each chapter being a different character's POV by having different scenes told from different characters' perspectives.

I'm going to try to keep this spoiler free but just in case I slip and don't think of something as a spoiler that really is.....

They cut out almost Jesse's entire story (the big brother of Kate and Anna Fitzgerald). There were a few snippets from his POV but they cut out most of his story. His story doesn't really contribute a huge amount to the relationship between Kate and Anna which is the heart of the book but his part adds a deeper, darker element to the story as we see what happened to HIM as a result of living a life revolving around keeping Kate alive and the pressure that put on him.

They also cut out some of the parts about what their parents did to save Kate (starting with the number one priority about Anna's birth being to get the cord blood to the doctors to use in Kate's treatment before they even worry about how newborn Anna is doing.) I think they felt the lengths the parents went to was well represented in the scenes occurring in the courtroom. And that cutting those parts out maybe made Mom (Sarah) more sympathetic to the viewers. But those scenes in the book show so strongly exactly WHAT Anna’s life had been like and the real reason her parents even decided to have another child. And more importantly why Anna wanted medical emancipation and how much she struggled with the decision that basically would kill her sister.

Now it HAS been a while since I read the book but I totally do not remember the part about the revelation in the courtroom as to Anna's real reason for suing for medical emancipation. I don't remember that part at all but that could be attributed to just plain forgetting. But I really don't think it was something I forgot. I think that part of the story was changed to lead to the part that REALLY was changed and actually upset me quite a bit they changed this other part….

They COMPLETELY changed the ending! Well almost completely, they kept one small facet of the ending (the outcome of the lawsuit Anna files against her parents). I was FURIOUS!!! about that changed ending! One of the most incredible parts of the book is the ending since it is a total and utter shocker that I never saw coming. I was angry at first with the way the book ended, but after a lot of thought on it, I came to accept the book's ending and saw it as a fascinating part of the story, as much as it blew me away, showing that sometimes Fate is a real b!%*h. (FYI, this was the first Picoult book I ever read so I did not know at the time she’s kinda known for doing that.)

I know they changed it to try to make the movie a little more uplifting, or as uplifting as can be when it's about a teenager dying of leukemia. And her younger sister having been genetically engineered before birth to be an exact match for her so as to be used as "spare parts" for her big sister. I think they were trying to spin the story a little bit differently with the ending they used but still...

I felt cheated out of that extra emotional investment! I cried buckets already through the whole movie but the ending in the book is the biggest tearjerker of all of them in the book (though for different reasons). And to not be given that part! The almost ending of the movie (I guess it would be the ending before the epilogue if it were a book) was meant to be a tearjerker but I was so surprised they changed it, I didn't even get THAT cry out of the movie! I was too busy thinking "how could they change it like that!" to cry over the scene. Which upset me even more. LOL

My May Reads

2009-06-02T21:25:00.002-05:00

I had an excellent reading month in May. It helped I had that one week's vacation where I got some reading in and a weeklong convention with a lot of downtime spent reading. And with the Kindle, it is SOOO much easier to read while exercising now since I don't need to hold the book open on the book shelf on the gym equipment! LOL I read a total of 20 books (my best yet this year). I also finished twelve novellas, about half of which have so far been counted towards the equivalent of a full book. I could have read even more, but I downloaded a lot of samples to my Kindle so read a lot of first chapters to decide whether or not to buy a book. I wish I could count those towards my numbers! LOL

The number in parentheses is where they fall in my running tally for the year. The "Book #" is where they fall in my tally for the month.

* (69) Book 1 – Ghost Hunter Series: Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle (audio)

* (70) Book 2 – Wings of Refuge Book 3: Ready-Made Family by Cheryl Wyatt (print) (HQ)

* (71) Book 3 – The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor by Diane Gaston, Deb Marlow, Amanda McCabe (print) (HQ)

* (72) Book 4 – The Relics of Merlin Book 3: Enchanting the Beast by Kathryne Kennedy (eBook)

* (73) Book 5 – Shifters Book 2: Rogue by Rachel Vincent (audio) (HQ)

* (74) Book 6 – Mistletoe Reunion by Anna Schmidt (print) (HQ)

* (75) Book 7 – Golden Threads by Kay Hooper (audio)

* (76) Book 8 – Rogue Angel Book 15: Swordsman’s Legacy by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)

* (77) Book 9 – Lavender Morning by Jude Deveraux (audio)

* (78) Book 10 – Dry Creek: Dry Creek Sweethearts by Janet Tronstad (print) (HQ)

* (79) Book 11 – The Sentinels Book 3: Touched by Light by Catherine Spangler (eBook)

* (80) Book 12 – While My Sister Sleeps by Barbara Delinsky (audio)

* (81) Book 13 – A Woman Betrayed by Barbara Delinsky (audio)

* (82) Book 14 – Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts (audio)

* (84) Book 15 – Shifters Book 3: Pride by Rachel Vincent (audio) (HQ)

* (85) Book 16 – Love in 60 Seconds Book 2: His 7-Day Fiancée by Gail Barrett (print) (HQ)

* (86) Book 17 – The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman (audio)

* (87) Book 18 – Kiss by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy (audio)

* (89) Book 19 – Catch a Mate by Gena Showalter (audio) (HQ)

* (92) Book 20 – Atlantis Book 2: The United States of Atlantis by Harry Turtledove (audio)

Novellas:

* (91) A Red Hot Valentine’s Day: Hell Is Where the Heart Is by Jackie Kessler (print)

* (83) Ur by Stephen King (eBook)

* (88) The Christmas Visit: Love at First Step by Terri Brisbin (print) (HQ)

* (88) Midnight Clear: Let It Snow by Debbie Macomber (print) (HQ)

Song of the Muses: Ancient Musings (Calliope) by Skhye Moncrief (eBook) (83 pages)

* (90) One Candlelit Christmas: Blame It on the Mistletoe by Terri Brisbin (print) (HQ)

Songs of the Muses: Destiny’s Light (Euterpe) by Robyn Wren (eBook) (87 pages)

* (90) A Bride by Christmas: Home for Christmas by Heather Graham (print) (HQ)

* (91) Love Beyond Time: Forever by Bobby Hutchinson (print)

Love Beyond Time: Time-Stolen Love by Bobbi Smith (print) (71 pages)

Cravings: Originally Human by Eileen Wilks (print) (102 pages)

Cravings: Burning Moon by Rebecca York (print) (95 pages)

My April Reads

2009-05-11T23:48:00.001-05:00

I forgot to do this last week, probably because I was out of town and a convention for work and not in my hotel room much. But better late than never right? :-) The number in parentheses is where the books fall in my running tally for the year. The number after that is where the book falls in my monthly tally. I'm doing pretty good about keeping up my goal to hit 200 this year. Let's just hope I can keep it up! Of the 18 books I read this month, 11 were TBR books and 6 were Harlequins (I need to step it up on my HQ reads. I'm falling behind on those!)

* (50) Book 1 – Heart Series Book 2: SweetHeart by Chelsea Cain (audio)

* (52) Book 2 – The Lakeshore Chronicles Book 4: Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs (audio) (HQ)

* (53) Book 3 – Cassie Palmer Book 4: Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance (print ARC)

* (54) Book 4 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 6: Lethal Justice by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (55) Book 5 – Stolen from Time Book 2: Once a Gambler by Carrie Hudson (audio) (HQ)

* (56) Book 6 – Charley’s Web by Joy Fielding (audio)

* (57) Book 7 – Heart Series Book 1: HeartSick by Chelsea Cain (audio)

* (58) Book 8 – Glass Book 1: Storm Glass by Maria V Snyder (print) (HQ)

* (59) Book 9 – The Revenge of the Sisterhood Book 7: Free Fall by Fern Michaels (audio)

* (60) Book 10 – Maggie O’Dell: Exposed by Alex Kava (audio) (HQ)

* (61) Book 11 – The Piper Cove Chronicles Book 2: For Pete’s Sake by Linda Windsor (print)

* (62) Book 12 – Finding Laura by Kay Hooper (audio)

* (63) Book 13 – Code Name: Danger: Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace (eBook) (HQ)

* (64) Book 14 – Eve: A Novel of the First Woman by Elissa Elliott (audio)

* (65) Book 15 – Infected by Scott Sigler (audio)

* (66) Book 16 – Wild Orchids by Jude Deveraux (audio)

* (67) Book 17 – The Woman Next Door by Barbara Delinsky (audio)

* (68) Book 18 – Love in 60 Seconds Book 1: The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair by Marie Ferrarella (eBook ) (HQ)

And a few short eBooks. I was on a dragon kick this month and last.:

Faery Rose: Dragon’s Mate by Beth Caudill (eBook)

Angel’s Pawn by Nalini Singh (eBook)

Faery Rose: Dragon’s Fire by Sheri Lewis Wohl (eBook)

Faery Rose: The Dragon of Croatia by Valerie Everhart (eBook)

Some interesting facts for those out there who frown on proud romance readers (especially Harlequin readers)

2009-04-07T22:03:00.001-05:00

This was posted on another website and I was given permission by the original author of this blog to post it on my own blogs. I’m not even the slightest bit embarrassed or ashamed of my love for romance novels, especially those Harlequin books that so many people look down on me for reading. I proudly admit my reading preferences and promptly start listing some of the stats I know about the publishing industry and romance novels in particular when I get the usual “oh you read that stuff” in a condescending tone. So… for all the people out there who think “hardly anyone reads romance” and look at me funny when I announce what I read, take a look at these VERY impressive facts about Harlequin – the largest publisher of romance out there… And for the record, it’s not just women who read them. Men do too and I know a few of them. ;-)

Harlequin Fun Facts

At Harlequin our guiding vision is to be a leading global publisher of great reading entertainment for women. And we've been working to fulfill that vision for some 60 years now. In this Anniversary year, we're celebrating some unique and wonderful accomplishments, such as unprecedented appearances on the New York Times bestseller list, our gift of 16 FREE downloads that will put a book in the hands of every woman in America, and our recent acknowledgement by Book Business Magazine as 2008 Publishing Innovator of the Year. It's also very nice to brag about our Community challenge to donate 100,000 books to the National Center for Family Literacy. But, I'm always astonished by the sheer number of books we publish on a monthly basis, and of course by some of the fun facts listed here:

Over 1,200 authors from around the world are currently published by Harlequin.
Harlequin publishes over 120 titles each month under the Harlequin, Silhouette, Red Dress Ink, MIRA Books, LUNA Books, Steeple Hill Books, Steeple Hill Café, HQN Books, Kimani Press, SPICE Books, Gold Eagle and Worldwide Mystery imprints in North America. In addition, Harlequin publishes four Spanish-language series (16 titles monthly) and four French-language series (20 titles monthly) in North America.
During the past decades, Harlequin characters have kissed each other over 20,000 times, shared about 30,000 hugs, and headed for the altar at least 7,000 times.
If you set out to read all of the Harlequin books sold over the past 10 years, and averaged about two hours per book, you would be reading for the next quarter of a million years.
Harlequin sold 130 million books worldwide last year, or just over 4.1 books per second.
Approximately half of Harlequin’s books are sold outside North America through a combination of wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, licensee arrangements and multi language exports.
An average of 12.5 million Harlequin Presents books are sold every month around the world.
Over 800 Harlequin titles hit the stands each month around the world, generated from publishing operations in 15 countries. In total, Harlequin has shipped more than 5.63 billion books around the world.
More than 50 million women read Harlequin books worldwide.
Harlequin books are sold in 107 international markets on six continents, in 29 languages around the world.
Approximately one in every six mass-market paperbacks sold in North America is a Harlequin or Silhouette novel. More than one third of American females have read a book published by Harlequin Enterprises at some point in their lives.
Harlequin purchases more than two original works of fiction every day.

I'm also VERY proud to say that more than 53 of our Community members have been included in those recent purchases. So, if you have an opportunity (and a finished manuscript) don't hesitate to sign up to pitch your work in one of our many online editor appointments held in our eHarlequin.com chat rooms. Keep your eyes peeled on our Write Stuff forums for announcements, but in the meantime....KEEP WRITING and reading all the great stories we have planned for YOU in our in our 60th Anniversary!

my January reads

2009-02-02T23:18:00.001-06:00

I had good reading month in January, and a great start to the challenge for the year. I read a total of 17 books this month and 4 novella length eBooks. And two of these may very well end up at the top of my list of "best reads of the year."

(1) Book 1 - Christmas Presents and Past by Janice Kay Johnson (print) (HQ)
(2) Book 2 - A Spirit of Christmas by Margot Early (print) (HQ)
(3) Book 3 - All I Want for Christmas Is a Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks (print)
(4) Book 4 - Rogue Angel Book 13: Gabriel's Horn by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
(5) Book 5 - The Ebony Swan by Phyllis A Whitney (print)
(7) Book 6 - Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas (audio)
(8) Book 7 - Love at First Bite Book 1: Dead Sexy by Kimberly Raye (audio) (HQ)
(9) Book 8 - Suddenly a Parent: A Kid to the Rescue by Susan Gable (print ARC) (HQ)
(10) Book 9 - American Dads Book 3: Once Upon a Valentine's by Holly Jacobs (print) (HQ)
(11) Book 10 - The Host by Stephenie Meyer (audio)
(12) Book 11 - The Shack by William P Young (audio)
(13) Book 12 - The Hardcastle Progeny Book 1: Millionaire's Secret Seduction by Jennifer Lewis (print) (HQ)
(14) Book 13 - Man of the Month Book 1: An Officer and a Millionaire by Maureen Child (print) (HQ)
(15) Book 14 - Star of the Sea Academy Book 1: Sandcastles by Luanne Rice (audio)
(16) Book 15 - The Arcane Society Book 2: White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz (audio)
(17) Book 16 - The Royals Book 3: The Royal Wedding Night by Day Leclaire (print) (HQ)
(18) Book 17 - The Sherbrooke Family Book 1: The Sherbrooke Bride by Catherine Coulter (audio)

And a few shorts (the number in parentheses before titles is where they fell in my running counter for the year):
(6) Unbound: Captured by Lori Devoti (eBook) (HQ)
(6) Dreamcatcher by Anna Leonard (eBook) (HQ)
(6) The Knights of White: Return of the Beast by Lisa Renee Jones (eBook) (HQ)
(6) Draicon: Broken Souls by Bonnie Vanak (eBook) (HQ)

Various TBR Challenge Stats:
A to Z Challenge ~ Author - 13 out of 26 read
A to Z Challenge ~ Title - 15 out of 26 read
TBR ~ Mini-Series Challenge - 7 out of 24 read (personal goal - 12 but challenge goal for community - 24)
TBR ~ First and Seconds Challenge - 7 out of 12 read
TBR ~ Combination Challenge ~ 2009 Count Down - 15 out of 45 read

Current Reads:
Blackout by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom (eBook)
Magic's Design by Cat Adams (print ARC)
Maelstrom by Anne McCaffrey (audio)
All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz (audio)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Book 1 by Ann Brashares (audio)

Next up:
Tangled Up in Love by Heidi Betts (eBook ARC)
the second in Linda Conrad's Safe Keepers series (print)
The Magic Knot by Helen Taylor Scott (print ARC)

2008 Reading Stats

2009-01-05T12:37:00.001-06:00

Here's my stat's for the year. Please note that I tracked all this for the 100,000 Book Challenge at eHarlequin.com (eHQ). That's why I have all the break downs for various things revolving around eHQ

2008 Reading Goals:

150 Books Total
50% from Harlequin Lines (for their annual Book Challenge)

Actual Numbers:

Harlequin books: 98
Other books: 89

Harlequin: 52% of total

Other Books: 48%

Print books: 81
eBooks: 19
audio books: 87

Print: 43%

eBooks: 10%

Audio: 47%

Harlequin Lines I've read during the challenge (* indicates first time I read the line):
* Harlequin American Romance - 3
Harlequin Blaze - 6
* Harlequin Historical Undone - 1
* Harlequin Mini - 4
Harlequin Romance - 3
Harlequin SuperRomance - 1
HQN - 2
Luna - 2
MIRA - 26
Silhouette Desire - 12
Silhouette Nocturne - 5
* Silhouette Nocturne Bites - 6
Silhouette Romantic Suspense - 7
* Silhouette Special Edition - 1
Silhouette Special Releases - 1
Steeple Hill Love Inspired - 8
* Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical - 2
* Gold Eagle - 12

New to Me Lines (% just from full length HQ line books read): 18%

My goals for 2009:

Total 200 books

50% Harlequin Lines

At least one book each month from the featured line for Harlequin's 60th Anniversary Celebration

At least 25% from my TBR (to be read which include past purchased audio books)

My December Reads

2009-01-05T12:22:00.001-06:00

I had an excellent reading month in december, but that's thanks to my nice long two week vacation over the holidays. I read a total of 22 books thi month and 4 novella length eBooks. My personal reading goal for the year was 150 and I came in at 187 books for the year! yay me! So I blew away my goal again this year. I intend to write a 2008 Wrap Up as well with all my stats.

(164) Book 1 - Frontier Courtship by Valerie Hansen (print) (HQ)
(165) Book 2 - Everything but a Wedding by Holly Jacobs
(166) Book 3 - Mission: Christmas by Lindsay McKenna and Susan Grant
(167) Book 4 - Say Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
(168) Book 5 - The Journey Home by Linda Ford
(169) Book 6 - The Player by Rhonda Nelson
(170) Book 7 - Last Known Victim by Erica Spindler
(171) Book 8 - The Golden Valkyrie by Iris Johansen
(173) Book 9 - The Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen
(174) Book 10 - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe Anthology edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L P Kelner
(175) Book 11 - Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas
(176) Book 12 - Demon's Hunger by Eve Silver
(177) Book 13 - The Gypsy Inheritance Book 1: Between Strangers by Linda Conrad
(178) Book 14 - A Bride for All Seasons Book 4: Marry-Me Christmas by Shirley Jump
(179) Book 15 - Dorina Basarab Book 1: Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance
(180) Book 16 - Rescued by the Magic of Christmas by Melissa McClone
(182) Book 17 - All I Want for Christmas by Stacy Connelly
(183) Book 18 - The Demonborn Book 1: Insatiable Desire by Rita Herron
(184) Book 19 - Small Town Christmas: Return to Promise by Debbie Macomber
(185) Book 20 - Small Town Christmas: Mail Order Bride by Debbie Macomber
(186) Book 21 - The Touch of Twilight: The Third Sign of the Zodiac by Vicki Pettersson
(187) Book 22 - Homecoming Heroes Book 6: Homefront Holiday by Jillian Hart

And a few shorts (the number in parentheses before titles is where they fell in my running counter for the year):
The Viking's Foridden Love Slave by Michelle Willingham (eBook) (HQ)
The Pack: Mate of the Wolf by Karen Whiddon (eBook) (HQ)
Mortal Enemy, Immortal Lover by Olivia Gates (eBook) (HQ)
Mahina's Storm by Vivi Anna (eBook) (HQ)

Current Reads:
Dream Catcher by Anna Leonard (eBook)
The Ebony Swan by Phyllis A Whitney (print)
Rogue Angel Book 13: Gabriel's Horn by Alex Archer (audio)

Next up:
American Dad's Book 3: Once Upon a Valentine's Day by Holly Jacobs (print)

2008 New Year's Resolutions Recap

2009-01-05T11:45:00.001-06:00

I had to go hunt this down to see how I did. LOL Here are my results:

1. - Well I did manage to pay off two or three cards completely. One I cancelled, one I kept for emergencies since it is a low limit only around $1500.00. One I had them cut my credit limit in half after I paid it off but haven't yet made up my mind if I'll cancel it or not. And another one I just had the credit limit cut almost in half today (1/5/09).

2. - well some weeks were worse than others.

3. - uh... nope, didn't happen. Started strong but...

4. - I did join a gym and started dieting. I lost about 20 lbs then stalled out. Haven't gained any back though. :-) Still did really well on the gym through until the holidays when I went home.

5. - Sort of. Still ate out too much but stopped, for the most part, buying the stuff I shouldn't be eating.

6. - Did really well most of the year but towards the end of the year had to pull a couple hundred out for Christmas presents.

7. - Read a total of 187 books and more than 50% were Harlequins, not much more than 50%, but still, I beat it. :-)

2008 Resolutions:
1. Continue to work on getting out of debt. Get more credit cards paid off and cancelled while not building up even more debt.
2. Stop goofing so much at work.
3. Get caught up on reviews (and review books I need to read) and keep caught up.
4. Start exercising again and get in shape again and lose this darned 45-50 lbs again!
5. Eat healthier.
6. Get more money put away in savings in case of emergencies or exciting opportunities.
7. Read 150 books and keep up my 50/50 or Harlequin books vs other books that I need for the challenge.

2009 New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-05T11:42:00.001-06:00

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2009. Let's hope I do even better this than last year!

1. Continue getting out of debt. Pay off at least two more credit cards and cancel them.

2. Work harder at work to finish projects promptly and as good as I can do them.

3. Get caught up on review books (and review books I read just for fun) and keep caught up.

4. Continue weight loss regimen and lost the 24 lbs I still want to drop.

5. Eat healthier.

6. Streamline at home and get rid of all the excess STUFF I don't need.

7. Be better about staying on top of house cleaning.

8. Keep in touch better with friends and relatives.

9. Get more money into savings.

10. Read a total of 200 books (at least 25% from my TBR) and maintain the 50/50 Harlequin ratio needed for the annual Book Challenge at the Harlequin Boards.

What about you? What are your resoltions?

2008-12-04T23:44:00.001-06:00

I just realized I never posted by November list of books read. I've been too distracted with having to go home for the funeral then trying to cram a month's worth of work into two weeks at work so I don't have a huge stack witing for me when I get back after Christmas. I had another decent month, finishing 15 books and two shorter books. Since I hit my personal goal of 150 this month, I decided to up my goal. Now I'm going for 175 for the year, which shouldn't be a problem. I may make over 180 since I have a two week Christmas vacation this month. :-) Anyhow, so here's my list for November:

* (148) Book 1 – Scions: Revelation by Patrice Michelle (print) (HQ)
* (149) Book 2 – Eve Duncan Book 4: Body of Lies by Iris Johansen (audio)
* (150) Book 3 – Blood Trilogy Book 1: Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper (audio)
* (151) Book 4 – Homecoming Heroes: A Texas Thanksgiving by Margaret Daley (print) (HQ)
* (152) Book 5 – The Sexth Sense: Bed on Arrival by Kelley St. John (audio) (HQ)
* (153) Book 6 – Fever Book 3: FaeFever by Karen Marie Moning (audio)
* (154) Book 7 – Eve Duncan: Stale Mate by Iris Johansen (audio)
* (155) Book 8 – Death Angel by Linda Howard (audio)
* (156) Book 9 – Tiny Blessings: Giving Thanks for Baby by Terri Reed (print) (HQ)
* (157) Book 10 – Heart and Soul: Heart of a Smuggler by Angela Verdenius (eBook)
* (158) Book 11 – Rogue Angel Book 12: The Soul Stealer by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
* (159) Book 12 – Pick Me Up by Samantha Hunter (audio) (HQ)
* (160) Book 13 – Secrets by Jude Deveraux (audio)
* (161) Book 14 – American Dads Book 2: Once Upon a Christmas by Holly Jacobs (print) (HQ)
* (162) Book 15 – A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas (print)

And I finished two Nocturne Bites this month as well:
* (163) Scions: Perception by Patrice Michelle (eBook) (HQ)
* (163) The Gifted: Son of the Sea by Nancy Holder (eBook) (HQ)

Current reads:
The Player by Rhonda Nelson (audio)
An LIH Western by Linda Ford (print)
Viking Something or Other Harlequin Historical Undone by Michelle Willingham I think (eBook)

Next up:
Demon's Hunger by Eve Silver (print ARC)
Last Known Victim by Erica Spindler (audio)

My September and October reads

2008-11-16T23:30:00.003-06:00

I just realized I never posted my September and October reads so I'm going to do that now.

September:

Must be something about September. I didn't read near as much as I usually do this month and several of my friends didn't either.

Book 1 – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by James Rollins (audio)Book 2 – Enemy Lover by Bonnie Vanak (print ARC) (HQ)
Book 3 – A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber (print ARC) (HQ)
Book 4 – Cedar Cove: 6 Rainier Drive by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 5 – Shadow Rider by Kathrynn Dennis (print)
Book 6 – Cedar Cove: 74 Seaside Avenue by Debbie Macomber (audio)
Book 7 – Up Close and Dangerous by Linda Howard (audio)
Book 8 – A Sexy Time of It by Cara Summers (audio) (HQ)

And I read one short sory this month as well:
White Rose: Montana Hideaway by Jessica Joubert (eBook)

Wow this I think may be the worst month I've had for reading all year!

Current Reads:
Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter (audio)
Return to Promise by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
The Crusaders: To Protect a Princess by Gail Barrett (print ARC) (HQ)
Heart and Soul: Heart of a Smuggler by Angela Verdenius (eBook)

October:
So here's my monthly reads for October, as of right now. It's back to normal for me though if not for the fact I've been going tot he gym to workout several days a week, I'd probably have finished even more.

October Reads:
(134) Book 1 – The Crusaders Book 2: To Protect a Princess by Gail Barrett (print ARC) (HQ)
(135) Book 2 – Grant County: Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter (audio)
(136) Book 3 – On the Run by Iris Johansen (audio)
(137) Book 4 – Dresden Files Book 2: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (audio)
(138) Book 5 – Immortals: The Crossing by Joy Nash (print)
(139) Book 6 – Eve Duncan: Quicksand by Iris Johansen (audio)
(140) Book 7 – The Coltons Family First: The Sheriff’s Amnesiac Bride by Linda Conrad (print) (HQ)
(141) Book 8 – The Dante Legacy: Dante’s Stolen Wife by Day Leclaire (print) (HQ)
(142) Book 9 – Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (audio)
(143) Book 10 – Cedar Cove: 8 Sandpiper Way by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
(144) Book 11 – Throne of Judar Book 3: The Desert King by Olivia Gates (print) (HQ)
(145) Book 12 – Eve Duncan Book 1: The Face of Deception by Iris Johansen (audio) (146) Book 13 – Eve Duncan Book 2: The Killing Game by Iris Johansen (audio)
(147) Book 14 - Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie (audio)

No shorts this month since I'm still reading A long one on my PDA. But 14 is pretty darn good, especially after my pitiful September list.

Current reads:
Heart of a Smuggler by Angela Verdenius (eBook ARC)
Eve Duncan: Body of Lies by Iris Johansen (audio)
Scions: Revelations by Patrice Michelle (print)
Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper (audio)

Not a book but, since I missed them all on TV, I listened to all the presidential and VP debates on my MP3 player. Wanted to hear them all before I voted. :-) First year I actually was disappointed I missed them on TV.

another repost - this one from a year ago - where were you?

2008-09-11T00:00:00.003-05:00

This entry is reposted from eHarlequin where I wrote this last year in memory of 9/11. I got tons of comments as a result of this entry when I posted it so I decided to repost it as well, in honor of Patriot Day... There are many similar thoughts as were in the other repost but some different as well.

Where were you?
on 9/11/01

I remember very clearly where I was when I heard what happened. I was sitting in my office at work, where we were located in a temporary space leased in a strip mall. I was sitting there working on something and one of the guy who worked with us came tearing into the office shouting "Turn on the radio! Do we have a TV? Turn it on if we do! The world trade center has just been hit!" there were only two of us there then, myself and Janet, in addition to Skip who is the one that came running in the door. I'm not sure where the other three who shared the space with us were at the time.

This was before they had all the instant messengers blocked on our work computers so I was chatting with three friends online while I worked as we were planning a trip for that weekend to Atlantic City. We were all internet friends who had never met in person and we were all suposed to come in to Atlantic City for the weekend to meet for the very first time. So immediately our conversation changed to the news about the attacks. And we kept having additional message windows pop up from other friends as well since everyone wanted to talk about the horror.

Shortly thereafter Janet (she was the head of the family support program) got the TV she had for her job sitting in the office working and it was very snowy and staticky but we could at least hear what was going on. We were in a steel building so we could never get a good radio signal to hear it that way. We all crowded into Janet's office to watch the blurry images over and over again as the reporters covered it all.

Then we heard something about the one plane flew right over downtown Pittsburgh (this was United Flight 93, the one where some of the passengers decided if they were going to die they were going to die fighting) before crashing. And the field it went down in is right near where one of my coworker/friends worked so I immediately was trying to call her too to see how close she was and to make sure everyone was OK. So then everyone in my family started calling everyone else, or trying to anyhow, to check in with each other.

My brother was attending the culinary institute so was downtown. My older sister worked as a manager at a Blockbuster on the far end of downtown from our house so she had to drive through town every day. My dad worked downtown. I forget exactly how or where I heard that many of the buildings in downtown had been evacuated as a precautionary measure bt somewhere I did and then I started to worry about dad. I was very worried I couldn't get a hold of him to make sure all was OK but I think I did manage to get Mom on the phone, who had heard from dad.

My dad was supposed to fly to Switzerland the next day but my brother thought he was supposed to fly out that day so he was freaking out worrying if dad's flight was one of the hijacked ones (this was before the exact flight numbers and where they were going to and from had been given out). My brother managed to get a hold of me before we started getting all the "all circuits are busy" messages so at least I was able to alleviate his fears about Dad not being on one of the flights.

The rest of the day is pretty much a blur for me. I only remember the morning really clearly, when all the news came out and my family and friends all calling each other in hopes we could make each other feel better after getting such dreadful news. I think I ended up leavng work around 1:00 or so, deciding it was more important to be at home surrounded by my loved ones than at work where I couldn't think straight with everything on the news and all the conversations.

Needless to say, my trip to Atlantic City to meet my friends had been cancelled since a few of them were to be flying in. My friend Sonia was up in Maine on vacation with a friend when it all happened and she couldn't even get home since all the airports were shut down. She was freaked out because here is such a huge tragedy going on and she couldn't even be with her family. She was from Boston and that's where one of the flights originated if I remember correctly so she was really worried. And with all the phones down from everyone trying to use them at once, she couldn't even talk to her family.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO REMEMBER ALL THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES THAT TRAGIC DAY AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIED SINCE FOR OUR FREEDOM. WEAR YOUR RED WHITE AND BLUE IN MEMORIAL. PROUDLY WAVE THAT FLAG. DRIVE WITH YOUR LIGHTS ON IN MEMORIUM.

a repost from two years ago - a trip down memory lane

2008-09-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

In honor of Patriot Day AKA 9/11, I dug up a blog out of the archives that I wrote two years ago about this horrific day. So I am reposting here for you all to read it again...

Today on the 5 year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I look back and remember...

~I remember sitting in the office and hearing Skip come running in shouting at the top of his lungs to turn on the TV or the radio, the world trade center was just attacked

~I remember Janet trying to get her TV to work well enough so we could watch in horror along with the rest of the country... and the world

~I remember being stunned to tears and silence as we saw the Pentagon get hit

~I remember hearing about the flight that went down in PA that had been headed for the White House because the passengers decided that if they were going to die then they were going to die fighting

~I remember the first time I heard the words "Let's roll..." right before those same passengers brought the plane down

~I remember instant messaging Sonia, Kimberly, Cari, and others as we all talked about what happened and how Kimberly gave us the NY perspective on what happening

~I remember frantically calling everyone in my family I could reach as we shared tears over the dreadful tragedy

~I remember Tommy being scared to death because Dad was going on a business trip to Europe and Tommy thought he had left that day (Dad was actually supposed to fly the very next day which of course, didn't happen)

~I remember trying like mad to get a hold of Dad, and unable to get through on the line because I had heard that the skyscrapers in downtown Pittsburgh had been evacuated (one of those buildings was where Dad worked and I was afraid of what that meant happened)

~I remember Sonia being stranded in Maine with a friend, unable to get home since her home airport was where two of the flights originated

~I remember just the day before this all happened being excited about a trip to Atlantic City on the coming weekend to meet Sonia, Kimberly, and Cari in person for the first time

~I also remember our conversations on the phone as we made the decision for our trip to take a backseat to post-9/11 happenings

~I remember President Bush coming on the air to tell the world what had happened and what he was going to do about it

~I remember Susan being hysterical because one of her closest friends worked in the World Trade Center and she was unable to reach her (her friend was one of the fortunate ones who got out safely)

~I remember watching the footage over and over again on every channel on TV and seeing those people jumping out the windows

~I remember the look on Janet's face when she learned some of her friends who worked in the Pentagon were missing and presumed dead

~I remember the brave firemen and police officers going in to try and save who they could... and most of them losing their lives in the process

~I remember seeing Mayor Giuliani breaking down on TV over what had happened

~I remember being unable to sleep that night because I couldn't get those images of horror out of my mind

I remember the positive too though

~I remember Mayor Giuliani also reaching through his grief to do some amazing things to get as much help as was possible to try and find survivors in the wreckage

~I remember our entire country coming together across race, religion, political parties and more to share grief, and provide comfort to complete strangers

~I remember so many of my friends and coworkers stepping up to assist wherever the could

~I remember the first time I saw images of the memorial beacons of light where the World Trade center once stood and the tears as a result of the powerful photo

~I remember our brave soldiers going off to do their duty and stand up for what our country believes in

~I remember those fireman who in the middle of the wreckage, hoisted the flag to say that no matter what, we will prevail

~I remember every single store being completely sold out of American Flags

~I remember seeing almost every house in our neighborhoods proudly waving the red, white and blue

~I remember when Mom found me the flag to hang on my car window and the fact I never took that flag down for at least a year

I remember how even now, 5 years later, though much still remains to be done, we have made great strides to rebuild, re-evaluate, reinforce our love and support for those who lost loved ones

I remember that though some of the soldiers fighting may not agree with the steps taken in the war, they stand proud and take them anyhow, performing their duty for the love of the USA and everything it means to us and to the world

I remember that even though many people may not agree with what our President has done since then in the War on Terror, I have no doubts that he is doing what he feels is right and needed

I remember that the US of A will come out stronger in the end

I will never forget...

GOD BLESS AMERICA! WE WILL ALWAYS RISE ABOVE THE HORRORS AND WE WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL

My August reads

2008-08-31T22:42:00.001-05:00

Since today is the last day of the month and I know I won't finish any more it's safe to say my current list won't be changing at all. So here's this month's list. The number in parentheses is the running total for the year. The next number is for this month's reads only. Formats are in parentheses after the book title and authors and the HQ notes Harlequin books.

(104) Book 1 – My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding Anthology by Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, PN Elrod, Caitlin Kittredge, Marjorie M Liu, Katie MacAlister, Lilith Saintcrow, Ronda Thompson (print)
(105) Book 2 – Gone by Michael Grant (print)
(106) Book 3 – Park Avenue Scandals: Prince of Midtown by Jennifer Lewis (print) (HQ)
(107) Book 4 – The Reincarnationist by MJ Rose (audio) (HQ)
(108) Book 5 – Rogue Angel Book 7: God of Thunder by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
(109) Book 6 – The Tarot Prince by Ellen Ashe (eBook)
(110) Book 7 – Rogue Angel Book 8: Secret of the Slaves by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
(111) Book 8 – Evernight by Claudia Gray (print)
(112) Book 9 – Blood Ties Book 4: All Souls' Night by Jennifer Armintrout (audio) (HQ)
(113) Book 10 – The Carriage House by Carla Neggers (audio) (HQ)
(114) Book 11 – The Waterfall by Carla Neggers (audio) (HQ)
(115) Book 12 – CJ's Fate by Kay Hooper (audio)
(116) Book 13 – Mercenary's Honor by Sharron McClellan (print) (HQ)
(117) Book 14 – Lady & the Vamp by Michelle Rowen (print)
(118) Book 15 – Rogue Angel Book 9: Warrior Spirit by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
119) Book 16 – The Wyoming Kid by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
(120) Book 17 – Rogue Angel Book 10: Serpent's Kiss by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
(121) Book 18 – Rogue Angel Book 11: Provenance by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
(122) Book 19 – Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready (print)
(123) Book 20 – PTA Dads: Once Upon a Thanksgiving by Holly Jacobs (print) (HQ)
(124) Book 21 – Cedar Cove: 50 Harbor Street by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

The following are short stories I read this month. These I keep a lisof until I have enough to count a full book.
Faery Rose: Knight Turns to Day (eBook)
Amazing Grace (eBook)
Black Rose: Between Shadows and Lightning (eBook)
Black Rose: Dark Encounter (eBook)

This was an excellent reading month. And I beat my tally for January in books read which was my best month prior to this one. Twelve of this month's books were audios. I got a lot more listened to this month. One of the good thing about numerous road trips for work. LOL

Current reads:
Dresden Files Book 2: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (audio)
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls by James Rollins (audio)
Heart and Soul: Heart of a Smuggler by Angela Verdenius (eBook)

I'm so excited! Have to share...

2008-07-16T11:31:00.001-05:00

Some of you know I'm in Las Vegas this week for work. (With all the evenings free!) I'm not a gambler so really have no interest in the whole casino thing except to visit a few and see what they look like. But there was one thing I absolutely HAVE to do while here and that of course is to see one of the shows Vegas is famous for. And for me, top priority is a Cirque du Soleil show. I saw a traveling show a few years back when one came through Dallas and I absolutely LOVED it! And I've heard their shows in Vegas are the best in the world that they do. So my big hope was to snag a ticket to a show without bankrupting myself. There are five different ones here and i didn't care which one I saw, I just wanted to see one of them.

Well I went to the ticket office at the Bellagio yesterday to see if i could find a ticket. And I go tone! I'm so excited! And even better, I got a ticket for the one of their shows that was my first choice. AND it didn't break the bank. It actually cost right about what I thought it would and the most I was willing to pay. So Thursday night I have a ticket to go see "O," which is a show that combines a lot of synchronized swimming with aerial acrobatics. I can't wait!

And if you want to see details on the one I'm going to, here's the link:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/o/o-Las-Vegas.htm

Kelley

My June reads

2008-06-30T16:40:00.002-05:00

Well I won't be finishing any more books this month so it's safe to post my list. LOL Especially since I have to be up at 4:30 in the morning to be at the office by 6 since we're off in the field doing several site visits tomorrow and want most of it to be done before it gets too hot. So I'll be in bed EARLY tonight. Even skipping the gym so I can get home, eat, and go to bed shortly thereafter. LOL

Anyhow enough rambling, so here is the 411 on my books I read:
Book 1 – Athena Force: Beneath the Surface by Meredith Fletcher (print) (HQ)
Book 2 - From Over the Moon:
Between the Mountain and the Moon by Virginia Kantra (sequel to another novella she had in The Man of My Dreams) (print)
Mona Lisa Three by Sunny (part of the Mona Lisa series) (print)
From Shifter:
Shifter's Lady by Alyssa Day (part of the Atlantis series) (print)
Sea Crossing by Virginia Kantra (prequel to her new Children of the Sea series) (print)
Book 3 – The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen (audio)
Book 4 - From Bite:
Blood Lust by Vickie Taylor
From A Dream Come True:
Dream Lover by Jennifer Blake
Old Love and Lilac Lace by Becky Lee Weyrich
Book 5 – Sarah's Journey by Ginger Simpson (eBook)
Book 6 – Heart Shaped Box by Joe M Hill (audio)
Book 7 – Hidden by Eve Kenin (print ARC)
Book 8 – Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (audio)
Book 9 – Relics of Merlin Book 2: Double Enchantment by Kathryne Kennedy (eARC)
Book 10 – The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen (audio)
Book 11 – Illegal Possession by Kay Hooper (audio) (or will be finished tonight since I've only about an hour left to listen to)

And a couple shorts:
Lords of the Underworld prequel: The Darkest Fire by Gena Showalter (eBook) (HQ)
Champagne Rose: A Man Mom Would Love by Susan Lyons (eBook) (17 pages)

I was slow again this month on the reading. A big part of that is because I was STILL working on Labyrinth. And with going to the gym several nights a week now, I'm not home as long or as much as I used to be to get any reading time in. I'm still on track to hit my personal goal of 150 though AND I have a vacation coming up in about a month. A week at teh beach, quite possibly just me and my parents so I'll get even MORE reading in than usual since it doesn't sound like any of the little ones are going to make it while I'm there this year.

Current reads:
The Thrall Book 3: Touch of Darkness by CT Adams and Cathy Clamp (print ARC)
The Tarot Prince by Ellen Ashe (eBook)
The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen (audio)
44 Cranberry Point by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

Next up:
Trust Me by Brenda Novak (audio) (HQ)
Martin Misunderstood by Karin Slaughter (audio)
review books

what's been going on in Kelley's world... LONG post

2008-06-13T12:30:00.000-05:00

She’s been busier than all get out is what! LOL

I’ve had a lot going on the past six months which you may have figured out since I’ve barely made a peep in here in that long, except to post my monthly book lists. Let’s see, I’ve been to Louisville, KY, Los Alamitos, CA, Nashville, TN, Little Rock, AR, and Denver, CO since the New Year, a week for each one. Next month I go to Las Vegas, NV for a week. All of these are work trips. I’ve also been to West Texas, and all over the Dallas area in the past month or so. With still more all over Dallas trips to make, at least one more trip to W Texas, at least one trip to E Texas, and at least one trip to central TX, all to come in the next few months.

I went through “oh no they are cancelling every single contract job in the Army Reserves” to “they’d never get rid of us” to “we’ve got two more option years on our contract so we’re safe” to “uh oh, the contract is up in one week where is the new one?” to “yes we have a new contract for next year starting in 3 days.” I’ve had brainstorming sessions to merge our 5 state area with the 3 state area managed out of CA since we will fall under their jurisdiction starting in October of this year. I’ve had a TON of reports to write for work for all these inspections I’ve done that I’m not even close to finishing (reports OR inspections) due to all the other trips I’ve had to take. I’ve had to start rewriting some of our policies and standard operating procedures and checklists for our inspection program to make sure that we are incorporating the way the California region has been doing things. I’ve been coordinating on setting up, planning and scheduling a week long training course (the Vegas trip) to get all our folks and the folks out of the California region up to speed and fully trained on the software we are ALL supposed to be using and were supposed to be using for the past 5 years but in actuality only two of out of 10 or so between the two regions are actually using.

I’ve been super active at my church since the New Year, volunteering at every event for their single parents ministry I possibly can since January. I’ve always felt this program was important and have been volunteering once in a while for a couple years. But after A and D split up, hearing both of their stories and how hard they are trying to make things work in the best possible way for the boys, I had a whole new appreciation for what single parents have to go through and it’s upped my passion about the program.

I’ve also become a small group leader in my Singles’ Sunday school class, leading discussions and coordinating events for our small group for a little over three months now. I did one three month stint and started a new three month cycle two weeks ago. I also attend a weekly Bible Study every Tuesday I’m in town with folks from my singles’ group and have been doing that since January or February. And of course I still attend our weekly Starbucks get togethers every single Thursday I’m in town. And of course I attend as many of the events and activities as I am able with my schedule.

What else? I planted a TON of stuff in my 6 huge planters out on my balcony this year after not doing anything with them last year and they are looking GORGEOUS! A couple planters not so good but most of them are huge and full and I get compliments all the time from folks who can see my balcony from the ground level and even the street my apartment faces.

My friends J and K who I met when they lived in my apt complex and were our events coordinators, and are actually the ones who introduced me to my church and got me going regularly again just moved to Nebraska. J finished Seminary School finally and graduated about 6 weeks ago or so. They invited me to his graduation and I went happily. J had a couple interviews in Nebraska early this year and I took them to the airport and all when I was in town so they didn’t have to pay parking. J was interviewing to be the pastor at a church up there and he got the job! So a month out of Seminary School he already has his own little church. I spent Memorial Day weekend helping them pack for their move. I got to know them really well when they lived here and we got to be good friends. So I was sad to see them go. Even though we didn’t see each other much, we chatted over e-mail regularly and it was a comfort knowing they were close by even though they moved out to Grand Prairie (about 30 mins away) over a year ago. I knew I could always call them if I ever needed anything and they knew they could do the same. So I’m sad they left because of that. But at the same time, I’m excited for them because this is something J has wanted longer than I’ve known them and he worked really hard to get it. So I am thrilled he got his opportunity so soon after finishing school for it.

I took a week’s use or lose vacation Mem Day week and spent almost the ENTIRE week cleaning my apartment top to bottom since I’ve been so busy I’ve not been able to keep up on it.

A week or so after one of the folks at my website who did a lot to help with our monthly left suddenly in April, (which meant I had to pick up the difference in my already jam packed schedule), some web designer lady contacted me, threatening to sue us for stealing HER website design! We opened in March 2006. The site we supposedly stole the design of the earliest date we could find on it was July 2007. But WE stole from HER? Anyhow, I wanted to fight it but my friend who actually designed our website didn’t want to deal with the hassle so she just changed our site a bit, giving it a facelift and a slightly different color scheme to so that lady wouldn’t harass us.

On top of all that as if I wasn’t already busy enough and having enough to do, I decided it was high time to really get serious about losing weight and getting in shape again. 7 weeks ago I signed up for Medifast (http://www.medifast1.com though I go to a local clinic rather than using the online program). My goal is to lose 40 lbs, which puts me back where I was before I gained all this weight about three or four years ago. So far I’ve lost about 15.5 lbs. Feel great! A lot of my clothes don’t fit and I refuse to buy more since I don’t intend to stay at this transition weight since I’m still losing. So some of my friends are teasing me because all my pants are too big and I really have to tighten the belt to keep them in place. LOL Apparently the weight I’ve lost is really starting to show now too. I can’t see it yet except in the lower numbers on my scale and knowing my pants don’t fit right but everyone else can! A couple weeks ago in the leasing office when I went to pick up packages they were all telling me how great I look and asking how I’ve lost the weight. And on Sunday at church in class, everyone was telling me I looked fantastic.

I’ve also just joined a gym. I started going to 24 Hour Fitness almost a week ago on a 7 day guest pass. I don’t go for the equipment though, I go for the exercise classes. I wanted to take some different classes but researching the prices made me realize it’s cheaper to join a gym where I have access to every single class they offer and can do whichever ones I want. So… Monday I attended kickboxing class and worked out for about 45 minutes. Tuesday I didn’t go since my Bible Study in the evenings makes it a little difficult to get to the classes I want. I’d have to come late to Bible Study or skip entirely and I don’t want to do that. Wednesday I attended a 15 minute “Amp’d Abs” workout which is an INTENSE abs only class. Immediately after that ended Kickboxing started up and I did that for an hour. Last night I attended the Amp’d Abs class again and it was immediately followed up by an hour’s worth of dance exercise classes. My abs HURT today. Every time I swallow or cough or stretch or even bend I can feel the ache there but it’s a GOOD ache! I’ve been pretty lost in the classes since obviously they are full of regulars who know the routines so I probably only actually GET about 2/3-3/4 of the workout since I get confused at some of the routine moves. But even so I’ve been sweating up a storm each day and actually ENJOYING my classes! I figure after I’ve gone a few times and get the hang of the routines and the different moves I’ll be fine and really getting the full benefits. The Abs class is HARD since my abs and my whole core muscle group is pretty week but I’m going to stick to it. They also have Pilates and yoga which I want to try out, and a 3 lane lap pool I intend to make use of sometimes too to get that workout.

What else? Well since I’m on this diet it’s been forcing me to cook more (and gas prices are keeping me from going out as often as I used to). My George Foreman Grill is my new best friend and got pulled out of the closet where it’s been languishing since I moved here, except the 4 or 5 times a year I actually used it. LOL Now I use it several times a week when I’m cooking.

And yes, even in the midst of all of this craziness, I STILL am finding reading time! Mostly it’s audio books but I’ll count ‘em! I think I’m at 76 books total for the year already. My goal this year is to read 150 so I think I’ll make it.

But as you can imagine from all that’s been going on, I’ve MAJORLY had to cut back my internet time so I’m not in here near as much to chat with people.

I also made this new friend through my friend B. She came to our Memorial Day party for my singles group and we met there but then she came to Starbucks a couple weeks ago with B for the first time and we immediately clicked! M and I get along great and have been talking about all sorts of stuff we’d like to go do.

I’m crazy busy and I’m always exhausted, but I’m happier than I’ve been in a long long time. So the being happy really makes up for the stress of my schedule and the tiredness. And that my friends, is what’s been happening in my world. Now I need to go eat lunch and then come back here and get moving on the monthly site update for Kwips and get some of my reviews written that are piling up due to no time to write them!

2008-06-01T02:10:00.002-05:00

Book 1– Rogue Angel Book 6: The Lost Scrolls by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
Book 2 – Texas Treasures Book 3: Mom in the Middle by Mae Nunn (print) (HQ)
Book 3 – Cedar Cove Book 3: 311 Pelican Court by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 4 – The Borderlands Book 1: Moonstruck by Susan Grant (eArc) (HQ)
Book 5 – The Safekeepers Book 1: Safe with a Stranger by Linda Conrad (print)
Book 6 – The Esri Book 2: Dark Deceiver by Pamela Palmer (print) (HQ)
Book 7 – Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson (audio)
Book 8 – Light Warriors Book 2: In Twilight’s Shadow by Patti O’Shea (print ARC)
Book 9 - The Wedding Planners Book 1: Sweetheart Lost and Found by Shirley Jump (print) (HQ)
Book 10 - Blossom Street: Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber (audio)
Book 11 - Children of the Sea Book 1: Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra (print ARC)
Book 12 – The Sign of Seven Book 2: The Hollow by Nora Roberts (audio)

Short Stories/Novellas read:
Love and Lore: Wildish Things by Carolan Ivey (eBook)
Racing the Moon by Michele Hauf (eBook) (HQ)
The Twilight by Stanalei Fletcher (eBook)
Beltaine Bargain by Cindy Spencer Pape (eBook)

Current reads:
The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (audio)
The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen (audio)
Athena Force: Beneath the Surface by Meredith Fletcher (print)
Lords of the Underworld prequel: The Darkest Fire by Gena Showalter (eBook) (HQ)

Gee, I was on vacation for 10 days and still read less than my average this month! I guess that's what happens when I actually have to "*gasp* do major spring cleaning! I've been so busy this year so far time just gets away from me and my apartment was showing that! I still finished 12 books this month though and several shorts. Hopefully next month I'll be back to my average.

Need YOUR help to read 100,000 books!! and make a matching donation to National Center for Family Literacy

2008-05-09T15:17:00.001-05:00

JOIN READ
SHARE

Harlequin’s online community is reading 100,000 books to help the National Center for Family Literacy solve the literacy crisis.
Read and help make the 100,000 book donation come true.
Ready-set-read!

Help spread literacy by joining the 100,000 Book Challenge. For every novel read and reviewed Harlequin will donate a book to the National Center for Family Literacy. The donation has a retail value of $700,000.

Learn more at http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge

So far 300+ bloggers have accepted the challenge, and in the first three months, they have crossed the 8,000-book mark, but there is a long way to go before meeting the goal. Help us help spread the joy of reading!

Romance Readers are Avid Readers
“Our readers are very passionate,” says Jayne Hoogenberk, community manager for eHarlequin.com. “They read, talk, think and dream about books 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The median number of paperbacks read in one year by Americans is 12. The median for Harlequin readers is 30. Since we’re always looking for ways to inspire and challenge our community members, we wondered if, as a group, they would be able to read 100,000 books in a single calendar year and through our donation of 100,000 books, share that love of reading with others who don’t have such easy access to entertaining and engaging literature for women.”

The NCFL Helps Adult Literacy
“Recent studies show that people are reading literature less and less,” said Sharon Darling, president & founder of NCFL. “This reading challenge not only will provide an important incentive for everyone to read more, it also will greatly benefit the millions of adults who have low literacy – 34 million in the United States alone and 771 million globally.”

The 100,000 Book Donation
Each book reviewed on the site counts towards our goal of 100,000 books read and ups the automated book challenge counter. Because our ultimate goal this year is to provide books to the National Center for Family Literacy, we want to ensure that every book read counts towards our goal and we need YOU to help us reach it!

We Need You!
Join, read, share.

It’s simple and if you’re a romance fan you’ll be doing something you already do – read. The only addition is writing a quick review – and watching the book count grow as we head toward the 100,000 book goal.

For more information and to register for the challenge visit:
http://community.eharlequin.com/book-challenge

If you would like more information and/or would like to include the challenge on your blog or website please contact jayne_hoogenberk@harlequin.ca

www.community.eharlequin.com www.famlit.org

Fresh and original urban fantasy available now at Amazon

2008-05-02T21:40:00.002-05:00

I was lucky enough last month to get an advance read of Jeri Smith-Ready's new book, Wicked Game, a very unique urban fantasy all about blood, vamps, and rock n roll. I LOVED it!

"A colorful premise and engaging characters" — Library Journal

Wicked Game is now available!

Order at Mysterious Galaxy or Amazon

But don't just take my word for it, check it out for yourself! Here's an exceprt and some reviews so you can see what the book's about and what others are saying.

If you'd like to post a link to the first chapter excerpt, it's here: http://www.jerismithready.com/books/wicked-game/excerpt1.htm

More information on the book, including reviews, can be found here: http://www.jerismithready.com/books/wicked-game/

XPOST: My April reads

2008-05-02T10:49:00.001-05:00

I had another really good reading month. Still haven't meet my January count, which is still my best for this year. But I've been doing pretty well, except for February anyhow when I slipped in numbers. LOL Anything with an HQ next to it is a Harlequin book. I had a lot of those this month. I track those for the eHQ challenge.

Book 1 – Rogue Angel Book 4: The Chosen by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
Book 2 – Knitting Series Book 2: A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 3 – Who Am I? by Lena Nelson Dooley (print)
Book 4 – Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 5 – Cedar Cove Book 2: 204 Rosewood Lane by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 6 – Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready (print)
Book 7 – Tycoon's One-Night Revenge by Bronwyn Jameson (print) (HQ)
Book 8 – The Crusaders: Heart Thief by Gail Barrett (print) (HQ)
Book 9 – Heart and Soul: Love's Winsome Warrior by Angela Verdenius (eBook)
Book 10 – In His Dreams by Gail Gaymer Martin (print) (HQ)
Book 11 – Rogue Angel Book 5: Forbidden City by Alex Archer (audio) (HQ)
Book 12 – Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)
Book 13 – A Treasure of the Heart by Valerie Hansen (print) (HQ)
Book 14 – Where Angels Go by Debbie Macomber (audio) (HQ)

And a few shorts as well:
Bedroom Window by Amanda Stevens (eBook) (HQ)
Dreaming of You by Johanna Melaragno (eBook)
A Blessing in Disguise by Shareem Varden (eBook)

Not bad. I hit 14 again which is about average for me this year so far. Of those 14, half of them were audio books.

Current reads:
Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson (audio)
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse (audio) (Buddy Read for May)
Moonstruck by Susan Grant (eARC) (HQ)
Wildish Things by Carolan Ivey (eBook)

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2008-03-31T21:15:00.000-05:00

I know I'm not going to finish anything else this month so it's safe to assume this list is completed.
March reads:
Book 1 - Trapped by Chris Jordan (audio)
Book 2 - The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber (print)
Book 3 - Cedar Cove: 16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber (audio)
Book 4 – Wizard’s Daughter by Catherine Coulter (audio)
Book 5 – Hocus Pocus by Teresa Roblin (print)
Book 6 – Dresden Files Book 1: Storm Front by Jim Butcher (audio)
Book 7 – Embrace the Night by Karen Chance (print)
Book 8 – Fire Study by Maria V Snyder (audio)
Book 9 - Rogue Angel Book 1: Destiny by Alex Archer (audio)
Book 10 – Rogue Angel Book 2: Solomon’s Jar by Alex Archer (audio)
Book 11 – Diamonds Down Under Book 1: Vows & a Vengeful Groom by Bronwyn Jameson (print)
Book 12 – Rogue Angel Book 3: The Spider Stone by Alex Archer (audio)
Book 13 – Diamonds Down Under Book 2: Pride & a Pregnancy Secret by Tessa Radley (print)
Book 14 – Scions Book 2: Insurrection by Patrice Michelle (print)

No shorts this month since I've been working on a long sci-fi/futuristic eBook this whole month. Still a good month though and better than last month. I'm going through a lot more audio books lately than I used to so that's what's really doing it for me in numbers this year. But hey 14 books is pretty darn impressive for someone with my crazy schedule!

XPOST Promo: CK2S Kwips and Kritiques Second Anniversary Bash Contest!

2008-03-29T22:43:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the CK²S Kwips and Kritiques Second Anniversary Bash Contest! We can't believe we're two years old already. So to celebrate our birthday YOU get the gifts! Check out this fantastic lineup of prizes! And who knows, we may have a few more surprises added before the end. To make up for the contests we've had which international visitors could not enter, we've made this contest an ALL eBOOK event!

To enter the contest, please go to our contests page for the clues to the answers. http://www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com/contests.html

Current list of prizes (More will be added as several have come in since we did our update a couple weeks ago):

Aspen Mountain Press -
Cupid's Arrow by JM Snyder, Elisabeth Jason, Dawn Montgomery AND
New Tortuga Book 1: Monday's Child by Jessica D Russell AND
Own Me by Dawn Montgomery AND
Who Is Offing the Private Dicks by Wayne Greenough AND
Del Fantasma: Texas Tea by Maura Anderson AND
Tort and Retort by Maura Anderson AND
Project Prometheus Book 1: In Her Name by Esther Mitchell AND
Project Prometheus Book 2: Hope of Heaven by Esther Mitchell AND
The Captive's Release by Lucynda Storey AND
Reynardine by Lucynda Storey AND
Satin Knights Book 1: Ware Wishes by Melissa Glisan

Eternal Press - 2 eBooks from their catalog, winner's choice
Samhain Publishing, Ltd - five eBooks from their catalog, winner's choice
Tease Publishing - two eBooks from their catalog, winner's choice
The Wild Rose Press - 2 gift certificates, 6.00 each

Individual Author Donations:
CH Admirand - Patience from Wild Rose Press AND A Scot's Honor AND The Saxon Bride AND The Lord of Merewood Keep from Dark Castle Lords Publishing
Maya Banks - Falcon Mercenary Group, Book 1: Into the Mist
Shelley Bradley - Naughty Little Secret OR Watch Me OR The Lady and the Dragon OR A Perfect Match (after its release May 13)
Lynne Connolly - Last Chance, My Love
J. Morgan - Candy Coated Clown
Jenna Leigh - The Wolf’s Heart
Morgan O’Reilly - Halo in Her Pocket
Savannah Chase - Bid for Love
Qwillia Rain - Santa's Elf
Jennifer Cole - At the Dungeon Master's Hand
Buffi BeCraft-Woodall - Weremones
Catherine Stang - Sweet Serenity
Brian L. Porter - A Study in Red
Dakota Cassidy - Wolfmates Book 1: An American Werewolf in Hoboken AND Wolfmates Book 2: What's New Pussycat?
Michele Bardsley - Demon Hunters Inc Book 1: See No Evil AND Snowbound: Snow Dream

I was interviewed about CK2S Kwips and Kritiques in the Morgan Diaries

2008-03-22T12:12:00.001-05:00

Yes someone actually wanted to interview ME? Can you believe it? Well in all fairness they wanted to interview me for CK2S Kwips and Kritiques to help us celebrate our two year anniversary. LOL I was pretty excited to be asked as you can probably tell so I’m going to do some bragging. J The interview was posted today and here’s the link if you want to see what we talked about. http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com/

Kelley

Come visit us at CK2S Kwips and Kritiques!

See me at Shelfari!

Check out My Space!

Welcome to the latest CK2S Kwips and Kritiques Contest!

2008-02-23T22:27:00.001-06:00

NEW CONTEST!!! Savannah Russe has graciously donated several copies of her most recent Darkwing Chronicles book: In the Blood (book 4) and five t-shirts with her logo on them! I had intended to try and do something a little fancier and more complicated than our usual contest this month, but just ran out of time. So another easy one to enter!

All you have to do is Send us an e-mail with "Why I love the Darkwing Chronicles series!" in the subject line. Please include your name, e-mail address, mailing address, and why you love the series. We may even mention your comments in a future newsletter and update! (This information is for our purposes only. We will not share or sell any information)

http://www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

Friends, fondue, and lunar eclipses

2008-02-21T12:14:00.001-06:00

add in a little wine and you have my wild crazy evening last night.

Last night was my DFW Tea book club dinner. We do this once a month where we have a phone conversation with the author of the month and we pick a food theme for the night. This month was Stephanie Bond and fondue. And of course, we always have some form of alcohol, usually suited to the food theme at thee get togethers.

Stephanie was a real trooper, especially since several times throughout the evening we broke out into giggle fits when someone lost food in teh fondue or food went flying due to too many of us trying to dig in to the fondue at the same time.

We did a three course fondue dinner. First course - cheese fondue with veggies, bread and apples. Second course was shrimp, beef, chicken, potatoes and different veggies in some sort of Asian broth fondue. Third course was two kinds - PB Chocolate and dark chocolate with grand marnier - and more fruit, cookies, rice krispie squares, pound cake. And of course wine throughout. I ate SOOO much I felt sick! but of course I had to try EVERYthing and every fondue. I blew my entire diet I've been working really hard to stick to since the new year. I feel like I need to starve myself the rest of the week to make up for it (not that I will of course, I like to eat too much) I can't remember the last time I ate so much food at one meal. I even had a hard time sleeping my stomach hurt so much from all the food I gorged myself on.

In between courses tonight we all went outside to watch the lunar eclipse. Did you get to see it at all? It was a full eclipse about 9:00 central time. When it went full, it was a red orange color and way cool! Lots of clouds in the sky which impaired our ability to view it periodically but every time I see an eclipse I'm in awe of it.

Kelley

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My January reads

2008-02-04T21:51:00.001-06:00

I had a FANTASTIC reading month! Hope I can keep it up all year long!

I actually got quite a bit read this month... All becasue of the few days of vacation I had at the New Year and then a conference for work where I was pretty bored so read a lot.

Book 1: Night's Eternal Promise by Julie D'Arcy (eBook)
Book 2 - Sins of the Flesh by Devyn Quinn (print)
Book 3 - Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen (audio)
Book 4: Blood Ties Book 3: Ashes to Ashes by Jennifer Armintrout (audio)
Book 5: When the Lights Go Down by Heidi Betts (print)
Book 6: Blame It on the Blackout by Heidi Betts (print)
Book 7: The Last Noel by Heather Graham (audio)
Book 8 - Just Dare Me by Stephanie Bond (audio)
Book 9 - Sparta Rose by Ginger Simpson (eBook)
Book 10 - Gambler's Woman by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Stephanie James (audio)
Book 11 - The Ultimate Bite by Crystal Green (audio)
Book 12 - The Lord of the Deep by Dawn Thompson (print)
Book 13 - Blood Lust by JM Jeffries (print)
Book 14 - Blood Seduction by JM Jeffries (print)
Book 15 - Crimson City Book 3: Through a Crimson Veil by Patti O'Shea (audio)
Book 16 - Meeting Her Match by Debra Clopton (print)
Book 17 - Fever Book 1: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning (audio)
Book 18 - Fever Book 2: Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning (audio)

And several shorter works too (all eBooks) which I need to figure out page counts. There's probably 4 or 5 books worth of pages here between them all:
24 Hours by Kay David
Bayou Reunion by Rebecca York
A View from the Clouds by Joy Nash
Noccio by Veronica Chase
Up the Airy Mountain by Jane Toombs
Beauty and the Beast by Fiona Neal
A Myterious Knight by Anita Verkerk
Lost by Eden Robins
Jack and Jill on Fantasy Hill
The Most Dangerous "Wolf" of All by Taylor Manning
Secrets in the Annex by Ann Cory
Misery Loves Company by Ellen Ashe

And I may have missed one or two shorts.

Kelley
Now open! http://www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com
Visit me at Shelfari http://www.shelfari.com/shewolf0316
Read my Blog http://blogspot.kelleyskomments.com
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old friends and phone calls

2007-11-18T21:44:00.001-06:00

I just got off the phone with a friend I haven't talked to in over three years. My friend J who I used to work with way back when who has lived in FL now for 7 or 8 years. Last time I talked to him we figured out was three years ago. His dad died that summer and I remember him calling me to tell me that and that he was engaged and getting married. We lost touch because he never realized he forgot to give me his new address and phone number and e-mail after he moved in with his then fiancée. And it never occurred to me to see if I could find him through the computer.

Out of the blue he called me tonight (he tried calling me the other day, in hopes my phone number hadn't changed, but I wasn't home. But he got my voicemail so he knew it was still my number). Just like we've always been, it's like there was no time between conversations. We talked for almost 4 hours on the phone. We talked his cell phone battery dead and he had to plug it in to the charger to call me back. We've always been like that too. We ALWAYS talk the phone dead when we get on the phone. There are so few people I can talk to for hours on end with no breaks in conversation and he's the same way.

I even used to have some eerie mental thing going that I would know before the phone even rang that he was calling. But weirdly enough, I have been thinking of him the past few days, wondering how he was doing. I think about him now and then quite a bit, wondering how he's doing but he's been on my mind a LOT lately for some reason. And then he calls tonight. Really bizarre. So I guess that wavelength is still there , if a little rusty. I've never had anyone else I could do that with but I always used to know he was calling me without ever seeing the caller ID.

We never dated or anything like that but we are very dear friends, and have been from the first time we met. We just clicked immediately and knew we'd found a friend for life. If there is such a thing as soul mates (but not in romanticized definition of the word), then that would probably be us.

It was so nice to hear from him again. We had SOOO much to catch up on (and still more we never got to I'm sure). Some things never change I guess. As he has told me a million times, that's the mark of a true friendship. You know each other on such a deep level that it doesn't matter if it's been 10 minutes or 10 years. You pick up like no time at all has passed.

And now I actually have his address and phone number and e-mail so I can make sure we don't go three years between contact again. :-)

And it was a wonderful pick me up since I've been down lately. Ever since I left PA I get depressed this time of year, knowing I'm missing family Thanksgiving, which has always been the most special event my family and relatives. I get sad knowing I'm missing it.

And I've had some other stuff on my mind the past few weeks two that has been weighing me down.

So now I have a nice warm fuzzy to carry me along a while, knowing I got to talk to one of my very best friends in the world, whether we ever get to see each other or not. Last time we actually saw each other was probably 7 or so years ago. I forget exactly how may years it's been (sorry M and J!) but the last time I saw him was when I was in CT for a wedding of two good friends. He lived an hour or so away and we met up the one night. Talked ourselves hoarse that night I think as we walked the beach in the park and caught up on each other's lives. And we almost got locked in to the park too since we talked very late into the night and they have gates across the roads into the park that they close when the park closes.

Invisible

2007-11-18T02:46:00.000-06:00

you look
but do you see

you hear
but do you listen

you touch
but do you feel

you know
but do you understand

Invisible

you ask I answer
but do you notice

you hurt I cry
but do you realize

you are happy I smile
but you are blind

you break I put you back together
but do you appreciate

Invisible

I am here but you don't come
I care but you don't sense it

I am here
waiting
watching
hoping
knowing
loving

Invisible

always

Invisible

computer update

2007-11-04T17:56:00.001-06:00

Circuit City FINALLY came through for me last night. I took my computer back to have them see why the USB ports didn't work when they did before I took it down AND they reinstalled the drivers. This guy was super helpful. I think because he could tell when I talked to him on Friday I was at my wit's end and ready to start crying again.

I took it down yesterday morning around 10 and he called me about 6 to say it was ready. He said he had a heck of a time figuring out what was wrong and spent a good bit of time on the phone with Dell to ensure he did everything correctly. (BTW, as it turns out the guy who worked on it the first time two weeks ago is no longer there. Not sure if he quit or was fired but I got the impression he was fired or he quit because he knew he was going to be fired.)

Anyhow, long story short, the guy yesterday discovered I have one bad USB port and that's why the computer kept freezing. Every time I tried to use that port it messed everything up. But the other port works fine. So he said as long as I remember not to use the bad port, I should be fine and it'll get through a little longer without having to buy a new one. So I put a piece of tape over the bad port so I don't accidentally plug something in to it. He even told me to bring some of my USB port peripheral stuff to test and see if they worked before he gave me back my computer.

They worked! So now I'm in the process of reinstalling everything AGAIN and had to set up my Outlook all over again. But I was able to plug in my external hard drive and access all my files so YAY!!!

XPOST: My October reads

2007-11-01T14:12:00.001-05:00

Another pretty decent reading month for me. Twelve full length books and one short story so I've been on a reading roll for a few months now. Granted 7 of those are audio, but hey a book is a book is a book. LOL The one in brown is the short story.

Faery Rose: A Legend of Ireland by Linda Carroll-Bradd (eBook) - Short Paranormal Romance/Light Fantasy
Moon's Fury: A Tale of the Sazi by C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp (print) - Paranormal Romance/Shape Shifter
Thriller Anthology edited by James Patterson (audio) - Suspense/Thriller
The Dead Room by Heather Graham (audio) - Paranormal Romance/Ghost/Romantic Suspense
The Witch Is Dead: An Ophelia and Abby Mystery by Shirley Damsgaard (print) - Cozy Mystery/Paranormal
WINGS IN THE NIGHT BOOK 12: PRINCE OF TWILIGHT by Maggie Shayne (audio) - Paranormal Romance/Vampire
Warriors of the Light: Dark Truth by Lindsey McKenna (audio) - Paranormal Romance/Shape Shifter/Dark Fantasy
Hell on Earth by Jackie Kessler (print) - Paranormal Romance/Fantasy
Call Me Wicked by Jamie Sobrato (audio) - Category/Pranormal Erotica/Fantasy
The Island by Heather Graham (audio) - Romantic Suspense
Chill Factor by Sandra Brown (audio) - Romantic Suspense
The Empath by Bonnie Vanak (print) - Paranormal Romance/Dark Fantasy/Shape Shifter
The Esri Book 1: The Dark Gate by Pamela Palmer (print) - Paranormal Romance/Dark Fantasy

Currently reading:

Garden Spells by Susan Addison Allen (audio) - Contemporary Women's Fiction/Fantasy

The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens (audio) - Thriller

Th Medusa Seduction by Cindy Dees (print) - Romantic Suspense

Soul of a Predator by Angela Verdenius (eBook) - Paranormal Romance/Futuristic

I had hoped to at least finish the Stevens and the Verdenius this month but didn't quite make it. Will in the next few days.

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I'm going to cry... I really am...

2007-10-30T20:59:00.001-05:00

I'm SO frustrated right now I really AM going to start crying! I've been fighting this d*mned computer for over two months now! First for almost six weeks trying to solve my virus problems before I finally realized nothing I could do would fix it and I took it to the shop. Then I had to hound Circuit City because they never bothered to call me after they realized they couldn't clean off all the malware and wanted to recommend a hard drive wipe. THEN they didn't bother to call me to tell me THAT was done! Then I pick it up and need to start reinstalling my software since I refused to pay for them to do that due to cost. So I start doing that only to find my USB ports WERE working when I first started, but are no longer. And nothing I do to try to fix that works. So I finally decide I have to call Dell. But of course it's a super long wait on the phone AND for whatever reason even though I'm calling the correct phone number, it keeps connecting to a line strictly for PDA tech support.

So I go online and try an online chat with an agent. Have to wait 10 minutes for a free agent. Then he starts me doing stuff and one of the files he sent me froze my computer so I had to reboot. Connection lost. Try again, wait another 10 minutes for another agent. He connects to my system remotely and starts to do some work. Then he tells me to connect something to my USB port. Computer freezes, as it does EVERY single time I try, if the computer even realizes the ports are there. Connection lost. Try again, wait another 10 minutes for an agent. And they proceed to tell me the only thing they can try is a BIOS update. If that doesn't work, I need a new motherboard, but at that point they say I'm better off buying a new computer. Easy for them to say! They aren't the ones who have to shell out over a thousand bucks for a new computer that may not even work with some of my extra software since all the software is for Windows XP and now everything is Vista!

So I'm so fed up and tired of fighting this thing I just want to cry. I KNOW I really should get a new computer. But I wanted to get some more time out of this one since I rally don't need to drop another grand right now, two months before Christmas.

My July reads...

2007-08-06T21:37:00.000-05:00

Wild Siren by Megan Hussey - Short Erotica/Fantasy (eBook)

The Tiger's Eye by Liz Craven - Short Erotica/Shape Shifter (eBook)

From Russia with Love by Ingrid Weaver (first in Mediterranean Nights continuity) - Category Romance/Contemporary (print)

Shadow Watch by Linda Conrad (second in the Night Guardians series) - Category Romance/Fantasy (print)

Shadow Whispers by Linda Conrad (sixth and final in the Night Guardians series) - Category Romance/Fantasy (print)

Paper Hearts by Debrah Williamson - Women's Fiction (print)

The Chronicles of Narnia 4: Prince Caspian by CS Lewis - Young Adult Fantasy (audio)

Raintree: Sanctuary by Beverly Barton - Category Romance/Dark Fantasy (audio)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling - Young Adult Fantasy (print)

Chronicles of Narnia 3: The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis - Young Adult Fantasy (audio)

Harm's Way by Sandra Ferguson - Romantic Suspense (eBook)

Every Waking Moment by Brenda Novak - Romantic Suspense (audio)

Soul Song by Marjorie M Liu - Paranormal Romance/Fantasy (print)

Chronicles of Narnia Book 2: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis - Young Adult Fantasy (audio)

Creepin' by LA Banks, Donna Hill, Monica Jackson, JM Jeffries, Janice Sims - Erotica Anthology/Fantasy (print)

The House on Briar Hill Road by Holly Jacobs - Category Romance/Contemporary (print)

On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny - Paranormal Romance/Fantasy (print)

So I finished 15 full length this month and two short stories. It helps I had a week long vacation in there to do nothing but read. :-)

Wednesday the Fourth of July - Madrid and Toledo

2007-07-26T17:18:00.000-05:00

I must note that even though we were in another country, we were not without our American patriotism! I had packed two of the Old Navy flag shirts. I had a short sleeved one and a sleeveless one, figuring I'd pick whichever one was more appropriate to the weather to wear. It was hot enough for a tank top, so I wore that one and I offered L my short sleeved one for the day. So she borrowed it and we showed off the fact we were proud to be an American!

We had found a local tour guide to give us a private tour of Toledo in the morning. He met us at our hotel about 9:00 AM or so and we proceeded to get a whirlwind tour of Toledo. This was quite fascinating since there is a significant amount of history here. Toledo is an old medieval city and much of the old city wall is still in existence. The entire city is also built up a mountain so that gives quite the opportunity for some exercise. Everywhere we went was Uphill. Part of the reason the city is so exciting to learn about is the religious history there. At one time, centuries ago, Toledo was a strong mix of Christian, Jewish and Muslim. Until the Christian royalty in Spain took over and forced everyone who wasn't Christian out. If I remember
correctly, Toledo once had the largest population of Jews in the entire country. Now there are barely enough to consider it a Jewish community and justify one single synagogue. In an effort to erase all remnants of non-Christian residents of the city, all the old synagogues and mosques were turned into Christian Cathedrals. It was especially interesting to walk around and see old remnants still in existence from the old religions there. One spot there was a picture perfect moment to capture churches of all three religions lined up back to back. The angle was just right and looking up, you could see the towers one behind the other of each kind of church. And they looked much closer together than they really were.

Toledo is a fairly small city now (well Toledo proper is anyhow) and though it does cater somewhat to tourists in some places, there's not a whole lot of "touristy" stuff to do outside of the walking tour and visiting the Cathedral. There were some absolutely gorgeous religious artifacts to see though and some artwork by some of the most famous painters in Spanish
history, the most famous of which is "El Greco," who's not Spanish at all, but Greek. There is much to the story of how he came to Spain though and his rise to popularity, all of which was fascinating.

After the tour, our guide (who was wonderful. Extremely knowledgeable about his city and its history and very proud to tell us all about it), always thinking, took us to a small metalwork shop. Toledo is very well know for its metal working, especially it's sword-smithing and gold-smithing. Our guide told us that no self-respecting bull fighter would EVER buy his sword
from anywhere other than Toledo. The store we went to had a goldsmith there working on a small plate so we got to watch how the gold leaf is applied to make the beautiful designs you find everywhere over there. We watched for a little bit and of course being women with souvenir shopping on the brain, we went to town buying all sorts of stuff to bring home. Most of mine will be Christmas presents though I did pick up a couple small items for myself.

After we had shopped to our heart's content there (the shop owner loved us!) our tour was finished and our guide dropped us off at the train station so we could head into Madrid.

We got to Madrid about lunch time but weren't quite hungry yet so we hopped on the tour bus and did some sightseeing. We stuck primarily to the historical Madrid tour this day and saw many sights. We started at Plaza Mayor again (nice central point to get to everywhere). Of all the places we could visit we chose the Puerta de Toledo (Toledo Gate), Puerta del Sol (the
very well known Sun Gate), Jardin Botanico (this is the Royal Botanical Gardens), Museo del Prado (I guess you could call it the Louvre of Spain), Puerta de Alcalá (Alcala Gate). We just rode by the gates, but we stopped at the Prado Museum as that was the one museum that everyone absolutely has to see in Madrid and spent a couple hours there. After we finished up in the museum, when we realized the Royal Botanical Gardens bumped up to it, we walked through there. I'm a sucker for a good botanical garden so that was one of the "must-see" sights in Madrid for me. Unfortunately, we were not there during peak season for most of the flowers so I was a bit disappointed. But there were still lots of blooming flowers that I had to explore (and smell) fully. We had fun here posing at several different places with flowers making gorgeous backdrops.

By now it was about time to head back to the train station to hop our train back to Toledo. So we got back on the tourist bus, passed by several more sights (many more than I listed) until we got to the train station. After we got back to Toledo and our hotel, we cleaned up a little bit, dropped off our purchases, and headed out to dinner for yet more tapas. There is a slightly funny story to go along with this. I may have mentioned in earlier descriptions about this trip how I love sangria and was bound and determined to have a glass or two as many nights as I could. Well the place we went for dinner this night, they didn't sell sangria by the glass, but by the liter. L is not a fan of sangria but since she knew I wanted some she told me she'd TRY to help me drink the liter but no promises since she really doesn't like it. So I went ahead and ordered it. Keep in mind here that we were outside all day long in high heat and humidity and that though we did stop for meals that day, I never really ate a whole lot at any of them, and that our dinner was tapas, which is finger foods and not a lot in any order so it was a small dinner. So they brought the liter of sangria, L took one sip decided she couldn't bear to drink anymore, and left the rest to me. Well it isn't cheap and I really did not want to waste any of it so I just kept drinking it and drinking it. After about 4 or 5 glasses, there was still enough left
for at least another glass or two. (A liter doesn't seem like a lot till you are drinking it by the wine glass full.) By now I was feeling quite good and I was afraid if I had anymore the room would start spinning and I'd be in danger of getting sick. So I couldn't stand the thought of wasting the last couple glasses, but I also knew it would not be wise to drink any more. So L
took what was left in the pitcher and gave it to the young couple at the table next to us, who were very grateful for the free alcohol. I was quite tipsy at this point and was a little bit wobbly when it was time to leave.

So we had fun laughing at me the next day over my getting drunk on sangria. But boy did it taste good!

Next post, Thursday our last day in Madrid...

Day 3 in Spain - Tuesday - first transition day

2007-07-25T12:12:00.001-05:00

I figured I'd better get more of the story written before all the details fade out of my memory and I can't remember what to write. (You may laugh at me but oddly enough I'm remembering a lot of what we did based on what I was wearing that day. I can look at the photos, see what I was wearing in different photos and that's jogging the memory of what we did that day. But hey, as long as something helps me remember. LOL)

Tuesday was our transition day from Barcelona to Madrid. We had repacked our suitcases the night before to accommodate all the wine and souvenirs we'd already bought so we could leave the big bags at the hotel we'd be coming back to at the end of our trip, when we returned to Barcelona. So we stopped at that hotel on the way to the airport (which wasn't far since it was an
airport hotel) and checked our big suitcases there. Then we headed to the airport. We had left early in the hopes of maybe catching an earlier flight to Madrid but apparently there was some sort of limitation on our fare we purchased that did not allow for changing the flights or even going stand by unless we wanted to pay for it. So we sat at the airport for quite a while and I got a lot of reading in while we waited.

We got to Madrid about 12:30 or so and by the time we collected our bags and headed to the train station, we had missed the train to Toledo for a while. We had thought we'd head there, drop our stuff at the hotel and sightsee in Toledo that afternoon. But though the trains usually run every hour, there are two hours during the day it doesn't run and we arrived then. We didn't want to sit around waiting even more so we decided to start touring Madrid that afternoon instead. We found a baggage check at the train station, dropped our stuff off and headed to the metro to go in to the city.

After probably a good half hour trying to figure out the metro system and the maps to where we wanted to go, we rode into town. And honestly, my memory of this day is a little hazy. I forget what all we did. Probably because I was SOOO tired that day after little sleep the night before then getting up early to catch an early plane only to find we couldn't.

I know we headed into town and stopped at Plaza Mayor. I had purchased City Cards for us, which got us free tickets on the Tourist Bus, free entry to numerous museums and the Royal Palace and Gardens, and discounts many other places and with a couple tour companies. So we stopped at the tourist office to pick them up and while at Plaza Mayor, we walked around the square looking at all the shops and restaurants. We also did quite a bit of shopping right off the bat. Go figure. Two women in a foreign country and one of the first things we do in a new city is shop! LOL But it worked out because we got almost all of our souvenir shopping in Madrid done there. And in my case, most of my Christmas shopping too. :-) I knew the only way I'd be able to afford Christmas presents this year was to make them the souvenirs I brought home for my family. Of course the kids will all get their souvenirs right away but...

About when we decided we were hungry, we found a little hole in the wall restaurant and got some lunch. Most of what was on the menu I could only make out a few words, but there were some pictures too of some dishes to help. I ended up ordering this dish that all it was is green beans and ham. But it was REALLY good! I don't know what kind of broth or seasoning they
used but it was "muy delicioso." L had ordered something that looked quite a bit like stew as we figured we could share each other's meals to try more food. We did that a lot over there. Ordered different dinners so we could try more stuff. Well after she tasted my lunch, L decided she liked it better than her own lunch so she too ordered some. So we shared her original lunch between the two of us and I didn't have to share my yummy beans and ham after that and neither did she. LOL

We hopped on the tourist bus at some point too and started touring the city that way. We decided to visit El Parque del Retiro that day and explore the gardens and sculpture there. I'm a big fan of parks and botanical gardens. I like to see what kinds of flowers and artwork is displayed in parks and gardens around the world. We spent a couple hours there. It was a nice way to relax and digest our lunches while we walked around. There were some beautiful fountains and sculptures all over the place and we didn't even begin to see the whole park. If I remember correctly, it's the largest park in the city and it's a significant amount of acreage. Of course I took tons of photos, just like I did everywhere. LOL

I had purchased a bunch of post cards earlier in the day and there was this one really cool looking building called Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace) that I fell in love with from the photo on the post card. I had no idea where it was, since it didn't say but I had mentioned to L that I'd love to see it if we could figure out where it was. As it turns out, it is in the center of Parque del Retiro and we happened across it by accident. As soon as I realized what it was I got quite excited to see it. The photos I took didn't do it justice so I kept the post card for the picture. :-)

As we were walking in to the park, we came across what I have since jokingly dubbed the "Mickey Ménage Trois." All over the park were folks dressed up in different costumes doing balloon animals and such for a couple euros. In this one area there was a Mickey and not one but TWO Minnies. So I dubbed them the ménage and of course had to get my photo taken with them. One Minnie was greedy tough and when L paid them a few euros for posting with us, she handed them all to the one Minnie, assuming the three of them were working together. Well they weren't. So Minnie kept all the money and wouldn't share! And poor Mickey and the other Minnie didn't get anything! We got a chuckle out of the selfish Minnie after that.

After we had walked our fill for the time being and taken quite a lot of pictures, we looked at our watches and decided it was time to head back to the metro and the train station. (Well I think that was the last place we went this day anyhow. I honestly can't remember.) So we got there, and I was beginning to feel like an old pro on the Madrid metro already. As son as I figured the metro lines out, I had no problem determining where we needed to go to get where we wanted or switch lines. So we headed back to the train station (which is gorgeous by the way - they have a tropical solarium in the center of the train station with beautiful trees and greenery and either a really good sound system for playing animal sounds - it sounded real and not recorded at all - or there were real birds and frogs and such in there.) and reclaimed our baggage. We still had about half an hour till it was time to catch our train so I sat and read my book a little while we waited.

The train ride to Toledo takes about half an hour and then we had to catch a cab up to our hotel. We were way on the outskirts of the city, on the other side from the station. We were in a brand new Hilton there and it was incredible! Probably the swankiest hotel I've ever stayed in! And it was all free since we had our hotel points we were using. I've stayed at some pretty nice looking hotels on other trips to Europe but this one takes the cake. I took a few photos but forgot to take a lot of the ones I wanted since I was tired. LOL

After we dropped our luggage and freshened up a bit, we had the front desk suggest some nice restaurants for tapas and asked them to call us a cab. So we went off to dinner, ate our fill and came back to the hotel, completely worn out after the long day.

Next post - 4th of July

FINISHED HARRY POTTER!!!

2007-07-22T22:10:00.001-05:00

I just now finished Harry Potter and I LOVED it! I screamed, I cried, I laughed, I laughed while crying... Fabulous!

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Spain trip - Montserrat, cava tasting, and good looking waiters

2007-07-19T15:50:00.000-05:00

On Monday of our trip, I had booked a tour with a local private touring company to go to nearby Montserrat and see the monastery and then finish the day with a tour of a local winery known for making cava (cava is a sparkling wine, very similar to champagne). This tour was a whole day affair since there was a bit of travel time involved (at least an hour or so to Montserrat).

Our guide picked us up about 9:30 or so and headed off to two other hotels to pick up a few more people. Off we went to Montserrat though we stopped along the way for some photo ops. Along the highway up the mountain, there is a very good lookout point to see the mountains. They are formed of limestone so over the centuries have eroded down into some very interesting and unusual rock formations.

The we continued on to Montserrat for our tour. We were dropped off at the road into town so our guide could go park the van. This area is quite the tourist destination so there is a fair amount of things to see and do. There is a cable car to take down the mountain and an incline for the same purpose. There is a building there with a full service restaurant, a cafeteria restaurant and some nice lookout spots to see over the mountain. As we walked up the road into town, there are numerous local farmers there selling their wares. Most commonly found items were assorted cheeses and honeys. So we stopped several times along the way to try samples, all of which were quite good. Though L was not a fan of the goat cheese. I thought it quite good and very creamy, but she preferred traditional "cow" cheese.

Once our tour guide was back from parking the van, she led us into town, giving us the history of this monastery.

Long story short, centuries ago, a man had found a small cave in which he decided to place a black Virgin Mary statue. There are various legends behind why she was black and if she was when placed there. (I kept being reminded by a series of books I read in the past year, all about a group of women sworn to worship and protect the Black Madonna. Though the story behind the Black Madonna was quite different from the Christian story behind the Black Virgin.)

We learned all about how many years later someone found the cave with the statue and suddenly Montserrat became a pilgrimage site for early Christians and still is to this day. We also learned all about the history of the Catalonian people and how many of them do not consider themselves Spaniards at all and are working towards trying to request independence for the area to become the country of Catalonia. There is also a lot of history behind the religion of the people there and how several centuries ago all residents of the area who were not Christian were forced out of the country or put to death.

All of this we were told as we walked up to the monastery. This is still a very active monastery, with many monks living there and many more who pilgrimage there, stay for a time then return to where they came from. We walked past all the living quarters of the monks on our way into the church. The line to go in and see the Black Virgin (who is not the original statue but still represents it and people come from all over the world to touch the statue and ask for Her blessing.) was outrageously long and L and I opted not to wait to see the stature up close. We just went in to the church to see it and and view the statue from a distance. Outside the church there is a large courtyard with a circle in the center. This is an optional site for pilgrims to stop and say prayers and ask for the Black Virgin's blessing. I stopped here as the line was much shorter and entered the circle to send up a few prayers of my own.

After our visit to the monastery and village were complete, we all climbed back in the van to head over to the winery. I dozed off in the van but woke up in time for the winery tour. We went to Freixenet, the biggest and best known cava maker of the region. We went inside, watched a few short movies about the history of the family and the company and saw clips of numerous ad campaigns with a wide variety of popular actors/singers/etc fro the states who advertised the brand.

Then we took a walking tour of the old part of the winery seeing all the racks of wine at various stages of the fermentation and development process. This was quite interesting to see and there were lots of displays of old equipment no longer used. After the tour of the old part, we hopped a train and took a ride through the modern part of the winery. The contrast between the two areas was quite fascinating to see. We got history and current times all in one. And yes, both portions are still in use today, old and modern.

After our tour checking out all these huge racks and casks of cava, we ended in a gathering room where we all got to have a glass of the most popular type of cava sold here. I never realized how MANY different ways one beverage can be adjusted to give it varying flavors and all. Quite fascinating really. After we sampled the cava, of course we all had to go buy some before leaving! I bought three bottles myself, one bottle of the Royal Reserve cava and two bottles of one variation of their most popular kind of cava.

Then we all climbed back in the van and headed back to Barcelona. We got dropped off at our hotel long enough to leave our purchases in the room. Then we hopped on the tourist bus once again and headed down to Port Olympic again for dinner. We were quite early for dinner so all the restaurants were almost empty. As we walked along the sidewalk, we were stopped at several different restaurants in the hopes they could convince us to eat there. This is where the good looking waiter part of the story comes into play.

As we walked along, we got stopped at one restaurant where the waiter (or rather I guess he was more of a host than a waiter) stopped us and would not let us go until he convinced us to eat at their restaurant. As he tried to talk us into stopping there to eat, he flirted shamelessly with both L and I. This made me a little uncomfortable but it was kinda nice too since he was quite good looking and we were enjoying the fawning attention.

We were still itching to try paella and this place was actually willing to make single serving size orders of paella for us so we could each have a different one. Normally, they refuse to do that, but I think this place just wanted business so badly since it was a dead time of day they would agree to almost anything to convince us to eat there. So L and I finally gave in (the single serving size paella is what clinched it for us) and decided to stop there for dinner. Then for the rest of the night, the host/waiter/whatever proceeded to lavish all kinds of excessive attention on the both of us. Some of these Spanish men sure no how to make a woman feel good about herself! Of course we had to play along so we returned the favor and flirted shamelessly right back.

L ordered lobster paella and I ordered seafood paella after ensuring there was no lobster or crab meat in it. For some reason neither of those seem to like me very much even though they sure taste good. We also ordered an appetizer of mussels as l loves them and I'd never had them so decided to try something new. They were wonderful! I inhaled them as fast as I could and the two of us polished off the entire thing (which was quite a large serving - a full dinner for someone actually). I also had my first of many sangrias on this trip that night. I drank that with almost every meal! I love sangria and no where is it better than in Spain!

After we finished our HUGE dinners (let me say a single serving of paella is far more than enough for any one person for dinner!) we hopped a cab back to the hotel.

Here we decided because of all the wine we bought that we'd repack our bags so we could leave our large suitcases in Barcelona at the hotel we'd be staying in when we came back to the city at the end of our trip before going home. So we spent a couple hours reorganizing everything and resorting our clothes so as to leave as much as we could there. Then we went to bed since Tuesday we were heading to Madrid.

Next post... on the way to Madrid and our first day there...

Spain trip Begins...

2007-07-17T14:21:00.000-05:00

Well I'm striking out with the work I brought home presently so I guess I'll start the Spain monologue. :-)

We left Saturday the 30th to head to Europe and flew overnight to Frankfurt. I got quite a bit of sleep on the plane ride actually, more than I would have expected. I had hoped to stay awake for the movie as it was one I wanted to see, but I was zonked out. We had a short layover in Frankfurt and made it to Spain on Sunday, early afternoon I think it was.

Got our luggage and found a cab driver to take us to our hotel. Apparently Mr. Driver does not like big suitcases because he was sure complaining about mine! (It was only half full, but it WAS big. I did that intentionally so I'd have plenty of room for souvenirs on the way home.) I couldn't understand most of what he said but it was definitely some griping about the suitcase!

We arrived at our hotel and got settled in. We were staying off the beaten path (free hotel nights make you do that on occasion. LOL) but still in a pretty decently busy area. WE checked in, dropped off our luggage and L was tired so she took a nap. I was wide awake so decided to peruse the maps of the city, metro, and tourist bus to figure out what we needed to know and where everything was.

After L woke up, we headed downstairs to go out and see Barcelona. Turns out our plans to rely on the metro were not going to help us AT ALL. ALL five or six stations closest to our hotel were closed down! They were doing some work on them so we found that would not work. We started to get upset until the front desk folks told us the Barcelona Tourist Bus had a stop right outside out hotel and went all over the city. Not the fastest way to get around (it's on a set path and stops at every single place on the schedule along the way and it runs in a big circle, so only goes one way.) but we decided that would work. So we headed out, found the stop (just across the street and maybe 50 feet down the sidewalk) and waited for the bus.

Shortly thereafter when it stopped we bought our tickets and hopped on. Away we go!!!

We rode most of the green route (closest to the hotel) until we came to a connection for the blue route (the one that was best for where all we wanted to go) and hopped on that one. We had our handy dandy earphones they provided so we got the scoop about everything we saw as we rode along. Rode all the way over to Olympic Stadium which was where we thought all the restaurants were located to get dinner. Turns out the Olympic Stadium stop is just that, the stadium, and there was ANOTHER section called Olympic Village (or similar) and that's where all the good stuff was. So we jumped back on the bus and rode to the correct place.

This is great too because its a double decker and the top level is all open. So we were snapping away with the cameras. Taking pictures of anything and everything that caught our eye. Until it started to rain and we had to take cover in the lower level of the bus. But that was the only rain we had the whole trip so none of our sightseeing was interrupted after this.

By now we were quite hungry so we started searching for a place to get paella. We found many places, but they only make paella for groups of two or more (Lots of work I guess) and we couldn't agree on a flavor to try. So no paella for us that night. I ordered a fish fillet which was quite yummy and cooked perfectly. And those waiters are PROS at de-boning the fillet in a few quick motions. I'd have never managed it that cleanly or quickly myself. After dinner, the tourist bus had already shut down for the night so we hopped a cab back to the hotel. We were both tired by now, trying to adjust to the time difference so we we both in bed by 9:00. Normal time for L, WAY early for me, the night owl.

next post... Monday.

sad news

2007-07-11T15:47:00.000-05:00

My Mom sent me an e-mail today that surprised me and upset me but she knew I'd want to hear the news. Even in her message she was telling me she was sorry to break the news to me this way but she knew I'd want to know. One of the girls I was in grade school with and was very good friends with back then, just died. She's had a bad heart her entire life and had open heart surgery very young. I forget how old she was, but it was before second grade even because she had the scar then I remember. Or maybe it was IN second grade. I forget exactly but I remember when we had our First Reconciliation ceremony, she chose the priest she went to because of how he was there for her and her family the entire time she was so terribly sick.

Probably 10-15 or so years ago, she was in very bad health again and everyone was worried about her. I haven't seen her since I moved to TX and we lost touch after high school, but I used to bump into her now and again at church or the mall or some other place since her family lived not too far from mine (10 minutes away maybe). After that bad period she had, she looked pretty good and seemed to be doing well, though she looked a little older for her age due to the stresses on her body from the heart problems.

She just died this week and is being buried on Saturday. Granted, I think everyone knew it would come eventually for her, and younger rather than older, but it's still such a shock to hear. She's MY age! People aren't supposed to die this young! Like I said, I haven't seen J in at least 4 years, but I'm still very upset about it. I wish I could be there for the funeral. We were quite good friends back in the day and I still have some pictures from my birthday parties she came to and parties that we went to. We used to go over to each others' houses to hang out and stuff.

I asked Mom if she was planning to attend the funeral or anything and asked her that if she does to please pass along my condolences to J's family. And I asked for their address so I can send a card.

Chocolate Cake

2007-06-15T01:02:00.000-05:00

Chocolate Cake

A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, She's failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her and her best friend is moving away. Meanwhile her Mother is baking a cake and asks if her daughter would like a snack, the daughter says,

"Absolutely Mom, I love your cake".

"Here, have some cooking oil," her Mother offers.

"Yuck" says daughter.

"How about a couple raw eggs?"

"Gross" Mom!"

"Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"

"Mom, those are all yucky!"

The mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!"

God works the same. Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times. But God knows that when He puts these things all in His order, they always work for good! We just have to trust Him and, eventually they will make something wonderful!

God is crazy about you. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and He chose your heart.

I hope your day is a "Piece of Cake" my friend.

Stars are like friends. You may not Always see them. But they are Always there!

In Everything, Give Thanks!

update on my computer and painting woes... and then some

2007-06-14T15:13:00.000-05:00

The painters did come on Tuesday and fix my wall. Not that red was ugly or anything, It was actually a very nice color. It just DID NOT GO with my entire living room! LOL So now it is the nice medium blue color it was supposed to be. And it's amazing how much different the room looks now! I get to spend this weekend re-hanging curtains and pictures and stuff. :-)

My computer at work seemed to be working OK again Wednesday morning, but crashed again mid afternoon and I couldn't get it to come back. Spent several hours dealing with that this morning only to find out it's either the OS is corrupted or the hard drive went bad. Fixable if it's just the OS, not so easily fixable if it's the drive. So my boss found me a spare computer in Little Rock he's having delivered to me for temporary use while we get mine fixed. Dropped mine off today at a place that does data recovery (and did for me when my old laptop crashed a few years ago and couldn't be fixed) and am now waiting to find out how much it will cost. It could be anywhere from $600 to $1600. Fortunately the boss is paying for it!

But it gets even better... My home computer crashed last night. Fortunately it was working again almost immediately but now I need to do a back up to be safe. My printer at home hasn't worked in three weeks and I have no clue why. I've even uninstalled and reinstalled the blasted thing!

Oh and as if I needed something else, I realized I HAVE to get my car inspected tomorrow or I won't get a chance to do it before it expires the end of this month. My brake light has been coming on at random for a couple months, but never stayed on. Well this week, it's on and staying on. My car is 6 years old and I think it's still the original brakes. So I've got a sneaking suspicion they are going to tell me tomorrow that I need new brakes.

16 days till I leave for Spain! I keep reminding myself of that. Vacation is coming!!! I'm thrilled to pieces it's coming up so quick but at the same time I'm stressing hugely over it. I've never been to Europe without Dad to pave the way and know what to do in every eventuality. L has never been there not on a tour group. So I'm stressing that it's just the two of us and will everything work out OK. We got in to a big argument on the phone the other night over the trip too. We've calmed down significantly and are completely fine again but I think that just shows the stress of planning it is getting to both of us.

Fortunately Dad has a friend in Barcelona who gave me his phone number in case we have an emergency and need to reach someone. His friend also called me today so I could ask some questions and get some ideas. And he told me to e-mail him anything I need to ask. He said e-mail him 100 times with different questions if I need to and he'll do his best to answer all of them. :-) So it's nice to know I have a "wingman" over there to help out if something comes up L and I don't know how to handle.

Oh and one more thing, very minor compared to the rest but hey, this has been the week from hell! LOL I got clawed pretty bad (completely by accident) by one of my cats last night. He was pouncing to do something he's not supposed to do. I reached out and caught his hind leg. But of course that was painful for him so he's reaching out with the other hind leg trying to ease the pressure of being caught mid-leap by a foot. Well he got me right across the chin with his other leg. I could tell when it happened it was deep and long. Felt like a knife slice. I've been clawed accidentally before but usually minor. It was just the wrong angle and I got it good. So I have this beautiful deep scratch across my chin and up the jaw line a bit where he got me. I was in the bathroom at 1 AM loading on the peroxide and antibacterial ointment in the hopes it won't get infected.

Now I need to go make sure I have everything I need off the computer for my trip to San Antonio next week (directions, reservations, etc) since I couldn't do it at work.

So how was your week? LOL

P.S. Oh yeah I forgot. Also somehow today I got some blue powder or dye or something all over my clothes at work and I have no idea what it is or where it came from! So I have blue spots scattered on my fingers and all over my skirt (I hope it washes out!)

computer dilemmas and painting fiascos

2007-06-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

What do they have in common you ask? Nothing really. Except that both happened to me today.

It is lease renewal time. Or would be in about 6 weeks. But if I renewed it now, I got a free $25 gas card. Not much of a perk, no, but with gas prices like they are I'll take free gas! We were also given the option to have our carpets cleaned professionally with our renewals. Last year, we had a choice of a ceiling fan in a bedroom, carpet cleaning or an accent wall painted in the room of our choice from their assortment of available colors. This year it was just carpet cleaning offered.

But I've been here four years and they all know I'm a very good tenant, always pay my rent on time (Actually I usually pay a few weeks early) and never cause any problems. So I asked them if I could have an accent wall instead of the carpet cleaning (my carpet DOES need cleaned and badly but I wouldn't torture anyone by making them move my heavy book cases and furniture and I'm not about to move it myself until I move out. LOL)

They agreed and we scheduled the date for tomorrow (Tuesday) and to paint the wall I designated in my living room and really nice medium blue color. (My curtains are blue, my furniture covers have blue in them and most of my wall art is predominantly blue.) I was told I had to take everything down off the walls (duh) but they'd spackle the holes and I had to move all of my furniture away from the wall to be painted. I picked Tuesday because I was going to Seagoville for the day and wouldn't be back till probably dinner time so they'd have all day long. I was going to close the fur balls up in my bedroom so they'd be out of the way too.

I did take all the pictures down off the walls and everything off the fireplace mantel this weekend. And I had taken the curtain rods down but hadn't gotten the brackets out yet. I planned to take down the brackets and move the furniture out of the way tonight (I did move a couple smaller things out of the way over the weekend as well.)

I came home today to quite a surprise. My wall was a lovely shade of... deep red? I had my hands full and dropped everything on the couch in a heap and stood there a moment in complete shock. After I recovered enough to move I went and called the office to explain the problem. The person I had scheduled with was not there just then (had a doctor's appt) and the person I talked to on the phone didn't even know we had arranged to have the painting done. Last he heard I still had to talk to the manager to see if she'd allow me to have the painting done instead of the carpet cleaning.

The only thing they had gotten right was the wall to be done. And they were probably cussing me out for making them move the furniture and not taking down the curtain rod brackets (which they painted around quite nicely actually so I guess I won't bother to take them down when it's fixed.) So now I'm waiting for K to call me back so we can straighten it all out and reschedule the painting for the correct color. Which will be quite difficult since this red is really deep! It'll take several coats of paint to cover it. I was in the office and sat there as she wrote everything down about when, which wall and which color. So she had it all correct but somehow everything got mixed up. Now I don't know if they're going to try to fix tomorrow and I still have to move furniture tonight or if they'll reschedule for next week.

Where do computers come into play? Well that's the reason I'm home at 3:30 instead of 6:00 today. I was in the office, working away on the PC, which was running slow but I thought nothing of it since it ALWAYS runs slow and it was making a weird chirping/beeping sound periodically (which is not normal but I didn't think much of it. Then all of a sudden the thing goes kaflooey and I got, yep, you guessed... "THE DREADED BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!" So I tried to reboot, and reboot gain, and still another time, but kept getting an error message. So I let it sit an hour or so and tried again. Still got an error. Tried again an hour later and got another error screen, but a different one. Still no booting up. This comes just oh, two weeks I guess, after I had no computer for three weeks since it wouldn't accept my new ID card to log in. Fortunately I was out of town two of those three weeks but still...

So I called my boss about 1:30 or so. When he answered I said "guess who has no computer again." To which he had a few choice words to say. I told him R (another person in my office) was having problems with his computer on Friday (though different problems then mine) but today when he expected to spend the whole day on the phone with the computer help desk, his computer was working perfectly. So I told my boss I was going to be out of the office tomorrow already but I'd try again Wednesday. I said that way (hopefully) it's just a fluke like with R's computer. If not I'd put a help ticket in then. My boss had a few more choice words to say then we hung p the phone. I hung around the office another hour or so but then decided I couldn't do anything so I was going home. I figured that would give me that much more time to get everything out of the way for the painting tomorrow....

And you already saw my story about that. So that my friends is how computer dilemmas and painting fiascos go hand in hand in the crazy little world called Kelleyopolis.

Got my new passport yesterday...

2007-06-09T01:15:00.001-05:00

Finally! I was really starting to get worried. I know they Passport office is extremely backed up with the new requirements but I was getting very very nervous.

I leave June 30 for Spain with my good friend L and I can't wait! Now that I have my new passport in my hot little hands, it's feeling even more real that this trip is coming up. What an adventure it will be! I've been to Europe before (twice actually) but I was always with my Dad who is an international traveling pro as many years as he did it before retiring. This is the first time I'm going completely on my own. (Well not completely since L will be there but you know what I mean.)

I'm so excited but so nervous too. My biggest worry is we won't be able to communicate easily since my Spanish is from my high school days and I've forgotten most of it. I can read it OK. Well I can usually figure out the gist of what been written if not totally know what it says but speaking is another thing entirely. And as we get closer to the date we leave I'll get even more excited... and even more nervous.

I'm going to be SOOOO broke after this trip even with all the money we're saving on the hotels. (Between the two of us we have enough hotel points that we only have to pay for one of our eight nights in a hotel.) But I knew if I didn't take advantage of the chance to go, I'd forever be kicking myself. So I decided to go far it and I'll worry about the rest of it when I get back.

Kelley

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Lift Up America details finally

2007-05-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

Over due, but then what else is new with me and blog posts lately anyhow? LOL

Lift Up America was a huge charity event that came through Dallas a few weeks ago. It is a program that partners with various large companies and professional sports teams and is dedicated to helping underprivileged families in America. They provide glasses and hearing aids to children whose families can't afford it and they also give food to families who need it.

This year's event was to give the children and their families a movie premiere night, just like all the actors and celebrities go to. The movie was Meet Me in Miami and was actually donated by the producers/directors to lift Up America. They said they'd rather the movie go to helping those in need then make them any profits. So the movie is traveling all over the country to various cities for these events.

The event was April 24th and started at about 3:00 or so in the afternoon and we had a training session the night before to prepare for the event (and discuss emergency procedures since really nasty thunderstorms were expected and we had to have a plan for keeping the kids and their families safe and protected in the event of a tornado or something. I was volunteering as a part of a contingent from Thrive, my singles' group at my church. We met at about 5:30 or so at the church then headed over to the theater where the event was going on after receiving our assignments the night before at training.

The families were chosen from several different family aid or fostering organizations throughout Dallas based on specific criteria to make them eligible for the program. They told us how many were expected to come but I forget exactly. I think it was a couple/few thousand though and every single screen in the 17 screen Cineplex was used for this event. The entire theater was closed to the public all day long.

The children were all bused in from various churches, homes etc with parents or other adults escorting them. The buses pulled up behind the theater and everyone was put in a limo to be driven around to the front of the theater. Here's where the real excitement began. The red carpet had been rolled out and there were tons of people lining it on both sides. There were huge jumbotron screens and numerous photographers. As the folks got out of the limos, everyone waiting started screaming and cheering and applauding. Cameras were flashing and everyone was able to see themselves on the big screens. People were reaching out to shake the hand of our Honored Guests and ask for their autographs. (This is what all the families and children were called all night long. We were not to call them anything BUT honored guests.) Each child was given a special Beanie baby among other goodies. (I believe these were specially made for Lift Up America and these events.) Everyone got their glasses and hearing aids who needed them sometime before all this but I'm not sure exactly when since we weren't part of that particular activity for the event.

After arriving on the red carpet, they went inside where they got dinner provided for them. After dinner, they filled up the theaters and once they got in the theaters they found more waiting for them. Every person got a popcorn and drink to enjoy during the movie. After the movie was over, they exited via another red carpet and ended up at the goodie tent. Here each child got a gift bag with a variety of items in it. One thing they got was EVERY SINGLE CHILD received a scholarship for Dallas Christian Academy, a local private and very affluent school in the area. I didn't see the scholarship certificates myself but someone told me each scholarship was $5000!!! When you think of how many kids were a part of the 3000 or so guests you can imagine how much money that is the school donated to the event! After going through the goodie tent, of course yet again to more cheering and applause, they came to the chicken truck. Every single family in attendance got a 10 LB case of chicken donated by Tyson Chicken. Let me just say that is a LOT of chicken!

Also at this point they had camera men available and interviewing the children about what they thought of the movie etc. So the kids had a ball being interviewed and more pictures taken etc. Then they were escorted back to their buses for the ride home. The entire evening finished up about 10:00 or so.

And that is the actual event in a nutshell and what was done for the families. Now for the volunteer stuff etc.

Upon arrival at the theater, many of the volunteers had our duties we had been given the night before changed to something else. Dinner was provided for us then it was off to work we went. My original job had been screen duty. I was supposed to be in one of the theaters while the movie was playing, making sure no kids snuck out of the theater or escorted them to the bathroom if they needed to use it, etc. This was changed when I got there though.

I was then put on bus duty. I was one of many who was supposed to be outside at the end of the line to make sure everyone got back to their correct buses etc. This didn't work too well though so it was just a couple people who did that. So I stood there for a while on a receiving line of sorts, cheering for everyone as they came out the exit doors and got their goodies. This job did double duty as we also had to direct many people over to the chicken tables who didn't realize they were to stop there first. But soon thereafter, they realized they needed help on chicken duty so I went over there and manned a table with my friend C and we gave out cases of chicken the rest of the night, alternately cheering and applauding and handing out cases.

In an aside here, I know I mentioned in this blog and a previous one about the weather concerns. I kept praying all day long that if it had to rain and have tornadoes that it please wait until all the children were safe and had left to return home. It rained lightly for most of the night but nothing heavy. Wouldn't you know the very minute after the last person was loaded on to their bus, the skies let loose. It was a horrible dreadful downpour that was so bad it was a steady wall of water pouring out of the sky. The lightning and thunder started and the tornado warnings started coming in. Talk about divine providence! They exact moment everyone was safely on their buses the worst of the weather struck! You can imagine we were thanking God for that afterwards!

Let me just say, this was an absolutely incredible experience and you won't believe the feelings I had afterwards for being part of such an event. You can't participate in something like this and not be moved by it. Watching those children's faces light up when they realized all of this was for THEM. Some of them were just so blown away by the lavishness of the night they couldn't even speak. Some of them came running out the theater, huge smiles on their faces, high fiving every single person they came in contact with. Everyone was so thankful for everything they were given. And the shock and surprise when we handed each of them a huge case of food was amazing as well. I can't count the number of times I got choked up over the whole thing. I don't think I've ever seen such an abundance of joy and happiness and thankfulness as I saw that night. Even sitting here writing up the details for you to read, a few weeks later, I have tears pricking the corners of my eyes.

What a humbling experience this all was. Here we all worry about such trivial things when we are put in the presence of so many people who have real things to worry about, like where their next meal is coming from or feeling embarrassed about the fact they can't even buy glasses for their children. It really gives you a sense of what's most important in the world. I strongly encourage you to see what you can do in your city for such an amazing program. You won't be disappointed in what you get out of it, I can promise you that.

Lift Up America apparently is coming back to Dallas in August for something else and you can bet I'll be volunteering as much as I can then too!

Spiderman 3

2007-05-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

I went to the midnight showing (first time I've ever done that) with my friend B last night. We invited the other folks at our weekly Starbucks gathering but no one else wanted to stay up that late. LOL Both of us agreed that while it was pretty good it didn't come close to comparing to the first two movies and we didn't think it was worth staying up for the midnight show.

I liked the additional humor but I thought the cheesy factor was overdone and ended up being too much. There was some wonderful character growth for a few of the characters (Peter, Henry, Marko especially) though MJ was just too whiny for me. Kirsten Dunst sure has the screaming talent mastered though. LOL

I think the movie was a little too long and there were some parts that really seemed to drag. I think they could have cut 30 minutes or so from the story and then the movie would have more of an impact yet we still wouldn't have lost any of the lesson learning or the character growth.

I was really disappointed we didn't get to see more of Venom. He's such a cool bad guy I would have loved more of him. He's really only in the last half hour or so.

Effects were very well done. The Sandman scenes were fantastic. The symbiote scenes where it attached itself to Spidey and later Eddie was really cool too.

I have a new appreciation for James Franco as I thought he did an incredible job in his role. And Thomas Haden Church... He's come a LONG way from his time on Wings.

I found the stash!!!

2007-04-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, I found the secret hiding places where the furballs hide all their "caught" mice (just toy ones! No real ones. LOL) I've been in heavy duty spring cleaning mode doing the once a year take down all the curtains, etc, move all the furniture to get the floors, walls, ceilings, whatever behind them. While cleaning my bedroom today (which is far from done BTW, I got stuff EVERYwhere and will be sleeping on the couch tonight since the bed has become temporary shelving until I get everything cleaned up and put away and the spare bed has been "shelving" for scattered books, etc for a few months now) I found many many surprises. I found probably FIFTY toy mice and assorted other balls, etc, even a pocket pack of Kleenex the cats stashed. Where did I find them? Under my chest of drawers and my dresser. Yep, not one but TWO secret stashes. LOL So now the toys are all over the living room till I gather them all up. Guess who is NOT getting any new toys for a while. Yep. LOL My babies must be the most spoiled rotten cats in the country.

Uh oh.. More storms coming. Just in time for a huge event

2007-04-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

More thunderstorms tonight and a good possibility of more tornadoes. All
supposed to hit just in time for rush hour.

And even worse in regards to timing... Tonight in Dallas is a HUGE
charity event, Lift Up America, that I am working at as a volunteer.
(http://www.liftupamerica.org or
http://www.liftupamerica.org/videos/2006entertainmentdvd.html which
shows what's happening tonight). We had our training meeting last night
and they spent the bulk of the meeting discussing emergency plans in the
event of severe weather tonight. The event starts at 3:30 and goes till
10, and this is the prime time the storms are expected. I've got
auditorium duty so at least I'll be indoors all night. But some of my
friends who are also working tonight are on outside duty. But my job
will become a lot more involved if there is an emergency or anything.

So I hope the weather isn't as bad as is expected. They are expecting
3000 guests tonight which could get very hairy if the weather
interferes. I am really looking forward to this function tonight as is
everyone participating. So fingers and toes are crossed and a few
prayers sent out that everything goes smoothly tonight.

I'm sure I'll be talking all about it after the whole thing is over and
I get home tonight.

I got a Commander's Coin!

2007-04-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

These are a HUGE deal to get in the Army and I received one today from
the Colonel on post. I received a General's coin over a year ago and
that was a huge deal too. It's such an honor to be recognized with one
of these coins as they aren't given out to just anyone.

The COL gave them to three of us in our office here as a thank you for
the commitment and support we've put into building this place up into
what it is. We've all worked very hard to improve the facility and the
programs and I was just thrilled that our hard work has been recognized.
Such a wonderful feeling to know how much I am appreciated. Makes those
frustrating days where everything is going wrong or worrying about our
contracts being renewed seem like such a little thing in the scheme of
things. Now I have a nice warm fuzzy to carry me through the rest of the
day.

I need to find a place that sells or makes display cases so I can show
off my coins. :-) The other one I received is in a drawer at home so I
guess this one will join it there in the meantime

up close and personal with a bald eagle!

2007-04-01T16:51:00.001-05:00

Yep I got to do that today. L and I went down to Arlington for this festival I found out about completely by accident. http://www.indianmarket.net

It's a big market/show that only happens once a year here in Dallas for one weekend. I had heard them mention it on my radio station and looked it up online. Sounded like a lot of fun so I called L to see if she was free to go this weekend. Today she was able so we made plans to head down immediately after church. We met at the church for the service and left right from there.

It was great and I wish I had money! I saw a TON of gorgeous jewelry I'd have loved to buy as well as some beautiful artwork. But I resisted. LOL They also had dancers, singers, musicians, and there were a few actors from different movies floating around somewhere too. Didn't find them though. Probably because I didn't think to print the schedule of events for the day and take it with me. And of course you could buy some different kinds of traditional American Indian fare you could eat and of course some of the usual food you find at fairs everywhere.

Then I saw they had a few birds of prey there and I just LOVE raptors! They had a barn owl, a hawk though I forget what kind they said it was. AND a bald eagle! I've seen eagles in the zoo before but that's still something of a distance. (Always previously injured ones who cannot be released in the wild anymore. The laws protect them from being captured and kept at zoos and such unless the bird would not survive on its own.) They were selling pics with the eagle for ten bucks. So of course I had to get one! My God! Those are absolutely AMAZING creatures! Beautiful! I see them on TV and stuff all the time but there's nothing like seeing one from six inches away! And huge! And their beaks look wicked sharp! I so badly wanted to reach out and touch the bird's head but they can be so unpredictable even ones relatively "tame" like that one was, so I didn't. That and we weren't allowed anyhow. (Can you tell I was excited from all the exclamation points?) I called L over who tried to stay out of the picture but I wouldn't let her. LOL And the guy with the eagle put the bird right between our heads and it was literally only a few inches away from my nose. They are so amazing to see like that.

I've always loved eagles because of what they stand for and because of their history and near extinction and they are just so incredibly majestic. So in the next day or two I'll be scanning the picture in and posting it on My Space and maybe a few other places as well.

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Picnics and sand volleyball and injuries and then some

2007-03-28T13:50:00.001-05:00

Since I finally got the story of my birthday party posted, now I can talk about last weekend's adventures.

Saturday I was busy all day running errands, trying to do some cleaning, purging the bookshelves (for their quarterly sort when I run out of room for new books. LOL), and digging up all the dead plants in my pots out on the balcony. I was filthy and dirty and sweaty but at least I got a decent amount accomplished. Though I still need to do some massive cleaning of the apartment. This weekend's activity.

I was supposed to go dancing Saturday night with our usual crowd but never made it. What's funny is I had just a few hours before the planned meet time been on the phone with my friend B and we were talking about whether or not we were going dancing with everyone. He had worked all day and didn't feel like going back out since the club chosen was farther away for him and he wasn't in the mood to drive there. (He's the usual gentlemanly escort for all the ladies in our group. I always text him when I get to the club so he can meet me at the door to walk me in so I'm not wandering the club alone looking for our gang. And he always tries to walk the ladies out to their cars at the end of the night as well.) I told him I was planning on going but knowing me I'd be so wrapped up in the work I was doing at home that I'd forget to stop in time to take a shower to head out. He was laughing about it and said it's only three or so hours away everyone was meeting so how could I forget when it was that soon? Well, wouldn't you know it even though when we got off the phone after chatting for about an hour (which was surprising since we're usually 5 minute conversation people when we talk to each other) I only had about an hour or so till I'd have to quit everything to go take a shower. And sure enough I got distracted working on stuff and next thing I know it's 9:30 (which was when we all usually try to meet) and at that point didn't feel like getting cleaned up to go out. So I never went.

Sunday my singles' group was having a big picnic afternoon at a local park. The meet time was noon but in our group, hardly anyone is ever actually on time. I got there about 12:30 since I know how our group is and there were only a couple there so far. It was a "everyone bring your own meal" shindig and then we all were going to just hang out and do whatever activity struck our fancy. So I ate my lunch when I got there and about the time I finished eating everyone was showing up. We all sat around the picnic tables for a while then headed down to the sand volleyball courts for a few games. Some folks when roller blading, some went to play catch with a football or softball, some were playing frisbee, and some were just sitting on the sidelines watching all the fun and talking.

I went straight to the sand volleyball game. Now, I'm a terrible volleyball player though I can spike the ball something fierce and serve pretty well about 50% of the time. But I didn't care how bad I was, and no one else cares either. It's all for fun. So I was in the fray with all the guys and there was only one or two other women playing initially though more came in as the game progressed. Now I'm also a klutz to begin with and when trying to run in sand I'm even worse. Awfully hard to run when the ground shifts under you with every step. But I'm not afraid to dive for the ball and get dirty and I tripped and fell more times than I could count. But I had a blast anyhow.

Then comes the injury portion of the program. So be prepared for some extensive details about what happened!

Behind the volleyball courts there is a big pond. There is netting up immediately behind the courts so the ball doesn't go in the water, but off to the sides the netting is not there. And the sand volleyball courts are each bermed with concrete about 12-16 inches wide to keep the sand in the court. Let me just say concrete berms, ponds, sand volleyball courts and clumsy people do not mix well. Inevitably, as we expected since most of us are not very good players, the balls were all over the place and in the second game my team was on the pond side of the courts. One of the balls hit by the other team went way wide and was headed straight for the water. So I of course go chasing after it to grab the ball before it reaches the water. Wouldn't you know it that darned sand tripped me up and I went flying. Slammed hard on the concrete. Messed up my right shin pretty bad and tore up my left knee. Sure it hurt, but no more than it would for a nasty bruise. My shin was bleeding but didn't look too bad and my left knee was hardly hurting. So I jump right back in to the game after I picked myself up. I was more upset over thinking I ruined my brand new shorts with nasty grass stains I wouldn't get out than I was with my busted up legs. LOL (Which BTW in an aside, I washed them the other night and the grass stains came out except for on the thread stitching the seams. So I didn't ruin my brand new shorts after all!)

So I'm back in the game chasing the ball diving and everything like normal. And guys on the other team kept telling me I was bleeding pretty bad. I said no it wasn't anything serious and I wasn't worried. I was referring to my right leg since it hurt and I could see where I tore it up. Finally after the fifth or sixth time they told me I was bleeding and I said it was no big deal one of the guys said "no, your other leg!" So I pull up my shorts on the left leg (they were just-below-knee length) and there is blood everywhere! My left knee is just a nasty mess of blood and dirt and many layers of ripped up skin. (Lovely graphic image isn't it? LOL) And my response? "Oh I guess I am bleeding pretty bad huh?" And I went right back to the game. I wasn't about to quit till the game was over. But I stopped diving for the ball after that as I didn't want to make an uglier mess.

Game ends and I head off to where everyone is sitting. We have TWO nurses there for the picnic and neither one of them has any sort of first aid kit with them. Go figure. I went straight to them assuming they'd be the most likely folks to have something. Then C, one of the ladies I've really just started getting to know the past few months says lets head up to the bathroom and you can wash it all off. I had forgotten they had full bathrooms at the picnic pavilion! So we headed up and wouldn't you know, no paper towels and the soap dispensers are empty! So we started gathering toilet paper to clean me up with. As you can imagine we went through quite a bit since toilet paper falls apart the second water hits it. At this point I found I had little rocks imbedded in my knee and my shin. Nothing to pull them out with except my own stubby fingernails. So I spent a while trying to remove the rocks from my legs.

After we cleaned me up as best we could C remembered she had a little first aid kit in her car. Which reminded me I have a good sized one in my car too! Mine is still in its shrink wrapped packaging and has never been opened. Easy to forget I had in other words. But my keys were down at the courts so C pulled hers out. We found a bandage almost big enough for my knee and put a regular band aid over the worst of the raw spot on my right leg.

And back down to the courts I went. LOL Played a little while longer on the second court where some folks had gone to just hit the ball around and not really play a real game. I did that for a while then I went to play frisbee with some of the others.

We all left about 5:00 or so and headed to a local BBQ joint for dinner. After dinner, on my way home, I stopped at the store to get some bandages since I knew I had nothing big enough at home. After I got home, out came the peroxide and cotton balls and I was finally able to really clean myself up really well. And I saw just how big of a mess I had made of my legs. The cuts and scrapes on my right leg, though smaller were the worst of the injuries as they were much deeper. On my knee I just took off the entire surface of it. But hey, yeah it hurt like the dickens that night after it all had a chance to stiffen up and looks dreadful but you know what, I don't care! I had a great time, injuries and all. It's not the first time I've torn up my legs and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Monday I was limping a bit as my knee had a bruise the size of a baseball on it and there's a bruise around the cuts on my right leg almost as big and both were all swollen. I wore gaucho pants to work as they were loose and short, but long enough I thought to cover the bandages. Well the knee was covered but my right leg bandages kept showing themselves off to everyone. LOL Yesterday I was hurting worse though because I had jeans on since I had to do a site visit so the denim pulling across my knee and all was a little painful.

I heal pretty quick though. Took both bandages off last night before my shower. My knee is healing nicely and I was able to go down to a much smaller bandage already. My shin was worse since it was deeper so it was still pretty ugly last night. But it's also smaller so I was able to go down to just putting a couple Band-Aids side by side to cover that all up. Another day or so and I'll only need a regular size band aid on the worst part of my knee and I won't need anything on the other leg.

And that is the details of my weekend adventure. LOL

Last night was half price movie night at the mall so L and I went to see the new Sandra Bullock movie, Premonition (good movie but weird!) Tonight I have my monthly book club dinner (postponed from last week since the hostess was sick). Tomorrow I was invited to a wine tasting event right after work I'm thinking of attending so long as I don't need to be there as soon as it starts. And of course it's Starbucks Thursday too. Friday is my normal Friday off so the cleaning will commence at home full steam ahead. Saturday I'm meeting S and her boss for lunch. And I still have two chicken breasts in the fridge I pulled out to make Saturday night/Sunday morning but didn't since we went out to dinner. Hopefully 5 or 6 days isn't too long for it to be not frozen but still refrigerated since I won't be home to cook it until Friday night. LOL

Man! This is been a busy week! No wonder I was dog tired yesterday and today when I got up! It didn't register how much I had going on this week till just now! LOL

The long overdue birthday party post

2007-03-26T22:22:00.001-05:00

Yes I know it's been over a week but I've been a busy bee.

L pulls out all the stops when she's planning a party, that's the first thing I have to say about my party. She bought a dozen latex balloons in green and white, mardi gras beads for everyone in various Irish motif/designs. Some of them even lit up and you could make them blink at different speeds or keep them on steady. She also had this one massive Mylar balloon that's about 3 times the size of a normal Mylar balloon. On top of that she had bought me a Happy Birthday Hat that was shaped like a cake and a pair of happy birthday sunglasses. She also bought several feather boas that were green and had little Ireland flags on them. And she had bought a couple disposable "message" cameras. Those are the ones that every picture has a message on it when developed that has some sort of happy birthday saying on it. (I got the pics developed today and some turned out great others... not so good. LOL)

We went to a Vietnamese/Japanese restaurant called the East Wind in the trendy Quadrangle area in Dallas (I'm not sure where exactly I'd say it is, uptown, downtown, whatever but it is in the city proper.) Our reservation was for 7:00 for 20 people. But with our crowd, hardly anyone is ever on time and we knew folks would be late, but many were much later than we anticipated. So that meant we didn't really even order dinner until after 8:00 by the time everyone showed up. About 12 people actually came to dinner. I knew some folks wouldn't make dinner because they had to work and were meeting us later, but a couple people who said they were coming didn't. We ordered a few appetizers while we waited and I tried calamari for the first time, though I didn't know what it was until after I had taken a bite. I figured it was the usual tempura you get in Japanese restaurants so I had some. Literally after I took the first bite I heard L mention to someone else it was calamari. For people who don't know me really well, I have an aversion to eating calamari. I always said I refused to eat something that shoots ink out it's backside when it's scared. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten and it was quite chewy so the texture is not something I'm fond of. I can now say I've tried calamari but don't expect me to eat it again! I still have that thing about the ink-shooting that bugs me. LOL

After dinner came the cake. L had ordered a half sheet chocolate chocolate cake with glazed strawberries on it. Oh was it good!!! I still have some of it at home though. We polished off about 3/4 of it at dinner but I brought the rest home. Kept meaning to bring it to work and keep forgetting. So I'm VERY slowly finishing it myself at home. We had a moment of fright (well they did anyhow since I couldn't see it) where as the waiter was trying to set the cake down in front of me, OVER my head, the cake hat was in the way. MP was directly across from me and she said afterward she thought surely he was going to drop it right on my head! And the candle were lit so she was afraid he was going to catch my hair on fire! But no mishaps ensued and the cake made it to the table, in one piece and without setting anything on fire. I'm glad I didn't know about that part until AFTERward or I'd have been a little freaked at the near miss. LOL

L got me a big candelabra I'd been wanting from her Home and Garden Party catalogs to put in my fireplace (I've never actually used the fireplace for a fire and there's no grate to build the fire IN but I wanted something in there.) The candelabra looked from the measurements in the catalog like it would fit. And it BARELY fits. It brushes both sides and the top of the opening. I'll only be using tea lights in there as the highest candle holder is smack against the top of the fireplace opening. But I can slide tea lights in through the side and still be able to light them. It sure is pretty though and it'll look really nice I think when I burn candles in it. S and K each brought me flowers and MR got me one of those Hallmark cards that plays popular songs. Mine is the chicken dance. So of course when I opened the card I had to do a little chicken dance in my chair. LOL

By the time we finished with everything it was about 10:00. Next stop on the agenda was the Martini Ranch bar. I had wanted to go to a martini bar since it seems to be all the rage presently and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Well I found out! I could SO easily get used to doing that regularly. LOL I tried three different kinds: the Debutini which was blue and fruity, the wedding cake martini which was red and sweet and yummy. Not sure where the "wedding cake" part came from but it was still good. Then I tried an appletini which was like drinking an apple jolly rancher. YUM! I also tasted several other people's drinks as well, a chocolate martini and a suntini just to name two. At this point the crowd started dropping off since it was almost midnight. We had talked about going dancing afterward but since we took so much longer at the restaurant than we anticipated, most people were too tired to go dancing as well. L had been my ride for the night since she knew I intended to have some fun at the martini bar. LOL but she was exhausted and ended up leaving, after making sure someone would be able to drive me home.

We had put all my stuff in N's truck after we left the restaurant and before we went to the bar. B got elected to take me home since N and E were the only two who were actually still going to go dancing. So we transferred everything to his car and he drove me home. I felt a little bad though because he lives the completely opposite direction from where I live so it was a good bit out of his way to drive me home, especially after having put in a 13-14 hour day at work and having to be at work at 7:30 Saturday morning after the party. If not for all the stuff I had to take with me, I'd have just taken a cab, but with the remains of our cake, my monster Mylar balloon my big candelabra, two bouquets of flowers and assorted others things, a cab would have been a little difficult.

I guess it was about 1:00 or a little before when I got home and I went to bed.

The next morning I discovered a not so great thing about the huge balloon. Aker was absolutely TERRIFIED of the balloon. I had left the balloon in the living room with the ribbon dangling on the floor. Well Aker must've thought it was a monster come to eat him because he would not come out from under the bed for TWO WHOLE DAYS! I lured him out twice but when we went towards the living room he freaked out and took off for the bed again. I have the claw marks up and down my stomach to show for it where he launched himself out of my arms. The second time this happened I realized it must be the balloon causing the problem. Amun wasn't too keen on it either and avoided it at all costs but he wasn't as bad about it as poor Aker was. At least he was willing to venture into the sky monster's territory, he just kept his distance. LOL Sheba couldn't care less one way or the other. So I moved it into the closet and Aker was back to normal within an hour. And now, even a week later, the balloon is still flying high and not losing its buoyancy. But in the closet it will stay until it's done for. I'm glad I didn't bring the latex balloons home. I was afraid L would be upset I left them at the restaurant but now I'm glad they didn't come home with me. If I'd have brought them home, poor Aker would've been traumatized for life! (In an aside I was in that storage closet today putting some stuff away. Balloon is still fully inflated and bumping the ceiling. Aker likes to go hide in the closet so he ran for it when i opened the door. But he saw that balloon and came to a screeching halt and took off. So if I hadn't been sure before, I sure would be now! Aker hates balloons.)

And that is the story of my birthday celebration. Hope it was worth the wait.

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XPOST Promo: CK2S Kwips and Kritiques turns a year old!

2007-03-17T23:00:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe that a year ago today We opened our cyber doors with plans for a small site. Well, it didn't take long for us to grow up and increase in size and recognition.

We just finished our monthly update on the site and we have lots of plans for the rest of the month to celebrate our birthday!

The newsletter will be out in the next few days (our newsletter editor is in the process of moving so may be a little delayed in getting the newsletter out.) But stop on over, take a look around, and see what great plans we have!

A marines relationship with God

2007-03-09T09:11:00.001-06:00

God, if you are real, then...

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes." The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God. I'm still waiting."

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his Chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you do that?"

The Marine calmly replied, "God was too busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an asshole. So, He sent me."

THIS IS GOOD, KEEP IT GOING.

My weekend

2007-03-07T17:08:00.001-06:00

I had a pretty nice weekend. Friday was my normal Friday off so I spent the day doing all those necessities like laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Saturday I went to the Dallas Home and Garden Show with L. She had fun shopping, I was good and all I bought was a WAY overpriced mocha latte and a lollipop. Then after we got back I forget what all I did, probably more laundry and I watched a couple DVDs and played on the 'puter. Sunday was a really fun day. I actually
managed to drag my butt out of bed for church in the morning. I've been really bad about getting up and going. for a couple months. After church let out I went straight to L's house.

We drove down to Fair Park for the North Texas Irish Festival. It was worth the drive and the ticket to get in just for the music! Several stages set up and all of them had performers going, playing all sorts of great Irish music. There was some Irish Step dancing going on too. Dogs everywhere since it was outdoors and pet friendly and they had numerous animal rescue booths set up for different programs and dog types. There were lots of craft booths set up too and even though it was the IRISH Festival, the Scots were out in full force too. They had booths set up for a bunch of different clans in the area, which made me decide I need to call Mom and ask what clan we fall under. Not a lot of Scots blood in us (I think it was my 2-or-3-greats grandma who was Scottish). ***Update here: Talked to Mom last night and she told me we are Clan Thomson and it was my 2-greats-grandma that was the full-blooded Scots woman.***

L and I did some more shopping. L bought me a green "Irish girl" t-shirt since I was an idiot and forgot to wear green that day. LOL I bought myself a really nice t-shirt with a Josephine Wall design on the front and I just LOVE her fantasy art and the shirt was gorgeous! We both came home with numerous strings of Mardi Gras beads of shamrocks and stuff. And we decided we're both wearing all our beads for my birthday party in a couple weeks. (My birthday is the day before St. Pat's)

We bumped into my friend C down there too, with his boyfriend in tow. It was the first time I met F though I've heard quite a bit about him. Seems like a really nice guy and C is crazy about him.

We left there amazed we never heard about this festival before and decided we need to make it a tradition to go every year.

After that we headed over to the Science Museum for the Body Worlds exhibit. But we got there and found out we
needed to buy our tickets in advance since it was so popular. We'd have had to wait two hours to get in and we had already done the whole festival though we coulda gone back to listen to music or something. L had wanted to get home early since she was supposed to put in an 18 hour day at work the next day. So we went home. But we're shooting
for Body Worlds this Sunday if we can go early since I have to drive down to Ft. Hood in the evening to be there for work at 7:30 Monday morning and it's a 3.5 hour drive for me and I ALWAYS get lost when I go down there. (Bit of trivia - Ft. Hood is the LARGEST Army base in the country. Someone told me in the world too but I'm not sure that was
right.)

And that was my weekend.

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