Adventures of an Eclectic Mind

My Newest Obsession

2010-06-30T06:56:00.001-04:00

I have a tendency toward obsession. No, really, I do. And it usually expresses itself with me spending all of my time on whatever is obsessing me at the moment. The result is often that other things (possibly other things that have been an obsessions themselves in the past) become ignored and neglected in their turn. This blog is an example of things that get moved down the priority list, but have been an obsession in the past. Twitter has been a recent casualty also, as have many of the blogs I read thru Google Reader. Farmville (and Facebook in general) is currently enjoying an exemption, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. ;p

My current obsession is very insidious as it involves the one and only obsession that I have returned to again and again and again throughout my life. Books! No matter what else has caught my attention over all the many years of my life, reading books has always been in the background. Oh, I might move from reading a couple of books a week down to one of so a month, but I always return to my love of books. Often summer, with its wonderful outside opportunities will distract me, but winter, with it’s long nights and cold outside, will draw me back and increase my word count.

One of the drawbacks to loving books is that I have collected many, many, many books over the years. Even though I buy very few hardback books (paperbacks are smaller, easier to carry around, and –bonus- cheaper), storing books has always been an issue. If I enjoyed a book, I tend to hold on to it. Also, if a book is part of a series, I will be hesitant to let it slip thru my hands because many times the newest book in a series will bring about the desire to reread the earlier books, particularly if it has been a long time since the author last graced us with a book in that series. I buy less books when I have access to a good library, which makes my wallet happy, but they are still one of my favorite and most frequent expenses.

Every since I first became aware of e-books back in the early 90’s, I thought that they were a wonderful idea. A wonderful idea in theory, but in the execution of the idea…. not so much. To read a book on a computer screen is not an optimal reading experience. While a textbook, or technical manual, would benefit from the ease of searching on the computer, a fiction book would suffer from the inability to easily transport the book and/or the ability to curl up in bed and read about the newest adventures of my favorite characters. Even if you have a laptop, the experience left a lot to be desired. Printed books were still the best way to consume and enjoy fiction.

The advent of dedicated e-readers seemed to be a step in the right direction, but they offered their own set of problems. The first readers, which many don’t realize came out waaaaay before the introduction of the Amazon Kindle and it’s dedicated bookstore, suffered from a lack of books published for them, a relatively high price, and the fact that most people were just discovering computers and just weren’t tech savvy enough for them yet. They mostly crashed and burned. I waited.

Then, Amazon got into the game with the Kindle. I looked, I drooled, I coveted…. but I did not buy. While it finally brought e-books to the masses by making them simple to use, easy to buy, affordable, and –using their power as a major distributor—finally getting many, many books available in e-book form from publishers, the price for the reader was prohibitive, and the e-reader itself very proprietary… thus making it difficult to read anything not bought thru Amazon’s very own Kindle store.

I watched, I waited, I coveted.

Other e-readers entered the market, and competition started bringing the prices into reach. Other companies started adopting something called e-pub, a more universal format that allowed you to buy books from other places and still be able to read them on different platforms. Still… price/availability/ ease of use, not there yet.

Then came my 50th birthday and my hubs desire to get me something a bit more pricey than our standard birthday gifts. He made a proclamation. I had until my birthday to look at all of my options (Kindle, Sony, Kobo, Nook, Ipad and others) and to choose one. That would be my present.

I researched online. I went to stores where I could get a hands on feel for the ones available locally. I read what others said. I researched some more. The decision wasn’t easy. The Sony, Nook and I-pad were available for me to touch, feel, try out. The Kindle wasn’t available locally (although that has changed in the last week –Target now carries them) but has a wonderful following of early adopters, who all seem to love it, including a couple of people I know personally. The Kobo had a great price point, but was only available thru ordering. Each one had it’s good (and bad) points. My final decision came down to ease of use, ability to borrow books in e-format from my local library, and….. superficial, I know, but the way the reader looked and felt.

Finally it was my Birthday week and a decision was demanded. I made my choice……. Welcome to my newest obsession:

I have owned it for less than a month and I have already read 4 books borrowed from my local library, 2 books I have downloaded from B&N for free, and I have several books waiting in my TBR list. both in my wish list on the Barnes&Noble e-book store and the one with my local library.

I adore my newest little obsession. It is light (weighing about what a paperback does), it will hold up to 1500 books in it’s built in 2 gig of memory –plus I am able to add memory with a memory card, adding up to 16 gig more. memory. It will display my own pictures (although only in black and white) as screensaver/backgrounds. Because I bought it just before Father’s day, and right before the price drop **sigh**, it came with a $50 gift card toward purchase of books. The price dropped by $50 a few days ago, but I don’t feel too bad since I got the gift card with mine, making the actual cost about the same. It will also play music/podcasts/audio books with it’s built in audio player, and even offers a rudimentary web browser (think cell phone).

It feels very like reading a paperback because G also bought me a cover for it to protect it from bumps and scratches that is a very soft leather and opens up and folds around it while reading and makes it about the size, heft, and feel of reading a paperback book. It gives me a choice of 5 font sizes so I can increase or decrease the size of the words based on where I am reading, available light, or other factors. Barnes and Noble offers several free books (about 95,000 –many are books out of copyright, but some are ‘sample’ books from some really good authors they want you to try so if you like them you will buy there other books!) in addition you are able to ‘sample’ any book before buying. If you see a book, but aren’t sure you would like it, you are able to download the first couple of chapters to read for free. I am also able to buy books thru Borders, Sony, and any other outlet that sells with the e-pub or pdf file formats.

Currently I am reading Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton, which I borrowed from the library for free. One of the conveniences of my Nook is ease of obtaining my next book. Earlier this evening I finished the book I was reading (Flirt, also by Ms Hamilton). I had several options at this point. I have some books already on my reader I haven’t read yet, I could bring up the Barnes & Noble e-store right on my Nook and search for/buy/ and download a new book using my wi-fi connection (or if a wi-fi connection is not available using the FREE 3G cellular connection built right in) or I could grab my laptop, go online and choose a book from my Library’s e-book selection, download it, and ‘side load’ it on my Nook. It actually takes longer to type that than to do the download and move the book over from my laptop :) I chose to browse my wish list from the library, saw that Bullet was in and available for download, and decided on that…. all without leaving the comfort of my couch. Yep… obsessed and, quite possibly, in love!

Hello?!?

2010-06-06T02:47:00.001-04:00

Hello?!? **cough** **cough** **knocks down cob webs and chokes on all of the dust**

Wow! It is dusty in here. I’ve really been neglecting my poor little blog. The bright shininess that is Facebook drew me in and I was distracted by the new. It’s not that I forgot about AofanEM. It was more I would think “Wow, that would make a good blog post”, and then it was just so much easier to throw up a line or two on Facebook… or even on Twitter… than to actually pull up Live Writer and go thru all the steps of posting. It just seemed like too much trouble. Oh, I could blame Facebook… or Twitter… or even the fact that it was a long, cold Winter, but the truth is I have just been being lazy. I think it is time for me to pull this blog back out, dust it off, maybe even do some remodeling.

I wonder if anyone even still has this in their RSS reader? Hello, Beuller… Beuller… How about a roll call? If you are out there and are actually seeing this…. make a comment! How’s that for begging for attention?

So, Why now? Why Today? Why? Why? Why? Hmmm.. Well, it’s my 50th birthday (and no, that is not a bid for birthday wishes, I’m actually thinking about not having anymore birthdays.. the whole getting older thing is NOT working for me!) and I was thinking about what I’ve done since this time last year and what I would like to accomplish this year. Kind of like New Year’s Resolutions! Oh wait… I already did that. If you look down one entry you will see that my last entry was about the things I should be doing. That was ummmm…. 5 months ago? Yeah..So much for good intentions. Did I mention it was a cold, ugly Winter? Oh yeah… I used that excuse.

So, Here’s the question. Help me out! Should I just revamp this blog as is and go on from here, or should I scrap it, keep the Blog name and URL and start over as if it was a brand new blog. Delete all of the old entries (except this one), and start from scratch, or just start posting from here and try to just fix some of the things that were\are bugging me.

What exactly has been bugging me? Let’s see: I have some broken links to old pictures and things from the AOL debacle. I’m still pulling my blogroll from my –old- RSS reader and not the one I am currently using. My RSS feeds are a whole other issue, they really need to be cleaned out and streamlined. I’m bored with my blog design, but am not sure where I want to go with it, and my ‘labels’ and categories lists are a mess.

So… suggestions? Ideas? Complaints? Requests?

A New Day and A New Year…

2010-01-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

I don’t have many traditions for New Year’s Day, but I do try to watch the Rose Parade and at least consider what the New Year will bring and what I would like to work on during the next year from a personal point of view.

This year, as per usual for the last few, one of those things I would like to work on is my weight. I am not a lot over weight, maybe 5 to 10 pounds, but I would like to nip this in the bud before I AM! Instead of a diet, I am going to try to just get us to eat healthier this year and raise our activity level up….. and obviously I mean for all that to start later on because we spent today eating a lot of junk and watching TV! LOL! I also want to get back into the habit of exercising at least 4 days a week. I’ve really neglected both the eating healthy and the exercise during the Holidays, but it is time to get back on track!

My other big ‘plan’ is to try to spend more time working on my photography (and maybe having something to post here… I used to post a lot of my pictures/experiments once upon a time). I have this really nice camera and I don’t do enough with it anymore. I took very few pictures last year, and did even less with them. I need to ‘find my muse’ again. And, I don’t want to just work with my camera, I also want to try to spend a little more time nurturing my artistic side. I’m going to try to do a few more of the memes out there and try to remember how much I actually enjoy getting out there and taking pictures!

Nothing world shattering, just a hmmmm, that is the direction I need to be going in. I like that better than Resolutions, because the minute I say a will do something it is as if my whole psyche sets out to find a way not to do it…

What are YOU planning for the New Year?

And Another Year Bites the Dust!

2009-12-31T20:38:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to take a few minutes and stop in here to wish all of my Peeps a Happy & Healthy New Year. I hope that 2010 is full of Magic and brings you all the most Wonderful Things and is everything you Hope and Dream it will be!

This is a special New Year’s Eve because not only is it the last day of the Year, but it is also a Blue Moon. Blue Moon’s are rare, and to have one on New Year’s Eve is incredibly Rare! In addition to the Blue Moon, there will also be a partial lunar eclipse. I’m hoping that these are good omens and means that the coming year will be incredible. After all, good things happen “Once in a Blue Moon”!

I am spending a quiet New Year’s Eve at home with the Hubs and the furbabies. This has become tradition for us over the last few years. The desire to get out there and brave all the people celebrating is long past. I am much happier curled up in my PJ’s, eating an assortment of bad for us snacks, and watching TV. At Midnight we will flip the channel over and watch the ball drop in Times Square…. or at least I will, G often doesn’t make it all the way to Midnight anymore. A far cry from when we first met. Our very first New Year’s Eve (The big 2000! We weren’t together, just at the same place/party) was spent in a train yard, setting of fireworks, dancing on the tops of trains (umm… no, that –wasn’t- allowed and there are no pictures, so you have no proof!), drinking and generally carousing till the wee small hours. We would soon be a couple… Now, ten years later, we are boring. LOL!

Celebrations of Light and Hope

2009-12-21T00:53:00.001-05:00

It has become tradition that on Dec 21 I repost this entry from my first year of blogging. It originally appeared on my AOL Journal in 2004. This is the sixth year that I have 'reprinted' it. It still says what I want to remember about this time of year, so I am repeating it again this year. Some of the circumstances have changed... G and I are now married, we lost our beloved D.K., but have opened our hearts to a new kitty this year who is making her ‘big sister’ Morgan’s life interesting, we’ve changed jobs and homes a time or two…. still, although it will be 3 days before Christmas this year due to work and other obligations, we will be making our annual trek to spend a day with my brother and his family. Things change and yet some things remain the same. I hope you enjoy my annual Celebration of Light and Hope.

Today is the shortest day of the year... and the longest night. It is the first day of Winter. It is the celebration of Yule. It is an acknowledgement of Hope. That Light and Warmth and other good things will always return after the darkness. It is the day that G. and I celebrate as our personal Winter Holiday. In ancient times, this was the festival of the rebirth of the new god and a promise that after today the days would get longer, the nights would get shorter, and warmth and Spring WOULD come.

Yes, secularly we, like so many others, celebrate Christmas. In the United States, Christmas is no longer just a religious holiday. With the gift giving, and Santa, and the decorations... Christmas has become more, and less, than what was originally intended. Everyone takes the pieces and parts of the holiday that works for them. Some embrace the religious parts, and try to ignore how secular it has become... others embrace the secular with it's parties, lights, Santa, and presents and ignore any religious beginnings of the holiday. But, at it's heart, it is still a Winter Holiday.. A celebration of Hope. And every religion/belief system seems to have a celebration of some type that embraces this.

I grew up in the States, and therefore my memories of a Winter Holiday include all of the above. And Christmas itself is as much a melting pot as the United States itself. The Christmas tree is German, and Santa is the culmination of a blend of traditions from many countries. Mistletoe? Druid. Christmas Cards? England. You see what I mean. G. and I will be celebrating with my brother and his family on Christmas Eve at his house. That's the day we all have off together. Christmas Day G. is working so a co-worker can be home with his small children for the all important Santa Claus ritual <g>.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter who you are, or what your core beliefs are... There is a place in the Winter Holidays for all. But, please, take a moment this season, whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Yule, or Christmas, to remember that the REAL reason for all of these celebrations is to celebrate HOPE in all of its forms.

graphics by useless graphics

Tags: Christmas, Celebrations of Light &Hope, Yule

I am a NaBloPoMo Dropout…

2009-11-19T09:58:00.001-05:00

Le Sigh! I did not manage to post every day in November, so I guess I am a NaBloPoMo failure. But, I have an excuse ~~don’t I always~~! I looked back over the posts I was making and realized that I was posting things I normally wouldn’t just so I would have a post for that day, and I wasn’t happy with that. I would rather post less often and post something ~~interesting~~ ~~not boring~~ semi-interesting than to post a bunch and not be happy with it. So, I am going back to posting things when they strike my fancy. LOL!

In the spirit of stuff striking my fancy….. I give you a computer they have taught to think like a cat. Now, at first, I thought “Cool!”. Then I took a moment and ~~looked at my cat~~ considered the implications of having a computer that thinks like a cat. Really…. consider it… do you really want a computer who thinks like a cat? My own cat is capricious, does what she wants, does strange things for no apparent reason, and I have seen her tease the dog, just for fun. Oh wait… never mind! My computer –already- acts like a cat at times, doing what it wants instead of what I want it to!

Procrastination… or Just Pure Laziness?

2009-11-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

I have espoused the wonder that is LiveWriter before, and probably will do so again. Anyone who is blogging should at least give this FREE program a try. It not only gives you a WYSIWYG interface, it allows you to post to more than one blog with ease and the touch of the mouse, and it makes the handling of links, catagories, pictures, etc simple and requires absolutely zip knowledge of HTML, CSS, or any other acronym.

With the above paragraph fresh in your mind, you would think that I would be using the newest version of my favorite program, especially since (as before mentioned) it is free. You would be wrong.

I recently turned a returning Blogger on to my very favorite posting miracle and when she had questions, I promptly answered them…. only to have her e-mail back that her version didn’t have a button or some such in the spot I said it was. Turns out that I had an older version of the program on my machine and that the older versions do not check for updates on their own.

So…. the moral to this story? If you have (and love) LiveWriter, you might want to pop over and make sure you have the newest version. The version I have now has a ‘Check for updates’ option under the Help menu. Something that my previous version did not.

End of Public Service Announcement – Oh, and if any one from the government wanders across this endorsement, let it be perfectly clear that I receive nothing from Microsoft for endorsing their product… although I am open to any monetary recompense they would like to pass on to me at any time and for any reason……

Veteran’s Day—2009

2009-11-11T11:40:00.001-05:00

Have you hugged a Veteran today?

For this or any previous years official poster click here.

Very Cool Hand Paintings...

2009-11-09T13:37:00.000-05:00

I've seen several of these before, including the 4 I have included here. They never cease to fascinate me. The time and artistry that goes into them is amazing. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Click on this Link to go and see more….

Just in Case You were Worried about 12/12/2012

2009-11-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

I love when the doomsayers and fanatics grab onto a specific date and start predicting the End of the World. Let’s see, there was the Y2K bug. Uhuh.. computers continued to function, more or less, even until today. Then I remember the world was supposed to end on Jan 1, 2000, even without the Y2K bug (which was only going to destroy technology after all), then when that didn’t happen they realized the new Millennium actually started on Jan 1, 2001, so they changed the day… and still the world didn’t end. This is not a new thing, there have been doomsayers for all of human history, and probably before. I can picture an early human, soon after words were invented, “Ugh! World go away if too many people” or some other such nonsense.

The current End of the World scenario is based on two very different theories. One being the end of the Mayan Calendar. Uh, No! It is only the end of the current calendar cycle, and the Mayans aren’t happy you are trying to make disaster movies out of it. LOL! The second is the ‘discovery’ of a planet that wanders around and is set to crash into ours. Again… Uh, No!

Curious about where these ideas all came from and what the actual scientists have to say about them? Check out this Link from NASA. I think they may be a little more reliable than the guy standing on the street corner wearing the sandwich board and telling you to sign over all of your worldly goods to him before the world ends and you are considered a sinner!

A Public Service Message for the NaNoWriMo Peeps…

2009-11-07T11:33:00.000-05:00

I don’t know how many of you out there are doing the NaNoWriMo thing, but I DO know a few of the people who occasionally pass thru here have written a novel or two. Some of you don’t plan to ever publish and only wrote for fun and your own satisfaction. (Pat) But others have written in the hopes to someday publishing. (Karen) Still others have probably written things I don’t know about.

This link is for you. It’s a link to a Kim Komando article in the USA Today on self-publishing. You may already know of all of these places, there may be a few surprises, or you may never have heard of self-publishing at all. Still, I thought it might be a help to someone, so I’m including it here!

If anyone actually uses this and publishes something, be sure and let me know so I can pimp you!

I Would Walk 500 Miles

2009-11-06T22:21:00.000-05:00

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) Lyrics

Chorus:

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles
To fall down at your door

**preformed by The Proclaimers**

I don't know why but when I hear people talking about walking their 10,000 steps it makes me think of this song. If you want the full lyrics, just click on the link.

That seems like a lot of steps... 10,000. And, you are supposed to do them every day. Supposedly if you do that you will lose weight. Just by walking. That sounded like a great (read easy & cheap) idea to me, so I checked out a couple of sites to see what they had to say. The first thing they recommend is that you get a pedometer (you can get a very inexpensive one almost anywhere) and track how many steps you take in a day.

O.k.... easy enough. A quick trip and about $10 later I was in business. I clipped that little guy to my pocket and proceeded about my day. I was ready to find out just how few steps I actually took in a day and then I would know how many more I needed to add to reach the 10,000 step goal and to combat and hopefully get rid of that 7-10 pounds the ~~evil~~ scale says I've picked up recently.

Phhhhtt! I checked it after doing my morning chores and I already had over 5000 steps! I don't even wear the silly thing when I am in the house, and I've done more than 10,000 steps on every day I've worn it. Sigh! So maybe I'll have to do something waaaaay more drastic, like give up ~~chocolate~~ food to keep from getting fat.

Seriously though, the good thing about choosing walking as your exercise is that it is cheap, easy to do, requires practically no equipment other than a pair of comfortable shoes and a little bit of time. I'm working on adding about 2000 more steps to my day starting tomorrow by going for a walk in the evenings. I'll let you know if it actually helps. LOL!

No Brainer...

2009-11-05T23:20:00.001-05:00

Tonight's entry is a no brainer. I was wondering what I would do for an entry tonight when I realized that I was about to finish Extras by Scott Westerfeld. This is the fourth, and currently last, book of the Uglies series. I have enjoyed these books so much that I am actively seeking out the other things Scott has written, including his newest steam punk novel, Leviathan.

The first 3 books of this series followed Tally Youngblood as she discovers that her society, based on Uglies (unaltered children under 16) and Pretties (people over 16 who have had surgery to make them 'pretty'), has a major flaw or two in it. We followed Tally from a young 'tricky' Ugly, through her discovery of what a Pretty really is after surgery, and finally as a Special as she discovers the scary flaws behind her world and watch as she tries, in her own way, to make it better, and in the process changes her world completely.

The Fourth book, Extras, opens with a new set of characters, in a world that has been altered almost overnight. Each citystate is trying to find it's own way of dealing with the changes, and we enter the world of Aya. In her society, it's all about being famous, and Aya thinks that, if she can only raise herself up into the top face rank and quit being an Extra, she will finally be happy. The first half of the book is all about Aya chasing a story and finding more than she bargained for. Just as Aya becomes the famous story Kicker that she has always dreamed of, it all starts to go terribly wrong.

The second part of the book finds Aya discovering that the world is not always as it seems, and maybe, just maybe, there is more to the world than having a high face rank. With the appearance of one of the most famous 'Faces' in Aya's world, Tally Youngblood, Aya finds herself caught up in what she thinks is an effort to save the world, but turns out to not be quite what she thought it was.

I enjoyed all four books in this series and would recommend them to anyone, young or old. I'm also hoping that this won't be Scott's last foray into this fascinating world. If I had a teenager on my holiday list, this set of books would definitely make a great present.

Procrastination...

2009-11-04T23:43:00.001-05:00

Today is the 4th of November. It has been 4 days since Halloween, and I still haven't managed to 'decorate' around here for the next holiday. I did, at least, manage to get the Halloween stuff gone and throw my everyday (i.e. boring) template back up here. Now, what does all of that have to do with the word Procrastination? Follow me here and you shall be enlightened.

Because I always want something unique, I can't just go out and find a Template. Oh no! I have to create something.... And, since I am going to need something for Christmas also, let's make both templates at once. Since this seems like it will take some work, I manage to keep finding something else to do and put it off for another day.
What better place to procrastinate than... The Internet! Why Yes, I do have a FaceBook account. And someone whom I care about sent me a 'gift'. To accept the gift I had to start a Farmville account. This has led me down the rabbit hole of planting/harvesting/gifting that is the Farmville ~~addiction~~ experience.
Which led to one of my Farmville neighbors sending me a Yoville invite. The rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper.
And then there are the Blogs.... Oh the blogs. You people have so much to say and your lives are ~~not boring like mine~~ interesting and your views enlightening and must be read as soon as you post.
Also, let's not forget about making Blog posts. Sitting and looking at a blank screen and trying to come up with an idea cause it is NaBloPoMo.
And e-mail... and RSS news feeds... and...

Yep, I can find a hundred things to do that don't involve accomplishing anything at all. But, I did at least manage to get this post up before Midnight.

Oh, and if any of you are on FaceBook.... I could use 2 more neighbors in Farmville and a couple of people for my crew in YoVille........

Random Cool Photo Thingy...

2009-11-03T23:54:00.001-05:00

I found this really cool thing over at the National Geographic site. It will take a little while to load, but be patient. Once it is loaded the fun can begin. Keep clicking on the 'yellow square' in the picture. This is one of those panoramic pictures made up of smaller pictures that together make one, but it is huge. Each time you click on a picture there are more inside of it. The site probably explains it better than I ever could:

What makes up our world? Dive into this photo-mosaic portrait of the Earth to see it through the eyes of users like you. It's made up of hundreds of photos of the natural world, each submitted by users to My Shot. (Submit a photo) Move the yellow square over an area you would like to explore, click, and go. Double-click on an image to see more information about it. Keep clicking—and diving deeper into the Infinite Photograph—to get a truly boundless picture of Earth.

Go there now! Explore! What are you still doing here?!?

Found: Missing Blogger

2009-11-02T22:43:00.001-05:00

When we all moved over here to Blogger when AOL kicked us out, some people got lost, or went missing, or didn't make the move, or sometimes they just had a lot going on in their lives and haven't been around for a while. It's sad, but we lost quite a few of our friends due to differing circumstances.

Today I have good news. One of our little lost Sheep has returned to the Blogging fold. I know I don't have a huge bunch of people who read here, but if you remember Stacy, drop on over to her place and welcome her back!

November is a Busy Month

2009-11-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

For the last few years I have considered October and Halloween/Samhain to be the kick-off for the Holiday Season. From October till the beginning of January we seem to be busy, busy, busy!

Today I began the process of morphing our yard/house from the Halloween theme to a more Thanksgiving one. Several of the elements are kept, some things taken down (like the ghost and the spider lights), while other things are left in place or moved (my fall leaf garlands, pumpkin bells). This seems to be a little tougher this year. I don't know what it is like in your part of the country, but here the stores seem to have gone right from Halloween decor to Christmas! I only found a little tiny corner of Thanksgiving things when I went looking. Sigh!

Besides gearing up for the Holidays, November is also a busy month because of two month long events that many in our blogging community will be taking part in. They are NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month).

The one most of our community will be taking part in is, of course, NaBloPoMo. Since I rarely manage to make more than a couple of entries a month, I did not join over at the website. I do, however, plan to take a stab at it. I'm betting I'll be lucky to make it a week! Still, if you want to give it a shot, click on the link and head over there. Even though I don't see myself making it a whole month, I am looking forward to reading everyone else's efforts.

NaNoWriMo, on the other hand, is for those of you out there who think you may have a novel in you. This writing exercise actually came first and the Blogging one was created later. I know a couple of writers who are going to give it a go, and I thought I would give them a couple of links that might help them along. It seems that Justine Larbalestier (How to Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, and more) and Scott Westerfeld (The Uglies Series, Leviathon, and more) are going to be taking turns giving out tips. Here is what Justine has to say:

Tomorrow is the first day of National Novel Writing Month. Although I’ve never taken part in it and probably never will,¹ I think it’s an awesome way for beginning writers to learn the art of the first draft. I know many pro writers who also use the month to help them slay their deadlines. Nothing like knowing you have comrades-in-arms in your writing struggles.

Scott and me decided that we’ll spend the month offering tips. Scott’s tips will be over on his blog and will appear on the odd numbered days of November, mine will be here on the even days. Though as I’m still deep in Liar promotion, I can’t guarantee my tips will be 100% true. Who knows? Maybe Micah will take over for a few of them?

While I am not going to be doing NaNoWriMo any more than I will be doing NaBloPoMo, I am still going to be following these tips. Both of these people are writers I respect and I think anything they have to say would be enlightening to anyone who writes!

Oh, and this totally counts as my first day blog post!

How do YOU plan to spend the month of November?

R.I.P. IV --book #6

2009-10-31T23:57:00.001-04:00

This is my final R.I.P. IV Challenge book. I finished it on Friday, but we've had a busy weekend, so I'm just finally getting around to this.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks was a definite change of pace. It takes the whole idea of the sexy, powerful, romantic vampire and turns it on it's head. What if vampirism was more of a disease... a debilitating disease? And, what if you and your fellow vampires were trying to not suck human blood, you know, so no one would stake you? There are other problems to, such as how would you earn a living? What do you eat?

Catherine Jinks takes the idea of the hero in spite of themselves and runs with it. Nina, the heroine of the book, is a vampire. She was bitten in 1973 when she was 15, but because she still looks 15 she still lives at home with her Mom. She is also the author of a popular book about a kickass...... vampiress. She often wishes her life was more like the books she writes, instead of the boring (slightly sickly) one she has. When one of her fellow support group members is killed, she sets out to try to find out who did it, and to prove that vampires are not useless.

I enjoyed this book. It was a little different than the usual vampire book. For instance, how does one go about 'fanging' a Guinea pig? What do you do when your newest pal turns out to be a werewolf? How do you dispose of all of those little Guinea pig bodies....And, how exactly did a priest get involved in all of this? If you like the absurd, you will get a kick out of this book, and you will find yourself cheering Nina and her friend Dave on. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys the absurd

So, that brings my total books for this Challenge up to 6. I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year!

R.I.P. IV -- Book #5

2009-10-29T22:41:00.001-04:00

Having completed the Perils of R.I.P. IV with time to spare, I was hoping to finish the last book I was reading before the deadline, and I did. However, when I went to put it away (and, incidentally pick up my next book to start from the never ending TBR pile), I realized that I missed doing a review on one of the books I had intentionally gotten to read with this Challenge in mind. But, I guess, better late than never!

I had been meaning to read this book for some time, but like with many books, it kept getting pushed back for one reason or another. The R.I.P. challenge was the perfect excuse to pull it out and get it read.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. This is the story of Bod. Bod is a pretty normal little boy except for one thing.... he lives in a graveyard! Some pretty scary circumstances bring about this unusual living arrangement, and because of that I wouldn't recommend this book for a young child or one who is easily scared. However, for the older child, young adult (or young at heart older reader!), this book offers many delights.

Bod comes to the Graveyard as a toddler and is taken in by the residents to be raised under their protection. He has a set of ghost parents, and several of other denizens of the Graveyard become his friends, teachers, and social outlet. He also has a guardian who can come and go from the Graveyard (thus providing sustenance and other things that the ghosts cannot provide the child) and although we are never told exactly what kind of creature Silas is, we are given plenty of hints to make an accurate guess.

Bod has many adventures growing up and meets many creatures, including ghouls, werewolves, dead witches and even a little girl. But, the mystery of how he came to the Graveyard and why hangs ever present until the exciting finally when we find out exactly who Jack is.

I really enjoyed this book, and would definitely recommend it. I have added it to my list of books to be sure to pass along to my Grandson when he is old enough for it.

R.I.P. IV -- Book #4

2009-10-26T23:44:00.001-04:00

Book #4 completes Peril the First and I am still 5 days from the deadline! Go Me!

Peril the First:

Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

I obtained Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong from my local library and just couldn't wait to dive in. I have enjoyed all of Ms. Armstrong's books in the Women of the Otherworld Series and was looking forward to learning a little more back story on the men in the series!

This book is actually a collection of short stories, some from Ms. Armstrong's website, along with a new story. It did not disappoint. If you have ever wondered about the reasons behind Jeremy's coming to power in the American (Werewolf)Pack, his uncanny knack for knowing his 'family' is in danger, or how Clay came to be his ward.... even an insight into Jeremy's past and his relationship with his own father and grandfather, this is the book for you. I absolutely enjoyed learning about Clay's early 'taming' and why he is so protective of Jeremy.

The first three stories in the book give you details and background from the time before Elena and the first book in the Otherworld series (Bitten). The fourth story is a new story and is narrated by Jeremy and is a story giving you a little more insight into his relationship with Jaime Vargas. All in all a very enjoyable romp.

I don't usually enjoy short stories. I tend to like to get to know the characters better than can usually be accomplished in such a short space. These stories are the type that I usually consider exceptions to that rule. Short stories about characters in a book or series of books that I already enjoy. Short little nips of stories, that are great for giving you a little extra insight into those characters you already like, but aren't quite enough for a whole book.

My recommendation is that, if you already like this series, you will definitely enjoy getting to know these men of the American Pack a little better.

The Prime Meridian is 125 Years Old this week...

2009-10-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

Why am I bringing this up? Because I love odd things... and because I believe anyone who reads here probably does too!

This week marks the 125 anniversary of a meeting of 41 delegates from 25 different nations to decide just where 0°,0' would be. They gathered in Washington D.C to decide just where time and space should be measured. Why and how did Greenwich win out over places like Washington, Paris and Berlin? It seems 72% of the world's shipping already used sea charts that used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian... Still, it was a drawn out and difficult summit that finally decided with a vote of 22 to one with San Domingo against it, and France and Brazil actually abstaining from the vote.

Why was this an important thing? Up until then, time was often based on the passage of the sun across the sky and anyone could decide what time it was in a certain place. Many countries and sometimes even individual towns would set their own arbitrary times. With the advent of things like railways, factories and widespread communications networks, it became important for a standard global time to be set so everyone would know what time it was both where they were and anyplace else.

O.K.... I admit it, I am a Geek and the oddest things fascinate me. However, if you want to see more about this and other related things, I recommend looking here on BBC News, and also here, and, of course, Wikipedia also has an article.

You may now thank me for filling your head full of another piece of trivia you probably didn't need. Bwahahaha!

R.I.P. IV -- Book #3

2009-10-10T19:20:00.002-04:00

Completing Book #3 puts me halfway thru Peril the First.

Peril the First:

Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

For Book number 3, I chose (Or the library chose, I had requested several books. This was the first to arrive.) to read the fourth and final book in the Twilight Series, Breaking Dawn. While I have enjoyed this series, and think Stephenie Meyer did a good job, I do not find myself quite as crazy about it as some people are. It was a good series and I am glad I read it, and I would even recommend it to certain people, who I know would enjoy it.... but it is not my absolute favorite Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, and it is not my favorite book by Ms. Meyer. I happened to pick up The Host not long ago, and I think it edged these books out just slightly as the book by Ms. Meyer that I would recommend.

This book finds Bella making a compromise with her Edward. She agrees to marry him, and he agrees to fulfil her wish of joining his family. Bella doesn't feel she will be missing anything by leaving her human life behind to join the Cullen Family as a full Vampiric member. She realizes she will miss her family, and that some things won't quite feel the same to her. Still, she has one wish that she wants fulfilled before she 'turns', and Edwards agreement to this causes the central problem in this book. Seems that while Vampire woman can't get pregnant, Vampire Men, on the other hand, do still have active little swimmers!

In addition to the Cullen family, including my very favorite Alice, we get Jacob Black back. I have to say that I actually would have rooted for Jacob if I hadn't known from book #1 that he would only get to be the third wheel. Still, he and Alice are my favorite characters... which is sad since they are both secondary ones. While the book ends with the very predictable 'happy' ending, it does have you wondering a little there in the middle.

Bottom line. If you liked the other books, go ahead and read this one for closure. If you were already getting a little tired of the characters... then you may not want to bother. This is not a series where you can just jump in anywhere. If you are going to read them. Start with Twilight and read them in order. I'm not sorry I read these. They were good, light fun, but I don't see me giving them a second read.

Zombie Chicken Award

2009-10-07T23:55:00.001-04:00

This is such a perfect award for the month of October... I mean, Zombie Chickens!

Gayla has moved her blog over to Unfussy Living, and she passed this super cool, seems made for October, award on to me. The description of this award is as follows:

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken-- excellence, grace, and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all."

So let me see who should I pass this on to? I definitely don't want 'the wrath of the zombie chickens', but still, this award must be passed on to people who will appreciate Zombies in general and Zombie Chickens in particular. On the other hand, I'm betting that anyone who follows my silly blog would probably appreciate Zombies Chickens just 'cause. Anyway, I pick these 5 for my ~~victims~~ recipients.

Rebecca at Provocation of Mine(d)

MissHeather at Singing With My Heart

Indigo at Shattered Prose

Rachel at Life 'N Stuff

and finally Dan at Slapinions

If you don't already read these people, you should. I would definitely wade thru the Zombie Apocalypse to be able to read whatever they have written.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-07T20:38:00.001-04:00

R.I.P. IV -- Book #2

2009-10-03T23:05:00.001-04:00

Having completed Peril the Third with my first book, I have now completed Peril the second with this one.

Peril the Second:

Read Two books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

For my second book, I chose Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong. This is the 9th book in her Women of the Otherworld series.

One of the reasons I really like this series is that it doesn't just follow any one character from book to book. Rather, Ms. Armstrong has chosen to create a wonderful world for her characters to inhabit, then with each book gives us a story centered around one (or a group) of characters. A character who is a the main character in one book will show up in the next as a minor character. Often you will see an event from a previous book only this time thru the eyes of a different character. This tends to keep the stories and world fresh.

This book, while good, wasn't quite as sharp as some of the others in the series. It tells a story while also exploring love-- what it means to find it, and to lose it. If you have read any of the other books in the series, you will be thrilled to find Hope Adams (the half-demon) and her boyfriend Karl (werewolf AND jewel thief) are in this up to their eyeballs.

The story is about Hope's friend, Robyn. Robyn is a regular human and has no idea that the 'Otherworld' exists, but she is about to find out! A PR rep for a 'celebutante' named Portia Kane, who is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect for the murder. In clearing her name we will get to meet a Necromancer (someone who can see/speak with the dead), who doesn't know that is what he is (he just thinks he has this odd family 'gift'), Robyn's dead husband, a whole clan of clairvoyants, and a psychopath.

While I am glad to have read this book, I would not recommend it as a starting point for this series. While for the most part this series does not require you to read them in a certain order and allows you to just jump into whichever book you pick up, this book is not one of those. You do need a little background from the other books for it to really work. If the books sound interesting, I would recommend starting with either Bitten or Dime Store Magic. However, be warned, once you dip into these books you will want to read them all to find out what happens to your favorite characters.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-30T23:31:00.001-04:00

Library Loot: September 23-30, 2009

2009-09-28T11:39:00.001-04:00

After rediscovering our local library this summer, I was a weekly visitor. I would pick up 5 new children's books to read with the boys, one for each day we had 'school', and I would take a look to see if there was anything of interest to me. I did discover a couple of books I might not have read otherwise, and requested a couple more. All in all, a nice summer.

But then, because of an article about e-book readers, and the Sony e-book reader in particular, I discovered a new library! Now, how would my research about e-readers lead to a library. Well, it seems that Sony has made it possible to borrow e-books easily from some libraries:

Library Finder Brings eBooks for Your Sony Reader.

With the Library Finder, you can locate a Public Library near you offering many titles, including those from the New York Times Bestsellers List. Just like you would borrow a book from your public library, you can do so with an eBook.

Simply enter your zip code or state below and click "Search". Find the library nearest you to browse, checkout and download eBooks*. Look for eBooks that are compatible (in PDF format) and optimized (in ePub format) for the Sony Reader.

When I punched in my zip code, I got a library right down the road from me, but in a different county. Still, I decided to dig around a little in their webpage to see if I could use the service. In doing so, I discovered that I could get a library card from them, all I needed was a FL ID, which I have. For kicks, I went and got the card, just in case I might get an e-book reader at some point.

The new library is in a bigger county, and has a college sitting right in the middle of it. I tried ordering a couple of books, and instead of taking several weeks, I got all 3 books in just a few days! Since the 'new' library is on my way to the larger town I go to shop once a week, it is very convenient. Now I have 2 libraries to get books from. If one doesn't have what I want, the other probably will!

This brings me to this weeks Library Loot! I picked up 2 books when I got my new card, and requested 3 more, which have already been picked up. They came in less than a week! So I have 5 books for this weeks loot.

Because I now have 5 books to read, I would expect this to be my Library Loot for the next couple of weeks. LOL!

Men of the Otherworld, The Reformed Vampire Suport Group and The Graveyard book will all fit in nicely with the RIP Challenge. Specials is the 3rd book in the Uglies Series I have been reading, and the Artemis Fowl book is the 3rd in that series. I have Breaking Dawn (from the other library) that I am finishing for the RIP challenge, and I just finished -and need to do an entry on- Living With the Dead.

With the holidays coming up, I've got to say that visiting the library will make me feel a little less guilty about my book habit, I am also more willing to 'experiment' with a book I might not like if I'm not having to spend money on it, and lastly, it is nice to go ahead and read a book like Dead and Gone or Men of the Otherworld now in hardback instead of waiting impatiently for a year for it to come out in paperback. I LOVE hardbacks, but between the price and the size difference making them more difficult to store, I usually wait and get the paperback (Well, not the Harry Potters, of course! LOL!). Mmmmmm instant gratification!

R.I.P. IV -- Book #1

2009-09-25T12:38:00.001-04:00

Peril the Third:

Read One book of any length, from any of the subgenres listed earlier in the post.

This is the easiest of the Perils. One book. Anyone can read at least one book in any genre, right? So, if you are thinking that the R.I.P. Challenge might be fun and just want to dip your toe in, this is the Peril for YOU!

I just happened to be reading the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris, when I decided to do this challenge. What luck. The Sookie series(or he Southern Vampire Mysteries) certainly qualify for this challenge. We have vampires (of course), werewolves, other shifters, witches, and even fairies! What makes this series fun is that it is set in a little backwater town in Louisiana, and the main character tries, somewhat successfully, to juggle her 'normal' life with all of the supernatural stuff she has managed to get mixed up in during the (currently) 8 books in this series.

This time we find Sookie and her friend, both human and Supe, dealing with the aftereffects of the 'coming out' of the Werewolves and other shifters. Following the lead of the Vampires from a few years earlier, the 'two-natured' have decided to come forth and tell the world of their existence.

There are many repercussions to the announcement, and it eventually leads to a murder. This murder is the central mystery for this book, but even when they think they have figured it out, all is not what it seems. Once again Sookie finds herself mixed up in the strange world and politics of her great-grandfather, the Fairy Prince. And, she and her pals had better figure out what is going on quick or there might not be a Sookie around for the next book!

I enjoyed this book. Heck, I've enjoyed this whole series! A lot of people are discovering these books because of the HBO series, True Blood. They may or may not be disappointed. While the names and premise of the books (that the vampires have come out of the 'closet') and the HBO version are the same, the book and TV versions of what happens are different. HBO was serious when they said based on the books. Still, I have read all of books currently available AND have bought and watched the HBO series on DVD (I don't get HBO). I've enjoyed both for what they are, I just consider them as two different stories!

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day!

2009-09-22T09:49:00.001-04:00

Today is Elephant Appreciation Day.
Elephant Appreciation Day was declared beginning in 1996 by Mission Media (a digital and print publisher of graphics).
The elephant generally deserves to be appreciated and upheld as an example of courage, strength, self-reliance, patience, persistence, and general high quality of being.

Origin of Elephant Appreciation Day:

Created in 1996, largely because elephants are ....large. (and a whole lot of other great things.) The founder, Wayne Hepburn, received a paperweight of elephants on parade from his daughter as a gift. He became fascinated by them. He amassed a huge collections of elephant books and paraphernalia. His fascination and love of elephants, led to the creation of this day so you and I can stop and enjoy this huge, lumbering beast.

Happy Elephant Appreciation Day! Everyone should appreciate an elephant. They are intelligent, loving, gentle creatures. I have had the good fortune to have several for friends! The one in the picture above is named Luke and belongs to another friend of mine.

A couple of links for the curious: If you want to make a badge, poster, or find some activities for the day (especially for kids), go Here. There are two types of elephants. African, which live in Africa (duh!), and Asian which live in the Asian tropical forests. To learn about Asian elephants go Here, and a link for the African species is Here. The last two links both lead to the National Zoo site.

RIP IV (R.eaders I.mbimbing P.eril IV!!!)

2009-09-21T11:26:00.001-04:00

I debated doing this challenge this year. Seriously, I have trouble even taking the time to post in my poor neglected blog, let alone take on a challenge! Still, I looked at the books in my TBR pile, and the books I have been reading this summer and realized that my ~~obsession~~ interest in paranormal and urban fantasy series would fit right in, so, Here Goes:

First, since I know you will all want to join in, let's have the link to Carl's Blog. This really cool man has been doing this for the last ummm... IV , yep that would be four years. This Link takes you directly to the entry about the RIP IV Challenge, This Link takes you to the review site. Be very, very careful going HERE, if you don't want to be buying more books to add to that TBR pile!!

I'm only going to commit to Peril the Second:Read Two books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose. But, in my typical hodge podge approach to life, I will probably complete Peril the First:Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose, also.

I've almost finished Charlaine Harris' Dead and Gone (one of the Sookie Stackhouse series), so look for my first review in a day or so... or even later today if I get a stretch of uninterrupted free time. This book is seriously addicting!

I'll also probably be using this Challenge as an excuse to go out and add to my TBR pile. I TOLD you not to go HERE unless you wanted more books... I was sooo serious! LOL!

International Vulture Awareness Day

2009-09-05T11:02:00.001-04:00

International Vulture Awareness Day is Saturday Sept. 5... Who Knew? Still, vultures are really cool birds and get a bad rap what with the whole eating of dead things....

Where did I find this out? Well, I follow several zoos and this came up on Tampa Lowry Park Zoo's Facebook page, and later I saw it tweeted by them. The picture at the top of this entry is from their tweet & facebook pages. The vulture in it is part of their Spirits of the Sky show.If you live in the Tampa area, you should check them out. Very nice zoo.

Surprisingly Good Read

2009-09-02T23:11:00.001-04:00

I just finished the Stephenie Meyer Book, The Host. The ideas and characters in the book caught my attention and kept me turning pages to see just how it was all going to work out. There are moral dilemmas, questions about right and wrong, love triangles (or maybe quadrangles?), and what it means to be friends.

Ms. Meyer is most widely known for her YA series of books which have become the phenomenon known as Twilight. I've read the first 2 books of the Twilight series, and although I enjoyed them enough that the third and final book is sitting in my TBR pile, I have to say I think this book is better.

This is the blurb from Stephenie Meyer's own web site:

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie's thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer's mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love

The book explores many ideas, one of the most important being what exactly makes you a human? The story is told not from the point of view of the surviving humans, but from the alien who has been thrust into their midst. Slowly both sides start to see the worth in each other, and even as Wanda, as she comes to be called, is accepted into the renegade humans fold, they each begin to change each others points of view.

While I have to classify this as a Sci-Fi story - there are aliens after all - I think it is a very accessible story and would be enjoyed by any person who has ever questioned what makes a human, what is love and/or wonders about the best and worst our race (as in the human race) can be.

I enjoyed this story enough that I have my fingers crossed that Ms. Meyer will again visit these characters in another book. Wonder if it is a book you would enjoy? How about the chance to read a little bit before you buy or borrow from the library. Ms. Meyer has an excerpt you can read on her website. go to this page which has all the info on the book and click the link for the excerpt. Cool, huh?

Library Loot #1

2009-09-01T22:02:00.001-04:00

One of the cool things that came out of my adventures in tutoring this summer was my re-discovery of our local library. I wanted the boys to see that reading could be fun, not boring. To do that I needed a good variety of interesting and not boring kids books. To fulfil this goal I found myself standing in our local library for the first time in a long while.

One of my first goals when we moved here was to find the local library and get a card. I had my library card the first week.... unfortunately I was coming from a place with a large well stocked library to a much smaller, less up to date one. I visited a time or two, but was disappointed in the selection and spent the next couple of years visiting the book store instead of the library.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I found the library had made several improvements in the last 3 years. The selection of the type of books I enjoy was still very sparse, but the interlibrary loan system was much, much better. I could now go online and order the books/authors I was interested in and they would find their way to my local library and thus into my hands. While I still buy quite a few books, my budget is happy that I am also supplementing with some selections from the library.

A blog I read (Drey's Library) found a cool meme called Library Loot:

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

This week I just returned 2 books and picked up 2 more. I'm going to list all 4 books since I just discovered this really cool meme!

I returned The Host by Stephenie Meyer and Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (This is the 2nd in the Uglies Series, and I have the 3rd Specials on order).

I picked up Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (The third in the Twilight Series) and Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (the 9th of the Sookie Stackhouse books)

Have you been to the library lately?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-19T21:44:00.001-04:00

Random Tuesday

2009-08-18T21:30:00.001-04:00

Is there a 'Random Tuesday'? There are so many different Memes out there that it is very possible. I just picked the name because I needed a title and that seemed to be the one that encompasses what this post is about.

I've been asked where I've been. It's been hinted that a blog post would be nice. Finally today I got an e-mail that simply said:

Where the Hell are you and why haven't we heard anything from you in like forever??

So, in the interest of trying to answer the above person, I thought it would be easiest to do one of those random little posts with all kinds of little snippets of information... And, away we go!

First... has it really been over 2 months since I made a post? Really? Wow! Uh.. sorry about that. Let's see if I can figure out what I've been up to.
Daily chores are as always. Horses to feed, dog, cat, plants & husband to cater to.
In addition to caring for my own critters, I have also been tutoring two little boys this summer. For 3 hours every morning I spend time with them doing reading, writing and arithmetic. They are 7 & 8 and going into the 1st and 2nd grade in just a few days. The oldest was having a little problem with reading last year. I think we not only have that licked, but both boys will be starting school a little ahead of the game. It's been fun, frustrating, and sometimes rewarding. I love that moment when you can see by the look in their eyes that they get it. I also spend an hour or two every evening getting stuff ready for the next day's 'class'.
The hubs and I spent 2 wonderful days in Destin a few weeks ago. We met my Son, DIL, and grandson there. They were vacationing there for the week and we drove up to visit with them. It was a 6 hour drive there, but soooo worth it. Every minute spent with them is always precious. We ate out, played in the Gulf of Mexico, talked, hugged, and just enjoyed each others company. Paradise!
Any spare time I've had this summer has been split between reading (I've read a bunch of really good books this summer), reading all of your blogs, and enjoying the new kitten.
My latest addiction? Wii Sports Resort. I would feel guilty except that the Hubs is right there with me playing it. LOL!
I've also been gardening this year. The last two years I have bought a few plants and they always died. It gets really hot here and the sun can be brutal. G. suggested that it wasn't my brown thumb, but a combo of the sun, the sandy soil, and bad luck. So, this year he bought me some hanging pots and two of the cutest posts for them. Each post has three hooks. We also got 2 planters that would hang on the fence on either side of my gate. Because the plants are in hangers I can move them out of the sun during the heat of the day and put them back in the evening. It Worked! I've got 4 hanging planters full of thriving flowers and 2 planters on the fence that are also doing well. I feel vindicated! Yes, there are pictures of the plants which I need to edit and post.
Note: 2 posts, 3hooks each, 4 planters. What about the two extra hooks you ask? Well, I got a hummingbird feeder. It took a few days, but some hummers found us. We have 3 regular little visitors and they are sooo cute!
We got the neatest umbrella this year and upgraded to two nice reclining chairs to sit under it. We've spent a lot of pleasant evening sitting out in the yard cooking out, enjoying our flowers, relaxing, and being amused by our 3 little hummingbirds.
Pictures... I haven't been using the cameras much this year. I don't know why. I've taken a lot of the new kitten, but not much else. I plan on trying to get out of this slump this fall.... If anyone has a suggestion for 'getting my groove back', I am open to suggestions. :)
The kitten... Nyx is adorable, and energetic, and cute and... into Everything! We love her, but she can be exhausting. She is an absolute love, and quite the little talker. She meows and tells us all about everything. She is very much a people kitty and wants to be around us all the time and gets very annoyed if we try to do anything without her. She has lots of toys (both intentionally bought for her and also the ones she invents for herself. Oh, and of course those things which are NOT meant to be kitty toys!), but her favorite is a paper bag. G laughed today when I was buying something at the mall and I asked if I could have a different bag because I knew the kitty would enjoy it.
Morgan has decided she also loves the kitty. Good thing because the only toy Nyx loves more than a paper bag is... the dog. When we first got the kitten, Morgan was so careful of her. Now they wrestle and jump and chase each other all over the house. Who needs a TV for entertainment when you have them?
I've only finished one afghan all summer. It was made in strips and I still haven't assembled it. If you wonder why, read the two points above this describing the new kitty..... 'Nuff said.
I turned 49 this summer and G turned 48 the following month. We didn't do much for our birthdays. G's been giving me some flack about the big 5-0 next year, but I explained that I've been counting backwards for a few years and will only be 30......

That's pretty much it.... I'll try to post more often, but well... if something has to give it is usually my Internet time, and when I am online I'm more interested in reading about your interesting lives than blathering about my boring one! I think there are only about 2 or 3 people who still read me, but at least I try to give you something every couple of months.

Quest the First -- Book 5

2009-06-07T20:47:00.001-04:00

Here we are at Book #5 and the final book for Quest the First! Supernatural: Nevermore by Keith R.A. DeCandido.

I don't normally read a lot of tie-in books for TV shows, but I absolutely LOVE this series,and since season 4 has ended and season 5 has yet to start, I was feeling a little Winchester withdrawal. So when I saw this book on a rack I had to give it a try. It is pretty well done, with Mr. DeCandido doing a good job of finding the voice of the two main characters, Sam and Dean Winchester.

The brothers are in New York City doing a favor for a friend. They are there to see why a ghost is haunting a house of a local who plays in a tribute band. But, while in the city the boys get caught up in a bigger mystery. Someone is murdering people seemingly based on the creepy stories of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe. The mystery of why this is happening and the race to stop the last murder and find the killer lead the brothers on a bizarre journey that ends up being less about the supernatural and more about the strange ideas people get in their heads. The ritual the killer seems to be trying to reproduce is from a bogus charlatan, but the killer obviously believes it will work and bring Poe back from the dead.

While doing their investigations, they meet some people who know more about the brothers and their father than they do about them. In fact, they have never heard of them and are wondering why their Dad never mentioned them. Can they be trusted? But, the boys need all the help they can get, from where ever they can get it to stop this madman from killing his last victim right in front of their eyes....

This was a quick read, and was good enough that I might try out the other two books the author has written based on the Supernatural TV Show. At least it will give me my Sam and Dean fix while I wait for the 5th and final season to get under way.

This completes the Quest the First for me, and also I have completed the Journey since it only required me to read one book during this time. I've really enjoyed this challenge, and look forward to doing Once Upon a Time -IV- next year!

If you want to join in the Challenge, pop over to Stainless Steel Droppings to see how it all works. Come on, join us, you know you want to!

Quest the First -- Book 4

2009-05-28T20:45:00.001-04:00

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris is Book #4.

When I went to pick my next book from my TBR pile, I just couldn't resist the next book in the Southern Vampire Series. I really like the main character Sookie, and all of her neighbors, both human and supernatural.

This book starts off with a naked man on the side of the road and never slows down. There are Vampires, of course, but we also get to see more of the Weres and the shifters, learning more of their cultures. This book also introduces us to the Witches and to a new supernatural who, while not getting a full explanation for, seems to be an interesting species and one I'm sure we will see more of.

The naked man turns out to be Eric, the vampire, boss of her ex-boyfriend Bill. But this is an Eric who has lost his memory and seems to be a kinder, gentler Eric than the one Sookie has known in the past. Poor Eric doesn't remember anything, and whoever took his memory may be trying to kill him. Soon Sookie has not only an amnesiac Eric to worry about, but also a missing brother. While investigating what happened to Eric and to her brother, Jason, Sookie is reunited with the Were Alcide, and with his help finds herself heading straight into a supernatural battle involving the vampires, the werewolves, and some witches... And, if that isn't enough, who are those shifters who live isolated in the little town of Hotshot just outside of Bon Temps? You'll need to pick this book up to find the answers to these and other questions.

I'm really liking these books, and I've already picked up the next book in the series. I'm sure it won't be long before I dive right back into the happenings in Bon Temps and the surrounding areas.

If you want to join in the Challenge, pop over to Stainless Steel Droppings to see how it all works. Come on, join us, you know you want to!

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-25T10:28:00.001-04:00

Love your country and live with pride
And don't forget those who died America can't you see
All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall, yes recall
Some gave all
Some gave all

---Billy Ray Cyrus Some Gave All---

Please take a moment today to remember and honor the Men and Women of the military who gave their all and the reason we celebrate Memorial Day on the last Monday of every May. One of the ways to do that is to observe

The National Moment of Rememberance:

The National Moment of Remembrance, established by Congress, asks Americans wherever they are at 3 p.m., local time, on Memorial Day to pause in an act of national unity (duration: one minute).The time 3 p.m. was chosen because it is the time when most Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday. The Moment does not replace traditional Memorial Day events; rather it is an act of national unity in which all Americans, alone or with family and friends, honor those who died for our freedom. It will help to reclaim Memorial Day as the sacred and noble holiday it was meant to be. In this shared remembrance, we connect as Americans.

Quest the first -- Book 3

2009-05-22T18:25:00.001-04:00

I chose Small Favor by Jim Butcher as my third book.

Being a Wizard should be more fun and less dangerous... unless you are the Wizard Harry Dresden. Trouble just seems to follow poor Harry around. I have really loved this whole series of books, and this one is no exception. If you are looking for a good story with great characters and lots of action and maybe a little mystery thrown in... this is a series for you.

While you can read this book without having read any of the others in the series, knowing the cast of characters and their background does make the story even better. For instance, the Small Favor in the title of the book? It's being asked of Harry by Mab, the Queen of the Winter Court of the Sidhe. Harry has had enough prior contact with Mab to know that she is not someone to cross casually, and he does owe her a favor after the whole attack on the Fairy Realm thing... and while Mab is neither the good or the bad guy, neither Court of Fairy is coming clean with what they actually know.

During the course of the book you will come across Harry's half-brother, who happens to be a Vampire, Sidhe from both the Winter and Summer Courts of Fairy, other Wizards, a couple of Knights of the Cross, some Knights of the Blackened Denarius (who are Fallen Angels.. yep, those Fallen Angels!), a little girl who just happens to be the Archive of all Knowledge, some members of the Chicago Mob, and even Harry's friend who is a member of the Chicago Police Force. And all of these people have a different agendas and different ideas about what is right and wrong and different world views. Jim Butcher does a great job of keeping all the plot points rolling along and juggling all the different things that seem to be happening till everything finally comes together in the end.

If you like detectives, wizards, and urban fantasies, you will love this. This book delivers a well-rounded story while still advancing the mystery we have slowly been uncovering in the multi-book story arc.

If you want to join in the Challenge, pop over to Stainless Steel Droppings to see how it all works. Come on, join us, you know you want to!

Armed Forces Day!

2009-05-16T10:45:00.001-04:00

Today is the third Saturday in May, soooo it must be Armed Forces Day. This years theme is "United in Strength". Please take a moment from your day and give a thought to the men and women (and their families!) who have served in the past, and the ones who defend us today. And don't forget to say Thank You!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

2009-05-15T20:41:00.001-04:00

It has been a little over 2 years since I lost my D.K. That's a picture of her at the top of this post. She went over the Rainbow Bridge in April of 2007. I still miss her.

D.K. was a beautiful black and white tuxedo cat. I had her for 13 wonderful years. My husband offered to get me a kitten not long after we lost her to cancer, and I would go and look, but I just wasn't ready. Finally this spring I thought I would like to again hear the pitter of little cat feet in the house. I did mention to the Hubs that I thought we should get a cat that did not remind me of D.K., and because of that I was sure I wanted to get a kitty that was any color but black. Maybe a pretty gray with black stripes? Or a Russian Blue?

What is that saying about making plans and the universe will laugh at you? Yeah.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an entry on a blog I follow. A cute little Wordful Wednesday, Kitten Edition at Putting the Fun in DysFUNctional. I thought the kitties were really cute, and showed them to the Hubs, and even commented about how cute they were in the comments on the post. It put the thought of kitties in the forefront of my mind again.

Enter Serendipity. About a week after the first kitty post, I saw a different entry on the same blog. She mentioned that she was taking the kitties to be fixed so that they could go to an adoption event on the upcoming Saturday. For some reason I had been under the impression that she and her family lived farther south from us. When I saw where the kittens had been taken to, I asked in comments which place they would be going to for the adoption event, still not sure that I was right about how close they were. Turned out that the place the kitties would be at was the Petsmart that I visit frequently.

The next day I went to the Petsmart just to 'look' at the kitties. The one we thought we were interested in was the white one with black spots, and I still wasn't sure. But instead, once I was there, I couldn't resist the little black and white Tuxedo girl. I thought the hubs would bust a gut laughing at me. Not only did I end up with another black cat, but a Tuxedo to boot. Still, I think D.K. would be pleased since she too was an adopted stray.

If I had any doubts about my decision they were quickly put to rest when I arrived home. I sat the little darling down in the middle of the floor, and she was immediately at home with us and Morgan (our Corgi). She settled in and it was like she has always been with us.

The picture below was taken about 3 hours after we got her home.

Her foster mommy did a wonderful job with her. She has absolutely no fear of anything, loves people, and is so very confident of the world and her place in it. (i.e. she is a princess!).

I spent some time searching for a name, and we finally settled on Nyx. It fits her perfectly. She is so mischievous, and keeps us laughing constantly at her antics. I think when I was looking at all of those other kitties, I was just waiting for her to come along. We already adore her, and are looking forward to many years of laughing, loving, and fun with her and Morgan.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-13T23:15:00.001-04:00

I can haz Kitteh?

2009-05-09T23:03:00.001-04:00

Look what I got today! More pictures and the whole story tomorrow. Meant to post all about it today, but ended up playing on Twitter instead. Yep, I accomplished exactly Zip this evening. LOL!

Isn't she too cute for words? I'm in Luv!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-06T16:29:00.001-04:00

Click on photo to go to a website with more info....

In Celebration of Star Wars Day...

2009-05-04T23:43:00.002-04:00

Happy Star Wars Day! Today is Star Wars Day. No seriously, it is. I saw mention of it in several places around the web, so it must be so. Why today? Because it is May the Fourth. Get it? May the Fourth be with you....

In celebration of Star Wars Day, I give you the following video.

Discover a Classic in a New Way....

2009-05-03T23:57:00.001-04:00

What is the significance of May 3rd? Well, if you are a reader of classic books (or movies), you might recognize the date as the day that Jonathan Harker makes his first entry in his journal and the reader embarks on a journey thru a story that is considered to be one of the classics of literature... Dracula.

Whitney Sorrow has decided to give the readers of her blog, Dracula, the chance to read the story from a different perspective than that of a bound book. In her words:

Experience Bram Stoker's Dracula in a new way -- in real time. Dracula is an epistolary novel (a novel written as a series of letters or diary entries,) and this blog will publish each diary entry on the day that it was written by the narrator so that the audience may experience the drama as the characters would have.

There are many novels that are considered to be classics. Some I have read, others I know the story, or have seen the movies based on them, but have never sat down and read the actual book. Dracula, surprisingly, is one of the those. I think this will be a unique way to enjoy it in written form for the first time. Anyone wish to join me?

Fortuitous Find

2009-05-02T20:41:00.001-04:00

Sometime last week I wrote a post on bookstores and the problems they were having competing with online offerings. In that post, I mentioned how I love to go and just wander around a bookstore and admire the books, and how sometimes a book that you might not have ever seen or thought about reading, will jump right off the shelf, into your hands, and go home with you....

Thursday a friend asked if I would give her a ride to get her hair cut and stop a couple of other places. One of the places she needed to go was a bookstore. Twist my arm! I had just been to a bookstore on Tuesday, so I wasn't looking for anything in particular. But, since this was a different bookstore from Tuesday's, I was happy to wander the shelves , checking out discontinued, sales, and new arrivals.

As is my custom, my feet eventually led me to the Scifi/fantasy section. And there, sitting facing outward, was a book with an absolutely wonderfully beautiful cover. It was one of those large paperbacks that I normally don't like since I can't tuck them in my purse. Still, it had such a wonderful cover that I pulled it off the shelf to have a look. The blurb on the back was oh so interesting, and inside the back cover was an ad for the next book in the series. I asked the clerk, and she said it would be out in May. Interesting cover, cool story idea, next book out almost immediately? Sold!

When I got home I saw an entry in my RSS feed about the book/cover over at the Tor site. Since I had just bought the book, I clicked thru and was pleased to get a lot more info. Seems these books are going to be just one of three trilogies set in this universe. All three of the books are already out in England. They decided to do these wonderful complimentary covers for the US release and are releasing them one each month for 3 months. World's End was April, Darkest Hour will be in May, followed by Always Forever in June!! This is wonderful news for me because one of the things that drives me crazy is waiting for the next book in a series to come out. LOL! I think that is why I often wait till a couple of books are out in a series before I dive in.

Click here for a better look at all the covers, and an interview about the books, the covers, and how they all came about.

Oh, and just to wet your appetite for what's inside, here is part of the blurb from the back cover:

IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, HEROES ARISE!

A dragon firebombs a freeway. Shape-shifters stalk the commercial district. The deadly Wild Hunt wreaks havoc on the highway.
A pedal-to-the-floor, high-octane fantasy thriller that pitches magic and wonder into a pop culture mash-up of the modern world. Described as “One part Lord of the Rings, one part Illuminatus!, one part Arthurian romance, one part Harry Potter—100 % original!”

For more info on the book, and author, and to read the rest of the blurb from the back of the book, click here.

Odd Things That Capture My Interest...

2009-04-30T00:46:00.001-04:00

I wanted to make a blog entry this evening, but I was staring at a blank screen and the little blinking curser and I couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say. First I thought I would tell the story of my trip to the DMV today, but it actually wasn't unpleasant, and my friend Rebecca had a much better story about her visit today over at her blog. Then I thought I would write about what the Hubs and I did on his day off yesterday (and today), but we really didn't do much and my big purchase of the day yesterday was Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi which was finally out in paperback... but, I haven't read it yet and just buying it wasn't really all that exciting......

Now What? AHA! I know! I'll fall back on the bookmarks in Firefox in the little folder called... Wait for it.... Possible Blog Entries. Yeah, I'm kind of boring like that. Sigh! So, What have I thrown in there recently. Hmmmm...

You can Go Here and enter your name and it will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011! I'm such a geek, I did this one. It would be a great way to get the kiddos interested in the space program. After you enter your name, be sure to look around. There are a lot of cool things. Like being able to talk to the virtual Dr C. about Mars. You type in the questions and he answers them. Yes, I am a space geek. This was neat, and would be a great jumping off place for a study of the universe, the space program, or anything else you or your children might be interested in. It's part of the Nasa main site.

This link just amuses me. Dog Tags with the location of Earth on them.... just in case the little green - uh, I mean gray guys -stop by, pick you up, and accidentally drop you on the wrong planet. These dog tags will be all you need for some one (or thing) to be able to locate Earth and hopefully drop you back off here. A real bargain at $12.99 + 2.50 shipping and packaging. The perfect insurance against being left wandering around the universe like Arthur Dent......

O.k.... How about one more.... Tweenbots. How cute is that name? What is a Tweenbot?

Tweenbots are human-dependent robots that navigate the city with the help of pedestrians they encounter. Rolling at a constant speed, in a straight line, Tweenbots have a destination displayed on a flag, and rely on people they meet to read this flag and to aim them in the right direction to reach their goal.

Go to the link and see how some friendly New Yorkers help the little robots get to their destination. In the creators own words:

Given their extreme vulnerability, the vastness of city space, the dangers posed by traffic, suspicion of terrorism, and the possibility that no one would be interested in helping a lost little robot, I initially conceived the Tweenbots as disposable creatures which were more likely to struggle and die in the city than to reach their destination.

The results were unexpected. Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the Tweenbots were successful in rolling from their start point to their far-away destination assisted only by strangers.

Pretty Cool, Huh? People can be kind and helpful, even in New York and even when they can't expect anything in return. Gives you hope for the human race!

There you go, three links to odd things. Just goes to show you some of the really weird things that I find amusing/interesting. Hope you enjoyed them!

Bookstores - Dinosaurs or Here to stay?

2009-04-26T23:42:00.001-04:00

It seems that many people fear for the continuing existence of bookstores. Over the last few months I have read about the struggle many bookstores are facing, and in fact, know of two local stores that are no longer in business. I was shocked when I dropped in the mall a couple of weeks back and realized that there was no longer a bookstore there. I remember when there would always be one, if not two, bookstores in any mall.

Why the closings? When the question is asked, many talk about the economy, disposable income, and online bookstores as some of the problems faced by today's book retailers. One problem is online stores have less overhead, can stock more titles without worrying about shelf space, they don't charge taxes, and many are now offering services such as no shipping fees. In order to stay in business bookstores are feeling a need to compete.

What got me to thinking about this? This article about a bookstore in England that thinks it has found a way to compete... at least with the problem of out of print or sold out books. They have installed a machine that prints out a book for you, cover and all, in the time it takes to brew a cappuccino! The techno geek in me was fascinated by this attempt to be competitive.

While the techno geek in me was going WOW!, the part of me who loves books wasn't so sure. See, I don't buy my books from online stores, and still trek down to the local bookstores on a regular basis. I may read about and decide I want a book based on recommendations, both online and from friends in the solid world, but I still go to the bookstore to buy it. Why? Because half the fun of going to buy new books is the experience of wandering thru the store and coming across a book that you might not have discovered if it hadn't caught your eye. Checking out the Just Arrived Shelves, wandering in the sections for other genres than the ones you normally read, picking up a book that the title or cover has caught your attention and opening it up and reading a little to see if it catches your interest... I've discovered many the treasure in an author or book that I wouldn't have ever found if I was just shopping online.

Would I still read/buy books if I could only order them? Yes. Would I miss being surrounded by books and wandering around amidst them to see if I might find a hidden jewel? Oh Yes! I don't see Bookstores being replaced, but I do see them changing to reflect new technology. A machine than can print off a book not in stock on demand, a place to download an e-book to your reader instead of buying a hardcopy, having people working in your store that love books and are ready to recommend something you might like? Definitely. But, not to have the opportunity to pick up, touch, and see books... I think that the world would be a little less bright if that happened.

Opinions? Thoughts? Do you order all of your books online? Do you go to the local bookstore? A little of each? While I have no problem buying a book online, I would not be happy if that was my only choice.

Quest the First --Book 2

2009-04-25T22:04:00.001-04:00

For my second book -- New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

This is the second book in the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. I was late coming to this series, but since I enjoyed the first book, was looking forward to dipping back into this world. In the first book, there were hints that the local Indian tribe knew about Vampires in general and Edward's family in particular. In this book, due to circumstances that cause a separation of Bella from Edward, we get to discover more about the why and how of this knowledge.

This book is mostly about Jacob and Bella, and the growing friendship between them. I liked the character of Jacob that we met briefly in Twilight and enjoyed learning more about him. With Jacob we now have the third leg in what is to become a triangle.

Mild spoilers alert:

Edward left Bella to protect her, but she seems to be a magnet for the supernatural. First there is Jacob and the newly forming Werewolf pack, followed by the return of a the female vampire from the first book... who's reason for reappearing is to seek her revenge against Bella for the death of her mate in Twilight! After Bella commits what appears to be suicide, Alice returns. With the help of Alice, Bella travels to Italy and an encounter with the Volturi, the reining 'royals' of the vampire world, to save Edward.

All in all this was an enjoyable romp in a well thought out world. There were enough twists and turns to keep you interested and reading right along. I look forward to the third book to be released in paperback.

Want to join in the Once Upon a Time III Chalenge, stop in over at Stainless Steel Droppings and you too can play along!

One Project Finished... Another Started!

2009-04-04T00:53:00.001-04:00

First, the finished project:

I completed this afghan a little over a week ago, and it has already found a wonderful new home. This was a 'scrap' afghan made out of some yarn I had left over from some project I had abandoned (or maybe never started). The blue, burgundy, and off-white were in my stash. I added the green because I thought it need an additional color. I was really pleased with the end result, especially since a couple of people (read the hubs and my friend who has claimed the afghan) didn't think the colors were going to go well together. Both of them were surprised and delighted with the finished project.

Here are a couple of more shots that give you a better look at the pattern and the colors:

This is a great pattern to work with in the summer. Because it is done in strips, it is very portable. The strips are also cooler to work on since you don't end up with the whole afghan sitting across your lap making your legs sweaty.. well, except for when you are putting all of the strips together! It is also a simple pattern that doesn't require carrying around a pattern.

I've already started a new project to keep my hands busy. It is going to be the same basic pattern, but with a really soft yarn called Simply Soft Eco. It is a yarn put out by Caron that is partly made out of..... recycled water bottles! Really! I feel so.... Green! I chose to use 4 colors and soft white for this project.

The four colors will be the centers and the soft white will be the accent/connecting color. I thought they would make a very bright 'springy' colored afghan. What are you all doing to stay busy this summer?

Book The First

2009-03-26T23:09:00.001-04:00

Quest the First, Book 1! Club Dead by Charlaine Harris.

I actually finished Club Dead on Monday, but we had a lot of running around to do on Tuesday and Wednesday, so this is my first chance to give a quick review. In fact, I'm well on my way to reading my second book for the Quest!

I liked this book, and I like this series. This series has been around for a while, but the idea of a southern vampires just didn't do anything for me... and for some reason the name Sookie made me even more sure I didn't want to read this. LOL! Still, after HBO picked it up for a series and I kept seeing good reviews of the different books in the series, I decided to at least give the first book a try, and to my surprise, I really liked it.

Club Dead is the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (or the Southern Vampire Mysteries as they are also called), and I find myself more interested in the characters as the series progresses. Charlaine Harris has taken a barmaid in the deep south and given her a 'gift' and then added a mixed bag of supernaturals for Sookie to stumble across and pal around with. One of the advantages of coming to a series late is that I don't have to wait months or years for the next book in the series to become available. There are currently 9 published books in the series and this is only number 3. Woo Hoo!

Club Dead finds Sookie facing life without her Vampire boyfriend Bill. After being a little cold to Sookie, Bill turns up missing. Seems he has an old flame who may not be the nicest person in the world. Bill's Boss Eric asks for Sookie's help locating Bill using her 'gift' of being able to read 'normal' humans minds. With the help of some otherworldly friends, a little luck, meeting some Vampire 'royalty', and maybe an Elvis sighting or two, Sookie locates Bill. But, should she rescue him or sharpen up a stake for him herself? You'll have to read this to find out.

As I stated earlier, I really liked this book and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a fun read. It works as a stand-alone book, but it is better if read as part of the series. While you would understand the story without any other background, knowing the players and their history together makes it an even more enjoyable read. The first two books in the series are Dead until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas. If you decide to try this series, I also enjoyed both of them as well.

If you want to join in the Challenge, pop over to Stainless Steel Droppings to see how it all works. Come on, join us, you know you want to!

A Challenge

2009-03-22T23:08:00.001-04:00

To my chagrin I have to admit that I have always had a problem being a consistent blogger. Some people post a couple times a day or several times a week, but it always seems that if/when I get on a good blogging roll, real life would jump up and pop me up the side of the head. All of last year would be a good example of this phenomenon. Still, I love my little slice of cyberspace and, with the return of warm weather to my world, I find myself looking around here and thinking about dusting off the (figurative) debris and seeing if I can be a little more consistent this year.

One of the things I would like to do is to participate more in some of the things happening around and about the blogging sphere. Last year I enjoyed reading everyone's posts about the Once Upon a Time II Challenge. Most of my reading is Sci-fi/Fantasy, and I found a lot of books that I added to my TBR pile from last years challenge reviews. This year I want to join in and play along!

Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings offers up the Once Upon a Time III Challenge. This challenge will include reading books from the categories of fantasy, fairy tale, folklore, and mythology. And, it just so happens that I have been reading and have in my TBR pile several books that fit neatly into these categories. I plan to participate in:

In Carl's words:

This is really as simple as the name implies. It means you are participating, but not committing yourself to any specific number of books. All reading is a journey, perhaps none more so than reading fantastical fiction. By signing up for The Journey you are agreeing to at least read one book within one of the four categories during March 21st to June 20th period. Just one book. If you choose to read more, fantastic! If not, then we have still had the pleasure of your company during this three month reading journey and hopefully you have read a great book, met some interesting people, and enjoyed the various activities that occur during the challenge. It has always been of utmost importance to me that the challenges that I host be all about experiencing enjoyable literature and sharing it with others. I want you to participate. Hence, The Journey.

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time III criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

I had just begun reading Club Dead by Charlaine Harris the day before I saw the challenge go up. Sitting on the sidelines I have New Moon by Stephanie Meyer, and InkHeart by Cornelia Funke. I also noticed that the newest Dresden book has arrived at my local bookstore. I don't think finding 5 books in these categories to read will be a problem! I don't usually do book reviews here, but I think this will be fun, and I look forward to reading everyone else's reviews.

To join in the Challenge, stop over at Stainless Steel Droppings. To see a list of the reviews as they come in check out the dedicated Once Upon a Time III blog.

Come on, join in.... You know you want to.

Still Amused...

2009-02-28T21:12:00.001-05:00

Back in December I linked you to the story of Otto the Octopus. I was amused with his antics and offered up the story for your amusement.

Today I give you a new story of Octopus intelligence, curiosity, and mischievousness. This time it happened at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and involves their female two-spotted octopus.

Seems little missy was feeling in need of some excitement, so she created some. The story can be found here at National Geographic News. The Aquarium itself also released a press release about the incident, and you can see the CNN Video here. There is also an entry in the official aquarium blog. Oh, and one more link, this is a set of pictures on Flickr where you can see her a little better and appreciate just how pretty she is. They are copyrighted, so I am just linking to them. Enjoy!

These Ironworkers Rock!

2009-02-22T21:14:00.001-05:00

I saw this story on Neatorama and thought it was so cool I just had to share it with my friends here.

It seems that a bunch of Ironworkers in Boston are giving a special treat to children who are receiving treatment for cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The Ironworkers are erecting the new Yawkey Center for Cancer care just across the way from the Institute. The children write their names on pieces of paper and tape them to a window for the Ironworkers to see. They, in turn, paint the children's names in bright colors on beams which are then hoisted into place.

This is not the first time Ironworkers have done something like this. They also did it in 1996 when the Smith Research Labs were built.

It is a simple thing. But, for the youngsters who press their noses to the glass each day to watch as new names are added, it is a few moments of joy. Over the last month they have painted more than 100 names on the building, and they have even put a likeness of SpongeBob SquarePants on their crane.

"Look out the window," Souza said, as she held Kristen in her arms. "There's your name up there. There's your name, Kristen." The girl, bald from her treatments, smiled shyly.

It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber: Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

Read the entire story here.

Squeeeee!

2009-01-31T21:46:00.001-05:00

One of the earliest blogs I started reading, way back when we were all using AOL Journals as our platform, was Crochet With Dee.

I loved reading about all of the things Dee was up to. She was living the dream. This talented lady had taken her enthusiasm for her craft and managed to make money doing what she loved. Not only is Dee a registered teacher of crochet, but she designs her own patterns and has had them published!

She's also a really nice person who spends a considerable amount of her crochet time doing things for Charity. Every year she does her 60 scarves in 60 days challenge. She makes some really wonderful (and beautiful!) chemo hats that she donates to local hospitals. And, she always seems to be looking for people who can benefit from her big heart and talent.

When we made the crossing, she did also and today blogs at Crocheting With Dee.com where I still follow her.

I'll let Dee introduce herself in her own words:

Hi, I'm Dee Stanziano, crochet teacher, designer, enthusiast. Crochet is my passion, and because of this, many, like Gwen Blakely-Kinsler and Carolyn Christmas call me "The Crochet Cheerleader." I invite you to join me here, and at my website, where I share my passion for the art of crochet. :)

O.K.... now, why am I telling you all about Dee? Well, in addition to the fact that you should be following this nice ladies blog anyway, she was also kind enough to leave the following comment on my last entry.

CrochetWithDee said...

I love it! Your stitches look fantastic, and the color combo is awesome! Your friend will love this treasure! :)
~Dee

To have someone like Dee say that my stitches looked good... well... just Squeeeeeee! LOL!

Now, in reward for all of you who have waded thru this entry so I could squee, I offer up another pretty picture of a flower to remind you that, yes, Spring is on the way!

Finished!

2009-01-29T20:21:00.001-05:00

Look what I just finished. It's for a friend who really, really likes orange. I started it as a present for her 16th birthday and I'm only 4 months late getting it finished. LOL! Her whole bedroom is done up in oranges and pinks. Sounds like it would clash, but it is actually very pretty. Since the pretty (and bright neon!) orange thread I found for her afghan was a little too bright, I fell back on a favorite afghan pattern I have that uses 2 strands of yarn held together while you crochet. This way I could add a strand of heather colored yarn and tone that wonderful bright neon orange down a little bit. It came out pretty nice if I do say so myself. Now I just need to find a nice box for it so I can ship it to her in Canada.

I love this pattern. It works up fairly quickly using just a chain stitch and double crochets. It is a ripple afghan, but instead of the points you usually see in a ripple, it has a more scalloped effect. And, because you use two strands of yarn held together, you can do a lot of interesting things with color.

This picture shows you how it is scalloped at both top and bottom.

And this close-up gives you a feeling for the wonderful textured look you get with this pattern.

I like the softer look of the more rounded peaks and valleys of this pattern.

A Good Beginning

2009-01-20T13:52:00.001-05:00

G & I watched the Inauguration on TV. First on HLN and then on CNN. I had the computer on and was following Twitter feeds for #Inaug09 and #Inauguration in separate tabs on Firefox. Actually I was skimming them for content, you could NOT keep up with either stream. You would get thru one page and already there was over 1000 new Tweets waiting for you to refresh. I am still following both feeds and they are continuing to be updated. And, not just by people in the U.S. either!

When Mr. Obama stood up to be sworn in I quickly typed in my welcoming message and left it up in Twitter while I watched the swearing in. I actually liked that Mr. Obama seemed a little nervous as he took his oath. As he finished his oath I hit the Enter key to welcome my new President to the office. I then shut the lid on my laptop and focused on President Obama's first speech as our leader. I have to admit that I was NOT disappointed. As soon as he was finished speaking I looked at G, and said, "Wow!". I then opened my laptop to see what the rest of the world had to say.

Mostly people seem to be positive and looking forward to this new administration. I feel very optimistic myself. The President's Inaugural speech was fantastic. You can get a full transcript of the speech in several places online. There are a couple of 'cloud' pictures of his speech up online and I include two here. One at the top of this entry and one at the bottom.

Here's hoping that today's promise becomes tomorrow's reality.

MLK Day, The Inauguration, and a Flower Pic...

2009-01-19T19:15:00.001-05:00

People have been commenting in different venues today that it is somehow appropriate that Martin Luther King Day and the Inauguration fall together like they have. I guess that is so, but I think that every person has his own message and we should not try to lump one man's message with another's.

Martin Luther King's message was a wonderful one, and I always like hearing his I have a Dream speech. Often the fact that Mr. King's message was for -everyone- and not a certain group of people gets lost in the hype, and I find that sad. Mr. Obama (soon to be President Obama in a few more hours!) will also have a message. Let's hope that people will be open to hearing it, and realizing that his message too is for every U.S. citizen and not just for a some.

The Inauguration. Wow! This is going to be an Inauguration filled with firsts... and with history. I love that Mr. Obama is using the bible used by Lincoln at his inauguration. But, for some of the firsts: Mr. Obama's official portrait is the first to be taken with a Digital camera. There are going to be other firsts too, many having to do with how people get their information about the event. It will be all over the television and radio, of course, but there is also an official Twitter feed, stuff on You Tube, and a special Flickr photo group set up.

Personally I have the Twitter feed running and I plan to watch the actual Inauguration on TV. I heard someone today mentioning that they would like to have been one of the people lucky enough to be in DC tomorrow. But me, I think I would take a pass on that. Not only is it going to be incredibly crowded, and just getting around is sure to be insane, but it is also going to be just a little on the CHILLY side. I think I'll be much more comfortable in my living room. I won't have to worry about being cold, or not getting there on time, or not finding a good vantage point to watch from... or... yeah, the list goes on. Still, I do look forward to watching it all unfold in living color!

It will be a day of speeches, and spectacle and history... but the really important work will start on Wednesday. I'm hoping that fresh blood in the White House will start a turn around, but I'm also hoping people realize that we didn't get into this mess in just a short time and it will not all get fixed by next Friday.... or even by next year. I'm hoping they give our new leader a chance.

And now.... for anyone who slugged thru all of the boring stuff to the very end... I give you another pretty orchid picture.

It's Cold... Here, have a Picture!

2009-01-18T20:46:00.001-05:00

I almost hate to complain about the cold. I know, I know, 25° doesn't really seem that cold to most of you... especially those of you who have been dealing with the below 0° temps, but still, if you aren't used to it,.... It's COLD! LOL!

So, here. Have a couple of pictures I took last fall at the Orchid show. They are pretty and at least it's not pictures of snow or ice ;p

Slowly I Drift toward the Darkside

2009-01-17T16:15:00.001-05:00

First it was e-mail, then the Internet, blogs/journals, Pogo and flickr. Those bad habits led to an RSS reader (so you can keep up with even more stuff!) Kicking and screaming I ended up with a MySpace page. Now.... I've joined Twitter. Yes, I'm on of those Twitter people. And, I blame Scalzi! If it hadn't been for him allowing his CAT to twitter..... well, once I started following Ghlughee's feed, it led, predictably, to me following Scalzi's. then he did an @ to Wil Wheaton, so I added him. A few of the blogs I follow have Twitter feeds, so I've been adding them. But, I was in denial. I didn't Twit... I only read what others Twitted. It was kind of like being a lurker on a Blog. Then, one day you see something... and you reply to it. And, you are done. You have joined the masses. You Twitter. You add a Twitter client to Firefox so you can follow your Twits without having to actually go to Twitter.com, and you admit defeat. The Internet is actually sucking up all of your time and there is NOTHING you can do about it!

Next thing you know I'll have a FaceBook account. Yeah, we all know I'm headed there. I'm not even sure why I'm fighting it. LOL!

Is it Possible?

2009-01-07T01:16:00.001-05:00

Can you be Harry Pottered out?

Right before Thanksgiving I decided to revisit the Harry Potter Universe. I had a couple of reasons.... I had read the books as they were published and had seen all of the movies to date as they were released (and own them all on DVD and have viewed them all many times since!). The problem was the books stretched out over a pretty good stretch of time, and my memory isn't always the best. Oh, I knew I retained all of the main ideas from each book, and these main ideas were reinforced by each of the movies as they came out, but I also knew that there were subplots left out of the movies, and there were things that I didn't remember clearly as I made my way thru each new book. I also had plans to pick up the new Tales of Beedle the Bard. And, finally, with Christmas right around the corner this would keep me from buying any new books.... at least for a little while and still have plenty to read!

I went to my storage unit and dug out the first 5 books and pulled the last 2 out of my bookcase here. I was ready to start. Looking at the books, I remembered when I picked up the first one. I had been hearing about the Harry Potter books for a little while, but hadn't picked any of them up yet. I was at a bookstore buying something else, and as I stood at the checkout I noticed a a trade paperback version of the Sorcerer's Stone in a display sitting there. I shrugged and picked it up, figuring I would see what all the hoopla was about....

I didn't read it right away, after all I had the two books I had actually gone in to buy that I read first, but soon I picked it up and and opened it and began to read... I was quickly captivated by this world of witches and wizards and magic. Next trip to the bookstore I looked and found the next two books were also out in trade paperback format and I grabbed them. I quickly devoured these and wanted more. By a trick of timing it turned out that the next book (#4) came out in paperback just as I finished the third. From then on I was hooked and bought each book in hardback within a day of them reaching the bookstore. This is saying something... I rarely buy books in hardback. I usually wait for the less expensive and more portable paperback versions, but with these books I couldn't wait!

Still, as much as I liked them, I hadn't re-read any of them till now. I started with Year 1 a couple of days after Thanksgiving and read straight thru till I finished Year 7 this evening. I was right. There were many little things that I had forgotten, or not caught on my first read thru. Knowing how it would all end, I saw many early hints and little things that I had overlooked or missed. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the Month of December, and I finished it all up with the Tales of Beedle the Bard this evening. These books are definitely just as good the second time around... and I'm sure I will enjoy them again in the future.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was a quick read, but a fun one. It's only 107 pages and is comprised of 5 Wizarding Tales, much like our Fairy Tales. One of the stories, of course, plays an important part in The Deathly Hallows. It wouldn't be of any interest to anyone who wasn't already a fan of the Harry Potter Universe, but was a nice way to round out my Harry Potter Journey.

Now I am going to go to my TBR pile and pick up something not Harry Potter related to read! LOL!

Happy Fifth Birthday, Spirit!

2009-01-03T18:43:00.001-05:00

I'll bet you were wondering just who (or what) the heck Spirit is. LOL! Well, Spirit is the Mars Rover that landed on Mars five years ago today. Twenty-one days later Opportunity (a second rover) joined Spirit on Mars. It was hoped that these two rovers would last at least 3 months...... That was five years ago! Not that the two haven't had problems. Poor Spirit can only go backwards now, and Opportunity has a problem with one of his arms. They've also had a few power problems. Both rovers get their power from the sun using solar panels. Dust tends to cover up the panels causing a power shortage.

Still, all things considered, these two tough little rovers have definitely gone above and beyond. Want to get the whole story? Click Here for the BBC News article. And Here for some photos sent back by Spirit and Opportunity. Things like this just fascinate me.

And A New Year Begins...

2009-01-02T14:09:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we greeted a New Year, and many people made resolutions that they hope will make their lives better during the coming year. Of course, many things, such as the economy, are pretty much out of our control, but some things we can at least try to make better.

I don't usually make New Year's Resolutions, mainly because it is just setting myself up to fail. The first thing that happens when I feel I have to do something, even something that is good for me or that I should do, is that I have a perverse desire to not do that thing. Yeah, weird, I know. Still, looking back at the last year and forward to a new one always makes us aware of things we would like to change, do differently, or get rid of. So, instead of making resolutions, I decided to make suggestions to myself! LOL!

First and foremost, I want to spend more time with my camera this year. I really neglected taking pictures this last year. I don't even have a good explanation... I just was not inspired to grab my camera last year. I want to change that. Last year was just a blah year for me all around. I was busy... but I wasn't doing anything creative. I want this year to be different. I am hoping to make 2009 a year of being creative. Along with the above idea of getting excited about photography again, I want to do other things. More time with Photoshop, more time spent crocheting, knitting, working with pastels and chalks. Just overall whatever creative thing strikes me I want to pursue it this year. In addition, I want to continue to make plenty of time to read books, watch movies, and enjoy being with my family. If I can make all these things a little bit more of a priority this year, I think it will be one of the best years ever.

I think one of the best things about the beginning of the year -- heck, the beginning of anything -- is that things look so bright and hopeful and new and ... Shiny! LOL!

Have a Very Merry Merry!

2008-12-25T12:18:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to stop by and wish all of my online friends a very Merry Santa Day! I will be trying to get around to your Journals/blogs today to drop off a message... but, well, there is stuff to do, I know you all understand! LOL!

I spent part of last night with Norad's Santa Clause Tracker up in a tab of my firefox browser... occasionally checking to see where the man in red had gotten too. This has become an annual tradition for us. I would occasionally tell G that "Santa is in England", or "Santa is in Puerta Rico", and finally the all important "Santa has arrived at the Cape!" That would be Cape Canaveral for all of you non-Floridians. This is always the important one for us for a couple of reasons. One, it is usually Santa's first stop in the U.S.; two, it is usually Santa's first stop in our state; and three, it will usually have a video ;p

See below for the video of Santa visiting us in Florida!

I usually also keep my eye out for a couple of other favorite stops.... when Santa hits St. Louis (near my Grandson, Son and DIL), Kentucky for near my Mom, Grandmother and some other extended family, Texas because G's family is mostly there and finally, one of my favorites... Roswell! LOL!

I'm hoping that all of you are having a wonderful day full of family and cheer no matter which Winter Holiday you are celebrating!

Celebrations of Light and Hope

2008-12-21T18:37:00.001-05:00

It has become tradition that on Dec 21 I repost this entry from my first year of blogging. It originally appeared on my AOL Journal in 2004. This is the fifth year that I have 'reprinted' it. It still says what I want to remember about this time of year, so I am repeating it again this year. Some of the circumstances have changed... Our little family is one smaller with the passing of D.K. We have changed jobs and moved a couple of times. G and I are now married... Things change and yet some things remain the same. I hope you enjoy my annual Celebration of Light and Hope.


Today is the shortest day of the year... and the longest night. It is the first day of Winter. It is the celebration of Yule. It is an acknowledgement of Hope. That Light and Warmth and other good things will always return after the darkness. It is the day that G. and I celebrate as our personal Winter Holiday. In ancient times, this was the festival of the rebirth of the new god and a promise that after today the days would get longer, the nights would get shorter, and warmth and Spring WOULD come.

Yes, secularly we, like so many others, celebrate Christmas. In the United States, Christmas is no longer just a religious holiday. With the gift giving, and Santa, and the decorations... Christmas has become more, and less, than what was originally intended. Everyone takes the pieces and parts of the holiday that works for them. Some embrace the religious parts, and try to ignore how secular it has become... others embrace the secular with it's parties, lights, Santa, and presents and ignore any religious beginnings of the holiday. But, at it's heart, it is still a Winter Holiday.. A celebration of Hope. And every religion/belief system seems to have a celebration of some type that embraces this.

I grew up in the States, and therefore my memories of a Winter Holiday include all of the above. And Christmas itself is as much a melting pot as the United States itself. The Christmas tree is German, and Santa is the culmination of a blend of traditions from many countries. Mistletoe? Druid. Christmas Cards? England. You see what I mean. G. and I will be celebrating with my brother and his family on Christmas Eve at his house. That's the day we all have off together. Christmas Day G. is working so a co-worker can be home with his small children for the all important Santa Claus ritual <g>.

I think what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter who you are, or what your core beliefs are... There is a place in the Winter Holidays for all. But, please, take a moment this season, whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Chanukah, Yule, or Christmas, to remember that the REAL reason for all of these celebrations is to celebrate HOPE in all of its forms.


graphics by useless graphics

Tags: Christmas, Celebrations of Light &Hope, Yule

This Amuses Me...

2008-12-08T00:27:00.001-05:00

Go here and check out the story of Otto the octopus. It amuses me that they had to do a stake out of his enclosure to figure out how he was doing it. He also periodically rearranges his tank to better suit his taste. People often do not give creatures such as these enough credit. They are much more intelligent than most people think. I did find the website for the aquarium where Otto lives, but it wasn't in English, so I didn't link to it.

An Award.. For Me?

2008-12-01T23:49:00.001-05:00

I've seen this award making the rounds, and was shocked (and pleased!) when Melissa of Just Another Day in Paradise nominated me for it. There are rules and the rules are to link back to the person who nominated you, then pass the award on to 7 more deserving people. Hmmmm.. I'm never very good at the picking out of people, and a lot of the people I would nominate have already received this award... however, I will try to pick out 7 that you may not be reading!

My first pick is one a lot of you probably already read... if not, you should pop over and meet Dorn and the Oompas! Dorn juggles her husband, Dickidoo, several children still at home (affectionately called Oompas), her concern for her oldest son who is serving in the military and a job. If any blog is about real people Dustbunny Club of North America is one of them!

Over at Dock Lines Sam tells us about his life. He's always fascinated us with stories of the boats and activities at his job, and now we are looking forward to hearing about his newest adventure--his grandson. His grandson is living with Sam and his wife and they are enjoying seeing the world thru his eyes.

Coy at Dancing in the Rain always has something interesting to tell us about. She lives in a beautiful part of Florida and often gifts us with pictures of her scenic surroundings.

If you read Donna at Just Me, you shouldn't miss the adventures of her daughter Rachel and her family at Life 'n Stuff. Rachel works hard and loves her family. With 2 girls at home, a dog, a husband, and two boys out on their own Rachel usually has something to say.... and maybe a hotel picture or two!

Celeste of My Day and Thoughts has a small farm and a bunch of critters to help entertain us. She also has a granddaughter that she adores and loves to spend time with and a husband to keep life interesting.

Kathy at Flamingo Feathers has a very full life, but still finds time to let us share it. One of the brightest spots in her blog is her daughter Emily. Any entry about Emily is sure to be one that will brighten your day.

Kas of Hestia Homeschool is one of my favorite bloggers. She and her family have a wide variety of critters AND they do some wildlife rehab which is always interesting. Kas and her family recently got a new place with a lot more land recently... this is great for them, but not so good for those of us who follow their adventures. Kas has been having a little bit of trouble with connection issues so we haven't heard a lot lately, but I hope that this will soon be fixed!

I was right, this was really hard... there are still a bunch more people I think deserve this award--basically everyone over there on my sidebar in the ever growing list of blogs that I follow!

Happy Turkey Day!

2008-11-26T23:59:00.001-05:00

Here at our house we have so many things to be thankful this year... as we do every year. From our House to Yours, I would like to wish you all a very Happy Turkey Day.

**And for those of you not living in the U.S.... I hope you also have many things to be thankful for!

A Better Way to Write a Blog Post

2008-11-22T22:30:00.001-05:00

The above is a screen shot of one of my favorite programs for doing blog posts. Live Writer is a free program that you can download. Why use an offline Blog Post Editor? One reason is avoiding that annoying thing the editor online at Blogger does where what you see isn't necessarily what you get when you hit publish. Live Writer allows you to see exactly how your blog post will look when it is published. This way you are sure that your pictures are in the right spot and things are spaced as you want before you hit publish.

Another advantage is the way you insert pictures. You are given option#1 of inserting the picture from your computer (and having it uploaded to Picasa) , or choosing option #2 to insert the url of your graphic from some other service where you have uploaded the picture to... all without going into html.

Option#1 Option#2

Once a picture is uploaded, you are also given some pretty good options for things like changing the size of the picture. You are offered small/med/large... but you are also offered the choice of the original size it was uploaded at or even to choose the height and width that you choose with the ratio locked.

One more advantage? It's an offline editor... Your post is on your computer till you hit publish, so if something happens on the way to posting you don't lose all of your hard work!

There are a lot of other features, but I will save them for another time... or if anyone is interested enough to ask LOL! Oh, and I am not in anyway associated with this program, I just like it!

A Perfect Story for a Veteran's Day...

2008-11-11T09:11:00.001-05:00

I was just over at My Day My Interest Photoblog. Betty has a wonderful story on her blog today, perfect for this Veteran's Day. I don't know if it is true, but I really, really hope it is.

Go Here to read this touching story, and try to keep a tear from forming in your eye.

Veteran's Day 2008

2008-11-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

It is the Soldier
Father Dennis Edward O'Brien
It is the Soldier,
not the reporter, who has given us freedom of press.
It is the Soldier,
not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier,
not the campus organizer, who gives us freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Soldier
who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.

posters courtesy of U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs

Saturday Six - Episode 239

2008-11-08T10:59:00.001-05:00

This is a first for me... I have never done a Saturday Six, but I have a lot of blogging friends who do. Patrick always seems to come up with great questions, I just never have participated. I think this weeks set of questions spoke to me because I spent the last several months tutoring my friends daughter who is home schooled, and I miss doing it since they moved up north.

1. If you had to fill in as a substitute teacher at a local middle school, what subject would you be most comfortable teaching?

Math! This was a no brainer. Math is my favorite subject, and I like it because there is no question about the final answer. This is the question, and this is the answer! Not always true of other subjects LOL!

2. When you were in school, what was a better indication of your true understanding of what you were learning: class participation, the accuracy of your homework, or your test scores?

I think that if a child is participating in the class room and seems to be understanding the matter at hand, then that is the best indicator. After all, the homework could be done with the help of a parent (although not mine, my mother was always "Do it yourself or it has no value")... and as for tests?? How many of us crammed a bunch of stuff into our heads the night before (or even an hour before ;0 ) a test only to forget it the moment we put our pencils down and didn't need the information??

3. You meet someone for the first time and have a brief conversation with them. If you run into them the next afternoon, how likely are you to remember their name?

Nope! I'm lucky to remember my own name. This is a running joke in our house because G remembers everyone's name after only a casual introduction. Me, not so much. Names are always hard for me... on the other hand if they were in the company of a pet, that name I will remember. Often I speak of someone as "Rex's Mom" or "Muffin's Daddy" LOL!

4. Take the quiz: Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

There Are 1 Gaps in Your Knowledge

Where you have gaps in your knowledge:

Art

Where you don't have gaps in your knowledge:

Philosophy
Religion
Economics
Literature
History
Science

Do You Have Gaps in Your Knowledge?

5. If you had “gaps” in your knowledge, did you expect to have them where they were predicted? If you had none, which of the listed subjects would be the ones you’d most expect gaps to be?

Hmmm... Art was my deficiency... Actually I'm surprised that it wasn't History LOL! G is a big history buff and it always annoys him that while I have a general knowledge of when things happened and why, I can't remember which person did what to whom with the correct date. It was the music question... I wasn't sure if it was Beethovan or Mozart who was deaf.... guess it was Beethovan ;p

6. If you could go back to school for one semester free of charge and “try again” with any subject, which one would you choose and why?

If I could go to school for one semester I would choose to study Graphic Arts... not that it is a 'try again', but that it is what fascinates me. If I was going back to do a subject I didn't do well in... then I would have to choose History for the reason listed in the answer to #5

This was fun... maybe I'll have to do one of these again in the future. If you want to play, be sure to go over to Patrick's and check it out.

Answer To The All Hollow's Eve Puzzle

2008-11-04T23:58:00.001-05:00

The short answer to the Halloween Puzzle is.... after 8 years together, G. and I got married.

The long answer is: The 2 gold circlets were our rings. The braided cord was for the handfasting part of the ceremony. Each of the colors of the braided cord stand for something: Red is for passion/love, white for purity, and green for prosperity. I braided the cord myself. The broom was for jumping over at the end of the ceremony. The chocolates and strawberries for our first 'meal' as a married couple.

The ceremony was held at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens under a beautiful oak tree. The tree is even called "The Wedding Oak" and it's the reason we chose to be married there. The day was beautiful. Sunshiny, low 70's, and just enough puffy clouds in the sky to make it pretty.

There are no pictures since it was just us, the Reverend, and 2 witnesses... and I was participating in the ceremony and too busy to take pictures <g>. However, we do plan to go back and have some nice pictures taken at some point. Many of the flower pictures you see here, including today's, are from the gardens. It is a favorite destination of ours... especially since they are very dog friendly and Morgan loves to accompany us there.

The Adventure Continues

2008-11-02T21:38:00.002-05:00

In my last post about my big adventure I let you all know our final destination: The Big E in Springfield, MA. We had arrived safely and had a few days before the kickoff. This turned out to be a good thing because due to circumstances (weather, delivery schedules, trouble finding certain products) I got to strip and re-bed our 10 stalls 3 times LOL! Quite the work-out. Between that, the crazy schedule of shows, and stripping and repacking everything at the end, I managed to lose 10 pounds without even trying. Combined with the weight I had lost during the spring and fall of this year helping with the training and general upkeep of the horses, my weight is now back to what I consider a good one!

We were very happy to wake the morning after our arrival to sunshine. After all the rain on our trip, the sun was a very welcome sight. We got ourselves set-up for the next couple of weeks and spent some time seeing who else we new as they arrived. It wasn't surprising that we knew some of the people because we were there for Sylvia and the horses to perform with The Big E Super Circus and this was not the first time Sylvia had performed in this venue. The picture they use on this link is one of the ones I took of Sylvia earlier this Spring... I felt sort of famous. It was fun seeing old friends and making some new ones.

In answer to some of the questions in the comments of the last Adventure entry.... The horse hauler will haul 12 horses, but we were hauling only 10. Yes, there is an area in the front for a person to sleep, and actually that is where I was bunking during the trip and the show.

For anyone interested in what the horses do in the act, here are links to two videos of Sylvia and the Horses. It's in two parts, but is actually just the one act. I had to split it because of the length of video was too big for You Tube.

Hope you enjoy the horses!

An All Hollow's Eve Puzzle!

2008-11-01T00:28:00.001-04:00

G. and I did something special for Samhain (Halloween) this year. It involved the use of a very long braided cord made from 3 colors of cord: Red, white and green. We also had 2 gold circlets, a new broom, chocolates and strawberries. Can anyone guess what we did??

Happy Halloween All! I hope that if you have little ghosts and goblins that they got all the candy they could desire... and that they shared the little candy bars with you. If you don't have little ones, I hope that you got to enjoy the sight of other peoples little ones all dressed up. Unfortunately, I live waaaaay out in the country, so we don't get little Trick or Treaters. I have to go to town to the Halloween Candy Walk downtown if I want to enjoy them. LOL!

And for stopping by my little corner of cyberspace on your Trick or Treat rounds, I have a little Halloween treat for you: Go here and check out Cat Bowling.....

My Newest Toy

2008-10-27T23:43:00.001-04:00

If you remember from this post, I mentioned putting my laptop into the shop the day after I got back home from the Big E.

A few days after dropping my poor baby off, I called the box store I use for computer repairs (and incidentally purchases) and asked for an update. The person I spoke to was a little evasive, but repeated the standard spiel of 10 days to 2 week turnaround. On day 10, not having heard anything else, I again contacted the techs. This time I was told there was an 'issue' and that paper work had been sent from HP for a replacement to be given to me because of problems either with getting the part, or that there was more to the hardware problem than just the DVD drive--no one seemed sure which. I always insure my laptops for the full 3 years against both damage and repair problems for just this reason. I asked when I would know for sure and was told that it would be resolved sometime between Tuesday and Thursday of the following week. Why not immediately? Well, there was still a chance HP would change their mind/get the correct part and I would get my laptop back..... Hmmmph! I don't think they were actually out of DVD drives. That's a popular model of laptop and just barely over a year old, so obviously there was more wrong and they figured it would cost more to fix the computer than to replace it. Still, there was nothing I could do until the paperwork went somewhere.

On Tuesday I happened to be an the Big Box Store for something else and approached the techs. Now, remember I had called 3 times during the last 14 days and physically visited the store and talked to a tech once. When I gave the guy my repair slip he looked at my repair order on the computer at his station, looked at me, and then asked me to wait a second. Now, officially they could make me wait until Thursday for the final decision, but instead the very nice tech spoke with his supervisor and came back to tell me that they would be replacing my laptop. Although it was nice that I would be getting something brand spanking new, I had reservations because I had been avoiding Vista, I liked my old laptop, and I had everything set up just the way I liked it!!

With just a little trepidation in my heart, I followed the tech over to the computer department where he handed me over to a really nice guy who began the process of helping me find my replacement.

For anyone who hasn't gone thru this, here is how it goes: They pull up the specs of your old computer (and if it is more than a few months old, everything on the floor is now faster and better LOL!) and figure out which model they will offer you as a replacement. I then made it clear that the feature I was most concerned about was my 17" screen. I did this last time to. I do this because usually the 17" screen models are the higher end of most manufacturers lines, and since I edit pictures the larger screen makes it easier to work..... Now he looks and finds the comparable model and shows it to you. This establishes the price they are going to give you. You then have the option of taking what they offer you, or picking out something else and they subtract the cost of the computer they offered you.

Luckily, having been forearmed and forewarned with the news they were probably going to replace my laptop, I had done my homework and new the model I wanted. Long story short, I only had to pay $500 for a $1300 laptop (that happened to be on sale this week $100 off). I then added virus/firewall software (for a 64bit machine--there are still only a few companies making it) which was regularly $79, but on sale for $49, a new all in one Epson printer that was $99, but because I bought it along with a computer instantly marked down to $49 because of an ongoing promotion for bundling computers and printers this week, and then, because I was feeling lazy and they had a special on, I had the Geeks optimize my laptop, make the recovery disks, and dump all the crapware for a total of $59(also on special). I also added 3 years of extended warranty covering accident and repair....Grand Total with tax: $2105.21.... Of which, after they subtracted the amount for my replacement and all of the other sales prices, I only had to pay: $1073.08. Oh, and I have one of their frequent buyer cards where you get the gift certificates every time your purchases add up to a certain amount.... and the guy swiped that card before he took off the amount for replacing the computer. So, I should be getting about $100 in gift certificates in the mail soon!! Not too bad and almost makes up for the annoyance of having to find and reload everything onto the new machine.

This sweetheart has an Intel core 2 duo chip, 4g of Ram, 512mg of -dedicated- video ram, a 320g harddrive, a 17" screen that has a screen resolution of 1680 X 1050, and Vista Home Premium 64bit (which you need if your Ram goes over 3G), a built in webcam (I've never had a webcam LOL) This baby HUMS! Oh.... and Vista?? I actually LIKE it so far!

It's taken a few days, but I finally have everything about the way I like it. There are a few things in Vista I had to hunt a little bit for, but mostly it was pretty intuitive.

AND, it's Shiny!

The Adventure Begins.... early!

2008-10-26T22:14:00.002-04:00

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis know that I have spent the last couple of years taking care of some horses for a very good friend. I had some retired horses, a couple almost ready to be trained, and a couple of 'babies'. I spent this last spring and summer helping her get 2 of these horses ready to perform. The event we would be attending would be there debut. We had a plan of action, the horses were ready, and we were all set. But, as usual, the best laid plans are usually the ones who go awry!!

This event was quite a distance away (approx 1200 miles), and we needed to arrive there around the 9th of Sept. The event would run from the 12th till the 27th. The plan was to leave on Saturday, giving us 4 days to get to our destination. Plenty of time. However a little thing called a hurricane interfered! It seemed that Hurricane Hanna had a different idea. Hanna had decided that traveling up the east coast looked like a lot of fun to her too. This forced our hand and we left 4 days early trying to stay ahead of the worst of the weather. Not a problem if you hadn't thought you had 4 more days to get all the things you needed together.

Somehow we all managed to get everything we, and the horses, needed together, packed and loaded into the vehicles we would be taking with us. This doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize that we are talking about 10 horses, 3 adult humans who would be staying at the event, and 1 adult who would be driving us and then leaving. We were also leaving 3 horses here at home with my boyfriend, G, and we needed to leave all the food, hay, etc he would need for the period until I returned home.

Yep, things got hectic! And the trip that followed our late night leaving on Sept 4 wouldn't be a picnic either. Although we were running ahead of the main storm, we still had to deal with a lot of rain, wind, bad visibility.... yep, it was not a good time. Think about any long trip you've made in bad weather, and then add in having to take care of the needs of ten horses on the mix. They didn't care that we were getting soaked, they still wanted us to provide food and water whenever we stopped.

Still we arrived safely at our destination...... but the storm arrived with us and we ended up soaked to the skin by the time we got everything ready for the horses and then got them unloaded from their transport and bedded down for the night. Luckily that seemed to be the last of the storm and we would wake to sunshine the next morning.

The next day we spent getting ourselves set up, finding our way around, seeing who else was attending, and watching in amazement as the fair went up around us. Yep, the event I'm talking about was none other than the Big E. The largest fair in the northeast. Since we were a few days early we would have a chance to get oriented before the fair actually kicked off.

I have very few pictures of the trip/event. It poured most of the trip up there, and once there I was usually too busy to run and grab the camera! The picture of S.'s horse hauler at the top of this entry is one I had already in my collection . It's an 'air ride' vehicle and travels much smoother than a lot of horse trailers you see. I know I have a picture of the hauler hooked up to a tractor somewhere, but I unexpectedly had my laptop replaced, and I can't seem to find it at the moment. LOL!

To be continued......

Public Service Announcement

2008-10-10T10:25:00.002-04:00

We interrupt this blog for the following Public Service Announcement....

I know that some of the people who are moving their journals over here from AOL may not be the most tech savvy group of people.... and some, like me, may just be having a hardware problem. I have a tip coming up.

One of my problems with AOL pulling the plug on Journals and Hometown at just this minute was this; having returned from my trip/adventure the first thing I did was put my laptop into the shop to have the DVD drive fixed. The drive had been acting up for a while, but I had nursed it thru going on this trip because it was going to be the only entertainment I had. Read that as I took a bunch of DVDs with me to watch cause I had NO television, no radio, no internet. Sigh!

Normally being without my laptop for a short period isn't too bad. I can use G's laptop to check e-mail and blogs, and I just put off everything else till I have my baby back. G has the bare essentials on this machine. It is old. It only has 128mb of Ram and a 20 gig harddrive and USB 1.0. He only uses it for surfing the web and e-mail. I do NOT have all of my usual resources. I needed a solution of where to download my FTP stuff. Even plugging my external harddrive into this machine is an interesting proposition. I needed some other way to take care of Hometown....

My solution?? Photobucket! They offer a free and a paid account. The free account is fine for what I'm going to explain. I had decided to get a photobucket account anyway to upload my animated content to due to the problem that Flickr doesn't support animations. After signing up for the account I was thrilled to discover that you can move pictures using the picture/graphics urls twenty at a time.

So, here's what you do if you want to move your FTP Hometown things without downloading and re-uploading them and using only a web browser:

Open up Hometown in one tab and Photobucket in another. I reccommend using Firefox. Sign into both AOL and Photobucket. Do not use the AOL client software... you need to be on the internet and in a browser for this to work. If you don't have Firefox, IE 7 or above should work.
About halfway down the Hometown page you should see AOL Hometown: File Manager. Click on that and you will be taken to the file manager. From here you should see your files that you have stored on AOL FTP.
Right click on the file that you wish to move from Hometown to Photobucket and choose Copy Link Location from the drop down box
Now move to the photobucket tab and choose the Web URL option. It will give you 3 spots to paste your url link into, but if you look farther down you will see where it says add more. Click on add more and it increases to 20 spaces.
Click on the space and using ctrl-v (or right click and use paste), this will put a copy of the link to your picture/graphic from Hometown into the space
Repeat steps 2 - 4 till you have the pictures/graphics you want or you have filled all 20 spaces
Click the Upload button in Photobucket (Located under the url spaces)
Photobucket will now upload a copy of the photos/graphics.
Repeat till you have moved all of the files you want to Photobucket.

Not an elegent solution, I admit. But a workable one if you don't understand how to use FTP programs, or don't have access to anything but a web browser!! I only had around 250 files (less than 10mb) in Hometown, so this was a viable solution for me.

Any questions... feel free to ask and I'll try to help.

Goodbye AOL

2008-10-08T22:38:00.002-04:00

Goodbye AOL and thanks for the encouragement to move on and use better tools!

Just a quick note to anyone who hasn't moved their AOL Journal. I just did it and it went seamlessly. Seems that AOL actually did something right.... more likely someone over at Blogger, but let's give AOL the benefit of the doubt...

I put one last entry up over on my AOL Journal and plan to leave it up till the final day so people will be able to find my 'forwarding address'.

I named my imported blog Adventures of an Eclectic Mind - The 1st and don't plan to post over there. I am going to continue to post here and leave that blog as a collection of memories from the AOL years. I did put up one entry over there explaining what the blog was, what AOL did, and directing people here...... An era ends and a new one begins

The Deathrows of AOL Journals....

2008-10-03T01:19:00.001-04:00

Yes, yes, yes... I know I promised stories from my great adventure, but I seem to have returned to find something of a disaster happening in J-land. It seems that AOL has decided that the Journal product, along with all of the Hometown stuff, is to be discontinued. In other words they are kicking us out. I can't say that this is totally unexpected. I have been pessimistically mirroring all of my entries on a Blogger Blog for a long time now, every since the Banner fiasco. After the way AOL handled that, I wasn't sure I trusted them to stick around and support the Journals product. It seems that unfortunately my paranoia was not so unfounded after all.

At first glance this seemed to be a pain, but I have been playing around with moving away from AOL for a while now and this is just the push I needed. I tend to go with the established (read easy) path unless pushed. With Journals and FTP space gone -- and I am sure AOL Pictures soon to follow-- the only thing left that I really use on AOL is my e-mail account. I will probably continue to always have that e-mail addy as long as AOL continues to support e-mail because it is the one I've had since like 1995 and everyone has it, but I see it becoming the account I check like once every couple of weeks to be sure that nothing ended up there. Why? Because:

I have a g-mail account, which I plan to migrate all my e-mail traffic over to
Blogger will now be my main Blogging platform -- at least for now and until I decide to do the whole domain/host thingy -- again, I've always preferred the customization over at Blogger anyway
I have a free Flickr account, which I will take Pro tomorrow. It's a better platform than AOL Pictures anyway and the only reason I haven't been using it is just pure laziness of habit. Plus I have been wanting to do more with my pictures over at Flickr anyway and maybe this will be the push I need to do so
I was only using AOL FTP to host my animated graphics. I will now move those over to Photobucket
AOL alerts were always lousy, so I have a Bloglines account up and running and have been using it for years already. Now it is just a matter of getting everyone's new Blog accounts into Bloglines and deleting out the old AOL Journal ones
AND Live Writer is integrated with Blogger and it was always a pain having to copy and paste the entry into AOL anyway. With Blogger all I have to do is hit the publish button

So... I'm thinking maybe I should THANK AOL for being butts and kicking us out. My only fear is that some of the people I enjoy will either not continue to blog or I will miss finding where they have gone. Otherwise I think this may actually turn out to be a good move, at least for me.

If anyone who is making the move needs any help with getting their new Blogs set up, or have questions about Bloglines, Flickr, or Photobucket feel free to ask.

Another place to get help is here. Rachel has set up a bulletin board for people to help each other, ask questions, and post their forwarding links. You have to sign up for an account to post, but it is free.

This will most likely be my last post that I 'mirror' over at AOL Journals. From now on I will only be posting here. I will put one last entry up over at J-land directing all my friends over to my Blogger Blog. Eh, and an era ends.

I've Been on an Adventure!

2008-10-01T07:55:00.001-04:00

I've been on an Adventure! I am currently sitting in an airport waiting for my flight home. I was told I would have internet access during this little foray, but this turned out to be not exactly true. Turns out that this is the first time I have been online since Sept 11. Details to follow as soon as I get home and get a little caught up.... by the way, I have 4572 entries waiting my attention on Bloglines and 1840 e-mails.

What a Girl Needs... & other Random things!

2008-08-03T22:24:00.001-04:00

That's a title from a really cute movie, but this post is from a meme that I saw over at Donna's. I don't usually do these, but it was cute, so........... Here goes:

The rules: All you have to do is Google your first name with the word needs behind it and post the first 10 results. Don't forget to tag people (if you are the tagging sort)!

1. Jeanie needs more support to accomplish day-to-day tasks. (Like maybe making timely blog posts?? Maybe someone could do my laundry while I play on the computer? LOL!)

2. Jeanie needs more constant attention. (Well... duh!)

3. Jeanie needs a hug. (hmmmm... don't we all??)

4. Jeanie needs a Shooter. (well... alrighty then! and here I don't even hang out at bars and still this one kept showing up... maybe I DO need a Shooter!)

5. Jeanie needs to bother her parents. (Since I'm 48, I think I can skip bothering my Mom about most things...)

6. Jeanie needs a vacation. (Hell Yeah!)

7. Jeanie needs: MicroSoft Framework 1.1 or higher. (I'm a tech geek, but I think I can pass on this one.)

8. Jeanie needs to establish dominance and take responsibility for it. (Dominance... Like World Dominance maybe? I can do that... bwahahahaha!)

9. Jeanie needs her own show. (Eh.. not so much.)

10. Jeanie needs help and an hour to get ready for a date. (If I'm getting ready for a date I definitely need help.. and probably more than an hour. LOL!)

O.k.... that was... interesting. I'm with Donna on the tagging thing, so if this looks interesting.. Consider yourself tagged!!

Now for the random bits. I have a bunch of pictures I need to work on, a new program to work on them in that I need to learn all the new parts of. In addition, I have plenty of housework I could be doing, and I have an afghan that is a present I should be finishing... and yet, what am I actually doing?

Well....

Have any of you seen the advertisement for Spore? It's a new game that is coming out where you create your own characters and then follow them thru evolution from little cells to space travelers. Anyway, they released the creature creator early and it is very addictive. Here are the creatures I have so far, and I am sure there will be more! Check out some of the absolutely amazing creations by some of the other people who are playing with this adult version of tinker toys!

There are two versions of Creature Creator. One is free and you can download it from the site and play with it. It has 25% of the parts and you can upload your creatures. The other version (the one I have) is the full version and costs $10 and gives you access to 100% of the parts and you can also upload your creations. Just be warned, you can spend a LOT of time playing with this!

The other thing I have been up to is also fun, but not the same type of fun. My Grandson recently had his 6th birthday and I bought him a Webkinz. His is a little monkey and he named it Banana. Isn't that cute? I also got one for myself so that we could play games and talk on the Webkinz site. Mine is a Bengal tiger and I named him Rajah. Now, this is a great kids site and is actually set up very well for keeping kids safe from what I've seen so far.... Currently I have bought furniture for my little Rajah, and clothes, and I cook him food, and he has a scooter, and a swimming pool and we bought seeds so we could garden and an outdoor yard.... Yeah, I think I've spent more time online with my webkinz than my grandson has! LOL!

I sometimes amaze myself with the silly things I find that amuse me, still I have to say I am rarely bored! LOL!

Suddenly the Interweebs make sense...

2008-07-27T23:29:00.001-04:00

Did you ever wonder why the Internet was created? Why people keep blogs and now exactly what they twitter about? This guy seems to have figured it all out. It's so obvious to me now...... LOL!

Everyone Loves a Baby

2008-07-19T22:29:00.001-04:00

This is a shot I took several months ago and have been meaning to do something with. I took several shots of this Momma and Baby orangutans interacting, and it was very difficult choosing just one. I finally decided on this one because I like the expressions on their faces. The second runner up had the baby making 'kissy lips' at Momma, but it wasn't as sharp as this shot. I still might revisit it sometime in the future though.

Although this particular photo was taken at my local zoo, I was thinking about one of the innovative things we saw when we visited a different zoo. The National Zoo has the coolest thing set up for their orangutans. They have a "Think Tank" for them to interact in. The animals don't live at the "Think Tank" though... they live in another exhibit that is a fair distance away. The Zoo came up with a pretty ingenious way to allow the animals to have access to the interactive exhibit and their house.... they set up something called the "O" line. It is a series of cables that are set on towers and allow the animals the choice of where they want to be! We really enjoyed the exhibit and the unique way the curators figured out to make the situation not only work, but be another form of enrichment.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I'm trying to finish up a project and still trying to play with the new program. So far there is only one change I dislike and I am still hoping that there is a way to 'do it the old way'. Most of the improvements have been nice. Still, sometimes they change something that doesn't really need to be changed though. Sigh!

One of the improvements I like is a way to upload directly to Flickr from the organizer. I've only got a free account over there, but I have been thinking about upgrading to the Pro account and this might be the thing that pushes me to actually do it. The only reason I've not gone 'pro' before now is the thought of taking the time to organize and decide what to upload. This may actually push me to get my butt in gear and get my online life organized... well, at least the picture part!

It's Thursday... and I'm actually posting 2 days in a row! ;p

2008-07-17T23:29:00.001-04:00

Ooooh... Look! Two days and two entries! Don't get used to it, but I do plan to be around a little more often than I have been the last couple of months.... which would be like um... Zilch. I've been around the interweebs. I read journals/blogs. I even do online research. I just couldn't seem to find time (or maybe inspiration) to actually write an entry. Part of this has been my lack of time to play with (or even take) any photos. Now, why would that keep me from posting? I'm not sure, but I have gotten into a habit of posting a photo along with an entry even if the photo had nothing to do with the subject matter. No time to play in Elements equals no new photos to post equals no posts. And part of the problem has also been that even though I'm busy, I'm boring!

Yesterdays photo was me playing with my new Photoshop Elements 6. Yep, I went straight from Ver 4 to 6. I skipped Ver 5 because it didn't offer anything new that I felt was compelling enough for me to switch from the version I was used to. I'm not sure I really needed this version either, but it had a couple of new features I was curious about AND I found it on sale for half price. I had been wanting it, and I had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. LOL! I only played with it for a few moments, but I think I really like the improvements in this version. The new interface is really nice. I don't know if it is new for Vers 6 or from 5, but I like the darker colors and ease of switching from one thing to another. I also think the organizer is faster than the version I was using. I still haven't deleted Ver 4 from my hard drive because I want to be sure I have all of my brushes and things switched over to the new version before I do that, but it is just sitting there for now.

I'm also recycling! I'm sending the disks and the books I bought about Ver 4 to my DIL as she was interested in it when she saw it on my computer when we visited. She has been using whatever came with her camera and it was very basic. I think she is ready to move up to something a little more, and I am glad to be able to help her out by sending along Ver 4 to her.

Tonight's picture is from a photo shoot that I did for a friend who needed some new publicity shots. After we were done doing her pictures we had her daughter do a few poses with the horses since they were already cleaned up and looking pretty. She is a lovely girl and with such subjects it is almost impossible to take a bad picture. I'm finally starting to go thru the rest of the shots I took from that day and get them printed out for her. I worked on her mother's photos right away so she could send them out, but hadn't gotten around to her pictures till now. She has been amazingly patient..... and I've been amazingly slow! Still, I thought I would post one of the shots here and see what you all think of it.

Oh, Oh, Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'm officially a published photographer!! One of the publicity shots that I did for my friend (during the photo shoot mentioned above) just appeared in a magazine. She showed it to me today. The ad for her appearance is on the inside of the front cover and it is one of the shots I did for her! Yeah, I know it's not like really being published, but I'll take it! LOL!

Anyway, here is the shot of her daughter and Ricco. Some of you might remember Ricco. He is an Andalusion stallion and I have had shots of him up here before.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-17T00:38:00.001-04:00

Technorati tags: Wordless Wednesday

Home Again, Home Again.. Jiggidy Jig~

2008-04-26T22:24:00.001-04:00

Several of you have noticed my extended absence here and have been kind enough to remark on it in the comments and in e-mail. I really meant to get here and put up something sooner.... But, read on and you will understand!

We recently returned from the Equine Affaire that was held in Columbus, OH. The lady I work for performed in the show that was being put on there. The travel to, performing at, and finally return home takes up about 10 days of my absence. The clipping of horses, practicing, general grooming and the getting everything together and ready to go (along with all the normal daily care of the horses) makes up for about another 14 days of my not being around.

In addition to all of the getting ready and preparations for travel, I also did a photo shoot for my friend, worked on the pictures she liked, and made up DVD's of the photos and the music we needed to send ahead of us.

Oh.... AND, they finally got our new --o.k., new to us!-- trailer ready for us to move into. They got it hooked up a week before we left. Yep! I moved just enough stuff in for G and Morgan to live in there till I got back, and I've been completing the move since my return. Also, to add insult to injury, I got an order for the cables I make the day before we left. That meant I was already 10 days behind on making them when I returned.

LOL! I have to laugh or I would cry. Add to all of that the fact that the 10 days I was gone I had Internet access for a total of 3 hours... well, you can imagine the number of e-mails and RSS feeds I returned to.

With luck my life is now calming down just a little bit. I am hoping so at any rate. The shot at the bottom of this entry is one from the photo shoot we did prior to leaving. Not bad for my first time, I think. I still need to go through the pics and remove red-eye from some and do some 'cleaning up', hopefully I will have time now.

Believe it or not I didn't take even one picture while we were at the show. I was sooooo busy I only got to go over to the shopping area for about an hour.That was probably a good thing as I only bought 2 t-shirts. There was a lot of cool stuff and I am afraid if I had found more time to shop it would have gotten very expensive! I did walk around and admire the beautiful horses on my way into and out of the barn each day. There were some remarkable horses on display! I wish I had been able to spend a lot more time looking around and exploring, but that is what happens when you are working an event instead of attending!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-03-12T22:20:00.001-04:00

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Wordless Wednesday

2008-02-27T18:37:00.001-05:00

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Misfire on Wordless Wednesday

2008-02-27T18:33:00.001-05:00

Last week there was a really cool event that was to occur on that very night. An eclipse of the moon! I was excited. I would get a couple of really good pics and use them for my Wordless Wednesday entry. TaDa! Great Idea. Very Timely. Awesome subject. Yeah... Right!?!

Ever hear the quote, "The best laid plans of Mice and Men..."? Here's what actually happened:

The first problem was that I misread (i.e. didn't pay enough attention) the article about the eclipse. Yes, it did actually occur early in the evening... IF you were on the West Coast! Unfortunately, I am on the East Coast and the beginnings of the Eclipse were around 8:45pm with the actual Totality being between 10pm and and 11pm and ending around Midnight.
Still thinking, "No Problem! I snap the pics during the early partial eclipse and a couple during the midpoint. I pop them on the laptop. I edit them. And Viola! Entry!"
Trotting outside at around 8:30pm revealed..... CLOUDS! Lots of 'em.
Grumbling, but still determined I continued to check the clouds... er I mean Moon... every few minutes still hoping for a decent shot.
I did actually get a couple of decent shots in between the clouds, but by the time I got them edited it was getting close to Midnight. Soon it would no longer be a Wordless Wednesday Entry.
I bring up AOL Pics (where I store my static, non moving pictorial blog offerings) and I upload the pictures. And..... no go. AOL informed me that the "upload has failed". I tried a couple more times, each time failing. Finally I decided to throw them on my Flickr account...... But I looked at the time and found that it was 11:54pm. No way was I going to get the pics uploaded AND into entries before Midnight.
Discouraged, frustrated, and demoralized I decided to just go watch Keeping the Faith on Starz. Yeah, how's that title for irony?
BUT, I will be returning later on today with a very cute entry for this week's Wordless Wed.... Stay tuned!

Yes, the best laid plans often do not come off as we intend.

For the record though, the actual Eclipse was still a very cool sight, especially the red color during the middle part of the Eclipse. The clouds, while somewhat annoying because I was trying to take pictures, actually added a different look to the eclipse, often giving it a surreal appearance that, unfortunately, did not carry over well into the shots I did get.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-02-13T16:47:00.001-05:00

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It's that time of year!

2008-02-11T23:39:00.001-05:00

Bet you thought I was going to be talking about Valentine's Day, didn't you?!?So sorry to disappoint, but something more important happens this time of year. New York City goes to the Dogs with the 132nd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. It's an annual tradition for us to watch the show and we watched the first half tonight, and will be sitting in front of the TV tomorrow night for the last half and the all important crowning of the champion.

Tonight we watched to see who would win in the Hound, Terrier, Non-Sporting, and (Morgan, our Corgi's favorite) the Herding groups. Tomorrow night we will see who wins in the Sporting, Working and Toy groups. Finally all 7 Champions will be brought together to crown the best of the best. Check it out, you might just see your next doggie there.

Clicking on the link above takes you to the official site for the show with all kinds of pictures and facts about the dogs. Clicking on the poster will take you to the section of the site were you can buy a copy of the poster for yourself, or a maybe a DVD of the show if you want.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-02-06T18:54:00.001-05:00

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Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-30T18:28:00.001-05:00

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Origami, Questions, and a cute little guy...

2008-01-25T13:25:00.001-05:00

My Wordless Wednesday entry elicited a couple of questions in the comments section asking what kind of bird it was. Ugly is my first answer, but I didn't figure that would satisfy the curiosity expressed! It is a Shoebill, also known in some circles as a Whalehead. If you want to read a little more about them and see a few more pictures, check out the wikipedia entry here, the ARKive entry here has pictures and video, and a kid friendly entry is located here.

Since this is going to be one of those scattered entries, I thought I would take it as an opportunity to point people towards a blog entry that I came across that shows some amazing origami and features links to even more. Origami just fascinates me. I've bought a couple of books about it over the years, but I have never really sat down and given it the focus and attention it needs and deserves if you want to do it yourself. The Blog is called Blue Tea, and the actual entry is located here.

Lastly I leave you with this picture. Isn't he a cute little guy?

Something to Distract John from work....

2008-01-24T11:07:00.001-05:00

John Scalzi, our departed blog father, is trying to get some work done and not be distracted by the bad old internets..... we can't have that! This picture is actually from John and features their newest acquisition Zeus (the cat formerly known as TempCat©) as a LOLCat and can be found here without the caption and with permission to do with it as we will.... scary, huh? So, I give you my interpretation of LOLCat Zeus!

Go here and check the comments to see what others are doing to distract John. ;p

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Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-23T11:43:00.001-05:00

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JLand Photo Shoot #126

2008-01-22T00:26:00.001-05:00

Krissy offers up the following subject for this week's JLand Photo Shoot #126:

Black and White. You may interpret this subject any way you like.

Krissy suggested that people might want to submit pictures in Black and White, or change a picture they already have into Black and White, but I decided to interpret the subject in my own unique way! Maybe I'll also put up a more traditional Black and White picture later this week, but for now......

I almost used this picture on my last entry for the Weekend Assignment that I made concerning sleep. I'm glad I went with the Rhino for that one now because this made a perfect 'Black and White' entry.

Want to play along? Go out, take a picture, make it Black and White, put it up on your Blog and then pop over to Krissy's and leave your link!

Weekend Assignment #199

2008-01-20T22:11:00.001-05:00

Let's see what Karen is offering up for this weekend's deep thoughts:

Weekend Assignment #199: What is your usual sleep schedule on weeknights? Are you an "early to bed, early to rise" sort of person, or do you stay awake far into the night (voluntarily or otherwise), and get up as late as your work schedule permits? Do you give priority to getting adequate sleep? If so, how is that working out for you?
Extra Credit: If you had no work or family scheduling obligations, would your sleeping pattern change substantially?

How's that picture for appropriate? Now for my answer...

Since I've been lucky enough to work at several little part time gigs over the last year and a half, my sleeping habits can be a little erratic. I seem to be at my most alert from about 11pm to 3am, but I rarely stay up quite that late. I usually set my goal to be in bed by 1am, and usually make it by about 2am... except for those occasional nights when I just can't seem to quiet my mind to sleep. You will find me up either on the computer, or watching a movie till around 4am or 5 on those nights.

Now for the scary part.... Since I take care of horses on a regular basis, this means being at the barn by 8am... even if I did just go to bed at 3am. G gets up for work at 7am, so I'm up anyway. I hear the little calculators in your heads working now. No, I don't survive on 4 to 6 hours of sleep, I have a solution that works for me. I do my morning work with assorted animals from about 8am to 10am, then it is home to check my e-mail and Bloglines account, do the housework/laundry that is needed and try to finish up by 12:30pm. A quick trip across the street to do the Noon check on the horses and I'm done for the morning! Geoff comes in for lunch at 1. After eating, I curl up on the couch and usually catch a quick nap from about 2 till 4pm. If I am feeding the horses the evening meal, I get up at 4pm and trot over there to do that. Geoff gets done around 5pm. So, I do manage to get around 8 hours of sleep most days, just not in a row!

Extra Credit: If you had no work or family scheduling obligations, would your sleeping pattern change substantially?

Oh Yeah! I would sleep when I was tired and wake up when I wasn't. To me that would be the best. I've never really been good at doing the going to bed and sleeping 8 or 9 hours and then staying up the rest of the time. I actually seem to do better on a couple of broken up periods of sleep... eh, go figure, I'm not normal!

Want to play along?? Write up your answer to the Weekend Question, click on the link above and leave your link over at Karen's so we can all see it!