Meet Pixie!

Hhhhhhheres Pixie!

Isn't she just sweet!

We didn't wait long to get a new kitty in the house. In reality we would have gotten a new one long before now but because Amber was blind we didn't want to upset her with a new scent that she couldn't identify.

Emma however, is more than ready for a new friend.

Tonight, the house doesn't feel quite a lonely as it did this past week.

Pixie was adopted from a shelter run by volunteers. She only cost 150 dollars which includes all her shots and her 'fixing' when the time comes. That's crazy cheap as a vet visit alone is 70 bucks.

I have to see if I can get a few shots of her sleepy eyes. Bob fell for her instantly because she has these slumberous eyes. He said she reminded him of me.

For the next few days she will reside in our bedroom. We introduced Em to Pix and I was baffled by the fact that Emma didn't seem to 'see' her. She sniffed around and knew something was different but it was like Pixie was invisible to her. Pixie was tired so she didn't really move, just stared at Em.

The next visit I put Em much closer to Pixie. Emma was softly meowing as if to say hello but the kitten hissed and growled. This got Em's back up and she started growling too. I feel bad for Em because I think she just wants to be friends with the little creature she has found on her mom and dad's bed.

And yes, I'm dorky enough to have already shot video. Pix is obviously sleeping like she owns the joint already while Emma sits off further down the bed purring. I can't wait for the two of them to curl up around each other and sleep together for the first time.

I know.

Patience.

I just want them both to be happy!

I'm Holding On!

It's almost over but I'm in deep denial.

Summer was not good enough!!

Although I did really well with my getting out and about thing but still, I needed more heat, more sun, more time!

So I'm going to be clinging to the last few weeks for the next bit. I'm not sure how much reading I'll get done but you better believe the minute Must Love Hellhounds is out I'll be snapping it up. Tell me that cover doesn't rock? And I need some short stories so I can read in between guests and plans.

I have one of my best buds coming for a visit. I can only hope this dire stomach thing I have going on will just calm the hell down. Even if only for the day.

My tummy declared war about 8 weeks ago now. Apparently Honey Dijon Salad Dressing is a HUGE no-no and we've been feuding back and forth since.

Even tonight, I had my comfort food and my tummy rebelled. I see lots of toast and water once the Labour Day Weekend is over.

Until then I have my friend coming (mentioned above), will go shopping with my Godboys to pick up some school clothes (think that will be on Friday) and then WOOHOO, the weather for the weekend is showing hot and humid so we'll definitely have as many people over as possible.

On Tuesday of next week I'll be in a Cindy coma.

Crap.

Or going in to get my friggin' Health Card, my passport (it's across the street so may as well) and my Driver's License pictures all taken and filled out.

Then Cindy coma.

Emma's Belly

So I told you about the shaving of Emma, our long haired kitty back about what, 2 months ago?

Well, talk about being just a happy monkey. She now sits with me while watching TV and will be upstairs in the 'loft' when I get up in the morning and will chirp at you to say hello. She's just extremely happy cause well, she can't have 'hanger oners' (long haired cat people know what that is) so she doesn't feel dirty so she's so much more social.

Course, the last few days she's been looking for Amber so now she's talking to me. Funny to hear a cat meow when it's not something she does normally. She's got a cute meow.

But being the cat mommy I am I had to get a video of her when she's standing up. Seriously, she's all, 'did you see my tummy? Isn't just he cutest?'. Almost every time I come across her during the day she'll be standing up. She's like a penguin. It's hard to catch on the camera though. I think she knows it will be digital evidence and doesn't wish to be caught.

But I got her! I'm talking to her in the video so sound off or at least way down.

Addictions? I've Had A Few

Okay, let's get back to business.

Reading has not been happening. Birthday week with Bob home 24/7. No reading time for me.

Lots of fun things were done though and even boring mundane things like hanging out watching TV together. I really am all about the small things.

Okay, I like the big ball buster things too but sometimes I take a moment during the small things.

Anyways, the topic is addiction.

Not in a bad way because I figured it out pretty young. I have an addictive quality in that if I start something the odds are I'm going to obsess about it for a while.

We've discussed addictions with me before.

I'm not allowed to go to a casino.

Seriously.

Thing is I'm very good about going to casinos. Okay, I've been like once. And I went after the time I was at a race track during university.

University years were slim pickings for money and I worked throughout the year. Let's just say losing the money I came with was bad. Hitting the ATM for another hundred bucks hurt for more than the usual reasons.

Bad ATM.

Having learned a painful lesson a few years before it was no surprise that I took precautions that my mother and her best friend thought were hilarious before entering the casino. I took my 20 dollars (yeah, still slim pickings for money) and ID out and then hid my wallet under my car seat, locked the door and told the ladies to not let me leave the casino without one of them. My mom and her BF didn't understand why I didn't just take my wallet in with me. I explained that I knew about ATMs and that I would spend more than I had if I let loose. I ended up leaving with 60 bucks which was awesome but then I know (logically) that's very unusual.

My mother discovered the hard way where I got my addictive nature when my dad went to the casino with her. His ATM card got a work out and mom was forced to put her foot down. Dad hasn't been back since but I'm tellin' ya, my father and I would be high rollers if we had money to burn.

Just sayin.

It's in the blood!

Lucky me, it doesn't just have to do with gambling. Nope. My first credit card was about wore out before I realized the consequences. Ouch. Luckily I'm not nearly as addicted but I can get in trouble so I have a card that has a 500 dollar limit so that if I lose control they'll cut me off.

I know. Personal willpower for me can be a fleeting thing so I have to put in special obstacles to help me keep it together. But I do put in obstacles because I know consequences and logic and hell, I know myself. It's probably a hard thing to understand if you don't have an addictive personality.

It's also the reason I don't drink. I've had the odd drink and when I turned legal my best bud took me out and we got 'tipsy'. Let's just say that the 60 bucks I spent in drinks just made me stupid and pee all night like a race horse. So it didn't stick. Phew!

Now I'll drop you another 'quirk'.

I can eat the exact same food day after day for months on end. My thing right now is toasted bacon sandwich with fries and gravy. After 14 years of marriage Bob knows when he's in trouble. I was addicted to McDs for about a year, A&W was probably the longest with 2 years, Tim Horton's sandwich lasted about 9 months etc. I could go a day or two but sooner or later I was going to give Bob some serious grief and he was going to drive me to the destination with C-Rex crawling through the cab of the truck.

The good news about my addictions is that they can run their course. I can go to McD's but it's not the same. I still love A&W fries but I don't need them every day and I long ago lost interest in the TH sandwich.

I just never know when something will lose it's grip on me and that can be frustrating because trying to force it doesn't work.

My latest addiction is Yoville on Facebook. I think I've gone over every nook and cranny in the joint. Bob will ask me if I need to go to my 'job' in Yoville - have to go every six hours to get coins to buy fake stuff for your fake house online.

Thing is, you can spend actual money on Yoville to get the stuff you want. I can't tell you how many times I've hovered over the 'purchase coins' option. I explained it to Bob thinking maybe he would say 'you know what, go ahead and buy a few dollars worth'.

Uh, no.

Bob told me he'd call our internet provider and tell them his wife had lost her frickin' mind and they were to never, ever, ever put internet in our house again.

Meanie.

I just have to let this new addiction run it's course.

The funny thing is Blogging and Reading were never in the 'addiction' categories for me. Although I do have to be careful as sometimes I'll be reading and wishing I didn't have to go out and visit people or do laundry or uh -

I do other stuff!

I do know when I first started reading romance books I read them back to back to back and I resented time taken away from reading. So I think I was addicted at first.

Luckily for me, it still holds it's shine after 20 some odd years.

Now, if only I could get addicted to salad, exercise, running marathons, cooking, cleaning.....

Sweet Amber

Today we had to say good-bye to our sweet kitty Amber.

We knew it was coming. In the end, she wasn't even half her normal size, she was blind and we think she may have become deaf also. She could no longer purr and seemed to be having a hard time breathing. I worried she'd had a stroke and didn't know who we were or why she was picked up every once in a while.

I asked Bob to get one of his t-shirts that he had worn recently (she loved Bob so much she would crawl into his dirty clothes to sleep) and we wrapped her up and carried her to the vet.

The vet felt a mass in her tummy, from a previous visit she thought her blindness (her pupils didn't dilate) could be from a brain tumour and in the end, we asked her to tell us what was best for Amber period. Our vets are great (there are two who know us and our pets very well) and so supportive and know we'll do what it takes but she believed it was time. It was our decision of course but if she had said 'oh no, she'll be right as rain in a week' then we would have done it. Sadly, it was not to be.

Bob was a mess and that's normal. I always keep it together until later and boy, later hurts.

Neither of us could come home right away so we went out and browsed and had dinner. I was nauseous before we went but I thought maybe it was because I hadn't eaten yet. I was worse after dinner so I figure it was the 'denial'.

I keep seeing her orange fur and I want to hold her just one last time.

We came home and went to see Emma immediately. It was so weird. We were a family of 4 pets for the longest time and now Emma is the only one. I told Bob I could never come home to an empty house and he understood.

I don't know that'll we'll wait too long to get another kitty. We already had the void of not having a dog and now that void feels like a canyon.

We have some clean up to do. Our beauty Amber was such a clean kitty all her life and we knew it probably killed her to have accidents. Our entry way became a urine spot, another was in the pantry and then there were times she just couldn't find the box in the basement. There were times I would see Amber wandering around and I would pick her up and carry her to her litter and her relief was genuine.

We'll have to neutralize those areas. And I think the basement subfloor will have to come up so we could be a month before adding a new family member.

But onto my favourite memories of Amber.

Amber was put in a cage at an animal shelter and that's where Bob and I found her. Bob and I weren't married yet so whenever I went home to my parents she would caterwaul around the house for hours. (I actually think she was in heat but Bob likes to say she was looking for me). She was so skinny when we got her and compared to Bob's two older cats she looked like a china pet.

Amber loved to bathe and if another cat or dog got in the way of her tongue she was more than willing to clean them up too. Bewildered Rocky cause he was a dopey dog but you had to love him and Amber did. She also loved to tease the dogs. She would walk right up to Rocky and scoot him off his bed only to lay full out and reach out with her toes to his nose. It was comical to see how 2 large dogs catered to her every whim and when they got out of line she would hiss and thwack them in the nose (she was declawed).

Whenever I had 'the' cramps she would lay on my hip or against my back as if to let me know she was there. She also climbed up on us when we were sick. She learned the art of being annoyed by her older sibling Bunny. Bunny would start puking the minute he saw Bob's suitcase. Seriously, coming home was a nightmare cause who knew what Bunny had decided to do while we were gone. Amber, being a clean kitty found better ways to let us know she was upset. A well placed sit down with her back facing us was her way. Bob would snuggle her until she started purring and in reality she was a push over for a kitty.

Even though she was the youngest of the pets in the house at the time she was like a mother hen. Cleaning and scolding. When Emma showed up a few years later, Amber stopped talking for a year. All the same, she cleaned that kitten whenever it crossed her path and Emma became used to having her head washed by her bestest friend Amber.

It was heart breaking in the last year to see Emma walk up to Amber and lower her head. She would wait for Amber to acknowledge her but Amber just didn't know she was there. In the past few weeks we noticed that Amber would clean Emma's head even if it was just for a moment. We don't know if Amber had lost her sense of smell so had no fear or if Emma had somehow positioned herself just perfectly so that Amber's tongue managed to stroke her head a few times.

Amber's routine later in life was to call out to Bob before bed. No being late! He would tuck his hand around her and she would purr while he went to sleep. She could sleep with him for hours but then Bob doesn't move much in his sleep. She barely tolerated me cause I move too much in my sleep. But when Bob was gone for the night Amber would find me and let me know she was turning in and that maybe I should be going to bed also.

I think it was Amber who taught me how to nap.

I'm just saying.

An orange kitty curled up on a white down comforter in the middle of winter was hard to walk away from. She looked like she needed company and that's my story.

I loved that little monkey and I'll miss her every day.

Birthday Winners!

I'm late!

Good reasons though, I was having fun and that's what Cindy Week is all about.

Now, I started Birthday week last week on Tuesday night. Why do I say this? I bought myself a two pieces or art (not like real art but things you hang on the wall) and I don't normally buy myself stuff like that so I declared it the beginning of Birthday week. Tuesday to Tuesday.

Tonight Bob says he thinks Birthday week should really be the week the birthday falls on so last Tuesday through Sat shouldn't count.

I'm in.

Seriously, my man spoils the hell out of me!

But enough about me, it's about YOU! Who gets to have a Birthday Week today?

Thank you to all those who 'played' and it's good to know some people still love a good paranormal.

I'm going to make you watch the video - Bob picks the two winners (poor sleepy monkey).



Did you watch the video?

To the two ladies who won, where would you like your gift certificate from? I happen to know both ladies are Canadian which leaves me with Chapters or Amazon.ca but maybe there is another bookstore online.

E-mail me - rsmith41 at cogeco dot ca

Thank you all for my birthday wishes. It was wonderful to get up on my birthday *cough*4pm*cough* and see that people were thinking of me.

I'll re-cap this last week later. Bob's been off since Thursday and tomorrow is his last day off and we have grand plans for tomorrow. Well, grand plans if you're me ;)

OMG, get this, tonight I told Bob while with my family that I was going to get really skinny and become a clothes horse.

Bob: A what?

Me: Clothes horse

My Mom: It is kind of an odd phrase to use isn't it.

Bob: You're not a horse! *Poor guy thought I was talking about my weight - usually I use 'cow' as my descriptor*

Me: A clothes horse is someone who buys tons and tons of clothes (my definition) and I need a new goal.

Bob: *wheels turning* So I'm a Home Depot horse.

Me: No, you're a Home Depot Ho.

*family is all laughing*

Bob: So you're a book ho?

Me: No, I'm a bookworm. Wait. Why do we call people who love to read bookworms? I need to google this stuff.

Mom: They ('they') used to get worms in the cover of books.

*dead silence*

And being the family of thought train engineers that we are, we veered off onto another subject altogether.

If you made it this far and that damn video didn't load or co-operate the winners are Nath and Mary G!!

Sneaky I am.

Birthday Week!!!

It's here!!

It's birthday week around these here parts which means I've been spending money and having fun.

My birthday is on the 25th and I normally do some wacky give away but this year I decided to just cut to the chase.

I've got two 25 dollar book gift certificates to give away. I'm probably going to do them online so you can even pick the bookstore you want the certificate from! Overseas, where ever, it's the equivalent of 25 Canadian dollars because the British pound and the Euro would break me.

Just leave a note in the comments about your latest 'glom'.

What are you gobbling up as you read? Are you neck deep in vampires and loving it? Are you holding out for a western hero? (Kristie J, Super Librarian and Syb (With a blog name of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, you had to know she would love westerns) have some suggestions!) Are historicals still making you hot under the collar?

Or is it a new vice? You finally cracked open the first Anita Blake book and can't believe the glory or maybe you decided Ward can write up a grocery list and you'll be there to buy it.

That's it.

Super easy!

Open until my birthday! So we'll close it at midnight on the 24th (central time) so I can pull the names out of the hat on my B-day.

Good luck everyone!

I'm Here but Gone

I'm still here but Bob is now on vacation until next Wednesday so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post.

I've definitely got a foggy brain lately and everything feels like too much work.

We have had extremely high temps so the air is on in the house. I think too many ins and outs can make you feel ill. Your body can't just adapt.

Ear infection is tons better but it's not completely cleared up so no under water swimming. Amazing how I miss being able to go under the water to swim. I have ear plugs but the ear canal has been in a bad place so I'm just keeping my head above water until I know things are all cleared out.

I can't believe it already so late in the summer. Makes me a bit blue but I'm going to just soldier on and hope that Bob and I can have some sun shiny days over the next week!

Hope all is well with you guys!

Weekend Blitz

You know how on Tuesday you'll think about the up coming weekend and realize you have absolutely no plans?

And you sigh in contentment?

We ruined it on Wednesday.

Apparently this weekend will be family palooza.

Time and place? My house, before I manage to get my ass out of bed.

I'll start from the beginning because I know you hang on my every word and must, must, must know what happened.

Fine, stick around anyways, maybe I'll end this post with candy.

It's the middle of August - everyone okay? I know! How could it possible be the middle of August when the sun just decided to show up and bring some of it's wonderful heat to this part of the planet!?

So yeah, the heat and humidity finally decided to show up this week which I'm loving cause I have a pool. Sure, I've also managed to score myself a killer ear infection but as long as I don't get my ear wet, I can swim around and get refreshed. True, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was not up to anything including basking in my pool due to the pain of the damn ear but I did get in the past two nights.

The heat wave is going to continue (YAY!) and Bob and I know that it's kind of wrong to not share the pool with those suffering with the heat. So we invited my family for Saturday afternoon. Too keep it simple I'm making tacos and salad. I'm going to cook the meat tonight and then tomorrow I'll pop it in the crockpot and it will be there when people want to get out of the pool. No muss, no fuss.

Bob came home tonight with the news that his family was going to come out on Sunday.

That's two days from now.

Remember that anxious woman who shares my body? Normally her head would explode but hey, whatever, burgers, potatoes and salad. I can handle it.

Then Bob says 'no worries, they said they would take care of the food since they know they are a lot of work (they really aren't, there is just more of them so it's busier).

I should be loving this.

Anxiety woman however doesn't seem to like living life without a plan. What are they bringing? Will I have to cook it? What if I don't know how to cook it? And let's just beat to the point, what if I don't feel like cooking!?

Basically my back up plan is pizza. The delivery peeps will even come into the backyard so I don't have to wait in the house for them to show up.

So I need to calm the hell down.

Remind me to tell you about the printer I just bought. It just never fails.

If you stuck around for the candy, I lied.

But I'll post pics of the books I just bought:

I got an e-mail from Kat O+ (Book Thingo) recently telling me about this book.

The heroine Grace is obsessed with counting and gets into panic attacks when her counting system falls apart. Kat, knowing I have panic attacks and anxiety thought I might find this book interesting and any book featuring such things is always something I'm interested in.

Obviously the book is about much more than what I've said but let's just say the panic attacks were the 'hook' for me. I found this book in the general fiction section of the bookstore so I'm not going in expecting a romance or a HEA. I'm just very much intrigued.

And knowing my rule of not buying just one book at a time I also picked up Written On Your Skin by Meredith Duran. I bought this one before reading Bound By Your Touch because AAR is hosting their first Book Club event and I was planning on joining in.

Remember how my weekend was empty?

Yeah, so I can't join in even though I bought this book this week in the hopes that I could read it in time.

And then I couldn't read it in time.

Ugh.

Anyways, if you have read this and want to see what the AAR Book Club is about you can go here Saturday, August 15th from 6 to 8 p.m. eastern time to see a live feed and join in the discussion.

AND!

We're done!

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

I wanted to love it.

Really I did.

Cindy Blurb: Zoe Lexam had been missing for 12 years when she is delivered to her family's front door. Of course, other woman had tried to pretend to be the missing Zoe and had been shown the door quite quickly. This time however, the gossip hounds were abuzz with the tale of The Harem Girl and how this time, it looked like Lord Lexam had finally found his real daughter.


Lucien de Gray has lost everyone he ever loved including a stubborn little girl he knew as a young boy. Hearing she had gone missing when he was seventeen shut Lucien down and he believed her to be dead. He continued on with his life, or as much of one as he allowed himself. Since Zoe must be dead, Lord Lexam was surely being fleeced and it was his job to go and oust the impostor.


Only the minute he saw her he knew it was Zoe. It just wasn't the Zoe he remembered.


What I loved about this book was Zoe. She is a breath of fresh air but then, she would be. She was kidnapped and sold into white slavery at the age of 12. She became a gift for a powerful man's son and was married to an impotent man. What happens to Zoe for those 12 years is very much glossed over or the story would have been far darker. In fact, I imagine it was far darker, we just don't get to see that. Zoe escaped her captivity and finally made it home where she was going to live a life of freedom and obviously not look back at her past too closely if at all.

The problem is her mere existence is scandalous. Put her in a room with people and she'd be ruined in minutes.

In comes Lucien, the boy she once knew as a child, who is now a duke. Lucien decides he can make her acceptable by presenting her to the Queen and having her acknowledge Zoe.

Lucien and Zoe accomplish all of this with some cute banter and maybe a few longing looks. Although I don't remember that many now.

I can't say I warmed to Lucien. I think he was supposed to be charming when I thought he was just dull. Sure, he'd lost everyone he loved but it didn't seem to grant him very much character. He just seemed to flow with life and as long as he wasn't bothered he was fine. So having Zoe come into his life didn't seem to affect him all that much. Sure, she discovered a bunch of stuff happening in his household and he was forced to become a grown up and handle situations but for the most part - meh.

In the end I wasn't bowled over by their story. I think Zoe may have got the shorter end of the stick while the duke made out like a bandit. I mean, Zoe is fun and while the duke likes fun, he's still kind of flat.

And all the stuff with the servants. Bah.

C+

This one was missing the zip for me. It wasn't the trainwreck that was Miss Wonderful and it certainly wasn't the beauty of Mr. Impossible.

If you are a Loretta Chase fan girl, have fun, if Ms. Chase is more hit or miss for you as she is for me, you've been warned.

I Gotz The Warm and Fuzzies!

Today there was a surprise in the mailbox.

There was a book.

This was funny because I haven't ordered any books.

Then I saw the return address.

Bob stood there dumbfounded as I tore into the package.

After all, Bob had already said 'I see you have a book'.

'I didn't order a book, it's from Rosie!!'

And TADA!!!

A book that brought tears to my eyes and a high pitched squeeing sound up from my lungs.

An Anne Stuart Harlequin First signed by none other than the Goddess of Tortured Heroes and the Heroines who have the bad luck of tripping over them!



















Bob stood back and said with awe, 'You have such great friends. None of mine send me stuff from Home Depot.'

I do have such great friends. Truly blessed I am.

Rosie the Book Angel had struck again!

Great Big Burly Bear Hugs and a Gazillion Thank Yous!

Eeeep!

Sunday night and all is quiet again.

We had a friend with his two young sons come for the afternoon and I played hard. Both my elbows are aching when only one was aching before they came (I hurt my elbow earlier this year and need to do a week of Ibuprofen but I know it upsets my tummy so I've been waiting till no one is coming around. This week may be perfect). I had to keep lifting the light 4 year old up out of the pool and onto floaties and such.

I'm beat.

I don't know how people have kids 24/7 - they have energy to the max.

Yikes!

Now, my poor ear that was hurting earlier in the summer (but got better with a week of me using over the counter drops) is in full blown pain. I don't know if it's swimmer's ear or another type of infection. It hurts! I have a Doc's appt on Tuesday for regular stuff so I'll wait till then but the pain is starting down my neck. I have some over the counter drops for ears but I'm not sure they are getting into the canal like they should. Feels like the canal is either swollen or inflamed.

I have my best bud and her son coming tomorrow but it's supposed to be crazy rainy. Maybe we'll get out of the house for a bit which would be nice but the temperature may feel as high as 40 C. Yeah. I wilt in that kind of heat.

But I'm not complaining!!! Nope, I want the heat. Just let me have clear skies too so I can swim like the fish I am!

Anyways, I'm 3/4 of the way through the Chase book and I'm enjoying it. Hopefully something a bit deeper will happen in the next 1/4 but it's kept my attention.

So that's my weekend update. Hope everyone found some 'me' time.

Alright, I think tylenol is in order for the ear.

Bad Ear.

Things to Come

Thanks for all the blogiversary wishes!

It's a sure way to get the lurkers to come out and comment.

Onwards!

We're having friends come visit tomorrow and I can only hope that it's gorgeous out and they don't need to come into the house too often. With a blind kitty, there are areas of the house that don't smell all that great. Not her fault poor monkey but it definitely makes me self-conscious. All things would be fine except my hubby tore up the flooring in the hallway and well, it's plywood and it's porous.

Ugh.

Not enough bleach in the world.

Anyways, I'm soon off to bed as I've been up all day. Yep, daywalker hours showed up today. And I guess a good part of tomorrow will also be daywalking so I figure Saturday will be a wash.

On that note, I've picked Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase for my next read. I can only hope I find some time this weekend for Cindy Time. If not, I guess Monday won't be coming soon enough.

Happy weekend everybody!

Blogiversary - Really 4 Years!?

Holy cow!

I've been blogging for 4 years as of today.

That's nuts.

Considering I never finish anything I start I would have to say I've been showing some dogged determination with this little endeavour!

Four years ago I took a leap after being banished from one of my favourite blogs - Maili told me I wasn't allowed to comment on her blog again until I had my own blog. Me, being me, figured what the hell, the net is ginormous and nobody would really find me.

Let's just say I was shocked when six people actually commented on my first post.

From the title, Nocturnal Wonderings, I obviously made no promises.

I can't keep one train of thought rolling long enough to make sense most days so I knew that anything I posted was going to be whatever the brain wanted to play with.

Book semi-reviews (I'm not a professional and have never made out like I could be one), book shopping, pets, friends, anxiety, memes, movies, clothes, weight, anxiety, Christmas (yikes!), food, parents, loss of parents, anxiety, family, loss of pets, errands - well, life in all it's glory and slop - it was all going to be out there and I'm honest about who I am and who I'm not.

And it's been a blast!

Some of you have been here from the beginning and some have filtered in over the years but you have all been so wonderful and supportive of who I am. And I'm so grateful to have met some of you in person.

This past year I had wondered if I had lost the blogging mojo. I started to worry about how boring I was and the fact that I had been in a reading slump for so long did not make blogging any easier.

Well the good news (poor bastards) is that I have that spark back. I've found my will to read and the will to blog has come home with it. Not that I'm any less boring but now I'll write about it and let it go. Like I did in the beginning.

So here is to 4 years and counting.

Who knows?

Blogging may be the only thing that never gets old!

Edited: Damn picture! I so want a cupcake now.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Phew!!

Another book read and it was awesome!

This was my first Jennifer Ashley book and I can say it won't be my last. Although the other brothers in this story couldn't possibly be more interesting the Lord Ian himself.

Cindy Blurb: Beth is a newly rich woman after the elderly woman she had been a companion to left her an inheritance. Beth has not had an easy life but she's known love and understanding but it's been 7 long years since her husband died and she's ready to be a wife again. At least, she thought she was.

Lord Ian Mackenzie is believed to be mad, after all he was declared so in a competency hearing when he was 12 years old. Everyone knows he was released only because after his father's death his brother, a right powerful duke, made it happen. Ian states things as he sees them, has a photographic memory, can re-play any music he hears and is unable to stare anyone in the eye.


The minute he sees Beth he decides he must save her from a horrible betrothal and proposes to her on the spot. Beth, a sensible woman, declines the offer but can't stop herself from being curious about the man who seems unable to tell a lie.

And then came love.

I don't know that I can do this story any justice.

What I can tell you is that in the beginning I was stumbling with my perception of Lord Ian and that's because I had seen someone put a diagnosis on him and I thought it was autism. Not knowing an adult with autism but knowing plenty of children I couldn't get the image of Ian 'the man' right in my head. I was prepared to stop reading the story but decided to head off again in search of what Lord Ian might be suffering and discovered I had made a mistake and it's believed he has Aspergers. I have seen adult men portrayed with Aspergers so after that I was able to see 'the man' and not a child.

And it was awesome.

But I think I've mentioned that.

With the many nuances of Aspergers, there is a million ways for Beth and Ian to not understand each other but neither seems to want to walk away from the other. This is not just a relationship between Beth and Ian but also between Ian and his brothers, Beth and Ian's brothers, Beth and her previous relationships and finally between Ian and his awful father.

Like I said, I can't do this story any justice, just know that I really enjoyed it. I ended up staying up past my 'bedtime' to finish reading the story the night before Bob's family was to come for the day. And you know how I need to sleep!

All that said, there were a few things that quirked.

There is a mystery to be solved and it took Beth to figure it all out which seems a bit silly but I guess with the assumptions the brothers made, it would take an outsider who believed. There's a TSTL moment but I remember feeling invincible at the age of the heroine so maybe it's acceptable.

I also have to say I'm not sure the rest of the brothers are at all likable which makes me wonder if I'll like other books.

I know I would love to re-read it again in the future but I'll go with a B+ as a grade.

The Ugly

If you don't care to see a crap load of bitching and complaining click on out of here because I'm about to go nuclear.

C-Rex is up and pissed off.

I'm sick of waking up to a house that is constantly messy. I clean, I put shit away and bam, the next morning I wake up and shit is all over the place.

Seriously, I can't take it anymore. I'm doing laundry constantly and putting the baskets away - Bob meanwhile has decided the baskets make great storage areas for his clean clothes and putting the clothes away doesn't occur to him.

So nothing is ever really in a spot.

There's this damn green satchel thingie that's been sitting in our den for months. It has dust on it and I've cleaned around the damn thing and everthing and finally last week while in a mood I asked Bob where the damn thing belonged. Bob knowing I was in a mood just said to stop worrying it'd been gone by the morning.

Guess what's still in the den?

Right now I want to do up a huge bon fire. Seriously, just burn up all this clutter and get it over with. Where does all this stuff go?

Then there are the weekends. Poor Bob can't win. He has been helping his brother for months now doing up a reno in their basement so they can get a renter in. It's become even more imperitive because the brother just lost his 20 year job. I know it's important. I know I'm being a bitch. But just one weekend - this one in particular, could you please stay home and help me get ready for YOUR family to come for a visit.

He actually said to me that I should clean the place up before his family shows up.

Seriously?

This from the guy who walked through the house a million times with his dirty boots when I've asked him not to. I've cleaned and vacuumed the floor enough and seeing the work *I* do be discredited by being stomped all over just makes me pissy. Why should I bother cleaning? It's just going to be a mess again by tomorrow.

The kitchen island is a sticky mess but can I clean the damn thing? No. My husband has had his tools and crap all over it for a few weeks and on the day we're going to have company I get 'can you clean up a little.'

THEN, when Bob asked me what time to tell his family to come to our house I said 'You said they were going to follow you home so 1pm'.

Bob: Well I need a few hours in the backyard to get some work done.

Me: *silence*

Me: Well, I've been up since 3am and I'm not going to be cooking dinner at 5pm for your family as I probably won't be up.

Bob: *realizing I'm in a fine mood* Okay, they'll follow me home so 1pm at the latest.

Yeah, no shit.

Not only does he want me to clean the house, he wants time to continue working on the damn fence which he's been working on for weeks.

Fuck no!!

One day. I just need one day of you NOT thinking about only what you want to get done!

So yeah, C-Rex is ready to bounce but I have to go get groceries and stuff. Then I need to clean the house up and pray that my poor cat doesn't have an accident so that the house smells like urine.

In a nutshell, I guess it's a good thing Bob just left for his brother's house (an hour each way). There's a part of me that wants to do jack all. Just forget it. When everyone shows up and asks what the fuck I've been doing just shrug.

Okay, I have to go shopping. Pray some poor soul doesn't cross my path.

I decided to just type it out and get the anger out of my system. So far, the anger is still raging in my belly. Let's hope I can keep it together and not burst into tears next.

Ugh.

Edited: It's 2 hours later and the family has decided they will come tomorrow and I talked to Bob and told him why I'm super bitchy. Poor guy. Now I feel like I'm going to vomit which is never a good feeling and Bob says I need comfort food. I think he's right. I also told him about how I was going to pitch this satchel on the front lawn with a bunch of his stuff but that I refrained because I didn't want the neighbours to have evidence that I'm white trash. Good thing that man loves me. And he does. He really does. He's going to come home and calm C-Rex down.

Long Weekend

It's a long weekend up here in Canada so you might notice some of your peeps disappearing for a few days.

Thankfully Bob and I are only expecting his family on Sunday and the forecast is rain so they may cancel which would mean it's all about us! (I know, I'm horrible)

This week hasn't been all right as rain what with my tummy deciding to roil over and beat the crap me. Stupid tummy. So I'm sitting here hungry but unsure of what I could possibly eat. Not only that I don't really have meat in the house so the last few times I boiled up some beautiful local potatoes I ate them alone and well, the tummy rebelled.

I was considering a McD's run but I'm too tired to get behind the wheel.

Which is ironic because the minute I take my sleeping pill I'm all bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Seriously. Not happy.

And now I'm floundering on whether I'm going to continue on with the Ian book. Maybe it's just not speaking my language at the moment. I might be looking for something darker but I'm so not cracking the Anne Stuart nut I have in back up. Not ready for extreme intervention.

AND, just as a complete aside:

Nalini Singh has put up a schedule of her upcoming books in the Psy series. I will now copy and paste from her site:

Upcoming US releases

Next in the Psy/Changeling Series

BLAZE OF MEMORY (Dev's Book)
November 2009
Now available for pre-order!

AN ENCHANTED SEASON
(mass market release)
November 2009

Psy/Changeling #8 (Max's Book)
July 2010

Psy/Changeling #9 (Indigo's Book)
November 2010

Psy/Changeling Novella (Ria's story)
2010

Psy/Changeling #10
(It could only be one person...)
2011

Ho-kay, you still with me?

Did you see book 10? It could only be one person?

Uh, it better be HAWKE!!

Why am I worried?

Cause there is a Ghost guy with no name running around, I think there are a few other Psy running around looking for stories and seriously, 2011!?

2011 people!

OMG I'll be turning 41 when the damn book comes out.

Okay, I just can't...

I have to go breathe in a bag.

What I Need To Work On

I have noticed that some bloggers have mentioned 'blogging challenges' that are for cleaning up your blog or making it presentable.

I might be able to follow Marg's links to find what I'm looking for but does anyone have some links to help me out?

I have to add people to my sidebar as I keep stumbling over new blogs and even older blogs that I've been to but haven't added to the sidebar. Bad Cindy.

I know I'll put up books on the right hand side of the blog (KristieJ and Nath showed me how, I just have to get my lazy self to move on out)

And tagging. I've never really gone back and re-tagged in fear of breaking people's Google Readers or something like that. Maybe I'll just send a warning post before I start that and by start I mean before I turn 75.

At least this is a blog and something manageable.

Not crazy sized like my house but we'll skip that for now.

Edited: My computer is starting to act like a jerk so I need to do some maintenance. If you don't hear from me for a while I'm working out computer issues.

As to reading I picked up The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley but I can't say it's working for me. I wish I had gone into the book without knowing what *might* be wrong with Ian because it's affecting how I perceive him. If I can finish the book I'll explain in review with 'spoiler' marks.

Ohhhhhhh. I just read what he *might* have and I confused it with something else. Makes better sense to me now.

Hopefully this helps me with the perception issue. Gah. Sometimes I worry myself!

I'm owning idiocy at the moment. Anyone care to take the SOB off my hands?

To Beguile A Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt

I spent the whole day reading. Talk about bliss!

So I just finished To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt and decided to get some of my thoughts down cause I'm awake and it's day light and I'm hyper.

Good times.

Cindy Blurb: Helen Fitzwilliam is a wonderful heroine in the fact that she is nothing like what I have read before. Sure she's all good and sweet and stuff but get this. She's the long time mistress of a Duke and has two children from the relationship.

I know!

Then, the hero is a tortured (literally) soul with a horribly scarred face who has holed himself up in a decrepit castle.

So down to brass tacks and all that, the heroine has decided she must flee the Duke and knows that the Duke will try and keep her by stealing her children from her.

A friend of the H/H sends Helen to Scotland to the above mentioned castle to act as a housekeeper for Sir Alistair who is of course a grouchy grump but true love will prevail and all that.

The good news is that I enjoyed the story for the most part.

Anyone that knows me knows I don't like kids in my romance books. Not only were these kids not just a peripheral thing, they had their own little stories within the bigger story. Ugh. I powered through and enjoyed the little boy Jamie only because he seemed right for his age whereas the girl Abigail was 9 and moody. Basically too much like me as a child. Poor thing.

I liked that the heroine had a past and it wasn't something anyone was going to be able to sweep under the carpet. She makes no apologies for who she is or how her life has turned out. She just knows that she needs to move towards happiness before it's too late.

Sir Alistair could have become one of those heroes you've read about more than once. A small scar on the face and they feel marred for life and unworthy of love. Alistair's scars were immense and people fainted when they looked at him and children screamed. He knew what his reality was and had somehow etched out a way of life that was lonely and sad but was his.

He also wasn't charming or overly sentimental. He was rough spoken and like I said above, a bit of a grump which made him wonderfully different from most heroes. I was also surprised at his reaction to Helen's revelation later in the story. Most heroes would hold their tongue and maybe leave the room for a few hours. Not Alistair. He was brutal, not to be evil but because he is so immersed in reality that he sees everything Helen's revelation means.

All that said, the story was missing something for me. That zip that makes a book a keeper and one you'll want to re-read again. As much as I enjoyed this book I can't say I would re-read it but if you love historical romances and don't mind kids in your story then I say give it a try for something different from all the other historicals out there.

C+/B- Can't decide. So I guess I'll have to tag this one under both grades.

Cause I'm lazy.

TSTL - Really?

This post got me thinking and laughing.

What some people consider actions that make a person Too Stupid To Live can actually be some of my daily rituals.

So. Let's share shall we?

1. I have seen it too often said that a heroine without a cell phone in this day and age is TSTL.

I'm a 38 year old woman who can jump start a car, change a tire (if forced to at gun point), and in general find my way to a gas station without any help thank you very much. I also own a cell phone. I don't however, carry it on my person cause seriously, it's just one more thing I have to remember to pick up on the way out the door.

Oh! But now I have a purse so I can carry it always. Only there isn't a permanent plug on my person so it's dead almost every moment of each day.

That said, you come up on me in the middle of the night on some dark road with my car broken down, you better believe I'm carrying a big ass crow bar.

2. Hearing a noise in the basement and knowing there is a killer on the loose and you go down those stairs.

There have only been a few times where a 'killer' has been on the loose and that is usually well televised and I've always had dogs so figured no one would even try. Still, I'll go down those stairs to prove to myself there is nothing to worry about. And yes, there is a baseball bat in an easy to reach place in the house. (I'm not sure how I would react without dogs now. Hopefully I won't be puppy-less forever)

Oh! and I always get mad at movies where the people walk around in their house in the dark - just turn on a friggin' light! It was something of a mind hit the other night when I realized I walk around in the pitch black all the time. Now, I do hit the lights the minute I get in the front door. After that, darkness happens.

3. Heroine out in snow storm in her car.

I'll drive in anything. I'm so not afraid of snow, water, winds. Don't bother me in the least. And yes, I'll be the only person on the road and you better believe I'm heading out to get french fries when the going gets blasted.

I'm also a person who will get out of her car to help someone push their vehicle off the road, or to offer her cellphone (if it's not dead), and one time I got out of my car at a light to help an elderly couple cross the road to catch their bus (they couldn't figure out the walk light & were starting to panic). Sure the light had turned green my way and other people wanted me to move but screw off, I'm helping people here!

That said, I live in a town/city so I wouldn't pull any of this stuff in the country. Although I have driven through a snow storm on unplowed country roads for an hour without flinching once. I thought my mother was going to throw up (she had an accident in the snow) and she was floored that I was so relaxed. (My father took me out when I had my permit and had me do donuts in a snow storm in the back parking lot of a grocery store - once you learn how a car will move in most situations the fear is gone)

So this just covers a few things. The number of times I've almost killed myself because I didn't think something through is probably greater than a cat's number of lives.

Have you ever taken a knife to something not realizing it's actually pointing straight at you? I've almost stabbed myself in the stomach a few times. And I'm careful with knives cause they scare the crap out of me!

Almost broke my leg with a sledge hammer. Once again, didn't think it through.

In demo mode I didn't realize I was hammering towards my head until the damn hammer skipped off the wood and hit me in the noggin. Bob was not pleased.

So 'stupid' happens.

Now, if I got a call from some gravelly voiced serial killer telling me to meet them or else, I'd go with the 'or else'.

I'm just saying, just because 'stupid' happens doesn't mean I happen to be 'stupid'.

Buddy Review!! Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

Woohoo!!

I finished this book shortly after it was published (there be no slumpville when my auto-buy authors come out!) but boy there is a lot of work in doing up a buddy review!!

Thanks to Nath for letting me play and having the patience for it all and for doing all the 'techie' things that need to happen to get a review like this up.

Without further ado:

Breezing Thru and Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh

You still here?

Seduced By A Sinner by Elizabeth Hoyt

Yikes. I never reviewed this book and with my stupid memory I need to make a record of it.

This is where my record keeping with books gets murky. Sure they side bar says I read X number of books but if I forget to change it when I finish a book it's likely I won't ever remember to change it. Thus, lost books. Okay, not lost but not on the fore front of my memory either. I'm using 'Read in 2009' as a tag so at the end of the year I can go back through and remember what it was I read. Now I just have to make sure I review the books or at least make a note somewhere.

Course, I lose notes.

So keeping track would be better.

Instead this will be a note.

I know I liked the book enough to want to dive into the next book To Beguile A Beast which is currently ensconced in my gorgeous new purse.

But Singh's book arrived and stuff happened.

Translated, I can't remember a thing about the darn book except I remember 'seduce a sinner' was in the dialogue somewhere.

Yes, I'm lucky to remember where I live most days.

Noted.

Things I Don't Find Funny

Okay, with that kind of title this post could be one long-assed missive but I'll try to keep it to the one thing that is pissing me off right now.

The Weather:

Canada's summer is short. Shorter than I wish it was. Basically to me there are two seasons, Winter and Swimmer. Swimming has not been happening nearly often enough to keep my ire from rising and killing those in the vicinity.

The Weather Network (how I hate your new smarmy ways) hasn't got a friggin' clue lately. I used to rely on The WN like it was gospel, now it's like they are pissing in the wind and if something hits then they figure they did a good job.

I'm not sure what is going on that they (WN) don't know there is a ginormous cold front with a bunch of rain heading our way instead of the HOT and HUMID weather they are reporting. Seriously, 39 C is what they are saying we should be feeling (humidity) and when it doesn't show up they put it to the next day like oh, it'll show up.

Well it's now late July and I'm calling BULLSHIT.

Poor Bob is keeping C-Rex tied down so she doesn't go on a rampage through hither and dale cause she wants to do some serious damage.

Bob says August will be hot and beautiful. Again, hoping to keep C-Rex from knocking over buildings on her way to Mother Nature's place to ask what she did to piss her off.

To top it all off it was miserably wet and cold tonight. So cold my hubby asked me to turn the furnace on as he went to bed. I was all 'hell no, the bedding and everything in the house is dripping from the humidity in the air' to which my extremely brave husband mumbled 'the heat will dehumidify the house because there is a dehumidifier on the furnace.'

My house is now a sauna.

Hot, miserable in it's current wetness & my brain has decided to misfire and have me smelling burned up cigarettes. (If I was smelling burned toast I would think this horrid summer had finally caused a stroke but I'm hoping the smell of stale cigarettes means my body is feverishly burning off tons of fat) Looked in mirror and my ass is still huge along with the rest of me so that one is a big NO.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my soggy PMS C-Rex upstairs to mope in front of the TV until my poor unsuspecting husband get ups and I can whine to him as he dresses for what will turn out to be a long day.

Bonus for him, he will re-discover his love of going to the office.

Bonus for me, once he leaves I'll turn on the A/C and blast the wet out of the air.

Next up, prepare yourself for a strongly worded post on meat lockers.

AND - We're Back

With RWA running this week and weekend I figured nobody would miss me if I was too busy to post and well, I was!

My Dad is home from Malaysia so we were there Saturday night for a BBQ and then last night (Sunday) Bob and I took the family out for dinner at Boston Pizza. Sure I had to chew some panic pills but I did it and I'm bloody proud of myself! (small note to newbies - I have panic attacks and my biggest triggers are my parents and food so restaurants with parents in tow are dangerous places for me).

Today was the first Cindy day in about 14 days. Poor Bob had to go back to being a working man after his one week vacation. I told him I didn't get enough Bobby time (he put up fencing and is still custom building wood sections which take about 2-3 hours just to build) so I want him to take a week off in August so we can do day trips and hopefully spend time by the pool and hide from people. Yeah. Sometimes I just want it to be Bob and I and I'm spoiled rotten most of the time so I know I'll get my Cindy week with Bob yet!

I'm going to post a few before and after pics here of the backyard. Keep in mind that Bob did most of the fencing by himself and fencing is usually a two - three man job. Thing is, Bob rarely quits when he's on a roll. I'm also hoping by the mid point of August he'll be closer to finishing up at his family's home.

This week I should get some reading done for sure. Okay, I have Dad to visit and make sure he gets plenty of family time but I can't see why I can't pull out a book every once in a while.

We (most of Southern Ontario) are hoping that we do get the promised heat wave this week cause I so want to go swimming more often. I dove in tonight and swam for bear/bare (?) to warm up. It's the time after (the past two hours) that you sit with a chill all over. Bob just got up to go to bed and mumbled that he is freezing. Yeah, me too!

Dang I was going to load photos but there are every where in my computer and I have one spot where there are no previews so you end up having to go through hoops and I'm not in the mood to jump.

And finally, there is no food in the house.

Sure, there are crackers but no peanut butter. There's bread but no PB, meat, etc. There is not one potato in this house (I'm a potato addict and not having any in the house is making me queasy with hunger), I drank the last coke hours ago and the stuff I did find had mold starting. So I found a lonely frozen dinner in the back of the freezer and I'm heating it up. I told Bob we had to go food shopping tonight but he was tired after a day at work.

So he's sleeping and I'm up like normal and starving. The things I do for love.

And no, I'm not heading to McDs or anything although I'm dying to just so I can stop thinking about food!

I'm in my jammies and lazy to boot so no going out at 2am for me.

Cooling the Jets

I've been scrolling through a bit of the RWA coverage (AAR and Kristie J's so far) and figure most of you will be busy catching up for the week so rambling will now commence.

Did you know painting your own toe nails is hard?

I had no clue. I don't normally polish cause I have that 'Oh, shiny!' factor and get distracted by my own hands. The feet however are fun to catch every once in a while but I've only ever had it done at the spa (one time). For two weeks I would be doing something and would catch a colour out of the corner of my eye and see my toes. Stupid stuff makes me smile so yeah, I would smile.

So my Gorgeous Cousin came to stay overnight with Bob and I and shopping was done in the extreme.

Side Trip!

My cousin can shop. OMG can this girl shop. Even as a teenager and young adult I could not have done the kind of shopping my cousin can do. She will shop an entire mall and then decide what she wants to buy. Me? I buy stuff as I see it. So halfway through everything I'm the only person who has dropped some major coin. Grrr.

Poor Bob decided to come with us (I told him he could stay home and continue building the fence but he chose to come) and the poor guy would find a chair in the mall and fall asleep only to have us poke him awake to move on to the next set of chairs. Geez, he even got two new shirts without moving out of those chairs!

Then he followed us into a few stores because he had had a good snooze and discovered what shopping with women can be truly like. Gorgeous Cousin finds 12 things to try on and then comes out to pose while I laugh and point, thumb up or OMG NOOOOOO! her. Bob was quite impressed and asked if his job was to give the thumbs up. I asked him how old he was (51) and told him he had no business telling a young woman what she could wear. He agreed.

OMG - Train of thought off the track, run for your lives!!

Can you say 1980's? Every where I looked were the clothes that I shopped for when I was a teenager. Seeing my 23 year old cousin get all excited about stuff I have seen before and was terrified of has put a new spin on my getting old. I just never thought the 80's fashion would come back in style. I actually grabbed a dress and put it over my head and sang Love is a Battlefield cause seriously, it was the dress! Obviously, my cousin didn't know what to make of me.

Even if I were a skinny mini (I wish), I wouldn't wear the stuff again.

Back to the side trip:

On the way out of the mall (stores were closing all around us) Bob keeps on with lines like 'I'm not sure I can make it, I've aged years while being in here!' and 'you tried on 43 outfits and you didn't buy anything!?' get outside 'Holy crap, the seasons have changed while we've been in there.' and continuous witty comments ad nauseum.

Dang, I'm so off topic - what I was planning to say was that my cousin has worn polish on her hands and feet since she could wield one of those little brushes. So like, 5 years old.

Okay, how'd we do? Everyone still conscious?

I have a bit of a head ache so we'll list that as a side effect of reading the above. Ooops, should have put that in first, ah well, we'll take some Tylenol together.

Let's get this cart back on the path already!

I don't like most nail polish colours. Bright red? Forget it. Pink? Ugh. I tell my cousin I'm looking for something with a hint of purple in it. She intreprets this to mean PURPLE. Yikes. I thought her head was going to explode while I hummed and hawed over the colours but I finally picked one. (I think I'm more in the brown tones)

My big toe looks like an anvil was dropped on it.

Me, thinking it would take about 10 seconds to put on some polish learned the hard way that that shit has a mind of it's own! So I was able to wipe most of it off but it's all in around the edge of the nail and on my toe.

It looks like a dead zombie toe. Course, my cousin has gone home and I have no one (and no I'm not asking Bob) to put the polish on.

Can you tell I learn on a curve?

Onwards!!

Purse Porn for Ames:

You got me with your latest purchase and I had to find the perfect purse for my wallet, keys and a book without it looking like a purse (cause I feel like I'm playing dress up and everyone knows).















The pictures aren't doing the bag any justice so go here to see it professionally photographed in all it's cuddly goodness.

The leather is like budda!

And it came with it's own cozy sweater that is called a dust jacket for when the purse isn't in use!

Seriously. That's just too funny.

So my keys, wallet and a book will fit nicely and maybe I won't forget any one thing while out shopping like I did last week.

Vacation!

Bob's off this week and I have already inked in my 'Bobby time'.

See, he's putting up a fence and then I told him to go help my Mom with some stuff and then my Gorgeous Cousin is off this week also and wants to get together and then....

HE'S MINE!

Yes, I'm a wee bit feral on this point.

The weather is holding up but it's cool again, as in the pool should be 83 so that I don't jump from cold air into colder water. Seriously, I have a pool heater for a reason and this brisk summer is the exact reason for it!

Oh, I cooked dinner tonight too!

I know I'm shocked also but then I really just threw some frozen burgers on the grill with some hot dogs, boiled up some Ontario potatoes (crack as I like to call 'em) and tossed a pre-packed Caesar salad that I add tons of bacon bits and croutons to. And some pepper/onion pack for the BBQ that was new at the store. I was the only one who at the veggie stuff so I'm guessing that part wasn't a hit.

I finished the book and I have the Great Book Blues.

Yep, I'm having a tough time breaking from Singh's world as there are a few characters I want to see stories for TODAY.

Ahem.

I'm fine.

No really, I'll figure this one out.

I just don't think massive reading will get done this week but I can still try, right!

I put an exclamation point on that sentence to see if I could get my sorry butt to pick a book to read.

Not working.

The GBB's suck when you don't have 17 more books in the series to grab at.

Just saying.

In Just A Minute

So many things going on you lose track of time.

1. I finished the book and will have a joint review up with Nath at Breezing Through as soon as we write it. Aside: I'm so excited to write a buddy review as I've never done one and hey, I get to be a guest over at BT!!

2. You think I'm a slow reader, you should see how long a review takes to write!

3. I have no idea where the week went.

4. I think I have a video of Emma that I can upload for ya. If you haven't seen her in her new 'cropped' look be prepared to laugh.

5. One of my best buds is coming for a visit and I haven't cleaned the house. Like, at all.

6. My sleep is weird. I'm going to bed at 5am and waking up before noon. That's just not right. Then I wake up tired and spend hours sleepy but I can't fall asleep. Jacked up is what that is.

7. Bob's off on vacation next week so we'll see how my reading goes. Although if you know me you know I'm in the GBB (hint to my grade for the review but if you don't know what GBB means you'll have to wait)

8. Oh, and since you know Bob you probably won't be surprised by how many projects he has on the go. Helping at his brother's house (I can show you a video of where they are at) building the apartment they need to rent, putting up fence at our house, plans to rip off existing deck and build a new one and my favourite - an ensuite bath. The ensuite bath thingie means I have a bathroom I can't use but there is no progress as Bob is working outdoors at the moment.

The more I think about it the more I realize this could become a separate blog post so I'll leave it at that for now.

8. You poor bastards, I do have a video of Em!

Bruce Willis Baby!

Why are you all messing with me?

Why was I not alerted to the next hottest movie starring my Bruce?

Not only does it star Bruce Willis, it's like a sci-fi movie. Matrix on crack if you will.

SURROGATES trailer in HD


Just a little summa-summin.

Back to reading. Shhhhhh.

SQA - WHEEEEEE!

Edit: THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I didn't want to say anything on Wednesday but uh, yeah, Amazon.ca had Branded by Fire showing as IN STOCK!!

I was floored so what did I do? I bought 40 bucks worth of books to fill out an order and bloody hell, it shipped today and if I'm really lucky it'll be here tomorrow!!

Loretta Chase is a hit or miss author for me. While she has written one of my favourite romances of all time - Mr. Impossible, she's also written Miss Wonderful and Lord Perfect - ow, ow. Still, I'll keep coming back hoping for another hit hence, Don't Tempt Me.

Meredith Duran's Bound by Your Touch is a book I have only heard good things about and hey, it was also in stock so one easy click and it was in the online basket.



What Happens In London by Julia Quinn also fell into the virtual cart but this is another hit or miss author with me. I'm not a lover of the title but I think it's because it's contemporary - course, maybe the book is contemporary - yeah, I don't normally read back blurbs. Still, I was able to buy this one despite the title (amazing how that 39 bucks and it ships free can work out).

And, of course, I have to mention Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh. I love this author and have been waiting too long for this one. Sure enough, after ordering the book online on Canada Day (Wednesday stores were closed) I checked stock at my local bookstore late tonight and they now have 38 copies.

So yes, I will admit it to one and all, if I don't have a book package in the mail tomorrow I will end up at the bookstore to buy Branded by Fire. I'm not proud of my inability to suppress my 'gotta have it now' impulse but obviously I'm not horribly shamed by it either.

Where I know I'm crazy is that I won't actually have any reading time until Sunday night when Bob has to leave on business. Reading palooza begins immediately afterwards, which is why I will have the book in the house on Sunday night even though the mail might not show until Monday morning.

Bad Cindy.

But I'll have the book.

And in my brain that makes all things equal.

Reviews and Different Media

I know book reviews are often discussed, yelled about and eventually sobbed about in romance circles. I find it such an odd occurrence but then I was watching movies long before I became a romance reader.

How does this relate?

I don't know how it works in other countries but here in Canada, if a movie reviewer pans a movie as the most horrid thing to have ever been made for the big screen, I know I have to get my ass to the film as soon as possible. In fact, if a movie that I have been really looking forward to gets a good review from any of the Canadian media I'm almost beside myself with disappointment.

Most sci-fi movies before now have been panned by movie media and I smile knowing I'm in for a treat. I'm pretty sure I've seen horrid reviews for all the Indiana Jones movies including the one with Sean Connery and have been personally insulted by the idea that a viewer would have to be a moron to enjoy such films.

I learned early on with movie reviews that the reviewers were looking for something in the film that I myself was not the least bit interested in. The Oscars only furthered this conclusion with such winners as Fargo (hated the film), American Beauty (seriously, the whole film was ridiculous) and The English Patient (bleck). Also, if anyone can explain to me the meaning of the movie The Virgin Suicides, I would greatly appreciate it.

Onwards!

So, seeing today's Yahoo story on the most recent Transformers movie made me laugh.

'Transformers' sequel could become worst-reviewed $400 million blockbuster ever

Basically this movie has received horrible reviews yet it's making a killing at the box office. Those reviews that have praised the movie have the added caveat of 'check your brain at the door'.

Now for some honesty, I didn't care for the first Transformer movie and thought it was quite juvenile and since it is about toys that were created for young boys back in the 80's I understood my 'meh' feeling about the film.

Silly me now thinks I have to see this sequel.

But I'll wait until it's out on DVD, just in case.

I do have to say however, that I think movie reviewing has finally started to change over the past few years. Not all critics aren't looking for that artsy fartsy film that'll make me gag (although they still love those things) to fall all over. New reviewers are popping up here and there, probably sick of the blood bath of normal movie reviews, and adding in a voice of the person who is just looking for a grand time at the movies.

I just don't need a moral lesson from every film I watch, in fact, I would prefer not getting any kind of lesson from a film!

Still, it takes some getting used to, for example, the latest Star Trek movie received great reviews from critics and I almost fell to my knees in horror. What saved me was that normal everyday people were also saying it was a great movie and thankfully it was a great movie.

How does this relate to romance books and their reviews?

Good question. You know me and how my train of thought unravels in mid---

Basically, romance reviews years back were the complete opposite of how movies were reviewed. I remember the first time I saw reviews for romance books and was surprised at just how many were 'gems' and 'perfect reads'. A few purchases later I discovered that romance book reviews were not to be trusted.

Please keep in mind this was the mid-90s before blowing your load in the comments. Just saying.

We've come a long way in regards to reviews for romance books.

There's that dark part of me that wants to do a test like the movie one above. How many positive reviews are written for a book that most people think is horrid or even how many 'OMG NOOOO' reviews are written for a book that sells like hotcakes. (and how well do hotcakes sell?)

Keep in mind it's a statistical thing in that out of 100 reviews 93 were rave reviews or whatever, we all know a review is only one person's opinion but group 100 together and you have some information to draw from.

Okay, I'm boring myself now.

Thoughts, rants, name calling?

Damn, I lost you at the word 'review' didn't I?

I knew it.