Heart Of Stone Diana Palmer

This will be a quicky. I'm not sure how many people read Palmer besides me and the Sybs but I'll do a bit of an opinion piece.

Cindy Blurb: Simple.

18 yr old girl has been in love with man 11 years her senior since she laid eyes on him when she was 14.

Man 11 years her senior ignores her (yeah, he should!).

By the ripe old age of 19 she is never going to get married or be with a man because of something awful in the past and well, she is after all head over heels in love with hero.

Hero also had an awful event in his past complicated by one of 'those kind of women' (shallow, selfish, money grubbers).

Hero finally 'can't fight that feeling anymore' and since she's almost 20 they can now declare their love and live HEA.

Okay, so that's kind of the blurb that would go with any one of Diana Palmer's books EXCEPT -

It's missing the ginormous misunderstanding that drives a wedge through two people's hearts and make them angry and bitter towards each other until the Hero (and yes, it's usually the hero) discovers he had it all wrong, wrong, wrong and is the biggest butt in the world.

He seduces young woman who is bewildered by the affection (and erection) from the man she has always loved but who had hated her completely and utterly until about 10 minutes ago.

And if you really want to dive into Palmer's back list there are H/H who are related to each other (cousins) and then there is the famous Older Step Brother with his much younger and tortured Step Sister.

Yep.

If you want to find something sinister and awful to hate in a book you can probably find it in a Diana Palmer.

But I love it.

Okay, the step sibs were hard to take and I do get the 'ick' when cousins are mentioned but Diana Palmer could really bring it.

Soap Opera drama, skank whore who is hero's current fling and treats heroine like a little slut, a hero who makes assholes every where a better name because he is the King and I as the reader can't wait for the truth to knock him off his high horse.

So with this latest release I can say that she's not as PC as she was in around 2000 when I read one of her books and entered 'the complete opposite' world. Hell, the book had no zing, zip or passion. I was sad.

But lately I've been seeing 'Long Tall Texan's' on her books and I've been wondering if maybe she would write up another of her famous alpha jerk heroes.

Basically the hero wasn't a jerk in this book. He had some smarts about him. He did jump to a few bad conclusions but they were quickly fixed after the heroine almost dies. (Hey, I forgot that part!)

The heroine was meh.

The sex was very meh. I mean, seriously. Meh.

I'm not used to Palmer being so slight in the sheets but maybe I'm not remembering everything the way it really happened.

Will I read another Palmer.

Hell Yeah!!

I may even resort to re-reading some of her older, wilder and Un-PC books.

I should mention she has written historicals which fit more into this category. Like you would expect an 19 year old and an older man to get together but she mostly writes contemporary westerns.

God love her.

C+ (I'm suddenly on Sybil's side when she says C reviews don't mean the book was bad. They sure don't mean it's a great book either.)

AND

I picked up another book. I'm currently reading Jessica Bird's - crap, it's got millionaire or something like that in the title. I would have dropped this book at the first page but I was out and about with Bob and we were hitting stores I didn't need to go in so I stayed in the car reading.

It's amazing how you'll read something that makes your eyes roll when there is nothing else to do or read.

And that seems to be the solution to Slumpville (if I can't see it maybe it's not real!) right now. Cause all of a sudden, the weirdness of the whole first chapter has passed and maybe I can see past the 'he-man/she-woman' character traits that Ward is famous for.

Yeah, Bird is Ward.

But then I think everyone knows that.

If not, you're welcome.

Toronto or BUST!

So yeah, we're going to a fancy tile store in Toronto. Squeeeeeee!!!

Yes, interior design is one of my passions and going to a place with specialty stone tiles makes me squeee.

Course, I'll work hard on my breathing cause of the anxiety monkey that has been playing on my back lately. Weird monkey.

Onwards!

I finished my first book for the year!!! Yay baby!!

Heart of Stone by Diane Palmer

I'll do a Cindy write up next go but Sybil, if you are watching, it's not exactly the Palmer we know and love. More when I do my *announcer voice* opinion piece. *end of announcer*

Also, to you all Google readers or other platform readers, I'll apologize right now. I'm going to be re-tagging entries and trying to clean things up a bit. I have no consistency with tags and things are every where!!

Like in my house.

Next!

Bookwormom did you all in. Yes she did, she asked for pics!

I give you the before and almost after pics of our living room.


I took this picture the day we moved in so I would have befores and afters.

Phew!

Cause I never know what Bob will tackle next!

Lookit that sad fireplace. It's brick painted white. Pathetic. Also, the fireplace is not centered in the room. Unusually bad for Aries (Bob) not so much for us lazy Virgos.

And yes, I left that colour on the wall for three years.

I'm a saint.

Okay, lazy.

This is the new and improved fireplace.

In order to center the fireplace in the room Bob made the whole thing bigger but you can't move the fireplace. So he created a wood box on the side and because the picture above is centered on the mantle, it gives the illusion of center.

At least, that's how I'm explaining it.

Okay, now just a few overall pictures of the room.

Should mention that we are going back and forth on whether to stain or paint it white. Eventually we will finish the hardwood floors and they will be dark. My furniture is on the darker side also so I think it might get too dark.



This is almost from the same spot I took the above picture. The room is so long that we've had trouble placing the furniture for years. This is the one I like the best although you look at the back of the couch when you walk in the door.







And here are my drapes. Seriously, I've never bought drapes before so I feel like an adult now.

You may be trying to figure out what's wrong but you see my man Bob didn't want to see a rod across the top of the window and since we don't plan on ever closing the drapes, he mounted them on either side of the window with two separate rods.

Things to note, my coffee table is way too small. The carpet is way too small and busy - it worked in our last home to make our smaller living room cozy.

But hey, you do changes as you can afford them.

Finally this is what is behind that sofa in the above picture. It's a small seating area for now.

Like I said, this room is a challenge and it can be worked with if we get a sofa table but once we do that the room goes off center again.

Fun, no?

Okay, that's if for now.

Cheering was not necessary.

Off to see if I can watch Battlestar Galactica before Bob wakes up and the breakfast/Toronto trip begins!

Edited: You can click on the pictures to blow them up and see the nitty gritty. Be kind.

Sharing!

Amber had her vet visit today - I was soooo tired and pained (not physical but just mentally dull).

BUT!!

She's hopefully going to be fine!!

Yay!!

Thyroid is over active so new pills for Amber. Something about 2nd stage liver OR kidney disease (I get those organs mixed up but I'm thinking it was the kidney one) So she has to be on a low protein diet (bad Cindy with all that chicken!) so it doesn't over tax the organ.

There could also be something in her frontal lobe - she's blind but it's progressing in that her pupils no longer dilate. So there is progression but hey, what do you expect in an older cat. The hopefully good news is that she will be on the mend over the next month and we'll have our 'average' sized cat back in our lives again.

So vera happy!!

AND

I'm reading!!!

I had to go to the land of last resort.

Okay, maybe the land of second to last resort cause I didn't bust out an Anne Stuart.

Nope.

I busted out a Diana Palmer.

Yay I did!!

And it's wonderfully wrong in all her magical ways. Asshole alpha jerks with preconceived notions of the heroine, the heroine who is so virginal it's painful and God, so young. I'm so enthralled that I can see at least three other guys who should probably have their own stories with their own 'young and virginal' teenag-uh, women.

The last time I read a Palmer it was like her editor told her to do everything completely different. Man can't be an asshole, heroine should be a bit older, he should be nice to her and she should know he loves her.

It was drek and boring and OW, my brain hurts just thinking about it.

But this little gem - A Brand New Long, Tall Texan Story! (right on the cover) Heart of Stone from Special Edition Silhouette is like a hot bowl of chili with soft fresh bread and an ice cold coke all wrapped into a cozy little package. Yummy goodness I tell ya.

I started it at the vets when Amber had her hour of tests. I was hooked and I'm loving it!

Reading. It's all about the comfort of the soul.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of GCs for Chapters that can be more than used up on some of her backlist that I ran from over the past few years.

Pulling Up My Socks

Rough weekend with my anxiety for some reason but I'm through it and feeling much better on the other side.

I just finished my paying gig.

Has me happy and sad at the same time - happy to have nothing on my mind-Shut up-Sad cause I won't be making any money.

Turns out I like money.

But I try not to dwell on the sad stuff in my life. Again, zip it.

So positive things: (this picture tickled my procrastination bone)

1. We have resorted to feeding Amber real food. No more canned crap for her. I ordered in Swiss Chalet (it's a chicken place up here) and I never eat all the chicken because sometimes it's pink and yeah, they say that's natural but I'm saying- uh no!

Digressed.

So I plucked that chicken breast clean of all it's meat and chopped it up into little pieces and gave some to Amber. She ate and purred and ate and purred.

Then the other night I thought about having a tuna sandwich (I have to say at this point that I never thought watching Deadliest Catch would affect my eating) and opened a can of tuna. Only I bought that 'solid' kind.

Which means you can kind of *see* the fish. Hush. It's my story and I'm telling you this thing had a head and tail.

In my mind.

So I decided to flake it up and feed it to Amber.

Score!

Bob has also started to feed her shredded cheddar. (I'm not sure that's the greatest idea but hey, she doesn't look like skin and bones right now)

I'm planning on taking out a frozen chicken breast and boiling it. Bob doesn't think you can boil chicken. Cute man. Course it's boneless and stuff but I'm hoping it'll cook up nice for Amber.

2. I think I'll be day walking for the next week or so, so I'm hopefully going to get Amber over to the vet early Wednesday morning. I know blood work and stuff will need to happen but again, I'm crossing my fingers that it's just Emma (or Miss Fatty Patty) pushing her out of her bowl.

We stand guard over Amber when she eats now. Damn, she's a slow eater.

3. BOOK ROOM!! I'm excited to get into my book room because Bob has made it his dumping ground for his clothes, fancy boxes our new drapes came in (hey, I'll have to post a pic) and other *stuff or crap* that seems to enter this house on a daily basis.

Not cool.

I also have to get re-acquainted with my TBR pile so I know what I have and what I need.

4. It's early for sure but I have the 'spring cleaning' bug and hey, I need to grab that kind of energy when I can.

It usually lasts a full hour!

5. Ohhh, found a great tile place from my favourite design show called Design Inc. Bob went to Toronto today and picked up the multi-layered marble tile I've been looking for for about 6 months. I'm very excited and Bob wants to take me there on Saturday because there are tons of other different kind of tiles there.

Yes. I get excited about stone, tiles, paint, wood (yeah, baby) fabrics.

On that note I need to post before and after pictures of the gorgeous fireplace makeover my hubby did just before Christmas. It's faboo and the room now feels completely different - cozy and warm.

Okay, I've talked your ear off so I'll go and see what you guys have been up to.

Better things than me I bet!

Globula

1. I'm still here.

2. This post is just a glob of information to explain lack of blogging. I think it should get a special name.

3. I'm working on the AAR Annual Poll which takes up some time.

4. I'm working (as in a job) for probably the next 5 days and then the contract will be up. Yeah, I'm sad but I know Bob and I are blessed and the job was more about 'me' and 'self-worth' and such than the actual money. But the money was nice. Real nice.

5. I got on the scale the other day and saw the highest number I've ever seen. I'm in denial but I can't understand how it's not possible. I mean, it's a scale, what the hell else is it there for except to tell me my weight. So I lost 15 lbs last year and gained 16 in what, 3 months? Makes me pukish it does.

6. So you know I have to start exercising and of course, WW but I mentioned the denial thing and my brain isn't there. I really think you need to be in the zone mentally but I know I'm not there. Which sucks because when I put on a pair of jeans I'm about in tears. Anyone have any idea how to get my head in the game? I'm throwing a life line here peeps.

7. Amber, my beautiful blind kitty, is probably very sick. She's 16 years old now and she has lost so much weight. All the same she is the happiest cat in the world. You just have to touch her or call her name and she starts purring. The purr is sounding hoarse. I'm taking her to the vet on Monday - I think she has cancer or something like that and is on her way. However, if I cook up a chicken breast and cut it all up and give it to her she acts like she's starved. I have hope it's something else but at least she is one happy kitty.

8. On that extremely sad note I can honestly tell you I miss Cody more and more every day. My mother commented during Christmas 'I thought you weren't a dog person' and I said 'I didn't think I was.' I'm watching a show on the Iditarod - about mushers and their mushing dogs and I was about in tears when I saw how pooped these dogs are after running for hours on end. And some of them have Cody's face.

9. I so badly want to get sucked into a great book. I have to stop worrying about it and just let it happen already.

10. I figured I was at 9, we could use a 10. OH!! I'm addicted to Word Challenge on Facebook thanks to Rowena. She mentioned it and I love word games you can play yourself and BAM addiction.

Those are all the globula taking up my time at the moment. I hope you are all staying warm, finding time to read and enough couch time to catch your favourite shows - LOST ROCKS!!

So does Battlestar Galactica!! (I think I may have a theory although I can't fit Starbuck into it because I don't believe she is a cylon)

Bad Cindy. Must learn time management.

Wonder if they have a book on that?

Bookshelf Meme

I do so love a good meme and Bookwormom tagged me for one about a week ago.

Bad Cindy.

I'm not sure how this will end because my brain will pull a whole bunch of stuff out of no where and decide to wax poetic.

So, you know.

Normal Cindy post.

Helmets on people.

The books that’ve been on your shelves the longest:

Ohhhhh, baby!! The mind is a whirling and I got some titles for ya.

1. A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss - I'm trying to think if this would be the longest one of the shelf and it would be a very close tie to Katherine Sutcliffe's book Renegade Love - my very first keeper.

I know these covers come from an era of 'bodice ripping' art but I was always intrigued by A Rose in Winter's cover and I must have stared at the hero on the cover of Renegade Love for hours because he was so different from all those Fabio and long haired guys that I never found attractive.

The guys on these covers. Yep. I'll say it.

Yum!


A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.):

Okay the first book to come to my mind is Julie Garwood's Secret. It was the end of my 3rd year in university and I was mentally exhausted and just ready for the hard stuff to be over. Final exams were on and my last one was almost the second to last day in May. Which is horrible because everyone else was normally done the first few weeks of May. I couldn't believe how many of my friends had their exams either in class or in the first few days and then went home. Me? Nope, three to four weeks of sheer terror and prep.

I digress.

I've mentioned before that during school I refused to allow myself to buy or read new romance books. I know myself and I knew I would spend a weekend reading a book and not get important papers finished. Even then, I was still editing and working on papers for most of the night before they were due. Technology back then was not graceful and the number of times I would have to reset the printer to get the damn paper to print out. I mentioned terror, right? Because I would just make it to the class in time with smoke rising from my sneakers from running wild through the parking lot to the building.

My, how I do go on.

Anyways, I worked at a pet food store on the weekends - every friggin' weekend. But on this Saturday in May I had an exam at 9am and could go till noon. Now, I could have gone to work afterwords but I just didn't want to so I booked the day off.

After the exam I went to the bookstore. My sanctuary. And TADA!! A new Julie Garwood book!! I remember that day so well. Thrilled to have a new book by my favourite author I went home and started reading around 11:30am and didn't stop until the last page around 8:30pm. (slow reader) It remains my favourite to this day. For all the above reasons and for the story itself. Wonderful.

A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.):

Well, I've definitely won prizes and woot!! Loved everyone of 'em.

But I'll tell you the story of the time before the internet. A time when you couldn't find books you wanted cause they were out of print and the only places you could go were creepy dusty places with boxes and boxes of musty books for sale.

For real.

Not only that but books with vampires in them? So rare they were worth more than diamonds!

No. Really!!

I believe my first vampire book was from Maggie Shayne's Twilight series. Mmmmmm, vampires. While reading this amazing book from Harlequin or Silhouette or whatever, I flipped to the front of the book and found other titles from the series. Thing was, they had all been in print and I knew I wasn't going to find them at the bookstore. (Okay, what's weird is that I remember clearly reading this book first which is fine but it was also the first in the series so how could it have had the other titles listed in it? Bad memory)

3 years I looked and browsed never really believing I would find that last book. The one I really wanted to read.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I entered a used bookstore and found a discount table with category books tied with strings - 3 for a dollar.

There in a pile of three were the two Twilight books I had been looking for for 3 years. I was so excited but I knew better than to make any noise (I had done that the last time I scored a book and scared the clerk so bad she thought she would have to call 911).

I also remember worrying that the teller would look at the books and say 'OMG, these are rare books, how did they get into that pile! These are like 400 bucks!!'.

A book that’s been with you to the most places:

Renegade Love. All of Julie Garwood's backlist. And most of Kathleen Woodiwiss's books also. From my home, to being married and being in Bob's home and then moving here to our new home.

I do have to admit that I finally bought a new copy of Renegade Love in case I ever wanted to read it again because my original is all broken from reading and reading and reading. I'll never part with that original though. Oh, I found the pictures of it I took a few years ago!

The most recent addition to your shelves:

Egads. I haven't bought myself a book in a while! I'm waiting for Nalini Singh and J.R. Ward, Anne Stuart etc.

I was busy buying books as gifts this year but I didn't get to add any to my shelves. I have gift cards - only 40 bucks but I know at least one book I want to buy.

Because if you didn't already know, I love him.

Seriously. Bad crush on him cause he makes me laugh till it hurts.

Good stuff.

AND -

We're done!

I can see you doing your happy dance.

So, who shall get tagged - hey, I see you slinking out in the back!

Nath (gotcha), Rosie, Holly (cause she supposed to blog more), Ames, and C2.

Just so you know, I don't know the original creator of this meme and don't know if there are books still being given away but I do know the original post was in November. So I'm thinking, not so much. But I had fun doing it!

The Rules
1. Tag 3-5 people, so the fun keeps going!
2. Leave a comment at the original post at A Striped Armchair, so that Eva can collect everyone’s answers.
3. If you leave a comment and link back to Eva as the meme’s creator, she will enter you in a book giveaway contest! She has a whole shelf devoted to giveaway books that you’ll be able to choose from, or a bookmooch point if you prefer.
4. Remember that this is all about enjoying books as physical objects, so feel free to describe the exact book you’re talking about, down to that warping from being dropped in the bath water…
5. Make the meme more fun with visuals! Covers of the specific edition you’re talking about, photos of your bookshelves, etc

More Cold? No Thanks!

I'm setting a bad precedent for this year by being MIA as much as I have been.

Bad Cindy.

First excuse, and really, it's a good one, the AAR Annual Reader's Poll is up and running and I'm one of the people who tally the votes.

So me and Excel are tight yet again.

Bob is on a business trip but gets back tomorrow night and I will have to start working on numbers for last month and the 4 previous. Hey, I was let go and hired back for a month - sometimes life is good. I could use the dough!

Parents are now successfully in Kuala Lumpur and you would think this would mean more Cindy time - WRONG!

Snow is dumping by the foot and a driveway and cat (parent's house) need to be tended to. I haven't been feeling too well the last few days so the next few will be 'catch up' days.

Ugh.

One of my best buds wants to come out tomorrow but I'm not sure I'm well enough and yeah, I mean that in body and brains. My mind is playing games for sure and with sleep being a pain in the arse I get panicky.

On that note, it's time for my SAD light to come and spread some joy.

On a completely different one, I got a dream interpretation book for Christmas (yeah, my family are a bunch of yuk, yuks) but Dude, I've been having dreams of packing for about 6 months. I'm so sick of packing shit in my sleep, we never have enough boxes, I have to pull stuff out that might be other people's etc.

And weirdly it's usually my Gram's house and I'm packing with help from all the family only, I didn't know everyone was coming and I don't have gifts for everyone - yeah, Christmas plays a role. Luckily Bob does make appearances although they are too short and the house has been renoed to within an inch of it's life. Like crazy stuff.

Only, we moved my Gram when I was 16 and I haven't seen that house since. And my beloved Gram has been gone for 8 years and the last time the whole family was together for Christmas was long before I was 16.

Oh, but there was a pony in the house this time - let me check the book.

Cool.

It was a white pony (and by this I'm sure it was a foal) :

Looking at a foal: expect a very happy event to take place soon. A white horse in a dream heightens the meaning of the positive symbols. pg 202

Packing your belongings: expect life-changing events with worries, a shift in attitude, or possibly a separation. pg 292

Dreaming of moving out of your home means changes in your personal life are imminent. You are changing your habits, present situation, or your attitude toward life. pg 267

From Dreamer's Dictionary, Garuda

Hmmm.

The other weird thing I noticed lately is that my penmanship is different. So much so that at times I notice just how different it is while writing a number in a way I never have before.

And that whole sewing Christmas bags threw me too.

In terms of normal every day life I'm still my lazy self so I guess I'm not changing too much.

I'll also note that trying to interpret dreams with a book is hard. There's no 'packing up dead Gramma's house' in there. And half the things I first tried to look up had nothing.

But it was funny today when I woke up and remembered that white baby horse.

Definitely best part of a dream I'm sick of seeing over and over and over again.

Next up I'll do a meme I was tagged for on books by Bookwormom.

I heard those grateful sighs of relief.

Hell, even I'm relieved!

ANNNNND, I'm Back

There.

Went on a bit of a breather I did!

I'm touching base because I'm so tired right now it's all I can do to keep my eyes open. I have no clue why other than I seem to only be able to sleep about 8 hours in a row for the past few nights. My body really wants to go back to 'pre-December' body rules.

Did I mention the waist bands on my jeans are starting to hurt?

Yeah.

Not happy.

Also, I'm messing up my meds - can't remember when I took them last etc. (I have a pill sorter but stopped using it when I changed meds - the headaches I've been getting the past few days have been ugly so I definitely need to get my self together!)

I've opened my first book for the year and started reading. It's Suzanne Brockmann's Freedom's Price. It was first published as a Loveswept and it looks like an early version of Max and Gina only with a smaller age gap. I can tell you I'm having a hard time getting sucked in but I think real life is still messing with my mind.

I've rented and watched a ton of movies but the best one of the lot so far has been The Duchess with Kiera Knightly - I got totally sucked in and now want to know more about these three people who lived a different lifestyle 200 years ago. The movie - I don't think although I don't know for sure - is not accurate in the accounting of Georgina and Bess's lives with the Duke. So I'm very curious about them.

Ghostown was a movie I was looking forward to but it looks like they stripped all the funny parts out. So it was a dud for me.

The Women sucked elephant dung. It was painful.

I have 5 movies rented out - Burn After Reading, Bangkok something, Babylon AD, Mama Mia, and the DeNiro movie. We'll see if any of them are worth the effort.

Okay, off to veg in front of the TV - we'll see if I can keep my eyes open long enough to watch a show. It's 11pm now and I know if I go lay down I'll be awake again in 2 hours and I'll throw my whole sleep thing out of whack.

Wouldn't be an issue but my Dad and my Mom are heading back to Malaysia on Sunday (my mom's first time) and Friday night I'm doing a B-day/Bon Voyage thing for my Mom. So timing and sleep need to be kept as rigid as possible.

Next Monday I'll probably fall asleep and wake up three days later.

Early Happy New Year From Me!!

Tomorrow will be busy and then we're going to best buds on the New Year's Day so I won't be on the net in time to wish you all Merry.

So, have a Safe, Happy, Healthy, Wealthy, Loving New Year!!

I've made a decision on two fronts.

Side note: I don't do resolutions, it just seems that after the gluttony that is Christmas, I naturally turn around and think, 'did I just see my own ass with my peripheral vision!?' Not cool. End Side Note

So after the next few days of gluttony because Dude, we're so not done with holidays around here, I'll be hefting my largess onto a groaning treadmill and walking like I'm heading to Memphis.

I'm also thinking about looking on Kijiji to find an recumbent exercise bike but I'm not sure that's a cardio work out or not. I know I'll need something different every once in a while to keep me moving but I bet by the end of January, early February there'll be some fancy used ones up for sale!

I'm going to watch what I eat but not get obsessive about it. Counting points and having to know everything I put in my mouth is mind numbing and potentially an obsessive compulsive problem that I don't need.

Right. Liar. I need it but I don't want it!

And finally:

It's official. I'm going to crawl, slide, grapple, climb, sucker punch my way out of this damn slump.
So yes, I have rules. These rules helped me out of my last ginormous slump so I'm laying them on.

1. If I start a book I must finish it. Period. Don't care if the heroine is whiny or the hero is a pansy I have to finish the book.

2. Warning for you guys - be prepared for some bad reviews. If I have to suffer through a horrible book you poor bastards are going to hear about it.

3. There aren't any other rules. I should put a rule about how I need to read a certain amount but then I start to feel trapped and get antsy.

4. Oh, I can read any book I want. That means I don't concentrate on only 2009 books - I get to take a pick out of my well stocked TBR pile. I know there's gold 'in dem dare hills'

And on another note all together. I am highly motivated in getting my house in order so even though I'm going to slaughter my way out of this slump, don't expect to see double digit numbers before the end of 6 months. I'll be happy if I can read a book a month!

There you have it. Some 'non-resolutions' for the New Year.

Let's see how I do.

Bah!

I'm having one of my anxious moments.

I felt nauseous there about 3 hours ago and decided not to worry and eat something. Sometimes I feel sick to my stomach when I'm hungry. I also have a headache. So I'm sitting here getting all worked up about tomorrow.

We're going to Bob's best friends for a visit. It's a solid hour drive and since we don't get to see them as much as we used to I can get worried (cause my brain is a giant nut) that I won't feel good and we'll have to cancel.

Stupid.

The other thing I did was grab some tylenol and I *think* I took two. Problem is I can't remember if I took them our not. I've looked over the desk and I don't see them so I'm assuming I took them. But I still have a headache.

And I have a little twitch in my sinus.

If I have a cold I don't care - it's the other that scares me and thus, we will not speak it's name.

I have three days of back to back visits planned. No time to be under the weather.

So I'll say my special prayer - please let me be healthy for the rest of the week and if I have to be sick I'll be sick on Monday.

There I said it. I try and save those because He tends to take my word for it and I get layed out flat when I make a 'if this then that' kind of prayer.

Off to take one tylenol. If I've had two then no problems, if I've had none then maybe it'll take the edge off.

TV sounds like a plan also.

Hope you are all well and having a great week!

It's Over!

Not really but the hard part for me is done.

The family dinner. I didn't even need to take my anxiety meds this year. Last year I was a mess so I was prepared but nope, not even a twitch. Merry Christmas to me!

I still have too much going on.

Bob and I need to go visiting and by visiting I mean friends who are an hours drive away. Bob's usually pushing for me to get up way too early, I get stressed out and then I'm grumpy. I always get over it and am fine by the time I get to our friend's homes and I'm always glad to see them and would visit for hours but, Bob has time limits. He has to leave before dark because he has a hard time seeing at night while driving. I have offered many times to do the driving but in the end, he puts up with my stuff, I can handle his.

Then, out of the blue, I hear from my childhood friend - haven't heard from her in ages but all of a sudden she wants us to get together. I'm fine with us getting together but does it really have to be during this particular time? Can't we get together in the New Year on a weekend when things aren't so crazy?

I should say that my friend and I drop in and out of each others lives lots and we've been friends since we were 10. So I'm not upset about getting to see them, it's just the timing. I remember one year she showed up about 2 days before *her* birthday with a birthday gift for me. My birthday was three months before. I told her point blank I wasn't buying her anything. That's one thing with this friend, I can be very blunt.

What I am struggling with is that at this point she now has 2 kids (they are probably 10 and 12), one of whom is a Godchild of ours. They've never really involved us with their kids much and I can't believe they are 10 and 12! I'm worried she will expect us to have gifts for her kids. There is that part of me that wants to get them gift certificates but at the same time, it's ridiculous. I haven't seen these kids in a year and before that it was longer. I can hear her family now talking about how I'm not giving anything to their kids and one is even a God kid! But her family is well enough off and her kids aren't hurting for anything.

My best bud is without a job right now so I spent some money on her young boy to help with Christmas and when my Best friend and her hubby were in bad shape we did the same thing with their kids. These are children who are probably spoiled by yesteryear's standards but I don't begrudge them snow pants or jammas or winter coats and boots. It's what we can do to help and we do it willingly because Bob and I don't have kids and their parents have us involved with their kids all the time.

Geez, how did we get here? I was just going to say 'still alive' and all that and I'm bending your ear so far I about tore it off!

Don't worry, I'll try not to do anything silly like go out and buy them gift cards.

Crap.

Bob's going to have to restrain me.

Ooops, just a bit longer - Bob is the ultimate Christmas guy - he loves every thing to do with Christmas and you could not call him a Grinch at all. But on this, he has ruled and said 'no gifts for them' because we never see them.

He's right.

I know.

I'm just bendier than he is.

On that note, I hope you had a great Christmas or at the very least survived it. Hang tough, we're almost into the New Year (course that's when things for me go from bad to worse - but hey, this part isn't about me!) so Happy Almost New Year! Hopefully I'll be back to bend your ear before then.

Hey, Bobby got me a new computer chair for Christmas - which explains this lengthy post!

Merry, Merry!

The calm before the action storm.

My brain can't stop packing the car and it's still another day away. Meds are obviously at their limit.

With that in mind I wanted to quickly type up a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays post to you all!

It's snowing here like all get out and I'm loving every minute of it but I understand it wreaking havoc with travelers (which we will have to do also but only 30 minutes each way times 8 possible times - wow, that's 4 hours in the car over the next three days!)

So for those just hanging on, in 48 hours it will be 4am on Boxing Day and it will be over. Sure there's all that other stuff that happens after Christmas but hopefully the 'stress' day will be behind you.

It occurred to me tonight that Christmas day is like planning a wedding only we do it every friggin' year! I will admit I didn't do too much planning for my wedding cause I'm not that kind of person. Christmas though, it's a tough bugger to get through. I have a list of stuff Bob has to pick up at the grocery store when he gets up.

Poor Guy - at least he'll get there early.

The packing of the car though is really messing with my head. Since I'm not a traveler as a rule I don't have to worry about not having remembered something. This however, is like packing for a trip and I don't want to forget anything! Ugh.

I think I'll need some extra meds for the next few days.

Luckily my doc planned for that.



On that note, Merry Christmas! Take the meds or grab a drink, whatever you need to help you through. Just stay safe and I'll see you on the other side.

Brass Tacks and All That!

Hey, the shortest day of the year just went by and I didn't even notice!

That is a small Christmas miracle in itself.

So basic update but I'm sure you are all doing exactly the same last minute shopping, wrapping and cooking that I'm doing.

I need to pick up Bob's final gift - I don't know whether to buy him a tool he hinted at or something completely different and fun. (Okay, I have the fun part covered but we saw something a while back that we both loved and well ... I'm wondering what he might think)

I need to figure out my Mom's 'big' gift but right now, it's looking like movie tickets (that's what we call them). My Mom's b-day is in January so I normally save the movie tickets for that but I'm grasping at straws right now and I didn't really know Christmas Eve was on Wednesday!!

And I think I have one friend gift left to buy.

Shit.

I just remembered another set of friends we need a gift for.

Sometimes I suck!

Okay, off to make a list of lists.

Yeah, you read that right. I need to figure out what has to happen each day of the next few weeks.

Now I can't wait for January!

And reading! I have to be out of the slump by now!

Who's Got It? I Do Baby!

I know!

I can't believe it either but hey, I've had the spirit this year so I'm keeping it.

The award that is. Who knows what happens to the spirit after that.


Here are the rules for the Christmas Spirit Award: (anything in Red after this is just me and should be deleted out)

"You must be a true Christmas lover" to receive this award. YIKES!! Shhhhh, don't tell.
The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas. Uh oh. Like in a 'french kiss' kind of way?
Link back to the person who gave you the award.
List 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space! 5!? *whimper* Hush, I can make it.
Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 50. It's up to you! But keep the Christmas cheer going!
Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment.

Five Things I Love About Christmas:

(I think this is going to where my Christmas Spirit flag will be seen to droop)
1. Bob being off the holidays. Yeah, I said it out loud. I love my Bob and Bobby time is the epitome of Christmas for me.
2. Christmas Eve - cause you can't do anything else and it's almost over.
3. A White Christmas - by this I mean snow and I think we'll have it for this year - yay!!
4. Watching the children we know open their gifts.
5. Christmas Music - I'm into the Tabernacle Choir and rif guitar stuff right now but good old Burl Ives rocks. This year I was listening to Christmas music in June and wanted to have a June Christmas. So I shouldn't be too surprised that I have the spirit this year!

As to tagging:

C2 - I'm telling you, she IS Christmas! (I think she may be Santa but don't let on you know)

Here's where I'm twisting it up - if you have the spirit or if you want the spirit - grab it up and run with it.

Yeah, yeah, I'm lazy.

Hey, Where'd It Go!?

I should have listened to Nath and just embraced me unusual energy that had me shopping and hand sewing gift bags.

Energy is shot to hell and gone.

Ooops.

Tomorrow my best bud and her son are coming in the afternoon (yay, sleep for me) where we'll open gifts for the boy and then go out to dinner.

That's easy.

Sunday is the day Bob's family will descend on us.

And I asked for it!

You see, Bob's parents are no longer with us and there is no pressure to come and be together with his side of the family for Christmas. (This is a good thing because it's an hour drive and Bob grumbles about always being the one to drive on Christmas day) That being said, I do think it's important that the family still gets together and since the youngest son does *all* the cooking for the family I thought it would be nice if they came out our way so I could cook them all a nice dinner.

Thing is I have the PMS or maybe it's the Right Now PMS but it's dragging me down hard. I took some painkillers there over the last few days but I stop after day two so I don't get too far gone. It's something else when you finally come out of the funk and realize three days have gone by.

So I'm hanging by a thread tonight but I know I will be much better in the afternoon tomorrow. It's getting there that is hard for me. My anxiety likes to come out and play during the dark hours of the night so I'm trying to keep the brain busy, hence another blog post.

The other hitch in my giddy-up is there is another blast of snow forecast for Sunday.

This means the family might cancel.

I'm hoping if they do cancel they do it tomorrow because other than that, there is going to be a 8kg bird in the oven if they wait until Sunday.

And I still have gifts to wrap.

Okay, that's it for me. I'm going to see about veggin' in front of the TV. I rented Wanted and started the first few minutes. I'm intrigued but I have the laundry machines going and they are noisy so I have to wait until they stop to continue watching.

Hey, silver lining!

I'm still doing laundry.

Where's My Wife!?

This has been the refrain heard through our house in the mornings.

See, I have a confession to make.

I've been doing loads and loads and loads of laundry for days now and have been putting all the folded clothing away.

I know. I'm shocked also.

Poor Bob doesn't know where to look for his clothes. He normally paws through baskets of clean clothes to find what her needs.

This ain't so bad.

Alone.

But my new thing is freaking me and Bob out.

I'm hand (and by hand I mean there is not a machine in sight) stitching Christmas gift bags.

And not just easy peasy lemon breezy kind of bags where you fold and stitch up two sides.

Oh, hell no.

I'm creating linings so when you gather the bag at the top, another pretty fabric shows inside.



Who am I!?

What worse, is I can't stop thinking about the next fabric combo! I even have fake fur so I can make a two men's bags for my dad and Bob!!

Bob got up this morning and I was sewing away.

He was all 'lookit you sewing and making things'

And I was all 'call someone, I think I'm broken!'

Get this, I had run out of gifts to make gift bags for and didn't know what to do with myself.

Tonight we went and basically finished our shopping for everyone else. (Bob and my mom are still on my list)

All I could think about were the bags I was going to sew.



Seriously, I'm scaring myself.

What happens when I finally have to put that needle down?

Oh wait, I'm multi-tasking! I'm putting on Dateline or 48 Hour Mysteries while I'm sewing so I get to 'watch' TV and make a gift bag.

How sick is that!

*deep breath in and out*

Here's hoping it will lead to me reading in the New Year. At this rate, I may actually have free time coming at me.

Next time I post pics of our Living Room with the new fireplace my hubby has built. Let's not talk about the painting I've been doing (trim) or the fact that I'm cleaning like I think the plague has visited our home.

And no.

I'm not thinking about sewing smaller bags with the left over its and bits for smaller items.

Dammit!

You know I am.

Curses!

*in a tiny whisper voice*

And I want to buy more fabric.

Okay, that's it. No more confessions!

I'm ruining my lazy reputation and I won't have it.

Move along. Nothing to see here.

Git!

edited: The pictures are sideways. I don't know. My camera has been doing weird things lately. I should reset it to it's original format and see if it works again.

Christmas Cards

Colour me shocked when I read about people still doing their Christmas cards.

No, no. Not because I think they are lazy (hi, I'm lazy) but that there is still time.

Let me explain.

In Canada there is an early cut off date for sending Christmas cards. What that date is I don't know and I don't care to look it up because it mocks me.

Anyways, years and years ago I married this great man and when Christmas came around we received all these cards.

Huh.

I have to say, card writing was not something instilled in me as I was growing up.

So these cards continue to show up.

Huh.

OMG! I think I have to write Christmas cards!

So off I go and buy some cards and start writing.

That probably took a few days.

Then I had to address them - my hand cramped up.

So let's add a few more days.

And then I had to actually drive by a mail box.

Yep, more days.

I seriously don't know the date I mailed them but I'm thinking it was either the 17th of Dec or the 18th.

I was pleased.

*pats self on back*

I was baffled when I got a call from my friend who was killing herself laughing and thanking me for the card.

It was the 3rd week in January.

I sheepishly asked friends who were more Bob's friends than mine at the time if they also got a card in January. They nodded and quickly changed the topic.

Now my friends would totally expect this from me but I wondered if Bob's friends were horrified by my actions. (I actually think the people I asked were because they could be harsh - we don't see them anymore cause the relationship was too one-sided)

After that year it became a rule that I had to pull out the cards on Dec 1 and have them mailed before the end of the week.

I hear now that my cards are the first to show up.

I scared myself this year because I wasn't nearly as worried about it for some reason and didn't mail them until the 10th. Luckily I've been to some friends homes and I see the card so yay, for me, they arrived.

So for those of you still writing out your cards with the knowledge they will get there. You are lucky duckies!!

I love being Canadian but I swear this is just another reason why being Canadian can suck!

Where's over night delivery when you need it!

Happy Soon To Be Christmas

Hi there!

Today is my Advent Tour day hosted by the wonderful Marg and Kailana! Let me tell you, these ladies have posted every day of the month just telling us where to visit next or about their own traditions. How they do it at such a busy time of year, I just don't know, but their efforts are ever so much appreciated!

Enough kissing up.

When I signed up for the tour I had planned on a post about the silly gifts my family has started to buy each other. Since then other things have happened so if you are new to my blog - strap in.

No seriously, things go awry around here.

First thing to know is that my family has no young children anymore. Hey, I'm a young'un so don't get any notions but my hubby and I don't have any kids. Then my brother doesn't either and he ain't looking to. Then my 'baby' cousin just turned 23.

So we're a family of seven adults sitting around on Christmas morning.

Some of you may not know this but Santa doesn't have time to visit the adults what with all the children in the world so there isn't that crazy anticipation humming around our homes on the Eve.

This changed about 4 years ago. It turns out we're all just really big kids so we've been creating new traditions almost every year for the past 4 years.

It all started when my Aunt (who is over 50 so like Dude, why haven't you broached this topic with my parents before? (hint for the newbies - they scary!!)) and I approached my parents one January to say that maybe they didn't have to host Christmas EVERY year. It went over like a lead balloon but by Thanksgiving my mother was sold and the start of 'rotating' Christmas began.

Aunt hosts, We host (Bob and I) and then my Parents host.

My parents are very, very traditional and after umpteen years of watching Christmas Vacation (awesome movie but I could quote the thing from beginning to end) every year on CE, my Aunt decided to shake things up.

On her year to host we did Christmas puzzles and trivia on the Eve. She served cider and had a breakfast in the morning that was a one dish easy bake that everyone raved over. Dinner was a casual affair with lots of paper decorations and there was a relaxed easy going quality to the day.

The following year it was finally Bob's time (my hubby). (Bob is 12 years older than I and married once before. It was the first time in 25 years that he didn't have to drive on Christmas day!)

Bob and I created Pajama Christmas.

Everyone had to wear their jammies all day long EVEN during dinner (my mother about fainted). I have to say it was the best Christmas ever but my parents didn't wear their jammies. Nope, they don't play that way. My brother didn't get to our house until just before dinner and had his freshly bought jammies all ready and was in them in a flash.

I should mention we are also responsible for the new tradition of stockings (only us kids ever had stockings). Now, all the adults hang stockings knowing that everyone will drop a small gadget or gift in there.

What slays me though are the oldest 'kids' can't wait until Christmas morning to open them!

On no. They ask constantly 'did everyone fill the stockings? aren't you guys done yet!?'

We open them on Christmas Eve.

My parents had their go again last year and they kept the stocking tradition - everything else was fairly normal.

It's my Aunt's turn this year and she's upped the ante again.

She's making us decorate our stockings!!

I don't know how she figures we'll have time for that and then filling and then opening them all in one night but maybe she's trying to get my Dad to wait till the morning.

Cause he may be the oldest but he's the biggest kid of us all!

My only true concern is that dinner always be Turkey and all the fixings. After that, mixing up our traditions has brought in a fresh feeling to the holidays.

There is something to be said for tradition during the holidays but if they've been feeling like more of a chore lately or like the spirit hasn't quite found your house, try changing something up.

It doesn't have to cost you money - (the stockings are supposed to be filled with dollar store finds so for us it's seven dollars a person) like our PJ Christmas (true, my family had to go and buy all new jammas - Bob and I always have jammas though) or it could be as simple as finding some Christmas music trivia online and printing out a sheet and having a game with little chocolates for prizes.

Any 'new' traditions you would like to share? I'm already looking for some new ideas for our turn again next year.

Of course, the PJs will be mandatory!

Have a Very Merry Holiday and thanks for dropping by!

Great News!

My dad's test results show no cancer so far! I should have video taped the dance I did - would have been a Youtube hit.

I'm around just not finding time for the computer. Bob changed out the computer chair to a dining chair - so not good for the back. Laptop hasn't been convenient lately either.

All the same, painting is still happening.

I just finished my Christmas cards and have made a list of errands for tomorrow. I figure the only way I'm going to get everything done is to make lists for each day.

I have yet to find my Mom's 'big' gift while I have Dad's kinda 'big' gift and not the others.

I have an idea for Bob for Christmas but the logistics alone could sway me to not go through with it. I'll keep you posted.

I hope you are all enjoying the month of December - seriously can't figure out where the time went - and can find time for the things you love to do.

I've been reading Nalini Singh's short story for about three weeks now. Whenever the car stops and I don't have to get out I pick up and read. Dr. office - I read. Now, not so much down time but I'm hoping to finish it before the New Year.

Yep, I set those bars high people.

Pictures of the Living Room

Oh yeah.

We're that boring.

You know, I swear I have a camera in my hand all the time but when I went to get the before, OMG IT SUCKS!, and after pictures I couldn't find any. So we'll go with what I can find.

I picked two before pictures because seriously, neither one truly shows the hideousness of the colour. It's not a rich burgundy, a rowdy red or pleasing pink.

(I took this picture to write a complaint letter to the makers of the sofa. The thing wasn't even 2 years old and look at the back cushions all cock-eyed and misshaped. Sad!)

It's a sucky wimpy icky colour that I left on the walls because the rest of my house was (and still is) just as mind boggling and I didn't have the time.

(This picture was from Bob's 50th party)

So, do you think you have the scope of the horror of this colour?

Okay then, let's move on.
I'm using this picture (it's the final colour) but notice the hallway colour - notice how dark it is? The paint that I asked for for the living room was supposed to be 2 shades lighter.

2 shades.

Not 10 shades!




Okay, what's horrible about these pictures are that they don't show the change as much as in person.

Seriously.

The picture with Emma in it is the first colour choice. Look at the fireplace surround which is white. Now it was 3am when the picture was taken so you don't really see just how white the paint turned out to be. I put up a white cabinet door from our kitchen and was upset because the colour on the wall was so faint. In fact, it was like there was no colour on the wall at all.

Remember the hallway colour? Do the walls look like they are only 2 shades lighter?

Now you may be wondering why I painted two coats on the walls without stepping back and realizing that the colour was wrong? Well - did you see the original colour!? I think I was so happy to get the dungeon colour off the walls that I wasn't paying attention to how light the paint was. Not only that, I spent probably three days scraping the plaster and filling holes and cracks. I took my time because I wanted a nice finished result.

Imagine my internal upset when I looked at the walls in the light of day. Thank goodness I spoke up because I wasn't going to say anything but OMG it was wrong, wrong, wrong!!

I've learned the hard way now. I don't do wimpy colours. I can't do white and I can't do builders beige. I have white trim in my house for a reason. It's so I can see the trim against the paint colour on the walls!

So here is the final wall colour. Now you can see it's sunny out so it may look light but it's not. It's an earthy grey-brown.

In this picture you should clearly see the difference from the white fireplace and the wall colour.

I'm glad that Bob told me to re-paint. I thought for sure he was going to say 'suck it up' but he admitted that although he liked the colour I was right about the room feeling too cold.

Also, Bob is tickled pink that I bought the colour he picked out of the fan deck. The man is colour blind but I decided 'what the hell' and used his choice. Mine had more of a purple hue to it and it wouldn't have worked. But I'm going to love it in my bedroom!

All I have to do now is decide if I'm going to paint the dining room before Christmas. Honestly, it's keeping me busy and maybe it'll keep me from losing my sanity.

Oh, get this.

This morning our upstairs toilet overflowed.

How did we figure this out?

The hallway ceiling began dripping water.

Yep, we have to take the hallway ceiling down at some point.

At this rate my house won't be complete until 2025.

Bob got all revved up by my painting and hence, the new trim (not white yet) and the tearing down of the mantle. Let's not even mention the fact that the floors need to be sanded and stained dark.

I need TV.

Bye.