It's June

It's June third or something like that so I can admit that yes, the hostage was released into loving hands before the presumed date and yes, it was gobbled up.

That said, it wasn't perfect and I figure that comes with too high expectations but damn, something was missing. It's still a great book but not my fav of the series.

The good news is that finally reading the book let my brain break free from whatever lock it had with the publication of the book. My mind had no interest in any other book but now I'm free!

But it's summer now and I'm doing some HTML coding that's making my head hurt and I just got a 3rd Tax installment but hey, where's the first two?! and reading gets slim which is never a surprise. Just the same ol', same ol'.

I'm watching Damages season 1 right now and I just bought The Walking Dead (which is only 6 episodes but I need something to watch!) and then after that Bob's in trouble cause I'll be up with nothing to do. And that never works.

Hope you are enjoying your first draft of summer. Bring on the heat!

Quick Update

Everything is going along smoothly at the reno house which is great.

My Brother and his SO split big time over the weekend and it's ugly. I will tell you now, getting anything out of my Brother is painful so I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be his girlfriend/wife. There were together 9 years but something over the past few months ruptured even though Brother had said everything was fine. I guess it wasn't. I'm very sad for them both but I'm thinking their life must have had 'drama' cause the break-up has had it's drama.

But I digress.

Here's the skinny.

There are a few bookstores around here that are holding a certain book hostage (yes, that's how I'm feeling). So tomorrow (because it was a holiday today) I'm going to call around and see if anyone will sell me the book now. Cause I'm bad that way. And I really, really, want to read the damn book already!!

Okay, that's it for now. Hope all is well with you guys!

A Change for the Better!

This one is about books but some real life updates.

Bob and his handy helper have gutted the entire reno house and are onto the rebuild section of the job. This is serious progress and I couldn't be more proud of how hard my guys are working. Also, with me on his back - uh side, Bob has made great strides with staying within our budget outline and at times even coming in under on certain items. This has freed up money for a few things we didn't account for so all is going well.

On a belated note:

Happy Mother's Day!!

I bought my mom a Kobo e-reader from Chapters. It looks fantastic and I know Kristie(J) loves hers so I thought it would be better than my old standby which is gift certificates. Now, my mom is a reader but she doesn't read what I read which doesn't bother me in the least.

However:

My Mom was quite bewildered by what a Kobo was. So I said, 'You know how Oprah loves her Kindle? It's like that only the Canadian version of it'. Mom: 'Oh, I've never paid attention to that'.

CURSES!!

Anyways Baby Benjamin (too cute!) was being way too delightful for me to set up the reader for her but I will head over later in the week to see if she needs some help. I did show her the size of the lettering option and she seemed pleased with it.

So, I might own an e-reader if my Mom doesn't take to it like she took to texting on her phone. I have no clue how to text from a phone so I figured my Mom would have no problems with a machine that has fewer buttons.

And finally!!

I have decided to go back to my archaic way of creating a TBB list.

See, I hit all my blog spots and ohh and ahh over the books and think to myself 'Oh, I'll remember that title or author' and every single time I go into the store and have no clue what I may have wanted to try.

So I picked out a pretty fushia pink journal that I'm now writing titles, authors and thoughts in. This journal will stay near the desk for when my kitties get their mommy (me) gift certificates to Chapters! It will also go to the store with me when I know I'm heading to Chapters. I think this method will once again prove extremely useful in purchasing and finding new authors.

Okay, off for now. Hope you all had an excellent weekend!

New Digs

Sorry, I'm definitely around but as you can see from this post written an entire week ago - I have just a few things going on! On a harder note this past week we had to put our family cat down - he was 20 and my mom was a wreck and my dad wasn't looking to fresh either. He had us all around him and I miss him horribly. It's just been too tough to even write about it and that's another reason I've been a touch quiet.

Onwards - written 2 Thursdays ago.

Tomorrow is the day we get the new (old) renovation house. This renovation will be a B&C production unlike the previous 3 reno homes which were with partners. I'm considering writing a book about the last reno because the crap that hit the fan is something people think we exaggerate about. Sadly we didn't. And it was bad. Yet, here we are again but this time we're doing it ourselves. It will be interesting to see how Bob and I solve things together but if last night was any indication, we're already going to be in for some rough waters.

It turns out Bob doesn't A) listen to me when I talk, B) listens and then forgets, C) listens and then does what he wants. Any of those options don't really work for me but hopefully this reno will only take a maximum of 3 months unlike the previous ones which were 9 months and at times painful to the marriage component of life. The idea for this one is to get in and out fast, remember there is a ceiling to profit for the location and to keep Bob on track.

Interestingly enough it's the Keeping Bob on Track option that will be the toughest. Bob's train apparently runs much like mine and skips all over the place so yeah, there's that. Also, Bob does everything in his own time and my need to control things makes it difficult for us to work together.

Eg. Bob's new company - I'm the accountant on record and I need to pay some invoices. Only I'm not getting the invoices and I'm on Bob about getting things done in a timely fashion. So today he hands me the invoices but then says the amounts might not be right because we're HST exempt and the bills have HST on them. Uh, okay, so how do we actually find out? I was ready to call the businesses to tell the our HST number but then Bob's all 'wait, I'll do it tomorrow' because I'm sure he's not sure about what he is talking about.

Head meet wall.

So basically this is your warning that the blog will become quieter or there will be lots of whining about paint, floors, kitchens, time lines, budgets and finally, real estate peeps. I'm a touch scared of the next few months because I'm not nearly in enough shape to do as much as my mind thinks I can and well, that's the main thing.

On June 1st however, I will stop everything to read one book. Kiss of Snow by Singh. Bob's been warned but I'm thinking those earlier options I mentioned above may come into play.

So I'll hide.

Surrender to An Irish Warrior by Michelle Willingham

Wow. So that's what Harlequin Historicals can be like.

I have to give a huge shout out to Super Librarian Wendy for this recommendations because there was no way this book would have normally crossed my path. Surrender to an Irish Warrior by Michelle Willingham made Wendy's best of 2010 Reads and thankfully she gave me just enough information that I wanted to read this book immediately.

Cut to three months later and finally after a few pages I got sucked right in.

I love all kinds of romance but I really appreciate darker stories because in real life, bad things happen to great people. In my early years of reading the hero always saved the heroine justintime. And even though it is a wonderful thing to have happen, there are many times in life when a hero gets there too late if at all. Knowing a hero is going to arrive in time to save the heroine from even a scratch takes away from any tension the author is trying to build - at least for me.

Okay, so that's probably a post for another day about how I like to see the pain and the joy, I want it all. So we'll leave off there for now.

Surrender to an Irish Warrior is truly a wonderful romance that brought a few tears to my eyes. There are no easy outs in this story and the journey from being two completely broken people to two healed lovers looking forward to the future was hard fought and won.

Trahern MacEgan is a man with only one thing on his mind - vengeance. While away for a few months his fiance Ciara was killed during a brutal and savage attack on her village. He is a former bard or story teller who had an easy smile and brought joy to many villages but now he only has one agenda and that is to avenge the death of Ciara.

While on this path he comes across a young girl who insists he help her and he cannot turn his back on an innocent. She brings him to a cottage where a women (Morren O'Reilly) is feverish and losing her baby. It is through a day or so that Trahern learns that Morren was gang raped by the men who destroyed her village and killed Ciara.

Once Trahern and Morren come together they are rarely apart and I like that kind of romance. It's a quiet story and as much as violence had happened it wasn't shown on the page until the near the end when it was about the villains and their due.

I really enjoyed watching these two fall in love and more importantly, to see how Morren would learn to accept the touch of Trahern. It's slow and beautifully done.

There are no big misunderstandings but there are a few places that were a little too sweet for lack of a better word but that was closer to the end of the story.

In the end, I would like to read other books by Ms. Willingham although Wendy has mentioned that this book was more of a departure from what she has written before. So with such a big TBR and TBB pile, I'm going to wait and see which of her other books I will pick up.

B+

Me and Baby B

Yep, that's me in all my glory getting to snuggle up with Baby Benjamin. Turns out the happy parents have different ways of spelling Benjamin and now the new names have stuck.

Benjiman - that was what his dad wrote in a card. When the baby stretches he get one arm way up in the air and the other is fisted close to his body and his Extremely Proud Gram now says 'Benji Man!' like he's a super hero. Seriously too cute.

I have to say I will hog the baby. It just happens. But this past Tuesday night I loosened my grip and let my Mom have some feeding time with him - then my dad gets in there an picks him up and talks to him. I have to say it's quite a joy to see the family take to such a little guy so fast.

I asked Gorgeous Cousin if she remembers her life before Ben (7 weeks ago) and she just smiles and shakes her head. Watching her be a mom is also a new joy - I see him about 2x a week and I just feel so content after getting to spend some time with him and GC and my Aunt who is his Gram.

But I'm nothing if not over protective of my Gorgeous Cousin and she has kind of let the diabetes aspect of her life get a wee bit out of control. So she gets my stern look which always makes her laugh but she gets up and takes her sugar just for me so I don't worry so much.

And we'll finish with his early pictures from when he got home.















I think they took the picture on the left for Cousin Cindy because Benji is holding a MONKEY!!! And the family knows how I feel about monkeys. Lookit him in jeans and a Tee - the shirt he has on say Star Wars on it and of course I bought it for him! I believe this is him week 1.

Picture on the right was the day he came home - the giraffe is from Bob and I and the lion is from my brother and I know I'm biased but I'm thinking navy blue is his colour!

Okay, I'll stop gushing now. Thanks for letting me share the new little love in our lives. This new little guy is going to get spoiled rotten!

P.S. GC hasn't had to buy diapers yet (again, it's been 7 weeks) - Bob and I would buy them on sale and then my brother has shown up a few times with diapers so yeah, I can see him getting spoiled at Christmas - too bad he won't have a clue what's going on!

Here and There

I know, original but I liked the mix with the last post title.

So what's new with you? I hope you are all doing well!

What's new with us?

So many things I'm not sure where to start.

Just for fun, I make sure I get to see Baby Ben at least twice a week. It's funny how such a small little man can make me feel utter joy. Don't know if I've mentioned or not but Gorgeous Cousin rocks as a mom and I'm so proud of how she is handling everything. Especially since her SO has not found a job down our way so he's only home on weekends. I also feel horrible for him because I know how it feels to leave the baby and he's not mine!

I'm just so proud of her and Ben is such a good baby. He has his fussy moments but he's only driven his new mommy to tears once and that was early days home with her SO to help and the baby wouldn't stop crying. But I just love the light he has brought to the family. I actually enjoy watching all my family interact with him and that's saying something because I will hog that baby gleefully.

Okay, next!

Bob and I were approached by our former neighbour to ask if we would purchase their house and do a flip. We were floored and we explained to the person that she would be better off putting the house on the market as we wouldn't be able to touch market price. She insisted she wanted us to have the house (in truth Bobby - people do love the Bob) so we got her an agent but she went with our offer - soooooo, sometime in early May we may just be the proud new owners of our 4th renovation house.

Don't tell Bob but I'm a touch excited by all the possibilities and Bob and I have decided to go in with no partners so really, it's just he and I making all the decisions. Bob went a bit over the top with the original design but we've talked through it and I think he understands where I'm coming from and how best to make our money on it.

On top of all that, Bob is holding down 2 other jobs and was essentially offered a third the other day. I keep saying 'bird in the hand, bird in the hand!!' in other words, we have to look at what we have instead of searching the bushes hoping for better. It's a lesson I've learned as I go on in life.

Little bit of wisdom for ya, you're welcome.

Other than all that I can tell you truly that I don't want to read ANY book EXCEPT for Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh.

There.

I admitted my mental block. It's like I can't really concentrate on another story because it's not the one I want. So instead of forcing anything I'm sitting idly by and reading reviews and building up my shopping cart at Chapters.

On a completely different note:

Two nights ago I discovered Pixie (how dare you invade my personal space!) and Twilight (a little love never hurt anyone!) curled up with each other on the bed while Bob was sleeping. Did I get the picture evidence? I did, but it's on my video cam and I haven't downloaded anything from it yet.

So yes, the adventures of C-Rex and Bob will soon hit high gear. Until then, hardwood floors need to go down on the main floor, a coffered ceiling needs to be built in the dining room, the fireplace is currently getting painted and touch ups everywhere need to be dealt with. I'll get there yet!

Happy reading! Hope you are reading something that is really working for you!