Books Bought While Kristie Was Down

Okay, let's get that crazy post to move farther down!

First book was definitely an impulse buy because of a video I saw over at Zeek's which I thought was great fun for both the authors and the viewers. Seriously, go see if you haven't already. How can I not buy a book that has me in the book aisle saying 'Savour Me Slooooooooooowly'. Great fun.

And the premise of the story sounds bitchin if you don't mind me saying and the cover? That's my dream body - What? Couple years on Weight Watchers followed by drastic plastic surgery and I'm there!

Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady. No brainer. I haven't seen a bad review of this book and I have been wanting to buy it but knew I had gift certificates so I didn't buy it at any of the thousands of other stores I saw it at. Oooooo. Willpower. Sweet!

Okay this one is one of those books I'm not sure about. Anna Campbell's Untouched has been fairly well received from those who have read it. I didn't care for the characters in her first book and their motivations were crazy. So I'm giving this author another shot.

Renee and Kristie (J) as well a few others I may have forgotten gave this book great reviews. Luckily Kristie was there to remind me of the author's name - Even Kenin's book Driven. I really look forward to this story.

Erin McCarthy's High Stakes was on the shelves and I'll admit, it looks like it may be a funny or at least light kind of story. I've only ever read McCarthy once and I had problems but not enough to have me run screaming in the opposite direction.

And this one was pure Kristie. She told me Hot by Julia Harper (who has another AKA I can't remember) was a great funny contemporary. Those things are so rare I would buy it in a flash!

Okay, I'm getting ready to go to bed so I'm wrapping up fast. I haven't had my e-book day yet as I'm trying to figure out programs I would need - which I know is a Librarian - so I'm getting ready and will scream for help if stuff doesn't work.

7 Things Meme

I was tagged some time ago and haven't been blogging so yeah, now is as good a time as any. I'm pretty sure it's 7 things you don't know about me. Or are weird about me (shooting fish in a barrel), so we'll start and see where I land.

Edited: Damn long winded is where we landed! Enter at own risk.

1. Over the last few years I have become a tad bit obsessive about cleanliness. I carry small hand sanitizer (has to be Purell) bottles in my coat pockets so if I eat while I'm out I can wash up my hands. Also, if I use a computer at a store like, oh Chapters, I can clean up fast. I swear that the year I had pneumonia and then a sinus infection and was sick for 3 months that I got the infection from the keyboard at Chapters.

Okay, here's where maybe I go beyond 'tad' and hit obsessive. My best friend, although a clean woman, uses the same sponge to wash her floors, tables, counter tops etc. So whenever I go there and wash my hands I'm afraid to use her dish towel to dry them because Lord Tunder'n Geez B'y I have no clue where it's been!

My other friend holds her hands up in the sign of the cross whenever I bring out the hand sanitizer.

2. I hate the smell of bananas, and I wouldn't eat one to save my life. I love banana bread though.

3. I don't like the smell of any kind of cleaners. Wait, I did find one I liked years ago but it's gone now. Anyway, pine sol makes me think of veterinarian offices or hospitals, bleach actually smells like dirt to me, and anything else smells too fake. So for the most part I clean with bleach (but I have to have the windows open) because I know it kills germs and then I leave the windows open until I can't smell it anymore.

Last week I was sick of our shower and the soap scum problem so I bought some acidic cleaner. It worked like gangbusters but OMG, the smell was atrocious. Not only that, I couldn't get a breeze through the bathroom to get the odour out. So for a week I kept the door closed to our master bath (chemical smells with cause mucous build up for me - yeah, now we're sharing) with the window open thinking the smell would eventually have to leave. Nope. I finally opened all the windows on the top floor and let the whole house air out for a couple hours.

4. Seriously, do I get much crazier?

Wait.

Okay, not crazy but probably a head scratcher for some. I carry a drink every where I go. Every where. I will bring my plastic red cup (right now we can only find the clear ones) to the fanciest of dinner parties cause I got my ice and my water or coke. I figure if I'm going to blow points (Weight Watcher talk) on a pop, I'll bloody well get the kind I want. Coke from a can with tons of ice. Also, because I can taste the difference in water I can also taste differences in ice. So I take my own ice also.

5. If I say that I like something - say a couch or lamp, and Bob says 'Me too! Let's get it.' I automatically start liking it less. Part of this is because I know Bob has the 'tacky' gene and part of it is if I only 'like' something then I'm not sold. Bob is easily sold.

Bob and I found a couch about 3 weeks ago that Bob was ready to buy. Me, I was getting tired of hearing 'what's wrong with this one' and was starting to bend. Then we found a steal of a deal at an upscale store (where we only ever window shop) on a sofa that I thought I really liked. Bob liked it also and was all 'well, let's buy it'. We actually went back to the store a few days later and were going to buy it but the lady that told us the deal price wasn't in so we told them to put a sold sign on it. That night I couldn't get the damn thing out of my head and in the morning I told Bob that although the quality was great I didn't think the love seat was for us.

So, last night we're out at one of our favourite haunts (Homesense) and there is a love seat that blows my mind. It's burgundy but I can live with that because the lines are classic and it was a Bernhardt (apparently a name to know - I'm clueless). I didn't want to push Bob into anything so I tell him I really like the couch - we sit and hmm and haw but I'm loving it. There are people hovering all around because this couch is HOT and I know if Bob and I don't get the couch it'll be gone before the store closes in half an hour. Finally Bob says to me, 'you have to be sure' and I finally say, I love this couch!! and so we buy it. 449 bucks. A love seat made on this continent for 450 bucks. I'll take a picture when we pick it up. Turns out about two couples were waiting to see if we would get our asses off it. Too slow Joe! (Woohoo, a picture of the love seat in a different fabric - apparently we can get an ottoman to match!!)

6. This is getting long! I don't eat fruit as a rule because I hate getting the juice on my hands. Oranges make me cringe. I can eat an apple but I have to be able to wash my hands and face immediately afterwards.

Oh and Bob has ruined grapes for me by reminding me that spiders live in them and you can't wash them off.

7. I will not eat near a bathroom (or even an area that is near a bathroom in a restaurant) because I now there are by laws about them and still, restaurants screw it up. I just watched a Mike Holmes episode where he moved a wall back to make a kitchen bigger. So there is the wall pantry and the gorgeous fridge and right beside it is the door to the bathroom. No. Uh, uh. Bad Mike.

I'm the same with garbage receptacles. I won't eat near them and I don't have one in our house. I bag up our garbage as I go and then put it on the door handle to the garage because I won't touch the garbage pail outside.

I've made peace with my crazy.

Any one of these things might be what Bob kills me for in 30 years but I'm okay with it.

The Great North and South Crusade

It's official!

I'm now a Crusader!

My special guest this weekend was Kristie(J) from Ramblings on Romance but I'm sure most of you figured that out. She had sent me an e-mail quite a while back (conflicts in scheduling) about coming out here and watching North and South with Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage. I was all 'hell yeah!' and since I knew her kitchen was in reno stage (like many parts of my house) I suggested she come for dinner and then since the show was 4 hours long she should stay over night.

So we had a plan.

Three weeks in the making.

I have to admit there were a few times I was tempted to put the DVD in the box and play the movie. I even told her I had thought about watching the first few hours and then waiting to watch the rest when she came. Good thing I didn't because I wouldn't have been able to stop watching!

I sent her an e-mail this past Thursday and said 'oh yeah, bring your jammas cause I'm soooo going to be in mine!' PJ party!

It snowed here most of Saturday and I was glad Kristie braved the roads to come down. Since I'm not a great cook or maybe it's more like I don't cook a lot, I wasn't sure how long to cook the prime rib. Still, I suggested we go to Chapters while the roast was cooking - cause, like, it was after 5 in the afternoon and jammas are usually on at this point!

I bought six books and a magazine. I remember the magazine was Weight Watchers cause I'm such an impulse buyer but the books are upstairs in my bedroom where Bob and Cody are now sleeping. Kristie will nod and agree when I say that waking Cody is not really an option I want to run with right now. So tomorrow will be about the books.

We get home, the roast looks cooked (cause I'm not sure any of my meat thermometers are remotely correct, I swear I buy a new one every time I buy a turkey so I don't kill us all) and Kristie, bless her, is a meat and potatoes kind of gal. Not only that she likes PEAS!!! I've never met another person who would prefer peas over corn. Never! My mother and father will eat them but if given a choice, my whole family would eat corn. Bob's the same way.

So we have dinner - yummy if I do say so myself and then Kristie and I scram upstairs to change and get ready to watch North and South (see I was getting there).

All I can say is that when the BBC does a production, they do it right. I was never bored and the scenes inside the cotton mill were gorgeous! Richard Armitage who plays the hero Thornton, was easy on the eyes but in reality, he was brilliant as Thornton. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing this character and I think that says a lot about his portrayal. The heroine Margaret Hale, played by a wonderful actress, Daniela Denby-Ashe, was a woman of her time and yet, she seemed so modern in her thoughts and ways. It's amazing to think this story was written over 150 years ago by Elizabeth Gaskell. (Kristie says there is no kissing in the book so I'm not going out of my way to read it. Hush. It's my way.)

All the same, I wish this was the kind of book we studied in school. All the socio-economical angst is there for the deciphering, the growth and hardship of the unions dealing with work conditions that were literally killing them and their children, the mindset of the 'masters' or captains of industry as I would call them. A woman who can see both sides and isn't set on any one person or group being evil. (Okay, she had a few bad moments but for the most part she believed in Thornton)

That was the brilliance of this story. No one was evil. I felt horribly sorry for the man who had a sick wife and six children being forced to strike knowing that his children could possibly starve. Thornton felt he paid his employees well and with competitive prices in cotton from overseas, it was all he could do to keep his mill from going under. It was getting these two warring factions to come together and talk about the problems that would ultimately save them.

Kristie is probably ready to kill me about now. What about the romance!!!??

Loved it. I liked that Thornton and Miss Hale were always trying to find a way to talk to each other without making the other one crazy mad. At the two hour mark there was a scene (I don't want to spoil it for anyone) that once it played, I turned to Kristie and was all, 'I don't get it' Good thing Kristie was there to talk me down ;)

After finishing the movie, I knew Miss Hale better and figured out why she may have made the decisions she did.

I have to say after the final scene (had me teary eyed) I was itching to play it again. But again, I try not to let crazy out to play often in front of others. Kristie was kind enough to see my distress and commented how others often watched the final scene a few times. SWEET!

I'm not going to admit how many more times I plan on watching that final scene again. But I'm betting I can find it on Youtube.

OH! So Kristie was telling me about the contest her and Katiebabs are running and mentioned that bloggers or those who love the movie could write an epilogue if they wanted.

Talk about killing me!

Kristie declared the next morning when I told her I had gone to bed with an epilogue floating around in my brain, that I was bitten by the bug.

I may yet try and write down the epilogue swirling in my brain - mine wouldn't have sex or anything, just more of a 'year later' kind of epilogue. Course, I'm not a writer and I know how often something will start out in my brain only to de-rail when trying to get the damn thing down on paper.

Okay, I'll sign off for now as I'm sure you're scratching your head over most of my post. I always have good intentions about how I'll be short and concise. Then I remember you've been here before.

Phew! Makes it easier when I'm rambling on and on and on -

Uh, HELP!!!

Chantal, bless her heart, e-mailed me and was all 'Dude, what are you doing with that e-book reader? Are you buying books!?'

And I was all 'Dude, I have a shortage of phone jacks and we're trying to find a place the pooch won't find the reader and destroy it.'

Chantal was way too sweet to say what I'm paraphrasing here:

'Yo, dumbass. You don't need to hook it up by the phone line, use the USB port.'

Holy Light Shines in the Brain!!

After getting over my own stupidity I ran to get the ebook and hooked it up to my laptop.

Sah-wheat!!!

Okay, stupid Cindy showed up again and the ebook reader froze after I hooked it up to my computer. I panicked and was all, WTF? I figure out I have to download a driver and off I go on a mission. I find the drivers but I don't find anything for Vista so I download the next one down.

Stupid computer can't figure out WTF is connected to it. Grrrrrr.

It's early morning and I have special company coming today (squeeeee!!) so I need to start winding down. That said, I ran downstairs and loaded the driver on my PC and will connect the reader later tonight and pray that it works.

So I sent a letter to ebookwise to see if they have a driver compatible with Vista.

Update: I found the driver for Vista and have now registered. Now I need to read about how to transfer books and such. But sleepy time is coming up! I'm so friggin excited! I love the screen and the little tappy pen to set up stuff. Way too fun!

If any of you know for sure I would love to know. All I know is Sunday will be ebook day!!

That is, unless my special company wants to see what a reader is all about and I'm thinking she just might!

Woohoo! I'm getting there folks!

Not only that, I finally got my new camera out (from Christmas) and will try and load it on my laptop Sunday also. Unless I get lost shopping for ebooks. I'm thinking that could very well happen!

Out Sick

Got sick Sunday night.

Tummy is still giving me the gears but thank God it's not trying to kill me anymore. Lord, I hope I don't regret typing that.

So I'm fine but I'm going to huddle in a ball of pathetic ooze just a little longer.

If you haven't already, check the post All The Blogs I've Loved Before a few down. Turns out we found a few!!

Welcome Back!!

Good Intentions and All That

Tomorrow we are with my mom for the evening and then I have the week to myself.

Okay, I already know I will want to visit my best friend and then there is the WW meeting and stuff. My brain is really working weird lately but I'm working on not being overwhelmed by the small stuff. I'm not really sure how to go about that but I'm really trying.

My intentions for the week are to read everything I need to know about my ebook reader and see what's out there for purchase. Did I mention Bob now wants one?

Bob: You know, that reader is awesome. I want one. What else can you do on it?

Me: It's a reader so you need to be a reader - hence, you need to be like me.

*silence*

Bob: Could I get something like Popular Mechanics on it?

So I don't think Bob will become an avid reader like me but I'm wondering what kind of mischief he'll get into once I find a permanent home (I want a place where it will stay for charging and downloading) for it. The good news is if a website asks for credit card information he backs right out.

Sometimes having a hubby who is a conspiracy theorist works out for me.

My next intention is to work out a 'tag' rule for my posts and possibly go back and re-tag things. I'm worried this might bugger up some of you who have google reader or something that alerts you to new posts. I figure you'll get a sign that says I have 500 new posts. Let me know if that would be a problem or if there is a way that you can click 'already read' so they disappear.

Finally, I started reading Lara Adrian's Kiss of Midnight. I have been carrying the book around with me for a month and a half. Today I took my friend downtown for a doc's appointment and read for an hour and I may be hooked. It's still early and those damn doc's chairs are not conducive to reading. I got up to stretch and move and the lady a few chairs over decided this meant I was ready to stop reading and have a conversation with her. Being the chatty Cathy I am I indulged her.

I know, I'm a sweetie.

Since it's only the opening of the book I think I understand why a certain action was allowed to happen - you need it to basically get the H/H to meet each other. BUT, the hero knows there are Rogue vampires and he allows them to feed (kill and mutilate a man) so they will be easier to kill. At this point I'm wondering exactly who this guy is and why he doesn't even attempt to save the human. Actually, the more I think about it, it's not about humans, it's about keeping his people safe and hidden.

So we'll see how it all plays out but at least I have cracked a book open. If I keep this up I may actually read a book this month.

To All The Blogs I've Loved Before

Just a little post to remember a few of us missing in action.

Maili - long gone but not forgotten. Her and her stories about hubby Will were hilarious and her horror at anything not 'authentic' Scots made her batshit crazy.

Mailyn - hilarious, brilliant and a woman with a huge heart. Her link no longer works and I miss her voice.

Jay - from Yapaway Jay. I'm thinking she's busy at law school and it would be her second year about now. I hope she is doing well and enjoying herself immensely.

Samantha - Book Minx - her last post was of a trip to the zoo and before that she had hit a slump. I'm hoping she found her way out and is too busy reading to hit the net.

Tara Marie from Romance Reading Mom - I know she got a new job and things got hectic. It's only been a few months but I miss stories about junior.

Kat o+ - It hasn't been a month since her last post but her last post has me worried. I'm hoping that she's just too busy catching rays and enjoying her summer to blog right now.

For some reason I couldn't get you guys off my mind so I thought if I wrote it down I might miss you less.

Who are you missing?

My Love My Hero

Sounds like a romance novel but it's not.

I ranted yesterday about my Bob and tonight that man straightened and cleaned like a pro. I got the ball rolling last night but he tonight he took his tools out of the kitchen and cleaned up the counters so that I can actually cook tomorrow night.

I'm so lucky. Which is why no pics this time. I'll do them soon though because I'm sure I can get a few laughs for ya.

I think I found all the blood (which wasn't nearly as much as I imagined but when does blood look good in a home?) and I dusted surfaces, got the vacuum out and did my best. No matter what, you can vacuum for hours and the minute you put the vacuum away you will see that damn fur-tumble-weed. I hate that. I have actually left the vacuum out for two nights, vacuuming more than once to only have a guest in my home look over and see a dust bunny the size of my dog. I think people probably go home saying 'sure, she vacuumed just before we came'. The sad part is that I usually do because people are allergic.

Ah, well.

My best friend offered to come and help me clean tomorrow afternoon but my clock is all out of wack and I'm sleeping during the day again. Whatever.

So tomorrow night we have guests and then one of my best buds comes down and I take her to her dentist appointment in the downtown core. Apparently she doesn't like driving down there. For a woman with panic attacks you would think I would find our down town daunting and yet, I just don't. Drove it way too much when I was younger to be afraid of them now.

And my mom's birthday is this weekend and my Dad has gone back to Malaysia. He goes into China on Sunday for a week. But this is about my mom so I need to go and get her movie tickets. I bought her some silly stuff but the woman is serious when she tells you she wants movie tickets.

See? I get people the gift certificates they want! Why do they sigh when I ask for my book certificates?

Off to make my to-do list for tomorrow afternoon so that I can be ready to serve a mean beef tenderloin with some sort of potato (maybe baked, maybe mashed - I know, you're all agog) and then veggies.

I also have to bring a dessert into the house which doesn't bode well for my WWs.

Hoisted

Even doing my level best to keep track of my reading, I'm still a moron.

I'm trying to fill out the AAR ballot and whooooo, doggy, I'm in trouble. There's even a little spot on my blog that says I read 13 books published in 2007. I can maybe recommend four of them.

I'm figuring my ballot will look invalid.

Spotted another problem with me and organization. Those fun (and that's where the problem begins, I call them fun when maybe they should be called a tool) little tag things are mocking me. I have no system and realized it would be easier to find my posts on books published in the year if I actually tagged them with the year.

Goober.

Then, I bought a whole face care system (pro-active) and managed to burn my face.

Dude, I already have acne, I'm trying to get away from emphasizing it! I don't know whether to keep going or just give up with this stuff.

Huh, just went and looked up anything with 'burns' and it looks like I'm not the only one. Not only that, a few people mentioned bumps under the skin and that is the problem I am having now. It's like they aren't really zits but those under the skin ones where you know they will come to the surface. I don't know what this stuff is doing but it's like it's keeping it under the surface instead of getting rid of it.

Let's just say, that was an expensive mistake. My mother bought me the body wash for Christmas which I wanted because I have little bumps on my skin (I figure they are small pimples - nothing anyone would notice but something I do). I'm afraid to try it now and since it wasn't cheap I want to take it back. I wonder if the lady will take it all back without receipts. Crap.

And finally, my diet is going well in that I haven't killed anyone.

I realize now that I must be addicted to food because it seems like every waking moment I'm thinking about it. My best friend and I talked about what being addicted to smoking is like for her and she admitted that everything she does in a day revolves around smoking. She wakes up and her first thought is about smoking and then later in the day she's wondering if she can squeeze a smoke in between something or another.

I'm hoping that all my thoughts on food are just part of the change in diet. I can't imagine living my life always thinking 'well, I can't have that' or 'ignore the chips and dip, they aren't there' or my personal favourite (and by this I mean it's all I can do to keep from ramming my fist in people's faces when they say it) 'a moment on the lips, forever on the hips'.

Bite me.

And since this post has turned into a 'woe is me' I'll let you in on a little secret.

My house is killing me.

Okay, in reality I'm pretty sure Bob is behind it but to say Bob is trying to kill me is putting too much into his motivation. I'm sure he hasn't even really thought about what his 'entertainment' is actually doing to me.

I mean, I am a slob after all. I'm just not this much of one!

I need to do a post of pictures so you can see what I mean but I plan on hiding most of the crap tonight because my hubby has invited a couple for dinner on Friday night. I'm thinking 'the wife' will never set foot in our house again unless I get things put back right. I asked Bob if maybe we could push it until February and he asked me why.

Weeeeeeell, have you taken a look around this place!? Cody, God bless him, had a terrible nose bleed a few days ago and the upstairs carpets are covered in blood (I had taken the bissell and cleaned it all the night before!). Bob says, well, they don't have to come upstairs, we just have to make sure the floors downstairs are clean.

By 'we' he means 'me'.

I don't mean to 'ick' you out but Cody will also have sneezing attacks that have blood flying everywhere. Now most of the time I find it and can clean it from the walls or doors or whatever but sometimes I miss it. When you live with it all the time, it becomes something you might miss.

I'm thinking I may have to pick up the best friend and have her do a run through for me on Friday. She'll be able to spot what I miss.

Oh, and baseboards. Half my house has them and the other half doesn't. Two rooms are in the 'tape and fill' phase, none of my floors are actually finished because Bob would tear stuff up just to see what he will have to deal with - AT SOME FRIGGIN' TIME IN THE FUTURE!!!

Dude, quit tearing stuff apart!! (The next post will be pics. I've decided to share the pain)

Did I mention he wanted to tear out the wall in our bedroom so he could put up the wall for where the new bathroom and closets will be?

He doesn't want to do the bathroom YET, no, no, just tear out walls and make a mess. You know, it may be 5 years before the bathroom can be done to my standards.

I think Bob has a master plan where if he just makes a complete mess I will cave and let him put in cheap (or affordable) stuff instead of what I want which is still affordable but maybe more of an effort for him to do properly.

Yeah, I'm on to him.

So.

Welcome to our HUMBLE abode.

No, really.

Comments and Such

Bloggers have mentioned how they will write a post and expect a bunch of comments and get nothing. Then they will post something they consider maybe mundane and get comments out the wazoo.

I'm paraphrasing.

So in the interest of helping those who wonder about why comments are such wily buggers I thought I would tell you how, why and why not I may choose to comment.

You write something brilliant and wait for those comments to come.

I get to your blog and think 'Holy Hell!! It's brilliant!!' I sit and ponder and realize that you have already said everything I could ever think to come up with AND you have done it much better than I.

Much better.

In fact, commenting might let others know a moron visits the site. Best to keep quiet.

You have written a rant and aren't sure what to expect.

I get there and your rant is worthy of an award. Trying not to look like a fangirl by saying 'you rock' (and hey, I have been known to post that when I forget I'm 37 and too old for that) and not having anything that is worth adding, I don't post.

I get there and your rant is wonderful and award worthy and you ask what your reader's think.

Well, hell, that there be an invitation for Cindy to flap her yap. Unless what you ranted about is too intelligent for me to follow and thus, I may lurk to see what others come up with. Screw that you have all read my crazy comments that you are too kind to say 'uh Cindy, apples and oranges dude'.

I get there and your rant is wonderful but I feel differently.

I may comment if I have time or can find the right words. Sometimes the blogger's brilliance is enough for me to keep my yap shut cause 'nah-uh' is not an informative reason for why I don't agree.

You write up a post on your day at work or some weird thing that happened to you while in transit. You figure no one will care.

Pretty much gonna comment. It's not like you asked me a question but what you thought was a mundane post may have caught my funny bone or something in your day triggered a memory that I think you might find funny etc.

Some general rules that I made up in my head about commenting:

If someone else has already said what I was going to say then I usually won't comment.

If the post was on a topic or a book/author I don't know enough about I will probably not comment.

If I read the post and come away with too many thoughts and I can't get them in any sort of order that makes sense, then I may not post. Sometimes I do and wonder if others think a crazy person is stalking them.

I guess this was covered by if I have nothing of value to add to the conversation then I won't comment.

If there are already more than 10 comments and it was a post a few days old I probably won't comment cause everyone else has moved on.

And finally, I sometimes don't have the time to comment and seriously, you guys come up with some crazy intelligent stuff that usually has me scratching my head and realizing I'm out of my league.

Being the stealthy woman I am, I bob and weave to keep you all wondering if I am brilliant or just down right scary.

So, anyone want to share why they sometimes choose to comment or not?

It's HERE!!!!

The Fedex people arrived when I was awake!

Pictures with only a few words - I tried to get Cody to pose with the reader but he seems to find the flash upsetting nowadays so not so much.

It says what it is on the box!! Super cool!

Cody pretending he doesn't want to tear into the box. He does though, he's just waiting for me to put the camera down already. After all the gifts he ate at Christmas we learned that he prefers to do his receiving in private. No pictures to incriminate him.

How about a picture of it on my desk. Yep. I'm a nerd but I love building up the suspense. Note taping and filling on the walls - room is in deep reno mode. Moving on!



So, should I open it?

Yeah I should!!

At this point I'm marvelling at the quality of the box it came in.

Cables. Okay, don't panic, not too many.



And here's the moment I gasped out loud and my heart skipped a beat.

I'm telling you, I have never seen anything like it. It's gorgeous!



And because I'm going for 'Biggest Dork Award EVA!' here's a picture of me in my glee.

I couldn't go for a full face shot because the acne on my chin is stroke inducing. Seriously, my hubby said tonight, 'that stuff you bought isn't quite working, is it?'. Good news, he's still alive.

I wish I could give all the ladies at Book Binge a huge hug and I wish you could have been here to see me in all my geeky glee.

Thank you Casee, Rowena, Holly and Isabel for such a great gift!

I've run into just one little problem.


He claims he was just checking the quality.

The E-reader and I are going into hiding!

Diet Day Two

In case you need a break from the drama I'll let you know that I no longer think this diet thing is easy.

I woke up famished. I spent most of the day thinking of food and now I have an upset tummy (probably more PMS related but hey, I'm not a happy camper).

I'm going to try real oatmeal for breakfast tomorrow morning. I had a slice of toast with a tablespoon of peanut butter for breakfast today and had to eat an hour afterwards. Not conducive to weight loss. Still, I haven't blown the points budget and now that today is over, I'm hoping the next few days won't be so bad.

BOOKS!!!

Yeah, I wanna talk about books.

I need to know which books you guys are looking forward to and maybe why (is it part of an on-going series that I need to start before getting said book, etc.). I'll share a few of mine but I have a few question marks on my current TBB list because I haven't really heard anything about the authors.

January

Joanna Bourne The Spymaster's Lady - keeper review at AAR and I think two bloggers are currently reading and enjoying it. Since I need new authors I'm going to pick this one up.

Sylvia Day Heat of the Night - I have two of her books and should probably read those before buying this. Bad Cindy.

Erin McCarthy Sucker Bet - I've been meaning to give this author another shot and maybe now is a good time. Maybe I should try her 'darker side'? Any thoughts?

February

Nalini Singh - CAN'T WAIT!!!

March

MJD Dead Over Heals - don't know what it's about and will need to do some checking but it's on the list.

April

Gaelen Foley - Her Every Pleasure - I have wanted to try another Foley and this may be the one.
J.R. Ward - Uh, guys, did you know there is a Wikipedia page for Black Dagger Brotherhood? Just wondering. Lover Enshrined - not sure I'm all that fired up about this one. I may actually decide to go on a break and wait for a character I care about and a story line that won't have me screaming 'WHY!!' (I don't get the whole sleep with a ton of women so they can have your kids plot - ugh)

May

Kresley Cole Dark Desires After Dusk & Dark Needs At Night's Edge - have no clue why they have two listed but I'm hoping they are good!

Anne Stuart - Fire and Ice - yeah baby.

That's as far as I've looked and I just skimmed the authors section of the 'coming soon' books. I should find the time to read the blurbs but they tend to sound the same.

Authors I'm curious about:

Cheyenne McCray - the covers of her books look awesome but for some reason I have never bought one. Thoughts?

Gina Showalter - again, another author I have yet to buy or try.

Jill Shalvis - I may have a book by this author somewhere but I can't recall.

So what books are you looking forward to? Any newbie authors coming up through the ranks that you think others should try?

As to reading I'm catching time in between running around this weekend but I'm hoping on Monday I can get some quality time with the book cause, DUDE, I so want to read!

I Signed Up For This!?

Day One of Diet:

Not horribly bad.

My best friend and my husband look like saboteurs - one gave me a Reese's Peanut Butter cup (being the adult I am I didn't turn it down and ate it with pleasure), the other popped my light popcorn and then put melted butter on it. I mean really.

Is paranoia the first signs of hunger? I don't really know because I'm pretty sure the last time I experienced hunger was in 1988. *ba-dum-tish* And Goodnight!

Nope, first signs of hunger must be lame humour. Bad Cindy.

The good news is that I have talked about being committed to this so I am pleased with myself that I'm not trying to pull any bullshit with it. I'm not sure if I've mentioned before but Weight Watchers is not hard. Sure, the first week can hurt but I've done it before so I already know which foods I need to buy to help with snack times.

Now we just have to see if the weight comes off. *pleasepleasepleaseplease*

As for really exciting news - my e-book reader is now in Mississauga!! That's about 45 minutes from where I live. In case you are wondering it was in San Diego, CA on the 7th, Bloomimgton, CA on the 8th, and then in Grove City, OH and Toledo, OH on the 10th.

I love tracking mail. Especially when there are more than two cities listed.

On that note I'll sign off and hope you all have a great weekend!

Coming Around

We're on day three of recuperation and I think I may have found my stride again. Getting up at odd hours and crashing at all different times for the last 5 days may have finally got me all caught up on whatever shortages happened over the holidays.

Looks like I'm back to nights for the time being. I enjoyed the daylight, especially today but my sleep cycle konked back out tonight. Meh.

Cody had a complete work up today. Basically he's a medical miracle cause he just keeps chugging along. His face is now slightly deformed as the tumour has come up over his eye (inside so you can't see it). I tried to take a picture of it but you really can't see it, you can only see it in person. I think he had all the technicians and the vet around his back paw. They gave him so many bickies while we were there I was afraid to give him his dinner tonight.

Basically, he's got that tumour thing, the liver looks odd and he has swallowed a sewing needle. Since I can't remember the last time I sewed anything I'm banking it's been there for a while. The vet said I could try giving him more fiber (at which point I looked down at my pup and thought 'what? I'm to give him salad?' and figured he was beyond that) as needles are very dangerous. Yeah. 'kay. Then she admits Cody isn't a candidate for surgery since he can't breath out his nose. I figured.

Oh, we could see that his (dangit, I know the name but can't remember right now) breathing tube or airway is slightly constricted as it comes out of his lungs. May explain why he has always been a heavy breather. People can't help but ask what the hell is happening in the background when I'm on the phone. I'm not sure they believe me when I say it's the dog snoring. The other day I reminded my friend that the excessive noise was Cody and she laughed and said she thought Bob had a saw running.

I think Cody will be much like Rocky. He'll just have a bad day. At least I hope that's how it will be because other than that, as long as he's eating and his tail is wagging I can't see making any huge decisions. The vet did say that the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else either and for as pleased as she looked I was exponentially pleased. Cute puppy.

He might look a bit Frankenstein-ish but his mama still loves him. Bob's a given ;)

As for other things Christmas is almost all boxed up. There are a few things out that need to be put away yet. I'm thinking this weekend we can get a smack down on it.

I realized today that my Dad leaves again for Malaysia on Monday. Holy cow! That came up real fast so I'm scrambling to find out if we're all getting together or if I should have everyone over here for dinner and games. Crazy! Just when you think things are back to normal you get side swiped. My Mom's b-day is the following weekend so it looks like it's family 24/7 again.

Didn't we just do this?

I've grabbed a book and started on it. I'm not going to say anything yet including which book cause if it fails it could just all be me.

Crap. I have to book a doc appointment also.

OH!

Tomorrow is WW day.

Weight Watchers starts officially on Friday as I weigh in and get all that stuff tomorrow night. A few of my friends have decided to try it also. I've never gone with other people before so I'm kind of happy about not being alone at the meeting. We'll see how long everyone else lasts, I know I'm going to be committed to it. I've eaten all my favourite foods for the past few weeks so it's all about to change but by this time next year I'm hoping to be at a healthy weight and not feel like I'm missing huge chunks of food.

Completely do-able.

I WON!!!!

This post is going to be rambly and messy cause I'm in shock and can't believe I won something so cool.

The ladies at BookBinge were having that Christmas Contest, right.

I WON AN EBOOK READER!!!

It's all I can do to keep from waking Bob up and running through all it's features. He's got one more hour and then all he's going to hear about is what an ebook reader is and what I can do with it and I'm sure by noon he'll be sick of me.

Geez Louise, I'm just - floored. Floored!

I've never even really paid attention to these types of things because I always thought they would be out of my price range. Then there seemed to be something about how to download books and such but the bugs are all worked out now! Apparently you can make the print of the book you are reading bigger and that is so going to work for me with those J.R. Ward books.

Okay, I need to wrap this up or I'm going to go on and on and on....

Here's the pretty here.

I'm so in the twenty first century people!!

Edited: Bob can use his crackberry all he wants now - I'm betting he'll get really jealous when he finds out that ebook reader can go anywhere.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Can I Just Say?

I can't wait for life to go back to what I call normal. I get stressed when Bob is on holidays because there is an expectation of doing day trips and stuff.

Day Trips.

Uh, hi. Nocturnal.

Gah. I can hear Bob getting up now - it's only quarter to 7 in the morning so I guess I'm about to get crackin'.

I think I'll be up until at least 2pm today because my body clock has been wanting to do a flip since last week. I fight it because Bob and I have a routine and messing with it can cause me anxiety. I don't care when no one is home and I'm not expected anywhere. The body clock can have it's due but when I need to be up at certain times it can be a pain in the arse. Last night I took my sleeping pill and anxiety pill (also used for sleeping but not what it's prescribed for for me) to hit the system with a double dose.

The system replied with a 'fuck you' and did as it pleased.

In my mature way I flipped the bird back and took a nap last night.

Yeah 'system'! Whadaya think about that!

So far the battle front is quiet. Eerily so. Me thinks something is afoot.

And now for something completely different:

I would like to congratulate my pollster pall LinnieGayl as she is now the newest reviewer over at AAR! I can't wait to read her reviews and for those who love THE Nora Roberts, LinnieGayl is huge fan. Huge. I mean, I saw her Top 100 ballot people. Let's see if I can link to her 'page' so you can see what other authors she likes. Ah, here it is!

Also huge congrats to Ames as she and three others (Rowena, Isabel and Grace) have created The Boob Tube blog. Since I'm also addicted to the tube I'll be visiting regularly and I may even try submitting something. I wonder if they like rants? I'm very good at ranting. Ask me about the writer's strike. I dare ya.

What else, what else...OH!

I would run around and take pictures of the rooms (note I said ROOMS) in our house and post them but I think I've pushed my luck as it is with Bob. If I start taking pictures he'll know what I'm about. Let's just say there is a washing machine next to my new big screen TV (bought before Christmas), the mainfloor closet is empty and it's contents are all over the livingroom, my dining room table is the new drop spot, Bob will never, never, never NOT eat in front of the computer so crumbs will always be a part of my computer experience (I hate crumbs, they're scratchy when I'm in my jamma shorts and yes, I'll show you mercy and not post a pic of me in them), paper is the enemy and YIKES!!

Bob's up, gotta go!

'Hey, honey! Hmmmm? Oh, just surfing.'

Happy 2008!

Can I just say that time really does fly? I mean, it still feels like the whole Y2K thing was just yesterday! Getting older blows.

On that cheery note, I can admit that I'm addicted to watching back to back episodes of Rescue Me. I bought all three seasons and every night I watch 3 to 4 episodes. I think I have maybe 3 more before I'm all caught up and then the fun is over.

I'm antsy about the New Year and the writer's strike stuff. Up here it's bloody cold and going out means expending energy that I normally save for napping. So other than computer time and reading, I'm going to be SOL.

Which brings us to resolutions. See, I'm crafty that way.

Holy Catnip on a Cracker!!

I just read last year's so called resolutions and my book wrap up.

I suck.

Looks like I only read 21 books last year. This year I read 24 (oohhhh, ahhhhh, what an achievement) with 3 DNF so 27 and a re-read so 28. Since I don't remember reading anything after Anne Stuart's last book I'm guessing I've hit the three month mark with no reading.

Slumpville. Population 1.

I hate Slumpville.

It mediocre and boring and has no passion or brilliance about it. Drab buildings that all blend into grey with grit and debris in the streets. No light or colour. It's bleak and creepy in it's silence and constant drudgery.

If that was all it was I could cope but Slumpville loves all things dark and crazy. Dreams are no longer whispers but blaring visions of discontent and failure. Yeah. I'm not loving the dreams. Without reading there is no spark of inspiration for a fairytale dream or a flying dream.

And reality hits too close.

So I'm getting out of Slumpville. Bob has another week off so I won't find time to read but starting next week I'll be working my ass off to get out of this damn pit.

Getting out of Slumpville is work. When you don't feel like reading it becomes a job but I need that job.

Believe it or not, it keeps me sane.