Oh, Right, It's Fall Again

Bob's sick.

Poor guy, I said for years he was a carrier because he never got sick. Never! So I'm a wee bit worried about him and the strength of what he's got.

As a rule, when Bob does get sick he doesn't slow down. He figures he can be sick at work or at home so might as well go to work. I, however, find this thinking so messed up it pisses me off. Why? Cause I said to Bob, 'who's the idiot who was sick at work this past week?' Yep, some sickie hacked and coughed over everything last week. No wonder Bob's sick.

My philosophy is - if you're sick stay the fuck home. Even just for one day. (Course, now I understand there are companies that don't pay people for sick days which I think is a crime. I think everyone should have at least 3 paid sick days a year - that's not too many and probably just enough). The contagious nature of most colds / flu happen in the early stages so I'm all about staying home in the beginning.

I should mention here that I took a course (elective at that) called Plagues and people. To say my world was rocked during that class is putting it mildly. I'm thinking I'm probably one of those people who knows just enough to be dangerous (stupid). Let's just say that the so called 'quarantine' measures I've seen countries put up are laughable to the extreme (this includes Canada's reaction to SARS). In no way do I think the world today could handle a mass break out of any type of disease but I seem okay with that knowledge.

Cheery bit this post is eh?

Anyways, my stalwart husband came home today about 2 hours after he left for work - surprise that! He worked from home (cause just sitting and vegging is not Bob's way) and hacked all over our computer desk, keyboard and friggin' monitor. You better believe I whipped out the Lysol wipes and cleaned off the surfaces. Probably won't save me but hey, I'm giving it a go.

On the home front, Bob and I have now painted our master bedroom way too many times.

Primer coat on the ceiling and four walls - I did.

2 coats of ceiling paint, cutting in around the edges to get a nice white line for separation - I did.

Picked a colour - Nath was right, Bob's colour blind and about had a spaz attack when I said I didn't like the colour - 1 coat on the walls with cutting in - Bob did.

Bought the colour I originally wanted - Bob cut in and painted 4 walls one coat and had a complete meltdown. The cut in looked lighter than the rest of the walls - never seen this before.

I decided to cut in again only to discover that Bob had taken the new paint pail out of the room and I was painting with the original colour that I didn't like. It never occurred to me that he would leave the paint in the room that was the wrong one. I know you are thinking 'didn't you notice?' and seriously, I was painting and thinking how it must dry much lighter - only while cleaning the brush did I think back and go 'uh, no, paint dries darker!!! zomg!!!'

Cindy has meltdown.

Bought another gallon of paint - cut in and painted all walls yet again - I did. There is still a problem with the top part of the walls - a bit lighter still.

Walls feel tacky and I'm not sure they are drying properly so I have told Bob we need to leave the damn thing to cure for the next week. (Bob likes to get things done but hates painting - which is why I get mad when he does paint - I like painting so leave it alone!)

So fingers crossed the walls dry up and the colour bleeds together nicely.

Now I just want to read for a few days but I'm thinking sickie is going to take up all my strength.

At least I bought a couple books - Anne's latest and I think Jayne Ann Castle's latest (although I'm not sure as I haven't been following her series for a few years)

Okay, off to play.

Caleb by Sarah McCarty

I wrote this post back in April when I was trying to find my muse and decided it's kind of a book-review so I'll post it now. Unless you guys want an in depth discussion on how my sleeping is so screwed that I slept 18 hours today without feeling it? I'm thinking my 27 hour wakeful zone from the weekend had something to do with this crash but like I said, it gets messy.

Okay, Caleb by Sarah McCarty

I picked up some Sarah McCarty books because I have seen a few good reviews and some people talk about her as an auto-buy. Can I remember where I saw all this, uh no. But that's why this one was pulled off Mt. TBR.

Overall a good story. It's a paranormal with weres and vampires although definitely not the type of vampire I'm used to seeing. The weres we meet seemed like most.

The book started out great and I thought I was in for quite the ride. The heroine is sass personified and knows her own mind and I liked her by the second chapter when she was forced to act and act she did.

So lots of action and then ... things kind of fell into the background. The action part and the sass from the heroine. I found the conversations between Caleb and Allie to be so circular that I just wanted to shake them both. Caleb is hiding tons of things from Allie about becoming a vampire but the things she does know only make her feel inadequate and quite frankly depressed.

Before all that there is some sexing going on. And well, I didn't find it all that sexy.

Don't get me wrong, I think this book would be rated up in the sex scale - like hot but not exactly burning. Hmm, not sure. I need more angst or even passion and chemistry between the H/H than I found here.

Another problem that had me shifting images in my head so many times that I didn't know where any of the characters were in relation to each other (not good in sex scene) or even in the room. One minute Caleb would be cradling Allie in his lap then without any mention he would be in a chair or even standing up.

(I haven't finished the story yet - I'd say I'm 2/3 through the book and I think it's going to take something huge to get me to finish the book. I just wanted to get some of my thoughts down so I would remember the good and the bad so far.)

Uh, finished, kind of.

Let's just say I got within a few chapters of the end and stopped caring. I'm trying to figure out if I rated that as a DNF or just say 'yeah, I got the gist and finally decided I didn't need to know how it ended.

I'm going to read Jared's book which I think is the next book but I will start skimming if I run into some of the rambling conversations that happened in this book.

I liked Allie as a heroine for part of the story, then she kind of flaked out. I'm not sure if it was because she became cut off from her life and life became the house the men lived in or what but Lord, it became depressing. If this had been a historical western I could have understood the isolation but it's a contemporary that read like a historical at times. I understand that these brothers don't really want to expose themselves but to stay so isolated seemed odd.

Anyways, I'm not sure why I want to read Jared's story but I own the book so I'll take a quick boo through it.

There was a scene in this story that had me thinking 'okay, now we're getting somewhere' and then it didn't pan out. Basically, I'm thinking it would have worked better as a threesome story - and I have yet to read one.

I know, things I haven't read yet. Epic.

Couch Potato Re-hab

Lord have mercy I have been a lazy couch potato for way too long. The heat helped to keep me from doing anything harder than lifting an ice cold coca-cola to my lips and releasing a happy sigh but what a difference temperature can make.

Tonight I decided to tackle priming (painting) our master bedroom - it's in reno hell - old closets got ripped out and re-plastering every where but if it keeps Bob from spending too much money at home depot then I can live with the dust. Well, Bob's been away for 4 days and for the first 3 days lazy won out over everything. I was disgusted with myself because I used to paint rooms over while Bob slept but my moving mojo jumped out and left me high and dry.

So I decided to quit letting lazy win and climbed out of my comfy chair and got to work. Right now there are two teeny tiny muscles in my arms screaming at me to just knock it off already. I have to say I hate painting ceilings because of the white on white and never knowing where you are. Paint people have come up with that blue/pink ceiling paint that turns to white which will be lovely after all the priming is done. (but that turn happens so fast if you blink you can miss where you were).

I put 2 coats of primer on the ceiling (it's the super primer stuff that is more oozy to put on the wall - it covers stains and plaster repairs and oil based paints so it's a must if you have an older home) and 1 coat all around the room. I would have done another coat (okay, I did one wall twice and about fainted) but it was hot and I was sticky and it was shower time.

The other pain of this stuff is it stinks to high Heaven. Bad stuff that usually gives me a headache but hey, hopefully that part is almost done. What Bob will do now is check for repairs he has to make to the patching - any lines that pop out or holes in the mud - trust me, waking up and staring at a ceiling that is less than perfect will kill my Aries hubby. So hopefully I can not worry about that part so much.

I loved the summer this year but it's nice to be 'doing' things again. Bob and I tried to keep the A/C off for as long as we could cause we're all energy conscious and stuff now (like what the hell?) and I remember just walking across the room was enough work in the heat of the afternoon.

So treadmill here I come again.

Not tonight though. Another night. No really, another night.

Actually I'm probably the only person on the planet who can do an 1 hour walk on the treadmill 5 nights for 7 months of the year and not lose an ounce but stop for 3 months and my girth groweth again.

Oh, so I've stopped buying those 100 calorie treat things because I would have 2 bags when I got up and another 2 before bed. Yep, 400 calories without thinking about it. So I've cut that out and I'm trying to learn to enjoy diet pop. Turns out if I'm eating I can drink diet but I can't sit and sip at a diet pop - which is probably a good thing.

Tonight I cracked like the pop whore that I am and ordered in 4 regular Pepsi with my dinner. I've had 2. I also ordered chocolate cake which I think will die an inglorious death in the next few hours.

The good news is there is always tomorrow.

Course, that's been my motto for a few years - looks like I need a new one!

So lay 'em on me - any great mottoes (Great Scott - that don't look right) you got stashed away?

5 Years!? Okay, 4 1/2

So while I was away goofing around in the pool and playing way too many online games (Facebook is evol!) my Bloggiversary blew on by.

5 years.

I'm going to count it more as 4 1/2 seeing as how I didn't blog for like 3 months in a row at one point.

So I'm struggling with putting sentences together. No, really. I can't seem to write a few words without having to sit back and yank it out of my brain. I now will type for as long as I can and then go through and toss junk out.

I discovered this while trying to review Anne Stuart's August book for Sybil. I couldn't get anything down on paper and it was making me crazy. Normally I just sit and crap comes forth but lately, it's like my brain has no clue what's going on.

So I'm just going to have to put it out there, the good and the horrid until I get my mind back into working order.

There's lazy and then there's crazy lazy and I'm thinking my brain was heading for the crazy.

Bad Brain.

Dark Need at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

I finally stopped dithering around about picking a book and went with another Cole.

YUMMMMMM.

Cindy Blurb: There's this ghost see, and well, that would normally have stopped me cold in my tracks but I know that Cole writes books about 'the Lore' so I figured it's not like one of those ghost stories where everyone is human and something weird happens at the end of the book for a convoluted HEA.

Okay, right, a ghost named Neomi who died in the 1920's on what was supposed to be the best night of her life. Neomi wanted to live so badly and fought her death so much that she was stunned when she came too and no one could see or hear her. For 80 years she lives in her dream home, wearing her gorgeous dress without anyone knowing she exists.

Meanwhile, three vampire brothers are trying everything they can to save their 'rogue' brother from being killed. In the Lore, there are good and evil vampires and the ones with red eyes are those who have killed while taking blood and are deemed evil. These vampires are tormented by the memories of those they have killed and end up not knowing their own thoughts from those that end up there from others. In the end, most of these vampires go insane and become nothing more than killing machines.

Conrad Wroth is considered a prime example of this. Add to this he wants to kill his own brothers and things get complicated. In order to save Conrad, his brothers lock him in an old gothic house where he sees a beautiful woman who enchants him and makes him wonder if he has finally gone completely mad.

I love lost causes.

Conrad is almost completely lost and the early parts from his point of view show us how disjointed his thoughts are. Conrad is clinging to his sanity or the parts he recognizes for no other reason than to kill his own brothers for cursing him to the ghastly immortal life he is forced to live. The good news is that he doesn't seem bitter as much as just determined and with good reason which you find out over the course of the story.

(note to readers: I just took a gravol so things might get dicey)

Conrad's brothers Sebastian, Murdock and _________ refuse to give up on Conrad and after 300 years of separation they have finally figured out a way to save him. They need him to stop drinking blood from the vein (you know, I'm not sure how it's different from drinking blood from a glass but I think they mentioned that taking from the vein is 'live' blood so the victim's memories come with it). Conrad, not being rational and believing his time is almost up anyways wants nothing to do with this 'cure' and so the brothers kidnap him, have some witches put a spell on an old gothic mansion to keep him from escaping and begin his treatment.

He sees a ghostly woman the night they capture him. Is she a fragmented memory, his final stages of insanity or could she really exist.

I really liked Neomi and even though she is innocent when it comes to the Lore, in life she lived to extremes. She is surprised to discover the men in her house are vampires, that there are such things as witches and others called Valkyrie and the like. She is moved the most by the 'crazy' man the brothers have brought to cure. He is savage, covered in blood and filth and yet, she wonders as he sleeps if he can really see her. She longs to be seen and acknowledged and if this be her only way then so be it.

I have to admit there are some weird otherworldly things at work through the later half of the book. At one point you're thinking 'really!? Again!!' But hey, it's a Cole and I enjoy her stories and I liked the crazed Conrad and his ghost Neomi much better than I've liked some of her other characters.

B

September Should Be Good

Hey, hope all is well with you guys. Special hugs to Kristie - I'm not sure she can surf the net yet but I know I'm not the only one thinking of her and wishing her a speedy recovery.

I just finished Dark Need at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole and will hopefully post my thoughts in the next few days. Dang if I'm not meeting more and more interesting characters that I want to know more about but I'm going to try and resist the urge to pick up another Cole until at least October. Seasoned reader that I am, I know I'll start to see similarities if I read all the books back to back so I'll savour them better a bit at a time.

I don't know about you guys but I have times in my life where things just seem to pile on. I don't even have that much I need to do but I tend to bend to expectations a bit too easily and the past 3 weeks have been hard on the body.

Okay, more like 6 weeks.

Let's just say that in order to sleep when I need to I've been concocting just a few too many potions to get me sleeping and back up in time for things to happen. This past weekend my body told me it was done. I won't type out what I took (cause it's a touch shameful) but it didn't touch me. Not even a little bit.

Since I'm far from crazy I told Bob to just let me be for the next few weeks. I don't want to hear about 'you should get up at noon' or 'hey, you going to get up today' or nothing. I swear I have had to be up all summer at specific times to do this, that or the other and I'm done. Turns out you can have too much of a good thing cause I'm ready for Fall this year!

This morning I climbed into bed naturally tired for the first time in a looooooong time. Bob comes to kiss me good-bye before leaving for work. Imagine my shock when I hear Bob at the bedside and I ask if he's off to work - 'Uh, no, I just got home - it's 5 o'clock'. I'd slept for 10 straight hours and it had felt like I had just blinked my eyes.

I'm looking forward to feeling stable again!

Other than that complaint summer was excellent! The heat had us using our pool more in one summer than probably the last few summers combined. Also, my youngest Godson (9) and my best bud's guy (7) both learned to be fearless in the water. Watching these two finally break through their fear and become two water lovers was way too much fun - and active for Aunt Cindy who tread tons of water and learned she was strong enough to hold up at least 60 lbs in deep water - cause kids are afraid of grabbing onto you when their not sure of their safety and the 2 mommies aren't swimmers like me.

Anyways, I'll dust off this old blog of mine and see if I can be more fresh and observant (doubtful) on a more regular basis (hopeful).

Afterall, Wendy reminded me of what blogging should be about and sometimes I forget.

How 'bout you? How you doing?