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!