Great news!

The Bug's Doctor's Nurse called today to tell us that the EEG results were normal. We still have to meet with the neurologist next month for full details, but for now-- NORMAL!

Thank you, everyone, but your good thoughts.



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More Random Friday than usual

It has been a long week.

Yesterday was the Bug's EEG. It went really smoothly, except for the insane crabbiness of a sleep deprived one year old. He would trip over lint and then cry like I cut off his hand. (Cutting off of hands are a theme at our house. Have you seen Star Wars?) He is sleeping in the picture, doesn't he look so little?!

My inbox has exploded lately. I can't find the time to respond to everyone who is leaving such thoughtful nice comments about my Worst Week Ever. If you asked something specific, I will try to get back to you. Otherwise, thank you. The Bug seems to be doing fine, we should know something more in a few days.

I have won a few things lately. A Joshua Bell CD from Just Pure Lovely/ Freely Educate, which I can't WAIT to get, and a scarf and workout video (Dance and Be Fit: Brazilian Body ) from T Minus, T Plus. No, I haven't tried the video yet.

Which brings me to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge. I AM SO FAR BEHIND.

I have read two great Nora Roberts romances in the last week or two. I was never a huge fan but have completely fallen for both of these. Reviews soon.

In all the excitement Sunday, I totally and completely forgot about my anniversary giveaway. So I decided to extend it another month. I'll drawn a winner of my little gift pack from ALL the blog comments between September 1st and December 1st. Sorry to leave you hanging.

I recently put on a pair of pants I'd bought on clearance last summer and they fit. Not only did they fit, they are the best pants ever. If you sew, and you know of a basic pants pattern with a side zipper, please tell me what pattern it is! I think I can trace off the awesome pants, but I'd like a little guidance on assembly.

Whew. I think that's it. What have I missed in the world this week?

The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E. Olson

The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E. Olson is the one book I managed to read during the Read-A-Thon. Clocking in at 320 pages, I was pretty proud of accomplishing that. (Plus another hundred or so of Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.) I don't read a lot of mysteries, but this one makes me want to read more. I'll definitely be picking up the followup in the series-Pretty In Ink.

So what's it about? Brett Kavanaugh owns a tattoo shop on the Vegas Strip called The Painted Lady. A few days after being contacted by a client to do a devotional tattoo, the client disappears and Brett and her shop are the last people to have seen her. It seems as though Brett may have been involved in her disappearance, so she decides the only way to clear her name is to investigate the crime herself.

What did I think about it? This one was a lot of fun to read. I love seeing the little bits of the tattoo shop and am always a fan of strong, sassy heroines. Brett is a lot of fun and the secondary characters will well done, with the exception of the shop manager (Bitsy) who I just didn't like. I don't read a lot of mysteries so my brain isn't really used to figuring out who-dun-it and I was happy just to read along and let the story unfold instead of trying to guess. It seems like perhaps the final explanation was a bit sketchy, but I still enjoyed it. It was great choice for the Read-a-Thon.

Have you read any Karen E. Olson? Are mysteries a normal part of your reading diet? How do you feel about mysteries starring NON-detectives like tattoo shop or candy shop owners? Do you prefer a more serious mystery? ( I admit that I find it hard to believe that places like a tattoo shop can run into enough mysteries to create a series. I'll still read them, but I prefer mysteries with logical protagonists. )

You can find the author online at http://www.kareneolson.com/ and her blog at First Offenders with several other authors.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

I read Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols back before the Read-A-Thon so forgive me if my review is brief. This one got great reviews all over the blogosphere and I was really excited about getting my hands on it. I think it really holds up to the hype and only have a few minor complaints.

So what happens? Meg is a high school senior. She's got quite the reputation and the blue hair to back up her attitude. She lives in Smalltown, Alabama (Alabama! Yay!) and is dying to get away. It's the week before spring break and she and her trouble-making boyfriend are caught on the railroad bridge. Local cop, and recent high school grad himself, John After is determined to teach the kids a lesson so they have to do a ride along all week- spring break week- as punishment. Meg has to ride with John After. The entire book takes place within a one week span, during with both Meg and John After learn a lot about life and each other.

How did I like it? I loved it. I think I loved the journey even more than the ending, but the ending was good too. Meg and John After are both very well drawn, despite being complete opposites. Meg really learns what is important to her, and it's not just graduating and getting away. John After is able to release some of his demons as well. I thought the week they spent together was really well done, from almost all angles. It's possible that Echols took a couple aspects a wee bit far to prove a point, one that I think we would have gotten anyway, but it didn't ruin the book for me. (The title IS Going Too Far!) I loved that even when the characters pushed each other to the limit they were able to get over it without drawing it out into a major conflict. The little details are perfectly done, from John After's scribbled drawings to the details of the diner Meg's parents own. I LOVED John After. (Seriously, second only to Wes so far this year!) I loved that we saw him as both an adult and as a 19 year old, as a cop and as a guy. (Suddenly I feel a bit creepy talking about the boys in YA novels. I will redeem myself with my review of an actually adult romance novel later this week.)

This one will be going on my best of 2009 list.

I loved that this is by an Alabama author, and I really want to look for her other books. My library doesn't have any, but perhaps ILL will. You can find Jennifer Echols's website here, and her blog is here. I could very easily imagine several small towns that could have been the setting for this one, which made me love it all the more. (One of the reasons that one of my very favorite books is Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons is that I can perfectly imagine myself there, having gone to Auburn.)

If you liked this one, you might check out some of my other YA reviews, including:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Some other bloggy reviews:
Angieville
Katidom
The Book Smugglers (that one really nails it)
Persnickety Snark

Did you read it? What did you think? Did I miss your review?

Worst Week Ever?

Remember how I said it had been a bad week? Today we took the Bug to the ER for a possible seizure. The CT scan showed all normal, healthy brain. We're to call for follow up appointments tomorrow. Anyway.

CRAPPY WEEK.

Edited to add what happened: He fell a very short distance and bumped his cheek. He got up crying and did that thing he does where he screams til he holds his breath and then passes out. He has done this before and while it's freaky, it's not scary. This time though, we he would normally come out of the faint he had what appeared to be a seizure. It lasted long enough for me to send the neighbor's kid over to get his dad (Mike was not home) and for the dad to come over and us to call 911. At least 2 minutes, perhaps a bit more. So we went to the ER.

October Reading Update (TSS)

Despite everything else this month, I actually managed to read 4 books! Looking at the titles it is clear that I'm going to easy reads, but a book is a book and I'm happy to have time to read anything. My goal for the year was 52 books and right now I'm sitting at 39. It might be a stretch to make my goal at this point, but hopefully I'll get close.

Here's what I read in October:

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (my review)
Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols (review to come Monday)
The Missing Ink: A Tattoo Shop Mystery by Karen E Olson (review to come Wednesday)
Vision in White by Nora Roberts (review to be written soon)

I've added a few books to my "I'd like to read that!" list, based on the following reviews:

One Day by David Nicholls- Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies and Keris at Five Minutes Peace
The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist- Kristen at BookNAround
When Mike Kissed Emma by Christine Marciniak - Liz B at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Methland by Nick Reding- Maggie at Maggie Reads
Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern- Thao at Serenehours
The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols - Adele at Persnickety Snark
Hate List by Jennifer Brown- Staci at Life in the Thumb
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts - Rowena at Book Binge
Abandoned by Cody McFadyen - Lesley at Lesley's Book Nook

I have a handful of books in various states of progress, as usual. I don't expect to finish them all by the end of the year, but a couple have promise. I also just received a copy of The Lace Reader: A Novel by Brunonia Barry in the mail that I am looking forward to diving into. Today I have some laundry to do and a shop order to complete, but then I hope to spend a little time reading one of the books. I haven't spent a lot of time reading blogs lately either so I might take a little time to blog hop and leave comments.

What are your plans for today? Have you kept up with your reading goals this year? Are you adding books to your lists faster than you can keep up? Are your fingernails still painted black from your witch costume?




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Confessions of a Reader #1, the paranormal classic

Ti over at Book Chatter (and other stuff) hosts a weekly meme called Confessions of a Reader. I don't expect that I'll have a weekly confession, but I do have one that I've been saving up to post somewhere and this seems like a good time.

Here it is: I totally don't get why someone would ever want to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters or The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies. I Just. Don't. Get. It. Pride and Prejudice , yes. Books about zombies, yes. (Well, kinda. I'm not hugely impressed with the cult following zombies get. Why are they cool when Vampires are cheesy? People who would never read Twilight are all over The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Why is that?) I understand the love of classics. I understand that people love a good retelling. I am a huge fan of paranormal books in general. I do not understand this trend to throw paranormal stuff into the classics in this manner. I have zero interest in reading those.

Austenland as a retelling of Pride and Prejudice is fine. The movie Clueless for a retelling of Emma , also fine. I love seeing a modern retelling of a great story, with new characters following a classic plot. But I just don't get splicing paranormal bits into a perfectly good book.

If you're read these, can you tell me why? Did you enjoy them? Did you read and enjoy the original? If you haven't, would you? What about books that take the classic characters and write a whole new book, like Vampire Darcy's Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation or Darcy's Temptation: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? (I find them slightly more appealing, but they still wouldn't be on the top of my list.)

Do you have a confession to make? Drop by Ti's and leave a link, will ya?