TBR Day, more than a week late.

Like many of you, life is running away from me faster than I can catch it. TBR Day was on February 18th, and it flew right by. We went out of town that week and reading wasn't on the To Do List. (Well, it was, it just didn't make the "Got Done" part of it.) This week I managed to sit down and finish my book, but I'm only now getting around to the review.

This month's mini-challenge was to read a book that had been granted DIK (Desert Island Keeper) status from AAR, if you had one of those on the shelf. I happened to have a couple of them, but the one I chose to read was Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas. Seduce Me at Sunrise is the sequel to Mine Til Midnight, which I read back in December 2007. It is loosely tied to the author's wallflower series of which I still have one book left to read.

Ok, so what's it about- Winnifred (Win) Hathaway.. you know what? here, read this summary...

Kev Merripen has longed for the beautiful, well-bred Winnifred Hathaway ever
since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. But
this handsome Gypsy is a man of mysterious origins-and he fears that the
darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous Win. So Kev refuses to
submit to temptation-and before long Win is torn from him by a devastating twist
of fate.Then, Win returns to England-only to find that Kev has hardened into a
man who will deny love at all costs. Meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor
has set his sights on Win. It-s now or never for Kev to make his move. But
first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny-or risk losing the
only woman he has lived for-

On the surface, this has one of my favorite romance plots- friends who fall in love. Or who have been in love but deny it until BAM! If you take away all the side plots (Kev's secret past, for example) then that's the bare bones. They love each other. They both know it. They just have to get from knowing it to doing something about it. There's a little bit of drama, there's the second suitor, there's a little (obvious) mystery to be solved. It's all good. Both Win and Kev are believable in their issues. Kev is a great hero, and I didn't think she went too far with his particular hangups. Amelia and Cam from Meet Me at Midnight play big roles and I loved seeing them. I think I liked Cam more in this one than in his book, actually. I think she may have taken the secret history a step too far at the end, but I can forgive that.

Kleypas seems to have set up the book so that she can write about the remaining three siblings. While I'm not so drawn to the other sisters, I'd like to see how she gets Leo to fall in love. I suspect with the right woman he might turn out to be her finest hero. I really enjoy romance novel series like this. It makes each book seem a little more fleshed out when you have the information from the other books, but you could reach each alone without missing anything.

Lisa Kleypas can be found online here.

Seduce Me at Sunrise

Lisa Kleypas

St. Martin's Paperbacks

2008

384 pages

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Quiet, Please by Scott Douglas

Back to the library with this one. I was excited to find Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas at my local library. This seems to be right up my alley (as it seems to be up many of yours.) I find myself mostly annoyed by it, and 127 pages in I've throwing in the towel.

The biggest problem is that Douglas doesn't seem to enjoy his job. I'm fine with a little ambivalence towards your career, but he seems to actively dislike it. He finds it boring. He doesn't talk about the books. He doesn't really talk about the library patrons. What he does is make fun of the other librarians. There isn't a single co-worker who isn't bitter, jealous, stupid or crazy. He really seems to dislike librarians as a group, and doesn't consider himself to be one of them. It's full of random footnotes and the font is such that I can't even find the little superscript number half the time. I like footnotes. I love Mary Roach's use of them in Bonk and Stiff! These are similar, but he doesn't pull it off as well. The narrative jumps around in time, and there are these weird passages that have nothing to do with anything thrown into the middle of chapters. Douglas says in the beginning that he added these because people's attention spans are more geared towards little sound bites. It seems to me that he threw them in because he thought they were interesting but couldn't find an appropriate spot for them anywhere.

If my time was unlimited I'd probably read it all, but it's not, so I won't.

Another meme

At the risk of this blog turning into a blog about my husband and I, here's my answers to the couple meme that is going around.
What are your middle names?

My middle name is Star (no really!), his is James. The Pirate's middle name is also James.

How long have you been together?
I moved to South Dakota in 2002.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?

We met online in 1999. We didn't become a couple until 2002.

Who asked whom out?
I really don't remember! It was online, so there wasn't a real "asking out" involved.

How old are each of you?
I'm 33 and he is almost 39.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
His. He has a large family who all live in South Dakota. I have two brothers who live in Alabama, so we see them once a year. By the time we go down this summer it'll be 2 years since we didn't go down last summer.

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Money, I have real issues with money.

Did you go to the same school?
No

Are you from the same home town?
No, not even the same state.

Who is smarter?
I will not answer that.

Who is the most sensitive?
Also a tough one. We both have ways that we get out feelings hurt. I cry more at movies and books.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Without the boys, we tend to go to Friday's or Outback. There aren't a lot of non-chain things here.

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico when I was 5 months pregnant with The Pirate.

Who has the craziest exes?
His, a million times over. His. His. His.

Who has the worst temper?
Me. The Bug seems to have inherited it.

Who does the cooking?
I'd say we both do, with him doing slightly more. He'd say he does 99% of it.

Who is the neat-freak?
HAHAHAHA. I used to be, but now I live with him. (If this is not clear, neither of us is a neat freak. Anymore.)

Who is more stubborn?
Me.

Who hogs the bed?
Him. He also wads up the blankets and lays on top of them.

Who wakes up earlier?
We are both morning people. He gets up earlier during the week, but I tend to be up first on the weekend.

Where was your first date?
Our first fancy, all dressed up, date was at a really lovely restaurant called Canoe.

Who is more jealous?
Me.

How long did it take to get serious?
When knew we'd get married when I moved to SD.

Who eats more?

That's a rude question! He does.

Who does the laundry?
We both do. Sunday is laundry day. He takes everything down to the laundry room (in the basement) and does most of the swapping and running loads up and down. We dump it all on the bed and I put most of it away.

Who’s better with the computer?

Him. I get frustrated when things don't work.

Who drives when you are together?
He does, but I have to deal with the boys.

Trish is having a giveaway!

Hey all! We're back in town but about to head out again for a birthday party (rumor has it the next 13 years of my life will be consumed with driving kids to parties. Is this true?)

While you wait for me to say something exciting, stop over at Hey Lady!Whatcha Reading? and enter Trish's Slanket giveaway! She says they rock.

Wordless Wednesday

Show all

What I did, What I'm doing, and When I'm going crazy

I know you're all waiting on pins and needles to see what I did on my day off! I spent the entire day in the basement with my sewing machine. There is a full post on it over at Made By Lisah if you're interested, but this block is my favorite thing. This block is made for the Bushfire Quilt Project, and will be mailed off to be made into a quilt for the victims of the fires in Australia. (I actually made two, jump over to the other post to see the other!)

I also managed to make up five crayon rolls for the shop. If you have a kid in your life and need a little gift, these are perfect. They are great for just throwing into your purse with a little pad of paper and whipping out in situations that might require quiet. This batch has rockets on them, but I also cut and ironed fabric for five more with kitties.

I watched roughly 38 episodes of Dirty Jobs, which I love. I don't think I'd ever seen the baseball one before. And I could live my life without seeing the leather tanning one again.

Tonight I'm packing for a little overnight trip we're taking this week. Originally we had planned for a 2 day/ 2 night family getaway, but now we'll have to get back for a funeral on Friday. We're still going, as we made some unchangeable plans for Thursday, but it will be pretty whirlwind. I also need to give my neighbor details on watching the dog. Sadly, we're using Facebook instead of my getting off my behind and walking NEXT DOOR to talk in person. Lazy? I prefer to think "efficient".

Tomorrow is avidbookreader's TBR Challenge day, and it's not looking promising for a review. This will be the first one I've missed since she started it last winter and it makes me a little sad. I've read about half the book and it's quite good, but I don't see myself finishing it before tomorrow. If I do, I'll schedule it to post tomorrow while I'm gone.

Soon I will blog the new pantry, which is D.O.N.E. except for the door facing (trim?), and a coat of paint (we're gonna wait for summer and do the whole wall), but for tomorrow you can expect a picture of my dishwasher. Yes, I said my dishwasher. Excited?

(I think this the the point where I can be deemed crazy.)

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Freedom!

Happy President's Day!

I have the day off today but my daycare is open! For my Valentine's gift my husband went in to work late (he is usually out of the house no later than 6:30) and took the boys to daycare. I can't tell you how excited about this I am. A WHOLE DAY to myself!

I could read- I'm almost done with Kitty and the Silver Bullet and when it's done I get to start Bone Crossed. I'm about 120 pages into Lisa Kleypas's Seduce me At Sunrise for the TBR Challenge, which is on Wednesday.

I could sew- I have two little thank-you gifts to complete, and then I want to wrap up some crayon rolls for the shop.

I could sleep- The baby hasn't been sleeping well lately and a little nap would be lovely. Tho, last night he did sleep fairly well so I'm not really dragging.

I could waste the day on the internet. Nah, not doing that one.

What would you do with an entire day to yourself?

Mike and Lisa's Valentines playlist

Sadly, there is not a single picture of us without our children on my hard drive.

Happy Valentine's Day Mike. I love you!

1. 1,2,3,4 by Plain White T's
2. The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson
3. Everything by Michael Buble
4. Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's
5. Fall for You by Secondhand Serenade
6. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
7. No One by Alicia Keys
8. Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
9. I Cross My Heart by George Strait
10. Heaven by Bryan Adams
11. Breathe by Faith Hill
    

Weekly Links Roundup for February 7 AND February 14

(Button stolen from Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading?)

I'm not doing so well at this weekly links roundup thing. Last week I collected four links and didn't post them. This week I only found crafty links. Ah well. Next week will be better.

Dani at Average Girl Reads is looking for preteen books with overweight heroines. I'm not quite to the preteen stage at my house, but can any of you help her? (this is from last LAST week, oops!)

Alyce at At Home with Books posted a link to the sweetest song ever. Ok, second sweetest, I still love 1-2-3-4.

Bookshelves of Doom posted the best recap EVER of Flowers in the Attic. So awesome.

I found a new quilting blog called Git Down Kitty! this week. She's also a mom of two boys. Look at this great cherry quilt she made!

And here's another beautiful blog I found, when googling around for a Disappearing Nine Patch Tutorial. It's called Just Pure Lovely, and it is. (That's just a link to the blog itself, not a specific post.)

If you're into fabric, you can win a stack of Sugar Snap HERE (through 2/20) or some pink and red goodness HERE (through 2/16, I think.) And if you're NOT into fabric, you can win them and give them to ME!

Tia, at Campfollower Bags and Quilts, is organizing a massive quilting bee for the victims of the recent fires in Austrailia called the Bushfire Quilt Project. I blogged about it here as well. Be sure to check the flickr group too, as there are tons of pretty blocks already submitted.

Next week: More bookish goodness!

The Music List

I've had a few posts lately that lend themselves to making lists and thought I'd wrap them up and share.

First, I asked what song had meaning for you. The response was varied and I think says a lot about what time period each of us grew up in.

Here's what you said:

Every Little Kiss by Bruce Hornsby and the Range (Mo at UnMainstream Mom Reads)
Go There With You by Steven Curtis Chapman (Carrie K at Books and Movies)
The Authority Song by Jimmy Eat World (Janssen at Everyday Reading)
Party Like It's 1999 (Kristie at Kristie Loves Books)
Russians by Sting (Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty)
Chevy Van (Debbie at Friday Friends Book Blog)
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (Monica at Quilt While You're Ahead)
Hello Nasty by The Beastie Boys (Bibliolatrist at Bibliolatry)
Eclipsed by Evans Blue (Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit)
The Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler (Melanie at she reads and reads and Happy Daisy)
Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young (Chris at book-a-rama)
Angels by Robbie Williams (Michelle at Fluttering Butterflies)
End of the Road by Boys II Men (Heather at A High and Hidden Place)
Angel Eyes by the Jeff Healy Band (Gina at Bitty and the Boy)
Enter Sandman by Metallica (Kathy at Bermudaonion's Weblog)
Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (Amanda at Life and Times of a "New" New Yorker)
You Are My Sunshine (Petunia at Educating Petunia)
Thunder Balls (Sarah, no blog)
Maybe I'm Amazed by Sir Paul McCartney (Sarah at Sarah and the Goon Squad)
Build Me Up Buttercup Baby by The Foundations (Eva at A Striped Armchair)
Forever and for Always by Shania Twain (Stephanie at Open Mind, Insert Book)
If You Leave by OMD (Stephanie at Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic)
Dream Weaver (Holly at Tropic of Mom)
I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty (Teddy Rose at So Many Precious Books, So Little Time)
I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen (judybrittle, no blog)
Dust in the Wind (Katayoun, no blog)
Lady in Red (darbyscloset, no blog)


Wow. That's a lotta links. I suddenly have new respect for those bloggers who used to link to every commentor every month (Natasha, I'm looking at you.)

I think I'll wait to do the favorite blog list!

So, what WON'T you read?

I know, I know, most of us would read the cereal box if that's all we had, I'm asking something else. Bear with me a moment.

In the last few days I've seen quite a few reviews of Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This is a YA book that features an asteroid hitting the moon and causing apocalyptic conditions. It's getting great reviews left and right, but I can't even bear to read the reviews, let alone the book. (Here's one review, with links to a dozen more.) I absolutely can not bring myself to read anything with a natural disaster like this- no meteors, no asteroids, no giant tsunamis, no California falling into the ocean, no ice covering the earth. (For the record, I can't stand this type show on the Discovery Channel either.) (I don't mind books about New Orleans after Katrina, in fact, I like them, as much as one can. Hurricanes and their after effects are based on experience though, not speculation.)

So here's my question: Within your preferred genres, what books do you avoid?

You can't say that you don't ever read romance/mystery/YA fiction/ fantasy. That's not the question!

Here's my answer(s):

I never read about natural disasters that might destroy earth. Or man-made ones for that matter.
I never read romances where they pretend to be someone (specific) that they aren't. I hate the feeling of being duped and can't even read it. I don't mind if someone runs away and starts a new life as something else. It's a fine line.
I try not to read books where children die or are abducted.

What about you?

Progress

Remember Leon? He's inside the pantry in this picture. Don't ask.

He has to cut his way out. They meant to do it that way.
Sure they did.

Hey! That might be a pantry one day!

I spent the day wrangling children, so no reading has been done. Hope everyone else is having a nice weekend!

It's a bit chilly in my house.

Ya'll remember that I live in South Dakota, right?

(This is Leon. He's helping make holes in my house.)

I won an Amazon. com gift certificate!

So, lets say YOU won an Amazon.com gift certificate for $25. What would you buy? No, I'm not giving mine away, I just want to know what new and exciting book (or thing) you'd get.

I'm considering Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs and The Creative Family by Amanda Soule, among others.


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I hate those things.

This morning I had to call a coworker on my way to work. Said coworker is in his 20s, has a band, and is heavily into the music scene- and it's not my type of music. So when his phone says," Please enjoy the music while your party is reached..." I braced myself for the worst.

This is what I heard.

Best. Ringback. Ever.



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Did you know?

That you can subscribe to Etsy shops through Google Reader? It's TRUE! I just noticed it. So say you want to know when your favorite seller (ahem) posts a new item- just go to their shop and near the bottom you'll see "subscribe to shop feed."

Ta da!

Cool, huh?

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25 Things About Me

I keep getting tagged for this on Facebook, and why waste an opportunity to post to the blog?

1. I currently work as a loan officer at a small credit union. It is a scary time to be in the banking industry.

2. The worst part of my job is making phone calls. I hate to make phone calls, even ones with good news. I especially hate to make phone calls where I don't know what I'm talking about.

3. My favorite job ever was working at Books-A-Million during college. At times, I really felt like a rock star there. (Did you know, there are people who work at bookstores who DON'T LIKE TO READ??)

4. My least favorite job ever was at a grocery store bakery. I didn't get to bake things, I only got to clean up after the people who did.

5. I have a degree in history. I spent a lot of money to get it, and it's pretty darn useless.

6. Actually, I am STILL paying money for that degree.

7. I have been married twice. The second one is a keeper.

8. I met my husband online, playing EverQuest- a MMORPG. For years we spent more time playing a game than we did at work.

9. EverQuest is the only online game that I really got into playing. I dabbled in Dark Ages of Camelot, but it wasn't the same.

10. The only games I play now are Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Candyland, and Mancala.

11. I will kick your butt in Mancala.

12. I have two children, both boys. I always imagined myself with girl children, but now I can't imagine.

13. I live 1400 miles away from my family. Usually, this is not a bad thing.

14. I have lived in South Dakota for 6.5 years now. I am still occasionally surprised by this. (South Dakota?? REALLY??)

15. I drive a soccer mom car, even though my kids are too young for soccer. (2007 Ford Freestyle)

16. In the last few years, I have rediscovered a love of sewing.

17. I have just launched a new blog about the sewing at http://madebylisah.blogspot.com/

18. It will go nicely with the new Etsy shop, once I have some product made for the shop. http://madebylisah.etsy.com/

19. I have two tattoos. One is a hummingbird that I got when I first moved to South Dakota, and the other is a camellia (state flower of Alabama) that I got when I'd lived here for a year.

20. I'd like at least one more, for the boys.

21. I went to a boarding school in high school- The Alabama School of Math and Science. It was perfect for me, but as a mother I can't imagine letting my kid move away at 16.

22. I am still friends with my best friends from there.

23. I have a stupid number of unread books in my home, all of which I "really want" to read.

24. I am a huge fan of http://www.paperbackswap.com/, because it keeps me from actually buying all of those unread books.

25. I crave a week of doing nothing on the beach in the worst way. Of course, with two small children it would be not the relaxing paradise I imagine, but I still want to go.

In the Facebook rules, I am supposed to tag other people. I'm not going to, but if you'd like to participate feel free!

(Picture has nothing to do with the post, I just wanted to post a picture.)

The Sunday Salon for February 1

Wow, February already? January really picked up for reading for me. I managed to finish five books:

1. Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer
2. Enchanted, Inc by Shanna Swendson
   
3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
   
4. The Book of Vice by Peter Sagal
   
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I also went ahead and abandoned two:
The Myrtles Plantation: The True Story of America's Most Haunted House
Ghostly Encounters: True Stories of America's Haunted Inns and Hotels
both by Frances Kermeen

These were both from one of my Hachette Book wins and while the idea of both of them appealed to me, I couldn't get past the writing. I read the first few chapters of Ghostly Encounters and it was badly overwritten with some anecdotes ending abruptly. I have too many books to push through something that annoys me, so off they go.

Yesterday morning was beautiful here. The boys and I headed off to the library at 9. Our library has a coffee shop, so I had a latte, the Pirate had a steamer, and the Bug had some Teddy Grahams. Then on to the New Release section where a 5 minute glance netted me the following:

One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker Player by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson
Ten Moments That Shook the Sports World by Stan Isaacs
Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature by Leonard Marcus
Horace Greeley, Champion of American Freedom by Robert C Williams
Daddy Needs a Drink by Robert Wilder
Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Contemporary Bestsellers by Lisa Adams and John Heath

and one from the Young Adult Section:
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Our library has a large bird cage with 20 or so birds in it, that the Bug spent a good 20 minutes quietly (!!) observing. We picked out 4 or 5 books from the kids section which have already left the library bag so I can't list them. I already started Why We Read What We Read and I think it's gonna be interesting.

Then, since it was so pretty out (almost 60!) the boys and I left the car at the library took a stroll through downtown. We then met up with Mike for lunch. The afternoon went downhill, so we'll skip that and head on into today!

This morning I had a moment to sew, which I blogged here. It snowed for an hour and we got about an inch, then then sun came out and melted most of it. I think some KFC is in order before naps and then some quality time with a book.

What's on your agenda for Sunday?