Broken record.

Hi. I am insane.

Work is attempting to open at noon. Now I just need a) someone to watch my children, b) someone to shovel out the driveway and c) a snow plow.

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Meet Frances..

This is Frances.

She is very petite.

I love her.

The other day I asked if anyone could guess how she got her name and NO ONE got it. I expected it would be so simple, but apparently not. So, here's a few hints:

• I was in middle school in 1987.
• I've been calling her my "Baby computer"
• "What's your real name, Baby?"

Now does anyone have a guess?

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Mailbox Monday

Ok, so I'm not really sure which of these were in the last 7 days, but I've gotten a few books in lately.

• The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
• Through the Narrow Gate: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery By Karen Armstrong
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
• In the Woods by Tana French
• Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
• Let it Snow by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson

There are a few more en route to me from Paperbackswap, so I better get to reading! This is why I don't take my account off vacation hold very often.

Snow day, take three.

This is my front porch. Once again, we are in the middle of a blizzard and daycare and work are closed. After a weekend of solo parenting, this isn't the relaxing vacation you would imagine. In the last 11 days I have spent of 7 of them alone with the boys. (By that, I mean days that would normally either be daycare days or that both of us would be home. Not as in alone 24 of the 24 hours.) I really think that Stay-At-Home-Moms are either crazy or just operate under a different mindset. (Edited to add: I admire SAHMs very much, but I know that I could never do it!) I love my children very much, but I am not used to spending this much time with them, let alone this much time indoors.

I am ready for Spring.

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Random Friday

It's Friday and you know what that means! More randomness! Now with more !!!!!!

• I find myself commenting "I have that in the TBR" WAY too often lately. I need to get to reading or give some books away.


• I have three review books sitting here, reviews undone, books unread. I need to get to reading on those too.


• And speaking of comments, I've been replying to some people via email (LOVE that!) and some people in the comments section on the blog, and I'm starting to get confused.


• I joined the cult. I bought The 30 Day Shred. Now I just need to take the cellophane off the DVD.


• I really want these shoes. Really really. I might go buy them.


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  I want one of these for my birthday. Do you think that being pink would keep the Pirate from stealing it to use as a rope? (Seriously. If you're one of the people who read my blog who buys me a birthday gift, I really do.)


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  I'll be single parenting for part of this weekend. Is it bad that the activity the Pirate and I are most looking foward to is our trip to TARGET. (See above mention of the shoes.)


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  I learned to make buttonholes this week. They are so much easier than I thought!


• 
  
  The Baby Laptop is here! I named her Frances. If you can correctly identify why, I'll send you a prize. (No idea what, but hey, a prize is a prize, right?) If more than one person tells me, I'll draw for a winner. Contest ends whenever I feel like it, so comment early.
  
  
  
  What is your random thought for today?
  
  
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When you can't read just one.

I've been doing a little thinking lately and I've realized- I can't think of a single author (one hit wonders like Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee aside) that I have read EVERY one of their novels. When I was a kid there were a few, but those authors kept writing after I'd moved on. I read all seven Harry Potter books, but have no desire to pick up the Tales of Beedle the Bard, perhaps I should. I occasionally think that I should quick read An Abundance of Katherines (on it's way to me from PBS) and Paper Towns (sitting here in my library stack) so that I can add John Green to my list of none. (Do I have to read the entire Let it Snow anthology to include him, or just his story?) I'm slowly working my way through Persuasion with the eventual goal of reading all of Jane Austen. I've only read one Marian Keyes, but she seems like a fine author to read all of. John Steinbeck? J.D. Robb (but would that count without reading all the Nora Roberts, and really, who has time for THAT??) Laurie Halse Anderson? I think I've read all but two of Bill Bryson's (Shakespeare and the memoir, both of which I have.) Should I start with someone dead so they don't keep writing?

So tell me, what authors have you completed? Who would you like to have completed? Whose backlist sits by your bed waiting?

Creation in Death by J.D. Robb

This is getting to be a bit of a habit, this posting of my TBR Day review a week late. I'm hoping that next month is better. No really, I am.

Creation in Death is the 25th book in the In Death series by JD Robb. Because of that, it's starting to feel like I've reviewed them all before, so this will likely be very short.

Here's the plot of this one: Someone has been horribly murdered. As they were a perfect nice someone, it's a bit shocking to all their friends and family. Eve starts to investigate, only to discover that the clues are all connected to Roarke! And her! Can she figure out who done it before the next victim dies? Clearly the killer is out to get Eve and therefore she should use herself as bait, thereby saving the next victim! She's going to need some help from her team- Peabody and McNab will talk sex and make Eve uncomfortable, Feeney and Eve hurt each other's feelings, she calls in her "civilian consultant" and in this one he uses his superior skills to make key things happen. Wait, which one is that the plot for?

Regardless of the repetition, this is a nice solid entry into the series. The button is only mentioned once, Trina doesn't mention Eve's hair, Mavis only makes a cameo, and the ongoing battle with Summerset isn't overdone. There isn't too much sex for the sake of sex. The Pepsi machine doesn't steal Eve's credits.

If you're still reading the series at this point, you know what to expect and you get it.


Creation in Death
J.D. Robb
G.P. Putman's Sons
2007
337 pages

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Non-Fiction Five Challenge

Oh, I want to. I really want to. Trish is hosting it. But I FAIL every challenge I join! What to do...


The Rules (unchanged from previous years)

1. Read 5 non-fiction books during the months of May - September, 2009

2. Read at least one non-fiction book that is different from your other choices (i.e.: 4 memoirs and 1 self-help)

3. Click HERE to join.

It's just ONE little challenge.

Right?

I'd read 5 non-fiction books anyway.

Right?

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Second Verse, same as the first!

Snow day again!

The boys are still in bed, the tv is still off, there is no traffic, I have coffee and I don't have to go to work. This is a perfect morning.

My office is closed for the day, for only the second full snow day since I started working there 6.5 years ago. The interstate is closed. There is a no travel advisory. Most of the town is closed- all the schools, all the city and county offices, the Y, Meals on Wheels. Mike went in to see how bad it was at his office- sucks to be the boss- but doesn't plan to stay long. My little neighborhood seems pretty sheltered. The backyard has some interesting drifts and the wind occasionally howls, but overall there isn't a lot of snow on the ground here. The neighbor's roof is bare in spots, as is our front porch. The ground is nicely leveled out- no little hills or dips or STEPS, so I wouldn't go for a walk or anything, but it doesn't look so bad. It's hard to tell because the wind covers it right up, but it doesn't look like any of my neighbors have left home either.

I'm hoping for a nice relaxing day. A little sewing, a little reading, a little blogging. I'm almost done with Bloom by Elizabeth Scott and I still need to review Creation in Death by JD Robb. I need to get to reading on A Mango Shaped Space for the Reading Round Robin. I need to log on to the library's webpage and renew my books, I suspect they were due this week sometime.

And I think I'll wear my pajamas all day.

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Snow Day!

Yesterday we had a record high of 78. Today every school in town is canceled, tons of businesses closed early and my daycare was closed because of a BLIZZARD.

It also happens to me my husband's birthday. The boys and I had the brilliant idea to go to the store and buy stuff for a cake, since we were home anyway. I failed to take into consideration that everyone else in town would be there buying milk and toliet paper. We stocked up on soda, apples, wine and cheese its.

The cake is made and the banner is hung. It'll be a nice quiet birthday celebration.


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Random Friday

I've decided to just give in and make Friday "Random Friday". Feel free to join me.

• Anyone know a good source of used/cheap belts? I need a handful of them for a project. My personal used belts are too far gone, but there's gotta be some place that has a bunch for cheap.


• You know you're the mom when you are using toliet paper from a giant pile of it on the floor- the toliet paper itself and the cardboard roll having been parted from each other by a gleeful baby.


• I finished my book for the TBR Day last night. Too bad TBR Day was two days ago.


• Does anyone else obsessively track packages? I have four on the way to me and I can barely keep myself off http://www.usps.com/. 1 Ebay purchase (Trish made me buy a gorillapod, if you buy one, get it on Ebay), 1 giveaway win, 2 from Amazon (1 order in 2 boxes.)


• One of those Amazon boxes is my New Pink Laptop. I sprung for the 5.5 hour battery. I can't wait!


• I took my Paperbackswap account off vacation hold and the requests and the offers are flying in. If you use PBS I recommend using hold- you have a few days of insane activity and then put it on hold for 3 or 4 weeks and just worry about the books trickling in without having to mail any. You continue to move up the line and if you have books on auto-request they still get offered to you while on hold. If they aren't on auto you just sit in 1st position til you take off hold and then BAM, you get a ton of offers.


• I really want to fit in some sewing time this weekend. I have tons of projects barely started, or started in my head.

What's your random thought for today?

(PS. The baby in the picture? NOT MINE. That is my niece Aryanna. She's about 2 months younger than the Bug.)

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You would be wrong.

If you thought that books belonged ON the shelves.

Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

Bone Crossed is the 4th installment of the Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. I thoroughly LOVED Iron Kissed (and I just discovered that I only posted my review of that one on We'd Rather Read so the link goes there) so I was a bit nervous that I would be let down by this one. While I didn't enjoy it quilt as much, it was a solid entry into the series.

In this one, the vampires are back and Marsilia wants Mercy to pay for what she did in Blood Bound. Stefan has quite the role in this one after his absence in the last book. Mercy has to solidify her choice between Adam and Samuel. Her old friend Amber is seeing ghosts- and vampires, she just doesn't know it. She comes to Mercy for help, but isn't it odd that she showed up at this point in Mercy's life?

So how did it play out? Pretty well, but not perfectly. My favorite parts were the interactions between Mercy and the werewolves and Mercy and Stefan. One thing Briggs does very well is maintain the consistency of her werewolf world. The scenes with Adam, Warren, Darrel, and the pack as a whole were my favorite, as in the last one. I was less impressed with the overall plot line. For the first time, I thought that it might be a stretch. I just didn't quite buy that Briggs knew this was how it would all play out when she wrote Blood Bound. Perhaps that is asking a bit much of an author but it seemed almost too convenient a way out of the conflict. This doesn't keep this from being a great book (it is) it just isn't quite as solid as the other Briggs I've read.

I had mentioned that I was worried that Briggs was going to take the book into a plot point that I just hate. I had to stop reading for a few days so that I could prepare myself for the seemingly inevitable. Several of you asked what it was that I hate and I don't think it's much of a spoiler to talk about it, but if you don't want to hear anything, skip the next paragraph.

Ok, so there is a point where Marsilia is showing her anger and the vampires have threatened Mercy. She decides this is the best time to run away to Spokane to help her long lost friend Amber solve a ghost problem. If she runs away, Marsilia will follow her and her friends won't get hurt. I HATE that. You have this great network of friends who love you and want to help you, and you run away to die alone. I hate that. I should have trusted Briggs not to do that, because in the end she didn't. So if you hate this, rest easy.

Overall, a strong book. The wait for the next one is going to be long.

Bone Crossed
by Patricia Briggs
Ace Books
2009
309 pages

Weekend Recap

It seems like we've had a crazy full weekend. Saturday we got up early and ran out to check out a camper, but the dealer wasn't open yet so we didn't get to see it. We stopped to check out the new T.J. Max, but it wasn't open yet either. I ran into our brand new Michael's and was quite disappointed. It's clean and modern, but there was one aisle of sewing supplies- one SIDE of the aisle even. Fully 1/4 of the very large store was for scrapbooking and stamping.

We picked up a friend of the Pirate's and brought him home with us for some nicely exhausting fun.
My favorite part of this picture is the Bug in the background.

After he went home we ran by grandpa's house, where the Pirate was loaded up on nem & nems (M&Ms) and Easter chocolate. After that we tried to go to Target, but things fell apart and we aborted and came home.

This morning the Bug decided to take a 3 HOUR nap!! and I got to play with my sewing machine for a bit. Here's a sneak peek.

Then a quick run to Safeway- our Safeway has a Starbucks. Mmmmm. (Btw, who on earth would take their laptop to SAFEWAY for the free wifi?) As we loaded our small batch of groceries in the car it occurs to us that we should celebrate the 60 degree weather by springing for some steak, so Mike ran back in while the boys and I sang in the car. ("STOP! Collaborate and listen!" "Tin Roof, RUSTED!" Can you tell we had XM on 80s?)

Home, steak, and then Mike made brownies. We gave some to the Bug.
He liked it.

This week should be pretty busy as well- I have a work dinner tomorrow that I am taking the boys to. I hope to post my review of Bone Crossed. Wednesday is TBR Day, and I've started Creation in Death to hopefully review then. I have another quilt block for the virtual quilting bee to make, and I should start reading my book for the Reading Round Robin.

What's on tap for your week?


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Total Randomness

So today's Friday and I feel kinda like chicken with it's head cut off. I have a million things in my head that I need to do or check on or look up. I have a few tiny little snippets of things I want to post, none of which deserve a post of their own, so here goes:

• I finished a book! No! Really! Review to come. (Iron Crossed by Patricia Briggs.)
  
  
• Why have so many of my favorite blogs switched to a partial feed?? WHY? (Ok, so like 3, but STILL.) I understand that people have to come to your blog to get money off ads, but I was so much more likely to read the full post then click over to comment than I am to click over to read the whole post.


• Does anyone read the ending first? I've never done this and I have a bizarre need to try. It feels wierd though.


• My kid is obsessed with Star Wars, but his favorite is Obi Wan Kenobi. This is one way that we are clearly in a different generation, because wouldn't most of us have said Hans Solo?


• I've been obsessed with quilting lately.


• I've (almost) decided on the pink laptop. I think I'm gonna buy a big black and white "Life is Good" sticker to put on it.


• I wish the snow would melt.

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Library Loot

On Saturday, the whole family went to the library. I had one specific book I wanted and I wanted to browse the quilting books. Tristan loves the library for reasons unknown. The Bug loves the birds (I swear, while he was squealing at them he was saying "Buh! Buh!" which I took to mean "bird!" no?) The Husband managed to pick up a few books too.

Here's the loot:

For me:

• three back issues of Fons and Porter's for the love of quilting magazine (These are ready to go back once I scan two of the "tips" pages for future reference.)
• Creaing Your Perfect Quilting Space by Lois L. (Hmm. Library page cuts off her last name. You know how to use Amazon.)
• Tessellation Quilts by Christine Porter (Eh. Not impressive. Ready to go back.)
• The Quilter's Quick Reference Guide by Candace Eisner Strick (Now THIS looks useful!)
• Paper Piecing the Seasons by Liz Schwartz and Stephen Seife (I wanted to learn paper piecing, but the quilts are so uninspiring I'm just gonna take it back.)
• Fat Quarter Small Quilts by Darlene Zimmerman (haven't explored this one yet.)
• Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence by Gerard Jones (this is the one I was after)
• Paper Towns by John Green

For the Pirate:

• Human Body by Steve Parker (this is the DK Encyclpedia book. I wanted to show the Pirate what lungs look like. It's not good for that, but it IS fascinating.)
• Moondogs by Daniel Kirk (GREAT pictures.)
• Olly and Me by Shirley Hughes
• Superman Chronicles Vol 4 (Comics books published in book form. I don't read them to him, but he pores over them.)
• The Flash Archives (ditto)
• The Song of Mu Lan by Jeanne M Lee
• Too Big! by Claire Masurel

For Mike:

• Everest Pioneer: The Photographs of Captain John Noel by Sandra Noel
• The Climbers: A History of Mountaineering by Chris Bonington
• Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball
• The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

****Library Loot is a weekly meme hosted by Alessandra from Out of the Blue and Eva from A Striped Armchair

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Put it to a vote!

In the next few weeks I'll be getting a new laptop. I've narrowed it down to the brand and model, but now I need help. There are three choices:

Pink.

Copper.The cheapest one, and then add a skin.

What would you do???

Reading Round Robin

Melanie over at lit*chick is hosting a reading round robin. There are 6 of us participating (in my group, I am not sure if there are more groups or not.) We each choose a book off our shelves and mailed it on to the next person on the list. Melanie provided little sleeves and library cards that will travel around with the books so that we can share our experience. It's kinda like a book group, only delayed. At the end of six months, our own book is returned to us, a bit more well read than when it left us.

This weekend I got my first book: A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. Well over a year ago, I heard about this book on someone's blog. It drew my attention because the main character sees words as a color, which is a real condition. I checked it out of the library, but never got around to reading it. I haven't dived into it yet, but I'm excited to be "forced" to move it up the list!

Giveaway Winners!

I decided that it was too boring to use Random.org to choose the winners to my giveaway. So here's what I did...

I wrote out 0-9 four times.
And cut them apart and put them in bowls.

Then the Pirate VERY HAPPILY...

(Ok, maybe not happily. Nice fake smile there Pirate.)

...drew a number from each bowl. (The bowls move because I realized I only needed 0-3 in one bowl.)

The winner of Mrs. Meyer's is #90.

The winner of Throw Away 50 Things is #66.

Excuse me a moment while I count....

#90 is Qwill, who does not have a blog.
#66 is Jinxy and Me who has several blogs!

It looks like they both get their first choice, nice. I've emailed both winners. If I don't hear back from them within 48 hours we'll pick new ones.

Milestone: First Tantrum.

Tonight the Bug was chasing a kitty who smartly ran down the stairs. I shut the gate behind the cat and the Bug LOST HIS SHIT. He screamed and flailed and threw his body around for at least 20 minutes. He absolutely would not be calmed down or consoled. This kid has a TEMPER. He's not even one yet!




Edited to add: I emailed the video to another of the moms from our daycare and this was her reply:

Oh, my. He really doesn't like gates. [The Bug] was very upset when I shut the gate today after the kids went through. I said something to him like "oh your mommy will be here soon." and Carol (daycare provider) said "it's the gate, he doesn't like the gate to be closed." :)

ZZzzzzz

Seriously guys, I'm TIRED. You know that post a few days ago about my messy house? That's not even the tip of the iceberg.

Friday night, the Bug started throwing up. By Saturday morning I was in my FOURTH pair of pajamas. It would seem that when babies feel all icky, they need to burrow into their mama. We were up a few times with him that night, and by noon on Saturday he stopped throwing up and moved on to congested and coughing. Sunday night we were up a lot. Monday arrived and due to a combination of work related politics, neither of us could stay home with him, so he went to stay with Grandpa. Monday night was HORRIBLE. We were up EVERY hour. Tuesday morning he was better, so they both went to daycare, where he still coughed, but was overall well. (In the interest of full disclosure, I discussed it with my daycare provider before leaving, she was ok with it. They are all sick. I think I'll be taking her a nice appreciation gift tomorrow.) Yesterday the Bug was much MUCH better. There was much rejoicing.

Last night we went to bed at 9 (hey, we were TIRED!). Then we got up at 11:15 with the Pirate. The Pirate has cough related asthma (we think) and had worked himself into a fine panic. Then I got thrown up on AGAIN. Then, not wanting to be left out, the Bug joined the awake party. Finally, about 1:30 we all ended up back in our beds. YAY!

But! At 3, the Pirate was awake again and needed his mommy, who crawled into HIS bed (Toddler bed!) for 45 minutes of drowsy soothing.

I headed back to my bed about 4.

The Bug woke up at 5:30 for the day.

I am at my desk, but I am not so sure I'm conscious.

(We are treating the short people for the actual colds, but if you have any suggestions on how to calm a panicked child down, I'd love to hear them.)


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Wordless Wednesday: Eep!

This is really my life.

As I've blathered on about endlessly, I often have a million balls up in the air on various things. There's the boys, the blog, the sewing, the shop, the millions of books to be read. Work. Food to be cooked. There just aren't enough hours in the day to get to everything I want to do. Naturally, this means SOMETHING will get pushed aside. Because I am a selfish person and I want time for me too, that something is my house.

It's a mess.

No, really.

So you can see why I jumped chance to review Mrs. Meyers Clean Home and Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke. I'll let you know if I learn anything.

(Perhaps in the review of the books I'll show you my bedroom. There are more than fifty things to be thrown out in there!)

If you'd like to win a copy of either of them, leave a comment on THIS post. (Not THIS one, the one in that link.)

While you're waiting for me, perhaps you can tell me your cleaning secrets. Or your NON-cleaning secrets.

Come on. I showed you mine.


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Book Giveaway Carnival!- GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Bookroom Reviews is hosting another giveaway!

This time around I'm giving away two books courtesy of Hachette Books.

The first book is Mrs. Meyer's Clean Home: No-nonsense advice that will inspire you to CLEAN like the DICKENS!

The second is Throw Out Fifty Things.

I have review copies of both of these, and if you check back tomorrow you'll see exactly why I needed these books!

If you'd like to win one of them, please leave me a comment telling me which one you'd prefer. I'll draw a winner for each using Random.org on March 7th. This is open to US and Canada residents only and no P.O. Boxes.

Be sure to click on over to Bookroom Reviews to see all the other great giveaways!

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I'm Fabulous!

The Fabulous Ti has given me the Your Blog is Fabulous award. Her instructions say I'm supposed to list five blogs that are new to me that I think are fabulous. I'm just listing the first five new blogs I notice on my list, because if you aren't fabulous I unsubscribe. Also, go visit Ti, k? Her blog header makes me yearn for vacation, how much would I like to be in that chair?

birdsandtrees- Her pictures of everyday items are terrific.

Willy-Nilly- a crafty blog. If I could sneak into her house and steal her fabric I'd think I died and went to heaven. Thankfully, I don't know where she lives.

Quilt Dad- I think the name says it all. I tried to tell Mike that sewing was like carpentry- all about math and angles and creating. He doesn't buy it. Yet.

lovely little handmades- Another crafty blog. I found this one through a giveaway and immediately added it to my reader.

The Book Smugglers- sneaking books into their homes so their buying habits don't get noticed. I can relate.

Babbling about Books, and More- she read 28 books in February! TWENTY-EIGHT!

Ok, that's six, but I can't decide who to cut, so I'm leaving it.


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The Sunday Salon: March 1

February was not a good month for reading around here. I managed to complete exactly ONE book- Seduce Me at Sunrise. I read part of a lot of books, but either choose not to finish them or ran out of time. I stopped reading Quiet, Please intentionally. I haven't picked up Why We Read What We Read in days (it's interesting, but more scholarly than I expected.) I seem to have misplaced Kitty and the Silver Bullet (more on how that could have happened in tomorrow's VERY REVEALING post!)

That leaves Bone Crossed, which I read half of last night. It's very good, but there is a big plot point that I hate. HATE. So far it hasn't been fully implemented, but when it is I'm going to have a problem reading and the book will slow down. There's still a chance Briggs will be able to pull it out without completely going there. My fingers are crossed. (I'll expand more on this when I review the book.)

I still have a decent library stack to work from:

• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
• Minders of Make-Believe by Leonard Marcus
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives by Cordelia Fine

I got Bloom by Elizabeth Scott in the mail this week, as well as Brainiac by Ken Jennings. With all the play fighting that is happening in my house lately, I really want to pick up Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make Believe Violence by Gerard Jones. There is a constant battle between good and evil in my house and I am getting TIRED of the fight. I'd like to understand why that's the only game worth playing.

I have a couple of books to review as well, so hopefully I have time to read in March! What's on your radar? Anything I've missed?