Scrooge

It's been a few years since I've gotten in the holiday mood and I've definately been a Scrooge these last few years. Last year I gave up the Christmas tree and lit a menorah instead (I'm not sure why). This year I did neither. Although, unlike the last few years, I actually managed to get my parents gifts. I should have spent the money on my husband, but it's okay. We had our now traditional Christmas day spaghetti and then I went in to work. I wish that we could travel home for Christmas, but there's just too many issues with flying this time of year. My husband misses the big meals and the relatives and I want him to be happy. Maybe we'll make it next year.
As for being Scrooge, I think it'll take me having a child to get over that so I have a few more years to be grouchy.

A Gift

I got a Kindle!!! I love to read from regular books. There's just something about not using electronics and wondering if your batteries will die before you get to plug it in again. However, I frequently end up finishing a book while I'm out running around and I don't have another one available to me for a few hours. During this time I go through withdrawals. I wish I were joking, but I'm that addicted to reading at the moment. My hands start shaking and I'm mentally very freaked out. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea for me to get a Kindle. I can instantly download a book if I happen to finish one. Plus, I can carry multiple books around with me. I'll still use the library and buy books from my favorite authors, but I should have fun with the kindle too.

What should I read first?

November 09 Book

Maria V. Snyder's Poison Study

I love Snyder and her characters. She is an intelligent author that writes fun stories. It's the first book in her Study series. All of the books were good, but this one was my favorite. I love the dynamics between Valek, Yelena, Ari, and Janco.

The story is about Yelena, a girl who has been charged with murder after killing the man who raped her. According to the laws of Ixia, she is to be executed despite the reasoning behind her murder. However, the law also states that if the royal food taster dies, the next in line to be executed is given the opportunity to choose to replace them. After taking the position, Yelena must learn how to tell if food has been poisoned. She begins to study under Valek, an assassin who purposely poisons her. She's constantly watching out for foods being poisoned, her rapists' father trying to have her killed, and trying to find ways to escape her fate.

Other recommendations:

The Laughing Corpse (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #2) - Laurell K. Hamilton
Bloody Bones (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #5) - Laurell K. Hamilton
The Killing Dance (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #6) - Laurell K. Hamilton
Skin Trade (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #17) - Laurell K. Hamilton
Fire Study (Study, #3) - Maria V. Snyder

November

This has been a wonderful month. I've been content with life. Sometimes I had great days, other times they were just normal days, but I'll take those days for as long as I can. I don't think I've had a month like this in a very long time. It makes me happy.

At the beginning of the month I had a wonderful time in Atlanta visiting a friend and getting to see P.C. and Kristen Cast on tour. Of course I took photos and then misplaced my camera once again. I saw it the other day and thought, " Hmm... I should really take that into the computer room and upload those," and then didn't. I knew that I would forget where I had seen it so I can only blame myself for it being homeless at the moment. =) I'll upload them when I can.

In the middle of the month, New Moon came out and minus a few cheesy moments it made me happy. (I've hidden my obsession from all but my closest friends. Yes, I know, the teasing will begin now.)

And recently, I managed to get an entire week off from teaching. I spent it all sleeping till 1pm and reading Anita Blake novels. There's something relaxing about being able to sleep in.

Throughout the month I've worked on making a better effort to stay in touch with friends. I've made a pact with 3 different friends that we'd try and text one another at least once a week. That way we'll have talked twice a week as opposed to once every few months. It's nice to have people I care about back in my life.

October 09 Book

I have a list of all the books I read each month listed on my reading blog, but I've decided that I should start choosing a "book of the month" so to speak. Something that I've found really interesting, was well written, or was just really entertaining and helped me de-stress a little bit.

This month I've chosen:

Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife.

It was a beautiful story that was very well written. It's about a man who can travel through time (although, he mostly only visits the past). As an adult he travels back to meet his future wife when she's a child. They get to know one another in a very well organized and wonderful story. Time skips around - seeing how he's a time traveler - but it all comes together in the end. I'm impressed that this is Niffenegger's first book. It made me laugh and cry more than once. I think that this book would appeal to almost everyone. I hope the movie is done as well as the book.

It took me some time to pick this one up, but thanks to Mo, I gave it a shot. Thank you for the recommendation!


Other recommendations:

Frostbitten (Women of the Otherworld, #10) - Kelley Armstrong
Tempted (House of Night #6) - P.C. Cast
Evernight (Evernight, #1) - Claudia Gray
Beauty (A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast) - Robin McKinley
Evermore (The Immortals, #1) - Alyson Noel

Tomorrow

Yeah! P.C. Cast's new House of Night novel is out tomorrow. Go buy it people! I'm going to go visit her while she's on tour. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Alone

I spent this week completely alone. My husband had a work trip and I got to have the house for myself for the first time since we have been married. I use to love living alone and I was able to take care of myself (cook, clean, fix things), but since I've lived with my husband things have changed. If something needs to be fixed I call for him, if I'm hungry he's always kind enough to cook, he goes to the grocery store and takes care of any errands. I still clean, but not as much as I did when I was by myself. The second he left, I immediately reverted back to my old self. I tried recipes, I made sure all of the animals were taken care of and spent extra time with them, and even ran errands. I work two jobs so I'm always burnt out and I don't want to deal with all of the basics most days; however, I made time for it the minute it became imperative. It's nice to know that I can juggle my schedule and get by if I really needed to. Hopefully, I'll keep this up and won't put as much off on my hubby. It's kind of easy to do when you work fifteen (or more) hour days. However, my new work schedule gives me more than one night off a week so I can actually start helping out. Maybe we'll find a routine that works out better for us now...

Stray

I found a stray dog in front of my home today and I walked it all over the neighborhood trying to find its home, but I couldn't. I thought about leaving it and let it wander home (since it can't get home from my backyard), but it got dark and the dog almost got hit by a car. Also, if she didn't wander home after a few hours she might not go home. Of course, she's now in my backyard. She's a beautiful, kind collie mix that's very well behaved and I'm trying desperately not to fall in love with her. Tomorrow I have to call the pound and see if anyone reported her missing. I don't want to send her to the pound, but if I don't find the owners in a few days I'm going to have to. I already have 3 dogs and that's the legal limit where I live. Plus, I don't have the ability to bring another dog into my home.
Everyone else in my neighborhood said they'd seen the dog wandering for hours, but not one bothered to do anything about it. Why are people so self-centered? The dog kept almost getting hit, it wouldn't have survived the night. I'm disappointed in humans tonight.

Rock City and Ruby Falls

Rock City

Ruby Falls

Fall

There are leaves in my front yard. Icky, wet, soggy leaves. I'm happy fall is here because I'm hoping that means the mosquitoes will go away, but I'm not looking forward to raking leaves. We also have the attack of the killer acorns to worry about. One fell from a tree and hit Josie in the head pretty hard. I've been hearing them ding off the roof for weeks now. It's impossible to get them out of the yard so I'll spend next spring weeding for baby trees.
Last night we turned on the heater for the first time. It wasn't particularly necessary, but my toes were cold so Curt was kind enough to turn on the heater. He's always burning up so that's a big deal in our house. He drives in the middle of winter with the windows down and the ac on. Absolutely crazy!
Well, off to a 15 hour work day. Hopefully the kids are calm today. (crosses fingers)

HI

It's been a while since I've posted since I keep misplacing my camera. I'm horrible at remembering where I put things. Then, when I do find it, I'm too busy to upload. Just to update anyone who cares, here's my life:

Work:
I'm still working two jobs. They're going alright. My store shut down and I had to relocate to another one, but that's okay. I've also switched schools that I'm working at, but I'm not at a loss there either. I got some cool stuff when my store closed. 2 20" TV's for $12, a DVD player for $15, a giant cabinet to put in the laundry room for $25, plus the entire series of Rome and tons of other stuff.

Spouse:
My husband is still absolutely wonderful. I leave him alone a lot because of work, but he doesn't give me a hard time about it and he's always there for me. He even helps with the dishes these days. =)

Pets:
I've lost 2 of my pets: Jezzy the bunny and Dante the ferret. I also had one of my old dogs (Meeko) that stayed back in Cali pass away. He was the hardest to lose. The rest of our "farm" is doing well.

House:
I'm in the process of getting new blinds and curtains for my house and fixing up my closet so that our clothes actually fit. Okay, to be honest, I'm buying and Curt's stuck installing. The house needs to be cleaned once again, but I keep telling myself that I can wait till the closets are done since it'll be easier then. I should just suck it up and clean, but I'm sick or exhausted frequently and when I do have the energy I choose to be lazy.

Visits:
My mother came out to visit this summer. It was fun and nerve racking at the same time. My mom's sheer presence can set me on edge even if she's done nothing to warrant it. I hate that, but maybe it's just a mom thing.
I got to see Nicole and her mother this summer when they came to visit. We went out to Gaitlinburg for dinner and then just chatted and watched a movie. I also got to see Holly and her boyfriend when we met up in North Carolina. We had a delicious Italian dinner and then went and played at the U.S. National Whitewater Center the next day. Mo came up and went to Boomsday with us, which was absolutely awesome. She also came out earlier in the year and brought me yummy chocholates from Switzerland and beautiful photos of Greece to make me uber jelous!

Nicole

Mo shooting

Free Time:
I got obsessive about reading over the summer and I've read a book every day or every other day since mid-June (see my reading blog). I even branched out from historical fiction and started reading mysteries, and fantasy/paranormal books. I don't know I how I got addicted to vampires and werewolves, but... no wait, I do. Blame Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse books. Yes, I know Twilight is cheesy, but I enjoyed it. Curt already bought me tickets for the midnight showing of New Moon so I'm excited. The fact that he's willing to suffer through it just proves he loves me. =)
I tried running a bit this summer, but the weather seemed to be against me. Also, not getting home till 11 pm does little for my safety. I've decided that I'm getting an elliptical for the holidays this year. Now, I just need to convince someone to get it for me. ;) JK, unless there's someone who really does want to get me one.


Yeah, so my life has been busy, but boring at the same time. I'm not complaining though. Uneventful also means calm in my world and I like it when I don't feel like my world is falling apart.