Some Kind of Fairy Tale

2013, Books in Bed, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I wasn’t sure I was going to like Some Kind of Fairy Tale, even though TW said I would like it. I find myself bored, some times, by fairy stories, so when this one started off a little slowly I was afraid I wasn’t going to enjoy it much (think back to that one I read a couple of months ago, set in Austin? Yea, like that.) But nope, about 50 pages in, I was hooked and didn’t really want to put it down.

I particularly liked the introduction of Mrs. Larwood, toward the end. And, the ending was just the right ending, too.

If some guy comes asking for some cherry blossoms from your tree — say no.

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No Recap?

2 Comments / Community Chest, Daily Dose, Women, Work /

Is this the first year I haven’t written a post-BlogHer conference post? I think it might be. Which probably tells you something about my life right now. I hope it doesn’t lead you to believe I didn’t love the conference, because I definitely did. Some of the keynotes during ’13 will probably go down as my all time favorites.

Don’t believe me? Go watch some of the BlogHer ’13 videos and see if you don’t agree.

I’ll start you off with this one, Facebook fangirl that I am.

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Down Bohicket Road

1 Comment / 2013, Art, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

It always makes me smile when I see a book like Down Bohicket Road sitting on the shelf in the library. I can’t resist checking those out. Even though they make me homesick. Even though they make me question why I am adamantly opposed to moving back to Charleston when we leave here.

How about we compromise — someone buy me a Karen Whyte painting. Preferably one of Freda in a church hat…. but really, I’m not all that picky. Anything from Bohicket Road would do.

Sigh.

I particularly liked this book because not only were there paintings, there were stories. And the artist was honest about the racism she grew up with — and carried with her when she moved to Johns Island.

And, just for fun… you can “drive” down Bohicket Road, if you like…. it’s not the same as being there but…

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Maisie Dobbs

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Women /

I impulse picked Maisie Dobbs from a shelf at the library, not really knowing what I was getting myself into, (or really, TW into — since I picked it up with the assumption that TW would read it and I’d never manage to, because she reads really fast and I’m way behind on my TBR list.) I just liked the cover.

Turns out this is one of those series that slipped by me, unnoticed — that I totally should have noticed.

I love Maisie Dobbs. Love everything about her. Can’t wait to read all of the books in the series.

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You Know You’re a Grandmother When…

2 Comments / Family Funk, Kid Talk, Toys & Games /

You spend $300 on toys for your grandson to play with when he comes to visit… even though he lives thousands of miles away and he’s not actually old enough for most of the toys you’ve ordered.

That’s right, folks. I am that grandmother.

I ordered the complete set of Froebel Gifts for JMP. (I’m also calling them a birthday gift for TW because she loves them as much as JMP ever will and she can appreciate them all right now.)

I’m blaming my brother for this. If he wasn’t such a Wright fan and hadn’t come to visit, we probably wouldn’t have visited the Wright House and Studio in Oak Park and I wouldn’t have seen all of the Froebel Gifts in their awesome boxes and decided JMP needed them.

OK I might have decided this, at some point, because OMG they are so amazing.

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Beautiful Creatures — The Movie

1 Comment / Books in Bed, Movies & Television /

I forced TW to watch Beautiful Creatures last night (playing catch up with my Book to Movie challenge) and… it wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it would be.

I had two big YOU DIDN’T moments…. the housekeeper and the librarian are NOT the same darn people. I didn’t like them being the same darn people. HMPH and… the end. Oh boy. The end. Really?

I try to be understanding of the problems involved with taking a very long book and turning it into a not super long movie (though I think this one was more than 2 hours) — which is why I’m not complaining about the missing “Aunts” and the fact that we didn’t see Ethan’s dad at all. Or Linc’s band. Or the birthday party.

I get it, you have to cut some of the things and you have to figure out ways to tell the story after cutting out those things.

But really? Those two things were kind of big, in my opinion….

Darn it.

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The Curiosities

1 Comment / 2013, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, short stories, Young Adult /

I’m not a big fan of short stories — they tend to be too long, too short, do a bad job with back story or are too darn interesting and I’m left wishing I knew more. Overall, generally more frustrating than not.

So when I saw The Curiosities was a book of short stories, in the YA Fantasy/SciFi category of the Cybils shortlist — I wasn’t thrilled. I figured I’d just get it over with early and be done with it.

Turns out this is one of the best short stories compilations EVER. I particularly enjoyed the commentary between the three authors and immediately subscribed to their blog, The Merry Sisters of Fate so I can read more of their stories (I’ve already read several of their novels.)

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I Should Have Tried Peapod

3 Comments / Daily Dose, Foodie /

I’ve been thinking about trying Peapod for quite awhile and just never make the time to do it. The thing that really pushed me to want to try it is that not only do they take coupons, they double coupons (in my area) up to .99. Cool, right?

I told myself I’d set up a delivery for right after BlogHer ’13 — a time when it would be super convenient to have groceries delivered since I’d be too tired and too busy to grocery shop.

But, I didn’t do it.

And who was in the expo hall at BlogHer ’13? Peapod. Gah. Made me want to try it all over again.

So here I am thinking about it again and it hit me — Jenn and JMP and a whole lot of other people are going to be visiting me in August/September and I’m not going to have nearly as much time to grocery shop as I usual do.

So — Peapod to the darn rescue!

I’m totally gonna do it and let you know how it goes.

PS. I did spin their prize wheel thing at the conference and they did say I won a $100 gift card but I really have no idea how that’s going to work. The possibility of receiving a gift card has absolutely nothing to do with my decision to place an order this month. And, if I do end up with a giftncard from them, I’ll let you know.

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My Month in Numbers: July Recap

1 Comment / Daily Dose, My Month In Numbers /

This is going to be pretty depressing, but here it is:

Books read: 12

Movies watched: 0 (I did watch some Mullet TV and some old Star Trek episodes, thanks to the Fake Husband playing with the Roku.)

Visits to the vet: 3

Metrics reports pulled: thousands — ok probably closer to hundreds but still, probably three times what I normally pull in a month.

BlogHer panels moderated: three

BlogHer panels as an attendee: zero

BlogHer Keynotes attended: 5 (including the community keynote) I skipped out on Guy (don’t ask) and I skipped out on Majora Carter, Lisa Donovan, Brit Morin and Randi Zuckerberg. The latter was a keynote I wanted to see but I was exhausted and still not really feeling well so I went back to the hotel to get a nap.

Bags carried into the Chicago Sheraton: 9
Bags carried out of the Chicago Sheraton: 18

Asshattery: I gave up counting by the third day of the month and I was at 25 hash marks.

Work-Related Phone Calls: I gave up counting by the third day of the month and I was at 30 hash marks.

Dog toys purchased: 30 (plus a bag of antlers) Dog toy gifts: 2 from Sassymonkey and the fake husband. Dog toys destroyed: 12 (I threw away a much too small antler that I was sure Skeeter was going to swallow hole and get lodged somewhere inside of her digestive system.)

Family members spoken to on the phone: 5 Family members texted: 9. None of these were my father.

Items crossed off of my to do list: THREE. How pathetic is that?

Art journaling pages complete: Just that first loan tag page, for this little By the Numbers challenge. Pathetic. Very pathetic.

It was probably a bad idea to start a new meme last month — too much going on at work + puppies + BlogHer ’13. Not that August is going to be any better, but hey — I’m still going to try. Look for a new To Do List tag later today. Hopefully.

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Reading in July

5 Comments / 2013, Books in Bed /

It was a slow, difficult month for books. I think. I’m not really sure, actually. It seems like all I did was work. And play candy crush because my brain was fried from work.

Let’s see how bad it really was…

12 books total. (See! Bad month for books. Oy)

1 was an eBook on my Kindle
3 were children’s fiction
3 YA fiction
2 were for the Cybils challenge
2 were Audio
3 were Non-fiction

Oops. I apparently didn’t read anything From My Stacks. I’ll have to do better about that this month.

I’m hoping August is better…. particularly since September will also be a bad month for books because JMP is coming!

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