Things That Make No Sense

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

TW said the dogs wanted out, so I took them. Turns out they didn’t really want out. I stood at the back door, in the sunshine, playing WWF, scrolling through Instagram, catching up on Facebook thinking “Man, it’s really warm out. Maybe we should go for a walk” while the dogs stood at the cold room door waiting to go in.

I looked at the weather on my iPHone — 19F, feels like 9F. In what world is that warm? NOT MINE so why was I thinking we should go for a damn walk?

I came inside to find an apple pie and a box of croissants sitting on the washing machine and wondered what RJ was baking (the pie and croissants had been in the oven) — turns out it’s not RJ, the baker, at all. It’s Elly. Preparing to make biscuits AND a chocolate cake.

In what world is Elly the baker? And, in what world do we need biscuits and a chocolate cake when we have an apple pie and croissants?

The world is stupid today.

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Curtsies & Conspiracies

2014, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Steampunk, Young Adult /

I sent Michelle a copy of Curtsies & Conspiracies for her birthday so I decided to read it in celebration of her birthday. Seemed fitting, right?

I enjoyed it — still not as much as I liked the Parasol Protectorate but I definitely enjoyed it. Like Michelle, I really like Vieve and wish she had more of a primary role. I’m kind of hoping we see a third series spin off for her… or something… Not that I don’t like Sophronia and the other girls, I just like Vieve more. I also wish Carriger wrote faster, darn it.

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Frozen Yogurt for Dinner

Daily Dose, Family Funk, Foodie, Memories /

Last week (or was it the week before) when I read one of those Jennifer Crusie novels, the characters kept eating hot fudge sundaes and I really really wanted one.

Actually, what I wanted was plain ole vanilla ice cream + the chocolate syrup my parents used to sometimes make for us. But, since neither of my parents seemed to show up at my door and I was still craving a hot fudge sundae, we went to Menchies for dinner tonight.

A froyo with bobas and hot fudge sauce is not nearly the same as a hot fudge sundae, but it was good. Or good enough. I’d still like one of my parents to show up and make me some hot fudge. Or maybe I could just figure out how they made it and convince TW to make me some? Now that I think about it some more, I’m kind of still craving that hot fudge sundae.

Gah.

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The Strangers on Montagu Street

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Fiction /

I’m on a Karen White roll and finished The Strangers on Montagu Street last night. I liked it. I really liked the dollhouse story line, that was excellent. But I’m dreading the next book because I accidentally saw a spoiler. Not a spoiler I wanted to know about (or wanted to happen.) Gah.

NOT happy about what comes next at all. So not happy that I’m considering not reading the next book… that’s crazy, right? Yea, it’s crazy so I’ll probably just go ahead and reserve the book and get it over with. Maybe I’ll end up liking it more than I think I will?

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Hopeful not Hopeful

Animal Issues, Family Funk /

For the last few days, I’ve gone into the bedroom toward the end of the day thinking, “gosh, I don’t think Buster ate anything today…” and as I have asked TW, very hopefully, if he was better today — I’ve realized, oh wait… he ate a potato or umm the quilt or … yea. No. He ate things. Sigh.

But, he has eaten fewer things. And we’ve spent a lot less time chasing him through the house yelling, “BUSTERRRRRRRR!”

I’m trying to stay hopeful. Because really, eating a raw potato off of the shelf is not a big deal. And I guess, in the scheme of things, eating some more of my already eaten quilt is not so bad either. It could be, and has been, so much worse.

It feels like this was right about the time last year that Skeeter poodle stopped eating so many of the things… so maybe he’s growing up and improving. A little. Maybe? Maybe? MAYBE?

Yea, this is me still trying to feel hopeful…

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The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion

2014, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Women /

Oddly enough, I haven’t read a lot of books by Fannie Flagg. I have no idea why — I like her ok. Certainly as much as any other southern chick lit writer. I never think to reserve her books. I rarely notice them on the shelf. The last one I read was back in Gainesville, I think… Welcome to the World, Baby Girl.

TW was all proud of herself for getting The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion for me. I had no idea why she was pleased with herself but I definitely appreciated having it on the shelf when I ran out of books (again) a couple of days ago.

It was cute. A little jarring at first to move between the southern women in Alabama and the Polish women in Wisconsin but after a couple of chapters I was ok with that and laughed quite a lot at Suki’s attempts to see a therapist without the whole small town finding out.

The WASP, (Women Airforce Service Pilots) storyline was nice, too. I saw the final twist coming a mile away but that’s ok, it was a fun read and I might even consider reserving another Fannie Flagg book later this year.

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Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton

1 Comment / 2014, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Comics & Graphic Novels, Cybil Challenge /

I wasn’t really expecting much from Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton. I’m not a big Buster Keaton fan. Turns out, I really enjoyed this book.

It was well drawn/colored and the story was cute. It even made me kind of want to watch The General again. I’m not sure whether this is a really appealing book for kids. Most of them probably won’t have a clue as to who Buster Keaton is… will they?

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The Girl on Legare St.

2014, Books in Bed, Fiction /

I’ve pretty much lost the “I’d love to own an old Charleston house someday” desire. Or I thought I had. Last night, while reading The Girl on Legare St I found myself surfing zillow to see how much a house on Legare St costs right about now… hah.

TW and I realized we are very picky about our Charleston houses. There was one, which I won’t message, that has had horrible things done to its kitchen. Not horrible like the house on Legare St in this book but horrible enough. Anyway, back to the book…

It was excellent. Again. It’s not so much the mystery but the characters and location for me. (Melanie ate at Blossoms again, lucky woman.) And I absolutely did NOT see that ending coming. Not at all.

I am a little confused about the gifts Melanie’s mom has… she seemed to know something was going to happen along those lines — but how? Did the spirits tell her? I didn’t know she could predict the future? I thought that was Rebecca’s gift? Hmmm. That’s the only part that left me puzzled and it’s a very small thing since it was one sentence toward the end and the last paragraph of the book to set up the next book, (which I will be reading).

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Filofax, Journaling, and Art Journaling and Other Goals in January

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Filofax, Memes and Quizzes /

Well… mixed bag. That pretty much sums up what happened in January with my efforts to use my Filofaxes to get (stay) organized, to journal every day, and to get back to art journaling. That sounds worse than it is. It really just means the month didn’t go quite as I’d hoped, but months rarely do. I did a great job with some things and a horrid job with others.

I made it through the 365 List journaling thingy for January. I blogged every day on this blog. I blogged several times on BlogHer. And, at Blicks several months ago, I bought a little five year journal called “Every Day” and I did journal in it every day in January. I’m super proud of that.

I did use both of my Filofaxes every day in January and rather than 10 big things to do in a month, I ended up with 20 and I crossed out 16 of them. That’s pretty darn good for me. I’m not in love with some of the pages in my Filofaxes, but I expected that. It’s hard to know which layouts are going to work for you until you start using them — so some of these aren’t working but I’m not rushing out to order/print something new. I am going to make a few changes in February, using some of the papers that I have and see how that goes. Then in March, I might try printing another type of layout that I think might work better for me and give that a try. WIP, that’s what this is and I’m ok with that.

For the first time, ever (I THINK?), I completed a photo a day challenge. I’m pretty damn pleased with myself for doing it and not skipping the days that were rough (due to work or tough prompts) and I’m looking forward to trying another one this month.

I’m not doing much art journaling (in or out of my Filofax) at all. Yes I’m adding stickers or washi to my filofax but that’s about it. I am, however, doing a good job of working on JMP’s Christmas stocking so I’m calling that a good trade off — for now. I am hoping to give myself more creative time in February though as I type that I laughed out loud. Sassymonkey’s going on vacation so that means I’ll work more, not less, lol. See — this is why months rarely go as I plan them in my head. That’s ok — it’s all good. Really.

All in all — mixed bag, but I’m happy with the month. Onward to February!

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