Finally, for the first time in about 14 years I took a real vacation!!!
My mom, brother & I went and it was great. This was my first vacay with my mom in 22 years & my first vacay with my brother ever. Needless to say, I was excited!!!
We went to Hilton Head Island, SC. A place we had all been before, but never together. So it was familiar, but different.
First of all, it was originally forecast to rain all week long because of a hurricane/storm in the Atlantic. It didn't!!! It rained on the way there, it rained Sunday, but the rest of the week, is was smooth, beautiful, dry sailing.
The island has changed soooo much since the last time I was there in about 1999. So many new things have been built, the make of the streets have changed to the point where it almost looked unrecognizable. Almost. But change is ever present, and we still had a ball.
How did my hair fair???? NOT WELL AT ALL!!!! It was actually kind of funny. I had washed my hair and put it in big twists the Thursday before we left, so that I would have all of this definition and lusciousness when we got there. Well, I took those twists out Monday morning before going on my bike ride. I walked out of the door with beautiful definition.
I came back with this:
No definition, no twist, no curl and barely a coil. There died my hopes of a twist out. Not to be deterred from my desire for biking, beach and books, I turned to the ever-faithful fallback...
THE PUFF!!!!
I was a puff princess for a couple of days, but after a while, having to twist & take out the fluffy, pillow soft hair over and over grew old. Especially since I normally do not manipulate my hair daily.
I ended up cowashing my hair and putting it up in not-so-mini twists for the remaining days of my vacay.
The lesson: Just twist your hair!!! It's so much easier and much less time consuming when it's all said and done.
Here's what I'm struggling with folks: My hair regimen is pretty solid & hasn't been causing any issues, so I haven't had to change it.
I'm still working my way through my products and not buying any products, so I haven't made anything new to share with you all yet.
My book videos & posts have not done well here at all, so I can see that those of you who read my blog (and I thank you for reading) are not interested in that aspect of my activity so I've stopped posting my BookTube videos here, even though I am still recording and posting videos on YouTube.
So that leaves me with the question of what to present to those of you who have been so wonderful about following my blog, when the original purpose of this blog has become more of a routine (thus repetitive) and less something new.
I have some things in the works to share, but they aren't ready yet. And some other things I'm like...nah, I'm not talking about that. Or at least not yet. So I'm working on it people. I'm still here. I just don't have a lot to say that hasn't already been said right now.
For maybe the second time in my life, I can say that I have long hair. And the length of it today is longer than it ever reached when I was perming my hair.
If you saw my length check video, you can see the growth in my hair from March 2012 to March 2013, I never thought my hair could grow so much in a year. I am absolutely amazed by it. But now that my hair is longer, there are some changes that have come into affect.
Change #1
I get a lot more single-strand knots.
At first, I thought I was getting them because my hair needed to be trimmed, or I was not taking enough time with my detangling. However, the mane was trimmed & I have gone back to my patient, time-consuming detangling routine and I'm still getting them. So, of course I did a YT search to see if other naturals were or had experienced the same thing. Yup. I am not alone. The difference I have seen is that some elect not to trim theirs out and others do trim them. I am of the trimming persuasion. My hair is so tightly coiled in its natural state that those single-strand knots increase my tangles and lead to me spending a lot of time on 4-5 strands of hair, trying to reduce the tangle to the smallest knot before I cut it out. Most times, I can get it down to the single strand. Other times I am not so lucky. And for a scissorphobe with designs on longer hair, having to cut out more than 1 strand just hurts my feelings. LOL. But I get over it because it's best for the overall health of my hair.
Change #2
Detangling is (gasp) EASIER!!!
What do I mean??? My hair is longer now, so its heavier. That weight, I'm thinking, is making the tangles fall further down my strands if I detangle while my hair is wet. Now, I still have trouble spots. For example, the hair closer to my roots at the crown of my head still manage to cram together like they're vying for the same spot in a cover photo. But overall, the detangling if much easier and faster. When my hair was shorter, it could take up to 40 minutes to detangle with a comb. Finger detangling was out of the question!!! But now, all I do is finger detangle and I can get my hair wash regimen completed in an hour and 30 minutes...and that includes deep conditioning!!!
Change #3
Bye-Bye mini-twists
Mini-twists are an absolute no-no now. It's too time consuming. Both twisting and taking them down. The detangling after the take down is a pain in the arse!!! I end up frustrated and careless so I feel like I'm doing more damage to my hair than good, therefore removing the benefit of doing the mini-twists in the first place. So I'm graduating to medium twists. Mini is no longer allowed in my hair vocabulary.
Change #4
My scalp....my poor scalp
The final change really has nothing to do with my hair. I think its more related to the weather. My issues with my scalp are back with a vengeance. So I'm back to frequently oiling my scalp with my oil mix and even using Sulfur 8 a few times a month to try and get it back under control. I'll be doing that for the duration of the summer. If you are anti-grease, the idea of this will not appeal to you. Oh well. Grease has never done me wrong. With my eczema and dry skin/scalp issues, I will do what I can so that my freshly cleaned scalp doesn't look flaky 2 days after I washed it. I'm also thinking that some of my issues may be damage from years of perms. Nothing I can do but work on and with it.
So, what are my hair plans for spring/summer? I don't know yet. I'm not sure yet. I'm thinking I may go back to doing more cowashing and lay off the shea butter for a few months and stick to the coconut oil other light oils that would be easily washed out using conditioner only. But time will tell.
That's all for now folks. I would like to send out a mighty THANK YOU to all of you who are reading my blog. I love coming on here and seeing how many people have taken a peek at what I have to say. So if you've been reading from the start: Thank you. To my lovely subscribers: THANK YOU!! If you are reading for the 1st time: Thank you!! I hope you all are enjoying reading theses posts as much as I enjoy doing them.
My family and I did some busy travel over the Mother's Day weekend. We had a great time...but we were tired when it was all said and done. Then came my birthday, and a few days after that, my mom's birthday.
How did I spend my birthday? RELAXED...or as relaxed as I could get. I treated myself to a massage, a movie, and some shoes. It was a really good day.
I also spent some time reflecting and realizing that I suck at relaxing. LOL. I just don't do it enough. I don't spend a lot of time doing things for me, either because it costs too much or more than I want to spend. I'm so busy doing things non-personal things that when the time comes and I have some me-time, the only thing I really want to do is rest/lay in bed/watch TV. Or something else comes up and me-time is pushed further and further back.
I have to stop doing that. I don't know how to stop doing it, but something has got to give. LOL. I have to make time to do some things I really want to do, whatever the cost or time involved. I have spent so much time going to funerals over the past 12 years and what that has shown me is what we all already know: Tomorrow is not promised. I really need to learn how to live for today, and put that philosophy on repeat in my life.
If you don't do that, so do you.
It may seem like a very morbid/mundane reflection for a birthday post, but I came to this realization quite happily. Not too many sour feelings involved. Just the realization of the truth behind the phrase "carpe diem" and trying to figure out how I'm going to get to carpe-ing.
Meatloaf is boring... Ugh! It's so thick... It can be so dry...
NOT!!
I love meatloaf. And to be honest, I make a meatloaf using the same kinds of ingredients I use for burgers...but to me, its sooo much better as a meatloaf.
What did I use? You should recall from my lasagna post that I used 1/2 lb each of beef & pork. Well, here are the other halves.
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 egg white
breadcrumbs
1/4 onion
charred pineapple relish (Harry & David...get on it!)
2 or 3 petite carrots
Paprika
Cayenne Pepper
S&P
EVOO
I blended the onion - EVOO in my Ninja blender to make a little puree of it all.
I mixed together the meat, egg white & breadcrumb.
Then I added in the puree and folded all of it together.
Then I turned it all over into an ungreased loaf pan.
Baked at 350 (or maybe 375) for...I don't know how long. I was reading while it cooked. I did baste it a couple of times using its own juices.
I ended up doing that one-handed because I had a ring on & totally forgot to take it off.
And the loaf pan I used was stoneware.
Here's the finished product:
I chose to baste it because I used the charred pineapple relish, which is sweet with a kick because its got jalapenos in it, and I wanted some of that to help the meat brown up all pretty-like.
Now, I have made this same meatloaf recipe using ground chicken and ground turkey. The only difference is that I use a little bit more oil, because ground poultry doesn't have as high an oil content as ground beef or pork. Even lean ground beef or pork has more oil in it than ground poultry.
I have also made it using other kinds of relishes. I love Harry & David so I keep their relish in stock as much as I can. I have used their Vidalia onion relish & their pepper and onion relish. It's all good!
So that was this week. Who knows what will be done next.
You're in the time where you don't need the heat, you can go without air conditioning & you might need a fan.
And you get bit.............by the cooking bug.
That's what happened to me this week folks. And I'm now just realizing just how long this week was because it felt like I cooked last week. But it was Monday...and today is Friday.
Anyway, the first thing I cooked was a deconstructed lasagna. I've never cooked lasagna before, primarily because it just seemed like too much work. But a few months ago I saw someone on Food Network do an un-layered lasagna & they just broke up the lasagna noodles & put them in the baking dish. NO LAYERING. So I decided then that I would do one like that. I hadn't had lasagna in years so it was the perfect way to do it so that I could cook it myself and manage what went into it.
So, as I have said before, I measure nothing. Here's what I used (off the top of my head because I did this 4 days ago):
EVOO
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground sausage
1/2 onion
garlic
oregano
basil
S&P
reduced fat ricotta
fresh parsley (mixed in w/the ricotta)
1 jar of Ragu tomato sauce (tomato & basil, I think)
large fusilli pasta
some pasta water used to loosen up the sauce
I cooked the meat, & added the seasonings, then added the onion & a pinch of salt & couple grinds of pepper, waited a few min & added the garlic. Once the onions were translucent I added the Ragu. Then I mixed the ricotta and parsley in a bowl and added a little salt to that and stirred that into the mix. Then I drained the pasta & reserved about a cup of the pasta water. I added that to the sauce to get a consistency that looked decent to me. Then I folded in the pasta and let it cook a little on the stove top.
Then I poured it into a baking dish, topped with shredded mozzarella & Parmesan cheese & baked until the cheese melted.
Here's the finished product:
And it is mighty tasty!!! Since I used beef & pork, I can't share this with my mom, so I froze about 2/3 of it & the remains of the other 1/3 is in my fridge right now.
This was my second time seeing the musical on stage and it was, in one word...AWESOME!!
The first time I saw Les Mis was at the Majestic Theatre in New York in 1996. At the time, I didn't know the story of the musical, so I was not prepared for the tone or the....miserableness of the musical. I basically spent most of it doing my best not to cry, and failing.
Before seeing the musical in 96, my only exposure to it had been seeing/hearing (sneaking because I was supposed to be asleep) Colm Wilkinson on The Tonight Show perform Bring Him Home. Thanks to the power of YouTube, here's a clip.
First of all, Colm Wilkinson is a amazing. I mean, even today, he has his range & his voice is still beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. He is one of my vocal favorites and I was soooooo ecstatic to see him in the movie. Since be birthed Jean Valjean on the Broadway stage & helped make this musical the phenomenon it is today, he deserved a role in the film. Even a small, but pertinent one.
But, back to what I was saying, this was all I had ever heard of the musical, and to be honest, by the time I actually saw the musical, I'd forgotten all about this. I had one of those "I've heard this before" moments, but couldn't remember where.
Anyway, back to tonight's production. The guy who played Jean Valjean was excellent! His name is Peter Lockyer and his voice had the range required and was so beautifully powerful. Also, I am glad I got to see this on Broadway first. Broadway stages are HUGE and the sets are gargantuan. There's so much to take in and everything is so big & exaggerated so that, even though there's so much to see, your eye is drawn to everything and you don't feel like you miss anything. The beauty of musicals going on tour is that people who can't get to, or won't go to New York to see a play/musical on its original Broadway stage, get to see the musical, in its entirety, with a great cast, full orchestra/band with a condensed set & stage. I love that I can see Broadway musicals in my home city, or close to it, but there are some that I have only seen on tour, that I wish I could see on Broadway simply because I have seen some shows on both kinds of stages (Broadway & tour) and there are noticeable differences in the set, props & staging. There's a lot more standing still in this tour production of Les Mis than I remember when I saw it on Broadway. Both are good. It's just good to be able to have both. LOL.
The musical is filled with beautiful songs. I mean, most musicals are, right? But there is something about this particular musical that just sticks to me like honey. My favorites are Bring Him Home, Stars, and Empty Chairs At Empty Tables is just so sad and haunting. I mean, this musical is so MISERABLE!!! But the music is so poignant & so real. Maybe that's why it sticks with me. The music and the story. So much of it is miserable, yet amazing. The sacrifice of Jean Valjean, the self-righteousness of Javert, the innocence of Cosette, the desperation of Fantine, the ache of Eponine, the balls of Gavroche, the underhanded manners of the Thenardiers. Then you have the crab mentality of the people of that time. I mean, the point of the musical still rings true today and there are variations & exact duplications of the story that occur today...and the book it is based on was written over 150 years ago.
I feel like I'm talking all over the place, but there's so much in my head that I want to get out.
Here's another reason why tonight's show was so great to me: it didn't try to compete with the movie. I went to see Les Miserables, the movie, over the Christmas holiday. Before seeing the movie, though, I had bought my ticket for tonight's show. I love seeing musicals as movies. There is so much that can be done with the scene & landscape on the big screen to totally immerse you in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The only down part for me was Russell Crowe; not because he played Javert...but because he sang Javert. Russell Crowe is a great actor, but a singer he is not. And as Stars is one of my favorite songs from the musical, that was a sour note for me. Anyway, any time I hear about a musical being made into a movie, while I love the idea, I always wonder what it will do for the life of the stage play. Will future directors try to match the movie, or stay true to the stage. For this production to be on tour while the movie was in theaters is like...wowzers! But I am happy to say that the stage play remained a staged production, with some of the benefits of the advances in technology that have occurred over the last 16 years.
Also, while I love, love, love Hugh Jackman (who is a Broadway actor & singer), his rendering of Bring Him Home does not match the man who sang it tonight. It seemed & felt effortless. Flawless. No strain. It made my heart feel weightless & I just wanted to climb where his voice went so I could keep listening & keep the song going.
OK, now to some of the other stuff, because I could keep going on this for a while (OMG the Master of the House sequence was so hilariously raunchy!!!) Altria has got some work to do on its sound system. Every performance I have been to since they purchased & "renovated" has been wrought with sound issues. For The Grinch, the microphone went out...that belonged to the Grinch!!! The main, title character had no working mic for about 20 minutes of the show, if not more. For Mary Poppins, same thing with the mic going out. That time it was on Mrs. Banks, the children's mother, and there was the issue of the mics not being properly balanced to blend well with the instruments. Tonight, there were no microphone snafus, but there was the same issue of poor balance and blend with the orchestra. Les Mis is orchestra heavy in sound, size & presence during the show and there were parts where the brass outweighed the vocalists totally. I know most of the songs very well so I could follow. But on some songs, like One Day More where there's the multi-lead going on where everyone has their own lines that they all sing at the same & I have yet to get what each person is saying (seriously, I just need to get the score & read it), the most intense parts of the vocals were swallowed up by the orchestra. And it was not the orchestra's fault. I was getting kind of irritated by folks who were commenting during intermission that the music was too loud. It took everything in me keep my mouth shut & not say "no, the mics are jacked up."
But, back to what I was saying, Altria needs to work on the sound system. I mean, the whole revelation that Javert was born in jail couldn't be heard because the mics were not set to match/blend with the orchestra.
To sum up this very long blog post, the musical is awesome. There are 5 more shows. One Friday, 2 Saturday and 2 Sunday. If you have the time, go see it. It is certainly worth the cost of admission.
This was a long one guys...sorry. What can I say, I'm passionate about it.
Yes, spring is the time that hair can be worn out. It begins the time of year that hair can go out wet and folks won't look at you like you're crazy. It's warmer weather & time at the park and evenings walking the dog.
BUT IT GETS SO HOT!
I'm not in a hurry for Spring because after Spring comes Summer and with Summer comes storms and heat...and heat...like, hot as hell heat!!! It'd be one thing if Spring came and went straight to fall; then it wouldn't get so hot as the season went on.
But since I can't stop time, and can't keep it Winter forever, I will say farewell to Winter. I will miss your cold days & frigid nights. The quality time spent with my toasty space heater. The nights covered by warm sheets and pretty comforters. The crocheted hats & scarves. The legwarmers I have yet to finish. I will miss you dearly.
Hello to my oscillating fans, thin sheets, allergies, sweat and heat rashes. You suck, but I must deal with you...
Ok, so some folks may be wondering why I took so long in doing a hair post. Well, I made some changes to my hair care regimen and it took some time to get it right for me.Add to that the fact that it’s Winter and I’ve been rocking protective styles, I haven’t had to do my hair much and I haven’t done much to my hair. So, in truth, it’s been pretty dull. But I do have a new wash regimen to share with you!
I picked up and adapted an apple cider vinegar wash regimen from Naptural85 on YouTube.When I first heard about using (ACV) to cleanse your scalp, I was very skeptical because ACV is very acidic (duh) and can be very drying.Since my scalp and skin has issues with dryness, flaking & eczema & I didn’t want to make a sometimes out of control & frustrating issue worse.So I stuck with doing a pre-poo hot oil treatment, then shampoo & condition every week to 2 weeks for a while. I tried co-washing…my scalp laughed at me & gave me the side-eye.
But then, I ran across this video skimming through Whitney’s play lists one Saturday afternoon & it made me think to try using ACV as a cleanser for my scalp, instead of shampoo.
I’ve been doing a rendition of this for about 4 months now & and it has been working very well for me.Now, the only thing I picked up from the video is how she does her cleansing. I do not have the mud wash she uses and I’m still on the “no new products” action because I have plenty of shampoo and conditioner.
Here’s what I do: I section my hair into twists, just as Whitney does in her video & I use my ACV & water mix to cleanse my scalp.However, instead of shampooing I pulled out my fired bottle of the Giovanni Botanicals conditioner.A few posts ago I explained that, while I bought it, I wouldn’t be using it because, while my scalp liked it, my hair did not. It was much too stripping to use after I’d already shampooed & it ended up leaving my hair very tangled & feeling like it could matt up any moment. It was truly a frustrating initial experience.But after figuring out that shampooing after the ACV cleanse was also too stripping & co-washing with a regular moisturizing conditioner didn’t get all the product & gunk out of my hair, I pulled that big ole bottle out of the closet & viola!!!!It was the perfect match.
Now, again, its winter & I’m wearing my hair in protective styles so I’ve been washing my hair about once every 3-4 weeks.And this is working great for now. Come Summer I may have to change it up again because Summer = sweat which means more frequent washes, but if that changes, I’ll talk about it then.
Seriously, why even say your movie is based on a novel if you aren't going to base your movie on the novel it's named for?
About 45 minutes ago I got out of a showing of the movie Beautiful Creatures.
This post will contain SPOILERS so if you don't want to know what happened, stop reading! I will say this, if you haven't read the book, you will like the movie. The movie isn't bad...it just isn't based on the book. And since I was going to see a movie based on a book, I feel like I was lied to. I got hit with the ole bait n' switch. Because basically, it was a movie that used the book's name.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!
The movie barely had anything of the book in it. It should have been called "A Movie with the Same Character Names Used in the Novel Beautiful Creatures and Just a Few of the Elements."
First of all, the novel Beautiful Creatures was over 550 damn pages. And after reading all those pages, to get to the end & find out that the story was over was a major point of contention for me. So guess how unsettling it was to have read all those pages, which held many good things & a lot of unnecessary, extra, inane, dull details that could have been left out, to go see the movie & about 20 pages of the novel were included.
What did the movie & the book share?
The town's name: Gaitlin, SC
The quote Ethan's mother told him to describe the people of Gaitlin
The religious fanaticism where everything different, new & not immediately understood was deemed evil/the work of satan.
Some of the characters: Ethan, Lena, Macon, Amma, Link, Ridley and a couple of Lena's family members.
What was different?
Lena drove a yellow Mercedes hatchback/station wagon...not a black hearse...which made her stand out the moment she set foot on the school grounds. Aside from being Macon Ravenwood's niece
Boo Radley was NOWHERE TO BE SEEN in the movie & he was in almost every single chapter in the book.
Ethan had Link's car with him at all times just about
Amma was Ethan & his father's housekeeper & the town librarian...Marian the librarian & best friend of Ethan's mother, didn't exist
The Castor Library was open daily, not on holidays when the regular library was closed
The Castor Library was under the regular library. Not across town in one of the Civil War society building's back gate (major irony in the novel)
Ethan's mother held no significance other than dying (no books, no legacy, no Keeper, no guiding spirit)
There were no aunts of Ethan
Macon came to Ethan's house twice. Never set foot in it in the book
Everybody was allowed to enter his father's study instead of it being off limits
His father never made an appearance
There was no Carrie-esque dance where Lena is treated horribly & Ridley ruins the event
The school board meeting to get rid of Lena was a church meeting instead (again, no Marian means Macon made his entrance on his own)
Lena was not at the meeting & neither was Ethan
There was no teenage squad in the school to "keep order" (can't remember the squad name right now)
The Book of Moons was in the caster library....never the case in the book
The Book of Moons never left the caster library...again, it was never in the library in the book
The Civil War visions brought on by the amulet were all wrong...no slave servant who gave Genevieve the Book of Moons, no showing the Genevieve's family was burned to death & her loss of everyone she loved caused her to 1st ask for the Book of Moons, then use the spell that caused the curse
Ethan didn't die in the movie, in fact, in the movie, Lena makes Ethan forget they ever met...
Ridley never loved Link
Link didn't have a band
Again...no presence of Ethan's father, so no almost-death at the hands of Ridley
Lena's aunt who saw both past & present was missing...Since she lead them to the Book of Moons, she was kind of important...but then again, no Marian or Ethan's mom's spirit, who were also pivotal in the book
I could easily go on & on & on. There was sooo much of the novel that wasn't used in the slightest bit for the movie. I mean...I didn't even touch on the villain in the story.
I repeat...over 550 pages, about 25 pages used in the movie.
Its like the title was just used to get people to come & spend their money on the movie. I am so glad I got to see it FOR FREE!
Now, having said that, I will repeat, the movie isn't bad. If you haven't read the book, you will more than likely enjoy it. But if you have read the book, don't expect to see it on the big screen.
I had decided, after reading 550+ pages on the INTRODUCTORY novel of the series, that I was not going to read the other books. It's just too long. I said to myself "self, you can just wait for the other movies to come theaters." But now, after seeing that the 1st movie wasn't based on the book, I can only conclude that the other movies won't be either. So I may have to suck it up & read the rest of the series so that I at least get the original stories.
I am composing this post literally 3 minutes after finishing Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.It is 9:46 PM Wednesday night.
WHAT THE FUCK????
That’s the foremost thought I have in my head right now.
The second thought is that, Charnai, I love you, but I don’t think I want you to recommend books to me ANYMORE! Doggone psych major!
Now, why do I blame my wonderful cousin?Because I had seen the book.Had friends on Goodreads who read & rated the book. Book it was HER raving about the book over Thanksgiving that made me stop & pick it up from the library lease book section 7 days ago.
Now, after saying all of that, you may wonder if I liked the book. YES! But I am not really into suspense-filled, psychological mindf***s.Movies? Maybe, but not really. I mean, I’m the chick who used to fast forward soap operas to get beyond the suspense-filled moments. So in written form, me no likey. Add to that the psychotic nature of the book. I should have hated it. But I didn’t (what is wrong with me?).
***SPOLIER ALERT***
The first 216 pages dragged like a waterlogged dead body on a super-saturated shore being pulled by a skinny survivor with a bum leg & bad shoulder. Does that sound messed up to you????? THAT’S where the novel has placed me mentally!The pace picks up once the psycho bitch is brought into the story & you come to learn that everything she had done has been an elaborate, psychotic ruse to get back at her husband for basically falling out of love with her & her parents for wanting her. CRAZY! Everything she did she justified as being their just desserts & saw as her way of getting some attention.
Psycho bitch
The hubby, after realizing it’s all an act, has to put on a show because the world thinks she’s a cheating murderer, when in fact he’s being framed. And when psycho comes home…he stays. Forever. CRAZY!!
I don’t know where Gillian Flynn got the inspiration for this novel. I mean, I can guess the “runaway bride” fiasco from a few years ago but, but to have made this whole story up on her own….she is twisted.And I have a pretty twisted imagination, that I thoroughly enjoy, so it says something that that’s my take on it..and its not a good thing.
I don’t want to give away the whole story, but the bitch (character, not author) is PSYCHO! That’s all I can say.I was reading the book thinking “this is why I think & rethink & rethink before considering putting my trust in people. Because there are people this crazy in the world.” I mean, if I were the wronged party, I wouldn’t trust a single person I knew. Every single person he’s ever known – his twin sister, mother in law, father in law, attorney, neighbors- believes he’s a killer at some point in the story. There is no way I’d be able to continue relationships with those people after they learn that it was all a lie & a set-up. After my name was cleared I’d leave the country! I mean, there would be NOTHING left at home, so why stay.But noooo he stays & continues to be a victim of her lies & agrees to forfeit the truth for the sake of her new lies & new craziness.
The book is nucking futs.
I’m going back to my paranormal & sci-fi and scattered romance.No more psychotic suspense novels.
After I finished writing this, I watched Animaniacs for 2 hours in hopes that I wouldn’t dream about this crazy book anymore.
Yes, this is a little late, but I've been getting used to being back at work after the holiday vacay.
Tis the season for crocheting!
For the past few years I have crocheted a gift for someone every year as a Christmas gift. Some years its been more than one person, other years, one was all I had time for. I have done a poor job of keeping track of what I crochet for folks. I have friends who do great jobs of keeping a picture diary/log of what they are doing, their progress and the finished product.
I really stink at doing that. LOL
Primarily because when I am crocheting for someone, its not for me , so I’m not thinking about keeping a log of it.And in most cases, I don’t even remember what I made for whom a few months down the road.I feel like that’s ok, because it wasn’t for me anyway.But as I see the trend is to at least have a picture of the finished product to show people.And I can understand that. After all, when you tell folks you can, and do, crochet they are more prone to believe you, or believe you are any good when you have something to show for it. Since the only things I manage to make for myself are hats and scarves, I guess the only way people will ever come to believe that I can do something else would be for me to have a picture of the finished product of what I make for other people.
So this year, I made my stepmother an octagonal afghan for Christmas. I was going to upload a picture of it, but blogger isn't working properly to permit any new uploads today so I guess you'll see something next time, if I remember to take a picture before I give it away. Looks like the odds were not in my favor. LOL
Oh well, I tried.
UPDATE I found a way around Blogger's issue! Here's the picture!!!
I read 36 books in 12 months!! And then I read one more!!! Making it a total of 37. YAY ME!!!
That has been my goal since 2010 and every year I almost make it. Well, that’s not completely true. The first year I missed the mark by 10 books I think, and the year after that I missed by 5, or something. But this year, I finally did it. And thanks to a good friend of mine who introduced me to Goodreads, I have a much easier way to keep track of my reads as the year goes on. I even have an easier way to share with you what I read.
Here’s the link to my Reads for 2012 book shelf on Goodreads.com.
So, now that I’ve done that, what’s next? I want to continue with the goal to read 36 books in a year, however, I do a lot of borrowing books from the library and I order a lot of free books on my Kindle. Very few of the books I read this year were from my own book shelf. In fact, I think that out of 36, only 5 came from my shelf and one of those books were purchased within the last 2-3 years.
The reason why I initially set the goal of reading 36 books in a year was because I owned about 86 books that were sitting forlorn & untouched in my house. The goal of 36 books in a year was intended to help get me through the books I owned, but hadn’t read. Well...new books keep coming out, or someone tells me about a series they liked, or I saw a book that looked interesting, or I heard about a book that some of the tweens & teenagers I know really enjoyed, or I saw a movie preview for an optioned book -- so I’d hit the library, or the discount book rack, or the free eBook sites and my own books would be pushed further and further on the back burner for the sake of reading a book here, finishing a series there…its really a vicious cycle. Fun, but vicious.
So here’s my next goal: to stay out of the library and read the books I presently own that reside on my bookcases in my house.
In reality, am I going to be able to stay out of the library?Most likely NOT. I am an honest to goodness bookworm/geek/nerd... whatever, and proud of it. But I have GOT to get through these books.Another reason why I haven’t been reading them is that I have a lot of romance novels and romance novels have not been sitting well with me for the last few years so when something sci-fi or adventure-like comes to my attention, I’m quick to go check it out for a change of pace. But after a few years of being in the adventure & sci-fi genre, I guess its time to put some romance novels back into the rotation. Besides, I need to pay my favorite authors the respect they deserve & read them…so I can talk & blog about them.
So that’s the plan for 2013. Time will tell how far I get.
