After a quick run to the mall

I am somewhat calmer (see previous post). I couldn't stay out too long as I was waiting for CIBC to call back - they did, still no cheque. If it's not in by Thursday - HEADS WILL ROLL. And even if it is, I am going to make them fully aware that what they did is completely unacceptable! I also have some RSP's in They Royal Bank of Canada - but after tomorrow? Nope! My FA is coming over and I'm taking everything out of there!!

But I'm still loaded for bear. So I could be in no finer frame of mind than to snark on THEM again.

I wonder why it is that even Cassie Edwards can get herself a decent cover. You know - Cassie Edwards who has had some "winners" in the past? Such as this one?


or this little gem


Now this next one isn't the worst, but the title, Rolling Thunder is a hoot! Makes me think of one of those long satisfying farts.


Now I wouldn't want to be the person in this next one walking behind the rolling thunder


But, while chances are slim to completely and totally non-existent that I will ever read it, the cover of this next one isn't bad at all



So why can't other publishers (and you know who I mean) get a clue?

The hair, the hair! And the naked chest


Or this one! The hair, the hair! The puffy shirt, the puffy shirt! His hair, his hair!


Or say this attractive studly hero? Get a load of his belt!!


And finally this one. Bet I know where he has her hand headed!




And in other news, while I was out, while I did look for a book, almost better than chocolate when one is upset. I couldn't find one to ease my frustration but I did get these three yesterday
Lisa Plumley either really works for me or she doesn't. We'll have to see with this one.

This is a new to me author, a medieval and a much lesser know publisher. Being a risk taker - I'm on it!

Now I'm honest. This one I bought for the cover. I'm pretty sure it's the one I picked at the annual AAR Cover Contest.

'til later

A tale of two banks

subtitle

Kristie tries not to freak out

Ron left me comfortably off. I can live a modest life if I choose not to go back to work. This isn't the plan though. I love to work and even more I need to work. I wish with all my heart the place I was at before had renewed my contract. At I said in a previous post, my supervisor loved me and the feeling was returned. I was looking forward to going back and they were looking forward to me coming back. But the corporate world is a cold and hard place and they really don't give a damn about people. It was decided much higher up that in order to recoup losses, all contract people would be let go at the end of their current contract. I just haven't had the energy, the stamina, the whatever you call it, to go the job hunting route yet. But I do plan on it very soon.
But as I was saying, Ron left me comfortably off for now. He dealt with a different bank than I did. That all happened when we split up for a year a number of years ago and when we got back together again, we were both fine with the status quo. I paid my share of the bills from my bank, he paid his share from his. We had both made wills when he was first diagnosed so when he died after a bit of a hassle, I did get control of the money he had saved. I've had a financial advisor for a number of years now and he has been investing the money I was saving very wisely. After Ron died, he set up some kind of plan that would pay out a monthly allowance while not touching the principal and also allowing it to grow at the same time. There is a further sum I've been working on transfering to him so the allowance would double in size as well as the principal. I don't have cheques to Ron's bank, but I do to mine. So what I did was go to my bank and asked them to transfer the money from his to mine and then I wrote a cheque to my FA. I did this the last week of September. I've been checking on a regular basis (gotta love on-line banking) to see if the money has transferred over yet. Today I made a horrifying discovery. The money from Ron's bank was withdrawn last week, but hasn't yet shown up in mine. It's a considerable sum of money and when I saw that I freaked!!! I called my bank to see what was going on - where had the money disappeared to. The woman who has been working on this called the other bank to see what has happened. It turns out this other bank, Ron's bank, sent a cheque in the fuckin' mail!!!! The MAIL???? Can you imagine anything so unprofessional, so stupid, so grossly incompetent? Good Gawd I can't believe it. In this day and age of electronic transfers and things they fucking mailed it!! One can tell by the amount of cussin' I'm doing I am NOT a happy camper. I'm not going to be able to breath easy until the CIBC - the bank I deal with and am very happy with, receives the cheque from The Royal Bank of Canada - the asshole bank Ron dealt with, the bank that has given me problems in the past. This is the bank that has an employee who called me a week after Ron died - on my birthday no less, to chew me out in the snottiest of tones for daring to question her view of a series of events that happened when she came to the house to deal with financial issues when Ron was to ill to leave the house. I repeat, this is The Royal Bank of Canada, who put a large cheque INTO THE FUCKING MAIL.
I called my financial advisor and he was as horrified as I was when he heard this.
I have to go and walk off this steam I have built up.

'til later

After visiting Cindy twice now, she and Bob came to London to visit me! I don't know about her and Bob, but I had a great time. And this time we got a chance to check out our local Chapters! And we even *surprise suprise* bought a few books each. They didn't stay too long as I had my creative writing course tonight. That's what this post is really about.
Tonight we discussed writing dialogue. As usual I learned quite a bit. But the teacher had us do an exercise that threw me. She wanted us to write speaking traits of someone close to us, someone we talked to all the time. And as I thought about it, it dawned on me that since I lost Ron, I didn't have anyone to write about. I don't talk to someone on a day to day basis anymore. My sons each call me once or twice a week and I speak to Lisa 3 or 4 times a week. But that's about it. I'm still not working so I don't have any coworkers. I talk to Ron's mom once a week but they are always very brief conversations. I talk to a neighbour a few times a week when we get together for walks or Survivor night. And I meet with a grief councelor once a week. And I have a few friends I talk and meet with on a semi-regular basis. But that's it! There is no one I talk to every day. So then I just doodled for the remainder of the alloted time and tried very hard not to cry. Luckily I didn't. But then she went around the class and wanted us to read what we wrote. When it was my turn, I said I didn't do it and didn't give any further explanation. Thankfully after looking at me a bit strangely she let it go. If I had had to tell her why, I would have had to leave the room in tears.

That's why this blog and everyone I have met through it is so important to me. Although I don't talk to everyone in the normal sense of the word, I still feel connected to people on a daily basis. But it's talking through writing, not through speaking. In a way it's even better. I don't have the barrier of shyness that holds me back quite a bit. I can really be free and be myself. So I guess this is a thank you to everyone for being out there. I know that even though I don't talk to anyone on a regular basis, I still "talk" to a lot of wonderful people.

Because it amuses me

Let's play a game. How many differences can you see?

This is the cover of my copy of Dream Fever by Katherine Sutcliffe published in 1991!


This is an inside step cover

This is the cover of a release in October, 2006


This one isn't.


Would you not think a publisher as successful as Avon, could afford new covers after 15 years?


(and no - I didn't rake leaves. Ryan decided there weren't enough to bother with right now. I didn't argue with him)

'til later

I lied!

I don't want to rake leaves today. I want to play.

Here's another one with Loreen McKennit and a very sweet movie. Warning - this one is quite long.

*sigh*



Must Rake Leaves.

OK OK - One more than I have to go rake leaves

As you may have guessed, I just discovered You Tube.

This is one of my favourite Great Big Sea songs - I may have mentioned them a time or two.

So here we have two captains



'til later

Krisite made me do this

She made me do this to prove I'm not such a fuddy duddy

Let's hear it for the older guys



See Mailyn! You're right! I can do things.

A new look, a poll and now You Tube. My world had been rocked this week.

'til later

To my sisters

Lisa and Nancy

You guys will know!



'til later

She's got the look!

And now for the story behind the change. You all know there is one.I happened to mention briefly somewhere that I was wanting a change in the look of the blog and how much I loved the look of Dance Chica’s. Don’t get me wrong – I love the one I had – just loved it, but I still wanted something a little different. Mailyn sent me an email offering to help me. Isn’t she just wonderful? Well, as I read her email, I split in two as I often do. No really. I do! The regular me started having second thoughts but Krisite, my alter ego; the one who is much younger, taller, has long blond hair and runs to Runnin’ Down a Dream by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – even though she knows the 80’s are so over, the one all the guys are hot for, the one who can close windows damn it and doesn’t have to stand on a step stool, in fact – she probably looks a lot like the girl in the banner! Well luckily Krisite gets out often enough that she answered the email with a “Great! Let’s do for it!” I mentioned to Mailyn that I really liked the look of the lady with the hat and she set about looking for something similar. She sent me the picture I have now, only it was the full picture. As I looked at it, I laughed uproariously. I loved it, but the woman had a lot – and I mean a lot – of leg showing. I hemmed and I hawed about how to say that while I loved the top half of the picture, the bottom half made me a tad uncomfortable. Here is the email I sent her

Keep in mind I'm laughing like a loon when I type this. I like it!!!! - I really do. But let's see - how do I put this with out sounding too fuddy duddy - I mean - I'm reading All U Can Eat by Emma Holly - and liking it, and I've been know to watch a "blue" movie or two. I loved Passion by Lisa Valdez. And I've read Sarah McCarty (although I didn't really care for her - the writing itself though - not the content) - but (hah hah) there's a little too much butt for me. Would there be any way to put a skirt on her? It could be a short skirt - something light and frothy (good grief - I sound like one of those fanatical nut jobs who want to cover up the Venus de milo or the statue of David don't I?)

But - other than the too much naked thigh - it's wonderful - just the kind of thing I like!!

This is when Krisite and I collided. She couldn’t believe what a square dufus I was. “put a skirt on? What kind of a fruit cake are you?”

She just rolled her eyes and left in disgust. Fortunately Mailyn took pity on me and answered back and said not to worry and explained that it would just be the top half which showed. At that time she also offered to do a three column look. Now me – I have a hard enough time keeping up with two so I decided in order to keep my sanity to just stick with just the two.

So I left it with Mailyn as to when it would be ready, in the meantime kind of waving good bye at the end of the day to the old one – kind of like the way those in my generation waved goodbye to Lassie at the end of the show. How many of us used to say “Bye Lassie, Bye” with a fond farewell as Lassie lifted his paw to wave to us.

So I had no idea when the switchover would be made. I was doing some blog hopping late last night, all my nights are late these days, when I came back to mine and thought in a state of panic “OMG – what did I do???? It’s red!!” I thought somehow I had blended the blog I was just at with mine and was wondering how on earth I managed to do that and how would I ever apologize to the person who I warped with and how could I fix it when I didn’t know what I did wrong. See, although the body is up at that time of night it’s not always working in conjunction with the brain. Then the picture came up and I recognized it right away. Ah – Mailyn was up too.

So there you have it! The story behind the change.

‘til later

Ah - 'tis mos sweet

Now, normally I'm not a gloating kind of person. It's so very unattractive and makes the gloatee want to smack the gloater - so I shall try and keep this calm. AAR just released their Top Ten Favourite Heroes, Heroines and Couples of all time. I therefore direct you to the results.


Results


Now, I apologize in advance and please - in order to avoid the following unattractiveness all Sebastian lovers may want to stop reading. But I simply must do this







Derek Craven is #4

My main man Derek is #4

Derek's number fo-our. Derek's number fo-our

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Happy dance! Happy dance!!!

Numero 4!!!

A Thank You

In fact - a HUGE TANK YOU to MAILYN for the new design. Isn't she just so talented?

ETA

Tank you????? TANK YOU???

How the heck can one misspell

THANK YOU

Just couldn't resist

Taking and posting these. I noticed the Princess eyeing my TBR pile and grabbed the camera.



I wonder which one she has her eye on???

'til later

It's an addiction I tell you

So, being inspired by seeing some other bloggers TBR piles, I decided to organize my own. I know I really need to do this because when I was pulling them all out, I noticed duplicates. Duplicates in a TBR pile! I have't kept up with recording them on my spreadsheet and I really must do that to avoid future duplicate purchases!
As I glanced at them all lined up in the hallway, I realized that I really MUST stop buying new books! Today! Like no bookstore visits for a year. (hah! As if that will happen)

At the moment, I have no idea how to organize them, but here they are - in all their splendour.


Now for some close-ups


I still have a few more scattered around the house too!

And for Cindy & Megan - here is just some of my Anne Stuarts


Now I thought I would add a story. We got new windows a few years ago. Most of them are pretty straight forward open and close, but there is one in the dining room that opens a bit different than all the other ones. I'm sure Ron showed me how it worked, but as with so many things he showed me, I didn't really pay attention to what he said. And since we got Central Air last year, it didn't really matter, I wouldn't be opening it anyway.
Well, I cooked a turkey on Sunday and it got hot in the kitchen. Unbeknownst to me, and without realizing I had no idea how it really worked, Lisa opened the dining room window. It was warm out Sunday and Monday so I didn't really notice the draft coming from that window. Not until late Tuesday night. Then when I felt the breeze I checked the window and sure enough, it was open. "This isn't going to be good" I thought to myself. First off, we have these REALLY HEAVY blinds on the window and when you lift them up, they are difficult to get down. So, since it was late at night and I didn't really feel comfortable trying to open them in case they proved to difficult to get them down, I just kind of stepped behind them and tried to close the window. Well, the bottom part went down fine, but then so did the top part. Go down that is. I tried to lift it up but ran into problems (of course I did!) I am of the vertically challenged persuasion and the window goes to the top of the wall. I had to duck out from behind the blinds and get my little step stool. I got back behind the blinds and up on that and tried to lift the top section. And didn't it not line up with the bottom section so that I could lock them in place. I struggled with that damn window for about 15 minutes. Now I have a short patience level and by that time I'd reached it. I sent a quick email off to Lisa asking if she had opened the window and saying I couldn't get it closed. What I expected her to do, I'm not sure. She was out of town on business (and this time left Arthur the dog somewhere else) I mean, it's not like she was going to get up and drive 2 hours at 11:00 at night so she could help me figure out how to close a bloody window. But I was frustrated and it was either that or throw a chair through the damned thing in annoyance. So - here it is 11:00 at night, getting cooler by the minute and I can't close a stupid window. Luckily our kitchen has a door leading into it I can close and another door on the the other side. I just closed them for the night and let it get cold in there. The next day I called Brent, our oldest son, to see if he could stop by on the way home and close the window for me. Naturally I had to try out my new toy on him

(poor dear - he looks tired doesn't he? And he just got off work and looks a tad scruffy)
And please ignore the kitchen background. I HATE the kitchen. It's the only room in the house we haven't gotten around to redoing. Mostly because I have no idea what to do with it. I'm hoping someone who knows a lot more than me about decorating, who is making a trip to London soon, will have some ideas.

So there you have it. My incredibly frightening TBR pile and my incompetence at closing windows.

'til later

Last Night's Lost

Blogger seems to be down for the moment so I’m doing this in Word and pasting. Hopefully it won’t take too long for them to get their shit in gear and get it back working!

Well I wasn’t sure I was going to like last night’s Lost. It started out kind of like last weeks’ but then it seemed to get much better. In fact I found it to be very funny in spots. I got quite a chuckle out of Jack’s refusal to believe that the Red Sox won the World Series and it wasn’t until Paul showed him the video that he believed it. Although that proved something very interesting. The Others must be in constant communication with the outside world. They must be very up there intelligence wise to have such detailed information about all the passengers. I wonder how they got it all? And they really seem determined not to allow anyone to escape don’t they – by stealing the boat.

I liked Jin and Sun’s back story, although I wasn’t sure when I thought Jin was actually going to carry out his father-in-laws orders. I thought at the beginning it showed how frightened of her father that Sun was to lie like that to him. I thought Sayiid and Jin really ‘missed the boat’ (get it?) when they weren’t even watching the sailboat Sun was on. And I do wonder about The Others. They keep claiming they are the good people but they sure don’t act like it.

And of course what can a conversation be without mentioning “The Second Kiss” between Sawyer and Jack. Was that hot or what!!!!! And it was pretty reckless/brave of Sawyer (I know – he’s really John, but he will always be Sawyer to me) to kiss her, knowing what was coming. And then the cute little exchange between them about it, when he said she tasted like strawberries and she replied he tasted like fish biscuit. And then he called her shortcake. Cute. So –overall they didn’t answer any more questions, but I did like this episode better than the last. And next week we get to see what has happened to the other survivors.

In other television news, that’s it for me and Dancing With The Stars. Won’t be watching that one anymore! Nope! No Sir. Last night just did it with me and shows that has audience vote in. Under what possible rationale could Willa and her partner get voted off before Sara and hers? There was no comparison between the two sets of dancers. And now we won’t see anymore of the developing romance between Willa and Maxsim and the romance lover in me is just screaming at that!!

And the Canadian station showed the series premier of The Nine the night before last, so I watched that so I watched The Nine too. Good and interesting show it is.

'til later

Kristie's adventures in HMTL Land

First off - the reward



And then fries at the food court.

The stiff drink? A Bacardi Tropical Orange Smoothie

On with the story
Jennie had a scathingly brilliant idea of doing a poll so I decided to go for it. I had seen what I had in mind at Let's Gab so I went to Brave Net. Of course in order to get the poll I had to become a member. This is where the first of my 'problems' arose. After I joined, they sent me a temporary password by e-mail. Now when I went to get my temporary password, I had that message that I get every so often wanting me to give my e-mail password. It's so automatic, I just entered. Oops - it came up incorrect password. Sometimes I enter it so quickly, I miss a letter or something so I did it again. Same incorrect password message. This really puzzled me since I knew I hadn't changed it so I tried again v e r y s l o w l y. Same damn message. So then I went to the screen you go to if you forget. It wanted my customer ID. I had no idea what that was so then I went further on how to get my customer ID. They wanted my Account Number. Hmm - where do I find that? So I looked up an older bill, looked it up and entered it. Incorrect number it said. One of the things I've done lately is put all the bills under my name so I figured it meant a new account number. Sweat began to form. This meant another call to- - - - Cable Guy. Yes - Cable Guy and I had another conversation.

Cable Guy: Yes, this is "Bob". May I help you?

Me: (right off starting to giggle wondering how I would mess up this time) Yes this is Kristie. I seem to be having problems signing into my internet. It's saying the password is wrong but I know I didn't change it.

Cable Guy: Well, if you tell me your name, I'll look up your account and see what we can do.

Now at this point I should mention that Kristie is not my name. Well - it is, but 'officially' it isn't. I have a completely different first name and my second name is actually Kristine. But for some reason - my parents decided to go with Kristie when I was a wee lass rather than either my first name or Kristine. So when Cable Guy asked for my name, I was stumped as to what name to give him.

Me: Kristie

Cable Guy: I don't seem to have anyone listed under that name.

Me: Well it might be under my first name Debra

Cable Guy: OK, there it is. But you are Kristie aren't you?

I had to explain that yes I am, but I'm also Debra

Cable Guy: All right. If you give me your password, I'll see if I can get in.

I gave him my password

Cable Guy: It seems to be working fine for me M'am.

At this point I happened to look at the keyboard and I noticed this little green light next to num lock was lit up. Yes, you all know what that means! I had been trying to log on with caps.

Me: Let me try and see if I can do it (feigning ignorance). Hmmm. It worked!

Then I decided to 'fess up.

Me: I think I know what my problem was. I had the caps on.

Cable Guy: (laughing) Well, that will make a difference. So, your problem is resolved then?

Me: Yes. When you write up your report on this one, you can just say "user incompetance"

*sigh* I think I'm fast becoming a legend among all the Cable Guys"

So - I got my temporary password and went back to Brave Net to sign in. I fumbled around in there for a while and figured out where to get the HMTL code and pasted into my test blog. With great anticipation, I hit publish and low and behold - there was a Web Poll. Only thing was, it was a poll on rating my blog. Well - that struck me as being somewhat narcassistic and it wasn't what I wanted. So back to Brave Net I went trying to figure out how the heck I could get what I wanted. I'll give the short version here. I figured it out - finally and then reposted it into the test blog. AHA!! Success!! It was what I wanted. Now - to 'go live' so to speak on my regular blog. It was at this time that Blogger must have been having 'issues' because I kept timing out. I tried it 4 times but I kept getting the same error message.
AAARRRGGGGHHH
I was soooo close! But I would not be deterred. I had a very late morning coffee, waited for a while and tried it again.

That's why I needed a reward, lunch and a stiff drink!

And thus - we have our poll!

'til later

Look to the right! Look to the right!

I did it!!! I did it!!!

Story to follow - right now I'm going out to get a combination reward (book & lunch) followed by a stiff drink!

'til later

Good news/bad news

Good News: The lastest reader to fall under the spell of Dreaming of You is Jodi. She loved it!!

Bad News: Alas, she chose Sebastian over Derek in the continuing debate. Sybil - you have another one.

Now we need Jennie to read it *chuckle*. She has it, I know she has it.

'til later

As Cindy would say - Keeper, Keeper, Keeper

The Panther and The Pyramid by Bonnie Vanak

back blurb:

Graham Tristan had been tormented too long. For years he had lived in fear. He was physically strong; during his childhood exile, he had ridden with the Khamsin - Eygptian Warriors of the Wind. He had learned their code, been called The Panther. Now he was returned to his rightful place as the Duke of Caldwell. But still he feared. And there was a new face that haunted his dreams. It was the face of a woman.

Red hair, the color of blood. Green eyes, the color of emeralds. And that face, that body - the memory threatened to consume him. True, he was a dangerous man, accepted back to the ton despite his upbringing. But there were those who dared oppose him, and in certain ways he remained untried. In his dreams, this woman threatened all he sought to protect, all he thought to hide. She was more perilous even than the ancient treasure that would draw him back to Egypt, back to the shifting sands where he had been raised. This woman would uncover his heart.

Normally I don't get all excited about secondary characters in books. Most of the time I don't really care if they get their own book or not. But every so often a secondary character does seem to come alive for me and I'm as eager as the next reader to see if a book is planned for that character. Such was the case with a secondary character in Bonnie Vanak's previous book, The Cobra and the Concubine. I really enjoyed that book and the long lost brother of the hero of that one just seemed to call out for his own story. Much to my delight some time later I found out that she did indeed have a book planned for him and I waited with great anticipation for it to come out. I finally got a copy of The Panther and the Pyramid a couple of weeks ago - and then hit a slump. Before the slump, I reread TCATC just to remind myself of this intriguing character. Well, I don't know if it was listening to the right music or what, but I picked this one up to read yesterday and WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! This book is fabulous! I had a hard time putting it down. I had my sons and sister over for turkey dinner today and part of me was waiting for them to leave so I could finish it.
The back cover blurb does a good job in outlining the book so I'll just say what made this book such a thrill to read.

1) Graham!!! What a wonderful dark and tortured hero he was. Strong on the outside, yet incredibly insecure on the inside about the very thing that made him a man. He treated the heroine badly at times but the author made you fully understand why. And it wasn't that he wanted to. In order to survive the horrors he suffered as a child, he had to keep so much of himself closed off from her. Yet he had a deep love for his family and for Jillian. I loved the scenes between he and Kenneth, his brother. They had been enemies in the previous book and it was wonderful to see how they broke through that and really came to care and protect each other. And once Graham realized how vital Jilly was to him, he was wrecked for her. I always love that in a book.

2) Jillian! What a fabulous heroine she was. Very intelligent but kept under total control by her father all her life, it wasn't until she met Graham that she really began to come into her own with his encouragement. It was a treat seeing her grow stronger and more confident and more than an equal to Graham.

3) Graham & Jilly! Together this couple were great. Although it took a while for them to realize it, they both were what the other needed in order to heal.

4) The setting!! The first part took place in England and was very good, but then the story switched to Egypt and the place just came alive for me. It was almost as if I were right there. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to read a historical book that is different, that takes chances. And this one does. At times it's not always and easy read; it has some dark parts in it. But since I much prefer the darker in books, I loved it.

5) The cover! I think this is a fabulous cover. Just the dark and mysterious eyes showing *shiver*.

6) The title! Once I read the book, I completly understood the title.

It reminded me slightly of another one of my old favourites - Silk and Shadows by Mary Jo Putney. That one also had a mysterious hero with a tortured past.
I can tell when I've read a book that touches me because as soon as I'm finished, I have to read it all over again. That's what I'm doing with this one.
Last year, The Cobra and the Concubine was in my honourable mention books of 2005. This year The Panther and the Pyramid will be in the top 3.

Grade: 5 out of 5

'til later

Meanderings & Ramblings

I don't have to much to say romance related at the moment. I hit another mini-slump reading wise. I did start The Panther and the Pyramid this morning and although I'm not that far into it yet; the grass called to me, it's very good so far.

I went and had my second visit with fellow Blogger Cindy on Thursday. I had a great time. It's a wonderful thing how a passion for romance books can lead to such great friendships! We chatted all afternoon about all kinds of good and interesting stuff and as she said on her blog - we didn't even make it to the bookstore :). I didn't mention that when I got there, I was in a bit of an emotional wreck. One of the things I insisted on when I got my current car was a CD player. I plugged in a CD by one of my favourite singers - Loreena McKennit. I haven't listened to her for a while now and once I put the CD of choice in - The Book of Secrets - I was reminded again of why she is one of my favourites. If I had only one word to describe her music, it would be hauntingly beautiful (I know, I know - that's two words - but I can't do it in one!). I'd say her music on this CD was a combination gypsy like music - not that I know what their music really is, but when I imagine it, that's what I picture, and music with a strong Eastern flavour. There is one song in particular that I could close my eyes and just picture a very sultry woman doing an erotic belly dance (Marco Polo if anyone is wondering - she has a bit of it on the link). I'm thinking Dance Chica or Angie W might like it *g*. But the one song on there that 'gets' me everytime is The Highwayman. Ms. McKennit has set the old poem by Alfred Noyes to music. She has a clear and beautiful voice and between the so sad lyrics and the melody I was getting shivers listening to it - all 3 times - 6 altogether if you include listening to it again on the way back! I think sometimes I have almost too vivid an imagination because as I was driving along, I could just picture the whole thing so clearly. I've mentioned her before and how much I love this song in particular but after just recently listening to it again, I just had to say again how much I love this song. I just happen to have a romance book or two with this poem as it's theme. The plus side is these books have the HEA. I may just have to read them again!!
I had a friend over last night to watch a movie - only one friend could make it. We watched The Outsider (for me again). I had gone to Rogers Video earlier in the day to see if I could rent Something New. They had it (Yes!) so I rented it and at the time found out something interesting. The clerk was telling me when I asked if they had a copy for sale, that if I rent it and decide not to return it after the two days and instead bring it back in a week or two, then I have the option of buying it. The price is $12.99 minus the cost of renting it $6.00. I kept asking if she was sure - that just sounded too good to be true. It was almost if I could be rewarded for returning a movie late!!! She just laughed and said yes. So I watched it later on. Good movie!!!! I think I might just not be returning it. Still can't get over that - a good movie for basically $6.00
I cut the grass again today. It's a good thing the lawn mower, the &*#@&^% electric lawn mower makes noise that drowned out all the cussing! I hate that thing and it's just not doing it when I tell myself it's good exercise!
And - last but not least - I figured out to order books from Chapters. I ordered Dream Thief, Hard Evidence and Hot Nights earlier in the week so I'm thinking Tuesday (Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada) should be a good mail day.

'til later

Authors behaving goodly

It seems there is much written in blogs these days when an author seems to behave badly. Right or wrong - I don't care - I really don't get involved much in those discussions. But I think the opposite really needs to brought to attention! When authors do something good!!!

I just found out that Julie Kenner is sponsoring an auction for Love Without Borders. She is also adopting a little girl from China and is telling the story on her blog. Looking at the list of contributing authors on the side, I am amazed and awed at their generosity.

Be sure to check out the link and the auction she is holding on E-Bay. What a wonderful thing she and all the authors are doing!

'til later

I'm headed out of town shortly to visit a friend. Tomorrow I'm going for lunch with a friend and later on I'm having a few people over for a chick flick/romance movie night. (one of the movies is The Outsider with Tim Daly) I turned all the radio stations on to BOB FM - they play favourite music of the 80's, 90's and whatever. A song came on that I like with a lively beat and I started to bop to the music. Then it was like a string just jolted me. How could I feel happiness!!!! I've been coping pretty well, but for a moment there I was very happy. So of course then the guilt hit. It hasn't been that long and is it too soon to have those happy times? I've always been an optimist. That's one area Ron and I sort of balanced each other out - I'm the optimist, he was the pessimist. I miss him so much but I am slowly starting to feel OK at times. I KNOW I will see him again. I KNOW he is with me. He is so in the house in presence. A few people have asked if I plan on staying here and there is no question that I will. The house is all paid off and this is just where Ron is. He loved this house and it's the place he was most at peace and where he felt comfort so there is no question of me moving. He told me to go on without him - to live. But today - after the string pulled me I got to thinking it was too soon.
I think I need to give myself permission to have happy times. And to feel that permission that Ron would give me. I know it's what Ron would want. I think that's one of the things that he loved about me - that I could find joy in so many places. If the situation were reversed, I would want him to feel joy. Of course he very rarely felt it, but I would want him to feel it.
So today that's what I'm going to do. Let myself be happy at times. It doesn't mean I didn't and still do love him with all my heart. It doesn't mean I don't miss him deep inside all the time. It doesn't mean I'm still not going to experience those times when the tears won't stop and I hurt from crying. But if another song comes on the radio I want to bop to, I am giving myself permission to dance along to the music. It's what I used to do. And Ron will probably be watching, covering his ears as I sing along and think she really can't dance that well.

Last Nights Lost

Well - it's a new season of Lost so a new season of Last Night's Lost. I know for many of you, it might still be Wednesday, but here in my neck of the woods, it's after midnight so officially the title is correct.
I must admit to being quite disappointed by this season opener. The opening was a shocker. Who'd have thought The Others had such a community going with a book club and all.
With the show just focusing on Jack, Sawyer and Kate, I really missed out on not seeing what happened with Desmond. That was what I've been waiting for. And I don't really 'get' the villianization of Jack. When the show first started you had Jack as the hero and Sawyer as the antihero. Now they really seem to be changing the character of Jack over last season and the season opener. I don't like what they are doing to his character.
And why were they listening to such old music like Downtown, yet they had current-up-to-the-minute information on the survivors! That doesn't make sense.
And what was with that lovesick look between Sawyer and Kate and him giving her almost the whole fish biscuit? The old Sawyer wouldn't have done that. I admit I like them as a couple better than her and Jack but just as they are making Jack look to bad, at least in last night's show, they seemed to have taken the teeth out of Sawyer.
And just to look at Henry Gale/Ben gives me the creeps. I can take him in small doses, but ick he makes me shudder.
I wanted to see more of the other survivors and was quite disappointed we didn't get to see any of them.
I discovered not long ago that because of the cable we have that I can watch shows later on in the evening from the west coast. Normally I would rewatch Lost to try and pick up clues but I couldn't be bothered with last night's show I disliked it that much!
If I were to grade last night show, I would give it a D-.

So - unto other news.

Arthur the dog has left to be with his mommy. He was very excited to see her and left me with narry a backwards glance. And after all I did for him. Zina the cat was glad to see the last of him though. I thought she would hide longer but after tiptoeing cautiously out of the bedroom this morning, just to make sure he was really gone, she stuck to me like glue on rice after that. At least I got to practice some more with my new toy.


I obviously still don't have the eye thing down yet.


Isn't she such a sweet thang?

Arthur's mommy brought me back a present to remind me of Arthur the dog when he's gone. Somehow I don't think I will be forgetting Arthur the dog though.


Now while Zina had 'issues' with Arthur the dog, she did like the dog pillow.


Now I know (once again) why I sometimes have problems with shows like AI where the audience votes in for who goes home. There is no way Vivaca A Fox should have gone home from Dancing with the Stars last night!!

'til later

Just a quick reminder

In case anyone forgot

SEASON PREMIER FOR LOST TONIGHT

Arthur the Dog

sub title

Adventures in baby(dog)sitting



First off - before I go on, I have to say Arthur is a wonderful dog. He's well behaved (mostly) and rather peaceful and excellent company for dog people. Also, as you can see by the pictures, he's a most handsome dog. And if I were a dog person, I would love Arthur for my very own. But I'm much more of a cat person than a dog person so this exercise in dog sitting is.......challenging. There are 231 reason why I will never own a dog and Arthur has reinforced a few of them.

Reason # 57
Fur or hair or whatever you call it. Again as you can see Arthur is a gorgeous dog. I could only dream my hair would be such a rich hue of colours, from golden blond to deep red to chocolate brown - beautifully and richly toned! And now I have much of that fur or hair or whatever you call it all over the house to remind me once Arthur departs. It is on my clothes. It is on my furniture. It is on my carpets. It is on my food. It is inside my dishes. It is EVERYWHERE.

Reason # 183
Having to get up and out of the house almost immediately upon waking. Yes, dogs like humans, have to have certain needs relieved as soon as they get up. Unfortunately they need their beloved owners to get up and out in order to help them. Nothing like stumbling almost blindly out that door before a morning coffee.

Reason # 64
Need. Yes dogs have needs. They need attention. They need love. They need to know they are wanted and adored. Cats, on the other hand, could care less. I admire that in an animal. I feel somewhat helpless in the overwhelming need dogs have to be loved.

Reason # 126
Guilt. This goes along with Reason # 64. I just don't love Arthur as much as he seems to love me. I feel so guilty when I look into his adoring eyes and think "I'm just not that into you." Reminds me of years and years and years ago when I broke up with a couple of boyfriends.

Reason # 215
Peeing. I don't know if female dogs (or bitches - heh heh) pee as much as male dogs, but man oh man can that dog pee!! Every shrub, tree, post - whatever - he lifts his leg and lets it go. Where does he store it all???? Now I noticed this phenomena a while ago but I went for a walk with my neighbour and Arthur the dog the other night and watched laughingly as she started counting the number of times that dog peed. I told her that's where the expression "marking his territory" came from.

Reason # 152
Grass. What is so fascinating about a single stalk of grass that he has to spend 5 minutes sniffing it. There are hundreds of billions of blades of grass, yet every so often one particular piece seems to fascinate him and I have to practically pull my arm out of it's socket getting him to move on.

Reason # 15
Whinning. While Arthur the dog is mostly well behaved, every so often he starts whinning. I think he realizes it's been a while since he saw his mom or something but he whines in this rather high-pitched way and won't stop until I pet him and pay attention to him for about 20 minutes.

Reason # 148
Noses. Dogs have very wet, very cold noses. And they love to 'nose' you in your upper arm or some other place on your body you are sure to notice.

Reason # 99
Crotch sniffing. 'nuff said.

Reason # 228
Puking. Now this one is a biggy for me!! Arthur the dog puked on my carpet. My nice, freshly, paid $60 to steam clean, off white carpet. The carpet I've always wanted but waited until the kids were grown and out (before they came back again) and no pets carpet. I was on the phone talking to his mommy when I heard him make this noise. I turned around and saw this yellowish bile vomit. I think her ears are still ringing from my cry of distress. I frantically tried to clean it, there is still a faint yellow tinge. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of it?



Reason #1 (now this one will be graphic so you may choose not to read the number 1 reason I will never get a dog)
Dog shit!!!!!!! We don't have a fenced in yard so I have to walk Arthur the dog so he can do his thing. Now being a responsible dog sitter and very aware there are laws dealing with scooping the poop, the first time I took him for his dog shitting walk, I carried a plastic bag. Why he had to wait until the farthest part of the walk to shit I do not know. And when I picked it up it was warm eeewwww. And squishy eeewwww. So I had to carry smelly dog shit for most of the walk. And then!!! didn't Arthur the dog shit AGAIN!!!! I only had one bag with me. I didn't know he would shit twice!! So I bent to pick it up and the first shit fell out. So I had to pick up the first shit. And then, while trying to shovel all the shit into the bag, my finger slipped and smushed into the squished dog shit. EEEEEEWWWWW EEEEEEWWWWWW EEEEEWWWW. I practically ran home after that, dangling bag of dog shit bouncing along. I washed my hands with soap, then washed them again, then washed them again.
I was telling another neighbour this yesterday and after she stopped laughing, she gave me a pair of latex gloves for the next time. And what do you do with it once you get home? Thankfully it was garbage day the first day so I just put the bad of squished smelly dog shit right into the garbage, but what do I do with this mornings offering?? I would dump it into the toilet but I still don't have the hang of picking up dog shit and it's all sqished into the bag. (Thank the stars above for those latex gloves!!! When I got home, I washed them and washed them and washed them - they are mostly clean now but as soon as Arthur the dog goes home - they are toast) I'm NOT bringing that bag of squished smelly dog shit into the house! So I put it into the other bag I carried - learned that lesson fast I tell you - carry 2 plastic bags! and left it by the corner of the house. Once Arthur the dog goes home and before I dispose of the latex gloves, I'll use them one last time to gather all the bags of squished smelly dog shit and put them into one big bag and put it in the garbage bin.

'til later

ETA

Zina, the Princess Warrior Cat is still MIA. I did find her briefly yesterday in one of the bedrooms but as I was trying to comfort her, Arthur the dog came trotting down the hall and I think she has found a new hiding spot. I moved her food there and it was all gone this morning so she is peeping out once in a while. Some warrior. I tried explaining to her that Arthur the dog is a nice dog, he has a cat of his own, and he just wants to play with her, but she didn't seem to buy it.

Now does this make sense?

I discovered the nuttiest thing today. Around the end of the one month, the beginning of the next month, I start checking Chapters on line to see if the book I NEED for the month are in yet. There are a number of NEED books this month but most of them still aren't in the stores. You can check this using the store locator feature. One book on my NEED list was in stock though - The Dream Thief by Shanna Abe. The book store isn't far away and I was out anyway, so I stopped there on the way home, the adrenelin pumping at the thought of my newest purchase. Another book I've been waiting for, Parallel Heat by Dierdre Knight wasn't in Chapters but there were a few copies in their sister store, Smith books - both owned by Indigo. This store was also on the way home so I figured I would stop at Chapters, then at Smith books. Now when I looked The Dream Thief up, it's $24.00 - which while seemingly expensive, is not bad for hardcovers in Canada. But the good thing is it is on sale for 24% off. Add in the 10% discount I get with my Avid Reader card and a $24.00 book becomes $17.33 for a hardcover book. Still rather costly, but acceptable when I NEED this book. I stopped at Chapters, found the book, and looked for the 24% off sticker. It was nowhere on the book. Slightly annoyed, mainly because I knew I wouldn't experience instant gratification on this day, I asked a store clerk about it. She said "No, the price of books in the stores isn't necessarily the same as the books you can buy online. But", she added "If you buy it in the store you don't have to pay for shipping." As we were standing in front of a kiosk at the time, with a big display on it that said "Free shipping with any order over $39.00" I pointed that out to her and asked her if she knew how easy it was to spend $39.00? That's nothing! Then she went on to tell me that they are different. "Huh?" I thought. Chapters book store and Chapters on-line are different? Doesn't make sense to me! There are quite a few books I've been wanting and I've noticed many of them are 9% off when you order online. Most have next day delivery, so the wait isn't too bad. So what is the point of getting them in the stores? So I'm off shortly to sign up for Chapters online. I believe I can come up with a $39 order :)
Let's see - I have The Dream Thief, Parallel Heat, Hot Night (which also has a 24% sticker - I bet it's the same!), Hard Evidence - yep, they will take me $39. And when they come in - mail I can open!

And *sigh* there have been no Zina sightings today. Boy is she gonna be mad at me. 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' ain't nothing compared to a pissed off cat.

'til later

I got a new toy!!

I needed a new mouse so I headed for the electronics store yesterday. Lisa and I picked up the mouse and just kind of wandered over to the digital cameras - just for the heck of it. Ha! After having to give Ryan back his camera, I couldn't rest until I got one of my own. We casually (ha!) looked at a few of them and I finally picked one out. It turned out to be a very costly mouse visit.
Of course once I got home I had to practice using it. And what better thing to practice on then my 'library' (Ha! That's what I had in mind all the time.) So - here they are - more pictures. The camera I must say takes great pictures and if you click on them, they really look great!


Here are a few of my Krentz books (for Rosario)


And here are some of my hardcovers which are in the bookcase upstairs. You can see I'm a real Linda Howard, Nora Roberts and Jayne Anne Krentz fan!

In other news I'm dog sitting for the next couple of days. Now Lisa said it was OK to say this, but while Arthur the dog is a very nice dog and generally well behaved, I'm not really a dog person. But Arthur does make a good subject for my picture taking obsession As you can see, I don't have the eyes thing down yet.

Now I would have taken more pictures of Zina, but she happened to spot Arthur shortly after he arrived. I did not know cats could run that fast. I have a feeling dear Zina will be making herself scarce for the next few days.


The camera is tired now and needs a rest. I shall try and curb my enthusiasm but for now - it's picture time :)


'til later