Review Alert

I don't know why it is, but I love seeing reviews of books I've loved where they love it too. The lastest - Jessica's and Tumperkin's thoughts on The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie is posted at Racy Romance Reviews.

I gots nothin'

Just thought I'd do a blog about nothing. Seinfeld was a great show about nothing so here is a blog post about nothing.

I'm doing good but I'm in a state of indecision. I just can't think of anything to blog about. I'm in that mode where I can't seem to settle on anything to read. It's not a reading slump so much as none of my books are calling my name loader than any other ones. I've started a number but none of them are jumping out at me.

I can't even decide what to call the new kitten. I named her Callie but that doesn't really seem to suit her and I'm not quite sure what does. She's adorable and I love her - but she's driving me crazy. She is the MOST curious cat I've ever had. She has to be into everything. And her latest 'thing' to do is start biting at my toes around 3:00 in the morning. Last night I shut the bedroom door but I don't like doing that.

I have an appointment to get my hair done shortly but I don't even know how I want it!!

I can't decide anything!!!!

Who wants to play?

This went around a couple of years ago and now that there are a lot more bloggers, I think it would be fun to do it again. I also think it tells a little bit about us *g*

What am I talking about??

I'm curious to see what others have as their wallpaper. Now that I have two computers, I have two different wallpapers. And since I live by myself and don't have to worry about a significant other seeing it every day, I can have whatever I want - heh heh heh.

Here is the wallpaper on my desktop computer. I don't think it will shock anyone.

*Shiver*

And here is the one I have on my new laptop - courtesy of Nath

Ooooh la la!!

It's easy to do - just do a Print Screen of your desktop and paste it into Paint and save as a JPeg file. So - anyone game?

And another one has joined!!

Yes, we have us another one! Another what you ask? Why - another Crusader.

Heather of Heather's Reading Romance is the newest one to fall in love with North and South. In fact she wants to change her vote for the best kissing scene.

I'm back after a great few days

So - my blogging has been kind of spotty the past couple of days. First of all Nath came and stayed with me and then we went to stay with Cindy for a couple of days. On Saturday we had a great day when we met with Lea of ClosetWriter and a Mary, a friend of hers who fit right in. It's always amazing how great it is to get together with other bloggers and fellow book lovers. We checked out a number of book stores over the past few days; first Nath and I here and then when we went to see Cindy. It was a great day and if you visit the others they have pictures. A warning though - I shudder at having my picture taken.

While I didn't get a lot of books at Chapters as I'm trying to hold out for Washington, I couldn't help getting a few:

In Bed with A Stranger by Mary Wine












Riding Wild by Jaci Burton











On the other hand, I went crazy in the UBS's. I ended up with 18! That's too many to put pics of all, but I did score on some good ones!

Outlaw's Bride by Maureen McKade!!

This is one I've been trying to find for a number of years now and was close to breaking down and ordering it on Amazon. Wendy should be pleased with this find! It's a Western!!








Captain of my Heart by Danelle Harmon

She isn't writing anymore but she had a wonderful series a number of years ago so I'm always on the lookout for her early books.

The great thing about these two is they are in almost perfect condition.








In Destiny's Arms by Christine Michels

I was excited to find this one. I have a soft spot for these early futuristics and I have one or two other books by this author.










It's been a wonderful few days and it's going to be a bit tough going back to regular life.

ETA

And I can't believe someone I forgot to mention!!! Ames, while not with us in person, was with us on camera. We had a number of video chats - and got to 'meet' her newest puppy - though she says it is her Mom's puppy. I think we know who the real owner will be ;-)

Weekend Update - no, not a Saturday Night Live Scit

So - Nath and I are here at Cindy's and 'talking' via Web Cam to Ames. It's a hectic evening as you can imagine - and well past my bedtime and not even close to Cindy's *g* Meanwhile I think Ames is 'chatting' with Holly. We have two computers going - my new laptop and Cindy's. Then there is Ames at the other end.

You may notice a few changes in the blog look - Ames and Nath have been playing with it.

We are all excited that tomorrow we will be meeting another blogger - Lea of the the kissing contests and Mary, a friend of hers. Laughter will ensue. Pictures will follow.

Retail Therapy - Part four

I. MUST. STOP. NOW!!!

Almost as exciting as getting books in the mail is getting movies. These just arrived. I was in the mood for some nice pirating adventure and some nice Sean Bean :)

long delayed kitchen pics

Nath, wonderful Nath showed me how to download pics so though this is quite a bit late, here are my before and during and after kitchen pictures.

Before










As you can see, very 70 ish, very dated and very ugly!!









During




























Again - as you can see and isn't it nice to say that - things were very dark and then they became very blue. And there is a new floor



After


There is still more I didn't include like the dining room table and leather chairs that Destructo Cat demolished - but you get the *wink* picture of what it looks like.

Testing...

Nath here, making Kristie's life easier by playing with the html code of her blog... so don't pay any attention to this post :P

Of course, if you notice any changes (which I don't think you will LOL), feel free to comment.

Retail Therapy - Part Trois

So - I thought I was done but it turned out I really wasn't. For anyone who didn't know, Nath is visiting me. She arrived yesterday by train. After we got back to my place so she could unload and see the 'library', we headed over to Chapters. I was very good and only got one book, In bed with a Stranger by Mary Wine (Nath however got many more but I'll let her tell on her blog). After Chapters there just happens to be a Future Shop next door. Now I've wanted a lap top computer for a while now, the thought of actually buying one was terrifying to me - being the technically challenged kind of girl I am. But having Nath with me boosted my confidence. She at least knew what to look for and had asked a friend of hers for help.

So!
I did it.

I bought a laptop and I'm doing this post in the kitchen!!!! Oh the freedom!! I can now go anywhere if the house. I can blog while watching TV. I can check my email while in the bathroom! I'm psyched. After dinner she is going to show me how to work the camera. Pictures to come! Everyone will be able to see Destructo Cat.

Lea reminded me with a recent post that I haven't seen two of the biggy medieval type movies - The Last Knight and King Arthur. But here is one that I have seen - and own - and really like - Kingdom of Heaven. And I love the song in this video too - Loreena McKennitt. And best of all Lea - there is a kissing scene in this one

A Grammatical Question

I used to to know the difference - and it doesn't seem that long ago, but call it aging grey matter but now I'm getting confused and it's driving me nuts!!

What is the difference between then and than in a sentence and when does one use which??? I have this horrid feeling I'm getting them confused now - and I don't like that one little bit. No siree I do not!! So I must get them back into the grey matter in order to avoid embarrassment when using the wrong word.

Much obliged.

Ponderings

Things to ponder on a boring day at work – when I’m not in the mood too…..


I use the phone a lot at work to verify numbers. I use the key pad and hear those notes. I’m always tempted to just kind of ‘play’ and see if I can bang out Yankee Doodle or the ABC song. Unfortunately they have a few with really off sounding key tones. I wonder why they did that? Maybe to keep people from playing Yankee Doodle or the ABC song? And I wonder if there is someone who is at the other end if you do play Yankee Doodle and if they get tired of people calling them.


Right now my chestal area is driving me crazy itchy. I can’t very well lift up my shirt, move my bra and start scratching – but boy do I want to!


Does anyone else freak about losing their hair? I look in the sink sometimes at the amount of hair that has fallen out and almost tremble. I’m not vain about many things about me – not at all – but I’ve always thought I had “good hair”. Hairdressers always seem to agree though they could just be saying that to keep me as a client. But my hair is my one vanity and I worry sometimes about losing it. My mother-in-law is almost bald and the thought of looking like that is appalling! I used to be somewhat vain about my eyes to but then the darned things went and changed colour and I’m not quite sure anymore.


I love my new little kitten. While I “officially” named her Cally the Calico Cat – she is more appropriately known as Destructo Cat. One of the reasons I decided to get another one was to keep Zina company while I’m at work. The two of them play and play and play. Sometimes they get rather rough with each other though. I should have realized it, but cats can have completely different personalities. These two do. Cally – or Destructo – is the most curious cat I’ve ever seen!!! She has to be in my face – or around my ankles more like – constantly. She’s continually mewing when I accidently step on her paw because she has walked directly in front of me. I’m going to have to start walking with my head down instead of my head up and my arms swinging cheerfully……..ok – I don’t really walk like that – but still – just because I get depressed doesn’t mean I want to look like I am when I walk! And nosy?! She has to get her nose into everything! I was packing up books last night and went to close the lid. I didn’t notice her paw as in there. OUCH. Of course now my hand is all scratched to shit.


I’m addicted to McDonald’s hash browns. I don’t like that I am. I know they aren’t good for me. But just the thought of them gets me to drooling. It’s a good thing they are only serve them until 11:00 – and that I like to eeeeeaaaaasssssseeeee into my days on the weekends unless I’m working. If I’m working I figure I need a reward

Retail Therapy - Part Deux

First off - thank you to all of you for your words of encouragement!! It was so comforting to read them all and know that I have such a wonderful bunch pulling for me. And to Lisa - I did check out that site and bookmarked it. There are some great suggestions. And knowing too that so many of you suffer too - while I feel bad that I'm not the only one - still it helps knowing I'm not alone.

Now for more Retail Therapy 0r What I Did After Work.

First off I stopped at the beer store. I don't normally drink it very often, but on a hot summer day when I'm done working it just seems to hit the spot! Ron always drank Labatts Blue and since I'm very far from a beer connoisseur, I go with Molson Canadian 'cause I think their commercials are funny.







They just crack me up!!

Anyway - next stop was Home Outfitters. The big purchase there were a trio of lamps - two table and one floor. I mean - one gets new furniture so one of course needs new lamps to accessorize doesn't one?

Next stop - Chapters! I kept it low though knowing I'll be getting bunches and bunches of books in July. Renegade by Sarah Parr was my only purchase. I knew I'd have to get this one after reading Katiebabs review.

I thought I did very well at stopping at one.

Then it was onto Walmart. I was looking for a cheap chair to go with the other furniture but alas I didn't see any. But! I did get two bookshelves. And they were such a good price and I have so many books, I think I'm going to have to get another one. I also got a new painting to hang on the wall downstairs. There was one, but it was one that Ron's grandmother painted - and it looked like something someone's grandmother would paint! *shudder*.

When I finally made it home, I saw that Landscaper Guy had been to cut the grass. Now, while things still look pretty bad around outside the house, at least the grass isn't too long. I'm going to have to take before and after pics. And pics of the Destruco Kitten.

I spent the rest of the night boxing up books to take downstairs. So far I have five bins full - and that's just the one bedroom! I still have the bathroom, kitchen, two more bedrooms and living room to pack up. I called both sons to see if they could come over tomorrow after I'm done working and do grunt work for me. Men are good for heavy lifting.

Anyway, after scaring myself with the amount of money I spent, I'm feeling ever so much better!

Baby Steps

Plus - it's my weekend to work and I have to leave for work about five minutes ago, but Aztec Lady has a great review on one of my favourite books over at Karen Scott's blog.

MIA

So – you may have noticed I’ve been somewhat absent lately. Depression has raised it’s ugly head again and I’ve been battling it – sometimes it’s been winning – sometimes I have been. I really do need to do some more research into so I can at least try and get a handle on when it will hit because that is one of the most frustrating things. I just don’t know when it will raise its ugly head. I think this time work has been the culprit. We have been going through major changes and while I’m pretty good at handling change overall, this has been particularly difficult. They have taken away most of the previous work we used to do – work I enjoyed doing – and as yet haven’t replaced it. I come in knowing I have almost nothing to do for the day. This trips into a number of things, my need to be busy, my overblown sense of guilt that I’m coming into work and getting paid for doing nothing. And I’ve been yanked around like a yo-yo as to when I will get the training I need to do the new workload. Add to the fact that I’m still dealing with the issue that so bothered me before and after the first few years of loving coming to work – it’s the opposite now. I’m finding that a hard adjustment.

The thing about depression is it’s so silent. Looking back it was obviously creeping up, but it wasn’t until it hit me full force on Monday, when I just couldn’t make it to work, that I realized it had ‘got’ me again. I hate when that happens.

So I did some major retail therapy on the way home the other night!! There were 2 sofas or couches in the basement rec room along with 2 chairs. They are old, old, old and for a while now I’ve wanted to get rid of them and get something else. My soon to be visitor is a major impetus for getting me moving on fixing things up. But I didn’t have anyone who could remove them until I helped my friend move and it turns out her movers do all kinds of odd jobs – including junk removal. They came over last night to get rid of the stuff and a funny happened. I didn’t get a chance to totally clean the room up and there was a huge spill over from the ‘library’, all romance books of course. When he asked if I liked romance, I stood proudly and answered yep – what was your first clue in a laughing kind of voice.

“Well, cause that’s me on the cover.” He answered pointing to one particular beefcake cover. I thought that was a riot as well, he was kind of cute (and a happily married new father) he certainly wasn’t the ‘beefcake’ kind of looking.

My ‘therapy’ was the purchase of a new sofa (on sale at less then half price) and chair. They should be delivered tomorrow!

And if that weren’t enough, I had a landscaper over tonight to look at what I can do to landscape around the house. Since Ron died I’ve pretty much neglected the outside of the house. He used to take care of that stuff and it’s really starting to look neglected. But hopefully soon it will start looking better.

Between that, the upcoming blogging meet and RWA in July, I just might beat this funk.

ReRead Challenge for May

Nath's ReRead Challenge for May

I’ve been delighted this past little while to discover more readers discovering Jodi Thomas. I’ve been reading and enjoying her books for years now. I think I must have loaned out the book I was planning on reading or else it’s in the ‘pile’ so when I was going through the library’ (and may I take this opportunity to say I’m dying to see what Nath thinks of it) I came across my older Jodi Thomas books and pulled out my favourite one.

The Tender Texan by Jodi Thomas

Published: 1991

Why this one: It called out the loudest

Steam Level: it starts out cool, but builds to a very warm boil

Synopsis:

A Shocking Proposition
Bold and beautiful, Anna Meyer dared to walk into a campsite full of Texas cattlemen . . . and offer one hundred dollars to the man who'd help her forge a frontier homestead.

A Reckless Agreement

On the brink of manhood, Chance Wyatt agreed to settle down and build a home with the lovely stranger. The boy in him never considered the possibility of love. But the man in him could not deny the passion . . .

They vowed to live together for one year only. But as the challenges of the savage land drew them closer together, neither could resist an aching desire that enflamed their hearts, touched their souls . . . and broke all the rules

My Thoughts: I like this book. I mean I really, really like it. A lot. It’s a great representative of why I love the Western genre. I like it.

Chance Wyatt is a dream of a hero. He’s the strong and silent type that is there for the heroine at all times. And even more intriguing, he is younger than Anna – and one of those delicious virgin heroes. I love a good Alpha hero, but as times is nice to read about a great Beta hero and Chance is one of the best ones I’ve read.

Anna, on the other hand is one of the prickliest heroines I’ve read. Don’t get me wrong, I really loved her character, but because of her prickliness, an Alpha hero never would have worked for her. She needs someone calm and patient and gentle with her. It’s not that Chance doesn’t have his moments and stands up to her when he needs to, but at times she even tried my patience a bit. She is a young, pregnant widow who has been horribly abused by her late husband and is afraid to get close to a man again, though she needs one to help her carve out a home for herself in the west.

There is not a great deal of external conflict in this book, though there is some as they deal with the harshness of the land and the threat of attack by the Comanche who are unhappy with their land being overtaken, though they are never really attacked. Rather it’s the story of a damaged, lonely young woman slowly being healed by love by an equally lonely young man.

I think this is probably the third or fourth time I’ve read this book over the years and after reading it again, I know it won’t be the last time either. I really, really love this book. If you’ve enjoyed Jodi Thomas, I really urge you to look for this one, it will be well worth the time.

Chance gets a 5, Anna gets a 4 so the final grade: 4.5 out of 5

Recent Movie

I don’t get to the show many times a year – it’s not so much the price of the movie that keeps me away, it’s the cost of pop and popcorn. It’s a sad thing when that costs you more than the admission to the movie! But it’s just not a ‘movie experience’ without it! But it was my sister Lisa’s birthday yesterday and that was her present from me to her – dinner and a movie.

Now I’ve been trying to get Lisa to do a guest post on here for a while but she hates romance and thus not a whole lot for her to post about. We did have a deal awhile ago – I’d read one of her kind of books if she’d read one of mine. And I put a lot of thought into which book to give her. I knew she would balk at straight up romance so I thought a nice RS might do the trick. And what better one thought I than Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard. It has a serial killer right??

Well – she welched on our deal – said it was to ‘romancy’. So that I thought, was that.

But as I was starting to do a review for Star Trek I had a scathingly brilliant idea. While Lisa may never read and review a romance, I know she enjoyed Star Trek. I emailed her and asked if she would do a movie review for me and (happy dance) she did.

So for your movie reviewing pleasure – may I present……

Star Trek

Review by LisaT – KristieJ’s sister

It was with great trepidation that I agreed to go with my sister to see the new Star Trek movie as part of my birthday celebration. Not that I don't like Sci-Fi - I'm a huge Sci-Fi fan - I watched all the original Star Trek's many, many, many times (who wouldn't love Captain Kirk and his ..... great ...... delivery ..... of.... his ..... lines...... with.....each.....word.....as ....it's .....own .....sentence .....!!). I also watched all the other Star Trek's as they came along - both at the time and in re-runs. No, the trepidation came with the fact that Kristie wanted to see this movie. You see we, as a general rule, have totally different tastes in just about everything. She reads romance - I read (as Kristie calls them) "murder books". I don't want or need (or can even stand) romance in a book. I never read the ending of a book until I actually get to the end of the book - in my mind that would totally spoil the whole experience and why bother to read the rest of the book if you already know how it's going to end???? We also have totally opposite tastes in movies - I like action, adventure, sci-fi and horror - she (big surprise here) likes "chick-flicks", romance, the whole she-bang. So when she actually suggested that we could go and see Star Trek, my first thought was "Hold on just one cotton-pickin' minute - this is supposed to be sci-fi - not romance - I have a baaaaad feeling about this".

(at this point I must interject. Yes, I love romance type movies - but my all time favourite movie is Lord of the Rings - that's an action movie)

But all my fears were unjustified. Star Trek was, indeed, a Sci-fi flick with really not a whole lot of romance involved - just perhaps a teeny-tiny token amount - I won't elaborate so I don't spoil the fun. What it was, was a great prequel to the original Star Trek series with just enough "inside" moments for a true trekkie fan to love (like what exactly happened with the Kobiashi-Maru test and why James T. Kirk was the only person to ever pass the test, how Dr. MacCoy got the nickname "Bones", and what the heck is Ohura's first name (but you have to be quick to catch it)). I will admit that the actor playing Captain James Tiberius Kirk is, indeed, a "hottie". Hence (I think) the attraction for the "romance" set. I don't have anything against "hotties" - just mushy romance:)

But the new Star Trek is basically a great classic Sci-Fi adventure movie. The actors playing the younger versions of the original TV series characters were very well chosen. Checkov was great, as were Sulu and Scottie. The actor playing Doctor MacCoy got the original down pat, and the actor they cast in the role of Spock was just eerie in how much he looked like a younger version of Spock (or Leonard Nimoy). I give this movie two (unromantic) thumbs up.

Lisa T

And though this is Lisa's review - I have to just add that I LOVED it and give it the same! And I want to see it again. See - a romance reader and a horror reader can meet and share like minds!


And I thought I'd pass along this cute quizz. I have to say though - I wasn't too happy with who I am :-(

Your results:
You are An Expendable Character (Redshirt)

An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 75% Uhura 50% Geordi LaForge 50% James T. Kirk (Captain) 45% Jean-Luc Picard 45% Deanna Troi 45% Chekov 40% Will Riker 35% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 30% Beverly Crusher 30% Data 27% Mr. Scott 25% Spock 24% Worf 15% Mr. Sulu 5%

Since your accomplishments are seldom noticed, and you are rarely thought of, you are expendable. That doesn't mean your job isn't important but if you were in Star Trek you would be killed off in the first episode you appeared in.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

And what would a great review be without a trailer.

A Hearty Welcome To

A brand new baby blogger - Monroe with a Twist. And when I say baby blogger - she just opened up her 'place' in May.

Welcome to Blogland!

Stuff

I’m at work and I’m dying of boredom. They taken away most of the jobs we used to do and while they have reassured us many times that, not to worry, we will be getting lots more to replace what we’ve lost, as of right now, I’m done my work for the day and it’s not even noon!!
This is when my mind wanders. OK – it wanders all the time, but it’s even worse when I don’t have anything to keep it busy.

Has this happened to anyone often? I was reading a book, Cate Noble’s Dead Right (as opposed to Kate Noble’s Compromised – yes I have them both. I was at the store trying to figure out which one to buy since I was curious to see how different the author would treat these two different genres – one a RS and the other a historical – only to discover while entering them into the spread sheet they were two different authors) – really getting into it when I turned the page and what I was reading made no sense whatsoever. After a long huh? , I realized that 20 pages were missing!
Luckily I still have the receipt so I’m going to take it back and get another copy tonight, but still – I was on a roll! This happened at work and one good reason why I always carry two books with me!

OK – I was at work and then it got busy (thank goodness!). I did indeed stop on the way home and exchanged books and now (hopefully) I have the full book.

I opened a Twitter account tonight. I have no idea what to do with it now though. It will probably sit there doing nothing until I have enough brains back to figure out what to do. I was pretty reluctant to open one, but it seems everyone has one these days so I thought I’d go against the demographics and open one. I don’t think I fit into the demographics of ‘twittering’

I haven’t actually come out and said so on the blog – but I’m making it official – I’m going to DC, I’m going to DC – to the RWA conven - tion. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and connecting with new ones. Wendy posted a list of the authors who will be at the literacy signing and while there are a few authors I’m sad won’t be there – there are some fab ones who will be!

I’ve hired a lawn service. I’m having my first ‘cut’ tomorrow. My neighbours will be so happy!! And I won’t have to hide my head in shame when I pull out of the driveway and see the long grass. It was kind of cool how I found them. I helped a friend move on Saturday and she found this small company online to move her. When they showed up, I asked them ‘you don’t do lawns by any chance do you?’ And they said Yes! Then – pushing my luck, I asked ‘and what are the odds that you do junk removal?’

‘Good they said – they do that too!!’ Yippee I said – well I didn’t say that out loud. They were all young and attractive and one who is older doesn’t say Yippee out loud.

But I have old, old furniture in the basement and I’ve wanted to get rid of it and replace it with new stuff for a long time now. And my ‘library’ in the one room isn’t large enough anymore so I’m going to have to expand into the next room and with a huge wall unit and 2 beat up and ratty couches and 2 old chairs gone – I’ll have more room! Now I just have to have that done before I have a special guest come and stay with me in a few weeks.