Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Update


Hey all...yesterday's outpatient surgery went pretty well. I am of course at home now but my computer needs a bit of surgery itself to get it up and running so i won't be updating to much.

Just wanted everyone to know that I am doing well. Have not needed the pain meds yet and don't think I will if I take it easy, something I am not going to do, oh well.

However if I ever see the anesthesiologist again that man better run. After all I did tell him I was small and that meds worked really fast on me. The worst thing about yesterday is that I think he used to much "knock you out"med. I was sick all day and sleepy all day. so much fun to wake up b/c you have to throw up. Sorry for the over share.

Anyway I should be back to normal in time to make the big move. Joy!

I'll keep everyone posted as soon as I hear back from the doc, he is biopsying the lump today.

Paranormal, Sci-Fi and General Fiction

Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Bk 4) is the latest in the series, alas all Briggs' fans must wait till February 2010 for the next chapter. I enjoyed this book, as I have enjoyed all of them in the series, some more than others.

This book goes back to Mercy's relationship with the Vampires which started in Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson, Bk 2) which is my least favorite. She is still getting over a brutal rape that took place in Iron Kissed (Bk 3) and if you read my review of that book Patricia Briggs handled the intense situation in an excellent manner. Also, Mercy has finally decided who she will be with Adam or Sam, so the relationship between her chosen one blossoms in this book.

As you can tell I am trying to be vague and not put to many spoilers in. After all if you are a fan it is much more fun to read the storyline than have it told to you.

Overall this book is my third favorite in the series, here is the order in which I like them most to least.
1. Iron Kissed (Bk 3)
2. Moon Called (Bk 1)
3. Bone Crossed (Bk 4)
4. Blood Bound (Bk 2)

I am anxiously awaiting book 5, Silver Borne, and if you have read them all then you will probably suspect what I do, that this book will be about the fae. Hope Patricia finally gives us a hint as to what and where Zee is.


Gone, is the first Sci-Fi book I have read in a very long time, on top of that it is a Young Adult. When this arrived in my mailbox via PBS I was so excited I had to read it right away. Alas, it was a bit of a let down.

The overall story is one that has been done before, all the adults disappear leaving anyone under 15 to fend for themselves. Of course the author does have a few tricks up his sleeves that make it more interesting.

My main problem with this novel is that I did not like the "good guys". I understand that they are suppose to have some internal struggle about doing the right thing but in this case it felt more like a character flaw/weakness than a simple moral struggle.

I do however really like how he wrote/developed his "bad guys" they are truly evil in different ways.

This is the first book in the series the sequel comes out sometime this year and is called "Hunger" I do plan on reading it b/c I think it will have some more about the "bad guys" since that was hinted at the end of Gone. There are also some unanswered questions about how all the adults disappeared and why that I would like to see how the author resolves.

I'd say if you like Sci-Fi that this is a good read since it does approach a commonly written plot in a new and interesting way, just be prepared to think that a few of the main characters are a bit wimpy.



The Covenant was our latest and my last book club book. I say my last because I am moving. And I did not like it one bit...I think if I had read it three years ago, which is how long it has been sitting on my To Be Read pile that I would have enjoyed it but it was just to serious for me right now.

Also, I found it unbelievable. There are two main story lines, one where a father and daughter are kidnapped and the other is about 4 Jewish women who were in Auschwitz together. Somehow these 4 old ladies pull their resources and miraculously find and set up a rescue for the kidnapped father and daughter (who are related to one of the women). They do this all in about 48 hours.

I am of the opinion that this failure to make the plot believable is a failure of the authors writing ability. Come on I read fantasy and paranormal and sci-fi and I find a lot more of that stuff believable than I found this book.

My favorite parts were the flashbacks to the woman as teens in Auschwitz and learning who they because after escaping. I guess when I read the back cover I expected more 0f that.

So overall this one I found a little to heavy and unbelievable. But other members of the book club did enjoy it. Most of them being about 3-5 years younger than me so taking my theory of, I would have enjoyed it 3 years ago. this probably is a good read. You just need to want to read some heavy sad literature.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Circles



This week over at One Powerful Hour the theme is Circles.


I made these stickers for my daughter who is Potty Training. The stamp is one that Wendy from Repeat Impressions asked her Design Team to use. When I saw it I just knew it was perfect for Kudzoo's reward.


The paper is a full sheet mailing label that I washed with the Sparkeling H2o's then cut the circles and stamped the image on. To make them sturdier I covered them with clear embossing powder ( I wanted to use page pebbles but could not find any the right size) as a finishing touch I added some glitter.


I have also turned some of these into magnets so they can be reused!


This was a very fun art item to make and DD really loves them and that above everything else makes it worth while!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Serenity



This week over at One Powerful Hour Lisa has set the challenge to use a piece of Impressionist art in our creation.

I was on vacation when the challenge was posted but I had a lot of different ideas. What I eventually made is not one of my ideas :) I am not a fan of Monet at all, Degas is more my style but when I went to my trusted old art book I saw Claude Monet's Le Bassin d'Argenteuil (Sailing along the Seine) and had to use it.

You can not see very well but I overstamped a map image all over the painting and covered it with blue pearl ex powder. Then I added the woman image since everything I have read about Impressionist art is that it had a lot of "human forms" so I thought the image needed one. Then, I got stuck LOL...

So I decided to read the paragraph about this painting and it started like this "The Impressionist were drawn to painting outdoor leisure activity, and many of their prototypical works depict scenes from resort areas along the Seine River..." Well, that is all I needed, I stamped the letters to spell Serenity and added a dragonfly (not 100% happy with its colors) To finish it all off I added photo corners, hoping to give the impression that the altered painting is still a painting.

When I went to mount the piece I really liked the excess blue instead of an even 1/8" boarder, to me it looks more like it is hanging on a wall and all the blue makes it more serene.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge even though at first glance it sounds really hard, but mine was done in no time at all, I managed to clean and scan my image and post this blog all in the one hour time limit! i think that is the best i have ever done.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Similar but yet Totally different

I just finished two books that had totally different plot lines but yet a lot of similarities and I find it odd that I really liked one and not the other.

Bite Me is a Young Adult book about a Vampire Slayer who struggles with an alter personality of a demon. You Slay Me is about a woman who discovers she is part of a very paranormal world and is a mate to a dragon. So they are both paranormal.

The other similarity is that the best character (in my opinion) in each book was the Dog. Yes, they both had a dog that was a demon. Well in Bite Me it is half demon but still. And both these dogs had great sarcastic personalities and would do anything to save the main character.



I really enjoyed Bite Me, even though it was pitched to me as a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" type book and I was not a Buffy fan. The main character of course is flawed but you still like her and feel for her.

I however did not like You Slay Me. The main character was a ditz and the romance line was out there, she is a mate to a dragon, yes he has a human body also, but she can't decide if she likes him or hates him. But yet she is all on board with how he makes her "feel" I guess I need justification for the romance line and there was none. I have no intention of reading any more books in this series as I found it shallow and stupid at best. I will however try one of her other series because I have heard good things about this author.

Maybe I just didn't want to be reading this particular genre when I was. I've noticed that since i have broadened the types of books I read that at certain times I do need a paranormal and others I need my heavy historical fiction.





View From Inside the Ballet Studio

This week over at One Powerful Hour the challenge is to fill in the blank.

"View From _______________"

I was not going to enter this week since I already made the piece for the challenge site but I was working on next weeks challenge (shhh...it's going to be Impressionist Art) and had the ballerina stamp out and was struck with inspiration that I could not ignore.

So, here is the "View From Inside the Ballet Studio" I hope you enjoy and please go check out One Powerful Hour!