I feel like crap today.

I think I’m sick. I say, “I think” because it’s really just; a sore throat, stuffy nose, achy & sleepy.

When I list it though, it does seem like I am sick.

I think I’m going to go home from work around noon. Nip this in the butt before it turns into something worse.

I think I’m going to buy this one next…

"The Secret History of the Pink Carnation" by Lauren Willig

Though I have two books that I haven’t read yet – but purchased – I’m still looking for more to read. I’ve been reading a sample of “The Secret History of the Pink Carnation” and I found myself laughing more than once.

One line read, “I hate talking into intercoms; I’m never sure if I’m pressing the right button, or speaking into the right receiver, or about to be beamed up by aliens.”

Good for a chuckle.

Its apparently part of a series – which I always like since it pretty much guarantees me another like-read.

Has anyone read this or others in the series?

Book Six, “When Strangers Marry” – Finished

"When Strangers Marry" by Lisa Kleypas

Book Count: Six
Title: When Strangers Marry
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Genre: Romance
Pages: 400

Synopsis: Ravishing Lysette escapes an arranged marriage to seek sanctuary with a man she barely knows — the dark and brooding Maximillian. In his arms, Lysette finds a passion she never expected…and secrets she can hardly believe. Can their love survive?

Thoughts: I was burnt out on all my other romance authors, so when I tried out Kleypas I was pleasantly surprised to find that the books were well written and easily read. This is the fourth book I’ve read by her since getting my Nook and while I’m beginning to notice all the familiar plot lines & themes – just like with all my other romance authors – I’m still enjoying them.

This one was good – but not the best I’ve read. I felt the last chapter was too much of a wrap up. From what I’ve read, this book was actually published once before, but was “edited” and republished again. Its supposed to be tighter, so maybe that’s the reason for the wrap up.

Plus, I’ve been getting her books for under $3 so SCORE.

Too complex?

In my last post, I used the word “anticipate”.

While utilizing WordPress’s spell/grammar check, it told me to change it.

The day I start changing complex language for “simple” language for my readers is the day I stop blogging.

I know my readers. They can understand complex words

MORE CORNBREAD!

This weekend was nice, a good changed from LAST weekend.

Saturday night I haunted the laundry mat with my sister, both of us needing to wash our bedding. I can wash the sheets just fine in my washer and dryer – but the large cover is just too much; the soap just sits in creases and it takes two or three turns in the dryer (with pulling out and rotating). We ended up having a lot more fun than we’d anticipated, and were able to talk, have dinner and then catch a cheap movie afterward.

Sunday, we made a long trek to a restaurant that Paul really enjoyed – Famous Dave’s BBQ – for a bit of a birthday celebration. His 27th birthday was last week and we really didn’t do anything – mainly because we don’t have a lot of friends, it was in the middle of the week, and because of the baby. While there, it was clear that Evy wants to eat what we’re eating, even if she can’t and has something she CAN eat in front of her. We ended up ordering a cornbread muffin for her half way through the meal as she was devouring Paul’s. I thought I had prepared by bringing some corn puffs, but I was wrong. Its been a bit of a challenge for me to anticipate her needs now that she’s part breastfed-part solid foods. I’ll get it eventually

Began and finished a book this weekend I find I can do that only on Fri/Sat nights – when I can stay up for all hours of the night reading. Worth it though,  I miss reading for long periods of time. Ah, parenthood.

Hm. It was good while it lasted.

This is a really good article about the whole thing that’s going on right now with Amazon & eBooks. Its a bummer to know that new releases will no longer be $9.99, but the price was not the only reason that I bought my Nook and I’m still going to enjoy it.

This is something that’s also going to be happening with DVD’s. Netflix has already lost more than 40% of their movies for instant watching and soon RedBox will be out too. Movie studios are making it harder and harder to watch a movie for cheap as soon as it’s released on DVD. They want you to wait – or buy the DVD.

clipped from gizmodo.com Why (and How) Apple Killed the $9.99 Ebook Publishers joining Apple’s iBooks store are turning their back on Amazon and its vision of the flat $9.99 ebook. Apple forced the music industry to charge 99 cents per song, so why are they helping publishers set their own prices? To screw Amazon. By turning the publishers against Amazon, they’ve effectively dicked the Kindle over. Why? To fill out another bullet point as to why you should buy an iPad. The real question is how long it’ll take publishers to realize that’s all they are to Apple: one little bullet point.

Book Five, “Unwind” – Finished

"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

It took me a bit longer than I would have thought to finish this book – given how quickly I was flying through the Outlander books which were about four times as long as this.

I think the best part of this book was the last few chapters, when all the bits and pieces the author had dropped along the way as proverbial bread crumbs came together into a loaf of damn good bread.

Before the last few chapters, I found it easy to put this book down. BUT! I think a lot of this had to do with the chapters being, on an average, short because the story follows three main characters and in each chapter its one characters narrative.

I’d recommend this book – easily.

Chapter 61

I just read chapter 61 in Unwind.

This book may not have been as good as The Hunger Games (to me! Still really good though) but that chapter made up for it all.

Woohoo!

They’ve put out another update for my Nook – I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one because it’s supposed to fix the bookmarking issue I’ve been having lately.

I didn’t have any of the major issues some people had when they first got their Nook; but after the last update I began to have bookmarking problems. If my Nook powered off for some reason all my bookmarks would be lost – and I’d have to try to remember what page I was on.

I like having new tech because you get to see the progression – but sometimes its really annoying.

This update is also going to put into effect their “new store” features, which is one of the biggest reasons I bought the Nook over the Kindle.

I’m sure you other eReaders out there will have heard about Amazon being forced to raise the price of some of the eBooks from one of the major six publishing companies? I’m curious to know if B&N is going to have to do the same thing – but I’m not sure of any titles to check. Has anyone seen any of these price changes?

QotD: Hello Muddah, hello Faddah…

How often do you speak to your parents on the telephone?

I live about thirty minutes away from my parents – though I don’t see them  nor talk to them on the phone that often. I consider us close, but I don’t need to know everything that they’re doing and it goes double for them. That’s not to say they’re not interested – it’s just not everyday interested. They don’t need to know that I went to work. I came home. I played with the baby. I went to bed early.

I think that by not talking to them everyday, I care more about what they have to say when we DO talk. I feel like we get to “catch up” and I like to do that more than be bored by the everyday.

My husband talks to his parents everyday; sometimes more than once a day. I think that’s too much – but that’s just my opinion.

Book Five, “Unwind”

"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

Book Count: Five
Title: Unwind
Author: Neal Shusterman
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 352

Synopsis: Connor’s parents want to be rid of him because he’s a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev’s unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family’s strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can’t be harmed — but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.

Thoughts: I’m about half way through this book, I would have posted about it sooner but I started it on Friday and I don’t blog very often on the weekends. Anyhow! This book is entertaining, but not as good as I was hoping. I was told this book was amazing and I’ve read a lot of excellent young adult recently that has made me forget it was “young adult” – but this book is not doing that.

That’s not to say it’s not worth a read – it is – just not as good as say… The Hunger Games The premise of the story is very interesting, though I feel that by the end of the book it’ll be apparent that it’s a commentary on the idea of what makes a human “alive”. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Taxes are done!

It’s shocking to see the difference between our income of 2009 versa 2008 – maternity care took a big chuck out plus Paul’s hours were cut dramatically. One positive is that we were eligible for a renter’s credit – while last year we would not have.

We’re going to be getting back enough that we can pay my sister for 6 months in advance for watching Evy and still have some left over. I think we’re going to buy an elliptical machine – but I’m not sure yet. They’re really big and expensive but I feel like that would be EXACTLY what I need to not only get in shape but stay in shape.

What are you guys spending your tax returns on, if anything?

GOLD!

We’ve been watching a lot of Jon Stewart lately.

I get most of my political news information from such shows because most non-comical shows about politics take themselves entirely too seriously. Plus I think they’re all lying to me; they must be because every show says the same thing (almost word for word), depending on which side you’re on.

And what’s with that guy Glen Beck? He’s scary. Why does he keep telling me to buy gold?

Anyone have any suggestions as to a good news program to watch that’ll just report the facts and not give me a bunch of opinions? I want to form my own opinions. Unless they’re funny – that’s why I watch Jon

Last Week: Part Four, Dog House

Ripley’s in the dog house right now.

As I said, this weekend I was taking care of her by myself. Part of that meant making sure she goes to the bathroom outside. I didn’t really want to take the dog for a walk with the baby so I decided to just let her do her business in our front yard and pick it up later. Well she’d urinate, but wouldn’t pass anything solid so I thought she didn’t have to.

Well she did. And she did, right in our living room, as Evy and I sat on the carpet beside her. Sunday afternoon when I was already frazzled from a bad nights sleep and Evy’s need for a lot of attention.

I was SO upset! She’s pooped in the front lawn before, so it’s not as if she just didn’t know she could. And I took her out REPEATEDLY when she didn’t go the first time. But she chooses not to and then chooses to go in our living room instead.

Out for the day!

Fast forward to Sunday night. Paul’s finally home. I’ve stuffed Evy with enough rice cereal to make a good sized water ballon, and she’s playing happily on the carpet. Ripley, out of no where that I can see, SNAPS AT HER! She actually bit her, on her right cheek. Broke the skin enough to cause bleeding.

Out for the night!

Paul and I decided that we’d just keep her out if the baby was crawling around, so once the baby was asleep for the night we let her back in. I’m not going to hold it against her if she has an accident – and I’m not going to hold it against her if she can’t play with the baby.

Then this morning we come out, and I dont’ know how we missed it, but last night she pooped in the living room AGAIN!

I don’t know what is the matter with her, but she’s not going to be indoors for a bit. She can’t seem to hold it when she has to go to the bathroom and I’m not going to deal with that. Evy need to be able to play on that carpet and further more it’s not our house so I’m not going to even try and work with it.

Last Week: Part Three, Baby Hard Times

Evy’s going through a growth spurt – which has been hard considering I’ve been dieting and not producing as much milk. She’s been up at least once every night this week – which is not like her at all. What’s worse is that she’s getting more and more frustrated when she wakes up. It’s almost as though it bothers her to get up in the middle of the night as much as it bothers me.

Saturday night was the pits because she woke up around 2am and then I couldn’t get back to sleep! I only got about four hours of sleep that night and Sunday was hard. All I wanted was to have some peace and quiet – but that was not happening. She needed me to hold her all the time and I needed to take care of washing bottles, packing diaper bags, folding baby clothes and then showering myself. I’m used to her needing our 100% attention, but usually we’re able to switch off between each other and Paul was still at his parents house.

Sunday when we went to Zeke’s birthday party she was acting very strange, but I realize now that’s just Evy. She doesn’t do well in crowds or people she doesn’t know. She was so shy and quiet and anytime I moved she thought I was going to put her down or hand her to someone and she freaked out. She toppled twice while playing and while that would never bother her before she broke into hysteria both times. She was having a hard day. Fruit Loops helped a bit

Last night was also hard, she woke up two hours after I put her down and had another nursing and still woke up at 2am for more. I told Paul tonight we’re preparing with some bottles as my supply is too low now for two feedings at night. I just hope this growth spurt passes soon…

Last Week: Part Two, Diet Fail.

This weekend – starting on Friday – I failed on counting, and caring about, my food. I was just really hungry on Friday and I was curious to see whether eating a lot would boost my milk supply, which it did. I made some better choices than usual but didn’t count anything so I feel like I still failed.

I meant to wake up this morning fresh, starting over again, but then realized I didn’t go food shopping so I had nothing to take to work with me. So I’m stuck here trying to fill my calories through the vending machine I’m still going to try though. Then tonight I’ll go food shopping and start again tomorrow.

rant/

Why is it that Red Robin will charge TEN DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS for a salad, and they can’t even use something more nutritionally beneficial than iceberg lettuce?! Why can I get a burger bigger than my head for two dollars and fifty cents cheaper? WHY?!

/rant

You know, here in California they’ve made it mandatory that restaurants (with multiple chains) offer nutritional information. Why can’t they make it mandatory that healthy food not only be made available but be priced comparable to the unhealthy stuff? I really doubt that it costs more to make a salad than it does to make a burger and a bottomless basket of steak fries.

Last Week: Part One, Family in Pain

Last week was a hard one, and I was dealing with a few things so I’m going to split them up into a few posts instead of just one huge one.

We found out on Wednesday that my sister had a miscarriage. She was at 14 weeks when she found out, though they said the baby likely stopped developing at 12 weeks.  This would have been my sister’s 3rd child.  I left work early to be with her, but I felt as though I couldn’t offer much than company – as there is really nothing that can make a mother feel better after a miscarriage. Luckily she’s taking a lot of comfort from her two sons and she’s taking each day as they come.

My husband’s grandfather, who is nearing 90 years old, went into the hospital early last week (in fact, it was the weekend before) and hasn’t left and likely never will. He’s dealing with a lot of health issues that started with a pneumonia and has turned into a mild heart attack, kidney failure and a staff infection. His kidneys are only working at 12% and they want to jump-start them by pumping a lot of fluids in him but his heart is so weak his body can’t deal with the extra fluids. Fluid is filling his lungs from the pneumonia and when they tried to extract it they found that it was actually a gelatinous material. Lung surgery placed him in the ICU because his lungs were so weak from 65 years of smoking and he now has some internal bleeding that is causing him to lose blood in a rate quicker than they can pump it in him.

Paul’s mother is very close with her parents, and she’s very emotional to begin with, so Paul went down there to support her on Saturday and ended up staying the entire weekend. It’s after he’s gone that I realize how much I depend on him. I want him there for his mother but I really hope he doesn’t have to leave for another weekend. If it were just Evy I had to take care I could probably “survive” but I’ve also got our dog Ripley and our cat Junior. Both of which are not very demanding but you put all three together and I’m over-whelmed. Needless to say, I was happy to have him home last night.

Keep trying, even if it means failing.

My milk supply has dropped by half in the time I’ve been watching my calories. That’s not going to fly with me. I’ve been working TOO LONG and TOO HARD to stop so close to my one year goal of breastfeeding.

My first reaction was, “I’m done with this diet! I’m going back to eating french fries with every meal!” But then I got a hold of myself. I realized A) My previous diet wasn’t making very “good” milk for Evy, even if it was making a lot and B) Even if I can’t stay on a low calorie diet doesn’t mean I have to eat crap for every meal.

New plan! I added another 500 calories and have decided to dedicate that extra amount to veggies/fruits and good protein instead of what I really want which is chips & crackers. So I doubled up on my cottage cheese this morning, threw two more oranges in the mix and only one extra bag of crackers.

Speaking of crackers, I picked up two kinds of snacks when I was at the store. A variety of the Kashi TLC crackers and some Snyders of Handover Nibbler pretzel bits. I was disappointed by the Kashi price, but I bought it anyhow because I was determined to pick a good-for-me snack. However once I got them home and compared them (I bought the pretzel bits as a treat!) I saw they were practically identical except the PRETZEL BITS WERE BETTER FOR ME! Whats worse is that the Kashi crackers taste terrible They’re both over 100 calories a serving – which isn’t too bad – but I’m going to keep looking for something new.

And we’re back!

Well, once the import was completed I discovered it actually DID keep all my “private” posts private, so all I had to do at that point was go through and, based on my tags, private any other topics I didn’t want out there for everyone to see.

Might have missed one or two posts that might get me tarred & feathered, but if you’re lucky enough to find one then you’re welcome to it Besides, anything I generally regret writing I made private (I don’t delete!) so it shouldn’t be too flammable.

I also went through and deleted any duplicate posts from when I was posting WP posts to Vox. Now my next task is tagging my posts here at WP that I was just overlooking since I was tagging at Vox.

Work, work, work.

One thing after another.

This weekend I did well at tracking my food, making healthy choices, and not dwelling on feeling like I was “dieting” but finding instead ways to work within my new healthy goals(1). I feel like I succeeded because I kept under my calorie goals all weekend while eating three squares and drinking lots of water. In fact, SparkPeople was telling me I wasn’t eating enough(2)!

One problem I’m having is trying to fit enough fruits and veggies into my diet. I can’t eat a veggie at breakfast – it’s just not in my mindset – and I can’t eat a fruit at dinner. So I have to fit all my fruit into breakfast, lunch & snacks and all my veggies into lunch, dinner, and snacks. But I just don’t have enough calories for all that. I’m also trying to fit fiber & protein on top all of that.

However, in regards to a healthy ACTIVE lifestyle, I’m completely unprepared. I have no clothes to use to work out – only jeans and black nylon slacks that I wear to work. My sneakers no longer fit since being pregnant(3). We had no weight scale until I bought one this weekend.

I realize I was just hiding from having an active, healthy lifestyle. Out of sight, out of mind. NO LONGER. Once I got on that scale and realized how much I weighed I knew that I couldn’t hide anymore. I’m going to weigh myself every night and not bury my head in the sand anymore(4).

(1) I foolishly sat down and watched a documentary type show about snack foods, which was really interesting but got me craving stuff I shouldn’t be having. However, instead of saying no, I found a sweet treat I could enjoy within my calorie range. I don’t want to be “dieting” for the rest of my life, I want to find out how to live and enjoy food still.

(2) I’m not going to eat any more though, because I had to already add 500 calories onto my calorie range due to my breastfeeding. So as long as I’m not hungry I’m not going eat more yet. Maybe once I stop breastfeeding and my calorie intake is less.

(3) Did you know that when your pregnant your feet swell and grown and often times do not return to normal? Yeah, it’s true. I’m a testament to that.

(4) Weighing myself every night has actually encouraged me because my weight has dropped seven pounds since Friday night. Granted, I was menstruating on Friday and am no longer but I’m taking what encouragement I can get where I can get it

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STEVE!

We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs over the weekend, and I really liked it. It was a lot of fun and had the kind of quirky characters I love. My favorite had to be the monkey, Steve, who would just shout “STEVE!” randomly. I wish I could have a Steve.

Paul got sick over the weekend, some kind of food poisoning (and no, it wasn’t from something we made) so that was a bit of a bummer. Had a sushi date with a friend which was really fun, and saw New Moon with my sister on Sunday night – it has gone into the discount theaters.

Haven’t read much more of American Gods, but what little I have read has made me want to keep reading; yay! Did I use the semicolon correctly there? I saw this Oatmeal comic today and it’s made me rethink my use (and lack) of semicolons. If you’ve never seen that site, you should check it out. The best part is that often time his comics can be purchased in large poster formats. I want to see a teacher put THESE in their classroom

Evy was using one of our footstools to stand today and she fumbled and plopped down on the ground awkwardly and bumped her chin on the wood frame pretty hard. Her intake of breath before she started to cry was long enough that I could actually explain to Paul what happened before she started to cry. Poor kid She’s okay of course, I was worried that she’d bit her tongue or something but luckily not all of her center front teeth have come in so she survived. She woke up last night, needing to nurse, so I think she’s having another growth spurt – oh joy.

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It worked!

The import from Vox to WordPress worked!

Some things I’ve taken note of:

MOST IMPORTANT: All your privacy settings are wiped clean. I just realized this and so I’m trying to go through and find all my posts that I want to be private and hide them. For now I’ve made my blog private until I can get that worked out. There’s stuff that I’ve made COMPLETELY private that I want to stay that way.

A) All the images seem to link back to Vox, so if Vox does eventually die then I’m going to lose all my images. Now that I’ve got the bulk of my blog, the posts, over to WordPress I think I’m going to have to go back through and shift all my images to Flickr.

B) Comments imported! But the way that they work is they are linked back to Vox as well – so again if Vox die I’ll lose all my comments.

C) The formatting is a little wonky on some of the posts; at first I thought it had to do with inserted images or other media but it seems to be with almost any post.

D) Image LINKS are still displayed even if the image is private – which I’m actually glad for. Though why I made an image private and not a post I’m not sure…

Anyhow, that’s what I’ve observed so far – I’ll keep updating!

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Book Four, “American Gods” – Continued

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

I’m struggling on getting through this book – and I’m only a quarter of the way through. I was enjoying it when I first started it, but the fact that I’m a quarter of the way through and I’m waiting for something to happen is not a good sign. What’s worse is that something is happening, I’m sure to some people its considered to be happening, and I’m just not interested.

I find myself skimming a lot of it, particularly the descriptions, as I can’t imagine what Gaiman is showing me. Does this make me a bad reader? I mean, Gaiman is this master story teller and I’m not seeing what he’s trying to show me, I must be a bad reader.

Maybe it’s that I’m not that familiar with “Gods” as I was raised a Christian and believe there is only one God – and so I have no idea who or what he’s talking about. Sure, I know of Odin, but only by name. And who’s this spider guy?

I’m going to keep going but I’m disappointed so far. I was expecting something amazing as Gaiman is so well spoken of. But I guess this is a good illustration of, what one reader likes another will not.

Of diets & trackers.

As I mentioned I joined SparkPeople (which is free, by the way) – my decision propelled by the fact that they have a free iPhone app which is the biggest reason I was going to go with Weight Watchers. The app is nice as it lets me track; food, water, exercise, & weight. It also syncs with my online account so if I’m at a computer I can track there and then go to my phone later – VERY useful. I have to buy a new scale as the one we have at home is really inaccurate and I want to try to get healthy and lose weight without second guessing my goals and results.

I started tracking my food and water today – though I was already drinking more than the suggested water amount because of the breastfeeding. Lately, in the morning, I’ve had two eggs & toast and tracking that was an eye opener. I had no idea that two eggs were so many calories! Tomorrow I’m going to have one egg but still a piece of toast as its high fiber and I want to do a high fiber/protein combo.

I’m also going to kick coffee out of my diet, since I don’t like it that much anyhow and it’s become more of a routine thing than a necessary thing. If I just drank it black I probably wouldn’t care as it’s just like drinking tea – but I put a ton of creamer in it as I hate the natural taste and that’s where the calories come from. If I need it, I’ll drink some, but I usually don’t need it – I get lots of sleep.

This year marks five years at my current company and as a thank you they give you a choice of a gift from a catalog. Most of the gifts weren’t really right for me but the did have a nice digital food scale – it’ll fit right in with the new life style I’m trying to work on. It’ll tell you the nutritional information for something like 7000 foods so I don’t have to guess how much I’m getting.

I was really hungry when lunch came around and luckily we had a meeting today so there was some food available. Even more luck, they had a TON of green beans left over which tasted great with the lunch I already planned to eat and was only another 80 calories or so – plus I get to mark it as a veggie!

Must bring veggies for myself from now on.

This week is not a good week to think about cardio exercise (because of the rain), but next week I’m going to really try to meet my goal of ten minutes of cardio a day. Ten minutes, that’s nothing. If I can’t do ten minutes there is something seriously wrong with me. I’m going to buy a HRM too, since I found out what my target is supposed to be and I want to keep it safe. I tend to push myself too hard when it comes to some exercising and I don’t want to die

Up to date!

I’ve been slacking on blogging recently, and today I went through and
tagged all my un-tagged posts so I now feel more up to date. Its
amazing how my tag cloud transformed, “nook”, “ereader” and
“barnes&noble” are pretty big now Evy’s sick – she got a fever yesterday and she had a pretty hard
night. It was the first time she didn’t sleep through the night since
the day we brought her home, which – I know – is shocking to some, and
it was hard on both Paul and I as we weren’t used to it. At first, I
took a lot of happiness from knowing I was giving her the comfort she
needed because she was falling asleep on my chest when I held her. But
then my exhaustion kicked in and all I could think was, “Why can’t you
sleep on the mattress, why does it have to be me?!” But we made it
through the night and we’ll do it again if her fever returns tonight.
When her fever didn’t drop after a luke warm bath and some rest, we
decided to give her some infant Tylenol. I was so frustrated through
because A) They didn’t list the dosage for children under two so we
had to call our pharmacist and B) When we did get the dosage it wasn’t
marked on the dropper! Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating. But like
I said – we all survived and Evy seems to be feeling better. I just
keep my fingers crossed that it lasts.

I was going to join Weight Watchers, but the cost is a lot so I’ve
decided to try out SparkPeople instead given I’m not on a Weight
Watchers plan now so I can build around this new plan without having
to change. I’m scared. I’m scared I wont be able to do it. I checked
out their meal plan grocery shopping list for the first week and its
REALLY long. I know that I wont have to buy all this stuff for the
next week but the initial cost is a lot. There’s a part of me that
wants to try and make my own meal plan but I know that it’ll just be
full of ready made over-salted stuff that I already eat and I really
need to get away from that. Wish me luck!

Posted via email from “I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say.”

QotD: License to Drive

Do you consider yourself a good driver? How many tickets have you received? What were they for?

Yes, I do consider myself a good driver though – like Kathy - I've found that not everyone likes my driving "style". I consider myself decisive, other people would call me reckless. I keep my distance when I'm in moving traffic, I follow the speed limit (now, when I was younger – not so much), and expect others to know the rules of the road. I don't drive as defensively as some which I think makes some people nervous, but assuming no one knows what they are doing would be ridiculous, I don't care what anyone says.

I've been in two accidents:

The first was a few months after getting my license at eighteen. I was following too close in the rain and when the guy in front of me wanted to stop to look at an accident I rear-ended him. While I know it was ENTIRELY my fault, I'm still frustrated with it because I hate people who stop to look at accidents on the side of the road and if he'd just kept going we'd all be fine.

Second was just a year or so ago when I t-boned a small sedan that pulled out in front of me to make a left from a shopping center. I had the right-of-way, I tried to stop, but wasn't able to entirely. Luckily no one was "hurt", though at seven months pregnant she wen to the hospital anyhow.

I've gotten two tickets:

The first was for gridlock, which means I pulled into an intersection, didn't have room to get into the lane, and so blocked cross traffic. I think the ticket was fair, but I think the situation was not. I was only the second car that went into the intersection and if the lights had been better timed then everything SHOULD have been okay. But like I said, I did block traffic and it was fair.

The second one was for speeding, which I didn't agree with AT ALL, but since my registration was really overdue I didn't say anything. He said he clocked me going forty-five through a right turn, um – that's not physically possible on most roads in most cars, but whatever.

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Book Four, “American Gods”

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Book Count: Four
Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 624

Synopsis: Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a mysterious stranger offers him a job. But Mr. Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than is possible, warns that a storm is coming — a battle for the very soul of America . . . and they are in its direct path.

Thoughts: I have to admit, while I’m enjoying the writing style I’m very confused with the story thus far. It might have something to do with the fact that I read the first 30 pages or so as a sample, bought it, and then read two books before picking it up again. Right now everything is a question and I’m not really fond of so many pages of questions and no answers. But! I am enjoying the style and I have a feeling if I just give it some more time it’ll begin to unravel it’s beauty to me.

Book Three, “Quiver” – Finished!

"Quiver" by Stephanie Spinner

Book Count: Three
Title: Quiver
Author: Stephanie Spinner
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Pages: 192

Synopsis: Atalanta, a skilled archer and a runner, has dedicated her life to Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt. She has grown up among hunters, and is as good or better than many of her male counterparts. When strangers appear and command that she return with them to her father, the king, she is shocked and dismayed. King Iasus, who abandoned her at birth, now demands that she marry and produce a son, since he does not have an heir. She balks at this idea, since she has vowed to remain chaste, and poses a challenge: she will only marry a man who can outrun her in a race; all others must die.

Thoughts: When I got a sample of this book on my nook I didn’t take note that it was not only for “young adult” but that those young adults are between 9-12 years olds It was a terrifically simple book, short (less than 200 pages) and to the point, and very refreshing. The writing was good, flowery enough for enjoyment but I didn’t find I needed a dictionary to understand what she was trying to get across. I wasn’t familiar with this Greek myth and the retelling was very good. I would highly recommend to young ones!

Book Two, “Dragonfly in Amber” – Finished!

"Dragonfly in Amber" by Diana Gabaldon

Book Count: Two
Title: Dragonfly in Amber
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 752

Synopsis: I’m going to stick with just linking to the synopsis – as I don’t want to give away anything about the other books. If you’re really interested to know what the third book is about, you can visit the Amazon page here and read multiple synopsis’ and reviews.

Thoughts: Despite the fact that a lot of the history & factual character still soared over my head – I enjoyed this more the second time around. I didn’t re-read this one multiple times as I did the other four in the beginning of this series and while I wanted to refresh my memory on the events in this book I wasn’t really excited. I’m glad I read it though because it is VERY good

Book One, “Outlander” – Finished!

"Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon

Book Count: One
Title: Outlander
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 896

Synopsis: While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn’t all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she’s never known before.

Thoughts: I loved this book the fourth time around, and am glad I’ve begun the series again! The main character is just so amazing, her strength and wit and yet… vulnerability that I can really relate to. It amazing me what she adapts to and I’m envious of such a personal quality.

Starting it up again…

Since I’ve gotten my nook I’ve realized that I need to try my 50 in 365 challenge again – since my pregnancy derailed my last attempt. So watch out for the posts to come!

Last week I finally saw Inglorious Basterds. It was good, if albeit grotestque at a lot of scenes. I was unprepared for its entirely fictional story line – I assumed (why? I don’t know – it was a QT flick) that since it was based on Hitler that it would be factional. But it’s not, and it was a good movie because of it.

Sunday my sister & I saw The Lovely Bones, which was as good as a movie about at 14 year old being murdered can be. Good visuals and a nice soundtrack but I felt that it was too literal a translation for the book I never read. Or at least, the narration seemed like a very literal translation. I’d be interested to hear from others who have both read the book and seen the movie.

Evy’s got a fifth tooth! We’re dropping her crib mattress tonight – I just hope that madness doesn’t ensure because of it. She had a hard night on Saturday for some odd reason – likely because both her glowing seahorse ran out of batteries as did her aquarium.

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I want this for our next baby, I just hope he’s a boy

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Insane in the membrane.

I'm so close to finishing Dragonfly in Amber, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to take a break from the Outlander series after this. Of course, I say that now when I'm trying to finish this book but I know for a fact the very end of this book PULLS YOU IN FOR ANOTHER!

But, I've got American Gods, Quiver & Unwind waiting for me. Plus I'm trying out a subscription to PC Magazine that I'd like to spend some time with even though I'm pretty sure I'm not going to keep subscribing. It's just missing something in "eMagazine" form.

My co-worker is pregnant (well, his wife is) and I'm so enthusiastic about the Bradley Method – or any drug-free, natural birthing method – that I went ahead and gave him a bunch of my literature for him and his wife to read. They baulked at it though and I'm pretty bummed about it. They're interested in not having as many "interventions", but they aren't gun-ho about drug-free which is what you need to be to succeed when you're up against a hospital staff and you're in labor. I feel I approached them wrong, I presented them with too much "this is how hospitals trick you!" information when I should have approached them with, "let me tell you your options and my success" information. Oh well, it's their birth.

But, it's gotten me thinking about my next birth and how I want to do it differently. I'd really like to go to a birthing center, but I'm not sure how I feel about the closest one yet. They do well women care too, so maybe I'll go there for some well women care and snoop around I was also considering having a home birth, but since I'm not quite sure where we'll be living so I don't feel comfortable deciding that yet.

Oh look at me. I'm insane! Talking about a pregnancy that I'm not planning on having for another year! Putting Bradley book away NOW.

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What do you mean “fly to Hogwarts?”

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Thursday, Saturday & Sunday.

Last Thursday was Paul & I’s third year anniversary. I didn’t do my
usual post about it because, well because I’m not posting as often. We
had a good anniversary though, my friend baby sat Evy and put her to
bed and we went to a local restaurant. I got a bit tipsy off my SINGLE
rum & diet coke, but I contribute it to the fact that I was hungry
when I drank it. It was a lot of fun though, going out, I think we
should do it more often!

Saturday my friend was nice enough to come over again and watch Evy so
Paul & I could go watch “Daybreakers”, which was surprisingly good. It
had a lot of good ideas and the ending was very original in my point
of view.

Sunday my parents came over, and though at first I wasn’t really up
for it, I’m glad we did it. It got me off my ass and got the necessary
chores done so that the place wasn’t a wreck when they came over. Plus
we went out and had lunch, stopped at Target so I could get shampoo,
and then watch Star Trek. All in all it was a good day.

I’m three quarters of the way through “Dragonfly in Amber”, I’m
anxious to finish it up and move onto the next one.

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Its a new year!

And I’m not one for resolutions I am one for fact though, and it’s a fact that my blogging has dropped BY HALF in 2009 in comparision to 2008 and I’m sad about that. I’m not really sure what to do to remedy it though. I don’t want to blog just for blogging sake but I miss being able to keep track of my life through my blog.

What to do… What to do…

I guess I could just make an effort to blog more days out of the week, and see where that goes. Might be a bit boring until I get into the hang of things

I’ve finished Outlander and have moved onto and am halfway through A Dragonfly in Amber. I’m enjoying it much more than I did the first time though I’m still often confused by the history. It’s about Bonnie Prince Charlie and his father and the King of France and I’m getting them all mixed up. Oh well!

I bought America Gods and Quiver the other day for my Nook after reading a ton of samples of other books. It’s amazing how picky I am with my literature. I don’t give many a fighting chance past the 30 pages or so the sample gives me. I was reading the sample of this one book, Dark Angels, which was good but the idea of English court gossip reminded me too much of The Other Boylen Girl (though I would have to say this was written much better) and I really am turned off by that now. Too much drama!!! I like adventure more.

So my current reading list is:
Dragonfly in Amber (READING)
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow & Ashes
An Echo in Bone
American Gods
Quiver

I’m thinking of taking a break from the Gabaldons somewhere but I’m not sure when – I don’t want to lose my momentum or begin to forget small things but I also don’t want to burn myself out to the point where I’m FORCING myself to keep reading. So we’ll see.
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Is 1/28th a viable fraction?

Because that's how far I am in the Outlander series. 1/4th the way through the FIRST OF SEVEN BOOKS. That wouldn't seem like such a big deal but Outlander is 1400 pages on my Nook in the small font and I'm estimating that the largest book will be 2700. Argh. Why can't I just pause life for awhile and read? Even with reading during most of my spare time I'm still not making the kind of headway I wish I were in the series. What's worse is that I've read this first book twice, and the first quarter at least four times, so up until the point I'm at now I've just been treading water. Now I really get into the nitty-gritty because as I found out from reading a very brief synopis of the first book I don't remember much detail after this.

Oh! I've uploaded some current pictures of Evy (see her whole set here) – but here's a taste!

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Of eBooks & Babies.

I found a place to buy eBooks called Fictionwise, they offer a discount program called MicroPay where you place money into an account prior to purchasing the book. So, if I wanted to buy the second book in the Abhorsen series – which is for sale on the site for $6.99 – I could pay with my MicroPay account and it would only be $3.59 which is a $2 savings from the discounted price of both Barnes & Noble and Amazon. One downside is that though I'm getting a discount on the book – it's only after paying the full purchase price so I have to have $6.99 in my account in order to purchase the book at $3.59. Doesn't make too much sense to me but the discounts can really add up. Case in point: I bought the first Outlander book by Diana Gabaldon and have decided to – of course – buy the rest. The total for the remaining six books (and the reference companion) is $81.94 – but I get $53.04 off the total if I pay with MicroPay making the total only $28.90. To buy the remaining six in the series – minus the companion – would be $35.55 from Barnes & Noble meaning I get the companion for free and then some. Now if I knew I was going to spend more than $250 at the site I would also join their club – but I really doubt that. I'd have to buy 50 $5 books and I don't see that happening in a single year. I could be wrong – but I don't think I am.

In other news, my Nook got it's first update today. I keep my Airplane Mode on in order to conserve battery life so it wasn't until I read on the forum that others were getting it that I tried to force mine. I'm sure they fixed some of the background kinks – but the noticeable ones is the fact that the clock shows in the upper right hand corner when you're reading a book now, while before you had to go back to the home page. Also, they moved the page numbers to the bottom right corner. It no longer has to format a book that you're in the progress of reading (before, you'd leave the home screen using the "now reading" option and it would reformat your book). This might seem inconsequential to some, but to me who is not having any major issues with my Nook, this is nice

Evy amazed us all this weekend. She actually has a FOURTH tooth as well, growing exactly opposite of her third. She also started crawling – REALLY crawling – which was amazing. She also started clapping which is a big developmental stage and today she's started tossing her toys and then picking them up again.

O-MAZING. I'm going to take some new pictures tonight, hopefully she'll let me pry open her mouth and take a picture of her teeth

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‘Allo You!

Hello Vox! Miss you. This is a Vox only post. No Facebook. No Twitter. No Posterous – just Vox.

I'm loving my Nook – but I think its more the "ebook" experience than just the reader. Its got some kinks to work out – but I'm so used to adopting early tech – and working with/through it – that I hardly notice the issues. I love laying in bed and reading now. I love getting stuck and bored somewhere now – because I have an excellent excuse to use it. I love the built in dictionary and bookmarking. Its just a great piece of tech. So far I've reader four books, purchased seven, and uploaded a bunch of work PDFs.

Evy has sprouted a third tooth! I'm not sure if I ever announced on Vox that she sprouted her first two teeth – but she did over the Halloween weekend. She's also sitting up unassisted, and also able to sit herself up from her stomach. Sometimes I go into her room to wake her and she's sitting up and playing with her aquarium or something – its adorable! We've started her on solid foods, but she doesn't seem to have a taste for them so we keep trying. We started with fruits, but maybe she's more like her mom and likes the salty goodness of veggies. She's not quite crawling yet, but she is definitely mobile.

Given money troubles all around, I have't really been in the Christmas mood. I really wanted to decorate this year, given the fact that we're not going to be decorating next year (our move in/out dates are within days of Christmas so it's just not logical). But then days kept passing and trees are expensive and blah, blah, blah. I can't wait until we finally get a house of our own and I can feel like nesting. Right now I have no desire. Evy's room is the most decorated room in the house and I haven't even put window treatments up.

Our backyard, which has been taking a LONG time, is still not finished but is getting there slowly but surely. They've finally finished with the sprinklers, this Friday he's supposed to be coming around and rototilling the earth in prep for the grass seeds. The rain has been good to us – aside from delaying the process a bit – and with the new concrete down it's also been less messy.

So…that is what has been going on

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About my Nook…

My Nook was delivered yesterday! I’m so excited about it – its
everything I was expecting and I’m excited to buy books for it. On
Tuesday night we drove to a Barnes & Nobles about thirty miles away in
order to get a cover for it (our B&N didn’t have cases, just a
display) and I’m really happy with the one I choose. It was between
the brown one and a red one. The red one was nice, but I was looking
for low-key.

I was also happy to go online and see that B&N has adjusted their
eBook prices to MATCH Amazon! I bought “Her Fearful Symmetry” –
originally $26.99 in hardcover, now $7.29 in hardcover – for $5.79!
Brilliant, isn’t it?! I’ve got so many books I want to buy – let’s
just hope that I can hold back!

See the full gallery on posterous

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My Nook has shipped!!!

I should has it by Thursday night!!!!

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Priceless

Got this in an email, thought it was pretty funny

Jack wakes up with a huge hangover after attending his company's party. He is not normally a drinker, but the drinks didn't taste like alcohol at all. He didn't even remember how he got home from the party. As bad as he was feeling, he wondered if he did something wrong.

He forced himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose!!

He sits up and sees his clothing in front of him, all cleaned and pressed! He looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house.

He takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. Then he notices a note hanging on the corner of the mirror written in red with little hearts on it and a kiss mark from his wife in lipstick: 'Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to get groceries to make you your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! Love, Jillian'

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast, steaming hot coffee and the morning newspaper.

His 16 year old son is also at the table, eating. Jack asks, 'Son.what happened last night?'

'Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind you fell over the coffee table and broke it, and then you puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door.'
Confused, he asked his son, 'So, why is everything in such perfect order and so clean? I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me??'

His son replies, 'Oh THAT… Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, 'Leave me alone bitch, I'm married!!'

Broken Coffee Table $239.99
Hot Breakfast $4.20
Two Aspirins $.38
Saying the Right thing, at the Right time:

PRICELESS

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woot!

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Vacation over :(

Well, my vacation is over – all ten days in a blink of an eye. This was the first vacation that I’ve taken since Evy was born and it was a bit of an eye opener. The biggest difference is that we couldn’t simply drop everything – we had to maintain some kind of schedule and that kind of sucked. I was looking for that…vegetation period I’ve always had with vacations. But, no use crying over split milk – this is parenthood and I wanted it!

Tuesday we tried to go to Disneyland – but we were silly in thinking we were the only ones on vacation. The park was packed and we ended up leaving after three rides and a stroll around California Adventure. A big part was that I really wasn’t feeling “it”. I was initially excited to get out of the house just with Paul (we’d left Evy with my parents) but once we were going I didn’t feel like talking much and I felt really “blah”. Such a waste I also really missed Evy! Seeing so many cute cuddly kids at Disneyland while mine was at home was killing me. But the fact is that we can’t ride hardly any rides unless we take someone with us, which we couldn’t this time. Luckily, we got out of paying for parking because their credit card machine was down so I didn’t feel that obligated to stay and make our $14 count. Unluckily, we hit traffic on the way home and after three hours of stop-and-go with our manual transmission we were pooped.

Thanksgiving went, in my opinion, REALLY well. My parents ended up coming as well, we all met at my sisters, and other than the kids making us start a little later than we’d like it was all amazing. Food was great, best candied yams I’ve had in awhile. I should have taken some with us, but I was so stuffed I had no eye for food as we were packing up the left overs.

My sister decorated for Christmas over the weekend and it’s made me want to decorate as well. Last year we didn’t decorate because we were moving ON Christmas Eve, and then Paul & I both got this really nasty stomach flu. The last time we did a live tree the mess was tremendous, so I think this year we’re going to take a look at the artificial ones. However, if the price is too much then we’ll probably do a live one and then take advantages of after Christmas sales in thought of NEXT year.

My Nook ships today!!!

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What to do, what to do…

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this – but the Nook is taking gadget
prone readers by storm this Christmas. The pre-orders sold out within
the first two weeks and now if you pre-order you wont get it until the
first or second week in January. I ordered mine in time, and it’ll
still be shipped on Monday.

However, now the Nook is selling well on eBay. There are 10+ bids on a
single Nook causing the once reasonable price of $260 to skyrocket –
and in some cases double. So I’m now wondering if I should play the
patient one and put my Nook on eBay – and let it pay for itself and
just get it AFTER the holidays. But I don’t know if I can. I’ve been
waiting well over a month for this thing and that’s a long time for
me. The last time I waited so long it was for a doll who had to be
cast and sanded.

Paul’s telling me I don’t have to sell it, but I know that he thinks
we’ll just make the money back and so it’s foolish NOT to sell it. But
I don’t know, the bubble may burst after the devices are officially
shipped and people are able to get real reviews on the thing. Then
again…I bought it blindly, didn’t I?

I’d ask for everyone’s opinion, but to tell the truth I don’t think
anyone will be able to make this decision but me…

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Its all very random.

My hair's starting to grow back. Some may remember that awhile back I
posted about my post-pregnancy joy of loosing all the luscious hair I
developed while pregnant. Well, now its growing back and making me
look silly. I can hide the signs of the growth at my forehead hairline
with bangs, but another place that it happened was at my temples, and
I can't hide that. Oh well – looking like a mad scientist fits my
personality pretty nicely actually.

Today's my last day before my ten day vacation. I'm excited Trying
not to build it up though because as long as ten days sound, it will
fly by – my six weeks of maternity leave sure did – the holiday will
make sure of it. Thursday we're going to my sister's for Thanksgiving,
Friday we'll be going to the in-laws, and Saturday we'll be recouping
from the holidays

Found R2-D2 in Star Trek – nice Easter egg.

Been playing Dead Space with Paul, it's a good game – very scary. It
would be more scary though if the music let you know you were being
attacked from behind. Sometimes you can't tell until a random limb
appears around your head. Paul thought the game ended at Chapter Six
so imagine our surprise when we beat that boss and got another
objective. Oops, guess we shouldn't have spent all our money trying to
beat that guy.

Only two more weeks until I get my Nook. With the gift card fiasco
cleared up I'm getting more and more excited. I got a sample of Ron
Paul's book, "The Revolution", and was really inspired by the snippet
I read. I think I'm going to check that one out from the library
though because it doesn't seem like a book I'd read more than once.
Now to just find my library

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Coming Soon: Gift Card Purchases for eBooks – Barnes & Noble Book Clubs

More good news on the eBook front: We’ll soon accept Barnes & Noble gift cards as payment in our eBook store.

This change — effective in mid-December — will allow customers to use physical gift cards and online gift certificates to purchase eBooks through our site, through nook, and through other devices using the B&N eReader software.

We’ll have full details (including the specific launch date) in mid-December.

In the meantime, we want to say thanks for your suggestions and enthusiasm. We were able to accelerate this change due in part to the customer feedback.

Thanks again for your support. And happy reading.

via bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com

Whoo Hoo! That’s ONE thing off my “iffy” list about the Nook

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It’s Star Trek Day!!!

Today Star Trek is supposed to be waiting for me at my house when I get home – I’m so excited!!! Once the baby goes down, that puppy’s going IN.

I’m having a hard morning. The audio portion of our A/V setup in our LARGEST conference room wasn’t working today. I wasn’t really in the best of moods and just couldn’t seem to get myself to a mental standing to figure out a solution. At last another person from my department (my company’s IT department) figured to bypass the system with a set of desk speakers and amplify it using the microphones that were already in place and for some odd reason working when the rest was not. I feel like I really dropped the ball – perhaps I should track down the meeting organizer and apologize? The guy’s nice but gives me the creeps, so I’m not sure.

I’m taking an impromptu vacation next week! This week is going to be kind of short because I’m taking Friday off (along with my regular Wednesday) and then next week I already had Thursday & Friday off (along with my regular Wednesday) so I only had to use two days of vacation to make it a full week. So in essence once Thursday of this week is over I’m not going to be at work again for another…TEN DAYS. Awesome Paul and I are REALLY excited, I think I’m going to ask my sister to still watch Evy on Tuesday like always so maybe we can have a day to ourselves – not sure when we’re going to get time off together again.

I’m feeling creative today, I just wish I had something to create One of these years I’m going to do NaNoWriMo – I’m thinking once Evy is not so dependent on me and can entertain herself for more than five minutes – like when she’s my nephew’s age. Of course, if I stay on track with my “family plan” I’ll be prego again come January 2011 so…

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STAR TREK HAS SHIPPED!

I’m so excited! It’s going to be here on the 17th – in all it’s
Blu-Ray goodness I’m so excited!!!!

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Plinky Question: List the advice you give to a friend getting over a bad breakup.

There are many fish in the sea.
I’m not one to believe in “soul mates” – meaning there is only one person in the entire world that will understand me and love me.

Life goes on.
I’m also not one to believe in tongue a sore tooth. I understand that it takes time to grieve but it shouldn’t be a lifetime.

Remember your friends & family.
Your friends & family will always be there for you. ALWAYS. That’s why I think it’s so important to have strong friendships OUTSIDE of a relationship. There’s and Angels & Airwaves song that says it best, “your best friend is not your girl friend” – or at least it shouldn’t be your ONLY best friend.

Its better to face the truth, then to live in a lie.
Be glad you pulled off the band-aid and made the hard decision – even if you weren’t the one to do it. If either of you were unhappy enough to want to break up then be glad you did.

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