Friday Fill-in #113

1. I'm hungry, I'm wanting chocolate, I need to get myself under control.
   
2. Why do I have several friends and not a best friend?
   
3. How does this Twitter work, anyway? (seriously..I'm still not "getting it" and that makes me feel like a silly IT professional)
   
4. Every morning, I put underwear on my…well you didn't really think I would say it did you?
   
5. I consider myself lucky because I was able to buy a house with a room to convert to a library and my husband let's me indulge in my hobby even though he doesn't "get it".
   
6. One day we'll see a woman president.
   
7. And, as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching tv (or so I assume…depending on what's on I might read), tomorrow my plans include visiting my Aunt and Grandma with my sisters and 3 of the nephews as long as 1 of the nephews is over his cold, oh, and I have to pain the family room, and Sunday, I want to read or scrapbook or make cards and bookmarks to put on etsy, but I've been wanting to do that for weeks and it hasn't worked out yet.
   

I'm currently reading Buffalo Gal by Laura Pederson. It's slow going, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's just slow going. So I doubt I'll finish any more books for the month. I guess we'll see though…you never know.

Cozy Mystery Challenge - selection

Since I have so many other challenges going on, I'm only going to commit to 6 books for this challenge. However, I'm going to try and read more than 6 cozy mysteries during the time frame. I don't want to fail though, so that's why I'm only going to commit to 6.

I did create a list, but if I decide to change it, I will. It all depends on my reading moods those months.

I selected 3 books that I'm not reading for other challenges, they are:
Gunpowder Green by Laura Childs
The Cracked Pot by Melissa Glazer
Blessed is the busybody by Emilie Richards

I selected 3 books that I am reading for other challenges, they are:
Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett
Tacked to Death by Michele Scott
Design for Murder by Carolyn Hart

Another book that I would like to read, but just depends on if I can get a copy is The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson. It should be released on July 7th.

Peppermint Twisted by Sammi Carter

Copyright: 2007

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Genre: Mystery (cozy)

Pages: 244

Challenges: TBR Challenge (main list), Series challenge season 3

New-to-me author? No

Author website

Simple Description

Abby is looking forward to the Paradise arts festival that's coming up soon. Then the mayor removes the director of the arts festival and puts Felicity Asbury in her place. Nobody likes Felicity and ask Abby to talk to her. Abby goes to Felicity's house to have a chat, only it doesn't go so well. The next morning, Felicity is found murder, in her car, in front of Abby's candy store. Abby promises the cops that she won't investigate the murder, but when she finds out that the towns people think that she is the murderer, Abby doesn't feel she has any other choice.

Then another person is found dead. Unfortunately, Abby also had a run-in with this person the night before. Abby isn't sure exactly how this murder ties in with the other one, but she knows it does.

Why did I read this book?

I have read the first two in the series and enjoy them. I've had this one for awhile and since it was taking me awhile to get to it, I used it for 2 challenges this year.

What I liked most:

Probably the same thing I like about most cozy mysteries, it's a light mystery. There's nothing gory about it, there's lot of towns folk and normal stuff going on. It's a light read, but still interesting. I like that Abby works in a candy shop. I like that she left this small town to go to college and have a career and didn't come back until her life was falling apart. This causes tension between herself and a lot of her relatives in the town of Paradise. I think that just makes the story more interesting, because you have that tension along with the murder.

Was there something I didn't like?

The character seemed to dwell on the past too much. I know, that happens a lot. Heck, it happens a lot in real life. But..it seemed to be a bit too much in this book. I still liked the character though.

Do I recommend the book?

I do, although I recommend starting with the 1^st in the series if you haven't already. I think this is a fun cozy mysteries and do forward to more from this author.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Booking Through Thursday - Collectibles

Hardback or paperback?

Illustrations or just text?

First editions or don't care?

Signed by the author or not?

So this weeks edition is all about collectibles. Since I do collect and keep the majority of the books that cross my path, this is a good one for me.

I prefer hardback but they can be a pain to read. My favorite size for non-mystery books is trade paperback. I prefer mystery books to be either hardback or mass market paperback.

As for illustrations – I think it depends on the book. Most books I read don't have a need for illustrations. I think illustrations in some YA books and young reader books can be fun. I think illustrations in some science fiction and fantasy books can also be good. But for the most part, Illustrations aren't needed.

I would prefer to have first editions but don't normally go out of my way to get them.

I love getting books signed. I don't have them put my name in the book, just their signature. I love it! I realize a lot of people get books signed, but I still feel like I have a special copy whenever I do get one signed. I try to hit as many book signings as I can, the problem is that St. Louis doesn't draw in a lot of authors. It's a shame.

Thursday Thunk

1. What kind of dryer sheet do you use? Currently I'm using bounce. That's actually the brand I tend to use, but I'll use just about any brand, I buy the cheapest one after I factor in coupons and sales.
   


2. How many times a week do you eat out/order in? At least twice. We normally eat out on Saturday and Sunday
   


3. What did you do the night of your high school graduation? Honestly? I have no freaking idea! Haha!
   
   
4. So Octomom is rumored to have been offered a million bucks to do a porno. Would you do it for a million? This is hard. I want to say no, but then I think about the money and I want to say yes. I think I would end up saying no though. I'm not willing to take the chance of catching an STD.
   


5. If your child was born with an extra finger or toe, would you have it surgically removed? Yes. It's not needed and it would just cause them to be teased, I would rather save them from going through that.
   


6. What was the last movie you saw? Wanted and it was really good.
   


7. I wanna buy you a dozon roses, what color should they be? That really dark purple color…I find it just beautiful
   




8. You are walking across the street, you are not quite half way when a speeding care comes….you have to run to get out of it's way, which direction do you run? The direction I was already walking.
   



9. Tell us about a time when you were invited over somewhere and had the most awful time. Hmm…I honestly can't remember. Have I experienced something like this?
   




10. You open your front door and there is a box with a puppy in it, what do you do? I would probably keep it. How could you give up a puppy? If anybody wants to drop off an English bulldog puppy on my doorstep, I would be delighted.
    
    
    
    

20 Books in 2009 – challenge completed!

I can't believe I actually completed a challenge already! Woohoo! I'm excited.

The challenge blog can be found here.

The goal of this challenge was to read at least 20 books in 2009. Yesterday I finished my 22^st book for the year – I'm moving right along.

Here's a list of the books I read and am counting for this challenge. I have also linked my reviews. Enjoy!

1. Don't Know Much about Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis
   


2. New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
   


3. Deadly Harvest by Heather Graham
   


4. Story of the Sand by Mark B. Pickering
   


5. Grace by Richard Paul Evans
   


6. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
   


7. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
   


8. The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele
   


9. Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
   


10. Booked for Murder by Tim Myers
    


11. The Hot Flash Club Chills Out by Nancy Thayer
    


12. Death Reins in by Michele Scott
    


13. Snuffed Out by Tim Myers
    


14. Lost Girls by George D. Shuman
    


15. Deadly Gift by Heather Graham
    


16. Murder Takes the Cake by Gayle Trent
    


17. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
    


18. The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver
    


19. The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
    


20. The Tales of Beedle the Barb by J.K. Rowling
    

Covergirl coupons

For those who were interested in receiving one (or more) of the coupons, please let a comment.

I approve all messages, so in the comment please leave your name and address. I won't publish the comment, that's just the easiest way for me to get the mailing info from you.

If you would like more than 1, please let me know. I believe I have enough to give some people extras.

I emailed those who's profiles I could view. There were several where it was blocked though, so I really hope you see this message!

Vampyres of Hollywood by Adrienne Barbeau and Michael Scott

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336
Challenges: 9 books for 2009 - Letter
New-to-me author? Yes – for both authors

Author website

Simple Description

Peter King is the detective in charge of what the media is calling the Cinema Slayer killings. There have been a couple of very gruesome deaths. When He digs deeper into the investigation he realizes that they all have a connection to Osvanna Moor. Osvanna is head of a studio and also an actress. It seems that each time he tries to talk to somebody who works for Osvanna or her company, he finds them dead, murdered.

Peter wants to believe Osvanna –that she isn't behind the murders, but she keeps lying to him.

Osvanna is very worried about the killings. Osvanna is a vampire. Those who have been killed were either her clan, or people who worked for her. She recognizes the type of killings for what they are and knows that a vampire hunter is in her town. She needs Peter to figure out who the killer is, without finding out too much information about her.

It all seems to come to a close when she goes to visit the oldest living vampire. There it seems that Osvanna is facing death, but is there a chance that Peter will get there in time?

Why did I read this book?

I was offered this book for review and I thought it sounded interesting so I accepted a copy.

What I liked most:

I liked that while it was a vampire book, there was lots of differences from other vampires you read about. In this book there are different clans and it seems that each clan is different in some way. While this is not incredibly important for the story, the info is in there and makes it interesting.

I also really liked the characters. I liked Peter and his parents. The funny thing is that his parents aren't in the story much, other than him talking about them sometimes, yet I loved them.

Was there something I didn't like?

Hmm…not really. There were some parts where the killings were described and I think some might not like that, it was a little gory, but it didn't bother me.

Do I recommend the book?

Yes! This was a very fun read. I liked the mystery aspect of it. I liked Peter and Osvanna. I liked most of the other charactors as well. I thought the story was very well written. I had this on my shelf for awhile. I try to read most review books in the order that I receive them, yet I passed this one up a couple of times. I'm not sure why, just didn't want to read it. Then finally I picked up because I knew I needed to get to it. I'm glad I read it and wish I hadn't kept passing it up!

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Also reviewed by:

Popin's Lair

Stephanie's Confessions of a Book-a-holic

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Library pics

I thought I would share the most current pictures of my library.  We still have a couple of things left to do, we'll get to those next weekend.  The next big thing for this room is to get the custom bookcases installed.  That's going to be expensive though, so not holding my breath.  We do have somebody giving us a quote next weekend, but I'm going to guess it will be out of our budget for right now.  But...I guess you never know.

Library

Friday fill in #112

1. Give me a kitchen aid mixer and I'll give you cupcakes

2. Whenever I have a free moment I can usually be found reading

3. I wish I wasn't worried that I would lose my job

4. Wow – I can't remember! It must have been awhile….. was the last thing I ate that was utterly delicious.

5. To live in this world you need to be kind to others.

6. Other than this one, (I can't remember!) is the last blog I commented on. (hard question!!!)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eating BBQ, tomorrow my plans include putting another coat of paint on the French doors and painting the library and Sunday, I want to make some cards and bookmarks but will probably be painting!

Booking Through Thursday - Storage

I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I'm just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we'd like to know "How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?"

You're asking me? Somebody who has been known to organize the closets for fun? I admit…in the past mine haven't always been too organized. It was organized where it made sense to me and I could easily find things, but for others, probably not so much. I think it was like that because I didn't have enough room for all the books, so I had to pick and choose which books were left in boxes and which got to be displayed on the bookshelves. Instead of telling you how it used to be though, I'm going to focus on how it will be. As many of you know from reading my blog, I'm converting a room to be a library in our current house. While we have the flooring in and I'm working on painting the new French doors and will finish that and paint the room this weekend, I'm not sure when we will get the bookshelves built. The problem there is money. We have 9ft ceilings and I want one wall to be bookshelves, floor to ceiling. The wall is about 14 inches long. So it's going to be expensive. However, I do have a library case. It's rather large and heavy and has glass doors. I will be putting that in there. So I will have some room to display books for a bit. (don't worry…I'll probably have pictures to show next week)

Ok..enough…onto the actually answering of the question. Here's the plan. The books will be organized by genre. In each genre they will be organized alphabetically by author's last name. I have a lot of series books, I hope to put those in series order but won't be too picky about that, depends on how it looks. I have a binder where I keep a list of the series in order so it's easy for me to figure out when I go to grab a book. The only genre where I probably won't organize by author last name is the non-fiction. I don't have a lot of those. What I do have are mostly art books and memoirs. I haven't actually figured out what to do with these yet. I think the art books will go in my library case because some are rather large. However I might also just stack them up on the floor next to my comfy chair (which I don't own yet..another expense we aren't ready to do yet). Although, I guess I could still do memoirs by last name since, well, the book is about the author. Oh, and I have several war photography books. While I would love to sit these out, young children probably shouldn't have easy access to them. I am slowly collecting a large amount of young adult books (and I still have most from when I was growing up). While I think it would be cook to organize the young adult by genre and then author, I think I'll probably just do those by author to keep things simple.

Also, here's something I started doing this year and so far I love it. I pulled out all the books I'm reading for challenges and stuck them in my library case. I don't really have them in any order (which is kinda bothering me if you really want to know..that's how weird I am about organizing). I love this because when I'm ready to pick up a new book, I always look at these first in hopes of one grabbing my attention. It's an easy way to remember what I plan to read this year. Once I have read them, I put the book somewhere else. So that area of the library case will get smaller and smaller.

So that's a rather long response….what about you guys?

Steel Trapp: The Challenge by Ridley Pearson

From not enough books

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Disney Edition, Disney Book Group
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 324 pg
Challenges: 2009 Read-Your-Own Books, 2009 Young Adult Challenge
New-to-me author? No, but this is the first young adult book I have read by the other, the other one was an adult mystery

Simple Description
Steel, real name Steven, is on his way to a National Science Challenge in Washington D.C. Steel is of a rare breed, he has a photographic memory. While sitting on the train with his Mom, still in the station, he noticed a lady get up and leave. The thing that is cause for concern is that she left the briefcase that she brought on board with her. Steel grabs the briefcase and runs after her. The only problem is that when he catches up with her, she denies it is hers. Steel knows otherwise but doesn't have much of an option except to bring the briefcase back on the train.

There is an evil man on the train, the briefcase was supposed to go to him. Before he can get the briefcase from the boy, the boy and his Mom give it to a conductor. This even man convinces the conductor to take him to the baggage car but by then the briefcase is missing.

The briefcase is missing because Steel managed to get into the baggage car to see his dog. While there, he noticed the briefcase and managed to get a peak at what was inside. Inside was a picture of a women, she was tied, he knows she was kidnapped. There were some numbers on the picture too. He hid the briefcase instead of putting it back. While in the baggage car he meets young Kaileigh. Kaileigh was supposed to be in the same science challenge but her project was stolen. Kaileigh and Steel get involved in the investigation with the briefcase and the evil man.

Why did I read this book?
Last year the author was in town for a book signing. Silly me, I had just read an adult mystery book by him and hadn't realized he also wrote young adult. Imagine my surprise when I show up and the room is full to overflowing with kids. This book was the newest one to be released and I thought it sounded good, so I got it.

What I liked most:
I liked that it's about two smart kids who help the adults find the bad guys. It was a fun book to read and the whole time I was wondering why books like this weren't out when I was growing up. I mean, I'm not that old….

Was there something I didn't like?
I didn't always like the way the Mom was portrayed. She was made out to be somewhat stupid. I get that Steel is incredibly smart and in comparison, most wouldn't seem too intelligent next to him, but the Mom, she was just made out to be less intelligent than I think was necessary for the story.

Do I recommend the book?
I do! I really enjoyed this book. I think kids and adults will enjoy this one.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Blog Improvement Project – Week 4: Basics

So I skipped week 3. I could come up with some really cool excuse on why I skipped it, but I would be lying. The real reason is that I was being lazy.

So here's what week 4 is about. It's about the basics. Is your picture updated? Do you have an updated blogroll? Is it easy for people to subscribe to an RSS feed? Do you have an "about me" section up and is it current? You get the idea.

I decided that I didn't really need to do anything with this one. Since I updated my blog last month, everything is already up-to-date. I have an rss feed, I changed my picture recently, I have a gadget that shows what I follow on google reader – I consider that my blogroll.

So what else is there for me to do? Do any of you have any suggestions? Did you go looking for something on my site and not find it? Do you think I could update something?

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Children's High Level
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction
Pages: 107
Challenges: none
New-to-me author? none

Simple Description
This is a collection of wizarding fairy tales with commentary by Albus Dumbledore. That's about all I'm going to say since, well, I'm assuming most of you have already read the book, plan to read it, or at least know what it's about.

Why did I read this book?
How could I possibly pass this one up? Haha! I realize that it's not another Harry Potter book, but it still kinda goes with it.

What I liked most:
I thought the stories were interesting. I like fairy tales, so to me this was just a different kind of fairy tale.

Was there something I didn't like?
I wish it was longer. Haha! I read it in a couple of hours.

Do I recommend the book?
I do. I'm not sure I liked it as much as others have, but I still enjoyed it. I thought the stories were fun. I thought the commentary was interesting. I'm glad I have a copy for my collection.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

This has also been reviewed by:

Bermudaonion

Beth F.

Cathy at Kittling: Books

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Techie Help – Word 2007 – an update

I totally remember what I was going to cover regarding word 2007. I can't believe I forgot!

Word 2007 gives you the option of doing a blog post! Easy as pie. I personally love it because I can work on posts and save them and never be on the internet. I can save it and work on it from home or work or wherever I have access to word 2007. Then when it's ready, I can either publish it or publish as draft. I normally publish as draft so that I can then view it and make sure it looks right, add pictures, etc.

To do this, you open word, click on the office button, click on new. Since I use this one pretty often it's listed under the blank and recent section. If you haven't used it yet, then click on installed templates and it should be listed.

One of the first things you will need to do is set up your account. Click on Manager Accounts. This is located on the blog post tab, in the first ribbon section. Then click on new and follow the prompts. If you have several blogs: no big deal. You can set them all up on here and you can select which one to publish the post to. There is an option for pictures, where you can select the location to upload pictures; however I haven't gotten this to work yet. My picture provider isn't listed (in fact…none are). So I just publish mine in draft and then add the pictures as if I wrote the blog post on blogger.

Now, since I try to follow the same format for all my book review posts, I created a blog post template. This means that I set up the post how I want it to look, then I saved it as a template. Now when I want to create a book review, I pull up the template and I'm ready to go! You can pretty much save anything as a template. Just create the blog post (or word document) with the fields you want displayed. For example, I created it with all the headings in mine: copyright, genre, simple description, etc. I didn't type anything except the headings. Oh, and be careful with the font size. I've noticed that when I selected a larger font size, it looks extra large in blogger and I have to change the size to make it look better. When you are finished, click on the office button, click on save as, and select the office template option. I believe the default save location for templates is: c:\users\username\appdata\microsoft\templates.

If you saved it in that location, then the first time you go to use it, click on new and then my templates and it should be listed.

Ok, now, when you are finished with your post and ready to publish it, click on publish (it's on the blog post tab). Then click on either publish or publish as draft. You will be prompted to enter your userid and password. You can have word save this info for you, but I don't recommend it.

The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig

Copyright:2005

Publisher: New American Library

Genre: Fiction (historical)

Pages: 432

Challenges: Read-your-own-books

new-to-me author? No

Simple Description:

This is the 2nd in the series.  This one starts off with Colin taking Eloise to Selwick Hall, his house.  The library holds archives that will give her more info on the two spies she is interested in, the Black Tulip and the Pink Carnation.

It appears that lady Henrietta Selwick has a code book that is used to decode messages from Jane, who is the Pink Carnation.  Jane is still in Paris and is such a good spy that nobody even thinks about her.  However she becomes worried when she finds some documents that are orders for the Black Tulip, the most dangerous spy, to go to London and investigate lady Henrietta and Miles Dorrington.  Henrietta's brother was the Secret Carnation and Miles is her brother's best friend.   

Miles works for the war office and is asked to keep an eye on Lord Vaughn.  He is suspected of being a spy.  He also is asked to keep an eye on Henrietta, by her Mother.  Soon we realize that  Miles is attracted to Hen, but lies to himself about it since her brother is his best friend.  Soon Hen realizes that she is attracted to Miles.

While these two deal with that, they also deal with trying to track down and capture the Black Tulip before they are caught.

Oh...and let's not forget that Eloise is also attracted to Colin, and sometimes it seems that Colin feels the same way about her.   While most of the book is of the historical nature, there are parts with Colin and Eloise also. 

Why did I read this book?

I loved the first one, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation.  I wanted to immediately read the rest in the series, but well, you know how that goes.  I'm glad I finally read this one. 

What I liked most?

I loved the relationship between Miles and Henrietta.  We do get both their view points in this story and it makes it a very enjoyable read.  I like reading how they both like each other, but don't really want to like the other one or realize that the other one liked them. haha!  Of course I think it's fun to read about them snooping around too.

Was there anything I didn't like?

Not really.  There were some words/items that I didn't really understand but I think it's because the majority of the story takes place in the early 1800's (I think) and I'm just not that familiar with some of the words/items that are for that time period.  However, that did not ruin the story or make me like it less.

Do I recommend the book?

Absolutely!  I think this is a fun historical fiction read.  I love the romance in it, I like the historical aspect of it.  I do recommend starting with the first in the series though.  I'm sure you would be ok reading them out of order, you would still be able to follow along, but I think you would enjoy it more if read in order.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog?  Let me know and I'll link it below.

Happy Reading......and thanks for stopping by!   Kris

Techie Help - Word 2007

I believe the pictures are probably hard to see since I decided to embed the document, for a full screen view, click here.

word 2007

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Internet & Technolog How-To Guides & DIY Word

How to make buttons for your posts

If you are like me, you have often wondered how bloggers make those cute buttons for challenges and other things. I figured I new how to get the text on them, but where do they get the cute photo's?

Well...Beth over at Beth Fish Reads created a post earlier this month explaining just how to do that. I read the instructions and they were wonderful! Check it out here.

She mentions in her post that she uses a program to do the watermarking. If you remember, last month I did a post on paint.net, a free program. You can actually use paint.net to add text to the photo (like in my header). So here's a link to my post as well in-case you are interested in using it to create buttons.

Catching up with my Google reader

I am soooo behind in google reader. I have over 1000 posts to read! Gasp! I know, what was I thinking right?

So I thought I would just post here and let everyone know that I'm behind...but trying to catch-up.

And I thought I would share a picture that my co-worker sent me. We all need a grin on Friday.

Friday Fill-In #111

1. It seems like that my co-workers and husband like my new hair cut.
2. Flush the toilet when you're done, please?
3. If I thought you appreciate a baked goody tomorrow I'd bake you something!
4. Friendship is what I think of most when I think of you.
5. To me, Valentine's day means nothing, just a hallmark holiday (although I do send handmade cards to my immediate family).
6. Eating gives me strength.
7. As for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching tv and reading tomorrow my plans include painting primer around and on the library french doors and hanging out at my sisters for dinner and Sunday I want to finish painting if I didn't get it on Saturday and then watching tv and playing with my new stamps!

Booking Through Thursday - Authors Talking

Do you read any author's blog? If so, are you looking for information on their next project? On the author personally? Something else?

There are very few author blogs that I follow.

I follow Jason' Wrights blog, Life with Jason Wright. During the holidays he posts stories about people receiving (or giving) a real-life Christmas jar. In fact, some are still trickling in. I love reading those. Some are very long and full of detail, some are very short. But I love them.

I also follow The Lipstick Chronicles. The blog posts are written by authors: Harley Jane Kozak, Sarah Strohmeyer, Elaine Viets, Nancy Martin, and Michele Martinez. I don't read some of the authors books, but I read others. I personally just find most of the posts amusing.

Other than that, there aren't really any author's blogs that I really follow. I'll visit their websites to get book info and tour dates, but that's about it. There have been some others whose blogs I would follow, except that they blog on their website and don't have RSS feeds set-up, so I can't. And I'm personally too lazy and forgetful to keep going back to their blog to see what they are writing. I would follow only because some of the posts I read were funny.

Hanging with the nephews

On Saturday we went to my sisters house for my nephew's birthday party (I can't believe he is 3!!!). At one point Husband was holding Connor and I was holding Oliver (the two newest nephews). For some reason, Connor loves to blow bubbles, sometimes sound included. So this picture catches the perfect moment. Husband looked at Connor and was like "Oh my god! Look at this kid" and laughed. I looked down and started laughing. This picture is great because it shows us both laughing, it shows how many bubbles Connor had and it shows Oliver looking at Connor like he is crazy.

The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver

Copyright: 2008

Publisher:Simon & Schuster

Genre: Mystery

pages: 350

challenges: no

new-to-me author? yes

Simple Description:

Brynn is a deputy for a small town in Wisconson.  Even though she is off duty, she is asked to check out a 911 call from a vacation home near their area.  The call was disconnected after the caller only said one word.  They don't know if this is a real threat or not.  When Brynn gets to the house, she receives a call from her boss telling her that the man called back and said it was a false alarm.  Since she is already there, she decides to go up to the house anyway.  It turns out the call was a real distress call.  She finds two people murdered in the house, she also realises the two killers are still there. 

She tries to escape but is shot and her car ends up going into the lake.  Luckily she is able to get out alive.  When she is in the woods, she meets a women that she believes is the third house guest.   Along with this women, spends the next 12 hours trying to escape the two killers.  This takes the women on a journal through a very large state park in the middle of the night.

There are a lot of twists and turns with this book. 

Why did I read this book?

I've heard great things about this author and since this was a stand-alone book, it was an easy one to start with.

What I liked most?

I loved all the twists and turns with this story.  It really kept my interest.  I loved the ending as well.  I liked that the story didn't end until each person who played a major role was accounted for.

Was there anything I didn't like?

At first it seemed to be slow to me.  However, I'm not so sure it was the book.  I started it late Sunday, but didn't really get into it until Monday.  Monday I was home sick with the flu.  So I wasn't really at my best.  

Do I recommend this book?

I do.  I thought it was a very good mystery.  When I thought I knew what was going on, I was usually wrong. I love when that happens.  I think the writing was good and I liked the main charactors. 

Have you reviewed this book on your blog?  If so, let me know and I'll link it below.

Thanks for stopping by....and happy reading!  Kris

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer

Copyright: 2007

Publisher: Little, Brown

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 629

Challenges: Young Adult Challenge, Paranormal challenge

New-to-me author? No

As I did with each of the other books in this series, I'm not really going to review it.  You have either already read this book, are working on the series but haven't made it to this one, or have no plans to read this series.  What more could I possibly say?

Overall I did enjoy this book. I liked it as much as the others.  I think the author's writing is getting much better.  I fear saying more because I don't want to give things away for those who plan to read this one but haven't gotten there yet.   I think it's enough to say that I am really enjoying this series and look forward to the next one (which I already own but won't plan on reading until next month).

January Coupon Savings

I know, I'm a tad late with this one, but I'm just now getting around to figuring it all out. I believe I might have a couple more coupons at home, but I'll just update the totals if I do.

In a nut shell, for the month of January I saved $86.02 by using coupons and taking advantage of rebates.

Grocery store:
01/01 - $3.45
01/30 - $12.77
(total: $16.22)

Books:
01/03 - $7.40 (I literally bought a paperback for $0.63 – I love when that happens!)
01/30 - $6.25
(total: $13.65)

Scrapbooking:
01/30 - $2.80

Restaurant:
01/04 - $1 – It's like I always say, every little bit helps
01/31 - $5
(total: $6)

Walgreens/Target:
01/04 - $13.07
01/10 - $3.00
01/30 - $12.95
(total: $29.02)

I also saved $18.33 by using rebates this month.

Friday Fill-in #110

1. Please don't tell some of my co-workers how I realy feel about them.
2. Can you wake up refreshed in the morning?
3. The color of split pea soup makes me want to barf.
4. I have a craving for soda.
5. If my life had a pause button, I would pause it whenever my nephews smile, they are so cute.
6. Eyes are the windows to our souls, or so some say, I think they're on crack myself.
7. As for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading Eclipse, tomorrow my plans include attending a b-day party for my nephew (he's 3 now!) and Sunday I want to do nothing, but I doubt that will happen. Somebody has to clean house.

Murder Takes the Cake by Gayle Trent

Copyright: 2008

Publilsher: Bell Bridge Books

Genre: Mystery

Pages:260

Challenges: None

New-to-me author?  Yes

Simple Description:

Daphne Martin has just moved to town.  She is trying to start her life over.  She created her own cake making/decorating business and is trying to get business.  Yodel Watson requested a cake, but has rejected the last two Daphne brought over.  When she brings over her third attempt, she finds Yodel dead in her house.

Daphne is later asked by Yodel's daughter to return to the house and find Yodel's journal. Yodel wrote down all the gossip in their small town.  Daphne finds it and can't help reading some of it herself.  She soon finds out that her Mom had an affair when she was a young girl and the man's family seems to be spreading lies about Daphne and trying to ruin her business.   Daphne goes in search to see if her Mom secretly had another child before she married her Dad. At the same time, she can't help trying to solve the mystery of Yodel's murder.

Why did I read this book?

I was actually contacted by the publisher and asked to read a review copy.  I love cozy's, so I jumped at the chance.  I'm just sorry it took me so long to actually read it.

What I liked most?

I love to bake, so I loved the cake making and decorating aspect of this book.  I thought it was fun to read about the different kinds and what the character did.   

Was there anything I didn't like?

I checked out the author's website to see if she has written other fiction books, but didn't have much luck.  Sometimes when reading this one, I felt like this was the author's first attempt.  So the writing just wasn't as good as other author's.  I felt there were times when she kinda got off-track or at least put info in the story that just wasn't needed.  Here's an example:  "I imagined Peggy March would be outside with a bag of rock salt by the time the last snowflake hit the ground. Which reminds me, I need to buy rock salt before the weather turns colder."  So you can see, it's nothing major, but we dont' need to know that she needs to by rock salt.  We could have been fine without it.  I feel like I'm just being too picky though.  It didn't ruin the story by any means, it's just that at times things like that stuck out and I didn't feel they were necessary for the story.

Do I recommend the book?

Yes!  Even though I wrote that there was something I didn't like, overall the story was really good.  I do feel like what I didn't like is something you see more with new authors, so my guess would be that as the author writes more in this series, the writing will get stronger and better.  That being said, I did really enjoy the story.  I liked Daphne.  She's been through a lot, she has issues with her Mom, but she's still trying.  She's out there trying to make a new start and changing career's when she's 40.  I liked some of the other secondary characters too.  I also mentioned that I like the cake decorating aspect of it as well. I would love to do that for a living.  So yeah, if you enjoy cozy mysteries, I think you would enjoy this book.  I know there is a 2nd book in the works for this series and I'm sure I'll get it when it comes out.   This story had me wanting to make lots of cakes and try my hand at decorating them!  So you've been warned..... haha!

******************************************************************************

Don't just take my word for it, get another opinion!  This book has also been reviewed by:

Musing of a Bookish Kitty

(if you have reviewed this book, let me know and I'll link it above!)

Happy reading...and thanks for stopping by!  Kris

Booking Through Thursday - Too Much Information

Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse - a biography has made you love an author more?

I'm hoping by "biography" you mean the little blurb on the back cover about the author. If not, then I've never read an author's biography. If yes, then I sometimes read that. haha! I would have to admit that it doesn't effect me very much at all. Sometimes I read the biographies, sometimes I don't. If I do read them it is normally after I have already finished the book.

I will tell you what does put me off about an author, hearing others responses after meeting them or sharing emails, etc. If they love the author and talk about how nice they were etc, I will tend to gravitate towards the authors books. If they talk about the author being mean and sounding snobby, I tend to avoid the author's books.

Weekly Geeks 2009-04

I always wanted to participate in Weekly Geeks, and was always too lazy. This year, I'm going to try and play along every week (from now on anyway).

So for this week, here's the challenge:

#1. What are you passionate about besides reading and blogging? For example, are you crafty (knitting, woodworking, scrapbooking, model building)? Do you cook? Into gaming (computer or board)? Sports (player or spectator)? Photography? Maybe you like geocaching, rock climbing? Or love attending events like renaissance fairs, concerts? Music? Dancing? You get the idea.
Tell us why you're passionate about it. Post photos of what you've made or of yourself doing whatever it is you love doing.

My other favorite hobbies are scrapbooking and photography. They kinda go together too don't though? My photography hobby isn't so much taking puctures of things I see as interesting etc, because I'm too lazy for that (seriously..I wish I wasn't soo lazy but at least I'm honest about it). It's more about getting the best possible pictures I can, while on vacation. Husband and I have taken several trips that I refer to as "dream vacations". We have traveled in Europe 4 times and they were the best trips I've ever taken. I've gotten some crap about that because some don't understand why I would rather travel in Europe isntead of the US where I live. I think it's simple...it's so different over there! And...in school I learned so freakin' much about some of these places. And...how can you not like castles?! Wait a minute, what was I talking about here? Oh yeah, photography. Ok. So I've had the opportunity to see some amazing sites, and why not stand in front of a monument for 15 minutes so you can get the best possible picture? I like to take them from different angles, from up close and far away. I like to take several pictures of the exact same thing, because one is bound to stand out. I have fun with photography. I love taking pictures. I love trying to pose my dog and take pictures of her. Husband often finds me on the floor with the camera trying to get a good shot of our dog...at her level. When my nephews are over, I'm often on the ground trying to get good pictures. So while I don't often head out around town and take intresting pictures (such as the gargyles on the Washington University campus - those are soo cool) I do have a passion for photography.

Scrapbooking is a hobby I have had for a long time. When I was young I was given a rubber stamp. I loved playing with it! I gradually moved to making cards. From there, it went to scrapbooking. I remember that one time Husband asked if I scrapbooked (this was when we were dating). I said no and that I never would. I kid you not, within a year I was scrapbooking. At the time I just didn't like the supplies that were out. Scrapbooking was more about using lots of stickers, etc. I don't like that. But then the hobby grew and really cool things came out. So naturally I just moved into scrapbooking. So far I have scrapbooked our wedding, a book on our dog, and our vacations. I don't print out all the picturse from our trips and put them in a photo album. Instead I pick my favorites and scrapbook them. I also love to make cards and invitations.  I made my sisters baby shower invites and her baby announcements.  I love doing stuff like that. 

#2. Get us involved. Link to tutorials, recipes, Youtube videos, websites, fan sites, etc, anything that will help us learn more about your interest or how to do your hobby. Maybe you'd like to link to another hobbyist whose work you admire or tell us about a book or magazine related to your interest.

Tim Holtz is one of my favorite designers

Hero Arts is one of my favorite companies for stamps, their blog has some awesome ideas

Jennifer McGuire is another talented designer whose blog I follow

I'm actually trying to sell some of my cards and announcements on etsy, so here's a link to them so you can see some of the work I do. 

As for photography, I'm going to include a link to an album I put together to showcase some of my favorite photo's.   I hope you enjoy!  Oh..and don't forget the picture in my heading, I love that picture.

Favorite photo's

Blog Improvement project - week 2

Yeah yeah..I'm a wee bit late on this one. Better late than never right?

I think my regular feature is going to be something IT related. I mentioned this in my first blog improvement project post but I think it works well for this week also.

I work in IT and run across things weekly that I think is common knowledge but that lost of normal pc users don't know. I'm going to try and post some of it as a way to just help everyone out there in blog land.

I would love it if readers could remember to post a comment or email me when they have a question. Then I would have some direction and know that what I'm writing is actually going to help somebody.

I don't have a frequency as for how often this well be done. I would love to say it would be weekly, but I know myself and I know that would never happen. I'm going to say that it will definitely be once a month. I hope to do it more often, but you never know.

So...anybody out there have any questions for me?

Win a copy of Adobe photoshop elements 7 or Premier elements 7

As many of you know I have wanted some kind of photoshop software for awhile, but due to cost I haven't bought it. While paint.net does work well, I still want something more.

So I can across this contest. It's being hosted by Reviewin It Up.

There are several things to do in order to be eligible for the conest, but I figured I would do them all because I would really like a copy of either software.

If you are interested in this as well, just click on the contest link above!

Deadly Gift by Heather Graham

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Mira
Genre: Romantic Paranormal (I consider it Mystery)
Pages: 387
Challenges: Series Challenge Season 3
New-to-me author? No

Simple Description

This is the last in the Flynn Brother's trilogy which means Zach is the brother who does the majority of the investigating. Sean O'Riley is off to Ireland on his honeymoon. He married a woman who is much younger than he is, and whom nobody really likes. Not long after Sean arrives in Ireland he is taken to the hospital because he is so sick. Caer is assigned to look after him. Sean is soon well enough to return to Rhode Island and he employs Caer to come with him as his nurse. On the day Sean left for Ireland, his business partner and friend, Eddie disappeared and is believed dead. Zach was called in to investigate Eddie's disappearance and Sean's illness. Sean's daughter, Kat, insists that Amanda (the new wife) had something to do with it. Zach doesn't think Amanda is intelligent enough to do it. Soon it becomes apparent that the killer is somebody the family knows. Zach must figure out who it is and what they are after before Sean, or anybody else, is murdered.

Why did I read this book?

I enjoy Heather Graham's books. I've read the first 2 in the Flynn Brothers trilogy and was looking forward to this one.

What I liked most:

I like that with this one, the paranormal aspect was so different from the other ones. It has to do with the Irish legend of the Banshee. In fact, that made it different from most other paranormal books I've read.

Was there something I didn't like?

Not really.

Do I recommend the book?

I do! While I think you can read the trilogy out of order, I do think it's best to read it in order. I love the Flynn Brothers, so it was fun that all three were in this book again. I do wish there would be more with these brothers in them though, I think she could have a fun series with them.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris