Well - it's Monday, again...

I am very happy to be able to say that things are getting a bit better - my newest job has a possibility of a promotion to field assistant and though things are still very weird at my other work, at least I can try to tune some of it out by thinking of other things.

My fingers are crossed on the newest job and promotion.

This weekend alone I ended up earning 290 dollars, and though that really isn't a whole lot - it's almost as much as I bring home in an entire month of working lunch duty.

It's all relative.

Here we are again - for me, it's I'm back (possibly temporarily again).  My posting has been very spotty lately which goes hand in hand with my reading.  My reading has suffered terribly with the mix of things going on in my life - some good, some horrible, and some wonderful.
Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey - we are sharing what we've been reading.  Mr Linky is at her site to link up to (of course)

Once again, I finished not ONE novel.  Not a one.  I did manage to finish an anthology magazine - 
Steampunk Trail's #1, edited by J.A. Campbell.

That is the only thing that I can honestly say I finished reading.  It's good - lots of good steampunk stories to fit any taste and some illustrations as a bonus.  

I have recently bought a few books, and I also received one from a publisher - and I'm working on reading it (my apologies for not reading it straight through, though I did receive it after the publishing date, so I don't feel like it was a rush read)

   

Man Made Boy by Jon Skovron 

YA monster romance (wink)

think of frankenstein and his bride MAKING a son.

and then he turns into a teen....

    

Perdition - the first of the Dred Chronicles set in the universe of Jax (oh....remember Jax?  I miss her stories).

This one is written in third person as opposed to the first person present tense of Jax's stories.  (I miss that voice!)

I'm pretty sure Dred is a character Jax met when she was in that huge prison awaiting trial....

By - of course - Ann Aguirre, an author that seems to nail one of the types of SciFi I enjoy reading.

Another book beginning a new series from a great writer is Hell Bent by Devon Monk.  Written as a continuation of the magic story of Seattle, in Allie Becktrom's Seattle, this new series features two characters from the first series - Shame and Terric.  Interesting combo of characters, and interesting situations...

I've managed to come across a book I've had around here for a few years.  Jaye Wells' The Mage In Black.  I decided to try to read this second in a series, though I wasn't super excited about the first.  Many times, the second book is better though...although there are times, the reverse is true... hmmmm..  nah - I'm pretty sure it'll be interesting.  :)

I would like to try her newest series - Dirty Magic.  Sounds interesting.

There's another book I bought, it's SciFi - but I can't find it (of course) and cannot remember the name...it starts with an E, and I think there's an N or S in it also....and an O.....and an I.....  (oh boy)  Can't even remember the author's name, but it's set in Scotland.  How's that for SciFi?  dont' come across many SciFi set in Scotland, at least not here in the states.  :)

Well - it's getting late.  I've worked 36 hours in the last 48 (is that right?  that's crazed!), and I'm actually tired before four a.m.  for once.    I get to work both jobs tomorrow, and we're going for a drive, my client and I.  He likes to ride in my car, which he calls his car...  "my car".  how cute.

April Round Up

http://profile.cheezburger.com/Mardel/lolz

 This is really my dog, and the beautiful curtains I used to have....before my grandchildren and the dogs kind of...got to them.  between the couch being pushed against the curtains, the grandchildren playing IN the curtains, and the animals getting caught up in the curtains....they didn't last long.  Now I just hang an old sheet from the hem - works just as well, and I didn't have to spend forty bucks on a set of curtains that are just going to get treated too rough.  I'll wait until the grandchildren are a little older....  ;)  Oh yeah, and my dog really does sit like this - all the time and for rather long periods of time.  You can even walk into a room where there is NO ONE else, and find him just sitting like that.  Randomly.  He's random.

It occurs to me that I've never done one of those end of month summaries of books read - much less end of year summary (hahaha, as if I'd ever be that prepared...)  Seems like it might be encouraging....to myself.  ;)  So I'm starting this for April, 2013.

April Books in alpha order

American Vampire (Jennifer Armintrout, UF) ***** 

Boyfriend from Hell (Jamie Quaid, UF) ****

The Burn Zone (James K Decker, SciFi) ******

Clean (Alex Hughes, SciFi) *****

Hex Hall (Rachel Hawkins, YA/UF) ****

Midnight Blue-Light Special (Seanan McGuire, UF) *****

(I usually rate up to six stars.  Five if they're pretty good, six if I Love it Lots, four if it's good...and so on)

Short Stories

Brown Goes Full Steam Ahead (J.A. Campbell, fantasy) from Penny Dread Tales 3  = loved it

Notable Children's Books

Are The Dinosaurs Dead, Dad? (Julie Middleton)

Claude in the City (Alex T Smith)

Pete The Cat: Rocking In My School Shoes  ( Eric Litwin and James Dean, illustrator)

I know I've read way more children's books - but I don't keep track of them.  Maybe I should, especially since I'm finding that I have to ask each class..."have we read this book yet?" before I read to them.  lol.  Nothing like getting forgetful with a room full of books to read to children. :)

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas 

Happy Holidays

To All!

my gift to you all =

some LoL Cat  (& a dog or two) pics 

I just recaptioned

The Watch-Cat, trying to keep home safe

Santa Paws, just wants his bone!

This Hunter has just one wish - to finally catch something he can EAT!

I like both versions, but I think the second version is a little bit better - so be careful, 

This dog is WATCHING YOU BE NAUGHTY!

:)

Merry Christmas 

to all the cats, dogs, pets, 

and the humans, too. ;)

Monday is over now....Teaser Tuesday!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of ShouldBeReading. Full Guidelines, which include no spoilers, are available by clicking on the link.
I missed participating last week. So I'm staying up late to participate this week. (like I would be in bed anyway, hahahaha) In the interest of trying to go to bed soon, though I'm keeping the teaser to only one.

I've recently finished this book, but the tease I'm posting was too good to pass up....remember that the main character in this series is one seriously bad-ass Gunnery Sargeant Torin Kerr, now girlfriend of a civilian salvage officer, Craig Ryder. He's been kidnapped and abused in this particular story...From The Truth of Valor, written by Tanya Huff

page 246
' "Smart mouth on you, Ryder." Almon set the container bottom down on the deck. "maybe I should smack you in it a couple more times. Teach you to keep it closed."

Maybe I should have my girlfriend kick the crap out of you. Craig snickered. And now he's going to ask...

"What's so fukking funny?"

"You're just very predictable, mate." '

ahhh - good times, good times.

now, to all Doctor Who and cat lovers - for your viewing pleasure
courtesy of LOLCats
I love this site - full of funny captions and cute cats.

Waiting on Wednesday

I haven't done one of these WOW posts for a little while. In fact, I don't do them every week, because there are so many books I want that I would spend all my time looking them up, copying and pasting the covers, uploading posts...etc. that I wouldn't have time to read the books that I do have...I already spend too much time in the 'net.....(snicker, smirk, wink, wink-no idea why I'm snickering, smirking or winking here, I don't always make sense)

Hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine, Waiting On Wednesday is a place to post about books that we're looking forward to reading. I usually post about books that are far into the future (the whole waiting thing), but there is a book out right now that I am stressing about because I couldn't get to the bookstore TODAY to buy...not that I would have been able to read it right immediately anyway. In my formerly over-doing it fashion, I'm not only listing that book, but three others...because there are many,many books that I am waiting to get.

:)

Magic Slays released on Tuesday, May 31st. I've been waiting patiently for this to come out...so patiently, that it just snuck up on me! I remember years ago, when the very first book by these two (Ilona and Gordon Andrews) came out and they were relatively unknown this book pretty much jumped out at me from the bookshelf at the store. Magic Bites - who could resist that title? and when I read the back cover, I had to try it out. Ever since that first book, Ilona Andrew's books have joined the ranks of books that I just automatically buy when they come out, not even bothering to read the blurbs anymore. I don't care what the back covers say anymore, I know it's going to be a good read just because it's the series that I enjoy from the couple that writes hell-a-good books.

Another novelist/book series that I automatically buy is any book in the Disc World series by Terry Pratchett. At this point, any book by Terry Pratchett is one that I'll buy. I like some more than others - that's inevitable with over 30 books under his belt, but they're all good books. Snuff comes out in October of 2011. In hardback...ouch, but I usually do buy Sir Pratchett's books in hardback...can't WAIT! for the paperback versions. (evil publishers....lol) I just want you all to know - it is very difficult to find excerpts of some of the discworld books, and yet others are very available...so click and read-get a taste of Pratchett if you've never read him before. Good writer...Brilliant....Genius.....

Yes! I know this has been out for a while, possibly longer than a year...maybe even almost two years (?!?). But I didn't buy it right away (came out in hardback) and Christopher Moore's novels rarely come out in mass market paperback size (the only mmpb I have of his is Practical DemonKeeping, his debut novel). Nope, this guy's books now go from hardback (in the U.S. at $25 or more) to TRADE paperback...and those are now around $16. Can't get a BREAK! (evil publishers-smaller lol here). So. Soon, I plan to shell out the medium bucks to buy a copy of Bite Me....It's the third in the vampire trilogy - (Bloodsucking Fiends, You Suck) and I've read the first two - enjoyed them....need to read the third.

By the way - follow the Christopher Moore link, and you will be able to find excerpts to all his books. Amazing. Good Authorly thing to do.

Jemma 7729 came out in a few years ago, though it was written in 2004ish...I remember reading about it way back in ...well, I can't really remember what year. I was able to read an excerpt though - it must have been before 2008. (damn-it, am I rambling here!? like an elder....jeez) I remember reading it and thinking, "Damn! I have to get a copy of this!" I was so excited about it, futuristic science fiction, rebellious, kickass female character....and then for one reason or another I kept forgetting to actually ORDER it. By the way, it's written by Phoebe Wray and she was working on a sequel (Jay2 - not sure if that's the final title or just the working title). Well, since I once again thought about this book, I once again looked it up on The Book Depository and went ahead and ordered myself a copy...finally. Since I've been suddenly craving Science Fiction reading, I'm hoping to receive it soon.

I've been craving SciFi so much that I'm considering re-reading the Sirantha Jax Series, and taking a re-read of the Nylon Angel series (for the scifi furturistic feel)

So that's it for my Waiting On Wednesday. One of the books is a future wait...one I can go get tomorrow....and the other two are books that I've waited way too long to acquire.

At least I ordered it....finally.

In the meantime, I'll just have to soothe myself with silly cat pictures.

Courtesy of LOLCatz also known as ICAN Haz Cheezeburgers

Challenge, Teasers, etc

I've only joined in on one reading challenge so far this year. The way my reading is going, (I'm averaging a whopping one book per week - whew! ), I'm not sure it's such a good idea to even try for more; however there are a couple other challenges that are calling to me.....Really there are more than a couple more, but I'm officially going to sign up for two more at the moment. We'll just have to see how it goes.

The Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge 2011 is hosted by The Book Vixen. The basis of this one is to read more books in 2011 than in 2010. This is the one that I'll have to push myself on, because my reading has actually SLOWED down since last year, and I'm doubtful that I'll even be able to read the same amount as last year. lol. But I'm going to try.
According to the books that I kept track of (who knows, I might have forgot to list a book here or there) I read 54 novels (this isn't including any anthologies, because I can take up to a year or longer to read every story from an anthology - hey. they are full of short stories. I'm assuming it's okay to read a short story when ever I feel like it, not read the whole anthology right through)

I am going to go easy on myself, though, and sign up for the absolutely easiest level. This would be the - Getting My Heart Rate Up Level: 1 - 5 more books this year than last. The challenge goes from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. haha - so far, I've read 7 books. seven.

Then there is also;Darlyn, of Darlynandbooks is hosting the 2011 Fantasy Reading Challenge. There are four levels, Curious (3), Fascinated (6), Addicted (12)and Obsessed (20). I'm going for Fascinated, so will try to read 6 fantasy novels for 2011. This sounds easy, but mostly I read urban fantasy, and this is for straight fantasy...a la Patricia McKillip fantasy (love her). Like most challenges, this one runs from January 1 to December 31, 2011. It's also possible to change your goal.

Now I've never posted an official "wrap up post" at any book challenge site, so I'll be looking for ideas with format by reading other wrap-up posts - just to get an idea how it's done, not to plagiarize. :)

Now, Finally - Tuesday Teaser....Teaser Tuesday!

Hosted by Miz B at ShouldBeReading, this is one of the fun MeMes I like to participate in. I get to tease with sentences from books I'm reading. Of course, full guidelines are at Miz B's site, but main thing is NO spoilers and credit the author and book.

This week's reading (the books within reach anyway) are...

The Iron Witch by Karan Mahoney (aka Kaz)

from page 102

'....Crazy Homeless Dude lowered his head to Xan's face and...what the hell was he doing? Donna watched with repulsion as the man's teeth suddenly seemed sharper, like there were too many of them to fit properly in this mouth.'

Masques by Patricia Briggs

from page 7

'...Everyone feared him. Everyone. Even Him, even the one who searched. She smelled of horse, sweat, and something sweet. No Fear.

He snarled, and she wrapped one hand over his muzzle. Sheer astonishment stopped his growls. Just how stupid was she? '

Me, pretty much every morning....lol

Happy Thanksgiving....and don't forget those pets!

I worked very hard, racking and straining my brain to come up with the caption on the picture - all by myself!! I joined the LOLCatz website, since I've been lurking there forever. :) Then I couldn't find my picture when I went back...and I saw all the other, way more funny and inspired captions.....Damn my imaginations! (LOL) I haz no imaginations... :(....oh well. There are those that are gifted with writing, and humor...and then there are us readers. LOL

Wishing everyone - and I mean everyone

(cats and dogs included, *g*)

a Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the family

Enjoy the friends

Enjoy the laughter

Enjoy the food

Enjoy LIFE

I am grateful for being alive, for family and friends.

I'm grateful for grandchildren, who never fail to make me laugh

I'm grateful for my husband of 31 years

I'm grateful for my children and their twisted senses of humor

I'm grateful for their significant others, with their humor

I'm grateful for the family I was born into

I'm grateful for the friends who are like family

I'm grateful for dogs and cats in my life, past and present

I'm grateful to have met my online friends

I'm grateful for being gifted with their writings

I'm grateful for books and all the hard work that the writers do to gift the public with wonderful reading material

I'm grateful for music and dance

I'm grateful for the internet

I'm grateful for Pepsi

I'm grateful for frozen strawberry fruit bars (Dreyer's)

I'm grateful for LIFE