Lately/Currently.

We've been busy lately. Really busy. So busy. Now that our house is on the market, though, there's not much else to do until there's a sold sign on it. Sure, there's always housework, but when you stay on top of it like you do with a house on the market there isn't actually much to do. Did you know it's actually easier to keep your house immaculate when you're on it every single day than it is to keep it regular level of tidy? I know, it's blowing my mind, too. Except if you let it slide even one night, then you're screwed.

Anyway, no one cares about super obvious house cleaning tips. Or if they do they're looking on Pinterest.

reading: Nothing good. I'm reading a book I got from the library's sale table and it's weird. I'm halfway into it and I think I'm starting to understand the plot. I thought about giving up on it, but it's less than 300 pages, and I don't know how to enter abandoned books into Goodreads. So I'm persisting. I might read a parenting book next since I'm trying to go through my bookshelves, but that's not terribly exciting either.

I'm also really enjoying the daily devotional New Morning Mercies. I started reading it in September, but have been more diligent since January. 

listening to: I just listened to Serial, am almost done S-Town, and listen regularly to Strangerville and Young House Love Has a Podcast. All of which I'm enjoying, except less so the second season of Serial. 

I listened to the audiobooks for Just Show Up and Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures made me feel like an underachiever, but I did a puzzle while listening so at least I was flexing my brain muscles. I watched the movie after and I highly recommend both. I think non-fiction is my new favourite audiobook genre.

Just Show Up  was good, and recommended to me by a friend, but I wish I'd read the book instead. I'd heard of Kara Tippetts before and was kind of familiar with her story, but it would have been helpful to be more invested in her personal story. I struggled with the person reading the book, too. She was painfully sincere about everything she said, and I couldn't wait for her to stop talking. No one talks like that in real life.

I just bought the latest Matt Maher album off iTunes. Its a fair bet that's going to be playing a lot.

watching: I'm finally getting into season two of Stranger Things. Season one was okay, but I'm loving season two. I've been watching it at naptime so I can't usually get through more than one episode at a time before Molly wakes up and I turn on something else. She doesn't watch shows with me, but she's around and sees what's on and I just feel like Stranger Things needs my undivided attention, and it's kind of creepy for a one year old. I mean 13 month old. Hold me.

I've also been watching Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23. It's so dumb that I understand why it only lasted two seasons, and it's pretty salty, bu t it's a great background show for when I'm hanging out with Molly while Parker's having his down time.

eating: Currently a breakfast cookie and finishing my morning coffee. I'm not sure where the morning went, but I'm not even done my fist cup of decaf of the day and it's practically noon. I'm usually a two cup by noon kind of person. (Well, when I started writing this it was almost noon. Now it's almost supper time and my second cup of coffee is stone cold and barely started.)

I'm giving up desserts for lent. I don't typically do lent but it starts tomorrow and I need another break from desserts. I enjoyed December and January way too much. I'm not going for 100% success on this, but I'm hoping for 90-95%. 

missing: Fresh air that isn't going to try and kill me. It's February so I'm right on track for that warmer weather craving. I don't even want super warm, I just warm enough to go for a walk without worrying about coming home with popsicle children. It's been -45 with the windchill lately, but today it's a balmy -5. Except with the wind it's -20. I'm really, really hoping that next week we can get around the lake.

loving: Brunch. We had an open house Saturday afternoon so we had brunch at a friend's house. It was awesome. I'm not sure why we never thought to do it earlier. We're going to do it again next weekend at our place and I'm so excited for mimosas and banana bread cinnamon buns and bacon. And friends, of course.

I really need to go for that walk.

wearing: Joggers. If I exercised every time I wore joggers I would be in North Korea right now winning Gold in every single event, men's and women's. I also live in sweaters, leggings, cardigans, and socks. And, on the rare occasion when I actually leave the house, I wear boots. I love boots, I really do, but after six months of winter I miss shoes. I am so excited to put on shoes, TOMS perhaps, without socks. This is my dream. I also dream of not wearing my maternity parka every time I leave the house.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss wearing lounge athletic wear all the time if and when that day ever comes, but I just think my leggings would look absolutely darling with something other than my snow boots.

anticipating: All. the. pizza. Our small group is making pizza tomorrow night and Friday is date night, where we make pizza and watch a movie without our phones. It feels like a lot of (goat) cheese, but that's a cross I'm willing to bear. Life is crazy right now, but I think pizza is going to be the soothing balm to my life eczema. How's that for an appetizing metaphor?

Breaking cheese covered bread with dear friends is kind of the perfect way to spend Valentine's Day. Karl and I also desperately need an evening together, not talking about finances, housing, or the darkly impending future. And speaking of darkly impending, I'm really anticipating enjoying a dark beer with my pizza, in my joggers. 

Two thoughts.

First, I'm going to a girls' night with some former co-workers tomorrow. I was only planning on going for a couple hours and using the pregnant mom card as my excuse. It starts at 6 so getting in some socializing and being home shortly after 8 felt like a win-win. I was also planning a productive weekend which isn't going to happen now, so I'm hoping to hammer some projects out once Parker's in bed today and tomorrow. Friday and Saturday nights will be dedicated to Gilmore Girls and chocolate chip cookies. (Side note: I contemplated pop-tarts, but can only have un-iced ones and they taste like cardboard anyway.) (Side note #2: NEVER MIND. I just realized that with some puff pastry and jam I can make my own pop-tarts.)

The problem is, yesterday our host texted us to let us know that she needs help bagging and labeling what sounds like clothing donations for seniors so we'll be doing a lot of that. When I told her I'd likely be a little late she said they'd save me some work. It's like that time I was invited to a wedding and then informed I was on set up and tear down for the whole event. How do you say no to charity/brides when you've already said you're going? I don't mind helping out, but feel a little hoodwinked. All I can say is, there had better be potato chips.

Second, I'm really enjoying being on the Goodreads party bus. It's motivating me to finish reading Today Will Be Different which I'm currently in the middle of and not enjoying at all. It's a quick read which is why I haven't bother putting it down. I liked Where'd You Go, Bernadette? but I listened to the audiobook and I'm wondering if that had some sort of impact. I've read this author's other book and hated it, too, which leads to the ultimate question: Does listening to an audiobook count as reading it?

I listen to a lot of audiobooks. I find listening to them an excellent way to get housework done during nap time, kill time while travelling/commuting, or knit along to. I don't consider audiobooks "reading," however, because they're listening. I'm still consuming the book, though, so does it count? The problem with audiobooks, too, is that it's all about who reads them. When I listened to Stephen Fry read Harry Potter it was actually magical. On the other hand, the fellow that reads the Song of Ice and Fire series kind of butchers it. Both are book series I love, but the audiobook experiences are night and day. I'm currently listening to Yes Please and I can tell you that it's a totally different experience than just reading it would be. I mean, Patrick Stewart reads part of it. That's definitely not in the paper version.

So do audiobooks count as Goodreads books? Yay or nay?

Homemade puff pastry pop-tarts. Yay or nay?

Leggings as pants. Yay or nay?

Who would win in a fight? Justin Trudeau's hair or Donald Trump's?

Currently.

craving: Chocolate. I went to the gym last night to walk like an old person on the treadmill. I normally go Friday nights and there's no one there, but apparently Mondays are for righting weekend wrongs and it was really busy. No one around me was running, either, it was just a bunch of walkers. Apparently I'm not the only person that enjoys walking on the treadmill before dinner. The thing is, the last couple times I've been to the gym to get my senior citizen on, I've really felt it afterwards. Last night I ended up on the couch with a heat bag on my back because apparently any exercise whatsoever is going to make me cramp these days. Holla at the almost third trimester. As a woman, I associate cramping with chocolate. Thus the craving. If going to the gym is going to send me into a chocolate eating spiral I should probably just give up on fitness. It seems counter productive.

watching: Call the Midwife season 4. I got it from the library but couldn't get through it all before I had to return it. Gone are the days of binge watching shows in a week. I contemplated bringing it to work to watch on my lunch break, but I cry during every single episode. I feel like I need to maintain some dignity.

wishing: That the American election would make the US dollar go down. I know I'm horrible, but even if it just does it for a day or two I'd be happy. I really want to order some yarn off KnitPicks and I can't afford to pay 25% more for the exchange rate. Remember when the Canadian dollar was higher than the American? Those were the days. I also want to buy my dad this mug. 

anticipating: Two things. I have a package waiting on my front porch at this very minute with the most amazing mug in it. I'm talking about the kind of mug I daydream about. I can't wait to drink coffee out of it in three months from now. (Why can't I have a sugar aversion instead of coffee? Life is hard when all you want to do is eat Mike and Ikes.) Also, I'm going on a husband-less babymoon tomorrow. I'll be in Victoria until Sunday night, snuggling my friend's brand new little guy, dancing in the rain, eating so much west coast food, and finishing up my Christmas shopping. Other highlights will include going to the bathroom alone and attempting to sleep past 7 a.m.

organizing: The baby's room. This is taking much longer than anticipated due to having another child to look after, but I'm getting really excited about it. I have a couple days off next week so I'm hoping to make some real progress. There are few things I enjoy more than organizing a space while listening to a good audio book.

cooking: There's a beef stew in my crock pot at the moment and I made shepherd's pie on Sunday. Last week I made lasagna soup and decided to try making French bread to go with it. French bread and I have an abysmal success rate, but I managed to make three delightfully edible loaves. We ate a lot of white bread last week, including French toast Sunday morning. I'm basically Martha Stewart. .

reading: I'm just about the start The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. I'm excited. I also finally joined Goodreads and I kind of love it.

planning: What I'm going to eat once I give birth. Sushi, chocolate cake, and coffee, for the record. 

drinking: Stash decaf chai spiced tea.

eating: Fig newtons. Like an old lady boss.

feeling: Like a whale, gumball, or sausage depending on what I'm wearing.

wondering: If WestJet will let me get away with a suitcase slightly larger than their allowable carry-on dimensions. Maybe if I cry. Also how much knitting I should bring for four days and two flights away.

feeling: Proud of myself for not eating the bag of Skittles in the cupboard I bought for my flights tomorrow night. Every time I get Parker a graham cracker I see them and I get twitchy. My name is Anna and I'm a sugar addict.

missing: This is Us. It won't be on tonight because of the election. Now that I've returned Call the Midwife to the library I have no excuse to cry in front of the television tonight. Hopefully. Thank God for Netflix.

Day three.

I left work shortly after 10 a.m. on Wednesday and haven't been back since. I'm still hacking away. Last night was my worst night and we just decided that Karl would do best to just spend the whole night in the guest room instead of sticking it out for a couple hours like he did the night before. Can I just say that, even though he's incapable of opening the living room curtains without being told, I have a great husband. He got excited about the prospect of sleeping in the guest room and, even though I was the problem and he was going to work the next day, he still offered to go down there because "the humidifier's already on upstairs and there's no point moving it."

Clearly the novelty of not having to sleep on the couch hasn't worn off yet. All married couples should have a second bed, just in case.

In case you were wondering, I am an old woman, I do sleep with a humidifier when I'm sick, and no, it's not really helping. I just want to sleep with my face right over it and get all that good good whole wheat moisture in my dry throat. But that would be really uncomfortable and I'd wake up with grid marks on my face.

I have watched a record breaking amount of Netflix this week. Seriously, Netflix is going to need to start getting some new material soon.

What have a I watched? Good question. I started Z Nation. It's no Walking Dead, but it's entertaining. It's a bit more light-hearted which I can appreciate. I would take it over season two of The Walking Dead any day.

I caught up on The 100. It's one of my favourite shows right now and I'd highly recommend it.

Netflix has really been pushing Beautiful Creatures on me so I went with the recommendation. It was fine for a sick day, but was kind of like every other teenage romance since Twilight, except it had southern accents all the way through so it was more charming.

Yesterday I watched Rumors of War. It was kind of weird, didn't get a lot of stars on Netflix, and was the kind of thing Karl would hate. I like to watch poorly received post-apocalyptic movies in my spare time. I'm not sure if I just didn't pay enough attention (probably) or if it just didn't flow as well as it cold have (probably) but I didn't really get the whole thing. One thing I did like, though, was how it incorporated Christianity into it. I don't think it was a religious movie, but it was nice to see something post-apocalyptic that didn't make religion seem like the worst evil ever. (Side note, if the world is ending never ever trust a leader, religious or otherwise, that greases their hair and doesn't stop smiling.)

I fully planned on napping during Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist today but it didn't happen. Fifteen minutes in and I was in movie love. Talk about a great sick day movie. I love Michael Cera. You should probably watch this movie ASAP unless you already did when it came out seven years ago. I also really liked the soundtrack.

Aaaaand I also watched Murder on the Home Front. Three days is a long time to rest up and try to scare away a cough, okay? This is a British movie that is your typical crime show but it takes place during the London Blitz in WWII so it's totally historical and educational. Kind of. We all need a little more BBC in our lives.

I was planning on catching up on folding some laundry while watching all that TV but I've just been knitting. I finished a blanket, darned my ends in, washed it, and am contemplating blocking it (my least favourite thing ever). Curly ends are part of life, right? While I contemplate what to do there, I started another blanket. I'm hoping that by ignoring my problems they'll sort themselves out.

I've been reading, too. Since the next four months are the last I'm going to have to read without distraction ever again I figure I'd better make the most of it. I started The Wheel of Time series. It's one of those epic series that I've been meaning to try for a while. My dad gave me his used copies a couple years ago and I've been waiting for the right time to get into them. So far so good but I'm only a couple hundred pages into the first book. I've heard mixed reviews so we'll see how it goes.

Our church is encouraging us to read a chapter of the Bible a day in order to get through the New Testament and the Psalms this year. I started a couple weeks late, but I've been trying to catch up so that's been some of my reading, too. Look at me go.

I got a package from Old Navy yesterday morning that made my day. It was just some tank tops and yoga bottoms but with a little creative folding I now have my go-to bottoms for this pregnancy. And none of it was maternity so it wasn't super expensive and I didn't have to go to another store (Old Navy in Canada doesn't sell maternity wear online because they hate me). Apparently if you whine to the internet about your pants woes you sometimes get your way.

I'm going to take those new bottoms out for frozen yogurt tonight. You know what I need after three days of coughing? Some sorbet to soothe my poor old throat, time away from the television, and some female face-to-face socialisation. Even if I try not to get too face-to-face with the girls because of my germs.

Who knows? Maybe fro yo is the cure for what ails me. I recommend you have some tonight, too. Not only in solidarity, but to prevent any sickness on your part. It's okay, I'm giving you permission. It's Friday.

P.S. Who's excited for Valentine's Day? I'm going to be healthy by then and we're having a friend come over to replace our bathroom fan. I'm going to make banana bread cinnamon buns to show my gratitude. Talk about romance!

On books.

I just finished reading The Hobbit this morning and I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I hope we can still be friends after I say what I'm about to say and I ask you to judge me kindly for it. Because, well, I liked the movies more. The new ones.

When The Lord of the Rings movies came out I was in high school. I attempted to read them and powered through The Hobbit before slogging through The Fellowship of the Ring, yawning my way through The Two Towers up until the end when I couldn't put it down, and getting about two chapters into The Return of King before forgetting my copy at a friend's house and, after repeated requests to get it back, finding out her sister "returned it to the library." (I don't want to talk about it.)

Well, I decided that my mid-twenties were a good time to give Mr. Tolkien another go. That and the fact that I hate waiting another year to find out what happens in something that's already written. (You hear that Game of Thrones fans? If you were really eager to know what happened you wouldn't have been surprised by the red wedding. I've known for years. So. There.) Besides, the books usually have more details and greater story depth. But guess what? The Hobbit is not one of those books. Unlike last time I read it, I didn't have any problems putting it down. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it just wasn't my totally gripping kind of book. I still planing on reading the other books, but right now I need a break.

Okay, now that we've gotten through that I hope we're still friends and you'll still come visit me. This is also probably a terrible time to recommend a book to you, after you've decided you hate me, but I'm going to anyway.

My dad bought me The Art of Racing in the Rain for Christmas. If you recall, the last half of December was a pretty stressful, emotional time for me because I had a really big decision to make as to where life would take us in the near future. I have a lot of feelings and I cried a lot, okay? So when Dad gave me the book with the promise that it was a tear jerker I decided that it could wait until I was feeling a bit more emotionally grounded. I read World War Z instead.

I picked up The Art of Racing in the Rain about a month ago, right before I started reading The Hobbit. I started reading it while in bed one night and let me tell you, bed is the perfect place to read this book. You do not want to start reading it on the bus, in Starbucks, or at work on your lunch hour. And certainly don't start reading it before some sort of photo shoot because your mascara will be all sorts of messed up. When my dad told me that this book was a tear jerker, he was not kidding. 

By page four I was in tears. I'm not talking about one little stoic solitary tear, either, I'm talking about both eyes fully involved, leaking tears. By the time I turned off my light my whole face was a boogery, teary mess. Karl came to bed and had to ask if I was okay. You know, in case I had finally lost it. I was forced to inform that yes, I'm fine, it's just the darn book.

Just to be clear, I have never, ever cried reading a book before. And I cried ever single freaking time I picked this one up.

I won't tell you much about the book, but that it's told from the perspective of a dog and makes several references to car racing. In case you're wondering, I'm not a dog person and I don't care about race car driving. That said, I still really, really enjoyed this book.

Maybe it was the cover photo that made me like it so much, or the fact that it made me cry it all out (whatever it is), but I just feel like you should read this book. Like I said, though, preferably alone, or with your teddy bear nearby for comfort. Just trust me, okay? And then report back with your findings.

And since you probably still have a bit too much respect for me, I need to tell you about something truly amazing that I read on the Twitter this week. I actually shrieked when I read it, which made me really glad I was at home and not at the gym or, worse, work. Meg Cabot is going to be coming out with an eleventh Princess Diaries book for adults next year as well as a new spin-off series for younger readers that ties into it to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the first book. It makes me wish I had more eight year old girls in my life I could corrupt (I can think of a few off the top of my head, though, so look out parents!) with my love of Meg Cabot and her series.

And on that note, I've been reading and listening to other stuff but it's not nearly as note worthy so I'll quit while I'm ahead. That and it's wayyyy past my bedtime.

You Belong Here.

It's been a while, eh?

I want to tell you all about the movies I've watched and the books I've read but I'm not even sure I can remember. Instead of giving you a play by play I'm going to keep it short, simple, out of order, and probably woefully incomplete. By keeping it short I can get onto the meatier life happenings from the past couple weeks. This next section is too short for its own post.

Movies

• The Hobbit - In IMAX. Fantastic.
• The Princess Diaries - I was home sick. Good movie to drool on the couch to.
• X-2 - Same deal.
• Rio - Wednesday night Financial Peace alternate. Now that we're at peace we can relax a little.
• Madagascar - Samezies.

Books

• Penelope - Chick lit through and through. Entertaining and mind-numbing but not the best the genre has to offer.
• Lord of the Isles - Last year I went on a mission to add to my collection of well recommended fantasy books. This one was on the list. It wasn't bad, but could have been better. It could have been spread into more books and the author could have gone into more depth on what was going on. All in all, not bad, but not on my favourite list. I don't even know if it has a sequel. It feels like it should, but somehow I doubt it.

Last weekend I went to a naturopath upon the recommendation of my chiropractor, in an effort to put a halt to my migraines. I am fully aware that I sound like an 80 year old. Anyway, it was recommended that I go off of dairy. I was a snotty kid that snored and got a lot of ear infections. All symptoms of a dairy intolerance, but with the removal of my adenoids I outgrew the symptoms. Sounds legit.

As a result, I'm off dairy for the next month. Being dairy-free is actually not as challenging as I expected, and way easier than going off gluten, for instance. I'm chronicling my dairy-free month on the Twitter with my own hashtag, #mydairyfreemonth. Because having my own hashtag makes me feel so much more culturally relevant, even if its purpose is to mostly help people understand why I'm mourning the loss of cheese in my life.

So far I'm only on day eight, but according to my two week intervals (or less) between migraines I'm three days overdue. It's never been clockwork, but if I make it through the next week without one you'll find me doing a happy dance on dairy's grave. The nice thing is that if it turns out dairy has been ruining my life I only have an intolerance. If I have a deep dark need for cake at, say, the wedding I'm in a month from now, I can do it, being ready for the consequences if there are any. It's not like I'll turn into a hivey blimp, or have my lips swell up like Angelina Jolie when I wear chapstick. I can live without dairy if it means freedom from brain explosions and dependence on ridiculously expensive drugs.

I might be getting ahead of myself, but optimism is kind of my thing.

Speaking of positive things like optimism, I got an excellent text message today from a dear friend that moved away a year and a half ago. It was a video of her receiving an ultrasound and a baby's heartbeat. It was an excellent way to have the news shared, even though I was sceptical at first due to today's unfortunate date. I hate April Fool's Day because I want to believe that people are telling me the truth all the time so I fall for things. Nope, not a joke. There was much squealing and giddiness on my end. I'm going to have to head into knitting overdrive to produce for the now three people due in August and September. Not to mention a family friend's girlfriend is expecting in November and even though we aren't close, something handmade is in order.

Thursday marked my last day in Human Resources. I'm still with the same organization, but will be moving into a new position starting tomorrow. It's only for a couple months, then I'll be moving into an Accounts Clerk role, but starting tomorrow I am no longer a Recruitment Assistant, I'm an Executive Coordinator. Basically, as my former HR boss informed me, I'm the assistant to the assistant of the CEO. Kind of like Dwight, except I'm not actually doing crummy assistant jobs. I'm basically doing event essential jobs and helping my new boss with her heavy workload. She even told me that if there's anything I want experience at to let her know and I can do it. She's not greedy with the work. Um, hello experience!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I feel so blessed to be where I am in life right now. When I finished school a year and a half ago Karl asked me what my goal was with my education. Well, where I'm working now is what I said my goal was. Not that there's any guarantee I'll be here after September, but the three different roles I'll have completed come then are really huge resume boosters. HR, Exec, and accounting experience? Um, yes please.

But? I was informed that, with my amazing work ethic and attention to detail, as well as common sense (which, I was also informed, is not actually very common) there will likely be a position for me much longer. It's hard though, due to the nature of the organization, having major events every four years, but there is always something going on in the "low seasons" if you will.

It's weird to feel like you may have plateaued at the ripe old age of 24. It's also exciting to realize that you might also be spring-boarding into your dream career. 24 may be the crappiest year of my life health-wise but it's been great otherwise.

Next weekend I'm heading out to a bachellorette mini vacation. It's been three years since I was more involved in a wedding than simply attending, and it feels so foreign. I'm excited, though, and can't wait to share a bit more about my history with the bride in coming posts. Yes, I've planned that far ahead. So, sometime before the beginning of May, you can expect at least one more post coming your way.

It'll even have pictures. Promise.

And, to finish off, I want to tell you about what I've been listening to lately. Karl and I have been teaching Sunday school for the past five weeks and I really miss sitting in the services, but especially the worship music. Matt Maher has been doing a fairly decent job of filling that void. Seriously. I've been listening to him pretty much non-stop since I first saw him live when we went to see Jars of Clay in Seattle at the Rock and Worship Roadshow. Not only is he worshipy, he's also really good. I know some worship music is a little... sappy... but Matt Maher has this rock and country feel to him that makes me want to sing along and dance awkwardly. Also, American friends, he has a song about the US that my Kansas-born sister in law adores, but husband despises. I loves it. He's also a Canadian, so I figure it's okay to listen to him be patriotic to the US.

The Gaslight Anthem have also been getting some pretty heavy play while I clean the house (which I used my four day Easter weekend to do). They are so good, and not worshipy at all. That's because they aren't a Christian band. I mean, who knows, they might be spiritual, but they don't sing like it. Am I even making sense? Either way, they're good, rocky music. They are also fun to sing along to. I like to think I sound like a rocker, too, when I sing along. If my current career path doesn't work out, I'll be joining a rock band and singing like the singer of this band. 

Okay, I think we're all caught up.

Much love. (Yes, I stole this from Meg Cabot's blog, but I haven't read it in ages and maybe she doesn't say it anymore. You also probably wouldn't have known that if I didn't say anything, but I really feel like when I don't know how to end a post that's what I'll do. Because it's how I feel, okay? Mucho loveo.)

I heard, I saw, I commented.

I said I was going to be awesome and keep track of my books and movies in 2013. Well, I'm caught up with the reading aspect of that list. I finished one book this year so far, and it's one I started in 2012. Last year's 28 books is going to be a little hard to beat.

I am, however, almost done my fourth audiobook. Walking to and from work and going to the gym is making that number climb higher and higher.

I've recently finished The Road to Gandolfo and How to Knit a Love Story. The first one is written by Robert Ludlum, the man behind the Bourne books, and was supposed to be a comedy. It was okay, but not nearly enough awkward situations or sword fights for me. How to Knit a Love Story was something entirely different.

How to Knit a Love Story caught my eye because a) it was a available online from the library and b) I knit. I mean, who doesn't love a little chick lit for the walk to work? Sign me up, please. It ended up being a bit more of a romance than I had anticipated which threw me a little. Since it was a romance, though, it ended up with a truly cliched and happy ending. I'm going to give you the rundown/recap so if you plan on reading it, skip ahead a few paragraphs.

The story is basically that this woman inherits a cottage from a dead friend where a sexy cowboy lives in a big old house. He's the dead friend's nephew and resentful of the intrusion in his life.

The girl is running from a freaky ex-boyfriend stalker that tried to kill her/be a terrible person but doesn't tell anyone. She starts up a knitting business in the cottage left to her by the friend/aunt who was a knitting celebrity, just like the girl is. The guy doesn't like the knitting business because it means disrupting his peaceful ranch life.

The girl has to stay in the big house with the guy until her place is set up. Some awkward and some sexy encounters occur. There are many mixed emotions. The business is a raging success.

Strange things happen around the property. Animals get out, there's a fire, a sheep dies. One day the ex-boyfriend/stalker shows up and menaces her while she's driving. They end up on a bridge that a separate incident causes to collapse while there on it with a few other cars and an oil tanker.

The cowboy shows up in time to see the almost tragedy, finds the girl at the hospital, sees her stalker has died in the accident, and proposes to her. Flash forward to a year later and they're married, so are their best friends, and she tells him she's pregnant.

I guess the sex helped them write that love story since they never really had time to get to know each other with their words. I might be a prude, but those kinds of love stories never seem to make much sense to me.

It had ever. single. cheesy element you could expect. There was even a fiery explosion! Two, for that matter.  I don't really recommend the book but I don't regret it. It was my first romance. Ever. At least it had explosions to make up for the lack of chick lit inspired humour.

As for keeping track of movies we've seen, this may be next to impossible. We watch a lot of movies.

Last weekend we watched The Green Hornet. You know, the one with Seth Rogen. It was long, and I fell asleep for the last thirty minutes. I think that was a blessing.

Thursday night Karl and I had a mini date night that included burgers at a pub then Score: A Hockey Musical at home on the PVR. Yep, a hockey musical. I highly recommend it. I'm not saying it was the best movie ever, but I really think other sports movies could learn something from it. If there was more singing and dancing in sports movies, way more people would enjoy them. I mean, Karl and I both liked it, and while our tastes don't differ too much, he's not as into musicals as I am. He's never even seen The Sound of Music or High School Musical after all.

Score was good, though, because it was funny and sincere all at once. Is he going to get the girl? OF COURSE, he's singing to her, after all. More relationships would work out if more singing happened in them. Romantic singing, not sad singing. One of the last scenes involved a choreographed dance on the ice at a hockey game. Don't tell me that isn't quality entertainment. If you could see my face you'd see how sincere I am right now. Maybe How to Knit a Love Story would have been better if they'd replaced the sex scenes with singing. Of course it would have.

Walter Gretzky even had a couple scenes. (You may or may not have heard of his son.) Nelly Furtado had a very small role that confused me and, if that isn't enough for you, Olivia Newton John was in it. It was basically a Canadian version of Grease. Except with less Pink Ladies and more goons.

Seriously, I recommend watching that movie ASAP. If you're Canadian maybe you'll be like me and recognize the lead character as being on YTV while you were growing up, and if you're American you need to understand my country better.That thing that they're drinking at the end? It's called Tim Hortons and you're welcome.

I'm sure I've missed a few movies in there since my last update, but they'll come to me eventually. Next time I do an update like this, I should be able to add The Hobbit to the list. I was waiting for it to come out in IMAX.

So, in short, don't listen to any audio books I did, don't watch The Green Hornet, and go watch Score: A Hockey Musical. Go in peace.

Books and feminism (but only a little).

Let's talk about books for a second and, while we're at it, let's touch on feminism.

Before I rant, though, I'll tell you that I finished Welcome to Bordertown and watched Being Jane last night. 

I wasn't sure until the last twenty minutes, but I have definitely seen Being Jane before. It wasn't bad, but nothing terribly exciting happened, which explains why I couldn't remember it. I mean, Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy run around looking attractive (until the end, because old James McAvoy is kind of depressing looking) and there's a bunch of pretty dresses and fancy talk. There's no real drama, and certainly no gun fights or zombies, but I didn't mind it. My favourite part was during a scene where everyone was dancing a fancy dance that they all seem to know (like a British line dance) and all of a sudden the two characters have stopped hating each other and he gives her a friendly little knowing smirk. Um, swoon. Why don't men smirk at me like that? Someone go tell my husband to work on that.

As for Welcome to Bordertown it didn't really live up to all of my own hype. It wasn't bad and, because it's a collection of short stories, there were parts that I really enjoyed and some that I was impartial about. Call me a prude, but there was a lot of sex in it. I get it, teenagers hardcore enough to run away from home have sex, but I feel like it's not necessary to mention it in every story. I dunno, I guess that's part of my transition to 65 year old. I really enjoyed the last story, though, and the character that helped me fall in love with the series made a couple guest appearances so I was happy. They did a really good job of making the transition from a series started before I was thought of. I mean, Bordertown's been around for 26 years. All in all, I'm glad I didn't miss it, but it's not going down as the best Borderland work of all time. I still recommend the series, though.

I've been listening to Robert Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil for a week or so. I was excited about it because he's a pretty well known Science Fiction author, and I was going to be cultured. Plus, the book involves a brain transplant in a post-apocalyptic world. What's not to get excited about?

Well, apparently this book written in the '70s is a product of its time. Let's just assume for a minute that I'm an expert on everything I talk about and carry on. By the way, I don't recommend this book to you so I'm going to tell you what happens. Or doesn't happen.

I made it halfway through this incredibly lengthy audiobook before deciding that I really couldn't take any more. The kicker was when I was knitting today over my lunch break and listening to it. I realized that if anyone listened in on it I would be absolutely humiliated for bothering with such garbage. True story.

The premise of the book is that a 95 year old obscenely rich man wants to live forever and figures that a brain transplant is the only logical way to get it done. Long story short, he ends up getting his brain put into the body of his super babelicious secretary when she dies. It's very tragic and emotional. A man's brain in a woman's body? So much potential! The problem is, the story loses itself there as far as I'm concerned. Sure, he can communicate with the ghost/spirit/voice(?) of the woman whose body he's in and they're soul mates in a sense, but instead of being remotely interesting he just takes on her life. Kind of.

He tries to, essentially, be here. I gave up right before he impregnated his new body with his old body's frozen baby juice. It was just too much. I guess it was supposed to be a beautiful moment when the two of them decide to have a baby together, but it was too much. If I was a man transplanted into a woman's body, I wouldn't try to seduce the people she had seduced (my old man friends, for the record), and I wouldn't flaunt my sexuality like it was all that. I'd be freaking right out! I'd be adapting to my new body like it was the weirdest thing ever. I would be having an identity crisis like no other, and sex would certainly not be the first thing on my mind.

Most of the book was dialogue, too, which got tedious. There was a lot of "dears" and kissing everyone, but, you know, "innocently," like that's totally normal for women everywhere. People don't just kiss people because. It's not like that. I would also not be running around naked in my gorgeous new body, especially if I'd known the person it belonged to. I'd be trying to take care of it, but modestly.

So here comes the feminism. This book was SO obviously written by a man in a time of change in the world. Homosexuality is a really big topic in this book. It's understandable, considering, but instead of making it a real crisis of identity Heinlein just makes everyone so over-sexed (without, for the record, any actual sex happening) that there are no clearly defined sexual orientations anymore. Personally, if I were brain transplanted into someone else's body I would take a good long time before I addressed those basic human desires. I'd be too busy trying to figure out how to pee.

Also, I would not be immediately attracted to my best friend. Call me old fashioned, but I think relationships take a long time to develop, as do feelings, and as much as loving someone is a choice, I'm pretty sure that our taught emotions and practices don't just break over night, regardless of what sex the body we're currently inhabiting is.

That said, it's all very hypothetical, I know. But seriously. After going through a freaking brain transplant finding a future spouse would not really be a priority.

But, apparently, everyone is just really eager to get with each other, or at least they were in the '70s, and don't have time to worry about the interesting stuff. Instead I basically read a gender confused romance novel in which women wore painted on clothing to work. Because that's a thing.

Really, the whole book felt kind of like reading someone's fantasy about idealized gender roles. I mean, a man in a woman's body was fitting right in with what an ideal woman should be. Sexy, rich, and liable to get spanked if she doesn't behave. Give me a break.

And, uh, for the record, I'm not a crazy feminist, I just like living in a world where women have the vote.

In case I didn't already say it, I abandoned this book. According to Wikipedia nothing else interesting even happens. 

Yeah, I'm showing the world how much I care for women's rights. Go me.

Reading recap.

2012 was the year I did something I'd never done before. How often can we say that, eh? Anyway, 2012 was the year I kept track of the books I read. As I write this, I haven't, as of yet, looked over that list. So, for giggles, I'm going to make a couple predictions. First of all, I think I read... 20 books? I also listened to 7 3/4 audiobooks. Growing up that number would have been ridiculously small (the reading, as audiobooks are still relatively new to me), but since I think my chick-lit books were at a minimum this year I think that's going to lower my number. You know, since chick-lit is like... one a day.

Before I go into the list, I'm going to update a few of my 2012/2013 crossovers, and put it out there what books I'd like to read for 2013. 

First, let's talk about what bridged the 2012/2013 gap. Well, I started listening to an audiobook shortly after I started my fabulous new job and finished it Thursday evening. It's a book I read as a pre-teen and absolutely adored. Seriously, it was a big influence on whatever creative ideas spring into my head now as a grown up. Except my writing is simply terrible (unless it's blog writing, which is clearly literary genius) so I have never written more than a couple pages. When I'm (someday) a stay-at-home-Anna (God willing) I'm going to write the best freaking book you ever did read. Or possibly just watch a lot of movies. 

I digress.

The book is The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron. It's a multi-book series that, like I said, I adored as a pre-teen/tween (whatever the heck that is). Adored. I've always wanted to revisit it and decided that my daily walks to and from work were kind of ideal. Well, it turns out, it lost something in translation. I'm not sure if that translation was the terrible person they had reading it or the 10+ years that have passed since I last enjoyed it. Either way, I did not get the second book. I would, however, still like to give the series a re-read. I mean, it was probably the most influential book series in my life until the Princess Diaries came around, and that was an entirely different kind of influence. And when I say influence, really I'm just talking about books I recommend to anyone that'll listen to me and read enough times that I've thought about buying replacement copies.

I have also been reading Welcome to Bordertown. I guess since we're on the theme of books that changed my life (read: I simply adored) this needs to be mentioned. I haven't finished it yet, being rather unmotivated to read other than while eating breakfast, so I'm not going to bore you with a review. Curious as to what the significance of this book is and  how I basically lost my mind with joy when I discovered its existence? Go here.

I am now listening to another audiobook, I will Fear no Evil by Robert Heinlein. It's my first grown up science fiction book. I love science fiction movies, but have never made a real effort to get into the books, so I'm starting with an audiobook. It's like the happy middle place. I have to say, as I took down the Christmas decorations tonight, I was getting into it. Even though it was written in the 70s (pretty sure, anyway) and isn't written in a way I would traditionally have a lot of patience for.

Today is Michael Moscovitz's birthday. If you don't know who that is you clearly don't follow Meg Cabot on the twitter, like me. (That's the only reason I know it's his birthday, FYI. I'm not insane.) Well, I checked my Twitter before jumping in the shower this morning and Meg Cabot had posted about that. (Naturally I follow Meg Cabot. Teenage me, okay, grown up me, too, would never forgive me if I didn't. Sidenote: Meg Cabot followed me almost as soon as I got Twitter. As a result, I love Twitter and I love Meg Cabot. I mean, she follows me, so does Blood:Water and Jars of Clay. Seriously, how could I not love the Twitter? Social media is a device for teenage me to live vicariously through adult me. They're pretty much the same person anyway, except adult me has a polka dot shower curtain and actually cleans toilets a week or two after it's necessary.) While I was in the shower I had some deep thoughts, as I generally do. I was thinking that I had probably passed the point in my life where I would re-read The Princess Diaries. I mean, it's not like something I can read at work.

Well, I decided, about ten minutes ago, that I would, in fact, re-read The Princess Diaries this year. I'm not ready to give up on it. It's actually something I'll probably do sooner than later, too. I haven't been feeling entirely optimistic about 2013 (job uncertainty, life changes, beautiful friends taunting us by visiting and then leaving again, having to work instead of sleep, etc, etc...) and I think this will help. After all, starting tomorrow I'm going to get back into the running game if it kills me (prediction: it will), and I have big dreams of finally getting organized. Ish. I think revisiting an old friend (fictional, so sue me) is going to motivate me. I keep hearing people say that 2013 is going to be the best year yet but so far I feel like it's just going to be another year in the increasingly shorter years that are being a grown up. Basically I need an attitude adjustment and if getting in touch with something that helped me cope with being an incredibly awkward youth doesn't help, nothing will. 

Can I make a suggestion? We should book club that bad boy. The whole series. I'm not even joking. Who's with me? You could read the entire series in a month. Still not joking.

I think I may have had half a glass too much of Disarrono, but that still sounds like a brilliant idea to me. (A whole paragraph later.) I've also never been in a book club. Um, how fun would that be? I'm a ridiculously busy person and I know I'll have time for it. Just saying.

It's probably time to get to the meat and potatoes of it all so, without further ado (and with links to the original posts), here we go.

What I read in 2012:

- Confessor by Tery Goodkind

- Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

- Neverwhever by Neil Gaiman

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

- The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

- The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson

- The Golden Rule

- The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay 

- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

- Blackveil by Kristen Britain

- Getting over Garrett Delaney by Abby McDonald

- The Magicians by Lev Grossman

- One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

- The Help by Kathryn Stockett

- Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick

- Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (audiobooks)

- Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs

- Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

- Three to get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

- The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

- The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

- The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

- Size 12 and Ready to Rock by Meg Cabot

- Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts 

- Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

- Heat Rises by Richard Castle

- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

So? In 2012 I finished 28 books, 7 audiobooks, and managed to get halfway through another book and another audiobook. Not bad, if I do say so myself. 2013 will probably be quite similar, unless I have a period of unemployment, which will probably result in me reading many more books. Or just knitting like a crazy fiend. 

I'm thinking in 2013 I might keep a record of what movies I watched, too. If I do that you might think I really don't have any life, though. We'll see. 

For the record? So far it's been Looper, Bernie, and fifteen minutes of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Two of those were awesome, and one confused the heck out of me so it go abandoned. I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Looper was all post-apocalyptic and amazing (plus it had Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Bernie was so weird, but so good. Out of the two, I'd recommend Bernie the most.

And, on that note, I'm going to bed. I need to stop blogging half an hour before bedtime and then putting in a ton of links or pictures. Silly, Anna.

Seriously, though. Book club. Think about it.

Of books made out of poisonwood.

Last week I finished reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It took me a very long time to read.

It was a pretty long book, almost 600 pages, but that's never been an issue for me before. I like epic fantasy, remember. Big is fine as long as it doesn't hurt my hand to hold or smack me in the face and give me a black eye while I'm reading it in bed. Which I haven't been doing lately anyway due to a love affair I'm having that involves me, my bed, and as much sleep as I can get while in it.

So The Poisonwood Bible. It was pretty good. A friend loaned it to me and she had been given it by one of her friends. A guy at (former) work told me it was a really good book. So it was pretty well recommended. I have a feeling that the books that people recommend are books that make them feel smarter. For instance, I once recommended Infinite Jest to someone. Sure, it was an enjoyable book, but I knew that if she read it
she'd be in awe of how grown up my book tastes were. Because I didn't recommend The Princess Diaries.

Seriously, The Poisonwood Bible was a fine book. It was long, though, and very serious. I liked that it was told from the point of view of five different characters, because it gave a bit of different perspective. It was also kind of fun because most of the characters were rather young. For instance, the five year old mentioned "circus visions." It took me a second to realize that circus vision was not, in fact, what was being talked about. I'll let you think about that for a second.

So the story took place largely in the Congo in the early 1960s, right smack dab in the middle of independence. That, for me, what was kept me interested. I studied a fair amount of African History in university so I always get excited when I know what's going on. I read a whole book on the Belgian Congo in second year.

Other than that, the book was, like most great books I guess, about people. Apparently I'm more of a plot person. I remember my grade 11/12 English teacher saying that people who read escapist books weren't as mature as those who read whatever the other kind is. Clearly I'm a woman-child because I love me some plot.

That isn't to say I don't like reading books about the human condition and having deep thoughts and feelings, but I tend to gravitate towards the more escapist literature. Because that is how I roll. My life is busy enough that I don't really feel the need to delve into the deep problems of humanity over my morning Cheerios. You know what I'm talking about.

I realize I've failed at talking about The Poisonwood Bible but all in all I'd say it's worth a read. It's got a lot of really great African history in one of the more volatile times in history, told from a unique perspective (missionaries), as well as some very interesting characters that grow in ways that I wasn't expecting. I believe in happy endings and really good fiction is never going to give you a truly happy ending, I guess. Go figure.

Chances are good that's going to be the last book I finish this year, there being only two weeks left of 2012 and, assuming we don't all die fiery deaths, I've got lots of other stuff to keep me occupied from my current Bordertown read.

So, uh, what are your favourite books?

I read a book by an imaginary person.

Earlier this week I finished Heat Rises. In case you're wondering, that book is in fact written by the fictional Richard Castle of the television show Castle.

Castle is the only TV show I make time to watch each week. If it's Tuesday night and I still haven't seen we make time. There's nothing else on the PVR that I'd rather watch. I like it because even though the premise of a writer shadowing his muse on the police force sounds like the stupidest idea ever, it somehow works. And I have a total crush on Nathan Fillion. It's just one of those cop shows that has enough humour and drama to keep it going without falling into the same old routines and cliches other shows do. I'm not going to say it's the most brilliant show out there because it probably isn't, but it's my favourite, and definitely fills my beginning of the week television needs. 

So I picked up Heat Rising from the used bookstore this summer to see if it was actually any good. There are actually two books before it about Heat, but I didn't miss much going straight into the third one. There were some definite similarities to the show that I noticed. I wasn't too surprised because the books are going to be bought by fans of the show so making some sort of relationship there isn't a bad idea. A lot of the characters from the show had their fictional book counterparts. Different names, slightly different back stories, but I had no problem imagining the actors from the show portraying their fictional type characters in the book. If that even makes sense.

As far as crime/mystery novels go I enjoyed it. Considering the last book I read like this was Déjà Dead this was very refreshing. No graphic sexual violence or gore. Yep, I was definitely more impressed with the Castle books than I was with the Bones ones, if the one of each are anything to go by. I would read another book by the fictitious Richard Castle, but I will never read another book by the real life Kathy Reichs.

So Heat Rises was a good, entertaining story. It had twists, it had turns, it had intrigue. Fun times. The one thing it had that made me really happy was a Firefly reference. Yes, I'm a huge nerd, but it's true.

I finished Heat Rises on Monday and started reading Let's Pretend this Never Happened. It is hysterical. It's also a little awkward. Just kidding, it's really awkward. I'm only about halfway through, but already I've found myself snickering into my peanut butter and jam at the lunch table hoping no one notices. She swears a lot, might be a little offensive, and then complete blindsides you by talking about some really serious things (like losing children). It's not the best written book in that it's kind of all over the place. It's written by a blogger, though, and it's pretty clear that the intention is not to be the next Shakespeare.

To be totally honest, I don't read her blog. I'm afraid I'll get caught at work reading something really inappropriate and be shamed. The only one of her posts I've read is this one and you probably should, too. I decided that taking her book out from the library was a much safer way to read what she had to say.

This book is making my addled brain happy right now, and it's a nice break from the epic fantasy I'll likely get into next.

I finished another book.

I finished reading Where the Heart Is this morning. You know, for a book about someone who has a baby in Walmart it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but as soon as the baby was born I couldn't believe the book kept going, and I still had a couple hundred pages to get through.

I enjoyed the book, although it wasn't what I usually read. Meaning it was part of Oprah's Book Club and didn't fall into the realm of fantasy or chick lit. I have, believe it or not, read a few books as recommended by Oprah before. I even enjoyed them. Oprah doesn't make bad recommendations, they just aren't my usual cup of escapist tea. My high school English teacher would no doubt be appalled at my literary preferences. Oh well, at least I read.

Where the Heart Is was good. I'm glad I read it. It had a good mix of happy and tragic. More tragic than I would have expected, but it had a happy ending. In other words, I didn't feel like yelling at the characters for the stupid choices they made with their lives. Like I sometimes do with the television (Grey's Anatomy and Teen Mom, anyone?). I'm not going to say it was my favourite book or that I'd read it again, but it was entertaining. It felt like more of a story about what happened than the people that it happened to, although they had subtle changes throughout the book.

Booky booky book review.

I might be losing my mind today, so please excuse the overly exuberant title. Or maybe this is just what life with iron feels like.

I finished reading Size 12 and Ready to Rock the other day. As you no doubt know by now, I love me some Meg Cabot books. I have a shelf of them at home. I literally grew up with Princess Mia, although, granted, I aged a bit faster. Meg Cabot has always been my go to author for when I want to feel better about myself or simply get lost in a book. A chick-lit book, not fantasy. I seriously have yet to find another author I can so dependably rely on to entertain me when I need a break from swords and magic and whatnot.

One thing about her books, though, is that they aren't exactly meaty reads. Since she has so many of them that really isn't an issue, but it just means that I power through one in less than a week. When the final Princess Diaries book came out I made some pretty poor life and school choices. Because I HAD TO KNOW what happened. And they're addictive like female catnip.

The Heather Wells Series, which Size 12 and Ready to Rock is the fourth book in, isn't my favourite Meg Cabot series, but it's definitely not my least. I don't mind it, and I'm pretty sure I own the third book. I got it from the library, though, because I couldn't bring myself to add to an incomplete series on my shelves that I spend less time reading than I did justifying buying, and knew wasn't going to change my life. Figuratively speaking, of course.

I got it out last Tuesday and finished it exactly a week later. Remember, I was on holidays during that time and didn't read much. I enjoyed it, but I felt like it could have been better. Still, though, it was a well timed Meg Cabot fix after three and a half excruciating weeks.

Huh. It seems that's all I have to say on the subject.

I am now reading Where the Heart is. It's an Oprah's Book Club pick and about a woman who has a baby in Walmart. I'm still on the fence.

Another book read.

Less than an hour ago I finished reading Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself. I'm working on a library book deadline here, and it's due today so I had to get it done. That was okay, though, because I was done with it, both literally and figuratively.

I've mentioned it before here on the good old blog that this book was highly recommended thanks to the internet and readers and authors alike of other books I've enjoyed. I have to say, I don't see what the fuss is all about. The first of a trilogy, when I first started reading I had to make sure that I hadn't accidentally started the second book. There was a lot going on all at once and from the get go it was action action action. I felt like I was reading a sequel, not the author's first published book.

There are a lot of names and events that get thrown around. A lot of characters get introduced rather quickly with minimal introduction and they started to pile up in my brain. There were also four or five (maybe even six) characters that the chapters focused in on. Although they all eventually intertwined it was a little chaotic. I don't mind chaos, but I felt a little lost. Plot was the big focus here, not people. Ironically, I didn't feel like much happened in regards to the plot. I also found myself not relating to or caring about anyone in the story. A little more character depth and development would have made me all the more engaged. The same goes for depth of story. I'm sure it's coming in the later books, but a bit more explanation and depth would have been nice. An index of who's who would have been helpful, too. There were a lot of names and many of them were quite similar.

One thing the book could have really used was a map. The bulk of the story takes place in, I think, the center of the world. It starts in the North, and spends a little time in the South. There was a lot of talk of old wars fought over territories. Okay, cool, but I had a hard time wrapping my head around the minimal descriptions that accompanied where places were. Complicated boundaries and several countries are hard to visualize without any great description and just plot advancement.

Like I said, I'm sure the next books in the trilogy will help fill in some of the awkward and confusing blanks but I'm not sure if I'll bother. It's not that I didn't like The Blade Itself, it's just that I have a ton of books at home and on hold at the library that I think I'll enjoy more. I will read the second book if I find the time and the stars align to make it available from the library when I want. Otherwise I might just pass.

Finally, there was one other thing about the book that I found unsavoury.  Its condition. I know library books are communal and goodness knows how many people have had their hands on them, but this book came to me with a tattered cover (it's only six years old), tape on the inside, and an all over worn feeling. Clearly someone beat it up. Maybe they were getting a little too into the fight scenes. Either way, that didn't really phase me. It was the dried boogers and mysterious dark stains that really ruined my lunches. Disgusting. This is really just a side note, though, and doesn't have anything with the story itself, but I just had to share. It's just another reason I'm glad The Blade Itself is done. Well, that and the Meg Cabot book waiting to be picked up today when I return it.

Reading update.

I'm not sure how behind I am on keeping track of my reading but I feel like it's been a really, really long time.  I have little catching up to do.

For a month and a half or so I read The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. They're by Patrick Rothfuss and make up the first two books of an as of yet unfinished trilogy. They had some pretty stellar reviews so a couple months ago (time is flying!) when I was on a mission to get some new books on my shelves The Name of the Wind one was on the top of the list. The style of the book threw me off a little when I start reading it. The premise is that the main character is dictating his life story to a chronicler and has three days to do so. Each book in the series is a day. What's interesting is that there's a fair amount of transitioning from the days of the story to the book's present day.

The series is called The Kingkiller Chronicle although after two books there has been no king killing to speak of. As far as fantasy books go, it's pretty epic. It's epic in size, for one, with the first book being over 700 pages and the second just shy of 1000. Reading The Wise Man's Fear in two weeks while working and being under the weather was kind of epic itself. More than just page count, though, it covers a lot of epic ground of a character of legend and it doesn't feel rushed. You know how sometimes books rush you through things and you feel like it's just to get to the next big exciting thing? Yeah, Rothfuss didn't do that. He didn't get bogged down in details either, though, and I enjoyed the books quite a bit because of that. They won't make my all time favourite list, but are definitely worth the read and I'll look forward to the third book whenever it comes out.

Another thing I really liked about the series is that there is so much going on. There are a fair number of characters, but not enough to get confused with if you're paying attention, and they all seem to have layers. Like ogres and onions. Maybe it's just my untrusting nature, except it really isn't, but there is so much behind the scenes intrigue going on that it kept me roped in. Without it I would still have been into the books, but the fact that every character seems to have big secrets is what keeps things really intriguing. It's a subplot of intrigue, if you will. Either way, the books were good and I quite liked them.

And, because it's me and I impeccable taste in literature, I followed up my epic fantasy with Janet Evanovich and Three to get Deadly. You know, a little chick lit mystery novel to cleanse the palate between epic fantasies. It took me a week to get through which was longer than I expected. An easy read, I was just too incredibly busy and stressed out to bother to put in any book time. Bed time was more for sleeping than reading and that cut out a big chunk of my reading time.

Three to get Deadly was as interesting as I'd expected. It was fast paced, easy to read, and, although there was some depth of character, there was also a lot of pooh jokes. I enjoyed it, but I'm glad it was a short book and nothing longer than a week commitment.

I am now reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. It was also very highly recommended and, if the copy I got from the library is any indication, very popular. That or someone hated it so much they tried to destroy it. It's another popular fantasy book from a few years ago, and I'm hoping it is excellent. I've barely started so it's too soon to tell how it's going to go. So far so good, though.

Of books.

I am excited. I am very, very excited. I will try to be coherent in my excitement but I just can't make any guarantees.

First, a little background. When I was younger I used to get a lot of books from the library. A lot. I'd leave the library with more books than I could reasonably read or carry as it turned out. I was an avid reader. As an only child, reading was my biggest summer entertainment. I wouldn't read every book I brought home, but I'd tear a good chunk out of the pile, some just being too uninteresting to warrant more than a few pages.

That's how I discovered Will Shetterly and Elsewhere. It was probably pushing ten years ago and I'm not sure how I ended up finding Elsewhere but it must have been literary fate. I took it home and it was like I'd started a whole new book relationship. Elsewhere was followed by Nevernever and then, a couple years later, The Essential Bordertown which was followed shortly thereafter by Finder. By that point I was getting ready to graduate high school. My relationship with the Bordertown series was already proving to be a lengthy one.

In that time, I had managed to score an used copy of Elsewhere that had never been read. It was, to me, a serious book treasure. The problem with the series was, though, that it was pretty much out of print. That I had gotten my hands on three books of the series was pretty exciting. My copy of Elsewhere also had the original cover art on it. Now, I'm not really that obsessed with books that I care so much about different editions and everything, but I liked the original artwork the most.

Those were the days before I had my own credit card and really had a full understanding of what the internet could do for someone looking for out of print books. I learned that Will Shetterly and Emma Bull, who had written Finder, were just two of many authors that were contributing to the Bordertown Series. The Essential Bordertown was a series of short stories compiled about Bordertown itself. In fact, some internet searching informed me, the original books written about Bordertown were just a compilation of short stories, all out of print, and Will Shetterly and Emma Bull were actually the only contributors to the series that had written full length books about any specific characters. It was kind of a weird way to do things but it really worked. There is a lot of character overlap in the books and between stories and, even though there are so many contributing authors, it all fits together marvelously.

You're probably wondering what's so special about this series to make me giddily and slightly incoherently tell you all about my love for it. Well, I've mentioned before that I enjoy movies set in post apocalyptic worlds. I don't know why. Bordertown is a made up place that is basically a post apocalyptic landscape. It's got its own rules, it's populated largely by young people, and it has a weird faerie race that can kind of do magic but also have their own land just outside of town. Bordertown is a border between the land of faeries and the real world. I know it sounds absurd but for some reason it just works marvelously. You'll have to trust me on this.

So, to back up a little, once I got a credit card I spent more money than I probably should have completing my Bordertown Series. I bought Nevernever, Borderland, Bordertown, and Life on the Border. It was my first real online purchase with my own credit card. It was empowering.

Well, today as I whiled away my seemingly endless work day I found out something wonderful and amazing: there is a new book in the series. Even better yet? It's been out for over a year so it's in paperback. Even better yet? I just bought a Groupon for a discount book website that has over 400 copies of Welcome to Bordertown. Sure, it's hardcover but it's still half the price of the Amazon paperback. I enjoy paperbacks more because they're easier to hold, but getting a book for less than $6 with a coupon and not having to spend any more money on online book shopping that I need to makes me very happy. Do note, though, that if any of our local bookstores had it in stock I'd be headed straight there after work.

Happy birthday to me!

A few of my favourite things.

I'm a pretty excitable person, as in, I get pretty excited about stuff. I get excited about things and I want to share them with the world. I'm not really sure the world cares too much, though. Either way, this is my blog and I'm the boss so I'm going to share some of my favourite things with you in a controlled environment.

Green cardigans. True story. I love green cardigans. I never really gave much thought to them, always gravitating towards dark grey ones as a general wardrobe staple (I've almost fully worn through my second one) but green cardigans are where it's at in the sweater world. Seriously. I have a couple and I feel like they go with pretty much everything I own. Unless I'm wearing a green shirt or dress because that's just too much green. And the best thing about green cardigans? My first solid green cardigan actually came from a clothing swap. Which means? Totally free. And my second one? Ten dollars. Green cardigans really are the best.

Fantasy Books. No joke. They are so good. Naturally, I really like A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin; it's popular for a reason. I read the first four books in 2006/2007 so I'm pretty familiar with the books. Before I read that series, though, I was totally enamoured with The Fifth Ring trilogy by Mitchell Gaham.While it has a few issues with editing and the plot is a little weak I still think it's one of the best series I've ever enjoyed. When it comes down to it, I just like a really good story so issues be damned. The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams is another one of my favourites. I haven't actually reread it yet like I have the others but I expect that someday I will. I did find it a little predictable at times, but it was written in the 80s so I'll let it slide. There are others, like The Eldarn Sequence, that I have also enjoyed but I'm not sure if it ranks quite as high on my epic fantasy series scale as the others.

Jars of Clay. Have you heard Dan Haseltine sing? Have you? What about Steve Mason? You should probably go do that right now either way. I'll wait.

The Hawk in Paris. What? I'm consistent. His voice is so magical! Actually, the Hawk in Paris is a little bit 80s for my always liking but they have a few songs that I absolutely adore ("Put Your Arms Around Me" and "The New Hello" both his and hers versions).

Audrey Assad. Talk about amazing voices. I wish I could sing half as well as she does. Not only that, I've found that she makes an excellent do anything around the house kind of music. Baking? Check. Cleaning? Check. Toilet scrubbing? Check. Tetris playing? Double Check.

Leagues. Their music makes me happy. Give them a try.

Certain songs. Matthew Mayfield's "Grow Old With You" makes me want to jump around almost as much as Kelly Clarkson does. Almost. "The Earth is Yours" by Gungor does pretty much exactly the same thing. I think these two songs were made to be played in sequence at a rather high decibel.

Healthy Indulgences. For serious. I've made quite a few recipes off this blog and that alone is a miracle. The fact that I keep coming back to it has to mean something and tt means these recipes are good.

Young House Love. This is where I got my spray paint everything idea. I'm not sure that's something they're promoting, but it inspired me nonetheless. Well, that and the fact that it kind of made me feel like I could be productive. If they can paint wood paneling then why the heck can't I organize a cupboard under the stairs. I'm not sure those two thoughts were originally tied together but just roll with it.

Polka dots. Polka dots on my phone case. Polka dots on my sheets. Polka dots on my storage boxes. Polka dots on my sugar canisters. Polka dots on my desktop. Polka dots on my wrapping paper. Polka dots on my migraine medicine bag. Polka dots on my socks, my underwear, my shirts, my skirt, my dress, my tights, my cardigan, my scarves, and on my headband. Polka dots on my blog. I just like them, okay?

And now you know.

Monday morning weekend recap time!

It's Monday morning!

Just kidding, I can't muster a genuine exclamation mark quite yet.

I had a truly wonderful weekend. Truly. Would you like a recap? Of course you would!

Friday night we were supposed to have dinner with my dad. Hurray for not having to cook! That exclamation mark is genuine. He unfortunately has been dealing with a shoulder injury, though, so had to cancel. My mom ended up stepping in and making us ribs. Hurray for not having to cook! I'm not crazy about ribs, BBQ sauce not being one of my favourite foods, but it was still nice. I then proceeded to wade through the piles of books on our living room floor and set them up by colour on our book shelves. The long and the short of it is that it wasn't a raging success and about 2/3 of the way through I realized it wasn't working for me.  I finished anyways, halfheartedly added some photos in colourful frames, and then documented the experience. I'm not sure how much I want this to be a picture blog (the answer is not much since my pictures suck and writing is easier) but I'm going to add some photos anyway so you can see what I'm talking about.

This was the worst shelf. Also, coincidentally, the worst photo.

Yes that is an unpainted baseboard. I need a house elf.

Where I started. Already unsure how to proceed. Note the horribly clashing yellow frame. 

The one part that I felt worked the most. I might just love that window now, though.

And my knitting needles. Okay, and that photo/frame.

And yes, that is a boot beer mug from my Oktoberfest bartending days.

Friday ended nicely but my poor husband had to work the next day. I don't think he was as horrified by the prospect as I was, being unable to imagine spending another boring day at my desk without a respite. What a trooper.

Saturday I slept in, rode my bike, clean my house, got a $30 haircut and didn't get scalped, ate some chocolate cake, and met the newest addition to my circle of friends. I know it was just over three months ago that little Calvin was born and I got to hold him when he was less than 24 hours old, but Ethan, my newest friend, was about as light as the onesie he was wearing. FYI, cuddling newborns might be one of my new favourite hobbies. I couldn't wrap my head around how tiny he was but I think it's just because Calvin's so much bigger than a four day old. Ethan is also pretty tiny in general.

Saturday night I tackled our dreaded cupboard under the stairs. When Karl moved in he didn't bother organizing anything and just took whatever seemed like it might be a good idea to bring. This ended up including five boxes of random car parts, old school papers, and two ghetto blasters. Too busy getting married to deal with them, the boxes just ended up in the cupboard under the stairs where they cohabitated with our sleeping bags, my pink hobby horse, leftovers from our wedding, extra pillows, and our duffel bags for the past two years.

As you know, we live in a bit of a bug zoo so we occasionally have serious spider infestations going on. When we first moved in I also found a centipede in our living room. And we have these weird beetle things that don't bother me, as well as an abundance of wood bugs. You get the picture, there are lots of bugs in our place and they're all either terrifying or kind of weird and random.

One of my big reasons for not dealing with the anarchy that is the cupboard was my genuine terror of having giant spiders dropping into my hair. Gross gross gross! It was ridiculous, though, and the cupboard was also a real pain in the backside. We'd use our sleeping bags and then throw them on top of the crazy pile. When we next needed them, they'd be several feet back and we'd have to wade through possibly tarantula infested junk to get them. The madness had to stop.

I thought it was going to be a crazy big job but it only took about fifteen minutes to get everything out of the cupboard and put somewhere it wasn't going to get in the way. That isn't to say the process is done, just that I didn't leave all those random boxes in the middle of the floor. I stacked them in our laundry room as a temporary fix.

It seriously took all of ten minutes to get that space organized. I'd bought a long fabric storage box from Home Sense for $20 a couple weeks ago (with a polka dot lid, no less) and stashed our extra pillows in it. That was the only real change aside from removing Karl's random junk. It was so easy that in no time I was helping my reluctant husband sort through what needed to be kept and what really didn't. We have an overflowing box of things to be recycled and cut down from five boxes to three, hopefully two. Yeah, I owned that cupboard. And the best part is that no spiders were found alive or otherwise.

Saturday was a good day.

Sunday we went golfing for Karl's work. I didn't really want to but did anyway. We had a cart which actually made the time go by much faster and I wisely wore a hat. We were pooped by the time we got home and the afternoon consisted of Karl watching NASCAR while I napped, then me watching a movie on TV and doing some yoga while he napped. We then had dinner courtesy of Groupon downtown, went for nice after dinner walk through the crowds of cruise ship tourists, and finished the night off with a ten pm showing of Ted.

Yeah, 7 am came way too early this morning. I struggled a little with my slowly deflating hair style I got on Saturday but am still feeling good about my decision not to shower last night. No one gets too close to me anyway.

I'll end off my weekend recap by quickly gushing about my new hair. I was going to see the girl I saw several months ago who fixed my horrible haircut, she clearly has magic scissors, but couldn't find a time that she was working and I wasn't. I took a stab and said yes to a $30 appointment with another stylist. This was kind of terrifying because I have had a lot of unfortunate hair experiences with less experienced stylists, and $30 is as cheap as they come at that salon.

Well! I am actually in hair love. She did a great job, made my hair feel about 50% lighter while still keeping it long, actually convinced me to buy some product (something that never ever happens because I am strong, but it's the reason I've been able to forego showering), and showed me how to give myself flat iron curls. Curls! I have always wanted curly/wavy hair and apparently it's really easy to do. I got a lot of hair love after that appointment. The ultra bonus was that because I had a $20 credit from referring people to the salon, I ended up spending less than $50 on my hair, a good tip, and product. Yeah, I used to spend $55 on a cut and tip alone where I used to go. I feel like $50 every three months is an acceptable amount to spend on a hair cut. So yeah, some serious hair love going on there.

And that was my weekend. Now you know.

Colourful progress.

Last night I pulled all our books off shelves and stacked them by colour family on our living room floor. Karl was horrified. I was in love.

I made two or three orange and brown piles which included yellow and gold books, a towering purple pile, three black piles, a grey pile, a white pile, several pink piles, blue piles, and green piles, and, last but not least, a couple red piles. I referred to the internet picture for guidance and felt pretty good about my choices. Sure, my books aren't quite as uniform in colour as those used by the pros, but I'm feeling good. I'm about a third of the way through the shelving process already, although I think it's going to be redone a few times until I find something I'm happy with. Remember, my wall to wall library is just a pipe dream and doesn't actually exist. Yet.

I like how there doesn't seem to be any perfect order to how it's done and if you look here you'll see that there are so many different ways to actually make your bookshelves rainbowified. They don't have to be neat and tidy to look good and can be a little chaotic. I'm leaning away from general chaos because that used to be the way around our place but you never know. It might add to the effect. I also like this image where they've added similar coloured things that aren't just books to make it pretty. Like the creepy naked baby doll. While I don't plan on giving the living room the dead baby treatment, I have been spray painting picture frames and even a vase different colours. It's inspiring! My blue vase might looks really nice next to my blue books. The possibilities are endless!

By the way, have I told you how much I love spray paint? It is my new favourite thing. I was really into acrylics and painters tape on canvas last week, but after seeing what some other people I know have done with acrylics and canvas I kind of want to hide my "works of art" in the closet with our pillows. You know you suck at art when it's something elementary schoolers could do better. Yeah, I have low art esteem.

Yeah, my Friday night is going to consist of organizing my bookshelves. You got a problem with that? Didn't think so. You're just going to live vicariously through me and my rainbow books, I can tell.

Actually, I'm having a hard time deciding what to do with my black books. Obviously there are a few of them that are just plan old boring black and will fit nicely together in the "dreary" part of my rainbow but I'm really torn about the rest of them. Most of my black spined books also have big pops of colour on them, usually miniature versions of the front cover sitting right in the middle. I found this random picture off the internet to show you what I mean. Do I just put those all side by side with the other black books, do I make a little mini rainbow out of them, or do I try and integrate them into the greater rainbow scheme to minimize the amount of blah in my rainbow? I'm starting to lean towards incorporating them into the greater colour scheme of things. Hopefully they don't ruin the colourful effect. Actually, books are the easiest things to move around so if they do I'll have it sorted in jiffy.

There are so many pictures of this being done out there, successfully and unsuccessfully, that I am just truly glad that most of my books aren't white or black. Bring on the pinks and blues and greens! I think I'm actually the most excited for the greens. Don't ask me why.

Is it wrong that I'm still so darn excited about this? I can't wait to get home, throw on some sweat pants and have a glass of wine while rolling around in mounds of books. Like Scrooge McDuck except with books.

I'll probably listen to some Jars of Clay and Hawk In Paris, too, in honour of Dan Haseltine who nearly gave me heart attack today when I looked at the Jars of Clay Facebook page. I'm not a big famous person fan, but when I read that yesterday's family emergency was actually him having heart issues and then surgery, well, if the next sentence had been anything but "he is doing well and recovering" I think actual tears might have happened. Since I don't know more than that, nor do I need to, I think we can safely say that God is really looking out for people this week and keeping them going, even when the odds seem piled up. Can I get an amen?