May Book List

May
1-55 The Keeping - Nicky Charles (5/2)
2-56 Wondrous Strange - Lesley Livingston (5/3)
3-57 Never Cry Werewolf - Heather Davis (5/5)
4-58 Dead Reckoning - Charlaine Harris (5/8)
5-59 Hearts at Stake - Alyxandra Harvey (5/10)
6-60 Blood Feud - Alyxandra Harvey (5/10)
7-61 Love=Sex(squared) - Shinjo Mayu (5/13)
8-62 Black Bird Volume 1 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/13)
9-63 Black Bird Volume 2 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/13)
10-64 Darklight - Lesley Livingston (5/14)
11-65 Black Bird Volume 3 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/15)
12-66 Black Bird Volume 4 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/15)
13-67 Black Bird Volume 5 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/15)
14-68 Black Bird Volume 6 - Sakurakouji Kanoko (5/15)
15-69 Out for Blood - Alyxandra Harvey (5/15)
16-70 Death Note Another Note - Ishin Nishio (5/16)
17-71 Vampire Knight Volume 12 - Matsuri Hino (5/16)
18-72 The Poison Eaters - Holly Black (5/17)
19-73 This Side of the Grave - Jeaniene Frost (5/18)
20-74 The Dead Girls’ Dance - Rachel Caine (5/23)
21-75 Pleasure Unbound - Larissa Ione (5-24)
22-76 101 Things To Do With A Slow Cooker - Stephanie Ashcraft (5/27)
23-77 Queen of Kings - Maria Headly (5/30)


so, May is over. it was a big reading month for me. but a good chunk of that was manga. I rediscovered Black Bird, which was one i'd read the first few volumes of a couple years ago, and it's finally being translated. I read the Death Note book, which is based on manga/anime. We've had it a few years and I just got around to it. Good, if you know the characters from Death Note.

I've been trying to read at least one non-fiction a month, maybe next year i'll bump that up to two, but for now one is good. My non-fiction this month is a cook book. 101 Things to do with a slow cooker. I love my crockpot and i'm always looking for new recipes for it. There are a couple for pork chops i'm going to try, and ross has requested soup.

My favorite books this month were probably Wondrous Strange and Darklight, i'm loving this series and can't wait for the next one. They're YA Fae books based on Shakespeare. /squee!

my least favorite, and i hate to admit this, was Queen of Kings. I should have liked this book. It's Cleopatra, and Vampires...what's not to love? the speed. It was a slow start, and too much of it was depressing. That being said, it's very Anne Rice "Queen of the Damned" meets Anne Rice "Ramses the Damned". we're all Damned.....(please note i love both those books...)

I'm still reading Game of Thrones (my mom had my nook so i couldn't work on it). and The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. I love the Percy Jackson series, and the new one based on Rome. And I'm loving his Egyptian series too! Also got mom hooked on these. (happy dance). And I'm reading the Witch's Daughter, which is good so far, but no real comments yet.

Memorial Day

We went to dad's. Actually we had a very full weekends all around, Saturday we went to Grandma Pam's for Doug's late birthday celebration and BBQ.


Sunday Jen came over and we had hotdogs and stuffs (and watched about 3 hours of Extreme Couponing...Extreme Hoarding- Food Edition!)

and then Monday we went to dad's. Now, mind you, there are not a lot of pictures of my father, he, like me, is usually the one Behind the camera. So the fact that i have these could mean my demise. =D


Grandpa Frank and Kaeley

 Kaeley, Uncle Zack, and Grandpa Frank, doing the Wave...

Ballet Recital

Last night was kae's very first ballet recital.

The little kiddies were the while swans from Swan Lake and the older girls were the Black Swans (not as creepy as the movie, trust me).

Kae had a little bout of stage fright right before the start and then she was good and happy and had FUN. Even when she wasn't paying the most attention to what she was supposed to be doing because of so many people in the audience =D

All in all it was so great, she got a medal and a certificate for taking the class from Katie.

And so many people came out to see her, she was so happy! 

Don't grow up too quickly, lest you forget how much you love the beach. -- Michelle Held

Today we took Kaeley to the beach.

it's only the 3rd time in her almost 6 years on this planet that she's been.

There are reasons for this of course, Sharks (saw jaws, 'nuff said), sand, crappy parking, sun. but these are all MY reasons, and i sucked them up today and insisted we go.

we all, Ross included, had a good time. and i'm just a little sunburned.

Adieu JoAnns

Today I put in my notice at JoAnn Fabrics.

I loved my job, i just didn't love not having any hours. And i didn't really love the changes in managment. But really it was more the income need vs availability.

It was actually a little sad, but a relief. I'd been complaining a lot about things so it was time to walk away.

Judy made sure to put me down as re-hireable, so i can go back after school starts again and work seasonally if i want to.

Huge weight off my shoulders =D

Geek Chic - Shop Update!

So i  found a tutorial on how to make comic book pendants  and thought                                         

                                                              "hmm, i could do that!"

Ross wouldn't give up any of his comics...

But Dave was willing to give up a couple old Shonen Jump! Manga. YAY.

I found all the supplies i needed and cut out fun panels from Bleach and Naruto and away i went!

and they're all up for sale in my Artfire Studio =D

100 Things That Make Me Happy

i stole this from Sandi, she posted 50 things to do before 50, for me it would be 30 before 30, but i haven't made any such list, i'm still young damnit! hehe

Though i did decide to do a "100 things that make me happy" list, it wasn't as easy as i thought it would be, once you start to get down to the bottom you start wanting to just word things differently and use the same ones a couple times. I will say that the only duplicate on my list is my Kaeley. But as far as i'm concerned that's perfectly ok, she's my heart.


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List 100 Things That Make Me Happy:


1 Kaeley
2 Ross (most of the time)
3 Godiva Dark Chocolate
4 Books
5 My Nook
6 Bubble Baths
7 my family
8 the Fiberistas!
9 Knitting in General
10 My Spinning Wheel
11 My job because it keeps me from going bat @#$t crazy
12 Days off
13 My library card!
14 David, he makes me laugh
15 Mocha Frappachinos with Whipped Cream
16 pomegranete scented anything
17 Hot showers after a long day at work
18 Knitting for Charity (i count this seperately because i count them as gifts)
19 My Mom's Cheese Brocolli Soup (she only makes it for my birthday)
20 Pandora Radio (yay obscure German Goth music!!)
21 Hanging out with Jen on our days off
22 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
23 Peach Tea Snapple!
24 the beach right before a hurricane (though the 'cane is bad)
25 bright purple fingernail polish
25 new car smell to go along with a new car
26 my Minolta 35mm Film
27 my Minolta 35mm Digital
28 my ipod touch
29 Kaeley Giggles
30 sleeping past 6am
31 our little herb garden
32 Eskimo Kisses
33 Thinkgeek.com
34 Geekmom.com
35 Ravelry.com
36 clean socks right out of the dryer
37 seeing a movie in the theater
38 my purple glasses
39 getting recognized for my hard work
40 recieving a bouquet for no reason
41 Swap packages
42 Halloween
43 Christmas
44 a great find at the thrift store
45 when people compliment me on Kaeley
46 True Blood
47 Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds
48 Spreading the Reading addiction
49 Looking at Kae's Baby Pictures
50 Gail (and Fam)
51 Catching up with a friend i haven't seen in a long time
52 Using my knowledge for good, not evil
53 St John's Wort
54 Kayla's Loli-of-the-day posts on Facebook
55 My sewing machine
56 The Morikami Japanese Museum and Gardens
57 Hibachi (mmm..om nom nom nom)
58 Faeries
59 My collection of Pocket Dragons
60 Tribal Style on Etsy's earrings
61 my iPhone
62 Working A/C in my car!
63 My friendship with my Mom
64 Clove incense
65 My Creepy Victorian Monkies
66 Bad Horror Movies
67 Good Anime
68 Shojo Manga
69 Smutty Romance Novels
70 Rodney Yee and his Morning Yoga
71 Knit Picks Catalogs
72 Jeans that actually fit
73 being inside when it's raining
74 Hot Chocolate with Mint or Peanut Butter
75 Spooky the thing what squeeks
76 Renn Faire
77 MegaCon
78 Bath and Body Works Magic Goo! (salt scrub)
79 Full Moon at Midnight
80 Remembering Terry
81 Being cigarette free for two years
82 The Sims Medieval
83 Little Big Planet (YAY sackboy!)
84 Watermelon Bubble Gum
85 Minions
86 So, You've Decided to be Evil (Kidnap A Pope)
87 Remembering my "Back in the day" moments
88 Strawberry Wine and Peach Mead
89 Fuzzy Navels
90 Fresh Ink (tattoos)
91 Clean Sheets
92 The Emperor's New Groove (No Touchy!)
93 Dunkin Donuts Coffee Coolata
94 Inside Jokes (see Number 86)
95 Bellydancing with Gail
96 Spirit of the Tribes
97 My first pair of hand-knit socks
98 Being happy with the End of a book Series
99 Being Myself
100 Kaeley (she's my baby she gets to be on the list multiple times!)


Can you list 100 things that make you happy? if you decide to take the challenge let me know, i'd love to read it!

April Book List

April
1-41 Lover Unleashed - J.R. Ward (4/1)
2-42 Tiger’s Curse - Colleen Houck (4/4)
3-43 Acheron - Sherrilyn Kenyon (4/7) re-read
4-44 Invincible - Sherrilyn Kenyon (4/7)
5-45 Eternal Kiss of Darkness - Jeanine Frost (4/8)
6-46 Summer Knight - Jim Butcher (4/12)
7-47 Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein (4/13)
8-48 Torment - Lauren Kate (4/17)
9-49 Night Play - Sherrilyn Kenyon (4/18) re-read
10-50 Tall, Dark and Hungry - Lynsay Sands (4/20)
11-51 Changeling - Delia Sherman (4/25)
12-52 Death Masks - Jim Butcher (4/26)
13-53 The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Buying Foreclosures - Bobbi Dempsey (4/26)
14-54 How to Marry a Millionare Vampire - Kerrelyn Sparks (4/29)

My favorite was probably Cinderella Ate my Daughter. It's one of the two non-fiction i read this month, and while one was useful, the other was entertaining AND useful. I like reading books that pertain to both me AND Kaeley (i was a disney baby, thanks to my mom) Not that i needed to know the history of the color pink.... =D

my Least favorite book this month...probably Changeling, if i have to pick one. It took me longer to get through and i actually took it back to the library without finishing the last few chapters, so while i enjoyed the off-kilter humor, it wasn't one i HAD to finish, not like the Dresden books now..omg om nom nom nom nom.

I'm currently reading The Keeping by Nicky Charles (second in a free ebook series), A Game of Thrones by RR Martin (First book in the Song of Ice and Fire series), Blood Rites by Jim Butcher (Book 6 in the Dresden Files) and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone...still (it's taking Kae and i a while to get to the end, she's more interested in Froggy and Curious George right now).

Spring Carnival

on Friday April 29th I took Kae to the Spring Carnival at Gardens Elementary.
i failed to see the bonus of buying tickets in advance and so kae didn't have a while lot to play with.

but she did make a new friend! Alex, my friend Barbara's 3 year old son. They made the bestest of friends - i see playdates in the future for the summer. Latte Fun here we come!