Happy New Year!!

The past six months have been so hectic, I don't know where to start to cover it at. While I avoid discussing work in detail, I will admit to taking a class for ITIL Foundations and passing the certification test. I've tried the self-paced training for this before, to no availe, so hubby and I saved up so I could take the class from a group who is good at training for it (thank you Pink Elephant!). So now that done, and will hopefully add a bonus to my status at work. (The company I work for recently merged with/was bought out by another company and I'm feeling the need to keep myself marketable.)

On the home front, things are smoothing out. Three (or four) months back, hubby was able to find a "9-5" job. With the housing market bottoming out, he just wasn't pulling in enough for cover basic bills (combined with my income). We do not live outside our means (haven't done that in over 6 years) and it was really stressing me out to borrow money from my parents just to buy the kids one birthday gift, all the while getting further behind on our regular bills. The stress got to me so badly, that I ended up in physical therapy for the tense neck and sholder muscles (which put us further in debt...typical pattern, yes?), heck strong doses of muscle relaxers and pain killers weren't relaxing the muscles. That's when hubby annouced that he was going to pick up steady temp work. This is something I know he hated to do; he loves his business. But he (very) quickley found a month long contract being the IT deparment for a small company.

It turns out they loved him and after two weeks, offered him a permanent full time position. So now, he runs IT for them, reporting to the VP ans President of the company. He is severly under-paid for his job (have I mentioned he ~IS~ the IT department for 100-150 people?), but since he creates the budget for his department, he's factored in raises and paid training for the next year.
As cool as this ended up being, it still ate at me that he had to stop doing what he loved, even though no money was being made, just to make money. We worked long and hard to get him doing what he loves, and it was going to be my turn next to figurre out what i wanted to be "when I grow up". BUT, it turns out he loves it! Right before Christmas, out of no-where he said to me, "I love that I get paid to play!"
Big stress relief! So now he has two 'jobs' he loves to do, and one of them has a steady paycheck.

On the homefront, my stress has put a big dent in working on my own hobby. I find I can only stitch an hour or two a week (instead of the ten I use to do), and play time on the computer is even more limited.
I was, however, able to get one last thing completed in 2008 (finished it on Dec 27). Here it is, hubby's requested bookmark; "Renaissance Bookmark" by Teresa Wentzler.


I did the pattern on 28c Country French Chantilly and used the recomended threads (DMC and Kreinik). It is Finished with a buttonhole edge using DMC thread that matched the material. It took approximitley 39 hours to complete (10 of that was the buttonhole stitch...I should have went with the blanket stitch, but then maybe it wouldn't look so great). There is nothing on th back of it, but I've told hubby to let me know that if the threads on the back keep catching on things or if it's not stiff enough for him, I'll iron on some fusing. I barely had time to get a picture of it before he put it into use.

On the stashing front, I'm still in "diet"-mode. However this was made much easier when hubby signed me up for Vikki Clayton's Floss of the Monthfor a Christmas present! Now for the next year I'll be getting some wonderful floss and it will help keep the edge off wanting to impulse buy.
Also, since the Stash-to-Go blog has slowed down alot, I'm thinking I need to start giving things away. Where for it to go....

A happy New Year to all and I'll leave you with a picture of the antics of The Teen.

That's a candle she put on top of one of my statues.

The Best Laid Plans...

That's 2 Hurricanes/TS's down...how many to go?
Thanks to being prepared, once again we are getting squat from the storm. Which is perfectly fine with me.
Hubby finished fixing my dryer and I went on a laundry rampage; got a weeks worth of laundry done in one day. Woohoo!!! No need to worry about until later in the week now. Since I'm still getting used to the schedule, my guess is I'll spend that extra time catching up on sleep and/or reading.
I just finished reading "The Snow Queen" by Mercedes Lackey. Good upbeat fantacy story, even if it was predicatable, thanks to the fairy tale premise.
Now I'm in the middle of reading "Dreamsong II" by George R. R. Martin, and found a couple more books, that he had a hand in, which I'll need to add to my To-Read list.

It's the beginning of the month , so back to the monthly reports.

Way past my bedtime

OMG...I am so tired!
As many may (or may not) know, the newest book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer was released at midnight last night. Bookstores everywhere had releaseparties, and my daughter convinced me to let her go, and to top it off, I volunteered to chaperone her and her friends.
What was I thinking! No chairs to sit in while I waited, massively over-crowded...well, hello clautophobia, how are we this evening.

Actually, other than the teenage girl screaming (cough, and some teenage boy screaming...really, it happened) and the press of bodies, it wasn't too bad. I only had to leave the store once because of my clautrophobia, and once I knew there was a quick and easy way out of the store, it didn;t rear it's ugly head again. Also, I have to say, Barnes & Noble had their act together. Once midnight hit (wish I had ear plugs for that count down), the line moved very fast; we were out the door with the book in about 30 minutes. In addition to getting "Breaking Dawn" for my daughter, I was able to pick up "The Host" for me; both hardback copies for about $30 total (Hello sale! and Love you Membership card!).
I got home around 1:30 AM. Which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't woken up at 8 this morning! Really, I NEED 10 hours a night to fuction properly. Oh well, I should sleep great tonight! House cleaning, here I come...

I could have sworn I haven't read this

There are occasions where I have read a book and then forgotten that i read it, until I picked it up again and got halfway through the book wonder why I know what is going to happen next. This usually happens with series that have long stretches of time between each book.
The most recent of these is buying "A Storm of Swords" by George R. R. Martin three times, reading halfway through it, then realizing 1.) I've already read the thing, and 2.) Oh, look, there it is on my book shelf. Luckily, the bookstore has understood each time, and the book was in good shape, so I was able to return it. One of those times to a cashier who was laughing her ass off at me (Thanks, sis).
This does not happen often with me, as I usually know exactly what books are on my shelves at home. I mainly run into picking up the same book over and over again at the library. Or wondering while I'm there if I've read a certain book. Or my husband asking my opinion of a book we both know I've read, but can't remember reading it.
So, I've decided to start keeping track of the books I've picked up to read, and the one's I've actually read. Maybe even comment on those I have read. Maybe. Quite honestly, my book reviews have only ever made sense to me; made it hard to get passing grades on those book reports in school. The last reviews I gave hubby of a couple of books:

King Dork by Frank Portman - Put yourself in the mindset of a teenager and read. You'll laugh your ass off. Will be a good read for TeenD when she stops thinking kissing is gross.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy - Do Not Read If Prone To Depression And/Or Suicide. Seriously, by page 5 I was contemplating finding the good kitchen knife and taking it to my wrists. I didn't even attempt to make it to page 6, and just took it back to the library. It still took me several days to pull myself out of that depression.
This book is now on my very short list of books I've started, and will never finish. I believe that list is only 2 or 3 books long. (I'm kind of anal about finishing a book I start. I keep thinking that it will get better.)

Funniest multiple book purchase ever Award: Goes to my Mother!
One year I got the same book from my mother 6 times. That's right, she bought and wrapped the same title 6 times and never caught on until I opened them Christmas Day. It's even possible she picked up two of the copies in the same trip.

"Glory Season" by David Brin

This is a book that I picked up when I belonged to a Sci-Fi book of the month club many years ago. It was quickly added to my librairy and I re-read it at least once a year.

Mr. Brin idea for the story began with contemplation of several species of American Southwest lizards that can reproduce parthenogenetically (mothers giving birth to clones). He then discovered aphids, which reproduce cloning and through normal sexual means, and then asked himself "What if humans can do the same?"

The result is a world run by women, but reliant on men to "spark" the creation of the pleccenta in winter to enable cloning, but "regular" sex in the summer result in your varients; boys and girls woith the genetic of both parents.

"Glory Season" follows the life of a summer-concieved mirror-image twin, Maia, after she and her sister, Leie, are sent off into the world at 16. The twins' plan to pass themselves off as clones, in order to start their own clone clan, but cercimstances soon find them separated and following their own paths. Maia soon finds herself caught up in global polictics surrounding an alien man from Earth, and her own feeling regarding him. After all she has been brought up that men are good only for "sparking" and not much else.

David Brin could have taken this world to a very feminist Eutopia, but instead, adds a sect of women who would like their world to be only women, while maintaining a balance of those of an opposing view. Men are shown, at the begining, from the viewpoint of shelter children who believe they are nothing more than raging animals, but through Maia, you see how she begins to view everyone so very differently than how she was brought up. By the end of the book, you see how balanced the world truly is, and how much control men do have in this woman dominated society.

Atlas Shrugged

I finally finished the book. It defiantly took longer than what I'm used to. I had trouble reading the story. Not because it was a hard read or the concepts or plot was difficult to follow, but because 95% of the characters in the book are whiney, self-stroking, incompetent p%(#*s who need to be b$(%*-slapped. (Yes, I am censoring myself.) I know of people like this in real life, and I refuse to be around them.
All of Ms. Rand’s books are written based on her personal philosophy of life; so all address the same issues.
As I mentioned before, I read “The Fountainhead” in high school and when I started “Atlas”, I thought I might re-read afterwards to refresh my memory. However, I have decided against it. Mainly, because I am very familiar with Ms. Rand philosophies and long ago studied them (although not though her works) and incorporated what I agreed with into my day to day life, and discarded the parts that went completely against what I believe.

Had I actually picked up this to read in Jr. High or High school the story and concepts would have been mind boggling and eye opening, pointing me on the path I’m already on, a couple years earlier then when I did start. Today, I’m long past the teen-aged angst years of trying to figure out who I am and why I should even be here, and have long figured that out (For the most part. Now I’m working on what I want to do when I grow up.), so I didn’t get as much out the book. I have added it to a list of books I think my daughter needs to read before she graduates High school, but I won’t force her.

There is one quote in the book that did cut to the heart of me, as it put in writing something I spent years struggling to realize on my own. Something I have to actively remind myself every time I feel I’m slipping into depression...

“To live, man must hold three things as the supreme and ruling values of his life: Reason – Purpose – Self-esteem.” Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”

If you are an adult and have never read any Ayn Rand books, do so. I suggest starting with “The Fountainhead”, and if you like it, then read “Atlas Shrugged”. If you don’t like “The Fountainhead”, go ahead and skip “Atlas”; you’ve probably gotten everything you can out of it already. If you’re a teen, read it before you’re forced to read “Fountainhead” in school. You may not like it, but it will give you something to think about.

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As to the list of books for my daughter I mentioned above. My husband and I keep a list of books for our children that we would like them to read. We leave the decision on whether or not they get read to the children. However, every summer, we do pick out one book which they are required to read that summer.
And currently, “they” just refers to the 13 year old. We’re teaching the 4 year old to read.

I promise...I'm still living...

My seasonal depression is hit a lot harder than usual this year. As I don't want to inflict my pain on others, I've been leaving the blog blank. The stitching has been suffering too, so no pictures of those to share.

I have been reading in place of stitching and have actually run across a couple of books that I can't believe I haven't read before (believe me, I'm VERY shocked).

The first is "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. (See Amazon for the editorial review. I'd just repeat the same thing here.) Now the reason I probably didn't read earlier is because I had to read "The Fountainhead" in High School, and as a general rule in HS, if I was forced to read it as part of the curriculum, I automatically hated it. No reason, other than I was a stubborn-headed smart-ass; and we won't even get into my answers to the symbolism of "The Great Gatsby". Let's just say the the most heard comment from my teachers was "Lisa, your smart. If you'd just apply that knowledge for good..."
Yes, I was the one who ended a research paper with the sentences, "This whole paper as plagiarized from "XXX" because you gave me a failing grade on the paper where I voiced my own opinion and cited works you had never heard or read before. I'm interested in seeing what grade I get for this piece of tripe." I would like to note here that I DO NOT condone plagiarism and have never done so again. I was just being an ass at the time; which is still not a good reason. Side note #2: Is it plagiarism when you have the permission of the original creator of a research paper to copy it for this purpose? Either way, it was cheatign and I should have gotten a ZERO on it.
I got a "B". I don't know if its because the teacher liked it, or because she didn't want me in her class again. She obviously did NOT read the whole thing.

Back to Ayn Rand. As I like "Atlas Shrugged", I am older and in a different frame of mind and can appreciate the struggles of those in the novel, I'm thinking I may need to revisit "Fountainhead". For those who like reading and have not read either of these, if size of the novel is a deciding factor, start with "The Fountainhead" and it's 720 pages, compared to the 1200 pages that is "Atlas Shrugged".
Quite honestly, I picked up "Atlas" for the shear size. I have a tendency to browse libraries and bookstores and pick up the biggest book I can find to read, without know anything about the author. I've only been burned a couple if times.
Why do I go for the bigun's? I read quickly. For example, I read "Little Women" in 3 days. When I was 11.

The other book I've read recently in "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein (Amazon link). Another on my "I'm shocked I haven't read this before" list. My husband had bought solely that it was Heinlein and he liked "Starship Troopers". (so did I, but that's another story) After reading "Stranger...", I find I'm going to have to read it again. I found myself more amused by his grandstanding on religion, than paying attention to the story. Not to say I don't know the story; I just need to reread to catch the nuances.

On the movie front, i got to see "Peaceful Warrior" and loved it. It's based on Dan Millman's book "Way of the Peaceful Warrior". Now a swear I've read the book before, but it's not on our shelves, so I have 1) not read it or 2) borrowed it from someone else. I'm thinking it's #2. I'll know for sure once I get a hold of copy and read it (again?). Even if you've never read the book, the movie was very good. Very inspiring. I'm not sure if it has released nationally yet (hubby had gotten free tickets and we had to drive to another town to see it...4 towns over), but check it out at http://www.thepeacefulwarriormovie.com/ . I would have paid full price to see it. Probably still will if I can find it in a theater again, definitely something my daughter needs to see.

If anyone would like to discuss/debate the above books or any other's I have read (I'll start posting them as i read them), or heck even recommend books, feel free to start something in the comments.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer

I finished The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer last night. This book is written more towards young adults (is that what the literaary world calls raging hormonal teens?) but I liked it alot. The book is heavy with Norse 'mythology' and in the appendix, a little bit of history. The end did not leave me asking when the sequel will be available. I like it when a book exists by itself (yes even when it is part of a series). I've handed it to hubby to read and will report his thoughts on if it is written historically accurate, but from what I know, it correctly shows some of how Vikings lived.

Yea! I got to vote at the library!

If you didn't know already, it was election time yesterday. My presinct had a loooooooong ballot to vote on, and only one of those things was for a proposition (increasing property taxes to bnuild more schools, I thnk). So I trotted down the road, to the librairy to vote. But, in order to multi-task like I usually do, I took some book s back to the library that were due, and checked out some more.

The Story of my Life by Helen Keller - Seen her story on screen (large and small) and stage, but it is always from someone elses perspective. I'm looking forward to "seeing" things through her eyes.

Eleanor of Aquitane : A Life by Alison Weir - Eleanor of Aquitane was the wife of two kings and mother to two kings (she's the mama of Kings Richard the Lionheart and John), and ruled in King Richard's place at one point. That's all I know of her. I'm guessing since queens during the Middle Ages weren't kept track of, some of this book will be based on obscure statements in bigger texts until her actions actually ruled a nation. But I've always believed that women have played a bigger role in history than what we are given credit for.

The Journals of Louisa May Alcott by Louisa May Alcott, Madeleine B. Stern (Editor), Joel Myerson (Editor), Daniel Shealy (Editor) - Alcott is my favorite writer of all time, so anytime I find something of her's I have to read it (well buy it too). I may have read this one before, so if I find myself recognizing it, I'll probably make sure I buy it to put on my shelves. I can't say I've read everything she's wrutten, but I have read everything that has been identified as her having written it. She just didn't write "upbeat" stories like "Little Women". She also wrote under several pseudonyms and anonymously, as women were't supposed to write about some of the subjects that she wrote about during her day (think sex, drugs...no rock-n-roll).

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon - This author's "Outlander" series was recommended to me by someone who saw me reading R. Garcia y Robertson's War of the Roses series. As I couldn't find "Outlander" in the library, even though it had a status of checked in (I hate it when people hide things, obviously they don't know that they can reseve books in the libriary), I picked up this one to give myself a feel of the author's writing. It is an offshoot of the series I'd like to read.

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer - Another case of the book I really wanted couldn't be found (The House of the Scorpion), so I picked up another of this author's books in it's place. Imagine hubby's delight that I brought home a Viking fiction book. Now imagine my daughter's delight when that same book is discovered to have been written towards her age group. This will probably be a quick read for me, as it is written at a Jr. High level, but after readign the first chapter last night, I'm looking forward to it.

No Husbands, No Children: Just the Women

So if you ever wonder what a group of women do when they get together with no men...

I was at our quarterly WIFR (Women's Inter-Faith Retreat) this weekend. How refreshed and relaxed I am today! This weekend's theme was Decluttering and Decadence. Discussions throughout the weekend involved, not only decluttering your house and life, but your soul as well. And the different ways each of us has started the decluttering process (One of my favorite ways is www.flylady.net). Let the routine become the ritual.

For inspiration, read "Mother Holle" by the Grimm Brothers. (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/mother_holle.html)

As for the decadence...
Champagne with cherries, Special Dark chocolate syrup, whip cream, ice cream (Rocky Road, Dulce de Leche, peach sorbet, bon-bons), Merci chocolate, rum, amaretto...

Now to catch up on sleep.