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I read you read we all read

Book meme stolen from Jennifer…

  1. One book that made you laugh: I can’t think of any off hand. Meg Cabot can be pretty funny.
  2. One book that made you cry: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. WHAT. Do not tell me that you did not shed a tear for Fred, for Lupin, for Tonks.
  3. One book that you loved as a child: I loved a lot of books as a kid, most notably the Sue Barton Student Nurse books (Helen Boylston), anything by Edward Eager, and the Betsy-Tacy books (Maud Hart Lovelace). When I saw the entire set of Betsy-Tacy books at Barnes & Noble in a nice reprint, I bought them ALL. Love ’em.
  4. One book you’ve read more than once: I read a lot of books more than once, but the book I’ve read the most is Jurassic Park.
  5. One book you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: I read a lot of crap, I am not embarrassed to admit it. I will never admit to having read most of the Jackie Collins oeuvre though. Oh wait.
  6. One book you hated: Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath can suck it.
  7. One book that scared you: I was quite freaked out by the R.L. Stine books when I was a kid.
  8. One book that bored you: Most of Shakespeare, The Color Purple, Red Badge of Courage, um, most of the books I was supposed to read in high school.
  9. One book that made you happy: The final book in the YA series from Meg Cabot, The Mediator. I forget what it was called, but it pretty much embodied the perfect ending to a series: nicely wrapped up with a happy ending. Sweet.
  10. One book that made you miserable: I don’t read miserable books. I can think of a few that pissed me off to the extent that I stopped reading the author’s books.
  11. One book that you weren’t brave enough to read: Most of the horror genre. Despite my love of zombies and gore, I just don’t do horror.
  12. One book character you’ve fallen in love with: I kind of love Stu Redman from Stephen King’s The Stand, even though I never finished it. (still 200 pages to go)
  13. The last book you read: After the Kiss by Suzanne Enoch. It was okay.
  14. The next book you hope to read: The new Artemis Fowl.

Now I think I’m going to look for my copy of The Stand and maybe finish it.

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Post Holiday wrap-up

On Friday, I celebrated Independence Day with my immediate family by eating pork ribs at their house and then going home, and then going to the fireworks at College Park later in the evening. I’ll spare you the police and fire-zone related issues, and suffice it to say, a good time was had. My aunt, uncle, and cousin found us and we all watched the fire works together.

My sister took a short video of them:

Yesterday (saturday) was my 28th birthday, and there was yarn and sheep cake involved:

Huffin and Puffin

(I ate its jugular vein; that is, where the pink ribbon is. I named it Stan.) Earlier in the day, I went peddle boating with my dad at the Lafayette Reservoir and then we had breakfast at Country Waffles.

Now I’m going to order my loom and call it a day.  Looks like we’re in for another heat wave, yay. At least the air quality has been better lately from all those fires that have been raging across California.  Oh, and I learned how to put washer fluid in my car, that was pretty exciting.

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A Week In the Life

I have been run ragged this week, and it’s not over yet! OY VEY.

Last Monday was the last day I was just at home with nothing to do. Oh, Monday, you were great. Tuesday I had a large homeowner’s meeting to record minutes for, Wednesday I had another board meeting to record minutes for, and Thursday I had a Chamber of Commerce mixer, and Friday I went out with my cousin to the movies. So I kind of haven’t been home in forever. Today I am off to Sacramento for a birthday party and tomorrow I am going with the fam to Placerville and a flower farm.

Luckily, next week is a short work week and I don’t have any meetings. Friday is the 4th of July and Saturday is my birthday. I’m hoping that the smoke from the 800 fires dissipates because I REALLY WANT to go peddle boating for my birthday out at the Lafayette Reservoir. However, we are being told to stay inside and not go out and breathe all the smoke.  I can understand this – yesterday I was out in Brentwood on a site inspection, and was horking up snot and ash for an hour afterwards. It was still fun, though, Phil and I went off-roading in his golf cart up on the hill, where I hadn’t been before, to survey the goat damage.

So, my cousin Amanda and I went to see Wanted, starring the fawn from Chronicles of Narnia and Angelina Jolie. It was totally not what I was expecting, but it still really great. Completely violent and excessive, which I have really been in the mood for. Earlier this week I got Shoot ‘Em Up from Netflix and THAT is an AWESOME movie, if you haven’t seen it and you enjoy a spot of violence and Clive Owen killing a bunch of people while running around holding a baby, then that is the movie for you! However, not for the faint of heart, so if you are easily bothered by gore and lactating prostitutes (hi google searchers!) then you should probably avoid Shoot ‘Em Up. I loved it a lot however and watched it twice, it was that good.

/end gushing

So I haven’t completely just done nothing. I got a couple boxes in the mail this week. I purchased Norah Gaughan Volume 3 and a couple of the new pattern pamphlets from Berroco and those came quite promptly.
I also finally got my box of stuff I bought in Texas, which had more yarn and all those beads in it. AND I was bad and ordered from the Loopy Ewe.

Recent Yarn Acquisitions

And I am working on a sock in Araucania Nature Multy:

New Sock

And a swallowtail shawl:

Swallowtail Shawl

I’m knitting this shawl in the Daffodil colorway of some Rio de la Plata sock yarn. I really like the yarn, it’s got a great rustic feel to it, and as you can see, the stitch definition is tops. I’m having fun diving into the stash and trying out the different yarns I have. I’m hoping to finish this shawl in time for my cousin’s wedding.  Not that I am going to wear a wool shawl to a summer wedding in REDDING but it’s a timeline goal anyway.

Now I am off to the post office to mail a check and my Netflix (Talledega Nights, which was funny but stupid) and get gas, drop off some stuff at the library, and go to Target.

Later taters.