not dead yet and a little Mai cross stitch

Wow its been forever since I last posted anything here. I haven't done much except work in the last year. I did work on one cross stitch project every now and again and it was my oriental lady Mai. Here is a picture of where she is currently at.






I know since the last posting I've finished the scarf over her arm and worked on quite a bit of the background. I hope to finish her this year.

Dragonhome? interesting name :)

It's been a while since I reviewed a book. (I'm such a bad useless blogger) I've actually finished 3 since my last blog, and am currently reading 3 such a short attention span. I'm not gonna review all 3 at one time though cause that would make a super big post and I gotta get up early for work tommorrow and it kinda late. For today I'm only gonna do the last one I just finished called "The secret of Dragonhome" by john peel.

I bought this book a while book but never got around to reading it, probably bought it cause the name mentioned dragons and I've always been a bit dragon crazy. this book was a good read, started a bit slow but quickly got interesting. Its the story of a teenaged girl and her brother. The world in this book is divided into 5 kingdoms who are constantly at war (or so it seems). These wars are fought by people called talents, these are people with various powers refered to as "talent" no one is sure what causes the talents but they are taken from their families at young ages and raise and taught to fight the war. When the to main characters Melayne and Sarrow are orphaned by bandits they start on a journey trying to go to an aunt in the hopes of shelter. Both are talents and are afraid to be taken away. During their journey they find out the true purpose of the wars, which is to kill off talents. In a desperate attempt to escape soldiers pursuing them after the escape a training facility they cross the border into an enemy kingdom. The two end up in an old run down castle known as Dragon home where they make new friends and begin to build a new life, till soldiers show up looking for talents. Melaynes talent is communication with animals and during her journeys she is often assisted by a wolf who seems to like her. she often uses various animals and insects to protect herself and her brother. In dragonhome she discovers the secret which is dragons and that begins a whole new set of troubles for her.

if you enjoy journey stories or dragon stories you'll enjoy this book. I've recently found out that the author wrote a sequel which I must read. :) Buying new books is not the way to reduce my inventory but I can't seem to help myself. I've put it into my amazon.com account and eventually I'll buy it.

On a sidenote I'm currently trying to lose a little weight by balancing my meals a little better. I'm real bad about eating junk or fast items and since I no longer have a gall bladder to help me digest the fatty items I've gained quite a bit. :( I'm also attempting to cut back on my soda intake.. Part of how I'm balancing my meals is to do a bit of a bento style lunch. I premake my lunch the night before with a healthier or more balanced meal and eat that when I get home instead of getting a sandwhich at work or ordering a pizza.

Happy reading everyone.

Anne McCaffrey, master of science fiction reading :)

Before I start today here's a picture of aki and her newest toy.. she has discovered paper bags :) now I cant throw it away cause that would just be mean.

Now onto todays book review... still no stitching done by me, just havent been in the mood.. I finished reading the harper hall trilogy by anne mccaffrey recently. I'll do all 3 at once because they were fairly small and very well connected. First thing I have to say is these books helped to spark my interests in reading, fantasy and science fiction many many years ago. The first time I read them I was in middle school and I can remember reading them a few times in middle school, then again in high school. They are some of the first books that I bought myself after I became an avid reader, and even now after so many years and having read them many times in the intervening years I still love them. I would recomend them to anyone who loves fantasy, dragons or science fiction (even though they aren't as science oriented as many other sci fi books) I would also recommend them if you are trying to get your child into reading. this particular trilogy in a series of many is often found in young adults section of book stores and is shorter than some of the others. Also the main characters of this trilogy are young adults themselves in their teens and becoming adults. Most of the people I have met that read this series found themselves wanting to read more, find out about the lives of other characters that were mentioned and have gone on to continue reading the books about PERN. anyway onto the review.


The first 2 books are about the same character, menolly. In the first book starts with a forward explaining a little back story. Basically it tells you that this world is in the saggitarian sector orbiting a G-type star with 4 other planets, a asteroid belt and a stray planet that was cought and held in an odd orbit. When humans colonized the world they didnt think anything about the stray planet because its orbit only brought it near the planet every couple hundred years. Turns out the red stray planet when it was close enough brought a spore like life form that ate its way through all organic life. The colonists took a lifeform that already existed on the planet resembling dragons of old earth and bred them to be big enough to be ridden. these "dragons" can go from one place to another instantly and can breath fire to burn the spores called thread out of the skies. these books take place many hundreds of years after the original colonists. the planet is called PERN.

the first book "Dragonsong" is about menolly who is the youngest daughter of a seaholder (a holder is the lord of the hold basically the leader, usually a strong willed individual since keeping panicking people calm during threadfall would be difficult, and also they would need to manage everything to do with life inside the hold which would be kinda like a town or village). Menolly is a bit tall and gangly to be a proper girl and she also spent alot of time with the holds harper. Harpers are basically the keepers of history and law. they use song to teach the young of their history, to teach also of duties to weyr (dragons and their riders reside in weyrs and protect the people from thread, in return the hold tithe food and goods to the weyrs) harper songs also are entertainment to some extent. The old harper encouraged menolly to write songs because she had a natural talent for music both in the singing/playing of it and in writing songs that were educational and catchy. Unfortunately harpers were traditionally male so when the old harper sent her songs back to the harper hall as his appprentices work he didnt tell them she was a she nor did he ever name her by name. After the old harpers death while waiting for the new harper Menolly finds herself at odds with her father. He allows her to teach the children their lessons only to keep the children from falling behind but forbids her to play any of her own songs for fear that the fact she is female will bring shame to the hold and to his family. One morning while hunting for seaweed she stumbles upon a fire lizard (small creatures that look like the large dragons and thought to be a myth) trying to save her nest of eggs from the unusually high tide. having fallen down into the cove where the nest is the little fire dragon queen wouldnt let her out till she helped move the eggs to a cave higher up. Menolly finds herself writing a song about the little queens plight and later she accidentally finds herself humming a new verse to the song earning herself a belt lashing from her father which makes her feel more and more alienated from her family. Eventually she cuts herself gutting fish and while its never specifically stated you get the feeling they let the cuts heal wrong to prevent her from playing. About this time the new harper arrives and her family does their best to insure she never sings in his prescence fearing he will figure out she taught the children their lessons, sending her on errands to keep her away from him and pinching her every time she starts to sing. She starts to leave the hold early in the mornings and one day finds herself out as thread starts falling.The nearest shelter to her at the time is the cave where the fire lizards eggs are which she manages to barely get to in time. Here she accidentally impresses (forming a bond with) 9 of the little lizard. She decides to live in the cave with her new friends who provide her with the companionship she missed at home instead of returning home. Then one day she is out when thread fall starts and as she is attempting to run to safety is rescued by a dragon and taken to the weyr where she is discovered by the masterharper who it turned out had harpers out looking all over pern for her. The book ends with her being taken to the harper hall as an apprentice.

Now for the second book "dragon singer". I won't need to tell as much detail for this story because its basically just a continuation of the first. It starts with her arrival at the harper hall. She is put with the girls in a cothold (which I guess is just basically a freestanding house inside the compound) Unfortunately she finds herself at odds with these girls for several reasons. 1st she has 9 fire lizards and had been living holdless for several weeks. leaving her less polished than the other girls. the girls are also afraid of the fire lizards.2nd the girls are not apprentices they are being fostered of sorts, they are just there to learn for a while and then will go home. Menolly is and apprentice and the girls don't think she belongs in their home. this book is basically Menolly finding her place in the new life she finds herself in. Finding new friends mainly Piemur (who is more important later) and becoming comfortable in the fact the things she was forbidden to do in the past she is now encouraged to do. This fact doesn't really sink in till later. The impression she made with the fire lizards is a bit telepathic and a bit empathic, fire lizards are quite as intelligent as the dragons so they don't think in sentences and language as such more feel things. there was an incident with a dragon and his rider (explained in a different book, which I can't recall off the top of my head) and since she has 9 lizards to feel off of she wakes screaming in terror that they were feeling. Later that day during thread fall she finds herself subconsiously creating a song about the cry she heard through the lizards in that moment of terror. She turns around thinking she should write it down she finds the journeyman in charge of her training writing it down as she sang it. At this point it sinks in for her that things really have changed for her. this book ends with her becoming a journeymany and much more secure in her new life and roll.

The third book "dragondrums" isnt really about Menolly but about her friend Piemur and his coming of age. In the second book Piemur is the first friend she makes in the harper hall, he is young and mischievious but not malicious. He is an apprentice to the voice master because of his clear high-pitched voice. he also is very good at the technical aspects of singing till one day his voice breaks as happens to boys during puberty. he is 14 turn (years) old when this happens. this book is about his coming of age of sorts. After his voice breaks he is apprenticed to the master harper because of his ability to put together clues from around him. His job is basically to listen for changes and things going on around him due to conflict going on in other areas. Since noone is suppose to know about this duty of his he is passed off as a drum apprentice. He very quickly finds himself at odds with the other drum apprentices because of his past reputation and his ability to learn quickly and well. The fact that anytime the master harper or his journeymen need a messenger they always ask for him does not help the situation. He has a strong wish for a fire lizard of his own leads him into trouble. He discovers during a mission for the master harper that a holder is passing green fire lizard eggs (which tend to either be all green or not hatch) off as queen lizard eggs, steals a queen egg and accidentally gets sent to the southern continet in a smuggled batch of goods to the weyr of banished dragons and their riders. He escaped and finds himself lost and wandering the southern continent. Eventually the egg hatches at which point he and his queen firelizard start to go towards the friendly hold, finding along the way a baby runnerbeast he names stupid. Eventually he ends up at the hold at the same time Menolly and Sebald(the other journeyman) arrived hoping to find him. This book ends up with Piemur getting his journeymans badge as a drummer (these drums are huge man sized drums used to send messages from place to place) and finding a home on the southern continent. The southern holder accepted him because he had managed to live through 3 threadfalls without shelter marking him as southern continent material..

As usual reading these books has left me with a desire to read more. the world of pern is a very engaging and enthralling world. the books are written in a manner that grabs you and doesn't let you go even after you've finished reading it. Even though I've read it many times I found myself thinking that it couldnt be the I needed more. so now I've picked up another pern book. I am currently reading The chronicles of PERN: first fall. its a book of 5 short stories involving this world of pern. The first story of which is the original survey of the planet before it was colonized.

On a random end note I was showing my southern roots today after work. Went to the diner across the street from my house and had a good southern breakfast. Steak and eggs.. mmmmm good my steak was medium well (closer to medium rare than medium well) eggs sunny side up, gotta love the runny yolk of the egg especially when you dip your steak in it. Grits with enough butter and sugar to kill a horse, I'll admit I'm a southern girl and eat my grits with lots of sugar and butter on them. and buttery toast with jelly.. I don't think it fit into my supposed low fat diet and now I kinda need a nap.

Leaping lizards

Here's a random funny short work story for you all. We were all laughing for quite a while afterwards.

Here in southern Louisiana one of the things we have in abundance is lizards, both big ones (crocs) and the little lizard, and sometimes they manage to get into your house, car etc. There's been a few mornings I've had to catch and release a few before starting my day, I'm a bit country and lizards don't really phase me frogs neither. spiders are a different story one of those get into the building and you are so on your own cause I'm running for the hills. Anyway as I was getting close to the end of my day I notice all the girls in the kitchen running and cowering, while the owner is obviously trying to sweep something.I go out into the kitchen to figure out what is going on and turns out that she's chasing a lizard with the broom. thats kinda funny cause she picked the broom with the softest bristles so she wasn't actually accomplishing anything just basically chasing it from corner to corner.. Yes I quit laughing long enough when they chased it under the salad table to catch it. Everybody was first shocked because I just went right up to it and then amazed at how quickly I caught it. They were almost as freaked out that I caught the thing as they were about it being in the building. Now I'm known as the go to person to catch those mean little lizards.. LOL poor thing was as scared of them as they were of it. unfortunately it wasnt one of the cute little pinkish ones we often find, just one of the semi ugly brown ones. If I had let them continue chasing the thing they would have been at it all week with that soft broom, I'm not sure if they were trying to kill it or catch it in the dust pan, neither of which would have worked but were definately kinda funny. I know its been hours but I'm still snickering under my breath about it, almost as much because of their reaction to me catching it as their reaction to the lizard itself.

UNRULY!!!

Heres a few pictures of my unruly collection of books that I am currently trying to read my way through.

the mostly empty one is where I'm moving ones I've read.. although the top shelf is ones I know I'm not gonna get rid of but haven't read yet. top shelf has my christine feehan dark series and jayne castle harmony/st helens series basically. the bottom shelves are mostly pic albums and cross stitch. this is probably the cleanest part of the collection.

Unfortunately this is my only built in bookshelf, if I ever get enough money I'll probably have several built into my dining nook area. the top half is most fantasy including all my Pern, anita blake, sookie stackhouse, merry gentry and most of my books about dragons. the bottom behind the doors is a hodgepodge of books that mostly havent been read. ( I buy alot of books sometimes in grabboxes and used bookstores and mail clubs.)

these 2 are of the catch all desk in the front room. currently it acts as a storage space for the books I'm planning on reading soon..

I love this thing I have 3 of them one of which I use as my night table. they have a hard top and 4 shelves just perfect sized for paperbacks, I usually put the ones I don't read as often. the 1st 2 pics are the one in the living room the 2nd 2 pics are of the one in the bedroom. I mostly keep my old romance novels in it. I went through a phase in high school where I subsribed to 3 or 4 different mail in clubs that sent me romance novels every month..

The next is a cabinet in the bedroom, I have an identical cabinet in my closet but it actually has something other than books in it. :)

My night stand also has books in it..

Even my entertainment center has books. I have my harry potter and magical creature books with the gargoyles bookends. this also has my harry potter movies. the taller shelf has my mangas that are also animes mostly Inuyasha, petshop of horrors, ranma 1/2, FAKE and fruits basket

Random drawers and stacks.. I have books every freaking where...

And just for random funsies... here is Aki faceplanting into her scratch box... apparently she really likes the little bit of catnip that I sprinkle onto it every now and again

Today at work I actually forgot to mix my first batch of bread.. I went on and started my things I usually do while waiting for it to rise and when I came back to check on the dough there was nothing there. I really think I need a few days off. The last few weeks have been crazy 4 weeks in a row I made over-time. one of those weeks I made a whole day and then some over. I usually work 6 to 6 1/2 hour days 6 days aweek and that week I had 8 hours overtime. this week I'm working an 11 day stretch it was originally suppose to be a 12 day stretch but we are in the middle of switching my sunday baker and my old one wanted saturday off so my new one is gonna work friday. Its a bit confusing even to me.

I'm trying to decide which book I'm gonna start when I finish "dragondrums" I'm trying to choose between "the elvenbane" by andre norton, "orphans of the sky" by robert heinlein, "dark descendant" by jenna black, "dreamsnake" by vonda n McIntyre, or "you slay me" by katie MacAlister.. any requests? If anyone sees a book in the collection that they would be interested in me reading and reviewing let me know and I'll move it into my next to read pile. :)

Massive Brain cramp!!! and book reviews

I had to laugh at myself at work today, it was either that or cry while banging my head against the wall. :P I bake buns at a restaraunt for a living. I don't know if any of you have ever baked in a commercial setting but it can be a bit complicated in the steps. Takes about an hour and a half just to bake one batch of bread and I do at least 6 a day. So anyway I get to my last batch do the first couple of steps and when I get to the second to last step I just randomly spaz out. We have this machine called a humidifier that we use to rise the bread for a second time before putting them in the oven. the machine uses water and heat to create a warm humid space to rise. Instead of putting them in the humidifier I put them in the oven.. Talk about PANIC!! I quickly grabbed them out of the oven and prayed it was quick enough.. luckily the owner let them pass cause I didnt really didnt want to spend another 1 1/2 hours at work.. It was kinda funny yet definately severly panic inducing.

On a different note I've finished a couple more books since my last post, I'm steadily working my way through the utter chaos that is my book collection. When I say my collection is unruly I am putting it mildly :) I've always been a reader. unfortunately with the discovery of computer games and the internet I don't spend as much time reading as I use to. Last time I actually counted my books i had just a little over 3000, its been about 13 years and tons of book sales since then.

the first book I finished is one from a new author (Delilah S Dawson) called "Wicked as they Come" here's a link to the blog of this author http://delilahpaints.blogspot.com/p/books.html .This book falls into the paranormal romance genre. In case you haven't noticed I have a fondness for suprenatural/fantasy/horror type books. This book is a vampire/steam punk/ dimension traveling story and is the first part of a new series. In the story the heroine Tish Everett wakes up in an alternate dimension after accidently stealing a locket. Turns out the locket had a spell on it to bring the heros perfect lover to him. the hero criminy stain is a blud man which in the other world is basically a vampire that can either be made or born (criminy was born). This other world use to have a balance use to have a balance between the blud (there are also blud animals) and the non blud often called pinkys. The locket takes her from world to the other till someone steals it from her while she was sleeping. the two set out on a quest to get it back and end up uncovering a plot to kill all the blud in the world. Of course being a romance in the end she falls in love with him. But during their journey they meet many other characters including ghost that save trish, then tries to trap her in the ghost place of death because she was lonely. The steam punk bit comes in with moving vehicles (the old kind that you have to crank the engine) dirigables, and clockwork animals that act as guards, messagers and companions. this was definately and interesting read and I hope to see more from this author.

The second book I read was Grave Witch by Kalayna price. this book is a fantasy book. It was an excellent book I picked it up when I got home from work yesterday and finished it the same day. Its a bit reminiscent of the anita blake universe but not enough to be a unimaginative. this book is the first in the alex craft series and I will definately be getting the next few soon. In this book the Fae were declining and so decided to come out to the world.soon after witches come out also. The story is about alex craft who is a grave witch, someone who call shades (not ghosts) and see the world of the dead. shades are more just the memory of the person who died, the soul isnt actually present. Alex starts the story by losing a client to death, whom she can actually see and is on good terms with (apparently death is a good looking man who looks fantastic in jeans). Then she agrees to a job for her estranged sister, gets shot at and saved by death. The police believe the attempted shooting is in connection to a case in which she will raise a shade for court (which she hopes will get her a permanent consultation with the police). this starts several days of kidnapping attempts, run ins with fae out to kill her and much time spent with a detective who acts like he hates her but keeps trying to keep her safe. the case for her sister ends up getting her involved with a body snatching fae, the ghost of the body he was in when he was murdered, the detective who turns out to be fae who is an undercover FIB (fae investigation bureau), and a fae that tries to enslave her. I was really intrigued by her grave sight, which is how she sees the shades she raises. basically its a second sight type thing where she can magically look into the land/realm of death. When she uses this she sees everything as a dead decayed world, but she can also see under fae glamor when using it. Unfortunately using it comes at a price of her normal sight, any time she uses it afterwards she has trouble seeing and if she uses too much power she can be almost blind afterwards. here is the website for this one
http://www.kalayna.com/alexcraft.html . If you enjoyed the anita blake, sookie stackhouse or merry gentry series you will most likely love this book. Its very well written and once I started reading it I just couldnt put it down till I finished, and it left me wanting more. the world was very vivid to me.

I also finished reading two smaller books but they are part of a trilogy and I'll most likely review them when I read the 3rd one. Its anne mccaffery's harper hall trilogy that I've always loved. I was wondering if I should continue reviewing the books as I read my way through the collection? and is anyone interested in pictures of how unruly the collection is?

darkborn and new kitty

Still no stitching done by me but lately I've been trying to read through my book collection.. :P I currently have 3 going ( I think, its entirely possible that i have other going that I will remember when I find them) but I just finished one called "darkborn" by alison sinclair. This was an unexpected find, was one of those dollar store impulse buys. The story is apart of a trilogy and now I must get the next two. The story takes place in a world divided by a curse. the curse called Imogenes curse has divided the people into two kinds Darkborn who are blind and will burn and die in the sunlight and the lightborn who can see but sicken and die in the darkness. Before you think its about vampires cause of the burning in sunlight thing its actually not. the darkborn are born sightless and use something call Sonn to "see" their environment I guess sonn is kinda like a magical version of sonar(they can actually see colors and such), their other senses are stronger. The lightborn are sighted but their other senses aren't as strong as the darkborns. Darkborn fear and shun magic while the lightborn use it freely. Instead of magic darkborn use preindustrial technology. the book takes place in a city where the two live side by side. the hero of the story is a darkborn doctor who one morning takes in a pregnant darkborn woman from his past just before sunrise offering her sanctuary from the sun. this action leads him and his family into danger when people come seeking the babies born. there is kidnapping, attempted murders, and other dangerous happenings. In the end the doctor and his wife are drawn into saving not only their own family but part of the darkborn nobility uncovering a danger to everyone darkborn and lightborn alike from the shadowlands. I actually enjoyed this book even though i don't usually enjoy books set in the preindustrial or victorian type setting. On a more personnal note I took in a stray that was hanging around our laundry room. I've never owned a female cat before but she was just so sweet and loving for a stray that I just couldnt let her starve. She was all bones when I took her in. I named her Aki (the japanese word for autumn) because her coloring kinda reminds me of fall, falling leaves and halloween. this is her in this picture : She adores me apparently. she has to scent mark me anytime I've been out of the house, tries to pull me out of the shower (apparently the shower scares her, she cries and tries to pull anypart of me that gets to close to the edge out) She also likes to lay on my chest and stare at me from the end of my nose when I try to sleep. Although I have to admit my favorite thing that she has done to bring a smile to my face so far is one night I woke up and she was using my knee as a pillow. Woke up with a stiff knee the next morning but it was the kinda thing I missed about having a pet. book total currently at sell/get rid of 6 and keep 15 (collection not really getting smaller)