I Can See Clearly Now

I've been wearing glasses since 6th grade.

Umpteen number of years later, I'm still wearing glasses, but guess what???? As you read this, I'm GETTING LASIK!! Sorry about the yelling. I'm just really excited about waking up in the morning and being able to see!

I'm excited about opening a book and not having to literally have my nose buried in it to see the words if I don't have glasses or contacts on.

Not that I'll stop having my nose buried in books, but that could actual just go back to being a saying.

So I'll be all drugged up for most of today - Valium is my friend - and then hopefully I'll be back just in time for some Random Stuff Friday, when I can see all of you clearly!

Random Stuff Friday

1) I have not written down any resolutions. Yet. I don't know if I'm just mentally refusing to accept any set goals (clearly I have commitment issues), or if I'm just in denial. Or maybe it's because I think resolutions shouldn't just be set in January. I'm not sure which argument I'm going with yet. Maybe it means I should just make "stop procrastinating" my first resolution of 2013.

2) Check out what the BiL gave me for Christmas: Noise canceling, sends me off to my own world, Beats by Dre. Complete with Monster cables. I don't know what that last part really means, technically speaking, but apparently they don't make them like this anymore and he had to go 3 different stores to find them. So now I will plug them in, enter the universe I've created in my head, and get some writing done! >>> Sorry I don't have a picture here because Blogger is being lame - AGAIN! <<<

3) Husband is anti-Apple products. Took years to convince him to let me get my Macbook. Let's not even discuss the iPhone. I might be possibly thinking about maybe considering getting an iPad. Eventually. Have to start the negotiations now. At some point in the future. For now, my Macbook will have to do.

4) I still have a HUGE stack of TBR books that were released in 2012 and before ... but I'm already working on my 2013 MUST HAVES. Anything out there that you guys recommend I add to my pile? A few on there already are Clockwork Princess and City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare, Icons by Margaret Stohl, Crave the Darkness by Amanda Bonilla, Prophecy by Ellen Oh, Senshi by Cole Gibsen, Pivot Point by Kasie West, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tucholke, Transparent by Natalie Whipple, Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger, and that's just to name a few. What else should I look forward to getting?

5) It was 16* when I backed out of our garage this morning. It was 13* when I dropped 7yo off at school--less than a mile from our house. It was 11* by the time I got the 2 younger kids to daycare. And 9* when I parked in front of the dayjob offices. Apparently as the sun gets higher today, the temperature gets lower. I think I'm taking this as a sign to spend the rest of the weekend in cozy warm sweats with big thick socks, lots of hot tea, and, of course, the laptop for writing and the TBR pile for some good reads.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Utah Locals! Who is EVERBOUND??

I apologize in advance for those who are not local, as I'm not able to run this on a larger scale, BUT if you're one of those lucky peeps who live in Utah, have I got an opportunity for you!

Nope, doesn't even involve a lemon of used car!

This ARC:

is currently en route to me. Interested? I thought you might be, especially since it's not even going to be published to the masses until January of 2013. By my count, still more than 4 months away!

Here's the deal - if you're interested in signing up for the ARC tour, please fill out the form below and keep an eye out for an email to come with additional details!

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Random Stuff Friday

1) A big fat happy 7th birthday to our oldest bubs today. She's helped plan the day and there will be zoo fun, froyo, shopping, and lots and lots of treats!

2) Thank you to everyone for the kind words after I announced my signing with The Gernert Company! You all are amazing and I am blessed to have such wonderful people in my life, both RL and virtual! It's been a long road, filled with success and failure, celebration and tragedy, and I am so thankful to have you to share it with!

3) Last night was the first session of this summer's Kids' Reading Groups at the indie bookstore in Salt Lake City: The King's English. The girls had so much fun! The teachers running the groups are wonderful. And even 4yo who has been having severe separation anxiety issues didn't even notice when I walked away to do some bookshop browsing! Looking forward to the coming weeks at TKE! (P.S. To you locals - they are having their semi-annual sale right now and HOLY WOW, the deals are fab! Go if you have a chance!)

4) Speaking of books ... my to read pile is HUGE. And I just picked up some Gayle Forman, Emily Wing Smith, and Kristen Chandler last night. Plus, Agent is sending me some Alyssa Sheinmel ... and I'm so excited to get back into my writerly and readerly groove! Still taking Need To Read suggestions, though, so if you've got one, toss them this way! I'm open to anything, right now!

5) Lastly, I'm having one of those laundry weeks where I just want to throw out all the clothes in the house and start over. The piles are taking over!! Gah! So instead of doing the laundry, I think I'm just gonna head out to play with the bubs today. It is a birthday afterall.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Random Stuff Friday

Welcome back to another installment of "Otherwise Amusing Events Occurring Within the Aphayrath World" also known as "Random Stuff Friday"

#1 - We give our old cell phones to play with. The bubs LOVE pretending they have phone calls or are text messaging their friends. The other day I was driving to Home Depot with Hubs, all 3 bubs, and brother-in-law-who-now-lives-with-us (who will heretofore be known as "Bil"). 3yo was playing with my old Samsung Glyde - not an advert for the phone, as I totally hated it - when Bil asked her what she was doing. 3yo: "I'm texting to Twitter. Duh." Hubs turned to me. Me: "Ohmigod, she is totally my kid."

#2 - One of the best reasons I found for following some of my favorite places on Facebook is finding out about events that might take a while to learn of otherwise. Case in point: The King's English (SLC's awesometastical indie bookstore) does summer reading groups for kids, run by teachers, where kids are broken out into appropriate age groups, given reading lists, etc. It's like book club! And lucky for me, the timing of both kids' sessions are the same, which means I'm gonna get an hour once a week to hang out at my fave indie bookshop! Woohoo!

#3 - It's a pirate life this weekend at the Aphayrath house. Jake and the Neverland Pirates, that is. All my pre-planning efforts were for naught when 3yo decided she HAD to change the theme of the party 2 weeks ago (I've been gone for 1 week), so now I'm scrambling to get everything ready. *sigh*

 #4 - I've not seen The Hunger Games movie yet. Nor have I read the book. *ducks flying tomatoes* I've not seen the Avengers yet. I don't know when I will. Here's my reasoning why: there's been so much hype, so much positive gushing, just so much ... much that I'm not sure if I want to experience any of these for fear that I will be so devastatingly disappointed because of all the gushing there's just no way any of these could live up to my expectations. Irrational fear? Yeah, probably. Is there someone out there who can convince me otherwise? I'm not sure ...

#5 - I really want to have something else amusing for you here, but yanno, I just don't. So hope everyone has as awesome weather as we do here in the Salt Lake valley (mid 70s all weekend!) and an enjoyable weekend. Catch ya later!

Reading is Boring

Over the weekend (thankfully BEFORE I got sick), the kidlets and I went to a family birthday party. Husband was off working and so we were free to party it up.

Well, this party went from a 9yo's birthday with pinata bashing to Glee Karaoke Revolution and ended with a very, very high spirited game of Catchphrase - like Charades, but where you can talk as well, you just can't say the "catchphrase."

Anyway, during this game, one of the catchphrases that came up was BEDTIME STORY. After the clues were solved for this one, my nephew (cousin's 15yo son), said "Mom, you never read us bedtime stories."

My cousin just shot her son a look. You know the one, that Mom-look? Yeah, that one.

Nephew then said, "It's okay, though. Reading is boring."

I nearly dropped the drink in my hand as I just stared at him. It was like a moment where everything around me just went eerie and quiet and I didn't even know what to say because . . . OMG THAT IS BLASPHEMY! HOW COULD HE SAY SUCH A THING?????

I get that reading's not everyone's fave activity. I do, really. Like Husband? He's a very specific kind of book guy, otherwise, he's a magazine guy all the way. BUT, he will always read to the kidlets and always supports them in their reading (or attempts at it - they are only 3 & 6, after all).

When I was little, my parents weren't really read-to-me types. One reason: English is not their first language and they had a hard enough time with general communication, let alone trying to understand all the nuances in children's storybooks. BUT, they were ALWAYS supportive of my reading, taking me to the library whenever I wanted to go, even signing me up for those kids' book of the month clubs.

And now, both Husband and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that our kidlets enjoy books. That in most cases, they'd rather read a few pages of Harry Potter together than watch the movie. (It may have something to do with 3yo being afraid of Voldemort, aka "The Flat Nose Guy.") But still.

Okay, I'll get off my ranty soap box now. But a quick question for you guys: How have you guys fostered reading with the kids around you, whether they are your own or just ones you borrow from time to time?

Everneath in Utah

I apologize in advance to those who don't live in Utah. But to those who do ... have I got an opportunity for you!

In January 2012, a little book written by a little author from our fair little state will be released. Her name's Brodi Ashton. Ever heard of her? Yeah, apparently she's also sometimes referred to as #1 Crazy by her loving crit group. Anyway, Brodi's got this little book coming out next January called EVERNEATH. Here's the blurb of it I stole from her blog:

EVERNEATH is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: a 17-year-old who's been banished to the underworld escapes to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in the real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever.

Sounds interesting right? Yeah, I thought so too. Well, when this tweet came through my timeline:

I replied and asked Brodi if she'd considered doing an arc tour. More specifically, a locals arc tour just because there are so many writers and book bloggers here and maybe we could stretch one arc a bit further. Some gears started cranking, someone was *ahem* volunteered ... and Huzzah!

If you are a writer / book blogger and are interested in an opportunity to read EVERNEATH before it's released, here's your chance! Brodi's generously offered to donate an arc to the cause and this copy of EVERNEATH will be getting a grand tour of Utah, via bloggers.

There will be some fine print details to come around regarding reviews and time you can keep the book, etc, but if you're interested, please email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a comment below with your name, email and city so I can start the organizing!

Also, Brodi's going to be at the Utah Book Bloggers Social on Saturday, March 5th. You can get my contact information from her there also!

UPDATE (12:12 pm): Please make sure you are leaving me an email address or some way of contacting you if you leave your info in the comments below. If your profile isn't setup for email responses, I have no way to reach you and won't be able to add you to the list!

Breathless Tweets

I've been trying to get to the bloggy world this week, but I've been sick. Really sick. Like, the flu coupled with a walking pneumonia, sick. So I'm sorry if I haven't commented recently.

And I'm sorry if I owe you pictures from last Saturday's awe

someness that was the Breathless Reads tour. I haven't even downloaded them from my camera yet. I've been so meaning to tell everyone about the awesome time

we had there. But alas, that will have to wait.

In the meantime, you can relive my fun at the Breathless Reads tour in a very abbreviated tweet version.

And in case you were wondering, @ElanaJ did eventually make her way back to me and the stash of 21 signed books which we then stealthily lugged all the way down to the P2 level of the Salt Lake City library parking garage. I think we also burned up all the calories from the pizza lunch we had that day too.

I think there's one stop left of the Breathless Reads tour - February 25 in Raleigh, I believe. If you get a chance to go, this is one event you don't want to miss and I'm just glad we were lucky enough to get to be one of the cities they stopped in!

Random Stuff Friday

1) While it is pretty awesome that we've got 5 kick ass YA authors in town for a signing tomorrow, I'm not so sure this is gonna be good for my shoulders / back. Do you know how heavy that many books is?!?! Take into account the ones I'm getting signed for myself, a couple few for good friends who couldn't make it and then a few that may *ahem* show up on here for, yanno, one reason or a *cough* contest *cough* another.

What was that?!?? You haven't entered to win a signed copy of Ally Condie's MATCHED yet? Well what are you waiting for?!?! Run ... er ... CLICK HERE! I bet there will even be cupcakes in it for you!

2) So for the first time since I got it (back in June) Captain Nook's battery is about dead. And low and behold, what do I discover? I can't find the freakin' charger cord. Great. :( Good thing I have to go hit up B & N anyway.

3) I have self-imposed deadlines from now through the end of June for writerly stuff. We'll see how this pans out, seeing as it involves writing lots of "first three chapters" and, uh, I am not one of those people who actually writes chronologically. And also lots of outlining and I am so totally an organic writer. This should be interesting.

4) Oh look! While Captain Nook's charger cord has gone missing, I just found the charger cord for my bluetooth headset. The universe is totally toying with me.

5) When I was little my mom and I used to go to the little Asian store and she'd rent VHS tapes of Thai la khons aka soap operas. This was like, a weekly thing so she could watch her shows. This has been going on for years. Well, she recently discovered she can watch the la khons on YouTube. It's like a mini-Netflix for her, but without the $9.99 fee. Great, whatever. Except now my siblings are kickin' themselves for introducing her to this. Why? Here's my sister's tweet from last night:

Yes, she's gone psycho because my sister's laptop wouldn't turn on so she could use it to watch the la khons on YouTube. Forget that my sister was doing her homework at the time ... what's this world coming to?

I better go let my mom know her la khons aren't leaving YouTube any time soon and my sister probably should finish her homework. Have a nice weekend everyone!

A Pretty Possession

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get my hands on this:

Isn't it pretty? Yeah, I think so too. So anyway, thanks to Elana for giving me an opportunity to read this before it's June 7th release.

In case you've been living under a rock or something and need to know what POSSESSION is all about, here's the blurb straight from Elana's blog.

About POSSESSION: Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Now, I haven't done many book reviews on here lately. Partially because I just haven't and the other part because, well, I haven't had a whole lot of time to read. But when the opportunity to read POSSESSION presented itself, I could not pass that up. I had to make time to read it!

Many who know me know that dystopian's not really my thing. I've read a couple here or there that I've really enjoyed, but like, I have yet to read HUNGER GAMES. *ducks flying tomatoes* It is in my TBR pile, but yeah. Anyway, so POSSESSION.

Add this to the ammo trying to convert me to be a dystopian reader! Elana does a great job with the world-building, the sci-fi was just enough without going over the top and making me lose interest (yanno, not being a sci-fi fan), and the storytelling sucked me in, making me feel so much of what Vi is going through. . And the characters, oh, the characters. Vi's just snarky enough to still be likable and when it comes down to it, she is such a girl :). Jag, he's a Bad boy - what's not to love? And Zenn, just trying to be Good. *sigh*

The entire premise really made me think about my own life and who's really in control. Me? Or is everyone around me really in control and just making me think I am.

Not on your to-reads yet? Go add it. Now.

Happy Reading!

Random Stuff Friday

And welcome to the very first list of random thoughts for 2011. Are you stoked? Yeah, I thought so. Me too. Why? Because I've been so filled with randomness for the last couple weeks and I didn't have anyone who would truly appreciate it.

So here goes. But don't set your hopes too high. No guarantees on how exciting or random these thoughts may actually be.

1) So I watched Eclipse with the fam the other day and I think 5yo's comment is the one that resonates the most of all that we said/thought during

the movie: "That vampire has a hairy chest." And you know, it's funny she points that out because I have made that observation before (like when I watched New Moon). And I think I was just obsessed with the hair (pieces) in this movie. Like how come Jasper's formerly pale blonde hair is now golden curly locks, like he should be hanging out with the three bears or something? Luckily, Alice is still awesome, so that made up for a lot of the bad hair. Also, there was still lots of ... "omg, that's SharkBoy!" but that's a conversation for another day.

2) Holiday cards are still coming in the mail. I don't necessarily call them Christmas cards because we have a couple friends who send New Year's cards. Which is cool. But yesterday when I opened one ... holy crap, I got a paper cut! Oh how a paper cut can cut my productivity in half. It's in a weird place on my right pointer finger. I'm right handed. This causes much maneuvering and careful typing and writing. It sucks. My brother and I decided that a death via paper cuts would be one of the most horrific things in the whole world.

3) Speaking of the mail. Look what else came:

I won SUBJECT SEVEN off Solvang Sherrie's blog and ElanaJ was kind enough to let me have a chance to read POSSESSION before it's released in June. Who's jealous? Go on, admit it. I know you want to. :)

4) As I type this, it is 14* outside. I know that's not as cold as some places where you guys live, but I also know that is still pretty FRIKKIN' cold! It's no wonder I own so many sweaters.

5) My brother's a big fan of YouTube. So's my sister. And so are the kidlets depending on what's playing. Here's the last video that had 2yo, 5yo and me laughing so hard we were crying. And my sister and brother laughing so hard at us. I dare you not to have a giggle fest! Oh, and it's better if you watch it in full screen :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fallen Apple

We've been going through some daycare issues because of the Husband's work schedule being a bit erratic lately, so last week found me dropping off and picking up the 5yo.

Well, she came running out of class ecstatic. As we walk to the car, she's flustered with excitement, telling me about a party. The first thing I wonder: oh, crap. Did I miss a holiday?

Then she tells me that it's a BOOK party.

My ears perk up. There were a lot of different kinds of book parties that I attended in elementary school. Ones where you got to wear pajamas to school and you spent the day reading under a table or a desk or wherever in the classroom. Book parties where you got to surprise someone else with a wrapped book exchange. Endless possibilities, I tell you.

But no. This was not one of those parties. It was a book party "for a man who wrote a book and he invited everyone from school!" Here's how the rest of our conversation went:

Me: "What's his name?"

5yo: "I don't know."

Me: "What book did he write?"

5yo: "I don't know."

Me: "Are you sure it's a book party?"

5yo: random rambling that I couldn't completely understand as she digs out papers in her backpack.

Me: *takes papers from kid and shuffles through newsletters* "Oh, Frank L. Cole came to your school today."

5yo: "Who?"

Me: *turns papers around to show her book covers*

5yo: "That's the books he had!"

Me: "You want to go to his book launch party next week?"

5yo: "pleasepleasepleaseplease."

Can you see where this conversation's going?

So yes, I will be taking the 5yo and possibly her younger sister also, to Frank's book launch party for his 3rd Hashbrown Winters book release tonight, Thursday, November 11. It's at the Barnes & Noble South Towne down in Sandy, UT if anyone's in the area and was also interested in coming.

Honestly, it sort of surprised me how excited she was about the book party. She's always loved books, but I had no idea that the idea of going to a party for a book would be so high on her list of things she had to do.

Clearly, 5yo is an obvious exhibit of the apple not falling far from the tree. And I couldn't be more happy about it!

Quote of the Week

"I haven't read The Hunger Games."

Windy Aphayrath*

*I do have the book sitting on my desk. It is near the top of my TBR pile, but I have been short on time. Wonder why? See here.

Swimming in Books

I've been terribly remiss. (Wow, I sound so adult-ish and proper there!)

During the last few weeks I've read. A lot. Anywhere. Everywhere, I've always got a book on me. And while I've done some minor starring on my GoodReads page, but otherwise, I haven't posted a Recent Reads for quite some time. So . . . you'll be getting some catch up posts over the next few days.

There are some new and amazing books out there and I didn't want to miss the chance to share them with you! Oh, and thanks to all this fantastic reading I've been able to get through, I'm well toward my reading goal for the year!

To Read

Or The Growing Mountain of Books on My Bedside Table that I WILL Read Before I Die.

Last year, about mid-March I decided I was going to read 100 books in 2009. In August, I re-vamped my goal a bit, seeing as I was already 1/4 into the year when I decided on this goal. So new, calendar adjusted goal: 75.

As of my last Recent Reads post, I made it to 34. That is so far short, I am embarrassed to admit it. Luckily, I know you guys are awesome and won't ridicule me. At least not too much.

I thought about why I didn't reach my goal. And not to make excuses, but I just think I wasn't being realistic. Firstly, TIME -- I hadn't counted on how much the day job and a home remodeling (still in progress, btw) would take over my life. Secondly, I reached a point where there was just nothing new I was dying to read.

I don't know about you, but for me, but I have to be in the mood to read certain books. But the mood never struck. So I read, but mostly just old books I'd finished eons ago, which I had defined as books that didn't count toward my 100, er, 75 goal.

So now, I've decided on a more practical goal. Based on what I accomplished last year in 3/4 of the year, I think it would be safe to say 50 is a good goal for me.

It helps that there are a few books I'm eagerly awaiting that come out this year, as well as the fact I've jumped on to participating in some ARC tours!

What about you guys? Aside from the writing goals, do you have reading goals too? Any books you're eagerly awaiting this year?

Have a great weekend and happy reading!

Food for Thought

I don't cook. Well, I can't cook very well, so generally, I opt out when there's an option. The husband recently changed shifts and I am now in a position where I have to cook dinner. Every night.

 

Did I mention I don't cook?

 

It's been a couple months now and pretty consistently, I've been making dinner on week nights. So far I haven't killed anyone. Great news, right? And no one's even gotten sick. Just a bonus on top of the no one dying thing. Sweet!

 

Why am I talking about this, you ask? Well, aside from my general randomness, as I was making dinner the other night I started thinking about how many books include meals. Homecooked or takeout, food's important. In one of my revision-state mss, there's a scene with some takeout, though the food isn't specifically described, one of my crit-buddies asked what was in my MC's takeout box.

 

Then I started thinking about how sometimes it is the most minor of details that I remember. It may not be completely pivotal, but how much does the "scent of those chocolate chip cookies wafting through the kitchen" ground your scene and make it just a little more real?

 

Off the top of my head, I can think clearly of at least 3 different scenes involving cooking where the scenes were vivid enough to stick in my head, despite how long ago I read the books.

• City of Bones: Isabelle's making some funky fish soup when Clary brings Simon to the Institute.
• This Lullaby: All the gourmet food is burnt on the BBQ when Remy introduces Dexter to her family.
• Wicked Lovely: Seth and Aislinn are making spaghetti during a pretty important conversation.

So what's the menu like in your projects?

 

Because, yanno, breakfast (and lunch and dinner and mid-AM/PM snacks) is/are the most important meal(s) of the day. Oh, and a character's gotta eat!

Connecting the Dots .. er, Blog Posts

Okay, I know I said I'd be better about posting, but I'm out of town with the day job (yes, again) and I just haven't had a chance to. I've tried the whole, blogging for the week over the weekend, but that doesn't work well for me because, there's usually a bunch of stuff that happens during the week that I end up wanting to talk about and then by the time the next week comes, it's old news or I've just forgotten.

Plus I've been feeling so disconnected from all of you!

Firstly, though, welcome to my new followers! Yay for new friends! Thanks to LT Elliot for the shout out and I'll be getting my thoughts posted on this soon.

And of course, thanks to all my existing followers for, you know, still following even though I've been so random and sporadic lately!

So speaking of disconnected.... I was thinking about how to stay connected to your network.

Holy, that sounds all IT-ish. It's not. I started thinking about this when over the course of the last couple months I've tweeted about specific books by a certain author whom I really like. Said author also tweets. And saw my mention and then replied to me and direct messaged me as well.

As a reader and a pretty big fan of this author, I loved that they took the time to reply to me directly. It just makes me respect this person more that they'd take time out of the day to go through and reply so specifically - it was a personal message that referenced some specific info in my tweet.

There's lots of posts out there on self-marketing and how important it is to sell yourself in trying to sell your book(s). Connecting those dots to the DM I received on Twitter, it made me feel really appreciated as a reader. I try really hard to reply to comments on my blog as I'm able. (Sometimes the darn dj makes things difficult ;D) I've been working really hard on reprioritizing so I can stay more connected - though I can be a bit sporadic. I'm trying!

So as a writer, how do you stay connected to your peeps?

P.S. In case you were wondering ... I was born the year of the monkey. =)

Empty Shelves

Firstly - Happy Birthday Elana!! Yay for birthdays! And even more yay for cake!! Hope you have a day made of awesomeness. *Hugs*

Okay, so this has been a CRAZY week around here. DJ stuff has sort of taken over my life. There were some important peeps in town and now that they've returned to their homeland I can finally breathe again.

Except now I'm so freakin' tired I'm not sure my body can take the added pressure of maintaining lung function. Between that and the planning for my last work trip of the year next week, I'm pretty much zapped.

Drained.

Simply put: exhausted!

I'm taking this weekend to do some recoup. Focusing on some editing and aiming to get in some reading. But *sigh* I actually don't have anything new to read. My to-read shelf pretty much looks like this and the book you see on there, yeah, that's not even really a book, just one of the many currently blank notebooks I keep around the house.

I've been mostly re-reading the same books over and over again the last few weeks because there just hasn't been anything recently released I've been hanging on the edge of my seat for.

I did just finish Hush, Hush, keep an eye out for my Recent Reads post on it. But other than that...

My list of BooksIHaveToGoBuyRightThisSecond is looking a bit scant. So you guys have any recommends for me to use a recently acquired giftcard on? I'm pretty open for anything YA...

The One Ring

Husband likes to tell people about our venture into the world of Tolkien via the first Lord of the Rings movie. You see, we went to see it, on opening night. This was not actually a truly planned event, I think the conversation went something like this. . .

Me: you wanna go see a movie tonight?

Him: I guess. What do you wanna watch?

Me: I don't know. I just want movie theater buttered popcorn.

Him: I want Sour Patch Kids.

Me: Okay, let's go.

Then we just picked the movie that had the next soonest starting time. Little did we know we were walking into a cult phenomenon. (At the time, neither of us had read much Tolkien and had purged all experiences from high school.)

Moving on. Can you imagine if the One Ring was actually one of these and not something cast from the depths of Mount Doom or what not?

Evil Dark Lord could’ve just passed these nifty little color coded sheets and yanno, when he was having a bad day, people could just leave him alone.

Or bring him some Super Mario cupcakes or whatever. (Super Mario would've made Middle Earth way cooler.)

I know that’s a bit random for today, but it’s Friday. And although the sun looks like it may be breaking through the clouds outside, it’s supposed to flurry all day. Then SNOW tomorrow. And be frigidly cold.

And we found a leak in our roof last night. Yeah. Sweet, I know.

Anyway, I’ve committed to turning my personal internal mood ring to be a nice shade of light blue and dang it, I’m trying.

Okay, have a great weekend everyone! Good luck to all who are Nano-ing or Reviso-ing or Delete-o-ing or maybe just Reading!

One of the Best Housecleaning Contests EVER!!!

Go check out Princess Bookie's blog HERE and you'll find one of the BEST HOUSE CLEANING CONTESTS EVER!!

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!