Books 15, 16 and 17

In the last 10 days I have read 3 more books. (Technically it was 5, but I'm lumping the 1st 3 together ;-D ) I hope I mentioned when I first started this that I have VERY eclectic tastes when it comes to reading...I will read almost anything. Well if I didn't mention it before these last 3 books should prove it! LOL

The first story I finished was the second set of books in the Spiderwick Chronicles. Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles is 3 stories set in Florida. It follows after the original series by a few years I believe. In this Series the central characters are a young boy who's father has recently remarried after being a widow for several years. Into the picture comes a new step-sister who firmly believes in fairies and wants her new brother to help her look around her new home for them. Nick (the main character) indulges his new sister never imagining what he would discover. These books are filled with Nixies, Merfolk, Giants, and Dragons. It was a wonderful read just like the original series. I think this series would be good for the over 8 crowd and anyone who enjoys the Fae world.

Ok next in line is gonna be a HUGE departure from anything else I've read this year. So be warned! LOL Next wasa book called Lethal Compound This books follows
Mack Bolan who is a fictional covert operative. This is a series that my husband has been reading since the mid 80's and I have actually read quite a few as well. It started out as merely I had NOTHING else to read, but I actually enjoy them as a change of pace. 'Mack' books are violent, graphic and filled with military phrases, weaponry and plots galore. Initially the 'Mack' series began with Mack returning home on Emergency Leave/Honorable Discharge from Vietnam to bury his Family after Mob-ties drove his father to murder his wife and sister then commit suicide. Mack goes on a one man vendetta to wipe out the Mob that was basically responsible for the deaths of his family. Throughout the years Mack ends up working for the government as a blacker than black covert operative. In recent years Mack has dealt with terrorists in every nation(including our own), cults, nuclear weapons and just about every scenario you can imagine. Lethal Compound was a bit of a departure for the norm but it was a wonderful books. Mack finds himself part of a 'security' force for an eccentric billionaire who fancies himself Indiana Jones. They head into Afghanistan searching for a secret compound rumored to have been built by Alexander the Great. If military/spy drama intrigues you (or your male counterparts) I would honestly highly recommend any of the Mack Bolan books.

Just this morning I finished book 17. And yep it's another departure from the norm for me. My sister bought The Black Dahlia a few weeks ago and couldn't put it down. She loved it. I figured what the heck I'd read it too. If you aren't familiar with the Black Dahlia case...1947 Hollywood a naked dismembered woman was discovered in a vacant lot. It became one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history. I've watched a few documentaries on the case before and thought this would be an interesting read. Unfortunately for me the Author took LOADS of creative liberty with this case. The book itself honestly became more about the fictional detective and his partners' obsession with the case and the people 'involved' in it. I can honestly say that by about mid way through the book I knew I was NOT going to like it...but I hate leaving a book unread. So I pushed on hoping that it would get better. In my opinion it didn't. While I did think the gritty 'film-noir' style writing captured the 1940's police detective era well, I just didn't like this book. For me a big part of the problem was that this was a fictionalized rendering of a factual case. the author twisted and distorted facts until honestly this really didn't resemble the original case at all. And I have issues with writers that take a TRUE story and just blow it all to hell. For instance, I didn't like the movie Perfect Storm since the entire middle of the movie was based on the authors supposition and conjecture. Same went for the ending of the recent movie Inglorious Basterds. That was just NOT how it happened. Maybe I am just too picky but I think I will stick to complete works of fiction from now on. :-(

TGIF!

Aaaaaaah nothing like the weekend! It's been a long week. Nothing major happened or anything it's just been a long week. Hubby and I were talking when he got home from work about dinner. Neither of us was hungry and therefor nothing sounded good. :-( As we were talking hubby said Ice Cream sounded really good. And that got my brain working...as a kid every now and again Mom would make what she called Backwards Suppers. Yep she'd make us dessert first!!! Sometimes it was just something as simple as a popsicle or cookie, but some times it was ice cream!!! With Backwards Supper ice cream it was often sundaes! Once I got married I started treating our kids to Backwards Suppers every now and again too. So that's what we did tonight. Banana splits with chocolate coated waffle cones, fruit or chocolate sauce, peanuts and whip cream! MMMMM what a great way to start the weekend! I've got left over roast beef and roasted chicken in the fridge for later when we get hungry!

I received this beautiful award from Kathi today! Thank you so much! She knows I am so much happier when the sun is shining!

The rules for this award are to pass it on to six bloggers. That's the hard part! How do you choose six from a list of hundreds of wonderful blogs? Eeney Meeny Miney Mo? I picked six now here you go!

Karin over at Orr Lake Musings offers some awesome Mini making tutorials, including one for Gooseberries! mmmm. =D

Gena Showalter my favorite author!

De over atDe-lightful Minis just finished a lovely rustic cabin.

Snowfern Clover makes some of the most realistic mini foods!!!

Rubber stamping and scrapbooking were some of my first forays into crafting and Jennie at The Artistic Stamper brings me back to my roots with her wonderful work.

Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls makes some of the most expressives mini-dolls I have ever scene...and she loves sharing her techniques too!

Welcome Friends!!!

Oh my goodness...I am sooooooo very sorry...it's been ages since I welcomed my new friends! So forgive me for keeping this short and sweet...but in no particular order: all my new friends! This group of great artisans includes polymer clay artists, miniature makers, Air Dry Clay artists and much more! I do hope you'll take a few minutes to check them all out!
Rosangela Brino
Arizona Kate
Muriel
Shiho
Jonna
Susan
Jean
Eva
Annina
Lize
Anna
Angeles
Fehmida
Sue
Rosie Cotton
Rubina
MiniKat

Miniature Maid, Troy Bettridge, and CassieMissy and following my blog as well but I couldn't find blogs for them! So if you folks are out there and have blogs, let me know so I can link back to you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to follow my little blog...hopefully i'll get back to claying and mini-making soon!

Polymer Clay Cane Tutorial

Wow 3 posts in one day....talk about craziness! LOL

About 2 weeks ago I made some canes for doing miniature candy. I took pics and have finally gotten around to adding them to my Flickr. If you don't work with clay and are interested in purchasing some prebaked canes or finished jars of candy just send me an email! =D

Post 2 today! ;-)

Friday it snowed all day here. Now I know many of you have been buried under snow for a while now and the last thing y'all want to read about is more snow. So I will understand if you skip over this post...I can't say I wouldn't!

laaalaaalaaala

oh wow hey you are still here, how sweet! =D
Well you see we live in Southern GA, the gulf of Mexico is only 4 hours away...and it SNOWED here ALL day Friday! They canceled school and everything. Now granted we only got about 3 inches and the roads were pretty clear, but please remember all of you scoffers out there. (I know when I lived in Ohio I would have scoffed too...3 inches is NOTHING to a Northerner) Buuuuuut down here where is hardly EVER snows 3 inches is cause for many folks to panic. Because it snows so infrequently here (like only twice in the last 8 years we have lived here) it is financially impractical for the cities or counties to own and maintain plows or salt trucks. Sooooo anyways long story short when it snows here everything Shuts down! Since it had been raining earlier in the week the ground was rather wet and we didn't get out to play until after dinner. but boy oh boy did we have a great time! The whole family went out to play. we had a grand old snowball fight! =D Sadly it was all gone by Saturday afternoon, but we had a wonderful time.

Book 13 of 100

I finished another of Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series. Book 2 in the Series is Visions of Heat is the story of Faith, an F-Psy, a Foreseer. Since she was 3 years old Faith has been foreseeing business prospects for the Psy. But now she is starting to get visions of darkness and blood. When her sister is brutally murdered Faith begins to realize that her disturbing visions are coming from her sisters killer...and he is planning another murder! As a Psy, Faith knows she shouldn't feel fear, but the darkness terrifes her and her vile visions threaten to send her spiraling into Madness,
Vaughn is a Jaguar changeling, adopted as a cub into the DarkRiver clan. Vaughn's Jaguar lies closer to the surface than any other changeling. When her comes across Faith both man and jaguar are drawn to her. For some reason, Vaughn alone can see when the 'darkness' attaches itself to Faith. Can he help bring Faith out of the PsyNet and help her stop another murder?

This was another great Singh book...I am very excited about finishing therest of the series, although it seems I will need to put the rest off for a bit as I did not buy a copy of the 3rd book!!! Grrr...So I'm gonna switch gears for a bit and read something new. ;-)

10, 11 and 12 of 100

So let's see...what have I been doing over the last week and a half...um well not much really. The weather has been crappy and that really affects my mood. It's very hard for me to get motivated to do much of anything when it is grey and rainy. So I have been doing a LOT of reading lately. I have finished 3 books in the last 9 days and am about a 1/3rd of the way through a 4th. =D Hey I just noticed that I am right on track...12 books in 6 weeks!
Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh is the first in her Psy/Changeling series. Lucas is a leopard and Alpha male of the DarkRiver Clan. He is also out for Psy blood, after a female packmate is kidnapped and heinously murdered. Sascha is a Psy hiding a deep secret, a secret that if the Council knew could get her killed. Lucas knows Sascha is his way "in"to the hive-like mind of the Psy. Both of them will discover things that will shatter the way they view themselves and those around them.

Kiss of a Demon King is by Kresley Cole...it is one of her most recent in her Immortals after Dark series. This is the first full novel I have read by Kresley and I am definitely hook. Yet another author I need to find everything I can by her!
"With one kiss, he knew she'd be his queen...
From New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole comes this spellbinding story of a demon king fighting to reclaim his crown and the wicked sorceress who dares to use his most secret desires to thwart him.
His obsession: the enchantress who surrenders her body,
but not her heart.

Her downfall: the battle-scarred demon who vows to keep her at all costs.

They were never supposed to want each other this much…"
(quote taken from Kresley's website.)
Sabine is a powerful sorceress who can weave intricate illusions with a wave of her hands...Rydstrom is the Demon King, displaced by Sabines evil half brother...and her forseen mate. They both seek the same goal for very different reasons...or do they?

Lastly is Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs. I have been a HUGE fan of Fox's Bones with Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz since it started. I have been wanting to read Kathy's books almost as long. I have been very hesitant though as many reviews I checked out said that the books are nothing like the TV series. This put me off reading the books I am SUCH a big fan of the show. But the other day I picked up Devil Bones at Wal-mart. The book is incredibly well written and rather technical, but not enough that I got lost. The reviews are correct, the books are nothing like the series. However this particular book had an interview with Kathy that kind of helped put things into perspective. One of the things I love about the series (other than Seeley Booth is Brennan's naive-ness. Her lack of people skills and well often subtlety are very endearing. The Tempe in the books is very self assured and even cracks jokes. This was just odd to me. But after reading the interview with Kathy I realized that the Book-Tempe is an older more mature version of the TV-Tempe. I can't say that I like the books as much as I like the series, but if you like murder mystery/crime dramas...Kathy Reichs books can't be beat!

Books 8 & 9 of 100

Yeppers 2 books in 2 days! My son and I went to walmart on Monday and I bought books!!!! They had several that were 2 for $10. =D I love me a bargain. I started this one Monday night while waiting for my highlights to develope. (which btw turned out ok...not quite what I was hoping for but not Oh-my-god-what-did-I-do bad either! LOL) Viking in Love was written by Sandra Hill I don't recall reading anything specifically by her before but I do love me a good viking!!! This fun story starts off with a murder! Sandra later refers to it as her Viking take on the Dixie Chicks song Goodbye Earl In attempting to escape the repercussions of what they have done Breanna and her 4 sisters set off for the home of a distant relative by marriage. Caedmon has barely just returned from service to the king to find his homestead in shambles...his sister has run off leaving his 10 (yep you read that right 10 ) children in the care of his steward. The sisters show up the day after Caedmon's return and proceed to turn his world inside out and upside down. I truly enjoyed this story...I must look for more viking stories. =D

Today was Gena Showalters' Twice as Hot, this is the sequel to her Playing with Fire In the first book Belle Jamison is an ordinary girl wishing for an extra-ordinary life. Little does she know what that 'wish' would lead too! In book too things start off happily enough but come crashing down around Belle's ears when her fiance returns home from a covert mission with no memory of HER!!!! I laughed, I cried and I swore with Belle in this book. Super hotties, super powers and super villians....grab Playing with Fire first and then be sure to grab Twice as Hot And enjoy the ride!!!!