Book Review – Through Wolf’s Eyes

Wolf - Book 1

What happens when you mix a feral potential princess brought up by wolves, and not just any wolves but Royal wolves. The difference being Royal wolves can “talk” and have their own society; an ageing king that needs an heir; and an Earl who sets out on an expedition to find the king’s banished son? Courtly intrigue at it’s best.

Firekeeper is a two legged wolf. She is not as fast or strong as her kindred, but she can do something that no other wolf can do, produce fire. When word comes of other two legs in their forest Firekeeper’s world changes forever, she must learn to live like a human surrounded by people with their own agenda. She is accompanied into the human lands by her friend Blind Seer and the Royal Falcon Elation. Firekeeper’s only human friend is Derian the youngest member of the Earl Kestrel’s party that found her. It is his job to try and teach her to be human.

What I really liked about the story is that even though Firekeeper is way out of her element she is never mistaken as weak. Whenever a snide remark is made on the way she eats or dresses she does better than brush it off, it is of no consequence what so ever. You can’t help but cheer her on, it reminds you of every awkward situation you have ever been in and wished you handled better. That’s not to say there are not problems. Firekeeper has trouble making friends because everyone sees her as a rival to the throne.

This is more than a coming of age story, and it is far better than the usual people talking to animal stories. There are political shenanigans, friendships, betrayals, kidnapping, battles, evil magic and just a hint of love.

I can’t wait for the next two books. This was one of the series where I couldn’t find the 1st book but I had the next two. Now if I could just find book 2.

DIE

I am taking a page from TK’s book.
Uncooked Meat: I hope this letter finds you well out of harm's way

Dear See’s Sweepers truck,
Dude the road is wet, it is not snow covered, and it is not black ice. It is 6:51am and I am 15 minutes late. Going 30 miles an hour when the speed limit is…35 or 40 is just wrong. I will rear end you if you hit your breaks again when a car comes the other way.

Dear New England weather,
What is this drizzley shit? Just enough falls on the windshield to cause a giant smudge of grayish brown. Windshield wipers? You can be replaced, get that crap out of my line of sight now.

To my beloved Boy toy
You caught the stomach bug that Spotty and I have had. You were hurling every 45 friggen minutes last night. It sucks, get better soon.

Dear Spotty Chop, my son, the love of my life
If you fucking EVER hide on mama again when we are shopping so help me GOD I will not be held accountable for my actions. I understand at 2 ½ you like to hide, but when mama is calling you frantically with tears streaming down her face because she thinks some fuckwad has taken you and finally has some little 80 year old grandmother like woman with an accent I couldn’t place, but said “HERE” in a voice that was used to dealing with her own hysterical tribe of girls “don’t you raise your eyebrow to me young lady”. And honestly what the fuck is up with the rest of you shoppers at the Natick lateeda mall? Are you too good to stop looking for a deal that you can’t at least pretend to look? FUCK YOU BYOTCHES.

Dear commuter line,
What is up with the trains that have water dripping in the windows? Why is this happening? If I wanted to be wet I would ride my bike. Fix this shit now. Just because you have been “on time” twice this week doesn’t mean shit.

Dear rancid pieces of crap that keep calling my house thinking its Wal-Mart,
I know our number is just like theirs, I don’t mind that you get the number wrong, it happens, but could you perhaps figure it out after the 3rd call? 5 or 6 times is a bit much don’t you think? If an answering machine says “we can’t take your call right now” you can pretty much be guaranteed that it is not a major outlet.

Dear Asshat of an ATT sales rep that gave us the number in the first place
I always think of you during the holidays. Satan called, your rooms ready.

Dear anyone shopping who is in a parking garage
GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY. Stop holding up the line of traffic because you think you see someone walking to their car. There is room on the roof. Besides they are just dropping off packages, that is a prime spot, they aint going anywhere.

Dear Stomach virus that currently has taken up residence,
You have overstayed your welcome, it is time for you to find someone new, it’s not you it’s me. I appreciate that you have moved on to boy toy, but you can’t have us both, please pack your bags and go.

Kick Ass Weekend...or not

We went out and cut down a Christmas tree this weekend. What a blast. We found a place close by (20 min). When I called and asked if they had any trees left I was told “yup, but it’s snowy, so don’t be wearing your high heels…or sneakers.” I said I would do my best, apparently my phone voice screams “have no clue”, and went and got the boys ready for outdoor fun. Damn getting a 2 year old ready to play outdoors is a pain in the ass, but he sure is cute!

The GPS brought us to the farm by back roads, which was nice because we were able to avoid all of the Wrentham outlet traffic. There was parking on the street and a small area to go when you were picking up your tree, there were only 5 or 6 other cars there, not crowded at all. We got our saw and our sled (with 4 big tires) and headed out. Spotty had a blast being pulled on the sled. He loved laying down and watching the ground go by. At first we were disappointed, the trees were so small, I told boy toy we didn’t always have to have the biggest tree in the neighborhood, and it would be ok. But as we continued on down the path (and a HUGE hill) we came to the section of the farm that was made for people like us. Big ASS trees.

Spotty felt that the snow was too deep and wanted to carry me, so boy toy walked around to find the perfect tree. After he cut it down (and I took a zillion pictures) he remembered that he would have to be pulling the monster up the hill again. Spotty decided he wanted to ride on top of the tree which was cute as hell, until he slid off, and then he needed to carry me. After boy toy got to the top of the hill and he rested for a moment he went to get the car. Apparently not everyone realized that the small parking lot (large enough for 2 cars) was for loading trees. I did not slap anyone silly as Santa is watching, but I did think it. He pulled behind the “offenders” with the ass end of the Jeep in the road, I helped roll the tree up the Jeep and onto the roof, it was heavy as hell. There was a father there with his two young sons, I suggested to boy toy that he offer to help, so I pulled my car out of the way and back onto the road so he could pull up. Boy toy did his good deed for the day and said that even though there tree was a lot shorter, it was just as heavy as ours.

Spotty fell asleep on the way home, and after we undressed him and put him in our bed to finish his nap boy toy suggested that I get some “snuggle” time in. And I did, and it was good.
Then came…the NIGHT TERRORS, I hate this crap, it’s only his 2nd one, but I do not like it one bit. I hate how he is screaming for me like he can’t find me while I am holding him. So I am sitting on our bed with my back to the wall trying to wake Spotty up. Boy toy jumps on the bed (did I mention we have a waterbed?) And yes ladies and gents I go flying over the edge. The space between the bed and wall is just big enough to allow me to have my legs stuck onto the bed and narrowly miss hitting my head so hard that I pass out. I have blood all over me because I have somehow scraped all the skin off of my left elbow. Boy toy says “where the hell did you go?” Did I mention it was pitch black in the bedroom. I can’t get up, I hurt both my wrists, he starts to laugh, I am crying because my baby is freaking out, but laughing because…well I just got flung off my bed, this is a first. Boy toy finally stops laughing long enough (I can not believe I am so fat that I just made you fall out of bed), to pick me up. I pick up Spotty and carry him outside to look for the moon. That seems to snap him out of the nightmare/whatever is going on. I put him back in our bed and run to the bathroom. Spotty comes looking for me and proceeds to toss his cookies all over the hall. He does not like this. There are yuckies in his mouth. We get him some water to rinse out his mouth and after boy toy cleans up we climb back into bed; where an hour later we have a replay of tossed cookies. So boy toy comforts Spotty and I change our sheets. Did I mention that all of our Xmas decorations are in front of the linen closet? Hit repeat a few more times. Boy toy finally went to bed in Spotty’s room. Spotty and I slept in sleeping bags, luckily we have a lot of sleeping bags. I worked from home on Monday. We watched some TV and videos. He’s at my mom’s now. The Needham trains were cancelled, and driving in there were accidents up the wazoo. I am ready for bed.

First Snowstorm of the Year!

Thursday we had a snowstorm and it was a good one. It took boy toy over 2 hours to get home. I luckily was working from home so Spotty and I didn’t have to go anywhere. But he did want to go outside and play in the snow. So I put on all of our “cold weather gear”, and we went out into the winter wonderland.

Spotty loved playing with his dump trucks in the snow; he made crazy patterns in the front lawn. I shoveled. Boy toy had a truck with a plow for at least 5 years; this is the first year without it. Thank God the snow was so light and fluffy. Once I finished shoveling I decided to grab the sled and asked Spotty if he wanted a ride. We had such a BLAST. He was grabbing snow and eating it. He would lean over and put his face in the snow. Sometimes he would walk with me and help me pull the sled. Kids are so Frelling cute when they walk in the snow. We had plow trucks beeping at us to say hi. Every car that drove by us had someone smiling and waving. Spotty did have enough on our way home. The snow was getting too cold and he wanted to “carry me”. I tried to run home pulling the sled. DAMN am I out of shape. We finally did get home. Took everything wet off and snuggled on the couch under my color blanket. I think this winter is going to be fun!

Random crap

Spotty Chop and I made a fort for the first time last weekend. He calls it his “hiding place”. Who knew a couple of sheets, chairs and a couch could be so fun. We spent a lot of time watching TV, reading, hiding from the monsters in the closet and singing to the cars and the houses (stocking hangers). While I was shopping for presents I saw a “fort sheet”, it was a nylon tarp like thing that had Velcro or elastic loops on the corners and sides that made it perfect for making forts, it can attach to chairs, trees, fences etc. I did not pick one up they were about $60.00 or so, I thought 1) he isn’t really into forts and 2) real moms use sheets, pillows etc. F that crap, I wish to Christ I could remember where that damn thing is. I would buy it in a heartbeat! Forts are hard, when he is 6 maybe he won’t care about the ceiling touching his head, at 2 ½ he doesn’t like it.

When he woke up boy toy by tickling him this morning when boy toy reciprocated Spotty told him to “Stop, I am looking at the clouds” and proceeded to lie on his back and stare at our ceiling. He has also told me on numerous occasions, “mama, no fussin”. I love to hear him speak, the way he puts words together, the way his mind works. He is just so much fun to be around. I wish I could express myself better because he is so amazing and fun that it just blows my mind. Spotty is generally a miserable SOB to wake up…I wonder where he gets that from (BOY TOY). I am finding that if I lay down next to him and gently kiss him on the back and belly he wakes up in a good mood…unless it pisses him off and he round kicks me in the head.

We also went to Moo and Freak Show’s house, it was Freaks birthday and Spotty helped put the candles on the cake. He was very pleased with how the cake came out and it was the BEST cake he ever had. He sang happy birthday and helped open presents, and ate more cake. I think it is the most cake he has eaten in his life. The only way he could have consumed more chocolate would be to drink a gallon of melted chocolate.

Boy toy just asked if our water seemed hotter because I have been complaining that the hot water just doesn’t seem to last. Apparently “someone” turned the water temperature down. I don’t even know how to do that. God I love that kid.

No good deed goes unpunished Pt 2.

So this morning in the NE we had a delightful ice storm, which apparently covers everything in ice. Boy toy went out in his long undies to start his truck around 6:10am, he was running late. Did he start my jeep? Alas he did not, it is morning time, and he just doesn’t do well. As he runs around the house I toss his lunch together and helpfully tell him “you forgot to make coffee”, his response is less than cheerful. At 6:15am I go out to start my car, I run out in just a sweater as I will only be out for a second. I turn the car on and notice that his windows are still icy. I take out my handy dandy ice scraper and start scraping, I do wonder if I should run in for a coat, but as the ice is coming off of the driver side fairly easily I think I can wrap this up in another minute or two.

As I go around the back of the truck my feet notice that there is something shiny towards the street and they should go hither at once. The rest of my body would like to continue around the truck, except for my right elbow that would prefer to stay with my car. Apparently my dance of doom was so stupendous that someone driving by stopped, got out of his truck, and said “DAMN, are you OK? Do you need help? And as he took a step towards me, “SHIT”, I let the good Samaritan know I would survive and he said “thank fucking god”. I held on to the truck for dear life and shuffled my way to the other side, tearing skin off my hands as they stuck to the frozen metal. I cleaned those Frelling windows, I am woman hear me whimper.

Now my neck is stiff, my lower right ribs throb, my left butt cheek feels like I really shouldn’t be sitting on it, my back on the right side where my waist (or what used to be a waist) feels the way it does before it seizes, right above my right elbow is numb, my left arm feels like a donkey kicked it (just started as I was typing this) and my left hand feels like someone used it as a ball in one of those games…football I think it is, field kick? Punt? Whatever. Did I forget my ice scraper in the house? Yes. Will it be a nightmare when I finally get back to the car? Hell Yes….unless I can find the mother of all inventions….the wooden ruler, with metal edge. We New Englanders are tough, we make do and I can not tell you how many times that trusty ruler has saved me. Go hug your ruler, let them know they are loved.

Book Review - Queen of the Darkness

The Black Jewels Trilogy Book 3
Dorothea is up to her old tricks, blaming the High Lord for all her cruelties, and like sheep most people, including Jaenelle’s parents are ready to believe the worst of him. Meanwhile Lucivar is desperately looking for his brother Daemon on the “lists”. There are so many people fleeing from Tereille trying to find work and home in Kaeleer, that they hold fairs to accommodate them all. At the last second Lucivar finds Daemon, who as we all k now has just come back from the Twisted Kingdom. You may be surprised to know this but “someone” is trying to keep Daemon from Jaenelle.

Jaenelle is just a shadow of herself with not even a glimmer of the awesome power that she had at her hands and once she and Daemon come to terms with each other. We have new and old witches trying to kill and discredit them.

Have I mentioned the Wolves, Tigers and other friendly jewel wearing animals that love Jaenelle and her posse? Nothing like a pissed off Tiger or Wolf to add to the chaos of Dorothea and Hekatah.

Add to this a taint that our 2 favorite byotches manage to stir up due to Briawood that is gearing up to destroy the Blood completely and you have a “strap yourself in” end of a series.

God Damit I am going to miss all of these guys.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Annie over at one thing I hate about today was talking about clutter, more specifically the clutter than comes about when you have the pitter patter of little feet in the home. This is something that is so a part of my life that I am paralyzed at times. I have no idea where to begin cleaning/sorting/tossing crap. I wish I could blame it all on Spotty Chop, but he has only enhanced the clutter. Boy toy and I have always been lazy, and I am a pack rat of the first order, and as we have been together for 20 some odd years that adds up to a lot of crap. Boy toy is also not as…enthusiastic about home cleaning as he could be. So at times to show him, I do not declutter the way I should, and as boy toy could care less, then I care even lesser than his less and down that slippery slope lies madness. Now add a 2.75 year old who loves cars and trucks and has learned from his parents that clutter is the norm. CHAOS (feel free to pronounce it rhyming with floss). Add to this the holiday’s and where the Frell are we going to put the tree and more toys and more stuff and and and.

I need to go lie down

Interesting Websites

Some interesting websites I found at Pop Culture Junk Mail

The Future – pre 1980

What if my life took another path

Dew the Tree O Tannenbaum

Blog readability I am not sure if I should be embarrassed that you only need to be in High School for mine…

Find your Christmas Elf Name
(Snappy Floppyfeet if anyone is wondering)

Book Review – Book of the Dead

Damn you Pendergast

Do you want to know what sucks? Coming into a series at the mid/end point. Now with rational genres (SciFi/Fantasy) they generally tell you that this is Book 1, Book 10, Book 24...With mystery/cop drama? Not so much. That really sucks. I NEVER read a book 2 before a book 1, what is the Fin point? (Yes Freak Show I am totally speaking to you). Don’t all fall off your chairs, I do read things other than SciFi/Fantasy, just not often.

On with the book. We have FBI agent Pendergast that is locked up in a maximum security prison for apparently killing a few of his friends (in a previous book). Pendergast’s deranged and psychotic brother Diogenes who framed him (again in a previous book). A whole traumatizing relationship between the two (played out apparently in several books). A group of friends, acquaintances and wards who are planning Pendergast’s escape. And there is something totally wacked out with the ward.

We also have major museum drama. There has been a diamond heist (in a previous book) there is an Anthrax scare, we have a cover up and the discovery of a lost exhibit that may save the museum from financial disaster.

How does this all fit? Damned if I know…only kidding, this was a great read even if I didn’t understand everything so now? I will have to read it from the beginning to see how all of these players came to be. I HATE THAT…then again, by the time I finish finding and reading all the previous books I will be ready to re-read this one.

Tuesday with Spotty Chop

My parent’s are off in Florida, my SIL works Tues and Thurs. I had no one to watch my little bundle of joy; I was forced to take the day off. It was a sacrifice, but I think I handled it well. We slept until 8:00AM. Colored, played cars and trucks, apparently went outside while I was in the bathroom to get pieces of boy toy’s motorcycle, and then got dressed so we could go to the Discovery Museum in Acton.

I really like this place. It’s in a Victorian home with 10 or so different rooms that each have a theme. Trains, balls and motion, water tables, sea creatures, senses, safari, fort, kitchen/restaurant and the attic is boats and the water. I have read reviews of the place that complain about it being small and crowded during holidays and weekends and I just have to say…”DUH”, any place that caters to young children is going to be crazy during those times. I try to avoid going anywhere I think other people will be if possible. As for being small, I would describe it as cozy and quaint. I don’t know if anyone remembers the Boston’s Children’s Museum of long ago. I just have vague memories of it, but the way my parents describe it sounds similar to the Discovery. Spotty and I had a great time, there were kids there, but not so many that you were unable to do what you wanted.

Spotty made a friend up in the ship area, a lovely young lady of 4 years whom Spotty decided to call Lilly, not her name, but she didn’t seem to mind. They spent a good hour or two being pirates, lobstermen, dolphin/shark friends, crazy cooks and other assorted games. Spotty usually lets older women have there way with him, but this seemed to be a very equal partnership, both taking turns to be leader and follower. When “Lilly” had to leave Spotty was off for more adventuring. The set up is nice and circular so that you can go through the rooms easily and quickly (or not) depending on your mood. We stopped off at Old McDonalds (what Spotty calls Micky D’s) and had a chocolate (vanilla shake) and some fries.

If you live nearby, or have an unexpected day off I highly recommend it. There is also a science museum that we have been to, but it is geared towards older kids or at least older than a 2 year old. We had fun, but I didn’t bother going this time, in another year or two it will be perfect.

Book Review : Heir to the Shadows

The Black Jewels Trilogy Book 2

Saetan requests guardianship of Jaenelle and when the vote doesn’t go his way starts killing until it does. His ex wife is looking for the little witch so she can control her and he tells her she is running with the lost children. In truth Jaenelle was so traumatized that she has been in the abyss for 2 years. What brings her back out is when she threatens Char and attacks Saetan. So Jaenelle is back, badder than ever a bit crazy.

What I like about this series is that bad and stupid people get what’s coming to them. You want details? Read the books.

Surreal finds Daemon or rather he finds her, unfortunately he is stuck in the Twisted Kingdom (crazy as…well anything) because not only does he think he killed Jaenelle, but when he tries to rescue Lucivar his brother blames him for Jaenelle’s death too.

Folks seem to underestimate Jaenelle and who or what she is. When Saetan gets accused of “taking advantage” of her by the counsel and they determine that she is better off under someone else’s care she agrees and tells them when the “sun next rises you can appoint a new guardian”. You don’t want to mess with an angry witch.

We also get to meet a bunch of Jaenelle’s friends who are as crazy or cranky depending on if you are with them or against them.

The mind of a 2 year old

Spotty Chop’s brain had been doing incredible things lately. We have spent a lot of time playing “Super Space Boy to the Rescue”. One of us puts on the space helmet (a combat helmet) and holds the flashlight, directs the sidekick while the 3rd party gets “trapped”…in the bed, bathroom etc. The rescuers come flying in and save the troubled unfortunate. We literally spend hours playing this.

He reads to himself now. I don’t think I have ever heard anything as funny as his renditions of Hop on Pop. “NO Pat, no sit on dat. STOP! You must hop. No hop pop. Say say today. He mispronounces a few words consistently. Vacation is cation and machine is bachine. I was worried for seconds that he might have a speech problem, but he asks me to read Carl’s Masquerade, so I think he should be ok. He has also started reading to me. I can’t believe the memory on this kid. The details he remembers or thinks is important is amazing.

Spotty woke up last night around 2:30am needing chocolate milk. Lucky for him, I couldn’t fall asleep. I told him to stay in bed and I would get it for him, but he got upset and told me he had to get the chocolate syrup for me. During the day I always ask for his help, his job is to get the syrup. Apparently this has turned into mama is incapable of finding the chocolate syrup and he will get plain old milk or perhaps nothing if he is not there to direct me, how do I know this? He was practically crying because I did not grab the syrup fast enough and as soon as I took it he ran back to bed. Our bed to be exact, where this 31 lb child managed to take up 3/4ths of a queen sized water bed. I went to sleep in his room in the toddler race car bed…with crib mattress. He was ready to go again this morning around 6:30. God help me.

Book Review - Daughter of the Blood

The Black Jewels Trilogy Book 1
This is a great book and turns the typical “slave finds a protector to love and be protected” on its head. It is definitely a refreshing change to have the men be the pleasure slaves for once. This is definitely not a book for younger readers. Lots of mature themes and violence. As you may have guessed from other reviews I am all about the violence, but when they are castrating a man and it goes into details, well I just feel that might not necessarily need to read about it just yet. Don’t let that stop you from reading though.

The cast of characters is complex and compelling. Saetan is the Lord of Hell a man not to be toyed with. Lucivar is a winged warrior who lives on the sufferance of his cousins good behavior. Daemon is also a “ringed” male sent to different queens and courts to humiliate and attempt to control him. All 3 have been waiting for Witch. A queen they could serve with pride and love. For something has happened to the queens and priestesses. Corruption and lethargy now rule the lands.

Enter in Jaenelle a 12 year old girl whose family has been sending her in and out of an institution “Briarwood” for emotionally distraught girls since she was 5. What not many know is that Briarwood is actually used as a pleasure house for many rich and powerful men that understand that if they get a young witch early enough they can break her so that she never becomes powerful and therefore unable to rule.

Father, Brother and Lover must learn to trust themselves and each other if there is any hope of saving the dream made flesh
Thank god I have book 2 and 3…and I know where they are

PS

Does anyone igoogle out there? the Solar system theme photo today totally kicks ASS. I'm just saying

Crash and Burn

I feel as if I am on a downward spiral to…DOOM, death, despair, apocalyptic horror. I’ve been in a funk, rut, car with no breaks heading over a cliff. I am just not in a good place right now and haven’t been in awhile.

Part of it is work. I really try to avoid talking about work on this blog because I have heard of the horror that can come from it, of course that is if you are one of the big names and folks follow your writing, but still it pays to be not stupid. Anyhoo, there was a reorg, and my place as a golden go to girl has plummeted to that of the piece of schmegma that you scrape off your shoe. So needless to say I’ve been a bit apathetic at work? Granted I am doing my job, but you know how there is always stuff that isn’t a priority, but should get done, eventually… so just not with the enthusiasm of old. I am certainly not offering to do extra. Work stays at work. When I take a day off, I take the day off and the crackberry can go to hell. There is in fact so much petty bullshit going on that it makes my head want to explode and I am afraid that if I start talking about it I will not be able to stop and this blog will turn into one giant festering pustule.

Then there is the house redo. Our house was sided with pressed paper; there is a name for this type of siding, myter board? You may not know this, but when paper gets wet, it sometimes disintegrates. We have been putting off doing anything with the wisdom of the folks that first invented this craptastic product. However it got to the point that even I was saying, FUCK we need to do something. So we had folks in to do an estimate. Since the house was in such a great state, they said they would unfortunately have to tear everything off and redo it all. On the plus side, the siding I wanted Hardy plank, a cement type of siding that looks like wood and is guaranteed for 50 years, was now only $2500 bucks more than traditional vinyl siding. The down side? Having to totally strip and redo everything was about $10,000 more than we were hoping. But what can you do? The house kind of needs to be standing to live in it. The plus side? Since we are talking a buttload of money, we may as well get a new front door and a new slider out back, and gutters, and shutters. The down side? We are spending enough money that adding these other items only added about 40 bucks to the monthly payment. BLOW ME. My parents and I got into a fight over the siding because when I was talking about colors the color blue came up as a possibility, not a true blue, what I was looking for was something between a light gray and a very dark gray. We have a ranch house; dark colors would make it look smaller than it already is. I wanted a medium gray, but they didn’t have one. They did have a blue that was grayish. My parents FREAKED out, blue is such a bad choice, you have to think retail value, very few people buy blue houses, you have to do something neutral. My dad called a few days later, he had done research, the top selling colors for homes were white (our original house color that I hate, a ranch house is so uninspiring as it is, I think you need a bit of color to define it even slightly.) They just want to help keep us from making a mistake…My mom called a few days later; I talked to our friend the realtor. He feels that painting the house blue is a BIG mistake etc. etc. I stopped listening, she got pissy “I guess our advice isn’t welcome, I have to go.” Christ on a cracker! We ended up doing a light gray with white trim and midnight blue shutters. If it ever stops raining during the weekend we will paint the front door midnight bluish as well. Have I told my parent’s? HELL NO, I haven’t even told them we moved forward with the project. I figure they will be out to the house in March for Spotty’s birthday, they can see it then. Passive aggressive much?

And speaking of Spotty, so as I am writing about my gloom and doom (boy toy and I are constantly at each other too right now. We have cycles, it happens, at least to us, and now is not the best time it seems) the way I handle stress is I read, a lot; constantly in fact. So when I should be doing other things (umm hello bills, what? You haven’t been taken care of in two months? Crap, I will get to you once I finish this chapter). I am in fact 5 or 6 books behind in my reviews, that’s right I have 5 or 6 books that I still need to review good friggen god. So back to Spotty. I feel like I am neglecting him somewhat because all I want to do is read to take my mind off of everything. Which means the housework has gone to shit. Not to mention that The Bride borrowed my vacuum cleaner, yes back in October. So the house hasn’t been vacuumed in forever and a day. There is crap everywhere (no, not real crap, just stuff). So the house is in complete disarray. We needed to do yard work last Sunday as we have not closed our pool yet. So boy toy ran out to get gas for the lawn mower so he could blow all the leaves. He is gone for a fuck long time (we can walk to the friggen gas station). He pulls up into the driveway with crap falling out of the truck. He happened to drive behind a bunch of stores and they happened to have just thrown out a bunch of Halloween costumes. So now we also have bags and bags of costumes everywhere as we try to sort crap out. Which is great because I have been telling boy toy how I want to get a bunch of stuff so Spotty can do dress up. When I was growing up my parents had a huge box and it was filled with stuff like my dad’s army jacket and helmet, my mom’s nursing uniform, all sorts of 60’s shenanigans. We have tons of great photos of the neighborhood kids over playing dress up. I want that for Spotty. And now I will be able to, which is great.

But I try and do something like a load of laundry or dishes and he wants to play. I know if I don’t do the dishes or the laundry it is just NOT GOING TO GET DONE. So I have to tell him I will play in awhile. And we do play. We play geotrax and monster trucks, he likes to take his monster truck and smash into mine. I make mine drive away screaming and he drives behind me saying “I didn’t mean to scare you” and then he crashes into me again, and again and again. Until one of the monster trucks says “want to come over to my house for milk and cookies?” (Where the hell did he come up with this?) We are also doing a bunch of finger painting. I guess I feel bad that when he is watching his little foot videos (dinosaur series) I am reading. And I do try to get out of playing sometimes so I can read, but I know how bad it is to just have him sitting in front of the TV.

Now onto my final bit of gloom. SIL is going to work full time in January. I am really upset about this. Mostly because I have been able to trick myself into thinking that I am not really such a bad mom because I have family watching him. Realistically we could not survive on boy toys salary. I am a big enough bitch that I have refused his ideas of him staying home with the boy. If I can’t stay home with him, which is what I want to do more than life itself, there is NO Fen way in HELL I am going to let boy toy do it. FUCK THAT SHIT. So I have been looking at day care, which is FUCKING expensive. How the FUCK does anyone pay for this shit? I have been more and more depressed on how we are going to be able to swing this. Tim’s mom works in a day care which is actually my first choice because again, that family thing. But my mom and dad also live in the town; which is a great back up. I have been dreading the cost. Places I have been looking at have been between $1600 and $1300 a month. I went to talk to them yesterday and because Gramie A has worked for them for longer than the boy toy and I have been together, we are getting the teacher discount. This turns out to be about as much as we were paying SIL. WOO WOO for us!!! Now I just need to get over the fact that my baby will be going to day care. On the plus side, he gets away from the terminator. On the negative side, he is going to day care. I have been stealing boy toy’s meds because even as I type this I am crying. I think I hear my book calling.

Book Review – The Pillars of Creation

Sword of Truth Book 7

What an interesting read and my slapping tendencies were at an all time low. We are introduced to Jennsen, Darken Rahl’s bastard daughter. She has just watched a Quad kill her mom because the Rahl’s have been hunting Jennsen her whole life. She is saved by Sebastian, a man working for Jagang the Just. Jennsen is also haunted by a voice that speaks only to her in her mind who constantly demands that she surrender. Jennsen and Sebastian start an adventure that will take them throughout the midlands, old world and beyond to try and kill the man responsible for all of Jennsen’s problems Richard Rahl.

We also meet Oba another of Darken Rahl’s bastard kids. Is it just me or does it seem like Richard is the only boy child that isn’t a whacked out murderer? Oba has delusions or grandeur that has to be read to be believed.

Jennsen and Oba are holes in the world, magic can not find them, they have no magic and magic has no effect on them; although they both have some of that special Rahl personality. We meet up with a new (or not so new) cast of characters including Tom, a bumbling wine seller. Nyda – have I ever told you how much I love the Mord-Sith? I hope we hear from her again. Lethea and Althea, sorceress sisters. We also find out where Nathan has been, don’t hear from him a lot and I hope he is back in the next book.

Finally a Sword book I haven’t read before, there were moments that I was expecting I would be disappointed, but that never paned out. I actually enjoy when a long series branches out a bit.

Now I am really looking forward to Book 8 (that I have)

Good God not in my Town

Last Friday on the train home (or at least to go pick up Spotty) everyone asked me “did you hear about Needham?” I of course did not hear about Needham. Apparently a man was murdered and the town was in lock down at a local pizza place. All the schools and businesses were locked tight. Boy toy called me as I was on the train and explained. There was a robbery at the pizza place and at the same time, a murder also took place. Everyone thought at first that the murderer was at the pizza place. But it was in fact a totally unrelated incident. The murderer was caught in the woods behind SIL’s house. Yes Spotty chop was there, but everyone is fine no worse for wear. Kind of crazy, this crap just doesn’t happen in Needham.

Happy Halloween!

Is there anything worse than being stuck in a meeting at 4:00pm on Halloween? I didn’t think so. Spotty went to his cousin’s school because SIL was called in for emergency help. I was a wreck, but he had a great time. He even got a treat bag. When we got home we had a quick dinner. Every time I went to put Spotty in his costume someone would ring the door bell and he would want to go hand out candy. We finally got a break in the action, tossed the costume on and off we went. Boy toy stayed home to hand out candy. We did bags this year filled with Halloween parachute creatures or for the 3 and under crowd, fruit chews and play dough. Spotty had a blast trick or treating. He was so excited. Everyone loved him, he was a scarecrow. A lot of folks thought he was a girl…and I kept telling them that he is pretty enough to be one. Boy toy feels it’s because I let his hair grow too long. I can’t help it, I think it’s cute. I mean we are not talking a page boy or anything; it’s just over his ears is all. We were out for about an hour. His bucket was heavy, too heavy, and people just kept giving him more. Spotty was ready to go all night, but I decided that there is really just so much candy that I can eat. So we headed home. We didn’t get a lot of people at the house. It may have been because we have a giant dumpster in our driveway and our cars are parked on the sidewalk in front of our house, who knows. Better luck next year.

Book Review – The High Lord

Black Magician Trilogy Book Three

The story starts off with the city in turmoil due to a serial killer that has been killing with what looks like black magic. We meet up again with Cery, who we find out is doing quite well for himself. He is working for someone to try and find the killer, what the rest of the city doesn’t know is that it isn’t just one killer there are multiple killers. Cery gets help from a surprising source a Sachakan named Savara who seems to be opening all sorts of possibilities for him.

The High Lord Akkarin finally tells Sonea why he is practicing black magic. Not what I expected. I will admit I was hoping he wasn’t the evil scum lord Vader like personage that he seemed to be. Sonea not only agrees to help Akkarin but decides to learn black magic herself. While Akkarin and Sonea are busy trying to save the Guild the Sachakan’s are busy too, killing everyone they can and pointing it to Akkarin. They capture Akkarin who explains what has been going on, but the Guild does not totally believe him. Sonea refuses to let him be exiled to Sachakan by himself believing he will be killed and he is the only wizard who can save them.

Let’s not forget Dannyl, who was hoping that the High Lord would be able to explain that he was able to infiltrate the rebels by “pretending” that he and Tayend were more than friends. Or Rothen who is sent to Sachakan to spy on them.

How does it end? Again, not how I would have expected. But good. Perhaps there is another trilogy somewhere here?

No good deed goes unpunished

So last Monday we went back to Coco Key. Moo and Cheese Please were joined by Hippy Chick and Freak Show. I decided to grab Duncan Donuts for the guys working on the house because Monday was bitterly cold. Spotty was his usual charming self, flirting with everyone. I went back to the house dropped off the coffee and donuts and then headed for the highway. Pulled onto the onramp and looked over at the passenger seat and noticed that my pocketbook was not there. “FUCK FUCK FUCK” I said, Spotty said “mama what wrong? Why fuck fuck fuck?” The boy has lived with us for almost three years and this is the first time he has ever said the word. I explained that mommy was upset and was saying bad words. I pull off at the next exit and look in the front of the car for my bag. Can’t find it. Drive back to D&D to ask if they have seen it. Nope. Drive back to the house to see if I brought it to the house. Nope. I grab my $100 emergency money, because by god I am taking the boy swimming (he was so excited when I told him where we were going). I run up to the police station to see if anyone dropped it off, I was thinking that I may have left it on the hood of my car and driven off like that. Spotty was excited to see the police officers “they keep us safe”. When I went into the back seat and was taking Spotty out of his car seat…guess what I found…we went in to say hi to the police officers anyways.

So and hour later than I wanted to be (and hour and a half if anyone was counting) we were on the road. We ended up right behind Moo and company as we pulled in. No discounts were given this time, and apparently there were birthday parties going on. WTF? Don’t people have work and school to go to? There were about 20 people in the place, which was 20 people to many. Spotty ran right into the kiddy pool and had a great time. Cheese and Freak went on a bunch of the small slides. We all had fun on the river. Moo then watched Spotty so that Freak and I could go down the big slides. I told him that you had to scream the whole way down, and by god he did. We had a blast. The activity pool was open and Spotty and I played on the giant snake and played leap frog on the lily pads.

We went out to the hot tub, me dragging Hippy along as it was cold, I had forgotten that the seat part of the tub was a lot lower than expected. Moo fell last time, I fell this time, with Spotty in my arms. I managed to keep him from going under or hitting anything, but I landed hard and still have, a week later, a bruise larger than my outstretched hand. It no longer hurts to sit which is nice.

Spotty was trying new skills in the kiddy pool. One of the slides has a decent current and he was pushing against it. At one point he went under. I thought “he will pop back up…he should be popping up any second…where the fuck is he?” I grabbed him and held him close. I know it only lasted a second or two, but Christ on a Cracker, that was the scariest thing that has happened so far. It seemed like it was hours that he was down there.

After all of the trauma we decided that we needed food…and the food shack was closed. Freak and I spoke with the management to express our displeasure. They offered us take out menus and said they were sorry. So I keep taking the towels they provide. Anytime one got damp, I made sure we all had new towels. I must have traded in 100. We got way too much food (who knew that the fried dough would be the size of a small pizza).

Spotty and I left around 3:30. Trying to get him dressed and myself dressed before he can run out to the lobby is still a challenge. On the way home there was an accident and I was stuck in traffic, right before rush hour.

Book Review - Faith of the Fallen

Sword of Truth Book 6 C
hrist on a cracker, I read this bastard before. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just…I was looking forward to something I hadn’t read before. Although…I’ve only read it once and really don’t remember what is going on or going to happen so that is pretty cool.

Kahlan, Richard and Cara are off to give the mother confessor a place to heal. Conflict and strife, minor…at first. Sister Nicci shows up and she is the bad ass of bad asses. We learn her story and come to realize that it is always the mothers fault. Damn crazy byotches. Although Nicci brings crazy to a whole new level She captures Richard and makes him trot at her heals as her husband to learn “something” before she kills him. You may be shocked to learn that I want to slap the shit out of her too. She is wacked.

Kahlan on the other hand I LOVE. I like her best when she is taking no prisoners. When she is a battle leader, or just kicking ass and taking names, she shines like the superstar she is. There are a couple of quotes that just made the book for me. One is when Kahlan first reaches the army after Richard has been taken. Zedd asks if she has a plan to get Richard back.
“It’s simple. I plan on killing every Imperial Order man, woman and child until I get to the very last one left alive, and then if she doesn’t give him back, I’m going to kill her too.”
The other is what General Baldwin the commander of the Keltish forces says when Kahlan asks,
How many men did you bring?
Baldwin replies
Why…all of them. One hundred seventy thousand men. When my queen asks for an army, I bring her one.

Richard is in the old world working on a palace for Jagang who has decided that to be taken seriously he needs to have more toys than anyone else. I enjoy how Richard’s richardness shines through no matter what Nicci throws at him. I got distracted by wanted to slap the shit out of everyone in the old world, especially those in Altur’Rang. I don’t think I am cut out to be a sheep. Richard is able to fall in pretty much anything and come out smelling like roses. He makes nare do wells better citizens, helps drive a faltering economy and turns into a craftsman of unsurpassed skill…oh he starts a revolution too.

A 2 1/2 year olds first concert

We took Spotty Chop to the Wiggles last week and it was such a blast. They were in Lowell at the Tsongas arena, which I had never been to, great venue, easy parking. We were in the 4th row because I felt if we were going to the Wiggles then BY GOD WE WERE WIGGLING! I am glad we were up so close (if I could have gotten closer I would have). To see Spotty’s face when they first came on stage was magical (which is corny as all hell, but I don’t know how else to describe the butterflies in my stomach to see him so happy.)

At first he wanted to be in either boy toy or my arms so he could watch, but later on he just wanted to dance on his chair. He made friends with the little girl behind him who shared her glow bracelets with him. They had little coloring frames and crayons on the seats and I have to say that it was a great idea. I saw lots of kids taking a break from the action (including mine) by hanging out and coloring for awhile. We danced and sang. They even included the parents at one point by asking us to “light up” our cell phones. The Wiggles put on a good show. They are energetic and really seem to have a great time up on stage and with each other. We knew almost all of the songs and they included a few new ones…just like any other concert we have ever been to. One nice thing, when they left the stage, they left. There was none of the required screaming and stomping of feet to get them to play “one last time”.

Then we went past the souvenirs. We asked what he wanted and he said “afeathersord, a pierit hat and captan”. Boy toy said “you can only get one of those things” and Spotty was like “ok” and I am like “he is getting it ALL!!!!” There is a time for restraint and time to run like the wind. I ran and ran hard. He looked so friggen cute with his hat, sword and clutching his captain doll. He has been going to sleep with all three. I can’t wait to bring him to something else.

Book Review - Transformation

This was a really good read. Seyonne is a slave dealing with the horrible degradation that you would expect a slave to have to put up. Once Prince Aleksander purchases him his life takes a turn…almost for the worst. A jealous hanger on of the Prince’s has Seyonne branded as a runaway slave to get back at the Prince and things get progressively worse.
The Prince is a cruel master but not completely unreasonable. That is until the demons came. Luckily Seyone was not always a slave, he once was an Ezzarian Warder who’s job it was to hunt demons, and to recognize and protect key individuals that carry the feadnach, a seed of greatness, a soul that can change the world for the better.

A strange partnership forms when Aleksander is struck down by a demon inflicted curse that changes him into a beast and then on the eve of his becoming the heir, is accused of killing his uncle. Aleksander and Seyonne escape with the help of the slave master and Aleksander’s bride to be and go searching for the only thing that can save Aleksander. The last remaining Ezzarians.

The characters are robust. Their various cultures are interesting and plausible. Although at times I was yelling at someone to stop being stupid. There are enough twists to keep the story from becoming predictable.

Best of all? It’s at least a trilogy.

Spotty says

This morning as we lay in bed and I was “eating his legs” he tells me “No eating my legs mama, only pretend eating”

Apple Picking - Climb a Tree

We went apple picking today at Honey Pot orchards. We have been picking apples here for the past 5-6 years. We were going to try to go somewhere else this year. We love Honey Pot, but it is so popular and crowded that it hasn’t been as much fun as it could be. We searched and searched and got…nothing, places either had no apples or were ridiculously expensive (yes I am talking about you lookout farm). Moo had called to see if it was crazy busy and they said no so that’s where we headed.

We had a blast with Moo, Freak show and the kids, cheese please, hippy chick and the hips boy friend henceforth to be known as CR or cradle robber. Moo’s sister "Little Sis" came with her hubby The Teacher and their three kids. We picked more apples than anyone should ever pick and I will be running out to get some pie making stuff soon. Spotty chop is in love with green apples but will not touch the red ones. I hoped that if he picked his own he would at least try them. I was correct. The boy had to have 3 or 4. All different types, he loved them all. Between picking apples and rolling down hills his day was complete. We went through the hedge maze and I can not freaking believe it but I let Spotty choose how to go and not only did he get us to the center of the maze, but he got us out again too. I am so overwhelmed by this and am hoping that this is a trait he keeps as I can not function without my GPS in any way shape or form. Speaking of which…On the way to the orchard the sound stopped working on Tomtom. I won’t say I was paralyzed, but pretty darn close. I am now so used to him telling me when to turn that it doesn’t dawn on me to check the screen anymore. Luckily his voice came back on the ride home.

We got donuts; they have awesome home made donuts. Spotty was so tired by this point that he just wanted me to lay down so he could rest. So I did, but then the kids were talking about the animals and he perked up. So we watched the animals, fed the goats and then saw pumpkins. Spotty wanted to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch so boy toy and I chased him through the patch till he found the one he liked. We felt we had done everything there was to do; Spotty had just about passed out, as we were walking back to the car when we walked by…the hot dog stand. He needed a hot dog, but when we got to the car decided he just wanted the bun and a juice box. He fell asleep on the ride home, we plopped him on our bed to finish his nap. I fell asleep on the couch. Boy toy fell asleep with Spotty. We just had some chicken and left over Chinese food. I have emailed everyone photos from today, some were really great. Now Spotty and I are eating pop corn and watching Monsters Inc. Boy toy is watching…Red Sox? Bruins? Patriots? Somebody. OK it’s the Red Sox, I think it’s an important game.

A good time was had by all.

Snuggliest Snuggles

Spotty has been extremely snuggly lately. He is constantly draped over me. When I am sitting down he crawls up onto my lap and either puts his head on my shoulder to play with my hair or wiggles his bum to make my lap more comfy, then leans his head back on my neck and plays with my hair. Sometimes he climbs behind me and will put his legs around me, sometimes he just stands and lays his head on my back. If I am lying on the couch he crawls up and puts his head on my chest to watch TV. If I am sitting on a recliner he drapes over me so that his head is on the arm of the chair and the rest of him is on me. When we are falling asleep he moves my face so I am breathing on him. He curls his legs up so they are in my stomach or chest. I honestly don’t know if he needs all the touching or if I do. But I don’t care; this is a great period in my life. I can’t get enough of him.

Book Review - Soul of the Fire

Sword of Truth Book 5
When is a chicken not a chicken? When will the mother confessor not piss me off? Is anyone keeping track of how many times I want to slap the shit out of her? I’ve lost track. We start this story off with Richard and Kahlan celebrating their day after the wedding. They are happy. I will confess it is nice to have them happy every once and awhile. It doesn’t happen often. Soon enough trouble rears its head; Richard and Zed don’t even get a chance to chat before death and mayhem start. Zed and Ann send Richard and Kahlan back to the keep for some busy work. When will Zed learn to trust Richard? Magic is draining from the world due to Kahlan’s saving Richards life. Good news Jagang’s magic is draining, bad news; subtractive magic is still going strong.

I have found a whole new country of people that I want to smack the crap out of. Anderith. How that land fills me with a seething hatred. They treat their slaves/servants like crap because they once were at war. Women are less than nothing and everyone sleeps around. Except for the minister’s aid Dalton who is a smart snake. You want to like him but he is EEEEEEEEEVile, not Jagang like evil, more fascist pig evil. The Anderith have this kick ass weapon the Dominie Diritch. A line of carved bells that once rung will kill anything within eyesight, in fact it sloth’s the skin right off a person. Guess where Jagang wants to set up his headquarters?

Du Chaillu is back with her team of sword masters and so is Cara, who I love more and more. We meet some new folks as well, some we like and some…not so much. I had trouble with this book and wanting to put it down for long periods of time. I think I have a really hard time when I know or think I know that someone is about to do something stupid. Damn I hate that, brings back all sorts of jr. high and high school memories.

Next up is book 6 something I haven’t read

Book Review – The Novice

The Black Magician Trilogy - Book Two.
We meet up with Sonea on the eve of her Acceptance Ceremony. Rothen is her guardian and they have built a strong relationship. Sonea has been worried about when school started as she is the first dwell (slum dweller) to ever be admitted to the Guild. Rothen assured her that once folks got to know her and she had a few friends she would feel better. Unfortunately all of Sonea’s classmates are from rich, high profile families and they shun her because of where she came from. It gets a lot worse when Regin takes a disliking to her. With his charisma he is easily able to turn not only all of her classmates against her, but many of her teachers as well. Regin is a master of the dirty underhanded trick, and is constantly pulling something on Sonea. At first it was just mean pranks, ruining an experiment, getting her robes wet, but as he gests not satisfaction from her it quickly escalates to Sonea not only getting accused of stealing from a fellow student, but also cornered and attacked by several students.

As if that isn’t enough, the High Lord finds out about what Sonea saw that night and binds Lorlen, the High Lord’s administrator from speaking to Rothen unless absolutely necessary. He also takes Sonea away from Rothen as assurance to both of their good behavior. The High Lord becomes Sonea’s guardian. Sonea and Rothen are also not allowed to speak, the High Lord even manages to remove Rothen as a teacher for Sonea.

Not all is bad. Sonea meets Rothen’s son Dorrien and the beginning of a beautiful friendship or something more takes hold. Dorrien seems to be just what Sonea needs, a friend.

Dannyl plays a much bigger role in this book than he did in the last. He has become the “Second Guild Ambassador fro Elyne.” He befriends Tayend, who becomes his assistant. Tayend was at the great library when the High Lord visited Elyne years before and is an invaluable help in Dannyl’s research. What Dannyl doesn’t know is that it is research on behalf of Lorlen, to try and find out how the High Lord became a practitioner of Black Magic.

Playing Hooky

I took the day off on Monday to spend with Spotty Chop cauz I missed him during the wedding, Boy toy missed him too and was bummed that he couldn’t stay home, but that’s what happens when you start a new job, your life sucks. We woke up late for us…8 or 8:30. Went to the Little Gym in the morning, it was a fun class. I am sorry I am not going to be able to attend more often. There was another mom there who also had a 2 ½ year old boy. It was nice to see how similar they are. They were running around doing their own things, sometimes together and sometimes just by themselves. The rest of the group was girls and you know what, boys and girls are different. I know that’s a generalization, but I really think it’s true in some ways. I was having a conversation with Spotty on how it’s not ok to hit me and as the other boy was trying to get Spotty’s attention so they could play; his mom walked by and said “glad to see it’s not just me”. It was nice to talk to someone in the same place as you are.

After the gym we went food shopping. This was a HUGE chore for awhile, Spotty was…a pain in the ass, wouldn’t sit in the carriage, cried and carried on, and he just didn’t dig it. So I stopped bringing him. I think it was just a phase because we are having fun again, he is flirting with everyone and trying to help me shop. Next time I go I am going to cut out things from the circular and have him help me find them. We put food away, played trucks and trains, had some lunch. Then we took a nap, I really wanted to do some cleaning while he slept, but…it’s hard not to nap when your baby is so cuddly and warm. We woke up a few minutes before boy toy walked in the door, which is good because he would have been even sadder if he knew we were napping together, I mean he knows, but it hurts more when you walk in and see everyone all snuggled and you had to work all day. We went back to the little gym for our normal class and he had a really good time, we haven’t made several of the classed because Spotty hasn’t been napping during the day and he falls asleep on the ride home. He is a BEAR when I try to wake him.
Once we got home we played mixing. I had bought a bunch of dried peas that I poured into my bridesmaid gift. A large bowl that a friend of the Bride’s had made. Spotty seems fascinated with the texture of things in the bowl (we have had Chex mix and M&M’s in it since we got home. We all took turns swishing things around; pouring them in and out of the bowl and just some general silliness. We took a shower and then a tubbie. We read books and played puzzles. Nothing outrageous but I was glad I could spend the day with our boy. He just gets cooler every time I turn around.

Woo Woo Wedding!

The wedding was this past weekend and we had a friggen BLAST. I dropped Spotty Chop off at the SIL after a somewhat leisurely morning, and then ran to Natick to have breakfast with the Bride, her daughter and her mom. I was psyched it was just the 4 of us. We all get along really well. We had some laughs trying to get one of the staff members to take our picture. Her visor kept hitting the flash preventing the photo shoot, but damn it was funny. We all got our nails done at a place down the street. Heather and her mom had been going there for years. I am used to going to a “SPA” to have this done, and this shop was in a little strip mall, but DAMN were they good. I was so happy with how my nails came out. I am so going there again. Luckily Grammie lives down the street.

I picked up boy toy’s tux and hit a shoe store next door. Bought 2 pairs of KICKING boots. I was able to pack and pull the girls goody bags together with the help of boy toy and then we were on our way. The Hotel Marlow is incredible. The décor is to die for. Nothing like leopard bathrobes to make a girl feel at home. The not rehearsal dinner was wonderful. The food was very good, boy toy had steak and I had chicken. There was the biggest dessert sampler on the face of the planet at each table. The company was good, we were sitting with a bunch of the maids and a few of the folks we would be sitting with the next day.

The next day started with my sleeping until 9:30am…it was heaven, and enough time to jump in the shower and get ready for hair and makeup. If you have never done a “wedding production” of hair and makeup I don’t think I can do it justice. I started at 10:30 and finished around 12:30 – 1:00. There were 6 of us for hair and 8 of us for makeup. I had my hair up with lots of curls. My makeup was smoky eyes and then even color. I asked that I not look like a whore. I think they did a good job, but damn I do not have the patience to do that all the time. Usually my hair is in a ponytail and I throw on some chapstick. Once we were all done up I grabbed boy toy so that we could run down to the rehearsal. He was not in the wedding, but the photographer was not showing up until after 4:00 and the Bride had so wanted a photo to capture her soon to be hubby’s face when he first saw her. Boy toy stepped in. The rehearsal went fine, the place was beautiful. We were ready for photos….and more photos and more photos. No matter where you were in the hotel you had great backdrops for photos and I think we took them all. Everyone’s favorite I think was the big red couch. Our flowers were spectacular. Roses and bittersweet, a smaller version of the Brides. We had a Champaign toast to the bride before the ceremony and then had to run like crazy to get to the wedding on time. God I loved how everything was in one place. The ceremony was lovely. A friend of theirs got licensed for the day. They wrote their own vows and as I was holding both mine and the Brides flowers I just bawled my eyes out and tried to wipe them away with bittersweet.

The reception was great. Tons of good food and dancing. Lots of folks were friends of Bob so we all reminisced. We ended up in the bar for awhile because who wants a good party to end and I think I finally kicked people out of our room around 2:30am. A good time was had by all…at least until I realized that I left my bouquet down in the banquet hall. Boy toy ran down broke in and rescued it for me.

The next morning was brunch. I woke up at 8:00am and couldn’t fall back asleep so I packed us up, took a shower, washed all the crap out of my hair and then hung out for a few hours with the crew, laughing about the nights antics. My mom called when we were on our way to pick up Spotty. He had just fallen asleep so we stopped off at the NE mobile book fair (BONUS). We snuggled with Spotty and took his ass home.

Book Review – Temple of the Winds

Book four of the Sword of Truth.
Nadine you whore. You make it almost impossible to like you, and every time we get close you act like a clam. Shoata, I want to strangle you, I know you might mean well, but you are screwing with the kids and that in turn makes Kahlan act like a 13 year old. Kahlan, as much as I love you, I just want to slap the shit out of you sometimes. I know love makes you do stupid things, but girl you really take the cake. Jagang is such a prick. I really hope he gets what’s coming to him. Although I do like how he is an equal opportunity prick. He smites the worthy, unworthy, he don’t care as long as he is smiting. I am thinking I might have rage issues as I constantly want to smack someone in this series.

Let’s look at the folks I didn’t feel like smacking…this time. I can’t get enough of the Mud people, they just rock. Grandfathers back! Bring on the toads. Zed and Ann are still chasing after Nathan and getting into all sorts of trouble. Nathan, I am so glad they are spending more time with you. You get more and more interesting. Never doing what is expected, and a horn dog to boot. Well I guess if I had been kept locked up for a few thousand years I might be a bit…frisky myself. Cara, Raina and Berdine, those crazy byotches are at it again, gaining more humanity and yet still willing to kill at the drop of a hat. How do you punish these girls? You have to read it to believe it. Did I mention libraries? More books? Finding answers….where? In books.


All this plus the plague, serial killers, pig riding and marriage.

Book 5 is just around the corner…and I can’t wait

Partay with a Tux

We had a 3 year olds birthday party to attend this weekend. Spotty Chop’s uber fabulous cousin the Terminator. My sis-in law (SIL) watches Spotty 3 days a week, which is great and Spotty and Terminator act like true brother and sister, they irk each other like they get paid for it.

The weather was lovely, the kids were running around like mad men, they painted, they stickered, they ate cake and ice cream. What more can be asked for? Saw family members, didn’t have to talk to family members. Life is good.

We finally got a Tux for boy toy to wear at the wedding this weekend. Can I just say Christ on a Cracker, you would have thought I asked him to suck molten lava through a straw by the way he has been dragging his feet. He’s known for over 2 months that he would be wearing a tux. I did not want to deal with, finding his suit, ties, shoes, sox, shirt, cleaning, ironing, blah blah blah….When I was pregnant boy toy promised that I would never be heavier than he was, which was so sweet. He however has not lost his baby weight yet and the expensive suits I have purchased no longer fit. He has a cheap, crappy suit, but this is a SHING DING, and not that I care what people think, but I do like my boy fitting in. The wedding is black tie optional, and most of these folks own their own. Also we went to a wedding over the summer and his neck is big, don’t know if anyone knows this, but if your neck is big the rest of the shirt gets…BIG. I think the sleeves went down to his knees. Unnecessary say I. On Sunday I said
get your ass in the car
But
No, get your Fin ass in the car
I need to do paperwork
I don’t give a RATS ASS what you need to do, pick up your son and get YOUR ASS IN THE CAR
I need to go to the bathroom…
If you do not have your ass in the car in the next 5 minutes so help me GOD you will be sorry
FINE be that way, come on Spotty, we have to go to the car, daddy has to try on a tuuuuxxxxsssssss.
For the love of Christ GET IN THE CAR

And now you all know why I do not need to have another child…Kill me

We also went visiting Sheep, Brain and the Bug. Boy toy worked with
Sheep back in the days when they worked for Genghis Khan. Sheep is also Genghis’ cousin. SIL watched Bug for awhile when she was first born she is about 6 months younger than Spotty. Spotty and she are in luv. Actually they were super cute together. They played together really well, sometimes playing in parallel, sometimes interacting, and sometimes ignoring each other. As the Terminator is very aggressive and bossy it was nice to see Spotty just hanging out. They made us dinner, we gossiped, kids played. A good time was had by all.

Book Review – The Magicians Guild

The Black Magician Trilogy - Book One.
I love books with thieves in them. I like the idea of a thieves guild, run by a mastermind that often times has a heart of gold. Or at least looks out for the poor and downtrodden. Add a magician’s guild that services the rich and you have instant conflict, and who doesn’t love conflict?

The story starts off with Soneae, her family and the rest of the poor who live in the slums being pushed out of their homes/hovels/the streets in the annual “Purge” mandated by the King and carried out by the magician’s guild. As expected most of the magicians are a pompous bunch, believing that the slum dwellers deserve what they are getting as they are all thieves and cutthroats anyways. Soneae overhears the guards talking about a trap laid for a group of troublemakers that Soneae used to run with. She catches up with her old friends Cery and the leader of the gang Harrin. The gang escapes and as the magicians prepare to start the Purge the gang shows their defiance by pelting the magicians with rocks, rotten fruit and whatever they can get their hands on. Everything bounces off the shields the magicians have set up, until Soneae gets angry and throws a rock that gets through the shield and knocks a magician unconscious.

Cery helps Soneae avoid the magicians that are looking for her by introducing her to the thieves’ guild. They protect her until her budding magical powers get out of control. Soneae then has to decide if the magician’s really do want her, and if she wants them.

Coco Key ROCKS!!!!

What a Frelling awesome day we had today. Spotty chop and I went to Coco Key (A FREAKING INDOOR WATERPARK…CAN I GET AN AMEN) with Moo and Cheese Please.

The day started off rough because Spotty did not nap yesterday. He of course fell asleep on our way home around 6:15pm, we were supposed to go to Little Gym, but he was out completely. He woke up when we got home. Speed Racer, Mantha and Auntie D were over. Spotty was freaking out, wanted to go back to sleep, but was so uptight that he couldn’t fall asleep. He fell back asleep FINALLY till 8 or 8:30. Then he was a mess until 9:30 or 10:00 when he finally woke up and had ice cream for dinner. I stayed up with him till 12:45am! (Well we did snuggle on the couch. I was so friggen tired I put the gate up, videos on and drifted. He would snuggle and I would think GREAT we can go to bed and then he would hop of the couch and run around the living room like a madman.)

We woke up today at 9:00am and I got an email from Moo at 4am saying “if you didn’t buy the tickets, lets do another day.” Moo had a crappy night; her body just doesn’t behave itself and causes her a lot of pain. I of course had already bought the tickets. So I sent her an email saying “Spotty and I will go and I will call you if we need to purchase more than 2 tickets. Comments about the water park said you had to buy 4 tickets min. I got discounted tickets because Spotty is under 6, but they let me buy 2. We dilly dallied till 10:30, when I read the crackberry again Moo wrote that they would be ready to go at 10:30. I finally got a hold of her before she left her driveway. ummm I haven’t taken a shower yet and my legs look like a forest. We decided I would call her when I was ready. Which was around 11:30.

When we walked in the girl at the counter actually let Moo and Cheese in for the discounted rate. We got changed and walked in and realized…WE HAD THE WHOLE PLACE TO OURSELVES!!!!!! Do you know what that is like, an entire park to yourselves people? Ok…I lied; there was one other couple there with their 5-6 year old son.

The place is BEAU-TEE-FULL. So clean it hurt to look at it. There is a great kiddy pool with 3 waterslides for the little ones. Spotty really dug it. There are fountains that come out of the ground as well as the deck, giant things that pour water down on you, and things that fill with water and then tip on you. And that is just in the kiddy pool.

You can ride tubes through the lazy river, pull strings to pour water on yourself or others, and pirate coconuts that spit water at you. Then there is the main part of the park. This has a GIANT bucket that fills with water and then rings a bell before it crashes over everything. 3 water slides that I enjoyed, and would be good for kids. Cheese was afraid to go down them for most of the day, but toward the end she decided to face her fears, and found out that she LOVED it. It also had 2 smaller slides for Spotty. There was water splashing, shooting, dripping, spraying from every angle. There were more water fountains in the ground and one of Spotty’s favorite things a giant sluice that had filters, and you could move around, hard to describe but totally cool.

Then there are the 4 waterslides for 48 inches and above. These kicked ASS and Moo was kind enough to watch Spotty so I could enjoy. 2 are body slides and 2 are for tubes. I think they are actually the same thing but one is pitch black and the other you can see light. There is an indoor/outdoor pool with a door you can swim through, but the door was broken. It was heated to perhaps 90 degrees; I hope they keep it open in the winter as we had a great time sitting outside. There was also another pool that was closed where there are activities – basketball, rope climbing etc.

They have food, Spotty and I had a chicken sandwich, fries, drink, hot dog and fries, and it came to $12.25. I thought that was reasonable. They also have cabanas for rent (I think it’s $100) these are rooms with a fridge, TV and places to sit. This would be great if the place was crowded.

I decided that Spotty and I would leave around 4:00. Spotty needed to take a nap. School must have gotten out because right at 4:00 hoards of kids starting showing up. Moo and I had been talking that even if there were 100 people in the park it would still be cool. Well after seeing all of the kids (50ish) we decided that we liked having the place to ourselves best.

I am kind of glad that no one is reading this blog because the place is so FRIGGEN awesome that I want to tell everyone about it, but we liked having the place to ourselves so much that I don’t want anyone to know about it. Spotty and I had such a great time that we will be going back October 29th. So if there are any lurkers out there and you happen to live in Massachusetts….Coco Key is in Danvers, it’s an hour away for us and totally worth it!

BTW if you do go you might want to tell your SO that you are going, and if you forget that, you really should at least remember a camera so you can take pictures, and if you can't do that, don't eat the one and only munchkin that your child decides is yuckie without giving said SO a bite. Not that Boy toy is miffed or anything.

Waterfire, sandboxes and things too...

Saturday was a great day, Spotty and I took a 4 hour nap, boy toy is in the middle of building a really cool sandbox. It will have 2 levels and a “tunnel” in between the levels so Spotty can drive cars and trucks through. Spotty helped his daddy digging and got FILTHY. After the boys cleaned up we went off to Waterfire. This has to be one of the coolest events out there. The first time we saw it we came across it by accident. It was a few years before Spotty was born. We had been in RI for some reason, dinner, shopping, sex shop? We were on our way back to 95 when we saw fire, we though oh CRAP we will never get home, there will be fire engines all over the place, we rolled down the windows to see if we could hear them but instead heard some wacked out music. We then noticed hundreds of people walking around. We of course found ourselves a parking spot to see what the hell was going on.

We met some folks looking for Waterfire as we were parking, we told them to follow us. It can be confusing if you have never been before. We showed them the way, pointed out the landmarks that should help them find their way back. They wanted to know where to meet up so we could help them back. We laughed and went on our way. Spotty loved it. Although I think we might have done too well a job with the fire is hot message as he didn’t want to hang out by the water because the fire was dangerous. We walked everywhere. Over bridges, through tunnels, we saw kids playing household objects like drums, they were great. We listened to Peruvian music and talked to several police officers, one of them was even on a horse. We bought a bag of kettle corn and sat on some stairs eating it. Spotty wanted to be carried every so often and it was really cute to see boy toy and he because Spotty was rubbing his hand up and down on his daddy’s head. Hey, he is always playing with my hair; it’s nice to see him playing with someone else’s. He was very snuggly when he was in our arms, but was really good holding our hands when we were walking through the crowds. Spotty also walked up tons of stairs and around 11:00 pm we were ready to call it a night. I guess the late night was a god send because he wasn’t cranky at all. When we started walking though the mall to get to the parking lot we met up with the folks we helped from earlier. We all found that very funny. Spotty fell asleep on the ride home, Boy toy and I got caught up in watching Mythbusters, they were busting Superhero myths, which was really cool, but sucked as we dragged ourselves away at 1:00am

Sunday started off with one of my favorite activities muffin making. Spotty and I like to make muffins for the week ahead while boy toy sleeps. This week was cranberry orange. The bride bought Spotty a stacking block set that was a castle theme. Spotty and I spent the morning building the castle and telling stories about all the pictures.

After Spotty’s nap I asked if he wanted to watch TV while I got him some apple. He said of course I do mama.
Do you want to watch Stone of Cold Fire?
No too hot
Do you want to watch Cars?
No too vrooomy
Do you want to watch Monsters?
No too scary
Do you want to watch Dora’s summer adventure?
No too Hot
Do you want to watch the Wiggles?
No too wiggly
Do you want to watch Nemo?
No too swimmy
Do you want to watch Blues Clues?
No too Bluey
Do you want to watch Dinosaurs?
No too scary

So he helped me with the apple instead, and then luckily boy toy came in from digging. He asked Spotty what he wanted to do and Spotty said “play the game” which was great because I hate playing the Simpsons hit and run or whatever it’s called

Book Review - Thud

If you have never read Terry Pratchett’s disk world you may want to give it a try. My brother turned me onto him with “Going Postal” and “Hogfather” that I will review when I get around to re-reading them. This may be the 30th in the series? I have no idea if reading the series from the beginning would be a help or not. I have been told no, but I have to tell you that not reading a book in a series in order is like…. I actually can’t really think of anything worse. Not eating ice cream? Dogs and Cats living together? But I have really enjoyed the books so I guess it is one of those mysteries of life they talk about.

Thud is the story of the age old conflict between dwarfs and trolls that apparently came to a head centuries ago at a place called Koom Valley. Commander Vimes of the City watch is trying to keep the powder keg that is the anniversary date of Koom Valley from blowing everything and everyone into smithereens but is being hampered by an internal audit which includes questions such as “I timed two officers in Broad Way earlier, and in the space of one hour they made no arrests,. Why was this an economic use of their time?” Affirmative Action” I’ve got to interview a damn vampire”; and most importantly 6:00pm. THE READING OF THE PICTURE BOOK.

Any book that misuses police manpower and authority to make sure that a dad gets home to read “Where is my Cow” to his son is AOK in my book…if I had a book, which I do, just not one I wrote.

A long day

Spotty chop dressed me today; He picked out black shiny stretch pants/leggings with lace around the ankles and an emerald green silk nightgown. I look smashing. Spotty has been playing rough all day. He has been jumping from the top of the couch onto my back as I worked, run across the room yelling “body slam”and then slammed into me, used the curtains to jump down onto me, and used my hair as a repelling rope to get off of the couch. It has been a long day. I keep asking him to be careful and that he was hurting me, but it was like talking to…a 2 year old. I did end up yelling at one point and we both apologized.

I hate loosing my temper, but my kidney stones are acting up. I am so fed up with work, I feel like I am not trusted anymore, I’ve been kicked off the fast track and am now slumming it with the rest of the weasels. It feels like someone kicked me in the tail bone. I’ve got a head ache. My girlfriend’s MIL is acting like a true clam. The wedding is in 16 days. I think I am just in the mood to be pissy. I’m going to take a shower, maybe that will make me feel better.

Spotty just kicked his daddy in the kneecap, he is in pain. Somehow that makes me feel better.

Other people's trash and we suck

Last week boy toy saw some toys that someone was throwing out. We scored a funky Big Wheel like thing and a tricycle that has a long handle. We tried out the tricycle this weekend. Spotty and I loved it. We took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. When Spotty wanted to walk I was able to push the bike without having to bend over or pick it up. As Spotty Chop was “peddling” I had to remind myself to walk slowly so I wouldn’t force him to peddle to fast. I am a fast walker, but the simple pleasure of slowing down and watching my son with a grin as wide as can be as we went through the neighborhood “all by myself”, was the highlight of the weekend.

We finally went to visit boy toy’s parents. We haven’t seen them since June, we suck. I dropped Spotty and boy toy off and then ran to the mall. A new Hanna shop opened up at the Natick mall and I wanted to pick up some stuff at Origins. Funny but they are next to each other in the mall and I saw that as a sign from god that I should shop.

Spotty had a blast chasing the dog around the house, until he drove grammie and grumpy batty. So we went outside where they had an even better time as they had more room and were able to include us in the fun.

Book Review - This Alien Shore

I get so caught up in the fantasy realm of reading that I tend to forget about SciFi, until a book comes along and slaps me in the face with its goodness. My brother brought a very large container of books to my moms a few weeks back so I could look through them. I found 3 of the 1st of a series that I was looking for as well as a few others. This Alien Shore looked really interesting. There is a girl in danger Jamisia and who has knowledge that could change several worlds. This book has a bit of everything; death, destruction, torture, lots of interesting characters who may or may not be what they seem; an interesting view of “madness”; hackers; real aliens that find humans tasty and forbidden love…well lust at least.

Jamisia wakes up with the voices in her head screaming at her to run, she has been betrayed. Her tutor finds her rushes her to a pod, tells her it was his job to kill her to prevent her capture, but he instead frees her.

Everyone seems to have brainware that helps keep them in touch with anyone and anything they need in the universe, think of the world wide web in your head. It will even track what’s going on with your body and offer up medication if anything delves from the norm.

Earth has been a rat fink bastard again and done some pretty shitty things to Earth’s space colonists. Unfortunately it wasn’t all unwarranted. Apparently the process that allowed the colonists to leave the over populated and under resourced Earth turned the colonists into mutant alien freaks….who still considered themselves human. There were planet wide riots on Earth when they found out and the Earth cut off all contact with the colonists causing hundreds of thousands to die.

The plot is good, the story is fast paced and the ending isn’t exactly what you were expecting. All in all a really good read. I just may have to re-read Friedman’s other books.

Book Review - Blood of the Fold

Book three of the Sword of Truth. I love Gratch, I just want to give him a snuggle. I really like how the Mord-Sith are coming along. They are still crazy byotches, but now they have a sense of humor. Funny how intolerant I am; Richard seems to be a bit squeamish about same sex couples. I seriously wanted to slap the shit out of him. Richard is still making it up as he goes along. We meet more enemies and more crazies that are all hell bent on capturing, killing and torturing. The Prelate is having a fine time for herself, we find out a bit of back story on Warren and Verna. The Sisters of the Dark learn that sometimes it sucks to be them.

I had an epiphany while reading the other night. I think the reason I like this series so much is because Richard is a Reader. He loves books. He walks through hell and back. Why? To get a book. He stays up all night. Why? Reading a book. Who hasn’t done that?

Zed you wacky wacky boy.


Onto book 4

Showtime and Spiders part 2

Apparently while Spotty was at SIL's today the kids came up with a new game. “Showtime”, they each took turns taking center stage (the middle of the lawn) and did a dance, they clapped for each other and then the next one performed. Auntie said it was really cute. When I got there they insisted that it was my turn, so I shook my groove thing and then sat down to enjoy the rest of the show.

I am happy that Spotty seems to be getting back to himself. When the kids have been outside playing Spotty had just been standing around crying. None of us can figure out what the issue is. Did he see spiders? This has been a huge topic of conversation at bedtime and he even started waking up 10-15 times a night crying that the spiders were coming to get him. Boy toy and I decided we would have Bert be his spider slayer and as boy toy was telling spotty chop how the spiders are afraid of Bert, I went to go get him…apparently Bert is off spider hunting because I can’t find him ANYWHERE. Luckily when we were in London last year and went to the Tower of London we picked up a “Beefeater Bear”. We explained that this was a special guard bear who would stay awake all night and make sure no spiders came into the room. Maybe it’s working?

One of the best book reviews I have ever read

If the only good thing that comes from my blogging is that I can turn at least one person onto this book review I will considered my work here done. Doppelganger is bright, sassy and by god she can turn a phase. When I grow up I want to write just like her.

And now Dr. Suess 101

Robert Jordan's What?

I get a phone call from a friend fairly late last night. I don’t know what to do. And I have a brief and intense panic attack. Something is wrong, someone is sick, someone is dead, dear god what am I going to do, be strong What I say is what do you need? What can I do. He then says what are we going to do? Robert Jordan is DEAD! And I am so relieved that it is not one of the family that I immediately think who the fuck cares if a basketball player is dead? You don’t watch basket…WHAT did you just say?

Associated Press states that Robert Jord…
NO HE ISN’T
He is dead
He can’t be dead
He is, it says so
You must be reading it wrong, read it again
Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, has died of a rare blood disease, his aide said Monday. He was 58.
What about the book
He is dead
Are you sure?
I am reading it right now
Ooooohh well if it is written down then it must be true.
Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy
WHAT ABOUT THE BOOK MAN, THE BOOK,
Jordan was working on a 12th volume at the time of his death
No it says he finished the book
No was working
That is not what it said
Was working not finished
Is there something wrong with your eyes? He can’t be dead if he is not finished with the end
What am I going to do
You listen to me, We didn’t waste 12 years of our Fin lives to have him go off and die before finishing the story HE IS NOT DEAD
I don’t think your not wanted to believe is going to make it so
Says who?
Associated Press
Oh we are back to that are we? I think it’s a joke, maybe to raise the prices?
Why did he waste time with the prequel?
Damn I was thinking the same thing, but I am listening to it now in the car and I really like it.
What are we going to do he's dead
He can’t be dead, the books aren’t done…are you sure?
He’s dead
Sort of Dead?
No Dead Dead
Pushing up daisy dead?
Yes pushing up daisy’s…but I am reading that they may have another author finish the story
Like that will work…Fuckers…Dead?
Dead

The wheel weaves as the wheel wills – Safe Travels Rob we will miss you