I'm BACK!!

FINALLY!! I got ameritech to replace my modem (for a lot less than originally quoted). And now I can once again connect to the internet!! Man. It's awful not being connected! Vacation wasn't SO bad because at least I knew I COULD connect if I wanted to.

Did I accomplish anything while I was down?? Well....I finished Marked: A House of Night Novel for review at Curled Up. (As soon as it's published there, I'll post my review here!) I was actually really impressed with it. I should have used it for my first RIP book, but I didn't even think about it at the time. Review is Coming!!

I also almost finished Chance Murphy and the Battle of Morganville. This book was actually sent to me by the author, and I'm just getting around to reading it. I have to say though.....I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Maybe it's because it's about a boy growing up in the 80's and I just love all the pop culture references. Or maybe because it's a good story. Anyway, I hope to finish it today and post a review soon.

Other than that, I guess I just did a lot of housework (which I have been seriously putting off!) and grocery shopping (ditto). I did manage to go to the library and check out about 6 books and request 5 others. Not like I don't have anything to read at my house!

On Friday, we went to see the Halloween remake. First let me say, that I love, love, love Rob Zombie movies!! Both House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects rank right up there with my favorite scary movies!! You can tell that Zombie is a fan of the genre. He really puts a lot of effort and coolness into his movies. And I really enjoyed Halloween. It gave us a lot more information on Michael Myers as a child, and events that led to his becoming a Halloween nightmare. That being said, I just don't think there was enough new stuff to warrant a remake! I mean, why take a classic movie like Halloween and do it again? John Carpenter's movie was phenomenal when it first came out in 1978. It cemented Jamie Lee Curtis as the "Queen of Scream" and it made Michael Myers a household name. Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis was good in the beginning, but he couldn't match the intensity of Donald Pleasance at the end of the movie. Scout Taylor-Compton was cute as Laurie Strode, but she was no Jamie Lee Curtis. But Sheri Moon Zombie had a great performance as Michael's mom, and Daeg Faerch as the young Michael was uber-creepy! He did a fantastic job for one so young.

So, I'm asking the question....what do you do when you can't get connected?? Have a nervous breakdown or do you just go with the flow?? Now...I'm off to catch up on all that I missed!!

Rockin' Girl Blogger

Wow! According to Kelly at Kailana's Writtern World, I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger!! Now, let me ask you.....how cool is that?? And kind of ironic too, since she is the one that actually talked me into STARTING this blog!! So...I'm supposed to nominate 4 others that I feel are Rockin' Girls too! It seems a lot of my 'daily' bloggers have been nominated, but I do have a couple to add to the list!!

• Darla D at Books and Other Thoughts has wonderful reviews, especially on children's and YA books!! I love to read her Other Thoughts!
• Trish at Trish's Reading Nook is pretty new to the blogger world, but she has some wonderful insight in her book reviews. Check them out!!
• Kimmie at Kimmie's Krap is a reader and a crafter! I love reading her opinions about books and other stuff! Besides...you just have to LOVE her blog name!!
• and finally Erin at The Paperback Stash is a new-to-me blogger. She has a wonderful blog, with book reviews, book news and other literary 'stuff'. A must-read for the bibliophile!!

Truthfully, all the blogs I read on a daily basis are Rockin'!!

Any Discworld fans out there??

After reading a post over at Jean Pierre's, I thought I would maybe look into the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett. Nymeth was even kind enough to post a link to a Discworld reading order guide. Then I went to Terry Pratchett's website. And I have to be honest....I'm more confused now that I was before I started!! I get there are a couple of series within the series. But where do I START?? Does it matter which "series" I start first? Since my library only has about 1/2 the books and NONE of the first books, I thought I would come back here and post for help!

On another note, I had a job interview today. Same company, just a different division. Although the interview went well (almost too good), I do know I'm not even close to being the best or most qualified candidate for the job. And that has left me feeling rather discouraged. I should be happy, that I got an interview, since only 3 did with over 85 applying. It still doesn't make me feel better knowing I'm probably not going to get the job. I really wanted this one. Oh well....the supervisor was great. And he did promise me no matter what happened, he would be on the lookout for somewhere else to place me. (which makes me believe he's definitely leaning toward someone else). Regardless, I'm making serious steps to getting out of a really bad situation.

Hope it's a better Monday for everyone else!! Later!

Rage Reunion!

Yeah!! Although my concert going has substantially been decreased the last few years, I'll make an exception for this one!! One of the few bands that I always wanted to see, but never did is Rage Against the Machine! Now, I did see Audioslave with Jane's Addiction (Lollapolooza) a few years back. But Chris Cornell is no Zack de la Rocha! Without his vocals, it just wasn't the same. I did, however, get to meet Tom Morello that day. As with most Lollapalooza concerts, there are always the political tents. And Tom Morello was there in the Axis of Justice tent. I got a great picture and an autograph to boot! Not only is he probably the most kick-Ass guitarist in the entire world, but he's so intelligent, it's kind of scary. He graduated with honors from Harvard University with a degree in political science. And politics and revolution are in his blood. His mother was the founder of an anti-censorship group, Parents for Rock and Rap. His father was a Mau Mau Guerrilla and revolutionary. And his great-uncle was the first elected president in Kenya.







I've always been intrigued by their politics, as well as their music. And yet, this is one of the bands I have never seen live before. I was pregnant during the last Tibetan Freedom Concert. And then they broke up!! That was 7 years ago. In January, rumors of a reunion tour hit the airwaves. Rage performed together for the 1st time since 2000 at Coachella in April. They also scheduled a couple more big concerts together, but NO REUNION. Now you may ask, why I digress with this post??? Because today, they announced they are going to play a show at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin!!! That's 4 hours from me!!!! Yeah!! Steph gets to go to another concert! I will be standing in line this Saturday for tickets to the Rage Against the Machine/Queens of the Stone Age show in August!! So is there really going to be a Reunion?? I doubt it. Too many artist differences. But I don't care. There is going to be one last show, and I plan on being there!

I'll give ya a dose

But it'll never come close

To the rage built up inside of me

Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

New Template

Still in the works folks! I feel like I should put up an Under Construction sign! I love the 3-column, though I lost all my widgets!! And I'm still messing around with the colors!

Monday Randomness

randomness...feed your mind and your blog
week of june 3: name one of each

1. a movie that made you laugh - Dodgeball. I know it's juvenile. But I just can't help it. This movie is funny to me. I can just look at Ben Stiller and laugh. Vince Vaughn is the perfect straight man for him. He cracks me up too. Besides...they have a PIRATE!

2. a book that made you cry - The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak- I read this at the beginning of the year. I was sobbing by the end of the book. It was like Zuzak stomped on my heart!! It really touched me.

3. a best friend - Missy - You know who you are!! We started Kindergarten together.....and we've been best friends since. She is the godmother to my kid's, my matron-of-honor, my confidant. I know we don't talk as much as we used to. But she also knows I will always be there if she ever needs anything!! I'm as close as a phone call....and I can drive that 3 hours in about 2!

4. a favorite childhood memory - My favorite memory from childhood would probably be going horseback riding with my Grandpa. We used to saddle up and go check on the cattle in the pastures across the stream. I could spend hours outside with him. He used to call me his little Hunny Pot (hence the Pooh references I'm always making!) I miss him so much sometimes.

5. your favorite animal - at the moment, it's probably my St. Bernard, Rocco. He's a huge baby, but I just love him so much!! He's a cuddler!

6. your favorite food - A big, fat, juicy Ribeye!! Cooked medium, so there's just a little pink.

7. an item of clothing you can't do without - My Chicago Bears Sweatshirt. It's warm and loved and broken in just right!!

8. something you collect - Books! But of course, everyone KNOWS that!! Otherwise, I have a whole glass cabinet full of Precious Moments. My husband has bought me a couple a year since we were dating.

9. your favorite store to shop in - Barnes & Noble. Yeah....There's not much more I can say to that question!

10. your favorite flower - I LOVE the smell of Lilacs. I have 2 lilac bushes in front of my house. They are so delicate and smell so wonderful. It's a shame they only bloom for such a short time every year.

till next time...

Rainy Weekend

Well, it looks like it's going to be a wet one this weekend!! Since it's a holiday weekend, Monday is a non-work day. We have no big plans this weekend. Traveling is almost too expensive, with the price of gas these days! So....we are planning to see Pirates of the Caribbean sometime, and maybe throw some steaks on the grill Monday. That's about it.

We have a house guest at the moment. A friend is staying with us until she gets back on her feet. I'm not sure I'm too happy with this arrangement. We are kind of tripping over ourselves as is. And our friendship has been a bit strained.....LOTS of baggage there. Too much to go into in one post. Anyway, it's only supposed to be for a few weeks. I can probably handle that.....I guess only time will tell.

Hope to get some serious reading done this weekend, since it's going to be so rainy! I have about 15 books out of the library at the moment. Got to try to get through them:

• The Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson (STILL!)
• Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cromier
• Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier
• Let's Don't Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
• The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• Thyme of Death by Susan Wittag Albert
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• O' Pioneers by Willa Cather
• The Tender Bar: A Memoir by J. R. Moehringer
• Death Match by Lincoln Child
• Burmese Days by George Orwell
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
• Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

At least that's all I can find right now!! Most are for challenges and reading groups and such. How's that for a really eclectic group of books??? We'll see how many I get through!

On another note, I'm sending out my prayers to Nattie from Nattie Writes. She is our host for the Newberry Challenge. She was diagnosed with stomach cancer this week and is going in for surgery. If you could all just say a prayer or light a candle, I'm sure she could use the well wishes.

If you've reviewed any books on your blog this week, you can post them at Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books! Just a thought.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!! Later!

A Book Meme

This little meme seems to be making the rounds these days, I've stumbled across it on a few different blogs, mainly Chris' at Book-A-Rama, Bookfool's, Kookiejar's and the Literary Feline's! Figured I would try it out too!

A book that made you cry: The Book Thief by Mark Zuzak. I read this at the beginning of the year. So much buzz about it that I had to try it. Turns out the buzz was for good reason. I was literally sobbing throw the last 50 or so pages of this one!

A book that scared you: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I don't scare very easy, or at least I don't when it comes to books. But this one kind of did it to me. There is a section of the book where Atwood describes the systematic removal of all freedoms to women; it gave me chills. Truly frightening stuff!

A book that made you laugh: Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. This was the first "Chick Lit" book that I ever read (besides the occasional romance). It was absolutely hilarious!! I found myself laughing out loud in many parts. I even thought the movie was good with Renee Zellwigger. She did a GREAT job as the wonderfully neurotic Bridget and Hugh Grant as the cad Daniel Cleaver.

A book that disgusted you: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson and Naked Lunch by Willam Burroughs. Ok...I actually like Hunter S. Thompson. But the rampant drug use in this book was enough to make me sick! And Naked Lunch. Well...I just didn't get it!


A book you loved in elementary school: The entire Nancy Drew Collection by Caroline Keene. I LOVED Nancy Drew. I wanted to BE Nancy Drew. (I STILL want to be Nancy Drew!) I started reading these books in 2nd grade and read through most of them by the time I was in 4th grade. They had a serious impact on me!!

A book you loved in middle school : The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. I thought this was one of the best books I've ever read at the time. I even added it to my list for the Newberry Challenge so I can reread it as an adult. Then again, the next book on my list would probably be Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I can remember reading this in 8th grade. I thought it was SO good!!

A book you loved in high school: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I read this for Mr. Cook's Fiction/Short Stories Class. To this day, I count it as one of my all-time favorite books....it had that much impact on me!! It is such a wonderful story!!

A book you hated in high school: Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In the same class, we read this and I hated it!! I don't know whether it was the story or the writing I hated it so much. I was appalled at those boys and felt so sorry for Piggy.

A book you loved in college: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Again, this was a book I read for a class. It was kind of empowering reading about a woman like Emma Bovary!

A book that challenged your identity: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. This book is about having a dream and following it. My only regret is that I didn't read this book sooner in life. I think if I had read it in college, I would be in a much different place than I am today.

A series that you love: Stephanie Plum Number Series by Janet Evanovich. Until just recently, I was never much of a series reader. But these books are hilarious!! Stephanie cracks me up!! She's funny and bumbling and has 2 hot men vying for her. Gotta love it. A close second to this (and the jury is still out, I guess since I have finished it) would be The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King.

Your favorite horror book: The Stand by Stephen King. My all time favorite King book. Ranks up in the top 3 of my all-time favorite books, period. A timeless tale of then end of the world and Good vs. Evil.

Your favorite science fiction book: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. Sci-Fi has never been my genre, but I read this at the beginning of this year and LOVED it! I'm definitely starting to read more sci-fi and fantasy.

Your favorite fantasy book: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Again, a genre that I'm just starting to get into. My answer for this might change next year, but I don't know. This book sucked me in and refused to let go!!

Your favorite mystery book: Ten Little Indians (or And Then There Were None) by Agatha Christie. I read this in high school. I think I take all mysteries and compare it to this classic! It was fantastic!

Your favorite biography: Any book about The Kennedy's. For some reason, I love reading about JFK and RFK. I've read good and bad. The Dark Side of Camelot was pretty revealing.

Your favorite “coming-of-age” book: Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. This is probably the perennial Classic when it comes to coming-of-age books. Maybe it just depends on WHEN you read it. Because I know people that don't like it. I read it in High School, so maybe I can just relate!

Your favorite classic: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This book has everything: romance, murder, revenge, money, plots.....it is a phenomenal read!! I could read it again and again!

Your favorite romance book: Romance book has such a horrible connotation for me. I don't like "Romance" books. Makes me think of Harlequin. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is probably my favorite love story. The relationship between Jane and Mr. Rochester is timeless and one for the ages!

Your favorite book not on this list: I have so many books that I love. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut just to name a few.

If you haven't done this meme and would like to play along, it's fun!! I love to see what everyone else says!!

Eight Things About Me

My friend Chris at Book-A-Rama tagged me for the "Eight Things About me" Meme. Hmmm...I not sure this will be all that exciting....but got give it the old College try!!


Here are the rules:

1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.

3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.

4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Sounds simple, right? OK....Here goes!

1. I grew up on a farm. Yes, I was really the Midwestern Farmer's daughter! I could drive a tractor by 12, a car by 13, rode horses, walked beans, and even detasseled corn one summer. In my heart, though, was a city girl waiting to get out. I left at 18 to go to college and never looked back!
2. I am a two-time cancer survivor. When I was 4, I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Rhabdomyosarcoma. It was in the muscle tissue in the back of my neck. I spent many a night in Barnes Hospital in St. Louis (which is a WONDERFUL place). I was given about a 10% chance, so I count my lucky stars nightly that I'm still here to tell about it. The second cancer was Thyroid cancer found in 2002. My doctor actually thinks it was caused by the radiation treatments I underwent as a child.
3. I was Valedictorian of my graduating class. I'm reluctant to tell you that I went to a very small high school, but in my class competition was tough. We had more kids go to college than any class ever in Mt. Auburn. (And I got a killer scholarship because of it!!)
4. I was in a sorority in college. Yes. Me. To know me now is to laugh, but my freshman year in college, I went through Rush just to make my roommate happy. Found a lot of cool girls, and today I am a Pi Beta Phi alum.
5. I had a Pen Pal from Singapore for over 12 years. I wrote to one of those addresses on "Big Blue World" (the TV show on PBS when I was 10). Her name was Yip Yuet Wah, and we wrote and sent packages to each other until she got married!
6. I've been to over 200 concerts in my lifetime. Starting with Huey Lewis and the News when I was in high school....all the way till today. The last concert I saw was Disturbed and Stone Sour this past January. I've seen NIN 6 times, U2 4 times, Ministry 6 times and the Smashing Pumpkins 4 times. I've been to Lollapolooza, Ozzfest and a bunch of Q101 fests in Chicago.
7. I broke my toe on a beach in Mexico on my honeymoon. Actually a big-hairy man jumped on it while playing beach volleyball. The doctor at the hotel took me to his clinic and wanted to put a cast up to my knee!! I told him to give me some pain meds, straighten it out, and tape it up! (Then I had a podiatrist that was staying at the hotel tape it for me the rest of the week!)
8. My son is named Chad after my little brother. He was killed in a car accident when he was a senior in high school and I was a sophomore in college. My son is the spitting image of him too.

Now to tag others. Don't hate me!! Just join in the fun:

Chris at Stuff As Dreams are Made On

Margreet at Margreet's Musings

Marg at Marg's Reading Adventures

Suey at It's All About the Books

Kookiejar at A Fraternity of Dreamers

Lisa at Books. Lists. Life.

Gentle Reader at Shelf Life

Amy at The Sleepy Reader

Later!

A New Challenge for EVERYONE!

Carl, at Stainless Steel Droppings, our FABULOUS host of the Once Upon a Time challenge, has come up with a new idea for a challenge. It's the 10:4 challenge.

The objective: Lose 10 pounds in 4 months
The Time Frame: May 1st through Sept. 1st

Who can join: EVERYONE!!

Seems like we can all use a little help from our friends. Maybe this will be a good nudge!! I'm in (and I want to lose a little more than 10!!) My first goal is to start drinking more water! My biggest vice these days is Diet Pepsi! I can drink 4 or 5 of the 20 oz bottles a day!!! Not only is it probably eating away at my stomach, but it's starting to get expensive. So today, I'm drinking water at work. Limiting myself to 1 a day. (Yeah...we'll see how long this lasts!)

Later!!