Stressing....

Image by frankdasilva via FlickEver feel like you are running around in circles?  No matter how pretty the circles, how many brightly colored or the sites along the way, they are still circles.  I am feeling like that.

We are moving this weekend and I have lists to things to get done.  I check things off and I still feel as though I am not getting anything done.   I think  a lot of it has do with the fact that my hubby, bless his heart, is handling most of the packing.  And well he keeps saying that he has it almost done yet less then half of the house is packed up.  And time is running out...

Do you ever feel that way when someone else offers to take over a task for you?

Well it fit...kinda

One thing that I want to do in the new house is plant a garden.  I doubt  if I will get into the canning part but you never know.  One thing that I have discovered though was how much better fresh organic vegetables are then the ones you buy at your local supermarket.  Hence the garden.


Now as far as the logistics of this garden...well I have dogs.  Ones that like to eat veggies.  Yeah I have strange dogs.  So I will have to do raised beds.  They are a good idea anyways as my body just isn't as young as it used to be.  So yeah raised is the way to go.

A friend of mine has picked up some huge wooden boxes that she was going to use to plant a garden at her apartment building.  Needless to say, the management freaked.  So she asked me if I wanted them.  Heck yes!  They are only good for about a year at which time they will fall apart.  But they make for a great start for my garden next year.  All I have to do is get some cinder block to go around the outside to make it all permanent.

So the mind is working...now just to get them to my house.   I have a SUV so let's just toss them on top.  I enlisted the help of a friend and off we went.  The first issue that we had is that my GPS decided not to work.  No problem.  My friend kinda knows Federal Way.  Well we couldn't find her complex.  Had to call her and I still got lost. 

Le sigh.

Once we find the place, the real problems arise.  Not only do I have so sense of direction.  I also have no sense of size, proportion, distance.  Call it what you will but my SUV was too small.  We manage to get one of the boxes on the roof rack and head off for home.  Took us an hour and her house is only 15 miles from mine.  The box tried to fall off once we reached Tacoma and we weren't able to get back on right so I had to drive real slow and my help worked on preventing it from catching air and sliding off.

Well we got it there.  And it will work.  However we will wait until we have the U-haul to get the other one.  I guess that it all in the life of a gardener.

Out with the old....

As everyone knows, I am moving and I will be setting a new studio that will have its own room.  Yay!  A whole room to myself.  I have most of my current studio packed up and I just wanted to share some pics that I had taken before I started the tear down.  I had half of the front room and everything was set up on two 6" tables, a file cabinet and an old computer desk

Crystals, seed bead hanks & beads left over from projects

Main storage table.  Drawers full of gemstones, the red organizers have metals. Basket has more metal & metal box has strands of gemmies.

Ceramic bowl made by a friend that contains knotting supplies.

Another picture of bowl.

Organized gemmies.

Studio Mascot sitting on top of basket full of wires.

Another Mascot, Deja' & computer desk full of overflow.

Work table

File cabinet where I stash products and a dresser full of papers

Review: Queen of Shadows

Since we are packing up for the move, a lot of my unread books have already been packed away and stored in the garage of the new house.  One advantage of knowing the people you are purchasing from, but it also has its downsides.  Luckily for me though, I just got a shipment in from one of my publishers.

QUEEN OF SHADOWS is Ms. Sylvan's debut fantasy novel though she has written a couple books on pagan spirituality that I will have to check out also.  If Ms. Sylvan's books continue in the vein (pun intended) of the this first one, this is one author to watch for.

David Solomon, the Prime of the South, has a war on his hands against a guerrilla group of vampires who object strongly to his policy of not killing humans.  This battle is wearing on him and the one thing that could help would be a Queen who would share some of burden,  But the Signet, the stones who choose the Primes and their Queens, have not yet indicated that he will ever have that partnership.  Then he rescues a human empath from a group of rapists and finds himself drawn to her.

I love Ms Sylvan's vampires.  Yes they are filled with darkness yet are not necessarily evil.  And she does a wonderful job with...dare I say it...humanizing them so that her readers can easily emphasize with them.  I am really looking forward to her next book and I am hoping that she is planning a series in this world.

I rate this book a 4.3.

Directions

Image by Martin-James via Flickr


Walking around to the backyard today to get Boo, I saw a couple dragonflys.  Is this a sign?  They are the symbol for renewal, positive force and change.  And I am more then ready for a change.  It is time to bring more friends and love back into my life.  More creativity.  Adopting more green habits.


I feel that I have been lost and wandering in circles for the last few years.  Yeah I have been happy for the most part with my life but I haven't really been achieving anything.  I finally feel as though I am moving in the right direction with the new house.  I want to have a home again where people can drop by and visit.  Ever since we have moved into this house that we live in now wasn't conducive to having company.  And I admit that I can all too easily turn into a hermit.  But change is coming.

Now if only I survive the move.  I swear that I am not moving again.  Hubby can bury me in the backyard.

Tracking Series

As everyone knows, I am a huge reader.  However because I read so many different series trying to keep up with the books I have read and when the new ones were coming out was a total headache.  And I didn't always succeed so series that I loved would fall through the cracks.  That is until a friend recommended FictFact to me.  This website has to be the greatest thing for a reader since electric lighting.  All I do is add a series into the ones I am following and I get an email when the next book comes out.  And if you are unable to find a book, they are very responsive.  Just drop the owners a line and they will have the book added to their site within a couple hours.  Check it out!  It is a wonderful site.


Oh and no I don't get paid for this review.  I just wanted to let everyone know about something that has made my life easier.

Dreaming

Today is a day of dreaming.  The day isn't as hot as it has been...not really sunny but still in the 70s.  It is a day off and I am kicked back with a good cup of oolong from Canton Tea and dreaming.  Oh speaking of Canton Teas, I have been sampling some of their oolongs and have been really impressed by all of them that I have tried so far.

We are going to be moving in a couple weeks and there is so much to be done.  My dear hubby has taken the lead on the move and is right now packing things up.  We have access to the garage right now so he has been moving things over like books and bathroom stuffs that we aren't using.  Hopefully that will make the actual move easier.  Have I mentioned that I hate moving.

But I do like the dreaming.  There will be a place for a garden and I am looking forward to trying to grow some of my own food.  I want to go organic so will need a compost pile.  It is already grating on me to throw away compostable items.  But my time is coming.

We will also need some new furniture so I have been hitting Craig's List looking for a nice sectional.  I can't really see buying new when the landfills are so full.  I am need some patio furniture.  And perhaps a large BBQ as we will finally be at a place where I can have people over again.  On that note, I want to start back up the monthly potlucks that ended when a friend moved to Arizona.  No one had a big enough house.  Well that is changing.

Oh and did I mention that I will not only have a bead room but also a whole separate where I can start playing with fire.  I have always been fascinated by flame so I want to try my hand at lampworking.  Think that I will take a couple classes to see how I like it then start investing.  Oh and fusing glass and enameling.  I will find it so funny if it ends up that I enjoy making the beads more then designing jewelry.  At least now I will have the opportunity to find out.

Dreaming is so much fun and doesn't even cost a lot.  That is until I start to buy things for the new house.  I can see that I won't be hitting the slot machines for a while.

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Cutest Possum in the World?!?

Isn't it adorable?  It's a Cuscus which is the world's largest possum.  I have to admit that I am a real sucker for cute critters.   If you love animals and are interested in meeting some unusual ones, then you might want to check out this blog,

 The Featured Critter

Somedays

I really hate my job.  No I can't even say that as I do enjoy the work, the company that I work for and the people that I work with.  What I can do without is some of the stresses like will I make club after missing a couple days.   I don't regret missing the days but I do regret the stress.  There are times when I really wish that I wasn't the main wage earner in my family.  If my husband made a comparable amount then all would be well.  Or even if he enjoyed his work any longer.  He is hating it so much that I am hearing a lot about it.  I am not even sure if he is writing any longer.  And if he isn't then why is he working in a dead-end hated job.


Sigh...well tomorrow is always another day.

Review: The Protected

I had a friend at work come up to me recently telling me that I just had to read this book.  Now mind you, I have more then enough books to read but she was determined that I at least try this book.  I have to admit that I am glad that she was so adamant.

The star of THE PROTECTED is Skye Taylor.  Technically she is blind, and not just legally, yet she is able to see in full spectrum light.  After she is laid off, Skye finds herself drawn to Belfaire Washington which is definitely a one horse town.  Once there she discovers more about herself then she ever dreamed of including the fact that she isn't human.

THE PROTECTED was a very interesting read and a series that I intend on following.  There were a couple issues that bugged me such as some glitches in the content editing and the fact that it based too heavily on the Christian mythos to totally comfortable for an old pagan like myself.  But the storyline itself was good enough to overcome these niggles.

I rate this book a 3.2

Queen Boo

Queen Bella Boo

 

 

 

 

Contest: Gorgeous Artwork

Fairy Moon Creations is holding a wonderful contest for Serenade.  Isn't she gorgeous!  Be sure to click here to enter!

Minor Emergency

We had a minor emergency last night.  My Jindo decided to protect one of the cats as I was cleaning his eyes and attacked Boo who came too close.  I managed to pull Jing off right away but Boo was still hurt.  In fact, I was scared that she was going to loose an eye.  After spending several hours at the puppy emergency room, I was relieved to be told that it was only traumatic uveitis.  Good news but boy did her eye look bad.  I wish that I had taken a picture as today a lot of the swelling has gone down.  Steroids to the rescue.  She still looks miserable in her little cone.

It's cases like this that really show me where my priorities lay.  The money that I ended up spending was earmarked for a bill but I didn't think twice about spending it on my dog.  She is part of my family and my special pup.  I just want to know though why they charge $17.00 for four tramadol when you can get 90 at Target for $4.00.

Review: Thirteen Chances

I have to admit that I just love Cindy Miles' paranormal romances when I am in the mood for something different.  They almost remind me of sweet paranormal romances.  Not a lot of risque scenes, more like a book that you would hand to your thirteen year old daughter but they are so well written that adults are entranced. 

Due to bungled spell, Christian's Intended comes back to him every 72 years, they fall in love and then due to an accident, Emma dies.  This has been going on for centuries.  On this, the thirteenth go around, the Ballaster sisters, who are white witches, have become involved and are determined to break that spell and allow Christian and Emma to find true love.

This was a great read!  I just wish that I could find myself a Christian.  Ms. Miles also gives us a chance to check in on the characters from her previous books.  Oh did I mention that all of her books are connected.  If you are looking for brain candy then I can't recommend Ms. Miles' books enough.

I rate this book a 3.5

Review: Red Hot Fury

I just love it when I find new authors that kick me right in the tush, and Ms. Mackenzie has done it in spades.  Her RED HOT FURY, the first in her Shades of Fury series, is one of those books that demand attention. 

Something is just not right in the land of the Arcanes, and Fury Marissa 'Riss' Holloway is Mandated to discover just what is happening.  It all starts when the body of her best friend and fellow Fury washes up in Boston Harbor.  The only problem is that the body isn't of her best friend and instead is one of an extinct arcane race.  Now Riss has to find out what is happening and the only person that she trusts to guard her back is her ex Scott.

Riss, who is a unique and kickass heroine, is what really causes RED HOT FURY to stand apart from the rest of the paranormal romances/urban fantasies that are out there nowadays.  She is edgy and oh so gritty.  To the extent even this book is hard to classify.  There is romance so normally would fit in the paranomal romances but the grittiness is the trademark of urban fantasies.  Pick up the book and let me know where you would put it.

Oh and I rate this book a 4.25

MIA

Image by Gadget Virtuoso via Flickr

Sorry about disappearing.  I am blaming it on my husband as he introduced to an online game, Wizard101.  It is a fun mindless game that has been interfering with my blogging.  Heck it is even interfering with my email.  I promise to try to be better.  I do have a couple of book reviews to get typed up so that I can share them.

So what things that you find tend to suck time?  And I mean in a big way.  One minute it is 3 pm and the next it is 8pm.