Clicks and Clatters

It's baking week at my house! I love November and December for all the cooking. I hate it for the weight flux, but I'll deal. :)

I'll be around off an on, but I have writing and baking to do! Wahoo!!!

~J

So the kitten went in and got spayed.  She was not overly pleased with this, but suffered going to the vet in relative silence.  However when Daddy went to pick her up she heard his voice from the back room and started YEOWLING her need to be with Daddy RIGHT NOW.  The poor vet techs couldn't get her back in Daddy's care fast enough.  She's home now and spending her time sleeping.  Pictures later.

My TBR pile is getting scary these days so I'm taking some time to pound through some of the books I've got.  More reviews showing up over on Realitybypassbooks.com. 

Jana

I find it amusing that my desk is where people come when they need odd things.  Requests today:  tylenol, gum, a plastic spoon and cleaning wipes.  Even more amusing is that I had all of those things here.  Maybe there's a cause effect relationship going on there.

In other news I am pondering the idea of NaNoWriMo as a way to force myself to focus on something.  It's been really hard the last two weeks and I find myself going back to old stupid habits of too much internet time versus how much gets done.  Points to ponder.

Jana

Much to my sorrow our winners for The Mermaid's Madness, On the Edge and Succubus Blues never wrote in.  So we drew new ones.  If you came to the Birthday Contest at Reality By Pass Books, please pop over and see if our new winner is you!

Winners!

Thanks,
Jana

I have the strangest desire to buy a pair of red shoes.  I have NO idea why it is that I think I need red shoes.  I don't have any particularly red outfits....maybe it's the fall leaves which are driving my shoe fetish.

Maybe my feet are possessed.

Stranger things have happened.

Jana

It's my birthday soon and my husband has planned many fun things.  I'm rather excited, truth told.

Because of this I'm running a Birthday Contest over at the other blog (Reality By Pass Books) to win copies of On the Edge, by Ilona Andrews and The Mermaid's Madness by Jim C Hines.  

Go check it out.  :)  Shameless plug here, but I'm giving BOOKS away!

Jana

I have a severe problem with the word 'No'.  It's an odd problem to have.  I don't have an issue saying No to the cat when she's into the garbage, or No I will not jump out of a perfectly good airplane.  However, when someone asks me to do something to help them, particularly someone I care for or someone I connect with I struggle to form that two letter word.  I can always think of someway I can squeeze just one more request into my day....just one more little thing.  I'm an idiot, but we all have our crosses.  I'm not sure where I picked up this psychosis, though I'm fairly sure some of it is nature, some of it came from my mother and the rest I blame firmly on a 4-H brainwashing session.  Yes, 4-H brainwashing.  They haul you into a room when you're an impressionable teenager and talk to you about leadership and standing out in the community.  Be a good Leader, be a good Follower, but don't be a Roadblock.  Lead, Follow or get out of the way.  Then they teach the phrase, "I'll do it!" and it goes with a hand raise.  And you practice this over and over.

"Who'll be a strong leader?"

"I'll do it!"

"Who'll help set up the fair?"

"I'll do it!"

"Who'll eat the cookies at the back of the room?"

"I'll do it!"

Three days of leadership brainwashing stuck.  Now many years later someone starts calling for help and often my hand is half raised before I even know what they want.  Truthfully I think more of our youth could use that kind of happy brainwashing, but I digress.

Marrying my sweetie has helped with this a lot, cause he'll sit on me and make me practice the word 'no.'  Just cause I am capable of doing something, doesn't mean I have to, or even that I should.

In the universe of writing my I'll do it syndrome manifests in another way.  I see agents asking for a particular type of submission and I think.  I'll do it!  I know I can, but then that thought must be balanced with...it still takes time to do it, and you are working on 5 other projects right now.  Knock it off.  So I just keep my head down and plow on what's in front of me, hoping eventually it will come to fruition and find a home.  Even though I keep the "i'll do it" ideas in a happy little folder because maybe someday I will.

So for now Misery is my I'll do it, and In the meanwhile I have a tie to sew, two costumes, a 40 hour a week day job....the list goes on.  I'm still not very good at no.

But I'm getting better.

Jana

It’s a cold bleak kind of Wednesday around these parts.  The first big storm of the fall season is pounding down on us and looks like it’ll keep it up for the rest of the day and stay cold from here until sometime in March.  I have a love hate relationship with this time of the year.  I hate being cold, but at the same time I love the feeling of the whole world being close and cozy.  It makes me want to curl up with good books, hot chocolate and a warm blankie…a warm husband is pretty dang nice too, but I digress.

Today’s book up for review is The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.  I was introduced to this one through a book club, though now that I’ve read it I want to know how I missed it earlier.  Book two of the series, it’s scheduled to be three books long, is called Catching Fire and recently released.  Book three is scheduled for Septemberish 2010.

The Hunger Games is a near future science fiction/survivalist story, though I’m not sure either of those terms really fully wraps around everything this book is about.  It’s young adult friendly and the protagonists are both teenagers, but I’d prolly lean towards 14+.  My friends called it a ‘girl book’, but I think there’s plenty of action and smartness which would appeal just as well to the male of the species.

The Hunger Games is a story about the teenager Katniss who lives in the impoverished District 12 in the country of Panem, a dystopic nation which exists where the US once did.  The 12 Districts are kept under control by the Capitol district where the wealthy and affluent use technology and social training to keep the haves and the have nots far apart.  Rebellion has happened before and been harshly put down.  As a result of the previous rebellions there has also been the creation of a yearly televised tournament in which two teenagers from each district are forced to fight to the death.  For the winner, and their district, there are great rewards.  The losers often don’t even have a body sent home.

Katniss isn’t selected for the games, but when her sister is she volunteers to go in place.  The games require every survival instinct she has and every trick she can come up with, even if that means playing to the crowd when she’s not sure of her own feelings, particularly when it comes to her male counterpoint from District 12, Peeta, a boy who has saved Katniss before and is trying to do so again.

The book was brilliant in the way it explored the themes of mass media and control of the population, as well as just how far one would go to survive.   The politics come fast and heavy, even though the book itself focuses on the games and how they’re played.  Nothing is without a double meaning and the cameras are always watching.  Katniss is prickly, but also has beautifully caring moments where I found myself really rooting her on and wanting her to succeed.  Peeta I loved from the get go…particularly when he comments that he wants to die who he is and never let the games change him into a monster.

There are some pretty gruesome deaths and injuries in this book, though they’re dealt with very tastefully.

I’m likely going to purchase both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire in hardback, which is likely the strongest recommendation I can give it because I don’t usually buy hardback, but I don’t want to wait!

Jana

Genre:  Science Fiction/Survival

Age:  14+

Content: violence, mild romance – kissing

Overall: 5  paws

Dear Husband picks up the kids and one of their friends.  Then he calls me to tell me when he'll be here.  Oldest Boy immediately groans and tells his friend, "Don't listen to them, they talk all romantic and baby talk to each other.  It's GROSS."

So yeah...we're gross.  Hah!

In other news review of Shadowlight by Lynn Viehl right over here.


~J

I have been cooking since I was about 3...  My mother would let me sit on the counter and help dip chicken to be fried, or roll out pie dough.  I love cooking and I am generally NOT a kitchen idiot.  Well...last night I was.

It seemed like such a good idea at the time.  Come home from work, make a batch of salsa and start using up the bushel of tomatoes I bought.  I had some mile peppers from the store, mild peppers from my best friend and a bag of jalepenos.  My culinary know how instructed me to be careful about the pepper juice, cause I know it burns.  I had gloves and figured I'd pop them on for the hot jalepenos and just quickly seed and toss the rest into the food processor.  This worked fine for the peppers from the store.  However the home grown peppers had been sitting for a while, and in the sitting had built up heat something my brain didn't consider until I felt the first burning in my fingertips.  No problem thinks I, just a good scrub in baking soda and it will be fine.  So I finished getting the batch on the stove and scrubbed my hands down.  No relief.  Soaked in milk.  Nothing.  Butter.  Ouch.  Peanut butter. Sticky.  Held ice cubes and watched them melt...relief.  Sitting there rubbing ice cubes I figured out that I'd made a couple of critical mistakes.  Mistake the first was that I'd been processing peaches for two days before doing the salsa, this work had stripped away the top layers of skin and natural oils which usually give me hands of steel.  Mistake the second was underestimating the peppers.  I know home grown peppers are often hotter, particularly here in Utah where the water levels are different, but I wasn't thinking.  Mistake the third was waiting until I'd finished the salsa to start rinsing.

I sat and rubbed ice for 8 hours while pondering these mistakes.

Gloves...wear gloves...

Jana

Things are going better writingwise.  I'm forcing myself to work for an hour a night without distraction then whatever I want after that with distraction.  It's still not a perfect system, but it's helping.  I get all internet addicted and at a certain point have to pry my browsers away from facebook/mushes and other fun bits.  I think soon I'm going to acquire a laptop that is for writing only and has no network card.  :P  Yes, I'm weak, but I can do something about it.

In other news our kitten is getting huge, so I thought I'd share a picture.  Her spots are becoming more distinct as she ages though the energy level hasn't come close to tapering off even though she's currently sprawled across my lap fast asleep.  That won't last.


Mystique



Jana

Though getting out of bed this morning was murder.  :P

Things which got done this weekend:

Attended two days of the Timpanogus StoryTelling Festival
Church and all the Primary children survived
Read two books
Wrote a bunch
Cuddled with Husband
Made  Cinnamon Rolls
Relaxed

I lurve long weekends.  I have new ideas and a lot of new get up and go.  It's a good thing.

Jana

I'm unsure as to how it got to be September already.  It seems like the summer just took off without asking permission and now it's gone!  Not that I mind things getting a little cooler and fall like.  I'm very fond of autumn.

A bit over a week ago my husband's car got smunched.  Two days ago we got him a new one and traded in my old junker for a sweet little Ford Focus.  I really like this car.  It has varoooom!

In other words I just started Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series and I'm kicking myself for not having started it forever ago.  I like the voice, I like the world she's created.  I see a trip to the bookstore in my future.

And a meeting...so I must go be a good worker bee.

Jana

Today I got a new fridge and a new dishwasher!  I am such a happy woman.  There is much joy in my house.  Well...joy for the people anyway.  The kitten had to be confined to her room while the nice delivery men where hauling things around and she cried and hissed and is still kinda mad at me.

In other news today I'm linking to myself!  Hah...how's that for avoiding repetition?

Today I made Banana Bread and I think it turned out really pretty.  It's a high altitude recipe so the liquid to levening to dry ingredient porportions are a little different.  Here's the recipe link.

And I finished reading The Iron Hunt, by Marjorie M Liu, which I loved.  So review link.

Time to put all the food back in the fridge!

Hooray!

Jana

My husband's beautiful Impala was recently turned into scrap metal when a much larger truck ran into him.  There is much sorrow at our house as he mourns his baby car.  Worse is the process of fighting with insurance and trying to get a new one.  We're no good at being a one car household these days, as our individual places of employment are on opposite sides of the known universe.  We visited three dealerships yesterday and heard the same thing over and over...  Last week they had cars in our price range. This week they have...umm...  A very nice 40,000 Corvette.  Pretty, but not going to get the job done. 

Oh well.

I'm also pondering getting a new laptop which is just for writing.  This computer would not be allowed to be attached to the lovely, distracting web and used only for work.  I must wean myself off of the joy of blogs, and email and IM when I'm trying to get stuff done!  Wish me luck.

Jana

It's been a rough few days.

My DH has been sick for almost two weeks now.  Just when it looked like he was getting better...he caught something else.  The poor man is miserable.

Then to add insult and injury yesterday a Ford pick up truck ran into my husband's car, while he was driving it.  The car is totaled, he's all scratched up and is missing the skin in the middle of his forehead.  So now he's really really miserable.

Then there's me...I am queen of procrastination right now.  I know what I need to write.  I'm just having a million and one reasons not to syndrome.  I need to just set the timer and get going.  Maybe if I do that with my housework too I'll be able to get my brain together.  :)

Weekend away!

Jana

This weekend was a local holiday and I ended up doing bbq with friend and family and playing with fireworks.  My kids had a better time with melting plastic soldiers with the fireworks and I had Toy Story flash backs.

Writing wise I accomplished a bit old nooooothing, which I must make up to myself today.  Stuff to do doncha know.

In other news I don't understand the popularity of medicating our children to death.  It boggles my brain to see the number of kids who are being 'diagnosed' with one thing or another all in the name of giving them medication which will force them to be calm.  Kids just being kids and being adventurous and bold and imaginative isn't allowed anymore.  Instead we must medicate everyone until they all act the same and parents don't have to worry about being parents because the medication fixes everything.  Blah and fie.  It's not healthy.

It does, however, give me ideas for a creepy short story.

I guess writers are weird that way, everything is inspiration.  Though maybe that makes me out of the normal too...medication for everyone!

Jana

Once upon a time, back in college, I got into sword fighting.  I learned to use live steel and to do a lot of practice work with foam padded weaponry.  I ran a kingdom of about 70 folks and loved it for years.  As I've gotten older I've given up on being there every week, running events and trashing my poor knees, but I still have a love for the sport of it.  I made foam practice weapons for my sons and we chase each other around the yard.  It's exercise, but fun exercise.  Sooo...this brings me to the wimps.  The men where I work have heard tell of the swords and sword fighting.  There has been boasting and carrying on.  Today I brought the swords in for the work BBQ.  The only fighting that was seen was the swords being used to try to swat wasps out of the air.  When challenged they all had something to eat, somewhere to be, or it was 'time to clean up.'  I'm amused and annoyed all at once, but it reminds me of folks in some of the books I've read lately.  Lot of talk and not much action covered several folks in Bone Crossed and in Prey, and I'm not sure how I feel about it just yet.  It's a valid character type, as demonstrated by my reluctant coworkers, but is it bravery or stupidity that moves one from standing back and watching to action?

In other news the writing projects are puttering along.  CoWritten Instinct has gained pages lately.  My rewrite of Misery may be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.  Whispers is nearly re-edited for the third time.  And my new WIP which has no name is 4300 in.  Many other ideas are bubbling on the back burner and all have their folder and a notes page for stuff to be stuck onto as needed.  It's a good way to go, I think.  Just wish I had more time to spend at it, but I'll survive.

Book reviews for Prey, Bone Crossed, Street Magic and Amazon Ink coming soon.

Jana

3000 words in the last three days.  Really in the first two since last night was a brain storming night.  This makes me happy.

In other news Pirates Booty cheesy puffs may be the perfect food for munching while writing.  They're low calorie rice poofs that have a nice crunch and I'm totally addicted.  My poor husband didn't even get any of the first bag we bought.  I may not share the second either.

In other other news our kitten has settled in and decided she likes this home and peoples.  She knows where the litter box lives and pounces everything in her vicinity until such a time as she's tired then she demands a lap.  I'll put up pictures soon.

Thank goodness for Friday.

Jana