The Witchling - My Conclusion

Please note the title says "My Conclusion" not the conclusion, my conclusion. My conclusion is I can't finish the book, it is too awful. It has been so long since I abandoned it that I can't remember why I abandoned it. I have vague memories. I didn't like the heroine, any of the heros, or the heroine's sisters. I was only mildly interested in the plot.  I just couldn't get on her team. It was well written with a number of beautiful details and great language.

Books I enjoyed last week

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My leisurely life of reading and snacking is over. Yes, that's right, I get to go back to work on Monday (finally!)! I am part-time until Wednesday when I hope the doctor will say I can go back full time.  Keep your fingers crossed! Last week, I did quite a bit of reading. Here are the grades with extended reviews likely to come soon on a few of them.

• James Patterson's I, Alex Cross, ~ decent read. ~ B/B+
• Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant's Steamed, Simmer Down, Turn Up the Heat, and Fed up. ~ B/B+
• Kate Carlisle's Homocide in Hardcover ~ A-/A
• P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast Tempted ~ A+
• J. R. Ward Covet - A
• Tanya Huff's Blood Lines & Blood Pact (read The Enchantment Emporium a week or so back, that one was an A+) ~ A
• Jennifer Crusie The Cinderella Deal ~ A

The reviews will have to be from memory and with some help from plot summaries online.  I want new books and can only have 50 out at a time.  I still have a few books to finish and Kate & Mom always get books too.

Before I can go to the library, I have to finish this week's menu and grocery list.  Last week, we strayed from the menu.  We are getting back on course and trying some new recipes!

25 Hour Books has moved!

With all of my design and re-design drama, I lost some links so I was very glad when Amanda over at Redefinition Mission had a 25 Hour Books post.  I had forgotten I had lost it!  Well, good thing she posted it, because I would have missed the cool give away!  Tara is giving away a bunch of stuff, books, tea, gift cards, mugs! Woo hoo!  Visit, read, enter.
{Time for bed folks! More tomorrow!}

Tulip vs. Cat

Naughty cats:

I found this all over my living room this morning.  Apparently this tulip offended my cats in the middle of the night.

The animals and I had a very restful day.  I finished Tanya Huff's Blood Trail (Book 2 in the series) and Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.  I think I enjoyed Blood Trail more because it took less work.  The Lost Symbol was a good read.  Thick, long, but a good read.  Parts of it were predictable.  **SPOILER** I don't know at what point I figured out who the bad guy was in relation to our main characters but it was quite a bit before the end of the book.  While it was obvious it wasn't as bad as other bad guy mystery identities.**END SPOILER**

I am feeling too tired to do a real review of either book, but I would recommend both.

Tonight we are working on this month's Daring Baker challenge for the big reveal tomorrow.  I've noticed on the forums that some folks get their challenge done right away.  It does not appear as though I will be that kind of a daring baker.

Last summer, we hosted an band and orchestra group from Germany through Blue Lake Fine Art Camps international programs.  I am being asked to do so again and feel torn. The only reason it worked is because we were able to connect with a vibrant and well-connected high school junior who made stuff happen.  I am just not confident that I know enough people in town to make it happen without her connections.  Plus, I am practicing not committing to as much as I normally do (not liking at all by the way).  If your community has the opportunity or you are interested and in the mid-west (MI, OH, IL, WI, etc), let me know, I'll hook you up with the organizers and then I won't feel bad for not doing it. :)

I have been meaning to write about the horrible SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FTC since it came out.  It was just a surprising decision when you take out who voted for which side.  Basically, corporations have more "free speech" rights than individuals.  Money == speech and corporations are people.  Corporations have been people for a while, but limited people.  They can't vote, they have to exist for a purpose, they have restrictions. Slate.com's David Kairys discusses the fundamental flaws in the decision in his article Money Isn't Speech and Corporations Aren't People.  Mother Jones also has an article about the decision.  Even food bloggers are dismayed upset outraged by the decision. Thankfully, smart people are trying to devise work arounds for us.  Hopefully, they will be well thought out.


Other political action: Jon Stewart scolds Keith Olberman, excellent piece, I do so hate it when liberals become like the right-wing talking heads (just name calling and hate spewing, no real arguments, etc.)



I know that other political stuff is going on, but this is all that is striking my fancy tonight.

Tomorrow will be the big reveal for this month's Daring Baker!

A busy day!

Today was my busiest day all week! I made my own lunch and dinner, did some dishes, watched Sanctuary and Fringe, and made some homemade chocolate peanut butter pudding. Now I am getting ready to head to bed for the night after I finish watching Iron Man.  I love Robert Downey Jr. and cannot wait for Iron Man II.  May 7 cannot come fast enough!

The recipe comes from my Better Homes & Gardens 75th Anniversary Edition New Cookbook, page 255. Well, it started out their recipe, the peanut butter part was all me {although, you may have guessed that by my unit of measure - globs}. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder or unsweetened cocoa powder*

2 2/3 cups milk

4 beaten egg yolks

2 globs of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy your pick, I go with creamy)

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Separate and beat 4 egg yolks in a small bowl.

2. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine sugar, chocolate, and cornstarch.  Whisk in milk.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thick and bubbly.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes more.  Remove pan from heat.

3. Gradually stir 1 cup of milk mixture into egg yolks. Add egg mixture to milk mixture in pan.Bring milk mixture to a gentle boil; reduce heat.  Cook and stir for two minutes more. (I totally forgot this step - that being the gentle boil.)

4. Remove pan from heat.  Stir in butter, peanut butter, and vanilla.  Pour pudding into a bowl.  Cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap.  Serve warm or cold.  Do not stir during chillings.

*it is possible I accidentally used 2/3 of cup, I can't remember now, the recipe calls for 1/3 of cup. 

Book Review ~ Smash Cut
While in the hospital, I finished up Sandra Brown's latest book, Smash Cut.  Amazon.com indicates the book had good reviews.  I found it to be a slow read.  It was 367 pages long.  I figured out who the bad guy was pretty quickly, I don't think it was supposed to be a secret.  Then the rest of the book was watching the main characters figure out who done it and figure out how they were going to catch him.  Pretty slow going, then the twist in the end, weird.  **SPOILER** I mean really, Paul was okay with people thinking he was having an affair with his daughter rather than let on that he was her father. Their weekly meetings in a hotel room?  She didn't want to dishonor her adopted father so she hid her relationship with her biological father?  Don't make a lot of sense to me.  Also if Paul was the honorable man she kept making him out to be, he would have disinherited Creighton a long time ago.  I know that both of those twists were supposed to keep us guessing but they were a bit much.  Julie had no reason for keeping it from Derek either.  The inheritance maybe but the relationship, no, not really. **END SPOILER**  I would give the book 2 1/2 out of 5. I finished it  because I couldn't leave the hospital and get a better book from the library.  Plus, I started it and I hate not finishing a book.

p.s. if anyone out there knows how to fix my dateline, please let me know, it is starting to annoy me to enough to leave blogger. . .

Books, Pictures, Life, & Stuff

I have been enjoying some good books this past week.

Day 0015

Last night, I read MaryJanice Davidson's Undead and Unwelcome. It was a good, quick read. I liked where MJ took the story with Betsy's sister & half-brother. This is book 8 in the series so you might want to read a book or two prior to this one. If you like the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, I think you'll like the Undead and . . . series by MJD.


I just saw that Charlaine Harris has a new book coming out in November in Grave series. I am really looking forward to reading this!

Most  of my pictures for the last few days are on my camera which died last night.  Here is last night's picture.

Day 0014

The baby, I snapped this picture of her after my camera died.  I love my iPhone but it sure is hard to get that dog to be still.

Day 0012
I originally checked this out for a dessert night fundraiser for Kate's choir.  Then I got sick and didn't make anything.  Mom made her delicious Scotcheroo's.  I took the picture because I was going to return it and wanted to make a note of the book to re-check it out at a better time. I decided to keep it so that I could make Intense Chocolate Mousse Cake (recipe by Nigella Lawson)

I can't wait to make this.  The picture in the book is delicious!  I might try to make it this weekend.  Or for work tomorrow because we have a work birthday this weekend. 

I need to make a page that is a slideshow or otherwise puts the pictures in order. 

J. R. Ward

I am a big J. R. Ward fan. She has her critics, but I love her stories and her style.  I just saw an ad on hulu for her new book series.  I am definitely going to be finding and reading it!

Myths about the Civil War & Abe Lincoln

I have been listening to Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is really a good book and the reader is doing a great job. I remember always hearing that (1) the civil war wasn't really about slavery, it was about economics, and (2) Lincoln wasn't really against slaverly. I'm not sure where exactly I've heard these theories. Actually, those are both wrong. Lincoln was very much against slavery and his biological parents were both anti-slavery. And there was much, much contenious debate for decades prior to the civil war over the slavery question. The primary issue of contention was whether slavery could be allowed in the new states.

It is really a great book because she uses a good deal of source material to tell us about Lincoln's path to the White House and about the lives and histories of his cabinet members who had been his political rivals for the White House. I am only on Disk 9 of 36, but I am really enjoying it and learning quite a bit.

The Beer Summit & Why Vampires Never Die

An article on the "Beer Summit" from the NYTimes. I admire the way all parties involved are handling the incident. I think we could all learn a great deal from their example.

An op-ed piece on the allure of the vampire by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Who doesn't love a good vampire story?

Library

I really love our local library. I mentioned earlier that I check out Joy of Cooking and Sandra Lee's Cooking 3. My complete library list:

• Ethical fundraising : a guide for nonprofit boards and fundraisers / Janice Gow Pettey, editor.
• Black tie optional : a complete special events resource for nonprofit organizations / Harry Freedman
• Road to Wellville / T. Coraghessan Boyle.
• The Moneypenny diaries / edited by [i.e. written by] Kate Westbrook.
• Jane Austen ruined my life / Beth Pattillo.
• Turn coat : a novel of the Dresden files / Jim Butcher.
• The talent code : greatness isn't born, it's grown, here's how / Daniel Coyle.
• The search / Christiane Heggan.
• Blood dreams / Kay Hooper.
• Out of time / by Samantha Graves.
• Dead beat : a novel of the Dresden files / Jim Butcher.
• Small favor : a novel of the Dresden files / Jim Butcher.
• Grease [sound recording] : the original soundtrack from the motion picture.
• Blink : the power of thinking without thinking / Malcolm Gladwell.
• Team of rivals [sound recording] : [the political genius of Abraham Lincoln] / Doris Kearns Goodwin.
• The devil's eye / Jack McDevitt.
• When Bruce met Cyn--- / Lori Foster.
• Manhunting / Jennifer Crusie.
• Pippi Longstocking [sound recording] / Astrid Lindgren.
• Joy of cooking / Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker ; illustrated by John Norton
• Semi-homemade cooking 3 / Sandra Lee.

Annoyingly, when I got home I started Manhunting and discovered I had already read. I was reading Dead Beat until I was distracted by Realm of Empires on facebook which led to being distracted by hulu. I am planning to do a review of Dead Beat when I finally get it finished. It is so far a good book.