Posts (page 2)

If you read my microblog (or follow me on FB) you already know this... Megs was in a car accident this evening.

First of all, he is mostly OK. His neck is really starting to twinge on him now that it's been like two hours. Never fear, our chiro was at where he was going... there's already a visit planned on Friday to fully check out Megs.

That said, here's the story in a nutshell. Megs was coming to our church building for a physical for boy scout camp next week. He pulled into the right turn lane and was coming up it at roughly 20/25 MPH. There was a Chevy Lumina that was sort of straddling the line and decided to pop on over into the turn lane - regardless of Megs coming.

The Chevy struck Megs on the front driver's corner. Megs said it was so bad the Chevy actually went up on the curb but somehow got turned FACING the direction it'd come from!

Megs saw someone exit the other car. He figured, "Oh this guy is coming to check out damage/exchange info." NO! The next thing he knows this bloke shoves the car off the curb and zoom... away the people went! Hit and run!

That's bogus man! Here's a nice little photo so you can see his car and where it happened.

Well we encouraged him to call the cops. Turns out a witness also called the cops. Megs had the foresight to nab the license plate as the people peeled off for parts unknown.

A fire truck and an fire/rescue came out and gave Megs a once over. The state trooper didn't sound real pleased at all and plans to find the people. There was mention of charging with felony hit and run. Let me tell you, that's someone who's gonna be having a real bad day. Woulda been better to face the music with the cops today, right?

One more look at the car:

Here's the crappy part... we JUST paid this thing off. Thankfully I still have full coverage. In VA you are required to have insurance or pay a fee. We have coverage in case these people don't have insurance. We plan to contact our provider and update them to the situation, but the trooper said to have them hold off until he gets more information.

While the airbag didn't deploy, what concerns me is how much was done. It's such a little spot, but it tore up his fender which we figure probably has to be replaced for sure. It also mucked up his hood and the front quarterpanel. Those are all so expensive. His car is a 2003 commuter POS. I'm scared this dang thing is gonna be totaled and we're going to end up in another car payment. And I don't really feel like going car shopping these days. I suppose I should grab onto my chance to stimulate the crappy car economy but you know what? I say the car companies deserve what they got. I don't WANT to stimulate them. Not until they can provide me with a product that is not only safe but also isn't detrimental to our planet. I'm sorry but 30 odd MPG is NOT good. Humph. So that's my pbbbbbt to the car people.

So, once more: There was a car accident. Megs is fine. Car is crunched but drivable. We have a witness who corroborates Megs story. We have one trooper who's hot for the perps.

What a night.

--Lady O

Yesterday I got to go see my brother-in-law get married! YAY! I'm so happy and excited and about a zillion other emotions.

What made the day the best for me was that they were married in the Temple. I know I don't post a whole lot about that sort of thing, but sit tight cause here it comes! The Temple is the most beautiful place on earth, so peaceful and quiet... so close to Heaven. There is no where on earth like it to get married, either.

In 1996, Megs and I were married in the DC Temple. At the time we had no family that could attend with us, so our guests were all friends. Some I still keep in touch with, others I do not. I dreamed of one day sitting in the Temple with family, and yesterday that dream came true for the very first time.

As Jared's only family member there, I got the primo spot beside him. I felt a little weird getting some special seat, but at the same time it was just so great to be able to sit right beside him while the officiator spoke. There was a mutual friend of his and mine, and she sat beside me.

As I looked at Rosemary's family sitting in a small cluster, I just wanted to weep for joy. There's nothing more I could have wished for Jared than to have so many loved family members beside him on his wedding day.

Weddings are more than just a man and a woman become husband and wife. They are about families being born, families being joined together, families going for generations backwards and generations forward.

Weddings are all about family. I sat in the Temple beside my brother-in-law and knew that we were forever tied as family. I looked at his bride and knew she was soon to be my new sister. Let me tell you, I couldn't have hand picked a better sister. Rosemary is just a fantastic woman and I am so excited to get to know her more over the years to come. Seeing her family, I knew we were also tied together through Jared and Rosemary.

It was nice to think of having such a large, loving family. It was great to think about how we are never really alone, that there's always someone out there on our side.

Rosemary's mother was the one that made sure I had my special seat. She didn't have to do that. I'd never met her before, but after just a few minutes to talk to her and seeing her great love for a total stranger... well I can see why Rosemary is so fantastic!

In our Temples we keep our ceremonies small. There is a simple elegance that brings tears to one's eyes. I'm not usual the sort to cry at weddings (good thing since I'm so often behind the lens of a camera these days), but I cried yesterday. I cried and I'm not ashamed of it at all!

Yesterday was probably one of the best days of my life in most recent years. The weather was just perfect and the events of the day beyond awesome.

They hired a photographer, but I got him to agree to let me chase around behind him. I got quite a few good shots, and he even let me pick out two or three poses to do with Jared and Rosemary. I hope they like my photos!

I'm not going to post them all here. You'd kill me. There's like 76 photos. Yeah. That's a lot. I know. However, I'm using this as my official announcement: I've set up a photography website. That's right, you can now have me be your official photographer. I've bought the bullet and decided to make a go for it. That's probably more scary to me than the whole wedding scene seems to others! I've put all the photos there, but you can view the blog entry/slideshow at The Emerald Lens. If you go, enjoy the show. Let me know what you think!

Meanwhile, I'll include just a few of the photographs I took here:

Oh did I forget to mention that Rosemary brings into our family an absolutely adorable little girl? My heart swoons at my newest niece!

I hope you enjoyed my rambles and gushing. And of course, my photos. I hope you have a great weekend. Tonight we're having a reception for Jared and Rosemary and we're just spending the weekend hanging out in New Jersey with the family.

As I say on my new photoblog - Have Camera, Will Travel!

--Lady O

Were you worried that I'd skipped Menu Monday this week? That bad habits had won out with my being MIA on this front for a while?

Never fear! Menu Monday is not defunct! Mostly I was holding off because I wanted to do something fun... to show off something the kids and I have created around our house!

Now, normally my Menu Monday just gives you a glimpse into our dinner entree. I leave off side dishes and other meals, mostly for the sake of time and sanity. These blog posts are long enough, don't you think?

Never fear though, we eat other things! I am a mother to two boys that were born hungry and I swear they have never been "full" in all their nearly 13 and 11 years. Oh, the life of momming to boys! Right? And yes I know... I see their ages. Believe you me, I live in fear. I heard that these years are referred to as "The Hungry Years" and when thinking "But every year has been described in that way" scares the daylights out of me.

Which is why I keep stocking up on food. I figure the vultures... uh, I mean boys... will take care of my stock piles of food in no time. Yikes.

I won't bore you with the 8000 calorie diet that I swear my kids are on. (I think that they are hobbits. They really do think they need two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, and all the snacks in between. Thank goodness for the fruit bowl! I hope my garden starts producing soon!)

Mostly we are simple with our meals. Breakfast is a mix up of oatmeal, cereal, and waffles. Lunch is an assortment of sandwhiches. Sometimes we mix things up and have muffins or soup. You know how it goes.

The boys were wanting to change things. We have a friendship with another family and they formed a little food schedule where they eat oatmeal or certain days and pancakes on certain days. So on and so forth. With a large family, you need to do things like that! My boys liked this idea but we took it a step further and decided to play on the words. What can we say? We're geeks!

So we totally stole Sundae Sunday from that family! We tried it out this week, and it was fun! Ice cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, whipped cream... all the things you forget when you have ice cream at home! My husband's reaction, "You are going to make me work at the gym!" HA!

Last week the boys and I tried "Malted Milkshake Monday" and giggled. That's a lot of ice cream, so I think that might not be a regular treat, but we'll try it at least once a month for both of those special days!

For our meals though, we came up with Tuna Tuesday (though we need to buy some Tuna to start) and Waffle Wednesday! We're trying to figure out if we want to have Souper Saturday, Souper Sunday, or keep our special days during the week. That one is coming! It's a fun way to break up the regular pace, gives you something to look forward to, and really helps with menu planning and grocery shopping!

Yesterday we debuted our first Waffle Wednesday!

That's right, I made a scrapbook page of it! I wanted so much to share photos, so I held off on posting this week!

No normal waffle could do for Waffle Wednesday. Oh no! I own that red and white checkered cookbook that half of America owns, and they have all sorts of waffle variations! We decided to try out the "chocolate waffle". The basic recipe was just enough for my starving boys, me, and two extra waffles. (For anyone wanting to know you just add in some cocoa and sugar and vanilla, while subtracting a little flour... so not too hard!) Nice!

Obviously, in the future, when we make our freezer waffles... we'll use those. But sometimes fresh is best! It was fun making a different kind of waffle!

My kitchen aides (more like "those who have taken over cooking") horned in on the action. My job was to read the instructions. Caramon and Joram worked together to add ingredients and stir. Then Joram manned the waffle maker and before we knew it... we'd experienced our very first Waffle Wednesday!

The kids reaction: We HAVE to do this every week!

I'll bet.

Fun, right?

As for dinners, I did make a plan this week and we've stuck to it! The boys got to help select a few meals, so that was fun!

Monday: Breakfast for dinner: Eggs, bacon, muffins
Tuesday: Fajitas
Wednesday: Quick meals before Scouts!
Thursday: I have a party so I need to feed them early. I'm thinking it's frozen pizza night!
Friday: Mexican Unstuffed Shells
Saturday: Minestrone Soup
Sunday: My husband flaked on the roast last week so I suppose we'll have it this week. I think he was trying to be kind to me since I was unthrilled. I'm sorry, I'm really just not a huge cow eater.

--Lady O

Oh dear, I'm playing with words and phrases. I believe this reading thing has run away with my brain!

Never fear, I will track down my brain long enough to get through this blog entry! Perhaps... You just never know with me!

To say my May was going to be busy? Understatement. BIG understatement. A look at my calendar said that I'd be in Baltimore 12 days out of 31. Oh and not in a row, either. No! That would be far too easy! Four days there, five days home... you get the idea. Sure there were going to be fun times, but where would I find the ability to read nine books?

Throughout April I hoped the May challenge would be easy. Maybe I could grab some of these little books off the shelves. Or ones I knew I could blow through fast. Yeah!

Alas, that was not to be for May's challenge. At first glance it doesn't sound too bad. One book for each year of the decade. That's easy, after all I have an entire bookcase of things to pick from. Surely I can find enough things to cover me from '01-'09!

Except I wasn't going to be home. What if I grabbed something and it didn't work out for me? I wouldn't be able to go grab something else! Yikes.

Then inspiration struck! Looking at my shelves, which were super packed, I noticed Harry Dresden taking up a heck of a lot of real estate. As it turns out, there's eleven of those books. I'd only read two. That means... NINE! But... they took up a lot of real estate... Yay! I can free up some much needed space! Yikes! How can I plow through those!

I checked the books out... more than 3600 pages. I looked at the calendar again... roughly 15 days. Nineteen if I could read on the business trip. I would have to read over 160 pages a day without fail in order to finish.

Maybe I could get by without any big projects, right? After all, my sewing would be done! Costume Con started on the 1st of May. Anything not completed for that? Tough! Too late! I didn't realize that I'd get all sucked into the joy of costuming even more at the convention. Ooops. I came home and in a fit of insanity decided I could make an entirely new costume before leaving for Balticon on May 22nd.

I'm a glutton for punishment.

I really needed to get those books off my shelves. All four were completely double stacked again. How many books do I currently have? I just counted. 244. That's right. How is this happening? I started off the year with just over 200 and I've already read over 60. Simple math says the number should be more like 140ish. How do I have 100 more books than that?

I can tell you how. Books breed like a hybrid between a tribble and a rabbit. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Of course things like "Hey hon! I'm taking two and dropping off three!" coming from my mother really not helpful to the great "get through the TBR and reclaim my bookcase" plan of 2009. On the bright note it DOES help the "I can't die if I still have books to read" plan!

Did I mention that glutton for punishment thing?

I finished two other books in May as well. See, I told you! My mother says it is the dancer in me. She claims anyone as masochistic as someone that dances on pointe has got to be a little crazy and an absolute glutton for punishment. I'd like to point (haha pun ABSOLUTELY intended) that SHE was the one who ponied up the cash and kept me going to dance classes. I blame any inanity on her. Dr Freud says that's OK.

Really, what happened was I needed something to read to tide me over until May hit and I could start working on the May challenge. I knew the Maximum Ride books wouldn't take very long so I went ahead and started it. I just didn't finish it until a few days into May. (I did mention Costume Con... right?) After finishing the Dresden books, I needed something to kind of cleanse my pallet. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them... but by the time I was done I was DONE. I just needed something to unwind and get my brain reset. You know, like smelling coffee after checking out perfumes. What better than a Jane Green book. They are fluffy, they are different, and they are QUICK. So there I was on the evening of the 31st of May zipping through a Green novel.

Because I read nine books that were all in one series, I'm going to do this entry a little different. (Besides, it's long enough already, right?) I'm going to lump them together into one review. Yay!

May 9 in '09 Challenge
2001: Grave Peril
2002: Summer Knight
2003: Death Masks
2004: Blood Rites
2005: Dead Beat
2006: Proven Guilty
2007: White Night
2008: Small Favor
2009: Turn Coat

All by Jim Butcher. These are the Harry Dresden books, The Dresden Files 3-11.

I also read:
Book 10: Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson
Book 11: The Other Woman by Jane Green

One good thing? I managed to add to my Alphabet Challenge, too! YAY! I'm nearing completion with that! I'll list it at the end under the stats for May.

Reviews:
Books 1-9: The Harry Dresden books. Harry is a PI/Wizard in modern day Chicago. Yes, wizard. Look in the phone book and you'll see one listed. Him. He's got a checkered past, as all good PI's do. He's hell(fire) on wheels. He has taken it upon himself to keep the mean streets of Chicago safe from the likes of The Godfather, I mean Marcone, as well as all manners of things that go bump in the night.

The bad thing about reading a series like that in such a little time span is repetiveness. Most series have a bit of a formula to them, and Dresden is no different. In every book his car, the Blue Beetle gets impounded. Somewhere along the way he's stomping around in his magically warded duster, throwing up a shield from his bracelet, blasting fire at something, and getting the living daylights and the snot beat out of him.

The good thing is that Butcher has a definite story arc going. While there are things you almost look forward to in each book, the characters have all developed. Time is passing in Harry's Chicago. You learn more and more about the very rich world that Butcher has set up as well as the various players in the giant chess game that is Dresden's life. There are problems that span several books. Each could stand on its own, yet there are story arcs.

I really liked that. A lot. For example, in one book, Harry burned his left hand. Bad. So bad the doctors recommended amputation. Harry, being rather attached (yes! Pun ABSOLUTELY intended) to his arm - refused! By the end of the eleventh book you can see that it has begun healing, he's even got some movement back. Sure it's not 100%, but it's slowly getting there. Another example is through several books the wizards are at battle with the vampires.

Now I must say, my favourite was Dead Beat. It was the first Dresden book I gave 5 stars to on goodreads. Why? Excellent use of necromancy on a T-Rex which was then ridden through the streets of Chicago. I mean... how do you go wrong? Sue the T-Rex really stole the show. I gotta say, my biggest complaint was Harry didn't magick her until the very end. If ever a Dresden is made into a movie... I want it to be THIS one!

Overall I'd recommend the series. I really do like how things are progressing. Characters are all growing, sometimes in surprising ways. Even the characters you think might be throw aways. You won't see them for four or five books and then boom... there they are! Complete with appropriate changes. Kudos to Butcher on that one. I stand firmly in the "Skip Storm Front" though. It was so painful I wanted to scrape my eyes out with a spork. I didn't pick up Harry again for eight years. It was so abysmal. But starting in book two, they are great and they only get better! I look forward to what happens next!

10: Final Warning by James Patterson - OK, this Max Ride book had the same humour, the same quirkyness as the other three. I love that there are new evil scientist sorts chasing after The Flock. Poor bird kids will never get any peace! But, this took a different turn. It got way too preachy on Global Warming. Now I'll admit in a heartbeat I'm a tree hugger and I hate the changes in our environment. However, it seems EVERYONE has gone all preachy and this was overly so. That aside, I did really have a good time reading it. My kids want the new book that just came out and I'll probably read it as well.

11: The Other Woman by Jane Green - Did you see Monster in Law? It's like that only set in England. The main character is actually really thrilled that her mother-in-law to be is so excited about everything! It's like having the mother she never had. The sob story is... mummy died when she was a little girl. The lesson learned is no one can replace your mother and so the poor gal starts to feel smothered. It might even ruin the marriage. I enjoyed this Jane Green book as I do all her books. There's just something about her books that make them just an absolute fun thing to read. They are perfect for a rainy afternoon. Grab a quilt, a cup of cocoa, and curl up for some reading.

There you have my reads for May 2009! Until next time, I'll leave you with the stats and update on the ABC Challenge!

Stats for May:

Books completed in May: 11
Books completed in 2009: 66
Books completed for alphabet challenge: 19

ABC Challenge Titles Read:
The) Accidental Werewolf by Dakota Cassidy
Blueberry Muffin Murder by JoAnne Fluke
Circus of the Darned by Katie Maxwell
Dead Over Heels by Mary Janice Davidson
Echoes by Nathan P Butler
Fudge Cupcake Murder by JoAnne Fluke
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
Heaven by Mur Lafferty
I Love You To Death by Amy Garvey
J
K
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder by JoAnne Fluke
My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon by Various
N
(The) Other Woman by Jane Green
Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
Q
(Doctor Who: The) Resurrection Casket
(The) Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair
Tall, Dark and Dead by Tate Hallaway
U
(The) Vampire of Venice Beach by Jennifer Colt
Welcome to the Jungle
X
Your Planet or Mine by Susan Grant
Z

See you in about a month with June's reading list! I'm hoping to break the 75 books read mark!

--Lady O

To say that my May was busy would be quite the understatement.  Sorry to hold this off a month, but I just had way too much going on.  Never fear, I have a great May reading blog post to write up as well!

I thought about doing the two months together, but it was just far too many books.  Instead, I'm going to split it up over two entries.  Because of doing that, I'm going to dispense with the Alphabet Challenge update until I write up May's later this week.

April was a great month.  I broke through fifty read books, the challenge was fun, and I enjoyed several of my reads tremendously.

For my group challenge of "9 in '09" we were challenged with picking nine different series and reading from them.  This worked real well especially after the challenge a few months ago for reading nine new authors.  My crowded bookcase has loads of different series on it, and I knew what series I wanted to hit up first. I pulled books for my list super fast and got to work.

It was hard work only because I had to finish up a quilt I'd started and work on costumes for the upcoming conventions.  But my favourite thing after a long day of work is to curl up on my sofa with a good book and a quilt.  The sad thing was I was so tired that many a night I fell asleep just like that.  Darn sofa being too comfy and quilts being too snuggley!

April '09 Challenge Reads:
1. Max Ride Book 2: School's Out Forever
2. Vampire Academy Book 1: Vampire Academy
3. Mercy Book 4: Bone Crossed
4. Accidental Book 3: The Accidental Human
5. Alpha and Omega Book 1: Cry Wolf
6. Broken Hearts Book 2: Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire
7. Study Book 2: Magic Study
8. Glass Book 1: Storm Glass
9. Doctor Who ??? Too many to count: Forever Autumn

I also read
10: Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Without further ado, here's my write up!

1. Maximum Ride #2: School's Out Forever by James Patterson - I've really enjoyed this series.  I like a good conspiracy theory, especially if it involves mad scientists.  The other thing I enjoyed about this book was that my family had read it so we got to discuss it over dinner.  Even my husband read it! There was a lot of food for thought, so it worked well for dinnertime conversation.  The story was well thought out, the voice of the main character was interesting, and though it was YA it was one that adults could read and really enjoy.

2. Vampire Academy - This was the first in the Vamp Academy series.  I struggled through the first part of it because the author pulled one of those "Dump you in on the action" starts and so I had to wait to figure out just WHY the action was happening.  This was another YA novel, but I must say that I liked it.  The vampire societies were very well thought out and I liked the idea that kiddo vamps had a private boarding school.  The real interesting thing was the taboos in the culture.  Seems that's often the thing most forgotten, but not here.  I have earmarked this series for possible future reads - should I either get a hold of the books or I finish the bookcase of books.  I'm interested to see what is going to happen with the two characters and their very symbiotic relationship.  I definitely recommend this.  Especially if you like Twilight - it's far better!

3. Mercy: Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs- OK, these books keep getting better and better.  I mean seriously.  Each book you learn more about the different paranormal cultures, the characters definitely grow/develop along the way, and the further mystery of just what is up with Mercy and Skinwalkers gets cleared up more and more.  In this book the vamps have decided they are not so keen on Mercy's past actions.  Yikes.  I do like how this very much could stand alone, however the author definitely makes sure to tie in the ongoing story arc over the books.  I'd love a look at her writing room... she most have one heck of a timeline going on!

4. Accidental: The Accidental Human - OK, these books are just outright fun. I love the BobbySue Cosmetics because it is just a riot.  Once more you have tie ins to the other books yet this one could stand alone.  In the end of the last book you could see where this one was going to start off.  What I loved about this third installment is the snagging of a MAN to spin the colour wheels.  To the author - kudos on the hitting up of the drag queen pageant for Mr Make Up's first attempt to sell the cosmetics!  I also really liked the whole OTHER side of the coin of this book. In the first two you found two normal humans having accidents and waking up paranormal.  In this one you started out with a vamp and he woke up human.  He then had to learn how to cope with being human after living la vida vamp for so long.  If you want a book sure to give you giggles... this is the one for you.

5. Alpha and Omega 1: Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs - Ok so this was kind of a cheat.  This is a book that is in the same universe as the Mercy books.  It runs along the same timeline, too.  However this jumps you to the head of the North American Werewolves.  The thing I like about Briggs is she's got the whole wolf society nailed. What else I like is she introduces the Omega.  Everyone know about Alpha - that's the top dog. All other dogs come below him. Briggs sets up an entire hierarchy which is beyond fascinating, but she throws in the Omega for fun. What's an Omega? Well, that's the fun of this book... you get to find out along with the Omega herself!  I really like this world and the only problem I had with reading this book was it wrapped up that is out... so now I have to sit around and wait for Briggs to write something else. Ack!

6. Broken Hearts Book 2: Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire - These books are quick little afternoon reads.  They are definitely "paranormal romance".  This series, though, is supremely crazy.  You have seven head vamps that each have their own super power that they pass on to their "descendants". Best of all you have a town with a large number of single parents that all managed to get vamped.  Ooops.  So now the normals have fled and the paranormal community has moved in.  They have their own base of operations, and it's in Oklahoma!  I think the wacky nature of this series is what draws me to it. That and the fact it's the perfect read for a stormy afternoon.  

7. Study Book 2: Magic Study by Maria V Snyder - I was at Balticon the year MVS won an award for her breakout novel Poison Study.  I gotta tell you MVS is not only a great lady, but a great writer.  Just so you know, the study part of the title?  It's because not only is the character learning these things, so is MVS. She spends a great deal of time educating herself.  Poison Study was horrible... never go to one of her poison tastings... HAHA Just kidding... apparently her husband has the worst job on earth - he is involved with CHOCOLATE.  MVS will actually do poison tastings that deal with trying different sorts of chocolate.  So you can experience the different textures and flavours... it's like becoming a poison taster without the worry and danger(unless you are diabetic).  In Magic Study, Yelena goes off to learn about her homeland and her magical powers.  She has to deal with people not liking her, being behind her peers, and about a zillion other problems.  I liked the look into fashions of the various people as well as everything else.  I felt this a great follow up to a really great book.  I really recommend the Study series.  

8. Glass Book 1: Storm Glass - It's another Maria book.  This is set in the same world, but it involves a character you meet in Magic Study.  What was fun about this read was it was an ARC and the book wasn't on store shelves yet!  This book was definitely geared at a younger crowd in my opinion.  It was a bit easier to read, and dealt with a few more of the schoolish problems than either of the Study books that I have read.  That aside, the story was well thought out and I really liked hearing about some of these other aspects of the magical world that Snyder created.  MVS spent a lot of time learning a lot about glass making and it shows.  I feel like I learned something from this book as well as enjoying a fantastic read.  The real bummer is I forgot to take my Arc to Balticon this year to get it autographed like I was supposed to. Gah. MVS laughed with me. Oh well... next time!

9. Doctor Who: Forever Autumn - I chose this one because I knew it was a good afternoon read and I was running out of time.  The bane of being so busy, I suppose!  I didn't budget my time well for reading this month, but that's OK.  I love Doctor Who and since we're living without the Doctor for the bulk of this year, I thought it was a good option.  I'd just come off the Easter special and was raring to go.  The bad thing was the Easter Special was AWESOME and this book's story was eh to me.  Oh well, that happens.  The sad thing is that you combine the two for a contrast and it was not good.  C'est la vie!  

10. Max Ride - Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson - I had a couple of days and so I went ahead and snagged this book.  I figured I might as well try to get through another one while I was between challenges, since the kids and Sir Megs had already read them.  This wraps up the Maximum Ride series and I really liked the outcome. Talk about interesting.  Those bird-kids really kicked some bootie!  My favourite parts were the clips of Fang's blog. Cool.  I definitely recommend the MR series to parents.  The books are clean but thought provoking. They are fun yet series at the same time.  The science is iffy yet scarily becoming something we could see happening in the not so distance future.  

My stats at the end of April were:

Books read for Challenge: 9
Books read for April: 10
Books read for 2009: 55

Not too bad, right?  It's only reading through April and I've already 55 books... yay! That's gotta help with the crazy reading list, right? That's what you think...

Watch for the May reading list!!

--Lady O

It feels like it has really been forever since I had a proper Menu Monday! Oh how I've missed it.  Mostly we were just pulling things from the freezer... my May got completely out of control with the THREE trips to Baltimore and all the sewing and reading... sheesh.  Which is why I haven't been blogging, either.

Busy busy... makes me glad for all those freezer meals!  

My husband finds himself in California this week, again.  So what do we do?  PARTY WITH GOOD FOOD!  

So is it a week of chicken?  NO!  As thrilling as that would be, (seriously, no sarcasm there!) the kids asked for fish.  Oh yes, fish is also on the "no-no" list.  Well, that's not true... fish sticks are OK.  Captain D's is OK.  Some shrimp and lobster tail - also OK.  Pretty much everything else hits the "no-no" list, I believe.

I splurged a little due to some great sales... and I have some lovely seafood for this week!

Monday - Crab Legs with Old Bay and Parmesan CousCous
Tuesday - Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday - Scouts - We're going to Noodles and Company which apparently the husband does not realy care for
Thursday - Chicken Pasta Bake
Friday - The Husband is home so I need to find something to make for him... I'm thinking fajitas.
Saturday - The kids have a party and so this one is up in the air for me because of running.
Sunday - Roast - per husband's request.

What's on your menu?

--Lady O

Caramon: Joram you don't have to mow the hill Joram: I'm not mowing the hill Caramon: Yes you are. Joram: No I'm not Caramon: Stop mowing hte hill! Joram: I'm getting this part near the hill Caramon: You don't have to do it STOP! Mom: STOP ARGUING RIGHT NOW Joram: He's yelling at me Caramon: He's mowing the hill! Mom: Caramon get in the backyard and clean it up more. Joram, what are you doing? Caramon: STOMP STOMP STOMP Joram: I'm mowing this part that's still kind of flat Mom: Joram, that is OK. Can you also get by our light post? And you don't have to do the hill. I'm just making sure you know Joram: OK MEANWHILE INSIDE THE HOUSE: Nephi: Oh look, mom abandoned her cheese sandwhich! NOMNOMNOM At least someone is well fed ;) HAHAHA BTW: Now that life is getting back to what we fondly call "normal" around these parts... expect regular blog posts again!

That's right... it's been a week of chicken! YAY! No plague edition or any such thing... it has been honest to goodness chicken! I have to tell you that I'm glad I am so stocked up in this house because last week my menu plans fell apart as I tried so hard to get ready for CostumeCon 27. My whole last month and this month have been nothing but insanity! Too many conventions so close together... my goodness. You combine it with the other things I've been doing? I'm surprised I haven't lost it. I will be posting April's reading, but as is everything else in my life - I am behind in that as well. We're going out of town again next week... but we'll see if I can get it done. At any rate, with my husband off to CA again... I determined it to be a week of chicken. I swore there would be no plague and thus far we've staved off the measles outbreak and the "swine flu" which I really believe is the aforementioned plague. But that's a whole other blog entry I don't wanna write. We rolled in from CostumeCon Monday evening and the first thing upon the return to town - see the Chiropractor. Oh man did he work me over, too. I plan to see him Friday. I needed to get in Wednesday but just couldn't cope... too much to do! From there we dropped mum's kimono off for display at the store she bought the fabric. Then I let her off and unpacked her part of the van. From there it was pick up the dog and figure out dinner. We got to Giant and guess what? They had one of those precooked chickens mislabeled to 3.79 and the store gave it to me for that price! Schweeet! So we ate just some straight up chicken with mac and cheese and collapsed. From there our adventure continued. Monday: Chicken and Macaroni & Cheese with side salad. Tuesday: Chicken and Dumplings (MY FAVOURITE! I <3 C&D so much and never ever get it!) Wednesday: We had coupons to ChickFilA and I'd had a bad evening so we ate there - still chicken! Thursday: We made a broccoli, pasta, cheese, and chicken bake. Yum! Friday: There's still the carcass and a little bit of chicken left. We might make a soup again though last time it seemed to be lacking something. Or we'll do something else. Anyone have creative chicken ideas for us to try? Leave a comment! Please!!! That is really not too bad for a week of chicken. The husband comes home LATE tomorrow night. I'm not sure what we'll eat on Saturday. Actually that might be the night my parentals take us to dinner for my birthday since we'll be out of town on Monday. If so, where should I choose to go? Seafood? Be "evil" and ask for Famous Dave's BBQ even though the husband can't stand the place? Italian? On Sunday we leave again for Baltimore. I tell you this is just too much. My time in between trips is a whirlwind of trying to get the laundry done, the housework/yardwork done, and etc. I can't seem to get to quite everything! Yikes. We will be in Baltimore from Sunday through Wednesday. For that reason there will not be a menu next week at all. Thursday through Sunday I'll just be pulling out freezer meals. Maybe the meals I didn't make last week? I kid you not, we'll be leaving the following Friday for Baltimore again! It's not a week in May '09 if we're not in Baltimore! HA! For those wanting to know about CostumeCon 27 - I'm posting pictures on my Facebook. Once I get done with ALL the photos in albums for each contest, I'll chose the best and post them to my flickr. (On LJ there is a flickr RSS feed journal.) As for Ravencon - that was great! I won Best In Show for my costume and got TONS of recordings for Quoth the Raven (subscribe in iTunes) podcast. I'd have had an issue this week but my voice was super rough all week from two back to back conventions. I'm gonna try to go ahead and release episode 3 next week though I am unsure what the internet will be like where we are going. What do you think of my week of chicken? We've loved it! I'm still thinking about tomorrow. Maybe we should go for bbq chicken? I just don't know! As for my husband's NEXT trip? Should we do a week of fish? What wacky food experiment should we try? Give me ideas! I have NO idea when it will be, but if I get ideas now then I bet we could be totally prepared! I hope your cooking adventures have been awesome. Sorry I haven't blogged as much - it's just been insane! I've finished a quilt, got my garden going outside, made two costumes, and 2/3rds of the way through a third, and have taken two trips with two more still to go, read ten books, and absolutely lost my mind. Oh and did I mention I'm trying to read 9 Harry Dresden books in May? I did the math. It's like 3733 pages I believe which I figured out to mean I have to read 161 pages a day in my days home... I'm 150 pages behind for today so I'm off to read before bed. Good grief! --Lady O

Ravencon was this weekend with the usual fun and festivities. For two years I've been on the staff and among other things I've contributed a cake for the weekend.

Each year the cake ends up with an interesting story. The first year we had the icing that would not make and when I finally got the cake decorated I was so tired I decided the word 'raven" should have an 'o' in it. What a debacle! The second year I made two cakes so that the con chair could have a birthday cake, but then they were not brought out so we used them as dessert for the "dead dog" party.

This year I wanted to make something real special. Sure the birthday cake for Con Chair was special, but this year we had a bigger birthday. Poe's 200th birthday falls this year, and that means we should do something extra special for our Ghost of Honour.

I really wanted to come up with something and I was playing with various ways to use a raven. I thought about shaping the cake like a raven, but that is a little above my skills. My ability to draw is nonexistent, and that makes patterns hard to come by.

I talked to my friend who's decorating skills are far above mine. She brought up fondant, which I've never had the chance to work with. I thought it would be fun and I could learn about fondant. I ended up going to her house and we set to work on two cakes.

I don't make a lot of cakes from scratch. If I have my choice, I like Duncan Hines mixes because they are not only very delicious, but very moist. Unfortunately with very moist comes the tendency for cakes to crack.

In the end she said that fondant was not the way to go because it really shows every flaw. So no using fondant this time. Maybe next?

Well, she brought out a cake leveler which I'd also never used. I need to get one of those!! It's awesome! I've never used one, so that was real cool.

She also had the recipe for a dark chocolate frosting so made that up. We ended up in the kitchen making this cake that became more epic as the minutes went by.

So in the end I ended up with this cake:

Doesn't that look great? Very pretty. I'm grateful for the help and company. I need to get that dark chocolate icing recipe!

Hauling this mountainous cake into the hotel, I think I may have burned four times the average calories while walking due to the extra weight. In the words of our con chair, it felt like "an anvil". Oh yeah.

Once more the cake ended up at our "dead dog" party. This time by design. When the top came off the oohs and aahs went out. At the same time the jokes started flying about how large this cake was. Watching the man cutting the cake struggle to cut the cake we saw the personality come forth... it was menacing in its demand to be eaten.

This is the cake that ate Richmond - starting with the staff of Ravencon 2009. Oh no, we did not eat it. It ate us.

Oh yes, I survived the cake of 2009.

What shall I do to top that in 2010?

So this week's menu Monday is pretty dodgey. Frankly, so was last week. You know how it is when you are out of town.

Monday: We had pizza. I was still recovering.
Tuesday: Mexican UnStuffed Shells
Wednesday: Scout Court of Honour - We'll find something quick before arriving!
Thursday: Spaghetti

Friday-Monday we're going to be at Costume Con with my mother. I don't know what the hotel offers or the area. So there's no way for me to plan. I'm going to try to find what I can take that doesn't need refrigeration or microwaving.

Next week, however, is going to be CHICKEN WEEK! That's right, Megs is supposed to go to California on Sunday and not get back till late late late on Thursday.

Until next week... happy eating!

--Lady O

Menu Monday is late this week, again. I actually had something cool to write about, but the pictures are taking a lot of post-processing. I went to an event that was beyond awesome, but the light levels were exceedingly low.

Thus I decided to continue on with my menu plan and just blog about the activity later. Once I finish up with the photos.

The other thing mucking up my regularly scheduled menu planning is my husband's canceled trip to CA. As I mentioned before, I planned out a nice huge menu for weeks. This week was a second try for the week of chicken.

Is my attempt to eat chicken to be perpetually mucked about with? I mean seriously! Last month it was the plague. This month? Some slackers didn't realize that this was Easter weekend (uh it was for the weekdays so I am not seeing the big deal) and some people weren't prepared (must be nice not to have to work in this economy) so the meetings in CA - canceled! No! I screamed. I need my week of chicken! I already bought chicken!

Now some would say, "Keep the week of chicken. Make Megs suffer through!" Perhaps I should. However, I am nice. (Ok, truth? I just don't want to deal with a week of grumping or him eating fast food since that's his real answer.)

I spent some time readjusting Ye Olde Menu. Now I have Nouveau Menu! Menu the Redo!

Meanwhile I am hoping for another trip to California so I can have my week of chicken! Or fish! Fancy sauces! You know, all the yummy food out there I can't normally make.

I did keep two meals. Guess someone will have to cope. Good thing we always have peanut butter and jelly!

Monday: Pizza Uncrustables - Yes we reheated these treats! They were fantastic!!!
Tuesday: BBQ Lil Smokies with Cheesey Broccoli and Rice - mmm so good! The kids and I love these! BBQ and Lil Smokies are no-nos. Megs ate Chipotle
Wednesday: Dunno - hubby's choice (Who bets Taco Bell?)
Thursday: Mexican UnStuffed Shells - a new one... one of my freezer meals. I think Megs will love this!
Friday: Chicken Macaroni Bake - Shhh chicken is a no-no. But I don't care. Oz needs some freaking chicken!
Saturday: Butterfly Shrimp - I'll probably bake our fries we made up and froze to go with this. Sounds good, right? Fries and shrimp? LOL
Sunday: Lasagna - it's a family favourite and we have this new recipe to try. Gonna have my nice freezer meal for Sunday! Sundays are hard because we come home from church and eat at like 2:30 and then we aren't hungry till late so we get lost in family time. Then we are dealing with what to do because food takes too long and whatnot!

So there you have it! It might not be a week of chicken, but I suppose I will survive. However next time? Megs better take his trip or he might end up with a week of chicken to suffer through!

--Lady O