and oh, after taking vacation I didn't put some of my more important yahoo groups back on email notifications, and there were a bucket load of books that came available this week.  crapcrapcrap....I mean woohoo, really, but crap too....gotta go buy and find time to read.

A great big THANK YOU!  to Erastes.  (ha! you did remember! )  I received via Airmail yesterday a lovely surpise...an envelope full of magnets and post cards from Erastes.  I loved the regency Standish.  I haven't as yet read Speak Its Name....but oooooo, I might have to take a pic of the fridge with all my lovely magnets.

 

So, it's easier to read the MS Reader files on the old IPAQ then it is to read the Adobe pdf files on the laptop....so, even though my last post listed 3 books on my TBR pile, I ended up reading one that was on my IPAQ first....(still haven't replaced the IPAQ)

The Elegant Corpse by A.M. Riley  - I liked this one.  Great mystery - OK, I was surprised....I didn't figure it out.  At first I was in love with Roger, but Sean, ha!, Sean cracked me up, and yet the story was touching and poignant....none of the issues were treated lightly....did I say I liked it yet?  Mystery, strong Dominant men, lovely young sarcastic men...

Also, by the pool side today, I read (and duh, I know this is a surprise to one and all):

Blood Noir by Laurell K. Hamilton.

But if Anita gets one more man in her life...that's it.  I'm so done.  OK...NOT...Interesting note....and it has nothing to do with me, because Ms. Hamilton doesn't know me from one other pea in the Anita Blake fans, but a character's name in this book ....Bethann
Though it took 16 books, LOL, for her to use a name that means something to me.  LOL.
 

You know you're old school when you can't "DO-IT" with your parents under the same roof....well, it gets worse.  I had to tell my Mom which books on the shelves were off limits to her and I didn't want to discuss it.  I don't care what she knows after bringing 5 kids into the world and after 50 years of marriage.  I DON'T WANT TO KNOW, Just stay away from all my Kink stuff on the right.  

This was graduation week for us.  Oldest came up from Austin with boyfriend.  But, now, everyone is gone and my normal reading schedule can get back on track. *YEAH*.  Now, I get to curl up and read:

Secrets by Jordan C Price
Witness by Mike Shade
Love Runes by Jay Lygon

And I need to go shopping, because In Bear Country II: The Barbary Coast by Kiernan Kelly is available now, and no telling what else came out while I wasn't paying attention.....

If I say please, you think Patty will put together a new shopping list?  
Please, please,

pfodge

The talented and biggest Rufus Wainwright fan I know, (because she got me hooked on his music too), Stephanie Vaughan

steph_vaughan

tagged me awhile back to play this meme, and I've seen it on a couple of peoples LJ's.  
Not playing by the rules tonight though, not tagging anyone ...but here goes nothing:

Seven random things about myself 
1.  I use to be jealous of my older sister because she was WELL older, more hip, cooler and got to do everything.  I'm not jealous anymore.  Because she's OLDER!!!   The BEOTCH is also taller, and long-legged. 
2.  Same (and only sister) from #1, lives her life in parallel to mine.  way across country, I swear our lives our following same pattern
3.  I don't like to visit my parents hometown anymore.  Could be it's because my Dad's not there anymore.
4.  I'm vain...as soon as the gray hair showed up, I started washing it out.
5.  I once dated a guy in college only after establishing the fact that he wasn't in a fraternity and I wasn't in a sorority
6.  I didn't know my husband was a frat-rat until we moved in together, about 2 months before the wedding.  SHOCKED, I tell you, I was SHOCKED.
7.  My LJ friends are a great influence on my reading habits.  Keep the lists coming pfodge

is this a cool bike shirt or what?  bought it for husband for Father's day and it came today, and I wanted him to have it, so gave package to him...turns out it runs kind of small...so we'll have to exchange it...still it's cool, yeah?

Brands Cycle

Patty's Happy B-day picture is wonderful, and Paul already posts great pics of men, so how do I send something as equally as nice?  Well, I don't, because I'm late for work and yes this is a cop-out.

gwailowrite

But, hey....the thought counts....oh just go look at that beautiful beach again http://pfodge.livejournal.com/172668.html

And a very sincere Happy Be-lated Birthday to

crossthebar

There's half naked men crawling all over the outside of my house right now.  And don't you know my 18 year old and me are pressing our noses to the window panes!  Young, studly's, and we know one is ex-Navy.  

What's even funnier...husband gave the warning to the girls that the shirts were off!  He's so thoughtful.

Gotta go.  eye candy to supervisor...I mean paint job.

I promised myself no more new books, until I wrap up current reveiws I volunteered to write.  (My volunteerism is small...like maybe 5 or 6 books, where as other JR reviews get like anywhere from 15-30 done in a month)  

well, I'm a turtle I guess.  slow but sure.  rock steady.  whatever.

AND, I have a favorite new make-out song:  James Otto, "Just got Started Loving You".

AND, did you see the new hard back book Brooks & Dunn wrote, "The Adventures of Slim and Howdy"?  I was looking at the cover jacket, and just stopped and looked at the back picture of Brooks & Dunn.  LOVE those tight jeans.  And can you say, "How big a belt buckle do you need?"  THAT ONE!!! 

Amazon Link for The Adventures of Slim and Howdy

Banes & Noble Link for The Adventures of Slim and Howdy

Iron Man.  awesome.  yes, there's a short clip after all the credits.  (credits were long, lots of people involved)  Previews were fun, but I saw the same car commercial three times.   Movie was awesome.  I loved it.  did I say how much fun I had?  Robert Downey Jr...never expected such a great Tony Stark.  Graphics are great, and who doesn't want a 3-D system like he has?  

And let's just get it on record now, that I want the poster for the new Narnia Prince Caspian movie...the one in my theatre was huge...like a wall hanging...just huge.

Had time to kill today (woohoo, I'm not on call this weekend)  Stopped by favorite places, Starbucks and Barnes & Noble.  You know, if they ever put a kiosk in the stores to buy e-books I'll really go broke.  Purchases:

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost (and great, I just bought book two and haven't read book one!!!)
Janeology by Karen Harrington, a legal thriller dealing with "retrocognition"
Small Favor by Jim Butcher unabridged audio for work commute read by JAMES MARSTERS, a novel of the Dresden Files

WOOHOO.  What better voice to be read to on a work commute?

Check out these book covers:

 


 

So, it's really nice to have large screen monitor, especially when editing word docs and putting them side-by-side.  Then I get to work at the day job, and try to do similar work on little bity, tiny monitor, and it's just not the same.

Work is still crazy.  Office politics and games.  phooey.

Highlight of today:  talked to college student.  while saying good-bye and love you, and all that crap, I said I would be sure to call her this weekend.  But, then I caught myself, and said, NO....you had better call me....she "claims" she knew it was Mother's Day and didn't need the reminder.  HA.  Well, I warned her I wasn't on-call this weekend, and that I hoped to make it a movie marathon weekend...not sure how well that will fly with My Guy though.  working on negotiations.

The owners, webmistresses, and editors of JoyfullyReviewed.com are working like mad to get caught up, and some reviews I turned in a couple months back are showing up.  And as I understand it, the JR reviews are posted on Amazon as well...well, eventually.  So, that's cool, yeah? 

Well, I was late picking up my comics (see...latetocomics means more than one thing; late in life to be addicted to comics and I'm late picking up my subscriptions)  Anyway, luckily my comic book store kept them for me:

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Guilty Pleasures Issue #10 by Laurell K Hamilton
Witchblade, Issues #116 and #117
Witchblade Devi Issue #1
Star Wars Legacy Issue #22
Lords of Avalon Sword of Darkness Issue #3 by Sherrilyn Kenyon

I've decided to plan my Mid-Life crisis, and in preparation have decided on my shopping list:
1.  new RED sportscar
2.  Tropical Island paradise (just needs running water and full luxury bathroom suites)
3.  Cabana boys in abundance as far as the eye can see

umm, even my make-believe seems un-original....will need to work on list.

OK, so we're not officially yet "empty nesters" as we'll have both kids in college this fall (many ouches to bank book), but man, oh man, do I feel old.  Worked in the back yard yesterday.  sore today.....but went to dinner last night, and two margaritas, chips and queso later, I realized I chipped a tooth.  Interesting enough, there's no pain today either, but I'm falling apart.  Husband actually later on in the evening asked me if I'd share popcorn with him....what? does he really want to be married to a multi-tooth missing redneck?  (chipped tooth is one of those back molars, hard to get to, and yes, the dentist did warn me about it at the last check up)

Also, came to me today that we have one more year to make it to the big 25.  (years we've been together that is).  It's still interesting to find areas where we laugh at the same things, think the same things, and others when we look at each other, and have it confirmed that the other is really from a different planet all together.  You know those moments, when you look at your lover and say "WTF did you just say"?  ok, maybe not out loud, but you know you were thinking it.  Unfortunately, my thoughts usually show on my face which is a detriment at work.

But, I'm thinking we need to start planning now to celebrate...by ourselves.  ummmmm.  now just need to pick a destination.  October is the month.  I'm afraid of heights, but am ok for airline travel as long as I don't get a window seat and have plenty to read.  ummmm. 

but I make myself mad when I pick up book #3 and haven't read books #1 or #2!!!

But this time it didn't matter...Waking the Dead by Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow was awesome, and now I want to go back and read how these two guys met and fell in love.  So, added to the read pile Laying a Ghost and Giving Up the Ghost.  Books 1 & 2 aren't required reading to enjoy #3, just something I gotta do.

Also, recently read Brindisi Bedfellows by Jamie Craig.  I enjoyed this book....lots of diff reasons.  There was a bad breakup, hot sex, seduction, falling in love, more sex, insecurities, make-up sex.  I loved the hunger between Trip and Chris.  It was like they couldn't get enough of each other...just touching skin to skin.  awesome.

And yeah...the read pile got bigger, cuz some books I've been waiting for FINALLY came out (and some early! woohoo)

Not an Adrien English Mystery, but next best thing is Dangerous Ground by Josh Lanyon.

And hey....wasn't Jordan Castillo Price's newsletter fantastic!!!  Kinda cool...my copy in my email box was addressed to ME personally!!! hehehe! and of course it has the awesome new cover of Channeling Morpheus:  PAYBACK

Have you seen that commercial for using your Visa/debit card at the movies, and the guy & girl are racing to get the popcorn and then swing across the lobby using a banner from the ceiling to make it to the actual screen?

Ok, so after seeing the commerical....

I say:  ooooo, you never do that with me at the movies!!!!
He says:  ummm...You're afraid of heights, remember?
I say:  oh.  right.  guess that's out.


See.  Isn't he sweet.  He doesn't say, "YEAH, and it's not going to happen because I'd break my back!!!"
Instead, he reminds me of why from my point of view, it wouldn't be such a good idea. (Yeah, quick thinker too!)

Still....it looked fun for about a second. 

Happy Birthday  jjquixoticquest  Jenna Jones author of Chiaroscuro

Waiting on sequel....sometime in August....Have a great day!

Dear Friends, 
I just read an article on the danger of heavy drinking....
Scared the sh*t out of me.
So that's it!
After today, no more reading.

YEAH, right.  see that not happen.  Cracks me up.

My shopping list is long.  Need to go buy some stuff NOW.  Funny thing happend on my shopping cart on Torquere's Website.  Went to add more books to my cart, and had this big ugly message that a book was removed!  Guh!  and I don't know which one I'm going to miss out on now, and it's bugging me! bummer.  Wish list on Loose ID is full.  Need to check out some others.  guh.  I'm so behind.

Work: Server went down yesterday.  Something that should have taken less than an hour to resolve took almost 4 hours due to hoops we have to go through to get things corrected in production.  very frustrating.

Work:  Production migrations (normal & emergency) yuck. Two guys think they can call me up and get on the phone to make things happen in production when it's not up to me...procedures still have to followed.  I pushed back and got sorta, kinda verbal.  lost my cool little.

Work:  I adore the British.  I specifically adore my British customers.  BUT, slightly irked to go in at the crack of dawn for a meeting they scheduled, only to find out said meeting was postponed for another day ....hey sh%t happens.  get over it.   HEY, on the bright side, I'm glad they didn't call me in the middle of my night to let me know!!!

At Home:  woohoo....ordering pics from daughter's prom event.  funny how the event is over, and I'm still spending money on it.

Hobbies:  I keep adding books to my Torquere shopping cart.  Wonder what's the max you can have before it blows up?  Guess I should buy some soon.  There's some on my Loose ID shopping list too.  I know...I'll just blame it on pfodge  

I'll buy when she buys!!! LOL.

 

So, I bought Dancing On the Head of a Pin by Kiernan Kelly and downloaded apparently back on 12/30/2007 (apparently with nine other ebooks, as they all have the same date-timestamp)....and I haven't read it yet.

Some fangirl.

Needless to say, I'm in the middle of this story now.  Not sure why I waited.  Perfect escapism.  Hounds of Hell, Angels and Demons, End of Days, MAKING out in mid-flight (cuz you know I would if I hand wings too), The Playbook, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Four Horsemen, Love, sharing a piece of your soul...ok, so I like Kiernan's sense of humor and I'm really enjoying the story!

I think I remember more hoopla around Seti's Heart (loved, loved Seti) than around Dancing On the Head of a Pin, but I'm not entirely sure why I waited to read it.  Maybe just had to be in the right mood.

Predatory Game by Christine Feehan (paranormal mystery romance)
Second Sight by Amanda Quick (it was on the $5 bargain shelf and it's paranormal)
Irish Tiger A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel by Andrew M Greeley (paranormal mystery)

Order Print copies of:
Forbidden Love: Sacred Bands Issue 3 (includes Jet Mykles Pirate's Boy short story)
Through Neon Eyes Volumne 1-4 by Michael Barnette

ummm, paranormal activities and romance...what's that say about me?

Wasn't allowed to read, as I'm late on reviews that I promised, but being this was Saturday and 70 degress with Crystal Clear Blue skies, we ended up working in the yard.  We have this tiny, tiny, tiny, piece of property with landscaping that needs trimming...I keep saying take the shears & give all the bushes a Army cut, which thankfully, Husband doesn't listen and proceeds his way.  Had to run to harware store and get mulch and lava rock and new landscape spot lights.  We got the trash & cuttings bagged and the gardens de-weeded.  We'll start tomorrow on laying the mulch and lava rock.  

Best Shopping:  Samsung 22" Monitor and a new printer.  Little slice of Heaven.  (OK...he saw me walk by and swoon over the large screen TV's but he made me keep walking, he starts chanting "focus, focus, focus"  new monitor for reading your "Porn without Pictures" ...heard that phrase on yahoo group, cracked me up!  And I'm so execited, I have a place to take the two old broken printers that recycles old computer equipment.  

So, after all this hard work, we treat ourselves to dinner at our favorite Austrian Restaraunt and a couple of German Beers.  We're mostly having a good time, that is until .....

her:  A did our waiter take the appetizer plate?
him: No, the other one did, the cute one
her:  Which cute one? The rest are all guys
her:  Hold up...how do you know which one I would think was cute?
him: O, please, I know your test in men
her:  O, really?  I mean besides you, Brendan Fraser, Gerad Butler, and Hugh Jackman what exaclty do you think my taste in men is?
him: Duh, if it's a Man and he's breathing....(cackling gleefully)
her:  Hey!......wait....well, umph, fine, ok.  Men are Beautiful.

her:  I'm full, wanna help me finish my beer?
him: sure, np
her:  HEY!  Damn YANK! I said help me not swig the old damn rest of it!!!

The rest of the conversation centered around which body parts hurt the most from working on our small bit of land. Groans.  More tomorrow.  and next weekend, as we haven't even attempted the backyard.