Spring Cleaning Part 2

Sophy's Room is officially finished! Yay!!! I worked So hard today! I even made the girls stay up late (10:00pm) in order to get as much done as possible. Lola got so cranky that I finally just moved out every thing I could and got her room ready for bedtime. I cleaned up all the stuff I dragged out after I put her to bed. I'm now enjoying hte silence in the house while I update all of you on my progress.
The closet doors proved tricky and they didn't want to come off, but with a little thought and a lot of hammering I finally triumphed. I got Sophy's new T.V. put in her room and set up. It still needs to be wired up, but it's the only thing left to be done.
Here's a list of what I accomplished today:
- Take off Sophy's Closet doors
- Move Guest bed out of Sophy's room
- Move Sophy's bed
- Move the bookcase, and Doll House in Sophy's Room
- Move all the riding toys from lola's room to Sophy's
- Vacuum all of Sophy's Room
- Vacuum all of Lola's room
- Move the dresser and Lola's Bed in Lola's Room
- Pack up outgrown clothes in storage tubs
- Hang curtain rod in closet doorway in Sophy's room
- Hang curtain in Closet doorway
- Re-Hang broken Curtain Rod in Sophy's room
- Move Corner Unit out of Lola's room and into my room
- Finish last of Laundry (At least until Jeff comes home with his)
- Trip to Walmart for Tubs, Curtain Rod, hardware and Curtains
- Trip to the Chiropractor to fix my back from all the moving

Man am I ready for bed! I wouldn't be up so late if it wasn't for Trish tempting me to go to Target and Hobby Lobby in the middle of my day. Not that I minded too much, but the work still had to get done. Tommorrow hopefully I'll finish up with the help of a few friends so it can all be done before Jeff gets home!

Spring Cleaning Part 1

I heard that March was official "Spring Cleaning Month". It also happens to be "National Frozen Food Month" too. Coincidence? Maybe, but I like to think not.
I have done several things to prepare for this month. The first of which was eating a lot of frozen food items to make room in deep freezer. I call it cleaning it out, but in reality I'm making room for all the great sales that will be coming! It also keeps me cleaning in the kitchen as I prepare all our yummy meals.
The second thing I've done to prepare was a general disregard for house work. I let the dishes and clothes pile up to unheard of proportions. I also planned out a big project, several times and often unsuccessfully. The goal was to turn my daughters two bedrooms into four usable spaces. They needed to be: Bedrooms (already functioning in this capacity), Guestroom (already working as such, but very poorly done), and Playroom. The playroom was the biggie. As it was currently I had toys divided into both rooms And a dollhouse in the hall, AND books in the living room. I finally got fed up with the toys getting ALL over the house. It was hard to pick up because things went to four different places and mixed up together each time. So the plan to put it all in one room was formed. I'm very excited to get my house back!
It took several trys to come up with a plan that could come close to succeeding in the goal! I think I finally did and got to work yesterday. Here is a list of all the items I've crossed off my list:
- Clean out Lola's Closet
- Move Sophy's clothes to Lola's Closet
- Clean Out Sophy's Closet
- Move Sophy's Kitchen into her Closet
- Clean up all the toys in Sophy's Room
- Clean up all the Toys in Lola's Room
- Move all Lola's Toys to Sophy's room
- Wash Laundry (all 10 loads!)
- Wash Dishes
- Strip down the beds and wash Sheets/blankets
- Clean up my Room

Today starts a whole new list of chores! I'll try to update once I've finished it all. I thought about taking Before pictures, but then I'd have to let the world know how bad my house was to start with! I can't wait to finish and post After pictures!

Busy Busy busy

Today was a very full day! We started the day off going to the Zoo. I love the park that the zoo sits in here in St. Louis. It's the site of the 1904 World's Fair and it is so pretty. There is an outdoor theater and lots of fun stuff to do. I also LOVE that it's free! We started at the Zoo and saw all our favorites. Sophy liked the giraffes best (she's liked them best for a while now). They had a new baby giraffe and it was out for the first time today! How cute! We got to see the penguins, I think this Zoo has the best penguin habitat I've ever seen! It never fails to impress. Evie liked the sea lions. I just kept thinking how much she'd LOVE the sea lion/seal habitat in OKC. I love that you can see them swimming under the water at home. Here it was hard to see how truly graceful those animals can be. I thought Lola would like the Cheetah (actually a leopard but she calls anything with spots a cheetah) or the monkeys but when asked she claimed the Frogs as her favorite of the day. Who knew?
After the Zoo we walked to the Art Museum and had lunch at the small cafe inside. The girls were starting to get cranky but I had never seen the Science center here and I had also promised a big reward if the girls were good today, so we dragged them on to the science center. It was really cool. I wish I had more time to go through it all. The girls weren't nearly as impressed at it because most was for older kids. Also we had little time to devote to it. The big reward came at the science center. They have a build a bear workshop inside and my girls had never gotten to build a bear before. Sophy loved making hers. She did everything they asked of her and would have bought out the store if I didn't rein her in. Lola wasn't as into the making part, but she like picking hers out (she chose a monkey) and she liked to hug it and play with it once it was made. They both got to name their new friends. Sophy chose "Cinderella" for ehr bear and Lola chose "Donny" for her monkey. I asked her four times what name and she said "Donny" each time. I have no idea where it came from, but she calls it Donny still.
After build a bear we loaded the kiddos up and headed home to wait for LilliAnn and Grayson to get home from school. The girls rested (but didn't nap) during this time. After everyone was home from school we went out for a special dinner since LilliAnn and Grayson hadn't gotten to do as much as the reat of us this week. We ad fun and came home with a carful of tired cranky kids. The silence in this house now is wonderful and I look forward to a peacful night!

Trip to St. Louis

Well we made it safely to St. Louis. I'm sure I will have more to talk about later, but I have a quick update for you anyway! We got here last night and stayed up late chatting. This morning the Sutherlan children taught my girls the meaning of waking up early. Bless her, Heather let me sleep in. We got the older ones off to school and headed to the store. Apparently Mardi Gras is really big here so there were two rows of mardi gras stuff to look at. We decided a few pictures int he asiles was approprate. After shopping we had lunch and haeded home to let the kiddos sleep until school was over and the older two came home. It was a full simple day! Tommorrow if the weather cooperates we are heading to the zoo!

Busy Week

This was a very busy week! Wednesday was Annabelle's birthday! My niece is now Two! I took the girls over to their house on that morning and Trish and I spent a good chunk of the day frosting cupcakes for her two parties. The first party was that night at church. Aren't the girls cute eating their cupcakes in bible class?
The second party was on Saturday. We had a little hitch when my back went out on Thursday! I quickly scrambled to get an appointment at the Chiropractor on Friday. I got in and he was able to fix me up enough to make it to the party on Saturday without too much pain. I'm doing better today but I'm not looking forward to the drive to St. Louis tomorrow. Eight hours in a car with my hurt back sounds just awful!
After the party on Saturday we hung around with my family at Aaron's for a while. When the dallas crew left we packed it in. We decided to meet mom and dad at PFChang's for dinner. Not the best for my diet, but it was GOOD! While there the girl's discovered that there was a window just over our booth that looked into the kitchen. They had a lot of fun peeking on the chefs. Lola scared dad because she was holding on just with her arms and hanging a good two feet above the booth seat.
All in all a great week. We will be (as mentioned earlier) at my sisters for this week. Jeff has a work trip that he has to go on nearby and I'm tagging along to see Heather. Graham is in Little Rock and she is lonely so I plan on us keeping each other company all week. I hope at least one trip to the St. Louis Zoo can be arranged. Hopefully lots of pictures will be taken, oh wait, maybe I should go pack my camera.

Wow!

I've had a lot of photo sessions come up in the last few days! My calendar is filling up really fast! If anyone else wants a session in the next few weeks you better call fast! Maybe I should spend some time updating my website! It might help out with some of these emails I'm getting.
Update:
I went to work on the website. It should be a lot cleaner and much easier to get information now. Please check it out and tell me if there is anything you would like to know that isn't there.
http://shannoniversonphotography.smugmug.com

Update.

We have had a very busy weekend around here. On Friday night we went on a date! (Pause for exclamations!) It was great to get out for an evening without the kiddos. My friend Shannon came over with her little girl so we could go out. We have been continually hearing about Abbigale's mommy and how she has the same name as Sophy's mommy from Sophy ever since.
On saturday I got the news that our friend Nicki was in the hospitol. Her water had broken in the night and they had started induction. I think she might be the first of my friend's whose water broke before getting to the hospital, at least that it happen while I knew them. I spent a good chunk of the day int he waiting room with lots of our friends waiting for baby Jason to arrive. Jeff stayed home with hte girls so they wouldn't be bugging everyone.
This afternoon we all went up there to see the baby. He's so cute and tiny! I even got to hold him! Once we were all home we ate and napped. At least the girls napped, I worked out and played Rock Band with my Husband.
Thank you to those that have asked, my diet is going well. I have lost 23 pounds to date and I feel great. Also For those that asked I have read 12 books so far this year. I have lots more to go before I get to 100 but I'm on the right path. I would also like to thank those of you who have read my book on Authonomy. It's always nice to hear feedback.

What website would your best friend be?

I've een watching Style network a lot lately. I've been hooked by "Clean House" and "Whose wedding is it Anyway?". Both great shows. While watching the other day there was a commercial for the style network website. Their tagline was "If your best friend was a website this would be it." That got me thinking. If my best friend was a wensite what website would she be?
It's been a week and I think I've chosen.
Erin: www.epguides.com
Heather: www.recipes.com or www.webmd.com
Jessica: www.smartsource.com

What would your friends be?

Authonomy

I have been reading a lot lately. You all know about my long list of books on my nightstand and the 100 books in a year goal, but there's also the internet. Wow I wish I could count blog reading and research toward my goal, but alas it is not to be. After much research into the e-reader I found the answer to my questions. The biggest of which is that the books simply aren't much cheaper than going to the book store. Even with it's conveniences it just isn't cost effective to shell out the upfront to get the e-reader. I'd have to buy well over a 700 books to make it a cheaper option! Now if they came out with an itunes style store where all ebooks were $3 - $5 it would be great! I'd rush out an buy an ereader tomorrow (in theory, I'd actually have to save for a month or two to afford one).Maybe I tunes themselves can get into the e-book biz. That would be great for me. Already have an itunes account....of course all my lovely giftcard money I got at Christmas has been used on new music....I hate that my birthday isn't until November. Hey valentine's is coming up...maybe I can ask for itunes card, is that romantic enough?
The other item I have been reading about and researching this week has been a site called: Authonomy. Don't ask me how to say it, It changes each time I try. I actually heard about it a few months ago on my favorite Literary Agent Blog. Really people if you have any interest in Literary publishing or it's world you should check out Nathan Bransford's blog ( http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/ ). And not just because my sister thinks he's cute.
A few months ago he mentioned Authonomy ( http://www.authonomy.com/ ). I as usual was curious and went to check it out. I sent off a link to my fellow family authors and waited to see what they think. My brother was the only one who really had too much of an opinion about it all. He was worried (as always) about first north American publishing rights and a publishers chance to screw you over in a contract. Of course this is assuming that I could ever get a publisher to give me the time of day! Since this has yet to happen I begin to weigh the downsides, and it's seeming less and less. So off I go to the site to check it out again. Now it's run by Harper Collins, though I think other companies might be checking it out a little too. It's also a great way to build a platform and honestly aren't I a sucker for a new way to waste time online? Did I ever really stand a chance of resisting? As a final kicker Harper Collins is British isn't it? Wouldn't that mean I hadn't given up north American pub rights but British rights? How does that work with the internet? Does it go by who owns the site or who reads the site?
Well I now have a profile on the site with the first three chapter of My first novel up on it. I have the novel complete, but am still a little weary of putting the whole thing on there. Maybe I'll change my mind in time.
In theory this site is a place for readers and writers alike to find the best new material out there, bypassing the old system of querys and agents to get what the people want published. I pretty sure that Harper Collins actually has a much different plan for this site (thus my hesitation for putting the whole book up) but for now we'll work on that assumption. SO anyone who likes to read should head over and check out the site. Register for a profile and look around at all the books. There's over 3,000 on there now and I'm sure something for everyone. Just be a little careful, some of it isn't appropriate for everyone (it's marked so just keep an eye out). I would love you all to read my book and see how it's doing. The idea is that people can read it and leave feedback or comments and then they rate their top five favorite books. Once your book has enough people rating it highly then you go on the editors desk were a Harper Collins editor will read and critique it for you. Yea! So please check out mybook ( http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=5760 ) and let me know what you think.
Also check out the site some and let me know what you think about the whole site. For you fellow authors out there it could be a useful site for you too!

Sickness and books, or is it book sickness?

I hate being sick. It seems to never fully go away anymore. It lasts until it gets so bad I go to the doctor then I get a short term fix. I truely hate my sinuses. Why did God create sinuses in the first place, I mean really we have enough parts on us that can be broken already don't we?
On another note: The weather is much better. I am so glad that I can look out my window and the yard is no longer covered in ice. Makes it easier to, I don't know, drive.
I have been keeping up with my reading. I have just finished the first three in the Shopaholic series. Seriously funny stuff. I have an awful cough and I keep laughing so hard it throws me into a coughing fit! I am currently reading Shopaholic and sister. It's a must read for woman. Kinda like princess diaries, but way more grownup and much more believable.
My current total for this year is sitting at 10 books. At this rate I shouldn't have any problem reading 100 books this year. I still have 3 Jane Austin books sitting on my nightstand and at least two others waiting to be purchased.
One of my favorite blogs is written by a literary agent. I started reading it back when I thought I stood a chance of getting an agent myself (And yes this particular agent wasted no time in rejecting me). I did enjoy his style of mixing literary news with normal life things like the Bachelor and Lost. This week there has been ongoing discussions of the Sony Reader/Kindle verses Paper books. Now I have been looking into an e-reader for a while now. I love the concept and even looked into just downloading the reader app for my IPhone, but usually price or usability has stopped me. Once I began reading through all the comments though I got a new thought. Are the e-books cheaper to download than to buy in the store? It makes sense that they would be but I never reallyt hought too much about it. Does anyone know the answer to this? If it's only a couple bucks per book I could save tons fromt he books I buy at the bookstore. Not to mention all the hasty trips I make to books-a-million or Barnes and Nobel because I finished my book and it's part of a series. Yes I'm crazy enough that if I finish it and the next one is avaiable and I don't have it on hand I tend to rush out and get it. More than once I've been up with a sick kid and wishing the book store was open at 2am. I've even taken a sleepy baby to walmart int he middle of the night to see if they carry the book I want (no was the answer that time).
What are your thoughts on paper book verse ebooks? I don't think I'll ever fully give up paper books, but think of the shelf space you'd save...it does have it's upsides. Seriously though, I think the price will have to come down a bit before I partake.

Ice

Update: Jeff has made it home safely. Except for some trouble getting him up the driveway it was slow but uneventful. So prayers work!
As I sit here I hear the distinctive banging and pounding that is usually attributed to tribal drumming. I would be half afraid of a band being in my backyard if it wasn't for the twenty degree temperature and even lower windchill. I might send my dogs out just to be on the safe side, but all four pounds of Dauby would freeze in about a minute.
I love cold days with snow and even sometimes ice. I don't like going out in the ice, but I like being holed up at home with good food and my loved ones. Today has left me with much anxiety though. Jeff left for work at his usual time and made it safe and sound. Getting home has been the hard part. The roads were getting slick by 9am and were downright dangerous by noon. I have called him about twenty times begging him to just come home already. He is such a good worker that he hates leaving early if he can help it. I get that and love him for it. The hard part for me was sitting home with two fussy girls (one of whom is constantly asking for her daddy) and seeing the various wreak and weather reports that keep popping on screen. With no good news on the telley I really wanted my hubby safe.
They finally sent out a notice at his office telling everyone to go home before it gets any worse or risk staying the night. So he is slowly making his way home. I'm scared to death for him since at least half of the trip home is on raised interstate. So please lift a pray for my honey that he makes it safe and sound.
Other than the stress of waiting all my family is fine. We still have electricity (obviously) and rarely lose power in these storms. If we do lose power we have a fireplace and wood handy. I hope everyone else is well prepared and enjoying the day snuggled up at home. Oh and that drumming outside...turns out it's the ice freezing on the roof vents.

Writing again

I finally got around to writing again last night. It was more an issue of getting word working again, which Jeff was finally able to finish yesterday. I lost some of my old files, which stinks, but most are still there. I am now working on a middle grade novel about a boy genius inventor. So I'll get to come up with all kinds of fun little words and gadget names.
Want to help out? If you could invent a gadget or a piece of a gadget what would you call it?
My favorite piece so far is called a montom. Making up things is fun!

Been tagged....

Here we go!

The idea is to copy & paste it into your blog, then highlight the things you have done. The items in bold are things I’ve done in my life. (You’re not supposed to copy the words in italics, I added those.)

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars (does a tent count?)

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning (while pregnant! Yuck!)

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch-hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Gotten flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter/plane

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72 . Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book (I've written one though)

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85 Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Well, I helped)

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

I tag Heather and Aaron.

You tell me:

I'm so glad to see I haven't lost all my readers with my prolonged absence. And if you are new I'd LOVE to have you comment so I can check out your blog(if you have one) and meet you.
It's been great with my diet. All is going smoothly and I'm grieving over the loss of food less and less each day. I'm still leaning the art of eating out and staying on track of everything, but it shouldn't take too long.
I haven't been writing. It's a sad admission. Part of it is due to the lack of word currently operating on my laptop, the other is just laziness I guess. During Nanowrimo I got a great idea and even started it, but I just wasn't in a writing mood. I know that sounds like a cop out, but sometimes it's true. When I'm super stressed or focused on other things it's hard to write for me. I'm not the brilliant writer that my brother and father are. I still struggle with basic grammar often (as most readers should be able to tell). I do love a good story though. And the joy of creating not just a story but characters and lives and new concepts and realities. It's a thrill. I miss that part. I had one of my test readers finish my first story recently. She wanted to know what happens next....That's just what I wanted. I love to read a story so intriguing that you want to know more at the end, even if it's not a series. That has always been my goal. For said friend, I promise to share the story lines of the next three books should I never get around to writing them (because yes, I HAVE thought it all out that far).
Right now I've been in a funk. Life is flowing smoothly along. We have our bumps like anyone else but for the most we are where we want to be doing what we want, so why the funk? That's the question that has been dangling at the back of my mind for a week or so now. I described it to Jeff last night. Back when I was single and everything was great I'd have moments of "man I wish I was getting married" or "wow it'd be cool to be married and having a baby". Not so much because I wanted that in the moment so much as I wanted a change. Something to focus on and work towards. Last night I heard a sweet song on the radio and thought "I wish I was getting married", followed quickly by the thought "Oh wait, I AM married.". It triggered something in my mind that I must need a new goal.
I think all these ramblings can be very confusing to anyone who is not closely acquainted with me and my complicated thought process. If I've lost you by now don't worry, I'm almost done. Glad some of you (Heather) are already used to this.
With the new goal registered I decided that rather than start a new one maybe I should get busy on one I already have and am currently failing. So writing I think it will be. I have been daydreaming about story tidbits and writing whole chunks of stories in my head before falling asleep at night. It's time. So here's to the hope of getting some work done.
Now to decide what to work on. Here's where you come in. If you ever wrote a story what would it be about? And for fun throw out a quick story idea that I could use. Just to get the creative juices flowing.

Playlist help.

Thank you to all of those that asked. I am doing very well with my workout/diet. I am learning better ways to cook. I feel like I eat all day to get my calories in. Who knew that watching biggest loser for 6 seasons would help me out so much? I picked up a good tip from the show this week. On it they said that singing while you work out helps your heart rate and breathing so you can workout longer more comfortably. Now while most people wouldn't recommend singing at the gym I'm lucky enough to workout at home. I tried it today and it worked really well. I just need to update my workout playlist on my IPod.
So what music do you like to listen to while working out? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Little minds

Conversation between sophy and I.

S: When is Daddy's birthday?
M: In April
S: When is April?
M: A long time from now.
S: When is your birthday?
M: In November.
S: That's a lot of vember.

Post holidays

Hello all!
I was thinking about posting about New Years and realized I had no pictures from new years, AND I didn't even take my camera out christmas morning. I think I was just enjoying hte moment too much to think about it. The kids were great this year. Lola loved all her toys and had fun playing with them while Sophy finally understood the whole present thing. I think it might have been one of the best years ever.
After christmas we came home for New Years. Jeff's parents came in town for it and my folks were visiting Aaron's family so it was quite a gatering for us. We actually had the get together at my house which was a first. If you would like to see pictures and hear more you can check it out here: http://pogueweeklytimes.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-years-eve-and-night.html My sister in Law wrote all about it on her blog. SHE didn't forget to take pictures.
As with every other person my #1 resolution this year is to lose weight. I'm doing very good with it. How is everyone else doing?

Oh to tell a tale, or read one.

Hello All. We have all survived the holidays around here and are working our way back to a normal pace. I hope to scan and post some holiday pictures of the girls soon, but you know me and promises.... It sure seems like the last two months have just flown by. Of course I think that every january. Theres just so much going on this time of year.
Lately I have been reading a lot more than normal. I have been engrossed in reading new stories. It all stared wiht a call to go buy new books back in november. I responded to the call and not only did I read a few books I've been waiting for but I also re-discovered the joy of roam shelves full of new stories never seen by my eyes before.
Of course publishers have a nasty habit of buying series. Good for them because I fall right in with the "I have to read them all from the first one" type. So I've discovered several new series that I enjoyed.
Here is my list of reading from december until now:
The City of Ember by: Jeanne DuPrau
The People of Sparks by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Prophet of Yonwood by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Diamond of Darkhold by: Jeanne DuPrau
The Warrior Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Wizard Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Dragon Heir by: Cinda Williams Chima
The Frog Princess by: E.D. Baker
Dragon's Breath by: E.D. Baker
Once Upon a Curse by: E.D. Baker
No Place for Magic by: E.D. Baker
The Salamander Spell by: E.D. Baker
The Dragon Princess by: E.D. Baker

Also I read a few in november that I liked. Of those I highly recommend Edymion Spring by: Mattthew Skelton it's very intresting and I loved the story behind the story. I am currently reading all the Jane Austin stories when I realized I had seen the movies and never read the books! How could that have happened? I am on Pride and Preduice right now and have a lovely book called Darcy's Story waiting int he wings, as well as the first 5 of the shopaholic series. With Hunger Games that completes my current nightstand line up. I hope those will keep me busy reading for a while, but who knows. It's sometimes hard for my mind to switch between genres. I love my fantasy worlds of dragons, but oh can Jane Austin write a tale!
I hope to read 100 books in 2009. I will endever to update of my current reading list along the way. We'll see how things go since I also want to write one more story this year too. Which one to choose first?
What good stories have you read lately? I really like YA and Fantasy and anything funny. I am always ont he look out for a new good find. Please let me know so I can check it out. I am thinking of starting a variation of a book club that is for reccomendations. In it the members would read one book a month (whatever story they chose) and then bring it with them to talk about at the meeting. We'd most likely meet at a bookstore coffee house since it'd be close to allt he new books! I figure we'd show up with our book and tell the others about it and if we liked it. We'd keep a log of what has been mentioned and what rating it got. We could add the other members ratings if they choose to read it too. Then we all pick out new books to read. It'd be a fun way to hear about new books and share your experience good or bad about the one you read. If anyone is intrested let me know. I'd love t get it going with and asortment of readers!

How Awesome!

Friday, November 21, 2008

LOS ANGELES — Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

Guns N' Beatles: Axl Rose and Paul McCartney Storm MySpace.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Dr Pepper is owned by Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc.

Ack! (click here for the posts)

So I just finished catching up on my blog reading. As several of you know I recently wrot emy first novel and I'm currently working on number two. I thought several times about posting on here about NaNoWriMo and why it's cool, or giving you an update on my horrible progress. In the end I decided that most of you either don't care about NaNo or already know all about it. So why waste your time talking about it. If I posted an update it would just be embarrassing (I don't recommend starting over on day five, it's not pretty).
So why am I suddenly breaking my rule about the writing talk on my blog? Because I read this: http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2008/11/crash-flow-or-what-went-wrong-in.html
It was on a blog that I like to read. She's an editor and talks a lot about the publishing industry. This post she did on all ecomonic results of October on the publishing industry made me very sad. She's very right that all of us that love book and hope to ever have a future in the industry needs to do something.
I personally plan to take my splurge money out to the book store today and buy a book. Maybe two. I just had a birhtday and there is a whole list of books I want right now, so why not use this weekend to do my part. I encourage all of you to go buy a book. Any book. Help save the future of printing! It just might help out yours truely someday too, I know I'd apperciate it!