1. Christmas Goodies

    December 26, 2011 by sassenach

    337/365M and I stayed home for Christmas (since I’ve been sick all week and I didn’t want to get the rest of my family sick). We exchanged presents yesterday morning. I think this might be one of my favorite gifts from him! It’s a Poe bobble head and I love it. :D Right now he’s on our mantle, but I think eventually I’ll move him to my bookcase with the rest of my Poe memorabilia.

    He also gave me this awesome little knitting shop, which lights up and everything! It’s also on the mantle for now. I love all the details–there’s even a couple of people you can see through the front window and they’re knitting, of course.

    It wouldn’t be Christmas without yarn! This is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway Breaking Dawn (naturally). :) I’ve been under a rock because I didn’t even know that LL had a Twilight colorway! I thought of using it for socks but I think it’s destined to become a shawlette. Maybe I can wear it to the BD Pt. 2 premiere!

    M also gave me this sweet journal. I saw it when we were at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago and thought it was awesome, so I dropped a huge hint right then, hehe. It’s a 5-year journal that asks you one question per day. You answer it on the same calendar day over 5 years and then you can see how your answers have changed (if at all) over time. Pretty neat! I want to journal more in 2012 (in addition to blog more!), so this will be a fun tool to help out with that.

    Since we didn’t go to my parents’ house, we didn’t exchange gifts with my sisters…but eh, there was a kerfuffle regarding gifts anyway (at the last minute, I might add…grrr). So I was pretty Grinchy to begin with and I guess it was good timing that I was sick so that M and I could have a nice, peaceful Christmas together. My mom wanted us to come over today instead, but I woke up still feeling gross. We’re just going to go over next weekend for New Year’s Day. At least I finally got my voice back! Still got the cold, though. Boo.

    I hope that Santa brought you some fun things, too! :)

    Category: My So-Called Life | Tags: | 1 Comment

  2. Christmas

    December 25, 2011 by sassenach

    Well, it’s been a very low-key Christmas for me. I’m still sick, so M and I didn’t go over to my parents’ house like we normally would. We opened presents this morning and I got some fun things! I’ll post pics soon. I thought my voice was coming back but it still sounds like I’m losing it, boo. I told my parents we’d go over to their house tomorrow instead, so hopefully I’ll be feeling a little better by tomorrow afternoon.

    Otherwise, it has been a very lazy, relaxing holiday weekend. If only I didn’t have to go back to work on Tuesday!

    Category: My So-Called Life | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Christmas Eve

    December 24, 2011 by sassenach

    335/365

    My Christmas cactus is blooming, our tree is up, and most of our presents are wrapped! I did some last-minute shopping for M this evening (because I am a procrastinator) (and crazy), but once I wrap those, I’m all set. Unfortunately, I’m still sick–my cold is still hanging around and today I’m losing my voice, which is not very fun. I sound like a boy going through puberty. But I’m just thankful that I’m off work so that I can get lots of rest.

    I put on some festive nail polish since I’m not doing much else to celebrate the holiday:

    336/365: China Glaze Ruby Pumps

    I looooove this color so much. It’s China Glaze Ruby Pumps and it went on like a dream. I used Seche Clear as a base coat, two coats of China Glaze (three coats on my thumbs), and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri as a top coat. Have I mentioned I looooove this color? Here it is with flash so you can see the awesome sparkle:

    China Glaze Ruby Pumps

    I might actually wear this for a whole week, which is rare because I usually get bored after three days and take my polish off, haha.

    I hope you have a lovely holiday (whichever one you celebrate, if any at all!) filled with happiness and fun things. :)

    Category: My So-Called Life, Nail Polish | Tags: | No Comments

  4. Booking Through Thursday (on Friday): Gifts

    December 23, 2011 by sassenach

    Booking Through Thursday Any books you’re hoping to get for the holidays this year? How about giving? Are you giving any good ones?

    I never receive books as gifts–I think the people in my life know that I’m always reading, so they probably have no clue which books I’ve already read or already own! On that note, I don’t give books as gifts (with the exception of knitting pattern books; I’ve given those in the past). It’s just so tough to know what someone already owns and I wouldn’t want them to end up with extra copies.

    Category: Q & A, Reading | Tags: | No Comments

  5. Book Review Catch Up, Pt. 5 (Now with children’s books!)

    December 22, 2011 by sassenach

    Blood on My Hands by Todd StrasserBlood on My Hands by Todd Strasser
    This just didn’t work for me. I really should have abandoned it a few chapters in, but my curiosity got the best of me and I just had to find out who the killer was. (It wasn’t who I expected, but that doesn’t make up for the story overall.)

    The writing was so disjointed–it skipped through time every chapter (present tense vs. past tense). While this created suspense and kept me reading, it also felt very uneven because I just wanted the writing style to be consistent.

    Callie’s flight from the police was pretty far-fetched; I’m really supposed to believe that a 17-year-old can evade an entire police force? I know it’s a small town, but I don’t think so.

    I had hoped that the resolution would be worth it, but it lacked credibility and the ending REALLY bothered me. I’m debating whether I want to read anything else by this author. I’ll probably give him one more shot, but unfortunately I just can’t recommended Blood on My Hands.

    – – –

    Give a Boy a Gun by Todd StrasserGive a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser
    ok, so I gave Strasser one more try.

    I think I’ve mentioned before that I gravitate toward dark novels and that includes books about school shootings, which is what Give a Boy a Gun is. This is disturbing subject matter, but the author didn’t make me care about the characters enough.

    The fictional narrative is interspersed with actual statistics and anecdotes about real school shootings (in the form of footnotes), which are certainly relevant (and sad), but which also make the story feel disjointed. I think I’ll avoid this author in the future.

    – – –

    Chilly Milly Moo by Fiona RossChilly Milly Moo by Fiona Ross
    And now, for something completely different!

    I read this (and the following children’s books) for storytime at the library and this one is so cute! It’s about a cow named Milly Moo who’s different from the other cows. They make fun of her because she’s always too hot to produce milk, but it turns out that there’s something very special about Milly Moo. :)

    I liked the story more than the illustrations–I feel like the pictures could have been more colorful and bright. But they were still fun and the book really is cute.

    – – –

    A Dog is a Dog by Stephen ShaskanA Dog is a Dog by Stephen Shaskan
    I loved this one!

    The story starts out with a dog, but then the dog changes into various animals (cat, squid, moose). It’s still the dog inside each different costume, but descriptions are given about the other types of animals. (This kind of makes more sense when you’re actually reading the book.) I’m not sure that the five-year-olds I read to understood that it was still the dog at the end of the story, but the rhymes are very fun and the pictures are nice and bright.

    – – –

    Quiet Bunny & Noisy Puppy by Lisa McCueQuiet Bunny & Noisy Puppy by Lisa McCue
    oh my, this book is too sweet. I think it’s a bit longer than the previous two–I feel like it took me a while to read the whole thing to the kids–but it’s a really cute story.

    Quiet Bunny doesn’t have anyone to play with since his friends are hibernating or migrating for the winter. Then he meets Noisy Puppy, who is obviously very different from him…but the two end up being best friends. :) The moral of the story, of course, is that everyone is different but we can still get along with each other in spite of that.

    At the end of the story, it’s spring and Noisy Puppy has to go back to his farm (to be a working dog, I think?). But next winter, he visits Quiet Bunny again, this time as a bigger dog. :) Soooo adorable!

    – – –

    Princess Super Kitty by Antoinette PortisPrincess Super Kitty by Antoinette Portis
    eh, this is an okay children’s book.

    It’s about a girl named Maggie who likes to pretend she’s a kitty. The story is pretty straightforward–she pretends she’s a kitty, a princess, and a superhero.

    It’s fun to read but it’s definitely my least favorite of the books I read to the kids. Overall, it’s cute but I feel like the story would have flowed better if it had been written in rhyme…or maybe had different illustrations? I don’t know, I just felt like something was missing. It’s a decent kids’ book, though.

    – – –

    I like how my job at the library has got me reading things I don’t normally read–namely, children’s books! Since I don’t have kids, I usually don’t have the need to read things at this level. This is fun and different for me. :)

    I am now two book reviews away from being all caught up, hurray!

    Category: Reading, Reads of 2011 | Tags: | No Comments

  6. Fake Plastic Trees

    December 21, 2011 by sassenach

    333/365

    Our Christmas tree is finally up! Better last minute than never, right? :D M put it up while I was at work today. We still need to put the ornaments on it but look at the pretty bokeh!

    I’m still a bit under the weather but not as bad as yesterday morning and the day before. I just feel tired, mostly. I’m really looking forward to Saturday so I can get more rest. Work is wearing me out lately.

    Category: My So-Called Life | Tags: | No Comments

  7. Almost There!

    December 20, 2011 by sassenach

    Wow, it’s December 20 and I’ve blogged for 20 days straight. Some days I’m at a loss for things to post, but it’s nice to get in the habit of writing daily again. I used to be so consistent. How things change…

    I had today off work and unfortunately I spent the morning being sick. :( I still had a sore throat when I woke up this morning. I just felt really yucky. I felt like my sinuses were acting up, so I took some meds…then both my sore throat and sinus pain went away! Hurray. Maybe that Airborne zapped my cold before it got really bad! I have just a little bit of a sore throat now, but hopefully I’m getting over this bug instead of coming down with it. I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I’m really hoping I’m not going to be sick over Christmas! That would suck.

    I spent most of the day watching Youtube videos and somehow stumbled on this band called Boyce Avenue. They do some amazing covers! I favorited a bunch of their videos:

    Then I got into a music mood and rewatched most of The Voice, season 1. It was a nice way to spend my sick morning.

    M came back today from visiting his mom, so it’s nice to have him home!

    Category: Music, My So-Called Life | Tags: | No Comments

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