Happy Halloween!

I love little kids in cute costumes.

And they have to take this dog with them.

Happy Halloween!

Library Loot

 

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Just four more this week. First the last book in the Nantucket series, On The Oceans Of Eternity. Tai really liked the series. I found Grimspace on the shelf at the library. I thought Tai might enjoy it. I saw Skinwalker advertised in the back of another book. It looked like something Tai and I might both like. And lastly The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro. I read about it on Olduvai Reads. I immediately was interested since it was written by Guillermo Del Toro, director of Hellboy. I can't wait to read it.
I finished Lolita and posted my review on Fill In the Gaps Challenge. I didn't care for it. If you read it let me know what you thought.
What did you get this week?

I Wish I Was Cool Enough

To wear clothes like this:

Untitled by honeylin on Polyvore.com

Sure I could buy them. But where would I wear them? I'm just not goth enough to wear them.

Corn Maze

On Saturday night Tai and I (along with a few friends) went to a corn maze. Tai and I were corn maze noobs. So for our first corn maze adventure, we choose the Farm at Swan's Lake with the largest corn maze in Washington state.

We took a wagon out to the eastern part of Washington and walked through the maze back to the west coast. The roads are all named for parts of Washington. While walking through you can learn about Washington history and look for towns along the way. We did get separated a few times (cell phones come in handy). But it took us about an hour to walk through the whole thing even with some detours. It was fun. I would go again but I think Tai would enjoy a haunted one better.
Have you ever been to a corn maze?

A Picture Is Worth A 1000 Words

I saw this on Becky's blog and thought it would be fun to do for a Friday.
I have to use Google Images to explain my answers for each category listed below.

1. Favorite Beverage

I love ice tea. It's my perfect drink. I can drink gallons of it. Tai and I have an ice tea maker so we always have a fresh pitcher handy.

My Hometown

I've in my hometown for more than 1/2 my life. I love it too. If you look hard enough you can see the Seattle skyline in the background.

My Favorite TV Show

Yes both of my favorite shows are no longer on the air. I watch them on DVD all the time.

Your Occupations

I've been working in social services for about 10 years. I love helping people.

My First Car

I love Patricia or as Tai calls her Smokin' Betty. Yes I've named my car :)

Your Favorite Dish

Right now, Pho is my favorite meal. I love it.

Celebrity You Have Been Told You Resemble

My uncle always told me I looked like Brooke Shields as a child.

Celebrity On Your To-Do List

Oh Gerard. So lovely.

Your Favorite Childhood Toy

I loved my cabbage patch dolls as a child.

Any Random Photo

I'm dreaming of going to Hawaii. I've never been. A nice relaxing vacation sounds perfect right now.
Consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Alright we got a lot this week. I usually just pick up books from the library that I put on hold. I usually do not browse the stacks but I decided to see if I could find anything good for Tai. Yeah I did hence the huge loot this week.
First we have Shaman's Crossing. Nobles, magic, a destiny? All good. Book 2 of the Greywalker series, Poltergeist. As you see we also got book one (Greywalker) this week so we have the first 3 books of that series. Next The Way Of The Shadows which when Tai read the back, he thought it sounded like Assassin's Creed. Always the gamer :) Next is Wanderlust. And I just realized I did it again. I got book 2 when I meant to get book 1. Sigh.
A Year in the Merde is for FITG challenge. I'm reading Lolita right now. It's a challenge. Stolen is the next book in The Women of The Otherworld series.  The Iron Hunt is another one I found on the shelves. It said that Marjorie M Liu was an up and coming author in the vein of Laurell K Hamilton and we know that Tai likes her. Lastly is Night Life, another one I found on the shelves. more werewolves. My favorite.
What did you get?

Halloween Costume Inspiration

For Halloween we've been invited to a murder mystery party set in the old west. My character is an widow and the suggested outfit was pretty basic-a black top and black skirt. But I had a specific idea in mind.

 

 I know the ladies of Avonlea aren't old west but it was the proper look I was going for. 

But in doing my research it was in line what women wore in that time period. I did some searching and did find some stuff online but it was pretty expensive. I was concerned that if I ordered something it might not fit and I might not have enough time to get something else.  We headed out to the stores to see what we could find. I choose this:

 

Of course I won't need the broom, cape or hat. But the buttoned up top was exactly what I wanted. Sure it's a little flimsy but we'll be inside and I think I'll be fine.

So what about Tai? His character is a cowboy.

But without the fringe and in black. Adult sized of course. We found the hat so far. Chaps don't seem to come in Tai's size. He's also obsessed with a duster.

We couldn't find a play one in his size and the real ones were more than we wanted to spend for a one night thing. But I am taking this opportunity to get myself some black cowboy boots.

We did go to the one Western clothing store near here and found $400 boots. I'll keep looking.

I'm kind of excited about the party. I've been to two other murder mystery parties and they are a lot of fun. I'm also excited to get all dressed up!

Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies

The other day Tai asked me for peanut butter cookies. I didn't have a package of peanut butter cookie mix or a recipe handy. I was going to wing it but I found my recipe card with the fantastic Crisco chocolate chip cookies. And on that card was a recipe for peanut butter cookies. Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies in fact.

I think I'll add a little more Crisco next time (no need to be stingy) since these were a little crumbly. But yummy nonetheless.

Dewey's Read A Thon

I  was going to be a reader for the Read A Thon this month but that weekend (Oct 24) got filled up and I couldn't commit to reading for 24 hours or even a good portion of the day. But, I'm happy to be a cheerleader for the part of the day that I can. The last read a thon I participated in helped me fill my tbr list quickly. It's also fun to meet other bloggers. I also added new blogs to my reader which sometimes I find hard to find new blogs.
So what does a cheerleader do? Every hour readers post their progress and cheerleaders give encouragement. You can cheerlead the whole time or just for an hour. There are mini challenges that help kind of pass the time. The mini challenges are done by the cheerleaders but not all cheerleaders have to do mini challenges.
Anyway the read a thon is a lot of fun. I hope you decide to check it out even if you don't participate this time.

Review-Rosemary And Rue By Seanan McGuire

Singer-songwriter McGuire adeptly infuses her debut with hardboiled sensibilities and a wide array of mythological influences, set against a moody San Francisco backdrop. October Toby Daye is half-human, half-faerie, a changeling PI with a foot in both worlds. After spending 14 years as a fish following a botched assignment, she's desperate to avoid magic, but the dying curse of a murdered elven lady forces her to investigate the killing, with the price of failure being Toby's own painful death. Toby struggles with court intrigue, magical mayhem, would-be assassins and her own past, always driven by the need to succeed and survive. Well researched, sharply told, highly atmospheric and as brutal as any pulp detective tale, this promising start to a new urban fantasy series is sure to appeal to fans of Jim Butcher or Kim Harrison. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

I read about Rosemary and Rue on Erin's blog. When I read the part at the end where she recommended it to fans of paranormal fiction and sarcasm, I went to add it to my library queue.  Immediately I liked Toby. She was exactly who I'd be in her situation. She's not trying to be the hero, the good guy. She's trying to make it through the day as a changeling, half fae, half human. She lives on the edge of the human world, trying to fake human. But she is pulled back into fairy land, despite her efforts to stay away. The writing is sharp and the story is well crafted. There are no "just go with it" parts (unless you don't believe in fairies and other magical creatures), no random twists. The plot is solid. You'll enjoy following the story and finding out details when Toby does and when McGuire intends you to find out. It's well paced. Excellent book. I recommend it to those who enjoy good stories and enjoy faeries and other magical creatures.  It's  a fairy detective novel with a changeling detective.
Other reviews can be found at A Working Title, Robots and Vamps, and Random Reading.

Library Loot

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Just 2 this week. I've been waiting for Wild Cards for a long time. Tai read it a long time ago and thought I might like it. Tai read about Underground in the back of another book and thought it sounded good. But I just realized that it's the third book in the series so we'll have to wait til we get the other 2. I'm trying to finish Living Dead In Dallas today since it has to be back to the library today. It's a race against the clock!
What did you get this week?

Twlight Marketing Goes Too Far

A few months ago, I was disappointed to see Wuthering Heights (their publishers really) trying to capitalize on Twilight by releasing a new cover.

I don't remember Bella and Edward reading Wuthering Heights but my friend Abby tells me I'm mistaken. I believe her. I think she read Twilight a couple of times. If you are going to read Wuthering Heights read it because it's a school assignment or because you want to. Not because it's Edward and Bella's favorite book. Sheesh.
But what I saw over the weekend put Wuthering Heights to shame. May I present Bella's own coffee?

I found this while in line at Whole Foods. I had to take pictures. Not a fan of Bella? Prefer something darker? How about the Volturi Blend?

Or maybe The New Moon roast is more your speed?

Oh you don't like coffee? There's tea too.

New Moon Red for those long nights. Or perhaps a sampler pack.

 Strawberry Seduction, Cullen's English Breakfast, and New Moon Red.

At $11 each these treats stayed on the shelf. As much as I enjoyed the books the thought of buying Edward's favorite cereal or Jacob's favorite dog biscuits doesn't appeal to me. What about you? Would you buy a Twilight themed product?

Review-Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? By Phillip K Dick

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published in 1968. Grim and foreboding, even today it is a masterpiece ahead of its time. By 2021, the World War had killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remained coveted any living creature, and for people who couldn't afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacrae: horses, birds, cats, sheep. . . They even built humans. Emigrees to Mars received androids so sophisticated it was impossible to tell them from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans could wreak, the government banned them from Earth. But when androids didn't want to be identified, they just blended in. Rick Deckard was an officially sanctioned bounty hunter whose job was to find rogue androids, and to retire them. But cornered, androids tended to fight back, with deadly results.
"[Dick] sees all the sparkling and terrifying possibilities. . . that other authors shy away from."
--Paul Williams
Rolling Stone

I've never seen Blade Runner so I didn't have the slightest idea what this book was about. I'd gotten it for Tai and decided that I might as well read it too. I can't say I loved it. I'm glad I read it, but I think I missed something. People value life so much that they buy fake animals and pretend they are real. I know there is underlying meaning to all this but my poor brain is so far from being intellectual anymore that I think I missed most of the underlying meaning. 

Both the empathy machine (part of Mercerism, their religion)  and the mood organ scared me. For people to have so little empathy for each other than we need to hold a box that helps us feel apart of others, eek. I can see how people have trouble empathizing today. Overexposure to violence has made some resistant to it. But to the point where we can't feel something for our fellow man. I don't want to live in a world like that. And the mood organ? You don't like how you feel so you can change it? Wow, that seems entirely messed up. How about just feeling whatever you are feeling? Geesh. I think I missed the point.

Overall I enjoyed the book. It made me think about how we treat people and divide them into categories and how we fear those who are different. It's thought provoking and creatively done. Recommended for those who love scifi. Other more intelligent discussions can be found at Kay's Bookshelf, The Planet Harris Book Blog, and Bookstove.

Currently....

drinking

I'm in love with Orange Mango Nantucket Nectars. I can't stop drinking it.

using

I bought these gloves to help me in yoga. Sometimes my hands get sweaty while I'm in yoga. Pretty useful.


eating

I bought these cookies since they are "healthier". I know I'm fooling myself, but they are so yummy.

Burger Bash!

On Tuesday, Marta, Ashley and I went back to Art Restaurant for their burger bash. Seven courses of burgers!
First course was 3 patties-hanger steak, bison, and kobe beef. The kobe had to be my favorite.

Next the course was lobster burger. It was served on a crispy wonton.

Third course was a duck burger with a scrambled duck egg on top. It was like decadent breakfast sandwich.

Next was the lamb burger with tzatziki sauce (I still have yet to attempt to make this on my own).

The next course was a venison burger with a pretzel bun and shoestring potatoes. I could have eaten a whole plate of shoestring potatoes. 

The next course was a surprise. The menu said cheese plate, but I wasn't expecting this:

A burger made of cheese. It was good. There was piece of honeydew melon inside that really helped break up the cheesiness.
The last plate was dessert. A chocolate mousse in the shape of a burger on a cookie bun, 3 pieces of frozen fruit (to mimic french fries) and raspberry sauce and passion fruit sauce. It was delicious.

I thought I was going to be stuffed at the end of the meal. But they brought out the food slowly so we had plenty of time to digest our burger before the next course. I think I liked the first burger patties the best. It was a fun evening. I would do it again.