Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson

The story starts off with our heroine, Betsy Taylor, getting laid off. Then she gets run over by an Aztec when she goes outside to rescue her cat during a snowstorm. The next thing she knows, she's waking up in a funeral home with a bad makeover and a cheap outfit her stepmonster picked out for her burial.

In time, Betsy comes to realize that she is a vampire and she becomes introduced to other vampires and their way of life. Surprisingly, they think she is the prophesied vampire queen and won't let her go about her life as she pleases.

This is a humorous mix of comedy, vampire fiction, and chick lit. The author continually pokes fun of the story and the characters throughout the book, and that makes the story all the more enjoyable.

It was a little "romance novel-ish" at times, which I don't particularly care for, and it has quite a bit of bad language, so if that bothers you, this is not the book for you.

This is the first book in the "Queen Betsy" series.

Fiction - 2004.

Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver

This is a collection of unrelated short stories which all have a theme related to home or family.

I enjoyed the title story very much. It was full of rich detail that drew me in. I also enjoyed a story called "Islands on the Moon" about a daughter and her estranged mother.

Some of the other stories left me feeling like I needed the author to tie up some loose ends. I think some of the stories were meant to have a deeper meaning than what was immediately obvious to me, so a smarter reader might fall head over heels in love with them.

Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors. She is an incredible writer, but if you want to get acquainted with her work, I recommend The Poisonwood Bible or her series that begins with The Bean Trees.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I was anxious to read The Host after reading Meyer's Twilight series last year.

The Host is the futuristic tale of aliens taking over the world. These aliens invade the human "hosts" and control them. Initially, the humans didn't know what was happening, but as time went on, some of the uninfected humans figured out what was going on and decided to hide out and resist the aliens.

The main character of this story is one such human, but as the story begins, she has run out of luck and the aliens have finally caught her and are preparing to implant an alien "soul" into her body so she can lead them to the other remaining humans.

This was an interesting story. I am not a sci-fi lover, but I really viewed this story as more of a fanciful distopian tale than a sci-fi tale.

Don't go into this book expecting Twilight. It has a different feel, but it's still got a nice (wholesome) love story element about it. It's over 600 pages, so be prepared to spend quite a bit of time on it if you decide to pick it up.

Fiction - 2008.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Three Cups of Tea is the inspirational true story of a "regular guy" who was determined to change the world.

After his sister's death, Mortenson, an avid mountain climber, decided he wanted to climb Pakistan's K2 to honor his sister's memory. While in the midst of the daunting climb, he became disoriented and did not make it all the way to the summit. He wandered around on the mountain, ill and in need of assistance and found his way to a village of people who treated him kindly. While he was there, he witnessed the children of the village and their strong desire to learn. Though they had no real school and had to share a traveling teacher with the surrounding areas, the children would gather outside unattended and work on their math problems by scratching them in the dirt. In exchange for the village's kindness, Mortenson promised to come back and build a school for the children.

Mortenson had no money. In fact, when he came back to the US, he lived in his car because he had spent all of his money on his failed climb. As a nurse at a hospital, he saved all the money he could to put it toward building the school. Through the generosity of several benefactors, he realized his dream and much more. Now he works with the Central Asia Institute and has built not only schools, but programs for the adults so they will have the the things they need to make items to sell. He has also worked with villages to provide them with a means of obtaining clean drinking water.

Mortenson believes that by educating the children in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the surrounding area and helping them to know that they can have a future other than what the radical Madras schools offer, we can fight terrorism without having to fire a shot.

Non-Fiction - 2007

The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer

It's about time I started catching up on book reviews!

This story begins with a glimpse of our main character's rocky relationship with her fiancee. They've been together for many years, but haven't set a date for a wedding, and don't foresee it happening any time soon. The main character, Carrie, is starting to feel as though they should go their separate ways.

One summer afternoon, they go with some friends to the lake and her boyfriend dives off the pier without realizing that the water is shallower than normal. When his neck is broken, the whole cast of characters' lives are changed forever.

It delves into though provoking issues like what Carrie's obligations are to her fiancee now that he is totally dependent on others. Society is pressuring her to be there for him, but they don't know how rocky their relationship was before the accident.

I thought it was a great book. I cheered for Carrie as she tried to find her way and I hurt for her fiancee as he learned to cope with being a quadriplegic and with the way life changed for him in an instant.

Fiction- 2003

The Things I Miss

On Monday evening, I had two places to be at once. I hate when that happens.

First, I had my book club meeting. You may remember my musings about how tense the group is. Especially when there is any mention of Twilight. It's a running joke now amongst the Pro-Twilight camp. Anyway, I went to the meeting, but had to leave early, so I'm told that I missed the part where one of The Grumpies pounded her fist on the table and said she hated Twilight so much that she vomited through the whole thing.

Mind you, we read Twilight in OCTOBER. It's over, Grumpy. Let it go!

Now there's a concerted effort to make mention of Twilight, vampires, Stephenie Meyer, etc. at each meeting to catch her reaction. I did NOT implement this plan, but I HAVE encouraged the other ladies to start videotaping the situation so that I can review the footage on nights when I have to leave early.

Second, I started a new women's study at church. Beth Moore's Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman. I'm so excited about it that I could do a cartwheel...but I'd probably hurt myself, so I won't! I'm looking forward to learning a lot and laughing a lot along the way (if you've never done a Beth Moore study, do one. She's a hoot! And the link up there has a promo video for it.)

I'm Funnier than they Give me Credit For

You know what sucks? I'll tell you what. It's when you have something dang funny to say, but when you say it, nobody knows what the heck you're talking about, so they don't get how hilarious you are.

Scenario 1:

A friend's Facebook status is "Does anyone know where I can get a .38 Special?"
I reply with, "I don't know, but when you find one, you better hold on looselaaaayyyy."

If it were possible to hear crickets chirping on Facebook, it would have happened. That was freakin' funny, people! What's wrong with you?!

Scenario 2:

A friend's Facebook status says that she's sorry she will miss our (a group of friends + me) get-together tonight.
I reply with, "We will pour out a little liquor for you."
The rest of my friends get excited because they think there might be actual liquor at our get-together. Goodness knows they wouldn't let me pour any out if there was some!

I am under-appreciated.

But I Will Not Fall Prey to the Folly that is Owning a Cat

My seriously hilarious cousin commented about a picture of me holding one of my Christmas presents -- a book about quilting.

She said (and I quote): "Please tell me the "Quilter's Complete Guide" was a white elephant gift. LOL If not, I need an immediate update on your cat count!"

I may be dangerously close to becoming the crazy dog lady at times, but I will not have a house full of cats who exist only to try to steal one's breath as one sleeps, spray random things around the house in a fit of rage, and wait with bated breath should I die so they can eat my still warm body. Seriously.

PetSmart Ramblings

Interaction witnessed in the fish department of PetSmart (imagine the most country accent you can think of for all participants):

10 Year Old Little Boy: Papaw! Is that a fish?
Papaw: Naw, that's a snail.
5 Year Old Little Girl: Can I hold one of them fish?
Pawpaw: Naw, we cain't hold the fish.

_____________

Funny. Anyway, this weekend we went to PetSmart to buy some new fish for Kevin's tank. Unbeknownst to me, the second Skeletor fish died at some point (after living with Kevin for about a year-nobody tells me anything!), so it was time for some new additions. We got two new guppy boys (Sparky and Jerry) and one guppy girl (Frieda) who we got for free because she was a semi-grown fry. She's a little shy, but the others have made themselves at home. We also got a new Black Mystery Snail (as of yet nameless) to try to help control the algae situation. And when I say situation, I mean SITUATION!

In other news, I got a haircut and my head feels 5 pounds lighter. I got probably 3 inches cut off, and I got the layers freshened up, so it doesn't feel so flat and heavy. I like it so far. I think it will dry faster now. Maybe I can abandon my "I'm running late for work and don't have time to finish blow drying, so I'll just turn the heat on in the car and use the vents to dry my hair" practice. We shall see!

How'd I Do?

Happy New Year, everyone!

First of all, a couple of Christmas picture stragglers. Here's a picture of my great-nephew with the quilt I made for him. Normally I don't post pictures of him here, but just so you can see the size of the blanket better...plus when he opened it, he put it down on the floor, sat down on it and clapped. It was cute.



Here's another one I took before I wrapped it. Sorry it's sideways!



I learned a lot from the process of making it and I got a quilting book for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to making something else soon from all of my scraps. In the meantime, I really need to organize my fabrics. I have a feeling that's going to be my project for the day.

But let's talk reading goals, shall we? I had intended to read 100 books in 2008 (I read 93 in 2007). That didn't exactly happen, but that was probably because I took up sewing and it's hard to find time to sew and read!

Here's the list of books I read in 2008. Most of them are linked to reviews.

I think my goal for 2009 will just be to whittle down the TBR pile I've got going. I have around 90 books sitting on my shelves waiting to be read. As long as that number goes down, I think that will be good. If I can keep the total number of books I read in the 80-90 range, that will be good too.

And finally, a couple of puppy pictures. I just learned yesterday that my dad is going to be keeping my favorite puppy, so I'm happy about that. If the other two puppies don't find homes, my dad's neighbor will be taking one and my sister will be taking the other. He said his neighbor took the puppies to the vet a couple of days ago to get their shots and Patches is 13 pounds. The other two are about 11 pounds.

This one is Sara (my favorite...she's so sweet)



And here are Patches and Amber. Patches is the chubby one who is halfway off the bed.