Random and Irreverent Thoughts of Mine

Monday's Technique Lovers Challente - Inside Out!

2010-03-29T11:44:00.004-05:00

Yeah, baby! I'm back on the challenge bandwagon. I am limiting my Facebook idiotic pointless game time (curse you, Farmville!), and getting back to the things I love and are actually productive.

So today, I give you my submission to the SCS Technique Lovers Inside Out challenge. I love the cards that are as pretty on the inside as the outside, but I never bothered to make one. Hell, I'm usually lucky to get a card made as we are running out the door to yet another birthday dinner, and you can imagine how wonderful those look (rolling eyes).

This card also conforms to the SCS Wicked Challenge which is from Stampin' Up! Demonstrators only. As I said in my last post, that Challenge was to use something you just HAD TO HAVE, but once it arrived, you never touched it. Here it is the Cheep Talk stamp set and the In Color Ribbon.

For some unknown reason, I can't get Blogger to take my uploads, so I give to you the link to my SCS Gallery. Please check it out, and make me feel special

Looky! I finally made something

2010-03-26T22:54:00.004-05:00

OK, the "new" work hours are kicking my butt! I guess they are not so new now, since I've been on this shift for a little over 6 months, but I never said I adapted quickly. With homeschooling the kiddos and just trying to keep house, my fun time has been put aside. But tonight, that has changed.

I have finally completed a card, for no reason other than I wanted to make something. Well, okay.... that I'm going to my downline meeting on Sunday, so I thought maybe I better get a little mojo working. Anyway, Ta-Da!!!!!

This card is for SCS March Wicked Challenge Parts A & B

Part A: Use a stamp set you just HAD to have, but haven't used yet.
This is the Kind and Caring Thoughts Hostess set that I pre-ordered way back in the day before the 2009-2010 catty went live. I love this set, but hadn't used it.

Part B: Use a color combo you wouldn't normally use.
That would be Rich Razzleberry (which I do not like), Certainly Celery (love it!), and Barely Banana. Also, some Almost Amethyst ink (ick!). As you can tell, I hate purple.... but this combo I liked. And I made it up all by my self! Now, I'm sure someone else has used it, but I didn't CASE it from anyone, so let me have the credit, 'kay?

The Multi-colored main image was simply done by inking the entire stamp with Almost Amethyst, and using Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive markers to color parts in. I tried coloring in the Amethyst part too, but it was just too light and faded when I did that.

Thanks for looking!

I kinda back! Any body miss me?

2010-01-09T17:04:00.002-06:00

Wow things have been crazy around here with the new schedule (now 5 months ago, so maybe the semi-new schedule?) and the holidays. I have had a rather rough time adjusting my habits and sadly have been wasting far too many hours on pointless games via facebook.

I'm so ashamed!!!!!

Anyway, I'm getting my crafty mojo back in gear and hopefully I'll be able to post a little bit more frequently. 1st project - knit fingerless gloves. Stay tuned for more!

Book reviews - Photoshop Elements

2009-08-18T09:52:00.002-05:00

I wrote these reviews over a month ago, but somehow I never managed to get them over here. Enjoy.

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements

How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements 7: Creating stunning photomontages on a budget
by David Asch Edition: Paperback
Price: $26.37

A great reference I will come back to again and again, July 9, 2009

I just finished reading through "How to Cheat in Photoshop Elements", and this book will now never leave my desk. I learned a ton of stuff in the first 3 chapters alone. Each technique is shown with step by step screenshots on such things as extracting a subject from the background, explaining all the tricks (keystokes) to really make the Marquee tool really work for you, making fire from nothing, etc etc. Most of the techniques are work arounds for stuff the "real" Photoshop does with a click of the button (or just easier, I haven't dealt with the Real PS for several years). It really isn't for a total Newbie, but it is great for someone familiar with the basics and ready to expand their skills. I believe that this book will be an invaluable tool for my digi scrapbooking.

___________________________________________________________________

Photoshop Elements 7 Digital Classroom
by Aquent Creative Team Edition: Paperback
Price: $29.69

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Classroom in a Book is fabulous!, July 16, 2009

I love the Classroom in a Book series, and this particular installment lived up to the standards set by the previous versions.

The basis of the Classroom in Book is simply step by step instructions on different aspects of Elements, using images provided to you on the accompanying CD-ROM. Following the instructions is easy and really helps you to become quite proficient in Elements. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn the ins and outs without having to wade through hours of interest tutorials.

Today's the Day!

2009-08-17T10:17:00.002-05:00

I'm starting the freezer job today. I'm nervous as can be. :( Just popping in so people know I'm alive.

Tomorrow I should have a couple of reviews on books pertaining to Photoshop Elements, but right now, I'm already running behind for the morning. I truly need to get up when my alarm goes off, and not just shut it off! It was set for 8 am, I got up at 9:45

Book Review - Girl in the Arena

2009-08-15T18:28:00.000-05:00

I'm back!!!! Did you miss me?!

Sorry, I've been neglecting the blog in an effort to prepare myself for the shift change. I could go on and on about everything that I now have to schedule out, but I won't. Instead, here is a book review

Girl in the Arena
by Lise Haines Edition: Hardcover
Price: $11.55

Availability: Available for Pre-order

Social commentary on our obsession with violence, August 15, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Girl in the Arena follows Lyn, the daughter of 7 Modern Gladiators. The "Glad" society can be compared to the NFL for example, a national sport with it's die hard fans and "groupies". The difference is, a whole culture has sprung up around the Neo-Gladiators, along with rules of conduct for their wives and children. There is even a university where young women can attend and learn to become the perfect "glad wife". When Lyn's 7th father is killed in the arena, his opponent picks up Lyn's dowry bracelet, which he was wearing for luck. By the rules of the association, Lyn is now required to marry Uber, the victor. Lyn's mother, having just lost her 7th gladiator husband, is no longer allowed to marry. Lyn rebels against the rules and regulations, in an attempt to be her own woman and care for her mother and brother. That's the plot in a nutshell.

This novel reminded me of a classic that you would be required to read in Lit class. I know I say that in my reviews occasionally, but this is just how I see them. This book is really just a commentary on our culture's obsession with violence by taking a ultra-violent sport and turning it into a cultural event. The social commentary is so oblivious, it really just makes for poor reading. Glads are contracted for "X" amount of battles, their wives are only allowed to marry 7 times, and their children are hounded by the paparazzi. Rabid fans will press their bodies against glads fresh from the arena to get bloodsplatter on their clothing for a memento. I can just see a college prof. asking his class to write an essay of significance of "caging a glad", and how it can be compared to fandom in today's society.

The narrative, which is 1st person, seems distant and lacking in feeling. Lyn, the narrator, has a couple of tragedies befall her, but her emotions seem non-existent. Her love for her family is a main point in the novel, but the detachment makes her seem like a shallow, selfish girl. The writing style and flatness actually reminded me of The Handmaiden's Tale.

My Gluebook cover.... and news of a change in my life

2009-08-04T21:56:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally got a gluebook started. I simply purchased a super cheap sketch books from Wal-mart, and went wild on the cover. The finished result was this:

I love it! I used some scrapbook paper that I love, a TON of rub ons, some stickers left over from another project, an ATC I made, some grungeboard I had decorated up previously, and viola! Not too shabby. Of course, this really isn't for anyone other than me, so I don't really care what other people think. :) When I put this together, I was in a horrible, near tears, "Why did I ever decide to have children?!", "poor me, I'm so unappreciated" mood. We all have those days, so don't look at me like that! ;) By the end of 20 minutes of glueing, inking, and rubbing on the rub ons... I felt so much calmer and relaxed. Everybody has to have some outlet. :)

Now for the change in my life....

I bid on another job a my place of work. I took the plunge and gave up my cozy, "I know what I'm doing, and I'm damn good at it" office job, and decided to go to the -40 t0 -20 degree freezer, hauling freight on a fork life. Lots of people think I am crazy for doing this, and I honestly am wondering myself, but for 5 1/2 years, my husband and I have been on opposite shifts. He works Mon - Thurs, and I work Fri -Sun. Now that the kids are a little older, and I have a 15 yo son dying to make money to save for a car, I wanted to get on the same days as my husband, not the same shift though! He gets up at 2:30 am, and has to be there by 4 am. I may be crazy, but I'm not that crazy!!! Mornings are sooooo not my thing! So in 2 short weeks, I'll be working 2:30 pm to 12:30 am (which is really my most energized time), Mon - Thurs. JB and I are so excited about have days off together again! Wish me luck (I'm gonna need it... it is cold in there!)

Book Review - Demon Chick

2009-07-29T10:11:00.002-05:00

I don't know what the deal is here lately with the Hell-themed novels, it is just a weird phase I guess. Out of the Advanced Reader Copies Amazon offers me, these are the ones that jump out at me.

Demon Chick
by Marilyn Kaye

A quick, light read, July 28, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

I really enjoyed this book.

Demon Chick is a fairly light YA novel about Jessica, whose mother is running for President, and whose deceased father was the poster boy for segregation. On her 16th birthday, Jessica is "kidnapped" by a demon named Brad, who in reality is only collecting a her as a debt. Before she was even born, Jessica's mother sold her to the devil in exchange for power. Now, banished to Hell with Brad, which actually is much like the suburbs, Jessica finds out her mother's plans for the world, and must figure out how to stop her.

All in all, this novel was a cute little story. I stupidly picked it up to read for a "few minutes before bed", and 3 hours later, I had completely finished it. The storyline kept me interested and entertained, even if some of the supporting characters were rather flat and cheesy. The plot does get wrapped up rather quickly, so that the novel seems more like a short story. The flat characters and quick wrap-up are why I deducted one star.

Parents be warned: Sex does happen in this book, but it isn't graphic. It is mainly alluded to as in "what we did last night" etc. Really nothing too bad, but some parents would like to avoid this.

I will be recommending this book to friends.

Book Review - Sandman Slim

2009-07-29T10:09:00.001-05:00

Sandman Slim: A Novel
by Richard Kadrey

Action packed, July 28, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Sandman Slim is an action packed novel which grabs you by the hair and drags you along for the ride.

Stark (aka Sandman Slim) was banished to Hell, alive, but his magician friends. After 11 years in Hell, fighting in the Hellion's Arena, he has become hard to kill, and mad as Hell (pardon the pun). When his girlfriend is murdered, he escapes from Hell, and goes in search of the people who killed her, and who put him in Hell. Through the novel, he reunites with old friends, meets new friends (some which are more monstrous than he is), and manages to do good a little good for all mankind in general.

The story line reminds me of the Crow, except Stark is not dead. The characters are well developed and each has his or her own unique personality,with the exception of the main antagonist. He seems to just be the boogie man throughout the novel, and when he finally appears, he is very one-dimensional. My only problem with the story was the anti-climatic meetings a couple of the former circle. The ladies are mentioned, but you never really get to see Stark hash out his grudge with them. Also... the "Sandman Slim" just comes from out of the blue, with no explanation of its origin. Rather odd.

Even with those couple of oddities in the storyline, I did enjoy this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to for a unique stand alone urban fantasy novel.

Book Review - The Magicians

2009-07-27T09:44:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted a book review here for a while, even though I have been writing them for Amazon, so I thought I would copy and paste a couple today.

Here is the first:

The Magicians
by Lev Grossman

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

Combination of Harry Potter and Narnia - final result = rushed and dull, July 16, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

In The Magicians, the author attempts to create an adult version of Harry Potter and then meld it with an adult version of the Chronicles of Narnia. The end result is too much story for one book, which cause the novel to become extremely dull. The main characters themselves are completely unlikable. Quenton, the protagonist, is a boy/man who is still fascinated by the fantasy novels of his youth. In his mind, real life is pointless, there must be something more magical out there. The problem is, whenever he finds something more magical, be it Brakebills (the magician school), of Fillory (Narnia knock off), he is still unhappy and unsatisfied. This is the main point of the whole novel.

Part I - Brakebills - learning magic, easily the best portion of the novel

Part II - After graduation - ennui, boredom, sex and drinking, worst part of the novel

Part III - Fillory - journey to the magic land, angst galore, some action, but still rather dull

Part IV - recuperation phase in Fillory, guilt, some resolution, dull, dull, dull

Part V - back to the real world in NY, more dullness with final ending.
By this point, I hated all the characters so much, I just couldn't care

This novel took me 2 weeks to finish, simply because reading it was a chore. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

My First ATC

2009-07-22T08:14:00.009-05:00

Recently, I decided that I would like to try making some ATCs. I love to play with my paper, stamps, and images, but really, sometimes, scrapping and cardmaking just don't cut it. I really don't send out many cards (gasp!!! I haven't sent out Christmas cards in over 12 years!), and I have lots of paper and images, both digi and "real", that I just love, but they just don't seem to fit anything I'm scrapping, hence the desire for a way to use them. So, in order to avoid the "Maybe, Somedays", I signed up for 4 spots in an ATC swap. One each in the following catagories: Love, Seasons, Baby, and Misc.

What I found it that ATCs are harder than you think. They are soooooo tiny! I like to stamp and then cut things out, but most of my images are just too big for the little 2.5 in x 3.5 in space required. So once again, I turned to my trusty computer (yes, I am a computer geek) and my collection of cheap or free digi scrapping elements, and I came up with this:

"Love Is..."

I swear it took me hours to determine what to do on this tiny tiny piece of paper! I'm not even sure where I got most of the images, but 90% of them are from karenheckyeah's great digi kits from divinedigital.com. The swap required 2 layers of cardstock and 1 embellishment, so I placed my image on Cameo Coral, and stuck a tiny heart brad on it. I didn't really know what to do for the embellie, because I liked it the way it was, but I'm a rule-follower!

The only thing I regret, I wish I had started in Photoshop with a larger image and then resized it down. I truly love my finished result, but I would have liked to have a large one to frame and display. I could make it all over again... maybe... someday.... :) Now only 3 more ATC to figure out! I hope they go faster.

A little side note:

Lately I have been seeing several people making swatch pads from their Stampin' Up! paper, and I love it. My paper is poorly organized, and when I am looking for a color match, and I will pull everything out and make a huge mess! So I took about 30 minutes one day and die cut small tags out of every color and labeled them. This made matching the background of my ATC to the images a breeze! I just grabbed my trusty swatches and held up tags until I found a good match. LOVING IT!!!

Go Fly a Kite!

2009-07-21T10:04:00.003-05:00

I said I'd have something to show today!

This layout was made with yet another freebie from the Digiscrapaddicts So You Think You Can Design contest. The Kit is from Week 1, entitled Believe in Dreams by Meredith Cardall. Be sure and check out her blog for other great kits.

I may have gotten this layout a little cluttered, but I love all the trees and clouds and such, and I just couldn't bear to leave any of them out.

I have gotten a couple of comments on my letters on Splitcoast, so soon I will put together a tutorial for how I make my letters. It seems that no matter how many digi alphabets I get, none of them are every quite what I want. :)

As always, thanks for looking!

Monday, Monday....

2009-07-20T09:30:00.005-05:00

Ahh, Monday, aka "Work Hangover Day"

I never in my life thought that Monday would be the day I looked forward to all weekend. Odd right? Then I started working the weekend shift, Fri - Sun, 11 hour shift, and now Monday is pure heaven. Today is the day I give myself permission to sit in a stupor all day if I feel like it. I can watch mindless television, read pointless books, or play with my papers until my heart's content. No housecleaning on my part, but the kids will be working, because they always let the house go all to hell while I'm not here. It is clean on Thursday night, trashed on Sunday night.

Tuesday, not so fun. The guilt kicks in from being useless on Monday, so go into hyper mom mode and try to accomplish useful things. But... that is tomorrow, so I refuse to think of it today.

Plans for today:
1. Read a little of Sandman Slim, a book from Amazon prime that is showing promise of being good.

2. Make something for gomakesomething.com and post it there. Lisa is feeling like people aren't interested in her challenges, and nothing could be farther from the truth! I have been bad, and not posted anything there, and I plan on changing that today.

3. Edit photos from the guys' band gig this weekend. The bar had a stripper pole in front of the stage, and I have an excellent photo of Jim, the lead singer working the pole. Ha!

4. Make another batch of granola... It has only been 5 days, and we are out. It went over big! I even took a small bit to work, and had to hand the recipe out to several people. I do believe I hit a winner!

Oh, and to those to don't understand why I would marry Alton Brown instead of Bobby Flay, I give you this... Bobby Flay is way cuter, but he uses that nasty cilantro in everything. Ick! It tastes like dish soap to me.

Tomorrow after my creative extravaganza today, I'll have a pic of something to post. See ya then!

Today's Grand Experiment - Homemade Granola

2009-07-15T15:31:00.006-05:00

Today, I attempted to make my own granola.

We LOVE granola for breakfast, but if you buy the boxed cereal, it can get ridiculously expensive. Especially if you go through 4 boxes a week like my family does. So I did google search on granola recipes and found one by Alton Brow n (who I would marry just so I could have him cook for me), and used it as a jumping off point. Here is what I came up with:

It is wonderful!!!! Way way WAY better than store bought.

I doubled the Alton Brown recipe and altered it like so:

6 cups of rolled oats
1 cup cashews
2/3 c sunflower seeds
2/3 c pumpkin seeds
2/3 c wheat germ
2/3 c flaked coconut
1/2 slivered almonds
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (these had been in my cupboard since Xmas)
2/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c maple syrup
1/2 c honey
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 pkg mixed dried blueberries, cranberries, cherries, golden raisins

Mix everything but the dried fruit together. Spread on 2 baking sheets, and bake @ 250 degrees, for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Let cool and stir in dried fruit.
Makes a ton :), assuming you can quit munching on it while it cools, which I can't

Serendipity Squares

2009-07-14T13:41:00.008-05:00

Another cool idea from gomakesomething.com/

Serendipity Squares: tutorial is here

This is a great use of all those scraps you have laying around. Most of my scraps seem to be long, thin strips of paper. I am always cutting down 8.5x11 sheets of cardstock to make something, and I hate to throw away scraps, so I have a huge folder filled with long, thin strips.

So I tried my hand at Serendipity Squares. I just randomly glued and stamped. Then when I was done, I ran the finish product through my Big Shot using a scalloped tag die, to make a bookmark.

What I ended up with was this:
Kinda funky, eh?

It isn't a fabulous work of art, I realize, but I like it. I always have 2 - 4 books I'm reading at any given time, so I am usually in need of bookmarks. I loan my books out a lot, and when I think of it (which isn't often), I like to tuck a bookmark into the book before I lend it. Maybe if I had a few already make and sitting around, I would remember to do this more often.

I did notice that I had a very hard time punching the serendipity square. With the layers of paper, it just got too thick, so I'll be sticking to my Sizzix original and bigz dies for these projects.

Gluebooks

2009-07-13T13:30:00.004-05:00

Gluebooks.... I never heard of them before today, when I was checking out gomakesomething.com
for her weekly Make It Monday challenge. Today's challenge is awesome, and I encourage you to check it out.

Anyway, gluebooks were mentioned and with my natural curiosity and my aptitude for avoiding housework by surfing the internet for hours, I did a google search and found out what they were.

Gluebooks: From Altered Silver
In short, a gluebook is whatever you want it to be. Helpful, eh? ;) Generally the term refers to a series of collages that is built up over time (normally on a regular, ongoing basis) and typically involves modern ephemera. Gluebooks are often of mixed media and difficult to generalize because each artist's style is different, but they almost always involve some kind of gluing, hence the name

Check out the Altered Silver link above. It is informative and has inspired me to start "gluebooking" for lack of a better term. I have tons of stamps and paper that do not seem to fit any real project I'm working on at the time, but love them and don't want to part with them, so here is a good use for them.

Also, I have decided to incorporate this into my homeschooling. Each kids will have their own gluebooks that we will work on. I think this will be a great creativity exercise for the kids and a confidence builder in their artistic skills. Rather like journalling but with images. With 3 kids, ages 6, 11, and 15, we are sure to see a variety of pages.

Here are a link I've found about gluebooks and it has several other links to get you started and gives examples:
www.squidoo.com/gluebooks

I Love A Parade!

2009-07-09T09:32:00.005-05:00

Finally I completed something!!! Today's offering is "I Love A Parade" which chronicles our tiny small town parade, which is so very very sad. The biggest it gets is on election years, then 3/4's of the parade is politicians running along side a truck, handing out cards and shaking hands. All that handshaking seriously interrupts my beer drinking (see journaling below). lol

Jounaling:

The Atlanta Homecoming is held every year
in June. The highlight of the Homecoming
for the kids is the parade, which goes by right
in front of our house. It has
become a tradition grab a beer and either
sit on the porch or set up lawn chairs and
watch the parade go by.

The funny thing about Atlanta is that
everyone who has a tractor, bike, truck
or car that is just a little bit different,
always drives it in the parade. JB and I
will often look at each other and ask,
“What was the point of that?”

The kids always grab large bowls and
collect all the candy that is thrown out.
Since our house is at the very beginning
of the parade route, the paraders really
get into flinging the candy.

This year, Isabella and Jeremiah were both
in the parade, so we had Josh collect
candy for them

All elements are from the Snap Happy kit, which was a freebie over at digiscrapaddicts.com, during there So You Think You Can Design challenge. Sadly, all the kits from the challenge are no longer available for download (that I can find anyway, maybe they are still floating out there somewhere), but if you sign up for the forum, there are tons of freebies to be had.

One of the things I LOVE LOVE LOVE about digi scrapping is the affordability. I have over 16
GB of digi elements (which is an absolute TON!) for less than $50. Many of them are freebies, and some were super cheap. The main place you run into cost is the printing, but it still doesn't add up like all my real stamps, ink, paper, and embellies. If my hubby only realized how much $$$ I have sunk into a hobby, He would kill me!

Just checking in...

2009-07-07T09:58:00.002-05:00

I really don't have anything to share today, but I thought I'd better check in.

Last night was the THE LAST GAME of summer baseball, and I'm ashamed to admit that I'm glad it is over. This is the first year I've had two kids playing ball, and even with 1/3 of the games getting rained out, it seemed like we were always on the run. My son's ball team went undefeated all summer, with some insane scores like 20-0, 18-0, etc, etc. I honestly think that there was only 2 or 3 runs scored against them the whole season. Another thing I'm ashamed to admit, is that I would like to see them lose. I know that sounds horrible, but the boys and the parents have gotten so cocky it is embarrassing to be in the same stands with them. A lesson in humility is definitely needed. The way some of those mother scream and yell, you would think it was a pro game. Sheesh! It is summer ball people lighten up! Even at my daughter's t-ball games, there were mothers that needed to just sit down and shut up.

So now that ball is over, I can catch up on some stuff. Currently I have 5 books that I'm need to get read. Four are for the Amazon Vine program, and the 5th is a series that I love.

I've also have 4 swaps to complete. One is an ATC swap. I've never made one before, but I thought I would give it a try.

To top it all off, I pledged 10 scrap pages for the July Goal Challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com. I totally failed to meet my goal in June (see above for the reason), so I'm going to try to bust this out early.

So, as the days progess, I should have lots of pics to share.

Oh, and lastly, the new school year for homeschool has started. My oldest boy is a "freshman", which brings a whole new set of panic attacks because we need to document his activities a little more thoroughly for college applications. We are probably going to be doing unit studies this year, and when I asked him what he wanted to study, one of the things he came up with "Vietnamese Weapons". What the hell?! I talked him in to the Vietnam War, which I'm not really an expert on, but my father is a Vietnam vet, and we know others, plus the plethora of movies and documentaries out them, we should get through it ok.

See ya soon!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2009-07-04T22:25:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone has had a great 4th.

Right now it is 10:30 and I need to sleep, because of work tomorrow. I don't see sleep happening though because everyone in town is just really getting started on the fireworks. So I have stupidly been browsing the swaps @ SCS and signing up for more. Die cut swaps, male card swaps, A-Z recipe swaps (26 +1??!!! What the hell was I thinking?!! At least they are 4 x 6's)... must stop committing myself to swaps, before the family has to commit me for my own good.

That goodness we live in a country where we can have "useless" hobbies, and not spend all our energy fighting to just to survive, hiding our religious preference (even if the preference is no religion at all), or living in fear of being drug from our homes in the middle of the night, simply because we were seen on camera in the background of a political protest (looking at you, Iran!).

Go to sleep tonight safe in your homes and reveling in your freedom to read asinine blog blathering, and to sign up for far too many swaps. :)

USA USA USA!

Budget Recipe swaps

2009-07-02T21:04:00.005-05:00

I finally got my recipe swaps put together. The really cool thing about this swap is that the hostess didn't require that all the entries be the exact same so we could use up scraps. I had several stickers left over from a couple of Scrappin' Kits, so I just used them all up while staying within the same color scheme. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself. The one problem I have is that I think it is hard to do anything different with a 6x6 space where most of it is taken up by a recipe, so both have approx. the same layout. The vintage pics are from karenheckyeah's digi kit Vintage Apron Strings and www.divinedigital.com.

Thank again for looking....

AND...
Here is my vow... as soon as I get 1000 hits, I'm giving away a BIG box of blog candy. I have tons and tons of stuff gathering dust in my office/disaster area, and I would much rather bless someone else with it than it just sit here. I'm talking paper, stamp sets, punches, die cuts, sizzix dies, etc etc. C'mon... you know you want it!

Teen card swap @ SCS

2009-06-24T14:29:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finally sat myself down and forced myself to design my card for the Teen Card Swap over at Splitcoaststampers.com. I had procrastinated on these for far too long, and since they are due on July 1st, I had to get it going. I had signed up for a boy card and a girl card and here is what I came up with:

The girl card was my first foray into digital stamps with the "Bratty Girl" stamp from www.squigglefly.com. Coloring this thing was a royal pain, because it seemed that even after I tried to heat set it, it would still smear. I asked Lori over at The Th'inkin' Spot, how she heat set her, and she advised on using an iron set to hot hot hot, ironing both sides, but being careful not to burn the cardstock. Well, I was too lazy to try and find my iron (I know I have one somewhere), so I went with another method: spraying the holy hell out of the printed image with a clear acrylic sealer, then coloring it with mineral spirits and colored pencils. I'm really happy with the final result, but I may just still be high from all the fumes :) The paper is the last of my Stampin' Up! Bella Rose designer paper. sob!

Now for the boy card:
I'm totally loving this one! The sentiment is from a free digi scrapping kit called Rock On from digiscrap addicts' So You Think You Can Design contest. I don't know if it can still be downloaded or not, but they always have lots of free stuff you can get all the time. The paper is from Die Cuts with a View's Rockstar pack, and the little dude is a clear stamp from H&M Stamps. I don't see this set anymore on their website, but it is a cool little set with a guy crowd surfing, speakers, guitars, motorcycle, etc etc. I don't have good luck with clear stamps, so I colored him in with a black marker. You can't tell from the pic, but I have him popped up on dimensionals.

Now to clean up the disaster area known as my office/craft room. It looks like a papermill exploded in here. I like to call it "Creative Clutter".

Thanks for looking!
Christie

A couple of cheap and easy recipes for you

2009-06-23T10:05:00.002-05:00

After weeks of procrastination, today I need to start on my Recession Busters Recipe swaps. The point was to share a cheap easy recipe with 5 ingredients or less. Well, silly me, who never never reads a post all the way through, didn't see the 5 or less requirement, so I've had to put *optional* next to some of the ingredients. I thought I would share these recipes with you all in their entirety right here. I don't have pics, because with a dear hubby, a teenage boy, and a preteen, the food gets attacked before I can take one.

First we have "Mitzi's Casserole", named for the co-worker who gave me the recipe. It is really a fake-out lasagna, and we like it better.

1 pound egg noodles
1 pound hamburger or italian sausage
1 jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 oz sour cream
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Boil Noodles, drain
2. Brown meat, drain, add spaghetti sauce
3. Microwave green pepper and onion until soft.
4. Mix together green peppers, onions, cream cheese, and sour cream
5. Spray Pam in a casserole dish (9x12? or whatever the standard size is) and layer ingredients as follows : Noodles, then cream cheese mixture, then meat mixture.
6. Top with cheese, and bake @ 350 degrees until cheese is bubbly.

Mexican Casserole

1 pound hamburger
1 packet taco seasoning
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 cup cooked rice
1 can chili beans
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
Cheddar cheese

1. Bake cornbread according directions to in a 9x13 casserole. There should just be a thing layer of cornbread, so it won't take very long to bake at all.
2. Brown hamburger with onions and green pepper, drain
3. Add taco seasoning according to directions on packet
4. Mix in chili beans and rice
5. Pour meat mixture on cornbread adn top with cheese
6. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly
7. Server with sour cream and salsa

There you go! I hope you guys give them a try and enjoy! I';d love to hear if you like them or not.

Book Review - The Demon's Lexicon

2009-06-22T11:48:00.002-05:00

Another book review already! This was a good book that read fast. It is also a Young Adult novel, but it was a good one. Not dumbed down at all. It is rather funny that the last two books I've read have "Demon" in them. Jeez! Maybe my friends are right: I am evil. ;)

Anyway, here is a copy of my amazon review:

Very good stand alone novel., June 22, 2009

By	Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

When I first began reading this novel, I believed it was a rip-off of the Cal Leandros Series by Rob Thurman. The premise is the same: two brothers, hunted and constantly on the move to protect themselves. The semblance ends there.

This book was a quick read, with solid characters and a really good storyline. The brothers are Alan, the older, compassionate, studious, crippled geek, and Nick, the younger cold-blooded fighter with no empathy or any feeling toward anyone, except his brother . They are constantly on the move to protect their mother, an insane magician who has stolen a powerful artifact from a very powerful Circle of magicians. Alan does what he can to care for their mother, but Nick couldn't care less. His mother abhors him, and the feeling is mutual. When a schoolmate of Nick's comes to the brothers for help in removing a demon mark, Alan is all for helping him, mainly because he has a crush on his strong-willed older sister. From here, the action takes off, and the reader is introduced to the world of magicians, where demon summoning is the norm and the possessed are institutionalized in a special hospice.

What really makes this book stand out is the ending. There are plot twists that totally catch you by surprise, and make you rethink everything you've read.

Book Review - Demon Princess - Reign or Shine

2009-06-18T14:41:00.003-05:00

Demon Princess: Reign or Shine
by Michelle Rowen

Good premise, bland characters, predictable ending, June 18, 2009

By	Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews

I can't say I hated this book. I did enjoy the idea of a 16 year old girl, on the cusp of popularity, who suddenly finds that she is the daughter of a demon king. From that description, you expect all sorts of entertaining mayhem to ensue, but sadly, the story is rather flat. The characters themselves are one dimensional and completely predictable. The "surprise" enemy is painfully obvious from the first moment they step into the story. Maybe I am spoiled by other urban fantasy novel written in the first person, because I kept expecting some witty thoughts and comments from our heroine, but none ever came, only tears and a mild anger at being told what to do.

I think this series could turn out to be a good one, but a serious overhaul of the characters is needed to make them interesting.

Side note: I've been reading a lot of young adult fiction here lately, mainly because I've grown weary of all the graphic sex in my other series. I'm not a prude but any stretch of the imagination, but most of the time, sex scenes in books are ridiculous and completely pointless.

My main complaint with the majority of young adult fiction, is that the plots, characters, and action are flattened out and dumbed down, as if a young adult can't comprehend a good story line and complex characterizations. Think of all the wildly popular YA series out there that haven't patronized their audiences: Harry Potter and Twilight being the two biggies. These books are great stories that appeal to a wide audience, and no one feels "stupid" for having read them. This is the caliber of writing the YA world needs. Demon Princess was about as dumbed down as you can get, therefore the poor the review.

I got a delivery today!!!

2009-06-11T10:54:00.003-05:00

Yay!!! My new catty pre-order/retired list order showed up today. And along with it.... the new Catalog!!!

Yippee!

It is wrong that I ripped open the box, threw everything aside, and immediately dove into the new catty? Oh Wow! There are tons and tons of new stamps that I love, so now begins the harrowing process of writing down everything I like, adding up the cost, then gradually weeding out the "probably won't use it much"-es and the "I can wait until later"-s

Hopefully, I will have something new and exciting to share soon, but today I have a "playdate" for the kids with another homeschooling family. The kids are all laid back about it, but I am horribly nervous. Believe it or not, dear friends, I am actually shy. Really!

Wish me luck!

Orange Inspiration

2009-06-10T17:09:00.004-05:00

Here we have what was supposed to be my entry into the SCS Scrapbook Inspiration Challenge this week. I have a bad habit of just glancing at posts, and totally missed the part about how we were supposed to scrap a celebration. So let's just call this a "Celebration of Spring" shall we?

I have been wanting to do an orange and white layout for a while, but I just finally got to it. I was inspired by my favorite t-shirt, which I got at Old Navy. I love grunged up, battered clothing, and I was looking for a way to translate the faded butterfly to paper. At first I tried just Whisper White craft ink, but that didn't do it (too faint), so I went back and tried white embossing powder. I just brushed some of the powder off before I heat embossed it to give it the faded look. It doesn't really show up on the photo, but there are spots missing in the butterfly. Next time, I'll take more ep off, but I was a little bit chicken to do too much.

After I got the paper done, I then went looking for photos to put on it. Kinda backward, I know, but I have tons and tons of photos, so it wasn't too hard to find some.

Thanks for looking!

Busy weekend!

2009-06-08T14:15:00.007-05:00

This weekend was the Randolph County Relay for Life. My darling hubby's band played there and totally rocked the place out! It was a really cool gig for a good cause. Here are a few pics:

Rest in Peace, David Eddings

2009-06-04T11:46:00.002-05:00

I just found out that David Eddings passed away on June 2nd.

Article here

He was a wonderful author, whose books I read and re-read several times in elementary school, jr. high, and high school. I remember the summer between my 4th grade and 5th grade year, when my mother came home from Quincy (the nearest town with a book store, 1 hour drive away) with a new book she thought I might like, "Pawn of Prophecy". By this time I had already read the Chronicles of Narnia so many times, I could recite various passages, and was looking for something new. I was hooked immediately by the story of Garion, the orphan in the care of his aunt, who was destined to be the GodSlayer, and High King. Pretty basic storyline really, but to a elementary student, It was the BOMB! I pestered my poor mother everytime she went shopping in Quincy, to pick up the next book in the series.

I eventually outgrew Eddings' novels. In hindsight they were very simplistic, stereotypical, and predictable, but there were perfect for my younger self. I completely lay the blame for my reading fetish at Mr. Eddings' feet.

Rest in Peace, sir. Your contributions to our world will not be forgotten.

Song Titles Day 5

2009-06-01T10:59:00.002-05:00

Who's that Girl
(song by Madonna, of whom I am not fan at all, but it fits)

I did this page up Friday nite, but it was too late make a post. This post is gonna be short and sweet because I have spent the morning going over the Last Chance List (previously known as The Retired List), and figuring out if I really need the stamps I have been eyeing for a while.

Also, today SU! released a Sneaky Peeky of what's to come in the next catalog, and I am LOVING the new in colors. There a couple that look pretty similar to this years, but I'd have to compare them side by side to see the difference. Also, one big thing I am totally stoked about, you can get markers in the In Colors now! Yay!!!!! My preview order wasn't hard to figure out at all. I can't wait to get my grubby hands on it.

Onto details of the digi page. That girl is my 14 year old son who refuses to cut his hair. I believe it is because he has big ears that stick out, and he wants to cover them, but he denies this vehemently. All the digi elements are from karenheckyeah's Sugar and Spice kit. When I downloaded it, I never thought it would be used for my son, but I love the arrow, and I just stuck with the kit all the way. As much as I am loving digi kits, I may have to start getting real paper scrapping kits. It is so nice to not to go through 1000s of various elements and papers to find the right combo. Maybe I'm just getting lazy.

Well, off to a fun filled day of cleaning. Does it ever end?

Christie

Song Titles Day 4

2009-05-29T19:44:00.004-05:00

Psychokiller
(song by The Talking Heads)

Ok, odd page for an odd subject. Not too many people would use the word Psychokiller in a layout about their darlin' little boy, but I'm weird (as I'm sure I've stated before), and every time I run across this picture I think, "Psycho in Training", hence the title.

In 1999, when Jeremiah was 1 year old, I had the opportunity to return to college and finish my degree. So I returned to Mizzou for two years, but I commuted from Atlanta, so I drove 150 miles round trip 5 days a week. I was gone from early morning until around 6 pm everyday, and when I got home, it was study study study. At this time, my darling hubby's place of business closed down, so he was at home with the kids. From what I can tell, he chased them around the house with disposable cameras (we were too poor for a real camera), and took goofy pics of them. I never knew what was going to going to show up when I got the film developed. This is one of those pics.

Supplies for this page are a skull stamp that I have NO IDEA where it came from, Autumn Leaves Journaling stamps, Stampin' Up!'s Rockabilly DP, and Barely Banana Cardstock. For the title, I placed chipboard letters under some Cor'dinations Black Magic Hypnotique Cardstock and sanded it.

Ok, I'm going incommunicado for the rest of the weekend, due to that darn work thing.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Christie

Make Your Own Sonic Javachillers

2009-05-28T12:04:00.003-05:00

My family LOVES Javachillers from Sonic, but with 4 larges each time we want one, they can get pricey, very quickly, About $13.00 each time! So I have been expreimenting and come up with a make at home version. We like the Hazelnut/Caramel Javachillers. Any type of creamer works and I know chocolate syrup or other ice cream topping would be great. Heck, you could make your own chocolate raspberry javachiller if you wanted to!

Ingredients:
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cold Coffee
Caramel Ice Cream Topping
Hazelnut Coffee Creamer

Just like a milkshake! Only no milk, just blend all ingredients together. Start with small amounts and taste then tweak to your likeing. It is very easy to get it TOOO COFFEE-Y, but if it is, just add more ice cream.

Lots of calories here... just warning ya!

We had one this morning, and now the kids are climbing the walls. Time to point that caffeine-fueled frenzy toward cleaning the house.

Enjoy!

Song Titles Day 3

2009-05-28T10:20:00.004-05:00

What's New Pussycat?
(Tom Jones)

Very simple page here. The background DP (Colorbok's Friendly Forest)had all those super cool white flowers on it, and I didn't want to cover up or distract from them. I simply matted my photos with another paper from my Friendly Forest paper pack, and used some Basic Grey alpha sticker and a white pen for my title. The stickers weren't really standing out against the paper, so I outlined it with white pen.

Little side note on the alpha stickers:
Basic grey stickers are the ones I go back to again and again. They seem to fit in with every style. I have lots of other alpha stickers and several Sizzix alpha dies, but these always seem to be the best bet. You can usually find sheets of them on clearance on various web store, so you don't have to buy the entire paper packs, which can get very pricey.

I'm pretty happy with this page, it came together quickly with a minimum of products. While I love the super fancy scrapbooking look as much as the next person, every once in a while I think it is good to remind ourselves that this isn't an art contest, this is preserving memories for our families and friends.

Song Titles Day 2

2009-05-27T09:09:00.003-05:00

I Could Have Danced All Night

(song from My Fair Lady)

Day 2 of my self challenge. Yes I know it is actually day 3 of the week (day 4 if you work in Logistics @ Walmart, but I digress), but I can only work on stuff after everyone goes to bed. I'm slow as it is, so with all the "Mom! Mooooooom? MOM?!"'s going on, I never get anything done during the day. As I type, my 15 year old is giving me the summary of 3 horror movies he watched at a friend's house last night, but I digress again.

Anyway...

Believe it or not, this pics are the first of my wedding pics that I've attempted to scrapbook. I was disappointed to realize that I only had 2 photos of us dancing, and neither one was that great, but I used them anyway. If I waited for a great photo of me, hell would freeze over before I ever scrapped a pic of myself.

Those of you who know me personally probably will get a kick out of the source of the song title, since I am a heavy metal rocker chick all the way! But my dirty little secret is that I LOVE My Fair Lady, and it musicals make me tear up, even if they are happy ones. Go figure.

But to put your minds at ease and keeping with my rocker mentality, our first dance at the receptions was to "Thank You" by Led Zepplin. JB wanted it sung during the ceremony, but the preacher didn 't think Led Zepplin was appropriate (actually, the song is sweet with no sexual innuendos at all, oh well). We ended up going with "Grow Old With Me", by John Lennon.

JB wanted Thank You because of the lines:
"If the sun refused to shine,
I'd still be loving you.
Mountains crumble into the sea,
There still be you and me."

Isn't that sweet?! Pretty romantic for a 24 year old guy who tried to chicken out of the wedding every day for a week beforehand. I need to type all that up and secure it to the back of the layout.

Thanks for looking!

Edited to add:

I got distracted again, and forgot to give credit to Royanna Fritschmann for her wonderful kit "Time of My Life" over at DivineDigital.com. 99 cents right now!

A Challenge to Myself...

2009-05-26T09:21:00.006-05:00

I have joined the May 09 Scrappin' Goal Challenge over at SplitCoastStampers I am a total procrastinator, so pledging how many pages I'm going to do each month, helps keep me going. I still procrastinate though, because I pledged 12 this month, and I've only got 5 done. I need to kick it in gear this week!

For some reason, my life seems to revolve around music. Everything I do has its own little theme song in my head. Very strange I know, but I blame it on my mother, who always had the radio on, all day, every day while we went about our lives. Soooo, it seems that whenever I am trying to come up with a page title, a song title or a line of song comes to mind. The reason I'm typing all this is that I am challenging myself to complete one song related page each day this week.

Here is yesterday's:

This One Goes Out to the One I Love (song by REM)

All digi elements are from Royanna's Fritschmann's Accouterment Junque Scrap Kit at DivineDigital.com, and it just happens to be 99 cents right now. It is a huge kit! I didn't even begins to use all the elements.

The layout is from Becky Higgin's book Creative Sketches Volume 2 (page 126, if you must know)

Thanks for looking!

Christie

Rainy days and Mondays.....

2009-05-25T07:52:00.004-05:00

I LOVE! Yes, I know I'm weird, I've come to terms with that. I adore rainy gloomy days. I feel like they just give me permission to be a bum (not that usually wait for permission, but I don't feel the guilt on rainy days). I love Mondays because I work the weekend shift (Fri-Sun, 11 hour days), so this is the beginning of my weekend! Four day weekend, every week! Yahoooo!

Today I have plans. As I've stated before, I'm going to finally see a dear friend. But.... she is driving up from Rolla, so I'm meeting her in Columbia for lunch. Columbia takes about 90 minutes to drive to from here, and it is the closest GOOD shopping town around, so I'm making a day of it.

Somehow I've ended up with extra money this month, lots of extra. It makes me nervous, because I think I must've forgotten to pay a bill, but actually last month was a 3 paycheck month and I didn't take it into account when budgeting, so voila! extra $$$$ Most of it is getting put away, but you know I have to go shopping a little bit. I have a 40% coupons for both Michaels and Hobby Lobby, plus this week, Spellbinders dies (including Nestabilities!) are 30% off @ Hobby Lobby. So is all Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders. The Making Memories Slice is also 30% off, but I'm not really interested in that. I have a Big Shot that I LOVE and use constantly, so I don't feel like I need any other cutting system.

I'm also going to take the truck and look at some shelving for both my craft room and my daughter's room. Our problem is that we have very few shelves in the house, so lots of stuff ends up with no "home". I am also wanting to price pegboard for hanging up my crafting supplies. My craft room is a MESS and I can't find anything when I need it. I've the organization bug going on right, and I need to take advantage of it before it passes and I'm back to my slovenly ways.

Lastly, tonight, if the rain lets up, the kids and I are going to see Night at the Museum at the drive in. If it doesn't let up, we'll go the theater route, but movies are so expensive these days! The drive in , for myself and 4 kids will be $13. The "inside" theater will be more like $34.50, and that is not counting the overpriced drinks and snacks.

Well, enough rambling, off I go to enjoy my Rainy Monday.

Christie

Tomorrow is gonna be great!!!!

2009-05-24T19:42:00.003-05:00

Well, my "work week" is over today, and here I sit getting all excited about tomorrow.

Tomorrow I get to see one of my best friends in the world for the first time in almost 10 years! I am so STOKED!! We were college roomies and did all sorts of really wild and stupid things together. Honestly, it is amazing we lived through it! She was there for my 21st b-day, many drunken escapades, and the birth of my first son. That is a real friend.

It will probably be a bittersweet meeting though, since she is back in the state to visit her husband's grave. Tuesday would've been his 37th birthday. He passed away suddenly last fall. He was a great guy and those two were deeply deeply in love. It is so sad. I'm tearing up writing this. :( Please, dear readers, let this serve as a reminder to cherish your loved ones every minute of every day.

Lori's got a Blog!!!! Lori's got a Blog!!!

2009-05-23T21:23:00.006-05:00

Dear Readers (all 3 of you, teehee),
Do you know Lori Souther? If not, you are truly deprived. She is a FABULOUS stamp artist, ( I can't just call her a stamper, she is an Artiste (imagine a phony French accent, if you will)). But don't fear, I just found out that Lori has a blog, where she can share her talent with little stamping peons like myself. Her stuff is gorgeous! Go check it out at the thINKIN spot, and prepared to be amazed.

I met Lori at downline stamping meeting just about a year ago. I'm not quite sure how she is "related" to me in the grand hierarchy. My upline/sideline is kind of like my extended family. There is so damn many of us, I just can't keep track of everyone. She a sweetheart as well as a talented stamper. I have asked her to rub some of her talent off on me, but so far... no luck. I haven't been able to attend one of her stamp retreats at Heartland in Ethel, but I've heard they are they BEST!!! I have seen some of the projects, and whoa... way too cool!

So check out her blog. I'll be posting it as a permanent link on my sidebar from here on out.

Enjoy,
Christie

ps. I am obviously suffering from sleep deprivation. I have edit this post 5 times now. I give up, so please just ignore the typos and the missing words. Off to bed with me!

Book Review - Dead and Gone Sookie Stackhouse Book 9

2009-05-13T23:06:00.001-05:00

Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 9)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Very disappointing... a "clean up" novel, May 13, 2009

What is a "clean up" novel? It is my term for a novel in a series where the author realizes that they have added in too many supporting characters for the reader to keep track of, so they engage in a wholesale slaughter/removal of character who have lost their usefulness to the plot. I won't say who all get the axe in this book, but it is quite a few people.

Other than clean-up, the main point of this novel seems to show that the weres come out into society. Okay, cool, nice beginning, BUT... after the first few chapters, not much attention is paid to how the world is taking the news, except for a few references to how family members are taking it.

The attempt at the main plot seems to be a fairy war. However it is so rushed, I just couldn't bring myself to care.

Now, I love the Sookie Stackhouse series, so diehard fans, please don't bash me. I'll still be reading them as they come out, as long as the plots stay intriguing. I seriously hope the next novel is better, or I will regretfully have to consign Sookie's stories to the catagory of "jumped the shark", joining the Anita Blake novels.

Great poem on ADD

2009-05-13T11:18:00.002-05:00

One of many reasons that I homeschool is that I hate the idea of someone trying to cram my children into their idea of what is normal. Normal sucks. Even though this gentleman's poem is about ADD, I can relate it to homeschooling. How many of our homeschooled children would be labeled ADD because they choose to follow their own interests instead of those that are "normal"?

Watch and enjoy:

A card for Ways to Used it Challange

2009-05-07T12:40:00.003-05:00

It has been a while since I did a challange over a Splitcoast, but I 've been wanting to get back into the swing of things, so I started with Julia's Ways to Used it Challange today. The main component was Kraft paper. I have TONS of craft paper because I really don't use it that much, so what better way to start?

The stamp was an Inkadinkadoo stamp I pick up on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

I stamped it Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink on kraft paper, and colored it in with el-cheapo Rose Art colored pencils. I then blended it with Mineral Spirits, once again, el-cheapo from Wal-mart painting dept. I punched the corners with some punch I've had sitting around for ages and have no idea where it came from. The Elegant Eggplant mat is crimped with the paper crimper, and the DP is some Daisy D's paper I've had for a couple of years. The bottom of the DP is punched with Stampin' Up!'s lastest border punch, and the trim is another Wal-mart cheapie!

I was pretty happy with how this turned out. I know exactly who is going to get it for a birthday card.

Book Review - Fool

2009-05-07T11:05:00.003-05:00

For some unknown reason, Amazon.com hasn't been taking my review on this book. I think it is just a glitch because it says it takes it, but then throws a weird date up on it. Then the review never shows up. The first review I wrote was pretty good, I thought, but I didn't save it anywhere, so it has disappeared. This second review is not as good, but I wrote the darn thing, so I'm publishing it somewhere, by golly!

Here it is:

"This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as nontraditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank . . . If that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon the perfect story!"

The first line of Fool, not only serves as a warning that things are about to get racy, it also perfectly gives the reader a taste of the language to come. From beginning to end, Fool is a masterpiece. It a wonderful tapestry, woven through with flowery language, well turned insults, and new heights of profanity. Mr. Moore truly turns cursing and vulgarity into an art form with this novel. The result is a delightful and hilarious version of a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

The novel is a retelling of King Lear, from the Fool’s point of view. The Fool, aka Pocket, tell of Lear’s trials and tribulations, while providing back story not only on Lear’s daughters, but also on himself. While this may sound dull, it is anything but. Sex and intrigue run rampant through out Lear’s castle, and Pocket is usually at the center of it all.
There are several references to other Shakespearean plays throughout the novel, with a special appearance by the witches from MacBeth.

This novel is best in the audiobook format. The narrator, Euan Morton, is a marvel! His mastery of the convoluted cadence of Mr. Moore’s wording is hypnotic. He artfully changes his voice and demeanor for each character, resulting in a the feeling that the book is being performed by an entire cast of actors. I picked up a hard copy of the novel at a local bookstore just to look through, and while the writing’s excellence still come through, the emotion and all-around snarky-ness just wasn’t there.

I highly recommend this novel for anyone with a good sense of humor and an appreciation for Shakespeare. Heck, you really don’t need an appreciation for Shakespeare. Fool may just cause you to develop one.

May Scrapping Goals

2009-05-05T12:54:00.003-05:00

Over at SCS I've commited myself to complete 12 pages this month. Last night I did 2. Ok, Ok, one way started, it just needed have the title die cut out glued, but I'm still counting it.

Speedracer

Remember when...
This is my son's Kindergarten photo. He will be 15 this summer, and seeing him and some of the other kids running around town, I amazed at how much they've all grown. *sigh*. This layout is from Page maps, which is a wonderful site if you haven't checked it out. Layouts are horribly rough for me, so if I can just take someone else layout and run with it, I am a happy scrapper.

Thanks for looking

Happy May!

2009-05-04T09:05:00.002-05:00

Okay Okay... I know it is technically the 4th of May, but give me a break! I've always been a little behind.

I have a sad love/hate relationship with May. I love the weather. I hate all the birthdays/graduations/etc etc that happen. Did everyone have babies in May? I swear! Of my 3 children, two of their birthday's are in May. Then we have my father-in-law's birthday, my nephew's graduation (I have 25 nieces and nephews or something like that on my hubby's side... one day I'll actually count them, and maybe, just maybe learn all their names! I even have 3 or 4 great-nieces or nephews, I think), Mother's day, a niece's 1st anniversary, and probably some other stuff that I can't remember that will blind side me. Once again, if I make it through May without going broke or insane, it is a good thing.

So as I sit and look at my "To-Do" list, I am paralyzed and overwhelmed. Because on top of all the gift making/giving I will be doing, I also need to clean up this pit of a house, catch up on my reading for Amazon reviews, and work out (the worst chore of all!).

Well, I better get to it. If I get through 5 things on my list today, I'm going to reward myself with an hour of mindless tv. :)

My Cuttlebug embossing folder cards

2009-05-03T16:18:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of cards I've made with Core'dinations Chocolate Box Paper. I absolutely LOVE this paper. It is soooooo cool how it is brown on the outside, but different colors on the inside.

The first card is for a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder swap on SCS:

For it I used my Basic Grey Two Scoops paper that I HATE to cut into because it is so pretty. I cuttlebug folder embossed the Core'dinations paper, sanded it, then sponged pink onto the flowers. I stamped the butterfly from Stampin' Up!'s God's Beauty stamp set on some scrap SU Green Tea designer paper, & embossed it will Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Embossing powder. I also stamped the leaves from the same stamp set. For the saying I used the SU!'s Dream A Little Set. I got the ribbon from H&M. I am so very happy with how this one turned out! I think I am gradually getting better at papercrafting!

This is my Father-in-law's birthday card.

Cord'inations Chocolate Box paper and cuttlebug embossing again, with some grungeboard, Chocolate Chip ribbons, and the Lovely As a Tree stamp. I thought it turned out nice and masculine.

Thanks for looking!

Shopping Trip!!!

2009-04-22T21:12:00.003-05:00

After weeks and weeks of homeschooling the kids, I was ready for a little me time, so off to the bigger city I go. And Oh Boy did I get some bargains!

At Hobby Lobby all paper packs are 50% off, so of course I couldn't turn that down. I got a HUGE package of Coredi'nations paper, regularly $30, for only $15! Yikes! When all was said and done, I got out of there for only $40, which is some kind of record for me.

The main purpose of the trip was to buy a couple of cute tops to wear out when my hubby's band plays. I didn't have so much luck there. Who the hell has decided that babydoll tops are great? No one can wear these darn things unless you are 95 pounds and flat as a board. Any woman with an actual chest just looks fat or pregnant. I am "blessed" (rolling eyes) in that area, so not only do I look pregnant, I look like I'm expecting triplets. It is just wrong. I finally found 1 measly blouse which was really just a glorified t-shirt. :( After this little adventure I came home with a new appreciation of why I am busting my butt working out. But no matter how thin I may or may not get, I still won't be able to wear the babydoll tops.

Book Review - Road to Revolution

2009-04-16T12:02:00.002-05:00

Educational, but still fun, April 16, 2009

This comic book depiction of the Revolutionary War follows two kids, Penny and Nick, through their adventures which brings them in contact with a variety of historic people.

The book was educational while still being action and adventure oriented. The writing itself is extremely simplistic, which makes it dull for a more advanced reader. What is really neat about the book is the end notes. Notes are specific to each chapter saying such things as:

QUOTE FROM BOOK:
Chapter 2:
Nick may be showing off when he takes a swig of Madeira, but...
1. It was very common for everyone - including kids0 to drink alcohol because the water supply in town was not sage, and even milk was potentially contaminated.

:END QUOTE

These little tidbits of info help to fill out the story and give the reader a feel for the lives of the characters.

I would purchase more books in "The Cartoon Chronicles of America" for my younger children to read in their homeschool studies.

Book Review - Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars

2009-04-15T10:50:00.001-05:00

Pleasantly surprised, April 15, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. I ordered this novel for two reasons: 1) I'm a big fan of Jim Butcher, so I was curious to see what his wife could do 2) As you tell by the books I review, I adore urban fantasy, so I'm always on the lookout for a fresh new series

When the book arrived, I saw the dreaded words "Supernatural Romance" on the cover. I prefer stories with a tiny amount of lovey-dovey stuff and lot of actions, but I settled in to read it anyway. I'm glad I did.

The story is based around Helen, a young woman who has had visions of her death since she was a child. In this vision, a man watches her burn to death while smiling. So one evening as she is eating at a diner, imagine her surprise when the man from her vision walks in the door.

From here the action really takes off. Monsters attack, all hell breaks loose, and Helen, her friends, the man, and his friends are all running together for their lives. This all happens within the first chapter. So the story grabs you right away.

The novel does a good job of balancing the romance with the supernatural action. Occasionally, the gushy romance does it a little overbearing, but it really isn't that bad compared to some super sappy novels I've read in the past.

The most impressive facet of this novel was the story: Three ancient races are bound together in an uneasy truce to save the world. One race cannot live up to its full power, because their power comes from matched pairs of men and women, and almost all the women were slain hundreds of years ago. (You see where this is going right?)

All-in-all, I give this novel 4 stars. I will not give it 5 stars because while the story does wrap up, a good deal of energy is given to setting up the sequel and leaving LOTS of unanswered questions in order to make the reader buy the sequel. That said, I will buy the sequel because the storyline was good, and I want to know what happens.

Wonders never cease!

2009-04-06T10:39:00.004-05:00

Right now, my problem learning child is reading! Not just sitting on the couch, being pissed because I am forcing him to read, but actually reading because he wants to do it!!!! And he offered to read out loud to his little sister too! I am stunned! Normally these two can't be in the same room together without someone screaming!

Now when I say "problem learning child", I don't mean that he is slow or has any learning disability. I just mean that he is the one kid that every homeschool assignment or activity is a battle. He couldn't care less if he can read or not, or if he learns anything or not for that matter!

So what mystic happening has caused this change in attitude? Well, we finally found a book that he enjoys, The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I have tried book after book after book that I thought would entice him into reading for pleasure instead of "a chore", and this was the one! He actually read this weekend without being forced!

OOOPS!! One of the wonders did just cease! In the time it has taken me to type this, Isabella and Jeremiah have gotten into an argument. I guess it is a wonder that the peace lasted this long!

Book Review - Where Did It Go??

2009-04-02T16:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I spent about 45 minutes typing up a fabulous book review of Christopher Moore's latest novel, Fool, on Amazon.com. Usually, after I submit a review, I can copy & paste it here within 10 minutes. It has been over 24 hours now, and no review on amazon.com as of yet. I know they say allow up to 48 hours for it to appear, but I've never had it take so long.

Anyway, I have learned a lesson from this, and from screwing up my post about bookmooch.com: Always write your review in Word first!!!! If my review doesn't so up, I'll have to write the whole darn thing again, and don't remember it word for word. Writing is pure agony for me, which is why I challenge myself to write book reviews and to blog.

So, if the book review shows up I will post it here. If it doesn't, I will have to re-write the stupid thing :(

Until then, here is a preview of Book Reviews to come (as soon as I get them read):
The Loveliest Dead by Ray Garton
Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel
Deathwish by Rob Thurman
The Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Mitchell
and some others that I have in my "To Read" pile

Book marks from scraps

2009-03-31T12:49:00.003-05:00

Since I have so many people mooching my books from BookMooch.com (14 in the past 48 hours), and I have massive amounts of paper scraps laying around my office, I decided that I would make a small book mark to put into each book I send. For some reason I love to make bookmarks. Maybe it is because they are small and easy and you don't have to used up a lot of supplies (I have a tendency to hoard my supplies). Anyway... I had some printed words left over from my first ever card swap and a bunch of scraps of Green Tea Stampin' Up! paper, which is now retired. Also, some thin cardboard from packages I've recieved in the mail. Die cut them with the Big Shot and a scalloped tag die, put them all together, add some ribbon & eyelets and ... Voila! you get this:

Not too bad for scrap, eh? The words are lyrics from a Smashing Pumpkins song, "Today":

Today is the greatest day I've ever known
Can't wait for tomorrow, I might not live that long

Thanks for looking

BookMooch.com totally rocks!

2009-03-31T10:09:00.007-05:00

I spent a while typing up an excellent review of www.bookmooch.com, then somehow I wiped the whole damn thing out. How irritating! So this thoughful review will now be condensed into a quick and dirty one.

How it works:

List the books you want to give away,
Look for the books you want to receive (for FREE!!!!)
Free sign up, no commitment.
You only pay for the shipping for the books you send.
Activity is monitored by a point system, which keeps people from only mooching without giving
You get 1/10th point for each book you list, and 1 point for each book you give away
Mooching a book from someone costs you 1 point
You can mooch two books for each one you give (not just list)
You can get a toolbar icon to automatically add books to you wishlist @ bookmooch when you are browsing through Amazon's or Barnes & Noble's websites. That would be how I have over 60 books on my wish list right now without having to type anything into bookmooch. I just went to my "Recommended for You" page and started clicking on books that looked interesting to me.

Pros:

Free books! Need I say more?
When listing a book, you are asked to provide condition notes. So if you are looking for a pristine copy of something, you can tell (as long as the giver reveals it) whether or not there are dogears, torn covers, etc etc. And if the book isn't in the exact condition you wanted, screw it! It was free, dude!
Ability to review your mooching partners, much like feedback on eBay
Make a wishlist of books you would like, and they will notify you via email when a copy becomes available to Mooch

Cons:

So far, almost all the books I want are not available to mooch at this time. I believe they will become available sometime, but I seems to have the same taste in books as the majority of the other moochers
However, my books seems to be in high demand. In less than 48 hours, I have had 13 books mooched from me, which of course is starting to add up on the shipping costs for me (About $35 so far, shipping these books via media mail).

Most of the books I have sent so far have been free books I received from the Amazon Vine program, which is probably why they are in such high demand. Most of them have only been available to buy for a couple of months, so my copies have been the only ones available.

All in all, I can see this website being very useful to me and my family, especially for classic novels to use in our homeschooling. Also, there are several books that I would kinda like to read, but I really don't want to buy them.

If you look to the left side of this blog, you will see 5 random books I have to give, and 5 random books I am looking for.

I highly recommend this site. Check it out!

Some pics of hubby's new band

2009-03-30T20:14:00.006-05:00

Saturday night was the first time I got to see my husband's new band in action, and man was I impressed! These guys were BY FAR the best group of guys he has ever played with.

Here are some pics:

Here is the set up phase

DH on the left and Chris on the right

Gary on drums

Mike on lead and Jim on vocals

Wow these guys were great! And I would say that even if I wasn't biased

You can Ring my Bell

2009-03-26T20:51:00.004-05:00

Wow 2 posts in one day! Gotta make up for lost time.

Anyway here is a small 5x7 digiscrap of my daughter when she was 2

The kit is a freebie from Shabbyprincess.com called Happy Go Lucky. It is extremely cute with lots of little elements like a twine knots, metal doodads, ric-rac and twine flowers. Man, I sure love freebies.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - book review

2009-03-26T18:52:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted. Where has it gone? Anyway here is the late book review

The Village + Dawn of the Dead, written in a similar style as The Handmaiden's Tale, March 26, 2009

I found this novel to to be engrossing. So engrossing, in fact, I read the entire book in just a few hours.

The story is told in the first person present tense by Mary, a young woman in the Village ruled by the Sisterhood. The Village is surrounded by a fence that keeps the people separated from the surround forest which is full of the Unconsecrated (zombies). Constantly, the Unconsecrated are pounding at the fences, trying to get to the villagers. The people have lived so long with this, that the moans and growls of the Unconsecrated are just background noise to them.

My favorite thing about this novel is the fresh take on Zombies. Instead of detailing the spread of the infection and the consequent fall of civilization, the story takes place generations later (approx. 200 - 250 years if I'm figuring this out right). It shows how people have adapted to life after "The Return" and rebuilt their lives. Strict rules and ceremonies are put into place to ensure survival. Mary, the heroine, of course questions the status quo and longs to learn of the outside world. And so begins the adventure....

I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it for a quick read, however, something about the ending was unsatisfying to me. I can't really say what it was without spoiling the ending, but I feel like I was left hanging slightly. There is a wrap-up, but the reader is left to imagine what happens next. I have a love/hate attitude toward this. On one hand, it is a good thing, in that it keeps the story in your mind after finishing it. On the other hand, I guess I am just used to have concrete endings spelled out for me, and don't know quite what to think.

8 x 10 digital scrapbooking

2009-02-26T14:35:00.004-06:00

I have tons of blank wall space in my house that I have been meaning to fill for oh, about.... 14 years. My darling hubby likes the idea of tons of photos on the walls, and I have been dabbling in the digital scrapblooking world for a couple of weeks, so I decided to make some 8 x 10 layouts to have printed, then frame and hang them. So far, I only have 2 done, but I thought I would share.

The first one is using karenheckyeah's Bee Happy kit from divinedigital.com. The smaller photos are masked using Emily Giovanni's worn photos mask from twolittlepixels.com. You can't tell from the photo, but the masks make the pic look sort of painted on by a brush.

Next up is a couple of photos from my nieces wedding last year, in which my daughter was the flower girl. I used Fairy Tale Kit by Natasha Nast Designs also from twolittlepixels.com. I really thought she looked like a little princess in her dress, yes, even in the lower pic where she is stuffing chocolate cake in her mouth as fast as she can! This one was quite the booger to put together because all those flowers, butterflies, grass, etc, etc, etc, are each a seperate image. It is kinda cluttered, but I like it and that is all that matters, since I put it together for my own home.

Thanks for looking!

Book Review - Wildwood Road

2009-02-23T11:51:00.001-06:00

Can you tell that I've been in a reading mood lately? I've kicked my addiction to Everquest II, so now I have some more free time to read. Here is my latest review:

Wildwood Road

Enjoyable horror novel, but not the ghost story you are expecting, February 21, 2009

Wildwood Road's seems from the description that it will be a straight forward ghost story, but it turns out to be something completely different.

The plot follows Michael and Jillian, a young marketing artist and his paralegal wife. They are on the way home from a party when he encounters the ghost of a little girl, who he drives "home" to a spooky old house. At the house is assaulted by vivid sounds and smells. He wife is passed out in the car the whole time, so she doesn't see the girl or the house.

Soon, he is seeing the girl everywhere and hearing "Come Find Me". Great set up for a ghost story right? Well, it gets better. Suddenly his sweet wife turns into psycho-b*tch from hell, and he knows it has something to do with his experience. It is now up to him to find the ghost as save his wife.

I really can't tell anymore without giving away the whole plot, but the tangent the plot takes off on is excellent. The story is unique and well thought out, but certain aspects of the story were sort of glossed over, such as why can no one find the street the house is on?, what about the house is the cause for these events to be focused there?, etc etc. However, the backstory on the characters is fabulously detailed, making the characters seem like real people.

I did enjoy this novel, and after reading it, I plan on reading other Christopher Golden novels.

If you think this review is helpful, please visit Amazon and vote on it. Thanks!

Bloodprint - book review

2009-02-16T21:02:00.002-06:00

Excellently written novel, with characters that you can empathize with, February 16, 2009

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Bloodprint is the first novel by Kitty Sewell that I have read. After finishing it, I believe I will be looking for other novels by this talented author. The characters in Bloodprint really affect the reader. You find yourself wrapped up in the characters' emotions throughout the story. The plot follows a 40-something therapist/artist with a ant fixation and, as she treats a new patient, a young woman in her 20's who has fallen in with and had a child by a very dangerous man that she just can't resist. I really can't go more into the plot without giving away all the twists and turns, so I'll just say that as the story unfolds, the pasts of these two women are shown to the reader in a series of detailed flashbacks that make the characters seem so real, and explain how their lives are intertwined. I actually found myself angry that the young woman's life had turned out the way it did, and sincerely wished that the events that set the ball rolling would have never happened (of course, then there would be no story!) The descriptions of the settings are breath taking. The author really gives you a feel for the Florida Keys and English country-side. There are a few odd parts in the novel that are overly convenient to the plot, and the characters seem to forgive unforgivable acts just a little bit too easily, but I still highly recommend this novel to anyone.

Digital Scapping Mayhem!

2009-02-13T20:23:00.007-06:00

I have been playing around with Photoshop Elements, and trying to learn how to digital scrapbook. I must say that I am totally loving it!!! There is so much free stuff out there that you can play around with scrapping digitally without going broke. (I have to confess that I got my copy of PSE 7 from the Amazon Vine program for free also!)

Anyway here are three examples of what I've been working on
First we have Bunny Crackers:

For this I used a freebie kit from twopeasinabucket.com by Traci Turchin, Garden Evening and a cheap alphabet from twolittlepixels.com

Next is The Scooter:

This was made with a freebie from Shabbyprincess.com called Spontaneous Delight. I admit that I played around A LOT with drop shadows on this one. I may have overdone it, but I'm loving it.

Last, we have Java Junkie

I purchased a kit for this one, but it was so cheap, it might as well have been free. If you go to Divinedigital.com, you can purchase karenheckyeah's entire digital store for $20 or less.
I got it yesterday for only $1. Today it is listed at $10. I'm sure this sale will not last forever, but it is a TON of stuff, 172 digital kits/overlays/etc. How awesome is that!!!! The one I use for Java Junkie is C offee Tim e. I have downloaded about 1/3 of all of them so far. As soon as I get done typing here, I'm going to check them out.

So there it is, last night and tonight, I have completed one scrapbook page for each child. That is more that I normally get accomplished in a week! I'm not ready to give up my stamps and paper yet, but this is a lot of fun.

Review - Amberville by Tim Days

2009-02-05T21:04:00.002-06:00

Here is my review of Amberville by Tim Davys.

I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. Please go the book's Amazon page and vote on whether or not my review was helpful, I'm such a nerd that I like to see my reviewer rating go up. :)

A mediocre novel that attempts to be "deep and thoughtful", February 5, 2009

By	Lady Atana "lady_atana" (Atlanta, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)

Amberville is a novel that attempts to tackle the subjects of religion and the truth of real good and evil.

The author tries to be unique by setting the story in an alternate reality where the people are all stuffed animals, living like people. They have jobs, crime, religion, relationships, etc etc. Yes, this is an unique set up and somewhat intriguing (even though I felt like an idiot whenever I was trying to to explain to someone what I was reading), however, if you strip away the stuffed animal setting, all that is left is a poor rip-off of a Sidney Sheldon novel.

The story begins when successful advertising executive Eric Bear is threatened by Nicholas Dove, crime lord. Eric was formerly employed by Dove before he left his life of crime.

The animals, you see, have children on their own or die by themselves. Instead there is the Cub List, where prospective parents can apply to receive a "offspring" from the factory. The existence of this list is a fact. When you make the Cub List, a green pickup drives up to your house and delivers your cub.

On the flip side, you have the Death List. No one knows if the death list exists for sure or not. There are several myths and legends concerning the Death List but none have been proven. According to legend, when you are on the Death List, the "Chauffers" come to your house in a RED pickup truck and take you away, never to be seen again.

The whole plot comes from the fact that Nicholas Dove has heard that his name is on the Death List, and he wants it removed. So he threatens Eric Bear. If Eric doesn't get Nicholas' name removed from the list, then Eric's wife, Emma Rabbit, will be torn to pieces. And so the story begins.

Eric enlists the aid of his old partners in crime, Sam Gazelle a masochistic drugged-out prostitute, Tom-Tom Crow, a bruiser with a needlepoint hobby, and Snake Marek, the smart one who considers himself an artistic genius.

Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.

Add in Eric's twin brother, Teddy (I'm not kidding) and his diatribes on the true meaning of "good/evil" and a not so subtle stab at religion and you have a dull, boring mess.

I would not recommend this novel to anyone.

AAARGHHHH! Curse you, Mathematics!

2009-02-05T11:39:00.004-06:00

Well, it is Thursday already. Since I work weekends, this is my "Sunday", and on my "Sunday", I refuse to do anything. Or at least I attempt to refuse. The kids always have other ideas about what I should be doing.

Currently, I am trying to beat into Jeremiah's head how to determine factors of numbers. With all the arguments we have about about school work, I usually end up in a homeschooling panic attack. Homeschooling parents, you know what I mean, the "Oh my God! I am screwing up my child forever, and he will be a complete idiot throughout life all because of me!" attacks. OK... deep breaths, count to 10, have some chocolate.... I think I'm OK now.

Math is one of the hardest subjects for me to teach my kids. It isn't because I'm a math dummy, quite the opposite, in fact. Math has always come very easy for me, maybe too easy. Things that seem so simple to me are harder for the boys to understand, and I cannot figure out how to explain very well, and quite often I lose patience. Isabella, on the other hand, gets it immediately, so we have no problems there (but she is also at the Kindergarten level, which helps). I have resorted to working out lots of problems with the boys, hoping that simple repetition will make it clearer.

With Jeremiah, we use Saxon Math which is extremely heavy of the repetition.

Josh is currently doing Algebra. I purchase a used Algebra text book from Amazon last year, and we have been working through it very very slowly. He is technically 8th grade age, so I'm not too concerned about how long it is taking us to get it.

Oddly enough, the used algebra book I purchase turned out to be the exact same book that I had and a freshman in High School circa 1985-1986. The last date written on it by a student was 2004. Gee I know that Math really doesn't really change, but c'mon! These poor kids in the LA public schools didn't get an update Algebra book in almost 20 years! How pathetic!