Book Review: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones  (A Song of Ice and Fire #1)A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book after watching season 1 of the HBO series because I prefer to watch a movie or series and then read the book so that I’m not disappointed by the visual version. In this case, I found the the HBO series followed the book so closely that there were no surprises and not really as much additional details provided by the book. I loved season 1 of the season, so it goes without saying that I loved the book, as well.

The obvious issues I have with both are the foul language and the treatment of most of the women. The full nudity in a few scenes of the HBO series had me squirming in discomfort at what I was watching. The more I watched, though, the more accustomed I became to all of it. Go ahead and call me jaded; I probably am by now. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Now that season 2 has come to a close, I will be picking up book 2.

Getting back to the book, the plot turns and twists really kept my attention and I was actually shocked by some of the directions that Mr. Martin took. Much of it was totally unexpected! So, if you think you know where the plot is going, you’re likely wrong. Enjoy the ride!

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Book Review: Bleeder by L.K. Rigel

Bleeder (Apocalypto, #3)Bleeder by L.K. Rigel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

L.K. Rigel has done it again! Bleeder, third in the Apocalypto series, is the best to date. So much action, sex, politics and intrigue to this one, with large helpings of rebellion. I loved this and could barely manage to put it down. While I struggled with Mal enjoying her position as a chalice so much, she did prove that she truly is only human after all. I thought the ending was well done, even if it leaves me wanting L.K. to turn out even more books in this series. I’m so glad that I picked up the first book in the series, Space Junque, on a whim because it was free for the Kindle. I would never have discovered this series and the writing of L.K. Rigel otherwise! Well done, L.K.!

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Book Review: Spiderwork by L.K. Rigel

Spiderwork (Apocalypto 2)Spiderwork by L.K. Rigel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think the second in the series was even better than the first. They all leave you wanting more and so I rushed out and downloaded the third one as soon as I was done with this. A little more sexually explicit, this book started to go down the path of a romance novel more than a fantasy novel. Not a bad thing, unless you are really against romance novels. It was definitely more about love than survival. Still a good, fast read.

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Book Review: Space Junque by L.K. Rigel

Space Junque (A Paranormal Romance)Space Junque by L.K. Rigel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one was a rough start, as you immediately jump into a situation where you don’t understand any of the lingo being used and it is slowly fed to you as you get further into the book. Just give it a little bit and you’ll like it more and more the further you get into the book. By the end, I was so spellbound that I was incredibly grateful that I had already downloaded the second book in the series to my Kindle so that I could jump straight into it. It’s a little far out in some senses, but I enjoyed it.

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WIPocalypse Check-in – April 6, 2012

And the WIPocalypse continues! Here is my April update with my current WIPocalypse WIP list, including status updates:

    My current WIP pile:

  1. Northern Pine Designs – Geometric II
  2. Mill Hill – Spring Weathervanes – Floral Vase
  3. Jenna Magee – Purin
  4. Just Nan – Over the Top – Grow! (Tin Topper) – FINISHED!
  5. Lody Steward – Pagoda Pincushion
  6. Chatelaine Designs – Micro #1
  7. Lizzie*Kate – Dog Lessons For People
  8. Nora Corbett – The Sunflower Fairy – FINISHED!
  9. Older WIPs:

  10. The Victoria Sampler – Heirloom Memories Sampler
  11. Chatelaine Designs – Tiny Rose Mandala Garden – FINISHED!
  12. Leisure Arts – Pooh Sweet Dreams Afghan
  13. UFOs:

  14. Dimensions – Bonsai and Buddha
  15. Roz Watnemo – Flower Garden
  16. Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
  17. Mill Hill Treasured Spring Sampler Kit – Flower Basket Fantasy
  18. Jeanette Crews Designs – Computer Wizard – Current Focus Piece
  19. Giraffe Pillow

Yes, that’s another month with absolutely NO progress. I’ve barely put any stitches into anything. At most, I’ve put a couple dozen backstitches into one PIF piece and that’s it. I’ve had no time, energy or health to stitch. It’s been really, really bad lately. But I’m hoping to turn things around for myself SOON. Maybe next month I’ll be able to report some progress? Maybe. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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WIPocalypse Check-in – March 8, 2012

And the WIPocalypse continues! Here is my March update with my current WIPocalypse WIP list, including status updates:

    My current WIP pile:

  1. Northern Pine Designs – Geometric II
  2. Mill Hill – Spring Weathervanes – Floral Vase
  3. Jenna Magee – Purin
  4. Just Nan – Over the Top – Grow! (Tin Topper) – FINISHED!
  5. Lody Steward – Pagoda Pincushion
  6. Chatelaine Designs – Micro #1
  7. Lizzie*Kate – Dog Lessons For People
  8. Nora Corbett – The Sunflower Fairy – FINISHED!
  9. Older WIPs:

  10. The Victoria Sampler – Heirloom Memories Sampler
  11. Chatelaine Designs – Tiny Rose Mandala Garden – FINISHED!
  12. Leisure Arts – Pooh Sweet Dreams Afghan
  13. UFOs:

  14. Dimensions – Bonsai and Buddha
  15. Roz Watnemo – Flower Garden
  16. Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
  17. Mill Hill Treasured Spring Sampler Kit – Flower Basket Fantasy
  18. Jeanette Crews Designs – Computer Wizard – Current Focus Piece
  19. Giraffe Pillow

Yes, that’s right. Have nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Sorry. Too much stress, not enough time. I’ve been going a little crazy right now and haven’t made time for stitching. I need to work on that. I’ll try to have something to show for the next WIPocalypse update!

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Some Old Framing

I figured I needed to post something at some point, since I’ve accomplished absolutely no stitching in a while and what I did get done before that, I can’t share yet. So, I took photos of two pieces that I framed/had framed recently. Okay, one was recently, one was last year.

First I’ll show the more recent one. I went ahead and had my Chatelaine Tiny Rose Mandala Garden framed at Michaels:

I just love the gold glitter inner mat. ๐Ÿ™‚

Second is one that I framed up myself a few months ago. This is Just Nan’s Filagree Fancies – Magic Wings:

That’s it for now. I’m working again this weekend, just like I did last weekend, so I’ll report more… later???

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What Am I Doing?!?

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately, except for WIPocalypse updates. I guess I’ve just been busy. I can’t tell you exactly what all I’ve been spending my time on, because, frankly, my brain has been quite scattered. 2 of the 5 PIF gifts are completely done, photographed and ready to go out. PIF #3 is half finished. PIF #4 has been started. PIF #5 was just kitted up this morning.

Other than that, it feels like I haven’t done much. I pretty much lost this week. After several weeks of no headaches (that I can remember, so any that may have had were minor), I had a 5-day run of pretty significant ones through the week. That definitely slowed me down. The most I was able to do was some PIF stitching when I felt up to it and some f-bomb felt piece cutting. The bulk of the focus was on trying to get my day job done, which took longer than usual because I was having trouble focusing. And I slept. A lot.

I have so much to do and so little time. I need to finish reconciling the OSL accounting so that we can file our taxes. I missed some personal financial things this year, so we’ll be getting less money back than normal, which flusters and annoys me. I’m behind in getting out bill payments because I lost an entire week. I need to go grocery shopping. I need to make f-bombs. I wanted to do a drawing before I see the person for whom it is intended at the beginning of March, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen since I am such a slow artist and won’t have a lot of free time between now and then. And I have a major software upgrade next Saturday morning, for which I haven’t had time to plan or do the prep work because everyone else’s projects took priority over mine. I am seriously hoping that I don’t pay for that, but I intend to devote this entire work week to my project, so hopefully I will be as prepared as I had intended and the upgrade will go as smoothly as I have envisioned.

That said, I have no pictures to share because all of the stitching has been secret and I should keep this short because I need to get off of my behind and get moving on some of these things that are stacking up (kind of like the dishes are stacking up in my sink – ugh).

Have a great week!

Posted in Life in General, Stitching | 3 Comments

WIPocalypse Check-in – February 7, 2012

And the WIPocalypse continues! Here is my February update with my current WIPocalypse WIP list, including status updates:

    My current WIP pile:

  1. Northern Pine Designs – Geometric II
  2. Mill Hill – Spring Weathervanes – Floral Vase
  3. Jenna Magee – Purin
  4. Just Nan – Over the Top – Grow! (Tin Topper) – FINISHED!
  5. Lody Steward – Pagoda Pincushion
  6. Chatelaine Designs – Micro #1
  7. Lizzie*Kate – Dog Lessons For People
  8. Nora Corbett – The Sunflower Fairy – FINISHED!
  9. Older WIPs:

  10. The Victoria Sampler – Heirloom Memories Sampler
  11. Chatelaine Designs – Tiny Rose Mandala Garden – FINISHED!
  12. Leisure Arts – Pooh Sweet Dreams Afghan
  13. UFOs:

  14. Dimensions – Bonsai and Buddha
  15. Roz Watnemo – Flower Garden
  16. Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
  17. Mill Hill Treasured Spring Sampler Kit – Flower Basket Fantasy
  18. Jeanette Crews Designs – Computer Wizard – Current Focus Piece
  19. Giraffe Pillow

I’ve added another current WIP photo, for Mill Hill’s Flower Basket Fantasy. There is now only one piece left for which I do have have a photo of its current status: Lody Steward’s Pagoda Pincushion. I have finished the top piece of it, but not started the bottom yet, so I have nothing to show.

As I stated in my previous update, I needed to switch to a small piece that I could stitch in hand, so I picked up and completed Just Nan’s Grow! tin topper, from her Over the Top series.

Here are the before and after pics:

Just Nan รขโ‚ฌโ€œ Over the Top รขโ‚ฌโ€œ Grow! (Tin Topper), as of January 13, 2012:

Completed January 16, 2012:

Since that finish, I have been working on Computer Wizard from Jeanette Crews Designs. And a couple of other things, which have kept me from making really good progress on Computer Wizard. I am doing another PIF event this year and I decided to stitch everything (of course), so I have been working on those gifts. I only have to do 5 total and I’ve already started and completed two projects and started two more, so I’m making good and quick progress.

Here is where Computer Wizard was when I last worked on her (February 18, 2007!):

And here is where she is now:

Hopefully, I will have more to report next month!

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Goodbye, Joe Paterno

This post may meet with some serious disapproval, but I feel the need to express my sorrow around the loss of former head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, Joe Paterno.

Growing up in a small town in central Pennsylvania, our athletic world revolved around professionals in Pittsburgh, local high school teams and Pennsylvania State University sports. Most notably, the Penn State Nittany Lions football team, led by Joe Paterno during my entire 2 decades in central PA. So much pride was generated amongst the fans by the amazing performances of the football program year after year. And that team relied on the leadership of Joe Paterno.

I still remember attending my first live game at Beaver Stadium (yeah, yeah, hold the snarkiness, please). The energy of a packed stadium was an incredible, visceral experience and I was swept up in all of the excitement of a great game and being part of my first “wave.” My heart swelled with pride as I watched what was considered to be our home university team (my hometown was home to a local campus) win game after game and fight valiantly in bowl games.

I am filled with sorrow knowing that such a seemingly great and honorable man was fired from his post because he failed to pursue to the fullest extent of what was surely his immense power the appropriate, severe punishment of Jerry Sandusky and the condemnation of his actions. I hurt for the many, many innocents whose lives were irreparably damaged by Sandusky. And I lament the role that JoePa played, or did not play, in this case.

However, what I remember of Joe Paterno, and what I choose to continue to remember of him, is the amazing legacy that defined most of his life. The ending to his story is terrible and tragic for so many and in so many ways, but I will remember him as the larger-than-life figure that he was so many years ago, not the fallible man that he turned out to be. If choosing to carry within my heart a positive image of this man and not a negative one (without downplaying the negative impact) is wrong, then I am happy to be wrong.

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