TNSE: Week 1

I have been using the homemade/natural shampoo for a week now. I don't love it yet, but it's not as bad as I feared.
After the first wash- hello, dandruff. It wasn't horrible, but it was definitely noticeable (thanks, hunny.) So before the second shampoo, I took a comb and massaged my scalp with it until I felt I got most of the flakes up. It was yucky.

Second wash- I started to notice that my hair was feeling a little dry, not bad, but not as soft as I prefer. The lavender smell is awesome. The scent stays in my hair for days. Still had dandruff issues, so I did the comb thing again.

Third wash- used a lot more of the vinegar-water mixture to see if it will soften things up a bit. It didn't, but it hasn't gotten any worse. The dandruff was much better. I ended up putting some bio-silk in my hair since I was going to curl it, but I'm hoping to not have to do that forever. My hair holds curls better.

Fourth wash- I need to refill the bottle, so I decided to add a little more oil than the recipe calls for, but I didn't actually measure it. Big mistake. My hair is now oily, but since the oil is good for my hair, I'm going to leave it in for a couple of days. (The shampoo can be fixed by adding more soap and water.) I also didn't do the comb thing before washing today, and the dandruff is back. I think that I am going to have to do the baking soda scrub to take care of this problem. But I'm going to go another week before I resort to that.

Thoughts so far: I like it. The dandruff is annoying, but it could be a lot worse. Once I get the recipe exactly how I need it, I will be much happier. My hair isn't as shiny as I would like it, but a little bit of beer in the shower will fix that.
I'm hoping to post some pictures for you in the next couple of days... once I have washed the oil out.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday my little family and I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Thankfully, we didn't have to cook everything, so we were able to actually enjoy our Thanksgiving. I think the key to hosting is not getting too stressed out. I thought that I would be a nervous/pessimist wreck yesterday, but never once did I think things were going to go badly. Maybe that's because Nick was in charge of the turkey, not me. But it still helped to be positive. 

Here's what we had:

Gordo the 30lb Turkey (I kid you not, he was really 30 pounds) with a mixed fruit and walnut stuffing

Honey baked ham

Normal Stove-Top stuffing

Butternut squash and parmesan bread pudding

Mashed potatoes

Green bean casserole

Stuffed mushrooms

Sweet potato and apple gratin 

Red chile

Homemade gravy 

Crescent rolls

Pumpkin pie

Mince meat pie

Rocky-road cake (because we believe chocolate should be featured on Thanksgiving)

Yeah, it was a delicious day. I have to say, though, my favorite dish was the bread pudding. It was a pinterest find, and I had never made it before yesterday, but it was awesome. Want the recipe? You can find it here. I cooked it in a crock pot, so I'm not sure how similar it is to the original recipe. Either way, it was amazingness. 

So, in the spirit of the holiday that was yesterday, I am so thankful for my family. I love each and every one of them and I don't know where I would be today without them. I am soooo thankful for my husband, especially since he woke up at 5 yesterday, but let me sleep in. And of course, I'm thankful for my little monster. He may drive me crazy, but he is the best part of my life. 

I hope everyone had as nice of a Thanksgiving as I did. 

The Natural Shampoo Experiment

As most of you know, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest. A lot of time. There are a ton of "natural/homemade" versions of everyday products on there, and since I am a BIG fan of saving money, I've been spending most of that pinning time looking at all of these natural recipes.
Then I found this. I have to admit that I was really tempted by the whole no shampoo thing- it's easy, it's cheap, and it's supposed to work.

Why are all these people not using shampoo, you ask?

Well, according to Simple Mom, the stuff in shampoo is bad. Not evil-bad, but not really good- bad. You know that oiliness you get after a day or two after washing? It's natural. And good. And the reason it drives us all crazy is that there is a lot of it. Apparently that oil is good for your hair and shampoo's (and conditioners) form a sort of protective layer over your scalp, preventing the oil from being released. So once that layer has started to come off, your scalp dumps a ton of oil to make up for what it thinks your hair is missing. Or something like that.
Going natural (in Simple Mom's case- just using some baking soda once a week) is supposed to fix that, resulting in nice hair without having to actually 'wash" it often.

I have no idea how accurate that information is, but she has been doing it for over two years now and swears that her hair is better than it was before. That I like. But there is a major ick factor for me, so I decided to go a different route. Why did I tell you about the no-shampoo thing if I wasn't planning on doing it? Because the whole oil thing can still be taken care of in a less icky way- by going "natural."

So here's my recipe:
1/4 cup castile soap ( I am a big fan of Dr. Bronner's, especially the lavender one, which is the one I used- you can find it in health food stores like Sunflower and Whole Foods)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. sunflower oil (supposed to be carried in major grocery stores, but the only place I could find it was Sunflower...go figure.)

I just poured it into an empty shampoo bottle and used a few "handfuls"- it's watery, so it's easier to just pour some on your head.

I finished it up with a few squirts of a mixture of half apple-cider vinegar and water. (It smells terrible, but the smell goes away once you rinse.)

My thoughts: the shampoo feels strange. I'm used to the creaminess of regular shampoos, so putting what is essentially soap on my hair is weird. But it smells great! The vinegar, as previously stated, smells awful. But, it actually feels just like conditioner and detangles immediately.

So there is supposed to be an "adjustment" period- where your scalp is supposed to get used to being able to release oil without a barrier. Which means a few weeks of oily hair. I think. I'm not looking forward to that, but maybe it will be worth it in the end. Hopefully I will stick with it long enough to find out. And if , for some reason, this shampoo doesn't work for me, I will probably invest in this line. It's expensive, but amazing.


Oh and if you're wondering, the creepy neighbor is avoiding me now. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks. And I'm pretty OK with it.

hello, beautiful

I got a new toy the other night, and I loves it (so far).

It's a Brother CS-770 computerized sewing machine. And it's super fancy shmancy. In fact, it's fancier than I need, but the price was great and it works (something my rinky-dinky Shark stopped doing, hence the new one.) I've been working on my costume for Decemberween (a themed Halloween party in December). This year's theme is Tim Burton and I'm dressing up as the Oogie-Boogie man from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (The hubs is going as Danny Devito's character Amos Calloway from Big Fish.) Between Decemberween and all the Christmas gifts/decorations I will be making, this little machine definitely has its work cut out for it. And me. Hopefully we make it through the next two months in one piece. Now all I need is to finally set up my desk in the office/craft room/guest room so we can use our entire kitchen table.

Also, if you look in the background, you can get a peek at the painting I'm wrapping up today.

And ten points to whoever can guess which movie we were watching. Hint: "oh my giant blue head!"

The duck is actually my measuring tape. The monster likes to make it "swim" around the mat.

I've been featured!

Yeah, that's right. I, Aliza "Von Burglarstein" T., have been featured on another blog! I meant to add this yesterday, but got a little caught up in birthday extravaganza. Which I'm kind of ok with.

My friend is the Hot Pink Mama and for the second year in a row, she has done a little something called "Soup Week" over on her blog. It is seriously my favorite week of the year. I love soup and Audrey shares this love- perhaps that's why she and I get along so well. Her recipes are amazing and have given me the opportunity to make soups that I have either never tasted and/or never made. So you can imagine how honored I was when she asked me to share one of mine. Hopefully someone out there will actually try it. Either way, I get bragging rights for the next year, and we all know how much I love to brag!

Wreathed!

I decided that as a birthday gift to myself, I would make a fall wreath. Exciting, right?! I wasn't really planning on blogging about it, so there aren't step-by-step pictures, but it was really easy to do, so with a little creativity, anyone can come up with their own. 

I've been gathering things for a wreath of some sort for weeks now, and now that Halloween is over, I figured that it was time to switch out the wreaths (you know, because I'm one of those people who have the creepy crawlies from AHE still hanging about when Christmas arrives- motivation is a very powerful thing.) 

Here's what I used:

A grapevine wreath 

A fall garland (mine had leaves, mini pumpkins, and some weird flower thing)

A large silk flower

Yarn

A wood letter

White acrylic paint

sandpaper

hot glue gun

The result:

All I did was clip off some leaves, pumpkins, and flowers from the garland and cut the stem off the silk flower. Then I layered them onto the wreath and glued like crazy. I painted the letter white and used some sandpaper to roughen it up. Then I glued that into the center and bam! wreath complete! I used the yarn to wrap around my Halloween wreath hanger. I think it took a total of 45 minutes to do- half of which was spent wrapping the hanger and looking for more hot glue stickies. 

The flower kind of gets lost in the leaves in these pictures, but not so much in real life. I like the uniformity of it. 

Here are some additional views, because for some reason I felt they were necessary.

The Creepy Neighbor.

I know that everyone has a strange neighbor of some sort, I mean my poor sister has one that likes to blast porn at strange hours of the day (awkward!) and I'm sure there are some who like to spy on you or throw trash in your yard or whatever. Mine is seriously starting to cross the line. 

We live next to an older couple who have older kids living with them and they seemed great when we first moved in- they came to introduce themselves immediately, say "hi" every time we see them, and they love L. L loves them too and gets really excited every time he sees them. They will take our trash down to the street if we forget, water my dead plants since our house is currently out of commission (thanks, Artemis), and are generally very good people. The wife has a firery personality and will get into anyone's face if they do something that bugs her (which is quite frightening, and she's only 4'10.") However, it's the husband that is making my skin crawl.

He comes out every so often to chat with Nick and me (if we're outside,) but most of the time its when I'm the only one home. I didn't think anything of it since Nick is gone until late due to school and work, but I've noticed that the neighbor takes off right after Nick does get home. Once he said something (and I can't remember his exact words) about him being my boyfriend and he's always saying stuff like "we better not get caught or people will talk." I thought it was strange, but I figured that maybe he was being silly or something. We had never talked for longer than ten minutes and I know that I have never said anything to give him the idea that I was interested in him in any way. Then he kissed my cheek and I avoided him for a month.Things seemed to be back to "normal" friendly neighborliness, until last night:

CN: One day we'll have fun

Me: what?

CN: you know, without the wife or husband barging in

me: what? (I had been studying for twelve hours at this point and I know my brain wasn't functioning correctly. He couldn't possibly mean what I think he does.)

CN: I'm down. You're down?

Me: uh that depends on what you mean by "fun."

CN: whatever you want it to mean. 

Then he walked away before I could say anything else or possibly burn myself with a lighter to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep while studying and was having a nightmare. Even if I didn't love my husband beyond reason, CN is the same age as my dad and not my type in any way. He's pretty yucky. Seriously, I have no idea what to do. I don't want to go over to his house to tell him that his behavior is wildly inappropriate for fear of his wife, and I definitely don't want to invite him to mine. Clearly this guy has invented some sort of attraction between the two of us and I seriously don't know how to handle it. I'm afraid to go outside and have been running to the car with L in hopes of avoiding him all together. Nick knows all of this and has from the beginning. He says I just have to tell him straight out that his advances are not ok, and I agree with Nick. I'm just a chicken. And sleep deprived at the moment. 

What would you do in this situation, besides move, because I really do love my house? Is it time to "man"-up and face him or just keep avoiding him until he gets the message? 

Aging

Believe it or not, I'm not going to moan about getting older in the post.

The other day I attempted a new project. My mother-in-law's dog happened to get ahold of the sheet music for one of my all-time favorite classical pieces (but will most likely never be able to play) and ate most of it. I decided a while back that I wanted to take a page from it and hang it above the piano, but once I tore out one of the few intact pages, I noticed that it was super white (which is to be expected since I bought it a few years ago). So I decided to make it appear to be aged. Here's how I did it: (original directions from this site)

First I brewed some tea. I used a darjeeling since I have a ton of it (and I wanted to drink some it.) It is supposed to be cold so I let it get to room temperature and then stuck it in the fridge for a couple of hours (meanwhile I made Halloween cards.)

After pre-heating the oven to 200*, I put the music on a cookie sheet and poured a little tea on it. Both sides need to wet, but it takes a lot less tea than you would expect (or maybe it was just me.) I used my hand to make sure all of it was covered. Supposedly you can just rub the edges between your fingers to make them look worn, but that didn't work so well for me. And it didn't really matter, so I gave up pretty quickly. You can make darker spots by sprinkling some instant coffee on it, but since I don't believe in instant coffee, that wasn't an option for me.

Next: Stick it in the oven! The directions said that it should bake for about 6 minutes until dry, but it took 30 for me. Lame. Once it did dried I used a fork to get it off the cookie sheet.

Lastly, I stuck it in a frame and it now resides on top of the piano (I'll hang it eventually.)

Pretty easy and it looks pretty cool.

Curtain

I feel kind of lame for "bragging" about this, but I promised a picture. Here's our new shower curtain:

Note: There is a clear liner on the inside.

Home.

We've been living in our new house for almost six months now, but it still doesn't quite feel like it's home yet. Apart from the master bedroom, we haven't painted upstairs at all, there are a ton of pictures that still need hanging, the office/guest room still needs to be unpacked, the backyard is a barren wasteland, and the carpet, bathroom, and cheap blinds still have many visible signs of the messy people who lived here before us. Slowly I have been conquering little projects, but there is just a ton of work to do. And not nearly enough money to accomplish it all any time soon. And I procrastinate.

So last night I finally sat down and did some work. I made a shower curtain for the master bathroom. Nothing horribly exciting, but I think it's pretty cool. It was made from a couple different sheer off-white window curtains and a white towel. I'm going for a neutral/warm color scheme, so pretty much everything has been white or cream colored. Nick doesn't seem super thrilled about the color scheme, but since he's not doing any of the work, he has allowed me to take full creative control over it. Go me. I will take a picture of it eventually. It's not super fancy, but it's unique and I like that.

I'm hoping that this weekend I can drag Nick with me to Jo-Ann's/Hancock/Hobby Lobby to help pick out fabric for the next major project: roman blinds for every room in the house. As much as I love having all this control, I want him to be happy with what I pick out. Hopefully it won't be too painful for all of us.

Here's my ever-growing "To Do" list for the house (don't ask me when any of this will actually get done):

• Make roman shades for living room, library, kitchen, guest bedroom, music room, loft, and Logan's room (that's 10 all together)
• Make curtains for master bedroom 
• Make canopy for bed
• Paint mural in Logan's room
• Paint loft
• Paint bathrooms (after we pick out colors, of course)
• Make floating shelves
• Rip out the ugly bush in the front yard
• Plant bulbs where ugly bush currently is
• Remove the invincible plant/weed from backyard
• Treat the sand so we can plant in backyard next year
• Replace gutters
• Force Nick to finally make art desk for me
• Make ottomans for master bedroom
• Organize closets
• Create reading corner for Logan

I seriously love Pinterest- I have found a ton of ideas for DIY projects around the house. Hopefully I will get all of it done before next summer. We'll see. Right now I have a commissioned painting to work on. 

Until next time!

Kaiden

I was fortunate enough to get pregnant at the same time as one of my best friends, Theresa. Her son, Kaiden, was born one month before Logan and they are destined to become best buddies themselves (or at least Tree and I have convinced ourselves that they will.) Sadly (for me) her husband got an awesome job offer and they are now moving to Arizona. As sad as I am that they will be leaving, I am excited for their new little adventure. As a going-away present, I decided to do a  painting of their adorable son. Kaiden is very cute and super charismatic, so it was a lot of fun to do.

All of us wish the Nuckols the best of luck in their lives and we are going to miss them sooooo much!

I think a new project is in order

I've been busy lately. Really busy. Between chasing the monster (and then cleaning up after him), making dinner (we've been on a pretty strict no-eating-out diet), cleaning up after dinner, school, working on a research paper for school, painting a portrait that is taking a lot more time to finish than I expected (but is looking pretty amazing, if I must say so myself,) reading non-school-related books (I just can't seem to stop), putting together campaigns for my mom's business and working on her website, taking online photography courses (it never hurts to be up-to-date on all the latest techniques,) oh and sleeping and showering, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, my life has been pretty much non-stop. And I like it. I'm exhausted come Friday, but a busy week has really helped my mood overall. So why, with all this chaos, would I want to add something new to mix? Because I'm certifiably insane.

Here's the problem: I have no idea what I want to do.

I would like to start producing more paintings so I can build up a portfolio and maybe try to get a slot for an exhibit at the local library (I want to start as small as possible.) But it takes a lot of focus and work to put out a large number of pieces and there is only so much I can do while L sleeps. At the rate I'm going, I may have enough pieces to have an exhibit summer 2013, and I'm not sure the painting bug will stay constant for that long (I have to be in the mood to paint and so I'm really not consistent.) My therapist thinks that this is a great idea and I really should go for it, but she doesn't really know me.

I still really want to make a children's version of Norse myths, but I've been saying that for years and I haven't even started. To be honest, I don't feel like re-reading them right now, so it will be a while longer before I start. Plus I need to reteach myself how to draw peoples. Oh and let us not forget that I know absolutely nothing about writing a book: for children or adults.

I want to make antique-looking signage to go around our house- things that have words like "eat" or "read," or something, and maybe some with short quotes- I just need to find the book I have on how to antique. I know it's somewhere. (And I have to convince Nick that painting word, rather than just staining it, is ok. He and my dad are strongly against such acts of blasphemy.)

I need to landscape. Thankfully our HOA doesn't have a time limit on when landscaping must be completed (like my sister's) but they will send letters asking us "politely" to improve the conditions of our back yard (think dirt and dead weeds- which is an improvement since they were alive and thriving weeds a month ago.) We have a general idea of what we want, but a lot of work has to be done to improve the condition of the sand from hell soil before we can start planting anything. And I don't know how to do that.

So here's my question: which of these would you choose to do if you were me?


And incase you were wondering, here's what I'm researching:

Here's what makes it interesting- it's made by one of Rembrandt's pupils who lived and painted in the Netherlands, a Protestant nation. It's interesting because this depicts a scene from the Book of Tobit- popular amongst Roman Catholics, not so much the Prots. I haven't read much of the Bible, so I have to research this Book, the artist (Jan Victors), and the Netherlands during its Golden Age. It's a lot of work, but super interesting since it's all things I'm unfamiliar with.  Good stuff.

Now that the last layer in the painting has dried, I'm back to paint more strands of hair. Yippe!

Three.

Today is the husband and mine three year anniversary. This year has been the toughest by far, but we're getting through it and I think that we've grown closer than ever, even with the problems. He really is a wonderful man and an amazing father and I'm so glad that we're together.

Here's to many more years together!

Reading Wrap-Up.

Goodness, I have neglected my blogs lately. It's a good thing (for you) that I took a really long nap today and can't fall asleep now. I figure that I never really finished posting on the Great Reading Experiment so it is high time that I do so now since the time I get to sit around reading books for sheer enjoyment is over for a while. Here is what I remember reading (I may have to update this post later since I'm too lazy to go downstairs to get my kindle...and I'm afraid of the dark):

The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox
Brief summary- this is about a young lady of title (though I can't exactly remember what it is... lesser gentry) named Arabella who grew up reading her mother's French romance novels (these would be books similar to Authorian romances and chivalry) and believes that those stories are actual depictions of how current society behaves/interacts. It ends up causing a lot of confusion and humor. Ok, so I haven't actually finished this one yet- I'm a little over 50% through it, but it's hysterical. I can relate to Arabella in ways that I never thought possible. I understand that besides a very small population of the male sex, chivalry is dead, but there is a small part of me that screams to be treated like a lady (and yes, this means worshiped.) I also have a large fixation with knee breaches (not that they really mention any in this book, I just picture them.) I really want to finish this book, and I do enjoy reading it every time I pick it up, I just get distracted easily.

Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon
This is the fourth book of "The League" series that I picked up because it sounded interesting. I did not know that it was part of a series until I had finished it. Oops. It's a sci-fi novel set in space and made-up planets (think Firefly minus the Western aspect). Here's the summary via Amazon:
 For Caillen Dagan, a defiant soldier of fortune, survival isn't a right, it's a brutal daily battle. Moving through the Ichidaian universe like a wraith, his brushes with the law and death are legendary. But when an act of rare heroism reveals his hidden birthright, he's forced into a world much more dangerous and cold-hearted than the bloody streets where he was raised-one of obscene wealth and lethal politics.
Ferocious and determined, Desideria serves as an official bodyguard for her queen. Born of questionable genetics, she will do anything to prove herself worthy of the weapons she carries and the position she's won by combat. But when she uncovers a ruthless plot to assassinate the queen and overthrow her country's government, Desideria is caught in the crosshairs.
With assassination contracts out on both of them, Caillen and Desideria must learn to fight together or die alone. And if they fail, their governments will fall into the hands of an unimaginable evil.

Kenyon is a romance novelist, but I really couldn't tell until the last third of the book. Then things got steamy. Really steamy. I like a good romance every once in a while, so I was actually ok with it, but if romances aren't your style, this isn't the book for you. The entire book flows really well and the characters are super interesting. It was a quick read, and I really enjoyed it, but I don't think its a book I will ever read again. 

Born of Ice and Born of Fire both by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Someone in town is also reading this series, so I'm continuing to read it in reverse order. Their plots are very much the same as the one above. These books were also enjoyable, but I'm beginning to see an annoying trend- the male characters have been severely heartbroken by women before and have trust issues because of it, and it is up to the female lead to cure them of it. It's cute, but after three books, it's old. And the older books seem to contain more and more graphic sex. I like sex, but I don't need to read about it in detail in every book I pick up. Seriously. 

"The Immortals" series by Alyson Noel (I don't remember the order they go in)

  - Night Star

  - Dark Flame

This series still holds my attention, and I'm glad I've read it, but I will be glad to finish it once I buy the next book. 

Crescendo (part of the Hush, Hush) series by Becca Fitzpatrick

This was actually a reread. I started this series last year, but I still haven't returned Crescendo to its rightful owner (sorry, Hilly). The third book in the series comes out next month, so I decided to read this book one more time to freshen my memory. Boy I'm glad I did. I couldn't remember much about it. When Hillary lent me the first book (Hush, Hush) all she said was "You know how everyone is either Team Edward or Team Jacob? Well I'm Team Patch" and then she handed it to me. There is no better way to describe this series, but just so no one gets the wrong idea, this has nothing to do with vampires. Or werewolves. Read it. You'll thank me later. 

Currently Reading

-The Gates of Sleep

-Tales from Earthsea 

-The Swan Thieves

I don't know if I will be able to finish these books since I have homework to do and school books to read, but I hope I do. I only have a couple more weeks before I have to return them to the library anyway. In case you haven't been counting, that's a measly 23 books read this summer. Since the average is 40, I'm a little disappointed in myself. However, I am glad that I was able to read as much as I did considering how energetic my son is. If I remember anymore, I will update. For now, adios. 

T.G.I.F.

Woohoo! It's finally Friday! Fridays aren't really anything special. Of course I look forward to having Nick home all weekend, but since I don't work, Fridays aren't what they used to be. This Friday, however, I have been looking forward to all week. It wasn't the play-date I was looking forward to- though that was really nice, minus the teenagers having sex in the park thing (yeah, totally serious). It isn't for the Borders Reunion I'm hosting at my house tomorrow- in fact that means that every moment spent at home has been and will be spent unpacking (yes, we're still not done) and cleaning like a crazy person- though I am looking forward to that too. I'm excited because for the first time in almost a month, I get to spend my Friday night the way I prefer to...

sound asleep thanks to the ultimate gift from the gods: ambien.

I only take it one night a week since that is the only night Nick is on full-time baby-duty. I still wake up if I hear the monster, but I can fall back to sleep as soon as I know Nick is awake (he's a heavy sleeper.) It's the greatest thing ever invented. Seriously. It's better than the battery operated boyfriend (Bob) and that's saying something.

Finally I get a night without waking up a thousand times for whatever reason. Finally I get a night without strange dreams/ nightmares. I don't think you people understand just how much I look forward to Friday nights.

Anyway, I'm off to finish cleaning before I take the wonder pill and slip away into sweet dreamland. I hope everyone else has as good of a night as I'm planning on having.

Organization time!

For years, I've been telling Nick that we desperately need to get ourselves organized. And by "we," I mean me. I'm so sick of the clutter, but organizing takes time...and work...and I'm lazy. That being said, I finally started. Thankfully, when we packed up our last house we sorted and boxed everything so we didn't have to sort after the move, and it's made organizing a little easier. So here's what has been done so far (its not much, but it's a definite step in the right direction.)

Pantry One- Before:

Pantry One- After

Close ups of Pantry One (we have two pantries, incase you were wondering)

I know it doesn't look like much, but it took hours. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Triumph! A couple of book reviews

Before I go on to bask in the glory of my victory over Jane Austen, I will first talk about Cleopatra' s Daughter.

To sum this novel up in only a few sentences: it takes place after the Battle of Actium (when Octavian-soon-to-be-Augustus conquers Egypt) and begins, rather depressingly with the deaths of both Cleopatra and Marc Antony. The story itself is about Selene and her twin Alexander during their stay in Rome with Octavian (as hostages). Though the book gave the impression of being a romance, it really wasn't. And I really liked it, which is surprising since I love a little romance.

I mentioned in my last book that I hoped that Selene- the main character and the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony- wouldn't be a tween throughout the entire book. I am pleased to report that she was fifteen by the end of the book. That being said, children were seen as smaller versions of adults and expected to act as such throughout most of history (and by "act" I don't mean that they were expected to have adult relations. Girls could be married off at a very young age, but generally they were not allowed to consummate marriages until they were physically matured. In case you were wondering.) Even though I have known this and written quite a few papers on the topic, it is still hard for me to wrap my head around it, so in my mind Selene was already fifteen and her age increased from there. A ton of research went into this book, and though the author took some liberties with some aspects of it, it paints a rather accurate picture of Rome during the rule of Augustus. The story, if nothing else, is incredibly interesting. I don't think this will be a book I will read again, but I'm glad I did.

Pride and Prejudice

Time and time again, I have picked up P&P only to get frustrated and quit a third of the way through. Well this time I finished it! Oh yeah! And I have to admit, I actually liked the story as a whole. My problem with it is that the characters tend to ramble on and on and on and on and at times, that made it really hard for me to get through. I may have skipped whole paragraphs too. Another issue is that I went in it with the Kiera Knightley version in my head and I kept comparing the two. I know that's a big "no-no" when it comes to books, but I am what I am (and I may have a huge crush on Matthew Macfadyen, who will be in the next Three Musketeers movie -as Athos- and I couldn't be more excited about that.)

I think I'm going to tackle Emma in the near future (but certainly not as the next book I read) since I have refrained from watching any movie based off of it. Wish me luck.

The Great Reading Experiment Continues

All I've been doing lately is playing with the monster, cleaning, and reading. And I'm pretty happy about that. Ok, not so much the cleaning part, but what can you do? Anywho, I've decided it was time to list my accomplishments thus far and maybe get a more concrete list together, since at this point I'm just grabbing books at random.

Here's what I've read so far:

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher:

• Summer Knight
• Death Masks
• Blood Rites
• Dead Beat
• Proven Guilty
• White Night
• Small Favor
• Turn Coat
• Changes

The Dresden Files are awesome and I am slightly in like with Harry Dresden (and by "slighly" I mean "very much"). I am, however, glad to have a little break from him. The next book comes out next week, and as excited as I am to find out what happens next, I won't open it until I finish some other books first.

The Immortals Series by Alyson Noel:

• Evermore
• Blue Moon
• Shadowland

This is a great YA series that you're going to have to google if you want a good summary. I will say this: it's a lot like Twilight only with less teenage angst, better written, and, let's face it, it's a lot more interesting. There are a lot of similarities between the two series (from what I've read so far) but I really think that if Noel's publisher had worked a little harder to promote this series it would have done a lot better than Twilight. But then again, maybe tweens/teens care more about sparkly vampires than studly, magic wielding immortals.

Books not part of a series (or at least not yet):

• The Scarlet Pimpernell by the Barroness Emma Orczy- now one of my all-time favorite books. There is nothing I enjoy more than swashbuckling tales of espionage during the French Revolution and knee-breeches (seriously, when are they going to come back in style?!)
• Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn- this one has been on my reading list for a while now and I happened to grab a dirt cheap copy from the wonderful bargain bins at my not-so-local Borders. (Some of my favorite books/series have come out of those bins.) This novel reminds me a lot of the Starz tv show "Spartacus" only with less gore, sex, and penises. Speaking of which, I really hope the actor who plays Spartacus has recovered from his bout with cancer. Anyway, it was a really light and enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more of Ms. Quinn's novels.
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas- favorite book ever, though I like the version I have in print a little more than the Kindle edition. I never realized how much slight word change can really change a story's impact. It's still a good copy, and I believe it's free, so everyone should download it.
• Dead Reckoning by Charlene Harris- ok, so this one is part of a series, but since it's been a year since I read the rest of the series, it's not counting as one in this post. It's not my favorite of the series, but I definitely enjoyed it and I cannot wait until the next one. I also really can't wait until this Sunday's episode of True Blood.

Next Up and Currently Reading:

Pride and Prejudice- that's correct, I have never been able to finish P&P and I am determined to do it this summer.

Cleopatra's Daughter, Michelle Moran- I'm only a few pages in, but I'm very curious about Selene. I'm hoping she isn't a tween throughout the whole book, though. I need a little adult content if a novel is set in Rome. (I blame Suetonius for that.)

A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin- I am soooo excited to read this book! I'm so glad that I didn't have to wait six years for this release like everyone else had to, but I would have gone crazy. I don't read much fantasy, but this is such a great series. I'm hoping to finish C's Daughter and P&P soon so I can get started on this one.

Ghost Story, Jim Butcher- hopefully Nick reads this by next weekend so I can steal his Kindle and read it (all the Butcher novels are on his Kindle, not mine).

Ok, so that's all for now. Sorry if this post bores you. Actually, no I'm not. Bwahaha!

Reading List: Part I

Summer is finally upon us, which means I get to spend every blissful free second reading. You know, that time when I'm not playing mommy, wife, maid, dog trainer, interior designer, or cook. Thankfully I've decided to start the whole she-bang with quick reads, i.e. The Dresden Files. If you're one of the millions of people who never got to catch the short-lived ScyFy channel series about the uber-studly Harry Dresden, here's a short summary:

Harry Dresden is Chicago's only wizard to be listed in a phone book. He's a private investigator who carries around a big stick (which, in the TV show is a hockey stick) and kicks some major evil behind. He's also incredibly hilarious. And sexy- I can't seem emphasize that enough. For a better summary, go here.

Nick got me hooked on the series (which really shouldn't have gotten canceled, but then again, most series on ScyFy don't last long since nobody watches that channel, even though they should) and sometime last year we started reading the books. I, of course, had to put them off beacuse of school so as soon as Nick finished them, he let me steal his Kindle (TDF is one of the books that Amazon won't let you share w/ other Kindle users). There are 12 books so far and I'm just finishing up number 9. It's been two weeks and I've been unpacking, cleaning, organizing, and painting. They're just that good.

What I like the most about this book is that its fantasy set in the modern world. Don't get me wrong, I love the medieval fantasy as much as the next geek, but I also love Chicago. This book is also geared for an adult audience. I love me some YA, but there is only so much teenage angst I can handle before I tear out my hair and light up 20 cigarettes (at once). These books are laugh-out-loud-even-in-a-crowded-place funny. Example: "'My mouth is partially paralyzed," [Harry] said. "It makes it hard for me to read. He's* here to help me with the big words. Tell me if I'm supposed to push or pull on doors, that kind of thing." *Harry's dog. (Harry was just being an ass when he said this, yet another reason why I love him.)

So after I finish the remaining three books and the collection of short stories that follow, I will kill time waiting for the new one to come out by reading the following:

- Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris (book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse series- that's True Blood in case you didn't already know that)

- A Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin (book 5 of the Song of Ice and Fire series, which doesn't come out until July)

- The Luxe series

- The Scarlet Pimpernell (finally, I've had it on my Kindle for almost a year now)

- As many Alexander Dumas books I can squeeze in. I'm a die-hard Dumas fan and now that I have most of them on my Kindle, maybe my copy of The Count of Monte Cristo will keep its remaining pages.

So far, that's all I've got, but I am open for suggestions. It's going to be a long summer.

Songs That Remind Me of Someone

...someones? I'm not sure which is appropriate here, but then again, I didn't get my degree in English for a reason. Sorry I've been a slacker with my challenges lately, but moving and wrecking cars have taken over my life. And for the record, it was only one car...and the bumper of another.

So for songs that remind me of peoples, this is what I've come up with:

"Poison"- Alice Cooper

"I Will Always Love You"- Whitney Houston

"Short People"- Randy Newman

"Light Up My Room"- Barenaked Ladies

"Yellow"- Coldplay

You can all take guesses as to who I think about when I hear these songs. The answers might surprise you.

Favorite Songs in Another Language

This is such an exciting challenge since there are a lot of songs in other languages that I like and would like to share. It's actually been rather difficult to narrow them down and not repeat songs I've already used.

So here's what I came up:

"Oceano"- Josh Groban

"Kaja Kaja Goo"- Polysics (warning: this is a strange video)

"Shangri-La"- angela

"Lucia di Lammermoor"- written by Gaetano Donizetti (the link is to its feature in The Fifth Element since I love this version.)

"Rewrite"- Asian Kung Fu Generation (this is my favorite foreign band)

O.M.G.

Remember that post about how I'm superstitious? Of course you don't.

Well, I just broke a mirror.

It was nice knowing you all.

Songs I Can Dance To

I think this was last week's challenge, but the mighty Alex hasn't posted one since, so I'm not sure. Either way, I'm late. Here is a list of songs that I can shake my groove thing to:

"Dancing Queen"- ABBA (you're surprised aren't you?)

"Electric Boogie"- Marcia Griffith (I love these cheesy line dances)

"Toxic"- Britney Spears

"My Maria"- Brooks and Dunn

"Asterisk"- Orange Range (the Monster and I dance to this song every time we watch Bleach)

We'll see what this challenge ends up being. I hoping its as easy as this one was.

Lets Get Our Facts Straight

Events in this morning's history 162 class (US History post Civil War- I don't remember the actual dates, thats how good of a historian I am) have made me decide to write this little post: a little list of certain historical facts* that are often misquoted or twisted so that they no longer made sense, and that really rub the wrong way. I'm sure my friend Sarah is rolling her eyes right now (though I'm sure she agrees with me on most of it,) but I can no longer resist the urge to blog about them.

1. "Let them eat cake"- Marie Antoinette (cake being the crusty charred stuff at the bottom of a stove, not the yummy sugary delight. I'm sure the fishmonger wives would have been overjoyed if Marie had offered them cake since butter and sugar were luxuries they could only dream of). For the record: she never said this. I think it was a newspaper that claimed that she did but it wasn't true. So for a history professor to say that she did is just downright sad. And annoying. And worthy of being kicked multiple times in the shin.

Cake sure sounds yummy now!

2. The vikings didn't just raid, rape and plunder. They also settled, farmed, assimilated, were amazing navigators and seamen, and are responsible for some keep aspects to our modern-day government. The word "law," for example.

The Oseberg Ship- only picture I could think of on the fly.

3. The Middle Ages should never be called the "Dark Ages" unless you want to be put on a spike by yours truly. No, it wasn't the beautiful classical period nor the neoclassical period of the Renaissance (funny how classicism is always the standard, but no one mentions the orgies) but it wasn't just a time of waste and nothingness. Schools and universities were developed, architecture was brought to new heights, and the illuminated manuscripts are breath taking. You could say it was dark due to the lack of electricity or the multiple appearances of the black plague, but to say that there wasn't any sort of intellectual development is just plan ignorant. And it pisses me off.

Lindisfarne Gospels, ca. 8th century. Carpet page, but I don't remember which gospel this goes to off the top of my head

4. The Vikings did not wear horns! It would be an understatement to say that I am obsessed with the Vikings, so things related to them tend to fluff my feathers (is that even a saying, or did I just make that up?) rather quickly. Think about it, though. If you were going to design a helmet for yourself, what is the last thing you would want on it? Handle bars. The idea is to protect yourself, not let the enemy grab you by the head and swing you around. Maybe one viking had a helmet with horns and I can bet you anything that he didn't live past his first raid.

"Look mommy, no horns!"

5. Henry VIII didn't decapitate all his wives. Thanks to the current phenomenon surrounding the Tudors (thanks Showtimes!) this isn't as big of an issue anymore. I would like to point out, though, that Henry didn't just sleep with everyone and kill his wives. He made England one of the riches countries of that time (though his method for doing so is not to be praised. Poor monks, but picturing him as Jonathan Rhys Myers makes it seem so forgivable.)

Can I just say "yummy?" Now I need to find a way to blog about Henry Cavill.

Ok that's all I have, for now. I know there are a lot more I could rant about, but I'm supposed to be writing a paper (make that 3 papers).

* the word "fact" is almost impossible to use when talking about history, so I only use it in the lightest possible sense. Also, if anyone wants me to add citations here, I will, I'm just being lazy.

I confess

I am a very superstitious person.

(But I don't tell anyone about it because that might actually make it true.)

I tend to not tell very many people, if I tell anyone, exciting news because I don't want to jinx it.

I didn't even tell Nick that I was taking a pregnancy test a day early, just in case (it came out positive, hence the presence of a monster in our home.) I seriously prayed every single night (and many times throughout the day, everyday,) trying to reason with God for announcing it before the 12 weeks mark- how could I not announce something so exciting? He couldn't possibly punish me for being happy, right?- and beg him to let me keep the baby. Sad, but true.

Thankfully, I didn't jinx myself that time, and I have the monster to prove it.

However, I still can't get over my superstitions. I cringe when black cats cross my path, I will walk well out of my way to avoid walking under ladders, and I think I will have a heart attack if I ever break a mirror. And I won't share the exciting parts of my life.

Example 2:

Right now something very exciting is going on, but it's not complete and therefore, I'm not 100% sure it will happen. Though I am sooooo excited about the prospects, everything seems to be going so well right now. Too well in fact. I keep telling myself to break the cycle and just let the world know what's going on- fill them in on all the little details- but I can't. And I won't.

So just know that something exciting is happening and in two and in two weeks I will be able to post all about it on multiple sites. Maybe one day I'll get over this superstitious nature of mine, but not today.

And incase you're wondering, we're not expecting another baby.

Favorite Songs By Bands that are Disbanded/Dead

Sorry I'm a little late with this one, this last week kind of got away from me... and this topic was an easy one too! I'm just going to dive into it.

Judge me all you want, I really do miss and love these groups/people:

"Wannabe"- Spice Girls

"Taxi"- Harry Chapin (I originally had a different group for this slot, but they were part of a musical so I decided to change it up a bit)

"I am the Walrus"- The Beatles

"Bye Bye Bye"- NSYNC (there's lots of songs I could put here, I just chose the first one that came to mind)

"Sweet Cherry Wine"- Tommy James and the Shondells

And then I caved

Day 3 of the 17 Day Diet and I caved... hard.

I ate a Krispy Kreme donut.

And it wasn't worth it.

It's only been a few days but I already feel different. I have a ton more energy and feel lighter. Not that I have the sugary doom inside of me, I feel yucky. It's amazing how much sugar makes a difference in how I feel and now I am determined more than before to see this diet through. I have to. I'm not saying that you should cheat in order to succeed, but this may be a blessing in disguise. Or it may be my downfall.

I was down 3 pounds, but I'm sure the doomnut added 15. Stupid doomnut.

Back to square/day 1 for me.

Don't blame me, blame the lack of the yummies.

It has been one year since my precious little monster was born. I'm sad that he is no longer a baby, but I am excited for what toddler-hood has in store for us (and lets be honest, I'm super frightened too- those "terrible twos" are just around the corner!)

I finally decided to do something about all the chub that's been keeping me "warm" for the past year. As of the last time I weighed myself (three days ago? four? two? I can never keep it straight) I weighted eight pounds more than when I gave birth. I've given myself one year for all of it to magically disappear and now it's time to actually do something about it. So I picked up this book.

I am not a fan of detoxing, but this one has you "detox" by cutting out sugars and carbs for the first 17 days and replace it with certain fruits. No starving, no liquid dieting. And I like the sound of that better. The best thing about this diet: it will eventually mean no more insulin resistance for me and hopefully, no more stupid metformin.

I've been "sugar-free" for 3 hours now and I haven't killed anyone, but it's going to be a long day... and a long 16 days after that. But I know that come tomorrow I am going to become a monster the Japanese couldn't even dream of. So forgive me for any bitchiness that will arise. I'm detoxing.

Favorite Hidden Tracks

The hard part about this challenge? If there are hidden tracks that I like, I can't remember them. This week required a lot of googling to jog my memory, because I know that I have albums with hidden tracks that I really like, but I can never remember the titles of songs (even the ones not hidden). I think I have a pretty good list, but I'm sure I'll come across some I'll wish I had used in place of some of these. Oh well.

These are in no particular order.

"Next to You" by The Offspring (off their Greatest Hits album)

"Silence is a Scary Sound" by McFly (a UK band that Hope and I fell in love with when we were in Ireland. This is off Motion in the Ocean)

"Dirty Little Secret" by Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland (can I just say that Jon Bon Jovi is one of those men who could make me forget my marriage vows. He's yummy. I love him. This is off Have a Nice Day)

"Thank You For the Music" from the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (from the movie. This isn't my favorite Abba song, but I love Abba and my goal is to include them as much as possible in this challenge.)

"Mameshiba" by Yoko Kanno ( from Into Another World. This one I cheated on. I couldn't think of a fifth song so I found a list of hidden tracks and listened to a bunch of them. I really like Yoko Kanno and this song, so it made the list. Hopefully I won't have to do much cheating in the future.)

Anyway, the hubs and I just finished an M. Night Shyamalan marathon (minus The Last Airbender since that movie was just plain terrible) and I am pleased to announce that I have been able to sleep peacefully every night since. Maybe this means I'm ready to see movies like Insidious or Paranormal Activity? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Songs that Make Me Feel Guilty

This week's song challenge is just that, challenging. I've really had to think about what makes me feel guilty in the first place, which is hard. Not that I'm free from guilt, but it's something I don't really like to dwell on... or maybe I just forgive myself too easily? Either way, this challenge was hard, but I think I've finally got a list together. I can only think if three, but I think that's ok. Here they are:

"Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

"If I Die Young" by The Band Perry

"La Chanson de Craonne", which is a French song that came out during WWI. Here's what it says in English (this isn't a very good translation, but you'll get the gist):

When at the end of eight days, the r' pos finished,

One r' will take the trenches,

Our place is so useful

That without us one takes the pile.

But it is well finished, one has enough of it,

Personn' does not want to go any more,

And the quite large heart, comm' in a sob

One says good-bye to the civ' batches.

Even without drum, even without trumpet,

One from goes away there high while lowering the head.

[Refrain:]

Good-bye life, good-bye love,

Good-bye all women.

It is well finished, it is for always,

Of this infamous war.

It is in Craonne, on the plate,

That one must leave his skin

Because we all are condemned

It is us sacrificed!

Eight days of trenches, eight days of suffering,

However one with the hope

That this evening will come the r' raises

[Find more Lyrics one http://mp3lyrics.org/flzi]

That we wait without truce.

Suddenly, in the night and silence,

One sees somebody who advances,

It is an officer of hunters to foot,

Who comes to replace us.

Gently in the shade, under the rain which falls

The small hunters will seek their tombs.

[with the Refrain]

They is unhappy to see on large the boul' vards

All these large which makes their fair;

So for them the life is pink,

For us it is not the mêm' thing.

Instead of hiding, all these embusqués,

F' stripe to better go up to the trenches

For défendr' their goods, because we do not have anything,

Us autr' S, the pauvr' S purotins.

All the comrades are buried there,

For défendr' goods of these Sirs.

[with the Refrain]

Those which have the dough, these r' will come,

Because it is for them that one bursts.

But they is finished, because the soldiers

All will be put in strike.

This ruffle your turn, Sirs the large ones,

To go up on the plate,

Because if you want the war,

Pay it your skin!

A New Challenge?

Ok, so I know that I haven't finished my last challenge, but I am going to start a new one that, thankfully, is only once-a-week and one that I'm hoping I can keep up with. I have every intention of picking up on the previous challenge once I am able to find the next picture I want to use. (The problem with packing and moving? Everything you need is in a box you can't find.)

So the new challenge has to do with Songs. I love music- every kind, and almost every genre- and I absolutely believe that music is food for the soul. I know that sounds super corny, but I really do believe it. I cannot imagine a world without music. So I am even more excited about this challenge than the last (but I swear I will get the last one done. Eventually.) So here's where it's coming from:

My husband has a group of friends who call themselves "The Badgers" (there is a backstory to that name, but I'm not going to share it-- I'm not sure I even remember it and it's not my story to tell.) Anyway, these badgers are some of the most creative, kind, and loving people I know* and when they come up with an idea, it's usually a pretty good one. So anyway, Alex came up with this specific weekly challenge, so I'm going to copy her FB note and maybe one of my very few readers will take the challenge up themselves and it will become a new internet phenomenon.

I've noticed the '30 Day Song Challenge' floating around recently, and the first time I saw it, I thought, "Fuck. I can't pick one song. Ever. How can I make this something I want to do?"

And then....

I started writing my own categories, thinking about songs that mean a lot to me, songs I wish I could share with my friends and ended up with 52. I've written them down, sealed them and will be picking one at random for the next year.

Monday I'll pick a new category and post vids every friday with 5 relevant songs. My personal challenge is not to repeat any songs.

I'm posting it here because it's easy to access, I'd really like any of you who are interested to play along with me. =)

This is Week 1, category chosen at random...

Songs you know all the words to.

So here we go. These songs are in no particular order, just list as I remember.

DRESS, Buck-Tick

Ventura Highway, America

You Get What You Give, New Radicals

Come What May, The Moulin Rouge version (Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman)

Barbie Girl, Aqua (yeah, that's right. I even had a dance a friend and I choreographed in middle school. We were awesome.)

Ok, week 1 is complete! Maybe I'll find my pictures somewhere so I can post the picture that always makes me laugh. There are actually a lot that I could post, but there is one that I have to post because it's hilarious, and will always be hilarious. Anyway, I'm going to listen to the lecture going on right now. This is why I don't use my lappy to take notes.

*sappy much?

And thus is life...

So our wonderful vacation was canceled because the husband got "sick." He definitely had a cough, but swore up and down that he was dying and could not board the plane that was scheduled to leave the next morning. I keep telling myself that he really was sick, but I also knew that he didn't really want to go and he was magically better the following afternoon. This trip had been planned months in advanced and all the money we got back from the hotel and car rental went to Delta* so we could give my dad's frequent flier miles back to him, so we're still out $350. It seems like we never do anything as a family because something always comes up and this trip was a guaranteed way to do something fun together. But I sucked it up and went with it anyway because I didn't want to fight, but I swore that I wouldn't spend my entire spring break packing and moving.

Well it's Thursday and all we've done is pack and move (and we're not even done.) We were going to go up to Santa Fe today with my parents, but my dad had a conference call this morning and work to do on the townhouse (which is the bane of my existence and I would love to vent about it but I would just piss off certain people because there is no way I can blog about it without giving names and I don't really want to deal with another family feud, especially since the laws of wergild don't apply anymore. Boy, that was a long sentence.) So instead the husband and I were going to go to Fat Squirrel tonight and drink non-Irish beer to celebrate Saint Patty's, but his allergies are acting up and he doesn't feel like going out anymore. Why are men such babies when it comes to illnesses? (but he does sound terrible right now)

Have I mentioned that my poor little monster had four teeth coming in and barely slept last night because of the pain and being in a new, noisy environment?

So to end my enchanting tale, my spring break has been the worse I have ever had and thus is life. I'm glad we're semi-settled and the Monster has been asleep for four continuous hours so far, but I'm exhausted, extremely bitter, and angry that I probably won't be able to take those glorious sleeping pills the rapist is begging me to take every now and then** until we buy and move into a new house. Tomorrow will be better... tomorrow has to be better....

*Dear Delta, you're a bunch of assholes.

** I appear to be suffering from mild insomnia and the happy pills apparently don't work as well when I'm dead tired. I also have a theory that the rapist is just trying to shove as many meds into me as she can, but I'd kill for a good night's rest so I'm not fighting her on this one.