Until Next Time...

It looks like my total number of books read for 2011 will be 117 (that is, if I can get through with the one I'm reading right now. It's just grating my nerves).  Of course, I only started tracking them in April, so who knows what the actual number is.  And let's not forget all the multi-multi-chapter fanfiction stories I read this year...last count on that was 57 for the year that I read in their entirety (and they were ALL Edward and Bella stories). So, I thought I'd share with you my top 3 favorites for the year.  If you haven't read them, I encourage you to go find them at your local library or bookstore.  These are books that I will read again :) Texas Destiny by Lorraine Heath was my all time favorite this year!  I'll be honest, I am not much on Western/cowboy type stories so I was a little wary going into it.  It blew me away!  It was romantic and angsty all rolled into one (and I love me some angst).  I cried in several places during the book.  

So, Christmas is over.  How was it for you?  We had a great day!  When I woke up, I thought I was the first one up (it was 7:30), but Mallory came sneaking into my room and said, "It's 7:30.  You said not to bother anyone before then and I've been up since 5:30 waiting."  How can you not love that? We opened presents.  Everyone loved what they received....Lauren got all the Harry Potter movies, Mallory got a new DSI game thing, Harley got an electric scooter.  Jenna's favorite gift was the Bob Marley shirt and Ashley loved the new jeans.  Are you wondering what I got? heehee I scored. Big time.  I got a Kindle and a string of chocolate colored pearls. We had an early dinner/late lunch.  We ate, laughed and all was merry and bright.  When I crawled into bed last night (at 8:30) I was exhausted and I slept wonderfully! Tomorrow is back to business as usual.  I've got to go back to work cause our governing committee decided our preschool would be open betwe

Are you reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series?  If you're not, can I ask why not?  And if you're not, I'm going to tell you that I think you need to stop reading this for a few minutes and go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some website and either buy you a paper copy or download a copy of Dark Lover and start reading the series (This is a series that HAS to be read in order).  This can wait.  Go do that and then come back and see what I'm going to say. So this was book 9 in the series.  Payne and Manny's story.  And while we got their story, I felt it was eclipsed by Payne's brother Vishous.  I love getting lost in the Brothers' world.  When I open the book and start reading, my children and home all fade away and I'm in Caldwell with them (is Caldwell, NY a real place?).  We got introduced to some new vampires in this installment and that was pretty cool.  There was NO Lesser pov here and that was more than pretty cool.  Just between us

I think today went well.  The boyfriend (also known as Nick) asked me to go shopping with him cause he didn't have a clue as to what to buy my lovely daughter Jenna.  They've only been together 9 months and they go to the mall often, so I don't know why he couldn't figure out what to get her LOL  Anywho, we loaded up the Yukon and went to the mall today.  All I've got to say is that boy must really love my daughter to spend the afternoon shopping with me and 3 of Jenna's sisters (all younger). He managed to get her favorite perfume, of which she was out.  And he got a cute little shirt for her that Lauren insisted Jenna would like.  I think Lauren liked it too and figured she could borrow it ;)  I fed him a cookie, cause let's face it, a trip to the mall isn't complete unless you get a yummy cookie from the cookie place. Of course, I stopped by the book store.  I knew exactly what I wanted and I think it was my quickest trip ever LOL I got 2 new myst

"I don't think I'm in love with you anymore, I know I am."  Oh. my. gah.  I am sooo in love with Roarke! Holy balls!  Why did I wait so long to read this? (actually I listened) It's like an amazing episode of CSI or Law & Order or some show like that....not that I watch tv all that often, but yeah, Lt Eve Dallas would put those shows to shame! The crime solving portion of the book, which honestly was the majority of the book, was great.  There was enough creep factor to the crime and the reasoning when you found out who it was that did it and why, but it wasn't so bad that you wanted to put it down.  It just made me mad that I couldn't have killed the pervy old man myself. This is definitely a series I will continue.  It may also just convert me to an audio book listener....as you may or may not know, my previous attempts at listening have not gone so well.  But this kept my attention pretty well and I loved the voice characterization of Roarke

Are you done Christmas shopping? I am NOT.  You know, when the girls were little (and I say that cause I'm talking about Jenna and Ashley, who are now 19 and 20) I use to be finished with my shopping before Thanksgiving.  Then, we added Lauren to the mix and I still did good to finish around Thanksgiving.  BUT, they got older and we added Harley and Mallory to the mix and I got slower.  It would be early-December before I finished.  Now, we have added a son-in-law and granddaughter and a long-term boyfriend and I'm wondering when I'm going to finish shopping. Here's my problem - my children are girls.  I have a general idea what I'm getting Ashley and Jenna (I'm finished shopping for the other 3).  I even have Catie's gift all wrapped and under the tree.  In fact, I can't wait for Christmas for her to open it so I can play with it (it's a castle with princesses and a prince and a carriage!).  I don't have a clue what to get Nick and Jessie.

Lame title to a blog post, I know.  But, truly, I am sooo hungry.  And the chicken just won't cook faster, no matter how hard I try.  Are you curious as to what I'm cooking for dinner tonight?  Well, here it is.... Creamy Spicy Corn Chowder with Chicken 2 slices bacon, sliced in 1 inch strips 1 med yellow onion, diced 1 jalapeno, seeded 1 russet potato, diced 1 small red pepper, diced 3 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 TBSP chopped fresh thyme leaves 2 cups milk 3 cups chicken broth 2 cups shredded rotisserie cooked chicken Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish 1 lime, cut into wedges In a large sauce pot over medium heat cook bacon until crispy and all fat has rendered out.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate.  Drain off all by 1 tablespoon fat, add onion, jalapeno, potato, red pepper, corn, salt and pepper and saute for about 5 minutes. Add thyme. In a blender, puree half the mixture and

Just got back from our children's choir performance at church.  This year we went to "The Camel Lot".  My youngest 2 children were in it.  Yep, I'm preening like a proud momma :D  Here's some photos...not too great, but I didn't think to bring the camera and took them off my phone LOL There were even singing and dancing camels.  I'll be singing that song for a while...

I am an avid book reader.  I have even been known to read a good bit of fanfiction (I'm a Twifan...yes, I admit that in public).  Since joining Goodreads I've come to love to do reading challenges.  In case you're like my best friend and have no clue what that might be, let me explain.  A reading challenge can be as simple as setting a reading goal for the year.  Or it can be as complex as one I'm doing next year that is an Artist Color Wheel Challenge - find book covers that are mainly the colors on the color wheel and are the shades of the grey scale. Anyway, I read Book Chick City's blog  http://www.bookchickcity.com/  and they're doing a Mystery/Suspense reading challenge that I'm going to join in on next year.  I'm going to see if I can read 12 mystery/suspense books.  You may be thinking that that isn't a whole lot of books for someone who claims to be an avid reader; and you're right, it's not BUT I normally don't read myste

I won an ARC of this on Goodreads - thank you so much!  I enjoyed it so much! My favorite romances are of the Regency period and this is that time period.  But that is where all similarities to others end.  Mrs. Russell (I just can't bring myself to call her Martha LOL) is a new widow who comes to realize she will loose her home and her dowry if she doesn't produce a male heir.  The kicker to this is that the late Mr. Russell's brother is a total jerk-face who has taken advantage of women in their home when he lived there as a young man.  Enter Mr. Theo Mirkwood...the rogue who has been sent to the country as a punishment by his father.  Mrs. Russell employs Mr. Mirkwood as her "stud" for a month so she can conceive a child and claim the inheritance.   Mrs. Russell believes she can't take any pleasure from their daily (later it becomes nightly) encounters.  Theo eventually changes her mind.  Martha is so set on her plan to thwart her late hus