On bridal showers and cleaning like woah. Also, March Booklist.
Last Sunday was my soon-to-be-sister-in-law's bridal shower. Last Saturday night was her "bachlorett" party. We went had dinner and went bowling. It was the best kind of bachlorett party ever as far as I am concerned. :D
Sunday was the shower itself. I am standing up at the wedding (oldest brother is the one tying the knot) and was informed I had to dress up for the shower since I would be standing around looking pretty a lot and helping with the gifts. I wore a full length skirt AND a pair of three inch heels ALL DAY, walking around uneven wood floor boards and slippery lanolium (only spelled right) and I didn't fall down or slip even once! I was hella proud of myself for that, even if I was doing the penguin shuffle most of the day.
This weekend was dedicated to cleaning. I got all my laundry washed AND folded AND even put away. I also washed the two new towels I treated myself too as I saw them on sale yesterday at Walmart and couldn't resist because 1) they were a nice rich burgundy color, and b) I realized that I had been pretty much using the same two towels since 2005. The old towels are still in pretty decent shape aside from a little fraying around the edges, so those will still be used, but now it's nice to have an extra set for when those are in the laundry or something. Downside to new towels - AFTER washing them, the washer was full of burgundy-colored lint that I had to clean up before it spread like plague to my roommates' clothes, and the lint catch in the drier was stuffed as much as it could probably be stuffed post-drying, but hopefully that'll be the worst of it and I won't be covering myself in burgundy fuzz next time I step out of the shower. AND, after the towels, decided my bed linens were due for a wash, too, so I got those done as well. They are not yet back on my bed - well, *technically* they are, but in a bundled up pile that I am currently using as a back rest - but hurrah for fresh bedding!
In addition to all the laundry getting done and folded and everything, I also got the kitchen and downstairs bathroom swept and I vacuumed both the living room and my own bedroom. And then I treated myself to a chocolate shake as a reward for all I had accomplished, even if I did wait in line almost a half an hour to get it (Belt's is the local Mom and Pop ice cream shop. Waiting in line forever is part of the tradition, which is no hardship on a lovely day like it was today with sunshine and temps in the mid 40s. I was even able to open my windows for the first time this year!).
And then I came back home and cooked turkey burgers for dinner, which I then managed to convince both of my male roommates to eat as well.
All in all, me thinks that makes for an extremely productive and pretty darned good Saturday.
Also, book list time.
Book lists:
Bold indicates audio books
1. Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey (5*)
2. Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters (4.5* - I find Lucas incredibility irritating and I want to strangle him every freaking time he opens his mouth. Or drinks. Or "dashes to the rescue". Or just plan shows up. Yeah, we'll go with that last one.)
3. Dragonquest - Anne McCaffery (4* - Love the story, hate Kylara. Luckily everyone else does too, so she's only in the first two-thirds or so. Also, Robinson - love the man like woah, but in this book at least I always find the sections that focus on him kind of dull)
4. White Dragon - Anne McCaffery - 4.5*
Face it, Jaxom is a teenager. Not only is he a teenager, but he has also had a LOT to live up to and prove himself against, he has had a huge amount of responsibility and expectations thrust on him from the moment he was born, and surprise surprise, he's been ostracized by most of his peers. Also, did I mention he's a teenager? Surliness and resentment are to be expected until he starts to find his own, but that doesn't stop him from finding it, and he does it with a lot more grace and a lot less abuse of the caps locks than Harry Potter managed under similar circumstances.
5. Freedom's Landing - Anne McCaffery - 3.8*
The first book in the Freedom series, it's obviously an attempt for a renowned fantasy writer to try her hand at a soly scifi series instead of the sci fi/fantasy (usually with significantly more fantasy than scifi) that she's most well known for. I personally have a bit of a soft spot for the series, but even with that it isn't a series I am able to revisit as often as I have the Dragonriders of Pern - firstly because all of the characters initially sound rather redneckish, and secondly because they are also a little one dimensional and, frankly, kind of Mary Sue-ish. That doesn't stop me from really enjoying the series, though - this will be the third reread, and I zipped through the first one in only a few days.
6. Freedom's Choice - Anne McCaffery - 4.25*
More exploring and less redneck drawling for the win! Also, a little more character development and dimension - in the second book in the Freedom series, things are a little less black and white. They're still pretty damn black and white, mind, but not quite so obviously "These guys rock, you should love them and hug them and call them George Chuck!" verses "These guys are assholes that you aren't supposed to like at all, and just to be clear on their assholery, I shall make the first words out of their mouth obnoxious and uncouth." Also, plot building! Hard to go wrong with plot building.
7. 3 in 1 - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams - 3.5*
Technically I only finished Life, the Universe and Everything this month, but I'm rolling it in with the other two because I've been reading the Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide on my lunch breaks at work since September because it's one of those books where thinking isn't entirely necessary to follow the story lines, because they are Just That Random. You can read a few chapters, set it aside for weeks or months, pick it up and start right where you left off and you're just fine.
Before I go further, I do want to say this - I think Douglas Adams himself is awesome and I look up to him as an author simply because he gleefully wrote whatever he wished, logic optional, even if the final result ended contradicting itself seven ways to Sunday; that just made it more fun. That being said, I can't help but find his books kind of tedious and not really good at keeping my attention.They are, however, full of awesome lines and I even if I don't care for them, I do believe the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books need to be read at least once by anyone who truly considers themselves a sci fi geek.
8. The Grand Tour (or the Purloined Coronation Regalia) by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 3.75*
Fun and mostly fluffy and the characters remain pretty great (it's the second in a series), but it took me a few tries to finish it.
Sunday was the shower itself. I am standing up at the wedding (oldest brother is the one tying the knot) and was informed I had to dress up for the shower since I would be standing around looking pretty a lot and helping with the gifts. I wore a full length skirt AND a pair of three inch heels ALL DAY, walking around uneven wood floor boards and slippery lanolium (only spelled right) and I didn't fall down or slip even once! I was hella proud of myself for that, even if I was doing the penguin shuffle most of the day.
This weekend was dedicated to cleaning. I got all my laundry washed AND folded AND even put away. I also washed the two new towels I treated myself too as I saw them on sale yesterday at Walmart and couldn't resist because 1) they were a nice rich burgundy color, and b) I realized that I had been pretty much using the same two towels since 2005. The old towels are still in pretty decent shape aside from a little fraying around the edges, so those will still be used, but now it's nice to have an extra set for when those are in the laundry or something. Downside to new towels - AFTER washing them, the washer was full of burgundy-colored lint that I had to clean up before it spread like plague to my roommates' clothes, and the lint catch in the drier was stuffed as much as it could probably be stuffed post-drying, but hopefully that'll be the worst of it and I won't be covering myself in burgundy fuzz next time I step out of the shower. AND, after the towels, decided my bed linens were due for a wash, too, so I got those done as well. They are not yet back on my bed - well, *technically* they are, but in a bundled up pile that I am currently using as a back rest - but hurrah for fresh bedding!
In addition to all the laundry getting done and folded and everything, I also got the kitchen and downstairs bathroom swept and I vacuumed both the living room and my own bedroom. And then I treated myself to a chocolate shake as a reward for all I had accomplished, even if I did wait in line almost a half an hour to get it (Belt's is the local Mom and Pop ice cream shop. Waiting in line forever is part of the tradition, which is no hardship on a lovely day like it was today with sunshine and temps in the mid 40s. I was even able to open my windows for the first time this year!).
And then I came back home and cooked turkey burgers for dinner, which I then managed to convince both of my male roommates to eat as well.
All in all, me thinks that makes for an extremely productive and pretty darned good Saturday.
Also, book list time.
Book lists:
Bold indicates audio books
1. Dragonflight - Anne McCaffrey (5*)
2. Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters (4.5* - I find Lucas incredibility irritating and I want to strangle him every freaking time he opens his mouth. Or drinks. Or "dashes to the rescue". Or just plan shows up. Yeah, we'll go with that last one.)
3. Dragonquest - Anne McCaffery (4* - Love the story, hate Kylara. Luckily everyone else does too, so she's only in the first two-thirds or so. Also, Robinson - love the man like woah, but in this book at least I always find the sections that focus on him kind of dull)
4. White Dragon - Anne McCaffery - 4.5*
Face it, Jaxom is a teenager. Not only is he a teenager, but he has also had a LOT to live up to and prove himself against, he has had a huge amount of responsibility and expectations thrust on him from the moment he was born, and surprise surprise, he's been ostracized by most of his peers. Also, did I mention he's a teenager? Surliness and resentment are to be expected until he starts to find his own, but that doesn't stop him from finding it, and he does it with a lot more grace and a lot less abuse of the caps locks than Harry Potter managed under similar circumstances.
5. Freedom's Landing - Anne McCaffery - 3.8*
The first book in the Freedom series, it's obviously an attempt for a renowned fantasy writer to try her hand at a soly scifi series instead of the sci fi/fantasy (usually with significantly more fantasy than scifi) that she's most well known for. I personally have a bit of a soft spot for the series, but even with that it isn't a series I am able to revisit as often as I have the Dragonriders of Pern - firstly because all of the characters initially sound rather redneckish, and secondly because they are also a little one dimensional and, frankly, kind of Mary Sue-ish. That doesn't stop me from really enjoying the series, though - this will be the third reread, and I zipped through the first one in only a few days.
6. Freedom's Choice - Anne McCaffery - 4.25*
More exploring and less redneck drawling for the win! Also, a little more character development and dimension - in the second book in the Freedom series, things are a little less black and white. They're still pretty damn black and white, mind, but not quite so obviously "These guys rock, you should love them and hug them and call them George Chuck!" verses "These guys are assholes that you aren't supposed to like at all, and just to be clear on their assholery, I shall make the first words out of their mouth obnoxious and uncouth." Also, plot building! Hard to go wrong with plot building.
7. 3 in 1 - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy; Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams - 3.5*
Technically I only finished Life, the Universe and Everything this month, but I'm rolling it in with the other two because I've been reading the Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide on my lunch breaks at work since September because it's one of those books where thinking isn't entirely necessary to follow the story lines, because they are Just That Random. You can read a few chapters, set it aside for weeks or months, pick it up and start right where you left off and you're just fine.
Before I go further, I do want to say this - I think Douglas Adams himself is awesome and I look up to him as an author simply because he gleefully wrote whatever he wished, logic optional, even if the final result ended contradicting itself seven ways to Sunday; that just made it more fun. That being said, I can't help but find his books kind of tedious and not really good at keeping my attention.They are, however, full of awesome lines and I even if I don't care for them, I do believe the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books need to be read at least once by anyone who truly considers themselves a sci fi geek.
8. The Grand Tour (or the Purloined Coronation Regalia) by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer - 3.75*
Fun and mostly fluffy and the characters remain pretty great (it's the second in a series), but it took me a few tries to finish it.